Hybrid location determination for wireless communication device
View Patent ↗Hybrid location determination for wireless communication device. Various services that may be used by a wireless communication device within a particular location may be referred to as location based services (LBS). As such, means by which the location of a wireless communication device that may use such available services, within such a locale, is made by using more than one type of location determination approach. For example, a wireless communication device includes communication capability (e.g., RX and TX) in accordance with a first communication protocol (e.g., Bluetooth) and also includes a communication capability (e.g., RX only) in accordance with a second communication protocol (e.g., WiFi/WLAN (Wireless Local Area Network)). The RX capability is operative to assist in location determination for the wireless communication device based on knowledge of at least one wireless communication device that communicates with the wireless communication device.
1. A wireless communication device comprising:
a communication interface that supports transmitter operations based only on a first communication protocol and that supports receiver operations based on both the first communication protocol and a second communication protocol; and
processor, at least one of the processor or the communication interface configured to:
support bi-directional communications with a first other wireless communication device via the communication interface based on the first communication protocol by performing both the transmitter operations and the receiver operations based on the first communication protocol;
support uni-directional communications with a second other wireless communication device via the communication interface based on the second communication protocol by performing the receiver operations based only on the second communication protocol, wherein the uni-directional communications include receiving the uni-directional communications from the second other wireless communication device;
process a first portion of a frame of the uni-directional communications to determine whether the frame is a predetermined type;
process a second portion of the frame when the frame is determined to be the predetermined type; and
discard the frame when the frame is determined to be different than the predetermined type.
2. The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the processor or the communication interface is further configured to:
identify at least one location based service (LBS) for use by the wireless communication device based on the uni-directional communications received from the second other wireless communication device.
3. The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the processor or the communication interface is further configured to:
process the uni-directional communications to extract a media access control (MAC) address;
estimate location of the wireless communication device based on a favorable comparison of the MAC address with a plurality of MAC addresses of a plurality of known wireless communication devices having known locations; and
identify at least one location based service (LBS) for use by the wireless communication device based on the estimate of the location of the wireless communication device.
4. The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the processor or the communication interface is further configured to:
support other uni-directional communications with third other wireless communication device via the communication interface based on the second communication protocol, wherein the other uni-directional communications include receiving the other uni-directional communications from the third other wireless communication device;
process the uni-directional communications to extract first media access control (MAC) address;
process the other uni-directional communications to extract second MAC address;
estimate location of the wireless communication device based on a favorable comparison of the first and second MAC addresses with a plurality of MAC addresses of a plurality of known wireless communication devices having known locations;
process first received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the uni-directional communications and second RSSI the other uni-directional communications based on triangulation to refine the estimate of the location of the wireless communication device to generate a refined estimate of the location of the wireless communication device; and
identify at least one location based service (LBS) for use by the wireless communication device based on the refined estimate of the location of the wireless communication device.
5. The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the at least one of the processor or the communication interface is further configured to: process the first portion of the frame of the uni-directional communications to determine whether the frame is a predetermined type, wherein the first portion of the frame is a media access control (MAC) address and the predetermined type is a beacon type;
process the second portion of the frame when the frame is determined to be the beacon type, wherein the second portion of the frame includes a remainder of the frame following the MAC address; and
discard the frame when the frame is determined to be different than the beacon type.
6. The wireless communication device of claim 1 further comprising:
transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry, wherein the transmitter circuitry is configured to operate only based on the first communication protocol, and wherein the receiver circuitry is configured to operate based on both the first communication protocol and the second communication protocol.
7. The wireless communication device of claim 1 , wherein the first communication protocol is a Bluetooth communication protocol, and the second communication protocol is a wireless local area network (WLAN) communication protocol.
8. The wireless communication device of claim 1 further comprising:
a wireless station (STA), wherein the first other wireless communication device is another STA, and the second other wireless communication device is an access point (AP).
9. A wireless communication device comprising:
a communication interface that supports transmitter operations based only on a Bluetooth communication protocol and that supports receiver operations based on both the Bluetooth communication protocol and a wireless local area network (WLAN) communication protocol; and
a processor, at least one of the processor or the communication interface configured to:
support bi-directional communications with a first other wireless communication device via the communication interface by performing both the transmitter operations and the receiver operations based on the Bluetooth communication protocol;
support uni-directional communications with a second other wireless communication device via the communication interface based on the WLAN communication protocol by performing the receiver operations based only on the WLAN communication protocol, wherein the uni-directional communications include receiving the uni-directional communications from the second other wireless communication device;
process a first portion of a frame of the uni-directional communications to determine whether the frame is a predetermined type;
process a second portion of the frame when the frame is determined to be the predetermined type; and
discard the frame when the frame is determined to be different than the predetermined type.
10. The wireless communication device of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
process the uni-directional communications interface based on the WLAN communication protocol to extract a media access control (MAC) address;
estimate location of the wireless communication device based on a favorable comparison of the MAC address with a plurality of MAC addresses of a plurality of known wireless communication devices having known locations; and
identify at least one location based service (LBS) for use by the wireless communication device based on the estimate of the location of the wireless communication device.
11. The wireless communication device of claim 9 , wherein the processor is further configured to:
support other uni-directional communications with third other wireless communication device via the communication interface based on the WLAN communication protocol, wherein the other uni-directional communications include receiving the other uni-directional communications from the third other wireless communication device;
process the uni-directional communications to extract first media access control (MAC) address;
process the other uni-directional communications to extract second MAC address;
estimate location of the wireless communication device based on a favorable comparison of the first and second MAC addresses with a plurality of MAC addresses of a plurality of known wireless communication devices having known locations;
process first received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the uni-directional communications and second RSSI the other uni-directional communications based on triangulation to refine the estimate of the location of the wireless communication device to generate a refined estimate of the location of the wireless communication device; and
identify at least one location based service (LBS) for use by the wireless communication device based on the refined estimate of the location of the wireless communication device.
12. The wireless communication device of claim 9 further comprising:
transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry, wherein the transmitter circuitry is configured to operate only based on the Bluetooth communication protocol, wherein the receiver circuitry is configured to operate based on both the Bluetooth communication protocol and the WLAN communication protocol.
13. The wireless communication device of claim 9 further comprising:
a wireless station (STA), wherein the first other wireless communication device is another STA, and the second other wireless communication device is an access point (AP).
14. A method for execution by a wireless communication device, the method comprising:
operating a communication interface of the wireless communication device that supports transmitter operations based only on a first communication protocol and that supports receiver operations based on both the first communication protocol and a second communication protocol;
supporting bi-directional communications with a first other wireless communication device by operating the communication interface to perform both the transmitter operations and the receiver operations based on the first communication protocol;
supporting uni-directional communications with a second other wireless communication device by operating the communication interface to perform the receiver operations based only on the second communication protocol, wherein the uni-directional communications include receiving the uni-directional communications from the second other wireless communication device;
processing a first portion of a frame of the uni-directional communications to determine whether the frame is a predetermined type, wherein the first portion of the frame is a media access control (MAC) address and the predetermined type is a beacon type;
processing a second portion of the frame when the frame is determined to be the beacon type, wherein the second portion of the frame includes a remainder of the frame following the MAC address; and
discarding the frame when the frame is determined to be different than the beacon type.
15. The method of claim 14 further comprising:
identifying at least one location based service (LBS) for use by the wireless communication device based on the uni-directional communications received from the second other wireless communication device.
16. The method of claim 14 further comprising:
processing the uni-directional communications to extract a media access control (MAC) address;
estimating location of the wireless communication device based on a favorable comparison of the MAC address with a plurality of MAC addresses of a plurality of known wireless communication devices having known locations; and
identifying at least one location based service (LBS) for use by the wireless communication device based on the estimate of the location of the wireless communication device.
17. The method of claim 14 further comprising:
supporting other uni-directional communications with third other wireless communication device via the communication interface based on the second communication protocol, wherein the other uni-directional communications include receiving the other uni-directional communications from the third other wireless communication device;
processing the uni-directional communications to extract first media access control (MAC) address;
processing the other uni-directional communications to extract second MAC address;
estimating location of the wireless communication device based on a favorable comparison of the first and second MAC addresses with a plurality of MAC addresses of a plurality of known wireless communication devices having known locations;
processing first received signal strength indicator (RSSI) of the uni-directional communications and second RSSI the other uni-directional communications based on triangulation to refine the estimate of the location of the wireless communication device to generate a refined estimate of the location of the wireless communication device; and
identifying at least one location based service (LBS) for use by the wireless communication device based on the refined estimate of the location of the wireless communication device.
18. The method of claim 14 , wherein the wireless communication device including transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry, wherein the transmitter circuitry is configured to operate only based on the first communication protocol, and wherein the receiver circuitry is configured to operate based on both the first communication protocol and the second communication protocol.
19. The method of claim 14 , wherein the first communication protocol is a Bluetooth communication protocol, and the second communication protocol is a wireless local area network (WLAN) communication protocol; and further comprising:
processing a first portion of a WLAN frame of the uni-directional communications to determine whether the WLAN frame is a predetermined type, wherein the first portion of the WLAN frame is a media access control (MAC) address and the predetermined type is a WLAN beacon type;
processing a second portion of the WLAN frame when the WLAN frame is determined to be the WLAN beacon type, wherein the second portion of the WLAN frame includes a remainder of the WLAN frame following the MAC address; and
discarding the WLAN frame when the WLAN frame is determined to be different than the WLAN beacon type.
20. The method of claim 14 , wherein the wireless communication device is a wireless station (STA), the first other wireless communication device is another STA, and the second other wireless communication device is an access point (AP).