Providing location information for a mobile terminal from a wireless telephone service provider

• US 8,364,167 B1
• Filed: 12/23/2008
• Issued: 01/29/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 12/23/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Original Assignee: Apple Inc.
• Inventors: Sylvain, Dany
• Primary Examiner(s): Hu, Jinsong
• Assistant Examiner(s): Elhag, Magdi
• Application Number:
  US12/343,310
• Time in Patent Office: 1,498 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/456.3
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/14 Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/22 Processing or transfer of terminal data, e.g. status or physical capabilities

Abstract

Location information for a mobile terminal is made available by a wireless telephone service provider once a location request is authorized by the user of the mobile terminal. The present invention facilitates sharing of the location information for the mobile terminal with any web server that is capable of providing location based services.

Claims

1. A method for facilitating delivery of location information for a mobile terminal from a wireless telephone service provider to a web server, the method comprising:

receiving a location request at a location authorization function provided by the wireless telephone service provider in response to a web server requesting location information for a mobile terminal, wherein the location authorization function is remote from the mobile terminal;

effecting delivery of an authorization request from the location authorization function to the mobile terminal requesting authorization to deliver the location information for the mobile terminal to the web server;

receiving, at the location authorization function, from the mobile terminal an authorization response indicative of whether the authorization has been provided to deliver the location information for the mobile terminal to the web server; and

when the authorization has been provided to deliver the location information for the mobile terminal to the web server, effecting delivery of the location information for the mobile terminal from the location authorization function to the web server; and

wherein the location request includes correlation information that was also provided by the web server to the mobile terminal, and wherein the authorization request includes the correlation information such that the mobile terminal or a user associated therewith can associate the authorization request with a service request provided to the web server based on the correlation information.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the web server is configured to use the location information for the mobile terminal in providing a response to a service request that was sent to the web server by the mobile terminal.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein effecting delivery of the location information for the mobile terminal to the web server comprises:

requesting the location information for the mobile terminal from a location entity that determines the location information for the mobile terminal;

receiving the location information for the mobile terminal from the location entity; and

delivering the location information toward the web server.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the location request is received from a carrier selection function, which is adapted to:

receive a request for the location information from the web server;

identify a wireless telephone service provider associated with the mobile terminal from a plurality of wireless telephone service providers;

generate the location request for the mobile terminal; and

direct the location request toward the wireless telephone service provider, which will effect delivery of the authorization request, receive from the mobile terminal the authorization response, and effect delivery of the location information for the mobile terminal.

5. The method of claim 4 wherein effecting delivery of the location information for the mobile terminal to the web server comprises sending a location response comprising the location information for the mobile terminal to the carrier selection function, which is configured to send the location information for the mobile terminal to the web server.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the location request is received substantially directly from the web server.

7. The method of claim 6 wherein effecting delivery of the location information for the mobile terminal to the web server, comprises sending a location response comprising the location information for the mobile terminal to the web server.

8. The method of claim 1 wherein the authorization request is delivered to the mobile terminal and the authorization response is received from the mobile terminal without involving the web server.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein the location request is provided with mobile terminal identification information that identifies the mobile terminal, and wherein delivery of the authorization request is effected using the mobile terminal identification information.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the location information for the mobile terminal is obtained based on the mobile terminal identification information.

11. The method of claim 1 wherein the location request is provided with mobile terminal identification information that identifies the mobile terminal, and wherein the location information for the mobile terminal is obtained based on the mobile terminal identification information.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein the location request is further provided with mobile terminal identification information that identifies the mobile terminal and wherein delivery of the authorization request is effected using the mobile terminal identification information.

13. The method of claim 1 wherein the authorization request is delivered to the mobile terminal and the authorization response is received from the mobile terminal using short messaging service (SMS) messages.

14. The method of claim 1 wherein the authorization request is delivered to the mobile terminal and the authorization response is received from the mobile terminal using instant messaging (IM) messages.

15. The method of claim 1 wherein the authorization request is delivered to the mobile terminal and the authorization response is received from the mobile terminal using email messages.

16. The method of claim 1 wherein the location information for the mobile terminal bears on a current location of the mobile terminal.

17. The method of claim 1 wherein the location information is or is derived from one of a group comprising GPS parameters received by the mobile terminal, an identification of a cell that is serving the mobile terminal, and triangulation parameters derived from a plurality of cells that are within communication range of the mobile terminal.

18. The method of claim 1 wherein effecting delivery of the authorization request, receiving from the mobile terminal the authorization response, and effecting delivery of the location information for the mobile terminal is provided by at least one service node controlled by a wireless telephone service provider that serves the mobile terminal, and wherein the web server is not controlled by the wireless telephone service provider.

19. A system for facilitating delivery of location information for a mobile terminal from a wireless telephone service provider to a web server comprising:

at least one communication interface; and

a control system associated with the at least one communication interface and adapted to;

receive a location request at a location authorization function provided by the wireless telephone service provider in response to a web server requesting location information for a mobile terminal;

effect delivery from the location authorization function to the mobile terminal of an authorization request requesting authorization to deliver the location information for the mobile terminal to the web server;

receive, at the location authorization function, from the mobile terminal an authorization response indicative of whether the authorization has been provided to deliver the location information for the mobile terminal to the web server; and

effect delivery of the location information for the mobile terminal from the location authorization function to the web server in response to receiving the authorization to deliver the location information; and

wherein the location request includes correlation information that was also provided by the web server to the mobile terminal, and wherein the authorization request is delivered with the correlation information such that the mobile terminal or a user associated therewith can associate the authorization request with a service request provided to the web server based on the correlation information.

20. The system of claim 19 wherein the web server is configured to use the location information for the mobile terminal in providing a response for a service request that was sent to the web server by the mobile terminal.

21. A method for operating a web server comprising:

receiving a service request comprising a web query from a user web browser;

generating correlation information associated with the service request;

providing the correlation information to the user web browser;

sending a location request for location information for a mobile terminal, wherein the location request comprises the correlation information and the location information for the mobile terminal is maintained by a wireless telephone service provider associated with the mobile terminal;

receiving the location information for the mobile terminal, wherein the location information was obtained from the wireless telephone service provider and the wireless telephone service provider used the correlation information to obtain authorization to provide the location information for the mobile terminal via a communication with the mobile terminal;

processing the web query in light of the location information to provide a location based result; and

delivering the location based result to the user web browser.

22. The method of claim 21 wherein the user web browser resides on the mobile terminal and the location-based result is provided in a web page.

23. The method of claim 21 further comprising:

obtaining mobile terminal identification information identifying the mobile terminal from the mobile terminal; and

providing the mobile terminal identification information with the location request.

24. The method of claim 21 further comprising:

confirming mobile terminal identification information identifying the mobile terminal via a communication with the mobile terminal; and

providing the mobile terminal identification information with the location request after confirming the mobile terminal identification information.