Wireless Location Gateway for Roaming Mobile Stations
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current wireless location technologies face challenges in providing cost-effective location services for people and objects, especially in emergency and crime situations, due to limitations in roaming capabilities and the need for specific location techniques, which can result in unavailable services and varying accuracy and reliability across different geographic areas.
Innovation Solution
A system and method that integrates multiple wireless location techniques into a single wireless location broker or gateway, allowing for seamless location requests without requiring knowledge of the specific technique used, and enabling location services for roaming mobile stations by utilizing a wireless location gateway that can activate appropriate location technologies based on the user's location.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If multiple wireless location techniques are integrated into a single gateway, then location service reliability and accuracy are improved across different geographic areas, but device complexity and system integration requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple wireless location techniques (GPS, cellular triangulation, WiFi positioning, inertial navigation) into a single unified location gateway system. This merging allows the system to process and integrate data from various sources simultaneously, improving location service reliability across different geographic areas while managing the complexity through centralized architecture.
Solution Approach 2:
The location gateway is designed with multi-functionality to handle diverse location techniques and provide universal location services. It can activate appropriate location technologies based on the user's location and service requirements, making the system adaptable to various scenarios including emergency situations, roaming mobile stations, and different geographic regions.
2Adaptability or versatility
If location services are made available for roaming mobile stations across different networks, then service accessibility is improved, but network coordination and signaling overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The location gateway serves as an intermediary between roaming mobile stations and multiple network operators. It receives location requests from roaming devices, coordinates with home networks and visited networks, and provides location services without requiring direct complex coordination between all network parties. This mediator role simplifies the signaling overhead and network coordination requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments location service functionality into modular components: the location gateway handles technique selection and coordination, home networks manage subscriber information, and visited networks provide local positioning data. This segmentation allows roaming location services to be delivered through standardized interfaces while reducing overall network coordination complexity.
3Measurement precision
If the system selects and activates appropriate location technologies based on user location, then measurement precision is improved, but processing time and decision-making complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The location gateway pre-establishes criteria and rules for selecting location techniques based on geographic areas, service types, and device capabilities. When a location request is received, the system quickly matches the request against pre-defined selection criteria rather than evaluating all possible techniques in real-time. This preliminary preparation significantly reduces the time required for technology selection while maintaining high location accuracy.
Data Source
AI summary
A location system is disclosed for commercial wireless telecommunication infrastructures. The system is an end-to-end solution having one or more location centers for outputting requested locations of commercially available handsets or mobile stations (MS) based on, e.g., CDMA, AMPS, NAMPS or TDMA communication standards, for processing both local MS location requests and more global MS location requests via, e.g., Internet communication between a distributed network of location centers. The system uses a plurality of MS locating technologies including those based on: (1) two-way TOA and TDOA; (2) pattern recognition; (3) distributed antenna provisioning; (5) GPS signals, (6) angle of arrival, (7) super resolution enhancements, and (8) supplemental information from various types of very low cost non-infrastructure base stations for communicating via a typical commercial wireless base station infrastructure or a public telephone switching network. Accordingly, the traditional MS location difficulties, such as multipath, poor location accuracy and poor coverage are alleviated via such technologies in combination with strategies for: (a) automatically adapting and calibrating system performance according to environmental and geographical changes; (b) automatically capturing location signal data for continual enhancement of a self-maintaining historical data base retaining predictive location signal data; (c) evaluating MS locations according to both heuristics and constraints related to, e.g., terrain, MS velocity and MS path extrapolation from tracking and (d) adjusting likely MS locations adaptively and statistically so that the system becomes progressively more comprehensive and accurate. Further, the system can be modularly configured for use in location signaling environments ranging from urban, dense urban, suburban, rural, mountain to low traffic or isolated roadways. Accordingly, the system is useful for 911 emergency calls, tracking, routing, people and animal location including applications for confinement to and exclusion from certain areas.