Method for providing a service for monitoring the movement of subscribers amongst the coverage areas of the mobile cellular communication networks and a system for carrying out said method

• US 8,447,266 B2
• Filed: 12/12/2008
• Issued: 05/21/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 05/21/2008
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: Eyeline Communications CIS, LLC
• Original Assignee: Eyeline Communications CIS, LLC
• Inventors: Smelov, Aleksey Vladislavovich, Gumirov, Vitaliy Shamilovich
• Primary Examiner(s): Hu, Jinsong
• Assistant Examiner(s): Elhag, Magdi
• Application Number:
  US12/993,775
• Publication Number:
  US 20110263247A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,621 Days
• Field of Search: 455/404.1, 455/404.2, 455/414.1, 455/414.2, 455/414.3, 455/432.1, 455/435.1, 455/456.1, 455/456.3, 455/461
• US Class Current: 455/404.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/021 Services related to particular areas, e.g. point of interest [POI] services, venue services or geofences
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/12 Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/20 Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/08 Mobility data transfer

Abstract

Methods and system are provided for travelling subscribers of a mobile cellular communication networks (MCC) with a service for monitoring their movement in the coverage areas of the network and informing third persons about their movements. Travelling subscribers are provided a service for monitoring their movements between the MCC networks of GSM and UMTS standards, or between the segments of the networks, and for informing the recipients selected by the subscriber, or another authorized person, about the arrival of the subscriber. The service does not require modification or updating of the existing network infrastructure, or additional functionality for the infrastructure elements. Subscribers, upon their arrival at a new place, need not call relatives or send short SMS. The service is of particular value to the disabled.

Claims

1. A method for providing a service for monitoring the movement of a subscriber to a respective subscriber'"'"'s destination, the subscriber arriving at the destination at a specific time, amongst the coverage areas of mobile cellular communication (MCC) networks, comprising the steps of:

(a) accepting an application, the application including application data and application parameters, from an initiator of the application for the monitoring service through the Internet using a specialized website, through the signal Transmission System 7 (SS7) using the short message service (SMS), or the Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) supplementary services request protocol;

(b) processing the application data and verifying the accuracy of the application parameters;

(c) conducting a monitoring service to provide monitoring results;

(d) processing the monitoring results; and

(e) informing the recipients about the monitoring results,

wherein networks of Global System for Mobile Communication (GSM) and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) standards are used,

wherein verification of the accuracy of the application parameters comprising;

checking the presence of a subscriber'"'"'s destination, time of the subscriber'"'"'s arrival at the destination, the subscriber'"'"'s telephone number, and a contact address of at least one recipient, and

wherein monitoring comprising;

determine a monitoring schedule on the basis of the application parameters;

conducting the monitoring procedure at a specified time in accordance with the determined monitoring schedule;

sending a short SMS message to the subscriber'"'"'s telephone number at the specified time;

awaiting subsequently a message signal from the subscriber'"'"'s home location registry confirming the subscriber'"'"'s registration in a new MCC network and then requesting for the address of the current serving visiting location registry associated with the new MCC network;

using a home database to retrieve the name of the geographic location at the address of the current serving visiting location registry;

verifying during the processing of the monitoring results whether the name of the scheduled subscriber'"'"'s destination is identical to the name of the geographic place obtained as a result of monitoring, and whether the schedule time of arrival given in the application is identical to the registration time of the subscriber'"'"'s mobile terminal in the new MCC network; and

informing the at least one recipient about the monitoring results through the SMS short message service, or the MMS multimedia message service, or the e-mail electronic mail service, or the HTTP hypertext transfer protocol.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein an application for the service to be provided is accepted through the Internet using a specialized website, or through the SMS short message service, or by sending a USSD request.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein verification of the accuracy of the application comprises verification of the destination indicated, time given for the subscriber'"'"'s arrival at destination, and addresses of the recipients to whom monitoring results are to be sent.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein verification of the accuracy of the application comprises verification of the accuracy of the subscriber'"'"'s telephone number indicated by sending an SMS message with a test code at that address.

5. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a short SMS message is sent to the subscriber if the name of the geographic place received at the address of the current serving visiting location registry is not identical to the scheduled destination given by the application initiator to inform the subscriber about the unsuccessful monitoring attempt.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the waiting time for the message signal from the subscriber'"'"'s home location registry is limited to a preset time out.

7. The method as claimed in claim 6, wherein a short SMS message is sent to the subscriber upon expiry of the waiting time for the message signal from the subscriber'"'"'s home location registry to inform the subscriber about the unsuccessful monitoring attempt.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein a short SMS message is sent to the subscriber after the recipients have been informed about the monitoring results, said short SMS message containing a report on the notifications sent.

9. A system for providing a service for monitoring the movements of subscribers to a respective subscriber'"'"'s destination, the subscriber arriving at the subscriber'"'"'s destination at a specific time, amongst the coverage areas of mobile cellular communication (MCC) networks and informing at least one recipient, comprising:

a monitoring applications acceptance unit;

a basic service logic unit;

a unit interacting with a signaling network;

and a monitoring data output unit,

wherein;

the application acceptance unit comprises;

a monitoring request analyzer that verifies the presence and accuracy of the subscriber'"'"'s destination, the time of the subscriber'"'"'s arrival at the destination, the subscriber'"'"'s telephone number, and a contact address of at least one recipient;

the basic service logic unit comprises;

a monitoring instruction processor and a monitoring instruction database to draw up and use a monitoring schedule and start up the monitoring procedure at a specified time in accordance therewith; and

a territorial position database that verifies conformity of the address of the geographic place received from the current serving visiting location registry with the geographic place of the subscriber'"'"'s destination;

the unit interacting with the signaling network comprising;

a monitoring instruction processor and Mobile Application Part (MAP) protocol interface module that uses operations of sending a short SMS message to the subscriber'"'"'s telephone number, activating a waiting flag in the home location registry, and receiving a message signal from the home location registry on an update of the subscriber'"'"'s location to mark the time of registration of the monitored subscriber in the coverage area of a new MCC network;

the monitoring data output unit comprising;

a notification instruction processor, a MAP interface module informing the at least one recipient about the monitoring results through the SMS short message service if the monitoring data output unit is connected directly to the SS7 signaling network;

an SMPP interface module informing the recipients about the monitoring results through the SMS short message service if an SMS message is sent through an outside MSM SMS message transmission center;

an MM7 interface module informing the recipients about the monitoring results through the MMS multimedia message service; and

SMTP interface module informing the recipients about the monitoring results through the e-mail electronic mail service; and

HTTP interface module informing the recipients about the monitoring results through the HTTP hypertext transfer protocol.