Patent ID: 7620402

Claim:
A method for geographically locating a cellular device, the method comprising: determining an effective cell-area for each of a first cell and a second cell in a cellular network based on relative geographical positions and orientations of a first antenna of the first cell and a second antenna of the second cell; and determining a handover area within which the cellular device is likely to be located when control of the cellular device is transferred from the first cell to the second cell; wherein the determination of the handover area is derived from the effective cell-area for each of the first cell and the second cell; wherein a topological relationship between the first cell and the second cell is determined from amongst a set of topological cases comprising: a first topological case in which the first antenna and the second antenna are located at a common location; a second topological case in which the first antenna and the second antenna are located at different locations, and in which the first cell and the second cell are oriented to face each other; a third topological case in which the first antenna and the second antenna located at different locations, and in which the first cell and the second cell do not overlap; and a fourth topological case in which none of the first, second, and third topological cases are satisfied.