Indoor location server provision and discovery

• US 9,578,115 B2
• Filed: 03/15/2013
• Issued: 02/21/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 06/15/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Edge, Stephen William, Wachter, Andreas Klaus, Fischer, Sven
• Primary Examiner(s): DOAN, KIET M
• Application Number:
  US13/840,522
• Publication Number:
  US 20130339478A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,439 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.3, 455/436, 455/456.1, 455/456.2, 455/404.1, 455/432.1, 455/411, 455/555, 705/43, 705/44, 370/338, 370/343, 370/401
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/51 Discovery or management thereof, e.g. service location protocol [SLP] or web services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

Systems and methods are presented for discovering a local location server associated with a local provider based on a relationship between the local provider and another regional/global provider. A mobile device discovers the local provider and queries a home location server which returns the address of a regional/global location server associated with the regional/global provider. A mobile device then queries the regional/global location server to discover the local location server and may then access the local location server to obtain location services. The method may be employed with the OMA SUPL location solution wherein the home location server may be an H-SLP and the local and regional/global location servers may be D-SLPs.

Claims

1. A method of supporting location services at a mobile device comprising:

receiving at the mobile device an identity of a first location provider;

querying a home location server for authorization to a first location server associated with the first location provider, the first location server providing location services to a first service area comprising a venue or building;

receiving an authorization from the home location server for access to a second location server associated with a second location provider, the second location server providing location services to a second service area larger than the first service area;

querying the second location server for authorization to the first location server;

receiving an authorization to access the first location server from the second location server; and

accessing the first location server to receive location services.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the home location server is an a Home-SLP (H-SLP), where “

SLP”

is a SUPL Location Platform, and “

SUPL”

is a Secure User Plane Location.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the second location server is a Discovered (D-SLP).

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the first location server is a D-SLP.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the first and second location providers have a business relationship.

6. The method of claim 1 wherein the identity of the first location provider comprises an identity of an area supported by the first location provider.

7. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving at the mobile device the identity of the first location server wherein the querying of the home location server and the querying of the second location server include providing the identity of the first location server.

8. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving at the mobile device the identity of the second location provider wherein the querying of the home location server and the querying of the second location server include providing the identity of the second location provider.

9. The method of claim 1 wherein receiving at the device, identities for the first location server and the associated location provider comprises receiving a business name from an access point (AP) controlled by the first location server;

wherein the first location server is a first discovered SLP server (D-SLP) and wherein the second location server is a second D-SLP.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein querying the H-SLP for authorization to the first location server comprises:

initiating a first SUPL session with the H-SLP; and

communicating the business name and a media access control (MAC) address of the AP to the H-SLP.

11. The method of claim 10 wherein receiving the authorization from the H-SLP for the second location server associated with the associated location provider comprises receiving an IP address and first authentication data for the second location server;

and

ending the first SUPL session with the H-SLP.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein querying the second location server for authorization to the first location server comprises:

initiating a second SUPL session with the second D-SLP; and

communicating the first authentication data to the second D-SLP as part of the second SUPL session.

13. The method of claim 12 wherein receiving the authorization to the first location server from the second location server comprises:

receiving second authentication data from the second D-SLP as part of the second SUPL session; and

ending the second SUPL session.

14. The method of claim 13 wherein accessing the first location server comprises:

communicating the second authentication data to the AP associated with the first D-SLP; and

receiving approval from the first D-SLP to access a wide area network Internet connection via the AP using the device.

15. The method of claim 13 wherein accessing the first location server comprises:

initiating a third SUPL session with the first D-SLP using the second authentication data; and

requesting assistance data (AD) from the first D-SLP.

16. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

receiving map data from the first D-SLP.

17. The method of claim 15 further comprising:

performing a position measurement of the device using the first D-SLP and the AP.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the request for AD further comprises a generic advertising service (GAS) initial request.

19. The method of claim 18 further comprising:

receiving, from an advertising server via the first D-SLP, advertising information as part of a GAS response;

receiving an approval for display of the advertising information at the device;

and receiving AD at the device in response to the approval for display of the advertising information at the device.

20. The method of claim 1 wherein the identities for the first location server and the associated location provider are received as part of a broadcast message from an access point.

21. The method of claim 1 further comprising:

receiving from the first location server, a time limit for the first location server to provide assistance data.

22. A device comprising:

means for receiving at the mobile device an identity of a first location provider;

means for querying a home location server for authorization to a first location server associated with the first location provider, the first location server providing location services to a first service area comprising a venue or building;

means for receiving an authorization from the home location server for access to a second location server associated with a second location provider, the second location server providing location services to a second service area larger than the first service area;

means for querying the second location server for authorization to the first location server;

means for receiving an authorization to access the first location server from the second location server; and

means for accessing the first location server to receive location services.

23. The device of claim 22 further comprising:

means for operating a location based services (LBS) application.

24. The device of claim 22 further comprising:

means for communicating with the first location server via the LBS application.

25. A non-transitory computer readable instruction medium comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor of a mobile device, cause the mobile device to perform a method comprising:

receiving at the mobile device an identity of a first location provider;

querying a home location server for authorization to a first location server associated with the first location provider, the first location server providing location services to a first service area comprising a venue or building;

receiving an authorization from the home location server for access to a second location server associated with a second location provider, the second location server providing location services to a second service area larger than the first service area;

querying the second location server for authorization to the first location server;

receiving an authorization to access the first location server from the second location server; and

accessing the first location server to receive location services.

26. The non-transitory computer readable instruction medium of claim 25 wherein the method further comprises receiving map data from the first location server and performing a position measurement of the device using the first location server and an access point associated with the first location server.

27. The non-transitory computer readable instruction medium of claim 25 wherein the method further comprises:

communicating a generic advertising service (GAS) initial request to the first location server with a request for assistance data (AD);

receiving, from an advertising server via the first location server, advertising information as part of a GAS response;

receiving an approval for display of the advertising information at the device;

and receiving AD at the device in response to the approval for display of the advertising information at the device.

28. A mobile device comprising:

a memory; and

a processor coupled to the memory, wherein the processor is configured to;

receive at the mobile device an identity of a first location provider;

query a home location server for authorization to a first location server associated with the first location provider, the first location server providing location services to a first service area comprising a venue or building;

receive an authorization from the home location server for access to a second location server associated with a second location provider, the second location server providing location services to a second service area larger than the first service area;

query the second location server for authorization to the first location server;

receive an authorization to access the first location server from the second location server; and

access the first location server to receive location services.

29. The device of claim 28 wherein the processor is further configured to execute a location based services (LBS) application and communicate with the first D-SLP via the LBS application.