System and method for providing location services in parallel to existing services in general packet radio services architecture

• US 6,219,557 B1
• Filed: 12/11/1998
• Issued: 04/17/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 12/11/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ericsson, Inc. (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Original Assignee: Ericsson, Inc. (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Inventors: Havinis, Theodore
• Primary Examiner(s): Kuntz, Curtis
• Assistant Examiner(s): ARONOVICH, ADIR
• Application Number:
  US09/210,155
• Time in Patent Office: 858 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456, 455/455, 455/426, 455/432, 455/560, 455/414, 455/466, 455/517
• US Class Current: 455/456.4
• 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 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems

Abstract

A telecommunications system and method is disclosed for enabling a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) node, namely a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) within a cellular network, to be able to handle requests for Location Services (LCS) for a GPRS mobile station (MS) in parallel to other existing transactions such as delivering short messages or engaging in session management activity, e.g., data call connection. A new LCS transaction type can be introduced in the Connection-Management (CM) sub-layer of GPRS in the SGSN and the GPRS MSs to handle requests for LCS in parallel to other offered services. LCS can be multiplexed together with other existing functions in GPRS by allocating a new Service Access Point Identifier (SAPI) to LCS within the Logical Link Control (LLC) sub-layer of the GPRS. Alternatively, when a common LLC SAPI is used between different CM-sublayer functions, then a different protocol discriminator (PD) can be allocated for LCS.

Claims

1. A telecommunications system for allowing location services to be offered in parallel to existing services within a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) system, said telecommunications system comprising:

a serving GPRS support node in wireless communication with a mobile station, said serving GPRS support node receiving a positioning request for said mobile station;

a connection management sublayer within said serving GPRS node and said mobile station, said connection management sublayer supporting a location service transaction type and at least one additional transaction type therein; and

a logical link control sublayer within said serving GPRS support node and said mobile station, said serving GPRS support node establishing a connection between said location service transaction type of said serving GPRS support node and said location service transaction type of said mobile station, using said logical link control sublayer, to perform said positioning request.

2. The telecommunications system of claim 1, further comprising a radio link control sub-layer within said serving GPRS support node and said mobile station, the connection between said logical link control sublayers of said location service transaction types of said serving GPRS support node and said mobile station being established using said respective radio link control sublayers.

3. The telecommunications system of claim 2, further comprising a physical layer, a data link layer and an application layer within said serving GPRS support node and said mobile station, said radio link control sublayer, said connection management sublayer and said logical link control sublayer residing in said application layer.

4. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein said at least one additional transaction type includes at least one of:

a session management transaction type and a short message transaction type.

5. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein said mobile station and said serving GPRS support node also has an additional logical link control connection between said respective at least one additional transaction types, wherein services represented by said location service transaction type and said at least one additional transaction type are offered in parallel without disrupting each other.

6. The telecommunications system of claim 5, wherein said logical link control layer within said mobile station and said serving GPRS support node comprise a location service Service Access Point Identifier for establishing said logical link control connection between said respective location service transaction types of said mobile station and said serving GPRS support node and an additional Service Access Point Identifier for establishing said additional logical link control connection between said respective at least one additional transaction types of said mobile station and said serving GPRS support node.

7. The telecommunications system of claim 5, wherein said location service transaction type has a first protocol discriminator associated therewith for establishing said logical link control connection between said respective location service transaction types of said mobile station and said serving GPRS support node, said at least one additional transaction type having a second protocol discriminator associated therewith for establishing said additional logical link control connection between said respective at least one additional transaction types of said mobile station and said serving GPRS support node.

8. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein said at least one additional transaction type is a session management transaction type, said mobile station and said serving GPRS support node having an additional logical link control connection between said respective session management transaction types in order to establish a data call for said mobile station, said logical link control connection between said respective location service transaction types of said serving GPRS support node and said mobile station being established without disrupting said data call.

9. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein said at least one additional transaction type includes a session management transaction type and a short message transaction type, said location service transaction type supporting location services and additional services not supported by said session management transaction type or said short message transaction type.

10. A telecommunications system for providing location services in parallel to session management and short message services within a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) system, said telecommunications system comprising:

a radio link control sublayer within a mobile station and a serving GPRS support node in wireless communication with said mobile station, said radio link control sublayer transmitting data between said serving GPRS support node and said mobile station;

a connection management sublayer within said serving GPRS support node and said mobile station, said connection management sublayer having a session management transaction type, a short message transaction type and a location service transaction type therein; and

a logical link control sublayer within said serving GPRS support node and said mobile station, said logical link control sublayer providing connections between said session management transaction types, said short message transaction types and said location service transaction types of said serving GPRS support node and said mobile stations, respectively, in parallel using said radio link control sublayer.

11. The telecommunications system of claim 10, further comprising a physical layer, a data link layer and an application layer within said serving GPRS support node and said mobile station, said radio link control sublayer, said connection management sublayer and said logical link control sublayer residing in said application layer.

12. The telecommunications system of claim 10, wherein said logical link control layer within said mobile station and said serving GPRS support node comprise a location service Service Access Point Identifier for establishing a location service logical link control connection between said respective location service transaction types of said mobile station and said serving GPRS support node, a session management Service Access Point Identifier for establishing a session management logical link control connection between said respective session management transaction types of said mobile station and said serving GPRS support node and a short message Service Access Point Identifier for establishing a short message logical link control connection between said respective short message transaction types of said mobile station and said serving GPRS support node in parallel.

13. The telecommunications system of claim 10, wherein said location service transaction type has a first protocol discriminator associated therewith for establishing a location service logical link control connection between said respective location service transaction types of said mobile station and said serving GPRS support node, said session management transaction type having a second protocol discriminator associated therewith for establishing a session management logical link control connection between said respective session management transaction types of said mobile station and said serving GPRS support node, said short message transaction type having a third protocol discriminator associated therewith for establishing a short message logical link control connection between said respective short message transaction types of said mobile station and said serving GPRS support node.

14. A method for allowing a telecommunications system to offer location services in parallel to existing services within a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) system, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving, by a serving GPRS support node in wireless communication with a mobile station, a location service request for said mobile station, said serving GPRS support node and said mobile station each having a respective connection management sublayer therein, each said respective connection management sublayer having a location service transaction type and at least an additional transaction type therein, said serving GPRS support node and said mobile station each also having a respective logical link control sublayer therein connected to said respective connection management sublayer; and

establishing, by said serving GPRS support node, a connection between said location services transaction types of said serving GPRS support node and said mobile station, respectively, using said logical link control sublayer, in order to perform said location service request.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the step of:

establishing, by said serving GPRS support node, an additional logical link control connection between said respective at least one additional transaction types of said serving GPRS support node and said mobile station, wherein services represented by said location service transaction type and said at least one additional transaction type are offered in parallel without disrupting each other.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein said at least one additional transaction type is a session management transaction type, and further comprising the step of:

establishing, by said serving GPRS support node, an additional logical link control connection between said respective session management transaction types of said serving GPRS support node and said mobile station in order to establish a data call for said mobile station in parallel to performing said location service request.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein said step of establishing said logical link control connection between said location services transaction types of said serving GPRS support node and said mobile station, respectively, further comprises the steps of:

allocating a location service Service Access Point Identifier within said logical link control layer for said location service transaction type; and

establishing said logical link control connection between said location services transaction types of said serving GPRS support node and said mobile station, respectively, using said location service Service Access Point Identifier.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein said step of establishing said logical link control connection between said location services transaction types of said serving GPRS support node and said mobile station, respectively, further comprises the steps of:

associating a location service protocol discriminator with said location service transaction type; and

establishing said logical link control connection between said location services transaction types of said serving GPRS support node and said mobile station, respectively, using said location service protocol discriminator.