System and method for geographically locating a cellular phone

• US 8,818,380 B2
• Filed: 11/09/2009
• Issued: 08/26/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/09/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Inrix Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Inrix Incorporated
• Inventors: Feldman, Israel, Meltzer, Yochay, Lavee, Uri, Eshpar, Allon
• Primary Examiner(s): Vu, Michael T
• Application Number:
  US12/614,538
• Publication Number:
  US 20100120436A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,751 Days
• Field of Search: 455/445, 455/456.3, 455/441, 455/456.1, 455/458, 455/440, 455/443, 455/446, 455/436
• US Class Current: 455/443
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/14 Reselecting a network or an air interface
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/32 by location or mobility data, e.g. speed data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

According to an embodiment of the invention, there is disclosed a method for geographically locating a cellular phone. The method comprises: determining an effective cell-area for each of a first cell and a second cell in a cellular network; and determining a handover area within which the cellular phone is likely to be located when control of the cellular phone is transferred from the first cell to the second cell; wherein the determination of the handover area and the effective cell-area for each of the first cell and the second cell are made based on a topological relationship between the first cell and the second cell. Further related apparatus embodiments are also disclosed.

Claims

1. A method of monitoring vehicle traffic flow by determining successive locations of a plurality of cellular phones located in a plurality of vehicles, the method comprising:

repeatedly determining the location of at least some of the plurality of cellular phones; and

sampling the locations of the at least some of the cellular phones to determine a present picture of vehicle traffic flow;

wherein determining the location of a cellular phone of the plurality comprises determining the area in which handover from a first cell to a second cell occurs, the determination of the area in which handover occurs being based on;

modeling at least a portion of a cell reception area of said first cell and said second cell; and

defining the area in which handover occurs to comprise overlapping portions of said first and second cell areas.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising predicting future vehicle traffic conditions based on the present picture of traffic flow.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determination of the area in which handover occurs is made by consulting a database of pre-determined handover areas for cell pairs, using handover data from a cellular network.

4. A The method according to claim 3, wherein the handover data comprises cell identifier data.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein the handover data comprises time advance data.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the determination of the area in which handover occurs is made online using streaming handover data from a cellular network.

7. An apparatus for monitoring vehicle traffic flow by determining successive locations of a plurality of cellular phones located in a plurality of vehicles, the apparatus comprising:

a handover area module for defining a handover area comprising overlapping portions of a modeled cell reception area of at least a portion of each of a first cell and a second cell of a cellular network; and

a sampler module for sampling a set of repeated location determinations of at least some of the plurality of cellular phones, to determine a present picture of vehicle traffic flow, wherein each such location determination is based at least in part on the handover area defined by the handover area module for a given cellular phone moving between a given first cell and second cell of the cellular network.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising:

a predictor module for predicting future traffic conditions based on the present picture of traffic flow.

9. The apparatus according to claim 7, further comprising:

a handover area database comprising pre-determined handover areas for cell pairs.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein the handover area module is capable of consulting the handover area database using streaming handover data from the cellular network.

11. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the handover data comprises cell identifier data.

12. The apparatus according to claim 10, wherein the handover data comprises time advance data.

13. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the handover area module is capable of determining the handover area online based on streaming handover data from the cellular network.