METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR USING SERVICE CAPABILITY INFORMATION FOR USER PLANE LOCATION

• US 20090181698A1
• Filed: 10/07/2008
• Published: 07/16/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 01/11/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Farmer, Dominic Gerard, Burroughs, Kirk Allan, Wachter, Andreas K.
• Granted Patent: US 8,712,439 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.300
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/303 Terminal profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/24 Negotiation of communication capabilities
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/08 Access security
• 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 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup

Abstract

Techniques for supporting location services in a user plane location architecture such as Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) are described. In an aspect, a terminal informs a location server of service capabilities of the terminal. The location server uses the service capabilities to request only location services supported by the terminal and to avoid requesting unsupported location services. The terminal generates a message containing its service capabilities and sends the message via a user plane, e.g., SUPL. The location server receives the message, obtains the service capabilities of the terminal, and stores these service capabilities for future network-initiated location sessions with the terminal. The location server determines whether a location service is supported by the terminal based on the service capabilities of the terminal. The location server communicates with the terminal via the user plane for the location service if supported by the terminal.

Claims

1. A method of supporting location services, comprising:

receiving a message sent by a terminal to a location server via a user plane;

obtaining service capabilities of the terminal from the message;

storing the service capabilities of the terminal;

determining whether a location service is supported by the terminal based on the service capabilities of the terminal; and

communicating with the terminal via the user plane for the location service if supported by the terminal.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the message, the obtaining the service capabilities, and the storing the service capabilities are for a first location session, and wherein the determining and the communicating are for a second location session after the first location session.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the message, the obtaining the service capabilities, the storing, the determining, and the communicating are for a single location session.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving from a location client a request for a particular location service for the terminal;

determining whether the particular location service is supported by the terminal based on the service capabilities of the terminal;

terminating the request if the particular location service is not supported by the terminal; and

initiating a location session for the particular location service if supported by the terminal.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the service capabilities of the terminal comprise at least one location service supported by the terminal.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the service capabilities of the terminal indicate whether the terminal supports each of periodic triggered service and area event triggered service.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the service capabilities of the terminal comprise at least one of reporting capabilities of the terminal for periodic triggered service, area event capabilities of the terminal for area event triggered service, and session capabilities of the terminal for number of simultaneous location sessions supported by the terminal.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the receiving the message comprises receiving a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) START message, a SUPL TRIGGERED START message, a SUPL POS INIT message, a SUPL END message, a SUPL AUTH REQ message, or a SUPL INFO message sent by the terminal to the location server.

9. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

at least one processor configured to receive a message sent by a terminal to a location server via a user plane, to obtain service capabilities of the terminal from the message, to store the service capabilities of the terminal, to determine whether a location service is supported by the terminal based on the service capabilities of the terminal, and to communicate with the terminal via the user plane for the location service if supported by the terminal.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one processor is configured to receive from a location client a request for a particular location service for the terminal, to determine whether the particular location service is supported by the terminal based on the service capabilities of the terminal, to terminate the request if the particular location service is not supported by the terminal, and to initiate a location session for the particular location service if supported by the terminal.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one processor is configured to determine from the service capabilities of the terminal at least one of location services supported by the terminal, reporting capabilities of the terminal for periodic triggered service, area event capabilities of the terminal for area event triggered service, and session capabilities of the terminal for number of simultaneous location sessions supported by the terminal.

12. An apparatus for communication, comprising:

means for receiving a message sent by a terminal to a location server via a user plane;

means for obtaining service capabilities of the terminal from the message;

means for storing the service capabilities of the terminal;

means for determining whether a location service is supported by the terminal based on the service capabilities of the terminal; and

means for communicating with the terminal via the user plane for the location service if supported by the terminal.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, further comprising:

means for receiving from a location client a request for a particular location service for the terminal;

means for determining whether the particular location service is supported by the terminal based on the service capabilities of the terminal;

means for terminating the request if the particular location service is not supported by the terminal; and

means for initiating a location session for the particular location service if supported by the terminal.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the service capabilities of the terminal comprise at least one of location services supported by the terminal, reporting capabilities of the terminal for periodic triggered service, area event capabilities of the terminal for area event triggered service, and session capabilities of the terminal for number of simultaneous location sessions supported by the terminal.

15. A computer program product, comprising:

a computer-readable medium comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to receive a message sent by a terminal to a location server via a user plane,

code for causing the at least one computer to obtain service capabilities of the terminal from the message,

code for causing the at least one computer to store the service capabilities of the terminal,

code for causing the at least one computer to determine whether a location service is supported by the terminal based on the service capabilities of the terminal, and

code for causing the at least one computer to communicate with the terminal via the user plane for the location service if supported by the terminal.

16. The computer program product of claim 15, the computer-readable medium further comprising:

code for causing the at least one computer to receive from a location client a request for a particular location service for the terminal,

code for causing the at least one computer to determine whether the particular location service is supported by the terminal based on the service capabilities of the terminal,

code for causing the at least one computer to terminate the request if the particular location service is not supported by the terminal, and

code for causing the at least one computer to initiate a location session for the particular location service if supported by the terminal.

17. A method of supporting location services, comprising:

generating a message comprising service capabilities of a terminal;

sending the message from the terminal to a location server via a user plane; and

communicating with the location server via the user plane for a location service.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the location service is determined by the location server to be supported by the terminal based on the service capabilities of the terminal.

19. The method of claim 17, wherein the generating the message and the sending the message are for a first location session, and wherein the communicating is for a second location session after the first location session.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein the generating the message, the sending the message, and the communicating are for a single location session.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

detecting a change in the service capabilities of the terminal; and

sending a message comprising updated service capabilities of the terminal to the location server.

22. The method of claim 17, wherein the message comprising the service capabilities of the terminal is a first message sent by the terminal for a location session.

23. The method of claim 17, wherein the message comprising the service capabilities of the terminal is sent to terminate a location session.

24. The method of claim 17, wherein the message comprising the service capabilities of the terminal is sent to terminate a location session initiated by the location server for a location service not supported by the terminal.

25. The method of claim 17, wherein the service capabilities of the terminal comprise at least one location service supported by the terminal.

26. The method of claim 17, wherein the service capabilities of the terminal indicate whether the terminal supports each of periodic triggered service and area event triggered service.

27. The method of claim 17, wherein the service capabilities of the terminal comprise at least one of reporting capabilities of the terminal for periodic triggered service, area event capabilities of the terminal for area event triggered service, and session capabilities of the terminal for number of simultaneous location sessions supported by the terminal.

28. An apparatus for communication, comprising:

at least one processor configured to generate a message comprising service capabilities of a terminal, to send the message from the terminal to a location server via a user plane, and to communicate with the location server via the user plane for a location service.

29. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the location service is determined by the location server to be supported by the terminal based on the service capabilities of the terminal.

30. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the at least one processor is configured to detect a change in the service capabilities of the terminal, and to send a message comprising updated service capabilities of the terminal to the location server.

31. The apparatus of claim 28, wherein the at least one processor is configured to generate the message comprising at least one of services supported by the terminal, reporting capabilities of the terminal for periodic triggered service, area event capabilities of the terminal for area event triggered service, and session capabilities of the terminal for number of simultaneous location sessions supported by the terminal.