Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
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PCT/CN2005/000458
A SYSTEM OF REALIZING LOCATION AND METHOD
THEREOF
Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to positioning technology, and more
particularly, to
a system of realizing location and method thereof.
Background of the Invention
A Location Services (LCS) system refers to a system capable of acquiring
specific location information of movable targets. At present, in a mobile
communication system, positioning technology is implemented to obtain the
location
information of a target User Equipment (UE), such as an identity of a cell and
the
information of latitude and longitude. With the support of the Geographic
Information
System (GIS) and the location-based content information system, the location
information of a target UE can be provided for the target UE for self
positioning of
the user of the target UE, or provided for a communication network for area-
specific
charging or operational maintenance, or provided for other clients for use in
value-added services which have requested the location information of the
target UE,
i.e., LCS Client, for instance, agencies or individuals.
In mobile communication networks with the same standard, a target UE is able
to
roam among various location systems of the mobile communication networks.
Figure 1 schematically illustrates the networking for positioning in a 3G
network
of mobile communications. As shown in Figure 1, an LCS Client 101 sends a
location
request for a target UE 108 to a Requested Gateway Mobile Location Center
(RGMLC) 102. After receiving the location request, the RGMLC 102 finds a Home
Subscriber Server/Home Location Register (HSS/HLR) 104 of an area where a Home
Gateway Mobile Location Center (HGMLC) 103 of the target UE 108 is located
based on the identity of the target UE, interacts with the HSS/HLR 104, and
acquires
the information of the place where the target UE 108 is currently located. And
then,
based on the information of the place where the target UE 108 is currently
located, the
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RGMLC 102 finds the HSS/HLR 106 of an area where a Visited Gateway Mobile
Location Center (VGMLC) 105 of the target UE 108 is located, interacts with
the
HSS/HLR 106, and acquires the information related with the current location of
the
target UE 108 so as to acquire the specific location information of the target
UE 108.
The VGMLC 105 and HSS/HLR 106 belong to a Public Land Mobile Network
(PLMN) 107 where the target UE is currently located. Here, the mobile
communication networks where the RGMLC 102, RGMLC 103, and VGMLC 105
are located are all based on the same standard.
Figure 2 schematically illustrates the networking for positioning in a 3G2
network of mobile communications. As shown in Figure 2, an LCS Client 101
sends a
location request for a target UE 108 to a Requested Mobile Position Center
(RMPC)
201. After receiving the location request, based on the identity of the target
UE, the
RMPC 201 finds an HLR 203 of an area where a Home Mobile Position Center
(HMPC) 202 of the target UE is located, interacts with the HLR 203, and
acquires the
information of the place where the target UE is currently located. And then,
the
RMPC 201 finds an HLR 205 of an area where a Visited Mobile Position Center
(VMPC) 204 of the target UE is located based on the obtained information of
the
place where the target UE is currently located, interacts with the HLR 205,
and
acquires the information related with the current location of the target UE so
as to get
the specific location information of the target UE.
As seen from the above descriptions, a GMLC or MPC has to be connected not
only with local communication devices such as HSS/HLR in local, but also with
devices like other HSS/HLRs which are not in local, which makes the network's
architecture complicated, causes many difficulties of the mobile communication
network's maintenance and upgrade, and also increases the costs in maintaining
and
upgrading the network.
Furthermore, as the GMLC or MPC has to be connected with both the local and
non-local communication devices, it is impossible to implement roaming among
the
location systems in the mobile communication networks based on different
standards
in prior art, e.g., target UE is unable to roam among the above-said location
systems
in a 3G and a 3G2 mobile communication networks.
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Summary of the Invention
PCT/CN2005/000458
In view of the above, one objective of this invention is to provide a system
of
realizing location so as to simplify the architecture of the mobile
communications
network. Another objective of this invention is to provide a method of
realizing
location such that the location related information could be transferred only
via
location centers.
To attain the above objectives, the present invention provides a system for
positioning, comprising more than one position center with an address-parsing
function and at least one communication device, wherein each position center
is
connected with at least one communication device in the mobile communication
network which the position center belongs to, and the position centers are
connected
with each other.
The invention also provides a method for positioning, comprising the steps of:
a
Requested Position Center receiving a location request for a target UE, and
finding a
Visited Position Center where the target UE is currently located; the
Requested
Position Center sending a location request to the Visited Position Center and
acquiring
the location information of the target UE.
In the above solution, the method of the Requested Position Center finding the
Visited Position Center may comprise: the Requested Position Center
interacting with
2o a communication device of the mobile communication network to which the
Requested Position Center belongs to find the Visited Position Center.
In the above solution, the step of the Requested Position Center interacting
with
a communication device of the mobile communication network to which the
Requested Position Center belongs may comprise: the Requested Position Center
providing the target UE identity for a communication device of the mobile
communication network to which the Requested Position Center belongs, and the
communication device providing the Requested Position Center with the address
information of the Visited Position Center where the target UE is currently
located
based on the target UE identity; according to the address information, the
Requested
Position Center finding the Visited Position Center where the target UE is
currently
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located.
PCT/CN2005/000458
In the above solution, the step of the Requested Position Center finding the
Visited Position Center where the target UE is currently located may comprise:
based
on the saved address list and the received address information, the Requested
Position
Center finding the Visited Position Center where the target UE is currently
located.
In the above solution, before providing the Requested Position Center with the
address information of the Visited Position Center where the target UE is
currently
located, it may further comprise: the communication device interacting with
other
communication devices and acquiring the address information of the Visited
Position
Center where the target UE is currently located.
In the above solution, the step of acquiring the location information of the
target
UE may comprise: after receiving the location request, the Visited Position
Center
interacting with the communication device of the mobile communication network
to
which the Visited Position Center belongs and acquiring the relevant data
needed for
calculating the location information of the target UE.
In the above solution, before acquiring the relevant data needed for
calculating
the location information of the target UE, it may further comprise: the
Visited Position
Center interacting with the Requested Position Center.
In the above solution, the step of a Requested Position Center receiving a
location request for a target UE and finding a Visited Position Center where
the target
UE is currently located may further comprise: the Requested Position Center
finding
the Home Position Center of the target UE.
In the above solution, the step of the Requested Position Center sending a
location request to the Visited Position Center and acquiring the location
information
of the target UE may further comprise: the Requested Position Center sending a
location request to the Home Position Center it found.
In the above solution, the location request the Requested Position Center
received may come from a Location Services (LCS) Client, and after the step of
the
Requested Position Center sending a location request to the Visited Position
Center
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and acquiring the location information of the target UE, it may further
comprise: the
Requested Position Center providing the LCS Client with the acquired location
information of the target UE.
In accordance with the solutions put forward by this invention, the method of
implementing positioning a target UE comprises: connecting each position
center
which possesses an address-parsing function with a communication device in the
mobile communication network which the position center belongs to, and then
connecting each two position centers together. In this way, the architecture
of the
mobile communications network will be greatly simplified, and the costs in
maintaining and upgrading the mobile communications network will be decreased;
when a target UE roams among different positioning centers, the positioning
related
information for the target UE may be transmitted only via the positioning
centers
without transmission between the other communication devices in the mobile
communication network.
Since the links between the positioning centers have nothing to do with the
specific implementation of the mobile communication networks, the positioning
centers no longer have to be the position centers of the mobile communication
networks with the same standard. It is only necessary to add application-layer
position
centers to the mobile communication networks, so that it is easy to position a
target
UE when it roams among the position centers of the mobile communication
networks
with different standards while the reconstruction of the existing mobile
communication networks is not needed.
Brief Description of the Drawings
Figure 1 schematically illustrates the networking for positioning in a 3G
mobile
communication network;
Figure 2 schematically illustrates the networking for positioning in a 3G2
mobile
communication network;
Figure 3 schematically illustrates the networking for positioning in
accordance
with this invention;
s
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Figure 4 is a flowchart for positioning in accordance with this invention.
Detailed Description of Preferred Embodiments
The present invention is hereinafter described in detail with reference to the
accompanying drawings.
In this invention, as each of the position centers has address-parsing
function,
positioning a target UE and its roaming among different position systems can
be
implemented by connecting the position centers with each other after
connecting each
position center with a communication device of the mobile communication
network to
which the position center belongs. Address lists are saved in a position
center such
that the position center could find the destination position center according
to the
address list, thereby implementing the address-parsing function of the
position center.
The said position center in this invention may comprise a newly added
functional
entity of the mobile communication network, or an upgraded entity of the
existing
position device, such as a GMLC or an MPC.
Figure 3 schematically illustrates the networking for positioning in
accordance
with this invention. As shown in Figure 3, in terms of a target UE 108, if the
Home
Position Center 303 and Visited Position Center 305 of the target UE 108 as
well as
the Requested Position Center 301 that has received the location request for
the target
UE 108 are different position centers, these position centers are connected
with each
other as follows: the Home Position Center 303 is connected with the Visited
Position
Center 305, the Home Position Center 303 is connected with the Requested
Position
Center 301, and the Visited Position Center 305 is also connected with the
Requested
Position Center 301. Each position center is connected with a communication
device
of the mobile communication network which the position center belongs to in
the
following way: the Requested Position Center 301 is connected with a
communication
device 302 of the mobile communication network the Requested Position Center
301
belongs to, the Home Position Center 303 is connected with a communication
device
304 of the mobile communication network to which the Home Position Center 303
belongs, the Visited Position Center 305 is connected with a communication
device
306 of the mobile communication network which the Visited Position Center 305
belongs to. The connecting mode between each two position centers may be a
mode
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employed in the existing position center. And the connecting mode between the
position center and the communication device of the mobile communication
network
the position center belongs to may also be a mode employed between the
existing
position center and the communication device. The above-said communication
device
may comprise any one or combination of such devices as a mobile switching
center
(MSC), HLR, HSS, service control point (SCP), and Privacy Profile Register
(PPR).
Based on the above-said networking approach, the roaming of the target UE 108
among different position systems can be implemented with only one link of the
network connections between the requested place, home place, and visited place
while
it is no longer necessary that the position systems be position systems in the
same-standard mobile communication networks, which greatly simplifies the
architecture of the mobile communication networks.
Figure 4 is a flowchart for positioning in accordance with this invention. As
shown in Figure 4, the process of positioning a target UE comprises the
following
steps:
Step 401 ~ Step 402: After receiving a location request for a target UE from
an
LCS Client, the Requested Position Center interacts with a communication
device in
the mobile communication network to which the Requested Position Center
belongs,
and finds the Home Position Center of the target UE and the Visited Position
Center
where the UE is currently located. The said communication device belongs to
the
same mobile communication network as the Requested Position Center, and is
connected with the Requested Position Center.
The process of the Requested Position Center interacting with the
communication device in the mobile communication network which the Requested
Position Center belongs to may comprise: the Requested Position Center
providing
the communication device with the identity of the target UE which is in the
mobile
communication network the Requested Position Center belongs to, the
communication device, based on the target UE identity, providing the Requested
Position Center with the address information of the target UE's Home Position
Center
and the Visited Position Center where the target UE is currently located, and
based on
the self stored address list and the address information provided by the
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communication device, the Requested Position Center finding the Home Position
Center and the Visited Position Center. If the communication device is unable
to
provide the Requested Position Center with the address information of the
target UE's
Home Position Center and the Visited Position Center where the target UE is
currently
located, the communication device may further interact with other
communication
devices to acquire the address information of the Home Position Center and the
Visited Position Center, and then provides the address information for the
Requested
Position Center, wherein the said other communication devices may belong to
the
same mobile communication network as the previously mentioned communication
device or belong to a different communication network.
Step 403 ~ Step 405: The Requested Position Center sends a location request to
the Home Position Center and the Visited Position Center. After receiving the
location
request, each of the Home Position Center and the Visited Position Center
interacts,
respectively, with the communication device in the mobile communication
network to
which it belongs to. The Home Position Center may interact with the Visited
Position
Center as well, and the Home Position Center or the Visited Position Center
may
interact with the Requested Position Center as well, so as to acquire the
related data
needed for calculating the location information of the target UE, such as an
ephemeris
for satellite positioning, and eventually obtain the detailed location
information of the
target UE. In the end, the Requested Position Center provides the LCS Client
with the
detailed location information of the target UE.
Since the specific process of positioning the target UE in the present
invention is
completely the same as it is in the prior art, no further description of
positioning the
target UE will be given here.
Alternatively, the Requested Position Center may only search the Visited
Position Center where the target UE is currently located, then the subsequent
process
comprises: the Requested Position Center sending a location request to the
Visited
Position Center; after receiving the location request, the Visited Position
Center
interacting with the communication device in the mobile communication network
the
Visited Position Center belongs to, or interacting with the Requested Position
Center
or Home Position Center so as to acquire the relevant data needed for
positioning the
target UE.
a
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The above said Requested Position Center, Home Position Center, and Visited
Position Center may be different position centers, or any two or three of them
be one
position center.
To sum up, the foregoing is only a preferred embodiment of this invention and
is
not for use in limiting the protection scope thereof.
