Shared reference station
AssigneesSeiko Epson Corporation, eRide, Inc.
InventorsChristopher S. Rypinski, Martin Junkar
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A reference station system comprises a plurality of GPS reference stations that are distributed in different parts of the world to be able to simultaneously gather a complete set of satellite vehicle ephemeredes. Each reference station is associated with a network server connected to the Internet. Each network server posts ephemeredes, NAV-data, and other useful information for clients derived from its corresponding reference station. All such network servers inject their information in all the other servers in the system Each server validates and authenticates any injected data. Each client is also qualified as a subscriber before being able to access the complete ephemeredes database and other GPS system information.
Claims10
A shared reference-station system, comprising:
- a plurality of GPS reference stations that are distributed in different parts of the world to be able to simultaneously gather part-by-part a complete set of satellite vehicle ephemeredes;
- a plurality of network servers each for connecting to the Internet and each proximately associated with respective ones of the plurality of GPS reference stations;
- a shared database of ephemeredes for receiving ephemerede contributions from each GPS reference station and network server pair and for mirroring a complete collection of all such satellite vehicle ephemeredes into each of the plurality of network servers;
- wherein, a client connected to the Internet can access the shared database to assist in its own initialization.
A method of providing acquisition and fix information to GPS receivers connected to networks as clients, the method comprising the steps of:
- distributing a plurality of GPS reference stations in different parts of the world to be able to simultaneously gather a complete set of satellite vehicle ephemeredes;
- connecting a plurality of network servers to the Internet and proximately associating them with ones of the plurality of GPS reference stations;
- receiving into a shared database of ephemeredes any ephemerede contributions from each GPS reference station and network server pair;
- mirroring a collection of NAV-data into each of said plurality of network servers;
- wherein, a client connected to the Internet can access the shared database to assist in its own initialization.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.