Site location determination using crowd sourced propagation delay and location data

• US 9,326,263 B2
• Filed: 06/13/2012
• Issued: 04/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 06/13/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Mobility II LLC (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Fix, Jeremy, Fix, Larry, Meredith, Sheldon Kent
• Primary Examiner(s): MANOHARAN, MUTHUSWAMY GANAPATHY
• Application Number:
  US13/495,756
• Publication Number:
  US 20130337843A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,413 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.3, 455/456.1
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/021 Calibration, monitoring or correction G01S5/0252 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/02213 Receivers arranged in a network for determining the position of a transmitter
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/14 Determining absolute distances from a plurality of spaced points of known location
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/08 Testing, supervising or monitoring using real traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• 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

Site location determination using crowd sourced propagation delay and location data is provided. A propagation delay component receives a set of propagation delay measurements for communications between a mobile device and an access point. A user equipment location component receives a location of the mobile device, and a combination component combines the set of propagation delay measurements and the location into a set of location data. An access point location component determines a set of intersecting locations between the set of location data and additional sets of location data, and determines a location of the access point based on the set of intersecting locations.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

receiving, from a network device of a telecommunication network, propagation delay measurements based on signals exchanged by a mobile device and an access point device;

receiving, from the network device, location data related to a location of the mobile device;

generating location data based upon the propagation delay measurements and the location data;

determining, at a random time interval, intersecting locations between the location data and other location data;

determining an estimated location of the access point device wherein the determining the estimated location comprises determining the estimated location satisfies an error threshold, and wherein the error threshold is a difference between a minimum propagation delay and a maximum propagation delay of the propagation delay measurements;

generating, based on locations of different mobile devices and other propagation delay measurements for other signals exchanged by the access point device and the different mobile devices, additional location data associated with determining that the actual location of the access point device is an improbable location setting the estimated location of the access point device as an actual location of the access point device based on a condition being determined to have been satisfied; and

sending, to the network device, the additional location data of the access point device to facilitate modeling of network devices of a network comprising the access point device.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the determining the intersecting locations is based on a comparison of the of location data and the additional location data.

3. The system of claim 2, wherein the determining the estimated location of the access point device is based at least in part on a subset of the intersecting locations.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

initiating sending of the actual location of the access point device to another network device of a wireless communications network for use in a network service.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the error threshold comprises a predetermined size of the estimated location of the access point device.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that the estimated location of the access point device does not satisfy an error threshold; and

in response to the estimated location of the access point device being determined not to satisfy the error threshold, determining another set of intersecting locations between the f4r-s4 set of location data and additional sets of location data.

7. The system of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that the propagation delay measurements do not include a compensation factor for a length of a connection between an antenna of the access point device and base equipment for the access point device; and

in response to the propagation delay measurements being determined not to include the compensation factor, correcting the propagation delay measurements based on the length of the connection between the antenna of the access point device and the base equipment for the access point device.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein the additional location data comprises a rank associated with the improbable location.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the minimum propagation delay comprises a minimum radius associated with the set of location data.

10. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a system comprising a processor, propagation delay measurements based on signals exchanged by a mobile device and an access point device;

receiving, by the system, a location of the mobile device;

generating, by the system, location data based on the propagation delay measurements and the location of the mobile device;

comparing, by the system, the location data and first additional location data corresponding to mobile devices, wherein the comparing comprises comparing intersecting locations of the mobile devices and results in quantity data;

determining, by the system based on the comparing of the location data and the first additional location data, an estimated location of the access point device;

determining, by the system, quantity data based on a condition related to an error threshold being determined to have been satisfied, wherein the error threshold is a difference between a minimum propagation delay and a maximum propagation delay;

comparing, by the system at a defined time interval, the location data and second additional location data corresponding to the mobile devices, wherein the comparing the location data and the second additional location data comprises comparing other intersecting locations of the mobile devices; and

adding, by the system, flag data to the location data in response to a condition related to the quantity data being determined to have been satisfied, wherein the flag data indicates that an access point location is an improbable location.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the comparing comprises determining, by the system, intersecting locations between the location data and the first additional location data and the second additional location data.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the determining the estimated location further comprises:

determining that the estimated location of the access point device satisfies an error threshold; and

in response to the estimated location of the access point device satisfying the error threshold, setting the estimated location of the access point device as a determined actual location of the access point device.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the determining the estimated location of the access point device satisfies the error threshold comprises determining the estimated location satisfies a predetermined size range.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the determining the estimated location further comprises:

determining that the estimated location of the access point device does not satisfy an error threshold; and

in response to the estimated location of the access point device being determined not to have satisfied the error threshold, comparing intersecting locations between the location data and other additional location data other than the first additional location data and the second additional location data.

15. The method of claim 10, further comprising:

determining, by the system, that the propagation delay measurements do not include a compensation factor for a length of a connection between an antenna of the access point device and base equipment for the access point device; and

in response to the propagation delay measurements being determined not to include the compensation factor, correcting, by the system, the propagation delay measurements based on the length of the connection between the antenna and the base equipment for the access point device.

16. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

receiving a first location of a first mobile device and first propagation delay measurements for first signals exchanged by the first mobile device and an access point device;

generating first location data using the first propagation delay measurements and the first location of the first mobile device;

receiving a second location of a second mobile device and second propagation delay measurements for second signals exchanged by the second mobile device and the access point device;

generating second location data using the second propagation delay measurements and the second location of the second mobile device;

determining an intersecting location between the first location data and the second location data;

identifying an estimated location of the access point device based on the intersecting location;

biasing the estimated location as not corresponding to an actual location of the access point device;

determining that the second propagation delay measurements do not include a compensation factor for a cable length of a connection between an antenna of the access point device and base equipment for the access point device;

correcting the second propagation delay measurements based on the compensation factor for the cable length; and

instructing a cell site component to increase a sample size associated with the location data in response to a condition associated with the estimated location being determined to have been satisfied.

17. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the operations further comprise:

determining that the estimated location of the access point satisfies an error threshold, wherein the error threshold is a difference between a minimum propagation delay and a maximum propagation delay of the first signals or the second signals; and

in response to the estimated location of the access point device satisfying the error threshold, setting the estimated location as a determined actual location of the access point device.

18. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the determining the estimated location of the access point device satisfies the error threshold comprises determining the estimated location satisfies a defined size range.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, wherein the operations further comprise:

comparing the determined actual location of the access point device to additional location data corresponding to other mobile devices; and

determining, based on the comparing, a quantity of the additional location data that does not satisfy an accuracy threshold.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 19, wherein the determining the quantity of the additional location data that does not satisfy the accuracy threshold comprises determining the quantity of the additional location data that is not less than or equal to a defined distance from the determined actual location of the access point device.

21. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 20, further comprising:

determining that the quantity of the additional location data satisfies a flagging threshold; and

in response to the quantity of the additional location data satisfying the flagging threshold, flagging the determined actual location of the access point device as inaccurate.

22. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 20, wherein the determining that the quantity of the additional location data satisfies the flagging threshold comprises determining that the quantity of the additional location data exceeds a defined quantity of additional location data that does not satisfy the accuracy threshold.

23. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 16, further comprising:

determining that the estimated location of the access point device does not satisfy an error threshold; and

in response to the estimated location of the access point device not satisfying the error threshold, determining intersecting locations between the first location data, the second location data, and third location data corresponding to a third location of a third mobile device.