POSITION ESTIMATION OF A WIRELESS TERMINAL IN A STRUCTURE USING BASE STATION SIGNAL INFORMATION

• US 20150057032A1
• Filed: 11/13/2014
• Published: 02/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 04/18/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Original Assignee: Sony Corporation (Sony Group Corp.)
• Inventors: REKIMOTO, Junichi
• Granted Patent: US 9,544,866 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/457
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0018 Transmission from mobile station to base station
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02521 using a radio-map
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/10 Scheduling measurement reports ; Arrangements for measurement reports
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/33 for indoor environments, e.g. buildings
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 60/00 Affiliation to network, e.g. registration; Terminating affiliation with the network, e.g. de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A wireless terminal, method, and non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The wireless terminal includes circuitry configured to receive a wireless signal transmitted from a base station; perform signal intensity measurement of the received wireless signal; receive, via a graphical user interface, section information that identifies a section of a building structure for which the signal intensity measurement is to be performed; and transmit measurement information acquired by the signal intensity measurement of the received wireless signal, base station identification information that indicates a base station of a transmission source of the wireless signal, and the section information. The measurement information is associated with the base station identification information and the section information. The circuitry is further configured to perform the signal intensity measurement of the received wireless signal in response to a predetermined user input operation that is received after the section information.

Claims

1. A wireless terminal comprising:

a wireless signal receiving portion that receives a wireless signal transmitted from a base station;

a measurement portion that performs signal intensity measurement of the wireless signal received by the wireless signal receiving portion; and

an information transmitting portion that transmits at least one piece of second measurement information acquired by the signal intensity measurement of the wireless signal performed by the measurement portion, and at least one piece of base station identification information that indicates a base station of a transmission source of the wireless signal and that is associated with each of the at least one piece of second measurement information.

2. A wireless terminal comprising:

a wireless signal receiving portion that receives a wireless signal transmitted from a base station;

a measurement portion that performs signal intensity measurement of the wireless signal received by the wireless signal receiving portion;

an input portion to which section information indicating one section of a building structure is input by a user; and

an information transmitting portion that transmits at least one piece of second measurement information acquired by the signal intensity measurement of the wireless signal performed by the measurement portion, and at least one piece of base station identification information that indicates a base station of a transmission source of the wireless signal and that is associated with each of the at least one piece of second measurement information.

3. A wireless terminal comprising:

a communication portion for receiving from a base station, a wireless signal comprising base station identification information of the base station, and for transmitting information comprising registration request information to a position estimation server;

a measurement portion for performing a signal intensity measurement of the wireless signal received by the communication portion;

an information acquisition portion for acquiring and transmitting to the position estimation server via the communication portion, at least one piece of second measurement information acquired by the signal intensity measurement of the wireless signal performed by the measurement portion;

a display screen generation portion for generating one or more display screens;

a display portion for displaying the one or more display screens generated by the display screen generation portion;

an operation portion for collecting input from a user, the collection of input comprising causing the display screen generation portion to generate the one or more display screens; and

a registration request portion for transmitting to the position estimation server, via the communication portion, the registration request information comprising one or more of a section, a structure name, signal intensity information, and estimated distance information.

4. The wireless terminal of claim 3, wherein the one or more display screens comprise a section information registration screen for registering information comprising section information with the position estimation server, and a guidance screen.

5. The wireless terminal of claim 4, wherein the section information registration screen comprises means for inputting a structure name associated with the wireless terminal'"'"'s location, and a section associated with the wireless terminal'"'"'s location, the section comprising a floor or a room.

6. The wireless terminal of claim 3, wherein the display portion comprises at least one of:

a Cathode Ray Tube (CRT) display device, a Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) device, an Organic Light Emitting Display (OLED) device, and a lamp.

7. The wireless terminal of claim 3, wherein the information acquisition portion periodically transmits the at least one piece of second measurement information, or transmits the measurement information based on user operation of the operation portion.

8. The wireless terminal of claim 3, wherein the communication portion comprises one or more of:

a wireless communication function defined by the Institute of Electrical and Electronic Engineers (IEEE);

a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) communication function defined by IEEE; and

a communication function associated with Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX).

9. The wireless terminal of claim 3, wherein the communication portion communicates information comprising at least one of:

electronic mail, audio data, visual data, and program code.

10. The wireless terminal of claim 3, wherein the wireless terminal is one of:

a mobile phone, a personal computer, a home video processing device, a personal handyphone system, a mobile music playback device, a mobile video processing device, a personal digital assistant, a home game console, a mobile game console, and a household electrical appliance.