CN105142214A - WLAN hotspot positioning information acquisition method and corresponding terminal - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a WLAN hotspot positioning information acquisition method and a corresponding terminal. The method is applied to a mobile network terminal having a satellite positioning function, and comprises: enabling a WLAN and WLAN hotspot positioning information reporting function of the present terminal; detecting the signal of a WLAN hotspot; judging whether the WLAN hotspot satisfies a set reporting condition, and if so, reporting the identification and the signal strength of the WLAN hotpot and the current position information of the present terminal obtained by virtue of satellite positioning to a WLAN positioning system. According to the WLAN hotspot positioning information acquisition method, the WLAN hotspot positioning information can be acquired very conveniently and updated immediately, and the WLAN hotspot can be positioned more accurately.

Description

Method for collecting WLAN hotspot location information and corresponding terminal

technical field

The present invention relates to a wireless local area network (WLAN), and more specifically, to a method for collecting WLAN hotspot location information and a corresponding terminal.

Background technique

As far as the positioning of mobile network terminals such as mobile phones is concerned, positioning based on GPS, base stations and WIFI is the most common at present.

The positioning accuracy based on GPS is the highest, and the positioning error is within a few meters. However, GPS positioning requires the mobile terminal to be able to receive a sufficient number of satellite signals, and in some places the required number of satellite signals cannot be received, and positioning cannot be performed. In addition, due to related software and hardware failures and other reasons, the GPS positioning function may not be available or the performance may be unstable. Sometimes it can be positioned, but it can't be positioned for a while.

Base station-based positioning is generally applied to mobile phone users. The principle is to use the mobile phone to measure the downlink pilot signals of different base stations, and obtain the TOA (Time of Arrival, time of arrival) or TDOA (Time Difference of Arrival) of the downlink pilot signals of different base stations. According to the measurement results Combined with the coordinates of the base station, the location of the mobile phone can be calculated by generally using the triangular formula estimation algorithm. Generally speaking, the more the number of base stations measured by the mobile station, the higher the measurement accuracy and the more obvious the improvement of positioning performance. Based on the positioning of the base station, as long as the mobile phone can access the mobile network and the positioning function is turned on, it can be realized, and the accuracy is generally about 100 meters.

Based on the positioning of WLAN (the most commonly used is WIFI), the WLAN positioning system calculates the position of the terminal according to the identification and signal strength of the WLAN hotspot reported by the terminal, combined with the position of the WLAN hotspot in the database (generally expressed in coordinate form). Based on WLAN positioning, the positioning accuracy is related to the number of WLANs detected by the terminal, and to a large extent depends on whether the location of the WLAN hotspot in the database is accurate. Generally speaking, its positioning accuracy is between GPS positioning and base station positioning. between.

As far as WLAN positioning is concerned, it is currently provided by content service providers (such as Skyhook, etc.), and the service provider first needs to collect the positioning information of WLAN hotspots. The number is extremely large, new WLAN hotspots appear constantly, old WLAN hotspots are withdrawn, and the location of WLANs sometimes changes. At present, the commonly used method is to drive around with a special collection device, detect the logo and signal strength of the WLAN hotspot while walking, and use GPS to record the current location as the location information of the WLAN hotspot. In order to adapt to changes in WLAN hotspots, it is necessary to drive again to collect data after a period of time.

This collection method is relatively complicated, and the detected WLAN hotspots are limited, and cannot be updated in time. Since the terminals used for detection are few and far away from WLAN hotspots, it is difficult to accurately locate WLAN hotspots.

Contents of the invention

In view of this, the present invention provides the following technical solutions.

A method for collecting WLAN hotspot positioning information, applied to a mobile network terminal with a satellite positioning function, the method comprising:

Enable the reporting function of WLAN and WLAN hotspot location information on this terminal;

The signal of a WLAN hotspot is detected;

Judging whether the WLAN hotspot meets the set reporting conditions, and if so, reporting the WLAN hotspot identification, signal strength, and current location information of the terminal obtained by using satellite positioning to the WLAN positioning system.

Optionally,

After the signal of the WLAN hotspot is detected, it also includes: establishing a connection with the WLAN hotspot;

The judging whether the WLAN hotspot meets the set reporting condition includes: after successfully establishing a connection with the WLAN hotspot, judging whether the connected WLAN hotspot meets the set reporting condition.

Optionally,

The set conditions include one or more of the following conditions:

The detected signal strength of the WLAN hotspot exceeds a set strength threshold;

The terminal detects the WLAN hotspot in a non-roaming state;

The name of the WLAN hotspot does not match the set of names of WLAN hotspots that do not need to be reported.

Optionally,

The method also includes: setting the reporting period of the WLAN hotspot location information, recording the identification of the WLAN hotspot reported in the current reporting period and the information of the current location of the terminal;

When judging whether the WLAN hotspot meets the set reporting conditions, if the WLAN hotspot is a WLAN hotspot that has been reported in the current reporting period, the set reporting condition also includes: the current location of the terminal to the current reporting period. The distances from the current location of the terminal all exceed the set distance thresholds.

Optionally,

The terminal configuration has an option of the WLAN positioning function, and after the option of the WLAN positioning function is selected, the WLAN hotspot positioning information reporting function is automatically enabled.

A mobile network terminal, including a satellite positioning module and a WLAN module, is characterized in that it also includes a WLAN hotspot positioning information reporting module, wherein:

The WLAN module is used to detect the signal of the WLAN hotspot and establish a connection with the WLAN hotspot after the WLAN function of the terminal is turned on:

The WLAN hotspot positioning information reporting module includes:

The judging unit is used to judge whether the WLAN hotspot meets the set reporting conditions after the WLAN hotspot positioning information reporting function of the terminal is enabled;

The reporting unit is configured to report to the WLAN positioning system the identification of the WLAN hotspot, the signal strength, and the location information of the terminal obtained by using the satellite positioning module to locate the WLAN hotspot when the WLAN hotspot meets the set reporting conditions.

Optionally,

The judging unit judges whether the connected WLAN hotspot meets the set reporting condition after the terminal successfully connects to the WLAN hotspot.

Optionally,

The set reporting conditions used by the judging unit for judging include one or more of the following conditions:

The detected signal strength of the WLAN hotspot exceeds a set strength threshold;

The terminal detects the WLAN hotspot in a non-roaming state;

The name of the WLAN hotspot does not match the set of names of WLAN hotspots that do not need to be reported.

Optionally,

The WLAN hotspot positioning information reporting module also includes:

The storage unit is used to record the identification of the WLAN hotspot reported in the current reporting period and the information of the current location of the terminal according to the set reporting period of the WLAN hotspot location information;

When the judging unit judges whether the WLAN hotspot meets the set reporting condition, if the WLAN hotspot is a WLAN hotspot that has been reported in the current reporting period, the set reporting condition also includes: the current location of the terminal to the current reporting condition. The distances of the current position of the terminal that have been reported periodically all exceed the set distance threshold.

Optionally,

The terminal also includes:

The WLAN positioning module is used to interact with the WLAN positioning system after the WLAN positioning function is enabled, so as to realize the WLAN-based terminal positioning function;

The terminal configuration module is configured to automatically enable the reporting function of WLAN hotspot positioning information after the WLAN positioning function is enabled by the user.

The above solution makes it very convenient to collect WLAN hotspot location information and can be updated in time, and can be used to more accurately locate WLAN hotspots. By setting the reporting condition, excessive occupation of terminal resources can also be avoided.

Description of drawings

Fig. 1 is the flowchart of the embodiment method of the present invention;

Fig. 2 is a block diagram of a terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed ways

In order to make the purpose, technical solution and advantages of the present invention more clear, the embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that, in the case of no conflict, the embodiments in the present application and the features in the embodiments can be combined arbitrarily with each other.

The communication distance of WLAN is 10-30 meters for civilian use and about 100 meters for industrial use. At present, the collection of WLAN hotspot location information (that is, the information used to calculate the location of WLAN hotspots) is detected and recorded by special equipment. Detected WLAN hotspots are limited. In addition, since the detection distance is relatively long and the signal strength is weak, the calculation accuracy of the location of the WLAN hotspot is not high. Because the location of the WLAN hotspot is calculated according to the location of the detection terminal and the communication distance corresponding to the signal strength. Generally, the greater the signal strength, the shorter the corresponding communication distance, and the higher the accuracy of the estimated location of the WLAN hotspot; otherwise, the lower the accuracy of the estimated location of the WLAN hotspot.

In this embodiment, it is considered that mobile network terminals (terminals for short, such as GSM terminals, WCDMA terminals, etc.) that are commonly used at present have a WLAN detection function, and the reporting function of WLAN hotspot location information can also be implemented as a function of the terminal. Due to the ubiquity of mobile network terminals, the collection and update of information becomes very easy, and it is not easy to miss WLAN hotspots. Moreover, since the detection distance can be very short, the accuracy of the calculated WLAN hotspot location can also be improved.

It is very convenient to use the terminal to report WLAN hotspot positioning information, but if it is reported frequently, it will occupy a lot of resources of the terminal and the WLAN positioning system, such as power and CPU. Therefore, it is also necessary to consider reasonable reporting to avoid excessive occupation of terminal and system resources.

The WLAN hotspot of the present invention includes but not limited to WIFI hotspot.

The method for collecting WLAN hotspot positioning information in this embodiment is applied to mobile network terminals with satellite positioning functions (such as GPS positioning function, Beidou positioning function, etc.), as shown in Figure 1, the method includes:

Step 110, enabling the reporting function of WLAN and WLAN hotspot location information on the terminal;

The WLAN hotspot positioning information reporting function can be implemented in the terminal application. However, in this embodiment, in order to make the user willing to report and benefit from it, the WLAN positioning function is used as an option in the terminal configuration, and after the option of the WLAN positioning function is selected, the WLAN hotspot positioning information reporting function is automatically enabled. That is, the WLAN hotspot positioning information reporting function is associated with the WLAN positioning function, and the reporting of the WLAN hotspot positioning information is regarded as a corresponding obligation for users to enjoy the WLAN positioning function. The opening of the reporting function can give the user a clear reminder.

Step 120, the terminal detects a signal of a WLAN hotspot;

After the WLAN function of the terminal detects a signal of a WLAN hotspot (also referred to as an access point (AP: accesspoint)), it can acquire the unique identifier and signal strength information of the WLAN hotspot without establishing a connection.

Step 130, the terminal judges whether the WLAN hotspot meets the set reporting conditions, if yes, execute step 140, if not, continue to detect;

The above determination in this step may be triggered when a new WLAN hotspot is detected.

Sometimes, the signal strength of the WLAN hotspot detected by the terminal is very high, such as a WLAN hotspot set in a public place. However, these WLAN hotspots do not require a lot of reports to calculate their positions, and it is sufficient to use the reported information of users who establish connections with the WLAN hotspots. For the terminal, there are many WLAN hotspots detected every day, but there are not many WLAN hotspots that actually establish a connection. Therefore, in this embodiment, judging whether the WLAN hotspot meets the set reporting condition is to determine whether the connected WLAN hotspot meets the set reporting condition after successfully establishing a connection with the WLAN hotspot. For unconnected WLAN hotspots, no processing is performed. To avoid frequent judgments,

In this step, as an example only, the set conditions include one or more of the following conditions:

Condition 1, the detected signal strength of the WLAN hotspot exceeds a set strength threshold;

Condition 2, the terminal detects the WLAN hotspot in a non-roaming state;

Condition three, the name of the WLAN hotspot does not match the name set of WLAN hotspots that do not need to be reported.

After the mobile network terminal turns on the WLAN, many WLAN hotspots are detected, but the signal strength of most of the WLAN hotspots is not strong, and when the signal strength is weak, it is not very helpful for the precise positioning of the corresponding WLAN hotspots. Therefore, by setting the above condition 1, only WLAN hotspots with strong signals are reported. The set strength threshold can be expressed by signal strength value, or by strength level or other signal strength division methods. Signal strength and communication distance are corresponding , the setting of the intensity threshold can limit the distance between the reported terminal and the WLAN hotspot within a required range, such as within 10 meters or even shorter, so as to improve the calculation accuracy of the location of the WLAN hotspot.

The second condition above, that is, the terminal does not report in the roaming state, can avoid improper occupation of terminal resources and avoid waste of network resources.

Some of the WLAN hotspots are set up by institutions, such as WLAN hotspots set up by WLAN service providers, WLAN hotspots set up in large public places such as airports, hotels, stadiums, etc. The location of these WLAN hotspots can be obtained directly from the corresponding institutions. There is no need for ordinary terminals to report continuously. Therefore, the names of these WLAN hotspots may be formed into a set of WLAN hotspot names that do not need to be reported and delivered to the terminal for storage. If the name of the WLAN hotspot matches the name in the name set, it does not need to be reported, and if it does not match the name in the name set, it needs to be reported. It should be noted that the purpose of using a WLAN hotspot name set instead of a unique identification set is to reduce the amount of data in this set. Moreover, the names in the name set in this paper can be complete names or partial names, such as WLAN names that do not need to be reported, such as Pname1, Pname2, and Pname3, can be represented by a Pname in the name set.

In particular, considering the scenario where a WLAN hotspot is set in a home, the user terminal may detect a signal of sufficient strength of the same WLAN hotspot many times, but does not need to report frequently. However, WLAN hotspots may be withdrawn or moved, so it is impossible not to report for a long time. Therefore, this embodiment also sets a reporting period for WLAN hotspot location information, for example, natural days, natural weeks, and natural months may be used as a reporting period, and so on. The reporting of the location information of the same WLAN hotspot within a reporting period is constrained, and after entering a new reporting period, the reporting is performed again.

When the WLAN positioning system locates WLAN hotspots, according to the communication distance corresponding to the current position of the terminal reported once and the reported signal strength, an area including WLAN hotspots can be obtained. area. The common coverage area of these areas can be used to determine the location of the WLAN hotspot, for example, the geometric center of the common coverage area is used as the location of the WLAN hotspot. If the common coverage is smaller, the positioning is more accurate. It is easy to understand that if the reported current location of the terminal is very close, the obtained common coverage area will be larger, otherwise, the common coverage area will be relatively small. Therefore, in this embodiment, the distance between the reported current positions of the terminals is constrained by setting a distance threshold (for example, greater than a value of 1 to 5 meters), so as to reduce the Number of reports.

Specifically, in this embodiment, the reporting of the location information of the same WLAN hotspot in the current reporting period is constrained in the following manner: record the identification of the WLAN hotspot reported in the current reporting period and the information of the current location of the terminal; determine whether the WLAN hotspot conforms to When the reporting condition is set, if the WLAN hotspot is a WLAN hotspot that has been reported in the current reporting period, the set reporting condition also includes: the distance between the current position of the terminal and the current position of the terminal that has been reported in the current reporting period Both exceed the set distance threshold.

At the same time, after setting the conditions above, in an example, after the user sets up a new WLAN hotspot at home, the user terminal will report multiple different locations within a week, and the number of reports is 3 to 5 times. , will report again. However, the user uses other WLAN hotspots 3 to 5 times a week, so it only needs to report 6 to 10 times a week. This does not affect the use of the terminal. However, due to the large number of terminals, enough WLAN hotspot location information can still be collected.

Step 140, reporting the WLAN hotspot identifier, signal strength, and current location information of the terminal obtained by using satellite positioning to the WLAN positioning system.

The terminal may report the information to the WLAN positioning system through the mobile network or the WLAN. In this embodiment, the WLAN positioning system is maintained and managed by the mobile communication operator, but in other embodiments, it may also be maintained and managed by the content provider.

Correspondingly, the present embodiment also provides a mobile network terminal, as shown in FIG. 2 , including a satellite positioning module 1 (such as a GPS module) and a WLAN module 2, and also includes a WLAN hotspot positioning information reporting module 3, wherein:

The WLAN module 2 is used to detect the signal of the WLAN hotspot and establish a connection with the WLAN hotspot after the WLAN function of the terminal is turned on:

The WLAN hotspot positioning information reporting module 3 includes:

The judging unit 31 is configured to judge whether the WLAN hotspot meets the set reporting conditions after the WLAN hotspot positioning information reporting function of the terminal is enabled;

The reporting unit 33 is configured to report to the WLAN positioning system the identification of the WLAN hotspot, the signal strength, and the location information of the terminal obtained by using the satellite positioning module to locate the WLAN hotspot when the WLAN hotspot meets the set reporting conditions.

Optionally,

The judging unit 31 judges whether the connected WLAN hotspot meets the set reporting condition after the terminal successfully connects to the WLAN hotspot.

Optionally,

The set reporting conditions used by the judging unit 31 for judging include one or more of the following conditions:

The detected signal strength of the WLAN hotspot exceeds a set strength threshold;

The terminal detects the WLAN hotspot in a non-roaming state;

The name of the WLAN hotspot does not match the set of names of WLAN hotspots that do not need to be reported.

Optionally,

The WLAN hotspot positioning information reporting module 2 also includes:

The storage unit 35 is configured to record the identifier of the WLAN hotspot reported in the current reporting period and the information of the current location of the terminal according to the set reporting period of the WLAN hotspot location information;

When the judging unit 31 judges whether the WLAN hotspot meets the set reporting condition, if the WLAN hotspot is a WLAN hotspot that has been reported in the current reporting cycle, the set reporting condition also includes: the current location of the terminal to the current Reporting period The reported distances of the current position of the terminal all exceed the set distance threshold.

Optionally,

The terminal also includes:

The WLAN positioning module 4 is used to interact with the WLAN positioning system after the WLAN positioning function is enabled, so as to realize the WLAN-based terminal positioning function;

The terminal configuration module 5 is configured to automatically enable the reporting function of WLAN hotspot positioning information after the WLAN positioning function is enabled by the user.

The serial numbers of the above embodiments of the present invention are for description only, and do not represent the advantages and disadvantages of the embodiments. Through the description of the above embodiments, those skilled in the art can clearly understand that the methods of the above embodiments can be implemented by means of software plus a necessary general-purpose hardware platform, and of course also by hardware, but in many cases the former is better implementation. Based on such an understanding, the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention can be embodied in the form of software products, which are stored in a storage medium (such as ROM/RAM, magnetic CD, CD), including several instructions to make a terminal device (which may be a mobile phone, computer, server, or network device, etc.) execute the methods described in various embodiments of the present invention.

The above are only preferred embodiments of the present invention, and are not intended to limit the patent scope of the present invention. Any equivalent structure or equivalent process conversion made by using the description of the present invention and the contents of the accompanying drawings, or directly or indirectly used in other related technical fields , are all included in the scope of patent protection of the present invention in the same way.

Claims (10)

1. A collection method of WLAN hotspot positioning information, applied to a mobile network terminal with a satellite positioning function, said method comprising: Enable the reporting function of WLAN and WLAN hotspot location information on this terminal; The signal of a WLAN hotspot is detected; Judging whether the WLAN hotspot meets the set reporting conditions, and if so, reporting the WLAN hotspot identification, signal strength, and current location information of the terminal obtained by using satellite positioning to the WLAN positioning system. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein: After the signal of the WLAN hotspot is detected, it also includes: establishing a connection with the WLAN hotspot; The judging whether the WLAN hotspot meets the set reporting condition includes: after successfully establishing a connection with the WLAN hotspot, judging whether the connected WLAN hotspot meets the set reporting condition. 3. The method of claim 2, wherein: The set conditions include one or more of the following conditions: The detected signal strength of the WLAN hotspot exceeds a set strength threshold; The terminal detects the WLAN hotspot in a non-roaming state; The name of the WLAN hotspot does not match the set of names of WLAN hotspots that do not need to be reported. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein: The method also includes: setting the reporting period of the WLAN hotspot location information, recording the identification of the WLAN hotspot reported in the current reporting period and the information of the current location of the terminal; When judging whether the WLAN hotspot meets the set reporting conditions, if the WLAN hotspot is a WLAN hotspot that has been reported in the current reporting period, the set reporting condition also includes: the current location of the terminal to the current reporting period. The distances from the current location of the terminal all exceed the set distance thresholds. 5. The method according to claim 1 or 2 or 3 or 4, characterized in that: The terminal configuration has an option of the WLAN positioning function, and after the option of the WLAN positioning function is selected, the WLAN hotspot positioning information reporting function is automatically enabled. 6. A mobile network terminal, comprising a satellite positioning module and a WLAN module, characterized in that it also includes a WLAN hotspot positioning information reporting module, wherein: The WLAN module is used to detect the signal of the WLAN hotspot and establish a connection with the WLAN hotspot after the WLAN function of the terminal is turned on: The WLAN hotspot positioning information reporting module includes: The judging unit is used to judge whether the WLAN hotspot meets the set reporting conditions after the WLAN hotspot positioning information reporting function of the terminal is enabled; The reporting unit is configured to report to the WLAN positioning system the identification of the WLAN hotspot, the signal strength, and the location information of the terminal obtained by using the satellite positioning module to locate the WLAN hotspot when the WLAN hotspot meets the set reporting conditions. 7. The terminal according to claim 6, characterized in that: The judging unit judges whether the connected WLAN hotspot meets the set reporting condition after the terminal successfully connects to the WLAN hotspot. 8. The terminal according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that: The set reporting conditions used by the judging unit for judging include one or more of the following conditions: The detected signal strength of the WLAN hotspot exceeds a set strength threshold; The terminal detects the WLAN hotspot in a non-roaming state; The name of the WLAN hotspot does not match the set of names of WLAN hotspots that do not need to be reported. 9. The terminal according to claim 8, characterized in that: The WLAN hotspot positioning information reporting module also includes: The storage unit is used to record the identification of the WLAN hotspot reported in the current reporting period and the information of the current location of the terminal according to the set reporting period of the WLAN hotspot location information; When the judging unit judges whether the WLAN hotspot meets the set reporting condition, if the WLAN hotspot is a WLAN hotspot that has been reported in the current reporting period, the set reporting condition also includes: the current location of the terminal to the current reporting condition. The distances of the current position of the terminal that have been reported periodically all exceed the set distance threshold. 10. The terminal according to claim 6, 7 or 9, characterized in that: The terminal also includes: The WLAN positioning module is used to interact with the WLAN positioning system after the WLAN positioning function is enabled, so as to realize the WLAN-based terminal positioning function; The terminal configuration module is configured to automatically enable the reporting function of WLAN hotspot positioning information after the WLAN positioning function is enabled by the user.