Systems and methods for determining when an estimated altitude of a mobile device can be used for calibration or location determination

1. A method, comprising:

determining an area in which a mobile device is expected to reside;

for each section of a plurality of sections in the area, determining an altitude value of that section;

determining if the determined altitude values meet a threshold condition; and

upon determining that the determined altitude values meet the threshold condition, calibrating a pressure sensor of the mobile device using an estimated altitude of the mobile device;

wherein determining if the determined altitude values meet a threshold condition comprises:

determining if a threshold percentage of the determined altitude values are within a threshold amount of altitude from a computed mean or median value, or value-of-interest, of the determined altitude values; and

determining that the determined altitude values meet the threshold condition when the threshold percentage of the determined altitude values are within the threshold amount of altitude from the computed mean or median value, or value-of-interest, of the determined altitude values.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:

determining the estimated altitude of the mobile device using a pressure measured by the pressure sensor of the mobile device; and

calibrating the pressure sensor of the mobile device using the estimated altitude and a representative altitude value for the area that is determined using the determined altitude values.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the method further comprises:

determining the estimated altitude of the mobile device using a pressure measured by the pressure sensor of the mobile device; and

determining if the estimated altitude is accurate by determining if the estimated altitude is within a threshold error value from a representative altitude value for the area.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining an area in which the mobile device is expected to reside comprises:

determining an initial estimate of a position of the mobile device; and

defining the area as including the initial estimate of the position of the mobile device and at least a threshold number of sections with known altitudes.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining an area in which the mobile device is expected to reside comprises:

determining an initial estimate of a position of the mobile device; and

defining the area as including the initial estimate of the position of the mobile device and no more than a threshold number of sections with known altitudes.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining an area in which the mobile device is expected to reside comprises:

determining that the mobile device resides in a network area that has defined boundaries; and

defining the area as the network area.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining an area in which the mobile device is expected to reside comprises:

determining an initial estimate of a position of the mobile device;

determining a location confidence value; and

defining the area using the initial estimate of the position of the mobile device and the location confidence value.

8. The method of claim 7 , wherein defining the area comprises:

determining a circular area centered at the initial estimate of the position of the mobile device with a radius equal to the location confidence value; and

defining the area as the circular area.

9. The method of claim 7 , wherein defining the area comprises:

determining a circular area centered at the initial estimate of the position of the mobile device with a radius equal to a product of the location confidence value multiplied by a scale factor; and

defining the area as the circular area.

10. The method of claim 7 , wherein defining the area comprises:

determining a circular area centered at the initial estimate of the position of the mobile device with a radius equal to a product of the location confidence value multiplied by a scale factor;

determining if the circular area includes at least a threshold number of sections;

if the circular area includes at least the threshold number of sections, defining the area as the circular area; and

if the circular area does not include at least the threshold number of sections, determining a new circular area centered at the initial estimate of the position of the mobile device with a radius equal to a product of the location confidence value multiplied by another scale factor, and then repeating the step of determining if the circular area includes at least a threshold number of sections using the new circular area instead of the previous circular area.

11. The method of claim 7 , wherein defining the area comprises:

determining a circular area centered at the initial estimate of the position of the mobile device with a radius equal to a product of the location confidence value multiplied by a scale factor;

determining if the circular area includes no more than a threshold number of sections;

if the circular area includes no more than the threshold number of sections, defining the area as the circular area; and

if the circular area include at least the threshold number of sections, determining a new circular area centered at the initial estimate of the position of the mobile device with a radius equal to a product of the location confidence value multiplied by another scale factor, and then repeating the step of determining if the circular area includes no more than a threshold number of sections using the new circular area instead of the previous circular area.

12. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining if a threshold percentage of the determined altitude values are within a threshold amount of altitude from a computed mean or median value of the determined altitude values comprises:

determining a distribution of the determined altitude values;

using the distribution to determine a percentage of the determined altitude values that are within the threshold amount of altitude from the computed mean or median value of the determined altitude values; and

determining if the percentage is equal to or greater than the threshold percentage,

wherein the threshold percentage of the determined altitude values are determined to be within the threshold amount of altitude from the computed mean or median value of the determined altitude values when the percentage is equal to or greater than the threshold percentage.

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein determining if a threshold percentage of the determined altitude values are within a threshold amount of altitude from a computed mean or median value of the determined altitude values comprises:

determining a distribution of the determined altitude values;

using the distribution to determine an amount of altitude within which the threshold percentage of the determined altitude values are from the computed mean or median value of the determined altitude values; and

determining if the amount of altitude is equal to or less than the threshold amount of altitude,

wherein the threshold percentage of the determined altitude values are determined to be within the threshold amount of altitude from the computed mean or median value of the determined altitude values when the amount of altitude is equal to or less than the threshold amount of altitude.

14. One or more non-transitory machine-readable media embodying program instructions that, when executed by one or more machines, cause the one or more machines to implement the method of claim 1 .

15. A system for calibration or location determination of a mobile device, the system comprising one or more machines configured to perform the method of claim 1 .

16. The method of claim 1 , wherein the value-of-interest is an altitude value at a center of the area.

17. The method of claim 1 , wherein the area is a polygon and the value-of-interest is an altitude value at a center of the polygon.

18. The method of claim 1 , wherein the value-of-interest is an altitude value associated with an initial estimate of a position of the mobile device.

19. A method, comprising:

determining an area in which a mobile device is expected to reside;

for each section of a plurality of sections in the area, determining an altitude value of that section;

determining if the determined altitude values meet a threshold condition; and

upon determining that the determined altitude values meet the threshold condition, calibrating a pressure sensor of the mobile device using an estimated altitude of the mobile device;

wherein determining if the determined altitude values meet a threshold condition comprises:

determining if a threshold percentage of the determined altitude values are within a threshold amount of altitude from each other; and

determining that the determined altitude values meet the threshold condition when the threshold percentage of the determined altitude values are within the threshold amount of altitude from each other.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein determining if a threshold percentage of the determined altitude values are within a threshold amount of altitude from each other comprises:

determining a distribution of the determined altitude values;

using the distribution to determine a percentage of the determined altitude values that are within the threshold amount of altitude from each other; and

determining if the percentage is equal to or greater than the threshold percentage,

wherein the threshold percentage of the determined altitude values are determined to be within the threshold amount of altitude from each other when the percentage is equal to or greater than the threshold percentage.

21. The method of claim 19 , wherein determining if a threshold percentage of the determined altitude values are within a threshold amount of altitude from each other comprises:

determining a distribution of the determined altitude values;

using the distribution to determine an amount of altitude within which the threshold percentage of the determined altitude values are from each other; and

determining if the amount of altitude is equal to or less than the threshold amount of altitude,

wherein the threshold percentage of the determined altitude values are determined to be within the threshold amount of altitude from each other when the amount of altitude is equal to or less than the threshold amount of altitude.