Systems and methods for supporting control plane location in a fifth generation wireless network

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10516971-B2
Application number	US-201815862562-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 4, 2018
Priority date	Jan 9, 2017
Publication date	Dec 24, 2019
Grant date	Dec 24, 2019

Abstract

Methods and techniques are described for supporting location services for a user equipment (UE) in a Fifth Generation wireless network using a Location Management Function (LMF) based control plane (CP) location solution. The LMF serves as the main anchor point for location support instead of an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF). The LMF may be in either a serving Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) for a UE or in a Home PLMN for a roaming UE. The LMF may obtain location information for a UE via an AMF from a Next Generation Radio Access Network or the UE and may interact with a Gateway Mobile Location Center to receive location requests from and return location information to an external client. The LMF solution may be more efficient and require less implementation than an AMF based CP location solution.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method for supporting location services for a user equipment (UE) comprising:
receiving by a first location server a first message for the UE transmitted by a first entity, wherein the first message comprises one of an indication of an emergency call for the UE or a periodic and triggered Mobile Terminated Location Request (MT-LR);
sending a second message to a second entity to request location information for the UE;
receiving a third message from the second entity comprising the location information, wherein the location information is measured by the second entity; and
determining a location for the UE based on the location information, wherein the first location server uses control plane interfaces and control plane protocols to receive the first message, send the second message and receive the third message;
wherein the first entity is an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) and wherein the first message comprises the indication of the emergency call for the UE.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the UE is in communication with a Radio Access Network (RAN) and the second entity comprises the UE or the RAN, wherein the RAN is a Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) supporting a Fifth Generation (5G) radio interface, and the first location server is part of a 5G Core network (5GC).

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first location server is located in a home network for the UE, wherein the UE is roaming in a visited network different from the home network.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the second message and the third message are messages for a positioning protocol.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the second entity is the UE and the positioning protocol is a Long Term Evolution (LTE) Positioning Protocol (LPP), a Next Generation (NextGen) Positioning Protocol (NPP) or a Previously Presented Radio (NR) Positioning Protocol (NPP).

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the first message comprises the periodic and triggered MT-LR and wherein the second message comprises a request for periodic or triggered location information from the UE.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein receiving the third message is based on detection by the UE of a periodic or triggered location event.

8. The method of claim 4 , wherein the second entity is the RAN and the positioning protocol is a Next Generation (NextGen) Positioning Protocol A (NPPa) or Previously Presented Radio (NR) Positioning Protocol A (NRPPa).

9. The method of claim 4 , wherein the second message is sent to the second entity and the third message is received from the second entity via a serving Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) for the UE.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first entity is a second location server and the first message comprises the periodic and triggered MT-LR.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the second location server is one of a Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) or a Service Capability Exposure Function (SCEF).

12. The method of claim 10 , wherein the first location server is combined with the second location server.

13. The method of claim 10 , further comprising sending a fourth message to the second location server, wherein the fourth message comprises the location for the UE.

14. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first location server receives the first message comprising the indication of the emergency call for the UE based on detection of the emergency call for the UE by the AMF.

15. A first location server for supporting location services for a user equipment (UE) comprising:
an external interface for receiving and sending messages to entities in a network; and
at least one processor coupled to the external interface, the at least one processor configured to receive a first message for the UE transmitted by a first entity in the network, wherein the first message comprises one of an indication of an emergency call for the UE or a periodic and triggered Mobile Terminated Location Request (MT-LR), sending a second message to a second entity in the network to request location information for the UE, receive a third message from the second entity comprising the location information, wherein the location information is measured by the second entity, and determine a location for the UE based on the location information, wherein the first location server uses control plane interfaces and control plane protocols to receive the first message, send the second message and receive the third message, wherein the first entity is an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) and wherein the first message comprises the indication of the emergency call for the UE.

16. The first location server of claim 15 , wherein the UE is in communication with a Radio Access Network (RAN) and the second entity comprises the UE or the RAN, wherein the RAN is a Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) supporting a Fifth Generation (5G) radio interface and the first location server is part of a 5G Core network (5GC).

17. The first location server of claim 15 , wherein the first location server is located in a home network for the UE, wherein the UE is roaming in a visited network different from the home network.

18. The first location server of claim 15 , wherein the second message and the third message are messages for a positioning protocol.

19. The first location server of claim 18 , wherein the second entity is the UE and the positioning protocol is a Long Term Evolution (LTE) Positioning Protocol (LPP), a Next Generation (NextGen) Positioning Protocol (NPP) or a Previously Presented Radio (NR) Positioning Protocol (NPP).

20. The first location server of claim 19 , wherein the first message comprises the periodic and triggered MT-LR and wherein the second message comprises a request for periodic or triggered location information from the UE.

21. The first location server of claim 20 , wherein receiving the third message is based on detection by the UE of a periodic or triggered location event.

22. The first location server of claim 18 , wherein the second entity is the RAN and the positioning protocol is a Next Generation (NextGen) Positioning Protocol A (NPPa) or Previously Presented Radio (NR) Positioning Protocol A (NRPPa).

23. The first location server of claim 18 , wherein the second message is sent to the second entity and the third message is received from the second entity via a serving Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) for the UE.

24. The first location server of claim 15 , wherein the first entity is a second location server and the first message comprises the periodic and triggered MT-LR.

25. The first location server of claim 24 , wherein the second location server is one of a Gateway Mobile Location Center (GMLC) or a Service Capability Exposure Function (SCEF).

26. The first location server of claim 24 , wherein the first location server is combined with the second location server.

27. The first location server of claim 24 , wherein the at least one processor is further configured to send a fourth message to the second location server, wherein the fourth message comprises the location for the UE.

28. The first location server of claim 15 , wherein the first location server receives the first message comprising the indication of the emergency call for the UE based on detection of the emergency call for the UE by the AMF.

29.

Assignees

• Qualcomm Inc

Inventors

• Edge Stephen William

Classifications

• G08B25/08

  using communication transmission lines {(G08B13/19658, G08B21/0286, G08B25/016 take precedence)} · CPC title

• H04W4/20

  Services signaling; Auxiliary data signalling, i.e. transmitting data via a non-traffic channel · CPC title

• H04W4/90

  Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS] · CPC title

• H04W4/02 Primary

  Services making use of location information · CPC title

• H04M2242/04

  for emergency applications · CPC title