Positioning and location services using civic address information
First Claim
1. A method of providing location services in a wireless communication network, comprising:
- receiving, at a first network node, a positioning request, including a civic address format indicator, requesting the geographic location of an identified, second network node;
obtaining, via a positioning function in the first network node, location information associated with the identified, second node in a civic address format; and
transmitting a positioning response including the location information in at least the civic address format;
wherein the civic address format includes one or more Information Elements (IE) selected from the group consisting of unit number, street number, street name, city name, county name, state name, postal code, road number, and identifying comment.
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Accused Products
Abstract
Positioning and location services are provided in a wireless communication network using civic address information. The civic address information may comprise a data structure including textual Information Elements such as apartment or office number, street number, street name, city, state, postal code, and the like. A positioning method is defined comprising performing a civic address lookup to obtain a location in civic address format for an identified node, based upon information about the identified node'"'"'s serving (or associated) node and neighbor nodes. Signaling is defined to request the civic address positioning method, to exchange capabilities, to communicate location information using a civic address format, report a positioning failure and optionally the failure cause, and the like. Location information may be translated between a civic address format and a 3GPP or 3GPP2 positioning format. The positioning method and associated signaling are particularly advantageous in indoor environments, where conventional positioning methods fare poorly or fail altogether.
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Citations
26 Claims
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1. A method of providing location services in a wireless communication network, comprising:
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receiving, at a first network node, a positioning request, including a civic address format indicator, requesting the geographic location of an identified, second network node; obtaining, via a positioning function in the first network node, location information associated with the identified, second node in a civic address format; and transmitting a positioning response including the location information in at least the civic address format; wherein the civic address format includes one or more Information Elements (IE) selected from the group consisting of unit number, street number, street name, city name, county name, state name, postal code, road number, and identifying comment. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11)
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12. A method by a first node in a wireless communication network, of estimating the position of an identified, second node comprising:
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receiving, at the first node, a positioning request for the geographic location of an identified, second network node; receiving, at the first node, information regarding a serving node or an associated gateway node for the identified, second node to be positioned, and neighboring nodes; analyzing, by a positioning function in the first node, the received information; based on the received information, determining a position estimate for the identified, second node, the estimate expressed in civic address format; and reporting the position estimate for the identified, second node; wherein the civic address format includes one or more Information Elements (IE) selected from the group consisting of unit number, street number, street name, city name, county name, state name, postal code, road number, and identifying comment. - View Dependent Claims (13, 14, 15, 16, 17)
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18. A hybrid method of providing location services in a wireless communication network, comprising:
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receiving a positioning request, requesting the geographic location of an identified network node; obtaining, via a positioning function, first location information associated with the identified network node in a civic address format; obtaining, via a positioning function, second location information associated with the identified network node, not in a civic address format; using the second location information to improve the accuracy of the first location information; and transmitting the improved location information; wherein the civic address format includes one or more Information Elements (IE) selected from the group consisting of unit number, street number, street name, city name, county name, state name, postal code, road number, and identifying comment. - View Dependent Claims (19, 20, 21, 22, 23)
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24. A first node operative in a wireless communication network and having positioning functionality, comprising:
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a communication interface operative to receive a positioning request, the positioning request requesting the position of an identified, second network node, and further operative to transmit a response including a position estimate of the identified, second node; and a positioning function operative to estimate a position associated with the identified, second network node, the position being in a civic address format including one or more Information Elements (IE) selected from the group consisting of unit number, street number, street name, city name, county name, state name, postal code, road number, and identifying comment. - View Dependent Claims (25, 26)
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Specification