Creating and using base station almanac information in a wireless communication system having a position location capability

• US 20030125045A1
• Filed: 03/12/2002
• Published: 07/03/2003
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2001
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Riley, Wyatt Thomas, Moeglein, Mark
• Application Number:
  US10/097,040
• Publication Number:
  US 20030125045A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/06 employing an initial estimate of the location of the receiver as aiding data or in generating aiding data
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/09 providing processing capability normally carried out by the receiver
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/021 Calibration, monitoring or correction G01S5/0252 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0226 Transmitters
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0236 Assistance data, e.g. base station almanac
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0263 by combining or switching between positions derived from two or more separate positioning systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0268 by deriving positions from different combinations of signals or of estimated positions in a single positioning system
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

In a wireless mobile communication system having a position determination service, base station information is stored in a base station almanac. In addition to the position of the base station antenna, forward link delay calibration, and base station identification information, a base station almanac record includes the center location of the base station sector coverage area, the maximum range of the base station antenna, the terrain average height over the sector coverage area, the terrain height standard deviation over the sector coverage area, round-trip delay (RTD) calibration information, repeater information, pseudo-random noise (PN) increments, uncertainty in the base station antenna position, uncertainty in the forward-link delay calibration, and uncertainty in the round-trip delay calibration.

Claims

1. A method of using a base station almanac in a wireless communication network, the method including:

storing, in the base station almanac, sector center location data specifying locations of the centers of cell sectors of base stations; and

using the sector center location data in the base station almanac for determining mobile station position.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, which includes determining that a mobile station is at or near the center of a cell sector when the mobile station is found within the cell sector and the position of the mobile station cannot be more accurately determined.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, which includes determining that a mobile station is at or near the average of the center of several cell sectors when the mobile station is found within several cell sectors, and the position of the mobile station cannot be more accurately determined.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, which includes determining that a mobile station is at or near the average of the center of all cell sectors within a region, when the mobile station is found within a region, but the individual cell sectors cannot be determined, and the position of the mobile station cannot be more accurately determined

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, which includes using the cell sector location data of a cell sector as an initial position estimate for generating assist information for assisting position determination using a system of global satellites

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the cell sector location is an average of mobile station positions determined to be within the cell sector.

7. A method of using a base station almanac in a wireless communication network, the method including:

storing, in the base station almanac, maximum antenna range data specifying maximum antenna ranges of base stations; and

using the maximum antenna range data in the base station almanac for determining mobile station position.

8. The method as claimed in claim 7, which includes using the maximum antenna range of at least one base station to quantify a sector coverage area of the base station in order to relate an observed terrestrial signal with an entry for the base station in the base station almanac.

9. The method as claimed in claim 7, which includes using the maximum antenna range of at least one base station to quantify the uncertainty in the position estimate of a mobile station when the uncertainty in the mobile station position cannot be more accurately determined.

10. A method of using a base station almanac in a wireless communication network, the method including:

storing, in the base station almanac, terrain average height information for cell sector coverage areas of base stations; and

using the terrain average height information in the base station almanac for determining mobile station position.

11. The method as claimed in claim 10, which includes using the terrain average height information for obtaining a position fix of a mobile station.

12. The method of claim 11, which includes:

storing, in the base station almanac, terrain height standard deviation for cell sector coverage areas of base stations; and

using the terrain average height standard deviation for determining how much to weight the terrain average height information from the base station almanac.

13. The method of claim 10, which includes:

storing, in the base station almanac, terrain height standard deviation for cell sector coverage areas of base stations; and

using the terrain average height standard deviation for determining how much to weight the terrain average height information from the base station almanac.

14. A method of using a base station almanac in a wireless communication network, the method including:

storing, in the base station almanac, round-trip delay (RTD) calibration information; and

using the round-trip delay (RTD) calibration information in the base station almanac for determining mobile station position.

15. The method as claimed in claim 14, which includes using the round-trip delay (RTD) calibration information for improving the accuracy of reverse-link range measurements.

16. A method of using a base station almanac in a wireless communication network, the method including:

storing, in the base station almanac, repeater information indicating whether or not cell sector coverage areas of the base stations have repeaters; and

using the repeater information in the base station almanac for determining mobile station position.

17. The method as claimed in claim 16, which includes using the repeater information when using an Advanced Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT) range measurement.

18. The method as claimed in claim 16, which includes using the repeater information when calculating GPS acquisition assistance information.

19. A method of using a base station almanac in a wireless communication network, the method including:

storing, in the base station almanac, respective pseudo-random noise (PN) increments for base stations; and

using the pseudo-random noise (PN) increments in the base station almanac for determining mobile station position.

20. The method as claimed in claim 19, which includes using the pseudo-random noise (PN) increments for resolving pseudo-random noise (PN) offset numbers of distant base stations.

21. A method of using a base station almanac in a wireless communication network, the method including:

storing, in the base station almanac, base station antenna positions for base stations;

storing, in the base station almanac, uncertainties in the accuracy of the base station antenna positions for base stations; and

using the uncertainties in the accuracy of the base station antenna positions in the base station almanac for determining mobile station position.

22. The method as claimed in claim 21, which includes using the uncertainty in the accuracy of the antenna position of a base station in determining the weight to apply to measurements from the base station.

23. A method of using a base station almanac in a wireless communication network, the method including:

storing, in the base station almanac, forward-link time offset calibrations for base stations;

storing, in the base station almanac, uncertainties in the accuracy of the forward-link time offset calibrations for the base stations; and

using the uncertainties in the accuracy of the forward-link time offset calibrations in the base station almanac for determining mobile station position.

24. The method as claimed in claim 23, which includes using the uncertainty in the accuracy of the forward-link time offset calibration for a base station in determining the weight to apply to measurements from the base station.

25. A wireless communication network comprising:

(a) base stations for communication with mobile stations;

(b) a base station almanac storing information about the base stations; and

(c) at least one position determining entity for determining positions of the mobile stations based on signals transmitted between the base stations and the mobile stations, and information stored in the base station almanac;

wherein the base station almanac contains sector center location data specifying locations of the centers of cell sectors of the base stations.

26. The wireless communication network as claimed in claim 25,,wherein the sector location data includes the latitude and longitude of the center of each cell sector.

27. The wireless communication network as claimed in claim 26, wherein the sector location data further includes the altitude of the center of each cell sector.

28. The wireless communication network as claimed in claim 25, wherein the position determination entity returns the center of a cell sector when the position determination entity determines that a mobile station is within the cell sector and the position determination entity cannot more accurately determine the position of the mobile station.

29. The wireless communication network as claimed in claim 25, wherein the position determination entity uses the cell sector location data of a cell sector as an initial position estimate for generating assist information for assisting position determination using a system of global satellites.

30. The wireless communication network as claimed in claim 25, wherein the cell sector center location is an average of mobile station positions determined to be within the cell sector.

31. A wireless communication network comprising:

(a) base stations for communication with mobile stations;

(b) a base station almanac storing information about the base stations; and

(c) at least one position determining entity for determining positions of the mobile stations based on signals transmitted between the base stations and the mobile stations, and information stored in the base station almanac;

wherein the base station almanac contains maximum antenna range data specifying maximum antenna ranges of the base stations.

32. The wireless communication network as claimed in claim 31, wherein the position determining entity uses the maximum antenna range of at least one base station to quantify a sector coverage area of the base station in order to relate an observed terrestrial signal with an entry for the base station in the base station almanac.

33. A wireless communication network comprising:

(a) base stations for communication with mobile stations;

(b) a base station almanac storing information about the base stations; and

(c) at least one position determining entity for determining positions of the mobile stations based on signals transmitted between the base stations and the mobile stations, and information stored in the base station almanac;

wherein the base station almanac contains terrain average height information for cell sector coverage areas of the base stations.

34. The wireless communication network as claimed in claim 33, wherein the terrain average height information includes a respective terrain average height and a respective terrain standard deviation for each of the cell sector coverage areas of the base stations.

35. The wireless communication network as claimed in claim 33, wherein the position determining entity uses the terrain average height information for obtaining an Advanced Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT) position fix of at least one of the mobile stations.

36. A wireless communication network comprising:

(a) base stations for communication with mobile stations;

(b) a base station almanac storing information about the base stations; and

(c) at least one position determining entity for determining positions of the mobile stations based on signals transmitted between the base stations and the mobile stations, and information stored in the base station almanac;

wherein the base station almanac contains round-trip delay (RTD) calibration information.

37. The wireless communication network as claimed in claim 36, wherein the position determining entity uses the round-trip delay (RTD) calibration information for improving the accuracy of reverse-link range measurements.

38. The wireless communication network as claimed in claim 36, wherein:

the base station almanac stores an estimate of the uncertainty of the round-trip delay calibration of base stations; and

the position determining entity uses the round-trip delay calibration uncertainty for determining how much to weight the round-trip delay measurements from the base station.

39. A wireless communication network comprising:

(a) base stations for communication with mobile stations;

(b) a base station almanac storing information about the base stations; and

(c) at least one position determining entity for determining positions of the mobile stations based on signals transmitted between the base stations and the mobile stations, and information stored in the base station almanac;

wherein the base station almanac contains repeater information indicating whether or not cell sector coverage areas of the base stations have repeaters.

40. The wireless communication network as claimed in claim 39, wherein the position determining entity uses the repeater information when obtaining an Advanced Forward Link Trilateration (AFLT) range measurement.

41. A wireless communication network comprising:

(a) base stations for communication with mobile stations;

(b) a base station almanac storing information about the base stations; and

(c) at least one position determining entity for determining positions of the mobile stations based on signals transmitted between the base stations and the mobile stations, and information stored in the base station almanac;

wherein the base station almanac contains respective pseudo-random noise (PN) increments for the base stations.

42. The wireless communication network as claimed in claim 41, wherein the position determining entity uses the pseudo-random noise (PN) increments for resolving pseudo-random noise (PN) offset numbers of distant base stations.

43. A wireless communication network comprising:

(a) base stations for communication with mobile stations;

(b) a base station almanac storing information about the base stations; and

(c) at least one position determining entity for determining positions of the mobile stations based on signals transmitted between the base stations and the mobile stations, and information stored in the base station almanac;

wherein the base station almanac contains;

sector center location data specifying locations of the centers of cell sectors of base stations;

maximum antenna range data specifying maximum antenna ranges of the base stations;

terrain average height information for cell sector coverage areas of the base stations;

round-trip delay (RTD) calibration information,

repeater information indicating whether or not cell sector coverage areas of the base stations have repeaters; and

respective pseudo-random noise (PN) increments for the base stations.