LOCATION ESTIMATION FOR A MOBILE DEVICE

• Main Authors: SIMONS PAUL RICHARD, REYMANN STEFFEN, FULTON PAUL MICHAEL, POLLING DENNIS, EDWARDS MARTIN JOHN
• Format: Patent
• Language: English
• Published: 01.05.2014
• Subjects: ANALOGOUS ARRANGEMENTS USING OTHER WAVES; DETERMINING DISTANCE OR VELOCITY BY USE OF RADIO WAVES; ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE; ELECTRICITY; LOCATING OR PRESENCE-DETECTING BY USE OF THE REFLECTION ORRERADIATION OF RADIO WAVES; MEASURING; PHYSICS; RADIO DIRECTION-FINDING; RADIO NAVIGATION; TESTING; WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS NETWORKS

There is therefore provided a method of estimating the location of a mobile device, the mobile device being configured for use in a cellular mobile communications network comprising a plurality of base stations, the method comprising generating a database of locations visited by the mobile device by obtaining measurements of the position of the mobile device over time using a satellite-based positioning system; obtaining the identity of the base station serving the mobile device at the time of each measurement of the position of the mobile device; and analyzing the measurements to identify locations visited by the mobile device, each location being associated with a particular base station, such that the mobile device is attached to said base station when at said location; and during subsequent use of the mobile device, in the event that it is not possible to use the satellite-based positioning system to measure the position of the mobile device, estimating the location of the mobile device as one or more identified locations that are associated with the base station to which the mobile device is currently attached. Corresponding apparatus and computer program products are also provided.