Apparatus and methods for device location determination

• US 10,477,349 B2
• Filed: 02/13/2018
• Issued: 11/12/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 02/13/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Charter Communications Operating LLC (Charter Communications Incorporated)
• Original Assignee: Charter Communications Operating LLC (Charter Communications Incorporated)
• Inventors: Sinha, Ashutosh Kumar, Stankevitz, Benjamin, Das, Manoj
• Primary Examiner(s): Wyche, Myron
• Application Number:
  US15/895,875
• Publication Number:
  US 20190253836A1
• Time in Patent Office: 637 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/04 Registration at HLR or HSS [Home Subscriber Server]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/18 Processing of user or subscriber data, e.g. subscribed services, user preferences or user profiles; Transfer of user or subscriber data
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/22 Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities

Abstract

Apparatus and methods for provision of location-based services to wireless device users. In one embodiment, the apparatus and methods support location-based services requiring indoors or underground positioning (or other applications which cannot be served by GPS/A-GPS or GLONASS), such as via Wi-Fi Location devices with fine timing measurement (FTM) capability. A cable, terrestrial or satellite network operator can obtain location data on e.g., an LTE-enabled UE with SIM capability located within a served premises or venue, via an HTTP/S GET protocol, and forward the location data. In one variant, a managed 3GPP IP Multimedia System (IMS) infrastructure is used in conjunction with UE-specific identifiers under control of a controller entity (e.g., ePDG) in communication with the IMS infrastructure and one or more FTM-enabled Wi-Fi APs within the premises or venue for supporting VoWi-Fi 911 or 411 packet calls made via the IMS.

Claims

1. A computerized method for providing a wireless location-based service to a user of a computerized mobile device, the computerized method comprising:

at least temporarily registering the computerized mobile device with a wireless network infrastructure;

establishing a communications session between the computerized mobile device and an entity via at least the wireless network infrastructure;

receiving, at a wireless access point (WAP) of the wireless network infrastructure, data relating to a location of the computerized mobile device;

accessing the WAP of the wireless network infrastructure using at least a second component of the wireless network infrastructure, the accessing comprising accessing, via an operation of a HTTPS (hypertext transfer protocol secure) protocol, the received data relating to the location of the computerized mobile device;

verifying, by the WAP and via one or more computer programs of the WAP, at least portion of each of;

(i) a MAC (media access control) address of the WAP, and (ii) an IMEI (international mobile equipment identifier) of the computerized mobile device against data previously stored by the WAP; and

based on the verifying, communicating the accessed data to the entity or a proxy thereof, the communicated accessed data enabling provision of the wireless location-based service to the user;

wherein each of the WAP and the second component support the HTTPS protocol via at least one interface, the at least one interface obviating a need to maintain state information to support the operation of the HTTPS protocol.

2. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the wireless network infrastructure comprises an IMS (IP Multimedia System) enabled infrastructure and at least the wireless access point (WAP), and the at least temporarily registering the computerized mobile device with the wireless network infrastructure comprises authenticating and registering the computerized mobile device according to one or more IMS protocols.

3. The computerized method of claim 2, wherein establishing the communication session comprises establishing a communications session configured to support communication of Internet Protocol (IP) packet data.

4. The computerized method of claim 3, wherein:

the receiving, at the WAP, the data relating to the location of the computerized mobile device comprises receiving, at the WAP, the data relating to the location of the computerized mobile device, the WAP comprising a WAP compliant with IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) Std. 802.11-2016; and

the communication of the IP packet data comprises communication of packetized voice data, the communication of the voice data pursuant to a VoWi-Fi (Voice over Wi-Fi) communications session.

5. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the communicating the accessed data to the entity or a proxy thereof comprises:

receiving from the second component an HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol) GET request message for the received data;

generating a response to the GET request message, the response comprising at least a portion of the received data; and

causing transmission of the response to the second component.

6. The computerized method of claim 5, wherein:

the receiving from the second component the HTTP GET request message comprises receiving the HTTP GET request message from a 3GPP ePDG (evolved Packet Data Gateway) of the wireless network infrastructure; and

the communicating the accessed data to the entity or the proxy thereof comprises communicating the accessed data to the entity or the proxy via at least a call session control function (CSCF) of the wireless network infrastructure.

7. The computerized method of claim 6, wherein the at least temporarily registering comprises the CSCF causing storing of data within a home subscriber server (HSS) of the wireless network infrastructure.

8. The computerized method of claim 7, wherein the storing of the data comprises storing a derived value.

9. The computerized method of claim 8, wherein the storing of the derived value comprises storing, as the derived value, at least a portion of each of:

(i) the MAC address of the WAP with which the computerized mobile device is associated, and (ii) the IMEI (international mobile equipment identifier) of the computerized mobile device.

10. The computerized method of claim 9, wherein the accessing the received data relating to the location of the computerized mobile device comprises:

obtaining the stored portion of each of;

(i) the MAC address of the WAP, and (ii) the IMEI of the computerized mobile device from the HSS;

providing the obtained at least a portion of each of;

(i) the MAC address of the wireless access point, and (ii) the IMEI of the computerized mobile device to the ePDG; and

providing the obtained at least a portion of each of;

(i) the MAC address of the wireless access point, and (ii) the IMEI of the computerized mobile device to the WAP from the ePDG.

11. The computerized method of claim 6, wherein the receiving data relating to the location comprises receiving data relating to at least one fine timing measurement (FTM) conducted by the computerized mobile device, and the computerized method further comprises determining the location based at least on the received data relating to the at least one FTM.

12. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the receiving data relating to the location comprises receiving data relating to at least one fine timing measurement (FTM) conducted by the computerized mobile device, and the computerized method further comprises determining the location based at least on the received data relating to the at least one FTM.

13. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the receiving data relating to the location comprises receiving data enabling performance of at least one fine timing measurement (FTM), and the computerized method further comprises:

performing the at least one FTM based on the received data; and

determining the location based at least in part on the at least one FTM;

wherein the performing the at least one FTM and the determining the location are performed by the WAP.

14. The computerized method of claim 1, wherein the receiving data relating to the location comprises receiving data associated with at least one fine timing measurement (FTM), and the method further comprises the entity or a proxy thereof performing a determination of the location after the communicating of the accessed data associated with the at least one FTM to the entity.

15. A computerized method for providing a wireless location-based service to a user of a computerized mobile device, the computerized method comprising:

providing first data specific to the computerized mobile device to a first network infrastructure, the provided first data enabling at least temporary registering of the computerized mobile device within the first network infrastructure;

providing second data specific to at least one of;

(i) the computerized mobile device, and/or (ii) the user, to a managed network infrastructure, the provided second data enabling authentication of at least one of;

(i) the computerized mobile device, and/or (ii) the user, to the managed network infrastructure;

causing establishment of a communication session between the computerized mobile device and an entity via at least portions of both the first network infrastructure and the managed network infrastructure; and

providing, via at least one RESTful (Representation State Transfer) interface, location-related data to a wireless access point (WAP) of the first network infrastructure, the location-related data;

(i) useful by the entity as part of the communication session for causing provision of the location-based service to the user at the determined location, and (ii) comprising fine timing measurement (FTM) data enabling determination of a location of the computerized mobile device by the WAP.

16. The computerized method of claim 15, wherein the providing first data specific to the computerized mobile device to the first network infrastructure comprises providing at least one of:

(i) a TMSI (Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity), or (ii) an IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identifier), to the first network infrastructure.

17. The computerized method of claim 16, wherein:

the providing first data specific to the computerized mobile device to the first network infrastructure comprises providing at least a portion of at least one of;

(i) the TMSI, or (ii) the IMEI, to the first network infrastructure, and the first data specific to the computerized mobile device includes the at least portion of the TMSI; and

the providing second data specific to at least one of;

(i) the computerized mobile device, and/or (ii) the user, to the managed network infrastructure, includes providing the IMEI to the managed network infrastructure.

18. The computerized method of claim 15, wherein the providing the location-related data to the first component comprises:

receiving at the WAP, and from a second component of the first network infrastructure, an HTTP (hypertext transfer protocol) GET request message for the received location-related data;

generating a response to the HTTP GET request message, the response comprising at least a portion of the received location-related data; and

causing transmission of the response to the second component.

19. The computerized method of claim 15, wherein:

the computerized mobile device comprises an application computer program operative to execute thereon; and

the providing second data specific to at least one of;

(i) the computerized mobile device, and/or (ii) the user, to the managed network infrastructure comprises providing the second data to a server apparatus of the managed network infrastructure via a secure data session established between the application computer program and the server apparatus.

20. A system configured for provision of a wireless location-based service to a user of a computerized mobile device, the system comprising:

a wireless network infrastructure registration element, the wireless network infrastructure registration element configured to register the computerized mobile device and cause storage of device identifier data in a first storage entity;

a first component, the first component configured to;

transmit data representative of request to a server apparatus for the device identifier data stored at the first storage entity;

receive the device identifier data from the server apparatus; and

transmit the device identifier data via at least one data interface;

at least one wireless access point (WAP), the at least one WAP configured to;

receive, from the computerized mobile device, data specific to the computerized mobile device;

cause storage of the data specific to the computerized mobile device in a second storage entity;

receive the device identifier data from the first component;

verify the device identifier data against the stored data specific to the computerized mobile device;

determine a location of the computerized client device; and

based at least on the verification of the device identifier data, cause provision of data relating to the location of the computerized mobile device to the first component, the provision configured to enable provision of the wireless location-based service to the user;

wherein the at least one data interface utilizes a predefined data structure of stateless operations to enable receipt of the data relating to the location of the computerized mobile device from the second component.

21. The system of claim 20, wherein:

the first component comprises a 3GPP ePDG (evolved Packet Data Gateway);

the at least one wireless access point (WAP) comprises at least one WAP compliant with Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Std. 802.11-2016;

the server apparatus comprises an authentication, authorization and accounting server apparatus;

the first storage entity comprises a home subscriber server apparatus;

the second storage entity comprises a local or networked storage location;

the stored device identifier data comprises at least a portion of each of;

(i) at least one respective MAC (media access control) address of the at least one WAP with which the computerized mobile device is associated, and (ii) an IMEI (international mobile equipment identifier) of the computerized mobile device;

the stored data specific to the computerized mobile device comprises the IMEI of the computerized mobile device; and

the at least one data interface comprises a RESTful (representation state transfer) interface.

22. The system of claim 20, wherein the first component is further configured to transmit, via an SLg interface, the data relating to the location of the computerized mobile device to a LRF/GMLC (Location Retrieval Function/Gateway Mobile Location Center).

23. The system of claim 22, wherein the LRF/GMLC is configured to transmit data representative of a request for the location of the computerized client device to the first component based on the computerized client device initiating a VoWi-Fi (voice over (EPC-integrated) Wi-Fi) call.