Radio system, apparatus, and method of operating the radio system

• US 20050162271A1
• Filed: 04/25/2003
• Published: 07/28/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 05/02/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Uniloc 2017 LLC (SoftBank Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips N.V.
• Inventors: Leitch, Adam S
• Granted Patent: US 7,072,671 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 340/539.130
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0289 of multiple transceivers, e.g. in ad hoc networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/20 Master-slave selection or change arrangements

Abstract

A method of determining the relative position of a secondary station (SS) in a radio system including at least one master station (MS) and a plurality of secondary stations (SS), comprises the master station establishing a master log of the time stamp of signals transmitted by active stations and their identities and active secondary stations (SS) establishing a log of the time stamp of signals transmitted by other stations and their respective measured received quality. One of the active secondary stations forwards its log to the master station and the master station correlates the time stamps in the received log with the time stamps in the master log in order to determine the identities of the transmitters and utilises the measured signal quality indications in the received log to determine the relative position of the secondary station with respect to the locations of the transmitters identified.

Claims

1. A radio system comprising at least one master station and a plurality of secondary stations, the master station having means for establishing a master log of the time stamp of signals transmitted by active stations and their identities, each of the secondary stations having means for establishing a log of the time stamp of received signals together with their measured quality and means for forwarding at least a portion of their log to the master station, the master station further comprising means for correlating the time stamps in the log forwarded to it with the time stamps in its master log in order to identify the transmitters originating the signals received and for utilising the signal quality measurements in the received log to determine the relative position of a secondary station.

2. A method of determining the relative position of a secondary station in a radio system including at least one master station and a plurality of secondary stations, the method comprising the primary station establishing a master log of the time stamp of signals transmitted by active stations and their identities, active secondary stations establishing a log of the time stamp of signals transmitted by other stations and their respective measured received quality, one of the active secondary stations forwarding its log to the master station and the master station correlating the time stamps in the received log with the time stamps in the master log in order to determine the identities of the transmitters and utilising the measured signal quality indications in the received log to determine the relative position of the secondary station with respect to the locations of the transmitters identified.

3. A method as claimed in claim 2, characterised in that the secondary stations measure the RSSI of a received signal.

4. A method as claimed in claim 2 or 3, characterised in that the master log stores the relative locations of at least some of the non-portable features in the space being monitored and in that the position of a secondary station is indicated relative to at least one of the non-portable features.

5. A method as claimed in claim 2, 3 or 4, characterised in that the position of a secondary station is indicated visually.

6. A master station for use in a radio system having a plurality of secondary stations, the master station comprising receiving means, means for establishing a master log of the time stamp of signals transmitted by active stations and their identities, means for correlating time stamps in a log forwarded to it by one of the plurality of secondary stations with the time stamps in its master log in order to identify the transmitters originating the signals received and for utilising the signal quality measurements in the received log to determine the relative position of the secondary station.

7. A secondary station for use in a radio system comprising a master station and a plurality of secondary stations, the secondary station comprising receiving means, means for establishing a log of the time stamp of received signals together with their measured quality and means for forwarding at least a portion of their log to the primary station.