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US 6,552,681 B1Granted
Method for determining vertical and horizontal GPS position using altitude information
AssigneeSkyNetix, LLC
InventorsRoger Hayward, Richard Fuller
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method of using altitude information to arrive at a more accurate GPS position. A 3D GPS position is used as an initial estimate. The latitude and longitude of the initial estimate are used to retrieve an altitude from a database. This altitude is used to calculate a 2D GPS position. The 2D GPS position is then used to retrieve another altitude from the database, and the calculate-retrieve process is continued until the calculation converges.
Claims47
A method of determining a global positioning system (GPS) location, comprising the acts of:
- receiving GPS measurements from a GPS device;
- calculating, as a three-dimensional solution, an initial position of said GPS device from said GPS measurements;
- determining, from an altitude database, an initial altitude corresponding to an initial latitude and an initial longitude of said initial position;
- calculating, as a two-dimensional solution using said initial altitude, a revised position of said GPS device from said GPS measurements;
- determining, from said altitude database, a revised altitude corresponding to a revised latitude and a revised longitude of said revised position;
- and
- calculating, as another two-dimensional solution using said revised altitude, another revised position of said GPS device from said GPS measurements.
4 more elements
A system for determining a global positioning system (GPS) location, comprising:
- a communications unit configured to receive GPS measurements from a GPS device;
- a memory configured to store an altitude database;
- and
- a processing unit, coupled to said communications unit and said memory, configured to execute processing including the acts of:
- calculating, as a three-dimensional solution, an initial position of said GPS device from said GPS measurements;
- determining, from said altitude database, an initial altitude corresponding to an initial latitude and an initial longitude of said initial position;
- calculating, as a two-dimensional solution using said initial altitude, a revised position of said GPS device from said GPS measurements;
- determining, from said altitude database, a revised altitude corresponding to a revised latitude and a revised longitude of said revised position;
- and
- calculating, as another two-dimensional solution using said revised altitude, another revised position of said GPS device from said GPS measurements,
- wherein said communications unit is further configured to transmit said another revised position to said GPS device.
8 more elements
A system for determining a global positioning system (GPS) location, comprising:
- a GPS device configured to provide GPS measurements;
- and
- a server configured to communicate with said GPS device, wherein said server includes a processor configured to execute processing including the acts of:
- calculating, as a three-dimensional solution, an initial position of said GPS device from said GPS measurements;
- determining, from an altitude database, an initial altitude corresponding to an initial latitude and an initial longitude of said initial position;
- calculating, as a two-dimensional solution using said initial altitude, a revised position of said GPS device from said GPS measurements;
- determining, from said altitude database, a revised altitude corresponding to a revised latitude and a revised longitude of said revised position;
- and
- calculating, as another two-dimensional solution using said revised altitude, another revised position of said GPS device from said GPS measurements.
6 more elements
A computer program for determining a global positioning system (GPS) location, said computer program embodied on a computer-readable medium and configured to control a computing device to execute processing comprising the acts of:
- receiving GPS measurements from a GPS device;
- calculating, as a three-dimensional solution, an initial position of said GPS device from said GPS measurements;
- determining, from an altitude database, an initial altitude corresponding to an initial latitude and an initial longitude of said initial position;
- calculating, as a two-dimensional solution using said initial altitude, a revised position of said GPS device from said GPS measurements;
- determining, from said altitude database, a revised altitude corresponding to a revised latitude and a revised longitude of said revised position;
- and
- calculating, as another two-dimensional solution using said revised altitude, another revised position of said GPS device from said GPS measurements.
4 more elements
A global positioning system (GPS) device, comprising:
- a GPS receiver configured to make GPS measurements;
- a memory configured to store an altitude database;
- and
- a processing unit, coupled to said GPS receiver and said memory, configured to execute processing including the acts of:
- calculating, as a three-dimensional solution, an initial position of said GPS device from said GPS measurements;
- determining, from said altitude database, an initial altitude corresponding to an initial latitude and an initial longitude of said initial position;
- calculating, as a two-dimensional solution using said initial altitude, a revised position of said GPS device from said GPS measurements;
- determining, from said altitude database, a revised altitude corresponding to a revised latitude and a revised longitude of said revised position;
- and
- calculating, as another two-dimensional solution using said revised altitude, another revised position of said GPS device from said GPS measurements.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.