Access point selection for network-based positioning

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9426770-B2
Application number	US-201414183286-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 18, 2014
Priority date	Sep 30, 2013
Publication date	Aug 23, 2016
Grant date	Aug 23, 2016

Abstract

A method for network-based positioning of a mobile device as described herein includes selecting a first set of access points (APs) to take first positioning measurements from the mobile device; obtaining the first positioning measurements from the first set of APs; selecting, based on the first positioning measurements, a second set of APs to take second positioning measurements from the mobile device; obtaining the second positioning measurements from the second set of APs; and determining a location of the mobile device based on the first positioning measurements and the second positioning measurements.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for network-based positioning of a mobile device, the method comprising:
selecting a first set of access points (APs) to take first positioning measurements from the mobile device, wherein selecting the first set of APs comprises:
designating a central AP,
radially dividing an area extending from the central AP into a plurality of sectors, and
selecting, as the first set of APs, one or more APs from each of the sectors;

obtaining the first positioning measurements from the first set of APs;
selecting, based on the first positioning measurements, a second set of APs to take second positioning measurements from the mobile device;
obtaining the second positioning measurements from the second set of APs; and
determining a location of the mobile device based on the first positioning measurements and the second positioning measurements.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the first set of APs further comprises selecting the first set of APs based on relative distance between neighboring APs.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the first set of APs further comprises selecting the first set of APs based on relative signal strengths between neighboring APs.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the first positioning measurements or the second positioning measurements comprise round trip time (RTT) measurements.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein at least one of the first positioning measurements or the second positioning measurements comprise received signal strength indication (RSSI) measurements.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining an amount of time that has elapsed since determining the location of the mobile device;
responsive to the amount of time that has elapsed being less than a threshold, selecting, based on the first location of the mobile device, a third set of APs to take third positioning measurements from the mobile device, obtaining the third positioning measurements from the third set of APs, and determining a second location of the mobile device based on the first location of the mobile device and the third positioning measurements.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
determining an estimated amount of movement of the mobile device since determining the location of the mobile device;
responsive to the estimated amount of movement of the mobile device being less than a threshold, selecting, based on the first location of the mobile device, a third set of APs to take third positioning measurements from the mobile device, obtaining the third positioning measurements from the third set of APs, and determining a second location of the mobile device based on the first location of the mobile device and the third positioning measurements.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein selecting the second set of APs comprises:
identifying an AP of the first set of APs having a strongest mean received signal strength indication (RSSI); and
selecting the second set of APs based on a neighboring AP list for the AP of the first set of APs having the strongest mean RSSI.

9. A method for network-based positioning of a mobile device, the method comprising:
selecting a first set of access points (APs) to take first positioning measurements from the mobile device, wherein selecting the first set of APs comprises selecting the first set of APs based on a set of APs used for a previous position fix for the mobile device;
obtaining the first positioning measurements from the first set of APs;
selecting, based on the first positioning measurements, a second set of APs to take second positioning measurements from the mobile device;
obtaining the second positioning measurements from the second set of APs; and
determining a location of the mobile device based on the first positioning measurements and the second positioning measurements.

10. A method for network-based positioning of a mobile device, the method comprising:
selecting a first set of access points (APs) to take first positioning measurements from the mobile device;
obtaining the first positioning measurements from the first set of APs;
selecting, based on the first positioning measurements, a second set of APs to take second positioning measurements from the mobile device, wherein selecting the second set of APs comprises:
designating an initial estimated location of the mobile device based on the first positioning measurements or a previously determined location of the mobile device,
radially dividing an area extending from the initial estimated location into a plurality of sectors, and
selecting, as the second set of APs, one or more APs from each of the sectors;

obtaining the second positioning measurements from the second set of APs; and
determining a location of the mobile device based on the first positioning measurements and the second positioning measurements.

11. A method for network-based positioning of a mobile device, the method comprising:
selecting a first set of access points (APs) to take first positioning measurements from the mobile device;
obtaining the first positioning measurements from the first set of APs;
determining an estimated coarse position of the mobile device based on the first positioning measurements;
selecting, based at least in part on the estimated coarse position of the mobile device, a second set of APs to take second positioning measurements from the mobile device;
obtaining the second positioning measurements from the second set of APs; and
determining a location of the mobile device based on the first positioning measurements and the second positioning measurements.

12. A positioning server comprising:
an access point (AP) coordination module configured to select a first set of APs to take first positioning measurements from a mobile device, to obtain the first positioning measurements from the first set of APs, to select, based on the first positioning measurements, a second set of APs to take second positioning measurements from the mobile device, and to obtain the second positioning measurements from the second set of APs, wherein the AP coordination module is further configured to select the first set of APs by designating a central AP, radially dividing an area extending from the central AP into a plurality of sectors, and selecting, as the first set of APs, one or more APs from each of the sectors; and
a positioning engine communicatively coupled to the AP coordination module and configured to determine a location of the mobile device based on the first positioning measurements and the second positioning measurements.

13. The positioning server of claim 12 , wherein the AP coordination module is further configured to select the first set of APs based on relative distance between neighboring APs.

14. The positioning server of claim 12 , wherein the AP coordination module is further configured to select the first set of APs based on relative signal strengths between neighboring APs.

15. The positioning server of claim 12 wherein at least one of the first positioning measurements or the second positioning measurements comprise round trip time (RTT) measurements or received signal strength indication (RSSI) measurements.

16. The positioning server of claim 12 wherein the AP coordination module is further configured to select the second set of APs by identifying an AP of the first set of APs having a strongest mean received signal strength indication (RSSI) and selecting the second set of APs based on a neighboring AP list for the AP of the first set of APs having the strongest mea

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Agrawal Meghna
• Dua Praveen

Classifications

• A47L13/52

  Dust pans; Crumb trays · CPC title

• A01K1/0114 Primary

  Litter boxes with screens for separating excrement from litter · CPC title

• E01H5/06

  dislodging essentially by non-driven elements, e.g. scraper blades {, snow-plough blades, scoop blades} · CPC title

• E01H1/006

  Specially adapted for removing excrements (hand implements E01H1/12) · CPC title

• H04W64/00 Primary

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