SITE LOCATION DETERMINATION USING CROWD SOURCED PROPAGATION DELAY AND LOCATION DATA

• US 20130337843A1
• Filed: 06/13/2012
• Published: 12/19/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fix, Jeremy, Meredith, Sheldon Kent, Fix, Larry
• Granted Patent: US 9,326,263 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.5
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/021 Calibration, monitoring or correction G01S5/0252 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02213 Receivers arranged in a network for determining the position of a transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Site location determination using crowd sourced propagation delay and location data is provided. A propagation delay component receives a set of propagation delay measurements for communications between a mobile device and an access point. A user equipment location component receives a location of the mobile device, and a combination component combines the set of propagation delay measurements and the location into a set of location data. An access point location component determines a set of intersecting locations between the set of location data and additional sets of location data, and determines a location of the access point based on the set of intersecting locations.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

at least one memory storing computer-executable instructions; and

at least one processor, communicatively coupled to the at least one memory, which facilitates execution of the computer-executable instructions to at least;

receive propagation delay measurements based on communication signals exchanged by a mobile device and an access point;

receive a location of the mobile device; and

determine an estimated location of the access point based at least in part on the propagation delay measurements and the location of the mobile device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor further facilitates the execution of the computer-executable instructions to generate a first set of location data based at least in part on the propagation delay measurements and the location of the mobile device.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the at least one processor further facilitates the execution of the computer-executable instructions to determine a set of intersecting locations between the first set of location data and additional sets of location data.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the additional sets of location data are generated based on locations of disparate mobile devices and propagation delay measurements for communication signals exchanged by the access point and the disparate mobile devices.

5. The system of claim 3, wherein the at least one processor further facilitates the execution of the computer-executable instructions to determine the estimated location of the access point based at least in part on a subset of the intersecting locations.

6. The system of claim 5, wherein the at least one processor further facilitates the execution of the computer-executable instructions to:

determine that the estimated location of the access point satisfies an error threshold; and

in response the estimated location of the access point satisfying the error threshold, set the estimated location of the access point as a determined actual location of the access point.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one processor further facilitates the execution of the computer-executable instructions to provide the determined actual location of the access point to a wireless communications network for use in a set of network services.

8. The system of claim 6, wherein the error threshold includes a predetermined size of the estimated location of the access point.

9. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one processor further facilitates the execution of the computer-executable instructions to:

determine that the estimated location of the access point does not satisfy the error threshold; and

in response the estimated location of the access point not satisfying the error threshold, determine another set of intersecting locations between the first set of location data and other additional sets of location data.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor further facilitates the execution of the computer-executable instructions to:

determine that the propagation delay measurements do not include a compensation factor for a length of a connection between an antenna of the access point and a set of base equipment for the access point; and

in response to the propagation delay measurements not including the compensation factor, correct the propagation delay measurements based on the length of the connection between the antenna of the access point and the set of base equipment for the access point.

11. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a system including a processor, propagation delay measurements based on communication signals exchanged by a mobile device and an access point;

receiving, by the system, a location of the mobile device;

generating, by the system, a first set of location data based at least in part on the propagation delay measurements and the location of the mobile device;

comparing, by the system, the first set of location data and additional sets of location data corresponding to a set of disparate mobile devices; and

determining, by the system, based on the comparison, an estimated location of the access point.

12. The method of claim 11, wherein the comparing, includes determining, by the system, intersecting locations between the first set of location data and the additional sets of location data.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining, by the system, the estimated location of the access point satisfies an error threshold; and

in response the estimated location of the access point satisfying the error threshold, setting, by the system, the estimated location of the access point as a determined actual location of the access point.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein determining the estimated location of the access point satisfies the error threshold, includes determining the estimated location satisfies a predetermined size range.

15. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining, by the system, the estimated location of the access point does not satisfy the error threshold; and

in response to the estimated location of the access point not satisfying the error threshold, comparing, by the system, intersecting locations between the first set of location data and other additional sets of location data.

16. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining, by the system, that the propagation delay measurements do not include a compensation factor for a length of a connection between an antenna of the access point and a set of base equipment for the access point; and

in response to the propagation delay measurements not including the compensation factor, correcting, by the system, the propagation delay measurements based on the length of the connection between the antenna and the set of base equipment for the access point.

17. A computer readable storage medium comprising computer executable instructions that, in response to execution, cause a computing system including at least one processor to perform operations, comprising:

receiving a location of a first mobile device and a first set of propagation delay measurements for communication signals exchanged by the first mobile device and an access point;

generating a first set of location data using the first set of propagation delay measurements and the location of the first mobile device;

receiving a location of a second mobile device and a second set of propagation delay measurements for communication signals exchanged by the second mobile device and the access point;

generating a second set of location data using the second set of propagation delay measurements and the location of the second mobile device;

determining a set of intersecting locations between the first set of location data and the second set of location data; and

identifying an estimated location of the access point based at least in part on the set of intersecting locations.

18. The computer readable storage medium of claim 17, further comprising:

determining that the estimated location of the access point satisfies an error threshold; and

in response to the estimated location of the access point satisfying the error threshold, setting the estimated location as a determined actual location of the access point.

19. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, further comprising:

determining that the estimated location of the access point does not satisfy the error threshold; and

in response to the estimated location of the access point not satisfying the error threshold, determining a set of intersecting locations between the first set of location data, the second set of location data, and a third set of location data corresponding to a third mobile device.

20. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, wherein the determining the estimated location of the access point satisfies the error threshold, includes determining the estimated location satisfies a predetermined size range.

21. The computer readable storage medium of claim 18, further comprising:

comparing the determined actual location of the access point to additional sets of location data corresponding to a set of other mobile devices; and

determining, based on the comparing, a quantity of the additional sets of location data that do not satisfy an accuracy threshold.

22. The computer readable storage medium of claim 21, wherein determining the quantity of the additional sets of location data that do not satisfy the accuracy threshold, includes determining a quantity of the additional sets of location data that are not less than or equal to a predetermined distance from the determined actual location of the access point.

23. The computer readable storage medium of claim 22, further comprising:

determining that the quantity of the additional sets of location data satisfies a flagging threshold; and

in response to the quantity of the additional sets of location data satisfying the flagging threshold, flagging the determined actual location of the access point as inaccurate.

24. The computer readable storage medium of claim 22, wherein determining that the quantity of the additional sets of location data satisfies the flagging threshold, includes determining that the quantity of the additional sets of location data exceeds a predetermined quantity of additional sets of location data that do not satisfy the accuracy threshold.