Patent ID: 8059027

Claim:
In a GPS tracking system that includes a mobile unit that is communicatively coupled to a communication network comprising a plurality of base stations providing wireless communication links to the mobile device, and wherein the mobile device is also communicatively coupled to a GPS satellite system, a computer-implemented method for verifying whether the mobile device is static and for evaluating whether to use or discard of the GPS positioning data being sent to the mobile device, the method comprising: receiving at the mobile device GPS data which is capable of being used to determine the geographic position of the mobile device at a first point in time; receiving at the mobile device GPS data which is capable of being used to determine the geographic position of the mobile device at a second point in time; selecting a base station that supplies a communication signal to the mobile device; detecting strength of the communication signal sent by the base station to the mobile device at said first point in time; detecting strength of the communication signal sent by the base station to the mobile device at said second point in time; comparing the signal strength between the communication signal sent by the base station to the mobile device at said first and second points of time; and if the compared signal strength has changed beyond a predetermined threshold amount, determining that the mobile device has moved and using the GPS data to verify location of the mobile device, but if the compared signal strength has not changed beyond the predetermined threshold amount, determining that the mobile device is stationary and discarding the GPS data.