WO2013095287A1

WO2013095287A1 - Alert messaging system

Info

Publication number: WO2013095287A1
Application number: PCT/SE2012/051457
Authority: WO
Inventors: Fredrik ERLANDSON; Lars Kari
Original assignee: Mobile Arts Ab
Priority date: 2011-12-21
Filing date: 2012-12-20
Publication date: 2013-06-27

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to methods, nodes, a system, computer programs and computer program products for sending an alert message to a plurality of User Equipments, UEs,within circuit and packet switched mobile networks without any changes needed to the mobile network and independently of any subscriber settings and preferences. The method a system obtains (606) UE subscriber data of said plurality of UEs, using passive UE location methods, where said UE subscriber data comprises UE location and UE- related network node information,determines (604) cell-based geographical alert zones and alert zone-related roaming zones based on alert area definition information (600) and radio network data for the communication network (602), and sends (608) the alert message to all UEs within the cell-based geographical alert zones and optionally alert zone-related roaming zones, by parallel in time for all cells in which at least one UE to be alerted is located.

Description

ALERT MESSAGING SYSTEM

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to the field of alert messaging and more particularly to sending alert message to a plurality of User Equipments (UEs) within mobile networks to inform and notify subscribers within defined geographic areas of dangerous or undesirable events, such as threats or emergency situations.

BACKGROUND

Today's globalized world and modern society is more vulnerable than ever and the population is exposed to an ever increasing number of major threats and hazards.

For example, the increased travelling around the planet for business and leisure makes travellers more exposed to environmental disasters, conflicts, epidemics or other diseases. More transportation through, and industries located within or close to, dense populated areas also increases the risk of serious consequences in case of e.g. traffic accidents or industrial hazardous leaks or pollutions.

The unpredictable and extreme weather conditions and climate changes also make environmental disasters more common with extreme consequences for people, infrastructure and health care.

Also, actions of war and terrorism are global and can affect a great number of people all over the world.

Furthermore, the supply of water, electricity, fuel and heat is now more centralised than ever, which, in case of disruptions or downtime, has a major impact on the population.

In all the examples above, knowledge of people's current location and a possibility to urgently alert people at risk on the current situation and what appropriate measures to take are top priorities to prevent people from ending up in unfortunate situations or even being injured or killed. This applies not only for citizens in their home country, but for citizens staying abroad as well.

In order not to worry people unduly and create unnecessary anxiety or mass hysteria, it is also of highest priority to only alert people who is actually at risk, i.e. alert only not those close to or within the affected area at the time of an incident.

Several attempts have been made in the past to inform and warn citizens of war related scenarios, emergencies, etc.

Sirens and similar aural solutions have been used since long to locally warn citizens of e.g. war scenarios, like bombs and missile attacks, etc. Aural solutions have later on often been complemented with public broadcasting systems, i.e. radio and television, in order to also provide information about the situation.

One of several problems with sirens and similar aural solutions alone is that the citizens don't get any direct information about the incident or where it is at. It can also be hard to determine if the incident is ongoing or has already occurred. The public broadcasting systems also suffer from various drawbacks. For example, the broadcasting of alert information does rarely reach only the local area in which the event has occurred, but often a whole nation why it may worry citizens unduly. A prerequisite for accessing the information is also that people are close to turned on radio and/or television.

Due to the enormous increase of mobile telephony in most parts of the world during the last couple of decades and due to that mobile phones or user equipments have become nearly everyone's possession, the idea of using the mobile equipment for receiving alert notifications has been considered highly advantageous.

Since the majority of mobile telephony standards used around the world provide message and data services as well as speech services, notifications can easily be supplied to the mobile subscribers in text format as well as in other formats, like image or video formats.

One attempt to use mobile equipment for receiving alert notifications is subscription- based alert services, in which the mobile subscriber gets alerts within his fields of interest.

A major drawback with subscription-based alert services is that subscribers must provide information about themselves and their interests in advance to receive any alerts and that the subscriber often has to pay a periodic subscription fee. In practice, subscribers seldom want to voluntarily use their own time and energy on providing personal information to get notifications of any kind. Furthermore, subscribers often fear that their personal information may be misused, sold or passed on to third parties without their approval. Most importantly, in able for an emergency alert service to be effective, it is required that the vast majority of all subscribers subscribes to the same service, for which reason subscription-based alert services in practice never is an alternative for effective emergency alerting.

Another attempt to use mobile networks to warn citizens is Cell Broadcasting with Short Message Service (SMS) which is a Global Systems for Mobile communication (GSM) standard that provides a network operator or service supplier the possibility to broadcast a message to

GSM subscribers within a certain radio cell or group of cells. A SMS Cell Broadcast message is broadcasted cyclically by a Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) in defined radio cells at a specified frequency and duration. One of the major disadvantages with Cell Broadcasting is that all mobile subscribers must initially and manually configure their mobile equipment in order to be able to receive such messages. This configuration often also includes settings of different subjects that the subscriber is interested in receiving messages in, besides alert messages.

As in the case with subscription-based alert services, it is necessary that all subscribers are aware of Cell Broadcasting services and have actively done all the required reconfigurations and subject settings in able for emergency alert services to operate. In fact, the knowledge of Cell Broadcasting is generally poor and, and even if it were not, both the effort and knowledge how to reconfigure and the risk of letting personal settings being misused makes Cell

Broadcasting a deficient alternative for emergency alert services.

Furthermore, since Cell Broadcasting systems are quite expensive and most certainly will be used for other purposes, such as commercial advertising during non-emergency periods, it is not unlikely that subscribers will become tired of this technique and choose to turn off the Cell Broadcasting feature on their mobile equipment.

Another disadvantage with Cell Broadcasting is that the location accuracy is limited to cell accuracy. Moreover, Cell Broadcasting services send the same alert message content and setting to all subscribers within a cell or set of cells.

Yet another disadvantage with Cell Broadcasting is that it severely decreases the signalling capacity of the mobile network due to repeated transmissions.

Apart from the above, there have also been proposed other attempts to handle alert message distribution in mobile networks as described in the following prior art:

WO 2009/070029 Al describes a location based alert system for sending alert messages to users of mobile phones. Probes located between a Home Location Register (HLR) and Visiting Location Register (VLR) and corresponding Mobile Switching Centres (MSCs) are utilised to monitor the traffic related to location updates. Probed data contains International Mobile

Subscriber Identity (IMSI) or Mobile Subscriber Integrated Services Digital Network Number, Cell ID, Location Area Code (LAC) ID, date and time. Sending of alert messages comprises: assessing received information and determine the relevant mobile phones with corresponding MSISDN number to send alert messages to and sending the alert messages to relevant mobile phones located in the specific geographical area. The assessing of received information may comprise a randomizing of cell ids in order to reduce queued traffic load on the same cell before a paging procedure on relevant MSISDNs for receiving serving cells for each relevant MSISDN and a check whether the returned cell ids are within the range of the cells covering a relevant geographic area. The alert message sending may also comprise measuring the time elapsed from sending the message to receiving a confirmation and, if the time elapsed is above a certain limit; reduce the load of the current cell by sending the next message through another cell.

WO 2009/104970 Al reveals a traveller's alert system for producing updated status of subscribers who are staying in a specific geographical area abroad A database is continuously updated with location information and MSISDN numbers of subscribers who are staying abroad with the aid of a probe that identifies queries from foreign operators in the mobile network to the HLR, i.e. probing is done between the national Gateway (G-)MSC and HLR. Location data relates to whole countries or specific regions in one or more countries. Data updated in the database are visited country, region, MSISDN, date and time for last update for each person associated with the MSISDN. Status for persons staying abroad may be presented on a graphical user interface connected to clients.

WO 2008/079092 Al describes a method and apparatus for mobile subscriber alert notification in which a location server receives requests for subscribers that are within an alert area to enable notifications/alerts to be sent to the subscribers from an alert application. The quality of passive location data, generated in a network element due to any of the events:

sending an SMS, making a call, location area update or periodic location update and stored in a database, is dependent of the frequency with which a core network sends passive location data to the location server at network events when the mobile station is in contact with the network. The location server reconfigures the core network and radio access network to send the information when it is needed. The method for mobile subscriber alert notification comprises sending a request to network nodes serving cells belonging to the alert area to modify the configuration of subscriber location data updating in the network nodes. The modified configuration comprises a periodic location update parameter.

WO 2006/028381 Al presents a method and system for optimized control of traffic load on switches in a communication network for maximum exploitation of the capacity of the switches when alerting the population when an undesirable event occurs in a specific geographical area by means of messages transmitted via the switches. The method comprises a step for establishing information on whom is located within a geographical area, a step for assigning load status on switches by test transmitting simultaneous calls, the number of calls being increased or reduced as a result of the revealed load on the switch and based on a set of rules, a step for clarifying and implementing broadcasting, a step for monitoring the load on the switches and a step for changing the number of message exchanges as a result of revealed load status on the switch(es). As for alerting subscribers staying abroad, WO 2009/104970 Al reveals a traveller's alert system for producing updated status of subscribers who are staying in a specific geographical area abroad by means of a probe that identifies queries from foreign operators in the mobile network to the HLR, i.e. probing between a foreign MSC and the home network HLR. As radio network data for foreign countries seldom is available and the foreign MSCs may serve large unknown geographical regions (probing between an on-net HLR and an off-net MSC provides subscriber info (MSISDN/IMSI/LMSI) and node info (MSC/ SGSN), but not cell info), the only certain location information provided by this method is in which country the subscriber is located.

Further shortcomings of prior art will become more apparent in the following description.

There is thus a need to overcome the drawbacks of prior art configurations.

SUMMARY

It is a general object of the present disclosure to provide for a client node, a managing node, a middleware node, a communication system, as well as methods in said nodes and system, and computer programs and computer program products for an efficient alert message provision to a plurality of User Equipments.

The embodiments as presented in the present disclosure address this general object of the present disclosure.

Further, a first object of the present disclosure is to provide an urgent alert message to a plurality of UEs through circuit switched or packet switched mobile networks of any generation without jeopardising infrastructure overloads and congestions.

According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method in a communication system within a communication network for sending an alert message to a plurality of User Equipments, UEs, wherein the method comprises obtaining UE subscriber data of said plurality of UEs, using passive UE location methods within said communication network, where said UE subscriber data comprises UE location and UE-related network node information, determining cell-based geographical alert zones and alert zone-related roaming zones based on alert area definition information and radio network data for the communication network , and sending the alert message to all UEs within the cell-based geographical alert zones and optionally alert zone-related roaming zones, by parallel in time for all cells in which at least one UE to be alerted is located.

According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a

communication system for sending an alert message to a plurality of User Equipments (UEs) wherein the system comprises a middleware node that is configured to obtain UE subscriber data of said plurality of UEs, using passive UE location methods within said communication network, where said UE subscriber data comprises UE location and UE-related network node information, and to determine cell-based geographical alert zones and alert zone-related roaming zones based on alert area definition information and radio network data for the communication network, and an Alert messaging service node (AMS) that is configured to send the alert message to UEs within the cell-based geographical alert zones and optionally alert zone-related roaming zones, by separate and parallel sending processes per cell for all cells in which at least one UE to be alerted is located, sending the alert message to one UE at a time per cell.

According to a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer program for sending an alert message to a plurality of UEs, the computer program comprising computer program code which, when run in a processing unit of an alert message sending system causes said communication system to obtain UE subscriber data of said plurality of UEs, using passive UE location methods within said communication network, where said UE subscriber data comprises UE location and UE-related network node information, determine cell-based geographical alert zones and alert zone-related roaming zones based on alert area definition information and radio network data for the communication network, and send the alert message to all UEs within the cell-based geographical alert zones and optionally alert zone-related roaming zones, by parallel in time for all cells in which at least one UE to be alerted is located.

According to a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer program product comprising a computer program according to the third aspect of the present disclosure and a computer readable means on which said computer program is stored.

Advantages of said aspects of the first object comprise that no modifications of either the existing mobile core or radio access infrastructure are required, that is not interfering with either the existing mobile core or radio access infrastructure, which is independently of any subscriber preferences, pre-registrations, special subscriptions or integrations, and without any application needed on the UEs.

A second object of the present disclosure is to provide for efficient definition and handling of emergency services and service requests for alert message sending.

According to a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method in a client node for defining an emergency service for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message. The method comprises determining service-specific data for alert message sending, based on obtained service data input from a managing interface and/or based on obtained service-related data from a managing node and/or an middleware node, and sending to said managing node and/or said middleware node a service request including said service- specific data, enabling sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within a defined area.

According to a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a client node for defining an emergency service of alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message. The client node comprises a Managing Interface (MI) that is configured to obtain user input, a Transceiving Unit (TU) that is configured to receive service-related data from a managing node and/or a middleware node, and Processing Means (PM) that is configured to determine service-specific data for the alert message sending, based on user input from said MI and/or service-related data from said TU, wherein the TU further is configured to send to said managing node and/or said middleware node a service request including said service-specific data, enabling sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within a defined area.

According to a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer program for defining an emergency service for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message, the computer program comprising computer program code which, when run in a processing unit of a client node causes the client node to determine service-specific data for the alert message, based on service data from a managing interface and/or service-related data from a managing node and/or a middleware node, and to send to said managing node and/or said messaging node a service request including said service-specific data, enabling sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within a defined area.

According to an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer program product comprising a computer program according to the seventh aspect of the present disclosure and a computer readable means on which the computer program is stored.

A third object of the present disclosure is to provide an efficient definition, centralized management and handling of emergency services and service requests for alert message sending.

According to a ninth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method in a managing node for defining and centralized management of emergency services for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message. The method comprises determining service-specific data for alert message sending, based on obtained input from a managing interface and/or obtained service-related data from a middleware node, and optionally receiving service-specific data from a client node, wherein the service-specific data comprises type and ID of the service. The method further comprises processing of determined and/or received service- specific data for alert message sending, and sending to said middleware node a service request including said processed service-specific data, enabling sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within a defined area.

According to a tenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a managing node for defining and centralised management of emergency services for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message. The managing node comprises a Managing Interface (MI) that is configured to obtain user input, a Transceiving Unit (TU) that is configured to receive service-related data from a middleware node and optionally configured to receive service-specific data from a client node. The managing node also comprises Processing Means (PM) that is configured to determine service-specific data for the alert message sending, based on input from said managing interface and/or service-related data from said middleware node, and to process the determined and/or received service-specific data for alert message sending, wherein the TU further is configured to send to said middleware node a service request including said processed service-specific data, enabling sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within a defined area.

According to an eleventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer program for defining and centralized management of emergency services for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message. The computer program comprises computer program code which, when run in a processing unit of a managing node causes the managing node to determine service-specific data for the alert message, based on input from a managing node and/or service-related data from a middleware node, and optionally receiving service-specific data, wherein the service-specific data comprises type and ID of the service. The computer program further comprises computer program code which, when run in a processing unit of a managing node further causes the managing node to process the determined and/or received service-specific data for alert messages, and send to said middleware node a service request including said processed service-specific data, enabling sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within a defined area.

According to a twelfth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer program product comprising a computer program according to the eleventh aspect of the present disclosure and a computer readable means on which the computer program is stored.

A fourth object of the present disclosure is to provide alerting of UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message. According to a thirteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method in a middleware node within a communication network for enabling alerting of UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message. The method comprises

obtaining UE subscriber data of said UEs, using passive UE location methods, optionally in combination with active UE location methods, where said UE subscriber data comprises UE location and UE-related network node information, obtaining radio network data for national or international communication networks using integrated or stand-alone radio planning or cell prediction tools, and global cell databases, respectively,

obtaining service request including service-specific data from a client node and/or a managing node, for sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within defined areas,

determining cell-based geographical alert and roaming zones in which UEs to be alerted is located based on said obtained service-specific data and radio network data,

obtaining radio traffic information for cells within alert and roaming zones in a base station controller, a radio network controller or from interface probes on A-bis and/or Iub interfaces,

optionally providing to client nodes and/or managing node service-related and/or service-specific subscriber data with UE location and UE-related network node information for subscribers of certain priority, type or all, and/or service-specific geographical alert area, AOI, alert zone or roaming zone data,

providing zone and cell data to an alert messaging service node for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message,

processing service requests for alerting UEs of a certain priority, type or all, located in defined zones with a defined alert message, and

providing said processed service requests to said alert messaging service node.

According to a fourteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a middleware node for collecting data and enabling alerting of UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message. The alert middleware node comprises:

a Transceiving Unit (TU) that is configured to receive:

UE subscriber data from passive UE location methods, optionally in combination with active UE location methods, where said UE subscriber data comprises UE location, status and UE-related network node information,

radio network data for national or international communication networks from integrated or stand-alone radio planning or cell prediction tools, and global cell databases, respectively,

service request including service-specific data from a client node and/or managing node, for sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within defined areas, and

radio traffic information for cells within alert and roaming zones from a base station controller, a radio network controller or from interface probes on A-bis and/or Iub interfaces,

Processing Means (PM) that is configured to

determine cell-based geographical alert zone in which UEs to be alerted is located based on obtained service-specific and radio network data, - determine geographical roaming zones based on alert zone and radio network data, and

determine service requests for alerting UEs of a certain priority, type or all located in defined zones with a defined alert message, and

Storage Means (STM) for storing subscriber, zone, radio network and radio traffic data,

wherein the TU further is configured to transmit:

optionally, service-related subscriber data with UE location, UE status and UE-related network node information for subscribers of certain priority, type or all, and/or geographical alert area, AOI, alert zone or roaming zone data to the client node and/or managing node,

said determined zone and cell data to an alert messaging service node, and said determined service requests to the alert messaging service node.

According to an fifteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer program for enabling alerting of UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message, the computer program comprising computer program code which, when run in a processing unit of a middleware node causes the middleware node to

obtain UE subscriber data of said UEs, using passive UE location methods, optionally in combination with active UE location methods, where said UE subscriber data comprises UE location and UE-related network node information,

obtain radio network data for national or international communication networks using integrated or stand-alone radio planning or cell prediction tools, and global cell databases, respectively,

obtain service request including service-specific data from a client node for defining an emergency service and/or a managing node for defining, and centralised management of, emergency services, for sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within defined areas,

determine cell-based geographical alert zones and roaming zones in which UEs to be alerted is located based on obtained service-specific and radio network data,

obtain radio traffic information for cells within alert and roaming zones in a base station controller, a radio network controller or from interface probes on A-bis and/or Iub interfaces,

optionally provide to client nodes and/or managing nodes service-related and/or service-specific subscriber data with UE location and UE-related network node information for subscribers of certain priority, type or all, and/or service-specific geographical alert area, AOI, alert zone or roaming zone data,

provide zone and cell data to an alert messaging service node for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message, and

process service requests for alerting UEs of a certain priority, type or all located in defined zones with a defined alert message and to provide said service requests to said alert messaging service node.

According to a sixteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer program product comprising a computer program according to the fifteenth aspect of the present disclosure and a computer readable means on which the computer program is stored.

A fifth object of the present disclosure is to alert UEs within cell-based geographical alert zones and optionally alert zone-related roaming zones.

According to a seventeenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method in an alert messaging service node within a communication network for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message. The method comprises obtaining zone and cell data from a middleware node, and obtaining radio traffic information for cells within defined alert and roaming zones in which UEs to be alerted is located from the middleware node. The method further comprises obtaining service request for sending an alert message for alerting UEs of a certain priority, type or all, located in defined alert and roaming zones with a defined alert message from the middleware node, and sending the alert message to UEs within the cell-based geographical alert zones and optionally alert zone-related roaming zones, by separate and parallel sending processes per cell for all cells in which at least one UE to be alerted is located, sending the alert message to one UE at a time per cell.

According to a eighteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an alert messaging service node for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message. The alert messaging service node comprises:

a Transceiving Unit, TU, configured to receive

zone and cell data from a middleware node,

radio traffic information for cells within defined alert and roaming zones in which UEs to be alerted is located from the middleware node, and service requests for sending an alert message for alerting UEs of a certain priority, type or all located in defined alert and roaming zones with a defined alert message from the middleware node, and Sending Means, SM, for sending the alert message to UEs within the cell-based geographical alert zone and optionally alert zone-related roaming zones, by separate and parallel sending processes per cell for all cells in which at least one UE to be alerted is located, sending the alert message to one UE at a time per cell. According to a nineteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer program for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message, the computer program comprising computer program code which, when run in a processing unit of an alert messaging service node causes the alert messaging service node

- to receive

zone and cell data from a middleware node,

radio traffic information for cells within defined alert and roaming zones in which UEs to be alerted is located from the middleware node, service request for sending an alert message for alerting UEs of a certain priority, type or all, located in defined alert and roaming zones with a defined alert message from the middleware node, and

to send the alert message to UEs within the cell-based geographical alert zones and optionally alert zone-related roaming zones, by separate and parallel sending processes per cell for all cells in which at least one UE to be alerted is located, sending the alert message to one UE at a time per cell.

According to a twentieth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer program product comprising a computer program according to the nineteenth aspect of the present disclosure and a computer readable means on which the computer program is stored.

Further objects and features, as well as advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from consideration of the various embodiments of the present disclosure described in the following description and the appended claims when considered in connection with the accompanied drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

These and other aspects, features and advantages of which this disclosure is capable of, will be apparent and elucidated from the following description of embodiments of this disclosure, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which

Fig. 1 illustrates a topology of a conventional Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM)/Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) network that is related to embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 2 illustrates a method of a system for sending an alert message to a plurality of User Equipments in accordance with the present disclosure;

Fig. 3 illustrates a method in a client node according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 4 illustrates a method in a managing node according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 5 illustrates a method in a middleware node according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 6 illustrates a method in an alert messaging service node according to embodiments of the present disclosure; Figs. 7a-b illustrate systems for sending alert messages according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 7c illustrates a system and nodes thereof utilized for sending alert messages according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 8 illustrates examples of alert and roaming zone according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 9 schematically illustrates various functional phases and involved nodes, for alert message sending according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 10 illustrates collection of UE subscriber data and radio traffic data according to embodiments of the present disclosure; and

Fig. 11 schematically illustrates a computer readable product according to embodiments of the present disclosure.

ABBREVIATIONS

3 GPP Third Generation Partnership Program

A-GPS Assisted GPS

AM Adjusting Means

AMS Alert Messaging System

AMSC AMS Client

AMSN AMS Node

AMW Alert Middleware (AMS Middleware)

AO Application-Originated

AOI Area of Interest

ATI Any Time Interrogation

BS Billing System

BSC Base Station Controller

BTS Base Transceiver Station

CAMEL Customized Applications for Mobile Network Enhanced Logic

CC Country Code

CDB Cell Database

CDR Charging Data Record

CGI Cell Global Identity CGI = MCC+MNC+LAC+CI

CI Cell Identity

CLB Cell Load Balancer CPT Cell Prediction Tools

DA Destination Address

DMAOL Default MAOL

DMLC Data Mobile Location Centre

E-CGI Enhanced CGI

EM Event Manager

FIFO First In First Out

FSM Forward Short Message

FTP File Transfer Protocol

GMLC Gateway Mobile Location Centre

GPRS General Packet Radio Service

GPS Global Positioning System

GSM Global System for Mobile Communications

HLR Home Location Register

IA IMSI Attach

IMSI International Mobile Subscriber Identity

ISDN Integrated Services Digital Network

LAC Location Area Code

LAI Location Area Identity

LCS LoCation Service

LMSI Local Mobile Station Identity

LTE Long Term Evolution

LU Location Update

MAOL Max Age of Location

MAP Mobile Application Part

MCC Mobile CC

MD Media Devices

MLP Mobile Location Protocol

MM Monitoring Means

MMS Multimedia Messaging Service

MO Mobile Originating

MNC Mobile Network Code

MSC Mobile Switching Centre

MSISDN Mobile Subscriber ISDN Number MT Mobile Terminating

NMR Network Management Record

OMA Open Mobile Alliance

PAS Public Alert System

PCU Packet Control Unit

PM Processing Means

PSI Provide Subscriber Information

QOL Quality of Location

RDS Reference Data Server

RNC Radio Network Controller

RTT Round-Trip Time

SAF Store And Forward

SAI Serving Area Identity

SAS Stand Alone SMLC

SCP Session Control Protocol

SDB Subscriber DataBase

SFTP Secret FTP

SGSN Serving GPRS Support Node

SM Sending Means

SMLC Serving Mobile Location Centre

SMPP Short Message Peer-to-peer Protocol

SMS Short Message Service

SOAP Simple Object Access Protocol

SUPL Secure User Plane Location

SRI-LCS Send Routing Information for Location Service

SRI-SM Send Routing Information for Short Message

STM Storage Means

TA Timing Advance

TMSI Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity

TU Transceiving Unit

UC-ID UTRAN Cell Identity

UE User Equipment

UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System

USSD Unstructured Supplementary Services Data UTRAN Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network

ZDD Zone Data Definition

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

As a general demand for cost-effective alert message routing and implementation is to utilise the existing mobile network, which infrastructure is dimensioned according to anticipated population density and communication requirements. Normally, the mobile network infrastructure is not dimensioned to handle more than a few percent of simultaneous calls and messages in comparison with the anticipated population in an area. The use of prior art methods and equipment for urgent mass sending of alert messages will most certainly overload the infrastructure resulting in congestions or collapse, so that neither the alert messages, nor the normal calls and messages will get through.

There are hence obvious demands for a method and system to handle urgent mass sending of alert messages during emergencies through circuit or packet switched mobile networks of any generation without jeopardising infrastructure overloads and congestions and without any changes done to or interference with the existing mobile core and radio access infrastructure.

Another obvious demand is that all subscribers in all types of mobile networks shall individually be able to receive alert messages in shortest possible time independently of any subscriber preferences, pre-registrations, special subscriptions or integrations, or without any application needed on the mobile User Equipment (UE).

To avoid unnecessary load on the mobile network and not worry unconcerned people unduly, one major demand for effective alert message sending is to rapidly acquire knowledge of where subscribers are located and only alert subscribers within affected defined geographic areas. This in both packet and circuit switched mobile networks as well as in mobile networks of different generations.

Accordingly, one challenge for effective alert messaging sending is to obtain and update subscriber data including UE location with minimal impact on mobile network load and functionality. Another challenge for effective alert message sending is to continually obtain and store subscriber data with User Equipment (UE) location via location methods with minimal impact on the network traffic and load and then, if necessary, update old or obsolete data by location methods affecting network traffic and load as little as possible.

To increase the throughput of alert messages sending while avoiding core and radio access network overloads and congestions, one demand for effective alert message sending is to offload the HLR and MSC/SGSN as much as possible, e.g. by storing or caching subscriber UE node and location info, so that no extra signalling is needed to retrieve this.

In order to only send messages to subscribers within the actual defined emergency area(s), a demand for effective alert message sending is to determine cell-based geographical alert zones based on Cell Global Identity (CGI), within GSM, and Service Area Identity (SAI) within UMTS and/or geographic coordinates from alert area definition information and radio network data for the communication network.

To ensure that all subscribers, also those who may enter into an emergency area during alert message sending, will receive an alert message, a challenge for effective alert message sending is to determine an alert zone-related roaming zone from alert zone definition information comprising cells or geographic areas surrounding the alert zone or Location Areas, having Location Area Identities (LAIs) including cells of the alert zone and then send messages to not only the alert zone, but also to the roaming zone dependant on settings. Another challenge is that the roaming zone should be able to be defined statically, with a size that is set from message sending start, as well as dynamically, with a size that varies, for instance decreases, over time based on e.g. remaining message sending validity period, progressed sending time, on internal system settings, subscriber priority or on subscriber-specific settings.

To increase the alert message sending throughput while avoiding core and radio access network overloads and congestions, one demand for effective alert message sending is to handle message sending so that the message output and radio traffic load lies within an acceptable output and radio traffic load interval and so that the radio traffic load is uniformly distributed among all (instances of) cells wherein a UE to be alerted is located. Accordingly, one challenge for effective alert message sending is to determine and monitor the radio traffic capacity and radio traffic load per cell.

To further increase the throughput of alert messages while avoiding core and radio access network overloads and congestions, other challenges for effective alert message sending are to use separated sending processes for messages needing and not needing initial paging and to send messages as packet switched data instead of circuit switched data if possible.

To fully utilize different network's performance and subscriber UE's presentation functionality, demands for effective alert message handling is to be able to send alert messages as circuit switched Short Message Services (SMS) messages or Unstructured Supplementary Services Data (USSD) messages as well as packet switched Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) or SMS over General Packet Radio Service (GPRS). To enable efficient defining, refining and supervision of alert areas as well as enabling efficient defining and refining of alert message sending services, one demand for effective alert message sending preparation is to render presentation data, e.g. status and statistical data for subscribers of a particular type or all and their whereabouts, for presenting alert service-specific data, comprising data that has been defined for a specific alert message sending service (e.g. service-specific alert zone/AOI, service data, message content and type, alert/roaming zones), and/or service related subscriber data, cell data and traffic data obtained from (continuous) data collection through passive location methods, alternatively in combination with data collection through active location methods, from radio network and from traffic data. Both the service- specific and service-related data may, for presentation use, be related to geographic area.

To ensure correct location information for subscribers staying abroad, one demand for effective subscriber UE location and alert message sending is to utilise obtained node information from passive probing between the on-net HLR and the off-net MSC/SGSN for deriving subscriber UE location.

For alert messaging systems there are also demands for withholding subscriber privacy data towards third party and to enable use of the system while not conducting alert message sending for other duties, such as location-based services for e.g. advertising, territorial monitoring and triggering services and non location-based services for e.g. bulk message sending.

With reference to the drawings, it is stressed that the particulars disclosed are by way of example and for purposes of illustrative discussion of the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure only, and are presented in the cause of providing what is believed to be the most useful and readily understood description of the principles and conceptual aspects of the present disclosure. In this regard, no attempt is made to show structural details of the present disclosure in more detail than is necessary for a fundamental understanding of the disclosure, the description taken with the drawings making apparent to those skilled in the art how the present disclosure may be embodied in practice.

The present disclosure can provide urgent mass sending of location-based alert messages to a plurality of User Equipments (UEs) within conventional circuit and packet switched mobile networks to inform and notify subscribers within defined geographic areas of dangerous or undesirable events.

Relating embodiments of the present disclosure to the prior art, it is revealed that the prior art fails to provide an optimised alert message sending based on radio cells, which is a prerequisite for an effective use of core and radio network traffic resources and fails to uniformly distribute traffic load among all cells wherein a UE to be alerted is located.

For instance, WO 2006/028381 Al presents a method and system for control of traffic load on switches in a communication network for alerting the population when an undesirable event occurs in a specific geographical area by means of messages transmitted via the switches.

A controlled traffic load on the switches does however not take the traffic load in cells under consideration and guarantee that the traffic loads on all cells are acceptable, i.e. some cells might as well be overloaded and congested even if the load on the switches are acceptable.

In addition, the prior art does not reveal an optimised alert message sending based on actual monitored radio traffic load in cells wherein UEs to be alerted is located.

Furthermore, the prior art does not disclose a way to ensure that subscribers that may enter into an emergency area during alert message sending will receive an alert message.

The prior art fails to disclose any effective way to optimise sending to minimise traffic load and risk of congestions in the core and radio network by repeatedly scrambling message sending order per cell-based geographical zone, either by taking need for initial paging under consideration and by using packet switched message sending instead of circuit switched when possible.

The main components in a conventional core and radio access mobile network for Application Originated (AO) Short Message Service (SMS) text message sending and routing mobile networks will now be described briefly in connection with Figure 1.

The main components comprise one or several Applications (Application), which initiates message sending, and a Short Message Service Centre (SMSC), which upon a request handles storing and sending of messages in the network based on a store and forward routing process.

The Home Location Register (HLR) in GSM or Home Subscriber Server (HSS) for IP Multimedia Subsystems (IMS), hereinafter referred to as HLR, is a central database to which mobile subscribers (i.e. subscriptions), identified via e.g. MSISDN, are permanently assigned for the purpose of storing vital details about the subscriber/subscription, the User Equipment (UE) in use, the service(s) required, the user's identification encryption code, and serving network node information. Node information stored in the HLR enables charging and routing of messages towards the Mobile Switching Centre (MSC) or Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) to which the UE is currently attached.

The MSC (for circuit switched messages) and the SGSN (for packet switched messages) basically handles the switching and routing of messages and often incorporates a Visiting Location Register (VLR) (not shown), which is a database similar to the HLR storing information on the location of subscribers currently visiting the Location Area having a Location Area Identity (LAI) served by the VLR.

In the mobile network shown in the Figure 1 , the VLR and the MSC or SGSN are collocated in the same physical node and hereinafter referred to as MSC/SGSN.

Base Station Controller (BSC) (for circuit switched messages), Packet Control Unit (PCU) (for packet switched messages, often collocated with BSC) or Radio Network Controller (RNC) (UMTS networks) is basically used to control groups of Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) (in GSM) or Node Bs (in UMTS) and provide the mobility management for subscribers and the connection to the MSC/SGSN.

BTSs and Node Bs are basically transceivers distributed at fixed locations for communication with the UEs over radio links.

The mobile radio network is divided into Location Areas, which represents the area in which a UE can move freely without updating the location to the VLR. Each Location Area is assigned a unique LAI.

The mobile network is also divided into smaller areas or cells; each served by a BTS/NodeB and assigned with a unique identity known as Cell Global Identity (CGI) in GSM, or Service Area Identity (SAI) in UMTS.

A general method for AO message sending is initiated by an Application requesting message sending 100 via e.g. Short Message Peer-to-peer Protocol (SMPP) towards the SMSC with a MSISDN as Destination Address (DA).

Messages that are to be sent are then queued 102 per MSISDN and timestamp in a Store- And-Forward (SAF) module at the SMSC.

A Send Routing Information for Short Message (SRI-SM) for MSISDN is sent 104 towards the HLR to get IMSI and MSC/SGSN address.

The message is sent 106 as a Mobile Terminated Forward Short Message (MT-FSM) to the serving MSC or SGSN with IMSI as DA.

The message is then forwarded 108, 110 via the BSC (Packet Control Unit (PCU))/RNC and BTS/Node B towards the UE 112.

Depending on whether the message sending was successful or unsuccessful, the sending process is terminated by sending 114 an OK/NO Delivery Status result (RSMDS) from the SMSC to the HLR.

One fundamental difference between message sending according to embodiments of the present disclosure and conventional message sending handled by standard Short Message Service Centres (SMSCs), USSD Gateways or MMS Store And Forward servers or Multimedia Messaging Service Centres (MMSCs) is that the embodiments according to the present disclosure provide rapid sending of a large amount of messages to subscribers, not because of who they are, but where they are located, i.e. based on UE location, whereas conventional message sending stores and sends messages to specific subscribers in a non-time-critical manner, irrespective of where they are located, based on destination address.

Conventional message sending queues messages to send per MSISDN and timestamp 102 in a Store And Forward module in a First In First Out (FIFO) manner. This means that new messages to send are normally placed last in the queue, with the consequence that all earlier messages have to be sent before the new message can be sent.

If a large number of simultaneous messages were to be sent urgently to subscriber UEs within a (small) number of cells, conventional message sending would queue and send these messages based on destination address, irrespective of load-balancing between cells and irrespective of radio resources and current load on the cells. This would most likely overload certain or all cells concerned resulting in core and/or radio network congestion or collapse, leading to that neither alert messages, nor normal calls or messages could come through.

Message sending according to embodiments of the present disclosure utilizes parallel sending processes load-balanced per cell, where messages are sent immediately to the subscriber UE, independently of any previous stored messages, and where traffic capacity and/or load for cells are taken under consideration when adjusting the sending rate so that no cells become overloaded and so that the radio traffic load is uniformly distributed among all cells wherein a UE to be alerted is located. In order to determine necessary node information in conventional message sending, a SRI-SM for MSISDN is sent 104 towards the HLR to get IMSI and MSC/SGSN address prior to sending the message. If a large number of simultaneous messages were to be sent, this would severely impact the traffic load on the HLR, which in turn could overload and congest the core network.

Furthermore, as conventional message sending does not take UE's state under consideration, several sending retries are made before the message is stored in the queue if the UE in e.g. a busy or non-attached mode. This may also impact the traffic load in the network.

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, UE subscriber data, comprising UE location, UE status and UE-related network node information, and radio traffic information obtained through passive location methods and optionally resource-effective active UE location methods, are at hand at all times, why conventional resource demanding routing can be fully omitted or significantly reduced. Embodiments of the present disclosure also suppress the sending 114 of an RSMDS to the HLR to further off-load the HLR and reduce traffic in the network.

Further advantages over conventional message sending will become apparent from the continued description and the appended claims in connection with the accompanying drawings.

In most emergency situations, it is important to provide fast and accurate information to all individuals within an area exposed to the emergency, whether they are individuals living or working within or close to the emergency area, individuals temporarily visiting the area or any rescue team sent out for handling the emergency.

It is also important to provide a fast and accurate status on subscribers and statistics on how many and who are currently within or close to an emergency area, domestic or foreign, to give authorities an indication of the magnitude of the emergency and help the authorities to e.g. scale evacuation and medical operations in accordance with the number and nationality of the individuals or inform relevant parties, such as hospitals, fire brigades, police forces, press, relatives, etc. of the situation in the area.

The same applies to network technical status also; fast and accurate information regarding the network status in an alert area could provide vital input when e.g. assigning technical support personnel to the area. Fast and accurate status information is also vital when defining what and how information should be sent to the individuals concerned.

With reference to Figure 2, the method in a client node for defining an emergency service for alerting UEs in accordance with the present disclosure will now be described.

The method in a client node for defining an emergency service for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message comprises: determining 206 service-specific data for the alert message sending based on obtained 200 service-related data input from a managing interface and/or based on obtained 202 service-related data input from a managing node and/or based on obtained 204 service-related data input from a middleware node, and sending 208 to said managing node and/or said middleware node a service request including said service- specific data, for sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within a defined area.

When the service-specific data has been determined by the client node, the request for message sending to UEs within a defined alert area or AOI is sent over e.g. a proprietary interface to a managing node.

The alert message sending system may comprise one or more national and/or regional client nodes; alternatively may the service-specific data determination and the definition of emergency services be handled by the managing node alone. With reference to Figure 3, the method in a management network node for defining and centralised management of emergency services for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message in accordance with the present disclosure will now be described.

The method in a managing node for defining and centralised management of emergency services for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message comprises: determining 304 service-specific data for alert message sending, based on obtained 300 input from a managing interface and/or obtained 302 service-related data from a middleware node, optionally obtaining 306 service-specific data from a client node, wherein the service-specific data comprises type and ID of the service, central processing 308 of determined and/or obtained service-specific data for alert message sending, and sending 310 to said middleware node a service request including said processed service-specific data, for sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within a defined area.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure, the managing node centrally administrates, supervises and processes incoming message sending requests from all client nodes.

Input data provided to the client and/or managing nodes via their management interfaces, which may be based on e.g. accident or emergency reports from the public or organisations or based on (commercial) service requests from companies or organisations, may in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure contain information on:

- alert area (for emergency services) or Area Of Interests (AOIs) (for other nonemergency services), as geographic coordinates (for a point, circle or polygon), alert area or AOI priority (e.g. when the client has determined several problem areas of different magnitude or when certain areas are more critical than others),

subscriber identity and priority (e.g. for location tracking services or for prioritised alert message sending), and

preferred message content (language, phrasing and coding) and type (e.g. SMS, USSD, MMS or SMS over GPRS/Fax/E-mail)

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, as an alternative for client nodes and/or managing node having to provide a full set of service-specific data, pre-defined alert areas, e.g. covering extra vulnerable or hazardous areas such as nuclear plants, pre-defined subscriber priorities and pre-defined message content and type stored in the client and/or managing nodes may be used instead. In another embodiment of the present disclosure, as yet an alternative, the derivation of alert areas and AOIs can be made semi-automatically, by only defining e.g. the name of a district or location and a geographic radius, after which the derivation of alert area AOI and message content and type are made fully automatic by using a default message content and type.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure, the service-specific data determined and/or handled by the client and/or managing nodes comprise at least one of:

geographic alert area or AOI, area priority, subscriber identity and priority, message content and type, and service identity, type and priority.

It is of crucial importance that concerned authorities get an early knowledge about the status and health of the subscribers and the mobile network within or close to the affected area.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, service-specific data that has been defined for a specific alert message sending service and/or service-related subscriber, cell and traffic data obtained from a continuous or case-driven data collection via passive location methods, alternatively in combination with data collection through active location methods, from radio network and from traffic data, is obtained, processed and presented by the client and/or managing node for e.g. identification and presentation of subscribers and their status within a particular area, emergency scaling and evacuation organisation purposes and as message sending input. Said data may also reveal how many subscribers are staying within an affected area in total, how many subscribers with a certain nationality staying within an affected area or how many subscribers within an affected area has received and responded an alert message.

Service-related may here refer to UE subscriber data, including UE location (cell), UE status and UE-related node info, network and traffic data for all subscribers, cells and location areas within an area or region and service-specific data may here refer to UE subscriber data for service-specific subscribers, areas or zones together with service-specific service identity, type and priority and service-specific message content and type.

According to other embodiments of the present disclosure, status and statistic information derived from service-related and/or service-specific data may be utilised as input for helping the police force, the fire brigade or a rescue group to overview the situation and the need and size of operation within an affected area as well as help the network operators to overview the mobile network functionality and scale technical support and provide input for repair teams.

This also applies to subscribers located abroad. In one embodiment of the present disclosure, obtained foreign cell info can be translated into geographic coordinates by the use of a global cell database. This provides a good basis for subscriber status and statistics presentation as well as for the preparation and sending of (alert) messages to foreign countries

According to yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, status and statistic information derived from service-related and/or service-specific data may also be used for vital alert message sending preparation and refining, for example when defining message content in different languages and character sets in message sending requests.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the managing node obtains and processes service-related and/or service-specific data per network operator from several network operators for central presentation and/or message sending preparation purposes.

In one embodiment of the disclosure, the status and statistic information is presented on graphical managing interfaces at client and/or at managing nodes with dots, avatars or markings representing the number of subscribers (of a particular kind or all) on a map. Radio traffic data and subscriber data for each present subscriber with accompanying UE location, UE status and UE node data may be presented in list form. If available, the map may also present information on alert area(s)/AO!(s), alert zone, roaming zone and LAI.

The rendering of presentation data at the client and/or at managing nodes differs depending on whether message sending is in an initiating phase, where the client nodes and/or the managing node just have received a service request and service-specific data has not yet been determined or in its preparation phase, where the client and/or the managing nodes have determined service-specific data and the radio network data together with defined alert and roaming zones has been determined by a middleware node and received by the client and/or managing nodes.

Message sending phases will be described more in detail in connection with Figure 9 with accompanying text.

In accordance with one embodiment of the disclosure, the input alert area or AOI, any pre-defined alert and roaming zones and service-related subscriber data may be presented during the initialisation phase. During and after a preparation phase, i.e. short after the request for message sending has reached the middleware node and the current service-specific subscriber and radio network data together with any defined alert and roaming zones has been uploaded to client and/or managing nodes, the following service-related data can be presented, respectively: service-specific initial and/or refined alert areas or AOI with priority,

service-specific initial and/or refined message content and type,

service-specific service type, identity and priority (where the initial service priority may have been changed by the middleware node 7200), service-specific initial and/or refined alert and roaming zones, total number of subscriber within a specific area or cell (based upon area),

total numbers of subscribers with a certain nationality (subscribers per MCC (IMSI)) within a area or cell (based upon area and destination info),

total number of subscribers with a certain network operator (subscribers per MNC

(MSISDN)) within a area or cell (based upon area and destination info),

general or service-specific UE subscriber data with UE location and priority for subscribers of certain type or all types,

general or service-specific UE subscriber data with UE location and priority for subscribers that will receive certain messages or all, and

general or service-specific UE subscriber data with UE location and priority for subscribers that has received certain messages or all.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the managing interfaces at client and/or managing nodes in addition to providing service data input and status and statistics presentation also allows an operator or user to update and refine the service-specific data, by for example selecting and updating alert areas, AOI, subscriber identities and priorities and message content and type. The managing interfaces also enable creation of pre-defined areas and messages content and types.

Status and statistic information derived from service-related or service-specific data in the preparation phase may also reveal technical problems within the mobile radio access network or equipment, for example technical problems in BTSs and NodeBs, or possibly problems within mobile core network and equipment, for example technical problems in the BSCs and RNCs, occurred due to an accident. For instance, if a normally well-populated area presents only few or none subscribers, this may indicate that the mobile network is experiencing technical problems in that area due to an accident. According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the presented information provides important input for assigning technical personnel to the problem area as well as gives authorities indications on the magnitude of an emergency and helping the authorities to assign emergency and evacuation operations and personnel accordingly.

The presentation and selection of areas and/or subscribers is according to one embodiment of the present disclosure done via graphical managing interfaces at client and/or at managing nodes where areas and subscribers are presented on maps or grids as dots, icons or avatars and areas marked in different colours or patterns depending on service. Both areas and subscribers may as an alternative or as a complement be presented in text or table form. Each area selected may present the number of current subscribers (of a particular group or all) and cells in the area with means for selecting and displaying each individual subscriber and cell with associated data.

With reference to Figure 4, the method in a middleware node for enabling alerting of UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message will now be described.

The method in a middleware node within a communication network for enabling alerting of UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message comprises: obtaining UE subscriber data of said UEs 400, using passive UE location methods, optionally in combination with active UE location methods, where said UE subscriber data comprises UE location and UE-related network node information, obtaining radio network data for national or international communication networks 402 using integrated or stand-alone radio planning or cell prediction tools, and global cell databases, respectively, obtaining service request including service- specific data from a client node and/or a managing node 404, for sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within defined areas, processing cell-based geographical alert and roaming zones 406 in which UEs to be alerted is located based on obtained service-specific and radio network data, obtaining radio traffic information for cells within alert and roaming zones 408 in a base station controller, a radio network controller or from interface probes on A-bis and/or lub interfaces, optionally providing to client nodes and/or managing node service-related and/or service-specific subscriber data with UE location and UE-related network node information for subscribers of certain priority, type or all, and/or service-specific geographical alert area, AOI, alert zone or roaming zone data 410, providing zone and cell data to a alert messaging service node 412 for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message, and processing service requests for alerting UEs of a certain priority, type or all located in defined zones with a defined alert message 414 and providing said service requests to said alert messaging service node 416.

The middleware node generally handles the collection and determination of service- related subscriber, network and traffic data for enabling alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the middleware node is responsible for the collection and determination of service-related data including UE subscriber, radio network and radio traffic data from the mobile network, the collection, storing and updating of service-specific data and service requests from the client and/or managing nodes, the processing of collected data for generation of status and statistic information for the client and/or managing nodes and the forwarding of message sending service requests to the alert messaging service node, including zone data and sending lists that specifies zone cells and subscriber UEs to where and whom messages shall be sent, respectively.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the middleware node obtains service-related UE subscriber data including UE location, UE status and UE-related network node information from the mobile network via passive location methods, which monitors the data traffic on the network interfaces non-intrusively and extracts, sorts and saves relevant location, status and node data per UE and/or subscriber identity.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the passively obtained UE subscriber data is complemented with active location methods including at least one of: Provide Subscriber Information (PSI), Any Time Interrogation (ATI), Send Routing Information for Location Services (SRI-LCS) or Send Routing Information for Short Message (SRI-SM).

Location methods covered by other embodiments of the present disclosure are:

passive location methods, such as passive Probe location, Event Manager location or CDR location,

active basic location methods, such as 3GGPP CAMEL Provide Subscriber Identity (PSI) or Any Time Interrogation (ATI), and

- active enhanced location methods, such as 3GPP LCS E-CGI, OMA SUPL A-GPS (GMLC) or (MS-based or MS-assisted) 3GPP LCS A-GPS (GMLC/SMLC)).

UE subscriber data are utilised by the client and/or managing nodes for subscriber status and statistics presentation and by the middleware node as input when selecting what subscribers that shall receive an alert message based on their last known or current location, i.e. what subscribers shall be included in the sending list which is downloaded to an alert messaging service node for message sending in connection with the message sending request.

Stored UE subscriber data may, if obtained, include:

subscriber info, such as destination data (MSISDN/IMSI/LMSI), subscription data, service type, data-coding, message sending validity period, subscriber priority, replacing strategy, etc.,

location or cell info, i.e. last known or current subscriber location defined in terms of Cell Global Identity (CGI) (GSM), Service Area Identity (SAI) (UMTS) or geographic coordinates, Default Max Age Of Location (DMAOL), Quality Of Location (QOL), Max Age Of Location (MAOL), etc., - node info (MSC/SGSN and HLR addresses),

UE status, e.g. active or idle mode,

UE and network capabilities, e.g. if the UE and network supports packet switched message sending, what network generation is supported (GSM, UMTS, etc.), etc., and - information on what messages and information has been sent to the UE

To optimise message sending and minimise network traffic load, it is important to have knowledge of UE status before sending. For example, it is no idea, but rather a waste of traffic resources, to try sending messages to a UE in a busy or non-attached mode. On the opposite, traffic resources are effectively used when sending messages to UE that has currently been in dedicated mode, due to that no initial paging is needed before the actual message sending. Accordingly, one embodiment of the present invention utilises UE status obtained via passive and/or active location methods for these purposes.

According to one preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, all service-related data, i.e. UE subscriber data together with radio network and radio traffic data, is passively collected continuously over time for each network operator's whole network, while the collection of complementing data via active location methods is case-driven, i.e. collected when a message sending service so requires.

In this preferred embodiment, service-related data for a particular area or all areas can be uploaded from the middleware node to the client and/or managing nodes and be presented at all times, i.e. presented while message sending is passive as well as while message sending is active and without having to spend time on the obtaining and processing the data. Furthermore, while processed service-related data is either already at hand at the client nodes and/or at the managing node or could be promptly uploaded from the middleware node, the preparation for message sending can be done very fast.

In another embodiment of the disclosure, the collection of service-related data are temporarily put on hold while the system is not in service or while the system is handling other kind of non location-based services, such as bulk message sending. In this embodiment, the collection of service-related data must first be activated and time be spent on collecting and processing the data before any location-dependant message sending may occur.

As UE subscriber data is collected via passive location methods in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure, it may have to be complemented with active location methods in case of missing, obsolete or too old data. This also applies when the UE location quality or accuracy is insufficient compared to defined settings. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, e.g. in case of older location or cell data than a defined (Default) Max Age Of Location ((D)MAOL) or in case UE subscriber MSISDN or MSC/SGSN address is missing or obsolete, the middleware node may update (and store) these by:

- sending a CAMEL Provide Subscriber Information (PSI) towards the MSC/SGSN to get (updated) cell information (CGI/SAI) in case of missing or obsolete cell info, sending a CAMEL Any Time Interrogation (ATI) towards the HLR to get (updated) cell information (CGI /SAI) in case of missing or obsolete cell information (this method increases load on the HLR, why the PSI method may be preferred),

sending a Send Routing Information for Short Message (SRI-SM) for MSISDN towards the HLR in case of missing or obsolete IMSI and/or MSC/SGSN address (obtained node information may hereby be used as destination node address when sending the message and the IMSI may be used as subscriber address when sending the message), or

sending a Send Routing Information for LoCation Service (SRI-LCS) for IMSI towards the HLR in case of missing or obsolete MSISDN and/or MSC/SGSN address (obtained node information may hereby be used as destination node address when sending the message and the MSISDN may be used as subscriber index key). In another embodiment of the disclosure, the updating (and storing) of missing or obsolete UE subscriber data is handled by an alert messaging service node.

In yet another embodiment, both the middleware node and the alert messaging service node handles the updating (and storing) of missing or obsolete UE subscriber data.

In other embodiments of the disclosure, UE subscriber data may alternatively be updated via other active location methods if so defined via e.g. QOL or internal settings in the middleware or alert messaging service nodes.

Alert message sending in accordance with the present disclosure sends alert messages to all UEs currently located within a cell-based geographical alert zone and optionally to UEs currently located within an alert zone-related roaming zone.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, messages are sent to all UEs currently located within the cell-based geographical alert zone cells and optionally to UEs currently located within the alert zone-related roaming zone cells or Location Area(s) (LAIs) in a parallel and load-balanced manner per cell and LAI. According to one embodiment of the disclosure, the roaming zone may be defined as geographic areas and/or coordinates surrounding the alert zone instead of cells and LAI(s).

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the middleware node handles the process of deriving geographic zone data, i.e. the corresponding radio network cell and/or LAI data for an alert area or Area of Interest (AOI), and the message sending lists, i.e. the lists of subscriber UEs used by the alert messaging service node for knowing to which zones and subscriber UEs messages shall be sent and for message queuing and sending optimising purposes, based on obtained UE subscriber data, obtained service-specific data from the managing node or optionally directly from the client nodes in service requests, internal settings, current national radio network data continuously obtained from integrated, collocated or standalone radio planning and/or cell prediction tools and/or cell and LAI data input from the network operator, international radio network cell data obtained from global cell databases and passively obtained cell radio traffic data including at least one of: current cell status, capability, capacity or load from Base Station Controllers (BSCs), Radio Network Controller (RNCs) or from interface probes on A-bis and/or Iub interfaces.

The deriving of service-specific zone data may be done by matching obtained alert area and/or AOIs definition information included in the service requests from the client nodes and/or the managing node with obtained geographic radio network data, which defines current cell and LAI propagations in the mobile radio network.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the derived cell, geographic area and/or LAI-based service-specific zone data, e.g. cell(s) included in the cell-based geographical alert zone and cell(s), geographic area(s) and/or LAI(s) included in the alert zone-related roaming zone, are stored as Zone Data Definitions (ZDD) in the middleware node identified by a zone id and containing a list of service-specific cells defined by Cell Global Identity (CGI) or Service Area Identity (SAI), list of geographic areas defined by coordinates and/or list of Location Areas defined by identities (LAI).

To enable cell-based optimised parallel message sending from the alert messaging service node depending on the current radio traffic capabilities, status, capacity and load in the cells, one embodiment of the present disclosure continually downloads obtained radio traffic information to the alert messaging service node. Another embodiment of the present disclosure downloads radio traffic information for cells concerned to the alert messaging service node in connection with a request for message sending. In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the middleware node attaches the radio traffic information to the ZDD, which is downloaded to the alert messaging service node before and during message sending.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the radio traffic information is processed and downloaded separately from the ZDD as radio traffic may fluctuate over time and the current traffic values are vital for the alert messaging service node when determining, monitoring and adjusting sending rate capacities per cell/LAI (or per instances of cell/LAI) when sending.

Stored zone data may include:

national geographic coordinates for all network operator's radio cells and LAIs international geographic coordinates for radio cells

radio traffic information (if released by the radio planning or cell prediction tools or available through passive probe location) including radio cell status (e.g. if a radio cell is in full service, experiencing problems or is shut down deliberately), radio cell capabilities (e.g. what generation of radio network and if allowing packet switched message sending, etc.), capacities (e.g. the maximum number of simultaneous transceiving transmissions in BSC/RNC) and traffic load (e.g. current signalling load per cell radio channel)

cell priorities (if certain cells are more vulnerable or important than others) pre-defined alert and roaming zones (ZDD)

derived alert and roaming zones (ZDD)

In one embodiment of the disclosure, the deriving of ZDD includes matching defined alert area or AOI obtained from the client nodes and/or the managing node with the zone data stored in the middleware node to examine if there already is a corresponding pre-defined ZDD stored. If so, the middleware node makes use of that and downloads it to the alert messaging service node.

Pre-defined ZDD may for example cover extra vulnerable or hazardous areas, such as nuclear plants or government areas.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, if no corresponding pre-defined ZDD exists, the middleware node matches the defined alert area or AOI with the obtained radio network data and internal settings to derive a new ZDD identified by a zone id and containing a list of service-specific, optionally prioritised cells defined by Cell Global Identity (CGI) or Service Area Identity (SAI), Location Areas defined by identities (LAI) and/or geographic areas defined by coordinates for points, circles or polygons together with supplementary data.

The deriving of a new ZDD may include a detailed automatic cell coverage analyse linking the alert area or AOI and the obtained and stored radio network data, optionally in combination with manual input via e.g. graphical user interfaces. Internal middleware node settings, optionally combined with manual input, might for example define whether a cell partly outside of the alert area should be considered be included in or excluded from the zone.

In another embodiment of the disclosure, the deriving of ZDD also makes use of the UE subscriber data with location stored in the middleware node to reveal if there are any highly populated areas in close connection to the alert area, which must be taken under consideration. For instance, if there are a large number of subscribers temporarily visiting an area close to the alert area, for example during a concert or football match or similar, this area might also be incorporated in the ZDD. The inclusion of such areas may be done semi-automatically, e.g. the system may suggest an area to include, but the decision is done by authorised personnel.

In yet another embodiment of the disclosure, the process of deriving of ZDD

automatically excludes or demands authorisation for certain cells, Location Areas or coordinates due to secrecy or other demands for e.g. military areas.

It is vital for an alert messaging system to ensure that all subscribers that might roam into an alert area during an emergency will receive the alert message i.e. all moving or travelling subscribers that may enter an alert area must be taken under consideration when defining the zone(s) to which messages shall be sent so that all subscribers that may roam into the area during the message sending validity period are included in the message sending list.

The present disclosure solves this by deriving a roaming zone surrounding the alert zone. An uncertainty in this regard when using passive location methods is given by the Location Update (LU) interval, i.e. the time interval for when the location, as defined by e.g. CGI, SAI or LAI, is updated for subscribers. During the location update interval, a subscriber can move quite a distance without the message sending lists is being updated. When the message sending commences, the last known location for some of the subscribers might be nearly as old as a general Default Max Age Of Location (DMAOL), that may be internally stored in the middleware node and/or in the alert messaging service node, or a subscriber- specific MAOL, that may be stored for each subscriber in a middleware node Subscriber DataBase and attached the message sending request, defining the max time frame for when new location, e.g. performed via active location methods such as PSI or ATI, does not have to be performed. The middleware node handles roaming subscribers in accordance with the present disclosure by first calculating a cell-based alert zone covering the alert area or AOI as defined, optionally complemented with manual input, and then, based on the geographical propagation of the alert zone, calculating a roaming zone surrounding the alert zone so that all roaming subscribers that may move into the alert zone during message sending also receives the alert message.

The alert zone, when defined by cells, may not only comprise whole cells, but also part of cells, such as sub-cells defined via Timing Advance (TA) or Round-Trip Time (RTT) calculations.

Ideally, the subscribers that reside outside of the alert zone but inside the roaming zone should be the last ones receiving the alert message.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the sending list is divided into two parts; a first part that includes subscribers that reside inside the alert zone, and a second part that includes the subscribers that reside outside of the alert zone but inside of the roaming zone. Messages to the second part may either be sent after the first part or simultaneously with the first part if spare sending resources and no congestions are at hand.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, when message sending is completed in priority sending order, the priority of message sending towards subscriber UEs in the roaming zone is set lower than the priority of sending towards subscriber UEs in the alert zone.

In yet another embodiment of the disclosure, if the subscriber UE's last known location is within the alert zone, the cell id is forwarded in the subscriber data cell information towards the alert messaging service node in the request for message sending, but if the subscriber UE's last known location is within the roaming zone but outside of the alert zone, the cell id is not forwarded to the alert messaging service node, which forces a new active location via active location methods, such as PSI, by the alert messaging service node. The decision whether or not to send alert messages to UEs that are determined by the active location to be still located outside of the alert zone may be configurable in the alert messaging service node.

An active location may also be initiated by either one of the middleware node and the alert messaging service node for subscribers or group of subscribers with an older age of location than MAOL, DMAOL or internal settings.

In order for the alert messaging service node to be able to handle prioritisation between alert zones' cells, one embodiment of the present disclosure may rank and prioritise alert zone cells by factors in accordance to:

dominance or importance within or near the alert area proximity to alert zone centre

cell type, e.g. special rules can be applied to different types of cells, e.g. macrocells, microcells, picocells, femtocells, indoor cells, repeaters, etc.

- system generation, e.g. GSM900, GSM1800, UMTS, 4G, etc.

- whether a packet or circuit switched network

need for paging before sending

current cell status

current cell capacity

current cell capabilities

- current cell traffic load

secrecy and authorisation, e.g. cells within secret military areas where special authorisation is needed

Embodiments of the present disclosure calculates roaming zone statically to contain ambient cells surrounding the alert zone, the Location Area(s) (LAIs) that include alert zone cells or a static area with a set radius from the alert zone centre or periphery.

Methods for calculating static and dynamic roaming zones will now be described in connection with Figure 8.

Based on e.g. a circular alert area AOI 800 obtained from the client nodes and/or the managing node, the middleware node matches the defined area with obtained radio network data and internal settings to calculate an alert zone, i.e. a ZDD list of cells, sub-cells and/or geographic areas 802. The list may comprise cell identities (CGI/SAI) for e.g. omni or semicircular shaped macrocells, micro-, pico- or femtocells, cell identities and TA/RTT data for sub-cells or geographic coordinates for areas. In connection with the alert zone calculation, an approximate alert zone radius 804 may be calculated.

Based on the geographical propagation of the alert zone, a roaming zone 806, i.e. a ZDD list of cells or sub-cells, alternatively geographic area and/or LAI, is calculated.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may calculate a static roaming zone with a fixed radius extending from the alert zone centre (or the approximate alert zone radius) 808 or from the periphery of the actual alert zone cells and sub-cells 810. Alternatively, the roaming zone is defined by cells surrounding the alert zone or the LAI(s) that incorporates alert zone cells (not shown).

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the middleware node does not derive (and download) ZDD containing alert or roaming zone data, whereby the alert messaging service node has to rely upon either the cell info or geographic coordinates stored in the UE subscriber data included in the message sending request.

Derived ZDD including cell priorities may be stored in a middleware Cell DataBase after consistency check and alignment and may also be updated during and after message sending if alert areas, cell data, subscriber data or internal settings have been changed, either

automatically, through external input or through manual input.

Another embodiments of the present disclosure calculate roaming zone dynamically to contain an area with a radius from the alert zone centre or periphery that varies over time based on remaining message sending (defined) Validity Period or progressed sending time, on middleware node internal setting, such as Default Max Age Of Location (DMAOL), on subscriber-specific settings, such as Max Age Of Location (MAOL), QOL or subscriber priority, or on service-specific data obtained from the client nodes and/or the managing node.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the roaming subscriber UEs that shall receive an alert message are selected based on a roaming zone which is D_s larger than the alert zone in all directions, where D_s is the straight distance a person having an assumed maximum speed, e.g. 50 km/h in a car 814 on a curvy road 816, can make during the alert message's Validity Period + Location Update interval.

When alert message sending has commenced, the Validity Period remaining given by the time T the alert message sending has progressed dynamically shortens the distance D_s. All roaming subscriber UEs outside the roaming zone defined by current D_s are removed to limit the message receiving subscriber UEs and maximize the radio resource use.

In another embodiment of the disclosure, the LU intervals can be overridden and the size of the roaming zone be actively decreased by making dynamical changes to the Default Max Age Of Location (DMAOL) stored in the middleware node and/or the subscriber-specific MAOL stored in the Subscriber DataBase and attached the sending request.

If a subscriber UE's location age exceeds MAOL (or DMAOL, if no subscriber-specific MAOL is provided), the middleware node or the alert messaging service node may automatically initiate a new request for active location. When the age of location decreases, the uncertainty and probability that subscribers outside the alert zone have time to roam into the zone decreases and hereby the roaming zone can be made smaller.

The type of active location used may be in accordance with internal default settings or in accordance with a subscriber-specific QOL parameters stored (if provided) for each subscriber.

Yet another embodiment of the disclosure dynamically changes the QOL for roaming zone size alteration. The way QOL affects the roaming zone size is due to that the higher the QOL is set, the better location method is demanded and the lesser uncertainty of where the subscriber is actually located, whereby the size of the roaming zone can be made smaller. For instance, if the QOL is set to passive probe location, both the age of location and the accuracy of location are more uncertain than if the QOL is set to basic active location, such as 3GGPP CAMEL PSI/ATI, or even enhanced active location, such as 3GPP LCS E-CGI, OMA SUPL A- GPS or 3GPP LCS A-GPS location.

Yet another embodiment to reduce the probability that subscribers outside of the alert zone to have time to roam into the zone and hereby reduce the roaming zone size is to request new updated location for every subscriber UE that are served by a cell that is placed outside of the alert zone but inside of the roaming zone.

Message sending from the alert messaging service node takes alert and roaming zones, network and subscriber data and priorities as defined in the ZDD and the sending list derived and downloaded from the middleware node into account when optimising message sending order.

The sending list may comprise service-specific UE subscriber data with location, status and node info for all subscriber UEs that are roaming within an alert or roaming zone.

One embodiment of the present disclosure sends messages via packet channels, as packet switched data dramatically increases the message transmitting capacity compared to sending messages as circuit switched data. Information on the possibility to use packet switched data may hereby be included in the request for message sending sent from the middleware node to the alert messaging service node.

Another embodiment of the present disclosure divides message queuing and sending into separate parallel instances dependent on whether or not initial paging is needed for message sending in order to minimize network traffic load. Information on the need for initial paging may hereby be included in the request for message sending sent from the middleware node to the alert messaging service node.

The deriving of message sending list, based on ZDD and last known subscriber UE location, may include identifying and prioritising all subscribers with last known location within the alert and roaming zones.

When the sending list is derived, a request for message sending towards all included subscriber UEs on the list are sent to the alert messaging service node. The request may comprise the following information (if obtained): service id, type and priority; subscriber info (MSISDN, IMSI/LMSI/TMSI, subscriber priority, etc.); node info (MSC, SGSN and HLR addresses, etc.); cell info (CGI, SAI, geographic coordinates, QOL, Default Max Age Of Location (DMAOL), Max Age Of Location (MAOL), etc.); and message type and content.

According to one embodiment of the disclosure, the message sending request is sent as an SMPP submit-message or submit-data.

According to another embodiment of the disclosure, the request is sent as an SMPP submit-multi message. In this embodiment, the middleware node may also handle the deriving and downloading of a Distribution List (DL), defining all destination addresses, to the alert messaging service node over e.g. http.

Emergencies reported to client nodes may have different severities dependant on e.g. type of emergency and geographic area. As the system in accordance with the present disclosure shall be able to handle alert message sending requests from several client nodes simultaneously, it must also be able to handle alert message sending requests in a prioritised manner.

Sending of alert messages from the alert messaging service nodes is concurrent for all cells involved, why simultaneous sending to different service-specific alert and roaming zone cells is no problem. However, if more than one client node requests sending to e.g. the same or overlapping zone cell(s) or LAI(s), prioritisation between services and what services should be handled first must be handled

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the middleware node prioritises sending requests from different services for the same or overlapping zones by:

1. If the priority for the next service-requested sending is lower than the current: suspend the current service-requested sending until completed and then continue with the next service-requested sending.

2. If the priority for the next service-requested sending is higher than the current: cancel the current service-requested sending, complete sending for the next service and then resend all messages (that has not been successfully delivered) for the previous service.

The prioritising between different services may be done in the middleware node as soon as it discovers that more than one client node has requested sending to the same or overlapping areas. Service priorities may be provided along the service request to the alert messaging service node.

When the alert messaging service node processes incoming service request, it may take service priorities into account and handles service sending accordingly. E.g., if the alert messaging service node discovers that the priority for the next service-requested sending is higher than the current one, the alert messaging service node may cancel the current service- requested sending, complete sending for the next service and then resend all messages (that has not been successfully delivered) for the previous service, etc.

It is important for an alert messaging system to not pass or reveal subscriber data belonging to a network operator to third parties outside of a network operator's control, such as to client and/or managing nodes and/or to third party content providers.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, subscriber privacy is solved by encrypting such as subscriber-specific cell information and/or MSISDN/IMSI/LMSI into fully anonymous characters before the data is forwarded to third party. General data may be forwarded third party unencrypted. When or if the third party needs to for example get in contact with the subscriber to send further messages, alternatively change subscriber settings, the third party will use the anonymous, encrypted identification towards the middleware node, which will decrypt it into a readable cell info and/or MSISDN/IMSI/LMSI again.

One exception is when providing third party information for a subscriber with help demands (as replied for example in a message response). In such cases, the subscriber data may not be made anonymous towards the third party, i.e. all infonnation, including location, may be passed to the third party so that necessary rescue operations could be planned for and take place without the need of contacting the middleware node and disclosing where and whom the subscriber is.

Due to specific privacy legislation demands for each network operator, the

implementation of subscriber privacy may need to take existing regulations into consideration.

With reference to Figure 5, the method in an alert messaging service node for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message will now be described.

The method in an alert messaging service node within a communication network for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message comprises: obtaining zone and cell data 500 from a middleware node, obtaining radio traffic information for cells within defined alert and roaming zones in which UEs to be alerted is located 502 from the middleware node, obtaining service request for sending an alert message for alerting UEs of a certain priority, type or all located in defined alert and roaming zones with a defined alert message 504 from the middleware node, and sending the alert message to UEs within the cell-based geographical alert zone(s) and optionally alert zone-related roaming zone(s), by separate and parallel sending processes per cell for all cells in which at least one UE to be alerted is located 506. The alert messaging service node generally handles the storing, queuing and the cell- based, load-balanced sending of messages towards identified subscribers located within defined zones while taking service, subscriber, zone and cell type and priorities and network radio traffic under consideration.

In accordance with embodiments of the disclosure, in order to obtain a controlled message sending with minimum impact on the radio and core network traffic load, the routing and sending of messages in the alert messaging service node is based on parallel direct message delivery, load-balanced per cell.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the alert messaging service node manage optimised message queuing and sending while minimising network traffic load and congestions by first temporarily storing message to send in a Store And Forward queue indexed per MSISDN (or IMSI/LMSI, if obsolete MSISDN) and then forward these, based on a number of rules, towards a Cell Load Balancer (CLB), which handles the cell-based queuing and load- balanced sending of the messages towards the subscriber UEs.

According to one embodiment of the disclosure, after reception of message sending requests from the middleware node via e.g. SMPP submit_message, submit data or submit_multi messages, a process first determines whether or not the alert messaging service node shall handle sending of only location-based messages with a certain service id, type or priority, allow (prioritised) sending of all kind of messages, i.e. alert as well as bulk and advertising messages, or not allow any message sending at all, e.g. during re-configurations. If it is determined that location-based messages sending shall be performed and no other service request has higher priority, the messages is forwarded to the CLB, where the cell load-balanced queuing and sending initialising of location-based messages towards subscriber UEs is performed. If it is determined that the request for location-based message sending has lower priority than the prior request, the message sending, i.e. the forwarding of messages to CLB, may be put on hold. If determined that the request for message sending is not location-based and no (location-based or non location-based) message sending with higher priority are at hand, the sending and resending of messages may be handled by a Store And Forward (SAF) module in prioritised manner or in parallel with other non location-based message sending.

When determined that the CLB shall handle the queuing and sending of location based

(alert) messages, the messages may be stored by zone id obtained from the middleware node, i.e. cells defined by CGI with CGI Type or cells defined by SAI with SAI Type per zone id, Location Area(s) defined by Location Area Identities (LAIs) per zone id or geographic coordinates for points, circles or polygons per zone id. In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the LAI (s) per zone id are derived from the LAIs occurring most frequent in the alert zone list of CGIs and/or list of SAIs, when taken together.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, when determined by the middleware node that the subscriber's last known location is within the roaming zone but outside of the alert zone, the cell id is not forwarded to the alert messaging service node. This results in that the alert messaging service node may initiate a new active location by sending a CAMEL Provide Subscriber Information (PSI) towards the MSC/SGSN (preferred) or sending a CAMEL Any Time Interrogation (ATI) towards the HLR to get updated cell information (CGI/SAI). In this embodiment, the retrieval of cell info by sending a PSI/ATI is only performed for UEs with last known location within the alert zone when CGI/SAI is missing, obsolete or too old. For UEs with last known location outside of the alert zone but within the roaming zone, the retrieval of cell info by sending a PSI/ATI may always be performed independent of whether the CGI/SAI is missing, obsolete or not.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, in case of missing, obsolete or too old cell, subscriber or node info (e.g. in case location is older than (Default) Max Age Of Location ((D)MAOL), subscriber UE MSISDN is missing or if MSC/SGSN address is missing, respectively), the alert messaging service node may (as well as the middleware node) update these by:

- sending a CAMEL Provide Subscriber Information (PSI) towards the MSC/SGSN to get (an updated) cell information (CGI/SAI) in case of missing or obsolete cell info,

sending a CAMEL Any Time Interrogation (ATI) towards the HLR to get (an updated) cell information (CGI /SAI) in case of missing or obsolete cell information,

sending a Send Routing Information for Short Message (SRI-SM) for MSISDN towards the HLR in case of missing or obsolete IMSI and/or MSC/SGSN address, and/or

sending a Send Routing Information for LoCation Service (SRI-LCS) for IMSI towards the HLR in case of missing or obsolete MSISDN and/or MSC/SGSN address. In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the alert messaging service node may utilise other active location methods, such as LCS E-CGI, 3GPP A-GPS, OMA SUPL A-GPS, or LTE location, to update cell info if so defined by e.g. QOL or internal settings.

Although congestion of the core network is more severe than overloading the air interface, the air interface has the strongest limitation and congestions are more likely to occur at this interface when distributing a large amount of urgent alert messages. The present disclosure discloses several optimisations for such message distribution to increase the throughput over the air interface and through the core network without the risk of congesting the network.

The optimised load-balanced queuing and sending by CLB is cell-based, but may also take need for initial paging, message sending validity period, service data (e.g. service type and priority), subscriber data (e.g. subscriber priority, (Default) Max Age Of Location ((D)MAOL), location accuracy (i.e. QOL)), cell data (e.g. zone type, cell priority, cell status, type, load and capacity) and network data (e.g. network generation and capabilities, packet or circuit switched network) under consideration when designing the queues, sending order and sending rates.

To optimise sending and increase the message throughput while obtaining an even traffic load over all concerned cells and avoid certain cells from being congested while another has traffic capacity left, the queuing and sending according to one embodiment of the present disclosure uses separate and parallel sending processes per cell or instances of cell.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, said sending of alert message to

UEs within the cell-based geographical alert zone(s) and optionally alert zone-related roaming zone(s), by separate and parallel sending processes per cell for all cells in which at least one UE to be alerted is located is done to one UE at a time per cell.

In order to optimise throughput per (instance of) cell, one embodiment of the present disclosure determines a sending rate capacity per cell for each one of the cells wherein a UE to be alerted is located based on obtained radio network and radio traffic information, determines a random order of cells and sends the message to said cells in the random cell order using a sending rate that corresponds to the determined sending rate capacity per (instance of) cell while monitoring radio traffic load per (instance of) cell and adjusting the sending rate if the monitored radio traffic load for said (instance of) cell falls outside an acceptable radio traffic load interval for said (instance of) cell.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the radio traffic load per cell is obtained directly from the BSC/RNC or from passive probing on the interfaces between the BSC/RNC and the BTS/NodeB, i.e. on the A-bis and/or Iub interfaces. In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the radio traffic load per cell is obtained indirectly, by calculating and comparing message response times per cell, e.g. by calculating the time elapsed from message sending until receiving a message delivery receipt.

To be able to handle roaming subscribers in an efficient way, one embodiment of the present disclosure uses separate and parallel sending processes per cell (CGI/SAI) and LAI.

Paging is one of the key elements when sending messages. Basically, the MSC/SGSN that is responsible for message sending needs to know to which radio cell the UE is connected. In the VLR (normally incorporated in the MSC/SGSN and not shown separately in the figures), the UE is located per Location Area (LAI) that normally contains hundreds of cells. The VLR knows in which LAI the UE is located, but paging is needed to get the exact cell id.

If current cell id has not been obtained by the alert messaging service node, the serving MSC/SGSN, which is responsible for paging as well as for message delivery, first needs to order all BTSs/NodeBs within the LAI to perform a page with IMSI/LMSI as identifier over the air via a particular paging channel. The UE that recognises the id will then respond to the page with a cell id that informs the MSC/SGSN the current cell location to use for message delivery.

To avoid the disadvantages with increases traffic and the risk of congestion due to paging, one embodiment of the present disclosure utilises passive probe location on the BSC/RNC or on the interfaces between the BSC/RNC and the BTS NodeB, i.e. on the A-bis and/or Iub interfaces, which provides the current cell info for all UEs. This passive probe location does however not provide MSISDN (i.e. only IMSI and/or LMSI), why for example passive probe location between the HLR and the MSC/SGSN or sending a SRI-LCS from the alert messaging service node 7300 (or from the middleware node 7200) towards the HLR may be utilised in order to obtain corresponding MSISDN.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, in order to minimise paging disadvantages, messages are sent to subscriber UEs while they are in a dedicated mode, for example directly after a PSI has been sent to obtain cell info, i.e., sending a PSI will set the UE in a dedicated mode, why it is possible to send a message, e.g. a MT-FSM, shortly after sending a PSI without imposing paging.

To optimise message sending output and increase message throughput while taking cell and LAI capacities and load into account, one embodiment of the present disclosure uses separate and parallel (in time) sending processes per (instance of) cell and LAI where message output and/or radio traffic load is monitored and where the sending rate is tuned (i.e. raised or lowered) to obtain the highest possible throughput over all cells while avoiding congestions. This avoids certain cells from being congested while another has traffic capacity left. According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the message sending to UEs within cell-based geographical alert zones and optionally alert zone-related roaming zones, which uses separate and parallel sending processes per cell (or instance of cell) for all cells in which at least one UE to be alerted is located and sending the message to one UE at a time per cell, comprises the following steps:

1. determine a sending rate capacity per cell (or per instances of cell) for each one of the cells wherein a UE to be alerted is located based on radio network data and radio traffic information

2. determine a sending order for said cells, randomised per zone or based on a prioritised order per zone

3. send message to said cells in said random or prioritised cell sending order using a sending rate that corresponds to the determined sending rate capacity per cell (or per instance of cell),

4. monitor message output and/or radio traffic load per (instance of) cell for each one of the said cells, subsequent to sending the message to the cells

5. adjust for each (instance of) cell the sending rate if the monitored message output and/or radio traffic load for said (instance of) cell/LAI falls outside an acceptable output and/or radio traffic load interval so that the radio traffic load is as high as possible and uniformly distributed among all (instances of) cells wherein a UE to be alerted is located.

These steps may be repeated as long as there are any more messages to send, i.e. until all message queues are empty.

Message sending takes zone, network and subscriber data and priorities as defined in the ZDD and the sending lists derived and downloaded from the middleware node into account when determining the message sending order.

In order to achieve an even distribution of messages with respect to the signalling load on the radio interfaces, the CLB in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure may repeatedly scramble the sending order separately per alert and roaming zone in the following decreasing order of preference:

1. Alert message sending order based on CGI/S AI, if known, or

2. Alert message sending order based on MSC Identity or SGSN Identity, if several and known, or

3. Alert message sending order based on IMSI (prefix), if known, or 4. Alert message sending order based on MSISDN (prefix)

The aim with CGI/SAI sending order scrambling is that all cells or service areas are (time-wise) evenly targeted for message sending requests. The aim with MSC/SGSN Identity sending order scrambling is that all MSCs or SGSNs are (time-wise) evenly targeted for message sending requests. The aim with IMSI (prefix) sending order scrambling is that all HLRs are (time-wise) evenly targeted for message sending requests. The aim with MSISDN (prefix) sending order scrambling is that all HLRs are (time-wise) evenly targeted for message sending requests (effective only when Mobile Number Portability not is used).

In order to minimise paging disadvantages, one embodiment of the disclosure also takes initial need for paging into account when designing message queues and sending order, i.e. divides message queuing and sending into separate and parallel sending instances per cell (CGI/SAI) for those messages that needs and do not need initial paging before sending.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the CLB may divide message queuing and sending into separate parallel instances per cell (CGI/SAI), LAI and initial paging needed, i.e. with one sending process per each cell (CGI/SAI) and LAI where initial paging is not needed and one sending process per each cell (CGI/SAI) and LAI where initial paging is needed. To minimise traffic load and paging needed, the embodiment may utilise the following sending order; cells where no initial paging is needed, LAI(s) where no initial paging is needed, cells where initial paging is needed and LAI(s) where initial paging is needed.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, if not released by the radio planning and cell prediction tools or obtained via radio traffic information, cell capacities can be determined through cell capacity tests performed periodically or repeatedly by sending test messages to a defined number of UEs within cells and monitor the load and capacity on the cell. Capacity tests should preferably be performed during low traffic and when no alert message sending is performed due to the increased traffic load on the network.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the message output is measured as message response time, i.e. the time elapsed from sending a message to a subscriber UE until receiving a confirmation (delivery receipt) from the UE.

In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, the radio traffic load, i.e. the current signalling load per cell radio channel, is obtained directly from passive probe location on the BSC/RNC or between the BSC/RNC and the BTS/NodeB, i.e. on the A-bis and/or Iub interfaces. One embodiment of the present disclosure handles message sending via packet channels in a prioritised manner, as packet switched data dramatically increases the message transmitting capacity compared to sending as circuit switched data. Information on the possibility to use packet switched data may be stored in the Subscriber DataBase (SDB) and downloaded from the middleware node within the sending lists.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, voice channels (e.g. Traffic Channel, (TCH)) are dynamically converted into messaging channels (e.g. Stand-alone Dedicated Control Channel (SDCCH)) that allows increased message transmitting capacity.

Alert message sending process steps are described in connection with Figure 9.

With reference to Figure 6, the system method for sending an alert message to a plurality of UEs in accordance with the present disclosure will now be described.

The method in a communication system within a communication network for sending an alert message to a plurality of User Equipments (UEs) comprises: determining cell-based geographical alert zones and alert zone-related roaming zones 604 based on alert area definition information 600 and radio network data for the communication network 602, obtaining UE subscriber data of said plurality of UEs 606, using passive UE location methods within said communication network, where said UE subscriber data comprises UE location and UE-related network node information, and sending the alert message to all UEs within the cell-based geographical alert zones and optionally alert zone-related roaming zones, by parallel in time for all cells in which at least one UE to be alerted is located 608.

In accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, relevant information can thus be sent to all individuals, i.e. all mobile subscribers' User Equipment (UE) that are present within or close to an emergency area, also called alert area, as one or several alert messages.

In some embodiments of the present disclosure, alert messages are sent as circuit or packet switched text messages, i.e. Short Message Service (SMS) text messages, which nearly all UEs are able to receive and display.

In other embodiments, alert messages are sent as circuit switched Unstructured

Supplementary Services Data (USSD) text messages, which not only nearly all UEs are able to receive and display, but also enables the subscriber to respond to within the same session.

Yet other embodiments use Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), Fax or E-mail as bearer for the alert message, which also enables the inclusion of images, videos and sounds in the message.

Since the technical equipment required and routing do not differ significantly between said types of messages, the present disclosure will henceforth describe alert message sending in the form of circuit and packet switched text SMS messages, implicitly including all other mentioned message types.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, at least one of UE subscriber data, including UE location, UE status and UE-related network node information, radio network data or cell-based radio traffic data are collected and determined continuously over time for each network operator's whole network. According to other embodiments of the present disclosure, data are collected per (emergency) service case, i.e. the collection of data starts as soon as a message sending service so requires.

According to some embodiments of the present disclosure, subscriber data is collected from the mobile network via passive location methods in combination with active location methods, for example when data is missing or obsolete, when the location quality or accuracy is insufficient or when the age of location is too old, i.e. older than (pre-)defined.

Radio network data, comprising current cell and Location Area Identity (LAI) propagation, may be determined using data from the network operator in combination with integrated or stand-alone radio planning or cell prediction tools and global cell databases. Radio traffic data, comprising at least one of: cell-based radio status information, radio traffic load information of signalling load on a radio channel per cell, and radio cell capacity information may be passively collected from Base Station Controllers (BSCs), Radio Network Controller (RNCs) or from interface probes on A-bis and/or Iub interfaces.

Data may be stored (and updated) in databases and optionally cached.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure enable direct access to current data at all time, so that subscriber data with current or last known UE location, radio network data and/or radio traffic data for concerned areas can be obtained directly from the databases and/or cache. Other embodiments of the present disclosure, where data are collected per (emergency) service case, require some time after service request before data are determined and can be accessed.

After a message sending request reception, the alert message sending system may send alert messages to all UEs currently located within defined alert and optionally roaming zones, or more specifically alert and roaming zone cells or Location Area(s) (LAIs), in a parallel and load-balanced manner per cell and LAI. In some embodiments of the present disclosure, the alert and roaming zones are defined as geographic areas or coordinates instead of cells and LAI(s). The definition of alert and roaming zones, which will become more apparent in the following text, may be defined based on obtained alert areas and current radio network data.

While, according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure, the obtaining and determination of subscriber data, including UE location, UE status and UE-related network node information are made continuously over time, the information on what subscribers are within a particular area at a specific time are always at hand.

This enables accurate and instantaneous determination of subscriber whereabouts and the subscribers' and mobile network's status within a geographic area, such as an area where an emergency just has occurred.

Information on e.g. the current number of subscribers within geographic areas or areas with technical problems within which data can not be collected, could be to presented service clients, service operators and authorities. This may be performed through e.g. graphical means and form the basis for defining or refining alert message content and type and geographic alert areas as well as helping the authorities to plan and scale for evacuation, medical and technical operations.

As the subscriber data also includes information about Country Code (CC), for instance in the form of SISDN:CC and Mobile Country Code (MCC) by IMSI:MCC for subscribers roaming within an area, an indication on current number of subscribers with a certain nationality and language within the area may be determined, which help defining understandable alert message content language and readable text coding for those.

With reference to Figure 7a, the system for sending an alert message to a plurality of UEs in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure will now be described.

The alert message sending system for sending an alert message to a plurality of UEs comprises a middleware node 7200 that is configured to obtain UE subscriber data of said plurality of UEs, using passive UE location methods within said communication network, where said UE subscriber data comprises UE location and UE-related network node information, and determine cell-based geographical alert zones and alert zone-related roaming zones based on alert area definition information and radio network data for the communication network. The communication system also comprises an alert messaging service node 7300 that is configured to send the alert message to UEs within the cell-based geographical alert zones, by separate and parallel sending processes per cell for all cells in which at least one UE to be alerted is located, sending the alert message to one UE at a time per cell.

The alert messaging service node 7300 of the system 700 may further be configured to send the alert message to UEs within the cell-based geographical alert zones and alert zone- related roaming zones, by separate and parallel sending processes per cell for all cells in which at least one UE to be alerted is located, sending the alert message to one UE at a time per cell.

A system for sending an alert message to a plurality of User Equipments (UEs) within circuit and packet switched mobile networks, will now be briefly described. It must also be emphasized that this system does not require configuration modifications or changes of the mobile network and performs independently of any subscriber settings and preferences. The system comprises:

a middleware node with means for obtaining UE subscriber data with UE location, radio network data and service requests including service-specific data from client and/or managing nodes, processing cell-based geographical alert zones and roaming zones in which UEs to be alerted is located, obtaining radio traffic information for zone cells and processing service requests for alerting UEs of a certain priority, type or all located in defined zones with a defined alert message, and

an alert messaging service node with means for obtaining zone, cell and radio traffic data for defined alert and roaming zones in which UEs to be alerted is located together with service request for the alert message sending, and sending an alert message to UEs within the alert and optionally the roaming zones by separate and parallel sending processes per cell optionally based on obtained radio traffic information.

Said system may further comprise one or several client nodes with means for determining service-specific data for alert message sending, such as alert area and alert message type and content data, and a managing node with means for central determining and/or centrally management of determined or obtained service-specific data for alert message sending.

Embodiments of the system and system nodes for sending alert messages to a plurality of UEs within circuit and packet switched mobile networks in accordance with the present disclosure will now be described in connection with Figure 7b and Figure 7c.

The alert message sending system in accordance with the present disclosure may optionally comprise one or several client nodes 7000 for defining an emergency service of alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message, the client node 7000 node comprising:

a Managing Interface (MI) 7010 configured to obtain user input,

a Transceiving Unit (TU) 7020 configured to receive service-related data from a managing node 7100 and/or a middleware node 7200, the service-related data comprising subscriber data for subscribers of certain priority, type or all, and/or geographical alert area, AOI, alert zone or roaming zone data, and

Processing Means (PM) 7030 configured to determine service-specific data, including alert area or Area of Interest (AOI) and message content and type definition(s) for the alert message sending, based on input from said MI and/or service-related data from said TU 7020,

wherein the transceiving unit TU 7020 further is configured to send to said managing node and/or said middleware node a service request including said service-specific data, for sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within a defined area.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, determined service request including service-specific data is sent from the client nodes 7000 over a proprietary interface 701 to the managing node 7100.

According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, determined service request including service-specific data is sent from the client nodes 7000 over a proprietary interface 701 directly to the middleware node 7200.

The alert message sending system in accordance with the present disclosure may further comprise a managing node 7100 for defining and centralised management of emergency services for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message, the managing node comprising:

a Managing Interface (MI) 7110 configured to obtain user input,

a Transceiving Unit (TU) 7120 configured to receive service-related data from a middleware node 7200 and receive service-specific data from a client node 7000, and Processing Means (PM) 7130 configured to determine service-specific data for the alert message sending, based on input from said MI and/or service-related data from said middleware node 7200, and to process the determined and/or received service-specific data for alert message sending,

wherein the TU 7120 further is configured to send to said middleware node 7200 a service request including said processed service-specific data, for sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within a defined area.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the managing node 7100 node TU 7120 is configured to receive service-specific data from client nodes 7000 over interfaces 700 as well as to receive service-related data from a middleware node 7200 over e.g. a proprietary interface 704. Service-related data may also be forwarded from the managing node 7100 to the client nodes 7000 or sent directly from the middleware node 7200 to the client nodes 7000.

While, according to embodiments of the present disclosure, both the managing node 7100 and the client nodes 7000 may comprise means for rendering presentation data for presenting alert service-related and/or service-specific data in relation to a geographic area to a node user via a MI 7010 and MI 7110, respectively, the service-related data, containing subscriber data with UE location, UE status and UE-related network node information for subscribers of certain priority, type or all, and/or geographical alert area, AOI, alert zone or roaming zone data, can be used as input for subscriber status and statistics presentation and for refining service-specific data and message sending requests. The managing node Managing Interface MI 7110 also enables central supervision of all ongoing services. Management Interfaces according to embodiments of the present disclosure includes machine-to-machine, textual and/or graphical (user) interfaces.

When service data for all service requests are determined by the managing node 7100 based on service-specific data from client nodes 7000, service-specific data input via a MI 7110 and/or service-related data from the middleware node 7200, message sending requests may be sent over the interface 704 to the middleware node 7200 for further processing and forwarding to an alert messaging service node 7300 for sending.

To provide a good basis for subscriber status and statistics presentation as well as for the preparation and sending of (alert) messages to foreign countries, a Provide Subscriber

Information (PSI) for IMSI/LMSI derived from an MSISDN obtained via passive probe location methods on the MAP interface between a national HLR and a foreign operators' MSC is according to one embodiment of the present disclosure sent by the middleware or alert messaging service node to the foreign MSC to obtain the foreign country's cell info (CGI/ SAI). This cell info may then be translated into geographic coordinates by the use of a global cell database to improve the UE location (as cell or network data not might be available for the foreign country).

In a preferred embodiment of the present disclosure, the client nodes 7000, e.g.

administrated by regional or national rescue and/or emergency organisations, and the managing node 7100, e.g. administrated by a national supervisory organisation, may for subscriber privacy reasons be network operator independent, i.e. placed outside of the network operator's domain.

In one embodiment of the disclosure, the system does not comprise any client nodes 7000, why all service-specific data for (alert) message sending requests is processed and determined by the managing node 7100 alone.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may comprise a middleware node 7200 for collecting data and enabling alerting of UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message, the middleware node comprising:

a Transceiving Unit (TU) 7210 configured to receive: UE subscriber data from passive UE location methods, optionally in combination with active UE location methods, where said UE subscriber data comprises UE location, status and UE-related network node information,

service request including service-specific data from client nodes 7000 and or managing node 7100 for sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within defined areas, and radio traffic information for cells within alert and roaming zones including cell status, traffic capacity and traffic load from Base Station Controller (BSC), Radio Network

Controller (RNC) or from interface probes on A-bis and/or Iub interfaces, and Processing Means (PM) 7220 configured to

- determining cell-based geographical alert zone in which UEs to be alerted is located based on obtained service-specific and radio network data,

- determining geographical roaming zones based on alert zone and radio network data,

- determining service requests for alerting UEs of a certain priority, type or all located in defined zones with a defined alert message, and

Storage Means (STM) 7230 for storing subscriber, zone, radio network and radio traffic data,

wherein the Transceiving Unit (TU) 7210 further is configured to transmit:

service-related subscriber data with UE location, status and UE-related network node information for subscribers of certain priority, type or all, and/or geographical alert area, AOI, alert zone or roaming zone data to the client nodes 7000 and/or managing node 7100,

- said determined zone and cell data to the alert messaging service node 7300, and

said determined service requests to the alert messaging service node 7300.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the middleware node 7200 obtains service- related UE subscriber data including UE location, UE status and UE-related network node information from the mobile network via passive location methods 706 and processes this data by an internal (or collocated) Data Mobile Location Centre (DMLC) 7230. The Data Mobile Location Centre (DMLC) 7230 controls the passive, non-intrusive monitoring of data traffic on the network interfaces and the extracting, sorting and saving of relevant location, status and node data per UE and/or subscriber identity. In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the passively obtained UE subscriber data may be complemented or updated via interface 708 by active location methods handled by internal Proxy 7240 and GMLC 7250 functionality in the middleware node.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure, the Proxy 7240 and Gateway Mobile Location Centre (GMLC) 7250 unit is configured to collect current UE subscriber data (e.g. if stored data is missing, old or obsolete) via active UE location methods including at least one of: Provide Subscriber Information (PSI), Any Time Interrogation (ATI), Send Routing Information for Location Services (SRI-LCS) or Send Routing Information for Short Message (SRI-SM).

In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, the middleware node 7200 obtains complementing or updated UE subscriber data from the mobile network via active location methods provided from external GMLCs or SMLCs 710 (not shown).

Complemented or updated data may be stored in the middleware node SDB 7260.

In another embodiment of the disclosure, the updating (and storing) of missing or obsolete UE subscriber data is handled by the alert messaging service node 7300 by means of internal Proxy 7360 and GMLC 7370 functionality in the alert messaging service node via interfaces 712 or via active location methods provided from external GMLCs or SMLCs 714 (not shown). Updated data may hereby be stored in the alert messaging service node Location Cache 7385.

In yet another embodiment, both the middleware node 7200 and the alert messaging service node 7300 handles the updating (and storing) of missing or obsolete UE subscriber data. Regardless of where the data is updated, it can be stored both in the middleware node SDB 7260 and in the alert messaging service node Location Cache 7385 via internal communication.

Location methods covered by embodiments of the present disclosure are:

- passive location methods, such as passive Probe location, Event Manager location or

CDR location,

- active enhanced location methods, such as 3GPP LCS E-CGI, OMA SUPL A-GPS (GMLC) or (MS-based or MS-assisted) 3GPP LCS A-GPS (GMLC/SMLC))

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the UE subscriber data is stored in a middleware node Subscriber DataBase (SDB) 7260 indexed per MSISDN if obtained, otherwise indexed on IMSI, LMSI or TMSI. According to another embodiment of the present disclosure, the UE subscriber data may also be stored in an alert messaging service node Location Cache 7385, especially if the subscriber data has been actively updated via active location methods.

The collection of UE subscriber data via passive and active location methods will be explained more in detail in connection with Figure 10.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the middleware node 7200 handles the process of deriving geographic zone data and message sending lists based on collected UE subscriber data, obtained service-specific data from the managing node 7100 or optionally directly from the client nodes 7000 in service requests, internal settings, current national radio network cell data continuously obtained from integrated, collocated or standalone radio planning and/or Cell Prediction Tools (CPT) 7280 and cell data input from the network operator 716, international radio network cell data obtained from global cell databases 718 and radio traffic data passively obtained from Base Station Controllers (BSCs), Radio Network Controller (RNCs) or from interface probes on A-bis and/or lub interfaces via interface 706 and a Data Mobile Location Centre (DMLC) 7230.

The obtaining of radio traffic data is described more in detail in connection with Figure

10.

According to one embodiment of the present invention, the derived cell, geographic area and/or LAI based service-specific zone data are stored as Zone Data Definitions (ZDD) identified by a zone id and containing a list of service-specific cells defined by Cell Global Identity (CGI) or Service Area Identity (SAT), list of geographic area coordinates and/or list Location Area identities (LAIs) in the Cell DataBase (CDB) 7270. To enable cell-based optimised parallel message sending from the alert messaging service node 7300 depending on current radio traffic in the cells, one embodiment of the present disclosure includes the radio traffic information for cells concerned (if available) in zone data i.e. cell status, cell capabilities, cell capacities and current traffic load. The collection of radio traffic information can either be service-related, i.e. for all cells or a specified area of cells, or service-specific, i.e. for derived alert and roaming zone cells only.

Radio network data together with pre-defined or determined ZDD may be stored in the middleware node CDB 7270.

In accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure, the service-related zone data and ZDD are uploaded to the client nodes and/or to the managing node and the ZDD is downloaded to the alert messaging service node via FTP, SFTP or SCP. As both the middleware node 7200 and the alert messaging service node 7300 handles network operator-specific subscriber and cell information that should not passed outside of the operator's control, they are according to a one preferred embodiment of the present disclosure placed within a network operator's domain or telecom security zone. The national network operator may operate one each of the middleware node 7200 and the alert messaging service node 7300.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may comprise an alert messaging service node 7300 node for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message, the alert messaging service node comprising:

a Transceiving Unit (TU) 7310 configured to receive

zone and cell data from a middleware node 7200,

radio traffic information for cells within defined alert and roaming zones in which UEs to be alerted is located from the middleware node 7200, and

service requests for sending an alert message for alerting UEs of a certain priority, type or all located in defined alert and roaming zones with a defined alert message from the middleware node 7200 node, and

Sending Means (SM) 7330 for sending the alert message to UEs within the cell-based geographical alert zone and optionally alert zone-related roaming zones, by separate and parallel sending processes per cell for all cells in which at least one UE to be alerted is located, sending the alert message to one UE at a time per cell.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the alert messaging first temporarily stores message to send in a Store And Forward (SAF) 7380 queue indexed per MSISDN (or IMSI/LMSI, if obsolete MSISDN) and then forward these, based on a number of rules, towards a Cell Load Balancer (CLB) 7390, which handles the cell-based queuing and load-balanced sending of the messages towards the subscriber UEs. When the alert messaging service node SAF 7380 module obtains requests for message sending from the middleware node 7200 on interface 720, e.g. via SMPP submit_message, submit_data or submit_multi messages, the messages may be temporarily stored indexed per MSISDN (if obtained, otherwise per IMSI/LMSI) in an SAF 7380 queue for further processing.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the SAF 7380 also includes a Location Cache 7385, where all last known subscriber UE locations and/or newly updated subscriber UE locations done via active location methods are cached. In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the Location Cache 7385 communicates with the middleware node SDB 7260, so that (updated) subscriber data with location are shared between the SDB 7260 and Location Cache 7385. Subscriber UE location is normally cached as cell id (CGI/SAI).

In yet another embodiment of the present disclosure, the Location Cache 7385 also stores the current radio traffic information for each concerned cell, i.e. the cell status, traffic capacity and radio traffic load for all alert and optionally roaming zone cells.

In case of missing, obsolete or too old cell, subscriber or node info (e.g. in case location is older than (Default) Max Age Of Location ((D)MAOL), subscriber UE MSISDN is missing or if MSC/SGSN address is missing, respectively), the alert messaging service node may (as well as the middleware node) update these by sending a CAMEL Provide Subscriber Information (PSI) towards the MSC/SGSN to get (an updated) cell information (CGI/SAI), sending a

CAMEL Any Time Interrogation (ATI) towards the HLR to get (an updated) cell information (CGI /SAT), sending a Send Routing Information for Short Message (SRI-SM) for MSISDN towards the HLR in case of missing or obsolete IMSI and/or MSC/SGSN address, and/or sending a Send Routing Information for LoCation Service (SRI-LCS) for IMSI towards the HLR in case of missing or obsolete MSISDN and/or MSC/SGSN address. Alternatively, the alert messaging service node 7300 may utilise other active location methods, such as LCS E- CGI, 3GPP A-GPS, OMA SUPL A-GPS, or LTE location, to update data if so defined by e.g. Quality Of Location () or internal settings.

Updated cell, subscriber and node info is stored in the SAF Location Cache 7385 and may optionally be uploaded to the middleware node SDB 7260.

(Alert) messages, e.g. in form of Mobile Terminated Forward Short Messages (MT- FSM), are sent by the alert messaging service node 7300 towards the serving Mobile Switching Centre (MSC) (if circuit switched network) or Serving GPRS Support Node SGSN (if packet switched network) with IMSI as Destination Address (DA) 724 without first sending a SRI-SM for MSISDN 722 to the HLR to get IMSI and MSC/SGSN address as the node address is already obtained. The message is then forwarded via the BSC/RNC 726 and BTS/Node B 728 towards the UE 730.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the sending process is not terminated by sending a Delivery Status result (RSMDS) to the HLR 732 in order to save network resources.

One embodiment of the present disclosure utilises easily implemented standard interfaces between the alert messaging service node and the core network (HLR, MSC/SGSN, etc.) with some extension, such as SMPP++, MLP++ and protocols over SOAP.

As presented in Figure 7c, embodiments of the alert messaging service node 7300 may also comprise: Processing Means, PM, 7320 configured to

determine a sending rate capacity per cell (or instance of cell) for each one of the cells wherein a UE to be alerted is located, based on cell-based radio data and/or radio traffic information, and

- determining a sending order for said cells, randomised per zone or based on a prioritised order per zone,

and/or

Sending Means (SM) 7330, where the sending of the alert message to UEs within the cell-based geographical alert zone and optionally alert zone-related roaming zones, is done by separate and parallel sending processes per cell (or instance of cell) in random or prioritised cell sending order for all cells in which at least one UE to be alerted is located, sending the alert message to one UE at a time per cell using a sending rate that corresponds to the determined sending rate capacity per (instance of) cell,

and/or

Monitoring Means (MM) 7340 configured to monitor message output and/or radio traffic load per (instance of) cell for each one of the said (instance of) cells, subsequent to sending alert message to said cells,

and/or

Adjusting Means (AM) 7350 configured to adjust the sending rate for each (instance of) cell if the monitored message output and/or radio traffic load for said (instance of) cell falls outside an acceptable output and/or radio traffic load interval for said cell so that the monitored radio traffic load is uniformly distributed among all (instances of) cells wherein a UE to be alerted is located,

and/or

a Proxy 7360 and Gateway Mobile Location Centre (GMLC) 7370 unit configured to collect current UE subscriber data (e.g. if stored data is old or obsolete) via active UE location methods including at least one of: Provide Subscriber Information (PSI), Any Time

Interrogation (ATI), Send Routing Information for Location Services (SRI-LCS) or Send Routing Information for Short Message (SRI-SM),

and/or

Store And Forward module SAF 7380 with Location Cache 7385

and/or Scrambling Means or Cell Load Balancer (CLB) 7390 configured to repeatedly scramble the sending order separately per cell-based geographical alert zone and optionally alert zone- related roaming zone in the following decreasing order of preference:

alert message sending order based on Cell Global Identity, CGI, and/or Serving Area

Identity, SAI, if known, or

alert message sending order based on MSC Identity and/or SGSN Identity, if several and known, or

alert message sending order based on IMSI/LMSI, if known, or

alert message sending order based on MSISDN.

The system and system nodes in accordance with the present disclosure are valid for both circuit and packet switched mobile radio networks as well as for all network generations (2G, 3G (UMTS), 4G, etc.) and does not require any replacement or changes done to existing mobile network entities. Moreover, since the alert messages can be sent as normal text messages, which nearly all mobile User Equipments (UEs) are capable of receiving and displaying independently of any subscriber preferences, pre-registrations, special subscriptions or integrations, or without any application needed on the UE, the alert messages could be handled by nearly all individuals in the mobile network without any changes or reconfigurations needed in the network or on the UE.

The alert message sending process steps will now be described more in connection with a signalling diagram presented in Figure 9.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, service-related data including subscriber UE location, status and node info via passive location methods 9100, radio network data from network operators and/or CPT 7280, etc. 9300 and radio traffic data from probes, BTS/RNC, etc 9400 is optionally collected continuously in a collection phase Collection Phase. Data is stored in the middleware node, e.g. in the middleware node Subscriber DataBase (SDB 7260) and Cell DataBase (CDB 7270). Data, which e.g. may have been updated via active methods (e.g. PSI) if found missing or obsolete 9200, can according to one embodiment of the present disclosure optionally be downloaded and stored in the alert messaging service node Location Cache 7385 as well.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, obtained and processed subscriber, radio network and radio traffic data (from all Network Operators) 9500 is uploaded to the managing node or optionally directly to the client nodes for presentation. According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the collection phase may also comprise continuous translation of CGI/SAI into geographic data based on input from the PSI location method and Global cell databases 9600. The collection phase may also comprise continuous collection of geographic (map) info from geo servers 9700 for presentation purposes. Obtained data is stored in the managing node and optionally the client nodes.

In the initialisation phase (Initialisation Phase), the client nodes and/or managing node receives information about accidents, emergencies or services 9800 that requests message sending and starts to define, either automatically, semi-automatically or manually by an operator:

- Initial alert areas (if emergencies) or Area Of Interests (AOIs) (if the alert messaging service node 7300 is used for other services than sending alert messages) and priority - Initial (alert) message type (e.g. SMS/US SD/MMS/SMS over GPRS/Fax/E-mail) and content (text, language and coding)

Service Id, type and priority

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the client nodes (if used) sends the request for (alert) message sending to the managing node 900a for subscriber UEs within initially defined alert area(s)/AOIs with Service Id, (initial) type and priority and initially defined message type and content. The managing node forwards the client node request together with any own requests for (alert) message sending to the middleware node 902.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, the client nodes (if used) send the request for (alert) message sending directly to the middleware node 900b.

If service-related data including subscriber UE location, status and node data, radio network data and radio traffic data has been collected continuously for the alert area AOI in concern, the client nodes and/or managing node could already in the initialisation phase present status and statistics on subscribers currently roaming within the alert area or AOI defined. In this phase, presented status and statistics does however not include service-specific Zone Data Definitions (ZDD), message sending strategies or sending lists, i.e. only pre-defined alert and roaming zones and service-related subscriber data can be presented.

According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, after getting the request for

(alert) message sending, the middleware node starts to derive an initial ZDD, identified by zone id and defining initial alert and roaming zone cells (CGI and CGI Type/SAI and SAI Type), LAI and/or geographic coordinates to which (alert) messages shall be sent together with an initial message sending strategy, defining which message sending strategy to use by the alert messaging service node, i.e. whether to allow sending of all kind of messages (alert, bulk and advertising message, etc.), alert messages only, alert messages from only certain service ids or types or not allow any message sending at all (during re-configurations, etc.) and initial sending lists, stating subscriber and node data for all subscriber UEs that are roaming within an alert or roaming zone and should receive a message.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, instead of deriving new ZDDs, messages sending strategies and sending lists, the middleware node selects pre-defined ZDDs, messages sending strategies and/or sending lists.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, in order to be able to roll-back to original settings after message sending, the middleware node initialises and starts uploading the current settings from the alert messaging service node over e.g. SOAP 904.

The collection of data for the alert area/ AOI in concern may be started in the preparation phase (Preparation Phase), if service-related data has not been collected continuously.

After that a request for message sending has reached the middleware node and the current service-specific subscriber and cell-based radio data together with derived alert and roaming zones has been uploaded to client nodes (either directly 906a) or via managing node 906b) and/or to managing node 908, a full set of service-specific data can be presented at client nodes and/or managing node. This data will reveal any technical problems within the mobile radio access or core network and allow an operator or user to update or refine service-specific data, by for example selecting and updating alert areas, AOI, subscriber identities and priorities and message content and type.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, if an accident has occurred abroad, the middleware node will provide geographic coordinates for subscribers visiting that country and/or region by sending a PSI message, based on the MSISDN obtained via passive probe location methods on the MAP interfaces between a national HLR and foreign operators' MSC, to the foreign MSC to obtain cell info (CGI/ SAI). This cell info is then translated into geographic coordinates by the use of a global cell database.

As a result of the preparation phase, the client nodes and/or managing node can now provide (automatically, semi-automatically or manually):

Updated/refined alert areas/AOIs

Updated/refined alert and roaming zones

Updated/refined (alert) message type and content Updated refined service type and priority (same service id as before, but type and priority may have been changed due to e.g. altered severity)

Zone, cell and/or subscriber priority settings A refined request for (alert) message sending based on the updated or refined data may then be sent to middleware node.

In the sending phase (Sending Phase), the middleware node updates the subscriber, cell, and node info in the SDB 7260 and ZDD in the CDB 7270 for all concerned subscribers UEs and zones that shall receive a message (if found necessary) based on obtained initial or updated service-specific data received with the service request for message sending from client nodes and/or managing node.

In case subscriber data is found missing or obsolete, the middleware node updates the data via active location methods, such as PSI, SRI-SM or SRI-LCS, before transmitting the actual request for message sending to alert messaging service node. Updated data is stored in the middleware node middleware node SDB 7260 and may optionally be downloaded to the alert messaging service node alert messaging service node Location Cache 7385.

In another embodiment of the disclosure, the alert messaging service node, alternatively in combination with the middleware node, updates cell, subscriber or node info for concerned subscribers in case of found missing or obsolete in connection with message sending. The updated data is then stored in the alert messaging service node SAF Location Cache 7385 and may optionally be uploaded to the middleware node SDB 7260.

Embodiments of the present disclosure update data by:

- sending of a CAMEL Provide Subscriber Information (PSI) towards the MSC/SGSN 910/926 (in case of missing or obsolete cell info)

- sending of a CAMEL Any Time Interrogation (ATI) towards the HLR 912/928 (in case of missing or obsolete cell information)

sending of a Send Routing Information for Short Message (SRI-SM) for MSISDN towards the HLR 914/930 (in case of missing or obsolete IMSI and MSC/SGSN address)

- sending of a Send Routing Information for LoCation Service (SRI-LCS) for IMSI towards the HLR 916/932 (in case of missing or obsolete MSISDN and MSC/SGSN) using other active location methods if so defined by e.g. QOL or middleware node/alert messaging service node internal settings Due to the need for urgent message deliveries, one embodiment of the present disclosure downloads initial Zone Data Definitions 918, Cell-based Radio Data and Radio Traffic info 920, Message Sending Strategy 922, Sending Lists and request for message sending 924 from the middleware node to the alert messaging service node as soon as obtained.

Another embodiment of the present disclosure waits until updated and refined final Zone

Data Definitions 918, Cell-based Radio Data and Radio Traffic info 920, Message Sending Strategy 922, Sending Lists and request for message sending 924 has been determined by the middleware node before downloading them to the alert messaging service node.

Yet another embodiment of the present disclosure combines the two methods, in that initial data is downloaded as soon as obtained and then updated with a final set of data as soon as determined.

The optimised, load-balanced message queuing and sending based on cell-based radio data and radio traffic information is initialised directly after data has been downloaded and processed by the alert messaging service node.

Messages such as alert messages are sent by the alert messaging service node, e.g. in form of Mobile Terminated Forward Short Message (MT-FSM), towards the serving

MSC/SGSN 934. In case the UE's last known location is outside of the alert zone, but inside of the roaming zone, just prior of sending the MT-FSM, a PSI 926 may optionally be sent in order to find out whether or not the UE has roamed into the alert zone as well as getting the UE into a dedicated mode, so that the MT-FSM could be sent without imposing another paging

(applicable for both MSCs and SGSNs).

In the reset phase (Reset Phase) when the (alert) message sending from the alert messaging service node has been completed, a sending acknowledgement report is transmitted to the middleware node 936 for further transmission to the managing node and client nodes 938. To resume former sending activities and resetting the network, the original Zone Data

Definitions 940, Cell-based Radio Data and Radio Traffic info 942 and Message Sending Strategy 944 are downloaded to and activated by the alert messaging service node.

As illustrated in Figure 10, real-time subscriber UE data with location are obtained continuously or temporarily per message sending case from passive location methods 716, optionally combined with active location methods via internal Proxy and GMLC functionality in the middleware node 7200 or in the alert messaging service node 7300 or via external Proxies, GMLCs and Serving Mobile Location Centres (not shown). Embodiments of the present disclosure store subscriber UE data in the alert messaging service node Location Cache 7385 and/or middleware node SDB 7260. While data stored in the middleware node SDB 7260 includes at least subscriber info (MSISDN/IMSI/LMSI pointing out MSC/SGSN), status info, node info (MSC/SGSN and optionally HLR address) and cell info (last location CGI/SAI and timestamp), one embodiment of the present disclosure only stores IMSI, LMSI, MSISDN and associated CGI/SAI in the Location Cache 7385.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, both the alert messaging service node Location Cache 7385 and middleware node CDB 7270 also stores the current cell-based radio traffic information, i.e. status, traffic capacity and/or radio traffic load (signalling load on a radio channel per cell) for all concerned cells. The cell-based radio data obtained from integrated, co-located or stand-alone radio planning and/or cell prediction tools is stored in the middleware node CDB 7270.

In accordance with the present disclosure, the collecting of data effectively combines passive and active location methods while affecting the network load as little as possible. The passive location methods (probe, Event Manager, CDR location, etc.) are normally used for the continuous collection of data, while active location methods (PSI, ATI, LCS E-CGI, 3GPP A- GPS, OMA SUPL A-GPS location, etc.) are used as a complement to the passive location methods in case of e.g. missing or obsolete data, where the location quality or accuracy is insufficient or where the age of location is too old (compared to defined). The active location methods may however also be used alongside the passive location methods or alone for the continuous collection of data if so configured.

The passive location methods are normally based on Location Updates (LUs), except for CDR location.

In GSM, UMTS and LTE networks, there are several procedures related to the registration of the location of a UE which are used in order to keep the location registers updated. In circuit switched networks, the normal location updating (NLU), periodic location updating (PLU) and IMSI attach (IA) are procedures for informing the network of the present whereabouts of an UE. In packet switched networks, the routing area update or the cell update could also be used. In the following, the common term Location Update (LU) will be used to refer to all such procedures.

A LU message is a message sent from a UE to the MSC/SGSN which serves the area in which the UE is presently located. LU messages contain information about the CGI/SAI of the cell in which the UE is presently located as well as MSISDN. An MSC/SGSN which has received a LU message from an UE forwards it to the VLR associated with the MSC/SGSN. The VLR may in turn send some of the information in the LU message to the HLR. Regularly transmitted LUs are transmitted typically once every hour to once every second hour. That implies that the average age of location would be at least 30 minutes, which in turn implies that the subscriber and location data collected with passive location methods only gets updates on average twice per hour and even might be as old as several hours.

When using passive location methods in connection with alert message sending, the location uncertainty given by the Location Update interval, i.e. the time interval for which the location (CGI/SAI) is updated for the alert message receiving subscriber UEs.

During this Location Update interval, a subscriber can move quite a distance without the alert message sending lists being updated. Thus, when the alert message sending commences, the last known location for some of the subscribers might be nearly as old as a general Default Max Age Of Location (DMAOL), internally stored in the middleware node 7200 and/or in the alert messaging service node 7300, or a subscriber-specific Max Age Of Location (MAOL), stored for each subscriber in the SDB 7260 (and attached to the submit_message, submit data or submit_multi service request for message sending, if provided). (If both default DMAOL and the subscriber-specific MAOL is defined, the subscriber-specific MAOL take preference).

To overcome this problem, one embodiment of the disclosure make use of either a rather low MAOL or DMAOL, forcing use of an active location method, or defines a QOL, also stored per subscriber (and attached to the request for message sending) and/or internal settings in the middleware node 7200 and/or in the alert messaging service node 7300 that forces use of an active location method with better quality, than a passive location methods can provide.

By using active location methods with better location accuracy than passive location methods, embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to cell accuracy.

If the subscriber UE's age of location is found older than MAOL and/or DMAOL, internal settings in the middleware node 7200 and/or in the alert messaging service node 7300 provides information on both whether or not an updated location via an active location method has to be performed and what kind of active location to use. The latter may can also be determined based on defined QOL.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure use QOL stored per subscriber in the SDB and attached to the request for message sending and/or internal settings in the middleware node 7200 and/or in the alert messaging service node 7300 for obtaining UE location of a desired accuracy in order to minimise the alert area to not alert and worry subscribers (who are not within a well defined emergency area) unduly.

The QOL may also be used to limit the size of the roaming zone by forcing active updates of those subscriber UEs that are within the roaming zone, but outside the alert zone with a high accuracy active location method, i.e. the way QOL affects the roaming zone size is due to that the higher the QOL is set, the better location method is demanded and the lesser uncertainty of where the subscriber is actually located, whereby the size of the roaming zone can be made smaller.

In another embodiment of the disclosure, other thresholds than QOL, such as Location

Cache 7385 timeouts, are defined in the middleware node 7200 and/or in the alert messaging service node 7300 that forces use of an active location method instead of a passive, e.g. for special kinds of alert services that requires either high location accuracy or fresh age of location.

In yet another embodiment of the disclosure, a new or updated location for all subscribers that are served by a cell that is placed outside of the alert zone but inside the roaming zone is requested in order to verify whether a subscriber has roamed into the alert zone or not.

Non intrusive passive probe location in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, which does not affect either network load or traffic, may be utilised to monitor (sniff) traffic on the following interfaces:

GSM circuit switched network:

- A- (MSC - BSC)

- A-bis (BSC - BTS)

MAP (core network)

GSM packet switched network:

- Gb (SGSN - PCU (BSC if collocated))

- A-bis (BSC (PCU) - BTS)

MAP (core network)

UMTS circuit switched network:

- Mc (MSC - MGW)

- IuCS (MGW - RNC)

- Iub (R C - NodeB)

- MAP (core network)

UMTS packet switched network:

- Gn (GGSN - SGSN)

- IuPS (SGSN - RNC) Iub (RNC - NodeB)

MAP (core network)

Probe location method uses interface probes for the passive monitoring a number of interfaces in the mobile network and the extracting of relevant data from the raw traffic data.

In accordance with the present disclosure, the raw traffic data identified and monitored by probes includes (active and passive) Location Updates (LUs), (MO/MT) calls and

(MO/MT FSM, MO/MT_USSD, etc) messaging traffic data, which is processed and converted into relevant network, node, cell, status and subscriber info (with location).

Extracted data are may be sent via FTP or similar protocol towards the middleware node 7200 for processing and storage in the SDB 7260, and may optionally be forwarded to the alert messaging service node 7300 for storage in the Location Cache 7385.

Embodiments of the present disclosure utilises a Data Mobile Location Centre (DMLC) for the passive monitoring of data traffic on network interfaces and the sorting of this traffic per mobile user identity (MSISDN/IMSI/LMSI) such that the status and location of all subscribers can be continuously updated. The DMLC also keeps track of historic data per user and supports operations by e.g. the managing node to manage zones, triggers and location reports. The DMLC may maintain two databases, one for current and one for historic data.

Extracted and sorted data may comprise the following information:

- subscriber info (per MSISDN (if available), IMSI or LMSI) with location (CGI/SAI incorporating cell id, LAI, etc)

- node info (MSC/VLR, SGSN, GGSN and optionally HLR address)

cell and radio traffic information

UE status data

- event or activity info (e.g. MO-Call, MT-Call, MO-SMS, MT-SMS (circuit switched) and activatePDP, deactivatePDP, serviceReq (packet switched))

time stamp

As illustrated in Figure 10, the passive probe location methods according to the present disclosure comprises at least one of:

- Passive probe location between the on-net MSC/SGSN and the on-net BSC/RNC P 1 , providing subscriber info (only IMSI/LMSI), node info (MSC/SGSN) and cell info (cell id, but not current cell, so a cell update might be needed). MSISDN may be retrieved e.g. via probes between the HLR and the MSC/SGSN P3 or by sending a SRI-LCS towards the HLR before (alert) message sending.

Passive probe location between the on-net BSC/RNC and the on-net BTS/NodeB P2, providing subscriber info (only IMSI/LMSI), node info (MSC/SGSN) and cell info (current cell, i.e. no cell update is needed). MSISDN may be retrieved through probes between the HLR and the MSC/SGSN P3 or by sending a SRI-LCS towards the HLR before transmitting the (alert) message. Extracted data from probing between the on-net BSC/RNC and the on-net BTS/NodeB P2 interface may also comprise cell-based radio traffic information, i.e. cell status, cell traffic load and cell capacity information.

Passive probe location between the on-net MSC/SGSN and the on-net HLR P3, providing subscriber info (MSISDN/IMSI/LMSI) and node info (MSC/SGSN), but not cell info. This probe location is mainly used for retrieving MSISDN to use when node and cell info is retrieved from probing between the MSC/SGSN and BSC/RNC PI , probing between the BSC/RNC and the BTS/NodeB P2 or between the BSC/RNC and

BTS/NodeB P2. May also be used when data is obtained directly from the BSC or RNC.

Passive probe location between the on-net HLR and the off-net MSC/SGSN P4, providing subscriber info (MSISDN/IMSI/LMSI) and node info (MSC/ SGSN), but not cell info. Due to the obsolete cell information, the middleware and/or alert messaging service node need to obtain the current location by active location, e.g. by sending a PSI towards off-net MSC/SGSN. Obtained foreign CGI/SAI could be translated by global cell databases into coordinates. According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, instead of using passive interface probing on the A-bis and or Iub interfaces, current cell-based radio traffic information, i.e. status, traffic capacity and/or radio traffic load (signalling load on a radio channel per cell) together with network, node, cell and subscriber info (with location) may be obtained directly from the BSC or RNC if provided BRl . MSISDN may be retrieved through probes between the HLR and the MSC/SGSN P3 or by sending a SRI-LCS towards the HLR before transmitting the (alert) message.

Some network vendors have incorporated Event Managers (EM) into their MSCs and SGSNs. The managers include functionality to monitor and filter traffic from and towards the MSC/SGSN including subscriber node and cell information. One embodiment of the present disclosure utilises the passive, non-intrusive Event Manager location from the MSC or SGSN indicated with El .

Subscriber data with location may also be extracted from Charging Data Records (CDRs), which is a formatted collection of information about chargeable events in the telecom network and mainly used for billing subscribers. Information on the chargeable events includes time of call set-up, duration of the call, type of messages sent, amount of data transferred, etc. A separate CDR is generated for each party to be charged.

Embodiments of the present disclosure utilises the non-intrusive CDR-location obtained directly from the MSC/SGSN CI, but may also be obtain CDR-location from Media Devices MD (C2) or Billing Systems (BS) (C3).

Advantages with passive CDR-based location are:

no impact on the network or network entities

no impact on the network load or traffic Disadvantages with passive CDR-based location are:

CDRs are provided only for chargeable events in the network and not for e.g. LUs (no matter if the subscriber is paged). While a subscriber is passive (e.g. no call set-ups or messages sent), no new CDRs are created and no new subscriber and location data is provided

- The processing of CDR data usually takes a while after the chargeable event has

occurred, why provided data may be old

CDR does not provide LAI, which can be used as roaming zone or be used for calculating roaming zone

Extracted and sorted data primarily contains the following information:

subscriber info (MSISDN/IMSI/LMSI)

node info (MSC/SGSN/GGSN)

cell info (CGI/SAI (not LAI) and time stamp)

Embodiments of the present disclosure utilises active location methods (PSI, ATI, LCS E-CGI, 3GPP A-GPS, OMA SUPL A-GPS, LTE location, etc) as mainly a complement to passive location methods if the age of location is too old or if location quality or accuracy from the passive location is insufficient, but may also, if so defined, used active location alongside or as a replacement for passive location methods for collecting subscriber data and location. Active location may be used e.g. when:

age of location from the passive location methods are too old (e.g. older than MAOL or DMAOL)

- when the accuracy of the location (defined via e.g. QOL) is essential

when subscriber, node or cell info is missing or obsolete

to reduce the probability that subscribers outside of an alert zone have time to roam into the zone during a Location Update interval

if Location Cache 7385 timeouts

The active location methods include but are not limited to:

Basic active location:

- PSI Location (with SRI-SM/SRI-LCS as complement)

ATI Location

Enhanced active location:

- LCS E-CGI (CGI+TA+NMR) Location

- 3 GPP A-GPS and CGI + RTT Location

- OMA SUPL A-GPS Location

In accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure, active location is either obtained by the middleware node 7200 or by the alert messaging service node 7300 via external GMLCs, or obtained via incorporated Proxy and GMLC functionality in the middleware node 7200 and/or in the alert messaging service node 7300.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure utilise the QOL and Max Age Of Location

(MAOL) defined in the subscriber info together with the Default Max Age Of Location (DMAOL) defined in the middleware node 7200 to decide whether a new or improved location needs to be done and which type of location to use. Default type of location to use can hereby also be defined in the middleware node 7200 or in the alert messaging service node 7300.

The 3GGPP CAMEL PSI location with active paging by SRI-SM or SRI-LCS is the preferred basic active location due to that it considerably affects the traffic and process load on the HLR less than ATI location.

In one embodiment of the present disclosure, the UE is first paged in order to enter a dedicated mode by sending an SRI-SM (or SRI-LCS if obsolete MSISDN) towards the HLR Al and then, if successful, sending a PSI towards the MSC/SGSN responding with CGI SAI, AOL, etc.

If IMSI and an MSC address (MSC JD) was received in the SRI-SM Response and PSI is allowed for the MSC, a PSI A2 is sent for the IMSI (and LMSI, if known and allowed for the MSC/VLR) to the MSC given by the MCSJD.

If IMSI and a SGSN address (SB_ID) was received in the SRI-SM Response and PSI is allowed for the SGSN, a PSI A2 is sent for the IMSI to the SGSN given by the SGSN_id.

Cell information may be stored in the SAF Location Cache 7385 and/or in the middleware node SDB 7260.

In another embodiment of the present disclosure, if the MSC/SGSN address is already known (e.g. cached in the alert messaging service node Location 7385), the paging step may be skipped (based on e.g. AOL or internal settings).

One embodiment of the present disclosure makes use of sending a PSI A3 to the off-net MSC to obtain foreign cell info that is translated into geographical coordinates by the use of global cell databases.

The 3GGPP CAMEL ATI location, where an Any Time Interrogation (ATI) is sent towards the HLR A4 to obtain cell information, may be used as an alternative to using PSI location.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may utilise the LCS E-CGI (CGI+TA+NMR) enhanced active location methods for collecting subscriber UE location with high accuracy. The method generally comprises sending a MAP Provide Subscriber Location (PSL) for IMSI/LMSI from GMLC to MSC/SGSN, which forwards a Perform Location Request for IMSI over the BSC/RNC to the SMLC GSM or Stand Alone SMLC (SAS) UMTS (not shown). A Perform Location Response is then responded to the MSC/SGSN over BSC/RNC and a Provide Subscriber Location (PSL) response responded to the GMLC.

As an alternative to LCS E-CGI (CGI+TA+NMR) enhanced active location methods for collecting subscriber UE location with high accuracy, embodiments of the present disclosure also utilises the 3GPP A-GPS and CGI + RTT enhanced and OMA SUPL A-GPS UE based or assisted active location. The first method basically follows the 3GPP LCS E-CGI location, but the SMLC/SAS here also obtains location information from an A-GPS Reference Data Server (RDS) (not shown) and the latter utilises a GMLC or internal GMLC functionality to communicate directly with the UE (optionally assisted with reference data from A-GPS RDS), which makes the actual GPS positioning. The present disclosure also comprises computer programs and computer program products for the methods as discussed herein above.

For instance, according to some embodiments there is provided a computer program for defining an emergency service for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message. This computer program comprises computer program code which, when run in a processing unit of a client node 7000 causes the client node 7000 to

determine service-specific data for the alert message, based on service data from a managing interface and/or service-related data from a managing node and/or a middleware node, and

- send to said managing node and/or said messaging node a service request including said service-specific data, enabling sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within a defined area.

Figure 11 schematically illustrates a computer program product 1100 comprising a computer program for defining an emergency service for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message and a computer readable means on which the computer program is stored.

According to some embodiments there is provided a computer program for defining, and centralized management of, emergency services for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message. The computer program comprises computer program code which, when run in a processing unit of a managing node 7100 causes the managing node 7100 to

determine service-specific data for the alert message, based on input from a managing node and/or service-related data from a middleware node, optionally receiving service-specific data, wherein the service-specific data comprises type and ID of the service,

process the determined and/or received service-specific data for alert messages, and

send to said middleware node a service request including said processed service- specific data, enabling sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within a defined area.

According to some embodiments there is provided a computer program product 1100 comprising a computer program for defining, and centralized management of, emergency services for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message and a computer readable means on which the computer program is stored.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure comprises a computer program for enabling alerting of UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message. The computer program comprises computer program code which, when run in a processing unit of a middleware node 7200 causes the middleware node 7200 to

determine cell-based geographical alert and roaming zones in which UEs to be alerted is located based on obtained service-specific and radio network data,

provide zone and cell data to an alert messaging service node for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message, and process service requests for alerting UEs of a certain priority, type or all located in defined zones with a defined alert message and to provide said service requests to said alert messaging service node. According to some embodiments there is provided a computer program product 1100 comprising a computer program for enabling alerting of UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message and a computer readable means on which the computer program is stored.

A computer program for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message, the computer program comprising computer program code which, when run in a processing unit of an alert messaging service node 7300 causes the alert messaging service node 7300

to receive:

zone and cell data from a middleware node,

radio traffic information for cells within defined alert and roaming zones in which UEs to be alerted is located from the middleware node,

service request for sending an alert message for alerting UEs of a certain priority, type or all, located in defined alert and roaming zones with a defined alert message from the middleware node, and

to send the alert message to UEs within the cell-based geographical alert zones and optionally alert zone-related roaming zones, by separate and parallel sending processes per cell for all cells in which at least one UE to be alerted is located, sending the alert message to one UE at a time per cell. According to some embodiments there is provided a computer program product 1100 comprising a computer program for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message and a computer readable means on which the computer program is stored.

A computer program for sending an alert message to a plurality of UEs, the computer program comprising computer program code which, when run in a processing unit of a communication system causes said communication system to

obtain 606 UE subscriber data of said plurality of UEs, using passive UE location methods within said communication network, where said UE subscriber data comprises UE location and UE-related network node information,

- determine 604 cell-based geographical alert zones and alert zone-related roaming zones based on alert area definition information 600 and radio network data for the communication network 602, and send 608 the alert message to all UEs within the cell-based geographical alert zones and optionally alert zone-related roaming zones, by parallel in time for all cells in which at least one UE to be alerted is located. According to some embodiments there is provided a computer program product 1100 comprising a computer program for sending an alert message to a plurality of UEs and a computer readable means on which the computer program is stored.

Apparent to those skilled in the art is that data (e.g. subscriber data with UE location, UE status, UE network, node and cell info together with radio network data with traffic and geographical cell info) obtained by the present disclosure may not only be used for alert message sending, but for other commercial, informational and government purposes as well, such as presentation services, tracking services (e.g. tracking of subscriber UE's location over time), triggering services (e.g. triggering of when subscriber UEs entering or leaving certain zones, comes near certain other subscriber UEs or locations), advertising services (e.g. location- based (bulk) message sending). I.e. when not in use for alert message sending, the present disclosure allows the use of the same equipment for other messaging services.

One skilled in the art will also appreciate that the present disclosure is not limited to the embodiments or the combined embodiments disclosed in the enclosed drawings and the foregoing description, which are presented for purposes of illustration only, but it can be implemented in a number of different ways, as defined by the following claims.

It should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the conception and specific embodiment disclosed might be readily utilised as a basis for modifying or designing other structures for carrying out the same purposes of the present disclosure.

It should also be realised by those skilled in the art that such equivalent constructions do not depart from the spirit and scope of the disclosure as set forth in the appended claims.

Embodiments of this disclosure have the following advantages:

An advantage of embodiments of the present disclosure is that they provide an efficient alert message sending based on radio cells, which is a prerequisite for an effective use of core and radio network traffic resources, and provide a uniformly distribution of the traffic load among all cells wherein a UE to be alerted is located.

It is also advantageous that embodiments of the present disclosure use cell-based alert message sending. Another advantage is that roaming zones may be used to define the alert zone. In addition, monitoring of radio traffic status, capacity and load may be performed for efficient sending of alert messages. A further advantage is that embodiments of the present disclosure provide a controlled traffic load per cells, by monitoring and adjusting, in addition to a guarantee that the traffic loads on all cells are acceptable. This provides a traffic load that is evenly distributed over all cells, without any cells being overloaded or congested.

One other advantage is that embodiments of the present disclosure ensure that subscribers who enter into an emergency area during alert message sending will receive an alert message.

Embodiments of the present disclosure disclose an efficient sending to minimise traffic load and risk of congestions in the core and radio network by repeatedly scrambling message sending order per cell-based geographical zone, either by taking need for initial paging under consideration and by using packet switched message sending instead of circuit switched when possible.

It must be emphasized that this disclosure may be varied in many ways.

The elements of an embodiment of this disclosure may be physically, functionally and logically implemented in any suitable way. Indeed, the functionality may be implemented in a plurality of units or as part of other functional units. As such, this disclosure may be implemented in a plurality of units, or may be physically and functionally distributed between different units and processors.

It is made clear that presented embodiments may well be combined forming new embodiments not explicitly described herein. Explicit embodiments of methods in one or more nodes as presented herein may thus be combined with embodiments of the corresponding nodes, producing embodiments of nodes comprising features and/or functions of said embodiments of methods of the present disclosure.

In the claims, the term "comprises/comprising" does not exclude the presence of other elements or steps. Additionally, although individual features may be included in separate claims, these may be combined, and the inclusion in different claims does not imply that a combination of features is not feasible and/or advantageous. In addition, singular references do not exclude a plurality. The terms "a", "an", "first", "second" etc do not preclude a plurality.

Reference signs in the claims are provided merely as a clarifying example and shall not be construed as limiting the scope of the claims in any way.

Although this disclosure has been described above with reference to specific embodiments, it is not intended to be limited to the specific form set forth herein. Rather, this disclosure is limited only by the accompanying claims and, other embodiments than the specific above are equally possible within the scope of these appended claims.

Claims

1. A method in a communication system within a communication network for sending an alert message to a plurality of User Equipments, UEs, the method comprising:

obtaining (606) UE subscriber data of said plurality of UEs, using passive UE location methods within said communication network, where said UE subscriber data comprises UE location and UE-related network node information, determining (604) cell-based geographical alert zones and alert zone-related roaming zones based on alert area definition information (600) and radio network data for the communication network (602), and

sending (608) the alert message to all UEs within the cell-based geographical alert zones and optionally alert zone-related roaming zones, by parallel in time for all cells in which at least one UE to be alerted is located.

The method in a communication system according to claim 1 , wherein the UE subscriber data in the obtaining (606) UE subscriber data, further comprises UE status information.

The method in a communication system according to claim 1 or 2, further comprising obtaining radio traffic information for all cells within the cell-based geographical alert zones and within which at least one UE to be alerted is located, and wherein sending the alert message to UEs further is based on said obtained radio traffic information.

The method in a communication system according to claim 3, further comprising

determining a sending rate capacity per cell for each cell wherein a UE to be alerted is located, based on said radio network data and/or said radio traffic information,

determining a sending order for said cells, randomized per zone or based on a prioritized order per zone,

wherein the sending the alert message comprises

sending said alert message to said cells in the random or prioritized cell sending order using a sending rate that corresponds to the determined sending rate capacity per cell,

wherein the sending of alert messages further comprises

monitoring message output and/or radio traffic load per cell for each cell, subsequent to sending said alert message to said cells,

the method further comprising for each cell, if the monitored message output an acceptable output interval and/or radio traffic load for said cell falls outside an acceptable radio traffic load interval for said cell, adjusting the sending rate for said cell to return said monitored message output within its acceptable output interval and/or to return said radio traffic load for said cell within said acceptable radio traffic load interval for said cell.

The method in a communication system according to claim 4, wherein the sending order is repeatedly scrambled separately per cell-based geographical alert zone and optionally alert zone-related roaming zone in the following decreasing order of preference:

alert message sending order based on Cell Global Identity, CGI, Serving Area Identity, SAI, and/or Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network Cell Identity, UC-ID, of said cell-based geographical alert zones and alert zone- related roaming zones, if known,

alert message sending order based on Mobile Switching Centre, MSC, Identity and/or Serving General Packet Radio Service Support Node, SGSN, identity, if several and known,

alert message sending order based on International Mobile Subscriber Identity, IMS I, if known, or

alert message sending order based on Mobile Station International

Subscriber Directory Number, MSISDN.

The method in a communication system according to any of claim 1-5, wherein the cell- based geographical alert zones are based on CGIs, SAIs and/or geographic coordinates.

The method in a communication system according to any of claim 1-6, wherein the determining cell-based geographical alert zones and alert zone-related roaming zones further comprises determining a geographical alert zone-related roaming zone from the radio network data comprising Location Areas Identities, LAIs, which includes CGIs and/or SAIs of the cell-based geographical alert zone and/or CGIs, SAIs or geographic areas surrounding the cell-based geographical alert zone.

The method in a communication system according to claim 7, wherein the geographical alert zone-related roaming zone further is calculated based on at least one of: the time interval between consecutive Location Updates, LUs, UE Age Of Location, AOL, UE Quality Of Location, QOL, remaining alert message sending validity period, progressed alert message sending time, UE subscriber priority, and distance from the cell-based geographical alert zone and an assumed UE travelling speed.

The method in a communication system according to any of claim 1-8, wherein the alert area definition information is obtained by more than one client and wherein the cell-based geographical alert zones and/or alert zone-related roaming zones to at least some degree overlap with each other, the sending comprises sending said alert message to a plurality of UEs according to a priority of each client defining an alert message sending service request.

The method in a communication system according to any of claim 1-9, wherein the alert area definition information comprises a definition of an alert area or Area of Interest, AOI, as geographic coordinates, and/or a definition of alert message content and type.

The method in a communication system according to any of claim 7-10, wherein the sending the alert message per cell or LAI to a UE is based on:

whether or not paging of the UE is required prior to the sending the alert message and

whether or not packet switched alert message sending is possible to the UE, and wherein the sending of the alert message to all UEs is performed according to a UE subscriber priority.

The method in a communication system according to any of claim 1-1 1, wherein sending of alert messages to UEs within the geographical alert zone-related roaming zone and/or the cell-based geographical alert zone is determined based on at least one of the following: UE age of location, UE quality of location and UE location outcome from a forced updated location prior to sending said alert message.

The method in a communication system according to claim 1-12, wherein the obtaining UE subscriber data comprising obtaining updated UE subscriber data including UE location data or cell data by using Customized Applications for Mobile Network Enhanced Logic, CAMEL, Provide Subscriber Information, PSI, for IMSI/Land Mobile Subscriber Identity, LMSI, towards MSC/SGSN, alternatively CAMEL Any Time Interrogation, ATI, for MSISDN towards Home Location Register, HLR, a retrieval of MSISDN and/or serving MSC/SGSN address for the UE comprises using Send Routing Information for Location Services, SRI-LCS, for UE International Mobile Subscriber Identity/Land Mobile Subscriber Identity, IMSI/LMSI, towards HLR and/or a retrieval of IMSI/LMSI and/or serving MSC/SGSN address for the UE comprises using Send Routing Information for Short Message, SRI- SM, for UE MSISDN towards HLR, in the communication network.

The method in a communication system according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the obtaining of UE subscriber data comprising obtaining updated UE cell information by PSI/ATI for UEs with last known location within a geographical alert zone-related roaming zone is always performed and for UEs with last known location within a cell- based geographical alert zone is only performed when cell information is missing, is obsolete or when the UE location is older than a set AOL.

The method in a communication system according to any of claim 1-14, wherein the sending of the alert messages to UEs within the geographical alert zone-related roaming zone, but outside the cell-based geographical alert zone is performed:

with lower priority,

after finished alert messages sending to UEs within said cell-based geographical alert zone or

only if it is determined from a forced updated location that the UE has roamed into a cell-based geographical alert zone.

The method in a communication system according to any of claim 1-15, the method further comprising dynamically converting a voice channel into a messaging channel, and wherein the sending an alert message comprises sending said alert message on said messaging channel.

The method in a communication system according to any of claim 3-16, wherein the obtaining of radio traffic information further comprises obtaining at least one of:

cell radio status information,

radio traffic load information of signalling load on a radio channel per cell, and cell radio traffic capacity information, in a Base Station Controller, BSC, Radio Network Controller, RNC, or from interface probes on A-bis and/or Iub interfaces.

The method in a communication system according to any of claim 1-17, wherein the radio network data, comprising radio network data for a national communication network, is obtained from integrated or stand-alone radio planning tools and/or cell prediction tools.

The method in a communication system according to any of claim 1-18, wherein the radio network data is obtained by processing cell geographic coordinates for international communication networks.

The method in a communication system according to any of claim 1-19, wherein the obtaining UE location information and UE-related network node information further comprises obtaining MSISDN and/or serving MSC/SGSN address for the UE by using Send Routing Information for Location Services, SRI-LCS, for UE IMSI towards HLR.

The method in a communication system according to any of claim 1-20, wherein the obtaining UE location information and UE-related network node information further comprises obtaining IMSI and/or serving MSC/SGSN address for the UE by using Send Routing Information for Short Message, SRI-SM, for UE MSISDN towards HLR.

The method in a communication system according to any of claim 1-21, wherein the obtaining of UE location information and UE-related network node information further comprises using at least one of passive UE location or provisioning methods comprising probes, Base Station Controller, BSC/Radio Network Controller, RNC, Event Manager and Charging Data Record, CDR, location and provisioning, alone or in combination with at least one of active UE location methods comprising PSI, ATI, LCS Evolved UTRAN- CGI, 3^rd Generation Partnership Program, Assisted -Global Positioning System, GPS, Open Mobile Alliance Secure User Plane Access-GPS and Long Term Evolution Location.

The method in a communication system according to any of claim 1-22, further comprising alerting a plurality of UEs via alert messages of at least one of alert message types comprising Short Message Services, SMS, Multimedia Messaging Service, MMS, and Unstructured Supplementary Services Data, USSD.

The method in a communication system according to any of claim 1-23, wherein the method for alerting a plurality of UEs, in addition is a method for at least one of the following: location-based services for advertisement, territorial monitoring and geographic triggering services, and non-location-based services for bulk message sending.

A method in a client node for defining an emergency service for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message, the method comprising:

determining (206) service-specific data for alert message sending, based on obtained (200) service data input from a managing interface and/or based on obtained (202) service-related data from a managing node and/or an middleware node (204), and

sending (208) to said managing node and/or said middleware node a service request including said service-specific data, enabling sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within a defined area.

The method in a client node according to claim 25, further comprising rendering presentation data for presenting alert service-related and/or service-specific data in relation to a geographic area to a node user.

The method in a client node according to claim 25 or 26, wherein service-specific data in the determining service-specific data comprises definition of an alert area or Area of Interest, AOI, as geographic coordinates.

The method in a client node according to any of claim 25-27, wherein service data in the determining service-specific data comprises definition of alert message content and type.

The method in a client node according to any of claim 25-28, wherein the alert service related data comprises at least one of the following:

service-specific subscriber data with UE location and UE-related node information for subscribers of certain priority, type or all, and

service-specific geographical alert area, AOI, alert zone or roaming zone data.

30. A method in a managing node for defining and centralized management of emergency services for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message, the method comprising:

- determining (304) service-specific data for alert message sending, based on

obtained (300) input from a managing interface and/or obtained (302) service- related data from a middleware node,

optionally receiving (306) service-specific data from a client node, wherein the service-specific data comprises type and ID of the service,

- processing (308) of determined and/or received service-specific data for alert message sending, and

sending (310) to said middleware node a service request including said processed service-specific data, enabling sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within a defined area.

31. The method in a managing node according to claim 30, further comprising rendering presentation data for presenting service-related data and/or service-specific data in relation to a geographic area to a managing node user, enabling monitoring and surveillance of said rendered presentation data by a managing node user.

32. The method in a managing node according to claim 30 or 31 , wherein service-specific data in the determining service-specific data comprises definition of an alert area or Area of Interest, AOI, as geographic coordinates. 33. The method in a managing node according to any of claim 30-32, wherein service- specific data in the determining service-specific data comprises definition of message content and type.

The method in a managing node according to any of claim 30-33, wherein the service- related data comprises at least one of the following:

service-specific subscriber data with UE location and UE-related network node information for subscribers of certain priority, type or all,

service-specific geographical alert area, AOI, alert zone or roaming zone data, and operator-specific service-related data from a number of network operators. The method in a managing node according to any of claim 30-34, further comprising collecting at least one of: UE subscriber data; comprising UE location, UE status and UE- related network node information; radio network data and radio traffic data, continuously over time for each network operator's entire network, for presenting a comprehensive collection of data to a managing node user.

A method in a middleware node within a communication network for enabling alerting of UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message, the method comprising: obtaining (400) UE subscriber data of said UEs, using passive UE location methods, optionally in combination with active UE location methods, where said UE subscriber data comprises UE location and UE-related network node information,

obtaining (402) radio network data for national or international communication networks using integrated or stand-alone radio planning or cell prediction tools, and global cell databases, respectively,

obtaining (404) service request including service-specific data from a client node and/or a managing node, for sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within defined areas,

determining (406) cell-based geographical alert and roaming zones in which UEs to be alerted is located based on said obtained service-specific data and radio network data,

obtaining (408) radio traffic information for cells within alert and roaming zones in a base station controller, a radio network controller or from interface probes on A- bis and/or Iub interfaces,

optionally (410) providing to client nodes and/or managing node service-related and/or service-specific subscriber data with UE location and UE-related network node information for subscribers of certain priority, type or all, and/or service- specific geographical alert area, AOI, alert zone or roaming zone data, providing (412) zone and cell data to an alert messaging service node for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message,

processing (414) service requests for alerting UEs of a certain priority, type or all, located in defined zones with a defined alert message, and

providing (416) said processed service requests to said alert messaging service node.

37. The method in a middleware node according to claim 36, wherein the processing and providing a service request comprises processing and providing service request for sending towards UEs, is based on whether the respective UE is roaming within the alert zone or outside the alert zone but within the roaming zone.

38. The method in a middleware node according to claim 37, wherein the request for UEs within the alert zone comprises cell identity, whereas the request for UEs within the roaming zone but outside of the alert zone, is void of cell identity.

The method in a middleware node according to any of claim 36-38, further comprising, if obsolete or missing subscriber data, retrieving of subscriber data including UE location or cell data comprises using Provide Subscriber Information, PSI, for International Mobile Subscriber Identity, IMSI, Land Mobile Subscriber Identity, LMSI, towards Mobile Switching Centre, MSC, or Serving General Packet Radio Service Support Node, SGSN, alternatively Customized Applications for Mobile network Enhanced Logic, CAMEL, Any Time Interrogation, ATI, for Mobile Station International, Integrated Service Digital Network Number, MSISDN, towards Home Location Register, HLR, the retrieval of MSISDN and/or serving MSC/SGSN address for the UE comprises using Send Routing Information for Location Services, SRI-LCS, for UE International Mobile Subscriber Identity/Land Mobile Subscriber Identity, IMSI/LMSI, towards HLR and/or the retrieval of IMSI/LMSI and/or serving MSC/SGSN address for the UE comprises using Send Routing Information for Short Message, SRI-SM, for UE MSISDN towards HLR in the communication network.

The method in a middleware node according to any of claim 36-39, wherein the processing and providing of service request takes client priority in preference if the defined alert and/or roaming zones from more than one client to at least some degree overlap each other.

The method in a middleware node according to any of claim 36-39, further comprising encrypting subscriber-specific information and/or MSISDN/IMSI LMSI into anonymous characters before the data is forwarded, so as to avoid passing or revealing subscriber data belonging to a network operator to third parties outside of a network operator's control, such as to client nodes and/or managing nodes and/or to third party content providers. The method in a middleware node according to any of claim 36-39, further comprising obtaining (408) radio traffic information from interface probes on A-bis and/or Iub interfaces and extracting cell-based radio traffic information from probing between on-net BSC RNC and on-net BTS NodeB interface, wherein the cell-based radio traffic information comprises at least one of: cell status, cell traffic load and cell capacity information, which providing detailed knowledge of current roaming cell for each subscriber.

A method in an alert messaging service node within a communication network for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message, the method comprising:

obtaining (500) zone and cell data from a middleware node,

obtaining (502) radio traffic information for cells within defined alert and roaming zones in which UEs to be alerted is located from the middleware node, obtaining (504) service request for sending an alert message for alerting UEs of a certain priority, type or all, located in defined alert and roaming zones with a defined alert message from the middleware node, and

sending (506) the alert message to UEs within the cell-based geographical alert zones and optionally alert zone-related roaming zones, by separate and parallel sending processes per cell for all cells in which at least one UE to be alerted is located, sending the alert message to one UE at a time per cell.

The method in an alert messaging service node according to claim 43, further comprising: determining a sending rate capacity per cell for each one of the cells wherein a UE to be alerted is located, based on cell-based radio data and/or radio traffic information,

determining a sending order for said cells, randomised per zone or based on a prioritised order per zone,

wherein the sending the alert message comprises

sending alert message to cells in said random or prioritised cell sending order using a sending rate that corresponds to the determined sending rate capacity per cell, wherein the sending of alert messages further comprises

monitoring message output and/or radio traffic load per cell for each one of the said cells, subsequent to sending said alert message to said cells, the method further comprising

for each cell adjusting the sending rate for a cell if the monitored message output and/or radio traffic load for said cell falls outside an acceptable output and/or radio traffic load interval for said cell so that the monitored radio traffic load is uniformly distributed among all cells wherein a UE to be alerted is located.

The method in an alert messaging service node according to claim 43 or 44, wherein the sending order is repeatedly scrambled separately per cell-based geographical alert zone and optionally alert zone-related roaming zone in the following decreasing order of preference:

alert message sending order based on Cell Global Identity, CGI, and/or Serving Area Identity, SAI, if known, or

alert message sending order based on IMSI/LMSI, if known, or alert message sending order based on MSISDN.

The method in an alert messaging service node according to any of claim 43-45, wherein the sending processes per cell or Location Area Identity, LAI, are configured based on whether paging of the UE is required prior to the sending the alert message, and whether preferred packet switched alert message sending is possible and UE subscriber priority.

The method in an alert messaging service node according to any of claim 43-46, wherein sending of alert messages to UEs within the cell-based geographical alert zone-related roaming zone and/or the cell-based geographical alert zone is determined based on at least one of the following: UE age of location, UE quality of location and UE location outcome from a forced updated location prior to sending said alert message.

48. The method in an alert messaging service node according to any of claim 43-47, further comprising, if obsolete or missing subscriber data, retrieving of subscriber data including

UE location comprises using CAMEL PSI for IMSI/LMSI towards MSC/SGSN, alternatively ATI for MSISDN towards HLR, retrieving of MSISDN and/or serving MSC/SGSN address for the UE comprises using SRI-LCS for UE IMSI/LMSI towards HLR and retrieving of IMSI/LMSI and/or serving MSC/SGSN address for the UE comprises using SRI-SM for UE MSISDN towards HLR in the communication network.

49. The method in an alert messaging service node according to any of claim 43-48, wherein the obtaining of updated UE subscriber data including updated UE cell information by PSI/ATI for UEs with last known location within a geographical alert zone-related roaming zone is performed and for UEs with last known location within a cell-based geographical alert zone is only performed when cell information is missing or obsolete.

50. The method in an alert messaging service node according to any of claim 43-49, wherein alert messages to UEs within the geographical alert zone-related roaming zone, but outside of the cell-based geographical alert zone are sent with lower priority, sent after finished alert messages sending to UEs within said alert zone or sent only if determined from a forced updated location that the UE has roamed into an alert zone.

51. The method in an alert messaging service node according to any of claim 43-50, wherein the method for alerting a plurality of UEs, in addition is a method for at least one of the following: location-based services for advertisement, territorial monitoring and geographic triggering services, and non-location-based services for bulk message sending. 52. A client node (7000) for defining an emergency service of alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message, the client node comprising:

a Managing Interface, MI, (7010) configured to obtain user input, a Transceiving Unit, TU, (7020) configured to receive service-related data from a managing node (7100) and/or a middleware node (7200), and

- Processing Means, PM, (7030) configured to determine service-specific data for the alert message sending, based on user input from said MI (7010) and/or service-related data from said TU (7020),

wherein the TU (7020) further is configured to send to said managing node and/or said middleware node a service request including said service-specific data, enabling sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within a defined area.

53. A managing node (7100) for defining and centralised management of emergency services for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message, the managing node comprising:

- a Managing Interface, MI, (7110) configured to obtain user input, a Transceiving Unit, TU, (7120) configured to receive service-related data from a middleware node (7200) and optionally configured to receive service-specific data from a client node (7000), and

Processing Means, PM, (7130) configured to determine service-specific data for the alert message sending, based on input from said managing interface and/or service-related data from said middleware node, and to process the determined and/or received service-specific data for alert message sending,

wherein the TU (7210) further is configured to send to said middleware node a service request including said processed service-specific data, enabling sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within a defined area.

A middleware node (7200) for collecting data and enabling alerting of UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message, the alert middleware node comprising:

a Transceiving Unit, TU, (7210) configured to receive:

Processing Means, PM, (7220) configured to

determine cell-based geographical alert zone in which UEs to be alerted is located based on obtained service-specific and radio network data, determine geographical roaming zones based on alert zone and radio network data, and

determine service requests for alerting UEs of a certain priority, type or all located in defined zones with a defined alert message, and Storage Means, STM, (7230) for storing subscriber, zone, radio network and radio traffic data,

wherein the TU (7210) further is configured to transmit:

optionally, service-related subscriber data with UE location, UE status and UE-related network node information for subscribers of certain priority, type or all, and/or geographical alert area, AOI, alert zone or roaming zone data to the client node (7000) and/or managing node (7100), said determined zone and cell data to an alert messaging service node (7300), and

said determined service requests to the alert messaging service node (7300).

The middleware node (7200) according to claim 54, wherein the TU (7210) further is configured to transmit:

a Provide Subscriber Information, PSI, for IMSI/LMSI towards MSC/SGSN in the communication network and/or Any Time Interrogation, ATI, for MSISDN towards HLR in the communication network to retrieve subscriber data including UE location,

a Send Routing Information for Location Services, SRI-LCS, for UE

IMSI/LMSI towards HLR in the communication network to retrieve MSISDN and or serving MSC/SGSN address for the UE, and

a Send Routing Information for Short Message, SRI-SM, for UE MSISDN towards HLR in the communication network to retrieve IMSI/LMSI and/or serving MSC/SGSN address for the UE.

An alert messaging service node (7300) for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message, the alert messaging service node comprising:

a Transceiving Unit, TU, (7310) configured to receive

zone and cell data from a middleware node (7200),

radio traffic information for cells within defined alert and roaming zones in which UEs to be alerted is located from the middleware node (7200), and service requests for sending an alert message for alerting UEs of a certain priority, type or all located in defined alert and roaming zones with a defined alert message from the middleware node, and Sending Means, SM, (7330) for sending the alert message to UEs within the cell-based geographical alert zone and optionally alert zone-related roaming zones, by separate and parallel sending processes per cell for all cells in which at least one UE to be alerted is located, sending the alert message to one UE at a time per cell.

The alert messaging service node (7300) according to claim 56, further comprising

Processing Means, PM, (7320) configured to

determine a sending rate capacity per cell for each one of the cells wherein a UE to be alerted is located, based on cell-based radio data and/or radio traffic information, and

determine a sending order for said cells, randomised per zone or based on a prioritised order per zone,

Sending Means, SM, (7330) configured to send an alert message to cells in said random or prioritized cell sending order using a sending rate that corresponds to the determined sending rate capacity per cell,

Monitoring Means, MM, (7340) configured to monitor message output and/or radio traffic load per cell for each one of the said cells, subsequent to sending alert message to said cells, and

Adjusting Means, AM, (7350) configured to adjust the sending rate for each cell if the monitored message output and or radio traffic load for said cell falls outside an acceptable output and/or radio traffic load interval for said cell so that the monitored radio traffic load is uniformly distributed among all cells wherein a UE to be alerted is located.

The alert messaging service node (7300) according to any of claim 56 or 57, the node further comprising scrambling means (CLB 7390) configured to repeatedly scramble the sending order separately per cell-based geographical alert zone and optionally alert zone- related roaming zone in the following decreasing order of preference:

alert message sending order based on Cell Global Identity, CGI, and/or

Serving Area Identity, SAI, if known, or

59. The alert messaging service node (7300) according to any of claim 56-58, further comprising a transceiving unit () configured to transmit:

a Provide Subscriber Information, PSI, for IMSI/LMSI towards MSC/SGSN in the communication and/or Any Time Interrogation, ATI, for MSISDN towards

HLR in the communication network to retrieve subscriber data including UE location,

a Send Routing Information for Location Services, SRI-LCS, for UE

IMSI/LMSI towards HLR in the communication network to retrieve MSISDN and/or serving MSC/SGSN address for the UE, and

a Send Routing Information for Short Message, SRI-SM, for UE MSISDN towards HLR in the communication network to retrieve IMSI/LMSI and/or serving MSC/SGSN address for the UE. 60. A communication system (700) for sending an alert message to a plurality of User Equipments, UEs, comprising:

a middleware node (7200) configured to

obtain UE subscriber data of said plurality of UEs, using passive UE location methods within said communication network, where said UE subscriber data comprises UE location and UE-related network node information, and

determine cell-based geographical alert zones and alert zone-related roaming zones based on alert area definition information and radio network data for the communication network, and - an Alert Messaging Node, AMS, (7300) configured to send the alert message to

UEs within the cell-based geographical alert zones and optionally alert zone- related roaming zones, by separate and parallel sending processes per cell for all cells in which at least one UE to be alerted is located, sending the alert message to one UE at a time per cell.

61. The communication system (700) according to claim 60, further comprising a managing node (7100) configured to determine service-specific data based on user input data and service-related data from the middleware node (7200) and optionally configured to obtain service-specific data comprised in a service request from a client node (), and wherein the alert area definition information in the middleware node (7200), comprises service-specific data from the managing node and a client node, for which the middleware node is configured to receive.

A computer program for defining an emergency service for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message, the computer program comprising computer program code which, when run in a processing unit of a client node (7000) causes the client node (7000) to

send to said managing node and/or said messaging node a service request including said service-specific data, enabling sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within a defined area.

A computer program product (1100) comprising a computer program according to claim 62 and a computer readable means on which the computer program is stored.

A computer program for defining and centralised management of emergency services for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message, the computer program comprising computer program code which, when run in a processing unit of a managing node (7100) causes the managing node (7100) to

send to said middleware node a service request including said processed service-specific data, enabling sending an alert message to subscriber UEs within a defined area.

A computer program product (1100) comprising a computer program according to claim 64 and a computer readable means on which the computer program is stored. A computer program for enabling alerting of UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message, the computer program comprising computer program code which, when run in a processing unit of a middleware node (7200) causes the middleware node (7200) to

process service requests for alerting UEs of a certain priority, type or all located in defined zones with a defined alert message and to provide said service requests to said alert messaging service node. A computer program product (1 100) comprising a computer program according to claim 66 and a computer readable means on which the computer program is stored. 68. A computer program for alerting UEs located in defined areas with a defined alert message, the computer program comprising computer program code which, when run in a processing unit of an alert messaging service node (7300) causes the alert messaging service node (7300) to receive

zone and cell data from a middleware node,

A computer program product (1 100) comprising a computer program according to claim 68 and a computer readable means on which the computer program is stored.

A computer program for sending an alert message to a plurality of UEs, the computer program comprising computer program code which, when run in a processing unit of a alert message sending system causes said communication system to

obtain (606) UE subscriber data of said plurality of UEs, using passive UE location methods within said communication network, where said UE subscriber data comprises UE location and UE-related network node information,

determine (604) cell-based geographical alert zones and alert zone-related roaming zones based on alert area definition information (600) and radio network data for the communication network (602), and send (608) the alert message to all UEs within the cell-based geographical alert zones and optionally alert zone-related roaming zones, by parallel in time for all cells in which at least one UE to be alerted is located.

A computer program product (1 100) comprising a computer program according claim 70 and a computer readable means on which the computer program is stored.