Registration of a Terminal With a Location Server for User Plane Location

• US 20080133762A1
• Filed: 10/09/2007
• Published: 06/05/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 10/10/2006
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Original Assignee: Qualcomm, Inc.
• Inventors: Edge, Stephen W., Wachter, Andreas K.
• Granted Patent: US 9,094,784 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 709/228
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/0869 for achieving mutual authentication cryptographic mechanisms or cryptographic arrangements for mutual authentication H04L9/3273
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 63/166 at the transport layer
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/02 Services making use of location information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/06 Registration at serving network Location Register, VLR or user mobility server

Abstract

Techniques for supporting network-initiated location services for a terminal are described. A location server may not be able to reach the terminal in a normal manner in certain operating scenarios. The terminal may perform registration with the location server if the terminal determines that it may not be reachable by the location server in the normal manner. For the registration, the terminal may identify itself to the location server, instigate mutual authentication of the terminal and the location server, and provide an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the terminal to the location server. The terminal may perform registration with the location server whenever the IP address changes and/or periodically whenever a timer expires. The terminal may set the timer to a value received from the location server. The location server may use the IP address to send messages to the terminal for network-initiated location services.

Claims

1. An apparatus for communication, comprising:

at least one processor configured to determine whether to perform registration with a location server, and to communicate with the location server to perform registration if registration is decided, the communication identifying a terminal to the location server, instigating mutual authentication of the terminal and the location server, and providing an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the terminal to the location server, the IP address being used by the location server to send messages to the terminal for network-initiated location services; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor receives a message to start a network-initiated location session, the message being sent by the location server to the terminal based on the IP address provided to the location server during the registration.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor decides to perform registration with the location server if the terminal obtains IP connectivity via an access network not associated with a home network of the terminal.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor decides to perform registration with the location server if the location server does not belong to a home network of the terminal.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor performs registration with the location server if the IP address of the terminal changes.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor performs registration with the location server when a timer expires.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor receives a timer value from the location server, sets a timer based on the timer value, and performs registration with the location server when the timer expires.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor establishes a secure IP connection with the location server, sends the IP address of the terminal via the secure IP connection to the location server, and maintains the secure IP connection for a subsequent registration or location session with the location server.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the terminal is a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) enabled terminal (SET) and the location server is a Home SUPL Location Platform (H-SLP).

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one processor performs mutual authentication with the location server using at least one of Transport Layer Security (TLS), Pre-Shared Key and Transport Layer Security (PSK-TLS), and Generic Bootstrap Architecture (GBA).

11. A method for wireless communication, comprising:

determining whether to perform registration with a location server; and

communicating with the location server to perform registration if registration is decided, the communication identifying a terminal to the location server, instigating mutual authentication of the terminal and the location server, and providing an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the terminal to the location server, the IP address being used by the location server to send messages to the terminal for network-initiated location services.

12. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a message to start a network-initiated location session, the message being sent by the location server to the terminal based on the IP address provided to the location server during registration.

13. The method of claim 11, wherein the determining whether to perform registration comprises deciding to perform registration with the location server if the terminal obtains IP connectivity via an access network not associated with a home network of the terminal.

14. The method of claim 11, further comprising:

receiving a timer value from the location server;

setting a timer based on the timer value; and

performing registration with the location server when the timer expires.

15. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for determining whether to perform registration with a location server; and

means for communicating with the location server to perform registration if registration is decided, the communication identifying a terminal to the location server, instigating mutual authentication of the terminal and the location server, and providing an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the terminal to the location server, the IP address being used by the location server to send messages to the terminal for network-initiated location services.

16. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising:

means for receiving a message to start a network-initiated location session, the message being sent by the location server to the terminal based on the IP address provided to the location server during registration.

17. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the means for determining whether to perform registration comprises means for deciding to perform registration with the location server if the terminal obtains IP connectivity via an access network not associated with a home network of the terminal.

18. The apparatus of claim 15, further comprising:

means for receiving a timer value from the location server;

means for setting a timer based on the timer value; and

means for performing registration with the location server when the timer expires.

19. A computer program product, comprising:

computer-readable medium comprising;

code for causing a computer to determine whether to perform registration with a location server, and

code for causing the computer to communicate with the location server to perform registration if registration is decided, the communication identifying a terminal to the location server, instigating mutual authentication of the terminal and the location server, and providing an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the terminal to the location server, the IP address being used by the location server to send messages to the terminal for network-initiated location services

20. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises:

code for causing the computer to receive a message to start a network-initiated location session, the message being sent by the location server to the terminal based on the IP address provided to the location server during registration.

21. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises:

code for causing the computer to decide to perform registration with the location server if the terminal obtains IP connectivity via an access network not associated with a home network of the terminal.

22. The computer program product of claim 19, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises:

code for causing the computer to receive a timer value from the location server, to set a timer based on the timer value, to initiate registration with the location server when the timer expires.

23. An apparatus for communication, comprising:

at least one processor configured to communicate with a terminal for registration of the terminal with a location server, and to send a message to the terminal to start a network-initiated location session, the communication identifying the terminal to the location server, instigating mutual authentication of the terminal and the location server, and providing an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the terminal to the location server, the message being sent from the location server to the terminal based on the IP address received from the terminal during the registration; and

a memory coupled to the at least one processor.

24. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the at least one processor sends a timer value to the terminal during the registration, the timer value being used by the terminal to perform a subsequent registration with the location server.

25. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein for the registration the at least one processor receives at least one IP packet from the terminal, obtains a first IP address from a source address field of the at least one IP packet, obtains a second IP address from a payload of the at least one IP packet, compares the first and second IP addresses, uses the second IP address as the IP address of the terminal if the first and second IP addresses match, and uses the first IP address as the IP address of the terminal if the first and second IP addresses do not match.

26. The apparatus of claim 23, wherein the terminal is a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) enabled terminal (SET) and the location server is a Home SUPL Location Platform (H-SLP).

27. A method for wireless communication, comprising:

communicating with a terminal for registration of the terminal with a location server, the communication identifying the terminal to the location server, instigating mutual authentication of the terminal and the location server, and providing an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the terminal to the location server; and

sending a message to start a network-initiated location session, the message being sent from the location server to the terminal based on the IP address received from the terminal during the registration.

28. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

sending a timer value to the terminal during the registration, the timer value being used by the terminal to perform a subsequent registration with the location server.

29. The method of claim 27, further comprising:

receiving at least one IP packet from the terminal;

obtaining a first IP address from a source address field of the at least one IP packet;

obtaining a second IP address from a payload of the at least one IP packet;

comparing the first and second IP addresses;

using the second IP address as the IP address of the terminal if the first and second IP addresses match; and

using the first IP address as the IP address of the terminal if the first and second IP addresses do not match.

30. An apparatus for wireless communication, comprising:

means for communicating with a terminal for registration of the terminal with a location server, the communication identifying the terminal to the location server, instigating mutual authentication of the terminal and the location server, and providing an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the terminal to the location server; and

means for sending a message to start a network-initiated location session, the message being sent from the location server to the terminal based on the IP address received from the terminal during the registration.

31. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising:

means for sending a timer value to the terminal during the registration, the timer value being used by the terminal to perform a subsequent registration with the location server.

32. The apparatus of claim 30, further comprising:

means for receiving at least one IP packet from the terminal;

means for obtaining a first IP address from a source address field of the at least one IP packet;

means for obtaining a second IP address from a payload of the at least one IP packet;

means for comparing the first and second IP addresses;

means for using the second IP address as the IP address of the terminal if the first and second IP addresses match; and

means for using the first IP address as the IP address of the terminal if the first and second IP addresses do not match.

33. A computer program product, comprising:

computer-readable medium comprising;

code for causing a computer to communicate with a terminal for registration of the terminal with a location server, the communication identifying the terminal to the location server, instigating mutual authentication of the terminal and the location server, and providing an Internet Protocol (IP) address of the terminal to the location server; and

code for causing the computer to send a message to start a network-initiated location session, the message being sent from the location server to the terminal based on the IP address received from the terminal during the registration.

34. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises:

code for causing the computer to send a timer value to the terminal during the registration, the timer value being used by the terminal to perform a subsequent registration with the location server.

35. The computer program product of claim 33, wherein the computer-readable medium further comprises:

code for causing the computer to receive at least one IP packet from the terminal, to obtain a first IP address from a source address field of the at least one IP packet, to obtain a second IP address from a payload of the at least one IP packet, to compare the first and second IP addresses, to use the second IP address as the IP address of the terminal if the first and second IP addresses match, and to use the first IP address as the IP address of the terminal if the first and second IP addresses do not match.