METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR SUPPORTING LOCATION SERVICES WITH ROAMING

• US 20120142344A1
• Filed: 02/08/2012
• Published: 06/07/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 11/30/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Lamba, Gaurav, Burroughs, Kirk Allan, Lin, Ie-Hong, Khushu, Sanjeev, Du, Zhimin, Wang, Yufei
• Granted Patent: US 8,548,500 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/433
• 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 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/12 between location registers or mobility servers

Abstract

Techniques for supporting location services with roaming are described. A method of supporting location services (LCS) for a mobile station roaming from a home network and communicating with a visited network includes receiving a domain name system (DNS) query at a DNS of the home network from a packet data serving node (PDSN) of the home network. The method also includes sending to the mobile station from the DNS of the home network an address of a serving position determining entity (S-PDE) in the visited network.

Claims

1. A method of supporting location services (LCS) for a mobile station roaming from a home network and communicating with a visited network, the method comprising:

receiving a domain name system (DNS) query at a DNS of the home network from a packet data serving node (PDSN) of the home network; and

sending to the mobile station from the DNS of the home network an internet protocol address of a serving position determining entity (S-PDE) in the visited network.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the DNS query omits a system identifier (SID) and a network identifier (NID) associated with the visited network when the visited network has one S-PDE designated to serve roaming mobile stations.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the DNS query includes a location specific DNS string.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the DNS string includes a system identifier (SID) and a network identifier (NID) associated with the visited network.

5. An apparatus supporting location services (LCS) for a mobile station roaming from a home network and communicating with a visited network, the apparatus comprising:

means for receiving a domain name system (DNS) query at a packet data serving node (PDSN) of the home network from the mobile station; and

means for directing the DNS query to a DNS in the home network, wherein the DNS returns to the mobile station an internet protocol address of a serving position determining entity (S-PDE) in the visited network.

6. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the DNS query omits a system identifier (SID) and a network identifier (NID) associated with the visited network when the visited network has only one S-PDE.

7. The apparatus of claim 5, wherein the DNS query omits a system identifier (SID) and a Network identifier (NID) associated with the visited network when the visited network has designated one S-PDE to serve roaming mobile stations.

8. An apparatus supporting location services (LCS) for a mobile station roaming from a home network and communicating with a visited network, the apparatus comprising:

at least one processor to;

receive, at a domain name system (DNS) in the home network, a DNS query directed from a packet data serving node (PDSN) in the home network;

determine an address of a serving position determining entity (S-PDE) in the visited network for the mobile station; and

send the address to the mobile station to enable the mobile station to communicate with the S-PDE to receive a location of the mobile station from the S-PDE; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the DNS query includes a location-specific DNS string.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the DNS string includes a system identifier (SID) and a network identifier (NID) associated with the visited network.

11. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the DNS query omits a system identifier (SID and a network identifier (NID) associated with the visited network when the visited network has designated one S-PDE to serve roaming mobile stations.

13. The method of claim 9, wherein the DNS query includes a location-specific DNS string.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the location-specific DNS string includes a system identifier (SID) and a network identifier (NID) associated with the visited network.

12. A method comprising:

communicating with a visited network for a data session;

receiving a request for a location of a mobile station from an entity;

sending a domain name system (DNS) query to a packet data serving node (PDSN) of a home network from the mobile station;

receiving an address of a serving position determining entity (S-PDE) in the visited network from a DNS of the home network associated with the mobile station;

using the address to establish a session with the S-PDE;

receiving the location of the mobile station from the S-PDE; and

sending the location of the mobile station to the entity.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the DNS query omits a system identifier (SID) and a network identifier (NID) associated with the visited network when the visited network has only one S-PDE.

16. A mobile station comprising:

at least one processor to;

communicate with a visited network for a data session;

receive a request for a location of the mobile station;

send a domain name system (DNS) query;

receive an address of a serving position determining entity (S-PDE) in the visited network from a DNS of a home network associated with the mobile station; and

communicate with the S-PDE to determine the location of the mobile station; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

17. The mobile station of claim 16, wherein the at least one processor is further to receive the request for a location of the mobile station from a request source that is one of a home mobile positioning center (H-MPC), a location services (LCS) client, and an application resident on the mobile station.

18. The mobile station of claim 17, wherein the at least one processor is further to send the location of the mobile station to the request source.

19. The mobile station of claim 16, wherein the request comprises a location request for a plurality of position fixes, and wherein, for each of the plurality of position fixes, the at least one processor is further to provide the location to an entity originating the request.

20. The mobile station of claim 16, wherein the request comprises a location request for a plurality of position fixes.