A METHOD OF MEASURING TIME OF ARRIVAL OF SATELLITE SIGNALS RECEIVED IN A SATELLITE POSITIONING SYSTEM (SPS) RECEIVER

摘要

The present invention relates to the method and apparatus is disclosed for measurement processing of Satellite Positioning System (SPS) signals. A plurality of SPS signals from a corresponding plurality of SPS satellites are received in an SPS receiver. The signal environment corresponding to the location in which the SPS receiver is located is characterized to produce signal environment data. In one exemplary embodiment, an information source, such as a cellular network based database, is searched to retrieve the signal environment data given an approximate location of the GPS receiver. This approximate location may be specified by a location of a cell site which is in cellular radio communication with a cellular communication device which is co-located with the GPS receiver. One or more parameters related to signal characteristics of the satellite signals are defined. Threshold values for the parameters are determined using the signal environment data. Code phases corresponding to times of arrival of respective satellite signals from the plurality of satellites are measured. The data representing measured times of arrival are examined using threshold values for the parameters to produce a set of times of arrival from which a location fix for the GPS receiver is calculated. Other methods and apparatuses for other embodiments of the invention are also described.