System and method for providing historical data for location services

• US 6,272,342 B1
• Filed: 09/08/2000
• Issued: 08/07/2001
• Est. Priority Date: 09/11/1998
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Ericsson, Inc. (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Original Assignee: Ericsson, Inc. (Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson)
• Inventors: Papadimitriou, Dimitris, Havinis, Theodore, Roel-Ng, Maya
• Primary Examiner(s): LE, THANH C
• Application Number:
  US09/658,233
• Time in Patent Office: 333 Days
• Field of Search: 455/422, 455/432, 455/433, 455/434, 455/435, 455/450, 455/455, 455/445, 455/509, 455/517
• US Class Current: 455/433
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/06 Registration at serving network Location Register, VLR or user mobility server
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 8/10 between location register and external networks

Abstract

A telecommunications system and method is disclosed for providing location information, which can consist of either real-time data or historical data when the subscriber requested to be positioned is either absent or not reachable, to a requesting location application (LA). The historical data is preferably stored per subscriber in a database within a serving Mobile Switching Center/Visitor Location Register (MSC/VLR) following a successful positioning of that subscriber. This historical data can consist of the location information along with a time stamp indicating the time that the location information was obtained and stored in the MSC/VLR. The age of the location information can then be calculated by determining the difference between the current read value of the system clock and the value of the time stamp information stored in the MSC/VLR for that particular location information.

Claims

1. A telecommunications system for providing location information representing the location of a mobile station within a cellular network, said telecommunications system comprising:

a serving mobile location center within said cellular network, said serving mobile location center being configured to receive an instruction to locate said mobile station, and in response to said instruction, determine said location information; and

a subscriber database adapted to receive said location information from said serving mobile location center, generate a time stamp for said location information and store said location information and said time stamp therein.

2. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein said database is a mobile switching center/visitor location register.

3. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein said database is a home location register.

4. The telecommunications system of claim 1, wherein said database is within said serving mobile location center.

5. The telecommunications system of claim 1, further comprising:

a gateway mobile location center adapted to transmit said instruction to said serving mobile location center and receive said location information from said serving mobile location center.

6. The telecommunications system of claim 5, wherein said gateway mobile location center is configured to receive an additional instruction to locate said mobile station, said subscriber database being adapted to transmit said stored location information and said time stamp to said gateway mobile location center when said additional instruction cannot be performed.

7. The telecommunications system of claim 6, wherein said gateway mobile location center is further configured to determine an age of said received stored location information utilizing said time stamp.

8. The telecommunications system of claim 7, further comprising:

a requesting location application adapted to transmit said additional instruction to said gateway mobile location center and receive said stored location information and said age from said gateway mobile location center.

9. The telecommunications system of claim 5, further comprising:

a mobile switching center connected to said gateway mobile location center and said serving mobile location center, said mobile switching center being adapted to receive said instruction from said gateway mobile location center and transmit said instruction to said serving mobile location center, said mobile switching center being further adapted to obtain positioning data and transmit said positioning data to said serving mobile location center for use in calculating said location information, said mobile switching center being further adapted to receive said location information from said serving mobile location center and transmit said location information to said gateway mobile location center.

10. A method for providing location information representing the location of a mobile station within a cellular network, said method comprising the steps of:

receiving an instruction to locate said mobile station at a serving mobile location center within said cellular network;

determining said location information by said serving mobile location center;

generating a time stamp for said location information by a subscriber database; and

storing said location information and said time stamp within said subscriber database.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein said database is a mobile switching center/visitor location register.

12. The method of claim 10, wherein said database is a home location register.

13. The method of claim 10, wherein said database is within said serving mobile location center.

14. The method of claim 10, wherein said step of receiving further comprises the step of transmitting said instruction from a gateway mobile location center to said serving mobile location center, and further comprising the step of:

transmitting said location information from said serving mobile location center to said gateway mobile location center.

15. The method of claim 14, further comprising the steps of:

receiving an additional instruction to locate said mobile station at said gateway mobile location center; and

transmitting said stored location information and said time stamp from said subscriber database to said gateway mobile location center when said additional instruction cannot be performed.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising the step of:

determining, by said gateway mobile location center, an age of said received stored location information utilizing said time stamp.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein said step of receiving said additional instruction further comprises the step of:

transmitting said additional instruction from a requesting location application to said gateway mobile location center, and further comprising the step of;

transmitting said stored location information and said age from said gateway mobile location center to said requesting location application.

18. The method of claim 14, wherein said step of receiving said instruction further comprises the steps of:

transmitting said instruction from said gateway mobile location center to a mobile switching center connected to said serving mobile location center; and

transmitting said instruction from said mobile switching center to said serving mobile location center.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein said step of determining said location information further comprises the steps of:

obtaining positioning data by said mobile switching center;

transmitting said positioning data to said serving mobile location center; and

calculating said location information by said serving mobile location center using said positioning data.

20. The method of claim 18, wherein said step of transmitting said location information to said gateway mobile location center further comprises the steps of:

transmitting said location information from said serving mobile location center to said mobile switching center; and

transmitting said location information from said mobile switching center to said gateway mobile location center.