Wireless location using multiple mobile station location techniques
DC CAFCFirst Claim
1. A method for locating each terrestrial mobile station of a plurality of terrestrial mobile stations, M, wherein said method uses wireless signal measurements obtained from one or more transmissions between said terrestrial mobile station M and one or more of a plurality of terrestrial communication stations, each terrestrial communication capable of at least one of:
- wirelessly detecting said terrestrial mobile station M, and wirelessly being detected by said terrestrial mobile stations M, comprising;
for each of the mobile stations M perform the following steps by computational machinery;
receiving first and second location related information, respectively, from computational machinery performing first and second mobile station location estimation determiners, wherein said location estimation determiners provide different geographical indications of an unknown location of said mobile station M when said location estimation determiners are supplied with corresponding input data obtained using wireless signal measurements obtained by transmissions between said mobile station M and the communication stations;
wherein, when available, the first location related information includes at least a first geographical indication for a location of the mobile station M;
wherein, when available, the second location related information includes at least a second geographical indication for the location of the mobile station M;
wherein for locating the mobile station M in at least one location, said second geographical indication for M is obtained and is dependent upon a delay time of a signal from at least one non-terrestrial wireless transmitter, not supported on the Earth'"'"'s surface, to M for determining a spatial range for M; and
outputting a resulting location estimate of the mobile station M, a determination of said resulting location estimate is dependent upon at least one of (a) and (b) following;
(a) a first value obtained from said first location related information, and (b) a second value obtained from said second location related information.
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Accused Products
Abstract
A hybrid wireless location system and method is disclosed for locating mobile stations (MSs). Multiple wireless location techniques (FOMs) are provided for MS location. One or more FOMs can be activated in various combinations (serially or parallelly) for outputting one or more MS location estimates with signal protocols, e.g., CDMA, TDMA, or GSM. Resulting location estimates may be for, e.g.: 911 emergency calls, tracking, navigation, people and animal location, andJor applications for confinement to andlor exclusion from geographical areas. System components may be distributed on a network (e.g., the Internet). FOMs may be based on one or more of: TOA, TDOA, AOA, signal pattern recognitionlfingerprinting, statistical analysis, base station coverage, GPS signals received at the MS, andlor input from mobile stations. Location estimates are enhanced by adjusting MS estimates (and/or confidences therefor) according to: a past performance of the FOM providing such estimates, and/or MS geolocation or velocity constraints.
718 Citations
232 Claims
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1. A method for locating each terrestrial mobile station of a plurality of terrestrial mobile stations, M, wherein said method uses wireless signal measurements obtained from one or more transmissions between said terrestrial mobile station M and one or more of a plurality of terrestrial communication stations, each terrestrial communication capable of at least one of:
- wirelessly detecting said terrestrial mobile station M, and wirelessly being detected by said terrestrial mobile stations M, comprising;
for each of the mobile stations M perform the following steps by computational machinery; receiving first and second location related information, respectively, from computational machinery performing first and second mobile station location estimation determiners, wherein said location estimation determiners provide different geographical indications of an unknown location of said mobile station M when said location estimation determiners are supplied with corresponding input data obtained using wireless signal measurements obtained by transmissions between said mobile station M and the communication stations; wherein, when available, the first location related information includes at least a first geographical indication for a location of the mobile station M; wherein, when available, the second location related information includes at least a second geographical indication for the location of the mobile station M; wherein for locating the mobile station M in at least one location, said second geographical indication for M is obtained and is dependent upon a delay time of a signal from at least one non-terrestrial wireless transmitter, not supported on the Earth'"'"'s surface, to M for determining a spatial range for M; and outputting a resulting location estimate of the mobile station M, a determination of said resulting location estimate is dependent upon at least one of (a) and (b) following;
(a) a first value obtained from said first location related information, and (b) a second value obtained from said second location related information. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 40, 41, 42, 43, 52, 106, 211, 212, 213, 214, 215, 216, 217, 218, 219, 220)
- wirelessly detecting said terrestrial mobile station M, and wirelessly being detected by said terrestrial mobile stations M, comprising;
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8. A method for estimating, for each mobile station M of a plurality of mobile stations, one or more corresponding unknown terrestrial locations for M using wireless signal measurements obtained from transmissions between said mobile station M and a plurality of fixed location terrestrial communication stations, wherein each of said communications stations is substantially co-located with one or more of a transmitter and a receiver for wirelessly communicating with said mobile station M, comprising performing the following steps by computational machinery:
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(1) initiating one or more requests for locating the mobile station M, wherein the requests are for activating one or more mobile station location evaluators provided by computational machinery for locating the mobile station M, at least one of said one or more location evaluators performs at least the first technique following, and at least one of said one or more location evaluators performs at least one of the second and third techniques following; (i) a first technique for obtaining first geographic location information for said mobile station M using signal time delay values for signals received at the mobile station M from each of a plurality of satellites; (ii) a second technique for recognizing a pattern in wireless signal characteristics, wherein said second technique includes the steps of (a) and (b) following; (a) associating, for each location La of a plurality of geographical locations, (a1) and (a2) following; (a1) a representation of the geographical location La, and (a2) for the geographical location La, corresponding information indicative of one or more characteristics of wireless signals previously transmitted between some corresponding mobile station (ML a ) and the communication stations, when the some corresponding mobile station MLa -transmitted from approximately the geographical location La, the corresponding mobile station MLa different from M; and(b) determining second geographic location information for M by identifying a similarity in a pattern between (b1) and (b2) following;
(b1) one or more wireless signal characteristics determined from wireless signals communicated between the mobile station M and the communication stations, and (b2) the information of (a2) for a collection of one or more of the plurality of geographical locations; and(iii) a third technique, wherein said third technique uses a statistical correlation for correlating (c) and (d) following; (c) values that are a function of at least one of;
a signal strength and a signal time delay of wireless signals between said mobile station M and the communication stations, and(d) information indicative of;
a plurality of collections of wireless signal measurements, wherein for each said collection, there is a known location S for obtaining said collection from transmissions between said communication stations and some mobile station (MS) at the location S, MS different from M;wherein said statistical correlation is used for determining corresponding third geographic location information for the mobile station M; (2) obtaining a first collection of one or more geographic estimations for said mobile station M, wherein the one or more geographic estimations are obtained from one or more of said first, second and third geographic location information of the one or more location evaluators; wherein there is two way communication between the mobile station M and at least one of the communication stations for obtaining at least one of the geographic estimations; (transmitting, to a predetermined destination via a communications network, resulting information for locating the mobile station M, wherein said resulting information is dependent on at least said first collection; wherein for locating at least one location of the mobile station M, a preference is given to using a corresponding instance of one of the geographic estimations obtained form the first technique. - View Dependent Claims (9, 44, 45, 49, 53, 118, 209, 210, 221, 222)
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10. A method for locating mobile stations at one or more unknown terrestrial locations using wireless signal measurements obtained from transmissions between said mobile stations and a plurality of fixed location terrestrial communication stations, wherein each of said communications stations includes one or more of a transmitter and a receiver for wirelessly communicating with said mobile stations, comprising performing the following steps by computational machinery:
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receiving, from a plurality of location requesting sources, a plurality of input requests for locations of the mobile stations; for each of the input requests, providing to one or more mobile station location determining sources, one or more location requests for location information related to a location of one of said mobile stations; wherein said one or more location determining sources perform the following techniques (i), and (ii); (i) a first technique for determining geographical location information of each of at least some of said mobile stations, wherein for at least some geographical location of some mobile station M1 of the at least some mobile stations, the first technique outputs the geographical location information for locating M1 using a signal time delay value dependent upon a first input obtained from a signal, S1, received at the mobile station M1 from a satellite, wherein said first technique uses said signal time delay value for determining the geographical location information, the signal time delay related to at least one distance between said mobile station M1 and the satellite; (ii) a second technique for determining second geographical location information for each of a plurality of said mobile stations, wherein for some mobile station M2 of the plurality of mobile stations, the second technique outputs the second geographical information for locating M2, the second geographical information obtained by determining for a wireless signal communicated between the mobile station M2 and at least one of the communication stations, one of; (ii-1) a geographical extent corresponding to a detection of the wireless signal, and (ii-2) a geographical extent obtained using a signal time delay measurement or signal strength measurement of the wireless signal; wherein a two way communication between M2 and the communication stations occurs for obtaining the wireless signal; first obtaining, in response to a first of the location requests received from a first of the requesting sources, first output location data for locating a first of the mobile stations, wherein the first output location data is obtained from said geographical location information output by an instance of said first technique performed by a corresponding one of the location determining sources, wherein the first mobile station corresponds to M1; wherein the first output location data is obtained according to a first output criteria for the first request, said first output location data including a representation identifying a first geographical indication of the first mobile station; second obtaining, in response to a second of the location requests received from a second of the requesting sources, second output location data for locating a second of the mobile stations, wherein the second output location data is obtained from said second geographical information output by an instance of the second technique performed by a corresponding one of the location determining sources, wherein the second mobile station corresponds to M2; wherein the second output location data is obtained according to a second output criteria for the second request, said second output location data including a representation identifying a second geographical indication of the second mobile station; wherein for at least one of said first and second output criteria there is an output criteria for another of the location requests that is different from said at least one output criteria; wherein one or more of the first and second output criteria includes data for location accuracy, or data for location determining repetition; first transmitting said first output location data to a corresponding destination via a communications network; and second transmitting said second output location data to a corresponding destination via a communications network. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70)
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11. A location system for locating mobile stations using wireless signal data obtained from transmissions between said mobile stations and a network of fixed location communication stations, wherein said communication stations are cooperatively linked for use in locating said mobile stations, comprising computational equipment for mobile station location, the equipment including:
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a data storage archive for storing a plurality of data collections, wherein for each of a plurality geographical locations, there is one of said data collections having (a1) and (a2) following; (a1) a representation of the geographical location, and (a2) a set of said wireless signal data obtained using transmissions between one of said mobile stations and the network, wherein the one mobile station transmits from approximately the geographical location of (a1); a computational component having at least one module of machine instructions for communicating with computational equipment providing one or more location estimation determiners, at least one of which is included in the category (b1) following, and at least one of said location estimation determiners is included in the category (b2) following; (b1) a first category of adaptable location estimation determiners, wherein each said adaptable location estimation determiner generates a geographical location estimate for each mobile station (Mb1) of a plurality of said mobile stations when said adaptable location estimation determiner receives first corresponding input values obtained from transmissions between said mobile station Mb1 and a plurality of the communication stations, and wherein each said adaptable location estimation determiner adapts its generated geographical location estimates according to changes in said data collections of said archive; (b2) said second category of location estimation determiners, wherein each said location estimation determiner of said second category determines a location for each mobile station (Mb2) of a plurality of said mobile stations by using second corresponding input values obtained from wireless signals, S, received by Mb2, or another of said mobile stations, from a plurality of non-terrestrial transmitting stations above and not supported on the Earth'"'"'s surface, wherein said wireless signals S provide time values for determining a spatial range between;
(i) Mb2 or the another mobile station, and (ii) each of at least two of the non-terrestrial stations, wherein the spatial ranges are determined from transmission times for each of the wireless signals transmitted by the at least two of the non-terrestrial transmitting stations;wherein for one of the mobile stations M, a location estimation determiner selector of the at least one module selects one or more of;
one of said adaptable location estimation determiners, and one of said location estimation determiners of said second category according to whether said first corresponding input values are available for the mobile station M being an instance of Mb1, or said second corresponding input values are available for the mobile station M being an instance of Mb2. - View Dependent Claims (12, 50, 54, 107)
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13. A location system for locating wireless mobile stations, each capable of using wireless signals in communicating with a plurality of networked stationary communication stations, comprising:
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a transceiver;
(a) for detecting a direction of at least a portion of the wireless signals transmitted from a corresponding one of the mobile stations, and (b) for communicating with said networked communication stations information related to a location of said wireless mobile stations;a signal analyzer for determining whether a detected wireless signal from said mobile stations has been one of;
reflected and deflected;one or more location estimation determiners for providing one or more location estimates of said mobile stations, wherein at least one of said location estimation determiners utilizes the wireless signals from said mobile stations; and a vehicular transport for moving at least said transceiver when locating said wireless mobile stations; wherein; (a) for locating at least one of the mobile stations, the direction of the transmitted signals from the at least one mobile station is used, (b) for locating at least one of the mobile stations, the transceiver communications with the communication stations is used, (c) for locating at least one of the mobile stations, an output from the signal analyzer is used, and (d) for locating at least one of the mobile stations, of the one or more location estimates therefor is used. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16)
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17. A method for locating a wireless mobile station, comprising performing the following steps by computational equipment:
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(A1) receiving location information for the mobile station by the steps (a) and (b) following; (a) first obtaining a first instance of the location information when supplied with signal time delay data obtained from wireless signal data received by the mobile station from a satellite, wherein a geographic range corresponding to the signal time delay data is used to determine the first instance; wherein communication between the mobile station and at least one terrestrial transceiver is used to improve said first instance; and (b) second obtaining a second instance of the location information of the mobile station when supplied with second data indicative of time delays of wireless signals transmitted between the mobile station and a plurality of terrestrial transceivers cooperatively linked together for use in two way communication with the mobile station, wherein at least one of (i) and (ii) following are used for obtaining the second instance;
(i) a representation of a locus of locations having substantially a same time difference of arrival for wireless signals communicated between;
the mobile station, and each of at least two of the transceivers, and (ii) an area obtained by a correspondence between surveyed wireless signaling characteristics of the area, and wireless signals communicated between the mobile station and the transceivers;wherein the second instance does not depend on a geographical location of the mobile station obtained from information indicative of a distance between the mobile station and at least one of the one or more satellites; (A2) determining resulting location information, for each of one or more locations of said mobile station, using at least one of;
a first value obtained from the first instance, and a second value obtained from the second instance;(A3) outputting said resulting location information for each of the one or more locations; wherein;
the first value is used to obtain the resulting information for one of the locations, and the second value is used to obtain the resulting information for one of the locations. - View Dependent Claims (71, 72, 73, 74)
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18. A method for locating a plurality of wireless mobile stations, wherein for each of the wireless mobile stations, measurements of wireless signals are used such that at least one of:
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(i) said measurements, and (ii) said wireless signals, is transmitted between said mobile station and at least one of a plurality of fixed location communication stations, each communication station capable of at least one of receiving wireless signals from, and transmitting wireless signals to said mobile station, comprising performing the following steps by computational equipment; (1) receiving, from a first mobile station location estimation determiner corresponding first information, and from a second mobile station location estimation determiner corresponding second information, wherein each of the corresponding first and second information relates to geographical approximations for a location of a mobile station (M1) of the mobile stations, wherein (a) and (b) following hold; (a) for determining a geographical approximation, GAA, for a location, LA, of a second of the mobile stations (M2) at a time TA, said first location estimation determiner generates GAA without requiring a prior geographical location approximation generated by said second location estimation determiner for locating M2 at substantially the location LA at substantially the time TA, and, (b) for estimating a geographical approximation, GAB, for a location, LB, of a third one of the mobile stations (M3) at a time TB, said second location estimation determiner generates GAB without requiring a prior geographical location approximation generated by said first location estimator for locating M3 at the location LB at substantially the time TB; wherein the first and second mobile station location estimation determiners are provided by computational machinery; wherein for determining the first information, said first mobile station location estimation determiner activates or receives an output from a signal processing technique for estimating a location of the mobile station M1 when supplied with data obtained from wireless signals received by M1 from one or more transmitting stations above and not supported on the Earth'"'"'s surface, wherein said wireless signals provide time values, and said signal processing technique uses at least one differential between a time of transmission and a time of arrival for the wireless signals transmitted by a plurality of the transmitting stations; (2) determining a resulting location estimate of said mobile station M1; wherein said step of determining (2 includes one of the substeps (B1) through (B3) following; (B1) when said first and second information include, respectively, first and second geographical approximations of said mobile station M1, combining said first and second geographical approximations so that said resulting location estimate is dependent on each of said first and second location geographical approximations; (B2) changing one or more rating values for rating at least one of said first and second information, wherein said rating values are indicative of expected performances of said first and second location information in locating the mobile station M1; and (B3) selecting one of said first and second information for receiving preference in determining said resulting location estimate. - View Dependent Claims (19, 55, 75, 76, 77, 151, 152, 153, 154)
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154. The method of claim 18, wherein the second mobile station location estimation determiner activates or receives an output from a direction of arrival technique for locating the mobile station M1, when supplied with second data obtained from wireless signal measurements communicated between the mobile station M1 and one of said communication stations (CS), wherein the direction of arrival technique determines a location estimate of the mobile station M1 using, from the second data, a direction from which wireless signals arrive at CS from the mobile station M1.
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20. A method for locating a terrestrial wireless mobile station capable of wireless two way communication with a plurality of fixed location terrestrial stations, comprising performing the following steps by computational machinery:
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receiving, from computational machinery performing a plurality of mobile station location techniques, a plurality of instances of location information having one or more location estimates of the mobile station, wherein said location techniques generate the instances of location information when said location techniques are supplied with corresponding input information upon which their location information is dependent, and wherein the corresponding input information is at least partially derived from measurements of wireless signals transmitted from or received at the mobile station; wherein said step of receiving includes steps (a) and (b) following; (a) first receiving, from a first of said location techniques, first location information for the mobile station, wherein said corresponding input information for said first location technique includes timing data from wireless signals transmitted from one or more global positioning satellites, and received by the mobile station, wherein said first location technique also uses information dependent upon a location of a terrestrial receiver, TS, that receives a wireless transmission from the mobile station, and resulting in the first location information being dependent on the location of TS and the timing data, wherein TS is remote from the mobile station; (b) second receiving, from a second of said location techniques, second location information for the mobile station, wherein said corresponding input information for said second location technique includes data that is a function of a signal time delay of wireless signals transmitted between the wireless mobile station and one of said plurality of fixed location terrestrial stations during a plurality of transmissions between the mobile station and the one terrestrial station; wherein for obtaining the corresponding input information for the second location technique, there is at least one transmission from the mobile station to the one terrestrial station, and at least one transmission from the one terrestrial station to the mobiles station, and wherein said second location information is determined by said second location technique at a site whose location is spaced apart from the mobile station; determining, a plurality of resulting location estimates for the mobile station, wherein said step of determining includes steps (c) and (d) following; (c) obtaining at least one of said resulting location estimates using an instance (I1) of said first location information for locating the mobile station; and (d) obtaining at least one of said resulting location estimates using an instance (I2) of said second location information for locating the mobile station. - View Dependent Claims (21, 22, 23, 24, 56, 78, 79, 108, 109, 110, 120, 150)
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25. A method for providing a location estimate of a wireless mobile station dependent upon measurements of wireless signals,
wherein for receiving a first collection of measurements related to signal time delay of wireless signals, the wireless signals received by said mobile station and transmitted from one or more satellites, there is a predetermined corresponding location technique for determining first location information of the mobile station; -
wherein when provided with the first collection, the predetermined corresponding location technique uses the first collection to determine a location for the mobile station; wherein for receiving a second collection of measurements obtained from wireless signals transmitted between said mobile station and one or more fixed location terrestrial stations, at least when said first collection is not available, there is a predetermined corresponding location technique for determining second location information of the mobile station; wherein said second collection includes signal time delay data of wireless signals transmitted between the mobile station and the fixed location terrestrial stations, there being at least one wireless transmission from the mobile station to the one or more fixed location terrestrial stations in order to provide the predetermined corresponding location technique for receiving the second collection with the second collection; wherein said second collection of measurements is used by the corresponding location technique for receiving the second collection to determine a location estimate of the mobile station by determining a locus of locations from at least one of the fixed location terrestrial stations, wherein for locations identified by said locus of locations, a signal time delay dependent condition is satisfied using the signal time delay data, comprising performing the following steps by computational equipment; first obtaining the first location information of said mobile station, the first location information determined by computational machinery when said corresponding location technique for using the first collection is supplied with an instance of said first collection; second obtaining the second location information of said mobile station, the second location information determined by computational machinery when said corresponding location technique for receiving the second collection is supplied with an instance of said second collection; and outputting, to a source for accessing location data for said mobile station, resulting location information that is dependent upon;
at least one of said first and second location information, and also dependent upon data for indicating a likelihood of the mobile station being in a geographical extent represented by of at least one of said first location information and said second location information. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 57, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 85, 116, 117)
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30. A method for locating a mobile station M wherein said method uses wireless signal measurements obtained from transmissions between said mobile station M and a plurality of fixed location communication stations, wherein each of said communication stations includes one or more of a transmitter and a receiver for wirelessly communicating with said mobile station M;
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wherein first and second mobile station location evaluators are available, wherein each of said location evaluators determine location related information for locating said mobile station M as a result of said location evaluator being supplied with data having values obtained from wireless signal measurements, wherein (A) and (B) following hold; (A) said first location evaluator performs one or more of the following techniques (i), (ii), (iii) and (iv) as a result of said techniques being supplied with a corresponding instance of said data; (i) a first technique for determining a first resulting data related to a location of the mobile station M from a first corresponding instance of said data, the first corresponding instance of said data dependent upon a two way communication between the mobile station M and at least one of the communication stations CS, wherein one of;
a wireless signal angle of arrival, and a time difference of arrival between the mobile station M and the at least one of the communication stations CS from the first corresponding instance of said data is used for determining said first resulting data;(ii) a second technique for determining a second resulting data related to a location of the mobile station M, using timing values from a second corresponding instance of said data obtained from signals received at the mobile station M from a plurality of satellites wherein the second technique uses wireless signals between the mobile station M and at least one of the communication stations to improve a performance for obtaining the second resulting data; (iii) a third technique for determining a third resulting data related to a location of the mobile station M by recognizing signal characteristics from a third corresponding instance of said data, wherein said third technique includes the steps of (a) and (b) following; (a) accessing information obtained from an association that associates, for each geographical location (L) of a plurality of geographical locations, (a1) and (a2) following; (a1) a representation of the geographical location L, and (a2) for the geographical location L, corresponding signal information indicative of at least one characteristic of a signal S previously transmitted between some mobile station, ML, and one or more of the communication stations, when the some mobile station ML transmitted S from approximately the geographical location L; wherein for at least most of said geographical locations L, ML is different from the mobile station M; (b) determining one or more likely location estimates for the mobile station M from a similarity between (b1) and (b2) following; (b1) the third corresponding instance of said data, the third corresponding instance including values for one or more signal characteristics determined from wireless signals communicated between the mobile station M and the communication stations, wherein said signal characteristics include at least a first measurement of a non-line of sight signal transmission between the mobile station M and one of the communication stations, and (b2) a portion of the accessed information that is indicative of the signal information of (a2); and (iv) a fourth technique for determining a fourth resulting data related to a location of the mobile station M, wherein said fourth technique statistically determines an expected location of the mobile station M by correlating (c) and (d) following; (c) wireless signal related values obtained from a fourth corresponding instance of said data, and (d) data, D, wherein for each location LD of a plurality of locations, said data D includes one or more wireless signal measurements related to a wireless communication between some mobile station different from the mobile station M when the different mobile station is substantially at LD, wherein said correlation is used for determining a likely geographical indication, GR, for a location for the mobile station M; and (B) for said one or more of said techniques performed by said first location evaluator, said second location evaluator performs a different combination of one or more of said first, second, third and fourth techniques when supplied with corresponding instances of said data for the one or more techniques of said different combination of techniques; comprising the following steps performed by computational equipment; first obtaining, from said first location evaluator, first location related information, for at least one location of M, as a result of one or more of the first, second, third and fourth corresponding instances of data being used by their respective one or more of the techniques performed by computational machinery configured to perform the first location evaluator; second obtaining, from said second location evaluator, second location related information, for at least one location of M, as a result of one or more of the first, second, third and fourth corresponding instances being used by their respective said one or more of the techniques performed by computational machinery configured to perform second location evaluator; wherein for locating the mobile station M, at least one of said first and second location evaluators determines a corresponding one of said first and second location related information using said second resulting data; and third obtaining a resulting location estimate of the mobile station M dependent upon at least one of;
(a) said first location related information, and (b) said second location related information.- View Dependent Claims (31, 51, 86)
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32. A method for locating a mobile station dependent upon wireless signal measurements obtained from transmissions between said mobile station and at least one of a plurality of terrestrial transceivers capable of wirelessly detecting said mobile station, comprising the following steps performed by computational machinery:
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providing access to at least two of the location techniques (a) through (c) following; (a) a first location technique for triangulating or trilaterating a location of the mobile station, wherein for each transceiver T of three or more of the terrestrial transceivers, one of;
a signal time of arrival, and a signal time difference of arrival between the mobile station and the transceiver T is determined using a first input obtained from the wireless signal measurements,wherein for at least one of the three or more transceivers T0, the signals for obtaining the wireless signal measurements are received at the transceiver T0 during a plurality of wireless signal transmissions between the mobile station and the transceiver T0, with at least one of the transmissions being from the mobile station to the transceiver T0, and at least one of the transmissions being from the transceiver T0 to the mobile station; (b) a second location technique using a second input obtained from one or more transmissions between the mobile station and the transceivers, said second input further including time delay measurements of signals received at the mobile station from one or more satellites; (c) a third location technique that determines a location of the mobile station by using a plurality of pairs of (i) and (ii) following; (i) characteristics of wireless signals communicated between some mobile station and one or more of the transceivers, and (ii) a location of said some mobile station during the communication, wherein when said third technique is supplied with a third input of characteristics of wireless signals communicated between said mobile station and one or more of the transceivers, data indicative of a location of the mobile station is obtained from a similarity between the third input and the characteristics of wireless signals of (c)(i); determining whether at least said second location technique has its corresponding input available for determining a first location estimate of said mobile station; determining a second location estimate of said mobile station by activating an accessible one of said location techniques different from said second location technique when the corresponding input for said different location technique is available; obtaining at least one of said first and second location estimates; obtaining resulting location information for transmitting on a communications network, wherein said resulting location information is obtained using at least one of said first location estimate and said second location estimate; wherein when said mobile station is at a first location, an instance of at least said first location estimate is used in said obtaining step for obtaining a first corresponding instance of said resulting location information, and when said mobile station is at a second location, an instance of at least said second location estimate is used in said obtaining step for obtaining a second corresponding instance of said resulting location information; and wherein for at least one of the first and the second locations, said obtaining step includes one of;
(1) a step of improving upon said instance of at least said first location estimate, and (2) a step of providing information indicative of an accuracy of said first corresponding instance of said resulting location information. - View Dependent Claims (33, 87, 88, 149)
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34. A method for locating a mobile station, M, of a plurality of mobile stations using wireless signal measurements obtained from transmissions between the mobile station M and at least one of a plurality of communication stations, wherein each of said communication stations includes one or more of a transmitter and a receiver for wirelessly communicating with each of the mobile stations, comprising performing the following steps by computational machinery:
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providing access to computational equipment that is configured to perform at least first and second location estimation determiners for estimating a location of the mobile station M, wherein for said first location estimation determiner to estimate a location of the mobile station M, said first location estimation determiner is dependent upon a location representation from one or more of the location techniques of the following (a) through (e) location technique categories, and for said second location estimation determiner to estimate a location of the mobile station M, said second location estimation determiner is dependent upon a location representation from one of the following (a) through (e) location technique categories, wherein the corresponding input for at least one of the first and second location estimation determiners includes wireless location indicative data that is different from the wireless location indicative data included in the corresponding input of the other of the first and second location estimation determiners; the above cited location technique categories include; (a) trilateration and triangulation techniques for determining a location estimate of each mobile station (Ma) of at least some of the mobile stations at a site not co-located with the mobile station Ma, wherein for some e of the communication stations in communication with the mobile station Ma, one of;
a wireless signal time of arrival, and a wireless signal time difference of arrival between the mobile station Ma and the some communication stations is obtained using a first input obtained from timing measurements of wireless signal measurements obtained from transmissions between the mobile station Ma and the communication stations;wherein for at least one of the some communication stations, CS, the timing measurements are obtained from signals communicated during a plurality of wireless signal transmissions between the mobile station Ma and CS, with at least one of the transmissions being from the mobile station Ma to CS; (b) a stochastic technique for determining a location estimate of each mobile station (Mb) of at least some of the mobile stations, wherein said stochastic technique uses a statistical correlation for correlating (i) and (ii) following; (i) a second input obtained from wireless signal measurements obtained from transmissions between the mobile station Mb and the communication stations, and (ii) data, D, wherein for each location (LB) of a plurality of locations, said data D includes one or more wireless signal measurements related to a wireless communication between some mobile station that is substantially at LB; wherein for at least most of said geographical locations LB, said some mobile station is different from the mobile station Mb; and wherein said correlation is used for determining a likely geographical range, GR, for a location for the mobile station Mb and data indicative of a probability that the mobile station Mb is within the likely geographical range GR; (c) a learning technique for determining a location estimate of each mobile station (Mc) of more than one of the mobile stations, by learning an association, wherein said association is determined by a training process using a plurality of data pairs, each said pair including;
first information indicative of a location LC of some mobile station (Mi), and second information from wireless signal measurements between said some mobile station Mi and one or more of the communication stations when said some mobile station Mi is at the location LC,wherein when said learning technique is supplied with a third input obtained from the wireless signal measurements obtained from transmissions between the mobile station Mc and at least one of a plurality of the communication stations, data indicative of a location for the mobile station Mc is determined; (d) a pattern recognition location technique for estimating a location of each mobile station (Md) of more than one of the mobile stations, wherein said pattern recognition location technique estimates a location of the mobile station Md at a location (LD) by recognizing a pattern of characteristics of a fourth input obtained from the wireless signal measurements obtained from transmissions between the mobile station Md and the communication stations, wherein said pattern of characteristics includes signal characteristic data indicative of wireless signal transmissions between the mobile station Md and one or more of the communication stations; and (e) a fifth location technique for determining a location estimate of each mobile station (Me) of more than one of the mobile stations, wherein said fifth location technique uses a fifth input obtained from time delay measurements from signals received at the mobile station Me from one or more non-terrestrial communication stations above and not supported on the earth'"'"'s surface; determining whether said first location estimation determiner has its corresponding input available for determining a first location estimate of the mobile station M; determining a second location estimate of said mobile station M by activating said second location estimation determiner with its corresponding input when the corresponding input for said second location estimation determiner is available, and said corresponding input to said first location estimation determiner is unavailable; wherein for locating the mobile station M, at least one of said first and second location estimation determiners uses said fifth technique for determining a geographical location indication for M; transmitting resulting location information on a communications network, wherein said resulting location information is obtained using at least one of said first location estimate and said second location estimate; wherein when said mobile station M is at a location (L1), an instance of at least said first location estimate is used for obtaining a first corresponding instance of said resulting location information, and when said mobile station M is at a location (L2), an instance of at least said second location estimate is used for obtaining a second corresponding instance of said resulting location information; and wherein prior to the step of transmitting the resulting location information for the location L1, one of the following steps is performed;
(1) a step of improving upon said instance of at least said first location estimate, and (2) a step of providing information indicative of an accuracy of said first corresponding instance of said resulting location information. - View Dependent Claims (35, 89, 90, 91)
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36. A method for locating at least one mobile station, M, of a plurality of mobile stations, using wireless signal data obtained from transmissions between said mobile station M and at least one of a plurality of communication stations, each of the communication stations capable of at least one of:
- wirelessly detecting said mobile station M, and wirelessly being detected by said mobile station M, wherein at least some of said communication stations are able to provide voice communication with some of the mobile stations, including the mobile station M, comprising performing the following steps by computational machinery;
receiving, for each mobile station (Mi) of;
the mobile station M, and one or more additional ones of the mobile stations, wireless signal data obtained from transmissions between;
(i) said communication stations, and (ii) said mobile station Mi at an unknown location, wherein said wireless signal data includes at least two of (A1) through (A3) following;(A1) data obtained using signal timing measurements of wireless signal transmissions between said mobile station Mi and a set S1 of one or more of said at least some communication stations at terrestrial locations, wherein for at least one of the communication stations, CS, of the set S1, there is a corresponding portion of the signal timing measurements that are obtained as a result of a plurality of wireless signal transmissions between the mobile station Mi and CS, with at least one of the transmissions being from the mobile station Mi to CS; (A2) data obtained using time delay measurements from wireless signal transmissions between one or more non-terrestrial communication stations above and not supported on the Earth'"'"'s surface, and said mobile station Mi; (A3) signal characteristic data, D, of wireless signal transmissions between said mobile station Mi and a set S3 of one or more of said communication stations, wherein (i) there is a data store including corresponding signal characteristic data for each of a plurality of terrestrial locations in a wireless coverage area provided by S3, (ii) said signal characteristic data D includes information for determining one of a correspondence and a similarity with the corresponding signal characteristic data in the data store for one or more locations L of the plurality of locations, and (iii) for at least one of the locations L, said corresponding signal characteristic data for L is obtained from signal transmissions from a mobile station different from M; generating a location estimate for the unknown location of said mobile station M, said location estimate dependent upon a geographical extent output from a corresponding computational machinery implemented instance of each of at least the location technique (B2) following, and one other of the following location techniques (B1) and (B3); (B1) a first technique that determines location information indicative of a range between at least one of the communication stations and a mobile station being located; wherein for locating the mobile station M, said corresponding instance of said first technique uses the data obtained in (A1) for M being Mi, and an instance of the set S including one of the terrestrial communication stations (CSM) for determining a range between the mobile station M and the communication station CSM using signal timing measurements obtained as a result of a plurality of wireless signal transmissions between the mobile station M and CSM; (B2) a second technique that determines location information indicative of a range between a non-terrestrial communication station above and not supported on the Earth'"'"'s surface, and a mobile station being located; wherein for locating the mobile station M, said corresponding instance of said second technique uses;
(i) the data obtained in (A2) for M being Mi, and (ii) one of the one or more non-terrestrial communication stations (S) to determine a range between the mobile station M and the non-terrestrial communication station S; and(B3) a third technique that determines location information indicative of a wireless signal similarity or correspondence for transmissions between the communication stations and a mobile station being located; wherein for locating the mobile station M, said corresponding instance of said third technique uses;
(i) the signal characteristics D from (A3) for M being Mi, and (ii) the data store of (A3). - View Dependent Claims (37, 38, 92, 93, 94, 95, 119)
- wirelessly detecting said mobile station M, and wirelessly being detected by said mobile station M, wherein at least some of said communication stations are able to provide voice communication with some of the mobile stations, including the mobile station M, comprising performing the following steps by computational machinery;
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39. A method for locating a wireless mobile station, comprising:
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performing by computational machinery the following steps (A1) through (A3) for locating the mobile station; (A1) obtaining location related information for locating the mobile station, said location related information obtained from using at least one of (a) and (b) following; (a) wireless timing signals received by the mobile station from one or more satellites, wherein said timing signals from each of the one or more satellites identify a location of the mobile station; and (b) time delays of wireless signals transmitted between the mobile station and one or more transceivers of a plurality of terrestrial transceivers cooperatively linked together for use in locating the mobile station, wherein said time delays identify a locus of locations of the mobile station from at least one of the transceivers, and wherein for one of the one or more transceivers, a corresponding one of the time delays is obtained from signals transmitted during a plurality of wireless signal transmissions between the mobile station and the at least one transceiver, with at least one of the transmissions being from the mobile station to the at least one transceiver; wherein an instance of the location related information obtained from each of (a) and (b) is used at some time for determining a respective location of the mobile station; (A2) determining data for a graphical presentation of a likely location of the mobile station from at least one of the instances of the location related information by determining a likely roadway upon which the mobile station is located; and (A3) providing said data for a graphical presentation for displaying on a display device; wherein for at least one performance (P) of the steps (A1) through (A3), the location related information from the wireless timing signals of(a) fee is preferred for determining the corresponding graphical presentation for P over location related information from time delays of timing signals of (b), unless there is a reduced or no effectiveness for locating the mobile station by wireless timing signals according to (a). - View Dependent Claims (144, 145, 146, 147, 148)
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96. A method for locating mobile stations, comprising performing the following steps performed by computational machinery:
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providing access to each of a plurality of mobile station location determining computational machine resources for determining corresponding instances of location information for locating mobile stations using corresponding data obtained from measurements of wireless signals transmitted between; (i) the mobile stations, and (ii) one or more of;
(1) one or more of a plurality of communication stations capable of at least wirelessly detecting the mobile stations, and (2) one or more non-terrestrial wireless signal transmitting stations above and not supported on the Earth'"'"'s surface;for each mobile station M of some of said mobile stations, perform steps (A) through (E) following; (A) first providing data to a first of said resources for obtaining a first instance of said corresponding location information for the mobile station M at a location L1, wherein in determining said first instance, said first resource uses a result from a first location technique, performed by computational machinery, the first location technique included in at least one of the location determining categories (b1) through (b5) following said step of second providing below; (B) second providing data to a second of said resources for obtaining a second instance of said corresponding location information for the mobile station M at a location L2, wherein said second resource uses a result from a second location technique, performed by computational machinery, the second location technique included in at least one of the location determining categories (b1) through (b5) following; wherein for locating an instance (I) of at least some location of the mobile station M by the first resource, the first location technique is activated, and a location estimate from the second location technique is not used for determining the location estimate, and for locating an instance (Ik) of at least some location of the mobile station M by the second resource, the second location technique is activated, and a location estimate from the first location technique is not used for determining a resulting location estimate from the second location technique; the location determining categories being (b1) through (b5) following; (b1) a first category of one or more location determining techniques, wherein each said technique (T1) of said first category determines a geographical extent Ga for a location of a mobile station (Ma) by identifying a pattern of signal characteristics for wireless signals communicated between Ma and the communication stations as likely to have been a result of Ma being in Ga, wherein said T1 performs the identification by determining a similarity between (b1-1) and (b1-2) following; (b1-1) one or more of said signal characteristics of communication with Ma, and (b1-2) data obtained from a survey of wireless signal characteristics in an area including said geographical extent Ga; (b2) a second category of one or more location determining techniques, wherein each said technique of said second category determines a geographical extent Gb for a location of a mobile station (Mb) as a result of (I) and (II) following; (I) generating an association for associating;
(i) each location L of a plurality of geographical locations with (ii) data indicative of corresponding measurements of wireless signals transmitted between some one of said mobile stations, different from Mb, and the communication stations, wherein said some mobile station is approximately at the location L, and(II) using said association together with characteristics of signals communicated between Mb and the communication stations for determining the geographical extent Gb for the location of Mb; (b3) a third category of one or more offset determining techniques, wherein each said offset determining technique determines a geographical extent Gc for a location of a mobile station (Mc); wherein said offset determining technique utilizes one or more timing measurements of wireless signals between the mobile station Mc and a plurality of the communication stations for determining the geographical extent Gc; wherein said timing measurements are a function of a signal time delay between the mobile station Mc and at least one communication station CS of the plurality of communication stations, and said timing measurements are for determining Gc as a function of at least;
a location of CS, and a predetermined formula representative of a geometric curve for determining a horizontal position of Mc;wherein there is a corresponding portion of the signal timing measurements that are obtained during a plurality of wireless signal transmissions between the mobile station Mc and CS, with at least one of the transmissions being from the mobile station Mc to CS; wherein said communication station CS is supported on the Earth; and wherein each of said offset determining techniques determines a geographical extent for a location of each of a plurality of different mobile stations; (b4) a fourth category of one or more direction of arrival location determining techniques wherein each said direction of arrival technique determines a geographical extent for a location of a mobile station (Md) by determining an angular orientation about a communication station CSd of a direction of the mobile station Md using a measurement of a wireless signal angle of arrival of wireless signals transmitted between the mobile station Md and the communication station CSd; (b5) a fifth category of one or more wireless location techniques wherein each said technique (T5) of said fifth category determines a geographical extent for a location of a mobile station (Me) using wireless signals received at the mobile station Me from the non-terrestrial transmitting stations, wherein said wireless signals provide time values, and said technique T5 determines at least one elapsed time for signal transmissions to Me for the wireless signals transmitted by one or more of the non-terrestrial transmitting stations; (C) first obtaining first structured location data using said first instance; (D) second obtaining second structured location data using said second instance, wherein said second location technique is included in at least said fifth category; wherein each of said first and second structured location data includes a common data representation for a plurality of location attributes, said representation including (d1) through (d2) following; (d1) a collection of one or more attributes, A1, for representing a geographical extent within which a mobile station being located is expected to be; (d2) a collection of one or more attributes related to at least one of;
an error in data for A1, and a likelihood of the mobile station being located being in the geographical extent represented by data for A1; and(E) outputting, to a predetermined destination on a communications network, resulting location information of a location LM of the mobile station M, said resulting location information being dependent upon data for said attributes (d1) and (d2) obtained from at least one of said first and second structured location data. - View Dependent Claims (97, 98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 111, 112, 113, 114, 115)
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121. A method for locating a plurality of wireless mobile stations using wireless signals, wherein each of a plurality of terrestrial stations is available for at least wirelessly detecting wireless transmissions from the mobile stations;
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wherein there are first and second mobile station location techniques, wherein each of said location techniques is capable of providing a location estimate for each mobile station of at least some of said mobile stations when the location technique is supplied with corresponding data obtained from wireless signal measurements indicative of the mobile station'"'"'s location; wherein (a) and (b) following; (a) the first location technique determines first location related information for each mobile station (Ma) of some of the plurality of mobile stations, using values that are indicative of a signal time delay between the mobile station Ma and one or more of the terrestrial stations, wherein two way signal communication between Ma and at least one of the one or more of the terrestrial stations is established for obtaining the signal time delay, wherein the first location technique determines the first location related information by determining a geographical extent, or location, common to a plurality of loci of locations, each locus determined using locations satisfying one or more predetermined location equations, each of the equations dependent upon the values for offsetting a corresponding one of the loci from at least one of the terrestrial stations, and (b) the second location technique determines second location related information, for each mobile station (Mb) of some of the plurality of mobile stations, using a geographical extent obtained from a conversion of data indicative of transmission times for wireless signals;
transmitted from a plurality of non-terrestrial transmitting stations above and not supported on the Earth'"'"'s surface, and received by Mb, or another of the plurality of mobile stations,comprising the following steps performed by computational machinery; first obtaining at a node of a network, an instance (I1) of the first location related information as an output by an implementation of the first location technique by computational machinery, the instance I1 including a first estimate of a location for a first of the mobile stations at a time (T1) and at an actual location (L1), wherein the first mobile station is an instance of Ma; wherein the first estimate is not dependent upon a geographical extent obtained from any conversion of data indicative of transmission times for wireless signals transmitted from a plurality of non-terrestrial transmitting stations above and not supported on the Earth'"'"'s surface; second obtaining at the node, an instance (I2) of the second location related information as an output by an implementation of the second location technique by computational machinery, the instance I2 including a second estimate of a location for a second of the mobile stations at a time (T2) and at an actual location (L2), wherein the second mobile station is an instance of Mb; wherein the implementation of the second location technique also uses data indicative of a range of the second mobile station relative to one of the terrestrial stations for determining the second estimate; performing after receipt by the node of the instance I1 and after receipt by the node of the instance I2, at least one corresponding computation, by computational machinery, that is dependent on a geographical location of a corresponding one of the first and second mobile stations; first transmitting, to a first predetermined destination of the network, first resulting information for locating the first mobile station, wherein the first resulting information is obtained using the instance I1 of said first location related information; and second transmitting, to a second predetermined destination of the network, second resulting information for locating the second mobile station, wherein the second resulting information is obtained using the instance I2 of said second location related information. - View Dependent Claims (122, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127, 128, 129, 130, 131, 132, 133, 134, 135, 136, 137, 138, 139, 140, 141, 142, 143)
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155. A method for locating each mobile station (M) of a plurality of terrestrial mobile stations, wherein there are wireless signal transmissions between each of the mobile stations M and a plurality of fixed location communication stations supported on the Earth, wherein each of the communications stations is operable for two way wireless communication with each of the mobile stations M, comprising the following steps performed by computational machinery:
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(1) providing access to first and second mobile station location processing techniques implemented on computational machinery, wherein said location processing techniques are able to determine information related to one or more location estimates of the mobile station M when the location processing techniques are supplied with data obtained from wireless signal measurements indicative of a location of M; wherein (A) and (B) following hold; (A) said first location processing technique determines first geographical location related information for M using first data indicative of a delay time of a signal from at least one satellite to M for determining a spatial range between M and the at least one satellite; (B) said second location processing technique determines second geographical location related information by performing one or more of the techniques (i) and (ii) following when the second location processing technique is supplied with a corresponding instance of said data for performing the one or more techniques; the techniques are; (i) a first technique for determining a location of the mobile station M, wherein a corresponding one of the instances includes a collection of measurements of wireless signals between the mobile station M and at least one of the communication stations, wherein the one instance is used by the first technique to determine a geographic estimation for the mobile station M relative to the at least one communication station, wherein two way communication between the mobile station M and one of the communication stations is established for obtaining the collection of measurements; and (ii) a second technique for determining a location, L, of the mobile station M by determining a correspondence between;
(a) wireless signal characteristics for wireless signals communicated between the mobile station M and a multiplicity of the communication stations, and
(b) a geographic location estimate for the location, L, wherein the geographic location estimate is dependent upon a similarity between the wireless signal characteristics, and previously obtained wireless signal characteristics for wireless communication between each of a plurality of mobile station locations, and the communication stations;(2) first obtaining an instance of the first geographical location related information when provided by the first location processing technique; (3) second obtaining an instance of the second geographical location related information when provided by the second location processing technique; and (4) determining resulting location information of the mobile station M dependent upon at least one of;
(a) a first value obtained from the instance of the first geographical location related information, and (b) a second value obtained from the instance of the second geographical location related information, wherein data indicative of a likelihood of the mobile station M being at a location represented by said resulting location information is determined. - View Dependent Claims (156, 157, 158, 159, 160, 161, 223, 224, 225)
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162. A method for locating a terrestrial mobile station, wherein said method uses wireless signal measurements obtained from transmissions between said mobile station and a network having a plurality of communication stations supported on the Earth, wherein each of said communication stations includes one or more of a transmitter and a receiver for wirelessly communicating with said mobile station,
wherein there are first and second mobile station location techniques for outputting mobile station location related response information when said location techniques are supplied with corresponding wireless signal related data; -
wherein said first location technique estimates a location of the mobile station using values obtained from wireless signals received at the mobile station from one or more satellites, wherein the values are indicative of signal time delay from the satellites to the mobile station; and wherein said second location technique estimates a location of the mobile station by using one or more measurements for a wireless signal between the mobile station and at least one of the communication stations, CS, for determining a geographical extent for the mobile station, the one or more measurements dependent upon a location of the at least one communication station CS; wherein there is two way wireless communication between the mobile station and the network in order to obtain the one or more measurements for the second location technique; comprising performing the following steps by computational machinery; first obtaining, from said first location technique, first location related response information for a location of the mobile station; second obtaining, from said second location technique, second location related response information for a location of the mobile station; and determining resulting location information of the mobile station using at least one of;
a first value obtained from said first location related response information, and a second value obtained from said second location related response information, wherein data indicative of a likelihood of the mobile station being at a location represented by said resulting location information is obtained using one of the first location related response information and the second location related response information.- View Dependent Claims (163, 164, 165, 166, 167, 168)
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169. A method for locating a plurality of terrestrial mobile stations using wireless signal measurements obtained from transmissions between the mobile stations and a network having a plurality of terrestrial communication stations, wherein each of said communication stations includes a transmitter and a receiver for wireless two way communications with the mobile stations;
- and
wherein one or more mobile station location estimation determiners are accessible such that as a result of the location estimation determiners being supplied with corresponding input for locating any one of the mobile stations (M), each of the location estimation determiners performs at least one of the following techniques; (i) a first technique for determining first location information for locating the mobile station M, the first location information including a location determined using signal time delay related data for a signal transmitted from at least one non-terrestrial wireless communication station that is above and not supported on the Earth'"'"'s surface, the signal received at the mobile station M; and (ii) a second technique for determining second location information for locating the mobile station M, the second location information determined using input data obtained from time delay data for wireless signal communication between the mobile station M, and at least one of the terrestrial communication stations CS1, and wherein there is two way wireless communication between the mobile station M and the network for obtaining the input data; comprising performing the following steps by computational machinery; receiving location requests for locating the mobile stations; issuing, in response to the location requests, corresponding requests for information related to locations of the mobile stations, the corresponding requests for requesting activation of at least one of the location estimation determiners; obtaining, for a corresponding location of each mobile station (Mi) requested to be located, at least one of;
a corresponding instance of the first location information for Mi from computational machinery performing the first technique, and a corresponding instance of the second location information for Mi from computational machinery performing the second technique;transmitting, to a site on a network, a location estimate of Mi dependent upon the at least one of the corresponding instance of the first location information for Mi, and a corresponding instance of the second location information, wherein the site accesses location estimate of Mi for a predetermined purpose; wherein information related to a correctness of the location estimate of Mi is also obtained for transmission in the transmitting step; wherein for each of some of the mobile stations requested to be located, the corresponding instance of the first location information therefor is given a preference in obtaining the corresponding location estimate for transmission in the transmitting step; and wherein for each of some of the mobile stations, their corresponding information related to a correctness is dependent upon their corresponding instances of the second location information. - View Dependent Claims (170, 171, 172, 173, 174, 175, 176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 182, 183, 184, 226)
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185. A mobile station location system for a network having plurality of terrestrially based stationary location communication stations for wirelessly communicating with a multiplicity of mobile stations, comprising:
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a network node for receiving a plurality of network requests for location indicative data of a plurality of the mobile stations; computational equipment including (1) and (2) following; (1) a selection component, wherein in response to the requests received by the network node, and for each mobile station (Mn) of the plurality of mobile stations, the selection component selectively communicates with each of one or more computational machine location providing sources for providing location information for Mn to the network node; (A) wherein for a corresponding location for each mobile station (Mi) of some of the plurality of mobile stations, (a-1) and (a-2) occur; (a-1) the network node receives the location information for Mi provided by a first of the location providing sources, wherein the first location providing source determines the location information for Mi using a conversion of signal timing data to a geographical extent of Mi, wherein the signal timing data includes;
for each of a plurality of transmitting stations, located above and not supported on the Earth'"'"'s surface, an elapsed time of one or more wireless signals transmitted from the transmitting stations, and received by the mobile station M1; and(a-2) the corresponding location indicative data for the mobile station Mi is obtained using the location information for Mi; (B) wherein for a corresponding location for each mobile station (Mk) of some of the plurality of mobile stations, (b-1) and (b-2) occur; (b-1) the network node receives the location information for Mk provided by one of the location providing sources, the location information for Mk dependent upon information indicative of a location of at least one corresponding communication station (CSk) of the communication stations in two way wireless communication with Mk; and (b-2) the corresponding location indicative data for the mobile station Mk is obtained using the location information for Mk received by the network node; (C) wherein for at least one mobile station (Mp) of the mobile stations Mk and the corresponding location for Mp according to (B) above, the location indicative data for Mn is not obtained using geographic data indicative of a spatial range between the mobile station Mp and one or more transmitting stations above and not supported on the Earth'"'"'s surface, wherein the geographic data would have to be determined using signals received at the mobile station Mp from the one or more transmitting stations; (2) a destination determination component, wherein for each of the mobile stations Mn, the destination determination component selectively determines a corresponding network destination for the location indicative data for Mn to be output by the network node; wherein the network destination accesses the location indicative data for Mn in performing a location based service related to a corresponding one of the requests for the location indicative data for Mn received by the network node. - View Dependent Claims (186, 187, 188, 189, 190, 191, 192, 193, 194, 195, 196, 197, 198, 199, 200, 201, 202, 227)
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203. A mobile station location system for locating each mobile station (M0) of a plurality of mobile stations (said plurality of mobile stations denoted Σ
- ),
wherein the location system provides communications for obtaining information indicative of locations of the mobile stations of Σ
by activating one or more of mobile station location estimating sources provided by computational machinery;wherein for locating each of a plurality of the mobile stations of Σ
, a first of the one or more estimating resources provides a corresponding first location information that is dependent upon a result of computational machinery performing an implementation of a location technique included in the category (a) of location techniques following, and for locating each of a plurality of the mobile stations of Σ
, corresponding second location information is obtained that is dependent upon a result of computational machinery performing an implementation of a location technique of the category (b) of location techniques following;(a) a first category of one or more signal processing location techniques, wherein each of the signal processing location techniques estimates a location of at least one of the mobile stations (Ma) of E by determining location information for Ma by a conversion of signal timing data to a geographical extent of Ma, wherein the signal timing data includes;
for each of a plurality of transmitting stations, located above and not supported on the Earth'"'"'s surface, an elapsed time of one or more wireless signals transmitted from the transmitting stations, and received by the mobile station Ma;(b) a second category of one or more location techniques, wherein each of the location techniques of the second category outputs corresponding data for locating of each mobile station (Mb) of a plurality of the mobile stations of Σ
, the corresponding data dependent upon wireless communication between the mobile station Mb and at least one of a plurality of terrestrially based stationary communication stations of a wireless network, wherein the corresponding data is obtained using information for identifying a location of one of the terrestrially based stationary location communication stations, CS, andwherein the wireless communication includes a plurality of receptions of wireless signal transmissions communicated between the mobile station Mb and CS, with at least one of the transmissions being received at CS; the location system comprising;
equipment for communicating on one or more communications networks, the equipment including;a location data resource for the communications networks, the location data resource including a network interface, wherein for each of the mobile stations M0, the network interface provides a location estimate of the mobile station M0 to a predetermined network destination via one of the communications networks; wherein the location data resource includes a selection process that performs a selection resulting in preferring an instance (I1) of the corresponding first location information for M0 being an instance of Ma, for obtaining the location estimate over an instance (I2) of the corresponding second location information for M0 being an instance of Mb. - View Dependent Claims (204, 205, 206, 207, 208, 228, 229, 230, 231, 232)
- ),
Specification