Patent ID: 7471954
Filing Date: 2008-12-30
Classification: G01S,H04W

Abstract:
1. A method of estimating a geographic location of a WLAN-enabled user-device in a WLAN-based positioning system having a plurality of WLAN-enabled access points, the method comprising: the WLAN-enabled device receiving signals transmitted by WLAN-enabled access points in range of the WLAN-enabled user-device so that observed WLAN-enabled access points identify themselves; accessing a master database that associates WLAN-enabled access points with corresponding geographic locations for the WLAN-enabled access points as determined by an audit of a relatively large geographic area and obtaining geographic location information for any identified WLAN-enabled access point in range of the WLAN-enabled user-device; accessing a supplemental database to obtain inferred geographic location information corresponding to any identified WLAN-enabled access point in range of the WLAN-enabled user-device, the supplemental database having a relatively small set of WLAN-enabled access points and corresponding inferred geographic locations, the inferred geographic locations being inferred based on input by a user of the WLAN-based positioning system; and estimating a geographic location of the WLAN-enabled user-device based on the geographic location information obtained from the master database and the inferred geographic location information obtained from the supplemental database.