METHOD, APPARATUS OR SOFTWARE FOR DETERMINING A POSITION OF A MOBILE DEVICE

• US 20080076431A1
• Filed: 09/19/2007
• Published: 03/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 09/23/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Fletcher, Ben J., Jones, Gareth E., Whitehead, Matthew R.
• Granted Patent: US 8,694,027 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/440
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A method, apparatus and software are disclosed in which the position of a mobile device is determined by proximity detection from a first node using one wireless communications protocol and the position of the first node is determined using a set of signals from base stations having known locations and using a second wireless communications protocol.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

detecting one or more mobile devices within a proximity of a first node using a first wireless communications protocol at said first node;

determining a location of said first node using a second wireless protocol at said first node; and

storing data representing said location of said first node as a location of said one or more mobile devices.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein said first wireless communications protocol is used at said first node to perform a scan for said one or more mobile devices and by said one or more mobile devices to respond to said scan.

3. The method according to claim 2 wherein, in response to said scan, an identifier is received from said one or more mobile devices and each said identifier is stored with data representing said location of a corresponding one of said one or more mobile devices.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said first node accesses an access list identifying a mobile device of said one or more mobile devices having a predetermined relationship with said first node, and said storing comprises storing data representing said location of said first node as a location of only said mobile device.

5. The method of claim 3, further comprising storing data, representing signal strength of a first communications protocol signal transmitted between said one or more mobile devices and said first node substantially simultaneously with said detecting, with said data representing said location of a corresponding one of said one or more mobile devices.

6. The method of claim 3, further comprising storing data representing a signal transmission range of said first communications protocol is stored with said data representing said location of a corresponding one of said one or more mobile devices.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein said determining comprises applying a triangulation mechanism to a set of second communications protocol signals each received from one of a plurality of second nodes having known locations.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein said plurality of second nodes comprises wireless access points for a network.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein said first communications protocol comprises a wireless personal area network protocol.

10. The method of claim 1, wherein said second communications protocol comprises a wireless local area network protocol.

11. The method of claim 1, said method further comprising:

detecting said one or more mobile devices within said proximity of a second node within a predetermined time period using said first wireless communications protocol at said second node;

determining a location of said second node using said second wireless protocol at said second node; and

determining said location of said one or more mobile devices using data representing said location of said first node and data representing said location of said second node

13. The method of claim 1, further comprising disseminating data representing said location of said one or more mobile devices using a publish and subscribe message broker.

14. An apparatus comprising:

means for detecting one or more mobile devices within a proximity of a first node using a first wireless communications protocol at said first node;

means for determining a location of said first node using a second wireless protocol at said first node; and

means for storing data representing said location of said first node as a location of said one or more mobile devices.

15. The apparatus of claim 14, further comprising:

means for detecting said one or more mobile devices within said proximity of a second node within a predetermined time period using said first wireless communications protocol at said second node;

means for determining a location of said second node using said second wireless protocol at said second node; and

means for determining said location of said one or more mobile devices using data representing said location of said first node and data representing said location of said second node

16. A machine-readable medium having a plurality of instructions executable by a machine embodied therein, wherein said plurality of instructions when executed cause said machine to perform a method comprising:

detecting one or more mobile devices within a proximity of a first node using a first wireless communications protocol at said first node;

determining a location of said first node using a second wireless protocol at said first node; and

storing data representing said location of said first node as a location of said one or more mobile devices.

17. The machine-readable medium of claim 16, said method further comprising:

detecting said one or more mobile devices within said proximity of a second node within a predetermined time period using said first wireless communications protocol at said second node;

determining a location of said second node using said second wireless protocol at said second node; and

determining said location of said one or more mobile devices using data representing said location of said first node and data representing said location of said second node

18. An apparatus comprising:

means for performing proximity detection from said apparatus using a first wireless communications protocol to detect a mobile device within a proximity of said apparatus;

means for establishing a location of said apparatus by triangulation of signals from a plurality of wireless base stations operating in accordance with a second wireless communications protocol; and

means for recording a position of said mobile device as a position of said apparatus.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said first wireless communications protocol comprises a wireless PAN protocol.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein said second communications protocol comprises a WLAN protocol.