Method, system and device for positioning mobile terminal

• US 8,849,300 B2
• Filed: 04/22/2010
• Issued: 09/30/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 04/22/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Zhou, Lei, Zheng, Xufeng, Zhao, Zheng
• Primary Examiner(s): Mehrpour, Melody
• Application Number:
  US13/265,792
• Publication Number:
  US 20120040694A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,622 Days
• Field of Search: 455/9, 455/572, 455/456.1, 455/455, 370/315
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/06 Position of source determined by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements G01S5/12 takes precedence

Abstract

This invention provides a method, system and device for positioning a mobile terminal. The method includes: instructing, by a serving base station or an upper level relay, measuring a transmission time of a positioning signal with the mobile terminal, and instructing two relays in a serving cell to measure the transmission time of the positioning signal with the mobile terminal; and calculating, by the serving base station or the upper level relay, a position of the mobile terminal according to the transmission time of the positioning signal, the position of the serving base station or the upper level relay and the position of the two relays. The method, system and device provided by the present invention can reduce communication overhead in mobile terminal positioning, and improve the positioning accuracy of mobile terminal positioning.

Claims

1. A method for positioning a mobile terminal, comprising:

instructing, by a serving base station or an upper level relay, a measurement of a transmission time of a positioning signal to two relays in a serving cell; and

calculating, by the serving base station or the upper level relay, a position of the mobile terminal according to the transmission time of the positioning signal measured by at least one of the two relays, wherein instructing the measurement of the transmission time of the positioning signal comprises;

allocating at least one of a preamble sequence and a reference signal in a downlink frame, and

sending at least one of the preamble sequence and the reference signal having information of the resource for the positioning signal to the mobile terminal to determine a timeslot for the positioning signal in the mobile terminal.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising:

receiving a positioning request having an identifier of the mobile terminal; and

determining the mobile terminal to be positioned according to the identifier.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the serving base station or the upper level relay is configured to calculate the position of the mobile terminal according to an obtained transmission time of the positioning signal, the position of the serving base station or the upper level relay and the position of the two relays using a Math Figure as follows:

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein instructing the measurement of the transmission time of the positioning signal comprises:

allocating an uplink resource for the mobile terminal if the positioning signal is an uplink signal, and

wherein calculating the position of the mobile terminal comprises;

receiving the positioning signal over the uplink resource;

measuring the transmission time of the positioning signal;

receiving the transmission time of the positioning signal measured by the two relays from the two relays; and

measuring the position of the mobile terminal according to the transmission time of the positioning signal measured by the two relays.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the allocating the uplink resource for the mobile terminal comprises:

allocating the reference signal in the downlink system frame; and

sending the reference signal having information of the uplink resource to the mobile terminal to determine a timeslot for sending the positioning signal in the mobile terminal.

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the reference signal is sent in the timeslot of the preamble sequence of the downlink system frame.

7. The method according to claim 5, wherein receiving the positioning signal comprises:

receiving the positioning signal in an advanced timeslot that is set with respect to the allocated downlink resource, by the mobile terminal for sending the positioning signal.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein instructing the measurement of a transmission time of the positioning signal comprises:

allocating a downlink resource for the serving base station or the upper level relay and the two relays if the positioning signal is a downlink signal;

notifying the mobile terminal; and

wherein calculating the position of the mobile terminal comprises;

sending the positioning signal over the allocated downlink resource;

receiving the transmission time of the positioning signal measured by the mobile terminal; and

measuring the position of the mobile terminal according to the transmission time of the positioning signal measured by the mobile terminal.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein instructing the measurement of the transmission time of the positioning signal comprises:

allocating a downlink resource for the serving base station or the upper level relay and the two relays if the positioning signal is a downlink signal;

notifying the mobile terminal; and

wherein calculating the position of the mobile terminal comprises;

sending the positioning signal over the allocated downlink resource,

receiving a difference in the transmission time of the positioning signal between each of the two relays and the serving base station or the upper level relay measured by the mobile terminal, and

measuring the position of the mobile terminal according to a difference in the transmission time of the positioning signal measured by the mobile terminal.

10. The method according to claim 8, wherein the positioning signal comprises:

an orthogonal sequence inserted into the downlink system frame;

or

a spread spectrum sequence being orthogonal to a preamble timeslot that is inserted into a preamble sequence timeslot in a downlink system; and

the positioning signal comprises;

the preamble sequence timeslot in the downlink system to determine the timeslot for receiving the positioning signal in the mobile terminal.

11. The method according to claim 8 wherein receiving the positioning signal comprises:

receiving the positioning signal in an advanced timeslot that is set with respect to the allocated downlink resource, by the mobile terminal for sending the positioning signal.

19. The method according to claim 9, wherein the downlink positioning signal sent by the serving base station or the upper level relay and the two relays over the allocated downlink resource respectively comprises:

an orthogonal sequence inserted into a downlink system frame, or

a spread spectrum sequence being orthogonal to a preamble timeslot that is inserted into a preamble sequence timeslot in a downlink system; and

the downlink positioning signal comprises;

the preamble sequence timeslot in the downlink system.

20. The method according to claim 9, wherein sending the positioning signal over the allocated downlink resource respectively comprises:

setting, with respect to the allocated downlink resource, an advanced timeslot; and

sending the downlink positioning signal in the advanced timeslot.

21. The method according to claim 1, wherein calculating the position of the mobile terminal comprises calculating the position of the mobile terminal according to the transmission time of the positioning signal measured by the serving base station or the upper level relay.

12. A system for positioning a mobile terminal, comprising:

the mobile terminal, two relays in a serving cell, and a serving base station or an upper level relay, wherein

the serving base station or the upper level relay is configured to;

instruct a measurement of a transmission time of a positioning signal to instruct to the two relays,

allocate at least one of a preamble sequence and a reference signal in a downlink system frame, and send at least one of the preamble sequence and the reference signal having information of the resource for the positioning signal to the mobile terminal to determine a timeslot for the positioning signal in the mobile terminal,

obtain the transmission time of the positioning signal, and

measure a position of the mobile terminal by performing a calculation according to the obtained transmission time of the positioning signal measured by the two relays,

wherein the two relays are configured to measure the transmission time of the positioning signal with the mobile terminal according to the instruction from the serving base station or the upper level relay; and

the mobile terminal is configured to measure the transmission time of the positioning signal with the serving base station or the upper level relay and the two relays respectively according to the instruction from the serving base station or the upper level relay.

13. The system according to claim 12, wherein

the serving base station or the upper level relay, is configured to:

allocate an uplink resource for the mobile terminal if the positioning signal is an uplink signal;

receive the positioning signal over the uplink resource;

measure the transmission time of the positioning signal;

receive the transmission time of the positioning signal measured by the two relays from the two relays; and

measure the position of the mobile terminal according to the transmission time of the positioning signal measured by the serving base station of an upper level relay and the two relays.

14. The system according to claim 12, wherein

the serving base station or the upper level relay is configured to:

allocate a downlink resource for the serving base station or the upper level relay and the two relays if the positioning signal is a downlink signal;

notify the mobile terminal;

send the positioning signal over the allocated downlink resource;

receive the transmission time of the positioning signal measured by the mobile terminal; and

measure the position of the mobile terminal according to the transmission time of the positioning signal measured by the mobile terminal.

15. The system according to claim 12, wherein

the serving base station or the upper level relay is configured to:

allocate a downlink resource for the serving base station or the upper level relay and the two relays if the positioning signal is a downlink signal;

notify the mobile terminal;

send the positioning signal over the allocated downlink resource;

receive a difference in the transmission time of the positioning signal between each of the two relays and the serving base station or the upper level relay measured by the mobile terminal; and

measure the position of the mobile terminal according to the difference in the transmission time of the positioning signal measured by the mobile terminal.

22. The system according to claim 12, wherein the serving base station or the upper level relay is configured to calculate the position of the mobile terminal according to the transmission time of the positioning signal measured by the serving base station or the upper level relay.

16. A relay for positioning a mobile terminal, comprising:

a transceiver unit configured to receive at least one of a preamble sequence and a reference signal having information of a resource for a positioning signal,

receive a sent positioning signal, at a timeslot determined based on the at least one of the preamble sequence and the reference signal, according to an instruction from a serving base station or an upper level relay; and

a positioning unit configured to measure a transmission time of the positioning signal with the mobile terminal, and send the transmission time of the positioning signal to the serving base station or the upper level relay.

17. The relay according to claim 16, wherein the positioning signal is an uplink ranging signal, and the relay further comprises:

the transceiver unit configured to;

receive a measurement notification message from the serving base station or the upper level relay,

send the same to the positioning unit, and

send the obtained transmission time of the uplink ranging signal to the serving base station or the upper level relay; and

the positioning unit configured to;

obtain the transmission time by performing measurement when receiving the uplink ranging signal sent from the mobile terminal, and send the obtained transmission time of the uplink ranging signal to the transceiver unit.

18. The relay according to claim 16, wherein the positioning signal is a downlink positioning signal, and the relay further comprises:

the transceiver unit configured to;

receive a measurement notification message from the serving base station or the upper level relay,

send the same to the positioning unit, and

send the downlink positioning signal to the mobile terminal according to an instruction from the positioning unit; and

the positioning unit configured to;

instruct the transceiver unit to send the downlink positioning signal to the mobile terminal after receiving the measurement notification message sent from the transceiver unit.