Observing a moving subscriber on the basis of handover commands

• US 7,826,857 B2
• Filed: 09/19/2005
• Issued: 11/02/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 03/24/2003
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Elisa Oyj
• Original Assignee: Elisa Oyj
• Inventors: Nykopp, Juha, Knuuttila, Olli, Kiviranta, Veli-Matti
• Primary Examiner(s): Eng; George
• Assistant Examiner(s): HUYNH, NAM TRUNG
• Application Number:
  US11/230,179
• Publication Number:
  US 20060009223A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,870 Days
• Field of Search: 455/412.1, 455/440, 4554561-4566, 455436-444, 455/67.11
• US Class Current: 455/456.5
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A location of a subscriber can be observed by means of a mobile network in a completely anonymous way, without a subscriber identifier or a temporary subscriber identifier. At first, a method extracts from a first time slot of a radio channel a message which includes information about a second time slot of a radio channel. The first time slot of a radio channel discloses the current cell of the subscriber and the second time slot of a radio channel discloses a new cell of the subscriber. A location of the subscriber is determined on the basis of the current and the new cell. This location is approximately situated in a geographical intersection area of the current and the new cell. Different kinds of statistics can be deduced from the observations concerning activities of subscribers.

Claims

1. A method for locating anonymously idle and busy subscribers so that each subscriber is located on the basis of one message, the subscribers moving between cells of a mobile network, said method comprising the steps of:

extracting by extracting means from message traffic one message which is sent from a base station controller of the mobile network to a base station, the one message being extracted from a signaling time slot of an E1 link and including a piece of information about a second time slot of a radio channel that is taken into use during a handover of a subscriber, the signaling time slot of a radio channel determining a current cell of the subscriber and the second time slot of a radio channel determining a new cell of the subscriber,

determining by a calculating server a location of the subscriber on the basis of the current cell and the new cell, said location being at least partly situated in the geographical intersection of the current and the new cell, so that the subscriber is located on the basis of only the one message,

attaching to information of said location a time stamp disclosing a point of time when the one message was extracted, and

storing the location information in a memory,

wherein when the current cell of the subscriber is changed to a new cell and the subscriber is moving from the new cell to a subsequent cell, the method comprises the steps of;

extracting from the message traffic a further message transmitted in an Abis interface in the mobile network, wherein the further message includes a piece of information about a third time slot of a radio channel that is taken into use during a subsequent handover of the subscriber, the third time slot of a radio channel determining the subsequent cell of the subscriber, and

determining another location of the subscriber on the basis of the new and the subsequent cell,

determining a distance traveled by the subscriber on the basis of said other location and the location information stored in the memory, and

determining a velocity of the subscriber on the basis of the distance traveled by the subscriber and the time stamp disclosing the point of time of the first extracted one message, and on the basis of another time stamp disclosing a point of time of the second extracted further message.

2. The method as in claim 1, wherein the extracting means comprises at least one signal analyzer which is adapted to send data the calculation server.

3. The method as in claim 1, wherein the extracted one message is a HandOver Command message.

4. The method as in claim 1, wherein the method is utilized in a statistical survey concerning the subscribers.

5. The method as in claim 4, wherein the statistical survey concerns movements of the subscribers.

6. The method as in claim 4, wherein the statistical survey concerns velocities of the subscribers.

7. The method as in claim 1, wherein the new cell belongs to another location area of the mobile network that is different than the location area of the current cell.

8. The method as in claim 7, wherein the method is able to locate the subscriber when the subscriber is carrying an idle state terminal of the mobile network.

9. A system for locating anonymously idle and busy subscribers, said subscribers moving between cells of a mobile network so that each subscriber is located on the basis of one message, the system being adapted to:

extract by extracting means from message traffic one message sent from a base station controller of the mobile network to a base station, the one message being extracted from a signaling time slot of an E1 link and including a piece of information about a second time slot of a radio channel that is taken into use during a handover of a subscriber, the signaling time slot of a radio channel determining a current cell of the subscriber and the second time slot of a radio channel determining a new cell of the subscriber, wherein said extracting means comprise at least one signal analyzer adapted to send data to a calculation server, and

determine by the calculation server a location of the subscriber on the basis of the current cell and the new cell, said location being at least partly situated in the geographical intersection of the current cell and the new cell, so that the subscriber is located on the basis of only the one message,

attach to information of said location a time stamp disclosing a point of time when the one message was extracted, and

store the location information in a memory,

wherein in order to be prepared for a situation in which the subscriber moves from the new cell to a subsequent cell the system is adapted to;

extract from the message traffic a further message transmitted in an Abis interface in the mobile network, wherein the further message includes a piece of information about a third time slot of a radio channel that is taken into use during a subsequent handover of the subscriber, the third time slot of a radio channel determining the subsequent cell of the subscriber, and

determine another location of the subscriber on the basis of the new and the subsequent cell,

determine a distance traveled by the subscriber on the basis of said other location and the location information stored in the memory, and

determine a velocity of the subscriber on the basis of the distance traveled by the subscriber and the time stamp disclosing the point of time of the first extracted one message, and on the basis of a time stamp disclosing a point of time of the second extracted further message.

10. The system as in claim 9, wherein the extracted one message is a HandOver Command message.

11. The system as in claim 9, wherein the new cell belongs to another location area of the mobile network that is different than the location area of the current cell.

12. The system as in claim 11, wherein the method is able to locate the subscriber when the subscriber is carrying an idle state terminal of the mobile network.