Method and apparatus for positioning a mobile terminal in a radio network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016295366-A1
Application number	US-201514696798-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 27, 2015
Priority date	Mar 31, 2015
Publication date	Oct 6, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

A method for positioning a mobile terminal in a radio network including a plurality of base stations, comprising: transmitting a signal from a base station for receipt in the mobile terminal along a line of sight of a radio beam; receiving time measurement data from the mobile terminal, obtained based on receipt in the mobile terminal of the transmitted signal; calculating a distance value (D LOS ) for the distance from the base station to the mobile terminal based on the time measurement data; and calculating a vertical position (D v ) of the mobile terminal, based on the distance value and an elevation angle (θ) of the line of sight of the radio beam from one or more of the plurality of base stations.

First claim

1 . A method for positioning a mobile terminal in a radio network, comprising, for each of a plurality of base stations:
transmitting a signal for receipt in the mobile terminal along a line of sight of a radio beam; receiving time measurement data from the mobile terminal, obtained based on receipt in the mobile terminal of the transmitted signal; calculating a distance value for the distance from the base station to the mobile terminal based on the time measurement data; the method further comprising the step of calculating, with respect to one or more of the plurality of base stations, a vertical distance estimate of the mobile terminal based on the distance value and an elevation angle of the line of sight of the radio beam for that base station; and calculating a vertical position for the mobile terminal in dependence of one or more vertical distance estimates according to a predetermined rule.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the predetermined rule includes the step of averaging a number of factors, each factor being proportional to each one of said vertical estimates.

3 . The method of claim 2 , wherein each factor is weighted dependent on the corresponding distance value between the UE and the base station.

4 . The method of claim 2 , comprising the step of receiving a quality estimate of the time measurement in the mobile terminal of the signal transmitted from the respective base station, wherein each factor is weighted dependent on the corresponding quality estimate.

5 . The method of claim 2 , comprising the step of receiving a beam width and elevation angle values for the respective radio beam in which the signal was transmitted from the respective base station, wherein each factor is weighted dependent on the corresponding beam width value.

6 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:
determining a quality level for each calculated vertical distance estimate; and selecting said one or more of said vertical distance estimates according to a quality level criterion.

7 . The method of claim 1 , comprising:
determining a quality level for each calculated vertical distance estimate; and selecting the vertical distance estimate having the best quality level as base for calculating the vertical position.

8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein said quality level is determined dependent on at least one of: the corresponding distance value; a beam width value for the corresponding radio beam; or a quality estimate of the time measurement in the mobile terminal of the signal transmitted from the corresponding base station.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the step of calculating a vertical distance estimate is carried out in a location server.

10 . The method of claim 9 , wherein each of said one or more base stations send data to the location server, representative of at least one of: the elevation angle, a beam width value for the corresponding radio beam, or a vertical height of an antenna of the base station over a reference level.

11 . The method of claim 9 , wherein each of said one or more base stations broadcast data representative of at least one of: the elevation angle, a beam width value for the corresponding radio beam, or a vertical height of an antenna of the base station over a reference level, which data is detected by the mobile terminal and reported to the location server together with the time measurement data for the corresponding base station.

12 . The method of claim 6 , wherein said quality level correlates to a level of accuracy of the respective vertical distance estimate.

13 . A method for positioning a mobile terminal in a radio network including base stations, comprising:
transmitting a signal from a base station for receipt in the mobile terminal along a line of sight of a radio beam; receiving time measurement data from the mobile terminal, obtained based on receipt in the mobile terminal of the transmitted signal; calculating a distance value for the distance from the base station to the mobile terminal based on the time measurement data; and calculating a vertical position of the mobile terminal, based on the distance value and an elevation angle of the line of sight of the radio beam.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the base stations transmit through an antenna including a plurality of antenna elements, comprising:
retrieving said elevation angle based on an antenna precoding scheme for said antenna elements.

15 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each precoding scheme corresponds to one elevation angle value, wherein the step of retrieving said elevation angle includes the step of mapping the precoding scheme to elevation angle in the base station.

16 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the base stations transmit according to a Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) antenna scheme.

17 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the calculated distance value represents a line of sight distance.

18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said time measurement data represents observed time difference of arrival in the mobile terminal of signals transmitted from two or more base stations.

19 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said signal includes positioning reference symbols (PRS), and wherein said time measurement data is established based on said positioning reference symbols.

20 . The method of claim 1 , comprising calculating a horizontal position of the mobile terminal, based on the first distance value and the elevation angle of said line of sight.

21 . The method of claim 1 , wherein said signal includes data which identifies the radio beam in which it is transmitted, and wherein said time measurement data includes an identification of the identified radio beam.

22 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the mobile terminal is concurrently connected to at least two base stations, and receives information from each connected base station data which identifies the radio beam in which the respective signal is transmitted.

23 . An apparatus for positioning mobile terminals in a radio network, which apparatus comprises a data processing device and is connected to a plurality of base stations which are configured to transmit signals for receipt in a mobile terminal along a line of sight of a radio beam, wherein the apparatus is configured to:
receive time measurement data, obtained based on receipt in the mobile terminal of said transmitted signals, and calculate a distance value for the distance from base station to the mobile terminal based on the time measurement data for the corresponding base station, wherein the apparatus is configured to calculate a vertical distance estimate of the mobile terminal, based on the distance value and an elevation angle of the line of sight of the radio beam.

24 . The apparatus of claim 23 , configured to calculate vertical distance estimates with respect to each one of a number of base stations, and to calculate a vertical position for the mobile terminal in dependence of one or more of said vertical distance estimates according to a predetermined rule.

Assignees

• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Priyanto Basuki
• Berggren Anders

Classifications

• H04W4/023 Primary

  using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds · CPC title

• H04B7/0413

  MIMO systems · CPC title

• H04W24/08

  Testing, {supervising or monitoring} using real traffic · CPC title

• H04W64/006

  with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination · CPC title

• H04B7/0617

  for beam forming · CPC title