Method of providing position information of mobile terminals

• US 20020086683A1
• Filed: 12/10/2001
• Published: 07/04/2002
• Est. Priority Date: 12/15/2000
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LYFT Incorporated
• Original Assignee: Koninklijke Philips Electronics N.V. (Koninklijke Philips N.V.)
• Inventors: Kohar, Handoko, De Regt, Michael Cornelis
• Granted Patent: US 6,987,976 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.5
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

Described is a method of providing position information of at least a first mobile terminal (2) to at least a second mobile terminal (4), wherein the first and second mobile terminals (2, 4) are not necessarily communicating with each other. The first and second mobile terminals (2, 4) are part of a mobile network (6) which further comprises position determining means (8) to determine the position information of the first mobile terminal (2). The method comprises the steps of:

determining the position information of the first mobile terminal (2) by the position determining means (8),

transmitting the position information by the mobile network (6) to the second mobile terminal (4).

The first and second mobile terminals (2, 4) may be subscribed to a position information providing service offered by the mobile network (6). The position information may be determined and transmitted at the second mobile terminal'"'"'s (4) request. The second mobile terminal (4) may comprise a database with entries for mobile terminals, wherein the second mobile terminal (4) is arranged for requesting the position information for at least part of the mobile terminals included in the database.

Claims

1. A method of providing position information of at least a first mobile terminal (2) to at least a second mobile terminal (4), wherein the first and second mobile terminals (2, 4) are part of a mobile network (6), and wherein the mobile network (6) comprises position determining means (8) to determine the position information of the first mobile terminal (2), wherein the first and second mobile terminals (2, 4) are not necessarily communicating with each other, the method comprising the steps of:

determining the position information of the first mobile terminal (2) by the position determining means (8),

transmitting the position information by the mobile network (6) to the second mobile terminal (4).

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the first and second mobile terminals (2, 4) are subscribed to a position information providing service offered by the mobile network (6).

3. The method according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the position information is determined and transmitted at the second mobile terminal'"'"'s (4) request.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the second mobile terminal (4) comprises a database with entries for mobile terminals, and wherein the second mobile terminal (4) is arranged for requesting the position information for at least part of the mobile terminals included in the database.

5. The method according to any of claims 1-4, wherein the position information comprises the absolute position of the first mobile terminal (2).

6. The method according to claim 5, wherein the second mobile terminal (4) comprises a compass or a GPS-receiver for providing further position information of the second mobile terminal (4), and wherein the second mobile terminal (4) comprises means for determining the relative position of the first mobile terminal (2) with respect to the second mobile terminal (4) from the position information and the further position information.

7. The method according to any of claims 1-4, wherein the position information comprises the relative position of the first mobile terminal (2) with respect to the second mobile terminal (4).

8. A mobile transmission system (1) comprising a mobile network (6) with at least a first mobile terminal (2) and at least a second mobile terminal (4), wherein the first and second mobile terminals (2, 4) are not necessarily communicating with each other, and wherein the mobile network (6) comprises position determining means (8) to determine a position information of the first mobile terminal (2), wherein the position information is transmitted by the mobile network (6) to the second mobile terminal (4).

9. A mobile terminal (4) for conducting communications over a mobile network (6), wherein the mobile terminal (4) is arranged for receiving a position information of at least one other mobile terminal (2) from the mobile network, and wherein the mobile terminal (4) is not necessarily communicating with the at least one other mobile terminal (2).