Provision of location information

• US 20080102860A1
• Filed: 12/20/2007
• Published: 05/01/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/29/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Ignatius, Jan, Kokkonen, Petri
• Granted Patent: US 8,019,361 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.5
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0407 wherein the identity of one or more communicating identities is hidden cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for anonymous credentials or for identity based cryptographic systems H04L9/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0421 Anonymous communication, i.e. the party's identifiers are hidden from the other party or parties, e.g. using an anonymizer
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• 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 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/08 Mobility data transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/10 between location register and external networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

Embodiments of the invention include an apparatus comprising a network node configured to pass location data within a communications network to a third party, the location data being indicative of a geographical location of the mobile telecommunications device. The apparatus is configured to send an access request to said network node including a destination application and a unique identifier of the apparatus.

Claims

1. An apparatus comprising:

a network node configured to pass location data within a communications network to a third party, the location data being indicative of a geographical location of the apparatus,

wherein the apparatus is configured to send an access request to said network node including a destination application and a unique identifier of the apparatus.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the unique identifier is a mobile subscriber integrated services digital network number (MSISDN).

3. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the access request is sent to a proxy server in the network, the proxy server being configured to replace the identifying data with an alias prior to forwarding to a destination application.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the access request is a short message service (SMS) message.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the network is a general packet radio service (GPRS) or time division multiple access (TDMA) network and the apparatus is configured to send an access request to the network at a gateway GPRS support node (GGSN).

6. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the network is a third generation (3G) network and the apparatus is configured to send an access request to a packet switched data network (PSDN).

7. An apparatus comprising:

passing means for passing location data within a communications network to a third party, the location data being indicative of a geographical location of the apparatus; and

sending means for sending an access request to said passing means including a destination application and a unique identifier of the apparatus.