Positioning of mobile wireless terminal

#The present invention relates to positioning of a mobile wireless terminal, and more particularly to determination of the position of a mobile wireless terminal carried by a visitor in a place or facilities in which the visitor moves about, such as a museum or an amusement park.

#It is known that the position of a mobile telephone is determined by an access point and the determined position is sent to the telephone. In a method used in a mobile telephone system and a PHS (Personal Handyphone System), the position of a telephone is determined based on the position of an access point which is closest to the telephone. The accuracy or resolution of the positioning is about 100 to 200 m (meters) in the PHS, and is about 800 m or more in the mobile telephone.

#In another method used in the PHS, the position of a mobile telephone is determined by a plurality of access points in accordance with respective levels of RF signals received from the telephone. The positioning accuracy is about 40 to 70 m.

#FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a system for determining the positions of mobile wireless terminals in a plurality of indoor and/or outdoor areas or facilities, such as a museum or an amusement park, in accordance with the invention;

#FIG. 2 shows a schematic configuration of another system for determining the positions of mobile wireless terminals in the plurality of indoor and/or outdoor areas, in accordance with the invention;

#FIG. 3 shows a schematic configuration of a communication node representing the reference wireless stations of FIG. 1 having at least one antenna, and the mobile wireless terminals of FIG. 2 having at least one antenna;

#FIG. 1 shows a schematic configuration of a system for determining the positions of mobile wireless terminals or stations 260 and 280 carried by the visitors in a plurality of indoor and/or outdoor areas 62 and 64 and the like, in a place or facilities, such as a museum or an amusement park, where visitors move about, in accordance with the invention. A server 110 which provides information to mobile wireless terminals in the areas and collects information from the terminals, a position determining apparatus 120 which determines the position of a mobile wireless terminal in each area, and an access point 200 which is fixed in position are connected to one another via a wired local area network (LAN) 50. The access point 200 serves also as a reference wireless station which is used as a position reference. The server 110, the position determining apparatus 120, the access point 200 and the like may be geographically separated from one another, and connected to one another via a public switched telephone network (PSTN), leased lines or the like.

#The server 110 has a processor 112 and a storage device 114. The processor 112 operates in accordance with an application program for the server function stored in the storage device 114. Alternatively, the server function may be implemented on the processor 112 in the form of hardware. The position determining apparatus 120 has a processor 122 and a storage device 124. The processor 122 operates in accordance with an application program for the position determining function stored in the storage device 124. Alternatively, the position determining function may be implemented on the processor 122 in the form of hardware. The position determining apparatus 120 may be eliminated, and the position determining function may be implemented by another apparatus, such as the server 110, the access point, or another reference wireless station or mobile wireless terminal as described later.

#The visitors who carry the respective mobile wireless terminals 260 and 280 and the like enter the areas 62 and 64 which are indoor and/or outdoor, move in the areas, and then go out of the areas. Thus, the mobile wireless terminals 260 and 280 move around in indoor and/or outdoor areas including the areas 62 and 64. Each of the mobile wireless terminals 260 and 280 communicates with the server 110 via the access point 200 to receive suitable guidance information for the current position of the terminal from the server 110, and presents the information visually or audibly.