Wireless location using signal fingerprinting and other location estimators
DCFirst Claim
1. A method for estimating, for a mobile unit M of a plurality of mobile units that wirelessly communicate with a network providing wireless communication with the mobile units, a geographical location, L, of the mobile unit M using an instance, I, of wireless location related data, the wireless location related data obtained from measurements of wireless signals communicated between the mobile unit M and at least some of a plurality of communication devices, wherein each of said communication devices has one or more of a transmitter and a receiver for wireless communication with the mobile unit M, comprising performing the following by computational machinery:
- obtaining location data for the mobile unit M, wherein the location data includes one or more location estimates of the geographical location L of the mobile unit M, and wherein for determining at least one of the location estimates, (A1)-(A3) following are accessed;
(A1) a non-transient machine data storage having data for a plurality of data sets, wherein, for each geographical location, G, of a plurality geographical locations, there is one of the data sets having (i) and (ii) following;
(i) a representation of the geographical location G, and(ii) wireless signal transmission related information indicative of a wireless signal transmitted from one of a first location and a second location, and received at the other of the first and second locations;
wherein the wireless signal transmission related information includes data indicative of one or more wireless signal effects of one or more objects along a wireless transmission path of the wireless signal, wherein the objects affect the wireless signal prior to being received at the other location, and wherein the geographical location G designates one of the first and second locations;
(A2) a similarity determining computational machine that determines location related information for locating the mobile unit M, the location related information dependent upon and determined using a similarity or extent of similarity, between;
(i) instances of the wireless signal transmission related information, and (ii) data for an instance of the wireless location related data for a location of the mobile unit M;
wherein the similarity or extent of similarity, is provided by the similarity determining computational machine;
wherein the location related information is also dependent upon the similarity determining computational machine using the representations of the geographical locations G of the data sets having the instances of the wireless signal transmission related information, the instances used in determining the similarity or extent of similarity;
wherein first location related data for the location L is obtained, the first location related data dependent on and determined using an instance, K, of the location related information, wherein the instance K is obtained from the similarity determining computational machine when data, D, indicative of the instance I of the wireless location related data, is input to the similarity determining computational machine, the data D for instantiating at least part of the data of (A2)(ii) above;
wherein the first location related data includes a value determined using a machine computed discrepancy or consistency between;
(1) the instance I of the wireless location related data, and (2) at least one of (2-1) and (2-2) following;
(2-1) instances, J, of the instances of the wireless signal transmission related information used in determining the instance K of the location related information, and (2-2) location indicative data derived from the instances J;
(A3) second location related data including data for at least one of (a) and (b) following;
(a) a change between;
a spatial position, of the mobile unit M, and a previous spatial position of the mobile unit M;
wherein the change is determined independently of wireless signal measurements, WSM, that are both;
(a-1) communicated between the mobile unit M and any one or more of the communication devices, and (a-2) used for computing an estimate of the location L of the mobile unit M; and
(b) one or more corresponding location estimates of the mobile unit M, wherein one of the corresponding location estimates is determined using signal related data obtained from a wireless signal transmission, ST, received by the mobile unit M, the transmission ST from one of the communication devices which is not supported on the Earth'"'"'s surface, the signal related data providing signal timing information;
wherein the obtaining further includes determining the at least one location estimate using and dependent upon at least one of the first location related data and the second location related data; and
outputting resulting information related to the geographical L location of the mobile unit M, wherein said resulting information is obtained using said location data.
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Abstract
A wireless location system is disclosed. Locations of mobile stations (MS) may be determined using one or more MS locating technologies based on, e.g.: computed offsets from terrestrial base stations; satellite transmissions; indoor antennas; low range base stations; and in particular, signal pattern recognition for associating wireless signal characteristics with distinct geographic locations. The system can: adapt and/or calibrate its performance with environmental and geographical changes; capture location signal data for enhancement of a self-maintaining database of predictive location signal data; evaluate MS locations using heuristics and constraints related to terrain, MS velocity and path extrapolation; and adjust MS locations adaptively and/or statistically for providing more reliable and accurate locations. The system can be configured for environments ranging from dense urban, urban, suburban, rural, mountain to low traffic or isolated roadways. The system is useful for 911 emergencies, tracking, routing (e.g., to desired products/services), people and animal location including applications for confinement to and exclusion from certain areas.
609 Citations
123 Claims
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1. A method for estimating, for a mobile unit M of a plurality of mobile units that wirelessly communicate with a network providing wireless communication with the mobile units, a geographical location, L, of the mobile unit M using an instance, I, of wireless location related data, the wireless location related data obtained from measurements of wireless signals communicated between the mobile unit M and at least some of a plurality of communication devices, wherein each of said communication devices has one or more of a transmitter and a receiver for wireless communication with the mobile unit M, comprising performing the following by computational machinery:
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obtaining location data for the mobile unit M, wherein the location data includes one or more location estimates of the geographical location L of the mobile unit M, and wherein for determining at least one of the location estimates, (A1)-(A3) following are accessed; (A1) a non-transient machine data storage having data for a plurality of data sets, wherein, for each geographical location, G, of a plurality geographical locations, there is one of the data sets having (i) and (ii) following; (i) a representation of the geographical location G, and (ii) wireless signal transmission related information indicative of a wireless signal transmitted from one of a first location and a second location, and received at the other of the first and second locations; wherein the wireless signal transmission related information includes data indicative of one or more wireless signal effects of one or more objects along a wireless transmission path of the wireless signal, wherein the objects affect the wireless signal prior to being received at the other location, and wherein the geographical location G designates one of the first and second locations; (A2) a similarity determining computational machine that determines location related information for locating the mobile unit M, the location related information dependent upon and determined using a similarity or extent of similarity, between;
(i) instances of the wireless signal transmission related information, and (ii) data for an instance of the wireless location related data for a location of the mobile unit M;wherein the similarity or extent of similarity, is provided by the similarity determining computational machine; wherein the location related information is also dependent upon the similarity determining computational machine using the representations of the geographical locations G of the data sets having the instances of the wireless signal transmission related information, the instances used in determining the similarity or extent of similarity; wherein first location related data for the location L is obtained, the first location related data dependent on and determined using an instance, K, of the location related information, wherein the instance K is obtained from the similarity determining computational machine when data, D, indicative of the instance I of the wireless location related data, is input to the similarity determining computational machine, the data D for instantiating at least part of the data of (A2)(ii) above; wherein the first location related data includes a value determined using a machine computed discrepancy or consistency between;
(1) the instance I of the wireless location related data, and (2) at least one of (2-1) and (2-2) following;
(2-1) instances, J, of the instances of the wireless signal transmission related information used in determining the instance K of the location related information, and (2-2) location indicative data derived from the instances J;(A3) second location related data including data for at least one of (a) and (b) following; (a) a change between;
a spatial position, of the mobile unit M, and a previous spatial position of the mobile unit M;wherein the change is determined independently of wireless signal measurements, WSM, that are both;
(a-1) communicated between the mobile unit M and any one or more of the communication devices, and (a-2) used for computing an estimate of the location L of the mobile unit M; and(b) one or more corresponding location estimates of the mobile unit M, wherein one of the corresponding location estimates is determined using signal related data obtained from a wireless signal transmission, ST, received by the mobile unit M, the transmission ST from one of the communication devices which is not supported on the Earth'"'"'s surface, the signal related data providing signal timing information; wherein the obtaining further includes determining the at least one location estimate using and dependent upon at least one of the first location related data and the second location related data; and outputting resulting information related to the geographical L location of the mobile unit M, wherein said resulting information is obtained using said location data. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 120, 121)
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45. A method for estimating, for a mobile unit M of a plurality of mobile units that wirelessly communicate with a network providing wireless communication with the mobile units, a geographical location, L, of the mobile unit M using an instance, I, of wireless location related data, the wireless location related data obtained using measurements of wireless signals communicated between the mobile unit M and at least some of a plurality of communication devices, wherein each of said communication devices has one or more of a transmitter and a receiver for wireless communication with the mobile unit M, comprising performing the following by computational machinery:
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accessing a non-transient machine data storage having a plurality of data sets, wherein, for each geographical location, G, for a plurality geographical locations, there is one of the data sets having (i) and (ii) following; (i) a representation of the geographical location G, and (ii) wireless signal transmission related information indicative of a wireless signal transmitted from one of a first location and a second location and received at the other of the first and second locations, wherein the wireless signal transmission related information includes data indicative of one or more wireless signal effects of one or more objects along a wireless transmission path of the wireless signal, and wherein the geographical location G designates one of the first and second locations; wherein there is a similarity determining computational machine for determining location related information for locating the mobile unit M, the location related information dependent upon and determined according to a similarity or extent of similarity, between (a) and (b) following; (a) data for an instance of the wireless location related data for a location of the mobile unit M, and (b) instances of the wireless signal transmission related information of the non-transient data storage; wherein the similarity or extent of similarity, is provided by the similarity determining computational machine; wherein the location related information is also dependent upon the similarity determining computational machine using the representations of the geographical locations G of the data sets having the instances of the wireless signal transmission related information, the instances used in determining the similarity or extent of similarity; determining first location related data for the mobile unit M, wherein the first location related data is dependent on and determined using an instance, K, of the location related information, and wherein the instance K is obtained from the similarity determining computational machine when data, D, indicative of the instance I of the wireless location related data, is input to the similarity determining computational machine, the data D for instantiating at least part of the data of (a) above; wherein the first location related data includes correspondence data indicating an extent of correspondence, or lack thereof, between;
(1) the instance I of the wireless location related data, and (2) at least one of (2-1) and (2-2) following;(2-1) the instances, J, of the instances of the wireless signal transmission related information used in determining the instance K of the location related information, and (2-2) location indicative data derived from the instances J; obtaining a location estimate, LE, of the mobile unit M, the location estimate LE dependent upon and determined using a machine determined preference or selection of one of;
the first location related data, or second location related data;wherein the second location related data is dependent upon and determined by the computational machinery computing at least one of (c) and (d) following; (c) a measurement, T, of a transition between a first spatial position of the mobile unit M and a previous spatial position of the mobile unit M, wherein the measurement T is dependent upon an output from a mobile unit M resident component that measures a characteristic of mobile unit M movement; and (d) one or more corresponding location estimates of the mobile unit M, wherein at least one of the corresponding location estimates is determined using signal related data obtained from a wireless signal transmission ST, received by M, the transmission ST from one of the communication devices which is not supported on the Earth'"'"'s surface, the signal related data providing signal timing information. - View Dependent Claims (46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68, 69, 70, 71, 72, 73, 74, 75, 76, 77, 78, 79, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84, 122)
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85. A system for estimating, for each mobile unit M of a plurality of mobile units that wirelessly communicate with a network providing wireless communication with the mobile units, a geographical location, L of the mobile unit M using location related data obtained via measurements of wireless communication between the mobile unit M and a plurality of communication devices, wherein each of said communication devices has one or more of a transmitter and a receiver for wirelessly communicating with the mobile unit M, comprising the following computational machinery:
- a non-transient data storage, one or more wireless location estimators, and one or more programmed machine components, wherein;
(A) the non-transient data storage having data for a plurality of data associations, wherein, for each geographical location, G, of a plurality geographical locations, there is one of the data associations having (i) and (ii) following; (i) a representation of the geographical location G, and (ii) wireless signal transmission information for one or more wireless signals transmitted from one of a first location and a second location and received at the other of the first and second locations, wherein the wireless signal transmission information includes data indicative of one or more wireless signal effects of one or more physical objects along a wireless transmission path of the wireless signals, and wherein the geographical location G designates one of the first and second locations; (B) the one or more wireless location estimators for determining (a) and (b) following; (a) first location related data for locating the mobile unit M, wherein the first location related data is dependent on an output from a similarity determining computational machine when data, D, indicative of the location related data, is input to the similarity determining computational machine; wherein the similarity determining computational machine determines the output according to a similarity or extent of similarity, between (a-1) and (a-2) following; (a-1) the location related data, and (a-2) instances of the wireless signal transmission related information; wherein the output includes a geolocation estimate of the mobile unit M, and the geolocation estimate is determined by the similarity determining computational machine accessing and using the representations of the geographical locations G of the data associations having the instances used in determining the similarity or extent of similarity; wherein the first location related data has a value dependent upon a measurement of a discrepancy or consistency between (a-1) and (a-2) above; (b) second location related data for locating the mobile unit M, the second location related data dependent upon and determined by performing machine instructions that access and use at least one of (b-1) and (b-2) following to generate the additional location related data therefrom; (b-1) a measurement of a transition between a first spatial positioning of the mobile unit M and a previous spatial positioning of the mobile unit M; and (b-2) one or more corresponding location estimates of the mobile unit M, wherein at least one of the corresponding location estimates is determined using signal related data obtained from a wireless signal transmission received by the mobile unit M, the transmission from one of the communication devices which is not supported on the Earth'"'"'s surface, the signal related data providing signal timing information; and (C) the one or more programmed machine components determine a resulting location estimate of the mobile unit M using at least one of the second location related data and the first location related data. - View Dependent Claims (86, 87, 88, 89, 90, 91, 92, 93, 94, 95, 96, 115, 123)
- a non-transient data storage, one or more wireless location estimators, and one or more programmed machine components, wherein;
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97. A system for estimating a geographical location of each mobile unit, M, of a plurality of mobile units that wirelessly communicate with a network providing wireless communication, the geographical location estimated using location related data obtained according to measurements of wireless communication between the mobile unit M and a plurality of communication devices, wherein each of said communication devices has one or more of a transmitter and a receiver for wirelessly communicating with the mobile unit M, comprising the following computational machinery:
- a non-transient data storage, a similarity determining computational machine, and one or more location estimating components, wherein;
(A) the non-transient data storage includes data for a plurality of data sets, wherein, for each geographical location, G, of a plurality geographical locations, there is one of the data sets providing (i) and (ii) following; (i) a representation of the geographical location G, and (ii) wireless signal transmission information indicative of one or more wireless signals transmitted from one of a first location and a second location and received at the other of the first and second locations; wherein the wireless signal transmission information includes data indicative of one or more wireless signal effects of one or more physical objects along a wireless transmission path of the wireless signals, and wherein the geographical location G designates one of the first and second locations; (B) the one or more location estimating components operate according to software instructions to receive (a) and (b) following; (a) first location related data for locating the mobile unit M, wherein the first location related data is dependent on an output from the similarity determining computational machine, when data, D, is input to the similarity determining computational machine; wherein the data D is obtained from the location related data for wireless communication between the mobile unit M, and a set of the communication devices; wherein, when the similarity determining computational machine is used to determine the output for locating the mobile unit M, the output is dependent upon and determined according to a similarity or extent of similarity, between;
(a-1) and (a-2) following;(a-1) the location related data, and (a-2) instances of the wireless signal transmission related information; wherein the output includes a geolocation estimate of the mobile unit M, and the geolocation estimate is determined by the similarity determining computational machine accessing and using the representations of the geographical locations G of the data sets having the instances used in determining the similarity or extent of similarity; wherein the output includes geographic data related to the geographical location of the mobile unit M; (b) additional location related data for locating the mobile unit M, the additional location related data dependent upon, and determined by performing machine instructions that access at least one of (b-1) and (b-2) following and generate the additional location related data therefrom; (b-1) a difference in a spatial position of the mobile unit M relative to a previous spatial position thereof; and (b-2) signal related data obtained from a wireless signal transmission received by the mobile unit M, the transmission from one of the communication devices which is not supported on the Earth'"'"'s surface, the signal related data providing signal timing information; wherein the location estimating components determine a resulting location estimate of the mobile unit M using at least one of the additional location related data, and the first location related data; wherein a value indicative of an acceptability of use of at least one of the first location related data and the additional location related data is obtained and used by the location estimating components for determining the resulting location estimate. - View Dependent Claims (98, 99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 104, 105, 106, 107, 108, 109, 110, 111, 112, 113, 114, 116, 117, 118, 119)
- a non-transient data storage, a similarity determining computational machine, and one or more location estimating components, wherein;
Specification