Crowdsourcing based on base station almanac quality

Abstract

Systems, apparatus and methods for a mobile device and a base station almanac server to throttle crowdsourcing information are presented. The crowdsourcing information is used to improve a location of a base station in a base station almanac. A portion of the base station almanac is provided to a mobile device. For example, the mobile device may identify its current cell and request the base station almanac. The mobile device records crowdsourcing information to identify, for each particular base station of at least one base station, a cellular identifier for the particular base station, optional ranging information between the particular base station and the mobile device, and an independent position of the mobile device. The independent position of the mobile device may be formed from global navigation satellite system (GNSS) or station signals independent of the at least one base station.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A base station almanac server for throttling crowdsourcing data, the base station almanac server comprising:
 a network transceiver configured to:
 receive, based on a crowdsourcing throttle, crowdsourcing information, wherein the crowdsourcing information comprises, for each particular base station of at least one base station:
 a cellular identifier identifying the particular base station; and 
 a position estimate of the particular mobile device, corresponding to the cellular identifier, wherein the position estimate is independent of signals from the particular base station; and 
 
 send a base station almanac to the particular mobile device; and 
   a processor coupled to the network transceiver and configured to:
 form the base station almanac based on a current cell identifier; and 
 update a location estimate of a base station based the position estimate of the particular mobile device. 
   
     
     
         2 . The base station almanac server of  claim 1 , wherein the network transceiver is further configured to send a crowdsourcing throttling command comprising the crowdsourcing throttle. 
     
     
         3 . The base station almanac server of  claim 1 , wherein the network transceiver is further configured to receive the current cell identifier and a request for the base station almanac. 
     
     
         4 . The base station almanac server of  claim 1 , wherein the network transceiver is further configured to:
 receive ranging information for the at least one base station;   wherein the crowdsourcing information further comprises the ranging information.   
     
     
         5 . The base station almanac server of  claim 1 , wherein the position estimate of the particular mobile device is based on global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals. 
     
     
         6 . The base station almanac server of  claim 1 , wherein the position estimate of the particular mobile device is based on base station signals.