Method and system for positioning wireless device

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-RE48160-E
Application number	US-201815947449-A
Country	US
Kind code	E1
Filing date	Apr 6, 2018
Priority date	May 16, 2013
Publication date	Aug 11, 2020
Grant date	Aug 11, 2020

Abstract

Aspects of the disclosure provide a method. The method includes storing a database of positioning data. Each positioning data can associate position information of a location with an identifier of a wireless station for providing wireless connection at the location and a characteristic of a wireless signal received at the location. Further, the method includes receiving a position request from a wireless device that receives an identifier and a specific characteristic of a wireless signal from a specific wireless station, identifying the specific wireless station using the identifier to retrieve a group of positioning data from a database, selecting a subset in the group of positioning data using the specific characteristic, and determining position information of the wireless device using the selected subset of positioning data.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method, comprising:
providing a database of positioning data, each positioning data associating position information of a location with an identifier of a wireless station for providing wireless connection at the location and a strength of a signal received at the location;
receiving a position request from a wireless device that receives an identifier and a signal strength from a specific wireless station;
identifying the specific wireless station using the identifier to retrieve a group of positioning data from the database;
selecting a subset in the group of positioning data using the received signal strength;
determining position information of the wireless device using the selected subset of positioning data; and
calculating an estimated uncertainty value associated with the determined position information of the wireless device using circular error probable (CEP) theory to calculate a threshold percentage of radius of the determined position information of the wireless device.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the selecting the subset in the group of positioning data further comprises:
selecting, when the received signal strength is inside the boundaries of a group of positioning data, the subset when the received signal strength is inside the boundaries of the subset.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising:
determining the subset when the received signal strength is outside the boundaries of a group of positioning data.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the determining the subset is based on calculating a closeness between the received signal strength and each signal strength in the group of positioning data.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the calculating the closeness is based on exponential decay model.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining position information of the wireless device further comprises:
weigh-averaging position information in the selected subset of positioning data when the received signal strength is inside the boundaries of a group of positioning data.

7. The method of claim 6 , further comprising:
averaging position information in the selected subset of positioning data when the received signal strength is outside the boundaries of a group of positioning data.

8. The method of claim 6 , wherein the calculated threshold percentage of radius is 95% radius of the determined position information of the wireless device.

9. The method of claim 6 , wherein a weight of a position is determined based on the received signal strength to each signal strength in the selected subset of positioning data.

10. An apparatus, comprising:
a storage medium configured to provide a database of positioning data, each positioning data associating position information of a location with an identification of a wireless station device for providing wireless connection at the location and the strength of a signal received at the location; and
a processor configured to:
receive a position request from a wireless device that receives an identifiers identifier and the strength of a signal from a specific wireless station;
identify the specific wireless station using the identifier to retrieve a group of positioning data from a database;
select a subset in the group of positioning data using the received signal strength;
determine position information of the wireless device using the selected subset of positioning data; and
calculate an estimated uncertainty value associated with the determined position information of the wireless device using circular error probable (CEP) theory to calculate a threshold percentage of radius of the determined position information of the wireless device.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor selects the subset in the group of positioning data further comprises:
select when the received signal strength is inside the boundaries of a group of positioning data, the subset when the received signal strength is inside the boundaries of the subset.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the processor configured to select the subset in the group of positioning data further comprising comprising: determine the subset when the received signal strength is outside the boundaries of a the group of positioning data.

13. The apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the processor determines the subset is based on calculating the a closeness between the received signal strength and each signal strength in the group of positioning data.

14. The apparatus of claim 12 13, wherein the processor calculates the a closeness is based on exponential decay model.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the processor determines position information of the wireless device further comprises:
weigh-average position information in the selected subset of positioning data when the received signal strength is inside the boundaries of a group of positioning data.

16. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the processor configured to determine position information of the wireless device further comprising comprises:
average position information in the selected subset of positioning data when the received signal strength is outside the boundaries of a the group of positioning data.

17. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the calculated threshold percentage of radius is 95% radius of the determined position information of the wireless device.

18. The apparatus of claim 15 , wherein the processor determines a weight of a position based on the received signal strength to each signal strength in the selected subset of positioning data.

19. An apparatus, comprising:
a data retriever that comprises a reception module configured to receive the identifiers and the strength of signals from wireless stations, and a mapping module configured to identify the wireless stations using the identifiers;
a data processor that comprises a retrieval module configured to extract the groups of positioning data from a database, and a clustering module configured to select the subsets in the groups of positioning data using the strength of the received signals;
a location estimator that comprises a position module configured to determine position information of the a wireless device using the selected subsets of in the groups of positioning data, calculate an estimated uncertainty value associated with the determined position information of the wireless device using a circular error probable (CEP) theory to calculate a threshold percentage of a radius of the determined position information of the wireless device, and a position filtering module configured to exclude outliers when outliers whose distances of the outliers exceed a threshold; and
a data manager that comprises a cluster allocation module configured to reset clustering boundaries of a subset when a requirement is satisfied.

Assignees

• Marvell World Trade Ltd
• Marvell Asia Pte Ltd

Inventors

• Liu Bochih
• Jia Zhike
• Yu Jing
• Chen Jian
• Ren Yuan
• Zhao Xing

Classifications

• G01S5/0252

  Radio frequency fingerprinting · CPC title

• H04W64/00

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

• H04W4/023 Primary

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