Patent ID: 8521191

Claim:
A system for determining a location for a mobile communication device, comprising: a plurality of taps, each tap comprising: a pair of inline connectors operable to couple inline to a communication link of a radio access network and to pass between the inline connectors a signal received over the communication link; a multiplexer connector operable to couple the tap to a multiplexer; and a cable connecting the multiplexer connector to the pair of inline connectors, wherein the corresponding tap is operable to replicate signals passing between the pair of inline connectors and to propagate the replicated signals along the cable to the multiplexer connector; the multiplexer, comprising: a plurality of tap interfaces, each tap interface operable to couple the multiplexer to one of the taps; a network interface operable to couple the multiplexer to a data network; and a processor operable to: receive, from each tap, signals replicated by the tap; extract location data from the replicated signals, wherein the location data is associated with one or more mobile devices operating in a geographic area served by the radio access network; and transmit the location data, in accordance with an internet protocol (IP), over the data network to a link aggregator; and the link aggregator, operable to: receive the location data from the multiplexer; and determine a location for one of the mobile devices based on the received location data.