Patent ID: 8417264
Filing Date: 2013-04-09
Classification: G01S,H04W

Abstract:
1. A method for a given cellular telephone to determine its own location, the method comprising: wirelessly transmitting via at least one wireless transceiver of the given cellular telephone a location query for receipt by each of a plurality of nearby cellular telephones, wherein the given cellular telephone is served by a radio access network (RAN) and wherein the location query passes from the given cellular telephone, respectively, to each nearby cellular telephone without passing through the RAN along the way from the given cellular telephone to the nearby cellular telephone; wirelessly receiving via the at least one wireless transceiver of the given cellular telephone, respectively from each of the nearby cellular telephones, a report of location of the nearby cellular telephone, wherein the report is provided by the nearby cellular telephone in response to at least the location query from the given cellular telephone; wirelessly transmitting to the RAN, via the at least one wireless transceiver of the given cellular telephone, a request that includes a key, wherein the request causes the RAN to (a) select the plurality of nearby cellular telephones based on the nearby cellular telephones having been in communication with a location server and (b) provide each of the selected nearby cellular telephones with a trust-signal that includes the key, wherein each of the nearby cellular telephones conditions reporting of its respective location on (i) receiving the location query from the given cellular telephone and (ii) receiving the trust-signal from the RAN; the given cellular telephone determining a distance, respectively, between the given cellular telephone and each nearby cellular telephone of the plurality; and the given cellular telephone triangulating to determine the location of the given cellular telephone based on the reported locations of the nearby cellular telephones and the determined distances between the given cellular telephone and the nearby cellular telephones.