KR20010080715A - Provisioning of gps assistance data in a wcdma network - Google Patents

Abstract

A method of providing DGPS assistance data 58, 59 via a WCDMA wireless communication network 10 to facilitate positioning of mobile communication devices 12, 20. The method includes providing DGPS support data over a dedicated physical data channel (DPDCH) and / or a dedicated physical control channel (DPCCH). The mobile communication terminal has an integrated GPS receiver and can be equipped with a cellular or PCS telephone handset, a mobile station computer, a PDA, and the like. The present invention facilitates a mechanism for providing DGPS assistance data to achieve positioning of mobile communication device accuracy up to about 5 meters.

Description

PROVIONING OF GPS ASSISTANCE DATA IN A WCDMA NETWORK

Wireless communication networks, including fixed wireless and cellular type mobile communication networks, have continued to evolve. There are several available technologies for providing wireless communications including CDMA, TDMA, GSM, AMPS and D-AMPS. These networks have been continuously developed throughout the world. Currently, numerous equipment suppliers throughout the world manufacture these systems and typically work through a group of standards to ensure the commonality and compatibility of the various networks.

As wireless communication networks move to the next generation, new types of wireless networks are being developed, which are known as wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) based on third generation (3G) networks. These third generation wireless systems are slowly being realized for FPLMN.

It is desirable to provide the positioning of mobile subscribers within a wireless network. It is currently implemented based on TDOA technology, which provides accuracy of positions down to about 18 meters. This accuracy is suitable for several characteristics and can be implemented in today's networks, but more accurate positioning of mobile subscribers is required. Improved mobile-based positioning methods will also reduce the need for excess capacity in the network required and used for positioning. Techniques being considered by the standards committee are currently under development to determine how to optimally achieve improved solutions for positioning of mobile stations, especially WCDMA-based 3G networks.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates generally to wireless communication networks, and more particularly to a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) third generation (3G) network for mobile location determination.

1 is a block diagram of a wireless communication network including a WCDMA wireless network for third generation systems.

2 is a flow chart of the method of the present invention for providing DGPS (DGPS) support data over DPDCH or DPCCH over WCDMA to support DGPS positioning of a mobile station in a network.

3 is a block diagram of one format for providing DGPS support data over a DPCCH.

4 is a block diagram of another embodiment of the present invention for providing DGPS support data over a DPDCH.

The present invention achieves technical advantages as a method of providing DGPS assistance data in a WCDMA network via a dedicated physical data channel (DPDCH) and / or a dedicated physical control channel (DPCCH). By providing DGPS assistance data over these channels, a mobile station having a GPS receiver in a WCDMA based 3G network can accurately locate the mobile station with an accuracy of about 5 meters.

The mobile user terminal includes a mobile cellular type mobile station such as a PCS or cellular telephone but may also include a computer or a PDA.

The mobile communication terminal according to the present invention includes a mechanism for exchanging wireless communication with a serving wireless communication network and further comprises means for receiving DGPS assistance data via a dedicated physical channel such as DPDCH or DPCCH. The mobile terminal has circuitry and software in the GPS receiver to determine the position of the mobile terminal with the function of GPS assistance data with an improved solution.

1 shows a block diagram of a communication network 10 in accordance with a preferred embodiment of the present invention. The communication network 10 has a wireless telephone network comprising an outgoing mobile station 12 coupled to a WCDMA originating network 14 serving by an RF communication link. The originating mobile station 12 is preferably a wireless communication device comprising a wireless mobile station. Outgoing WCDMA network 14 is coupled to a transit network or communication link 16, which may include a public switched telephone network (PSTN) and, if desired, another network, including an optical network. . The relay network 16 interfaces and communicates electrical signals including digitalized voice calls between the originating network 14 and the destination network 18. Incoming network 18 may be the same as or different from originating network 14 and may include AMPS, D-AMPS, TDMA, GSM, and IS-95 networks. For illustration purposes, the destination network 18 is shown as a WCDMA network. The destination network 18 is coupled to and serviced by the terminating mobile station 20 via an RF link, which may include a fixed or mobile station, such as a wireless cellular or PCS subscriber. The radio station and network have codecs to encode and decode digital signals communicated through the relay network 16.

Incoming WCDMA network 14 includes a base station transceiver (BTS) 30 that serves an originating mobile station or a fixed station 12 over a radio frequency (RF) link. Although only one is shown for illustration, each BTS 30 serves a number of stations 12. The originating network 14 further includes a radio network controller (RNC) 32 and a network switching system (NSS) 34. BTSs and RNCs interface voice calls between multiple BTSs 30 and NSSs 34. RNCs 32 serve multiple BTSs 30, although only one is shown for purposes of the present invention. Similarly, NSS 34 serves multiple RNCs 32, although only one is shown for purposes of explanation of the invention. NSS 34 includes a home location register (HLR), a mobile positioning node, and a visitor location register (VLR), which contains various information of the station 12 currently serviced by the originating network 14. Remember.

The destination network 18 includes a BTS 40 that serves the destination station 20 and typically services a number of stations 20. Incoming network 18 includes an RNC 42 and an NSS 44. The destination network 18 may operate according to the same operating protocol as the source network 14, i.e., the WCDMA network, or the destination network 18 may be different from the source network 14, i.e., WCDMA and the destination network may be It can be based on AMPS, D-AMPS, GSM, TDMA or IS-95 protocols. NSS 44 has HLR and VLR to maintain information registers for all stations currently served by destination network 18. The reference GPS receiver 46 provides GPS assist data positioning information to each network 14 and network 18 for use by the originating mobile station 12 in accordance with the present invention.

The relay network 16 is preferably a PSTN. The originating NSS 34 and the terminating NSS 44 exchange digital data therethrough, which is preferably encoded in pulse code modulation (PCM) format and transmitted at about 64 kbps. Although PCM is the preferred encoding format, other encoding formats can be used in accordance with the present invention. Likewise, transfer rates other than 64 kbps are also contemplated by the present invention. In general, the digitalized voice data delivered through relay network 16 may be in any format that is compatible with and supported by originating network 14 and destination network 18.

Referring now to FIG. 2, a message flow diagram 50 is provided for providing DGPS assistance data from a reference GPS receiver 46 to a user terminal 12 via a relay network 16. As shown at 52, the DGPS support data is dedicated to a dedicated physical data channel (DPDCH) or dedicated physical control channel (DPCCH) by a node in the network 10, such as BTS 32, over an air interface. It is continuously provided to the user terminal 12 through one of the following.

At 54, a location request message sent by RNC / core network 34 to initiate the location determination of user terminal 12 is shown. This message is responded by the BTS / node B32 to the user terminal 12 as a location request message 56 in response.

At 58, the user terminal 12 processes the DGPS assistance data provided by the network 10 to determine its location or use GPS satellite information in accordance with techniques well known throughout the industry to determine the location of the user terminal 12. It has an integrated GPS receiver to help with positioning. The DGPS assistance data is processed at a search speed of priority information from a GPS satellite (not shown) to determine the position of the user terminal 12 with a resolution of about 5 meters. The current location of the user terminal 12 is provided by the self to the BTS / node B32 in a location response message 58, which is communicated to the RNC / core network 34 as a location response message 59. . The DGPS support data is then continuously provided over the air interface on the desired DPDCH or DPCCH for future use.

User terminal 12 may include a number of mobile communication devices, including PCS and cellular type mobile phones, computers provided with appropriate remote access circuits, and PDAs. Thus, limitations to certain types of mobile user terminals 12 are not inferred in the present invention. Rather, the present invention is to provide a specific type of DGPS support data over one or both of the DPDCH or DPCCH on a WCDMA carrier to provide positioning accuracy of up to about 5 meters. The integrated DGPS receiver at the WCDMA end user terminal may be integrated into equipment as implemented in the handset of the mobile station. In addition, an external PC or PDA can have an integrated DGPS receiver and can be used as a very accurate map tool for fleet management and the like.

Referring to FIG. 3, a block diagram of one communication format for providing DGPS assistance data to mobile user 12 via a dedicated physical control channel (DPCCH) is shown. As shown, one data packet 60 of the DPCCH has a slot with a time frame of about 0.625 milliseconds. The data packet 60 may have a header comprising N bits including a pilot, a transport frame indicator (TFI), and a transport power control (TPC). This data is typically used to control the power of the mobile station 12 on the uplink.

This data packet 60 generally includes one of several slots of the frame shown at 62, all of which have a frame time of about 10 milliseconds. This frame 62 includes one frame of a plurality of frames, including all superframes having a time duration of about 720 milliseconds.

Referring to FIG. 3, the DGPS assistance data typically includes about 5 slots 60 in frame 62. However, as the standard is developed, the number of slots required to provide DGPS support data may be increased or decreased, and the limitation to the number and length of slots required to provide DGPS support data is inferred from the present invention. It doesn't work.

Referring now to FIG. 4, which shows another embodiment of the present invention, this DGPS assistance data is provided on a dedicated Physical Control Channel (DPDCH) 70. Each information packet 70 includes one slot of several slots forming a frame 72. All of these slots include one frame of several frames including superframe 74. In this embodiment, no limitation to the format of this information is inferred but DGPS assistance data is provided in approximately 4 or 5 slots 70.

The present invention achieves a technical advantage of assisting mobile station user location by providing DGPS assistance data to the mobile station user via DPDCH and / or DPCCH in a WCDMA 3G wireless communication network. The present invention provides a mechanism that facilitates positioning of the mobile communication terminal 12 in about 5 meters. The user terminal 12 has an integrated DGPS receiver to facilitate communication of the mobile device 12 with the WCDMA network 10. In addition, the user terminal 12 has both circuitry and software to facilitate positioning of the mobile terminal 12 using DGPS assistance data. The present invention includes a mechanism for providing data to provide highly accurate map tools, fleet management, and the like in 3G WCDMA systems.

While the invention has been described in connection with specific embodiments, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various other modifications and changes can be made. It is therefore to be understood that the appended claims cover all such changes and modifications.

Claims (20)

A method of providing GPS data to a mobile user terminal in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: a) providing DGPS assistance data to the mobile user terminal from a system node of the wireless communication network via a dedicated physical data channel (DPDCH); b) the mobile user terminal receiving the DGPS assistance data on the DPDCH to determine its location. The method of claim 1, And wherein said wireless communication network comprises a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) network. The method of claim 2, And said mobile user terminal comprises a wireless mobile telephone. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein said mobile user terminal comprises a computer. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein the mobile user terminal comprises a PDA. A method of providing GPS assistance data to a mobile user terminal in a wireless communication network, the method comprising: a) providing DGPS assistance data to the mobile user terminal from a system node of the wireless communication network via a dedicated physical control channel (DPCCH); b) the mobile user terminal receiving the DGPS assistance data on the DPCCH to determine its location. 7. The method of claim 6, wherein said wireless communications network comprises a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) network. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the mobile user terminal comprises a wireless mobile phone. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the mobile user terminal comprises a computer. 8. The method of claim 7, wherein the mobile user terminal comprises a PDA. Means for exchanging communication with a serving wireless communication network; And means for receiving DGPS assistance data over a dedicated physical data channel (DPDCH) to determine the location of the mobile communication terminal in accordance with the function of the DGPS assistance data. The method of claim 11, And said wireless communication network comprises a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) network, said switching means adapted to communicate with said WCDMA network. The method of claim 12, And said terminal comprises a wireless mobile telephone. The method of claim 12, And said terminal comprises a computer. The method of claim 12, And said terminal comprises a PDA. Means for exchanging communication with a serving wireless communication network; And means for receiving DGPS assistance data over a dedicated physical control channel (DPCCH) to determine the location of the mobile communications terminal in accordance with the function of the DGPS assistance data. The method of claim 16, And said wireless communication network comprises a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) network, said switching means adapted to communicate with said WCDMA network. The method of claim 17, And said terminal comprises a wireless mobile telephone. The method of claim 17, And said terminal comprises a computer. The method of claim 17, And said terminal comprises a PDA.