Method and system for tailoring output from a location-determination system

• US 7,292,864 B1
• Filed: 01/07/2004
• Issued: 11/06/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 01/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Original Assignee: Sprint Spectrum LP (Deutsche Telekom AG)
• Inventors: Burpee, Brent, Moll, Keith, Al-Khashti, Khaled
• Primary Examiner(s): Trost; William
• Assistant Examiner(s): Perez; Julio
• Application Number:
  US10/753,203
• Time in Patent Office: 1,399 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456, 455/435, 455/406, 455/414, 455/550, 455/422, 455/556, 455/560, 455/561, 455/566, 455/575, 340/905
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/08 Mobility data transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/10 between location register and external networks
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/24 between backbone network devices

Abstract

A method and system for tailoring responses from a location-determination system. A location-determination system will receive a position request from a location-based service (such as a PSAP), seeking the location of a wireless communication device, and the location-determination system will provide a position response, indicating the location of the wireless communication device. A rules engine positioned in the communication path between the location-determination system and the location-based service will intercept the position response and will tailor the response in a manner dependent on the identity of the location-based service that sent the request. Advantageously, a wireless service provider can control operation of the rules engine to dictate how to tailor various position responses, without the need to modify operation of the location-determination system.

Claims

1. In a system comprising a wireless serving network, a location-determination system and a location-based service, wherein the location-based service has an identity, wherein the wireless serving network provides connectivity between a wireless communication device and the location-based service, and wherein the location-based service sends a position request to the location-determination system to seek a location of the wireless communication device, a method comprising:

providing a rules engine in a communication path between the location-determination system and the location-based service;

receiving into the rules engine a position response provided by the location-determination system in response to the position request;

tailoring the position response at the rules engine in a manner dependent on the identity of the location-based service, so as to establish a tailored position response, wherein tailoring the position response in a manner dependent on the identity of the location-based service comprises (i) reading a location-based service identifier from the position request, (ii) selecting a position response template based on the location-based service identifier, and (iii) applying the position response template to tailor the position response; and

sending the tailored position response along the communication path from the rules engine to the location-based service.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the location-based service sends the position request to the location-determination system when the wireless communication device calls the location-based service.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the location-determination system comprises a mobile positioning center, wherein the communication path comprises a packet-switched network, and wherein providing a rules engine in the communication path comprises:

connecting the rules engine between the mobile positioning center and the packet-switched network, so that communications passing between the mobile positioning center and the location-based service will pass through the rules engine.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the position request comprises an ESPOSREQ message, and wherein the position response comprises an esposreq response message.

5. The method of claim 1, further comprising maintaining data that correlates location-based service identifiers with position response templates, and wherein selecting the position response template based on the location-based service identifier comprises referring to the data.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the position response template indicates how the rules engine should process the position response.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the position response template instructs the rules engine to take an action selected from the group consisting of (i) converting format of one or more fields in the position response, (ii) removing one or more values from the position response, and (iii) converting one or more values in the position response.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the position response template comprises an extensible markup language (XML) script.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein the location-based service comprises a public safety access point.

10. In a system comprising a wireless serving network, a location-determination system and a location-based service, wherein the location-based service has an identity, wherein the wireless serving network provides connectivity between a wireless communication device and the location-based service, and wherein the location-based service sends a position request to the location-determination system to seek a location of the wireless communication device, the improvement comprising:

a rules engine disposed in a communication path between the location-determination system and the location-based service, wherein the rules engine receives a position response provided by the location-determination system in response to the position request;

tailoring-logic executable by the rules engine to tailor the position response in a manner dependent on the identity of the location-based service, so as to establish a tailored position response, wherein the tailoring logic is executable to tailor the position response in a manner dependent on the identity of the location-based service by carrying out a process comprising (i) reading a location-based service identifier from the position request, (ii) selecting a position response template based on the location-based service identifier, and (iii) applying the position response template to tailor the position response, and wherein the rules engine sends the tailored position response along the communication path to the location-based service.

11. The improvement of claim 10, wherein the location-based service sends the position request to the location-determination system when the wireless communication device calls the location-based service.

12. The improvement of claim 10, wherein the location-determination system comprises a mobile positioning center, wherein the communication path comprises a packet-switched network, and wherein providing a rules engine in the communication path comprises:

connecting the rules engine between the mobile positioning center and the packet-switched network, so that communications passing between the mobile positioning center and the location-based service will pass through the rules engine.

13. The improvement of claim 10, wherein the position request comprises an ESPOSREQ message, and wherein the position response comprises an esposreq response message.

14. The improvement of claim 10, further comprising a set of data that correlates location-based service identifiers with position response templates, wherein the tailoring-logic is executable to select the position response template based on the location-based service identifier by referring to the data.

15. The improvement of claim 10, wherein the position response template indicates how the rules engine should process the position response.

16. The improvement of claim 10, wherein the position response template instructs the rules engine to take an action selected from the group consisting of (i) converting format of one or more fields in the position response, (ii) removing one or more values from the position response, and (iii) converting one or more values in the position response.

17. The improvement of claim 10, wherein the position response template comprises an extensible markup language (XML) script.