Method and apparatus for enhancing access point databases

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9369835-B2
Application number	US-201314035597-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Sep 24, 2013
Priority date	Sep 24, 2013
Publication date	Jun 14, 2016
Grant date	Jun 14, 2016

Abstract

An estimated location of an access point is generated based on identification of indoor and outdoor locations and the presumption that most access points are in an indoor location. The estimated location may be produced using location information for the access point and the identification of the indoor and outdoor locations while prioritizing the indoor location to produce the estimated location on or within a boundary of the indoor location. The location information may be, e.g., a preliminary estimated location or wireless signal measurements and associated position fixes for the access point. For example, a preliminary estimated location may be shifted to be on or within the nearest boundary of an indoor location or may be adjusted based on the location information. The estimated location may be calculated directly using weights to bias the calculation of the estimated location to be on or within the boundary of the indoor location.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method comprising:
receiving location information associated with an access point located in an area;
acquiring an identification of an indoor location and an outdoor location for the area; and
producing an estimated location of the access point using the location information and the acquired identification of the indoor location and the outdoor location for the area while prioritizing the indoor location to produce the estimated location on or within a boundary of the indoor location.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein producing the estimated location of the access point using the location information and the identification of the indoor location and the outdoor location for the area while prioritizing the indoor location to produce the estimated location on or within the boundary of the indoor location comprises:
revising a preliminary estimated location of the access point that is in the outdoor location to be the estimated location of the access point that is on or within the boundary of the indoor location.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising calculating the preliminary estimated location of the access point that is in the outdoor location using the location information associated with the access point.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein revising the preliminary estimated location of the access point comprises shifting the preliminary estimated location of the access point to be at a nearest location that is on or within the boundary of the indoor location to produce the estimated location.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the location information associated with the access point comprises:
a plurality of position fixes and associated wireless signal measurements for the access point at each position fix in the plurality of position fixes;

wherein revising the preliminary estimated location of the access point comprises:
adjusting the preliminary estimated location of the access point to be on or within the boundary of the indoor location based on the plurality of position fixes to produce the estimated location.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein adjusting the preliminary estimated location of the access point to be on or within the boundary of the indoor location based on the plurality of position fixes comprises:
defining a line of symmetry based on a set of position fixes from the plurality of position fixes, wherein the preliminary estimated location is on one side of the line of symmetry; and
shifting the preliminary estimated location of the access point to be on a side opposite the first side of the line of symmetry and on or within the boundary of the indoor location to produce the estimated location.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein a line between the preliminary estimated location and the estimated location is perpendicular to the line of symmetry.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the location information associated with the access point comprises:
a plurality of position fixes and associated wireless signal measurements for the access point at each position fix in the plurality of position fixes;
wherein producing the estimated location of the access point using the location information and the identification of the indoor location and the outdoor location for the area while prioritizing the indoor location to produce the estimated location on or within the boundary of the indoor location comprises:
calculating the estimated location of the access point using the plurality of position fixes and associated wireless signal measurements, and weights to bias the calculation of the estimated location to be on or within the boundary of the indoor location.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the weights are based on a percentage of access points in the indoor location and the outdoor location.

10. The method of claim 8 , wherein calculating the estimated location of the access point using the plurality of position fixes and associated wireless signal measurements, and the weights to bias the calculation of the estimated location to be on or within the boundary of the indoor location comprises performing trilateration with the weights.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein performing the trilateration with the weights comprises using one of convex optimization or non-convex optimization.

12. The method of claim 1 , further comprising acquiring the identification of the indoor location and the outdoor location for the area.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the location information associated with the access point located in the area comprises receiving a database of access points including preliminary estimated locations of the access points.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein receiving the location information associated with the access point located in the area comprises receiving a plurality of position fixes and associated wireless signal measurements for the access point at each position fix in the plurality of position fixes.

15. An apparatus comprising:
an external interface; and
a processor coupled to the external interface to receive location information associated with an access point located in an area, the processor configured to produce an estimated location of the access point using the location information and an identification of an indoor location and an outdoor location for the area while prioritizing the indoor location to produce the estimated location on or within a boundary of the indoor location.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the processor is configured to produce the estimated location of the access point using the location information and the identification of the indoor location and the outdoor location for the area while prioritizing the indoor location to produce the estimated location on or within the boundary of the indoor location by being configured to:
revise a preliminary estimated location of the access point that is in the outdoor location to be the estimated location of the access point that is on or within the boundary of the indoor location.

17. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the processor is further configured to calculate the preliminary estimated location of the access point that is in the outdoor location using the location information associated with the access point.

18. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the processor is configured to revise the preliminary estimated location of the access point by being configured to shift the preliminary estimated location of the access point to be at a nearest location that is on or within the boundary of the indoor location to produce the estimated location.

19. The apparatus of claim 16 , wherein the location information associated with the access point comprises:
a plurality of position fixes and associated wireless signal measurements for the access point at each position fix in the plurality of position fixes;
wherein the processor is configured to revise the preliminary estimated location of the access point by being configured to:
adjust the preliminary estimated location of the access point to be on or within the boundary of the indoor location based on the plurality of position fixes to produce the estimated location.

20. The apparatus of claim 19 , wherein the processor is configured to adjust the preliminary estimated location of the access point to be on or within the boundary of the indoor location based on the plurality of position fixes by being configured to:
define a line of symmetry based on a set of position fixes

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Palanki Ravi
• Naguib Ayman Fawzy
• Bhatia Ashok

Classifications

• H04W4/02 Primary

  Services making use of location information · CPC title

• G01S5/012 Primary

  Identifying whether indoors or outdoors · CPC title

• G01S5/0242

  Determining the position of transmitters to be subsequently used in positioning (G01S5/0289 takes precedence) · CPC title

• G01S5/0257

  Hybrid positioning (by coordinating position lines of different shape G01S5/12) · CPC title

• G01S5/0009

  Transmission of position information to remote stations (involving assistance data G01S5/0236) · CPC title