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