Increasing the accuracy of location estimates for wireless local area network (WLAN) and cellular enabled devices

1. A method of increasing the accuracy of location estimates for wireless local area network (WLAN) and cellular enabled devices, the method comprising:

by a WLAN positioning system (PS),

identifying at least one WLAN access point (AP) in signal range of a WLAN and cellular enabled device based on wireless signals received by the WLAN and cellular enabled device transmitted by the at least one WLAN AP,

retrieving an estimated location of the at least one WLAN AP stored in a reference database, and

determining a WLAN-based location estimate for the WLAN and cellular enabled device based at least in part on the estimated location of the at least one WLAN AP;

by a cellular positioning system (CPS),

identifying at least one cell tower in signal range of the WLAN and cellular enabled device based on cellular signals received by the WLAN and cellular enabled device transmitted by the at least one cell tower, the at least one cell tower having a cell identifier (ID) associated with a location stored in the reference database, and

determining a cellular-based location estimate for the WLAN and cellular enabled device based at least in part on the location associated with the cell ID;

comparing the cellular-based location estimate to the WLAN-based location estimate to determine whether a distance between the cellular-based location estimate and the WLAN-based location estimate exceeds a pre-determined threshold; and

upon the condition that the distance exceeds the pre-determined threshold, inferring that the location associated with the cell ID is inaccurate and updating the location associated with the cell ID in the reference database, the updated location used in determining resulting location estimates for the WLAN and cellular enabled devices.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining the cellular-based location estimate comprises:

determining a set of cellular-based location estimates of which the cellular-based location estimate is a member, wherein the WLAN-based location estimate is consistent with at least one other cellular-based location estimate of the set of cellular-based location estimates.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the resulting location estimate for each of the WLAN and cellular enabled devices is based at least in part on wireless signals received by a respective WLAN and cellular enabled device transmitted by at least one WLAN AP and cellular signals received by the respective WLAN and cellular enabled device transmitted by at least one cell tower.

4. The method of claim 3 , wherein the at least one WLAN AP whose wireless signals are received by the respective WLAN and cellular enabled device includes at least one WLAN access point cluster of a plurality of WLAN APs, and wherein the reference database includes a plurality of estimated locations corresponding to an estimated location of a plurality of WLAN APs in the at least one WLAN access point cluster.

5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:

weighting the at least one WLAN access point cluster according to a distance from a plurality of estimated locations corresponding to the plurality of WLAN APs in the at least one WLAN access point cluster to a cellular-based location estimate for the respective WLAN and cellular enabled device for use in determining the resulting location estimate for s the respective WLAN and cellular enabled device.

6. The method of claim 5 , further comprising selecting estimated locations corresponding to the plurality of WLAN APs in the at least one WLAN access point cluster having a distance to the respective cellular-based location estimate that is less than a pre-determined distance, for use in determining the resulting s location estimate for the respective WLAN and cellular enabled device.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the pre-determined distance is on the order of a hundred meters.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the pre-determined threshold is an order of magnitude greater than a coverage area of the at least one cell tower.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein the pre-determined threshold is on the order of tens of kilometers away from the estimated location of the at least one cell tower.

10. The method of claim 1 , further comprising updating the location associated with the cell ID stored in the reference database to correspond to the estimated location of the at least one WLAN AP.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the cellular signals include the cell ID of the at least one cell tower.

12. A system for increasing the accuracy of location estimates for wireless local area network (WLAN) and cellular enabled devices, the system comprising:

a wireless local area network (WLAN) module for receiving wireless signals transmitted by at least one WLAN access point (WLAN AP);

a cellular module for receiving cellular signals from at least one cell tower; and

logic configured to

identify the at least one WLAN AP in signal range of a WLAN and cellular enabled device based at least in part on the wireless signals,

retrieve an estimated location of the at least one WLAN AP stored in a reference database,

determine a WLAN-based location estimate for the WLAN and cellular enabled device based at least in part on the estimated location of the at least one WLAN AP,

identify the at least one cell tower in signal range of the WLAN and cellular enabled device based on cellular signals received by the WLAN and cellular enabled device transmitted by the at least one cell tower, the at least one cell tower having a cell identifier (ID) associated with a location stored in the reference database,

determine a cellular-based location estimate for the WLAN and cellular enabled device based at least in part on the location associated with the cell ID,

compare the cellular-based location estimate to the WLAN-based location estimate to determine whether a distance between the cellular-based location estimate and the WLAN-based location estimate exceeds a pre-determined threshold, and

upon the condition that the distance exceeds the pre-determined threshold, infer that the location associated with the cell ID is inaccurate and update the location associated with the cell ID in the reference database, the updated location used in determining resulting location estimates for WLAN and cellular enabled devices.

13. The system of claim 12 , wherein the logic configured to determine the cellular-based location estimate comprises logic configured to:

determine a set of cellular-based location estimates of which the cellular-based location estimate is a member, wherein the WLAN-based location estimate is consistent with at least one other cellular-based location of the set of cellular-based location estimates.

14. The system of claim 12 , wherein the location associated with the cell ID is inferred to be inaccurate if the distance is an order of magnitude larger than a coverage area of the at least one cell tower.

15. The system of claim 12 , further comprising logic configured to determine the resulting location estimate for each of the WLAN and cellular enabled devices based at least in part on wireless signals received by a respective WLAN and cellular enabled device transmitted by at least one WLAN AP and cellular signals received by the respective WLAN and cellular enabled device transmitted by one or more cell towers.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the at least one WLAN AP whose wireless signals are received by the respective WLAN and cellular enabled device includes at least one WLAN access point cluster of a plurality of WLAN APs, and wherein the reference database includes a plurality of estimated locations corresponding to an estimated location of a plurality of WLAN APs in the at least one WLAN access point cluster.

17. The system of claim 16 , further comprising logic configured to weight the at least one WLAN access point cluster according to a distance from a plurality of estimated locations corresponding to the plurality of WLAN APs in the at least one WLAN access point cluster to a cellular-based location estimate for the respective WLAN and cellular enabled device for use in determining the resulting location estimate for the respective WLAN and cellular enabled device.

18. The system of claim 17 , further comprising logic configured to select estimated locations corresponding to the plurality of WLAN APs in the at least one WLAN access point cluster having a distance to the respective cellular-based location estimate that is less than a pre-determined distance for use in determining the resulting location estimate for the respective WLAN and cellular enabled device.