System and method for selecting a Wi-Fi access point for position determination

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9538330-B2
Application number	US-201313972750-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 21, 2013
Priority date	Aug 21, 2013
Publication date	Jan 3, 2017
Grant date	Jan 3, 2017

Abstract

Methods, systems, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for position determination are presented. In some embodiments, a method for position determination includes selecting at least one of a plurality of access points based on a measure of response time variability associated with the at least one access point. The method further includes sending, from a device, a communication to the selected at least one access point. The method also includes receiving, from the selected at least one access point, a response to the communication. The method additionally includes calculating a distance from the device to the selected at least one access point based on a round trip time associated with the response to the communication.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for selecting a Wi-Fi access point for position determination, comprising:
obtaining, by a mobile device, data comprising a measure of variance in response time associated with each of a plurality of access points;
selecting, by the mobile device, at least one of the plurality of access points for use in a communication for a distance determination, the selecting based on the obtained data, the selected at least one access point having a lower variance in response time than one or more other access points among the plurality of access points;
sending, by the mobile device, a communication to the selected at least one access point;
receiving, by the mobile device, from the selected at least one access point, a response to the communication; and
calculating, by a mobile device, a distance from the device to the selected at least one access point based on a round trip time determined based on the communication and the response to the communication.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising providing data for inclusion in a database, the providing comprising:
sending, from the mobile device, a plurality of communications to one or more access points;
receiving, from the one or more access points, a response for each of the plurality of communications; and and
providing, by the mobile device, for inclusion in the database at least one of information about the at least one access point, an assigned weight, and a variance in response time.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the obtaining comprises querying a database to obtain the data.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein a lower variance in response time corresponds to a higher weight and a higher variance in response time corresponds to a lower weight.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the information comprises at least one of an identifier corresponding to the access point, a MAC address corresponding to the access point, or manufacturer information corresponding to the access point.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the response time comprises a signal time and a processing time, and wherein the variance in response time is attributed to a variance in the processing time.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the variance in the processing time is determined using a standard deviation calculation.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising determining a position of the device based at least in part on the calculating.

9. An apparatus for selecting a Wi-Fi access point for position determination, comprising:
a transceiver configured to send and receive a communication;
a processor coupled to the transceiver;
the processor configured to:
obtain data comprising a measure of variance in response time associated with each of a plurality of access points;
select at least one of the plurality of access points for use in a communication for a distance determination, the selecting based on the obtained data, the selected at least one access point having a lower variance in response time than one or more other access points among the plurality of access points;
send, via the transceiver, a communication to the selected at least one access point;
receive, via the transceiver, a response to the communication; and
calculate a distance from the apparatus to the selected at least one access point based on a round trip time determined based on the communication and the response to the communication.

10. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to provide data for inclusion in a database, the providing comprising:
sending, via the transceiver, a plurality of communications to one or more access points;
receiving, via the transceiver, from the one or more access points, a response for each of the plurality of communications; and
providing for inclusion in the database at least one of information about the at least one access point, an assigned weight, and a variance in response time.

11. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the obtaining comprises querying a database to obtain the data.

12. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein a lower variance in response time corresponds to a higher weight and a higher variance in response time corresponds to a lower weight.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the information comprises at least one of an identifier corresponding to the access point, a MAC address corresponding to the access point, or manufacturer information corresponding to the access point.

14. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the response time comprises a signal time and a processing time, and wherein the variance in response time is attributed to a variance in the processing time.

15. The apparatus of claim 14 , wherein the variance in the processing time is determined using a standard deviation calculation.

16. The apparatus of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to determine a position of the apparatus based at least in part on the calculating.

17. A device for selecting a Wi-Fi access point for position determination, comprising:
means for obtaining, by a mobile device, data comprising a measure of variance in response time associated with each of a plurality of access points;
means for selecting, by the mobile device, at least one of the obtained plurality of access points for use in a communication for a distance determination, the selecting based on the obtained data, the selected at least one access point having a lower variance in response time than one or more other access points among the plurality of access points;
means for sending, by the mobile device, a communication to the selected at least one access point;
means for receiving, by the mobile device and from the selected at least one access point, a response to the communication; and
means for calculating, by the mobile device, a distance from the device to the selected at least one access point based on a round trip time determined based on the communication and the response to the communication.

18. The device of claim 17 , further comprising means for providing data for inclusion in a database, the means for providing comprising:
means for sending, from the mobile device, a plurality of communications to one or more access points;
means for receiving, from the one or more access points, a response for each of the plurality of communications; and
means for providing, by the mobile device, for inclusion in the database with at least one of information about the at least one access point, an assigned weight, and a variance in response time.

19. The device of claim 17 , wherein the obtaining comprises querying a database to obtain the data.

20. The device of claim 18 , wherein a lower variance in response time corresponds to a higher weight and a higher variance in response time corresponds to a lower weight.

21. The device of claim 18 , wherein the information comprises at least one of an identifier corresponding to the access point, a MAC address corresponding to the access point, or manufacturer information corresponding to the access point.

22. The device of claim 17 , wherein the response time comprises a signal time and a processing time, and wherein the variance in response time is attributed to a variance in the processing time.

23. The device of claim 22 , wherein the variance in the processing time is determined using a standard deviation calculation.

24. The device of claim 17 , further means for comprising

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc
• Quallcomm Incorporated

Inventors

• Gao Jr Weihua
• Palanki Ravi
• Chen Wei
• Bhatia Ashok

Classifications

• H04W24/00

  Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements · CPC title

• H04W64/00

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

• G01S5/0226

  Transmitters · CPC title

• H04W4/023 Primary

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

• H04W48/20

  Selecting an access point · CPC title