Determining a propagation-time adjustment for a wireless coverage area, based on information provided by wireless terminals

摘要

A method and system that account for one or more propagation-time components in a transmission path between a base station and a wireless terminal in a coverage area being served by the system. One such component is in the base station equipment between the radio that serves a wireless terminal and the antenna element that radiates and/or receives electromagnetic signals that involve the terminal. Another component of the transmission path is the one or more paths over which a radiated signal travels between the base station antenna element and the wireless terminal. By accounting for these propagation components through the use of measurement data provided by possibly a large number of wireless terminals, a disclosed location engine is able to derive adjusted measurements that are more representative of the propagation-time characteristic being measured by the individual terminals. These adjusted measurements can then be used to estimate the location of a wireless terminal more accurately.

主权项

1. A method comprising:
receiving, by a server computer:
i) a first propagation-time measurement of a first signal in a transmission between a first wireless terminal and a first base station,ii) a second propagation-time measurement of a second signal in a transmission that involves the first base station,iii) an estimated location of the first wireless terminal, andiv) an estimated location of the first base station; estimating, by the server computer, a first spatial displacement between the first wireless terminal and the first base station, based on the estimated location of the first wireless terminal and the estimated location of the first base station; generating, by the server computer, a statistic by applying a corresponding, predetermined statistical algorithm to a data set, wherein a first value in the data set is based on i) the first spatial displacement and ii) the first propagation-time measurement, and wherein a second value in the data set is based on the second propagation-time measurement; estimating, by the server computer, the location of a second base station based on the statistic, resulting in an estimated location of the second base station; and transmitting, by the server computer, the estimated location of the second base station to a location-based application.