Method and system of providing landline equivalent location information over an integrated communication system

• US 7,885,644 B2
• Filed: 04/07/2007
• Issued: 02/08/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 10/18/2002
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Ribbon Communications Operating Company, Inc. (Ribbon Communications, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Kineto Wireless Incorporated (Ribbon Communications, Inc.)
• Inventors: Tao, Patrick, Gallagher, Michael D.
• Primary Examiner(s): Tran; CongVan
• Application Number:
  US11/697,710
• Publication Number:
  US 20070238448A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,403 Days
• Field of Search: 455/414.2, 455/426.1, 455/426.2, 455/428, 455/560, 455/433, 455/435.2, 455/41.2
• US Class Current: 455/414.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/08 Mobility data transfer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/02 Inter-networking arrangements

Abstract

Some embodiments provide a method and apparatus for seamlessly providing the location of user equipment of a first communication network while accessing a second different communication network. The first and second communication networks may include licensed wireless networks, unlicensed wireless networks, or internet protocol (IP) networks, to name a few. Furthermore, some embodiments provide a civic address as the location information for identifying the location of the caller.

Claims

1. A method for providing a location of a user equipment (UE) in a first communication system comprising an access point and a network controller, the network controller communicatively coupling the UE through the access point to a second communication system comprising a licensed radio access network and a core network, the method comprising:

at the core network of the second communication system, receiving a service request from the UE through the network controller;

at the core network of the second communication system, receiving a first parameter from the network controller for retrieving, from a database, a civic address associated with a location of the access point;

retrieving said civic address from the database using said first parameter;

storing the civic address in the core network of the second communication system; and

sending a second parameter from the core network of the second communication system to a provider of the requested service, the second parameter for retrieving the civic address from the core network of the second communication system.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the first communication system comprises a wireless communication system.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first communication system is communicatively coupled to the core network of the second communication system via an Iu-cs interface.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the first parameter does not comprise a telephone number.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the first parameter comprises a media access control (MAC) address of the access point.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the first parameter comprises an Internet protocol (IP) address.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second parameter for retrieving said stored civic address is generated at the core network of the second communication system.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the provider of the requested service uses said second parameter to retrieve the civic address information from the core network of the second communication system.

9. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

prior to sending the second parameter, sending the service request from the second communication system to the provider of the requested service; and

at the second communication system, receiving a request for the location of the UE from the provider of the requested service.

10. A method for providing a location of a user equipment (UE) in a first communication system to a service provider, the first communication system comprising an access point and a network controller, the network controller communicatively coupling the UE through the access point to a second communication system comprising a licensed radio access network and a core network, the method comprising:

receiving a service request from the UE at the core network of the second communication system, the service request directed towards the service provider;

sending a request for the location of the UE from the core network of the second communication system to the network controller;

at the core network of the second communication system, receiving from the network controller a first parameter for retrieving a civic address associated with a location of the access point of the first communication system;

by the core network of the second communication system, retrieving the civic address from a database using the first parameter; and

from the core network of the second communication system, passing a second parameter to the service provider for accessing said retrieved civic address.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the first communication system is a short-range licensed wireless system that operates independent of the second communication system.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein the first parameter does not comprise a telephone number.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the first parameter is used by a gateway mobile location center (GMLC) of the second communication system to query the database storing the civic address.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein the first parameter is a media access control (MAC) address of the access point.

15. The method of claim 10, wherein the first parameter is an Internet protocol (IP) address.

16. The method of claim 10, wherein the civic address identifies a physical street address.

17. The method of claim 10 further comprising:

prior to passing the second parameter, sending the service request from the core network of the second communication system to the service provider; and

at the core network of the second communication system, receiving the request for the location of the UE from the service provider.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the first communication system is an unlicensed wireless system that operates independent of the second communication system.

19. A method for providing a location of a user equipment (UE) in a first communication system comprising an access point and a network controller, the network controller communicatively coupling the UE through the access point to a second communication system comprising a licensed radio access network and a core network, the method comprising:

at the network controller, receiving a service request from the UE through the access point, the service request directed towards a service provider;

sending the received service request to said core network of the second communication system;

at the network controller, receiving a request for the location of the UE from the core network of the second communication system; and

passing a first parameter to the core network of the second communication system in order for the second communication system to (1) retrieve, for the service provider, a civic address associated with a location of the access point based on the first parameter and (2) send a second parameter to the service provider to access the civic address in the second communication system.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the second communication system comprises at least one of a GSM system, a GPRS system, and a UTRAN system.

21. The method of claim 19, wherein the second communication system comprises server for identifying the civic address for the service provider.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the server comprises a gateway mobile location center (GMLC).

23. The method of claim 19, wherein the first parameter comprises a media access control (MAC) address of the access point.

24. The method of claim 19, wherein the first parameter comprises an Internet protocol (IP) address.

25. A system comprising:

a first communication network comprising (1) a licensed radio access network and (2) a core network;

a second communication network comprising (1) an access point and (2) a network controller for communicatively coupling the access point to the first communication network;

a user equipment (UE) communicatively coupled to the network controller through the access point, the UE for sending a service request to the core network of the first communication network through the access point and the network controller of the second communication network, the network controller for forwarding the service request from the UE to the core network of the first communication network; and

a service provider for receiving the service request from the core network of the first communication network,

wherein the core network of the first communication network retrieves a civic address associated with a location of the access point from a database when the first communication network receives a first parameter from the network controller, wherein the core network of the first communication network forwards a second parameter to the service provider when the core network of the first communication network receives a request from the service provider for accessing the retrieved civic address.

26. The system of claim 25, wherein the core network of the first communication network comprises a server for identifying the civic address for the service provider.

27. The system of claim 26, wherein the server comprises a gateway mobile location center (GMLC).

28. The system of claim 25, wherein the service provider accesses the civic address from the first communication network using the second parameter.

29. The system of claim 25, wherein the first parameter does not comprise a telephone number.

30. The system of claim 25, wherein the first parameter is a media access control (MAC) address of the access point.

31. A system comprising:

a first communication system comprising a licensed radio access network and a core network, said core network comprising a gateway mobile location center (GMLC);

a second communication system comprising an access point and a network controller for communicatively coupling the access point to the core network of the first communication system;

a user equipment (UE) communicatively coupled to the network controller through the access point, the UE for sending a service request towards the core network of the first communication system; and

a service provider for receiving the service request from the core network of the first communication system,

wherein the GMLC of the first communication system (1) receives a first parameter for retrieving a civic address associated with a location of the access point, (2) stores the retrieved civic address, and (3) sends a second parameter for accessing the stored civic address to a recipient of the service request.

32. The system of claim 31 further comprising a database for storing the civic address.

33. The system of claim 32, wherein the first communication system retrieves the civic address by querying the database storing the civic address.

34. The system of claim 31, wherein the first parameter does not comprise a telephone number.

35. The system of claim 31, wherein the first parameter comprises a media access control (MAC) address of the access point.

36. The system of claim 31, wherein the second communication system is an unlicensed wireless system that operates independent of the first communication system.

37. The system of claim 31, wherein the second communication system is a short-range licensed wireless system that operates independent of the first communication system.