Acquiring information in a communication network relative to a location

• US 20070025339A1
• Filed: 01/06/2006
• Published: 02/01/2007
• Est. Priority Date: 07/29/2005
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Cisco Technology, Inc. (Cisco Systems, Inc.)
• Inventors: Polk, James
• Granted Patent: US 8,412,804 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/352
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 67/52 specially adapted for the location of the user terminal

Abstract

A technique for providing information relative to an entity'"'"'s location to an entity in a communication network. A request for information is generated by a first entity wherein the request contains a location of the first entity. The request is then forwarded to a second entity which illustratively is a trusted source in the communication network. The second entity receives the request and identifies the requested information using the location information contained in the request. A notification containing the identified information is then generated by the second entity and forwarded to the first entity. The first entity receives the notification and processes it accordingly.

Claims

1. A method for acquiring ancillary information related to a location of a first entity in a communication network, the method comprising:

generating a request for the ancillary information wherein the request contains location information representing a location of the first entity;

forwarding the request to a second entity; and

receiving a response from the second entity wherein the response contains the requested ancillary information.

2. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the second entity is a trusted source.

3. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the first entity is a communication unit.

4. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the second entity is an information server.

5. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the ancillary information includes information associated with a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP).

6. A method as defined in claim 5 wherein the information associated with the PSAP is a Uniform Resource Identifier (URI) associated with the PSAP.

7. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the request is a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) SUBSCRIBE message.

8. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the request is a SIP OPTIONS message.

9. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the response is a SIP NOTIFY message.

10. A method as defined in claim 1 wherein the response is a SIP “

200 OK”

message.

11. A method as defined in claim 1 further comprising:

acquiring the location information of the first entity.

12. A method as defined in claim 11 wherein the location information of the first entity is acquired from a Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) server.

13. A method for providing ancillary information related to a location of an entity in a communication network, the method comprising:

receiving a request for the ancillary information wherein the request contains location information representing a location of the entity;

attempting to locate the ancillary information using the location information;

if the ancillary information is located, generating a response containing the ancillary information; and

forwarding the response to the entity.

14. A method as defined in claim 13 further comprising:

if the ancillary information is not located, generating a response that indicates an error condition.

15. An information server for providing information related to a location of an entity in a communication network, the server comprising:

a network interface configured to receive a request for ancillary information wherein the request contains location information representing a location of the entity;

a processor configured to;

(a) attempt to locate the ancillary information using the location information,

(b) if the ancillary information is located, generate a response containing the ancillary information, and

(c) forward the response to the entity.

16. An information server as described in claim 15 wherein the processor is further configured to:

if the ancillary information is not located, generate a response that indicates an error condition.

17. An information server as described in claim 15 further comprising:

an information data structure wherein the information data structure contains one or more entries wherein each entry contains location information that represents a location and ancillary information related to the location represented by the location information in the entry.

18. An information server as described in claim 17 wherein the processor is further configured to:

compare the location information contained in the request with the location information contained in entries of the data structure, and

if an entry contains location information that matches the location information in the request, conclude the ancillary information has been located.

19. An information server as described in claim 18 wherein the processor is further configured to:

place the ancillary information contained in the matching data structure entry in the response.

20. A communication unit for acquiring ancillary information related to a location of a first entity in a communication network, the communication unit comprising:

a processor configured to;

(a) generate a request for the ancillary information wherein the request contains location information representing a location of the communication unit,

(b) forward the request to a server; and

a network interface configured to receive a response from the server wherein the response contains the requested ancillary information.

21. An apparatus for acquiring ancillary information related to a location of a first entity in a communication network, the apparatus comprising:

means for generating a request for the ancillary information wherein the request contains location information representing a location of the first entity;

means for forwarding the request to a second entity; and

means for receiving a response from the second entity wherein the response contains the requested ancillary information.

22. An apparatus for providing ancillary information related to a location of an entity in a communication network, the method comprising:

means for receiving a request for the ancillary information wherein the request contains location information representing a location of the entity;

means for attempting to locate the ancillary information using the location information;

if the ancillary information is located, generating a response containing the ancillary information; and

means for forwarding the response to the entity.