UPDATING POSITION ASSIST DATA ON A MOBILE COMPUTING DEVICE

• US 20090248178A1
• Filed: 03/27/2008
• Published: 10/01/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/27/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Palm, Inc. (TCL Technology Group Corp.)
• Inventors: Shah, Vivek, Russo, Dante, Mahe, Isabel Ge, Paulson, Janell, Jazra, Cherif, Ramaswamy, Gurunath, Hamilton, Craig C., Kansal, Sachin S.
• Granted Patent: US 8,989,763 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 700/66
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/26 specially adapted for navigation in a road network
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/258 relating to the satellite constellation, e.g. almanac, ephemeris data, lists of satellites in view

Abstract

A mobile computing device comprises a memory, a processor and a transceiver. The memory is configured to store at least one type of position assist data. The processor is configured to provide a position fix based on the position assist data. The transceiver is configured for wireless communication. The memory is configured to store updated position assist data for the type of position assist data. The processor is operable in a first operating mode in which the type of position assist data is not updated and operable in a second operating mode in which the type of position assist data is updated in response to at least one triggering event.

Claims

1. A mobile computing device, comprising:

a memory configured to store at least one type of position assist data, the memory being further configured to receive updated position assist data for the at least one type of position assist data and store the updated position assist data for the at least one type of position assist data;

a processing circuit configured to provide a position fix based on the position assist data, the processing circuit further configured to operate in an operating mode in which the at least one type of position assist data is updated in response to launching an application capable of requesting a position fix, the at least one type of position assist data comprising a type of position assist data selected from the group consisting of almanac data, ephemeris data, and mobile-station assist data; and

a transceiver configured for wireless communication.

2. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein updating the at least one type of position assist data comprises updating coarse data.

3. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein updating the at least one type of position assist data comprises receiving data indicative of updated position assist data from the transceiver.

4. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to continue to update position assist data for the at least one type of position assist data in response to the launch of the application even where the application does not request position fixes.

5. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the processing circuit is configured to receive a request for a position fix from the application, update position assist data stored in the memory based on the request for the position fix from the application, and to continue to update position assist data stored in the memory in response to the request for a position fix received from the application even where the application does not request subsequent position fixes.

6. The mobile computing device of claim 5, wherein the processing circuit is configured to update the position assist data after the request for a position fix from the application at intervals, wherein the intervals are variable.

7. The mobile computing device of claim 5, wherein the processing circuit is configured to update position assist data a first time in response to the request for a position fix from the application and to update the position assist data at least a second time in response to the request for a position fix from the application, the second time being immediately after the first time, the update of the position assist data from the second time not being used to respond to the request for a position fix from the application.

8. The mobile computing device of claim 7, wherein the processing circuit is configured to update the position assist data a plurality of times after the first time in response to the request for a position fix from the application even where the application does not request subsequent position fixes.

9. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one type of position assist data comprises ephemeris data.

10. The mobile computing device of claim 1, wherein the at least one type of position assist data comprises almanac data.

11. A mobile computing device, comprising:

a memory configured to store at least one type of position assist data, the memory further being configured to store updated position assist data for the at least one type of position assist data;

a processing circuit configured to provide a position fix based on the position assist data and configured to operate in an operating mode in which the at least one type of position assist data is updated a first time in response to a request for a position fix from an application, the processing circuit further configured to update the position assist data at least a second time in response to the request for the position fix from the application, the update of the position assist data from the second time not being used to respond to the request for the position fix from the application; and

a transceiver configured for wireless communication.

12. The mobile computing device of claim 11, wherein the second time is immediately after the first time.

13. The mobile computing device of claim 11, wherein the processing circuit is further configured to operate in an operating mode in which the at least one type of position assist data is updated in response to launching the application capable of generating the request for the position fix, the application not configured to request a position fix upon launch of the application.

14. The mobile computing device of claim 11, wherein the second time is not immediately after the first time.

15. The mobile computing device of claim 11, wherein, wherein the processing circuit is configured to update the position assist data a plurality of times after the first time in response to the request for a position fix from the application even where the application does not request subsequent position fixes.

16. The mobile computing device of claim 15, wherein an interval between the first time and a subsequent one of the plurality of times is variable.

17. The mobile computing device of claim 11, wherein updating the position assist data the first time and the second time comprises obtaining a position fix for the mobile computing device.

18. The mobile computing device of claim 11, wherein the processing circuit comprises a global positioning system engine.

19. A mobile computing device, comprising:

a memory configured to store at least one type of position assist data, the memory being further configured to receive updated position assist data for the at least one type of position assist data and store the updated position assist data for the at least one type of position assist data;

a processing circuit configured to provide a position fix based on the position assist data, the processing circuit further configured to operate in an operating mode in which the at least one type of position assist data is updated in response to launching an application capable of requesting a position fix that does not request a position fix upon launch; and

a transceiver configured for wireless communication.