Position information notifying method and device

• US 7,430,422 B2
• Filed: 02/04/2002
• Issued: 09/30/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 02/02/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Original Assignee: NTT Docomo Incorporated (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation)
• Inventors: Yamamoto, Hiroyuki, Tanibayashi, Yoichi, Murata, Katsutoshi, Kosuge, Kazunori, Nagatsuma, Junko
• Primary Examiner(s): Mehrpour; Naghmeh
• Application Number:
  US10/296,293
• Publication Number:
  US 20030129994A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,430 Days
• Field of Search: 455/423, 455/425, 455/456.1, 455/457, 455/414.1, 455/418, 455/445, 455/422.1, 455/426.2, 455/435.1, 455/435.2, 455/454, 455/456.5, 455/461, 455/412.1, 455/404, 455/567, 455/426, 455/419, 455/456.3, 379/45, 379/37
• US Class Current: 455/456.3
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 2205/008 using a mobile telephone network
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0027 of actual mobile position, i.e. position determined on mobile
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/329 in the application layer [OSI layer 7]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 9/40 Network security protocols
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/18 Information format or content conversion, e.g. adaptation by the network of the transmitted or received information for the purpose of wireless delivery to users or terminals
• 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 68/00 User notification, e.g. alerting and paging, for incoming communication, change of service or the like
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/00 Wireless network protocols or protocol adaptations to wireless operation
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/16 Gateway arrangements

Abstract

Location information providing unit of gateway server 40 obtains location information on cellular telephone 10, 20 and 30 each produced in different expression format from measuring center 50, converts obtained location information into expression formats which IP server 80A and IP server 80B can deal with via location information converting device 60, and notifies converted location information to IP server 80A and 80B. As a result, IP server 80A and 80B can obtain location information on each cellular telephone 10, 20, and 30 without experiencing any difficulty.

Claims

1. A method for notifying a location of a mobile terminal in a form of preference, comprising:

providing at least one table that stores location indicia and corresponding geographical addresses, wherein each of the corresponding geographical addresses is stored in at least one form of preference;

receiving a request to notify a geographic location of a mobile terminal to at least one communication node;

obtaining a location indicium indicative of the geographical location of the mobile terminal;

converting the location indicium, using the at least one table, into a corresponding geographical address of a form preferred by a respective one of the at least one communication node; and

notifying each of the at least one communication node of the corresponding geographical address in the respective preference form.

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein location indicia are any of base station IDs, area IDs and sector IDs.

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein a base station ID is used in a cellular telephone network to identify a location of a PHS terminal, an area ID is used in a cellular telephone network to identify a location of a PDC terminal and a sector ID is used in a mobile packet communication network to identify a location of a cellular terminal.

4. A method according to claim 1, wherein providing at least one table comprises providing tables for respective mobile communication networks.

5. A method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one form of preference is any of a latitude-longitude, a postal address, an indication of a province, a Zip code, a telephone area code, a name of a station, a name of a bus stop and a name of a region.

6. A method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one table stores the corresponding geographical addresses each in a form preferred by a respective one of the at least one communication node.

7. A method according to claim 1, wherein receiving a request comprises receiving a request from one of the at least one communication node.

8. A method according to claim 1, wherein receiving a request comprising receiving a request from the mobile terminal.

9. A method according to claim 1, further comprising returning an error if the location indicium is not convertible into a corresponding geographical address in the form preferred by any one of the at least one communication node.

10. A method according to claim 1, further comprising updating and notifying the corresponding geographical address at intervals.

11. A method according to claim 10, wherein updating comprising updating on a predetermined schedule.

12. A method according to claim 10, wherein updating the corresponding geographical address comprises halting updating at a request.

25. A method according to claim 1, wherein each of the corresponding geographical addresses is stored in more than one form of preference.

27. A method according to claim 7, wherein converting the location indicium into a corresponding geographical address of a form preferred by a respective one of the at least one communication node comprises converting the location indicium into a corresponding geographical address of a form stored as preferred by the one of the at least one communication node.

29. A method according to claim 1, wherein the at least one form of preference is a form selected from the group consisting of a postal address, a ZIP code and a telephone area code.

13. A location information management system which notifies a location of a mobile terminal in a form of preference, comprising:

at least one table that stores location indicia and corresponding geographical addresses, wherein each of the corresponding geographical addresses is stored in at least one form of preference;

a receiver configured to receive a request to notify a geographic location of a mobile terminal to at least one communication node;

a locator configured to obtain a location indicium indicative of the geographical location of the mobile terminal;

a converter configured to convert the location indicium, using the at least one table, into a corresponding geographical address of a form preferred by a respective one of the at least one communication node; and

a transmitter configured to notify each of the at least one communication node of the corresponding geographical address in the respective preference form.

14. A system according to claim 13, wherein location indicia are any of base station IDs, area IDs and sector IDs.

15. A system according to claim 14, wherein a base station ID is used in a cellular telephone network to identify a location of a PHS terminal, an area ID is used in a cellular telephone network to identify a location of a PDC terminal and a sector ID is used in a mobile packet communication network to identify a location of a cellular terminal.

16. A system according to claim 13, wherein the at least one table comprises tables for respective mobile communication networks.

17. A system according to claim 13, wherein the at least one form of preference is any of a latitude-longitude, a postal address, an indication of a province, a Zip code, a telephone area code, a name of a station, a name of a bus stop and a name of a region.

18. A system according to claim 13, wherein the at least one table stores the corresponding geographical addresses each in a form preferred by a respective one of the at least one communication node.

19. A system according to claim 13, wherein the receiver receives the request from one of the at least one communication node.

20. A system according to claim 13, wherein the receiver receives the request from the mobile terminal.

21. A system according to claim 13, wherein the transmitter returns an error if the location indicium is not convertible into a corresponding geographical address in the form preferred by any one of the at least one communication node.

22. A system according to claim 13, further comprising a location update control configured to control the locator, converter and the transmitter to update and notify the corresponding geographical address at intervals.

23. A system according to claim 22, wherein the location update control updates and notifies the corresponding geographical address on a predetermined schedule.

24. A method according to claim 22, wherein the location update control halts updating at a request.

26. A system according to claim 13, wherein each of the corresponding geographical addresses is stored in more than one form of preference.

28. A system according to claim 19, wherein the converter configured to convert the location indicium into a corresponding geographical address of a form stored as preferred by the one of the at least one communication node.

30. A system according to claim 13, wherein the at least one form of preference is a form selected from the group consisting of a postal address, a ZIP code and a telephone area code.