METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING LOCATION SERVICES VIA A GENERIC LOCATION SESSION

• US 20120046014A1
• Filed: 08/18/2011
• Published: 02/23/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 08/21/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Wachter, Andreas K., Edge, Stephen William
• Granted Patent: US 10,063,642 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/411
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/11 wherein the cooperating elements are pseudolites or satellite radio beacon positioning system signal repeaters
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 19/46 the supplementary measurement being of a radio-wave signal type
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/141 Setup of application sessions admission control or resource allocation in data switching networks H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/143 Termination or inactivation of sessions, e.g. event-controlled end of session
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/147 Signalling methods or messages providing extensions to protocols defined by standardisation
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/28 Timers or timing mechanisms used in protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• 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 64/003 locating network equipment
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/085 involving different upper layer protocol versions, e.g. LCS - SUPL or WSN-SOA-WSDP
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/10 adapted for application session management, e.g. SIP [Session Initiation Protocol] connection management H04W76/00; arrangements for session management H04L67/14

Abstract

Techniques for supporting location services are disclosed. In an aspect, a generic location session between a terminal and a location server may be established for a particular duration or until the generic location session is terminated by a trigger condition. Parameters related to the generic location session may be exchanged between the terminal and the location server during session establishment. Thereafter, the terminal and the location server may engage in one or more positioning activities at any time during the generic location session. Each positioning activity may be of any type supported by the terminal and the location server. The generic location session can be initiated by either the terminal or the location server. In one design, one entity (e.g., the location server) may initiate the generic location session, and the other entity (e.g., the terminal) may send an end message to terminate the generic location session.

Claims

1. A method of supporting location services, comprising:

establishing a generic location session between a terminal and a location server for a particular duration or until the generic location session is terminated by a trigger condition; and

engaging in one or more positioning activities between the terminal and the location server at any time during the generic location session, each of the one or more positioning activities being any one of a plurality of positioning activity types supported by the terminal and the location server.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the generic location session can be initiated by the terminal or the location server.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the terminal and the location server are two entities involved in the generic location session, wherein one of the two entities initiates the generic location session, and wherein the other one of the two entities sends an end message to indicate termination of the generic location session.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the terminal is authenticated by the location server during establishment of the generic location session and is not authenticated by the location server for each of the one or more positioning activities.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the location server is authenticated by the terminal during establishment of the generic location session and is not authenticated by the terminal for each of the one or more positioning activities.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing the generic location session comprises exchanging at least one parameter for the generic location session between the terminal and the location server.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one parameter comprises the particular duration of the generic location session.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the particular duration of the generic location session is given by a time duration, or a number of positioning activities, or a number of messages, or a number of octets of data transferred, or a combination thereof.

9. The method of claim 7, wherein the particular duration of the generic location session is given by a time duration and a number of messages, and wherein the generic location session terminates upon reaching the time duration or the number of messages, whichever occurs first.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one parameter comprises an activity rate during the generic location session.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the activity rate is given by a number of positioning activities per unit time, or a number of messages per unit time, or a number of octets of data transferred per unit time, or a combination thereof.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the generic location session comprises a generic Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) session, and wherein the engaging in one or more positioning activities comprises exchanging SUPL POS messages between the terminal and the location server for each of the one or more positioning activities, the SUPL POS messages transporting positioning messages used to carry out each positioning activity.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more positioning activities comprise request and delivery of assistance data, or request and delivery of a current location of the terminal, or request and delivery of measurements or a location estimate, or request and delivery of positioning capabilities, or unsolicited transfer of positioning capabilities, or unsolicited transfer of assistance data, or unsolicited transfer of location information, or a combination thereof.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing the generic location session comprises exchanging, between the terminal and the location server, capabilities of the terminal and capabilities of the location server.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the capabilities of the terminal comprise one or more positioning protocols supported by the terminal, and wherein the capabilities of the location server comprise one or more positioning protocols supported by the location server.

16. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

exchanging, between the terminal and the location server, capabilities of the terminal and capabilities of the location server related to a positioning protocol during a first positioning activity among the one or more positioning activities.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing the generic location session and the engaging in one or more positioning activities are performed by the terminal.

18. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

initiating the generic location session by the terminal.

19. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

initiating a positioning activity by the terminal.

20. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving a reinit message from the location server prior to a positioning activity; and

establishing a secure connection to the location server, in response to receiving the reinit message, for the positioning activity.

21. The method of claim 17, further comprising:

receiving an end message from the location server; and

terminating the generic location session and releasing resources for the generic location session by the terminal in response to receiving the end message.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing the generic location session and the engaging in one or more positioning activities are performed by the location server.

23. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

initiating the generic location session by the location server.

24. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

receiving a location request from a location services client; and

initiating the generic location session by the location server in response to receiving the location request.

25. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

initiating a positioning activity by the location server.

26. The method of claim 22, further comprising:

determining that the terminal does not have a secure connection to the location server for a positioning activity; and

sending a reinit message to the terminal prior to the positioning activity to trigger the terminal to establish a secure connection to the location server.

27. An apparatus for supporting location services, comprising:

means for establishing a generic location session between a terminal and a location server for a particular duration or until the generic location session is terminated by a trigger condition; and

means for engaging in one or more positioning activities between the terminal and the location server at any time during the generic location session, each of the one or more positioning activities being any one of a plurality of positioning activity types supported by the terminal and the location server.

28. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the terminal and the location server are two entities involved in the generic location session, wherein one of the two entities initiates the generic location session, and wherein the other one of the two entities sends an end message to indicate termination of the generic location session.

29. The apparatus of claim 27, wherein the means for establishing the generic location session comprises means for exchanging at least one parameter for the generic location session between the terminal and the location server, and wherein the at least one parameter comprises the particular duration of the generic location session.

30. The apparatus of claim 27, further comprising:

means for initiating the generic location session by the terminal.

31. The apparatus of claim 27, further comprising:

means for initiating the generic location session by the location server.

32. An apparatus for supporting location services, comprising:

at least one processor configured to establish a generic location session between a terminal and a location server for a particular duration or until the generic location session is terminated by a trigger condition, and to engage in one or more positioning activities between the terminal and the location server at any time during the generic location session, each of the one or more positioning activities being any one of a plurality of positioning activity types supported by the terminal and the location server.

33. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the terminal and the location server are two entities involved in the generic location session, wherein one of the two entities initiates the generic location session, and wherein the other one of the two entities sends an end message to indicate termination of the generic location session.

34. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the at least one processor is configured to exchange at least one parameter for the generic location session between the terminal and the location server, and wherein the at least one parameter comprises the particular duration of the generic location session.

35. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the at least one processor is configured to initiate the generic location session by the terminal.

36. The apparatus of claim 32, wherein the at least one processor is configured to initiate the generic location session by the location server.

37. A computer program product, comprising:

a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising;

code for causing at least one computer to establish a generic location session between a terminal and a location server for a particular duration or until the generic location session is terminated by a trigger condition, and

code for causing the at least one computer to engage in one or more positioning activities between the terminal and the location server at any time during the generic location session, each of the one or more positioning activities being any one of a plurality of positioning activity types supported by the terminal and the location server.