Method and apparatus for selecting a serving transceiver

In a radio communication system having a plurality of transceivers, the transceivers having known locations, and at least one remote unit communicating a signal to at least one of the plurality of transceivers, a method for selecting a serving transceiver for the remote unit comprising:

• a.) estimating the at least one remote unit's location within the radio communication system in response to collected signal strength's measured by a set of transceivers also receiving the communicated signal, wherein estimating the at least one remote unit's location further comprises;
• (i) determining a relative signal arrival time delay with respect to each of the set of transceivers receiving the signal;
• and
• (ii) weighting both the relative signal arrival time and each transceiver's known distance from at least another transceiver, in response to the collected signal strength's received by each of the transceivers;
• and
• b. selecting the serving transceiver in response to the weighted relative signal arrival time delay and each transceiver's known distance.

In a radio communication system having a plurality of transceivers, the transceivers having known locations, and at least one remote unit communicating a signal to at least one of the plurality of transceivers, a control unit for selecting a serving transceiver for the remote unit comprising:

• a.) computing means for estimating the at least one remote unit's location within the radio communication system in response to collected signal characteristics measured by a set of transceivers also receiving the communicated signal, wherein estimating the at least one remote unit's location further comprises;
• (i) segregating those transceivers receiving the at least one remote unit's communicated signal with respect to a candidate transceiver, into distance ranges, wherein the transceivers segregated in any single range are a substantially similar distance from the candidate transceiver;
• (ii) determining, for each transceiver receiving the remote unit's communicated signal, a likelihood contribution that the at least one remote unit is in the region of the candidate transceiver in response to at least one of:
• a distance range to which the receiving transceiver was segregated, a number of receiving transceivers in that distance range, the remote unit's collected signal characteristics, and a predetermined RF propagation model associated with the distance ranges;
• (iii) repeating steps (i-ii) above for any candidate transceiver;
• and
• (iv) summing the per-transceiver likelihood contributions from at least two receiving transceivers to compute a metric for the candidate transceiver;
• b.) means, operably coupled to means for computing, for selecting the serving transceiver as the receiving transceiver having the highest metric.

In a radio communication system having a plurality of transceivers, each of the plurality of transceivers having known locations, and at least one remote unit communicating a signal to at least one of the plurality of transceivers, a control unit for selecting a serving transceiver for the remote unit comprising:

• a.) computing means for estimating the at least one remote unit's location within the radio communication system in response to a collected signal strength measured by a set of transceivers also receiving the communicated signal, wherein estimating the at least one remote unit's location further comprises;
• (i) determining a relative signal arrival time delay with respect to each of the set of transceivers receiving the signal;
• (ii) weighting both the relative signal arrival time and a known distance of each transceiver from at least another transceiver, in response to the collected signal strength received by each of the transceivers;
• and
• b. means, operably coupled to computing means, for selecting the serving transceiver in response to the weighted relative signal arrival time delay and each transceiver's known distance.