Patent application number | Description | Published |
20130321210 | Positioning LTE wireless base stations using aggregated OTDOA assistance data - An apparatus and method for building a base station almanac at a non-carrier location server is shown. A mobile device cooperates by informing the non-carrier location server of observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) assistance data it receives. The non-carrier location server collects enough OTDOA assistance data through crowd souring or spoofing to generate an OTDOA library. The non-carrier location server using the OTDOA library to generate a base station almanac. Once created, non-carrier location server uses the base station almanac to provide assistance data to mobile devices without assistance from the carrier. Also, a mobile device may use the base station almanac to determine transmission timing between itself and neighboring and distant base stations. | 12-05-2013 |
20130324163 | Obtaining timing of LTE wireless base stations using aggregated OTDOA assistance data - An apparatus and method for calculating time offsets for imperceptible base stations, which include base stations that have limited or no communication with a mobile station are presented. Time offsets for the imperceptible base stations are computed using transmit time offset information for a plurality of base station pairs received from a non-carrier base station almanac. A time offset between the mobile device at a first location and a serving base station at a second location is also computed. The time offsets for the imperceptible base stations may then be computed using the received transmit time offsets of the plurality of base station pairs and the time offset between the mobile device and the serving base station. The non-carrier base station almanac is built using a mobile device that informs a non-carrier location server of observed time difference of arrival (OTDOA) assistance data it receives from a carrier's location server. | 12-05-2013 |
20140029468 | Adaptive Access Point Database Management - Method and system for providing information of an access point database are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of providing information of an access point database comprises receiving a request to access an access point database from a mobile client, generating a segment of the access point database in accordance with at least an application requirement of the mobile client, and providing the segment of the access point database to the mobile client. The application requirement of the mobile client comprises precision level requested by the mobile client, and cache level of the mobile client. The method of generating a segment of the access point database comprises at least one of: generating the segment of the access point database in real-time, and providing the segment of the access point database previously generated and stored in the access point database. | 01-30-2014 |
20140031055 | WIRELESS NETWORK COVERAGE ESTIMATION USING DOWN-SAMPLED CROWD-SOURCED DATA - A method of estimating wireless network coverage includes receiving location data from a plurality of mobile devices located within range of an antenna in a wireless network. The location data is mapped onto a grid of districts and down-sampled for respective districts of the grid. An approximate coverage region of the antenna is calculated based at least in part on the down-sampled location data. | 01-30-2014 |
20140036701 | Mobile Access Point Detection - Methods and devices for detecting mobile access points are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of detecting mobile access points comprises collecting crowdsourcing data associated with one or more access point devices, quantizing the crowdsourcing data to generate a quantized crowdsourcing data, for each access point device, determining an interfracile range of the access point device using the quantized crowdsourcing data, where the interfracile range is a measure of statistical dispersion of the quantized crowdsourcing data with respect to the access point device, identifying the access point device as a mobile access point device in response to the interfracile range exceeds a first predetermined range. The method of collecting crowdsourcing data comprises collecting the crowdsourcing data within a predetermined sliding time window. | 02-06-2014 |
20140036768 | Processing of Access Point Crowdsourcing Data - Method and apparatus for processing access point (AP) crowdsourcing data are disclosed. In one embodiment, the method comprises receiving WiFi scan lists and their corresponding location descriptions, consolidating the WiFi scan lists and their corresponding location descriptions based at least in part on a set of selection criteria to generate a WiFi AP record, and uploading the WiFi AP record to a crowdsourcing server. The method consolidating the WiFi scan lists and their corresponding location descriptions comprises quantizing data received in accordance with time segment of the WiFi scan lists and their corresponding location descriptions. The set of selection criteria comprises a maximum number of scan lists to be uploaded in a predetermined period of time, a maximum number of scan lists to be uploaded in a single upload, ratio of MNoO to remaining unprocessed observations, similarity between scan lists, and comparison of HEPE values between similar scan lists. | 02-06-2014 |
20140087763 | NON-GEOTAGGED ACCESS POINT POSITIONING - A method for locating a target transceiver in a wireless communication system includes: obtaining at least one scan list indicating a set of transceivers including the target transceiver; identifying, from stored geotagging data, locations of at least some previously located transceivers represented in the at least one scan list that are distinct from the target transceiver; generating a list of neighbor transceivers corresponding to the target transceiver based on the at least one scan list; and calculating an estimated location of the target transceiver using the list of neighbor transceivers and the locations of the previously located transceivers represented in the at least one scan list. | 03-27-2014 |
20140140227 | Method for corroboration and transferring trust between network databases for enhanced positioning accuracy - Techniques for transferring trust between networks are described herein. An example of a method of using a mobile device to transfer trust between networks described herein includes receiving WAN base station information including a WAN base station trustworthiness value, determining a WAN position estimate for the mobile device based on the WAN base station information, receiving access point information including an access point trustworthiness value, determining an access point position estimate for the mobile device based on the access point information, determining if the WAN position estimate and the access point position estimate are corroborated, and increasing the access point trustworthiness value if the WAN position estimate and the access point position estimate are corroborated and the WAN base station trustworthiness value is higher than the access point trustworthiness value. | 05-22-2014 |
20140179237 | Adaptive Crowdsourcing Using Mobile Device Generated Parameters - Method and apparatus for performing crowdsourcing are disclosed. The method may include monitoring environment of a mobile device, determining a level of crowdsourcing in accordance with one or more mobile device generated parameters corresponding to the environment, and performing crowdsourcing in accordance with the level of crowdsourcing determined. The level of crowdsourcing comprises one or more of quantity of crowdsourcing data to be collected by the mobile device, frequency of crowdsourcing operations to be performed by the mobile device, and type of quantization to be applied to the crowdsourcing data collected. | 06-26-2014 |
20140185520 | PROCESSING DELAY ESTIMATE BASED ON CROWDSOURCING DATA - Techniques are provided for providing a processing delay estimate of an access point, or turnaround calibration function (TCF), associated with round trip time (RTT) measurements. Mobile devices, access points, and/or other systems can utilize these techniques to derive processing delay from the RTT measurements. Crowdsourcing can also be used to help increase the accuracy of the processing delay estimate, which can be propagated to multiple devices. | 07-03-2014 |
20140187257 | INTER-AP DISTANCE ESTIMATION USING CROWD SOURCING - Techniques are provided for utilizing one or more mobile devices to estimate distances between wireless access points (APs). Embodiments can, for example, enable mobile devices, wireless APs, and/or other systems to estimate a distance between two wireless APs using Round-Trip Time (RTT) measurements obtained by one or more mobile devices. The RTT measurements can be utilized based on whether one or more related Received Signal Strength Indication (RSSI) measurements exceed a threshold value. Embodiments can also utilize crowdsourcing to obtain distance estimation data (e.g., distance estimates, RTT and/or RSSI measurements, etc.) from one or more mobile devices and/or propagate a determined distance, based on the distance estimation data, to multiple devices. | 07-03-2014 |
20140192658 | Dynamic selection of positioning system and display map - Systems, apparatus and methods for determining whether to use an indoor map or an outdoor map based on local area network (LAN) signals from access points (APs) are disclosed. If only weak AP signals belonging to a location content identifier (LCI) are received, prior art systems display an indoor map associated with the LCI. An improvement herein further determines a quality of AP signals and/or wide area network (WAN) signals before determining whether to display the indoor map or an outdoor map. | 07-10-2014 |
20140194145 | Method, System and/or Device for Adjusting Expected Received Signal Strength Signature Values - Disclosed are systems, methods and devices for application of determining position information for mobile devices. In specific implementations, measurement of a signal travel time and a signal's strength may be combined to characterize a transmission power of the signal's transmitter. The characterized transmission power may be applied to affect expected signal strength signature values for use of the signal's transmitter may be updated in order to enhance a location based service where location may be effected by accuracy of a transmitter's power. | 07-10-2014 |
20140222562 | LOCATION BASED DYNAMIC COUPONS - Methods, systems, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for location based dynamic coupons are presented. In some embodiments, location information for a plurality of users in an area associated with the network based positioning system is determined. The location information may be analyzed using a set of rules associated with the area to create an offer associated with a location within the area. The offer may then be communicated to one or more users. In alternate embodiments, user density may be used to create offers for users, and the offers may be directed toward influencing users to move from a high user density location to a low user density location. | 08-07-2014 |
20140232553 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR DETERMINING LOCATION USING A SMART METER AS A LOCATION REFERENCE - Methods, systems, computer-readable media, and apparatuses for using a signal transmitted by a smart meter as a location reference are presented. In one embodiment, a mobile device may receive a first signal transmitted by a smart meter and a second signal transmitted by a wireless access point. The information received may be provided to a server which may use a smart meter location to determine a location of the access point. In further embodiments, multiple measurements as well as distance measurements between a mobile device, the smart meter, and/or the access point may further be used to improve location information for the smart meter and access point. | 08-21-2014 |
20140253384 | Tiered Positioning Assistance Data for Mobile Devices Within an Indoor Environment - Various methods, apparatuses and/or articles of manufacture are provided which may be implemented in one or more electronic devices supporting mobile device positioning within an indoor environment. Tiered positioning assistance data (tiered-PAD) corresponding to an indoor environment may be generated and/or distributed. Mobile device positioning and/or navigation capabilities may be based, at least in part, on tiered-PAD corresponding to the indoor environment. Tiered-PAD may be provided to a plurality of mobile devices. A given mobile device may, for example, select applicable portion(s) of tiered-PAD to affect one or more positioning functions and/or the like which may be performed, at least in part, by the mobile device. | 09-11-2014 |
20140253386 | DEVICES, METHODS, AND APPARATUSES FOR COMPUTING ROUND-TRIP TIME OF A MESSAGE - Methods, apparatuses, and/or articles of manufacture are disclosed, which may be employed in a mobile device communicating with a transponder via a near field communications channel. In one example, round trip time of a message may be computed to estimate processing latency contributed by processes occurring within the mobile device and/or the transponder. | 09-11-2014 |
20140254575 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PEER-2-PEER WI-FI RANGING USING NEAR FIELD COMMUNICATION - According to some aspects, a method includes communicating a request from a first device to a second device using near field communication (NFC). The request includes a preferred mode of wireless local area network (Wi-Fi) operation and state information of the first device. The method further includes receiving a reply at the first device, sent from the second device, including acceptance of the preferred mode of Wi-Fi operation. The method further includes communicating wireless information to establish the Wi-Fi communication link from the first device to the second device. | 09-11-2014 |
20140254888 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ENCODING ASSISTANCE DATA IN LOCATION TECHNOLOGIES - Systems, apparatus, and methods according to one or more embodiments are provided for encoding assistance data in locations technologies. In an embodiment, a method includes reading, by a processor, tile data of a database in a specific order, wherein the tile data comprises one or more reference data points and/or one or more empty spaces. The method also includes compressing, by the processor, the tile data based on the specific order using encoding. And the method further includes generating relative positions for each individual reference data point with respect to each other in the compressed tile data without specific location identification information for each reference data point. | 09-11-2014 |
20140256346 | ADAPTIVE ASSISTANCE DATA FOR TIERED SERVICE AND EFFICIENCY IN INDOOR POSITIONING - A method for providing tiered indoor positioning service includes: receiving a request for assistance data from a mobile device; receiving expected quality of service information from the mobile device; generating an adaptive assistance data file comprising heat map data based at least in part on the received expected quality of service information; and transmitting the adaptive assistance data file to the mobile device. | 09-11-2014 |
20140266697 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR USE IN IDENTIFYING POTENTIAL ANOMALIES IN ELECTRONIC FILES SUPPORTIVE OF MOBILE DEVICE POSITIONING - Various methods, apparatuses and/or articles of manufacture are provided which may be implemented by one or more electronic devices to identify potential anomalies in one or more electronic files used to support mobile device positioning within a specific environment. Various methods, apparatuses and/or articles of manufacture are also provided which may be implemented by one or more electronic devices to alter one or more electronic files used to support mobile device positioning within a specific environment. | 09-18-2014 |
20140274040 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PERFORMING SCAN OPERATIONS - Various methods, apparatuses and/or articles of manufacture are provided which may be implemented for use by a mobile device to alter a scan operation. Various methods, apparatuses and/or articles of manufacture are provided which may be implemented for use by one or more electronic devices to determine one or more scan factors for use by a mobile device in altering a scan operation. | 09-18-2014 |
20140274108 | Mobile device positioning responsive to externally generated regional candidate position fix mode selection - Various methods, apparatuses and/or articles of manufacture are provided which may be implemented for use by a mobile device to affect at least one positioning function based, at least in part, on a recommended candidate position fix mode received from another electronic device for use in a particular region of an environment. For example, a mobile device may obtain assistance data indicative of a candidate position fix mode for a partial region of an environment navigable by the mobile device, and in response to a determination that the mobile device is estimated to be located within a threshold proximity of the partial region, affect a wireless signal-based positioning function based, at least in part, on the candidate position fix mode. | 09-18-2014 |
20140274113 | CROWDSOURCING BASED ON BASE STATION ALMANAC QUALITY - Systems, apparatus and methods for a mobile device and a base station almanac server to throttle crowdsourcing information are presented. The crowdsourcing information is used to improve a location of a base station in a base station almanac. A portion of the base station almanac is provided to a mobile device. For example, the mobile device may identify its current cell and request the base station almanac. The mobile device records crowdsourcing information to identify, for each particular base station of at least one base station, a cellular identifier for the particular base station, optional ranging information between the particular base station and the mobile device, and an independent position of the mobile device. The independent position of the mobile device may be formed from global navigation satellite system (GNSS) or station signals independent of the at least one base station. | 09-18-2014 |
20140274119 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR INDOOR POSITIONING BASED ON WIRELESS LANDMARKS - Embodiments include using a wireless access point (AP) as a landmark to aid precise wireless indoor positioning of a mobile device. The AP transmits a wireless indoor positioning signal with a predetermined or known frequency and power that is typically only able to be detected and decoded by any of various types of mobile devices that are within a predetermined “close” range of the AP. Based on positioning the mobile device within the predetermined range, the device may calibrate one or more physical sensors of the mobile device for indoor positioning. Such wireless landmarks provide more accurate, efficient, automated and reliable wireless indoor positioning and sensor calibration. | 09-18-2014 |
20140274130 | Server-based mobile device regional candidate position fix mode selection - Various methods, apparatuses and/or articles of manufacture are provided for use by an electronic device to generate a recommended candidate position fix mode to a mobile device for use in a particular region of an environment. Such a candidate position fix mode may, for example, be selected from a plurality of wireless signal-based positioning modes comprising at least: a first wireless signal-based positioning mode based on first wireless signals transmitted by a terrestrial-based transmitting device, a second wireless signal-based positioning mode based on second wireless signals transmitted a satellite-based transmitting device, and a third wireless signal-based positioning mode based on a combination of the first wireless signals and the second wireless signals. In certain example implementations, assistance data indicative of at least the candidate position fix mode may be transmitted to the mobile device. | 09-18-2014 |
20140274161 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GEOTAGGING - Methods and apparatuses for performing geotagging referencing in both indoor and outdoor environments are presented. In some embodiments, a mobile device may record a digital media object comprising at least one digitally recorded event of a surrounding environment of the mobile device. The mobile device may obtain at least one geotagging datum, the at least one geotagging datum comprising at least one timing measurement from at least one reference source. The mobile device may determine a location of the digital media object using the at least one geotagging datum. The mobile device may then label the digital media object with the location of the digital media object. | 09-18-2014 |
20140295881 | DETERMINATION OF DIFFERENTIAL FORWARD LINK CALIBRATION IN LTE NETWORKS FOR POSITIONING - Techniques are provided which may be implemented using various methods and/or apparatuses to determine time difference of arrival of signals from two base stations as received at a mobile device, to use the time difference of arrival to determine differential forward link calibration for at least two base stations, and also to determine location using the differential forward link calibration for at least two base stations, determined using the time difference of arrival of signals from at least two base stations as received by a mobile device. | 10-02-2014 |
20140342662 | Method for Adapting to Venue Positioning Capabilities - Particular embodiments disclosed herein are directed to methods, systems and/or devices for mobile assisted positioning. A mobile station may receive positioning assistance data from a server enabling or supporting one or more positioning operations in a venue. In a particular implementation, the mobile device may alter execution of one or more applications based, at least in part, on an indication of particular positioning services or operations enabled or supported by positioning assistance data available at the server. | 11-20-2014 |
20140364101 | FINE GRAIN POSITION DATA COLLECTION - Method, mobile device, computer program product, and apparatus for performing Fine Grain Position Data Collection are described. In one embodiment, a server can receive position data collected by a mobile device with a first positioning configuration. In one embodiment, the server can determine, from the position data received at the server, a mobile device position and create a second positioning configuration according to at least the mobile device position. In one embodiment, the server can send the second positioning configuration to the mobile device. In one embodiment, a mobile device can collect position data according to a first positioning configuration and send the position data to a server. In one embodiment, the mobile device can receive a second positioning configuration from the server created according to at least the mobile device position. | 12-11-2014 |
20150019121 | INTELLIGENT MAP COMBINATION FOR VENUES ENABLING INDOOR POSITIONING - Methods and devices are described for merging maps. In one potential embodiment a method may comprise receiving an indication of at least one plurality of geographically proximate points, where each of the at least one plurality of geographically proximate points are determined by at least one access point in communication with one or more mobile devices. A first and second map may then be received, where the first map and the second map each cover a first area such that the first area is in both the first map and the second map. The first map and the second map may then be merged by matching a mapping of a first portion of an indication of the at least one plurality of geographically proximate points on the first map and a second portion of an indication of an at least one plurality of geographically proximate points on the second map. | 01-15-2015 |
20150029945 | Communications between a Mobile Device and an Access Point Device - Method, device, and computer program product that may improve communications between a mobile device and an access point device are disclosed. In one embodiment, a method of communicating between a mobile device and an access point device comprises control a plurality of beacons in the access point device, establishing a communication between the access point device with the mobile device using a first beacon in the plurality of beacons, broadcasting availability of the plurality of beacons in the access point device via the first beacon, and establishing the communication with the mobile device using a second beacon in the plurality of beacons. | 01-29-2015 |
20150031307 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR USE IN DETECTING CHANGES WITHIN WIRELESS SIGNAL ENVIRONMENT - Various methods, apparatuses and articles of manufacture are provided for use by one or more electronic devices to detect and/or respond to certain changes (anomalies) within a wireless signaling environment. For example, a first electronic device may receive a report of a threshold anomaly detected by a monitoring device deployed at a fixed predetermined position within a coverage area of a network service device, and may initiate an investigation by requesting that a second electronic device attempt to monitor certain transmissions of and/or actively communicate with a network service device. In response to a determination based, at least in part, on the investigation that the threshold anomaly represents a threshold change in status within the wireless signaling environment, the first electronic device may transmit a status report regarding the wireless signaling environment to another electronic device. | 01-29-2015 |
20150045054 | Systems and Methods for Floor Determination of Access Points in Indoor Positioning Systems - Systems and methods are disclosed for determining the floors on which APs are located for WiFi-based indoor positioning systems. A data collection phase is followed by a data analysis phase. During data collection, measurement data to observed APs may be collected from various locations on different floors. The measurements data may include received signal strength indication (RSSI), optional round-trip-time (RTT) data to the APs, and floor information of the measurement locations. Measurement data may also be collected from crowd sourced data without floor information of the measurement locations. In data analysis, the collected measurement data are analyzed using various algorithms to determine if APs belong to the same floor and to assign APs on the same floor to the same cluster. APs on different floors may thus be assigned to different clusters. If the floor information of the measurement locations is known, each cluster may be assigned a floor number. | 02-12-2015 |
20150065150 | METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR ESTIMATING A REGION OF COVERAGE FOR A SPARSE NETWORK ALMANAC - A level 3 (L3) sparse network almanac (SNA) is generated using data from a base station almanac with information for a plurality of base stations. The information for base stations includes cell identifiers that include an L3 region code that is one layer above a cell tower identification level. Cell boundaries are determined from the base station information. The cell boundaries are used to estimate a region of coverage for the L3 SNA, which may be stored in a database. For example, region points may be generated from the cell boundaries, and used to estimate the region of coverage for the L3 SNA. The region of coverage may be determined, e.g., as a minimum enclosing circle or other similar techniques. The larger of an estimated region size parameter, e.g., a radius of a circle, and a default size may be used for the region of coverage. | 03-05-2015 |
20150080013 | Using broadcast position and transmit power from access points to form assistance data - Systems, apparatus and methods for preparing assistance data in a location server from coverage report messages of one or more access points from a plurality of mobile devices are presented. Several mobile devices each collect information from and about one or more access points. This crowd-sourced information is sent from a mobile device to a location server and may include ranging information (such as RSSI or RTT) and/or broadcast information (such as broadcast position and/or transmit power level) and/or computed information (such as path loss). Using this crowd-sourced information, the location server may form assistance data for an assistance data database, which may later be tailored for and send to a specific mobile device. | 03-19-2015 |
20150081239 | METHOD, SYSTEMS AND/OR DEVICE FOR ADJUSTING EXPECTED RECEIVED SIGNAL STRENGTH SIGNATURE VALUES - Disclosed are systems, methods and devices for application of determining position information for mobile devices. In specific implementations, measurement of a signal travel time and a signal's strength may be combined to characterize a transmission power of the signal's transmitter. The characterized transmission power may be applied to affect expected signal strength signature values for use of the signal's transmitter may be updated in order to enhance a location based service where location may be effected by accuracy of a transmitter's power. | 03-19-2015 |