Location system, method, server and terminal

• US 20120184293A1
• Filed: 03/24/2010
• Published: 07/19/2012
• Est. Priority Date: 09/24/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ZTE Corporation
• Original Assignee: ZTE Corporation
• Inventors: Li, Hui, Shan, Liang
• Granted Patent: US 8,965,396 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• 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 80/085 involving different upper layer protocol versions, e.g. LCS - SUPL or WSN-SOA-WSDP

Abstract

The present disclosure discloses a location system, method, server and terminal. In the scheme of the present disclosure, a location information server provides a Secure User Plane for Location (SUPL) Enabled Terminal (SET) with location information regarding the SET in a form of reference; the SET provides a Secure User Plane for Location (SUPL) server with location information corresponding to the location information reference regarding the SET; the SUPL server obtains the location information regarding the SET for the location information server according to the location information reference transmitted by the SET, to enable the convergence of the mainstream location architecture based on the SUPL of Open Mobile Architecture (OMA) Location (LOC) group and another mainstream location architecture based on the Location Configuration Protocol (LCP) of the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF). Meanwhile, by converging the IETF locating standard, the SUPL server may also obtain the auxiliary data of Global Positioning System (GPS) and the like according to the is obtained location information regarding the SET, and transmit it to the SET.

Claims

1. A location system, comprising:

a location information server, configured to provide a Secure User Plane for Location Enabled Terminal (SET) with location information regarding the SET in a form of reference, and to provide a Secure User Plane for Location (SUPL) server with location information corresponding to the location information reference regarding the SET;

the SUPL server, configured to obtain the location information regarding the SET from the location information server, based on the location information reference transmitted by the SET.

2. The system according to claim 1, wherein the location information server provides the SET with the location information regarding the SET in the form of reference, specifically by:

returning, by the location information server, one or multiple location information references, or a location information reference list containing multiple location information references, to the SET.

3. The system according to claim 2, the location system further comprising:

the SET, configured to obtain the location information reference regarding the SET from the location information server or/and to use an existing location information reference, and to transmit the location information reference to the SUPL server.

4. The system according to claim 3, wherein the SET transmits the location information reference to the SUPL server, specifically by:

transmitting, by the SET, the one or multiple location information references, or the location information reference list containing the multiple location information references to the SUPL server.

5. The system according to claim 3, wherein the SUPL server obtains the location information regarding the SET from the location information server, specifically by:

requesting, by the SUPL server, the location information from the location information server based on one location information reference, if the SUPL server only receives the one location information reference;

transmitting, by the SUPL server, multiple location information references to the location information server in batches, or transmitting the location information reference list to the location information server for once, if the SUPL server receives the multiple location information references or the location information reference list containing the multiple location information references.

6. The system according to claim 5, wherein

the SUPL server is further configured to return one piece of location information to the SET or to an SUPL agent client, if the SUPL server only receives the one location information reference;

the SUPL server is further configured to return multiple pieces of location information or a location information list containing multiple pieces of location information, or an optimal location information value determined by the SUPL server among the multiple pieces of location information, to the SET or to the SUPL agent client, if the SUPL server receives the multiple location information references or the location information reference list containing the multiple location information references.

7. A location method, comprising:

obtaining, by a Secure User Plane for Location (SUPL) server, a location information reference regarding a Secure User Plane for Location Enabled Terminal (SET) via an SUPL message.

8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising:

obtaining location information regarding the SET based on the obtained location information reference after the location information reference is obtained.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the location information reference regarding the SET is transmitted from the SET to the SUPL server via the SUPL message.

10. The method according to claim 8, further comprising:

providing, by the SUPL server, the SET or an SUPL agent client with the location information after the location information is obtained.

11. The method according to claim 9, wherein

obtaining, by an SUPL server, a location information reference regarding an SET via an SUPL message comprises:

providing, by the location information server, the SET with the location information regarding the SET in a form of reference, and providing, by the SET, the SUPL server with the location information reference via the SUPL message;

obtaining location information corresponding to the location information reference regarding the SET based on the location information reference comprises;

obtaining, by the SUPL server, the location information corresponding to the location information reference regarding the SET from the location information server, based on the location information reference transmitted by the SET.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein providing, by the location information server, the SET with the location information regarding the SET in a form of reference comprises:

returning, by the location information server, one or multiple location information references, or a location information reference list containing multiple location information references, to the SET.

13. The method according to claim 12, further comprising:

obtaining, by the SET, the location information reference from the location information server, and transmitting, by the SET, the location information reference to the SUPL server, before the location information regarding the SET is obtained.

14. The method according to claim 13, wherein transmitting, by the SET, the location information reference to the SUPL server comprises:

transmitting, by the SET, the one or multiple location information references, or the location information reference list containing multiple location information references, to the SUPL server.

15. The method according to claim 13, wherein obtaining, by the SUPL server, the location information regarding the SET from the location information server comprises:

requesting, by the SUPL server, the location information from the location information server based on one location information reference, if the SUPL server only receives the one location information reference;

transmitting, by the SUPL server, multiple location information references to the location information server in batches, or transmitting the location information reference list to the location information server for once, if the SUPL server receives the multiple location information references or the location information reference list containing the multiple location information references.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising:

returning, by the SUPL server, one piece of location information to the SET or to the SUPL agent client, if the SUPL server only receives the one location information reference;

returning, by the SUPL server, multiple pieces of location information or a location information list containing multiple pieces of location information, or an optimal location information value determined by the SUPL server among the multiple pieces of location information, to the SET or to the SUPL agent client, if the SUPL server receives the multiple location information references or the location information reference list containing the multiple location information references.

17. The method according to claim 11, wherein obtaining, by the SUPL server, the location information regarding the SET from the location information server, based on the location information reference comprises:

obtaining, by the SUPL server, the location information regarding the SET from the location information server based on the location information reference for once or at predetermined intervals.

26. The method according to claim 12, wherein obtaining, by the SUPL server, the location information regarding the SET from the location information server, based on the location information reference comprises:

obtaining, by the SUPL server, the location information regarding the SET from the location information server based on the location information reference for once or at predetermined intervals.

27. The method according to claim 13, wherein obtaining, by the SUPL server, the location information regarding the SET from the location information server, based on the location information reference comprises:

obtaining, by the SUPL server, the location information regarding the SET from the location information server based on the location information reference for once or at predetermined intervals.

28. The method according to claim 14, wherein obtaining, by the SUPL server, the location information regarding the SET from the location information server, based on the location information reference comprises:

obtaining, by the SUPL server, the location information regarding the SET from the location information server based on the location information reference for once or at predetermined intervals.

29. The method according to claim 15, wherein obtaining, by the SUPL server, the location information regarding the SET from the location information server, based on the location information reference comprises:

obtaining, by the SUPL server, the location information regarding the SET from the location information server based on the location information reference for once or at predetermined intervals.

30. The method according to claim 16, wherein obtaining, by the SUPL server, the location information regarding the SET from the location information server, based on the location information reference comprises:

obtaining, by the SUPL server, the location information regarding the SET from the location information server based on the location information reference for once or at predetermined intervals.

18. A location server, comprising:

a reference determining unit, configured to obtain a location information reference regarding a Secure User Plane for Location Enabled Terminal (SET) via a Secure User Plane for Location (SUPL) message.

19. The server according to claim 18, wherein the location server further comprises:

a location obtaining unit, configured to obtain location information regarding the SET based on the location information reference.

20. The server according to claim 19, wherein the location server further comprises:

a location providing unit, configured to provide the SET or an SUPL agent client with the location information regarding to the SET.

21. A location terminal, comprising:

a reference obtaining unit, configured to obtain a location information reference; and

/or a reference storing unit, configured to store or cache the location information reference;

a reference providing unit, configured to transmit the location information reference to a Secure User Plane for Location (SUPL) server via a SUPL message.

22. The terminal according to claim 21, wherein

the reference obtaining unit is specifically configured to obtain one or multiple location information references, or a location information reference list containing multiple location information references, from a location information server;

and/or,

the reference storing unit is specifically configured to store or cache the one or multiple location information references, or the location information reference list containing the multiple location information references.

23. The terminal according to claim 21, wherein the reference providing unit is specifically configured to transmit one or multiple location information references, or a location information reference list containing multiple location information references to the SUPL server via the SUPL message.

24. The terminal according to claim 21, further comprising:

a location obtaining module, configured to receive location information regarding a Secure User Plane for Location Enabled Terminal (SET) transmitted from the SUPL server.

25. The terminal according to claim 24, wherein the location obtaining module is specifically configured to receive one or multiple pieces of location information or a location information list containing multiple pieces of location information, or an optimal location information value determined by the SUPL server among the multiple pieces of location information returned by the SUPL server.

31. The terminal according to claim 22, further comprising:

a location obtaining module, configured to receive location information regarding a Secure User Plane for Location Enabled Terminal (SET) transmitted from the SUPL server.

32. The terminal according to claim 23, further comprising:

a location obtaining module, configured to receive location information regarding a Secure User Plane for Location Enabled Terminal (SET) transmitted from the SUPL server.

33. The terminal according to claim 31, wherein the location obtaining module is specifically configured to receive one or multiple pieces of location information or a location information list containing multiple pieces of location information, or an optimal location information value determined by the SUPL server among the multiple pieces of location information returned by the SUPL server.

34. The terminal according to claim 32, wherein the location obtaining module is specifically configured to receive one or multiple pieces of location information or a location information list containing multiple pieces of location information, or an optimal location information value determined by the SUPL server among the multiple pieces of location information returned by the SUPL server.