Method and apparatus for selecting a positioning solution

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9699761-B2
Application number	US-201114126830-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jun 22, 2011
Priority date	Jun 22, 2011
Publication date	Jul 4, 2017
Grant date	Jul 4, 2017

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention provide a method for selecting a positioning solution. The method includes receiving information of a channel allocated to a terminal, and selecting, based on the information of the channel, a solution from a set of positioning solutions for the terminal. The method of the present invention is robust and automatically adapts itself to different traffic scenarios.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for selecting a positioning solution, the method comprising:
receiving information of a channel allocated to a terminal for wireless communication with the terminal, wherein the information pertains to a data transfer characteristic of the channel;
determining a size limit of assistance data that can be transmitted over the channel, based on the information of the channel; and
selecting a first positioning solution from a set of positioning solutions, when the size limit of assistance data determined for the channel is greater than a first size threshold and selecting a second positioning solution from the set of positioning solutions, when the size limit of assistance data is not greater than the first size threshold, but is not less than a second size threshold,
wherein the first positioning solution is mobile station (MS) based Assisted Global Positioning System (AGPS) solution and the second positioning solution is MS-assisted AGPS solution.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein selecting the first positioning solution or the second positioning solution from the set of positioning solutions for the terminal comprises:
calculating the size limit of assistance data based on the information of the channel; and
selecting the first positioning solution or the second positioning solution based on comparing the size limit of assistance data calculated to the size thresholds.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the calculating the size limit of assistance data based on the information of the channel comprises:
obtaining a response time, a measurement time, and a data rate corresponding to the channel, wherein the response time indicates a time period for the terminal to make a response, the measurement time indicates a time period for the terminal to perform a measurement, and the data rate corresponding to the channel is obtained from the data transfer characteristic; and
calculating the size limit of assistance data based on the response time, the measurement time, and the data rate corresponding to the channel.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the calculating the size limit of assistance data based on the response time, the measurement time, and the data rate corresponding to the channel further comprises:
obtaining a protect margin time and a uplink message transmission time, wherein the protect margin time includes a time period for message processing, a time uncertainty for downlink and uplink Radio Resource Control (RRC) message delivery over control channel, and a time uncertainty for the terminal to perform a measurement, and wherein the uplink message transmission time indicates a time period for receiving a response from the terminal; and
calculating the size limit of assistance data based on the response time, the measurement time, the protect margin time, the uplink message transmission time, and the data rate corresponding to the channel.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the first size threshold indicates a predetermined threshold for assistance data size required for the first positioning solution.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the second size threshold indicates a predetermined threshold for assistance data size required for the second positioning solution, and
wherein the second positioning solution requires less amount of assistance data than the first positioning solution.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
in response to determining the size limit of assistance data being less than the second size threshold, selecting the second positioning solution or a third positioning solution from the set of positioning solutions,
wherein the third positioning solution requires no assistance data or less amount of assistance data than the second positioning solution.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selecting the first positioning solution or the second positioning solution from the set of positioning solutions for the terminal comprises:
selecting the first positioning solution or the second positioning solution based on the size limit of assistance data and on a possibility of positioning failure.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the selecting the first positioning solution or the second positioning solution based on the size limit of assistance data and on the possibility of positioning failure comprises:
in response to determining the size limit of assistance data being greater than the first size threshold and further in response to determining a first possibility of positioning failure being not greater than a first possibility threshold, selecting the first positioning solution from the set of positioning solutions,
wherein the first possibility of positioning failure indicates a possibility of failure of the first positioning solution.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:
in response to determining the size limit of assistance data being not greater than the first size threshold and not less than the second size threshold, and further in response to determining a second possibility of positioning failure being not greater than a second possibility threshold, selecting the second positioning solution from the set of positioning solutions,
wherein the second possibility of positioning failure indicates a possibility of failure of the second positioning solution.

11. The method of claim 10 , further comprising:
in response to determining the size limit of assistance data being less than the second size threshold, or
in response to determining the possibility of the first possibility of positioning failure being greater than the first possibility threshold, or
in response to determining the possibility of the second possibility of positioning failure being greater than the second possibility threshold, or
in response to determining the size limit of assistance data being greater than the first size threshold and further in response to determining the second possibility of positioning failure being not greater than the second possibility threshold, or
in response to determining the size limit of assistance data being not greater than the first size threshold and not less than the second size threshold, and further in response to determining the first possibility of positioning failure being not greater than the first possibility threshold,
selecting the second positioning solution or a third positioning solution from the set of positioning solutions, wherein the third positioning solution requires no assistance data.

12. An apparatus for selecting a positioning solution, the apparatus comprising:
a set of one or more processors; and
a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium containing code, which when executed by the set of one or more processors, causes the apparatus to:
receive information of a channel allocated to a terminal for wireless communication with the terminal, wherein the information pertains to a data transfer characteristic of the channel;
determine a size limit of assistance data that can be transmitted over the channel, based on the information of the channel; and
select a first positioning solution from a set of positioning solutions, when the size limit of assistance data determined for the channel is greater than a first size threshold and select a second positioning solution from the set of positioning solutions, when the size limit of assistance date is not greater than the first size threshold, but is not less than a second size threshold;
wherein the first positioning solution is mobile station (MS) based Assisted Global Positioning System (AGPS) solution and the second positioning solution is MS-assisted AGPS solution.

Assignees

• Zhang Yang
• Lv Li
• ERICSSON TELEFON AB L M (publ)

Inventors

• Zhang Yang
• Lv Li

Classifications

• G01S1/725 Primary

  Marker, boundary, call-sign or like beacons transmitting signals not carrying directional information · CPC title

• G01S5/0063

  of measured values, i.e. measurement on base station and position calculation on mobile · CPC title

• G01S19/25

  involving aiding data received from a cooperating element, e.g. assisted GPS · CPC title

• G01S19/426

  by combining or switching between position solutions or signals derived from different modes of operation in a single system · CPC title

• G01S5/0236

  Assistance data, e.g. base station almanac · CPC title