Method and system for monitoring a mobile station presence in a special area

• US 8,738,040 B2
• Filed: 03/27/2007
• Issued: 05/27/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 03/28/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Avant Location Technologies LLC (Anjay Venture Partners LLC)
• Original Assignee: Afirma Consulting & Technologies S.l
• Inventors: Prez Lafuente, Carlos Alberto
• Primary Examiner(s): Hu, Jinsong
• Assistant Examiner(s): Chang, Jean
• Application Number:
  US12/294,641
• Publication Number:
  US 20100190508A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,618 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.4, 455/555, 455/408, 455/432.2, 455/406, 455/458, 455/414.1, 455/446, 455/456.1, 455/433
• US Class Current: 455/456.4
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42365 Presence services providing information on the willingness to communicate or the ability to communicate in terms of media capability or network connectivity
• CPC Class Codes: H04M 3/42374 where the information is provided to a monitoring entity such as a potential calling party or a call processing server
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/00 Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 28/18 Negotiating wireless communication parameters
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• 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 4/50 Service provisioning or reconfiguring
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/08 Access restriction or access information delivery, e.g. discovery data delivery signalling during connection H04W76/00
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• 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 64/006 with additional information processing, e.g. for direction or speed determination
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/005 Discovery of network devices, e.g. terminals

Abstract

Method for monitoring the presence of a mobile station (200) in at least one special area (203, 203b), wherein a radio communication defining device (212, 212b) transmits one radio distinctive defining signal (214, 214b) that defines the special area by its coverage, the mobile station processes a signal received in order to determine whether or not it is a defining signal and more precisely a distinctive one that defines the special area, the mobile station sends an updating signal to a mobile telephone network, the network routes the updating signal to special operating means that adapt the value of an operating parameter. According to the invention, the special area is associated to the mobile station by transmitting to the mobile station a checking data used by the mobile station for determining whether or not the defining signal received is a distinctive defining signal.

Claims

1. A method for monitoring the presence of a mobile station in one or more special areas associated with the mobile station, the method comprising:

(a) repeatedly transmitting from at least one radio communication defining device a radio distinctive defining signal in at least one channel that at least partially defines one of the special areas by its coverage,

(b) observing the channel and processing any received signal by the mobile station in order to determine whether or not it is receiving a defining signal,

(c) processing any received defining signal by the mobile station and the mobile station determines whether or not the defining signal received is a distinctive defining signal that at least partially defines one of the special areas, and determines whether or not the mobile station is present in one or more of the special areas,

(d) sending an updating signal from the mobile station to a mobile telephone network about the mobile station presence in one or more of the special areas, where the updating signal sending is uncorrelated to any mobile station phone call establishment and is based on the last determination performed by the mobile station about its presence in each of the special areas, and said updating signal being sent at least one of (i) periodically, (ii) when the mobile station enters into or exits from one of the special areas, and (iii) when the mobile station remains into a special area,

(e) routing the updating signal from the mobile telephone network to special operating means that adapt the value of at least one operating parameter taking into account the presence of the mobile station in each of the special areas,

(f) associating the special areas with the mobile station by transmitting a checking data to the mobile station, this checking data being sent to any mobile station whose presence in the special areas is monitored and being used by the mobile station for determining whether or not the defining signal received is a distinctive defining signal that defines, alone or with other distinctive defining signals, one or more of the special areas associated with the mobile station.

2. The method according to claim 1 further comprising, sending a deactivation signal from the mobile telephone network to the mobile station to stop the mobile station from recognizing a defining signal that defines the special area as a distinctive one in order to deactivate that special area for the mobile station.

3. The method according to claim 1 further comprising, acknowledging the reception of the updating signal by the special operating means and transmitting an acknowledgement signal from the special operating means to the mobile station.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one radio communication defining device is a wireless device whose radio distinctive defining signal is a distinctive wireless signal transmitted by the wireless device in a frequency range outside the frequency range allocated for the mobile telephone network, the distinctive wireless signal containing wireless device identification data and reliable information confirming that the wireless device is effectively located into a predetermined environment, and the checking data associated with this wireless device including the wireless device identification data.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one radio communication defining device is a base station whose radio distinctive defining signal is a distinctive signal comprising a special mobile telephone network identification code, the checking data associated with this base station including this special mobile telephone network identification code.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein at least one radio communication defining device is a base station whose radio distinctive defining signal is a distinctive base station identity signal comprising an identification code of the base station, the checking data associated with this base station including this base station identification code.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the special operating means comprise a parameters database linking the special area to the mobile station and to a set of one or more operating parameters;

and a value of at least one operational parameter of this set is adapted when an updating signal signaling that the mobile station exits or enters the special area is received.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the operating parameter is a tariff flag or a service flag that enables or disables a special tariff or a service for the mobile station.

9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the updating signal includes a request to access a service or multimedia content and the mobile telephone network routes this request to a part of the special operating means that allow or forbid the provision of this service or multimedia content depending on whether or not the mobile station is into the special area.

10. The method according to claim 1 further comprising, receiving by the mobile station the checking data from the mobile telephone network or a signal of at least one radio device or from manual input.

11. A mobile system for monitoring the presence of a mobile station in one or more special areas defined for this mobile station, said system comprising:

at least one radio communication defining device for repeatedly transmitting a radio distinctive defining signal that at least partially defines one of the special areas in at least one channel,

special operating means for adapting the value of at least one operating parameter taking into account the presence of the mobile station in each of the special areas, and

a mobile station, comprising;

storage for storing a checking data,

observing means for observing said at least one channel, and

processing means for processing any received signal in order to determine whether or not the signal received is a defining signal and, if the signal received is a defining signal, for determining based on the checking data whether or not the signal received is a distinctive defining signal and whether or not the mobile station is present in the special area,

and the mobile station further comprising

transmission means for sending, at least one of (i) periodically, (ii) when the mobile station enters into or exits from one of the special areas, and (iii) when the mobile station remains into a special area an updating signal, that is uncorrelated to any mobile station phone call establishment, regarding the presence of the mobile station in one or more of the special areas from the processing means to the special operating means.

12. The system according to claim 11, wherein the mobile system comprises special area location monitoring means for monitoring the correct location of at least a part of one or more of the special areas.

13. A mobile station, comprising:

observing means to observe a channel and process any received signal in order to determine whether or not it is receiving a defining signal,

a processor to process any received defining signal and to determine, based on a previously obtained checking data, whether or not the defining signal received is a distinctive defining signal that at least partially defines a special area,

to determine whether or not it is present in one or more special areas, and to send an updating signal at least one of (i) periodically, (ii) when the mobile station enters into or exits from one of the special areas, and (iii) when the mobile station remains into a special area to a mobile telephone network about its presence in one or more of the special areas, where said updating signal sending is uncorrelated to any mobile station phone call establishment and is based on the last determination performed by the mobile station about its presence in the special areas.

14. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing computer readable program code for causing a computer to perform a method, the method comprising:

(a) observing a channel and processing any received signal by the mobile station in order to determine whether or not it is receiving a defining signal,

(b) processing any received defining signal by the mobile station and the mobile station determines, based on a previously obtained checking data, whether or not the defining signal received is a distinctive defining signal that at least partially defines one of the special areas, and determines whether or not the mobile station is present in one or more of the special areas,

(c) sending an updating signal from the mobile station to a mobile telephone network about the mobile station presence in one or more of the special areas, where the updating signal sending is uncorrelated to any mobile station phone call establishment and is based on the last determination performed by the mobile station about its presence in each of the special areas, and said updating signal being sent at least one of (i) periodically, (ii) when the mobile station enters into or exits from one of the special areas, and (iii) when the mobile station remains into a special area.