System and method for improving location estimates of co-located sectored cell sites for location services

1. A method of improving a location estimate of transceivers co-located at a sectored cell site, the method comprising:

identifying a plurality of transceivers that are co-located at the sectored cell site comprising:

accessing location information of a plurality of transceivers from a data store of a plurality of unique transceiver identifiers (IDs) and associated respective location estimates;

grouping the plurality of transceiverlDs together into possible co-location groups based on the location estimates so that transceiverlDs associated with respective location estimates within a distance threshold of each other are grouped together; and

for each possible co-located group:

determining if the plurality of transceiverlDs of the plurality of transceivers in the possible co-located group are consistent with a co-location labelling format; and

identifying each of the plurality of transceiverlDs with consistent transceiver IDs as co-located transceivers;

determining a location of a virtual transceiver as an average of respective location estimates of the plurality of identified transceivers; and

assigning the determined location of the virtual transceiver to each of the transceivers determined to be co-located.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising accessing the respective location estimates of each of the transceivers determined to be co-located from a data store.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the data store comprises location estimates of individual transceivers identified by respective unique identifier.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the location estimate of each of the transceivers is determined from location information provided from a plurality of mobile devices in communication with the respective transceiver.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the location estimate of each of the transceivers comprises a respective error resulting from determining the location as a centroid of a plurality of mobile device locations unevenly distributed about the respective transceiver.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein identifying each of the plurality of transceiverlDs as co-located transceivers comprises assigning a unique virtual transceiverlD to the co-located transceivers.

7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising grouping the plurality of transceivers into possible co-located groups based on a carrier associated with the transceivers.

8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising, for each co-located group:

determining a number of the plurality of transceivers with consistent transceiver IDs; and

identifying the plurality of transceivers with consistent transceiver IDs as co-located transceivers when the number of transceivers is equal to 2, 3 or 6.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the co-location labelling format identifies one or more labelling formats used when assigning the unique identifier to the respective transceiver.

10. An apparatus for estimating a transceiver's location comprising:

at least one processing unit for executing instructions; and

at least one memory unit for storing instructions, the instructions when executed by the at least one processing unit configuring the apparatus to perform a method of improving a location estimate of transceivers co-located at a sectored cell site, the executing instructions configuring the apparatus to:

identify a plurality of transceivers that are co-located at the sectored cell site by:

accessing location information of a plurality of transceivers from a data store of a plurality of unique transceiver identifiers and associated respective location estimates;

grouping the plurality of transceiver together into possible co-location groups based on the location estimates so that cell IDs associated with respective location estimates within a distance threshold of each other are grouped together; and

for each possible co-located group:

determining if a plurality of transceiver IDs of the transceivers in the possible co-located group are consistent with a co-location labelling format; and

identifying each of the plurality of transceiver IDs with consistent transceiver IDs as co-located transceivers;

determine a location of a virtual transceiver as an average of respective location estimates of the plurality of identified transceivers; and

assign the determined location of the virtual transceiver to each of the transceivers determined to be co-located.

11. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the executed instructions further configure the apparatus to access the respective location estimates of each of the transceivers determined to be co-located from a data store.

12. The apparatus of claim 11 , wherein the data store comprises location estimates of individual transceivers identified by respective unique identifier.

13. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the location estimate of each of the transceivers is determined from location information provided from a plurality of mobile devices in communication with the respective transceiver.

14. The apparatus of claim 13 , wherein the location estimate of each of the transceivers comprises a respective error resulting from determining the location as a centroid of a plurality of mobile device locations unevenly distributed about the respective transceiver.

15. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein identifying each of the plurality of transceiver IDs as co-located transceivers comprises assigning a unique virtual transceiver ID to the co-located transceivers.

16. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the executed instructions further configure the apparatus to group the plurality of transceivers into possible co-located groups based on a carrier associated with the transceivers.

17. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the executed instructions further configure the apparatus to, for each co-located group:

determine the number of transceivers with consistent transceiver IDs; and

identify the plurality of transceiver with consistent transceiver IDs as co-located transceivers when the number of transceivers is equal to 2, 3 or 6.

18. The apparatus of claim 10 , wherein the co-location labelling format identifies one or more labelling formats used when assigning the unique identifier to the respective transceiver.

19. A non-transitory computer readable memory storing computer executable instructions thereon that when executed by a processor perform a method of improving a location estimate of transceivers co-located at a sectored cell site, the method comprising:

identifying a plurality of transceivers that are co-located at the sectored cell site;

determining a location of a virtual transceiver as an average of respective location estimates of the plurality of identified transceivers; and

assigning the determined location of the virtual transceiver to each of the transceivers determined to be co-located,

wherein identifying the plurality of transceivers that are co-located comprises:

accessing location information of a plurality of transceivers from a data store of a plurality of unique transceiver identifiers (IDs) and associated respective location estimates;

grouping the plurality of transceiverlDs together into possible co-location groups based on the location estimates so that transceiverlDs associated with respective location estimates within a distance threshold of each other are grouped together; and

for each possible co-located group:

determining if the plurality of transceiverlDs of the plurality of transceivers in the possible co-located group are consistent with a co-location labelling format; and

identifying each of the plurality of transceiverlDs with consistent transceiver IDs as co-located transceivers.