Method for displaying location of cellular phone caller

• US 7,873,366 B2
• Filed: 04/11/2003
• Issued: 01/18/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 12/13/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: GUAN Technologies LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Original Assignee: GUAN Technologies LLC (Intellectual Ventures LLC)
• Inventors: Chen, James
• Primary Examiner(s): Elahee; Md S
• Application Number:
  US10/411,306
• Publication Number:
  US 20040203924A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,839 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/456.4, 455/466, 455/412.1, 455/404.2, 455/457, 455/451.1, 455/456.3, 342/457, 379/142.6, 379/201.01, 379/201.02, 379/201.1, 379/221.13, 379/221.14, 709/206, 340/988
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42042 Notifying the called party of information on the calling party details within substation equipment H04M1/57, signalling details H04Q3/72
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42348 Location-based services which utilize the location information of a target
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method for displaying the location of a cellular phone caller. In the present method, a caller'"'"'s cellular phone transmits a short message preset by a cellular base station to the base station through an Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) function by using a cellular phone and selects to start or stop a function for informing the location of a caller to a phone answerer. When a phone call is made and the location informing function is stopped, the base station transmits no caller location information to an answerer'"'"'s cellular phone. If the location informing function is activated, the base station uses a positioning technology to calculate position coordinates of the caller. And then, the base station compares the position coordinates with a location data stored in a position coordinate data base of the base station and transforms the location to a closest address so as to display the caller'"'"'s address in the answerer'"'"'s phone by a Class 0 SMS (short message system).

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

detecting a phone call from a caller'"'"'s cellular phone to an answerer'"'"'s cellular phone;

receiving a short message having an instruction from the caller'"'"'s phone at a cellular base station through an Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) function, wherein the instruction is to (a) transmit a location of the caller'"'"'s phone to the answerer'"'"'s phone, or (b) not transmit the location of the caller'"'"'s phone to the answerer'"'"'s phone;

if the instruction is to transmit the location of the caller'"'"'s phone to the answerer'"'"'s phone

calculating position coordinates of the caller'"'"'s phone using a positioning technology;

comparing the position coordinates with location data stored in a position coordinates data base and transforming the position coordinates to an address; and

connecting the phone call and transmitting a Class 0 SMS (short message system) to the answerer'"'"'s cellular phone with the address of the caller'"'"'s cellular phone during the phone call;

if the instruction is to not transmit the location of the caller'"'"'s phone to the answerer'"'"'s phone, connecting the phone call.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a message to the caller'"'"'s phone confirming that the instruction was received.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising if the instruction is not to transmit the location of the caller'"'"'s phone to the answerer'"'"'s phone, transmitting a Class 0 SMS without the address of the caller'"'"'s cellular phone.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein calculating position coordinates of the caller'"'"'s phone includes calculating position coordinates with at least one of a Global Positioning System (GPS), three points positioning technology or base station positioning technology.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein connecting the call and transmitting the Class 0 SMS to the answerer'"'"'s cellular phone occurs when a connection between the caller'"'"'s phone and the answer'"'"'s phone is complete.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving the instruction comprises receiving a preset instruction separate from the phone call.

7. The method of claim 1, further comprising sending a confirmation of the instruction to the caller'"'"'s cellular telephone.

8. A method, comprising:

receiving a short message from a caller'"'"'s phone to a cellular base station through an Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) function to either enable or disable a function for providing a location of the caller to the answerer;

detecting a phone call from the caller'"'"'s phone; and

connecting the phone call and transmitting a Class 0 SMS (short message system) to an answerer'"'"'s cellular phone during the phone call, wherein

if the function for providing the location of the caller is disabled, the base station connects the phone call and transmits a Class 0 SMS to the answerer'"'"'s cellular phone without an address of the caller'"'"'s phone; and

if the function for providing the location of the caller is enabled, (a) calculating the position coordinates of the caller'"'"'s phone using positioning technology and (b) comparing the position coordinates with location data stored in a position coordinate data base of the base station and transforming the location to a caller'"'"'s address, and wherein

the base station connects the phone call and transmits a Class 0 SMS to the answerer'"'"'s cellular phone that contains the caller'"'"'s address.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein calculating the position coordinates of the caller'"'"'s phone includes calculating the position coordinates with at least one of a Global Positioning System (GPS), three points positioning technology, or base station positioning technology.

10. The method of claim 8 wherein receiving the short message from a caller'"'"'s phone comprises receiving a preset instruction separate from the phone call to either enable or disable a function for providing a location of the caller to the answerer.

11. The method of claim 8 wherein the base station transmits the class 0 SMS to the answerer'"'"'s cellular phone once the phone call is connected.