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

Abstract

Improved location estimates for transceivers is described. The location estimate of transceivers can be improved for sector transceivers that are co-located at a sectored cell site. The location estimate for each individual co-located sector transceiver can be updated as a centroid of all of the co-located sector transceivers. The location information of the transceivers can be used to provide network location estimation to mobile devices which do not have accurate positioning estimates.

What is claimed is: 
     
       1. A method of improving a location estimate of transceivers, the method comprising:
 identifying a plurality of transceivers co-located at a sectored cell site each having respective location estimates as a co-located group; 
 determining a location of a virtual transceiver for the co-located group by using an average of the respective location estimates of each of the plurality of identified transceivers; 
 assigning the determined location of the virtual transceiver to each of the transceivers of the co-located group at the sectored cell site; and 
 grouping the plurality of transceivers into possible co-located groups based on a carrier identifier associated with the transceivers wherein the co-located groups are identified by a co-location labelling format that identifies one or more labelling formats used when assigning the unique identifier to the respective transceiver associated with the carrier identifier. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising accessing the respective location estimates of each of the transceivers by respective unique identifier determined to be co-located from a data store. 
     
     
       3. 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. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 3 , 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. 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising identifying each of a plurality of transceiverIDs as co-located transceivers by assigning a unique virtual transceiverID to the co-located transceivers. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising, for each co-located group for a carrier identifier:
 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 based upon the labelling format. 
 
     
     
       7. 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: 
 identify a plurality of transceivers co-located at a sectored cell site each having respective location estimates as a co-located group; 
 determine a location of a virtual transceiver for the co-located group by using an average of the respective location estimates of each of the plurality of identified transceivers; 
 assign the determined location of the virtual transceiver to each of the transceivers of the co-located group at the sectored cell site; and 
 group the plurality of transceivers into possible co-located groups based on a carrier identifier associated with the transceivers wherein the co-located groups are identified by a co-location labelling format that identifies one or more labelling formats used when assigning the unique identifier to the respective transceiver associated with the carrier identifier. 
 
     
     
       8. The apparatus of  claim 7 , wherein the executed instructions further configure the apparatus to access the respective location estimates of each of the transceivers by respective unique identifier determined to be co-located from a data store. 
     
     
       9. The apparatus of  claim 7 , 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. 
     
     
       10. The apparatus of  claim 9 , 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. 
     
     
       11. The apparatus of  claim 7 , further comprising identifying each of the plurality of transceiver IDs as co-located transceivers by assigning a unique virtual transceiver ID to the co-located transceivers. 
     
     
       12. A non-transitory computer readable memory storing computer executable instructions thereon that when executed by a processor perform:
 identifying a plurality of transceivers co-located at a sectored cell site each having respective location estimates as a co-located group; 
 determining a location of a virtual transceiver for the co-located group by using an average of the respective location estimates of each of the plurality of identified transceivers; and 
 assigning the determined location of the virtual transceiver to each of the transceivers of the co-located group at the sectored cell site; and 
 grouping the plurality of transceivers into possible co-located groups based on a carrier identifier associated with the transceivers wherein the co-located groups are identified by co-location labelling format that identifies one or more labelling formats used when assigning the unique identifier to the respective transceiver associated with the carrier identifier. 
 
     
     
       13. The non-transitory computer readable memory of  claim 12 , further comprising instructions for accessing the respective location estimates of each of the transceivers by respective unique identifier determined to be co-located from a data store. 
     
     
       14. The non-transitory computer readable memory of  claim 13 , 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. 
     
     
       15. The non-transitory computer readable memory of  claim 14 , 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. 
     
     
       16. The non-transitory computer readable memory of  claim 12 , further comprising instructions for identifying each of a plurality of transceiverIDs as co-located transceivers by assigning a unique virtual transceiverID to the co-located transceivers. 
     
     
       17. The non-transitory computer readable memory of  claim 12 , further comprising instructions for, for each co-located group for a carrier identifier:
 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 based upon the labelling format.