Gps-assisted source and receiver location estimation

Abstract

A mobile communication device includes, in part, a first wireless receiver adapted to determine, as it travels along a path, a multitude of positions of the mobile communication device using signals received from a primary positioning source, a second wireless receiver adapted to receive signals from one or more ambient wireless sources as the mobile communication device travels along the path, and a positioning module. An internal or external memory stores estimated positions and corresponding time references of the signals of the one or more ambient sources. The positioning module uses the data stored in the database to estimate the position of the mobile communication device when no primary positioning source signal is available. The positioning module optionally uses the data stored in the database to improve estimates of the position of the mobile communication device when primary positioning signal is available.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A mobile communication device comprising:
 a first wireless receiver adapted to determine, as it travels along a path, a plurality of positions of the mobile communication device using signals received from a primary positioning source;   a second wireless receiver adapted to receive signals from one or more ambient wireless sources as the mobile communication device travels along the path; and   a positioning module adapted to use the determined plurality of positions of the mobile communication device and the received ambient wireless signals to estimate positions of the ambient sources.   
     
     
         2 . The mobile communication device of  claim 1  further comprising a database operative to store estimated positions and corresponding time references of the signals of the one or more ambient sources. 
     
     
         3 . The mobile communication device of  claim 1  further comprising a transceiver operative to access and store estimated positions of the one or more ambient sources and their corresponding time references in an external database. 
     
     
         4 . The mobile communication device of  claim 1  wherein said primary positioning source comprises satellite based communication sources and wherein said ambient sources comprise digital television sources, digital radio sources and cellular phone sources. 
     
     
         5 . The mobile communication device of  4  wherein said primary positioning source is selected from a group consisting of GNSS and GPS systems. 
     
     
         6 . The mobile communication device of  4  wherein said ambient source is selected from a group consisting of DVB-T, DVB-H, ISDB-T, CMMB, MediaFLO, ATSC, DAB, CDMA, W-CDMA, GSM, LTE, WiFi, and WiMax. 
     
     
         7 . The mobile communication device of  1  wherein the module is further adapted to estimate differential distances to the ambient sources and apply trilateration technique to the estimated differential distances to estimate distances to the ambient sources. 
     
     
         8 . The mobile communication device of  1  wherein said module estimates positions of the ambient sources using markers carried by signals transmitted by the ambient sources. 
     
     
         9 . The mobile communication device of  1  wherein said module estimates positions of the ambient sources using one or more fields disposed in the frames transmitted by the ambient sources. 
     
     
         10 . A system comprising:
 an external database accessible to a plurality of communication devices and adapted to store estimated positions of a plurality of ambient sources, said external database further adapted to receive and store updates of the estimated positions as the estimates are generated, said external database being further adapted to supply estimates of the positions of the ambient source to the plurality of communication devices in order to enable the plurality of communication devices to estimate their positions using data stored in the external database.   
     
     
         11 . The system of  claim 10  wherein each of the plurality of communication devices comprises a receiver receiving signals generated from one or more ambient sources and a transceiver for accessing the external database, each of the mobile communication devices operative to estimate its position using the signals received from the one or more ambient sources and the estimated position data stored in the external database. 
     
     
         12 . A method comprising:
 determining a plurality of positions of a mobile communication device using signals received from one or more primary positioning sources as the mobile communication device travels along a path;   receiving signals from one or more ambient wireless sources as the mobile communication device travels along the path; and   estimating positions of the ambient sources using the determined plurality of positions and the received ambient wireless signals.   
     
     
         13 . The method of  claim 12  further comprising:
 storing estimated positions and corresponding time references of the one or more ambient sources in an internal database. 
 
     
     
         14 . The method of  claim 12  further comprising:
 storing estimated positions and corresponding time references of the one or more ambient sources in an external database. 
 
     
     
         15 . The method of  claim 12  wherein said one or more primary position sources comprise satellite based communication sources and wherein said ambient sources comprise digital television, digital radio and cellular phone transmission sources. 
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 12  wherein said primary position sources are selected from a group consisting of GNSS and GPS systems. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 12  wherein said ambient source is selected from a group consisting of DVB-T, DVB-H, ISDB-T, CMMB, MediaFLO, ATSC, DAB, CDMA, W-CDMA, GSM, LTE, WiFi, and WiMax. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 12  further comprising:
 estimating differential distances to the one or more ambient sources; and 
 applying a trilateration algorithm to the estimated differential distances to estimate positions of the ambient sources. 
 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 12  further comprising:
 estimating positions of the ambient sources using markers carried by signals transmitted by the one or more ambient sources. 
 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19  wherein said marker represents a boundary frame. 
     
     
         21 . A mobile communication device comprising:
 a wireless receiver adapted to receive signals from one or more ambient wireless sources as the mobile communication device travels along a path;   a transceiver operative to access a database storing data representative of estimated positions of the one or more ambient sources; and   a positioning engine operative to use the data stored in the database to estimate a position of the mobile communication device.   
     
     
         22 . The mobile communication device of  claim 21  wherein said positioning engine to estimate the position of the mobile communication device without using data from a satellite communication system. 
     
     
         23 . A method of estimating a position, the method comprising:
 receiving by a mobile device signals from one or more ambient wireless sources while traveling along a path;   accessing data representative of estimated positions of one or more ambient sources; and   using the estimated positions of the one or more ambient sources to estimate a position of the mobile device without using a satellite communication system.   
     
     
         24 . The method of  claim 23  further comprising:
 estimating the position of the mobile device without using a satellite communication system.