WO2002051193A1 - Method and system relating to positioning of a mobile station which generates an alarm when approaching a boundary - Google Patents

The present invention relates to a method for determining a zone of interest within a specific area for monitoring and generating an action when a positioned mobile station (MS) approaches a boundary of said zone of interest, in a system comprising means for obtaining a position of said MS, a client terminal and a Service Provider Station (SPS). The method comprises the steps of: accessing said SPS through a communications network by said client terminal, retrieving and accessing a geographically related information set over said specific area from said SPS, providing a boundary for at least one zone of interest with respect to said geographically related information set, converting said boundary into a geographically corresponding area, and monitoring said area corresponding to said boundary for said zone.

Method and system relating to positioning of a mobile station which generates an alarm when approaching a boundary.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a method of determining a zone of interest within a specific area for monitoring and generating an action when a positioned mobile station (MS) approaches a boundary of said zone of interest, in a system comprising means for obtaining a position of said MS, a client terminal and a Service Provider Station (SPS).

The invention also relates to a system for determining a specific zone for a positioned mobile station.

BACKGROUND

In many applications, defining a geographical boundary or a zone within or outside which a locatable mobile station can have special privileges is of particular interest. Examples of such applications are tracing rental cars and preventing them leaving the country or a region, a truck reaching its destination, monitoring children, e.g. in a nursery school, monitoring prisoners, etc.

The main problem related with such applications is a method for defining the boundary or zone in a simple way by a client or user. The operators of a communication network or position broker network have tried to provide the subscribers with methods and means to solve the problem. The problem has been the definition of the zone itself (size or extension), billing, network load and so on.

In EP 501 058, a method and apparatus for locating and communicating with vehicles is provided, including at least one mobile cellular unit connected to at least one microprocessor and installed within a vehicle. The microprocessor interrogates the mobile cellular unit to obtain location information from an overhead message stream transmitted from cellular telephone transmitter sites. The location is displayed on a display located in the vehicle or the microprocessor periodically instructs the mobile cellular unit to initiate a call to a host controller and, upon receipt of transmitting instructions from the host controller, transmits the location information for display on a screen connected to the host controller. This document concerns a dedicated service for user having control over the positioning, mobile station, network etc. Moreover, this document does not specify accessing a information set, i.e. a map, and determining a zone of interest which is converted to a

SUMMARY

Thus, the main object of the present invention is to provide a service, which allows a user or a client to remotely define zones of interest for one or several locatable mobile stations through a service provider, providing such services such as positioning, maps, alarming etc. Another object of the invention is to provide a tangible service, which can be provided by a service provider and upon use of the service a subscriber can be billed for the utilized services.

Therefore the initially mentioned method comprises the steps of: accessing said SPS through a communications network by said client terminal, retrieving and accessing a map over said specific area from said SPS, through said client terminal providing a boundary for at least one zone of interest on said map, converting said boundary on said map into a geographically corresponding area, and monitoring said area corresponding to said boundary for said zone. Preferably, the MS is positioned within a cellular network or said MS is positioned within a global positioning system. Preferably, said geographically related information set is a map. In one embodiment the client terminal is said MS.

In a cellular communication network, the invention also relates to a method of determining a zone of interest for monitoring and generating an action when a positioned mobile station (MS) approaches a boundary of said zone of interest, in a system comprising means for obtaining a position of said MS, a client terminal and a Service Provider Station, the method comprising the steps of: accessing said SPS through a communications network by said client terminal, retrieving and accessing an information set corresponding to an specific area from said SPS, defining a boundary for at least one zone of interest, and converting said zone of interest into cell identity of said cellular network corresponding to said zone of interest. The method comprises the further step of downloading a list containing cell information corresponding to said boundary into a memory unit of said MS. The definition of said boundary comprises entering marks on said map or entering an address with a specific alarm zone radius. To obtain position data, the information comprises positioning based on one or several of Cell identity, Network Measurement Result and Timing Advance (TA). To allow better user accessibility, the communication network comprises one or several of Internet, Intranet, LAN or WAN.

Particularly, the invention concerns a method of facilitating a sale of a service including determining an alarm zone and monitoring a positionable mobile station (MS) and generating an action when a positioned mobile station (MS) approaches a boundary of said zone of interest, in a system comprising means for obtaining a position of said MS, a client terminal and a Service Provider Station (SPS), the method comprising the steps of: accessing said SPS through a communications network by a client through said client terminal, retrieving and accessing a specific map from said SPS, defining a boundary for at least one zone of interest, converting said zone of interest into cell identity of said cellular network corresponding to said zone of interest, and billing said client for said zone of interest. Preferably, said billing is based on the size of the zone of the interest.

Moreover, the invention relates to a user interface located at a user device for use in a system for determining a zone of interest within a specific area for monitoring and generating an action when a positioned mobile station (MS) approaches a boundary of said zone of interest, in a system comprising means for obtaining a position of said MS and a Service Provider Station (SPS), the user interface comprising: an input mechanism for accessing said SPS through a communications network by said user device, a mechanism for retrieving and accessing a map over said specific area from said SPS, an output mechanism for presenting said map, and an input mechanism for providing a boundary for at least one zone of interest on said map.

In the most preferred embodiment, the invention is realised a computer program in a system for determining a zone of interest for monitoring and generating an action when a positioned mobile station (MS) in a cellular communication network approaches a boundary of said zone of interest, said system comprising means for obtaining a position of said MS, a client terminal and a Service Provider Station, said computer program comprising: an accessing procedure for accessing said SPS through a communication network by said client terminal, a function for retrieving and accessing a map stored at said SPS, an input procedure for defining a boundary for at least one zone of interest, and a procedure for converting said zone of interest into cell identities of said cellular network corresponding to said zone of interest. Thus, the program comprises an additional procedure of downloading a list containing cell information corresponding to said boundary into a memory unit of said MS.

The invention also relates to a system for determining a zone of interest for monitoring and generating an action when a positioned mobile station in a cellular communication network approaches a boundary of said zone of interest. The system comprises a service providing arrangement in communication with a data base, a user terminal connected to said service providing arrangement via a communication network and means for determining the position of said mobile station. The system further comprises: means for selecting said zone of interest by said user by accessing a set of information corresponding to a specific area in said service provider arrangement, means for processing said selected zone and defining a cell identity list of said cellular network, means for determining cell sizes corresponding to said zone of interest, and means for defining said zone of interest relative said cell identity list and cell sizes. r

The system may also comprise means for loading said cell identity list into a memory of said mobile station. The communication network is one or several of a Internet, intranet, Local Area Network or Wide Area Network. The zone of interest is defined by said system based on information from said user, which allows the system to determine best possible boundary. To simplify the zone selection, the set of information can be presented as a map. Also, the mobile station can be allowed to access said set of information to allow a mobile zone determination. In one embodiment, the mobile station and/or user terminal can be supplied with data regarding said zone of interest, which data can comprise one or several of alarm, warning or advertisement.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following, the invention will be further described in a non-limiting way with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Fig. 1 is a block diagram over a system incorporating the present invention, Fig. 2 schematically illustrates a user interface for carrying out the invention, Figs. 3-6 schematically illustrate a number of cell configurations, Fig. 7 schematically illustrates another user interface for carrying out the invention, and Figs. 8a,8b are schematic views of a zone coverage.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

According to the invention a user is allowed to define a zone of interest by means of a network connection to a service-providing server.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram showing a system 10 according to the invention. The system is based on a cellular communications network 20 of known type, comprising a number of base station antennas 21, connected to controlling arrangement 22, which can include base station controllers or other units well known for a skilled person. The controlling arrangement is connected to a server provider 30, which obtains position information about a mobile station 40.

The positioning procedure and the function of the cellular network is assumed to be well known for skilled persons and not described in detail.

A user or subscriber station 50 is in communication with the service provider server through a computer network 60 such as Internet, intranet, LAN, WAN, etc.

Fig. 2 is a schematic layout of a computer-generated interface 200 for entering necessary information about a zone of interest. The interface comprises three main fields, a map field 210, control information filed 220 and an area data field 230.

Assuming that the service is provided through Internet, the client, which is a subscriber of the service logs into the service provider server, e.g. after an authentication control. The map field 220 displays the position 221 of the client (mobile station) on the map, in this case using a city map with streets and buildings. The user can also chose other areas of interest on the map.

Then the client is allowed to select an area of interest by encircling it or selecting through the area data field 230. In One embodiment the area can be charged per distance (kilometre, miles, etc.) When the area is selected and confirmed by the client, the information is sent to a processing unit of the service provider. The data on the selected area is matched with cell data in a database 31 (Fig 1). The matching may contain probability of the position of the mobile station.

After a comparison of the zone with information in the database, the zone can be represented as shown in fig. 3, denoted with reference sign 300. The zones covered by transmission areas (antenna lobe) from each cell's base station are denoted with 310-340. The system computes the size of each cell to determine the position of the zone of interest. The cell size computation can be done using standard methods or looking up in databases (provide by the operator) containing cell IDs and cell sizes. The cell size can be calculated in accordance with the teachings of the Swedish Patent Application No. 0004474-3, incorporated herein by reference.

Then the identities of the corresponding cells covering the zone of interest are loaded into the memory of the mobile station, which can be the SIM-card running a SIM Tool Kit Application (STK). The downloaded information may comprise NMR (Network Measurement Result) and/or TA (Timing Advance) data, hi urbane areas pico and/or macro cells can form the zones.

In some locations (cities), as shown in fig. 4, there are cells, which extend between buildings and cover the cells that are close to the zone of interest. These cells can be difficult to locate by only calculation of the cell sizes. However, the STK can determine if the remaining neighboring cells and Transmission levels, and some times TA value of the cells is in conformity with a pre-defined radio pattern looked up by STK, and thus determine whether the mobile station is within the zone of interest or not.

Referring now to fig. 5, when very large umbrella cells cover an area, e.g. in urban communities, the selection of the zone of interest can be limited. Especially when sectrorised cells 500 are involved, it is possible to use the TA values (e.g., TA11, TA12) to limit the zone, if the cells have outsized dominance. It is of course possible to use NMR, but it will contribute to minor limitations of the zone.

In areas with OMNI umbrella cells 600, according to Fig. 6, a simulated TA can be used, which can by a cell size calculation method be estimated for this particular cell to be TA 11 and 12 in the selected area. The estimated TA is obtained during the registration of the selected area of interest for the mobile station and it is downloaded to the STK application or the MS software together with the estimated neighbouring cells, and the actual NMR and TA measured by the MS is then compared with the estimated values, to decide a position, determining specially on which side of the cell the mobile station is situated.

The changes in the network structure, particularly in the area of zone of interest, must be supplied to the subscribers to be able to set up correct zone of interests. This can be done by informing the subscriber, e.g. by sending an SMS to the mobile station, when the network changes exceed some predetermined degree. The application can also require an update of the network information, e.g. when it discovers changes in the neighbour cell list, lack of serving cells etc.

The monitored object and/or a monitoring centre can be notified when the object enters or leaves the zone by means of warnings of different kinds, using audio or visual indication.

Fig. 7 illustrates an application interface according to one aspect of the invention. In this case an example of monitoring cars, such as rental cars, is disclosed. The service subscriber (car rental agency) accesses the site of the operator or service provider and after a conventional login procedure obtains access to the zone setting function. For positioning purpose, rented cars are provided with a mobile terminal, such as a GSM transceiver, having a GSM number used as the identity of the object.

The site 700 used for determining the zone mainly consists of a map portion 701, an Object

IDentity Window (OIDW) 702 as well as other information providing sections (less relevant for the disclosure of the invention). In OIDW the object identities are presented with number plate of each monitored car. The zone of interest is entered by drawing an area on the map. hi this case a zone close to a ferry terminal. The site is provided with functions to convert the indicated area into the corresponding actual land area. The zone is determined and the information is compared with a cell database to determine the identity and extend of the cells covering the zone. When the cell ids are determined, the information is transmitted to and stored in the mobile terminals of the monitored cars. The application will result in that when a car enters the zone of interest, an alarm or warning is generated and sent to the monitoring centre.

The same procedure can be used to set an alarm zone for cars leaving a specific area.

Not in all systems it is possible to define a zone of interest and obtain a cell coverage that completely corresponds to the defined zone. For this reason, the system can be arranged to define a zone of interest that it can cover, for example with respect to a cell and transmission coverage. Figs. 8a and 8b illustrate an example where in fig. 8a the user has defined the zone of interest 800a. The area is covered by the cell transmission boundaries 810. Sometime transmission coverage is affected, for example because of blocking buildings, meteorological conditions etc.; thus, the system is not possible to cover the area. Hence, a different zone can be suggested by the system as illustrated in fig. 8b and denoted with 800b. The user/subscriber is notified about the suggested new zone and preferably asked for approval of the new zone. It is of coarse possible to make modifications to obtain an optimal zone.

The invention may also be used for other applications than determining alarm zones; an example of such an application is advertisement zones. In this case, a subscriber can define one or several advertising zones for one or several zone related ads. When a user is in "for an ad defined area", special ads can be transmitted to the mobile terminal. The ads can be custom- made according to a user profile and also be completed with, for example, zone related inquiries in from of questionnaires etc.

Moreover, it is also possible to set the zone of interest using a mobile station, hi this case the mobile station, especially but not exclusively, provided with a WAP browser can logon to a service provider server and obtain geographical related information (in graphical or textual form), such as its position and limits for defining a zone of interest. Sending SMS can also do the zone definition. Then a zone is defined by entering a limit to its position or other positions. Thus, it is also possible to send alarm/warning/ad to the mobile station, e.g. for notifying that a zone boundary is reached etc.

The service provider can bill the subscriber based on the number of monitoring occasions, the number of monitored objects and/or monitoring area, i.e. the size of the zone of interest.

The invention can also be applied on other positioning systems, which do not use cellular network positioning, such as GPS, GLASNOS, etc. In this case a continuous and/or periodical positioning of the objects is performed and compared with a database provided with the geographical boundary of the zone of interest.

The invention is not limited to the shown embodiments but can be varied in a number of ways without departing from the scope of the appended claims and the arrangement and the method can be implemented in various ways depending on application, functional units, needs and requirements etc.

1. A method of determining a zone of interest within a specific area for monitoring and generating an action when a positioned mobile station (MS) approaches a boundary of said zone of interest, in a system comprising means for obtaining a position of said MS (40), a client terminal (50) and a Service Provider Station (SPS, 30), the method comprising the steps of: accessing said SPS through a communications network by said client terminal, retrieving and accessing a geographically related information set over said specific area from said SPS, - providing through said client terminal (50) a boundary for at least one zone of interest with respect to said geographically related information set, converting said boundary into a geographically corresponding area, and monitoring said area corresponding to said boundary for said zone.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein said MS is positioned within a cellular network.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein said MS is positioned within a global positioning system.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein said geographically related information set is a map.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein said client terminal is said MS.

6. In a cellular communication network, a method of determining a zone of interest for monitoring and generating an action when a positioned mobile station (MS) approaches a boundary of said zone of interest, in a system comprising means for obtaining a position of said MS, a client terminal and a Service Provider Station, the method comprising the steps of: accessing said SPS through a communications network by said client terminal and retrieving and accessing an information set corresponding to an specific area from said SPS and defining a boundary for at least one zone of interest, and - converting said zone of interest into cell identity of said cellular network corresponding to said zone of interest by said SPS or an co-operating operator.

7. The method of claim 6, comprising the further step of downloading a list containing cell information corresponding to said boundary into a memory unit of said MS.

8. The method of claim 6, wherein said definition of said boundary comprises entering marks on said map.

9. The method of claim 6, wherein said defining of said boundary comprises entering an address with a specific alarm zone radius.

10. The method of claim 6, wherein said information comprises positioning based on one or several of Cell identity, Network Measurement Result and Timing Advance (TA).

11. The method of claim 7, wherein said communication network comprises one or several of Internet, Intranet, LAN or WAN.

12. A method of facilitating a sale of a service including determining an alarm zone and monitoring a positionable mobile station (MS) and generating an action when a positioned mobile station (MS) approaches a boundary of said zone of interest, in a system comprising means for obtaining a position of said MS, a client terminal and a Service Provider Station (SPS), the method comprising the steps of: accessing said SPS through a communications network by a client through said client terminal, retrieving and accessing a specific map from said SPS and defining a boundary for at least one zone of interest, converting said zone of interest into cell identity of said cellular network corresponding to said zone of interest, and billing said client for said zone of interest.

13. The method of claim 12, whereby said billing is based on the size of the zone of the interest.

14. A user interface located at a user device for use in a system for determining a zone of interest within a specific area for monitoring and generating an action when a positioned mobile station (MS) approaches a boundary of said zone of interest, in a system comprising means for obtaining a position of said MS and a Service Provider Station (SPS), the user interface comprising: an input mechanism for accessing said SPS through a communications network by said user device, a mechanism for retrieving and accessing a map over said specific area from said

SPS from said user device, an output mechanism for presenting said map, and an input mechanism for providing a boundary for at least one zone of interest on said map.

15. A computer program in a system for determining a zone of interest for monitoring and generating an action when a positioned mobile station (MS) in a cellular communication network approaches a boundary of said zone of interest, said system comprising means for obtaining a position of said MS, a client terminal and a Service Provider Station, said computer program comprising: an accessing procedure for accessing said SPS through a communication network by said client terminal, a function for retrieving and accessing a map stored at said SPS, - an input procedure for defining a boundary for at least one zone of interest, and a procedure for converting said zone of interest into cell identities of said cellular network corresponding to said zone of interest.

16. The computer program of claim 15, further comprising a procedure of downloading a list containing cell information corresponding to said boundary into a memory unit of said MS.

17. A system (10) for determining a zone of interest for monitoring and generating an action when a positioned mobile station (40) in a cellular communication network (20) approaches a boundary of said zone of interest, said system comprising a service providing arrangement (30) in communication with a data base (31), a user terminal (50) connected to said service providing arrangement (30) via a communication network and means for determining the position of said mobile station, characterised in that said system further comprises: means for selecting said zone of interest by said user by accessing a set of information corresponding to a specific area in said service provider arrangement, means for processing said selected zone and defining a cell identity list of said cellular network, means for determining cell sizes corresponding to said zone of interest, and means for defining said zone of interest relative said cell identity list and cell sizes.

18. The system of claim 17, wherein system further comprises means for loading said cell identity list into a memory of said mobile station.

19. The system of claim 17, wherein said communication network is one or several of a Internet, intranet, Local Area Network or Wide Area Network.

20. The system of claim 17, wherein said zone of interest is defined by said system based on information from said user.

21. The system according to any of claims 17-20, wherein said set of information is a map.

22. The system according to any of claims 17-21, wherein said mobile station is arranged to access said set of information.

23. The system according to any of claims 17-22, wherein said mobile station and/or user terminal is supplied with data regarding said zone of interest.

24. The system according claim 23, wherein said data comprises one or several of alarm, warning or advertisement.