Monitoring of call information in a wireless location system
First Claim
1. A method for use in a wireless location system (WLS) that estimates the geographic location of a mobile station (MS), wherein the WLS overlays at least a portion of the geographic area of a wireless communications system, wherein the WLS uses radio resources and location processing resources to locate said MS using a process involving receiving a transmission from the MS at multiple signal collection sites and processing the received transmissions to estimate the location of the MS using time difference of arrival (TDOA) and/or angle of arrival (AOA) location processing techniques, wherein the wireless communications system includes base transceiver station (BTS) equipment connected to base station controller (BSC) equipment, comprising the steps of:
- continuously, passively monitoring communications between at least one BTS and at least one BSC, extracting MS information from the monitored communications, said extracted MS information including radio frequency channel information sufficient to enable the WLS to receive transmissions from the MS for location purposes; and
using the extracted MS information to trigger TDOA and/or AOA location processing for said MS and to determine which radio frequency channel to use in performing location processing for said MS.
1 Assignment
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Accused Products
Abstract
In an overlay Wireless Location System, an Abis interface is monitored to obtain information used to locate GSM phones. Signaling links of the Abis interface are passively monitored to obtain certain information, such as control and traffic channel assignment, called number, and mobile identification, which is not available from the GSM air interface of the reverse channel. This approach also applies to IDEN and can be broadened to include CDMA systems where the GSM architecture has been used and the system includes a separated BTS to BSC interface.
416 Citations
68 Claims
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1. A method for use in a wireless location system (WLS) that estimates the geographic location of a mobile station (MS), wherein the WLS overlays at least a portion of the geographic area of a wireless communications system, wherein the WLS uses radio resources and location processing resources to locate said MS using a process involving receiving a transmission from the MS at multiple signal collection sites and processing the received transmissions to estimate the location of the MS using time difference of arrival (TDOA) and/or angle of arrival (AOA) location processing techniques, wherein the wireless communications system includes base transceiver station (BTS) equipment connected to base station controller (BSC) equipment, comprising the steps of:
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continuously, passively monitoring communications between at least one BTS and at least one BSC, extracting MS information from the monitored communications, said extracted MS information including radio frequency channel information sufficient to enable the WLS to receive transmissions from the MS for location purposes; and
using the extracted MS information to trigger TDOA and/or AOA location processing for said MS and to determine which radio frequency channel to use in performing location processing for said MS. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12)
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13. A method for use in a wireless location system (WLS), wherein the WLS overlays at least a portion of a wireless communications system that includes base transceiver station (BTS) equipment operatively coupled to base station controller (BSC) equipment via an interface, comprising the steps of:
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passively monitoring communications on the interface between at least one BTS and at least one BSC;
identifying certain prescribed mobile station (MS) information from the monitored communications, said information including an emergency call indication, radio frequency channel number and timeslot number;
using the MS information to determine whether to perform location processing for said MS and to determine which radio channel to use in performing location processing for said MS; and
performing time difference of arrival (TDOA) and/or angle of arrival (AOA) location processing for said MS, whereby an accurate location estimate is obtained for said MS. - View Dependent Claims (14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24)
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25. A wireless location system (WLS) that overlays at least a portion of a wireless communications system that includes base transceiver station (BTS) equipment operatively coupled to base station controller (BSC) equipment via an interface, comprising:
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means for passively monitoring communications on the interface between at least one BTS and at least one BSC;
means for identifying certain prescribed mobile station (MS) information from the monitored communications, said information including an emergency call indication, radio frequency channel number and timeslot number; and
means for using the MS information to determine whether to perform location processing for said MS and to determine which radio channel to use in performing location processing for said MS. - View Dependent Claims (26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35)
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36. A method for use in a wireless location system (WLS) that estimates the geographic location of a mobile station (MS), wherein the WLS overlays at least a portion of the geographic area of a wireless communications system, wherein the WLS includes radio resources and location processing resources and uses said resources to locate said MS using a process involving receiving a transmission from the MS at multiple signal collection sites and processing the received transmissions to estimate the location of the MS using time difference of arrival (TDOA) and/or angle of arrival (AOA) location processing techniques, wherein the wireless communications system includes base transceiver station (BTS) equipment connected to base station controller (BSC) equipment, and wherein said radio resources of the WLS may be at least partially co-located with said BTS equipment of the wireless communications system but are different from said BTS equipment, comprising the steps of:
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continuously passively monitoring the communications between at least one BTS and at least one BSC, and extracting MS information from the monitored communications, and using the extracted MS information to trigger location processing and to determine channel assignment information for said MS, to enable the WLS to receive transmissions from the MS for location purposes;
wherein the extracted MS information comprises at least one of;
the mobile station identification (MSID), the called number dialed by the user of the MS, the contents of messages sent to the MS or from the MS, or frequency assignment information sent to the MS.- View Dependent Claims (37)
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38. A method for use in a wireless location system (WLS) that estimates the geographic location of a mobile station (MS), wherein the WLS overlays at least a portion of the geographic area of a wireless communications system, wherein the WLS includes radio resources and location processing resources and uses said resources to locate said MS using a process involving receiving a transmission from the MS at multiple signal collection sites and processing the received transmissions to estimate the location of the MS using time difference of arrival (TDOA) and/or angle of arrival (AOA) location processing techniques, wherein the wireless communications system includes base transceiver station (BTS) equipment connected to base station controller (BSC) equipment, and wherein said radio resources of the WLS may be at least partially co-located with said BTS equipment of the wireless communications system but are different from said BTS equipment, comprising the steps of:
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continuously passively monitoring the communications between at least one BTS and at least one BSC, and extracting MS information from the monitored communications, and using the extracted MS information to trigger location processing and to determine channel assignment information for said MS;
to enable the WLS to receive transmissions from the MS for location purposes;
wherein the extracted MS information comprises at least one of the following presently in use by the MS;
the control channel, the traffic channel, the mobile directory number (MDN), the Electronic Serial Number (ESN), the Mobile Identity Number (MIN), the Mobile Subscriber Identification (MSI), the international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI), the temporary mobile subscriber identity (IMSI), or the mobile station international ISDN number (MSISDN).- View Dependent Claims (39)
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40. A method for use in a wireless location system (WLS) that estimates the geographic location of a mobile station (MS), wherein the WLS overlays at least a portion of the geographic area of a wireless communications system, wherein the WLS uses radio resources and location processing resources to locate said MS using a process involving receiving a transmission from the MS at multiple signal collection sites and processing the received transmissions to estimate the location of the MS using time difference of arrival (TDOA) and/or angle of arrival (AOA) location processing techniques, wherein the wireless communications system includes base transceiver station (BTS) equipment connected to base station controller (BSC) equipment, comprising the steps of:
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passively monitoring communications between at least one BTS and at least one BSC, wherein the monitored communications contain indications of a call origination or call termination; and
using the monitored information to trigger location processing for said MS and to determine which radio resources to use in performing TDOA and/or AOA location processing for said MS. - View Dependent Claims (41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 53, 54)
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55. A system for use in a wireless location system (WLS) that estimates the geographic location of a mobile station (MS), wherein the WLS overlays at least a portion of the geographic area of a wireless communications system, wherein the WLS uses radio resources and location processing resources to locate said MS using a process involving receiving a transmission from the MS at multiple signal collection sites and processing the received transmissions to estimate the location of the MS using time difference of arrival (TDOA) and/or angle of arrival (AOA) location processing techniques, wherein the wireless communications system includes base transceiver station (BTS) equipment connected to base station controller (BSC) equipment, comprising:
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means for passively monitoring communications between at least one BTS and at least one BSC, wherein the monitored communications contain indications of a call origination or call termination; and
means for using the extracted MS information to trigger location processing for said MS and to determine which radio resources to use in performing TDOA and/or AOA location processing for said MS. - View Dependent Claims (56, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62, 63, 64, 65, 66, 67, 68)
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Specification