Automated position estimation based on coordinating access points

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2026032633-A1
Application number	US-202519342893-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 29, 2025
Priority date	Dec 19, 2022
Publication date	Jan 29, 2026
Grant date	—

Abstract

Disclosed are systems, apparatuses, methods, and computer-readable media for identifying a locations of a network entities within a network. A method for identifying a location of an (AP) includes receiving a first location measurement associated with a first measurement variant and a second location measurement associated with a second measurement variant from a first AP; receiving a third location measurement associated with the first measurement variant and a fourth location measurement associated with the second measurement variant from a second AP; determining weights associated with the location measurements; determining a first location associated with the first AP and a second location associated with the second AP based on a first weight, a second weight, a third weight, and a fourth weight; determining a confidence of the first location based on a comparison of the first location measurement and the second location measurement.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method comprising:
receiving absolute positioning measurements from a plurality of access points (APs); receiving, for the plurality of APs, relative positioning measurements; determining first locations associated with a portion of the plurality of APs based on at least one of or a combination of the absolute positioning measurements and the relative positioning measurements; determining weights associated with the absolute positioning measurements and the relative positioning measurements; determining second locations of the plurality of APs based on the weights; determining an error with the second locations based on the first locations and the second locations; and determining whether to recompute the weights based on the error.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the absolute positioning measurements are selected from at least a 5G connection or a WiFi connection.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the absolute positioning measurements comprise a satellite geolocation measurement or a communication network measurement using network entities with known geolocations.

4 . The method of claim 2 , wherein the relative positioning measurements correspond to a signal that can be measured using time of flight.

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein determining the weights comprise:
determining a line-of-sight quality associated with at least one of the absolute positioning measurements or the relative positioning measurements based on a channel impulse response (CIR) of the at least one of the absolute positioning measurements or the relative positioning measurements.

6 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
delaying recomputing the weights is based on an identification of an adverse channel conditions based on a number of busy channels or a number of idle channels.

7 . The method of claim 1 , wherein recomputing the weights when there is less network traffic interference.

8 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
receiving a message indicating a first AP has joined in a network including the plurality of APs; providing instructions to the first AP to measure a plurality of location measurements; and determining an additional location associated with the first AP based on the plurality of location measurements.

9 . The method of claim 8 , further comprising:
based on the plurality of location measurements of the first AP, determining a weight of the additional location; a first weight associated with the additional location; determining a first error with the additional location; and determining whether to recompute the first weight based on the first error.

10 . A network device comprising:
a transceiver; and a processor configured to execute instructions and cause the processor to:
receive absolute positioning measurements from a plurality of access points (APs);
receive, for the plurality of APs, relative positioning measurements;
determine first locations associated with a portion of the plurality of APs based on at least one of or a combination of the absolute positioning measurements and the relative positioning measurements;
determine weights associated with the absolute positioning measurements and the relative positioning measurements;
determine second locations of the plurality of APs based on the weights;
determine an error with the second locations based on the first locations and the second locations; and
determine whether to recompute the weights based on the error.

11 . The network device of claim 10 , wherein the absolute positioning measurements are selected from at least a 5G connection or a WiFi connection.

12 . The network device of claim 10 , wherein the absolute positioning measurements comprise a satellite geolocation measurement or a communication network measurement using network entities with known geolocations.

13 . The network device of claim 10 , wherein the relative positioning measurements correspond to a signal that can be measured using time of flight.

14 . The network device of claim 10 , wherein determining the weights comprise:
determining a line-of-sight quality associated with at least one of the absolute positioning measurements or the relative positioning measurements based on a channel impulse response (CIR) of the at least one of the absolute positioning measurements or the relative positioning measurements.

15 . The network device of claim 10 , further comprising:
delaying recomputing the weights is based on an identification of an adverse channel conditions based on a number of busy channels or a number of idle channels.

16 . The network device of claim 10 , wherein recomputing the weights when there is less network traffic interference.

17 . The network device of claim 10 , further comprising:
receiving a message indicating a first AP has joined in a network including the plurality of APs; providing instructions to the first AP to measure a plurality of location measurements; and determining an additional location associated with the first AP based on the plurality of location measurements.

18 . The network device of claim 17 , further comprising:
based on the plurality of location measurements of the first AP, determining a weight of the additional location; a first weight associated with the additional location; determining a first error with the additional location; and determining whether to recompute the first weight based on the first error.

19 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which when executed by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to:
receive absolute positioning measurements from a plurality of APs; receive, for each of the plurality of APs, relative positioning measurements; determine first locations associated with a portion of the plurality of APs based on at least one of or a combination of the absolute positioning measurements and the relative positioning measurements; determine weights associated with the absolute positioning measurements and the relative positioning measurements; determine second locations of the plurality of APs based on the weights; determine an error with the second locations based on the first locations and the second locations; and determine whether to recompute the weights based on the error.

20 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 19 , wherein the absolute positioning measurements are selected from at least a 5G connection or a WiFi connection.

Assignees

• Cisco Tech Inc

Inventors

• Amini Peiman
• Alizadeh Ardalan
• Amiri Bahador

Classifications

• G01S5/02213

  Receivers arranged in a network for determining the position of a transmitter · CPC title

• G01S5/0081

  Transmission between base stations · CPC title

• H04W64/003 Primary

  locating network equipment · CPC title

• G01S5/011

  Identifying the radio environment · CPC title

• G01S13/765

  with exchange of information between interrogator and responder · CPC title