Patent ID: 7228136

Claim:
A method for estimating a location (X) of a receiver (R, R′) in a wireless telecommunication environment (RN), the telecommunication environment comprising a plurality of channels for simultaneous communication, each channel having at least one signal parameter (V) that varies with location (X) differently from the other channels; wherein the method comprises the steps of: for each of a plurality of calibration points in the wireless telecommunication environment, determining a set of calibration data (CD), each set of calibration data comprising the location (X) of the respective calibration point and at least one measured signal parameter (V) for each of several channels at that calibration point; on the basis of the sets of calibration data (CD), maintaining a statistical model (SM) of the signal parameters (V) of the several channels versus a receiver's location in the wireless telecommunication environment (RN); determining a set of observed signal parameters (CO), the set comprising at least one observed signal parameter (V) for each of several channels at the location (X) of the receiver (R, R′); and determining a location estimate (LE) approximating the location (X) of the receiver (R, R′) on the basis of the statistical model (SM) and the set of observed signal parameters (CO).