Positioning-triggered handover

• US 7,613,469 B2
• Filed: 02/26/2003
• Issued: 11/03/2009
• Est. Priority Date: 03/26/2002
• Status: Expired due to Term

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Corporation
• Inventors: Muhonen, Janne, Hulkkonen, Tony, Back, Juha
• Primary Examiner(s): Appiah; Charles N
• Assistant Examiner(s): Doan; Kiet
• Application Number:
  US10/508,134
• Publication Number:
  US 20050107094A1
• Time in Patent Office: 2,442 Days
• Field of Search: 455/456.1, 455/404.2, 455/436, 455/439, 455/443, 455/442, 455/521, 455/433, 455/447, 455/440, 455/456, 455/428, 455/430, 455/552, 455/426, 455/435.2, 342/457, 342/387, 342/465, 342/118, 342/88, 370/316, 370/509, 370/328, 709/206
• US Class Current: 455/456.5
• CPC Class Codes: G01S 5/0263 by combining or switching between positions derived from two or more separate positioning systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 64/00 Locating users or terminals or network equipment for network management purposes, e.g. mobility management

Abstract

A method for estimating the location of a terminal operating in a communication system having at least two networks having overlapping areas of coverage, each network supporting at least one method for estimating the location of the terminal, and the terminal being in communication with a first one of the networks, the method comprising: assessing which of the networks is likely to form the more accurate estimate of the location of the terminal; and if that is the first one of the networks, estimating the location of the terminal by means of the first one of the networks, and if that is a second one of the networks, handing over the terminal to the second one of the networks and estimating the location of the terminal by means of the second one of the networks.

Claims

1. A method comprising:

receiving a request for a location of a terminal, the request including an accuracy requirement for the location of the terminal;

in response to receiving the request, assessing which network of a communication system having at least two networks with overlapping area of coverage will more accurately determine a location of the terminal, wherein each network of the at least two networks supports at least one method of determining the location the terminal, and wherein the terminal is in communication with a first one of the networks;

determining whether the first one of the network is capable of determining the location of the terminal to within a preset tolerance, and when the first network is capable of determining the location of the terminal to within the preset tolerance the location of the terminal is determined using of the first one of the networks; and

when the first one of the networks is the network that will more accurately determine the location, initiating determining the location of the terminal using the first one of the networks, and

when a second one of the networks is the network that will more accurately determine the location, initiating handing over the terminal to the second one of the networks for determining the location of the terminal using the second one of the networks.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one method of determining the location of the terminal that is supported by the first network is different from the method supported by the second network or is different from each such method supported by the second network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first network is configured according to a first standard and the second network is configured according to a second standard different from the first standard.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the first standard is configured to provide for backward compatibility with the second standard.

5. The method of claim 3, wherein the first standard is universal mobile telecommunication system or a derivative thereof.

6. The method of claim 3, wherein the second standard is global system for mobile communication or a derivative thereof.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the terminal is configured to communicate by radio with radio access subsystems of the first and second networks and each network is configured to determine the location of the terminal using its respective radio access subsystem.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein the assessing is performed by the first network.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

initiating an emergency call using the terminal through the first network,

wherein handing over the terminal to the second one of the networks comprises handing over the call to the second one of the networks.

10. A system comprising:

at least two networks having overlapping areas of coverage, wherein each network is configured to support at least one method of determining location of a terminal; and

the terminal, wherein the terminal is configured to be in communication with a first one of the networks,

wherein one of the networks is configure to, receive a request for a location of the terminal, the request including an accuracy requirement for the location of the terminal,

in response to receiving the request, assess which network of the networks will more accurately determine the location of the terminal,

determining whether the first one of the network is capable of determining the location of the terminal to within a preset tolerance, and when the first network is capable of determining the location of the terminal to within the preset tolerance the location of the terminal is determined using the first one of the networks,

when the first one of the networks is the network that will more accurately determine the location, the system is configured to cause the location of the terminal to be determined using the first one of the networks, and

when a second one of the networks is the network that will more accurately determine the location, the system is configured to cause initiate the terminal to be handed over to the second one of the networks and to cause the location of the terminal to be determined using the second one of the networks.

11. An apparatus comprising:

a processor configured to receive a request for a location of a terminal, the request including an accuracy requirement for the location of the terminal, the processor being in a first one of at least two networks having overlapping areas of coverage, each network supporting at least one method of determining the location of the terminal operating therein, wherein the terminal is operating in the first one of the networks, and

in response to receiving the request, assess which network of the networks is best able to provide a position handling unit with the location of the terminal,

in response to receiving the request, assess which network of the networks is best able to provide a position handling unit with the location of the terminal,

determining whether the first one of the network is capable of determining the location of the terminal to within a preset tolerance, and, when the first one of the network is capable of determining the location within the preset tolerance, to determined the location of the terminal,

when the first one of the networks is the network that is best able to provide the position handing unit with the location, initiating determining the location of the terminal, and

when a second one of the networks is the network that is best able to provide the position handing unit with the location, initiating handing over the terminal to the second one of the networks for determining the location of the terminal using the second one of the networks.

12. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the first network is configured according to a first standard, wherein the second network is configured according to a second standard different from the first standard, and wherein the apparatus is configured to operate in the first network according to the first standard.

13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first standard is configured to provide for backward compatibility with the second standard.

14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the first standard is universal mobile telecommunications system or a derivative thereof.

15. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the second standard is global system for mobile communication or a derivative thereof.

16. The apparatus of claim 11, wherein the apparatus is configured to determine that the request relates to an emergency call and to hand over the call to the second network when the second network is better able to provide the position handling unit with the location.

17. An apparatus comprising:

receiving means configured to receive a request for a location of a terminal, the request including an accuracy requirement for the location of the terminal;

assessment means configured to, in response to receiving the request, assess which network of at least two networks having overlapping areas of coverage is best able to provide a position handling unit with the location of the terminal;

determining means configured to determine whether a first one of the network is capable of determining the location of the terminal to within a preset tolerance and determined the location of the terminal when the first one of the network is capable of determining the location within the preset tolerance;

initiation means configured to initiate determining the location of the terminal, when the network that is best able to provide the position handling unit with the position is the first one of the networks, and the terminal is connected to the first one of the networks; and

handover means configured to initiate handing over the terminal to a second one of the networks for determining the location of the terminal using the second one of the networks, when the network that is best able to provide the position handling unit with the position is the second one of the networks.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the first network is configured according to a first standard, wherein the second network is configured according to a second standard different from the first standard, and wherein the apparatus comprises operation means configured to operate the first network according to the first standard.

19. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the first standard is configured to provide for backward compatibility with the second standard.

20. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the first standard is universal mobile telecommunications system or a derivative thereof.

21. The apparatus of claim 18, wherein the second standard is global system for mobile communication or a derivative thereof.

22. The apparatus of claim 17, further comprising:

determination means configured to determine that the request relates to an emergency call, and

wherein the hand over means is further configured to handover the call to the second network when the second network is best able to provide the position handling unit with the location.

23. A computer program, embodied on a computer readable medium, the computer program configured to control a processor to perform the method comprising:

receiving a request for a location of a terminal, the request including an accuracy requirement for the location of the terminal;

in response to receiving the request, assessing which network of a communication system comprising at least two networks having overlapping areas of coverage will more accurately determine the location of the terminal, wherein each network of the at least two networks supports at least one method of determining the location of a terminal wherein the terminal is in communication with a first one of the networks;

determining whether the first one of the network is capable of determining the location of the terminal to within a preset tolerance, and, when the first one of the network is capable of determining the location of the terminal to within the preset tolerance the location of the terminal is determined using of the first one of the networks; and

when the first one of the networks is the network that will more accurately determine the location, initiating determining the location of the terminal using the first one of the networks; and

when a second one of the networks is the network that will more accurately determine the location, initiating handing over the terminal to the second one of the networks for determining the location of the terminal using the second one of the networks.