Method and apparatus for reporting location of a mobile terminal

• US 20050148340A1
• Filed: 01/06/2004
• Published: 07/07/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 01/06/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Guyot, Olivier
• Granted Patent: US 7,016,693 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.200
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A method for use by a wireless communication network (18) in responding to a request (b) originating from a requester (19) for an estimate of the position of a mobile terminal (11)—the request provided via an LCS server (16a)—along with a requested accuracy, the method including a step in which a controller (12b) of the radio access network (12) by which the mobile terminal (11) is coupled to the cellular network (18) provides a response (h) to the request including not only the position/location estimate but also either the accuracy of the estimate in a form directly useable by the LCS server (e.g. in same form as the requested accuracy), or an accuracy fulfillment indicator, i.e. an indication of whether the accuracy of the estimate is at least as good as the requested accuracy.

Claims

1. A method, for use by a wireless communication network (18) including a radio access network (12) and also including a core network (16) in turn including a location communication service (LCS) server (16a), in responding to a request (b) originating from a LCS client (19) for a location estimate of a mobile terminal (11) coupled to the core network (16) via a controller (12b) of the radio access network (12), the request (b) including a requested accuracy, the radio access network (12) including means (12a) for carrying out location measurements of the mobile terminal (11) in response to the request (b) as provided by the LCS server (16a) so as to provide a location estimate and an associated accuracy, the method characterized by:

a step in which the controller (12b), in response to the request (b), provides a response (h) indicating the location estimate and including either a binary indicator indicating the associated accuracy relative to the requested accuracy or including the associated accuracy in the same terms as those in which the LCS server (16a) provided the requested accuracy in the request (b).

2. The method of claim 1,, wherein the LCS client (19) resides external to the core network (16).

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the LCS client is an application hosted by a device (19) remote from the mobile terminal (11).

4. The method of claim 2, wherein the LCS client is a user equipment device including the mobile terminal (11).

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the LCS client (19) resides in the core network (16).

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the LCS client is a controller (12b) of the radio access network (12).

7. A computer program product comprising:

a computer readable storage structure embodying computer program code thereon for execution by a computer processor included as part of the equipment of the controller (10), with said computer program code characterized in that it includes instructions for performing the method of claim 1.

8. An apparatus, for use by a wireless communication network (18) including a radio access network (12) and also including a core network (16) in turn including a location communication service (LCS) server (16a), in responding to a request (b) originating from a LCS client (19) for a location estimate of a mobile terminal (11) coupled to the core network (16) via a controller (12b) of the radio access network (12), the request (b) including a requested accuracy, the radio access network (12) including means (12a) for carrying out location measurements of the mobile terminal (11) in response to the request (b) as provided by the LCS server (16a) so as to provide a location estimate and an associated accuracy, the apparatus characterized by:

means (12b 12c) by which the controller (12b), in response to the request (b), provides a response (h) indicating the location estimate and including either a binary indicator indicating the associated accuracy relative to the requested accuracy or including the associated accuracy in the same terms as those in which the LCS server (16a) provided the requested accuracy in the request (b).

9. A system, comprising:

a core network (16) of a wireless communication system (18), a mobile terminal (11), a radio access network (12) for coupling the mobile terminal (11) to the core network (16), characterized in that the radio access network includes an apparatus (12b 12c) as in claim 8.

10. A mobile terminal (11), equipped so as to communicatively couple to a core network (16) via a controller (12b) of a radio access network (12), the core network (16) including a location communication service (LCS) server (16a), and equipped in particular to receive a response (h) to a request (b) originating from a LCS client (19) for a location estimate of the mobile terminal (11), the request (b) including a requested accuracy, wherein the response (h) includes a location estimate having an associated accuracy, and the response (h) also includes either a binary indicator indicating the associated accuracy relative to the requested accuracy or includes the associated accuracy in the same terms as those in which the LCS server (16a) provided the requested accuracy in the request (b).

11. A system, comprising:

a core network (16) of a wireless communication system (18), a mobile terminal (11) according to claim 10, and a radio access network (12) for coupling the mobile terminal (11) to the core network (16) and including means (12a) for carrying out location measurements of the mobile terminal (11) in response to the request (b) so as to provide the location estimate and the associated accuracy.

12. A system as in claim 11, wherein the radio access network (12) includes an apparatus (12b 12c) for use in responding to the request (b), the apparatus characterized by:

means (12b 12c) by which the controller (12b), in response to the request (b), provides the response (h) indicating the location estimate and including either the binary indicator indicating the associated accuracy relative to the requested accuracy or including the associated accuracy in the same terms as those in which the LCS server (16a) provided the requested accuracy in the request (b).