Patent ID: 7664511

Claim:
A method comprising: providing an estimate of a mobile location of a wireless node, point or terminal in a wireless local area network or other suitable network, the estimate being based at least partly on a correlation of a radio frequency signal strength measurement and a grid point in a signal strength database or radio map; the signal strength database or radio map being built using a signal strength fingerprint algorithm that includes recording grid positions and signal strength measurements; a data structure entry for each grid point being based at least partly on an identification number for each grid point, an estimated received information at a respective grid point, a physical location of the respective grid point, and received signal strength information from a respective transmission of an access point at the respective grid point; and the signal strength fingerprint algorithm including: placing access points in the wireless local area network or other suitable network and recording their coordinates; taking signal strengths measurements in areas of interest in the wireless local area network or other suitable network; applying a linear regression method to estimate propagation channels; estimating propagation channels at each grid point; and processing the results to form the signal strength database or radio map.