Patent application number | Description | Published |
20120188938 | SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR PROVIDING A LOCATION AWARE WIRELESS NETWORK - This disclosure is directed to devices and methods for providing a location aware wireless network including at least one network node that is configured to calculate a position estimate on the basis of signals received from other network nodes and to transmit location information based on the position estimate to other nodes on the network. Preferably, the network node is configured to autonomously determine a signal-derived position estimate, including those based on location information from other network nodes, signal strength or the timing of signals. Other network nodes can feature GPS receivers, which can optionally be configured to perform signal-derived estimates as well. | 07-26-2012 |
20130257648 | PREDICTION REFRESH METHOD FOR EPHEMERIS EXTENSIONS - Systems, methods and devices for using ephemeris data in GNSS receivers and systems are provided. Receivers using synthetic ephemeris data for longer ephemeris availability under poor reception conditions are updated using a variety of techniques that allow for the transfer of accurate information onto degraded synthetic ephemeris information. | 10-03-2013 |
20130336138 | LOCATION DETECTION WITHIN IDENTIFIABLE PRE-DEFINED GEOGRAPHIC AREAS - Disclosed are systems, apparatus, devices, methods, computer program products, and other implementations, including a method that includes receiving signals at a mobile device from one or more access points, computing one or more positioning quality parameters by analyzing the received signals, and determining based, at least in part, on the computed one or more positioning quality parameters whether the mobile device is inside at least one of one or more areas respectively associated with the one or more access points. | 12-19-2013 |
20140100781 | POSITIONING NETWORK AVAILABILITY AND RELIABILITY BASED ROUTING - A routing system can be configured to determine a route based on availability and reliability of location reference devices to determine a most reliable route between a source and a destination. Visibility information that is indicative of availability of at least a threshold number of location reference devices along the route can be determined. For each of a plurality of routes between the source and the destination, a reliability rating associated with the route can be determined based on the visibility information associated with the route. The reliability rating can be indicative of an ability of the routing system to maintain continuous connectivity to the at least the threshold number of location reference devices along the route. The reliability ratings of the plurality of routes are compared to identify and to present one of the plurality of routes with a highest reliability rating. | 04-10-2014 |
20140107919 | PREDICTIVE SCHEDULING OF NAVIGATION TASKS - Disclosed are systems, apparatus, devices, methods, computer program products, and other implementations, including a method of controlling navigation tasks on a mobile device that includes obtaining data representative of a route of travel for the mobile device, obtaining a list of navigation tasks associated with the route of travel for the mobile device, and performing one or more navigation tasks in accordance with the list of navigation tasks based, at least in part, on proximity of the mobile device to one or more points on the route of travel. Performing the one or more navigation tasks includes one or more of, for example, obtaining satellite positioning assistance data in response to a determination that the mobile device is transitioning from an indoor area to an outdoor area, and/or establishing a communication link with an access point. | 04-17-2014 |
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 |
20140179340 | PAIRWISE MEASUREMENTS FOR IMPROVED POSITION DETERMINATION - Approaches for enhancing range-based position determination using pairwise error detection and compensation are provided. One method for enhancing a position estimate of a first node may include performing measurements at the first node using a signal received from a second node, and receiving measurements from the second node. The received measurements may be performed at the second node using a signal provided by the first node. The method may further include determining pairwise comparisons of the performed measurements and the received measurements, and compensating the measurements performed at the first node, based on the pairwise comparisons, for estimating the position of the first node. Systems and apparatuses for performing the various position determination methods are further presented. | 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 |
20140200037 | REGION DETERMINATION CONTROL - A method, in a mobile device, of controlling region determination by the mobile device, includes: determining a present pressure at the mobile device; determining, based on the present pressure and a reference pressure, that the mobile device moved from a first region to a second region within a structure, the first region and the second region being different regions of the structure and vertically displaced from each other; and performing region determination in response to determining that the mobile device moved from the first region to the second region. | 07-17-2014 |
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 |
20140235264 | MODIFYING NAVIGATION ASSISTANCE PARAMETERS OF A MOBILE-BASED POSITIONING CAPABILITY BASED ON OBSERVATIONS GATHERED BY A NETWORK-BASED POSITIONING CAPABILITY - Various methods, apparatuses and/or articles of manufacture are provided which may be implemented to obtain navigation assistance parameters (NAP) for a mobile device for use by the mobile device in estimating its movement and/or position within a particular environment based, at least in part, on wireless signal(s) acquired by the mobile device as part of a mobile-based positioning (MBP) capability, and modifying the NAP based, at least in part, on observations of movements and/or positions of a plurality of mobile devices within the particular environment gathered by a network-based positioning (NBP) capability. Various methods, apparatuses and/or articles of manufacture are provided which may be implemented to obtain and provide at least a portion of such modified NAP to a positioning capability of the mobile device for use in estimating a position and/or a movement of the mobile device. | 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 |
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 |
20140274109 | POSITIONING PERFORMANCE PREDICTION - A method of predicting positioning performance of a set of N access points in an indoor region includes: obtaining a signal-strength map including signal-strength vectors and corresponding locations in the indoor region, the signal-strength vectors each including N signal-strength indications that each indicate an expected received signal strength from a corresponding one of the set of N access points; and determining a position uncertainty value using the signal-strength map, the position uncertainty value being indicative of a positioning accuracy at a corresponding point of interest in the indoor region. | 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 |
20140323160 | UTILIZING A PRESSURE PROFILE TO DETERMINE A LOCATION CONTEXT IDENTIFIER - Example methods, apparatuses, or articles of manufacture are disclosed herein that may be utilized, in whole or in part, to facilitate or support one or more operations or techniques for utilizing a pressure profile to determine a location context identifier (LCI) for use in or with a mobile communication device. | 10-30-2014 |
20140323163 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND/OR DEVICES FOR SELECTING A LOCATION CONTEXT IDENTIFIER FOR POSITIONING A MOBILE DEVICE - Disclosed are systems, methods and devices for providing positioning assistance data to a mobile device based, at least in part, on a location context identifier (LCI). In one particular implementation, a user may select from a one or more of candidate LCIs identified, for example, based on acquiring one or more signals from transmitters in range of the mobile device. | 10-30-2014 |
20140324381 | SYSTEM, METHOD AND/OR DEVICES FOR APPLYING BAROMETRIC PRESSURE MEASUREMENTS AND RADIO FREQUENCY MEASUREMENTS FOR POSITIONING - Disclosed are systems, methods and devices for applying barometric pressure measurements and radio frequency measurements for positioning. In one implementation, barometric measurements may indicate a transition between floors of a building. Accordingly, barometric measurements may be combined with detections of a particular floor based, at least in part, on acquired radio frequency signals. | 10-30-2014 |
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 |