Method and system for providing enhanced location based information for wireless handsets

• US 9,344,848 B2
• Filed: 11/24/2015
• Issued: 05/17/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 08/18/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Rivada Networks, LLC
• Original Assignee: Rivada Research, Llc (Rivada Networks, LLC)
• Inventors: Smith, Clint
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, NHAN T
• Application Number:
  US14/950,595
• Publication Number:
  US 20160094949A1
• Time in Patent Office: 175 Days
• Field of Search: 455/401, 455/404.2, 455/414.1, 455/414.2, 455418-420, 455/422.1, 4554561-4566, 455517-519
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 17/02 Magnetic compasses
• CPC Class Codes: G01C 21/1654 with electromagnetic compass
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/13 Receivers
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/48 by combining or switching between position solutions derived from the satellite radio beacon positioning system and position solutions derived from a further system
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0072 Transmission between mobile stations, e.g. anti-collision systems
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0264 at least one of the systems being a non-radio wave positioning system
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0284 Relative positioning
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0289 of multiple transceivers, e.g. in ad hoc networks
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0294 Trajectory determination or predictive filtering, e.g. target tracking or Kalman filtering
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72421 with automatic activation of emergency service functions, e.g. upon sensing an alarm
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 1/72457 according to geographic location
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 2250/10 including a GPS signal receiver
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• 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 4/025 using location based information parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/026 using orientation information, e.g. compass
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/027 using movement velocity, acceleration information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/08 User group management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 : Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/006 : with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination
• CPC Class Codes: Y02D 30/70 : in wireless communication networks

Abstract

Methods, devices and systems for generating enhanced location information on or about a mobile device may include hybrid lateration and/or trilateration solutions in which the mobile device determines whether information obtained via a geospatial system of the mobile device is accurate, collects location information from a plurality of mobile devices in a communication group in response to determining that the information obtained via the geospatial system of the mobile device is not accurate, computes computing more precise location information (including three-dimensional location and position information) based on the location information collected from the plurality of mobile devices, and using the generated location and position information to provide an enhanced location based service, such as an emergency location service, a commercial location service, an internal location service and/or a lawful intercept location service.

Claims

1. A method of providing a location based service in a mobile device, comprising:

establishing a first connection to a data network, wherein the first connection is not a cellular data uplink transmission path;

obtaining location information for a current location of the mobile device via the first connection;

determining via a processor of the mobile device a variance between the received location information and a mobile device determined location;

determining whether the variance exceeds a threshold value;

collecting location information from a plurality of transceivers in a communication group in response to determining that the variance exceeds the threshold value;

computing more precise location information for the mobile device based on the location information collected from the plurality of transceivers; and

using the more precise location information to provide the location based service.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein computing the more precise location information for the mobile device based on the location information collected from the plurality of transceivers comprises computing more precise location information that includes three-dimensional location information.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein establishing the first connection to the data network comprises establishing one or more of a WiFi connection, a NFC connection, a Bluetooth connection, a Land Mobile Radio connection, and a satellite connection.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting location information from the plurality of transceivers comprises receiving information from one or more of:

a second mobile device;

a cellular network component; and

a WiFi, NFC, Bluetooth, Land Mobile Radio or Satellite communication enabled device.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein collecting location information from the plurality of transceivers comprises collecting the location information using more than one communication protocol.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting location information from the plurality of transceivers further comprises sending and receiving data on different communications protocols.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting location information from a plurality of transceivers further comprises sending the obtained location information and information used by the mobile device to determine the mobile device determined location from the mobile device to the plurality of transceivers.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein computing the more precise location information further comprises:

determining a first variance between the more precise location information and the location information obtained via the first connection to the data network;

determining a second variance between the more precise location and the mobile device determined location;

determining whether one or more of the first and second variances exceeds a threshold value associated with the more precise location information.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein collecting location information from a plurality of transceivers in the communication group further comprises sending a request to a single receiving unit, the receiving unit relaying the request to a plurality transceivers in the communication group.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the plurality of transceivers provide the location information to the mobile device via the relaying unit.

11. A mobile device, comprising:

a processor configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations comprising;

establishing a first connection to a data network, wherein the first connection is not a cellular data uplink transmission path;

obtaining location information for a current location of the mobile device via the first connection;

determining a variance between the received location information and a mobile device determined location;

determining whether the variance exceeds a threshold value;

collecting location information from a plurality of transceivers in a communication group in response to determining that the variance exceeds the threshold value;

computing more precise location information for the mobile device based on the location information collected from the plurality of transceivers; and

using the more precise location information to provide a location based service.

12. The mobile device of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that computing the more precise location information for the mobile device based on the location information collected from the plurality of transceivers comprises computing more precise location information that includes three-dimensional location information.

13. The mobile device of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that collecting location information from the plurality of transceivers further comprises sending and receiving data on different communications protocols.

14. The mobile device of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that collecting location information from a plurality of transceivers further comprises sending the obtained location information and information used by the mobile device to determine the mobile device determined location from the mobile device to the plurality of transceivers.

15. The mobile device of claim 11, wherein the processor is configured with processor-executable instructions to perform operations such that computing the more precise location information further comprises:

determining a first variance between the more precise location information and the location information obtained via the first connection to the data network;

determining a second variance between the more precise location and the mobile device determined location;

determining whether one or more of the first and second variances exceeds a threshold value associated with the more precise location information.

16. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium having stored thereon processor-executable software instructions configured to cause a computing device processor to perform operations comprising:

establishing a first connection to a data network, wherein the first connection is not a cellular data uplink transmission path;

obtaining location information for a current location of the mobile device via the first connection;

determining a variance between the received location information and a mobile device determined location;

determining whether the variance exceeds a threshold value;

collecting location information from a plurality of transceivers in a communication group in response to determining that the variance exceeds the threshold value;

computing more precise location information for the mobile device based on the location information collected from the plurality of transceivers; and

using the more precise location information to provide a location based service.

17. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the stored processor-executable instructions are configured to cause a processor to perform operations such that computing the more precise location information for the mobile device based on the location information collected from the plurality of transceivers comprises computing more precise location information that includes three-dimensional location information.

18. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the stored processor-executable instructions are configured to cause a processor to perform operations such that collecting location information from the plurality of transceivers further comprises sending and receiving data on different communications protocols.

19. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the stored processor-executable instructions are configured to cause a processor to perform operations such that collecting location information from a plurality of transceivers further comprises sending the obtained location information and information used by the mobile device to determine the mobile device determined location from the mobile device to the plurality of transceivers.

20. The non-transitory computer readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the stored processor-executable instructions are configured to cause a processor to perform operations such that computing the more precise location information further comprises:

determining a first variance between the more precise location information and the location information obtained via the first connection to the data network;

determining a second variance between the more precise location and the mobile device determined location;

determining whether one or more of the first and second variances exceeds a threshold value associated with the more precise location information.