LANGUAGE DEPENDENT POSITIONING AND SIGNALLING

• US 20120082091A1
• Filed: 04/26/2011
• Published: 04/05/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 10/01/2010
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Original Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson
• Inventors: SIOMINA, Iana, WIGREN, Torbjörn
• Granted Patent: US 8,804,574 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• 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 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections

Abstract

Presented is a system and methods for allowing the translation the civic address portion of a positioning message to different languages. The positioning message can be in response to an Emergency-911 call providing much better information regarding the location of the caller associated with the user equipment on a wireless network. The positioning message can contain an indicator of the originating language or a translation of the language from the originating language to the preferred or required language of the destination address. The positioning message can also contain a series of translated messages representing all the languages supported by the wireless network.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting a positioning-related message in a wireless network, said method comprising:

obtaining, by a node in the wireless network, information associated with a language capability;

generating, by said node and based on said obtained language capability, positioning information for said positioning-related message, and

transmitting, by said node, said positioning-related message including said positioning information toward at least one of a plurality of destinations associated with said wireless network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of generating further comprises:

including an information element in said positioning-related message which specifies a language associated with said positioning information contained in said positioning-related message.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said step of obtaining further comprises:

receiving, by said node, said information over an interface communicatively connected to said node.

4. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

receiving, by said node, a request for location information of a target device, from a client;

collecting, by said node, said positioning information associated with the geographical location of said target device;

translating, by said node, said positioning information into a language associated with said information element; and

generating, by said node, a reply to said request for location information as the positioning-related message and including the translated positioning information in the positioning-related message.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein said positioning information is augmented with language information that comprises at least one of:

a specification of a Public Safety Answer Point (PSAP) positioning information language;

a specification of a cellular positioning information language;

a specification of a access node positioning information language; and

a specification of a user positioning reporting language.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein said positioning information further comprises at least one of:

a street address;

a street name;

a city name;

a state or province name;

a country name;

a postal code;

a road name; and

a comment.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein said street address further comprises a unit address for a multi-unit building associated with said street address.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein said wireless network is configured to have a preferred language.

9. The method of claim 4, wherein said client is said target device.

10. The method of claim 4, wherein said positioning information is translated to a language specified by a Public Safety Answer Point (PSAP).

11. The method of claim 4, wherein said positioning information is translated to a language specified by said target device.

12. The method of claim 4, wherein said wireless network further comprises translation nodes where said positioning information is translated to one of a plurality of languages associated with said translation node before transmitting said reply towards said client.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said wireless network is a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network and said translation nodes comprise at least one of a user equipment (UE) node, a location services (LCS) client node, a Public Safety Answer Point (PSAP) node, a radio network node comprising at least one of an Evolved Node B (eNodeB) radio network node and a radio base station supporting multiple radio access technologies, a network node comprising an Evolved Serving Mobile Location Center (E-SMLC) control-plane positioning node, a user-plane positioning platform node comprising a Service Location Protocol (SLP) node, and a Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) node.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein said wireless network is a Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) network and said translation nodes comprise at least one of a user equipment (UE) node, a location services (LCS) client node, a Node B (NodeB) radio network node, a Radio Network Controller (RNC) control-plane node, a Stand Alone Serving Mobile Location Center (SAS) node, a Mobile services Switching Center (MSC)/Serving General packet radio service Support Node (SGSN) node, a Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) node and a user plane network node comprising a Service Location Protocol (SLP) node.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein said wireless network is a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) network and said translation nodes comprise at least one of a user equipment (UE) node, a location services (LCS) client node, a Radio Base Station (RBS) radio network node, a Base Station Subsystem (BSS) network node, a Serving Mobile Location Center (SMLC) control-plane network node, a Mobile services Switching Center (MSC)/Serving General packet radio service Support Node (SGSN) node, a Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) node and a user-plane positioning platform node further comprising a Service Location Protocol (SLP) node.

16. The method of claim 12, wherein said wireless network is a Code Division Multiple Access 2000 (CDMA2000) network and said translation nodes comprise at least one of a user equipment (UE) node, a location services (LCS) client node, a Base Station Subsystem (BSS) network node, a Mobile services Switching Center (MSC) node, a Mobile Positioning Center (MPC) node and a user-plane positioning platform node comprising a Service Location Protocol (SLP) node.

17. The method of claim 12, wherein said translation nodes are simultaneously operational in a plurality of wireless networks and a plurality of radio access technologies.

18. The method of claim 12, wherein each of said translation nodes exchange information describing supported languages associated with each of said translation nodes with at least one other node.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein a configuration change of at least one of said translation nodes initiates said exchange of supported language information from said at least one of said translation nodes.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein said exchange occurs based on a broadcast message received from said wireless network.

21. The method of claim 12, wherein each of said translations nodes exchange information describing a preferred language associated with each of said translation nodes.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising signaling of said language associated with said information element to said wireless network.

23. The method of claim 4, further comprising signaling of a language translation failure to said wireless network.

24. The method of claim 4, wherein said reply comprises a sequence of said positioning information translated into different languages.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein said different languages in said sequence are prioritized based on a geographical location of a translation node associated with said client.

26. The method of claim 4, wherein said translating further comprises accessing a translation database associated with another node on said wireless network.

27. The method of claim 1, wherein said positioning-related message further comprises a positioning result.

28. The method of claim 1, wherein said destination further comprises another node in said wireless network.

29. The method of claim 1, wherein said destination further comprises user equipment (UE) communicatively connected to said wireless network.

30. The method of claim 4, wherein said client is associated with a Public Safety Answer Point (PSAP).

40. The method of claim 8, wherein said client is user equipment (UE).

31. A node for providing a language translation of a positioning information portion of a positioning message on a wireless network, said node comprising:

a processor for executing computer instructions and a memory for storing said computer instructions wherein said computer instructions further comprise;

a translation component for facilitating translation of said positioning information portion of said positioning message; and

a coordination component for collecting information associated with determining language capabilities of said wireless network.

32. The node of claim 31, wherein said translation component further comprises adding a language identifier of said positioning information to said positioning message.

33. The node of claim 31, wherein said translation component replaces said positioning information with a translated positioning information based on said positioning message destination.

34. The node of claim 31, wherein said coordination component further comprises a storage location for a language mapping table for identifying translation nodes associated with said wireless network.

35. The node of claim 34, wherein said language mapping table further comprises storage for data associated with specifying language capabilities of said wireless network.

36. The node of claim 34, wherein said language mapping table further comprises storage for data associated with specifying languages preferred by said wireless network.

37. The node of claim 31, wherein said translation component adds a series of translations of said positioning information to said positioning message.

38. A method for transmitting a client language capability message in a wireless network, said method comprising:

generating, by said client, said language capability message including an information element which specifies a language preference associated with said client and positioning information associated with a target device; and

transmitting, by said client, said client language capability message toward said at least one of a plurality of destinations associated with said wireless network.

39. The method of claim 38, wherein said information element further comprises a language indication element.