Classifications

• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
  • H04W4/02—Services making use of location information
  • H04W4/029—Location-based management or tracking services
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
  • H04W4/02—Services making use of location information
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
  • H04W4/12—Messaging; Mailboxes; Announcements
  • H04W4/14—Short messaging services, e.g. short message services [SMS] or unstructured supplementary service data [USSD]
• • H—ELECTRICITY
  • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
  • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
  • H04W76/00—Connection management
  • H04W76/10—Connection setup

Definitions

• the invention relates to a method and a system for providing location-dependent services in a telecommunication network by means of dis- crete messages and particularly by means of short messages, i.e. SMS (Short Message Service) messages.
• SMS Short Message Service
• a telecommunication network refers to any telecommunication system using wireless communication when users move within the service area of the system, such as the GSM system (Global System for Mobile Communications) or the UMTS system (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System) or any similar system.
• GSM Global System for Mobile Communications
• UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System
• the number of services provided in a wireless telecommunication network can be increased by providing location-dependent value added services, i.e. value added services tailored based on the location of a user.
• value added services include local weather forecasts, information on local entertainment services, timetables, traffic, and positioning the nearest service points, such as a pharmacy or the police, and the user of a moving terminal in an emergency.
• measurement data provided by an active mobile station in the telecommunication network are used for determining the location, for example to implement handover and to control the quality of a call.
• measurement data include cell identity (CID), location area (LAC), the radio channel used and its strength, timing advance and the channels of surrounding radio cells and their strengths.
• CID cell identity
• LAC location area
• ATI Time Interrogation
• MSC mobile switching centre
• the ATI function provides the location of a mobile station at the accuracy of a cell, which is a sufficient accuracy for providing most location-dependent value added services.
• the invention does not directly relate to location determination per se, and thus, the details of location determination are not relevant to the present invention.
• Location determination is described in the 3GPP specification: 3G TS 22.071 v3.2.0, Location Services (LCS), Service Description, stage 1 , which is incor- porated herein by reference.
• the location information obtained by for instance the ATI function is accurate (at the accuracy of a cell) only if the GSM network has a radio link to the mobile station (the mobile station is active) when the location information is inquired.
• the radio link is only active a short time and receiving accurate location information is therefore uncertain.
• Present arrangements cannot therefore provide location-dependent services reliably via short messages by automatically determining the location of the mobile station.
• location-dependent services can be used by determining the location area in the service request. The user of the service has to determine e.g. the neighbourhood, based on which the location- dependent service is generated.
• FIG. 1 shows an example of a prior art signalling diagram.
• a service request message identifying the service requested and the location is sent from a mobile station via a short message service centre (SMSC) to a service provider.
• SMSC short message service centre
• the service is generated based on the location indicated and in step 1-6, a service message including the service requested is returned to the mobile station via the SMSC.
• Said service request message may be e.g. 'WEATHER TAMPERE', the answer being the weather forecast for the Tampere neighbourhood.
• the object of the invention is thus to provide a method and equipment implementing the method so as to solve the above problems.
• the objects of the invention are achieved with a method and a system, which are characterized in what is stated in the independent claims.
• the preferred em- bodiments of the invention are disclosed in the dependent claims.
• the invention is based on prolonging a radio link between a mobile station and a telecommunication network to obtain the location information on the mobile station when the mobile station and the telecommunication network communicate by means of discrete messages, preferably SMS mes- sages, in which case the radio link between the mobile station and the telecommunication network is active only a short time. In other words, the radio link between the mobile station and the telecommunication network is kept active longer than is necessary to transfer one discrete message.
• discrete messages are trans- ferred between a mobile station and a service provider via a telecommunication network.
• the radio link between the mobile station and the telecommunication network is kept active longer than is necessary to transfer one discrete message, and the location information on the mobile station is retrieved from the telecommunication network during said radio link.
• the location-dependent service is then generated based on said location information, and a service message including the location-dependent service is sent to the mobile station.
• a service request message requesting a location-dependent service is sent from a mobile station, and in response to the service request message an acknowl- edgement message is sent, which is delayed to prolong the radio link.
• the radio link is prolonged by sending, to the mobile station, a wait message requesting the mobile station to wait for the next message.
• the wait message can be sent in response to a service request message or it may be sent on the service provider's initiative without a service request message being sent from the mobile station.
• the method and the system of the invention provide the advantage that the location information on a mobile station is obtained for the use of a service provider when the mobile station and the telecommunication net- work communicate by means of discrete messages. This allows location- dependent services, wherein the location of the mobile station is determined automatically, to be provided via short messages.
• the invention is simple to implement for example in the GSM system and it does not require major changes since the standardized properties of the GSM can be used in the in- vention. LIST OF THE FIGURES
• Figure 1 shows an example of a prior art signalling diagram
• Figure 2A is a block diagram of a system of the invention
• Figure 2B is a signalling diagram of a method of an embodiment of the invention.
• Figure 3 is a signalling diagram of a method of another embodiment of the invention.
• Figure 4 is a signalling diagram of a method of still another embodiment of the invention.
• FIG. 2A is a block diagram of a system of the invention, the system comprising a telecommunication network 20 comprising a mobile services switching centre MSC/VLR with an associated visitor location register, a home location register (HLR) communicating with the mobile switching centre, a base station subsystem (BSS) that comprises one or more base stations (BS) and a base station controller (BSC), and via which the MS is connected to the telecommunication network 20.
• a telecommunication network 20 comprising a mobile services switching centre MSC/VLR with an associated visitor location register, a home location register (HLR) communicating with the mobile switching centre, a base station subsystem (BSS) that comprises one or more base stations (BS) and a base station controller (BSC), and via which the MS is connected to the telecommunication network 20.
• MSC/VLR mobile services switching centre
• HLR home location register
• BSS base station subsystem
• BSC base station controller
• the system also comprises a service control point (SCP), via which a service provider 21 is connected to the telecommunication network, and a short message service centre (SMSC) that transfers short messages between the mobile station and the ' service provider.
• SCP service control point
• SMSC short message service centre
• the SMSC is arranged to determine or receive information about the need for location information on an MS, and, based on this information, to keep the radio link between the MS and the telecommunication network active longer than is necessary to transfer one short message. All sys- tern components are known from the GSM system, and are therefore not explained in more detail herein.
• Figures 2B, 3 and 4 show signalling diagrams according to some embodiments of the invention.
• like references are employed to designate like steps.
• the hatched bars on the left side of the signalling diagrams denote the duration of a radio link between a mobile station and a telecommunication network.
• Figure 2B is a signalling diagram of a system of an embodiment of the invention, wherein a radio link between a mobile station and a service provider is prolonged by sending, to the mobile station, a wait message requesting the mobile station to wait for the next message.
• the wait message is sent in response to a service request message.
• a service request message requesting a location-dependent service is sent from the mobile station MS to a short message centre SMSC.
• the SMSC transfers the service request message further to the service provider and acknowledges the service request message as received to the MS in step 2-3.
• the service provider sends a wait request requesting the location information on the MS to the SMSC, in response to which request, in step 2-5, the SMSC sends, to the MS, a wait message requesting the MS to wait for the next mes- sage.
• the service provider requests the location information on the MS of the SCP, which inquires it by means of an ATI function of the HLR, and then the HLR in a PSI message (Provide Subscriber Info) of the MSC/VLR, and the location information is returned to the service provider along the same path.
• PSI message Provide Subscriber Info
• returning the location information does not necessarily require the inquiry for the subscriber info, but the SCP may alternatively inquire the subscriber info of the MSC/VLR by means of the PSI message only after the location info is returned (step 2- 12).
• the service provider provides the requested location- dependent service on the basis of the location information received.
• step 2- 14 the MS is sent a service message including the location-dependent service and in step 2-16, the MS acknowledges the service message as received to the SMSC.
• the service message is preferably written on the wait message in the MS to avoid unnecessary filling of the memory of the MS.
• Figure 3 is a signalling diagram of a method of another embodiment of the invention, wherein the radio link between a mobile station and a service provider is prolonged by delaying an acknowledgement message to be sent to the mobile station in response to a wait message.
• step 2-1 a service request message requesting for a location-dependent service is sent from the MS to the SMSC.
• the SMSC forwards the service request message to a service provider, but detects in step 2-2 from the service request message that location information is required. Since location information is required, the SMSC does not yet acknowledge the service request message as received to the MS. Hence, the MS waits for an acknowledgement and, consequently, the radio link between the MS and the telecommunication network is not disconnected. For example in the GSM system, this allows a radio link to be kept active for about 10 seconds, which in most cases is sufficient for inquiring location information.
• steps 2-7 to 2-12 during the radio link, the service provider requests location information on the MS of the SCP as was explained in association with Figure 2B.
• the SMSC sends a delayed acknowl- edgement to the MS to the service request message sent in step 2-1 , as a result of which the radio link between the MS and the telecommunication network is disconnected.
• the service provider generates the location- dependent service requested, based on the location information received, and in step 2-14 a service message including the location-dependent service is sent to the MS and the MS acknowledges it as received in step 2-16.
• FIG 4 is a signalling diagram of a method of still another embodiment of the invention, wherein the radio link between a mobile station and a service provider is prolonged by sending a wait message to the mobile station, requesting the mobile station to wait for ' the next message.
• This method is otherwise similar to the one shown in Figure 2B, but the service is now sent on the service provider's initiative without a service request message being sent from the mobile station.
• the user may request a given location-dependent service regularly to his mobile station, such as a local weather or traffic report each morning.
• a service always relates to the area where the mobile station is located at any given time, even if the location of the mobile station changes day by day.
• step 4-4 the service provider sends to the SMSC an initiate request indicating that the location information on the MS is required, and in response to which the SMSC sends a wait message to the MS in step 2-5, in which wait message the MS is told to wait for the next message, i.e. the radio link between the MS and the telecommunication network is kept active and the MS waits for the next short message.
• the service provider requests the location information on the MS, as was explained in association with Figure 2B, and in step 2-13, the service provider generates the requested location-dependent service on the basis of the location information received. Further, in step 2-14, the MS is sent a service message including the location-dependent service, and in step 2-16, the MS acknowledges the service message as received to the SMSC.
• the service message is preferably written on the wait message in the MS to avoid unnecessary filling of the memory of the MS.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
• Signal Processing (AREA)
• Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)

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• 2001
  • 2001-06-15 WO PCT/FI2001/000571 patent/WO2001099460A1/en not_active Application Discontinuation
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