Prevention of alteration of location information for mobile-based location calculation

• US 6,216,007 B1
• Filed: 09/29/1998
• Issued: 04/10/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 09/29/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Unwired Planet LLC (JP Morgan Chase & Co)
• Original Assignee: Ericsson, Inc. (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Inventors: Boltz, David, Havinis, Theodore
• Primary Examiner(s): Nguyen, Lee
• Assistant Examiner(s): Nguyen, Simon
• Application Number:
  US09/163,028
• Time in Patent Office: 924 Days
• Field of Search: 455/408, 455/410, 455/411, 455/456, 455/550, 455/558, 455/575, 455/556, 455/457, 380/49, 380/21, 380/28, 342/457, 342/357.06
• US Class Current: 455/456.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A telecommunications system and method is disclosed for minimizing the chances of a mobile subscriber altering the calculated location of an associated mobile terminal when the positioning measurements and location calculation are performed by the mobile terminal. In order to prevent tampering with the location information, the Positioning Measurement Module (PMM) can be separated from the Location Calculation Module (LCM) by including both the LCM and topological information used for calculation of the location of the mobile terminal on a smart integrated circuit (IC) card within the mobile terminal. When the PMM obtains positioning measurement information, this positioning information is encrypted and sent to the LCM within the smart card, which then deciphers the encrypted information and uses the positioning information and stored topological information to calculate the location of the mobile terminal.

Claims

1. A mobile terminal for minimizing fraudulent calculations of the location of said mobile terminal within a cellular network, comprising:

a positioning measurement module for obtaining positioning information associated with the location of said mobile terminal; and

a smart card having a location calculation module and topological information stored therein, said positioning measurement module not being within said smart card, said location calculation module being operatively connected to said positioning measurement module for calculation of location information for said mobile terminal within said cellular network using said positioning information provided by said positioning measurement module and said topological information.

2. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein said positioning measurement module encrypts said positioning information with a ciphering algorithm and sends said encrypted positioning information to said location calculation module.

3. The mobile terminal of claim 2, wherein said location calculation module deciphers said positioning information before calculating said location information.

4. The mobile terminal of claim 3, wherein said smart card further comprises a memory for storing said location calculation module, said memory containing a deciphering key for said encrypted positioning information, said location calculation module using said deciphering key to decipher said positioning information.

5. The mobile terminal of claim 4, wherein said memory is a PROM.

6. The mobile terminal of claim 3, wherein said smart card further comprises a memory connected to said location calculation module, said memory containing a deciphering key for said encrypted positioning information, said location calculation module using said deciphering key in deciphering said positioning information.

7. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein said smart card further comprises a memory connected to said location calculation module for storing said topological information.

8. The mobile terminal of claim 7, wherein said memory is a Read Only Memory.

9. The mobile terminal of claim 1, further comprising a transceiver unit connected to said positioning measurement module for receiving, from said cellular network, network information used by said positioning measurement module to obtain said positioning information.

10. The mobile terminal of claim 9, wherein said transceiver unit transmits said location information generated by said location calculation module to a location application within said cellular network.

11. The mobile terminal of claim 10, wherein said location calculation module encrypts said location information with a ciphering algorithm and sends said encrypted location information to said transceiver unit to transmit to said location application within said cellular network via said cellular network.

12. The mobile terminal of claim 11, wherein said ciphering algorithm calculates a time-differentiating deciphering key recognizable by said cellular network, said cellular network using said time-differentiating deciphering key to decipher said location information, said cellular network sending said deciphered location information to said location application within said cellular network.

13. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein said smart card further comprises an internal location application connected to said location calculation module, said location calculation module sending said location information to said internal location application.

14. The mobile terminal of claim 13, wherein said location calculation module encrypts said location information with a ciphering algorithm and sends said encrypted location information to said internal location application.

15. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein said smart card further comprises a central processing unit connected to said location calculation module for controlling the sending of said positioning information to said location calculation module and the calculation of said location information by said location calculation module.

16. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein said smart card comprises a Subscriber Identity Module.

17. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein said location information comprises X, Y coordinates.

18. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein said location calculation module calculates said location information using an Enhanced Observed Time Difference positioning method.

19. The mobile terminal of claim 1, wherein said location calculation module calculates said location information using a Global Positioning System positioning method.

20. A telecommunications system for minimizing fraudulent calculations by mobile terminals of the location of said mobile terminals within a cellular network, said telecommunications system comprising:

at least one base station within said cellular network; and

a given one of said mobile terminals in wireless communication with said base station, said given mobile terminal having;

a positioning measurement module for obtaining positioning information associated with the location of said given mobile terminal, and

a smart card having a location calculation module and topological information stored therein, said positioning measurement module not being within said smart card, said location calculation module being operatively connected to said positioning measurement module for calculation of location information for said mobile terminal within said cellular network using said positioning information provided by said positioning measurement module and said topological information.

21. The telecommunications system of claim 20, wherein said positioning measurement module encrypts said positioning information using a ciphering algorithm and sends said encrypted positioning information to said location calculation module.

22. The telecommunications system of claim 20, wherein said smart card further comprises a memory for storing said location calculation module.

23. The telecommunications system of claim 20, wherein said smart card further comprises a memory connected to said location calculation module for storing said topological information.

24. The telecommunications system of claim 20, wherein said given mobile terminal further comprises a transceiver unit connected to said positioning measurement module for receiving, from said cellular network, network information used by positioning measurement module to obtain said positioning information.

25. The telecommunications system of claim 24, wherein said transceiver unit transmits said location information generated by said location calculation module to a location application within said cellular network via said at least one base station.

26. The telecommunications system of claim 25, wherein said location calculation module encrypts said location information using a ciphering algorithm and sends said encrypted location information to said transceiver unit to transmit to said location application within said cellular network via said cellular network.

27. The telecommunications system of claim 26, wherein said ciphering algorithm calculates a time-differentiating deciphering key recognizable by said cellular network, said cellular network using said time-differentiating deciphering key to decipher said location information, said cellular network sending said deciphered location information to said location application within said cellular network.

28. The telecommunications system of claim 20, wherein said smart card is a Subscriber Identity Module.

29. A method for minimizing fraudulent calculations by a mobile terminal of the location of said mobile terminal within a cellular network, said method comprising the steps of:

storing topological information within a smart card within said mobile terminal;

obtaining positioning information associated with the location of said mobile terminal using a positioning measurement module within said mobile terminal;

sending said positioning information to a location calculation module within said smart card, said positioning measurement module not being within said smart card; and

calculating location information for said mobile terminal within said cellular network using said positioning information and said topological information by said location calculation module.

30. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step of:

encrypting, by said positioning measurement module, said positioning information before said step of sending said encrypted positioning information to said location calculation module.

31. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step of:

deciphering, by said location calculation module, said positioning information.

32. The method of claim 29, wherein said step of storing further comprises the step of storing said topological information within a memory in said smart card, said memory being connected to said location calculation module.

33. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step of:

receiving network information from said cellular network using a transceiver unit, said step of obtaining further comprising the step of obtaining said positioning information using said network information and an algorithm stored within said positioning measurement module.

34. The method of claim 33, further comprising the step of:

transmitting, by said transceiver unit, said location information to a location application within said cellular network via said cellular network.

35. The method of claim 34, further comprising the steps of:

encrypting, by said location calculation module, said location information using a ciphering algorithm; and

sending said encrypted location information to said transceiver unit.

36. The method of claim 35, further comprising the step of:

calculating, by said ciphering algorithm, a time-differentiating deciphering key recognizable by said cellular network, said step of transmitting further comprising the steps of;

deciphering, by said cellular network, said encrypted location information using said time-differentiating deciphering key, and sending said deciphered location information from said cellular network to said location application within said cellular network.

37. The method of claim 29, further comprising the step of:

encrypting, by said location calculation module, said location information; and

sending said encrypted location information to an internal location application within said smart card.