Reference based location information for a wireless network

• US 8,938,258 B2
• Filed: 06/14/2012
• Issued: 01/20/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 06/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.), AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fix, Jeremy, Hume, Andrew G., Meredith, Sheldon Kent
• Primary Examiner(s): TAYLOR, NATHAN SCOTT
• Application Number:
  US13/523,770
• Publication Number:
  US 20130337826A1
• Time in Patent Office: 950 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-4566, 342/353, 342/444
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0252 Radio frequency fingerprinting
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Determining referenced based location information for a wireless radio network is described. Referenced based location information can include determining location reference information and corresponding location offset information based on location information. In an aspect, location information can be timed fingerprint location information. Location offset information can be communicated in a wireless network at a lower operational cost than the associated location information. As such, use of referenced based location information for a wireless network can reduce bandwidth consumption as compared to location information communicated at similar intervals. This is particularly true in large wireless networks. Moreover, the use of referenced based location information for determining timed fingerprint location information can be highly attractive in light of timed fingerprint location information facilitating location information for many non-GPS enabled devices and being associated with significant increases in the frequency and density of location event requests.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a memory to store executable instructions; and

a processor, communicatively coupled to the memory, that facilitates execution of the executable instructions to perform operations, comprising;

receiving location information related to a location of a user equipment; and

determining location reference information and corresponding location offset information based on the location information, wherein changes in the location of the user equipment are related to corresponding changes in the location offset information, and the location offset information comprises an identification parameter comprising a modified international mobile subscriber identity parameter related to an identification of the user equipment, a timestamp parameter related to time information, and a location parameter related to the location of the user equipment.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the location information comprises timed fingerprint location information.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the modified international mobile subscriber identity parameter is represented by four (4) bytes.

4. The system of claim 3, wherein the modified international mobile subscriber identity parameter excludes a mobile country code and a mobile network code.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the timestamp parameter is represented by one (1) byte.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the location parameter comprises a longitude parameter, a latitude parameter, and an altitude parameter.

7. The system of claim 6, wherein the longitude parameter is represented by two (2) bytes, the latitude parameter is represented by two (2) bytes and the altitude parameter is represented by two (2) bytes.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the location offset information further comprises a method parameter related to another identification of a location method and an accuracy parameter related to a further identification of a level of accuracy.

9. The system of claim 8, wherein the method parameter is represented by four (4) bits and the accuracy parameter is represented by four (4) bits.

10. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a system including a processor, location information relating to a location of a user equipment; and

determining, by the system, a set of location reference values and a set of location offset values based on the location information, wherein changes in the location of the user equipment are related to corresponding changes in the set of location offset values, and the set of location offset values comprise an identification parameter comprising a modified international mobile subscriber identity parameter related to an identification of the user equipment, a timestamp parameter related to time information, and a location parameter related to the location of the user equipment.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the receiving the location information includes receiving timed fingerprint location information.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the determining the identification parameter includes determining a modified international mobile subscriber identity parameter of four (4) bytes.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the determining the international mobile subscriber identity parameter includes determining the international mobile subscriber identity parameter excluding a mobile country code and a mobile network code.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the determining the set of location offset values further comprises determining a longitude parameter, a latitude parameter, and an altitude parameter.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the determining the set of location offset values further includes determining a method parameter related to identifying a method used in determining the location of the user equipment and an accuracy parameter related to identifying a level of accuracy of the set of location offset values.

16. A mobile device, comprising:

a memory to store executable instructions; and

a processor, communicatively coupled to the memory, that facilitates execution of the executable instructions to perform operations, comprising;

receiving location information relating to a location of the mobile device; and

determining location information related to the location of the mobile device based on location reference information and corresponding location offset information, wherein the location offset information comprises an identification parameter comprising a modified international mobile subscriber identity parameter associated with identification of the user equipment, a timestamp parameter related to time information, and a location parameter associated with an offset in the location of the user equipment from a prior location of the user equipment.

17. The mobile device of claim 16, wherein the location information is timed fingerprint location information.

18. The mobile device of claim 16, wherein the identification parameter is a modified international mobile subscriber identity parameter of four (4) bytes.

19. The mobile device of claim 16, wherein the location parameter comprises a longitude parameter, a latitude parameter, and an altitude parameter.

20. The mobile device of claim 16, wherein the timestamp parameter is represented by one (1) byte.