Cooperative positioning method and apparatus

A target device using a method for cooperative positioning, the device comprising:

• a scanning unit configured to scan a beacon signal transmitted by at least one peripheral device;
• a determining unit configured to determine whether at least one peripheral device exist within a reference radius based on the beacon signal;
• a requesting unit configured to, when the at least one peripheral device is within the reference radius, transmit a cooperative positioning request to the at least one peripheral device;
• a receiving unit configured to receive, in response to transmitting the cooperative positioning request, location of the at least one peripheral device and a degree of reliability for the location of the at least one peripheral device, wherein the location of the at least one peripheral device is an estimated location based on a plurality of access points (APs);
• and
• a deciding unit configured to determine a location of the target device based on the location and the degree of reliability.