Hybrid Wireless Positioning via Location Server Mediator
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
In areas with overlapping coverage from different wireless networks, existing position determination systems face challenges in accurately determining the location of mobile devices due to limited access to almanac information for access points from other networks, leading to incomplete positioning data.
Innovation Solution
A hybrid positioning system that utilizes wireless signals from multiple networks, including cellular and local area networks, to combine SPS observations, terrain elevation, and other data to calculate a mobile station's position, even when almanac information is not available, by harvesting information from available wireless signals and using multiple communication interfaces for data exchange.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Measurement precision
If a mobile device uses timing information from multiple base stations for position determination, then positioning accuracy is improved, but the system becomes more complex and requires coordination between multiple networks
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a location server as an intermediary that centralizes the computation of position determination. The mobile device collects timing information from multiple base stations and networks, then transmits this data to the location server which performs the trilateration calculations. This mediator approach allows the mobile device to remain relatively simple while achieving high positioning accuracy through multi-network data aggregation.
2Reliability
If almanac information for access points from other networks is restricted, then network security and data integrity are maintained, but positioning availability decreases in overlapping coverage areas
Solution Approach 1:
The location server is designed to handle multiple functions: it serves as a communication hub for timing information exchange, a database for storing base station almanac data from multiple networks, and a computation engine for position determination. By making the location server universal and multi-functional, the system can access almanac information from different networks without requiring each network to directly share sensitive data, thus maintaining security while improving positioning availability.
Solution Approach 2:
The system implements feedback mechanisms where the location server receives timing information from multiple base stations and networks, processes this data, and provides position determination results back to the mobile device. The server also maintains and updates almanac information based on received data, creating a feedback loop that continuously improves positioning capability while respecting network data protection policies.
3Productivity
If multiple wireless networks are used for position determination, then positioning speed and redundancy are improved, but the quantity of data to be processed increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the computationally intensive data processing tasks from the mobile device and relocates them to the location server. The mobile device's role is reduced to collecting timing information and transmitting it to the server. This extraction approach allows the system to leverage multiple wireless networks for rapid data collection while the server handles the heavy lifting of processing large volumes of timing data and almanac information, thus maintaining positioning speed without overwhelming the mobile device.
4Reliability
If timing information from multiple networks is collected, then positioning reliability is improved, but the difficulty of detecting and measuring increases
Solution Approach 1:
The location server acts as a mediator that standardizes and harmonizes timing information from different wireless networks. Each network may have different timing formats and reference frames, but the server normalizes this data into a common format suitable for trilateration calculations. This intermediary processing reduces the measurement complexity at the mobile device while maintaining high positioning reliability through multi-network data aggregation.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods and apparatuses for position determination and other operations. In one embodiment of the present invention, a mobile station uses wireless signals from a plurality of wireless networks (e.g., with different air interfaces and/or operated by different service providers) for position determination (e.g., for data communication, for obtaining time and/or frequency information, for range measurement, for sector or altitude estimation). In one embodiment of the present invention, mobile stations are used to harvest statistical data about wireless access points (e.g., the locations of mobile stations that have received signals from the wireless access points, such as from cellular base stations, wireless local area network access points, repeaters for positioning signals, or other wireless communication transmitters) and to derive location information (e.g., position and coverage area of the wireless access points) for the wireless networks from the collected statistical data.