A practical inter-carrier roaming solution by way of a roaming location protocol (RLP) router that provides consistent location support across heterogeneous wireless network standards. The RLP router maintains connectivity to each location server in a roaming ecosystem, alleviating the need for an expensive and impractical mesh network of location servers. When a home location server (H-LS) determines it cannot locate a subscriber device because the subscriber device is roaming, the H-LS sends an RLP request to the RLP router. The RLP router then routes the RLP request to a serving location server (S-LS), which subsequently returns location information for the roaming subscriber device. The RLP router maintains mobile switching center ID (MSCID) to location based services (LBS) mappings for routing RLP requests. The RLP router may also maintain rough MSC-level positioning data for each MSCID to enable the RLP router to resolve certain location fixes without utilizing an S-LS.
1. A method, comprising:
receiving, at a home location server (H-LS), a location request for a subscriber device;
sending, via the H-LS, a roaming location protocol (RLP) request with a mobile switching center identification (MSCID) of a serving mobile switching center (S-MSC) to a roaming location protocol (RLP) router;
processing, at the RLP router, the RLP request, wherein processing the RLP request comprises:
mapping the MSCID received in the RLP request to an affiliated serving location server (S-LS) of the S-MSC;
obtaining location information for the subscriber device from the S-LS; and
returning the location information obtained for the subscriber device to the H-LS, wherein the location information includes position data for a cell ID of a base station currently serving the subscriber device.
2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the mapping is performed at the RLP router.
3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the RLP request further comprises a mobile directory number (MDN) for the subscriber device.
4. The method of claim 3 , further comprising:
receiving, at the affiliated S-LS, the RLP request from the RLP router;
generating, at the affiliated S-LS, an intersystem position request (ISPOREQ) message comprising the MDN for the subscriber device based on the RLP request;
transmitting, at the affiliated S-LS, the ISPOREQ message to the S-MSC;
processing, at the S-MSC, the ISPOREQ message to obtain the location information for the subscriber device; and
receiving, at the affiliated S-LS, an intersystem position request (ISPOREQ) result message from the S-MSC, wherein the ISPOREQ result message comprises the location information for the subscriber device.
5. The method of claim 4 , further comprising:
receiving, at the RLP router, a RLP standard roaming location immediate answer (SRLIA) message comprising the location information for the subscriber device; and
forwarding, at the RLP router, the RLP SRLIA message to the H-LS.
6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising transmitting the location information to a location requesting service (LRS) client.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
transmitting an intersystem position request (ISPOREQ) message comprising an international mobile subscriber identity (IMSI) for the subscriber device to the S-MSC; and
receiving an intersystem position request (ISPOREQ) result message from the S-MSC, wherein the ISPOREQ result message comprises the location information for the subscriber device.
8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising:
processing, at the S-MSC, the ISPOREQ message based on the IMSI for the subscriber device to obtain the location information for the subscriber device.
9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the RLP router is coupled to a home carrier network associated with the subscriber device and an Internet.
10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the subscriber device is operating on a visiting carrier network, the visiting carrier network employing a network standard different than a home carrier network of the subscriber device.
11. A system, comprising:
a roaming location protocol (RLP) router configured to process a roaming location protocol (RLP) request comprising a mobile switching center identification (MSCID) of a serving mobile switching center (S-MSC) for a subscriber device, wherein processing the RLP request comprises:
mapping the MSCID received in the RLP request to an affiliated serving location server (S-LS) of the S-MSC;
obtaining location information for the subscriber device from the S-LS; and
returning the location information obtained for the subscriber device to the H-LS, wherein the location information includes position data for a cell ID of a base station currently serving the subscriber device.
12. The system of claim 11 , further comprising a home location server (H-LS) configured to receive a location request from a location requesting service (LRS) client for the subscriber device and to generate the RLP request based on the location request.
13. The system of claim 11 , wherein the RLP router maintains MSC-level positioning data for the S-MSC corresponding to a coarse location for the subscriber device.
14. The system of claim 13 ,
further comprising a home location server (H-LS) configured to transmit a rough accuracy location request with the MSCID of the S-MSC to the RLP router, and
wherein the RLP router is configured to process the rough accuracy location request and return the rough MSC-level positioning data for the S-MSC maintained at the RLP to provide a rough position estimate for the subscriber device.