Determining geographical position in IPV6 networks

• US 20050272421A1
• Filed: 06/07/2004
• Published: 12/08/2005
• Est. Priority Date: 06/07/2004
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: ThinkLogix, LLC (Ascend Innovation Management, LLC)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Vare, Jani, Virtanen, Kari
• Granted Patent: US 7,330,726 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/432.100
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/16 Implementation or adaptation of Internet protocol [IP], of transmission control protocol [TCP] or of user datagram protocol [UDP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 69/161 Implementation details of TCP/IP or UDP/IP stack architecture; Specification of modified or new header fields
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/023 using mutual or relative location information between multiple location based services [LBS] targets or of distance thresholds

Abstract

The present invention provides methods and apparatus for including geographical information of a target node in a geographical response message when requested by a requesting node. Geographical messages are supported at higher layer protocol. The geographical messaging may be included in an IPv6 datagram that supports a data payload and the geographical information in an extension header. An embodiment of the invention supports messaging that is associated with the Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) and that is compatible with IPv6 specifications. The requesting node may insert the geographical position of the requesting node when sending a request to the target node. Both peer-to-peer and client-server architectures may be supported. A node may provide geographical-based information that comprises geographical coordinates or other variations of the geographical-based information. Moreover, a node may include non-geographical information that is associated with the node.

Claims

1. A method that provides a geographical-based service to a source node, comprising:

(A) formatting a requesting service message that is associated with a higher-layer protocol, the requesting service message being indicative that a first geographical position of a target node is being requested;

(B) merging the requesting service message with a requesting datagram; and

(C) sending the requesting datagram to the target node.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(D) in response to (C), receiving a reply datagram from the target node;

(E) extracting a reply position message component including a reply service message that is associated with the higher-layer protocol; and

(F) determining the first geographical position of the target node from the reply position message component.

3. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(D) receiving a received datagram from another node;

(E) extracting a received service message that is associated with the high-layer protocol, the received service message being indicative that the other node is requesting an associated geographical position of the source node;

(F) determining the associated geographical position of the source node;

(G) formatting a response position message component, the response position message component containing the associated geographical position of the source node;

(H) merging the response position message component in a response datagram; and

(I) sending the response datagram to the other node.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein (A) comprises:

(i) formatting an echo request message.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein (A) comprises:

(i) formatting a position information request message.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein the reply position message component comprises an extension header and an echo reply message.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the extension header is selected from the group consisting of a destination option header and a hop-by-hop header.

8. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(D) sending the requesting datagram to a different node, wherein a multicast address identifies both the different node and the target node;

(E) receiving a first received datagram from the target node, the first received datagram containing the first geographical position of the target node;

(F) receiving a second received datagram from the different node, the second received datagram containing a second geographical position of the different node; and

(G) determining the first geographical position and the second geographical position from a first reply position message component and a second reply position message component respectively, the first reply position message component and the second reply position message component comprising a first reply service message and a second reply service message respectively, the first reply service message and the second reply service message being associated with the higher layer protocol.

9. The method of claim 2, wherein the first geographical position of the target node comprises geographical coordinates of the target node.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein the first geographical position of the target node comprises a physical location address of the target node.

11. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

(G) decrypting the reply position message component.

12. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(D) authenticating the source node with the target node.

13. The method of claim 2, further comprising:

(G) representing the first geographical position on a geographical map.

14. The method of claim 1, wherein the requesting datagram complies with an Internet Protocol version (IPv6) specification, and wherein the requesting service message comprises an ICMPv6 informational message.

15. The method of claim 2, wherein the reply datagram complies with an Internet Protocol version (IPv6) specification, and wherein the reply service message comprises an ICMPv6 informational message.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the first geographical location is contained in an extension header of the reply datagram.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the extension header is contained in the ICMPv6 informational message.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the extension header comprises a destination option header.

19. The method of claim 16, wherein the extension header comprises a hop-by-hop header.

20. The method of claim 2, wherein the reply position message component comprises non-geographical information that pertains to the target node.

21. The method of claim 2, wherein (F) comprises:

(i) determining a street address of the target node from the first geographical position.

22. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

(D) receiving a service request to initiate the geographical-based service to determine a first geographical position of a target node.

23. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method as recited in claim 1.

24. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method as recited in claim 2.

25. The method of claim 1, wherein the source node comprises a wireless terminal.

26. The method that supports a geographical-based service with a target node, comprising:

(A) receiving a received datagram from a requesting node;

(B) extracting a received service message that is associated with the high-layer protocol, the received service message being indicative that the requesting node is requesting an associated geographical position of the target node;

(C) determining the associated geographical position of the target node;

(D) formatting a response position message component, the response position message component containing the associated geographical position of the target node;

(E) merging the response position message component in a response datagram; and

(F) sending the response datagram to the requesting node.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

(G) determining if the requesting node has permission to obtain the associated geographical position of the target node; and

(H) in response to (G), including the associated geographical position in the response datagram.

28. The method of claim 26, wherein (C) comprises:

(i) acquiring the geographical position by the target node with a Global Position Satellite (GPS) location determination module.

29. The method of claim 26, wherein (C) comprises:

(i) obtaining the first geographical position from a serving network.

30. The method of claim 26, wherein (C) comprises:

(i) obtaining the first geographical position through a user interface.

31. The method of claim 26, wherein (C) comprises:

(i) acquiring the geographical position by utilizing a time difference of arrival (TDOA) technique.

32. The method of claim 26, wherein the received datagram complies with an Internet Protocol version (IPv6) specification, and wherein the response position message component and the received service message comprise an ICMPv6 informational message.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the associated geographical position is contained in the ICMPv6 informational message.

34. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method as recited in claim 26.

35. The method of claim 26, wherein the target node comprises a wireless terminal.

36. The method of claim 26, wherein (D) comprises:

(i) encrypting the response position message component.

37. A method for supporting a geographical-based service with a service node, comprising:

(A) receiving a corresponding reply datagram from each target node;

(B) extracting a corresponding reply position message component from the corresponding reply datagram that includes a corresponding reply service message that is associated with the higher-layer protocol;

(C) determining a corresponding geographical position of each said target node from the corresponding reply position message component;

(D) receiving a receive datagram from a requesting node;

(E) extracting a receive position message component that includes a receive service message that is associated with the high-layer protocol, the received service message containing a service geographical position of the requesting node, the receive service message being indicative that the requesting node is requesting an associated geographical position of one of target nodes;

(F) selecting one of the target nodes based on the service geographical position of the requesting node;

(G) formatting a response position message component that includes a response service message, the response service message being associated with the higher layer protocol, the response position message component containing a selected geographical position of said one of the target nodes;

(H) merging the response position message component in a response datagram; and

(I) sending the response datagram to the requesting node.

38. The method of claim 37, further comprising:

(J) for each said target node, formatting a corresponding request service message that is associated with a higher-layer protocol, the corresponding request service message being indicative that the corresponding geographical position of each said target node is being requested;

(K) merging the corresponding request service message with a corresponding request datagram; and

(L) sending the corresponding request datagram to each said target node;

39. The method of claim 37, wherein the corresponding reply datagram, the receive datagram, and the response datagram comply with an Internet Protocol version (IPv6) specification, and wherein the corresponding reply service message, the receive service message and the response service message comprise an ICMPv6 informational message.

40. A computer-readable medium having computer-executable instructions for performing the method as recited in claim 37.

41. A source node that supports a geographical-based service in a communications system, comprising:

a communications module that supports communications between the source node and a serving network, the serving network supporting the geographical-based service; and

a processor that receives information about the position from the location determination module and sends a datagram to the serving network through the communications module, the processor being configured to perform;

(A) formatting a requesting service message that is associated with a higher-layer protocol, the requesting service message being indicative that a first geographical position of a target node is being requested;

(B) merging the requesting service message with a requesting datagram; and

(C) sending the requesting datagram to the target node.

42. The source node of claim 41, wherein the processor is further configured to perform:

(D) in response to (C), receiving a reply datagram from the target node;

(E) extracting a reply position message component including a reply service message that is associated with the higher-layer protocol; and

(F) determining the first geographical position of the target node from the reply position message component.

43. A target node that supports a geographical-based service in a communications system, comprising:

a location determination module that determines a position of the target node;

a communications module that supports communications between the target node and a serving network, the serving network supporting the geographical-based service; and

a processor that receives information about the position from the location determination module and sends a datagram to the serving network through the communications module, the processor being configured to perform;

(A) receiving a received datagram from a requesting node;

(B) extracting a received service message that is associated with the high-layer protocol, the received service message being indicative that the requesting node is requesting an associated geographical position of the target node;

(C) determining the associated geographical position of the target node;

(D) formatting a response position message component, the response position message component containing the associated geographical position of the target node;

(E) merging the response position message component in a response datagram; and

(F) sending the response datagram to the requesting node.

44. A method that provides a geographical-based service to a node, comprising:

(A) receiving a service request from a user to initiate the geographical-based service to determine a first geographical position of another node;

(B) formatting a requesting service message that is associated with a higher-layer protocol, the requesting service message being indicative that the first geographical position of the other node is being requested;

(C) merging the requesting service message with a requesting datagram;

(D) sending the requesting datagram to the other node;

(E) in response to (D), receiving a reply datagram from the other node;

(F) extracting a reply position message component including a reply service message that is associated with the higher-layer protocol;

(G) determining the first geographical position of the target node from the reply position message component; and

(H) in response to (G), providing an indication of the first geographical position to the user.