Mobile terminal and location information acquisition method thereof

• US 20090098887A1
• Filed: 09/30/2008
• Published: 04/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2007
• Status: Abandoned Application

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Baek, Seok Jun
• Application Number:
  US12/286,459
• Publication Number:
  US 20090098887A1
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/14 between corresponding nodes
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/183 Processing at user equipment or user record carrier

Abstract

A mobile terminal and location information acquisition method thereof is provided for facilitating registration of a mobile terminal for a location service and locating the mobile terminal using a SIM Application Toolkit (SAT). A location information acquisition method of the present invention includes registering, when a terminal registration menu item provided by the SIM is selected, an intended terminal indicated by a name and a phone number entered by a user with the SIM; selecting, when a location request menu item provided by the SIM is selected, one of terminals registered with the SIM according to the user'"'"'s intention; and acquiring location information of the selected terminal, the location information being received in response to a location information request transmitted by the mobile terminal. The location information acquisition method for a mobile terminal according to the present invention enables acquires location information of a specific mobile terminal in a cost-effective manner through a simplified manipulation of menu items provided by SAT of SIM card.

Claims

1. A location information acquisition method for a mobile terminal operating with a subscriber identity module (SIM) having a SIM Application Toolkit, comprising:

registering, when a terminal registration menu item provided by the subscriber identity module is selected, an intended terminal indicated by a name and a phone number entered by a user with the subscriber identity module;

selecting, when a location request menu item provided by the subscriber identity module is selected, one of terminals registered with the subscriber identity module according to the user'"'"'s intention; and

acquiring location information of the selected terminal, the location information being received in response to a location information request transmitted by the mobile terminal.

2. The location information acquisition method of claim 1, wherein registering an intended terminal comprises:

transmitting a service registration request to the intended terminal; and

registering the intended terminal with the subscriber identity module upon receipt of service registration response from the intended terminal.

3. The location information acquisition method of claim 1, wherein registering an intended terminal comprises displaying, at the intended terminal, a message asking a user of the intended terminal whether to accept or reject the registration of the intended terminal.

4. The location information acquisition method of claim 1, wherein acquiring location information of the selected terminal comprises displaying, at the intended terminal, a message indicating use of the location information.

5. The location information acquisition method of claim 1, wherein the location information is one of the group consisting of a mobile country code (MCC), a mobile network code (MNC), a location area code (LAC), and a cell ID.

6. The location information acquisition method of claim 1, wherein the location information is obtained at the intended terminal using differences of arrival times of signals transmitted by three neighbor base stations.

7. The location information acquisition method of claim 1, further comprising connecting, when a wireless application protocol (WAP) connection menu item provided by the subscriber identity module is selected, to a WAP server indicated by a predetermined uniform resource locator (URL) using a WAP browser provided by the subscriber identity module.

8. A mobile terminal comprising:

a subscriber identity module (SIM) having a SIM Application Toolkit (SAT) which provides the mobile terminal with menu items;

a control unit which registers, when a terminal registration menu item provided by the subscriber identity module is selected, an intended terminal indicated by a name and a phone number entered by a user with the subscriber identity module, selects, when a location request menu item provided by the subscriber identity module is selected, one of terminals registered with the subscriber identity module according to the user'"'"'s intention, requests a location information of the intended terminal, and analyzes the location information received from the selected terminal; and

a display unit which displays, when the location request menu item is selected, an information on the mobile terminal registered with the subscriber identity module, and displays, when receiving the location information, the location information analyzed by the control unit.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein the control unit transmits a service registration request to the intended terminal and registers the intended terminal with the subscriber identity module upon receipt of a service registration response from the intended terminal.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein the location information is one from the group consisting of a country code, a network operator code, a location code, and a cell identity information.

11. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein the location information is obtained at the intended terminal using differences of arrival times of signals transmitted by three neighbor base stations.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 8, wherein the control unit connects, when a wireless application protocol (WAP) connection menu item provided by the subscriber identity module is selected, to a WAP server indicated by a predetermined uniform resource locator (URL) using a WAP browser provided by the subscriber identity module.