Smart Meter Location Assistance for Wireless Access Points
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Solution Overview
Problem
Computing devices often lack the necessary hardware, software, or resources to determine their location, especially in environments where traditional positioning methods like GPS are unavailable or unreliable.
Innovation Solution
Smart meters, equipped with wireless transceivers, share their known location with nearby wireless access points, which then provide location assistance information to connected devices, including address, geographic coordinates, and error factors to estimate the device's location.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If computing devices use traditional positioning methods like GPS, then location determination is possible, but the device requires additional hardware, software, and resources that may not be available
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses smart meters as intermediary devices that already exist at the premises to provide location information. Instead of requiring computing devices to have their own positioning hardware, the smart meter acts as a mediator that shares its known location with the computing device, enabling location determination without additional hardware complexity at the computing device end.
Solution Approach 2:
The smart meter, which already performs utility measurement functions, is also used to provide location services. This self-service approach allows the existing smart meter infrastructure to serve dual purposes - utility measurement and location determination - without requiring separate dedicated positioning systems.
2Ease of operation
If computing devices lack the necessary hardware and software for location determination, then device complexity is reduced, but location information cannot be obtained
Solution Approach 1:
The smart meter serves as an intermediary that bridges the gap between devices without location capabilities and the need for location information. It provides location data to computing devices through communication protocols, enabling these devices to access location information without having the underlying hardware or software infrastructure.
Solution Approach 2:
The smart meter is designed with multi-functionality, performing both its primary utility measurement function and the additional function of providing location information. This universal approach allows a single device to serve multiple purposes, making location determination accessible to devices that would otherwise lack the capability.
3Reliability
If smart meters share their known location with wireless access points, then location assistance information is provided to connected devices, but the smart meter must transmit additional data messages
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts only the necessary location information from the smart meter and transmits it separately from the utility measurement data. By taking out only the location components (such as address and geographic coordinates) and transmitting them as separate data messages, the system minimizes the overall data volume while maintaining location information accuracy.
Solution Approach 2:
The data transmission is segmented into separate components - utility measurement data and location assistance information. This segmentation allows the smart meter to transmit location information independently without burdening the primary utility communication infrastructure, reducing the impact on data transmission volume while ensuring accurate location data delivery.
Data Source
AI summary
Methods, systems, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for providing location assistance information using data from smart meters are presented. in some embodiments, a smart meter configured to measure service usage at a premises may transmit at least one data message to at least one wireless access point located at the premises, and the at least one data message may include information identifying a location of the smart meter. In addition, the at least one data message may be configured to cause the at least one wireless access point to provide, to at least one mobile device connected to the at least one wireless access point, the location of the smart meter as an estimated position of the at least one wireless access point.