TOA Positioning of GPRS mobiles within the BSS centric architecture of a GSM network

A telecommunications system for positioning a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) mobile station in a Global System for Mobile (GSM) communications network by delivering Time of Arrival (TOA) positioning data to a Location Services (LCS) application, said system comprising:

• a Gateway GPRS Support Node (GGSN) providing an interface to said LCS application;
• a Serving GPRS Support Node (SGSN) communicably coupled with said GGSN and adapted to communicate with said GPRS mobile station over said GSM network;
• a Base Station Subsystem (BSS) serving said GPRS mobile station, said BSS communicably accessible by said LCS application through said GGSN;
• a plurality of Location Management Units (LMUs) predisposed about said GSM network and configured to be utilized by said GSM network to deliver TOA positioning coordinates corresponding to an approximate position for said GPRS mobile station;
• and
• a Packet Control Unit (PCU) adapted to communicate directly with those of said LMUs that are GPRS capable and indirectly with those of said LMUs that are not GPRS capable for responding to LCS information requests received through said SGSN.