Enhancing OTDOA BSA accuracy using unsolicited RSTD measurements

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10015767-B2
Application number	US-201615264834-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 14, 2016
Priority date	Sep 14, 2016
Publication date	Jul 3, 2018
Grant date	Jul 3, 2018

Abstract

Techniques disclosed herein help a location server identify inaccuracies in a list of neighboring cells provided by the location server by enabling mobile devices to, during an OTDOA session to opportunistically take Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD) measurements of additional cells not on the neighboring cell list. The mobile device can then provide these RSTD measurements back to the server, which can optimize its algorithm for determining neighboring cells based on these measurements.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of providing measurement information to a location server for position determination of a mobile device, the method comprising:
sending, as part of an Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) session, serving cell information from the mobile device to the location server;
receiving, at the mobile device from the location server, a list of neighboring cells based on the serving cell information;
determining, at the mobile device, a length of time of a designated timeout period associated with the OTDOA session based on information received at the mobile device from the location server;
in response to receiving the list of neighboring cells, determining, at the mobile device during the designated timeout period, Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD) measurements of at least a portion of the cells on the list of neighboring cells;
after determining the RSTD measurements of the at least a portion of the cells of the list of neighboring cells, determining, at the mobile device, that an amount of time left in the timeout period exceeds a threshold value;
in response to determining that the amount of time left in the timeout period exceeds the threshold value, determining, at the mobile device during the designated timeout period, additional RSTD measurements of one or more cells that are not on the list of neighboring cells; and
sending, from the mobile device to the location server during the OTDOA session, the RSTD measurements of both the at least a portion of the cells on the list of neighboring cells and the one or more cells that are not on the list of neighboring cells.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the additional RSTD measurements comprises receiving a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) from each of a plurality of cells that are not on the list of neighboring cells, wherein the one or more cells that are not on the list of neighboring cells comprise cells of the plurality of cells for which a signal-to-noise ratio of the PRS was greater than a threshold value.

3. The method of claim 1 , further comprising generating, with the mobile device, assistance data with which the additional RTSD measurements are determined.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the assistance data is generated by a measurement engine of the mobile device and the additional RTSD measurements are determined by a communication interface of the mobile device.

5. The method of claim 3 , wherein the assistance data includes a physical cell identifier (PCI) of each of the one or more cells that is not on the list of neighboring cells.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the serving cell information comprises at least one of a mobile network code (MNC), a mobile carrier code (MCC), or a physical cell identifier (PCI), or any combination thereof.

7. A mobile device:
a wireless communication interface;
a memory; and
a processing unit communicatively coupled with the wireless communication interface and the memory, the processing unit configured to cause the mobile device to:
send, via the wireless communication interface as part of an Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) session, serving cell information to a location server;
receive, from the location server via the wireless communication interface, a list of neighboring cells based on the serving cell information;
determine a length of time of a designated timeout period associated with the OTDOA session based on information received from the location server;
in response to receiving the list of neighboring cells, determine, during the designated timeout period, Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD) measurements of at least a portion of the cells on the list of neighboring cells;
after determining the RSTD measurements of the at least a portion of the cells of the list of neighboring cells, determine that an amount of time left in the timeout period exceeds a threshold value;
in response to determining that the amount of time left in the timeout period exceeds the threshold value, determine, during the designated timeout period, additional RSTD measurements of one or more cells that are not on the list of neighboring cells; and
send, via the wireless communication interface to the location server during the OTDOA session, the RSTD measurements of both the at least a portion of the cells on the list of neighboring cells and the one or more cells that are not on the list of neighboring cells.

8. The mobile device of claim 7 , wherein the processing unit is further configured to cause the mobile device to determine the additional RSTD measurements by receiving a Positioning Reference Signal (PRS) from each of a plurality of cells that are not on the list of neighboring cells, wherein the one or more cells that are not on the list of neighboring cells comprise cells of the plurality of cells for which a signal-to-noise ratio of the PRS was greater than a threshold value.

9. The mobile device of claim 7 , wherein the processing unit is further configured to cause the mobile device to generate assistance data with which the additional RTSD measurements are determined.

10. The mobile device of claim 9 , further comprising a measurement engine, wherein the assistance data is generated by the measurement engine and the additional RTSD measurements are determined by the wireless communication interface.

11. The mobile device of claim 9 , wherein the processing unit is further configured to cause the mobile device to receive the assistance data that includes a physical cell identifier (PCI) of each of the one or more cells that is not on the list of neighboring cells.

12. The mobile device of claim 7 , wherein the processing unit is further configured to cause the mobile device to send the RSTD measurements of both the at least a portion of the cells on the list of neighboring cells and the one or more cells that are not on the list of neighboring cells during an Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) session between the mobile device and the location server.

13. The mobile device of claim 7 , wherein the processing unit is further configured to cause the mobile device to include, in the serving cell information, at least one of a mobile network code (MNC), a mobile carrier code (MCC), or a physical cell identifier (PCI), or any combination thereof.

14. An apparatus comprising:
means for sending serving cell information from the apparatus to a location server as part of an Observed Time Difference of Arrival (OTDOA) session;
means for receiving, from the location server, a list of neighboring cells based on the serving cell information;
means for determining a length of time of a designated timeout period associated with the OTDOA session based on information received at the apparatus from the location server;
means for, in response to receiving the list of neighboring cells, determining, during the designated timeout period, Reference Signal Time Difference (RSTD) measurements of at least a portion of the cells on the list of neighboring cells;
means for determining, after determining the RSTD measurements of the at least a portion of the cells of the list of neighboring cells, that an amount of time left in the timeout period exceeds a threshold value;
means for determining, during the designated timeout period, additional RSTD measurements of one or more cells that are not on the list of neighboring cells, in response to determining that the amount of time left in the timeout period exceeds the threshold value; and
means for sending, to the location server during the OTDOA session, the RSTD measurements of both the at least a portion of the cells

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Jain Amit
• Chandrasekar Harisrinivas
• Nirula Gautam

Classifications

• H04W24/10

  Scheduling measurement reports {; Arrangements for measurement reports} · CPC title

• G01S5/0236

  Assistance data, e.g. base station almanac · CPC title

• G01S1/20

  using a comparison of transit time of synchronised signals transmitted from non-directional antennas or antenna systems spaced apart, i.e. path-difference systems · CPC title

• H04W64/00 Primary

  Locating users or terminals {or network equipment} for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management · CPC title

• G01S5/10

  Position of receiver fixed by co-ordinating a plurality of position lines defined by path-difference measurements {, e.g. omega or decca systems}(G01S5/12 takes precedence {; beacons and receivers cooperating therewith G01S1/306, G01S1/308}) · CPC title