Distributed system architecture to provide wireless transmitter positioning

Abstract

A distributed architecture provides the location of wireless transmitters to mobile devices for positioning, the location determined from at least one of crowdsourcing and wardriving. A server receives location data for wireless transmitters, such as an access point, a femtocell, Bluetooth Transmitter, radio-frequency identification (RFID) and near-field communication (NFC) station etc., from mobile devices. The server determines the locations of the wireless transmitters using the location data and provides the locations to the respective wireless transmitters. The wireless transmitters broadcast their identities and locations. Thus, a mobile device may receive the location directly from the wireless transmitter, eliminating the requirement of contacting a central server and downloading a regional almanac for positioning. This eliminates in a large number of scenarios the need to have data connectivity at the time of position calculation. Additionally, the wireless transmitters may transmit validation data to the server to validate or invalidate the determined location.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A method comprising:
 receiving with a mobile device control frames from a plurality of wireless transmitters, each control frame comprising an identity of a wireless transmitter and a location of the wireless transmitter, wherein the wireless transmitter is selected from a group consisting of an access point, a femtocell, Bluetooth Transmitter, radio-frequency identification (RFID) and near-field communication (NFC) station;   performing a position calculation for the mobile device using the location of each of the plurality of wireless transmitters; and   reporting a position of the mobile device for a location based service application when the position calculation is successful.   
     
     
         2 . The method of  claim 1 , further comprising requesting from a server a location of any wireless transmitters that did not include the location in a received control frame when the position calculation for the mobile device is not successful. 
     
     
         3 . The method of  claim 2 , further comprising using the location received from the server and locations received from control frames to determine the position of the mobile device. 
     
     
         4 . A mobile device comprising:
 a wireless interface capable of receiving control frames from a plurality of wireless transmitters, each control frame comprising an identity of a wireless transmitter and a location of the wireless transmitter, wherein the wireless transmitter is selected from a group consisting of an access point, a femtocell, Bluetooth Transmitter, radio-frequency identification (RFID) and near-field communication (NFC) station; and   a processor configured to perform a position calculation for the mobile device using the location of each of the plurality of wireless transmitters, and report a position for a location based service application when the position calculation is successful.   
     
     
         5 . The mobile device of  claim 4 , wherein the processor is further configured to request from a server via the wireless interface a location of any wireless transmitters that did not include the location in a received control frame when the position calculation is not successful. 
     
     
         6 . The mobile device of  claim 5 , further comprising using the location received from the server and locations received from control frames to determine the position of the mobile device. 
     
     
         7 . A mobile device comprising:
 means for receiving with a mobile device control frames from a plurality of wireless transmitters, each control frame comprising an identity of a wireless transmitter and a location of the wireless transmitter, wherein the wireless transmitter is selected from a group consisting of an access point, a femtocell, Bluetooth Transmitter, radio-frequency identification (RFID) and near-field communication (NFC) station;   means for performing a position calculation for the mobile device using the location of each of the plurality of wireless transmitters; and   means for reporting a position of the mobile device for a location based service application when the position calculation is successful.   
     
     
         8 . The mobile device of  claim 7 , further comprising means for requesting from a server a location of any wireless transmitters that did not include the location in a received control frame when the position calculation for the mobile device is not successful. 
     
     
         9 . The mobile device of  claim 8 , further comprising means for using the location received from the server and locations received from control frames to determine the position of the mobile device. 
     
     
         10 . A non-transitory computer-readable medium including program code stored thereon for determining a position of a mobile device, comprising:
 program code to receive with a mobile device control frames from a plurality of wireless transmitters, each control frame comprising an identity of a wireless transmitter and a location of the wireless transmitter, wherein the wireless transmitter is selected from a group consisting of an access point, a femtocell, Bluetooth Transmitter, radio-frequency identification (RFID) and near-field communication (NFC) station;   program code to perform a position calculation for the mobile device using the location of each of the plurality of wireless transmitters; and   program code to report the position of the mobile device for a location based service application when the position calculation is successful.   
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 10 , further comprising program code to request a location from a server for any wireless transmitters that did not include the location in a received control frame wherein when the position calculation for the mobile device is not successful. 
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory computer-readable medium of  claim 11 , further comprising program code to use the location received from the server and locations received from control frames to determine the position of the mobile device.