Method and apparatus for providing location information for a wireless communication device

• US 10,375,510 B2
• Filed: 05/19/2017
• Issued: 08/06/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 03/06/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: AT&T Intellectual Property I LP (AT&T, Inc.)
• Inventors: Drexel, Jonathan, Drexel, William
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Dinh
• Application Number:
  US15/600,051
• Publication Number:
  US 20170257736A1
• Time in Patent Office: 809 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/60 Subscription-based services using application servers or record carriers, e.g. SIM application toolkits

Abstract

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, a SIM card obtaining GPS location data, second location data and communication session measurement data; monitoring for a wireless network connection between a controller of a wireless device and a wireless network; and, responsive to a failure to detect the wireless network connection, providing the aggregated location data to a wireless communication circuit of the SIM card for wireless transmitting via an antenna of the SIM card to a wireless access point to cause the wireless access point to transmit the aggregated location data to a location server. Other embodiments are disclosed.

Claims

1. A communication device, comprising:

a main antenna;

a WiFi circuit;

a subscriber identity module (SIM) having a SIM memory;

a SIM antenna;

a global positioning system (GPS) circuit;

a wireless circuit;

a processing system including a processor; and

a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, comprising;

obtaining GPS location information from the GPS circuit;

obtaining, via the WiFi circuit and the SIM antenna, WiFi location data;

storing the GPS location information and the WiFi location data in the SIM memory as aggregated location data;

responsive to a detection of a wireless network connection between the processor, via the main antenna, and a wireless network, providing the aggregated location data to the processor for wireless transmitting to a location server;

determining a failure to detect a wireless network connection via the main antenna; and

responsive to the determining the failure to detect the wireless network connection via the main antenna, providing the aggregated location data to the location server via the wireless circuit and the SIM antenna.

2. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the operations further comprise receiving a location-based service from the location server according to the GPS location information.

3. The communication device of claim 2, wherein the operations further comprise:

obtaining communication session measurement data, wherein the aggregated location data further comprises the communication session measurement data; and

transmitting the communication session measurement data to the location server via the wireless circuit and the SIM antenna, wherein the receiving of the location-based service comprises receiving the location-based service according to the communication session measurement data.

4. The communication device of claim 2, wherein the receiving of the location-based service comprises receiving the location-based service from the location server according to network location data, wherein the location server obtains the network location data from one or more network devices.

5. The communication device of claim 4, wherein the network location data includes one of assisted GPS data, cellular triangulation data, satellite location data, WiFi network data, communication device diagnostic data, and communication device health information.

6. The communication device of claim 1, wherein the providing of the GPS location information to the location server comprises determining a group of wireless protocols supported by the wireless circuit and selecting a target wireless protocol from the group of wireless protocols.

7. The communication device of claim 6, wherein the selecting the target wireless protocol from the group of wireless protocols comprises determining a performance parameter for each wireless protocol from the group of wireless protocols resulting in a group of performance parameters and selecting the target wireless protocol according to the group of performance parameters.

8. The communication device of claim 6, wherein the selecting the target wireless protocol from the group of wireless protocols comprises determining availability of a wireless access point for each wireless protocol from the group of wireless protocols resulting in a group of wireless access points and selecting the target wireless protocol according to the availability of the group of wireless access points.

9. The communication device of claim 6, wherein the group of wireless protocols includes one of a WiFi, Bluetooth, and Near Field Communications.

10. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, comprising:

obtaining GPS location information from a GPS circuit via a main antenna;

obtaining wireless location data via a wireless circuit utilizing the main antenna;

storing the GPS location information and the wireless location data in a subscriber identity module (SIM) memory as aggregated location data;

responsive to a detection of a wireless network connection between the processor and a wireless network via the main antenna, providing the aggregated location data to the processor for wireless transmission to a location server;

responsive to a determination of a failure to detect the wireless network connection via the main antenna, providing the aggregated location data to the location server via the wireless circuit and a SIM antenna; and

receiving a location-based service from the location server according to the GPS location information.

11. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the operations further comprise:

obtaining communication session measurement data; and

transmitting the communication session measurement data to the location server via the wireless circuit and the SIM antenna, wherein the receiving of the location-based service comprises receiving the location-based service according to the communication session measurement data.

12. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 11, wherein the receiving of the location-based service comprises receiving the location-based service from the location server according to network location data, wherein the location server obtains the network location data from one or more network devices.

13. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 12, wherein the network location data includes one of assisted GPS data, cellular triangulation data, satellite location data, WiFi network data, communication device diagnostic data, and communication device health information.

14. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 10, wherein the providing of the GPS location information to the location server comprises determining a group of wireless protocols supported by the wireless circuit and selecting a target wireless protocol from the group of wireless protocols.

15. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the selecting the target wireless protocol from the group of wireless protocols comprises determining a performance parameter for each wireless protocol from the group of wireless protocols resulting in a group of performance parameters and selecting the target wireless protocol according to the group of performance parameters.

16. The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of claim 14, wherein the selecting the target wireless protocol from the group of wireless protocols comprises determining availability of a wireless access point for each wireless protocol from the group of wireless protocols resulting in a group of wireless access points and selecting the target wireless protocol according to the availability of the group of wireless access points.

17. A method, comprising:

obtaining, by a processing system including a processor, GPS location information from a GPS circuit via a first antenna;

obtaining, by the processing system, wireless location data via a wireless circuit utilizing the first antenna;

storing, by the processing system, the GPS location information and the wireless location data in a subscriber identity module (SIM) memory as aggregated location data;

responsive to a detection of a wireless network connection between the processor and a wireless network via the first antenna, by the wireless circuit providing the aggregated location data to the processor for wireless transmission to a location server;

responsive to a determination, by the processing system, of a failure to detect the wireless network connection via the first antenna;

determining a group of wireless protocols supported by the wireless circuit;

selecting a target wireless protocol from the group of wireless protocols; and

providing, by the processing system, the aggregated location data to the location server via the wireless circuit and a second antenna according to the target wireless protocol.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the selecting the target wireless protocol from the group of wireless protocols comprises determining, by the processing system, a performance parameter for each wireless protocol from the group of wireless protocols resulting in a group of performance parameters and selecting, by the processing system, the target wireless protocol according to the group of performance parameters.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the selecting the target wireless protocol from the group of wireless protocols comprises determining, by the processing system, availability of a wireless access point for each wireless protocol from the group of wireless protocols resulting in a group of wireless access points and selecting, by the processing system, the target wireless protocol according to the availability of the group of wireless access points.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the group of wireless protocols includes one of a WiFi, Bluetooth, and Near Field Communications.