Patent ID: 8463292

Claim:
A method for determining a position estimate for a first base station transceiver node in a wireless communication system, the method comprising: obtaining a first set of time-difference-of-arrival (TDOA) measurement data from a first plurality of mobile stations including three or more mobile stations, the first set of TDOA measurement data corresponding to transmissions received at the first plurality of mobile stations from the first base station transceiver node and a second base station transceiver node; obtaining first mobile station location data identifying a mobile station position corresponding to each TDOA measurement represented in the first set of TDOA measurement data; and computing an estimated position for the base station transceiver node as a function of the first mobile station location data and the first set of TDOA measurement data by solving a system of equations based on the first mobile station location data, the first set of TDOA measurement data, a pre-determined known location for the second base station transceiver, and at least three unknown variables, the three unknown variables comprising first and second coordinate values for the first base station transceiver and a real-time-difference value corresponding to a time offset between transmissions from the first and second base station transceiver nodes.