Method and apparatus for supporting location services via a generic location session

• US 10,063,642 B2
• Filed: 08/18/2011
• Issued: 08/28/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Wachter, Andreas K., Edge, Stephen William
• Primary Examiner(s): Holliday, Jamie
• Application Number:
  US13/213,039
• Publication Number:
  US 20120046014A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,567 Days
• Field of Search: 4554561-4566
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/11 wherein the cooperating elements are pseudolites or satellite radio beacon positioning system signal repeaters
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/46 the supplementary measurement being of a radio-wave signal type
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/143 Termination or inactivation of sessions, e.g. event-controlled end of session
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/147 Signalling methods or messages providing extensions to protocols defined by standardisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/003 locating network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/085 involving different upper layer protocol versions, e.g. LCS - SUPL or WSN-SOA-WSDP
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/10 adapted for application session management, e.g. SIP [Session Initiation Protocol] connection management H04W76/00; arrangements for session management H04L67/14

Abstract

Techniques for supporting location services are disclosed. In an aspect, a generic location session between a terminal and a location server may be established for a particular duration or until the generic location session is terminated by a trigger condition. Parameters related to the generic location session may be exchanged between the terminal and the location server during session establishment. Thereafter, the terminal and the location server may engage in one or more positioning activities at any time during the generic location session. Each positioning activity may be of any type supported by the terminal and the location server. The generic location session can be initiated by either the terminal or the location server. In one design, one entity (e.g., the location server) may initiate the generic location session, and the other entity (e.g., the terminal) may send an end message to terminate the generic location session.

Claims

1. A method of supporting location services, comprising:

establishing a generic location session between a terminal and a location server, wherein administration functions are to be performed one time for an entirety of the generic location session, the administrative functions comprising authentication or secure session establishment, or a combination thereof, wherein the generic location session has a particular duration or is capable of being terminated by a trigger condition, the generic location session being initiated via a transmission of a protocol initiation message between the terminal and the location server, the protocol initiation message including a service request specifying that the generic location session is generic, wherein the generic location session is identified by a session ID, and the generic location session is capable of supporting a plurality of location services; and

engaging in a plurality of positioning activities between the terminal and the location server during the generic location session, wherein each of the one or more positioning activities comprises a positioning activity type supported by the terminal and the location server, and wherein the plurality of positioning activities comprises at least two different types of triggered location services.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the generic location session is capable of being initiated by the terminal or the location server.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the terminal and the location server comprise two entities involved in the generic location session, wherein one of the two entities initiates the generic location session by sending the protocol initiation message, and wherein the other one of the two entities sends an end message to indicate termination of the generic location session.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the terminal is authenticated by the location server during establishment of the generic location session and is not authenticated by the location server for each of the positioning activities.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the location server is authenticated by the terminal during establishment of the generic location session and is not authenticated by the terminal for each of the positioning activities.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing the generic location session comprises exchanging at least one parameter for the generic location session between the terminal and the location server.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one parameter comprises the particular duration of the generic location session.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the particular duration of the generic location session is given by a time duration, a number of positioning activities, a number of messages, a number of octets of data transferred, or a combination thereof.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the particular duration of the generic location session is given by a time duration and a number of messages, and wherein the generic location session terminates upon reaching the time duration or the number of messages, whichever occurs first.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one parameter comprises an activity rate during the generic location session.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the activity rate is given by a number of positioning activities per unit time, a number of messages per unit time, a number of octets of data transferred per unit time, or a combination thereof.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the generic location session comprises a generic Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) session, and wherein the engaging in one or more positioning activities comprises exchanging SUPL POS messages between the terminal and the location server for each of positioning activities, the SUPL POS messages transporting positioning messages used to carry out each positioning activity.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the positioning activities comprise at least request and delivery of assistance data, request and delivery of a current location of the terminal, request and delivery of measurements or a location estimate, request and delivery of positioning capabilities, unsolicited transfer of positioning capabilities, unsolicited transfer of assistance data, unsolicited transfer of location information, or a combination thereof.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing the generic location session comprises exchanging, between the terminal and the location server, capabilities of the terminal and capabilities of the location server.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the capabilities of the terminal comprise one or more positioning protocols supported by the terminal, and wherein the capabilities of the location server comprise one or more positioning protocols supported by the location server.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

exchanging, between the terminal and the location server, capabilities of the terminal and capabilities of the location server related to a positioning protocol during performance of a first positioning activity.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing the generic location session and the engaging in one or more positioning activities are performed by the terminal.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

initiating the generic location session by the terminal.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

initiating a positioning activity by the terminal.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

establishing a secure connection to the location server, in response to receiving a re-initialization message, for the positioning activity.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving an end message from the location server; and

terminating the generic location session and releasing resources for the generic location session by the terminal in response to receiving the end message.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing the generic location session and the engaging in the positioning activities are performed by the location server.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

initiating the generic location session by the location server.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

receiving a location request from a location services client; and

initiating the generic location session by the location server in response to receiving the location request.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

initiating a first positioning activity by the location server.

26. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

determining that the terminal does not have a secure connection to the location server for a first positioning activity; and

sending a re-initialization message to the terminal prior to the first positioning activity to trigger the terminal to establish a secure connection to the location server.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein the generic location session between the terminal and the location server is established to exist until the generic location session is terminated by the trigger condition.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein the generic location session is capable of supporting triggered location services or periodic location services.

29. An apparatus for supporting location services, comprising:

means for establishing a generic location session between a terminal and a location server, wherein administration functions are to be performed one time for an entirety of the generic location session, the administrative functions comprising authentication or secure session establishment, or a combination thereof, wherein the generic location session has a particular duration or is capable of being terminated by a trigger condition, the generic location session being initiated via a transmission of a protocol initiation message between the terminal and the location server, the protocol initiation message including a service request specifying that the generic location session is generic, wherein the generic location session is identified by a session ID, and the generic location session is capable of a plurality of location services; and

means for engaging in a plurality of positioning activities between the terminal and the location server during the generic location session, wherein each of the one or more positioning activities comprise a positioning activity type supported by the terminal and the location server, and wherein the plurality of positioning activities comprises at least two different types of triggered location services.

30. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the terminal and the location server comprise two entities involved in the generic location session, wherein one of the two entities initiates the generic location session, and wherein the other one of the two entities sends an end message to indicate termination of the generic location session.

31. The apparatus of claim 29, wherein the means for establishing the generic location session comprises means for exchanging at least one parameter for the generic location session between the terminal and the location server, and wherein the at least one parameter comprises the particular duration of the generic location session.

32. The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising:

means for initiating the generic location session by the terminal.

33. The apparatus of claim 29, further comprising:

means for initiating the generic location session by the location server.

34. An apparatus for supporting location services, comprising:

at least one processor to;

establish a generic location session between a terminal and a location server, wherein administration functions are to be performed one time for an entirety of the generic location session, the administrative functions comprising authentication or secure session establishment, or a combination thereof, wherein the generic location session has a particular duration or is capable of being terminated by a trigger condition, the generic location session being initiated via a transmission of a protocol initiation message between the terminal and the location server, the protocol initiation message including a service request specifying that the generic location session is generic, wherein the generic location session is identified by a session ID, and the generic location session is capable of supporting a plurality of location services; and

engage in a plurality of positioning activities between the terminal and the location server during the generic location session, wherein each of the one or more positioning activities comprise a positioning activity type supported by the terminal and the location server, and wherein the plurality of positioning activities comprises at least two different types of triggered location services.

35. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the terminal and the location server comprise two entities involved in the generic location session, wherein one of the two entities initiates the generic location session, and wherein the other one of the two entities sends an end message to indicate termination of the generic location session.

36. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the at least one processor is configured to exchange at least one parameter for the generic location session between the terminal and the location server, and wherein the at least one parameter comprises the particular duration of the generic location session.

37. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the at least one processor is configured to initiate the generic location session by the terminal.

38. The apparatus of claim 34, wherein the at least one processor is configured to initiate the generic location session by the location server.

39. An article comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium to store computer-readable instructions capable of being executed by one or more processors to;

establish a generic location session between a terminal and a location server, wherein administration functions are to be performed one time for an entirety of the generic location session, the administrative functions comprising authentication or secure session establishment, or a combination thereof, wherein the generic location session has a particular duration or is capable of being terminated by a trigger condition, the generic location session being initiated via a transmission of a protocol initiation message between the terminal and the location server, the protocol initiation message including a service request specifying that the generic location session is generic, wherein the generic location session is identified by a session ID, and the generic location session is capable of supporting a plurality of location services; and

engage in a plurality of positioning activities between the terminal and the location server during the generic location session, wherein each of the one or more positioning activities comprise a positioning activity type supported by the terminal and the location server, and wherein the plurality of positioning activities comprises at least two different types of triggered location services.