U.S. patent number 5,930,699 [Application Number 08/747,464] was granted by the patent office on 1999-07-27 for address retrieval system.
This patent grant is currently assigned to Ericsson Inc.. Invention is credited to Ranjit Bhatia.
United States Patent |
5,930,699 |
Bhatia |
July 27, 1999 |
Address retrieval system
Abstract
A method and apparatus for enabling a user to request location
information from a mobile station telephone unit is disclosed. A
user enters a request for location information concerning a
particular type of business. The request is processed by a module
within the mobile station and transmitted to the home location
register for the mobile station via the base station and mobile
switching center serving the mobile station. The home location
register determines the location area and cell identity for the
mobile station and transmits this information plus the original
request to a relational database. The relational database
determines the identity of businesses located either within or near
the location area and/or cell identity of the mobile station. This
information and the addresses of the identified business is
transmitted back to the mobile station for review by the user.
Inventors: |
Bhatia; Ranjit (Dallas,
TX) |
Assignee: |
Ericsson Inc. (Research
Triangle Park, NC)
|
Family
ID: |
25005171 |
Appl.
No.: |
08/747,464 |
Filed: |
November 12, 1996 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
455/456.3;
455/433 |
Current CPC
Class: |
H04W
4/02 (20130101); H04W 4/029 (20180201); H04W
8/205 (20130101) |
Current International
Class: |
H04Q
7/22 (20060101); H04M 003/42 (); H04Q 007/20 () |
Field of
Search: |
;455/414,426,433,456,457 |
References Cited
[Referenced By]
U.S. Patent Documents
Foreign Patent Documents
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
0 647 076 A1 |
|
Apr 1995 |
|
EP |
|
WO 93/01665 |
|
Jan 1993 |
|
WO |
|
WO 96/28945 |
|
Sep 1996 |
|
WO |
|
WO 96/36193 |
|
Nov 1996 |
|
WO |
|
Primary Examiner: Wolfe; Willis R.
Attorney, Agent or Firm: Jenkens & Gilchrist, P.C.
Claims
What is claimed is:
1. A method for providing a mobile station in a cellular telephone
network access to location information for a selected business
class, comprising the steps of:
defining a database containing members of a selected business
class, each member of the selected business class having location
data defining a sector of the cellular telephone network associated
therewith;
receiving at a central location a user request for location
information for the selected business class from a mobile
station;
determining location data identifying a sector of the cellular
telephone network associated with a present location for the mobile
station;
locating within the database members of the selected business class
located within substantially the same sector of the cellular
telephone network as the mobile station; and
forwarding location information for the located members of the
selected business class to the requesting mobile station.
2. The method of claim 1 wherein the sector of the cellular
telephone network comprises a location area of the mobile
station.
3. The method of claim 1 wherein the sector of the cellular
telephone network comprises a cell global identity of the mobile
station.
4. The method of claim 1 further including the step of transmitting
a request from the mobile station to the central location using an
unstructured supplementary service data message.
5. The method of claim 1 further including the step of transmitting
a request from the mobile station to the central location using a
short message service message.
6. The method of claim 1 wherein the central location comprises a
home location register.
7. The method of claim 6 wherein the step of forwarding further
comprises the steps of forwarding the located members from a
database to the home location register to a mobile switching center
to a mobile station.
8. The method of claim 1 wherein the step of determining utilizes a
relational database including listings for a plurality of members
of a plurality of business classes, each member having associated
location information, and location data.
9. The method of claim 1 wherein the central location comprises a
visitor location register.
10. A system enabling a user to obtain location information for a
selected business class from a mobile station of a cellular
telephone system, comprising:
means located within the mobile station enabling the user to
generate a request for location information for a selected business
class;
means for determining at least one of a location area and a cell
global identity where the mobile station is currently located in
response to the request for location information; and
a database responsive to the determined at least one location area
and cell global identity and the request for location information
for providing location information for members of the selected
business class having substantially the same determined at least
one location area and cell global identity as the mobile
station.
11. The system of claim 10 wherein the means located within the
mobile station and the database are interconnected via a
communications link using unstructured supplementary service data
messages.
12. The system of claim 10 wherein the means located within the
mobile station and the database are interconnected via a
communications link using short message service data messages.
13. The system of claim 10 wherein the means for determining
comprises a home location register for the mobile station.
14. The system of claim 10 wherein the database comprises a
relational database having a plurality of members for a plurality
of business classes, each of the plurality of members having
associated location data and location information.
15. The system of claim 10 wherein the means for enabling a user
request is responsive to commands entered through a user interface
of the mobile station.
16. The system of claim 10 wherein the means for determining
comprises a visitor location register.
17. The system of claim 10 wherein the database is located outside
of a public land mobile network within which the mobile station
operates.
18. A system enabling a user to obtain location information for a
selected business class from a mobile station of a cellular
telephone system, comprising:
a user module located within the mobile station enabling the user
to transmit a request for location information to a central
location via a communications link using unstructured supplementary
service data protocol;
means within the central location for determining a sector of the
cellular telephone system where the mobile station is presently
located in response to the request for location information;
and
a relational database including a plurality of members for a
plurality of business classes for providing location information
for members of the selected business class located substantially
within the same sector of the cellular telephone system as the
mobile station, each of the plurality of members having associated
sector of the cellular telephone system and location
information.
19. The system of claim 18 wherein the means for determining
comprises a home location register for the mobile station.
20. The system of claim 18 wherein the sector of the cellular
telephone system comprises a location area identifier.
21. The system of claim 18 wherein the sector of the cellular
telephone system comprises a cell global identity identifier.
Description
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Technical Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to personal communication systems,
and more particularly, to the use of mobile stations for retrieving
local address information.
2. Description of Related Art
A classic problem with mobile subscribers traveling in unfamiliar
areas arises from the subscriber needing to find a particular
business or facility within the unfamiliar area. For example, if
one is traveling from California to New York and are located in the
middle of Kansas and wish to have dinner or purchase gas, the
subscriber does not know where these services may exist.
Presently, existing systems for providing address type information,
include global positioning systems (GPS) which provide a user with
their position and the location of preprogrammed sites in relation
to the user's position. While this type of system can be very
useful, it is very expensive. Furthermore, sites which have not
been preprogrammed into the user's GPS unit are not available to
the user. Thus, a system operating through the mobile station of a
cellular telephone system would provide valuable information to a
mobile subscriber.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The present invention overcomes the foregoing and other problems
with a method and apparatus for providing a mobile station
subscriber with the ability to request address information for a
particular type of business such as a restaurant, gas station, dry
cleaner, etc. The mobile station includes a module responsive to
user input through the user interface of a mobile station for
generating a request for location information about a particular
type of business. This request is transmitted to a mobile switching
center (MSC) serving the mobile station, and the request is
forwarded to the home location register (HLR) for the mobile
station.
The home location register determines the location area (LA) and/or
the cell global identity (CGI) from which the mobile station is
transmitting. This location data for the mobile station and the
request are forwarded to a database located remotely from or in
conjunction with the home location register. In response to the
request and the location data provided by the home location
register, the database locates address information for each of the
requested business types located within the location area and/or
cell global identity area of the mobile station. This information
is forwarded to the mobile station where the information can be
viewed by the user.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
For a more complete understanding of the present invention,
reference is made to the following detailed description taken in
conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:
FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating the manner in which a mobile
station requests address information from a database;
FIG. 2 is a flow chart illustrating the method for the mobile
station to request address information from a database; and
FIG. 3 illustrates the structure of the database containing address
and location data information.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Referring now to the Drawings, and more particularly to FIGS. 1 and
2, there is illustrated a block diagram of the components of the
present invention and a flow diagram illustrating the operation of
the present invention. Initially, a user at a mobile station 10
request at step 15 information concerning the nearest location of a
particular type of business, for example, a restaurant, gas station
or movie theater. This information is entered into a user module 20
through the user interface 25 of the mobile station 10.
The user module 20 formats the request into a unstructured
supplementary service data (USSD) message for transmission to the
mobile switching center/visitor location register (MSC/VLR) 30 via
the base station 36. While the following description is made with
respect to use of the USSD message protocol, it is to be understood
that any message protocol may be utilized. The USSD protocol is
used for non-standard data for which there is no structured way to
communicate the data between the MSC/VLR 30 and the mobile station
10. USSD messages enable user interaction between public land
mobile network (PLMN) applications and a mobile station in a
transparent manner through a mobile telecommunications network. The
communication is transparent because no review or manipulation of
the contents of the message is performed during the transportation
period.
After the request, encoded as a USSD message, has been transmitted
from the base station 36 to the MSC/VLR 30 at step 35, the request
is transmitted to the home location register (HLR) 40 for the
mobile station 10 at step 45. The HLR 40 processes the request from
the mobile station 10 and determines at step 50 the present
location area (LA) and/or cell global identity (CGI) for the mobile
station 10. Location areas are subgroups of the total area covered
by each MSC/VLR 30. The location area comprises an area in which a
mobile station 10 may move freely without updating location
information to the MSC/VLR 30. A cell global identity is a sub-unit
of a location area and defines the particular cell within which the
mobile station 10 is located. Once the location area/cell global
identity information is determined, this data plus the original
request are transmitted to a relational database 55 at step 60. The
request and location data are transmitted from the HLR to the
relational database 55 using USSD messages.
Referring now also to FIG. 3, there is illustrated the structure of
the relational database 55. Each of the member entries 65 are
categorized under a particular business classification category 70.
The illustration of FIG. 3 describes a business classification
category 70 of restaurants. Other examples would include theaters,
gas stations, malls, bowling alleys, etc. For each member entry 65
there is associated therewith the cell group identity 75 and
location area 80 within which the business member entry is located.
An address entry 85 indicates the physical street address for the
member entry 65.
Once the database 55 receives the request and location data
information from the HLR 40, the particular business classification
category 70 included in the request is located at step 100. Next,
the cell group identity 75 and/or the location area 80 information
for the mobile station 10 is compared at step 105 to the CGI and LA
information for the selected business classification category 70.
The database 55 then selects at step 110 those member entries 65 of
the selected business classification category 70 having either the
same or substantially the same CGI and/or LA as the requesting
mobile station 10. Thus, a user at a mobile station 10 may locate
restaurants within their particular location area or cell area, or
of restaurants within adjacent location areas or cell areas.
Next, the addresses for the selected member entries 65 are
converted into USSD messages for transmission at step 115 back to
the mobile station 10. Transmission back to the mobile station 10
occurs back through the HLR 40, MSC/VLR 30 and BS 35. The received
USSD message is processed by the user module 20 and the address
information is displayed via a user display 120.
FIG. 1 further illustrates a second pathway between the mobile
station 10 and a database 55b wherein the database is connected
directly to the MSC/VLR 30. In this configuration the MSC/VLR 30
would determine the present location area (LA) and/or cell global
identity for the mobile station 10. This information would then be
used to locate the member entries 65 most closely located with the
mobile station in the manner discussed above.
FIG. 1 illustrates yet a third pathway wherein the database 55c is
located outside of the public land mobile network through a gateway
mobile switching center (GMSC) 125. The HLR 40 or MSC/VLR 30 would
extract the location area for the mobile station 10 as described
previously and forward the information to the database 55c through
the GMSC 125. The address data is transmitted back to the mobile
station through the gateway 125.
In another embodiment of the present invention, all messages
between the mobile station 10 and the relational database 55 can be
transmitted through the public land mobile network using short
message service (SMS) protocol. In this embodiment, the user module
20 merely encapsulates the request for location information into a
SMS message and transmits the message through a control and data
channel such as a stand alone dedicated control channel (SDCCH).
Transmission of the request and address data occurs in the same
manner as that described previously for USSD messages. After
receiving the SMS message containing the address data from the
relational database 55, the mobile station 10 passes the data to an
attached subscriber identity modular (SIM) card 135 and the SIM
card stores the received data into an internal buffer or memory
register. This message may then be accessed by the user.
Although a preferred embodiment of the method and apparatus of the
present invention has been illustrated in the accompanying Drawings
and described in the foregoing Detailed Description, it is
understood that the invention is not limited to the embodiment
disclosed, but is capable of numerous rearrangements,
modifications, and substitutions without departing from the spirit
of the invention as set forth and defined by the following
claims.
* * * * *