Method and system for positioning in a mobile communication network

• US 20060099958A1
• Filed: 12/11/2002
• Published: 05/11/2006
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: Gustafsson, Stefan, Grahm, Corina
• Granted Patent: US 7,672,676 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• 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 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/10 between location register and external networks

Abstract

A method and system for obtaining the position of a mobile station (1) located in a current network of a communications system including a plurality of networks supporting different positioning protocols. The current network (6) (107) is identified at a location centre (2) based on the identified current network (6), a suitable positioning protocol is selected among at least two protocols for communication of location information with the current network (6) (108).

Claims

1. A method for obtaining the position of a mobile station (1) located in a current network of a communications system including a plurality of networks supporting different positioning protocols, characterised by the steps of:

identifying at a location centre (2, 2′

, 2″

) the current network (6) (107) of said mobile station, based on said identified current network (6), selecting among at least two protocols a suitable positioning protocol for communication of location information with said current network (6) (108).

2. A method according to claim 1, characterised by before the steps of identifying the current network (6) (107) of the mobile station, the further steps of:

receiving at said location centre a positioning request (102),

identifying the subscriber'"'"'s home network (5) (103),

based on said identified home network (5), selecting a suitable positioning protocol for communication with said home network (5) (104),

sending a routing information request to the home network (5) (105),

receiving an answer from the home network (5) (106), and

analysing the answer for identifying the current network (6) of the mobile station (107).

3. A method according to claim 1, characterised by the further steps of:

sending a position information request to the current network (6) (109), and

receiving an answer including location information about the subscriber (1) from the current network (6) (110).

4. A method according to claim 1, characterised in that any of the SS7 protocol, MLP or IP roaming protocol is selected.

9. A computer program comprising program instructions for causing a computer to perform the method of claim 1.

10. A computer program on a carrier and comprising computer executable instructions for causing a computer to perform the method according to claim 1.

11. A computer program according to claim 10, wherein said carrier is a record medium, computer memory, read-only memory or an electrical carrier signal.

5. A system for obtaining the position of a mobile station (1) located in a current network of a communications system including a plurality of networks supporting different positioning protocols, characterised by:

a processing component configured to;

identify the current network (6) (107) of the mobile station, and

based on said identified current network (6), select among at least two protocols a suitable positioning protocol for communication of location information with said current network (6) (108).

6. A system according to claim 5, characterised by a receiving component and a sending component, wherein said receiving component is configured to receive a positioning request (102) from an location services (LCS) client (4, 4′

, 4″

),

said processing component is configured to identify a home network (5) (103) for the subscriber (1);

based on said identified home network (5), select a suitable positioning protocol from said positioning protocols for communication with said home network (5) (104),

said sending component is configured to send a routing information request to the home network (5) (105),

said receiving component is configured to receive an answer from the home network (5) (106), and

said processing component is configured to analyse the answer for identifying the current network (6) (107) of the mobile station (1).

7. A system according to claim 5, characterised in that said sending component is configured to send a routing information request to the visited network (6) (109), and

said receiving component is configured to receive an answer including location information about the roaming subscriber (1) from the visited network (6) (110).

8. A system according to claim 5, characterised in that said positioning protocols are any of the SS7 protocol, and/or GMLC-centric IP roaming protocol and/or location middleware IP roaming protocol.