Method for positioning target terminal while protecting privacy of user thereof

• US 8,478,287 B2
• Filed: 06/05/2007
• Issued: 07/02/2013
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Original Assignee: Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd.
• Inventors: Kim, Joo-Young, Kim, Wuk, Jun, Hae-Young
• Primary Examiner(s): Siddiqui, Kashif
• Application Number:
  US11/758,164
• Publication Number:
  US 20070286212A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,219 Days
• Field of Search: 370/398, 455/440, 4554561-4566
• US Class Current: 455/456.1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0414 during transmission, i.e. party's identity is protected against eavesdropping, e.g. by using temporary identifiers, but is known to the other party or parties involved in the communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/02 Protecting privacy or anonymity, e.g. protecting personally identifiable information [PII]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 12/033 of the user plane, e.g. user's traffic
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/26 Network addressing or numbering for mobility support

Abstract

A method for positioning a target terminal while protecting the privacy of a user of the target terminal is provided. To this end, the real Identification (ID) of the target terminal is managed only by a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Location Center (SLC) with which the target terminal make a contract for positioning thereof, so that the real ID is prevented from being exposed to the outside. In this way, even when a plurality of SLCs that can be managed by different network operator performs positioning of a target terminal by using an SUPL Positioning Center (SPC) existing in an external network, the real ID of the target terminal is not transferred to the SPC, and thus the privacy of a user of the target terminal can be protected.

Claims

1. A method of providing location information of a target Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Enabled Terminal (target SET) while protecting privacy of a user of the target SET in a Home-SUPL Location server providing the location information of the target SET, the method comprising:

receiving a location service request message including an ID of a requesting client and a real ID of the target SET;

creating a virtual ID corresponding to the real ID of the target SET;

generating an SUPL Initiation (SUPL INIT) message including the virtual ID for location session initiation;

transmitting the SUPL INIT message to the target SET;

receiving an SUPL Positioning Initiation (SUPL POS INIT) message including the virtual ID in response to the SUPL INIT message;

identifying the target SET by using the virtual ID, and performing the positioning of the target SET; and

transmitting the positioning result to the requesting client,

wherein the Home-SUPL server includes a Home-SUPL Location Center (H-SLC) and a Home-SUPL Positioning Center (H-SPC), and a Positioning Request (PREQ) message including the virtual ID and a positioning method information to be used for positioning is transmitted from the H-SLC to the H-SPC.

2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the creating of the virtual ID comprises:

acquiring the virtual ID through a Privacy Control Entity (PCE) by using the real ID of the target SET.

3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the real ID is used pursuant to details of an SET session-ID defined in an OMA TS ULP V2.0 standard, and the virtual ID is used pursuant to details thereof defined in an OMA PCP V1.0 standard.

4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the generating of the SUPL INIT message comprises:

inserting the virtual ID into an SET session-ID part of a session-ID included in the SUPL INIT message.

5. The method as claimed in claim 4, wherein the SUPL INIT message comprises an ID mode indicating whether the target SET is to use the virtual ID or the real ID of the target SET.

6. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the SUPL INIT message comprises an SLP mode indicating whether the positioning of the target SET is performed in a proxy mode or a non-proxy mode.

7. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the real ID comprises at least one of a Mobile Station International Integrated Services Digital Network (MSISDN), an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), and an IP Address.

8. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the step of performing the positioning of the target SET comprising:

performing, by the H-SPC, the positioning of the target SET.

9. A method of providing location information of a target Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) Enabled Terminal (target SET) while protecting privacy of a user of the target SET in a Home-SUPL Location Center (H-SLC) providing the location information of the target SET, the method comprising:

receiving a location service request message including an ID of a requesting client and a real ID of the target SET;

creating a virtual ID corresponding to the real ID of the target SET;

transmitting a Positioning Request (PREQ) message including the virtual ID and a positioning method information to be used for positioning to a Home-SUPL Positioning Center (H-SPC);

generating an SUPL Initiation (SUPL INIT) message including the virtual ID for location session initiation;

transmitting the SUPL INIT message to the target SET;

receiving an SUPL Positioning Initiation (SUPL POS INIT) message including the virtual ID in response to the SUPL INIT message;

receiving the positioning result from the H-SPC for performing the positioning of the target SET; and

transmitting the positioning result to the requesting client.

10. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the creating of the virtual ID comprises:

acquiring the virtual ID through a Privacy Control Entity (PCE) by using the real ID of the target SET.

11. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the real ID is used pursuant to details of an SET session-ID defined in an OMA TS ULP V2.0 standard, and the virtual ID is used pursuant to details thereof defined in an OMA PCP V1.0 standard.

12. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the generating of the SUPL INIT message comprises:

inserting the virtual ID into an SET session-ID part of a session-ID included in the SUPL INIT message.

13. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the SUPL INIT message comprises an ID mode indicating whether the target SET is to use the virtual ID or the real ID of the target SET.

14. The method as claimed in claim 12, wherein the SUPL INIT message comprises an SLP mode indicating whether the positioning of the target SET is performed in a proxy mode or a non-proxy mode.

15. The method as claimed in claim 9, wherein the real ID comprises at least one of a Mobile Station International Integrated Services Digital Network (MSISDN), an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI), and an IP Address.