Patent ID: 8195191

Claim:
A method of communicating a geographic location of a split sector of a cellular wireless communication system, to facilitate a location-based service, the method comprising: receiving into a computer processor a set of data representing the split sector, wherein the split sector defines at least first and second coverage areas each emanating through radio frequency (RF) radiation from a cellular base station to define a respective coverage angle having a respective initial side and a respective terminal side, wherein the set of data includes (i) data defining each coverage angle and (ii) data defining a location of the base station; the computer processor determining, based on the received set of data, a minimum composite angle that spans the coverage angles of the coverage areas of the split sector; the computer processor determining a beamwidth for the split sector, by (i) setting the beamwidth to 360° if the determined minimum composite angle exceeds a threshold, and (ii) setting the beamwidth to less than 360° if the determined minimum composite angle does not exceed the threshold; the computer processor establishing a data-representation of a location of the split sector, the data-representation characterizing the location of the split sector by a combination of specifications including (i) an indication of the location of the base station, (ii) an azimuth, and (iii) the determined beamwidth; and the computer processor communicating the established data-representation of the location of the split sector, to facilitate performance of a location-based service based on the data-representation of the location of the split sector.