UICC Cell Identifier Caching for Location Reliability
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for locating terminals connected to a cellular network are unreliable due to outdated repositories of cell identifiers and poor transmission quality, leading to unavailable location information when the current cell's coordinates cannot be retrieved.
Innovation Solution
A method that uses a UICC card to store identifiers of previous cells, allowing a processing server to estimate location information by connecting geographical positions of these cells, even when the current cell's coordinates are unavailable, and dynamically updates the repository with new cell identifiers.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If the terminal uses the current cell identifier to determine location, then the location can be obtained quickly, but the location information may be unavailable when the repository is outdated or transmission quality is poor
Solution Approach 1:
The terminal pre-stores identifiers of multiple previous cells in the UICC card before needing location information. When the current cell identifier cannot be resolved, the terminal can immediately use previously stored cell identifiers to estimate location, avoiding the need to wait for repository updates or retransmission attempts.
Solution Approach 2:
The UICC card acts as an intermediary storage medium between the terminal and the central repository. It locally caches cell identifiers and their associated location information, serving as a backup when the central repository is inaccessible or outdated, thus mediating the reliability issue.
2Reliability
If the terminal stores multiple cell identifiers in the UICC card, then location reliability improves when current cell coordinates are unavailable, but the storage requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of uniformly storing all possible cell identifiers throughout the network, the terminal selectively stores only the identifiers of previous cells that are locally relevant to its movement pattern. This localized storage approach maintains reliability for the terminal's specific context while minimizing storage requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The terminal dynamically manages the stored cell identifiers in the UICC card, discarding old or irrelevant cell identifier data and recovering storage space. When the terminal moves to new areas, it updates the stored identifiers accordingly, ensuring storage efficiency while maintaining location reliability.
3Measurement precision
If the repository is updated in real-time with new cell identifiers, then location accuracy improves, but the system complexity and processing overhead increase
Solution Approach 1:
The terminal autonomously manages its own location estimation by using previously stored cell identifiers from the UICC card when current cell coordinates are unavailable. This self-service approach eliminates the need for complex centralized real-time updates, as each terminal independently handles its location determination using locally cached data.
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of maintaining complete real-time synchronization of all cell identifiers across the entire network repository, the system performs partial updates only when necessary. The terminal uses sufficient historical cell identifier data stored in the UICC card to achieve adequate location accuracy without requiring exhaustive real-time repository updates.
Data Source
AI summary
A method for locating a terminal equipped with a UICC card, connected to a cellular telecommunications network and located in a current cell, the terminal storing in the UICC card an identifier of the current cell and at least one identifier of a previous cell in which the terminal was previously located. This method comprises the following steps, implemented by a processing server connected to the network: receiving said identifiers received from the terminal via the communication network; estimating location information for the terminal using location coordinates associated with at least one previous cell identified by an identifier stored in the terminal.