Location Service Requests Throttling

• US 20140171112A1
• Filed: 02/24/2014
• Published: 06/19/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/19/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: TeleCommunication Systems Inc (Comtech Telecommunications Corporation)
• Original Assignee: TeleCommunication Systems Inc (Comtech Telecommunications Corporation)
• Inventors: Zhu, Yinjun, Hines, Gordon John, Burton, Victor, Liao, Hsin-Chih
• Granted Patent: US 9,288,615 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/56 Provisioning of proxy services store-and-forward switching systems in data switching networks H04L12/54
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/566 Grouping or aggregating service requests, e.g. for unified processing
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/60 Scheduling or organising the servicing of application requests, e.g. requests for application data transmissions using the analysis and optimisation of the required network resources admission control or resource allocation H04L47/70
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/10 Flow control between communication endpoints
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/14 using intermediate storage
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services

Abstract

A technique to allow a server such as a location server to throttle concurrent or closely timed location requests for the position of a given wireless device such that within a certain time period preferably only one location request will be initiated to the positioning engine and the remaining closely-timed location requests will be buffered or cached. When a position for the given wireless device is returned per the outstanding location request, then the retrieved position will be used to respond to each of the buffered location requests. Thus, a plurality of location requests are satisfied with a single request to the positioning engine. By optimizing the use of cached position requests, throttling of location requests per the invention reduces network traffic significantly, increases the efficiency of a positioning server (therefore reducing business cost), and provides for an improved grade or quality of location based services in general.

Claims

1. A technique for throttling location requests relating to a wireless device, comprising:

logging a plurality of location requests within a short period of time relating to a position of said wireless device;

allowing only one of said logged plurality of location requests through to a positioning engine relating to said wireless device; and

using a location returned to said only one of said logged plurality of location requests as a location returned in remaining ones of said plurality of location requests.

2-11. -11. (canceled)