SYSTEM AND METHOD FOR SUPL HELD INTERWORKING

• US 20100316006A1
• Filed: 05/19/2010
• Published: 12/16/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 06/11/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TeleCommunication Systems Inc (Comtech Telecommunications Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Andrew LLC (CommScope Holding Company, Inc.)
• Inventors: Thomson, Martin, Winterbottom, Anthony James, Tran, Nguyen Khiem
• Granted Patent: US 8,290,510 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/329
• 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 80/085 involving different upper layer protocol versions, e.g. LCS - SUPL or WSN-SOA-WSDP

Abstract

A system and method for enhancing a SUPL session where a SET with a HELD client discovers an LIS of an access network and provides information received from the LIS or plurality of LISs to the SLP. The SLP determines the trustworthiness of the location information and estimates a location. The degree to which the SLP uses the location information is a function of the trustworthiness of the LIS and restraints on the location request. The location information may include a URI or domain name or other indication of location.

Claims

1. A method of locating a mobile device comprising:

connecting the mobile device an access network;

discovering a location information server (LIS) over the connected access network;

obtaining location information from the LIS over the connected access network;

measuring characteristics of a wireless communications network at the mobile device to obtain network measurements;

sending a message from the mobile device to a location center, said message containing location information received from the LIS and the network measurements;

determining if the location information server is trustworthy; and

,

determining a location based at least upon the location information.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the location center is a SUPL location Platform (SLP).

3. The method according to claim 2, where mobile device comprises a SUPL enabled terminal and HELD client and the LIS provides information using HELD.

4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the mobile device comprises a SUPL enabled terminal (SET) and a DHCP client and the LIS is a DHCP server.

5. The method according to claim 1, where determining if the LIS is trustworthy is based on the URI of the LIS.

6. The method according to claim 1, where determining if the LIS is trustworthy is based on Presence Information Data Format Location Objects (PIDF-LOs).

7. The method according to claim 1, where a digital signature on the location information is used to identify the LIS.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein determining if the location information server is trustworthy is based on at least one of QOS of LIS, Consistency of DATA received from the LIS, and response delay.

9. The method according to claim 8, where determining if the location information server is trustworthy comprises assigning a rating based on at least one of QOS of LIS, Consistency of DATA received from the LIS, and response delay.

10. The method according to claim 9, wherein determining if the location information server is trustworthy comprises comparing the assigned rating to a threshold.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the threshold is based on at least a speed requirement and an accuracy requirement of a location request.

12. The method according to claim 1, where determining if the location information server is trustworthy is based on the LIS'"'"'s relationship with another LIS.

16. The method according to claim 12, where determining if the LIS is trustworthy is based on the URI of the LIS or the Presence Information Data Format Location Objects (PIDF-LOs).

17. The method according to claim 12, wherein determining if the location information server is trustworthy is based on at least one of QOS of LIS, consistency of data received from the LIS, and response delay.

18. The method according to claim 17, where determining if the location information server is trustworthy comprises assigning a rating based on at least one of QOS of LIS, consistency of data received from the LIS, and response delay.

19. The method according to claim 18, wherein determining if the location information server is trustworthy comprises comparing the assigned rating to a threshold.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein the threshold is based on at least a speed requirement and an accuracy requirement of a location request.

21. The method according to claim 9, where determining if the location information server is trustworthy is based on the LIS'"'"'s relationship with another LIS.

22. The method according to claim 9, wherein the received information includes location information and the step of estimating the location of the SET based on at least the received information and the trustworthiness of the LIS, further comprises estimating the location based on at least the location information.

23. The method according to claim 9, further comprising sending information regarding the LIS to a third party if the LIS is determined to be trustworthy.

25. The method according to claim 19, wherein the access network and the wireless communication network are different networks.

26. The method according to claim 19, wherein the information is received using HELD or DHCP.

27. The method according to claim 19, where the access network is accessed from one of the group consisting of:

WiFi, WiMax, Bluetooth, 802.11, TDMA, CDMA, AMPS, GPRS, UMTS, LTE. WiFi, WiMax, Bluetooth, or 802.11.

28. The method according to claim 19, further comprising discovering the LIS over the access network.

13. A method of estimating the location of a SUPL enabled terminal (SET) comprising:

receiving information over a secure user plane from the SET, said information including at least the URL of a LIS and network measurements;

determining if the LIS is trustworthy based on the received information;

estimating the location of the SET based on at least the received information and the trustworthiness of the LIS; and

,

providing an estimated location over the secure user plane to the SET.

14. The method according to claim 13, where the step of determining if the LIS is trustworthy comprises:

determining an estimate of the SET location and comparing the estimate with the received information.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein the estimate is based on the network measurements.

24. A method for generating a location estimate using multiple communication connections comprising:

connecting to an access network;

receiving location information from a location information server (LIS) on the access network;

sending at least a portion of the location information to an location center; and

,

receiving the location estimate from the location center, wherein the location estimate is a function of at least the portion of the location information.

29. A system for locating a mobile appliance:

comprising;

a SUPL enable terminal (SET) having a resident HELD client;

a local access network accessible by the HELD client of the SET;

a location information server (LIS) connected to the local access network;

a SLP capable of estimating a location;

a wireless communication network connected to the SLP; and

,

wherein said SET being capable of taking measurements of the wireless communication network;

wherein information received from the LIS over the local access network is communicated from the SET along with the network measurements over the wireless communication network to the SLP for estimating the location of the SET.