In accordance with the disclosed approach, positioning server(s) could receive, from mobile devices, information indicating a plurality of GNSS rescue areas, each respective GNSS rescue area of the plurality of GNSS rescue areas corresponding to a respective geographic area visited by a respective one of the mobile devices in which (i) at least one GNSS-based position estimate is or was unavailable and (ii) the respective mobile device had demand for positioning data of at least a particular quality level. Given this, the server(s) could generate a GNSS rescue map representing radio data for the plurality of GNSS rescue areas. In this way, the server(s) could transmit, to a mobile device, an offline radio map representing a subset of the GNSS rescue map, to provide radio data for at least one of the GNSS rescue areas or portion thereof.

A method to identify a problematic 2D position of a mobile device can include: determining a reported 2D position of the mobile device; determining a piece of information about the mobile device; and comparing the reported 2D position and the piece of information about the mobile device. Upon determining that the reported 2D position and the piece of information about the mobile device are consistent with each other, the reported 2D position of the mobile device is used as an estimate of the actual 2D position of the mobile device, or upon determining that the reported 2D position and the piece of information about the mobile device are not consistent with each other, the reported 2D position is determined to be problematic, and the reported 2D position of the mobile device is removed from a list of reported 2D positions of the mobile device.

A system for providing real-time always-on location is presented for maintaining the current location of a mobile device, while saving the battery by managing the GPS in a power-saving mode while the device is considered to be stationary. The system also provides a real-time location in an indoor environment where a GPS signal may not be available. Additionally, methods for driving detection are also presented.

An electronic apparatus includes a communication unit configured to perform wireless communication, a storage, a first determiner, and an indoor specifying unit. The storage stores therein, as registered identification information, identification information whose contents are changeable, the identification information being allocated to a first communication device with which the communication unit is capable of performing wireless communication. The first determiner determines whether received identification information agrees with the registered identification information, the received identification information being the identification information received by the communication unit from a second communication device and allocated to the second communication device. The indoor specifying unit performs indoor specification to specify that a user having the electronic apparatus is indoors, based on a first result of determination by the first determiner.

An environment estimation device 1 includes: an information storage unit 11 configured to store base station information in which a serving timing at which a mobile terminal 2 is served in a radio communication range of a base station 3 and environment information indicating an environment of the base station 3 are correlated; an information acquiring unit 10 configured to acquire position information including position data of the mobile terminal 2 acquired by positioning and a positioning timing; and an estimation unit 13 configured to estimate, based on the positioning timing included in the position information of the mobile terminal 2 acquired by the information acquiring unit 10 and the base station information stored in the information storage unit 11, an environment of the mobile terminal 2 at a position indicated by the position data included in the position information.

A location engine uses the empirical measurements made by a scouting wireless terminal (i) to discover the existence of a reference radio within a geographic region; (ii) to generate an estimate of the location of the newly-discovered reference radio, and (iii) to generate an estimate of the transmission power of the downlink control channel radio signal transmitted by the newly-discovered reference radio. The location engine then uses: (i) the estimate of the location of the newly-discovered reference radio, and (ii) the estimate of the transmission power of the downlink control channel radio signal transmitted by the newly-discovered reference radio, and (iii) measurements, made by a user wireless terminal, of the power of each of the downlink control channel radio signals transmitted by each of the reference radios to generate an estimate of the location of the user wireless terminal.

A location engine uses the empirical measurements made by a scouting wireless terminal (i) to discover the existence of a reference radio within a geographic region; (ii) to generate an estimate of the location of the newly-discovered reference radio, and (iii) to generate an estimate of the transmission power of the downlink control channel radio signal transmitted by the newly-discovered reference radio. The location engine then uses: (i) the estimate of the location of the newly-discovered reference radio, and (ii) the estimate of the transmission power of the downlink control channel radio signal transmitted by the newly-discovered reference radio, and (iii) measurements, made by a user wireless terminal, of the power of each of the downlink control channel radio signals transmitted by each of the reference radios to generate an estimate of the location of the user wireless terminal.

One or more computing devices, systems, and/or methods for calibrating barometric sensors and/or determining altitudes of devices are provided. In an example, one or more barometric pressure measures are determined using a barometric sensor of a device. One or more locations of the device are determined based upon one or more global navigation satellite system (GNSS) signals and one or more corrective signals associated with the one or more GNSS signals. One or more reference values are determined based upon the one or more locations. A barometric offset is determined based upon the one or more barometric pressure measures and the one or more reference values. A first barometric measurement is performed using the barometric sensor to determine a first barometric pressure measure. An adjusted barometric pressure measure and/or an altitude of the device are determined based upon the first barometric pressure measure and the barometric offset.

Calibrating an unstable sensor of a mobile device. Systems and methods for calibrating a sensor of a mobile device determine a first estimated position of the mobile device without using any measurement from the sensor of the mobile device, generate a second estimated position of the mobile device using a measurement from the sensor, estimate a sensor error of the sensor using the first estimated position and the second estimated position, and use the sensor error to determine a calibration value for adjusting one or more measurements from the sensor.

A positioning system executes wireless communication with a portable terminal by adopting a radio wave of 1 GHz or higher to determine a position of the portable terminal relative to a vehicle. The positioning system includes a vehicle exterior communication device and a positioning device. The positioning device determines whether the portable terminal exists at an exterior operating area being a region outside a vehicle compartment within a predetermined operating distance from the vehicle, based on a reception status of the wireless signal received by the vehicle exterior communication device from the portable terminal in a first mode of the vehicle exterior communication device, and determines whether the portable terminal exists inside the vehicle compartment, based on the reception status of the wireless signal received by the vehicle exterior communication device from the portable terminal in a second mode of the vehicle exterior communication device.