Patent ID: 8391886

Claim:
A method of providing information as to location of a mobile station connected to a wireless mobile communications network, the method comprising: receiving a mobile station location request from a software application, the location request including a position accuracy; upon determining that the software application is authorized to receive position information about the mobile station, (a) determining the requested position accuracy of the request; (b) determining the location of the mobile station within a position accuracy made available by the network, wherein determining the location of the mobile station comprises: (b1) in response to receiving the mobile station location request, causing a mobile switching center to establish radio contact with the mobile station to obtain serving cell information for the mobile station; and (b2) determining a coarse location of the mobile station based on the serving cell information for the mobile station obtained using the established radio contact; (b3) determining whether an accuracy of the coarse location is less than the requested position accuracy; and (b4) upon determining that the accuracy of the coarse location is less than the requested position accuracy, transmitting a mobile-terminated SMS message to the mobile station to cause the mobile station to obtain a granular location of the mobile station; (c) producing the information as to location of the mobile station based on the determined location at the lesser of the requested position accuracy and the position accuracy made available by the network, based on the determined location; and (d) sending a message to the software application through the wireless mobile communication network, the sent message containing the information as to location of the mobile station.