Ericsson Gmbh

Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (publ)

Theodore Havinis

David Boltz

Maya Roel-Ng

Stephen R Hayes

Dimitris Papadimitriou

Vladimir Alperovich

Dimitrios Papadimitriou

A telecommunications system and method is disclosed for downloading encrypted network information, such as Base Transceiver Station (BTS) coordinates, in a point-to-point manner between the network and a Mobile Station (MS) with location calculation capabilities. When an MS registers with the network, the MS shall indicate as part of the &ldquo;early classmark&rdquo; process its location calculation capabilities and the type algorithm to be used for deciphering the network information. As a result of a mobile originating request for assistance data, the network shall encrypt and download the network information to the MS. The MS deciphers the network information in order to position itself.

System and method for downloading network information to mobile stations for location calculation

The present invention provides a computer program embodied on a computer readable medium. The computer may include a code segment for storing user service information. The computer program may also include a code segment for communicating with a mobile switching station and remote service providers. The computer program may further include a code segment for accessing services from remote service providers. The computer program may also include a code segment for routing the services to a communications device.

Systems, methods and apparatuses for maintaining services within a telecommunications network having separate service providers and network providers

A telecommunications system and method is disclosed for requiring a mobile station (MS) to notify the network of the number and/or duration of positionings performed by the MS. A service program or API (Application Program Interface), e.g., JAVA program, which is responsible for collecting information regarding the requests for location information, is either included in a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card, or other memory, of the MS, or downloaded to the SIM card in the MS. As a result of performing a location calculation, the API within the MS initiates a mobile originated reporting Short Message Service (SMS) or Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) message to the serving network, which includes a time stamp of the time and date the positioning request was received, the number and/or duration of the positioning(s) and the final location of MS.

System and method for reporting the number and/or duration of positioning requests for terminal-based location calculation

A telecommunications system and method is disclosed for monitoring all successful and unsuccessful attempts by third parties to locate a mobile subscriber and providing identity information associated with those third parties to the mobile subscriber. Whenever a positioning request is received by a Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC), the GMLC, before returning a response to the requester, e.g., either location information or a rejection message, maintains a positioning record of all information related to the positioning request for the mobile subscriber, including the identity of the requester. The GMLC can download this positioning record to a node associated with the mobile subscriber, such as a Mobile Station (MS) or billing center.

System and method for monitoring positioning requests for mobile subscribers

A telecommunications system and method is disclosed for defining restricted positioning areas by geographical location. The restricted area information can be established by the cellular network or the mobile subscriber, and can be stored in a database, such as an Intelligent Network (IN) node. An IN trigger can be included in the subscriber information provided to the serving Mobile Switching Center/Visitor Location Register (MSC/VLR) or the IN trigger can be stored in specific MSC/VLR's that have restricted positioning areas for all mobile subscribers. Upon receiving the calculated location estimate, the IN trigger is activated, and the MSC/VLR transmits the calculated location estimate to the IN node to determine whether the calculated location estimate can be provided to the requesting Location Services (LCS) client based upon the defined restricted positioning area information.

System and method for providing restricting positioning of a target mobile station based on the calculated location estimate

Provided is a method, computer program, and system that implements a location service in a mobile communications network to generate a location estimate for a terminal device associated with a user. The method takes a location request, and, with a precision that is dependent on an assigned priority level, estimates the location of a mobile phone. The computer program implements the method in software with modular programming. The system achieves the present invention by applying a location services algorithm to a mobile communications network.

Priority handling of location services in a mobile communications network

A telecommunications system and method is disclosed for allowing each mobile subscriber that has subscribed to location services to define a Subscriber Location Privacy Profile (SLPP) containing a list of preferred subscribers that have permission to position the mobile subscriber. The SLPP can also define the conditions under which each of the preferred subscribers can position the mobile subscriber. The SLPP is preferably connected to the mobile subscriber's main subscription record in the Home Location Register and can be downloaded to the Mobile Switching Center/Visitor Location Register together the rest of the subscription information when the mobile subscriber is roaming.

System and method for defining a subscriber location privacy profile

A telecommunications system and method is disclosed for notifying a mobile subscriber being positioned of the received positioning request, and preferably, the identity of the requesting Location Application (LA) in order to enhance the privacy of the mobile subscriber. A request message, which contains a similar indicator to that of the SETUP message in mobile-terminating calls, is sent by the serving Mobile Switching Center (MSC) to the mobile subscriber to cause an alerting tone, e.g., ringing or beeping, on the Mobile Station (MS) of the mobile subscriber. The mobile subscriber can accept or reject the positioning request based upon the LA identity displayed on the MS.

System and method for alerting a mobile subscriber being positioned

A telecommunications system and method is disclosed for requiring a Mobile Station (MS) that calculates it's own position within a cellular network to report that calculated location to the requester. The MS can determine and store the location of the MS, along with a time stamp, in a memory therein at predefined intervals determined by the requestor. Once the location information has been calculated and stored, the MS can report all of the relevant historical location information to the requestor at predefined intervals determined by the requestor.

System and method for providing chronicled location information for terminal-based position calculation

A telecommunications system and method is disclosed for providing location information, which can consist of either real-time data or historical data when the subscriber requested to be positioned is either absent or not reachable, to a requesting location application (LA). The historical data is preferably stored per subscriber in a database within a serving Mobile Switching Center/Visitor Location Register (MSC/VLR) following a successful positioning of that subscriber. This historical data can consist of the location information along with a time stamp indicating the time that the location information was obtained and stored in the MSC/VLR. The age of the location information can then be calculated by determining the difference between the current read value of the system clock and the value of the time stamp information stored in the MSC/VLR for that particular location information.

System and method for providing historical data for location services

A telecommunications system and method is disclosed for an enhanced cellular network architecture to distributively store subscriber data and provide application platforms for custom applications. In addition to or in place of the current subscriber data, a new element can be stored in the HLR. This new element references one of a plurality of databases distributed throughout a data network, such as the Internet Protocol (IP) network. These databases may contain additional subscriber data or custom applications for mobile subscribers. The elements inform the serving MSC/VLR which database to access in order to obtain the additional subscriber data. In addition, the MSC/VLR may also be connected to a dedicated local database through an intranet. This local database preferably stores a local copy of the subscriber data or custom applications retrieved from the distributed data network.

Enhanced cellular network architecture

A telecommunications system and method is disclosed for enabling a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) node, namely a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) within a cellular network, to be able to handle requests for Location Services (LCS) for a GPRS mobile station (MS) in parallel to other existing transactions such as delivering short messages or engaging in session management activity, e.g., data call connection. A new LCS transaction type can be introduced in the Connection-Management (CM) sub-layer of GPRS in the SGSN and the GPRS MSs to handle requests for LCS in parallel to other offered services. LCS can be multiplexed together with other existing functions in GPRS by allocating a new Service Access Point Identifier (SAPI) to LCS within the Logical Link Control (LLC) sub-layer of the GPRS. Alternatively, when a common LLC SAPI is used between different CM-sublayer functions, then a different protocol discriminator (PD) can be allocated for LCS.

System and method for providing location services in parallel to existing services in general packet radio services architecture

A telecommunications system and method is disclosed for minimizing the chances of a mobile subscriber altering the calculated location of an associated mobile terminal when the positioning measurements and location calculation are performed by the mobile terminal. In order to prevent tampering with the location information, the Positioning Measurement Module (PMM) can be separated from the Location Calculation Module (LCM) by including both the LCM and topological information used for calculation of the location of the mobile terminal on a smart integrated circuit (IC) card within the mobile terminal. When the PMM obtains positioning measurement information, this positioning information is encrypted and sent to the LCM within the smart card, which then deciphers the encrypted information and uses the positioning information and stored topological information to calculate the location of the mobile terminal.

Prevention of alteration of location information for mobile-based location calculation

A telecommunications system and method is disclosed for implementing Location Override Key(s) (LOKs) within location services in order to determine whether certain checks on subscriber limitations and/or system default behavior are applicable or not for a particular location request. Each LOK can either have the value override or not override associated therewith, and each Location Application (LA) can be associated with a particular value of an LOK. In addition, an LOK can be accompanied by one or more additional parameters related to the particular LOK. For example, location services can provide LAs with a Privacy Override Key (POK), which can have a value of &ldquo;override&rdquo; or &ldquo;not override&rdquo;. If the POK is set to &ldquo;override&rdquo;, the privacy settings of the subscriber to be positioned shall be overridden for the particular positioning request in most cases only if the subscriber to be positioned is in the same Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) as the Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) that received the positioning request.

System and method for use of override keys for location services

An improved system and method for determining a position of a mobile station in a mobile telecommunications system is disclosed. The system includes identifying a number of location measuring units (LMUs) for measuring the time of arrival of signals generated by the mobile station. In the event one or more of the LMUs is associated with a mobile switching center (MSC) other than the MSC serving the mobile station, then information pertaining to the identified LMUs and the other MSC is sent to the serving MSC. The serving MSC sends a position request message to those identified LMUs associated therewith, encapsulates the position request message and sends the encapsulated message to the other MSC. The other MSC thereafter unpacks the position request message and forwards the unpacked position request message to the identified LMU associated with the other MSC. Following the measuring of timing information, the LMU associated with the other MSC sends its timing measurement results to the other MSC, which thereupon encapsulates the results and forwards the encapsulated results to the serving MSC.

Growing community of inventors

Plano, TX, United States of America

Theodore Havinis