Location detection system

• US 20020000930A1
• Filed: 04/02/2001
• Published: 01/03/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2000
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Locate Networks, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Locate Networks, Inc.
• Inventors: Crowson, R. Michael, Clise, William E.
• Application Number:
  US09/825,579
• Publication Number:
  US 20020000930A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 342/357.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/17 Emergency applications
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/006 for emergency situations
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/008 using a mobile telephone network
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/009 Transmission of differential positioning data to mobile

Abstract

To increase the accuracy by which the location of an object can be determined, the present invention combines the accuracy of a GPS receiver (54) with a two-way paging system (68). A two-way pager (56) receives information indicative of the position of a GPS receiver (54) and transmits the information on a reverse channel to a paging service (68). The information is forwarded to a location determination service (64) that, if possible, converts the information into a location of the object and is provided to a requestor. In one embodiment of the invention, the requestor is a cellular call processor (18) and the object is a cellular telephone (50). The location information is used by the cellular call processor (62) to direct an emergency call to the appropriate emergency agency (80, 82) as well as to provide emergency personnel with a map showing the location of the caller.

Claims

1. A system for determining the location of an object, comprising:

a global positioning satellite (GPS) receiver that produces position information based on signals received from one or more global positioning satellites;

a two-way wireless communication device that receives information indicative of the location of the GPS receiver from the GPS receiver and transmits the information to a wireless transceiver;

wherein the GPS receiver and wireless communication device are located with the object; and

a location determination service that receives the information indicative of the location of the GPS receiver from the wireless transceiver and provides the information to a requester.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the two-way wireless communication device is a two-way pager and the wireless transceiver is a paging transceiver in communication with a paging service.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the information transmitted by the two-way pager is pseudo-range information received from the one or more global positioning satellites.

4. The system of claim 2, wherein the information transmitted by the two-way pager is a latitude and longitude that is calculated from the signals received from the one or more global positioning satellites.

5. The system of claim 2, wherein the location determination service can be accessed by users via a computer communication, a telephonic link, or other two-way communication device to cause the location determination service to interact with the paging service in order to transmit a page to the two-way pager, the receipt of which causes the two-way pager to transmit the information indicative of a location of the GPS receiver back to the paging service on a reverse paging channel and wherein the paging service forwards the information to the location determination service.

6. The system of claim 2, wherein the object is a cellular telephone and the requester is a cellular call processor that interacts with the location determination service to transmit a page to the two-way pager, the receipt of which causes the two-way pager to transmit the information indicative of a location of the GPS receiver to the paging service on a reverse paging channel and wherein the location determination system forwards the information indicative of a location of the GPS receiver to the cellular call processor.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the cellular call processor interacts with the location determination service to request the information indicative of the location of the GPS receiver when a user of the cellular telephone makes an emergency telephone call.

8. The system of claim 1, further including a GIS layer and data service that receives the information indicative of the location of the GPS receiver via a computer communication link and returns a map that shows the location of the object.

9. The system of claim 1, further including a location server that receives the information indicative of the location of the GPS receiver and computes a latitude and longitude of the object from the information.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the two-way wireless communication device receives signals from other devices having known locations and forwards an identifier or the location of another device to the location determination service to use as a surrogate for the location of the GPS receiver when the GPS receiver cannot receive signals from the one or more global positioning satellites.

14. The device of claim 1, further comprising a switch that, when activated, causes the two-way wireless communication device to transmit the information indicative of the location of the GPS receiver to the location determination service.

15. The device of claim 14, wherein the switch is manually activated.

16. The device of claim 14, further including a sensor for receiving a physiological signal from a wearer and upon detection of a predetermined physiological condition activates the switch.

11. A device for detecting and transmitting information indicative of the location of an object, comprising:

a global positioning satellite (GPS) receiver that receives signals from one or more global positioning satellites; and

a two-way wireless communication device coupled to the GPS receiver, that receives information indicative of the location of the GPS receiver from the GPS receiver and transmits the information to a location determination service that is accessed by a requester to determine the location of the object.

12. The device of claim 11, wherein the two-way wireless communication device is a two-way pager.

13. The device of claim 12, wherein the GPS receiver and two-way pager are incorporated into a cellular telephone battery pack.

17. The device of claim 11, wherein the two-way wireless communication device receives signals from other devices whose locations are known, wherein the two-way wireless communication device forwards information indicative of either the identify or the location of the other devices to the location determination service to use as a surrogate for the location of the GPS receiver if the GPS receiver cannot receive signals from the one or more global positioning satellites.

18. The device of claim 17, wherein the other device is a paging transceiver.

19. The device of claim 17, wherein the other device is a Bluetooth™

transceiver.