CN101931933B

CN101931933B - Method, system and positioning platform for sending positioning request to mobile terminal

Info

Publication number: CN101931933B
Application number: CN201010276454.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 洪骏; 叶松青; 袁俊
Original assignee: ZTE Corp
Current assignee: Gao Liping; Jiang Min; Li Jianwei; Shi Xianghong; Sun Xudong; Wei Congzhen
Priority date: 2010-09-02
Filing date: 2010-09-02
Publication date: 2014-06-11
Anticipated expiration: 2030-09-02
Also published as: WO2012027971A1; CN101931933A

Abstract

The invention discloses a method, a system and a positioning platform for sending a positioning request to a mobile terminal. The method for sending a positioning request to a mobile terminal comprises the following steps of: sending a request signaling to a home location register (HLR) of the mobile terminal by the positioning platform, wherein the request signaling comprises a signaling for requesting to inquire the state information of the mobile terminal; judging whether the state of the mobile terminal is normal or not by the positioning platform according to the state information returned by the HLR; and sending a safety user plane positioning request to the mobile terminal through a mobile switching center (MSC) of the mobile terminal under the condition that the mobile terminal is in normal state. Through the invention, the waste of network resources can be reduced.

Description

Method and system for sending positioning request to mobile terminal and positioning platform

Technical Field

The invention relates to the field of communication, in particular to a method and a system for sending a positioning request to a mobile terminal and a positioning platform.

Background

Location Based Services (LBS), also known as mobile Location Services or positioning Services, refer to a mobile network acquiring geographical Location information (latitude and longitude coordinates) of a mobile terminal through a specific positioning technology, and providing the information to a mobile user, a communication system or a third party.

Specifically, according to the difference of the message bearer layer in the positioning process, the positioning technology can be divided into User-Plane (User-Plane) positioning and Control-Plane (Control-Plane) positioning; the user plane positioning technology mainly realizes the transmission of message flow through the IP connection of a Packet-Switching (PS) domain; the control plane location technology mainly realizes the transmission of message flow through a signaling link of a Circuit Switching (CS) domain.

The common positioning methods for the User plane mainly include Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) technology and gpsOne positioning technology proposed by the Open Mobile Alliance (OMA).

The common positioning method for the control plane in the 3GPP network includes: inquiry at Anytime (ATI) signaling, Provide Subscriber Location (PSL) signaling, Provide Subscriber Information (PSI) signaling.

Currently, in a 3GPP network, when a third party initiates a network initialization (NI: network initiated) request in a positioning method SUPL AGPS (Assisted GPS) based on a user plane, a SUPL location platform (SLP: SUPL LocationPlatform) sends a SUPL INIT message to trigger a mobile phone terminal to start a SUPL interaction procedure.

Specifically, fig. 1 is a diagram illustrating a network structure of a user plane service location protocol, and according to OMA specifications, the above SLP sends a SUPL INIT message in two ways:

first, SLP packages SUPL INIT information through Wireless application communication Protocol (WAP), then Pushes Proxy Gateway (PPG), and sends WAP PUSH information to terminal (SET), and Push Access Protocol (PAP) is used between SLP and WAP PPG.

Secondly, the SLP sends the mobile terminal Short Message Service (MT SMS) to the terminal through the Short Message Service Center (SMSC), and the SLP and the SMSC adopt the Short Message Peer-to-Peer protocol.

In the method for sending the SUPL INIT message, as both the WAP PPG and the SMSC can not send the SUPL INIT message in real time and have to queue to send the message as other common short messages, the terminal receives the SUPL INIT message when the SLP waits for the connection timeout of the terminal at many times, and under the condition, the terminal establishes the link to the SLP, which not only fails, but also causes additional network connection burden, and further easily causes user complaints; and through these two sending methods SLP can not know whether the terminal state is normal, but only passively wait for connection timeout, if the terminal state is abnormal, such as: when the SUPL INIT message is sent in a case of power-off, roaming, out of service area, etc., system resources are wasted. In addition, since the number of terminals currently supporting the SUPL protocol is limited, most terminals do not have the SUPL capability, and cannot be further positioned, and only failure processing is performed.

In the hybrid positioning of the related art, especially the hybrid positioning of the user plane high-precision positioning platform, an abnormal process is executed to obtain a coarse positioning result when the AGPS positioning fails or a terminal uplink response message is not received. This is a typical trial and error processing method, and requires a long timeout waiting time, generally about 30 to 60 seconds, so that the time for completing the positioning is very long, and even compared with the normal AGPS positioning, the time for completing the positioning generally requires about 20 seconds is also very long, and the user experience is obviously poor. The summary is that when a third party at the network side initiates an NI request at present, if the requirement on the timeliness of the response time of the positioning result in the request parameter is high, the user requirement cannot be met.

As can be seen from the above description, the related art cannot send the SUPL INIT message in real time, nor perform necessary judgment on the terminal status before sending the SUPL INIT message, thereby causing problems of high positioning failure rate, waste of system and network resources, and the like; meanwhile, when a third party on the network side initiates an NI request, the requirement on the timeliness of the response time of the positioning result cannot be met.

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention is proposed to solve the problem of serious network resource waste when positioning a mobile terminal in the related art, and therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide a method, a system and a positioning platform for sending a positioning request to a mobile terminal, so as to solve the above problem.

To achieve the above object, according to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of transmitting a positioning request to a mobile terminal. The method for sending the positioning request to the mobile terminal comprises the following steps: the method comprises the steps that a positioning platform sends a request signaling to a home location register of a mobile terminal, wherein the request signaling comprises a signaling for requesting to inquire state information of the mobile terminal; the positioning platform judges whether the state of the mobile terminal is normal or not according to the state information returned by the home location register; in case that the state of the mobile terminal is normal, the location platform sends a secure user plane location SUPL request to the mobile terminal through a mobile switching center where the mobile terminal is located.

Further, the signaling request further includes signaling requesting to query information of a mobile switching center where the mobile terminal is located, and the positioning platform sending the secure user plane location SUPL request to the mobile terminal through the mobile switching center where the mobile terminal is located includes: the positioning platform sends a signaling carrying a safe user plane positioning initialization message to a mobile switching center; the mobile switching center sends the secure user plane location initialization message to the mobile terminal.

Further, after the positioning platform sends the secure user plane location SUPL request to the mobile terminal through the mobile switching center where the mobile terminal is located, the method further comprises: the mobile terminal establishes a link with the positioning platform so that the positioning platform can position the position of the mobile terminal.

Further, the requesting signaling further includes signaling requesting to query cell information where the mobile terminal is located, and under the condition that the state of the mobile terminal is abnormal, the method further includes: and the positioning platform sends the cell information of the mobile terminal returned by the home location register to the requester.

Further, after the positioning platform acquires the cell information of the mobile terminal, the method further includes: the positioning platform judges whether the data age of the cell information exceeds a preset time limit according to a signaling response returned by the home location register; when the data age of the cell information exceeds a preset period, the positioning platform sends a signaling for inquiring the cell information to the home location register again; and the positioning platform updates the position information of the mobile terminal according to the signaling response returned by the home location register.

Further, the state information of the mobile terminal includes information indicating that the mobile terminal is in one of the following states: the mobile terminal comprises a normal state, a power-off state, a service area absent state and a service area roaming state, wherein the power-off state, the service area absent state and the service area roaming state indicate that the mobile terminal is in an abnormal state.

To achieve the above object, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for transmitting a location request to a mobile terminal. The system for sending the positioning request by the mobile terminal comprises: the system comprises a home location register of the mobile terminal, a positioning platform and a mobile switching center where the mobile terminal is located, wherein the positioning platform is used for sending a request signaling to the home location register of the mobile terminal, and the request signaling comprises a signaling for requesting to inquire state information of the mobile terminal; the home location register is used for returning the state information to the positioning platform; and the positioning platform is also used for sending a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) request to the mobile terminal through a mobile switching center where the mobile terminal is located under the condition that the state of the mobile terminal is normal.

To achieve the above object, according to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a positioning platform. This positioning platform includes: the mobile terminal comprises a first sending module, a second sending module and a sending module, wherein the first sending module is used for sending a request signaling to a home location register of the mobile terminal, and the request signaling comprises a signaling for requesting to inquire the state information of the mobile terminal; the first judging module is used for judging whether the state of the mobile terminal is normal or not according to the state information returned by the home location register; and a second sending module, configured to send the secure user plane location SUPL request to the mobile terminal through a mobile switching center in which the mobile terminal is located, when the state of the mobile terminal is normal.

Furthermore, the request signaling also includes a signaling for requesting to query the information of the mobile switching center where the mobile terminal is located, and the second sending module is also used for the mobile switching center to send the signaling carrying the secure user plane location initialization message.

Further, the request signaling also includes signaling for requesting to query the cell information where the mobile terminal is located, and the positioning platform also includes: the second judging module is used for judging whether the data age of the cell information exceeds a preset time limit according to the signaling response returned by the home location register, wherein the first sending module sends the signaling for inquiring the cell information to the home location register again under the condition that the data age of the cell information exceeds the preset time limit; and the updating module is used for updating the position information of the mobile terminal according to the signaling response returned by the home location register.

By adopting the method and the system for positioning the mobile terminal, the problem that network resources are wasted seriously when the mobile terminal is positioned in the related technology is solved, and the effect of reducing the network resources waste is further achieved.

Drawings

The accompanying drawings, which are included to provide a further understanding of the invention and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this application, illustrate embodiment(s) of the invention and together with the description serve to explain the invention without limiting the invention. In the drawings:

fig. 1 is a network structure diagram where a SUPL positioning platform is located in a 3GPP network according to the related art;

fig. 2 is a flowchart of a method of sending a location request to a mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2a is a flow chart of a positioning method to a mobile terminal according to a first embodiment of the invention;

fig. 2b is a flow chart of a positioning method to a mobile terminal according to a second embodiment of the invention;

fig. 3 is a flowchart of positioning a mobile terminal when the mobile terminal is in an abnormal state according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a flowchart of positioning a mobile terminal when the mobile terminal is in a normal state according to an embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 5 is a flowchart of a preferred embodiment of a positioning method of a mobile terminal of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic diagram of a positioning platform provided in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention.

Detailed Description

It should be noted that the embodiments and features of the embodiments in the present application may be combined with each other without conflict. The present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the embodiments with reference to the attached drawings.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart of a method of a mobile terminal for transmitting a location request to the mobile terminal according to an embodiment of the present invention. As shown, the method includes steps S12 through S16 as follows:

step S12, the positioning platform sends a request signaling to the home location register of the mobile terminal, where the request signaling includes a signaling requesting to query the state information of the mobile terminal.

Preferably, the request signaling may further include signaling requesting to query the mobile switching center information where the mobile terminal is located.

And step S14, the positioning platform judges whether the state of the mobile terminal is normal according to the state information returned by the home location register.

In step S16, the location platform sends a secure user plane location SUPL request to the mobile terminal through the mobile switching center where the mobile terminal is located, if the state of the mobile terminal is normal.

Under the condition that the state of the mobile terminal is normal, the positioning platform can also inquire the position information of the mobile terminal to the mobile switching center according to the mobile switching center information of the mobile terminal returned by the home location register so as to realize more accurate positioning of the mobile terminal.

The request signaling may further include a signaling requesting for querying cell information where the mobile terminal is located, and when the state of the mobile terminal is abnormal, the positioning platform sends the cell information where the mobile terminal is located, which is returned by the home location register, to the requester (i.e., the party requesting for positioning the mobile terminal), so that even when the state of the mobile terminal is abnormal, positioning of the mobile terminal may be implemented.

In this embodiment, after receiving the mobile terminal status information returned by the home location register, the positioning platform determines whether the status of the mobile terminal is normal according to the status information, and sends the secure user plane location SUPL request to the mobile switching center where the mobile terminal is located when the mobile terminal is normal, so that the secure user plane location SUPL request can be prevented from being sent when the mobile terminal is abnormal.

Fig. 2a is a flowchart of a positioning method to a mobile terminal according to a first embodiment of the present invention, as shown in fig. 2a, the method includes steps S102 to S108 as follows:

step S102, a positioning platform sends a request signaling to a home location register of a mobile terminal, wherein the request signaling is used for inquiring state information of the mobile terminal, cell information of the mobile terminal and information of a mobile switching center of the mobile terminal.

The request signaling may be random polling ATI signaling.

Step S104, the positioning platform receives a signaling response from the home location register, wherein the signaling response includes state information of the mobile terminal, cell information of the mobile terminal and information of a mobile switching center of the mobile terminal.

Wherein, after the positioning platform receives the signaling response from the home location register, the method further comprises: the positioning platform judges whether the data age of the cell information exceeds a preset time limit or not; when the data age of the cell information exceeds a preset period, the positioning platform sends a random ATI inquiry signaling to the home location register again; and the positioning platform updates the position information of the mobile terminal according to the signaling response returned by the home location register.

Step S106, the positioning platform judges whether the state of the mobile terminal is normal or not according to the state information of the mobile terminal; if the determination result is yes, step S108 is executed, and if the determination result is no, step S110 is executed.

Step S108, under the condition that the state of the mobile terminal is abnormal, the positioning platform sends the cell information of the mobile terminal to a content provider;

step S110, under the condition that the state of the mobile terminal is normal, the positioning platform inquires the position information of the mobile terminal from the mobile switching center according to the mobile switching center information of the mobile terminal, and sends the position information to a content provider.

The step of the positioning platform querying the mobile switching center for the location information of the mobile terminal according to the mobile switching center information where the mobile terminal is located may include: the positioning platform sends a signaling carrying a safe user plane positioning initialization message to a mobile switching center; the mobile switching center sends the secure user plane location initialization message to the mobile terminal; and the mobile terminal establishes a link with the positioning platform so that the positioning platform positions the position of the mobile terminal.

Fig. 2b is a flowchart of a positioning method according to an embodiment of the present invention; as shown in fig. 2b, the positioning method provided in the embodiment of the present invention mainly includes the following steps (S201-S205):

s201: for the network originated Location type, before sending SUPL INIT message, SLP sends request signaling of query at Any Time (ATI) to terminal Home Location Register (HLR); the terminal status, the cell information and the mobile switching center information are required to be returned.

S203: the SLP sends a signaling to the mobile switching center according to the acquired information of the mobile switching center, wherein the signaling carries the SUPL INIT message, the mobile switching center sends the SUPL INIT message to the terminal to be positioned, activates the terminal to be connected to the SLP, and starts the SUPL positioning interaction process.

In a specific application, the mobile switching center may be an msc (mobile switching center) or a visitor location register vlr (viewer locationregister).

Specifically, the SLP obtains the terminal state after acquiring the response of the ATI request from the HLR; if the terminal is in an abnormal state (including shutdown, not in a service area or roaming out of a service area), the SLP can only passively wait for the connection timeout of the terminal, in order to avoid meaningless waiting of the SLP under the condition, in the embodiment of the invention, if the SLP determines that the current state of the terminal is in the abnormal state according to the state information returned by the HLR, the SLP prohibits sending a signaling carrying an SUPL INIT message to a mobile switching center, ends the SUPL positioning process of the terminal, and returns a rough position result to an external client side according to a position result obtained by inquiring a base station Database (BSDB: base station Database) according to the cell information as the cell information obtained from ATI response; only under the condition that the current state of the terminal to be positioned is normal, the SLP can send the signaling to the mobile switching center.

After the mobile switching center receives the signaling, the mobile switching center sends the SUPL INIT message to the terminal, after the terminal receives the SUPL INIT message, if the terminal capability supports the SUPL protocol, the terminal sends the message to the SLP and establishes connection with the SLP, if the terminal establishes connection with the SLP successfully, the positioning platform interacts with the terminal, performs positioning and calculation of AGPS, and acquires the position information of the terminal. After the SLP acquires the position information of the terminal, the position information of the terminal is returned to the external client side which initiates the positioning request.

Specifically, if the signaling carrying the SUPL INIT message fails to be sent, or the terminal does not have SUPL capability, or the terminal fails to establish a connection with the SLP, or the positioning and calculation of AGPS fails, the SUPL positioning will fail, and the terminal location information cannot be acquired.

S205: SLP determines whether to execute the step according to the length of the data age of the cell information in ATI response in the step S201; if the age of the cell information data in the ATI signaling response is short, the position data is enough new, and the step is not executed at this moment; if the data age of the cell information in the ATI signaling response is longer, the position data is older; and in the process of sending the SUPL INIT message by the mobile positioning center, the terminal to be positioned already completes paging, so that the mobile positioning center has the latest position updating result, and at the moment, the step is executed, and the ATI signaling request is sent again to obtain the latest updated position result, wherein the step is optional.

In the embodiment of the mobile terminal positioning method, the positioning platform sends the secure user plane location SUPL request to the mobile switching center where the mobile terminal is located to perform accurate positioning only when judging that the mobile terminal is normal, and performs rough positioning when the mobile terminal is abnormal, so that the secure user plane location SUPL request is prevented from being sent when the mobile terminal is abnormal, thereby reducing the waste of network resources, solving the problems of long positioning time and high failure rate of the mobile terminal, and further realizing rapid and efficient positioning of the mobile terminal.

Fig. 3 is a positioning flowchart when the terminal is in an abnormal state; the processing procedure for positioning the terminal mainly comprises the following steps (S301-S304):

s301: a Content Provider (CP) sends a Mobile Location Protocol (MLP) request to a SUPL positioning platform (SLP) to request SUPL AGPS positioning of a terminal to be positioned;

s302: SLP sends ATI request signaling to Home Location Register (HLR) of terminal to be positioned;

specifically, the ATI request signaling is used to query the state, cell information, and mobile switching center information of the terminal to be located;

s303: the HLR returns the information of the mobile switching center and the cell information of the terminal to be positioned in the ATI signaling response and indicates the current state of the terminal;

specifically, the current state of the terminal to be located may be any of the following states: shut down, or not in service or roam out of service.

Further, when the terminal to be located is in the abnormal state, the returned cell information refers to the cell information at which the critical point of the terminal is located when the terminal is changed from the normal state to the abnormal state, the critical time point is recorded, and the data age of the cell information is obtained by subtracting the critical time from the current time.

S304: SLP judges that the current state of the terminal to be positioned can not carry out SUPL positioning, but acquires the cell information when the terminal is in the normal state at last;

specifically, if the data age meets the requirement of location timeliness in the MLP positioning request, the SLP queries a Base Station Database (BSDB) to obtain longitude and latitude information corresponding to the cell, returns the longitude and latitude information to the CP, and indicates the data age of the positioning result and the data age obtained by the cell; if the data age does not meet the requirement on the position timeliness in the MLP positioning request, a response of positioning failure is returned to the CP, and the process is ended.

Further, when the current state of the terminal to be positioned is any one of power off, out of service area and roaming out of service area, the SUPL AGPS method is not applicable, and the SUPL procedure is ended, thereby avoiding invalid waiting under the pure user plane condition.

The processing method for the abnormal current state of the positioned terminal can effectively control the sending of the SUPL INIT message and reduce the burden of the useless message on the network; meanwhile, the position information of the terminal in the normal state can be obtained.

Fig. 4 is a positioning flowchart when the terminal is in a normal state; the processing procedure for positioning the terminal mainly comprises the following steps (S401-S410):

s401: CP sends MLP request to SLP, request to treat terminal station carry on SUPLAGGS positioning;

s402: SLP sends ATI request signaling to HLR, inquires terminal state, cell information and mobile exchange center information.

S403: SLP receives ATI signaling response from HLR, the response message indicates that the terminal state is normal, and returns the information of the mobile switching center where the terminal to be positioned is located at present, and returns the information of the cell and the data age of the terminal registered at the mobile switching center at last.

S404: SLP sends MTForward SM signaling to the mobile switching center where the terminal to be positioned is located at present, wherein the signaling carries SUPL INIT code stream;

s405: the mobile switching center delivers an MT Forward SM signaling carrying an SUPL INIT code stream to the terminal to be positioned, activates the terminal to be positioned to connect the SLP and then starts an SUPL AGPS positioning process;

s406: and the mobile switching center returns a response message sent by the MT Forward SM signaling and indicates that the MT Forward SM signaling carrying the SUPL INIT code stream is sent to the terminal.

S407: SLP judges the data age of cell information in ATI signaling response, if it is older, then initiates ATI request signaling to HLR again, and inquires the latest updated cell information. If the value is newer, the step is skipped.

Specifically, since the mobile switching center completes paging of the terminal to be located in the process of delivering the MT Forward SM signaling, the MSC/VLR has the latest Location update result, and the control plane Location flow can quickly acquire the cell information of the terminal currently located from the HLR without triggering an additional paging process of the MSC to the user by using only the ATI signaling without the Current Location identifier.

S408: corresponding to the above step S407, the SLP receives an ATI signaling response returned from the HLR, and the response message includes the latest cell information where the terminal is located.

S409: after receiving the SUPL INIT information, the terminal to be positioned starts the SUPL positioning interactive flow;

specifically, the terminal establishes a link with the SLP and transmits a SUPL location initialization message (i.e., SUPL POS INIT message); the terminal to be positioned and the SLP carry out message interaction based on a user plane, namely, the interaction of the SUPL POS is carried out, in the process, the SLP obtains auxiliary information and carries out position calculation, and finally the positioning process of the terminal is finished; SLP sends positioning END message (SUPL END) to terminal to release resource, and ENDs SUPL positioning flow.

The terminal actively initiates the chain establishment to the SLP and interacts with the SLP, and the steps S406, S407 and S408 have no time sequence; however, generally, the user plane message interaction is not as fast as the signaling interaction of the control plane, so that the end time of one complete SUPL interaction flow is definitely after step S408.

S410: and after the normal SUPL interaction process between the SLP and the terminal is finished, successfully obtaining the position result and returning the position result to the CP through the MLP response.

Fig. 5 is a flowchart of a preferred embodiment of the positioning method of the mobile terminal of the present invention.

In this embodiment, various exceptions are handled, and a timer is set to meet the requirement of the CP on the timeliness of the positioning result. As shown in the figure, the detailed processing procedure for positioning the terminal mainly includes the following steps (S501-S514):

s501: CP sends MLP request to SLP, request to treat terminal station carry on SUPLAGGS positioning; and after receiving the positioning session, the SLP sets a timer T1 for the positioning session.

Specifically, after the SLP receives the MLP request, a timer T1 for controlling the total time of the positioning process is set, and once the timer time is found to arrive in the whole positioning service process, an MLP response is returned to the CP, and the process is ended. Because the sending and receiving time of the control surface signaling ATI is far shorter than the time of the user surface SUPL interaction, under the conditions that the SLP waits for the terminal to establish connection timeout, or the AGPS session is not completed, or the terminal does not reply the SUPL POS message, and the like, the SLP can still obtain the ATI positioning result; so SLP ends the positioning flow when the timer T1 arrives, and returns the positioning result in the ATI mode to the CP. Therefore, the requirement of the CP on the timeliness of the return of the positioning result can be met, the waiting time is reduced, and the user experience is improved.

S502: SLP sends ATI request signaling to HLR, inquires terminal state, cell information and mobile exchange center information.

S503: SLP receives ATI signaling response from HLR, and indicates the current state information of terminal and the information of mobile switching center where the terminal to be positioned is located in the response message, and returns the information of the last registered cell and the data age of the terminal in the mobile switching center.

Specifically, the current state of the terminal to be located may be any of the following states: normally, shut down, or not in service or roaming out of service.

S504: SLP judges whether the present state of the terminal is normal;

specifically, if the terminal is not in normal state, i.e. is turned off, or is not in the service area or roams out of the service area, the SLP does not unnecessarily issue the SUPL INIT message any more, and the SUPL positioning procedure is not started.

Further, if the data age in the ATI signaling response meets the requirement of the MLP positioning request on the position timeliness, the SLP queries a Base Station Database (BSDB) to acquire longitude and latitude information corresponding to the cell and returns the longitude and latitude information to the CP, and indicates the data age of the positioning result and the data age acquired by the cell mode; if the data age does not meet the requirement on the position timeliness in the MLP positioning request, a response of positioning failure is returned to the CP, and the process is ended.

If the terminal status is normal, the process proceeds to step S505.

S505: SLP sends MTForward SM signaling to the mobile switching center where the terminal to be positioned is located at present, and the signaling carries SUPL INIT code stream;

s506: and the MSC pages the terminal to be positioned and delivers the MT Forward SM signaling carrying the SUPL INIT code stream to the terminal to be positioned.

Specifically, the MSC may query the VLR for terminal information, including whether the terminal is reachable or not; VLR sends paging request to MSC, requires to set up wireless connection; MSC sends paging message to terminal; the terminal is successfully paged and enters an access process; MSC informs VLR of successful paging, VLR completes operations such as authentication, location update, encryption and the like, and MSC is informed of successful access; MSC sends access confirmation message to terminal; the MSC forwards the MT short message to the terminal, and the MT short message carries an SUPL INIT code stream; the terminal returns a response message of successful receipt of the short message to the MSC.

Further, if the terminal fails to receive the MT short message correctly due to insufficient memory of the terminal, congestion of the communication network, and the like, the MSC may also notify the SLP through an error code.

S507: the SLP receives the response sent by the MT Forward SM signaling message from the MSC.

S508: and the SLP acquires the indication whether the terminal successfully receives the MT short message from the response.

Specifically, if the terminal fails to receive the MT short message, that is, the SUPL INIT issue fails, the SUPL positioning procedure cannot be started;

if the terminal successfully receives the MT short message carrying the SUPL INIT code stream, a waiting step S52 occurs, a step S52 is initiated by the terminal actively, and SLP waits passively.

S509: SLP obtains cell information and data age from ATI signaling response;

specifically, if the age is sufficiently new (the determination of new or old can be quantified by setting a specific value, for example, within 60 seconds), the ATI request signaling is not required to be retransmitted again, and the process proceeds to step S512.

If the age is not new enough (e.g., 60 seconds ago), the process proceeds to step S510.

S510: SLP sends ATI request signaling without Current Location identification to HLR;

specifically, since the paging of the terminal to be located is completed in the process of delivering the MT Forward SM signaling, the MSC/VLR has the latest Location update result, and the control plane Location process can quickly acquire the cell information of the terminal from the HLR only by using the ATI signaling without the Current Location identifier, without triggering an additional paging process of the MSC to the user.

S511: SLP receives ATI signaling response message of HLR to obtain latest updated information of local area after paging.

In the process of steps S509 to S511, step S52 is also in synchronization, and the SLP waits for the terminal to establish a connection, and starts the SUPL interworking positioning procedure when the connection between the terminal and the SLP is successfully established. The transmission and reception of the SUPL interaction message are based on a packet switched domain (PS) tunnel.

Specifically, the MS sends a SUPL POS INIT message; the MS and the SLP carry out message interaction based on a user plane, namely, carry out interaction of SUPL POS, in the process, the SLP and the MS provide and acquire auxiliary information, and complete the positioning calculation process of the terminal; and after the positioning is finished, the SLP sends the SUPL END message to the terminal to release the resources, and the positioning process is ended.

S512: after obtaining the nearest location cell of the terminal by the control plane ATI signaling mode, the SLP judges whether the MT short message carrying the SUPL INIT code stream is successfully sent.

Specifically, if the MT sms is successfully transmitted, it indicates that step S52 is being performed, i.e. the SUPL positioning procedure is started, and the SUPL interaction procedure should be terminated or the set positioning session timer T1 should be waited to arrive, and step S513 is performed; if the MT short message transmission fails, it indicates that the SUPL interworking procedure is not started, and proceeds to step S514.

S513: when the positioning session timer T1 set in step S501 reaches or the SUPL interaction ends, it is determined whether or not the SUPL positioning has succeeded in acquiring the position result.

Specifically, if the SUPL positioning in the user plane is successfully acquired to the location result, the process proceeds to step S515.

If the SUPL interaction for the user plane fails to perform the location calculation due to the abnormality that the terminal does not support the SUPL protocol, or the connection setup of the terminal is timed out, or the AGPS session is not completed, or the terminal does not reply the SUPL message, or the auxiliary information is not sufficient, or the SUPL interaction is not ended after the set location session timer T1 arrives, then step S514 is performed.

When the method and the device are adopted to process the mixed positioning of the terminal, the high-precision positioning of the user plane and the coarse positioning of the control plane are simultaneously carried out, so that the longer overtime waiting caused by the trial-and-error mode of executing the coarse positioning of the control plane after the high-precision positioning mode of the user plane fails is avoided, and when a third party on a network side initiates an NI request, if the requirement on the timeliness of the response time of the positioning result is higher, the requirement can be met.

S514: and the SLP queries a base station database BSDB according to the cell information in the ATI signaling response to obtain the longitude and latitude result of the position.

S515: the SLP returns an MLP positioning result response to the CP, the position result indicates the result from SUPL high-precision positioning or cell coarse positioning, namely control plane ATI positioning, and indicates the generation time of the position result.

It should be noted that the steps illustrated in the flowcharts of the figures may be performed in a computer system such as a set of computer-executable instructions and that, although a logical order is illustrated in the flowcharts, in some cases, the steps illustrated or described may be performed in an order different than presented herein.

As shown in fig. 6, the positioning platform includes a first sending module 602, a first determining module 604, and a second sending module 606.

A first sending module 602, configured to send a request signaling to a home location register of a mobile terminal, where the request signaling includes a signaling requesting to query status information of the mobile terminal; a first determining module 604, configured to determine whether the state of the mobile terminal is normal according to the state information returned by the home location register; a second sending module 606, configured to send a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) request to the mobile terminal through a mobile switching center where the mobile terminal is located when a state of the mobile terminal is normal.

Further, the request signaling further includes a signaling requesting to query the information of the mobile switching center where the mobile terminal is located, and the second sending module 606 is further configured to send, by the mobile switching center, the signaling carrying the secure user plane location initialization message.

The request signaling may further include a signaling requesting to query information of a cell in which the mobile terminal is located, and the positioning platform may further include: a second judging module, configured to judge whether the data age of the cell information exceeds a predetermined time limit according to a signaling response returned by the home location register, where, when the data age of the cell information exceeds the predetermined time limit, the first sending module sends the random query ATI signaling to the home location register again; and the updating module is used for updating the position information of the mobile terminal according to the signaling response returned by the home location register.

The embodiment of the invention also provides a positioning system of the mobile terminal, which comprises a home location register of the mobile terminal, a positioning platform, a mobile switching center where the mobile terminal is located and a content provider, wherein the positioning platform is used for sending a request signaling to the home location register of the mobile terminal, and the request signaling comprises a signaling for requesting to inquire the state information of the mobile terminal; the home location register is used for returning the state information to the positioning platform; and the positioning platform is also used for sending a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) request to the mobile terminal through a mobile switching center where the mobile terminal is located under the condition that the state of the mobile terminal is normal.

To sum up, with the above technical solution provided by the embodiment of the present invention, the current state and the cell information of the terminal are queried through ATI signaling, and when the terminal is currently in an abnormal state, the SLP may directly end the SUPL positioning procedure without passively waiting for the connection timeout of the terminal, thereby avoiding the SLP from meaningless waiting and simultaneously providing location data with a cell accuracy; in the embodiment of the invention, the advantage of timely signaling transmission of the control plane can be exerted by transmitting the signaling SUPL INIT message to the mobile switching center, the problem of the transmission delay of the SUPL INIT message is avoided, and the dependence of SUPL positioning is reduced. In addition, in the embodiment of the present invention, during SUPL positioning interaction, optionally and synchronously performing ATI positioning without the Current Location identifier on the control plane, so as to obtain the latest updated cell information of the terminal, so that when AGPS fails or takes too long, the AGPS positioning process can be terminated halfway, and Location data of a cell accuracy is provided; therefore, the positioning service capability of the SLP is improved, and the competitiveness of operators is enhanced.

From the above description, it can be seen that the present invention can reduce the waste problem of network resources, and further, can realize fast and efficient positioning of the mobile terminal.

It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the modules or steps of the present invention described above may be implemented by a general purpose computing device, they may be centralized on a single computing device or distributed across a network of multiple computing devices, and they may alternatively be implemented by program code executable by a computing device, such that they may be stored in a storage device and executed by a computing device, or fabricated separately as individual integrated circuit modules, or fabricated as a single integrated circuit module from multiple modules or steps. Thus, the present invention is not limited to any specific combination of hardware and software.

The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the present invention, and various modifications and changes may be made by those skilled in the art. Any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made within the spirit and principle of the present invention should be included in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for sending a location request to a mobile terminal, comprising:

the method comprises the steps that a positioning platform sends a request signaling to a home location register of a mobile terminal, wherein the request signaling comprises a signaling for requesting to inquire state information of the mobile terminal;

the positioning platform judges whether the state of the mobile terminal is normal or not according to the state information returned by the home location register;

under the condition that the state of the mobile terminal is normal, the positioning platform sends a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) request to the mobile terminal through a mobile switching center where the mobile terminal is located;

wherein,

the request signaling further includes a signaling requesting to query information of a cell where the mobile terminal is located, and under the condition that the state of the mobile terminal is abnormal, the method further includes: the positioning platform sends the cell information of the mobile terminal returned by the home location register to a requester;

after the positioning platform acquires the cell information of the mobile terminal, the method further comprises: the positioning platform judges whether the data age of the cell information exceeds a preset time limit according to a signaling response returned by the home location register; when the data age of the cell information exceeds the preset time limit, the positioning platform sends a signaling for inquiring the cell information to the home location register again; and the positioning platform updates the position information of the mobile terminal according to the signaling response returned by the home location register.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the request signaling further comprises signaling requesting to query mobile switching center information where the mobile terminal is located, wherein the positioning platform sending a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) request to the mobile terminal through the mobile switching center where the mobile terminal is located comprises:

the positioning platform sends a signaling carrying a secure user plane positioning initialization message to the mobile switching center;

and the mobile switching center sends the secure user plane positioning initialization message to the mobile terminal.

3. The method as recited in claim 1, further comprising, after said positioning platform sends a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) request to said mobile terminal through a mobile switching center where said mobile terminal is located:

and the mobile terminal establishes a link with the positioning platform so that the positioning platform positions the position of the mobile terminal.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the state information of the mobile terminal comprises information indicating that the mobile terminal is in one of the following states:

the mobile terminal comprises a normal state, a power-off state, a service area absent state and a service area roaming-out state, wherein the power-off state, the service area absent state and the service area roaming-out state indicate that the mobile terminal is in an abnormal state.

5. A positioning platform, comprising:

a first sending module, configured to send a request signaling to a home location register of a mobile terminal, where the request signaling includes a signaling requesting to query state information of the mobile terminal;

the first judging module is used for judging whether the state of the mobile terminal is normal or not according to the state information returned by the home location register;

a second sending module, configured to send a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) request to the mobile terminal through a mobile switching center in which the mobile terminal is located when a state of the mobile terminal is normal;

wherein,

after the positioning platform acquires the cell information of the mobile terminal, the positioning platform judges whether the data age of the cell information exceeds a preset time limit according to a signaling response returned by the home location register; when the data age of the cell information exceeds the preset time limit, the positioning platform sends a signaling for inquiring the cell information to the home location register again; and the positioning platform updates the position information of the mobile terminal according to the signaling response returned by the home location register.

6. The positioning platform according to claim 5, wherein the request signaling further includes a signaling requesting to query information of a mobile switching center where the mobile terminal is located, and the second sending module is further configured to send the signaling carrying the secure user plane positioning initialization message by the mobile switching center.

7. The positioning platform of claim 5, wherein the request signaling further includes signaling requesting to query cell information where the mobile terminal is located, and wherein the positioning platform further includes:

a second judging module, configured to judge whether the data age of the cell information exceeds a predetermined time limit according to a signaling response returned by the home location register, where, when the data age of the cell information exceeds the predetermined time limit, the first sending module sends a signaling for querying the cell information to the home location register again; and

and the updating module is used for updating the position information of the mobile terminal according to the signaling response returned by the home location register.

8. A positioning system of a mobile terminal is characterized by comprising a home location register of the mobile terminal, a positioning platform and a mobile switching center where the mobile terminal is located, wherein the positioning platform is used for sending a request signaling to the home location register of the mobile terminal, and the request signaling comprises a signaling for requesting to inquire state information of the mobile terminal; the home location register is used for returning the state information to the positioning platform; and the positioning platform is also used for sending a Secure User Plane Location (SUPL) request to the mobile terminal through a mobile switching center where the mobile terminal is located under the condition that the state of the mobile terminal is normal;

wherein,