Method and apparatus for processing location service messages in a satellite position location system

• US 8,687,549 B2
• Filed: 12/02/2010
• Issued: 04/01/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 09/01/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avago Technologies International Sales Pte Limited (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Global Locate Incorporated (Broadcom, Inc.)
• Inventors: Abraham, Charles, Podshivalov, Sergei
• Primary Examiner(s): Phillips, Hassan
• Assistant Examiner(s): SWEET, LONNIE V
• Application Number:
  US12/959,028
• Publication Number:
  US 20110068978A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,216 Days
• Field of Search: None
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Method and apparatus for processing location service messages in a satellite position location system is described. In one example, a mobile receiver includes a satellite signal receiver, wireless circuitry, and at least one module. The satellite signal receiver is configured to receive satellite positioning system signals, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) signals. The wireless circuitry is configured to communicate location service messages between the mobile receiver and a server through a cellular communication network. The location service messages may include any type of data related to A-GPS operation, such as assistance data, position data, request and response data, and the like. The at least one module is configured to provide a user-plane interface and a control-plane interface between the satellite signal receiver and the wireless transceiver. The at least one module is capable of processing location service messages communicated using either the control-plane signaling or user-plane signaling mechanisms.

Claims

1. A mobile receiver, comprising:

a satellite signal receiver for receiving satellite positioning system signals;

wireless circuitry for communicating location service messages between said mobile receiver and a server through a wireless communication network, wherein the wireless circuitry includes;

a data bearer interface for processing location service messages formatted using a network protocol; and

a control channel interface for processing location service messages formatted using a cellular control channel protocol;

a wireless transceiver configured to receive cellular signals from the wireless communication network; and

at least one module for providing a user-plane interface and a control plane interface between said satellite signal receiver and said wireless transceiver.

2. The mobile receiver of claim 1, wherein said at least one module comprises:

a user-plane specific module in communication with said data bearer interface;

a control-plane specific module in communication with said control channel interface; and

a common module in communication with each of said user-plane specific module and said control-plane specific module.

3. The mobile receiver of claim 2, wherein said satellite signal receiver includes an application programming interface (API) in communication with said user-plane specific module, said control-plane specific module, and said common module.

4. The mobile receiver of claim 3, wherein said common module comprises a radio resource link protocol (RRLP) module having an RRLP codec in communication with each of said user-plane specific module and said control-plane specific module and an RRLP engine for providing an interface between said RRLP codec and said API.

5. The mobile receiver of claim 3, wherein said user-plane specific module comprises a secure user plane location (SUPL) module having a SUPL codec in communication with said data bearer interface and a SUPL engine for providing an interface between said SUPL codec and said API.

6. The mobile receiver of claim 3, wherein said control-plane specific module comprises a supplementary service (SS) module having an SS codec in communication with said control channel interface and an SS engine for providing an interface between said SS codec and said API.

7. The mobile receiver of claim 1, wherein said control channel interface comprises at least one of a stand-alone dedicated control channel (SDCCH) interface and a fast associated control channel (FACCH) interface.

8. The mobile receiver of claim 1, wherein said data bearer interface comprises an Internet protocol (IP) network layer and at least one of a user datagram protocol (UDP) transport layer, a transmission control, protocol (TCP) transport layer, and a hypertext transport protocol (HTTP) transport layer.

9. The mobile receiver of claim 1, wherein said wireless circuitry comprises:

the wireless transceiver;

a processor; and

a memory.

11. The mobile receiver of claim 9, wherein the processor includes at least one of a microprocessor, an instruction-set processor, or a microcontroller, and wherein the memory includes at least one of a random access memory, a read only memory, a removable storage, or a hard disc storage.

10. A method of processing a location service message, comprising:

receiving a location service message at wireless circuitry, included within a mobile receiver from a server via a wireless communication network;

determining whether said location service message is formatted using a network protocol or a cellular control channel protocol;

processing said location service message using a data bearer interface, included within the wireless circuitry, in response to said location service message being formatted using said network protocol; and

processing said location service message using a control channel interface, included within the wireless circuitry, in response to said location service message being formatted using said cellular control channel protocol.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said step of processing said location service message using a data bearer interface comprises:

decoding said location service message in accordance with a user-plane protocol;

processing said location service, message using a radio resource link protocol (RRLP) module in response to said location service message comprising an RRLP message; and

passing data from the location service message to an application programming interface (API) of a satellite signal receiver.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein said step of processing said location service message using said RRLP module comprises decoding said RRLP message.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein said step of processing said location service message using a control channel interface comprises:

processing said location service message using a radio resource link protocol (RRLP) module in response to said location service message comprising an RRLP message;

processing said location service message using a supplementary service (SS) module in response to said location service message comprising an SS message; and

passing data from the location service message to an application programming interface (API) of a satellite signal receiver.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein said step of processing said location service message using said RRLP module comprises decoding said RRLP message.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein said step of processing said location service message using said SS module comprises decoding said SS message.

17. A method, of processing a location service message, comprising:

generating a location service message at wireless circuitry, included within a mobile receiver, for transmission to a server via a wireless communication network;

determining whether said wireless communication network is configured to communicate location service messages using a network protocol or a cellular control channel protocol;

transmitting said location service message using a data bearer interface, included within the wireless circuitry, in response to said wireless communication network being configured to communicate location service messages using said network protocol; and

transmitting said location service message using a control channel interface, included within the wireless circuitry, in response to said wireless communication network being configured to communicate location service messages using said cellular control channel protocol.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein said step of transmitting said location service message using said data bearer interface comprises:

obtaining said location service message from an application programming interface (API) of a satellite signal receiver;

processing said location service message using a radio resource link protocol (RRLP) module in response to said location service message comprising an RRLP message;

encoding said location service message in accordance with a user-plane protocol;

formatting said location service message in accordance with said network protocol.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said step of processing said location service message using said RRLP module comprises encoding said RRLP message.

20. The method of claim 17, wherein said step of transmitting said location service message using said control channel interface comprises:

obtaining said location service message from an application programming interface (API) of a satellite signal receiver;

processing said location service message using a radio resource link protocol (RRLP) module in response to said location service message comprising an RRLP message;

processing said location service message using a supplementary service (SS) module in response to said location service message comprising an SS message; and

formatting said location service message in accordance with said cellular control channel protocol.