Location information acquisition method and apparatus, and electronic device and storage medium

Abstract

Provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure are a location information acquisition method and apparatus, and a device, a medium and a program product. The method comprises: receiving a plurality of location requests which are sent by a plurality of location services clients and correspond to the same emergency session location service; on the basis of the location requests, sending a location determination request to an LMF by means of an AMF; receiving a location event notification returned by the LMF in response to the location determination request; and sending a location response message to the location services clients corresponding to the location requests. By means of the method, association processing can be performed on a plurality of location requests corresponding to the same emergency session location service, and location measurement values obtained during the processing of the location requests are fully utilized, and thus location calculation for the location of a target terminal can be performed more efficiently, thereby obtaining a more accurate location estimation. (FIG. 2)

Description

Position information acquisition method and device, electronic device, and storage medium

[0001] Cross Reference to Related Applications

[0002] The present disclosure claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202411124718.1, filed on August 15, 2024, entitled “Position information acquisition method and device, electronic device, and storage medium,” the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The present disclosure relates to the field of computer technology, and in particular, to a position information acquisition method, device, electronic device, storage medium, and computer program product. BACKGROUND

[0004] When a terminal initiates an emergency call, a Location Services Client (LCS Client) needs to acquire the position information of the terminal. The location-based emergency call routing requires the position information of the terminal on each hop of the emergency communication routing, and the establishment process of the emergency call should not be affected by the delay. With the hop-by-hop transmission of the emergency call among different routing entities, the LCS Client in each routing entity initiates a positioning request to obtain the position information of the terminal to determine the next hop routing entity. With the positioning request of the routing entity closer to the terminal, more accurate position information can be obtained. SUMMARY

[0005] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a position information acquisition method, device, electronic device, storage medium, and computer program product.

[0006] Other features and advantages of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following detailed description, or will be learned by practice of the present disclosure.

[0007] According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a method for acquiring location information is provided, which is applied to a gateway mobile location center (GMLC), and the method comprises: receiving at least one positioning request corresponding to a same emergency session positioning service sent by at least one positioning service client; the emergency session positioning service is a positioning service for an emergency session of a target terminal; sending a determination location request to a location management function (LMF) via an access and mobility management function (AMF) according to the positioning request; receiving a positioning event notification returned by the LMF in response to the determination location request; the positioning event notification at least comprises location information corresponding to the target terminal; sending a positioning response message to the positioning service client corresponding to the positioning request; the positioning response message at least comprises the location information.

[0008] In an example embodiment, the positioning request at least comprises identification information of the emergency session positioning service and / or identification information of the target terminal.

[0009] In an example embodiment, the sending of the determination location request to the LMF according to the positioning request comprises: sending a provide location information request to the AMF according to the positioning request, so that the AMF sends a corresponding determination location request to the LMF according to the provide location information request.

[0010] In an example embodiment, the provide location information request at least comprises identification information of the emergency session positioning service and / or identification information of the target terminal.

[0011] In an example embodiment, the location information is obtained by the LMF according to at least one location measurement value obtained by performing location measurement on the target terminal corresponding to the emergency session positioning service.

[0012] In an example embodiment, the location information at least comprises a location estimate and an estimate timestamp.

[0013] In an example embodiment, the sending of the positioning response message to the positioning service client corresponding to the positioning request further comprises: in response to the route where the positioning service client is located not being a terminal node, making the positioning service client route the positioning request to a first positioning service client; the first positioning service client belongs to the at least one positioning service client.

[0014] In an example embodiment, the sending of the location response message to the location service client corresponding to the location request further comprises: ending the emergency session location service in response to a route where the location service client is located being a terminal node.

[0015] In an example embodiment, the location request comprises at least whether to accept an intermediate location information reply and / or a maximum reply time.

[0016] According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a location information obtaining apparatus, comprising: a location request receiving module configured to receive at least one location request corresponding to a same emergency session location service sent by at least one location service client; the emergency session location service being a location service for an emergency session of a target terminal; a determined location request sending module configured to send a determined location request to an LMF via an AMF according to the location request; a location event notification receiving module configured to receive a location event notification returned by the LMF in response to the determined location request; the location event notification comprising at least location information corresponding to the target terminal; and a location response message sending module configured to send a location response message to the location service client corresponding to the location request; the location response message comprising at least the location information.

[0017] According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an electronic device, comprising: one or more processors; and a storage apparatus configured to store one or more programs, which when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement the location information obtaining method as described in the above embodiments.

[0018] According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable storage medium storing a computer program, which when executed by a processor, implements the location information obtaining method as described in the above embodiments.

[0019] According to yet another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer program product comprising a computer program / signaling, characterized by, which when executed by a processor, implements the location information obtaining method as described in the above embodiments.

[0020] It should be understood that the general description above and the following detailed description are only exemplary and explanatory, and are not intended to limit the present disclosure. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0021] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate embodiments consistent with the present disclosure and serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure, and are not intended to limit the present disclosure.

[0022] FIG. 1 shows a schematic diagram of a network architecture of a communication system to which embodiments of the present disclosure are applicable;

[0023] FIG. 2 shows a flow chart of a method for acquiring location information according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0024] FIG. 3 shows a flow chart of a method for LMF position calculation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0025] FIG. 4 shows a flow chart of a method for sending a positioning response message according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0026] FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of a message transmission flow of a process for acquiring location information according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0027] FIG. 6 shows a schematic diagram of a structure of a device for acquiring location information according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0028] FIG. 7 shows a schematic diagram of a structure of an electronic device suitable for use in implementing the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0029] Example implementations will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Example implementations may, however, be implemented in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the examples set forth herein; rather, these implementations are provided so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the example implementations to those skilled in the art. The described features, structures, or characteristics can be combined in one or more implementations.

[0030] In addition, the accompanying drawings are included to provide a further understanding of the present disclosure and are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate embodiments of the present disclosure and serve to explain the principles of the present disclosure. The same reference numbers in different drawings represent the same or similar elements.

[0031] It should be noted that the ordinal numbers such as “first”, “second”, etc. mentioned in the embodiments of the present disclosure are used to distinguish the multiple objects, and are not used to limit the order, time sequence, priority or importance of the multiple objects, and the description of “first”, “second” does not necessarily mean that the objects are different.

[0032] To solve the above problems, the embodiments of the present disclosure propose an IMS registration method and an IMS call method, which can be applied to various communication systems. For example, GSM (Global system for Mobile Communications) system, CDMA (Code Division Multiple access) system, WCDMA (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) system, LTE (Long Term evolution) system, LTE frequency division duplex system, LTE time division duplex system, UMTS (Universal Mobile telecommunication System), WIMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access) communication system, 5G (5th generation) system, or a future communication system or other similar communication system, etc.

[0033] Figure 1 shows a network architecture diagram of a communication system to which embodiments of the present disclosure are applicable. As shown in Figure 1, the network architecture includes a UE, a RAN (Radio Access Network) device, an AMF (Access and Mobility Mangement Function) network element, an SMF (Session Management function) network element, a UPF (User Plane Function) network element, a PCF (Policy Control Function) network element, a NSSF (Network Slice Selection Function) network element, a NRF (Network Repository Function) network element, a NWDAF (Network Data Analytics Function) network element, a UDM (Unified Data Managemen) network element, a UDR (Unified Data Repository) network element, an AUSF (Authentication Server Function) network element, an NEF (Network Exposure Function) network element, an AF (Application Function) network element, and a DN (Data Network) connected to an operator network.

[0034] The UE can be various electronic devices, which can be deployed on land, including indoors or outdoors, handheld, wearable, or vehicle-mounted; can also be deployed on water (such as ships, etc.); and can also be deployed in the air (such as airplanes, balloons, and satellites, etc.). The UE can communicate with the core network through the RAN device, and exchange voice and / or data with the RAN device. The UE can be a mobile phone, a tablet computer, a computer with wireless transceiver function, a mobile Internet device, a wearable device, a virtual reality terminal device, an augmented reality terminal device, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in unmanned driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical treatment, a wireless terminal in smart power grids, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in smart city, a wireless terminal in smart home, etc. Optionally, the clients of the application programs installed in different UEs are the same, or the clients of the same type of application programs based on different operating systems. Based on different terminal platforms, the specific forms of the clients of the application programs can also be different, for example, the application program client can be a mobile phone client, a computer client, etc.

[0035] The RAN device is a device in the network for accessing the UE to the wireless network, which can include a device in the access network that communicates with the wireless terminal through one or more sectors over the air interface. The UE can access the AMF network element through the RAN device. Specifically, when the UE accesses the AMF network element through the RAN device, the UE can access the AMF network element through a network side device such as a 5G and later version base station (for example, a 5G NR NB), or a base station in other communication systems (for example, an eNB base station).

[0036] The AMF network element is mainly used for mobility management of the UE, access authentication / authorization, and is also responsible for transferring user policies between the UE and the PCF network element.

[0037] The SMF network element is mainly used for session management, Internet Protocol address allocation and management of the UE, selection of manageable user plane functions, termination of policy control or charging function interfaces, and downlink data notification.

[0038] The UPF network element can be used for packet routing and forwarding, or QoS processing of user plane data. User data can access the DN through the network element.

[0039] The PCF network element is used to guide the unified policy framework of network behavior, and provides policy rule information for control plane function network elements (such as AMF network elements, SMF network elements).

[0040] The NSSF network element is mainly used for selecting appropriate network slices for the services of the UE.

[0041] The NRF network element is mainly used to provide registration and discovery functions of network elements or services provided by network elements.

[0042] The NWDAF network element can collect data from various network functions and perform analysis and prediction.

[0043] The UDM network element is mainly used to manage the subscription information of the UE, such as performing authentication vector calculation, key derivation, user identity decryption in the authentication process, checking AUTS according to the corresponding algorithm in the resynchronization process, and initiating the re-authentication process.

[0044] The UDR network element is mainly used to store structured data information, which includes subscription information, policy information, and network data or service data with standard format definition.

[0045] The AUSF network element is mainly used for security authentication of terminal devices.

[0046] The NEF network element is located between the 5G core network and external third-party application functions, and can also be part of internal application functions, and is responsible for managing externally open network data. All external applications that want to access the 5G core network internal data need to pass through the NEF network element. The NEF network element provides corresponding security guarantees to ensure the security of external applications to the network, provides external application Qos customization capability opening, mobility state event subscription, application function request distribution and other functions.

[0047] The AF network element is mainly used to deliver the demand of the application side to the network side, such as QoS demand, user state event subscription. The AF network element can be a third-party functional entity, or an application service deployed by the operator. For the application function entity of the third-party application, when it interacts with the core network, it can also be authorized by the NEF network element, for example, the third-party application function directly sends a request to the NEF network element, the NEF network element judges whether the AF network element is allowed to send the request, and if the verification is passed, the request is forwarded to the corresponding PCF network element or UDM network element.

[0048] It should be understood that the above-mentioned network elements or functions can be network elements in hardware devices, or software functions running on special hardware, or virtualized functions instantiated on a platform (for example, a cloud platform).

[0049] FIG. 2 shows a flowchart of a location information acquisition method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. FIG. 5 shows a message transmission flowchart of a location information acquisition process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The location information acquisition method provided in the embodiments of FIGS. 2 and 5 is applied to a gateway mobile location center (GMLC). As shown in FIGS. 2 and 5, the location information acquisition method can include the following steps.

[0050] In step S210, at least one positioning request corresponding to the same emergency session positioning service is received from at least one positioning service client; the emergency session positioning service is a positioning service for an emergency session of a target terminal.

[0051] In the related art, a location service in an operator network should provide location information to each hop of routing entities and meet a series of requirements of routing entities for quality of service (QoS) and latency. The current standard only supports a positioning service procedure for a single LCS client, which means that each LCS client needs to independently initiate a positioning request, and the network also processes each request individually. However, in an emergency call positioning service process, the emergency call needs to be hop-by-hop transmitted between different routing entities (for example, from a provincial routing entity to a municipal routing entity). A plurality of LCS clients deployed in a plurality of routing entities need to independently initiate a series of associated positioning requests based on the same terminal to be positioned. At present, there is a lack of necessary association between the series of associated positioning requests initiated based on the same terminal to be positioned, and the position measurement data obtained in each positioning request process cannot be fully utilized.

[0052] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the method for obtaining location information is applied to a GMLC. The GMLC is responsible for receiving a positioning request from an LCS client, coordinating network resources to determine the location information of a target terminal, and returning the location information to the requesting LCS client.

[0053] As described above, in an emergency session positioning service for the same target terminal to be positioned, the emergency call needs to be hop-by-hop transmitted between different routing entities as the positioning information becomes more and more accurate. LCS clients are respectively deployed in each routing entity. The LCS client is an application program or entity that requests location information and is used to obtain the location information of a terminal in a mobile communication network. The emergency session positioning service is a positioning service for an emergency session of a target terminal. A plurality of LCS clients corresponding to the same emergency session positioning service respectively send a series of associated positioning requests to a GMLC. The positioning request is used to request to obtain the location information of the target terminal.

[0054] In an exemplary embodiment, the positioning request at least includes identification information of the emergency session positioning service and / or identification information of the target terminal. The identification information of the emergency session positioning service is used to identify the emergency session positioning service. The identification information of the target terminal is used to identify the target terminal. Through the identification information of the emergency session positioning service and / or the identification information of the target terminal, the GMLC can identify which positioning requests correspond to the same emergency session positioning service or target terminal from a plurality of positioning requests. Based on this, the series of positioning requests can be associated and processed according to the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0055] In an example embodiment, the positioning request includes at least whether to accept interim location information reply and / or maximum reply time. The whether to accept interim location information reply is used to indicate whether the LCS client accepts the preliminary or temporary location information provided by the network even if the information has not yet reached the final accuracy requirement. This way, quick action can be taken in emergency situations without waiting for the most accurate location information. The maximum reply time is used to indicate the maximum time limit allowed by the LCS client to wait for the network to reply the location information. This is a time threshold used to control the response time of the positioning request.

[0056] In an example embodiment, the whether to accept interim location information reply and / or maximum reply time can be configured by the corresponding LCS client.

[0057] In step S220, a determine location request is sent to a location management function (LMF) via an access and mobility management function (AMF) according to the positioning request.

[0058] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the GMLC sends a determine location request to the LMF via the AMF according to the positioning request of each LCS client. The AMF is used for mobility management of the UE and access authentication / authorization, including location management and related services. The LMF is responsible for obtaining and managing the location information of the UE to support location services. The GMLC requests the LMF to measure and determine the location information of the target terminal through the determine location request.

[0059] In an example embodiment, the GMLC sends a provide location information request (Namf_Location_ProvidePositioningInfo Request) to the AMF according to the positioning request, and forwards the positioning request to the AMF through the provide location information request. The AMF sends a corresponding determine location request (Nlmf_Location_DetermineLocation Request) to the LMF according to the provide location information request, so that the LMF obtains the location information of the target terminal.

[0060] In an example embodiment, the provide location information request and the determine location request can include the aforementioned whether to accept interim location information reply and / or maximum reply time.

[0061] In an example embodiment, the providing location information request includes at least the identification information of the emergency session positioning service and / or the identification information of the target terminal. The GMLC identifies, according to the relevant identification information in the positioning request, that the positioning request is a multi-LCS client positioning request, i.e. one of a series of positioning requests corresponding to the same emergency session positioning service or target terminal. The GMLC includes the relevant identification information in the providing location information request sent to the AMF, so that the AMF also learns that the positioning request is a multi-LCS client positioning request and identifies the corresponding emergency session positioning service or target terminal. Based on this, the AMF can instruct the LMF to measure and estimate the positioning information of the target terminal according to the positioning strategy of the multi-LCS client positioning request.

[0062] In step S230, a positioning event notification returned by the LMF in response to the determining location request is received; the positioning event notification includes at least the location information corresponding to the target terminal.

[0063] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, after receiving the determining location request, the LMF is responsible for measuring and estimating the location of the target terminal according to the determining location request to obtain relevant location information. The LMF sends the location information corresponding to the target terminal to the GMLC through a positioning event notification (Nlmf_Location_EventNotify). The GMLC receives the positioning event notification to obtain the location information.

[0064] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the LMF can use various positioning technologies (such as GPS, base station triangulation, etc.) to obtain multiple location measurement values through interaction with the target terminal and the base station. The LMF evaluates the signal quality of the obtained multiple location measurement values and calculates the location estimate of the target terminal according to the relevant positioning algorithm. It should be pointed out that there are many relevant location measurement methods and location estimation algorithms, and the specific measurement method and location estimation algorithm used by the LMF are not limited here.

[0065] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, when the LMF learns that the positioning request is a positioning request of multiple LCS clients, the LMF not only performs position estimation based on the position measurement value obtained in the current positioning request process, but also saves the position measurement value of the target terminal corresponding to the emergency session positioning service. When receiving a positioning request corresponding to the same emergency session positioning service, the LMF not only performs position estimation based on the position measurement value obtained in the current positioning request process, but also performs position calculation based on the stored historical position measurement value corresponding to the emergency session positioning service together to obtain the position estimation. Different from the positioning request of a single LCS client, which only performs position estimation based on the position measurement value obtained in the current positioning request process, the present disclosure takes the characteristics of the positioning request of multiple LCS clients into account, and performs position estimation based on the related historical position measurement value and the current position measurement value together, so that the obtained position measurement value can be fully utilized, the position of the target terminal can be calculated more efficiently, and a more accurate position estimation can be obtained.

[0066] In the example embodiments, in response to the LCS client accepting the intermediate location information reply, the location information can be location information corresponding to an intermediate location.

[0067] In the example embodiments, the location information at least includes a position estimation and an estimation timestamp. The position estimation is a position estimation value of the target terminal calculated by the LMF according to the position measurement value. If the location information is location information corresponding to an intermediate location, the position estimation is also a position estimation corresponding to an intermediate location. The estimation timestamp is a timestamp corresponding to the position estimation. Through the estimation timestamp, the timestamp corresponding to each position estimation corresponding to an intermediate location can be determined to determine which position estimation is a more accurate position estimation.

[0068] In step S240, a positioning response message is sent to the positioning service client corresponding to the positioning request; the positioning response message at least includes the location information.

[0069] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the GMLC obtains the positioning event notification returned by the LMF respectively for each positioning request initiated by the LCS client. The GMLC generates a corresponding positioning response message according to the location information in the positioning event notification, and sends the positioning response message to the LCS client corresponding to the positioning request. The positioning response message at least includes the location information.

[0070] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the GMLC sends a corresponding positioning response message for each positioning request initiated by each LCS client. Meanwhile, since the GMLC processes the positioning requests according to the multi-LCS client positioning request method provided in the present disclosure in the above location information acquisition process, the positioning requests corresponding to the same emergency session positioning service are processed in association with each other. In this way, the LMF can perform location estimation based on the plurality of location measurement values obtained in the series of positioning requests in the positioning process, so that the obtained location measurement values can be fully utilized, the location of the target terminal can be more efficiently calculated, and a more accurate location estimation can be obtained. Therefore, each LCS client can more efficiently obtain more accurate location information.

[0071] The location information acquisition method provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure receives a plurality of positioning requests corresponding to the same emergency session positioning service sent by a plurality of positioning service clients, sends a determination location request to the LMF according to each positioning request, obtains returned location information of the target terminal, and sends the location information to the positioning service client corresponding to each positioning request. Through this method, the plurality of positioning requests corresponding to the same emergency session positioning service can be processed in association with each other, the location measurement values obtained in the process of each positioning request can be fully utilized, the location of the target terminal can be more efficiently calculated, and a more accurate location estimation can be obtained.

[0072] FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of the LMF location calculation method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 3, the location calculation method of the LMF in step S230 can include the following steps.

[0073] In step S310, a location measurement request is sent to the target terminal.

[0074] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the LMF sends a location measurement request to the target terminal according to the determination location request after receiving the determination location request forwarded by the AMF.

[0075] There are many ways for the LMF to measure the location of the target terminal. For example, base station triangulation, satellite positioning measurement, hybrid measurement, etc. Base station triangulation is to determine the location of the UE by using the distance or angle information between the UE and multiple base stations. The UE is positioned by comparing the time difference of the UE signal arriving at different base stations. Satellite positioning measurement is to determine the location of the UE according to the positioning satellite signal received by the UE. For example, GPS, GLONASS, Beidou, etc. Hybrid measurement is to measure the location of the UE by combining the above two kinds of measurement data. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the LMF can select any of the above measurement methods or combinations of measurement methods to initiate location measurement on the target terminal.

[0076] In step S320, at least one first location measurement value returned by the target terminal is received.

[0077] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the LMF receives at least one first position measurement value returned by the target terminal. The first position measurement value is a position measurement data obtained by a single measurement. The first position measurement value can be positioning data returned by the target terminal, or a measurement value based on the target terminal obtained by the LMF through measurement. The first position measurement value represents the current position measurement value obtained based on the position measurement request in step S310.

[0078] In step S330, position calculation is performed based on the at least one second position measurement value corresponding to the emergency session positioning service and the first position measurement value, to obtain the position information.

[0079] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the positioning request based on the positioning request is a multi-LCS client positioning request. In addition to the first position measurement value obtained based on the aforementioned step S330, at least one second position measurement value corresponding to the emergency session positioning service is obtained. The second position measurement value represents a historical position measurement value corresponding to the emergency session positioning service. Position calculation is performed based on the second position measurement value and the first position measurement value, to obtain the position information. The present disclosure takes into account the characteristics of the multi-LCS client positioning request, and performs position estimation based on the relevant historical position measurement value and the current position measurement value. The obtained position measurement value is fully utilized, the position of the target terminal can be more efficiently calculated, and more accurate position estimation can be obtained.

[0080] In the exemplary embodiment, the second position measurement value can also be position information obtained historically corresponding to the emergency session positioning service, i.e., position information obtained by position calculation based on the position measurement value historically.

[0081] In step S340, a positioning event notification is returned to the GMLC.

[0082] In the embodiment of the present disclosure, the LMF generates a positioning event notification based on the calculated position information, and returns the positioning event notification to the GMLC.

[0083] The position information acquisition method provided by the embodiment of the present disclosure takes into account the characteristics of the multi-LCS client positioning request, and performs position estimation based on the relevant historical position measurement value and the current position measurement value. The obtained position measurement value is fully utilized, the position of the target terminal can be more efficiently calculated, and more accurate position estimation can be obtained.

[0084] FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of a positioning response message sending method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 4, the step S240 of sending a positioning response message to the positioning service client corresponding to the positioning request can include the following steps.

[0085] In step S410, a positioning response message is sent to the positioning service client corresponding to the positioning request.

[0086] In step S420, in response to the route in which the positioning service client is located not being a terminal node, the positioning service client is caused to route the positioning request to a first positioning service client; the first positioning service client belongs to the at least one positioning service client.

[0087] As mentioned previously, in the process of emergency call positioning service, the emergency call needs to be hop-by-hop routed among different routing entities. A plurality of LCS clients deployed in a plurality of routing entities need to respectively initiate a series of associated positioning requests based on the same terminal to be positioned. The routing entity needs to determine the next-hop router entity according to the location information obtained by the positioning request, so as to finally route the emergency call to a Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) closest to the target terminal initiating the emergency call. The PSAP is a terminal node of the emergency call routing, and is generally a public service institution with emergency rescue and emergency disposal, such as a public security, medical emergency, fire department, etc. The PSAP, as a routing entity node on the emergency call routing path, also has a LCS client deployed.

[0088] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the LCS client reports the node attribute of the routing entity in which it is located in the sending of the positioning request. In response to the route in which the LCS client is located not being a terminal node, the GMLC sends a positioning response message to the LCS client, so as to cause the LCS client to route the positioning request to a first LCS client. The first LCS client is a LCS client located in another routing entity. Based on receiving the positioning request, the first LCS client also belongs to the at least one positioning service client corresponding to the same emergency session positioning service. The first LCS client also needs to send a positioning request corresponding to the emergency session positioning service to the GMLC.

[0089] In step S430, in response to the route in which the positioning service client is located being a terminal node, the emergency session positioning service is ended.

[0090] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the LCS client reports the node attribute of the routing entity in which it is located in the sending of the positioning request. In response to the route in which the LCS client is located being a terminal node, for example, the route being a PSAP, the GMLC ends the emergency session positioning service. Based on this, the process of obtaining the location information of the emergency call is ended.

[0091] In an example embodiment, the GMLC also sends an end emergency session positioning service message to the AMF to cause the AMF to inform the LMF to delete the location measurement values related to the emergency session positioning service.

[0092] The location information obtaining method provided by the embodiments of the present disclosure makes the LCS client route the positioning request to the next LCS client or end the emergency session positioning service according to the node attribute where the LCS client is located, so that a suitable routing path can be selected based on the obtained location information, and the emergency session positioning service is ended after being routed to the terminal node, thereby releasing the resources occupied in the multi-LCS client positioning process.

[0093] FIG. 5 shows a schematic diagram of a message transmission flow of a location information obtaining process according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0094] In step 1, as the emergency session request is routed in the routing entity in sequence (for example, from the provincial routing entity to the municipal routing entity), a series of positioning requests are initiated from each LCS client to the GMLC respectively. The positioning request can include acceptance of intermediate location information reply and maximum reply time.

[0095] In step 2, the GMLC identifies the received positioning request as a multi-LCS client positioning request, and forwards the request to the AMF through a Namf_Location_ProvidePositioningInfo Request, which can include acceptance of intermediate location information reply and maximum reply time.

[0096] In step 3, the AMF triggers an Nlmf_Location_DetermineLocation Request service to send the positioning request to the LMF through the service request. The service request can include acceptance of intermediate location information reply and maximum reply time.

[0097] In step 4, the LMF performs a positioning process to determine a plurality of location information estimates in the emergency session in sequence, and records the location estimate of the emergency session and the estimate timestamp determined by the LMF. The specific positioning process can include:

[0098] Step 4.1, obtaining intermediate location information, the LMF triggers an Nlmf_Location_EventNotify service to the GMLC and provides the GMLC with an intermediate location estimate of the terminal and a timestamp of the location estimate.

[0099] Step 4.2, the GMLC sends the intermediate location estimate of the terminal and the timestamp of the location estimate to the corresponding LCS client, and a routing entity routes an emergency session request to a next-hop routing entity according to the location information. The next-hop routing entity repeats the foregoing steps 1 to 4.2.

[0100] In step 5, the LMF replies to the AMF with the final positioning information of the UE, and the LMF guarantees that the final positioning information of the UE is sent to the AMF within a maximum reply time.

[0101] In step 6, the AMF sends the final positioning information of the UE to the GMLC.

[0102] In step 7, the GMLC sends the final positioning information of the UE to the terminal LCS client.

[0103] Based on the same inventive concept, the embodiments of the present disclosure provide a location information acquisition apparatus, as described in the following embodiments. Since the principle of the apparatus embodiments for solving the problem is similar to the above-mentioned method embodiments, the implementation of the communication authentication apparatus embodiments can be referred to the implementation of the above-mentioned method embodiments, and the repeated parts will not be described herein.

[0104] FIG. 6 shows a structural schematic diagram of a location information acquisition apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 6, the location information acquisition apparatus 600 can include a positioning request receiving module 610, a determination location request sending module 620, a positioning event notification receiving module 630, and a positioning response message sending module 640.

[0105] The positioning request receiving module 610 is configured to receive at least one positioning request corresponding to a same emergency session positioning service sent by at least one positioning service client; the emergency session positioning service is a positioning service for an emergency session of a target terminal.

[0106] The determination location request sending module 620 is configured to send a determination location request to an LMF via an AMF according to the positioning request.

[0107] The positioning event notification receiving module 630 is configured to receive a positioning event notification returned by the LMF in response to the determination location request; the positioning event notification at least includes location information corresponding to the target terminal.

[0108] The positioning response message sending module 640 is configured to send a positioning response message to the positioning service client corresponding to the positioning request; the positioning response message at least includes the location information.

[0109] In an example embodiment, the positioning request comprises at least identification information of the emergency session positioning service and / or identification information of the target terminal.

[0110] In an example embodiment, the determining position request sending module 620 is further configured to send, according to the positioning request, a providing position information request to the AMF, so that the AMF sends a corresponding determining position request to the LMF according to the providing position information request.

[0111] In an example embodiment, the providing position information request comprises at least identification information of the emergency session positioning service and / or identification information of the target terminal.

[0112] In an example embodiment, the position information is at least one position measurement value obtained by the LMF according to position measurement of the target terminal corresponding to the emergency session positioning service.

[0113] In an example embodiment, the position information comprises at least a position estimate and an estimate timestamp.

[0114] In an example embodiment, the positioning response message sending module 640 is further configured to, in response to a route where the positioning service client is located not being a terminal node, make the positioning service client route the positioning request to a first positioning service client; the first positioning service client belongs to the at least one positioning service client.

[0115] In an example embodiment, the positioning response message sending module 640 is further configured to, in response to a route where the positioning service client is located being a terminal node, end the emergency session positioning service.

[0116] In an example embodiment, the positioning request comprises at least whether to accept an intermediate position information reply and / or a maximum reply time.

[0117] FIG. 7 shows a structural schematic diagram of an electronic device suitable for implementing the example embodiments of the present disclosure. The electronic device 700 according to this implementation of the present disclosure will be described below with reference to FIG. 7. The electronic device 700 shown in FIG. 7 is merely an example and should not impose any limitation on the functions and use range of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0118] As shown in FIG. 7, the electronic device 700 is in the form of a general computing device. The components of the electronic device 700 can include, but are not limited to, the at least one processing unit 710, the at least one storage unit 720, a bus 730 connecting different system components (including the storage unit 720 and the processing unit 710), and a display unit 740.

[0119] The storage unit 720 can include a readable medium in the form of volatile storage such as random access memory (RAM) 7201 and / or cache memory 7202, and also possibly non-volatile storage such as read only memory (ROM) 7203.

[0120] The storage unit 720 can also include a program / utility 7204 having a set of program modules 7205 such as an operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data, each of which can give the electronic device its functionality, at least in part. Each of the operating system, one or more application programs, other program modules, and program data can include implementations of the methods described above in the "Example Method" section of the specification.

[0121] The bus 730 can represent one or more of several types of bus structures, including a storage bus or bus controller, a peripheral bus, an accelerated graphics port, an electronic device, or a local bus using any of a variety of bus architectures.

[0122] The electronic device 700 can also communicate with one or more external devices 770 such as a keyboard or pointing device, a Bluetooth device, etc.; one or more devices that enable a user to interact with the electronic device 700; and / or one or more devices (e.g., a router, a modem, a server, etc.) that enable the electronic device 700 to communicate with one or more other electronic devices. Such communication can occur via an input / output (I / O) interface 750. Still yet, the electronic device 700 can communicate with one or more networks, such as a local area network (LAN), a general wide area network (WAN), and / or a public network such as the Internet, via a network adapter 760. As depicted, the network adapter 760 can communicate with the other components of the electronic device 700 via the bus 730. It should be appreciated that the network adapter 760 and / or the other hardware and / or software components depicted in FIG. 7 can be utilized in other electronic devices, such as a server, a computer, a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a digital audio player, a mobile telephone, a smart phone, a gaming device, a video set-top box, an internet appliance, and / or other electronic device.

[0123] In the exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, a computer readable storage medium is also provided, which stores a program product capable of implementing the method described above.

[0124] In some possible implementation manners, each aspect of the present application can also be implemented in the form of a program product, which includes program codes for causing terminal equipment to perform the steps according to various exemplary embodiments of the present application described in the "Example Method" section of the specification when the program product is run on the terminal equipment.

[0125] A program product for implementing the above method according to an embodiment of the present application can take a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) and include a program code, and can be run on a terminal device, such as a personal computer. However, the program product of the present application is not limited thereto, and in the present document, a readable storage medium can be any tangible medium containing or storing a program that can be used by or in conjunction with a signaling execution system, apparatus or device.

[0126] The program product can take any combination of one or more readable media. The readable medium can be a readable signal medium or a readable storage medium. The readable storage medium, for example, can be, but is not limited to, an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus or device, or any combination thereof. More specific examples (a non-exhaustive list) of the readable storage medium include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable disc, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination thereof.

[0127] The computer readable signal medium can include a data signal propagated in baseband or propagated as a carrier wave in a propagated data signal, in which the readable program code is carried. Such a propagated data signal can take multiple forms, including but not limited to an electromagnetic signal, an optical signal, or any suitable combination thereof. The readable signal medium can also be any readable medium that is not a readable storage medium and that can transmit, propagate or transport the program for use by or in connection with a signaling execution system, apparatus or device.

[0128] The program code contained on the readable medium can be transmitted using any suitable medium, including but not limited to wireless, wired, optical cable, RF, etc., or any suitable combination thereof.

[0129] The program code may be implemented in any of various ways, including procedure-based, object-oriented approaches, Java, C++, C#, or a similar programming language. The program code can execute entirely on the user's computing device, partly on the user's device, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computing device and partly on a remote computing device or entirely on the remote computing device or server. In the latter scenario, the remote computing device can be connected to the user's computing device through any type of network, including a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection can be made to an external computing device, such as through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider.

[0130] It should be noted that, although several modules or units of the device for action execution are mentioned in the foregoing detailed description, such a division is not mandatory. Indeed, according to embodiments of the disclosure, features and functions of two or more modules or units described above can be embodied in one module or unit. Conversely, features and functions of one module or unit described above can be further divided into a plurality of modules or units.

[0131] Furthermore, although the various steps of the methods of the disclosure are described in a particular order in the figures, this is not required or implied as to the order of execution of the steps, nor is it required that all of the steps be executed to achieve the desired result. Additionally or alternatively, certain steps can be omitted, multiple steps can be combined into one step, one step can be broken into multiple steps, etc.

[0132] From the above description of the embodiments, those skilled in the art will readily perceive that the example embodiments described herein can be implemented by software and / or by hardware coupled with software. Accordingly, the technical solutions according to the embodiments of the disclosure can be embodied in the form of a software product. The software product can be stored in a non-volatile storage medium (which can be a CD-ROM, U disk, mobile hard disk, etc.) or network, and includes a number of signaling to make a computing device (which can be a personal computer, server, mobile terminal, or network device, etc.) execute the methods according to the embodiments of the disclosure. Industrial applicability

[0133] The present disclosure is suitable for the field of computer technology, and aims to solve the problem of how to accurately position when a terminal initiates an emergency call in the related art. By associating multiple positioning requests corresponding to the same emergency session positioning service, the position measurement values obtained in the positioning request processing process are fully utilized, the position of the target terminal can be more efficiently calculated, and a more accurate position estimation can be obtained.

[0134] Other embodiments of the present disclosure will be apparent to those skilled in the art from consideration of the specification and practice of the features disclosed herein. It is intended that the present disclosure cover any and all variations of the present disclosure that come within the scope of the following claims and their equivalents. It is intended that the specification and examples be considered exemplary only, with the true scope and spirit of the present disclosure being indicated by the following claims.

[0135] It should be understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the precise structures as herein described and illustrated in the drawings, and that various modifications and changes can be made without departing from its scope. The scope of the present disclosure is limited only by the claims that follow.

Claims

1. A method for obtaining location information, applied to a gateway mobile location center (GMLC), the method comprising: receiving at least one location request corresponding to a same emergency session location service sent by at least one location service client; the emergency session location service is a location service for an emergency session to a target terminal; sending a determination location request to a location management function (LMF) via an access and mobility management function (AMF) according to the location request; receiving a location event notification returned by the LMF in response to the determination location request; the location event notification at least including location information corresponding to the target terminal; sending a location response message to the location service client corresponding to the location request; the location response message at least including the location information.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein, The location request at least includes identification information of the emergency session location service and / or identification information of the target terminal.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein, The sending of the determination location request to the LMF according to the location request comprises: sending a provide location information request to the AMF according to the location request, so that the AMF sends the corresponding determination location request to the LMF according to the provide location information request.

4. The method of claim 3, wherein, The provide location information request at least includes identification information of the emergency session location service and / or identification information of the target terminal.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein, The location information is calculated by the LMF according to at least one location measurement value obtained by performing location measurement on the target terminal corresponding to the emergency session location service.

6. The method of claim 1, wherein, The location information at least includes a location estimate and an estimate timestamp.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein, The sending of the location response message to the location service client corresponding to the location request further comprises: in response to the route where the location service client is located not being a terminal node, making the location service client route the location request to a first location service client; the first location service client belongs to the at least one location service client.

8. The method of claim 1, wherein, The sending of the location response message to the location service client corresponding to the location request further comprises: in response to the route where the location service client is located being a terminal node, ending the emergency session location service.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein, The location request at least includes whether to accept an intermediate location information reply and / or a maximum reply time.

10. An apparatus for obtaining location information, comprising: a location request receiving module configured to receive at least one location request corresponding to a same emergency session location service sent by at least one location service client; the emergency session location service is a location service for an emergency session to a target terminal; a determination location request sending module configured to send a determination location request to a location management function (LMF) via an access and mobility management function (AMF) according to the location request; a positioning event notification receiving module, configured to receive a positioning event notification returned by the LMF in response to the determination position request; the positioning event notification at least comprising position information corresponding to the target terminal; a positioning response message sending module, configured to send a positioning response message to the positioning service client corresponding to the positioning request; the positioning response message at least comprising the position information. 11.An electronic device, comprising: one or more processors; a storage device configured to store one or more programs that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to implement the method of any of claims 1-9. 12.A computer-readable storage medium storing a computer program, the computer program being executed by a processor to implement the method of any of claims 1-9. 13.A computer program product comprising a computer program / signaling that, when executed by a processor, implements the method of any of claims 1-9.

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