Method and system for locating a mobile terminal

• US 9,326,265 B2
• Filed: 07/23/2014
• Issued: 04/26/2016
• Est. Priority Date: 12/27/2001
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Muhonen, Ahti, Staack, Jens
• Primary Examiner(s): Batista, Marcos
• Application Number:
  US14/339,141
• Publication Number:
  US 20140335896A1
• Time in Patent Office: 643 Days
• Field of Search: 455/452.2, 370/338
• US Class Current: 1/1
• 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 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems

Abstract

The present invention relates to a method and system for locating a mobile terminal addressed in a location service request by an overlay identity. A database (60) is accessed to obtain a first routing information of the mobile terminal based on the overlay identity, and the first routing information is then used to access a sub-scriber database (40) in order to derive a second routing information and a cellular identity of the mobile terminal (10), based on which a location service of the cellular network is initiated. Thereby, a LCS clients of the overlay system (e.g. IMS) can be supported in current LCS services to enhance their functionality.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving at a gateway node a service request including an internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS) identity of a mobile terminal;

matching at the gateway node the IMS identity of the mobile terminal with one or more IMS identities of the mobile terminal that are received from a subscriber database as allocated to the mobile terminal and then stored in the gateway node; and

retrieving locally at the gateway node routing information and cellular identity of the mobile terminal associated with at least one of the IMS identities of the mobile terminal that is matched with the IMS identity.

2. A method of claim 1, further comprising:

causing, at least in part by the gateway node, a location service of a cellular network for the mobile terminal based, at least in part, on the locally retrieved routing information and cellular identity of the mobile terminal, without accessing the subscriber database.

3. A method of claim 2, further comprising:

receiving at the gateway node a previous service request including the at least one of matched IMS identity of the mobile terminal;

accessing by the gateway node a database based on the at least one of matched IMS identity for a first routing information of the mobile terminal required for accessing the subscriber database;

accessing by the gateway node the subscriber database using the first routing information and deriving the routing information and cellular identity of the mobile terminal associated with the at least one of matched IMS identity; and

initiating by the gateway node a previous location service of the cellular network for the mobile terminal based on the derived routing information and cellular identity.

4. A method of claim 3, further comprising:

receiving at the gateway node the one or more IMS identities of the mobile terminal as available in the subscriber database based, at least in part, on the access.

5. A method of claim 1, wherein the internet protocol multimedia subsystem identity includes a session initiation protocol uniform resource locator.

6. A method of claim 1, wherein the first routing information includes a country code and a network code of the mobile terminal.

7. A method of claim 1, wherein the cellular identity is a mobile subscriber integrated services digital network number or international mobile subscriber identity.

8. An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program code for one or more programs,

the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus embedded in a gateway node to perform at least the following,

receive at a gateway node a service request including an internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS) identity of a mobile terminal;

match the IMS identity of the mobile terminal with one or more IMS identities of the mobile terminal that are received from a subscriber database as allocated to the mobile terminal and then stored in the gateway node; and

retrieve locally routing information and cellular identity of the mobile terminal associated with at least one of the IMS identities of the mobile terminal that is matched with the IMS identity.

9. An apparatus of claim 8, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

cause, at least in part, a location service of a cellular network for the mobile terminal based, at least in part, on the locally retrieved routing information and cellular identity of the mobile terminal, without accessing the subscriber database.

10. An apparatus of claim 9, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

receive a previous service request including the at least one of matched IMS identity of the mobile terminal;

access a database based on the at least one of matched IMS identity for a first routing information of the mobile terminal required for accessing the subscriber database;

access the subscriber database using the first routing information and deriving the routing information and cellular identity of the mobile terminal associated with the at least one of matched IMS identity; and

initiate a previous location service of the cellular network for the mobile terminal based on the derived routing information and cellular identity.

11. An apparatus of claim 10, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

receive the one or more IMS identities of the mobile terminal as available in the subscriber database based, at least in part, on the access.

12. An apparatus of claim 8, wherein the internet protocol multimedia subsystem identity includes a session initiation protocol uniform resource locator.

13. An apparatus of claim 8, wherein the first routing information includes a country code and a network code of the mobile terminal.

14. An apparatus of claim 8, wherein the cellular identity is a mobile subscriber integrated services digital network number or international mobile subscriber identity.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium carrying one or more sequences of one or more instructions which, when executed by one or more processors, cause an apparatus to at least perform the following steps:

receiving at a gateway node a service request including an internet protocol multimedia subsystem (IMS) identity of a mobile terminal;

matching at the gateway node the IMS identity of the mobile terminal with one or more IMS identities of the mobile terminal that are received from a subscriber database as allocated to the mobile terminal and then stored in the gateway node; and

retrieving locally at the gateway node routing information and cellular identity of the mobile terminal associated with at least one of the IMS identities of the mobile terminal that is matched with the IMS identity.

16. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the apparatus is caused to further perform:

causing, at least in part, a location service of a cellular network for the mobile terminal based, at least in part, on the locally retrieved routing information and cellular identity of the mobile terminal, without accessing the subscriber database.

17. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 16, wherein the apparatus is caused to further perform:

receiving a previous service request including the at least one of matched IMS identity of the mobile terminal;

accessing a database based on the at least one of matched IMS identity for a first routing information of the mobile terminal required for accessing the subscriber database;

accessing the subscriber database using the first routing information and deriving the routing information and cellular identity of the mobile terminal associated with the at least one of matched IMS identity; and

initiating a previous location service of the cellular network for the mobile terminal based on the derived routing information and cellular identity.

18. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 17, wherein the apparatus is caused to further perform:

receiving the one or more IMS identities of the mobile terminal as available in the subscriber database based, at least in part, on the access.

19. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the internet protocol multimedia subsystem identity includes a session initiation protocol uniform resource locator.

20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium of claim 15, wherein the first routing information includes a country code and a network code of the mobile terminal.