Location estimation of a mobile device in a UMTS network

摘要

The present disclosure provides devices, systems, and methods to utilize relative timing offset information reported by one or more mobile devices. When coupled with AGPS information reported by one or more mobile devices, the offset information is be used to calibrate calculations and subsequently to locate all 3G mobiles with GPS-like accuracy, whether or not a GPS receiver is available on said mobile device being located. A determination of a propagation delay between one or more cell sites and a mobile device is reported to a network and used to calibrate unknown information such as a timing offset, to improve the accuracy of a detected location. The relative timing offset can be applied to determine a location for all other mobile devices within the area served by the known base station. The present disclosure utilizes this method in conjunction with information crowd-sourced from a plurality of mobile devices.

主权项

1. A method, comprising:
receiving, by a first mobile device comprising a processor, timing offset information for a base station device pair of devices comprising a first base station device and a second base station device, wherein the timing offset information is relative to a second mobile device based on a difference between first measured timing difference information and computed timing difference information, the first measured timing difference information is based on a measured propagation time between the devices of the base station device pair and the second mobile device, and the computed timing difference information is based on a geometrically determined time between a determined location of the second mobile device, a determined location of the first base station device, and determined location of the second base station device; receiving, by the first mobile device, second measured timing difference information based on a measured propagation time between the devices of the base station device pair and the first mobile device; and determining, by the first mobile device, a location of the first mobile device based on the timing offset information for the base station device pair and the second measured timing difference information.