Communication network initialization apparatus and method for fast GPS-based positioning

摘要

An apparatus and method is disclosed, utilizing a communications network (10) (in this particular design, it is a GEM (Geo-Mobile) satellite system) to initialize a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver (19) (such one integrated into a handheld user terminal (18), or phone used within the communication network (10)) to enable the GPS receiver (19) to quickly acquire GPS satellite signals and perform positioning calculations. By systematically feeding the GPS receiver (19) key pieces of information (GPS satellite trajectories, time estimate, position estimate, and additional positional references), the time to first fix (TTFF) of the GPS receiver (19) can be drastically reduced. <IMAGE>