Systems, devices and methods for location determination

• US 20080293431A1
• Filed: 05/24/2007
• Published: 11/27/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 05/24/2007
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Helio LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Helio LLC (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Buerger, Christian A., Hayes, Gregory Paul, Oh, Seung June, Koh, Eugene
• Granted Patent: US 7,962,152 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/024 Guidance services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

In part, the invention relates to a method for generating location data using a wireless mobile device, the wireless mobile device adapted to communicate with a plurality of location services, each service associated with one of a plurality of networks. In one embodiment, the method comprises the steps of: selecting a first location service from the plurality of location services; transmitting a first request for location data to the first location service; if the first request fails, selecting a second location service from the plurality of location services; and receiving location data from one of the first and the second location services.

Claims

1. A method for generating location data using a wireless mobile device, the wireless mobile device adapted to communicate with a plurality of location services, each service associated with one of a plurality of networks, the method comprising the steps of:

selecting a first location service from the plurality of location services;

transmitting a first request for location data to the first location service;

if the first request fails, selecting a second location service from the plurality of location services; and

receiving location data from one of the first and the second location services.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the location data is selected from the group consisting of latitude data, longitude data and altitude data.

3. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of relaying location data to an application on the wireless mobile device.

4. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of forwarding the location data to an application on the wireless mobile device.

5. The method of claim 1 further comprising the step of ranking the plurality of location services, wherein the first location service is the highest ranked location service and the second location service network is the second highest ranked location service.

6. The method of claim 5 where the total number of the plurality of location services is determined by interface capability of the mobile wireless device.

7. The method of claim 5 wherein the step of ranking further comprises ranking the plurality of location services based on accuracy of service provided by each of the plurality of location services.

8. The method of claim 5 wherein the step of ranking further comprises ranking the plurality of location services based on response time provided by each of the plurality of location services.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the response time is Time to First Fix.

10. The method of claim 5 wherein the step of ranking further comprises ranking the plurality of location services based on the cost of using each of the plurality of location services.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the first location service accesses a IEEE 802.11 network for the location data.

12. The method of claim 1 wherein the second location service accesses a cellular network for the location data.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein the cellular network is selected from the group consisting of a GSM network, a W-CDMA network, a CDMA IS 2000 network and a 1xEV-DO network.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the plurality of location services accesses a IEEE 802.16e network.

15. A method for generating location data using a wireless mobile device, the wireless mobile device adapted to communicate with a plurality of location services, the method comprising the steps of:

selecting a first location service network from a plurality of location service networks;

transmitting a first request for location data to the first location service network;

detecting if the first request was processed;

if the first request was processed, receiving location data from the selected location service network; and

if the first request was not processed, transmitting a second request for location data to a second location service network of the plurality of location service networks.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the first location service network provides more accurate location data relative to the second location service network.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the first location network offers a less expensive location service relative to the second location network.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the first location service network provides a better response time relative to the second location service network.

19. The method of claim 15 wherein the first location service network is an IEEE 802.11 network and the second location service network is a cellular network.

28. The wireless mobile device of claim 16 wherein the subsystem acquires location data for the wireless mobile device from the second network via the processor and an associated network interface only when the processor is not able to acquire location data for the wireless mobile device from the first network.

29. The system of claim 28 wherein the first network provides more accurate location data relative to the second network.

30. The system of claim 28 wherein the first network provides a better response time for location service relative to the second network.

31. The system of claim 28 wherein the first location service provides a less expensive location service relative to the second location service.

20. A wireless mobile device, comprising:

a communication subsystem, the subsystem adapted to communicate with a first location service and a second location service; and

a processor configured to communicate with the subsystem to acquire location data from at least one of the first and the second location services,

wherein the first location service accesses a first network and second location services access a second network.

21. The wireless mobile device of claim 20 wherein the first and second networks use different OSI Layer 1 and Layer 2 technologies.

22. The wireless mobile device of claim 20 wherein the communication subsystem is an application-specific integrated circuit.

23. The wireless mobile device of claim 20 wherein the communication subsystem is a software application.

24. The wireless mobile device of claim 20 wherein the communication subsystem is at least one software library

25. The wireless mobile device of claim 20 wherein the subsystem receives availability data regarding the first network from the processor.

26. The wireless mobile device of claim 20 wherein the subsystem is programmed with failover logic adapted to select from the first and second networks in response to a failover event.

27. The wireless mobile device of claim 20 wherein the failover event is selected from the group consisting of an error signal, a timeout event, network availability and a requested user action.

32. The system of claim 20 wherein at least one of the first and the second networks is an IEEE 802.11 network.

33. The system of claim 20 wherein at least one of the first and the second networks is a cellular network.

34. The system of claim 20 wherein at least one of the first and the second networks is an IEEE 802.16e network.

35. A wireless mobile device, comprising:

a first communication component adapted to communicate with a first location service network;

a second communication component adapted to communicate with a second location service network; and

a processor configured to communicate with the first and the second communication components to acquire location data from at least one of the first and second location service networks,

wherein the first and second location service networks are different types of networks,

wherein the processor receives location data from the first location service network through the first communication component when the first location service network is in communication with the first communication component,

wherein the processor receives location data from the second location service network through the second communication component when the first location service network is not in communication with the first communication component.

36. The wireless mobile device of claim 35 wherein the first and second location service networks utilize different OSI Layer 1 and Layer 2 technologies.

37. The wireless mobile device of claim 35 wherein one of the first and the second location service networks is an IEEE 802.11 network.

38. The wireless mobile device of claim 35 wherein one of the first and the second location service networks is a cellular network.

39. The wireless mobile device of claim 35 wherein one of the first and the second location service networks is an IEEE 802.16e network.