System and method for reducing latency of location based information retrieved from a location service

• US 9,247,011 B2
• Filed: 06/20/2014
• Issued: 01/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 09/19/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Maplebear Inc.
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Dennard, Mark D., Perera, Lasith G., Ramanathan, Sri, Shaouy, William P., Terry, Matthew A., Trevathan, Matthew B.
• Primary Examiner(s): NGUYEN, KHAI MINH
• Application Number:
  US14/309,957
• Publication Number:
  US 20140304330A1
• Time in Patent Office: 585 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/456.3, 455/414.2, 455/456.5, 455/435.1, 455/452.2
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 1/0018 based on latency requirement
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/306 User profiles
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information

Abstract

A system and method is provided for reducing latency when providing user location information services. The system is implemented in a computer infrastructure which includes computer executable code tangibly embodied on a computer readable medium. The executable code is operable to trigger a location based service to obtain user location information prior to the user registering for location services.

Claims

1. A system, comprising:

one or more computer processors;

a computer readable hardware storage device;

program instructions stored on the computer readable hardware storage device for execution by the one or more computer processors, the program instructions comprising;

first program instructions to register a user with a network or service provider;

second program instructions to trigger a location platform when the user is logging onto the network or the service provider to obtain user location information prior to the user being registered with the network or the service provider and prior to a user request; and

third program instructions to cache the user location information.

2. The system of claim 1, wherein the first, second, and third program instructions are at least one of maintained, deployed, created and supported by a service provider.

3. The system of claim 1, wherein the first, second, and third program instructions periodically update the user location information with liner grained location information and provide the updated user location information with finer grained location information for storage.

4. The system of claim 1, wherein the first, second, and third program instructions integrate into an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network.

5. The system of claim 1, wherein the first, second, and third program instructions integrate into a legacy network.

6. The system of claim 1, wherein the first and second program instructions are resident on a home location register and the user location information is stored on at least one of the home location register and the location platform.

7. The system of claim 1, further comprising fourth program instructions to receive a request by the user for location services and to provide the location services using the stored user location information.

8. The system of claim 1, wherein:

the first program instructions to register the user with the network or the service provider includes authenticating the user on a diameter server;

the second program instructions to trigger the location platform to obtain the user location information prior to the user request is requested by the diameter server; and

the third program instructions to cache the user location information includes providing a notification to a location service provider.

9. The system of claim 1, wherein the user location information is obtained from one or more users that have opted into the location based service.

10. The system of claim 1, wherein the user location information is obtained from only one or more users that have opted into the location based service.

11. The system of claim 1, wherein the user location information is coarse grained location information.

12. The system of claim 11, wherein the coarse grained location information is location information that does not need precise coordinates.

13. The system of claim 1, further comprising program instructions to provide a high priority refresh of the cache to maintain a precise location of the location information of the user.

14. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computer processor, a network log on request or authentication;

requesting, by the computer processor, location information of a user upon receipt of the network log on request or authentication and prior to the user being logged on a network using the network log on request or authentication;

storing, by the computer processor, the location information in a cache;

receiving, by the computer processor, a request for location based services from the user; and

retrieving, by the computer processor, the location information from the cache and using the location information to deliver composite services, of which the location information is a component.

15. The method of claim 14, wherein the steps of claim 14 are integrated into an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network which handle authorizations via the Diameter based signaling protocol.

16. The method of claim 14, wherein the steps of claim 14 are integrated into a legacy network.

17. The method of claim 14, wherein the requesting location information of a user is provided prior to a request by the user.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein the requesting location information of a user is periodically updated and refreshed in the cache.

19. A method comprising:

receiving, by a computer processor, a network log on request or authentication;

requesting, by the computer processor, location information of a user upon receipt of the network log on request or authentication;

storing, by the computer processor, the location information in a cache;

receiving, by the computer processor, a request for location based services from the user;

retrieving, by the computer processor, the location information from the cache and using the location information to deliver composite services, of which the location information is a component; and

providing, by the computer processor, a low priority refresh of the cache to maintain a quality of the location information of the user.