Methods and apparatus for facilitating the determination of GPS location information for a mobile station without disrupting communications of voice call

A mobile communication device, comprising:

• one or more processors;
• a user interface coupled to the one or more processors;
• a wireless receiver and transmitter coupled to the one or more processors and operative for communication in a wireless communication network;
• memory coupled to the one or more processors;
• the one or more processors being operative to obtain location information of the mobile communication device with use of a Global Positioning System (GPS) by:
• receiving, via the wireless receiver, GPS navigational-type data from the wireless communication network;
• storing the GPS navigational-type data in the memory;
• receiving, through the user interface, a voice call request for establishing a voice call;
• in response to receiving the voice call request:
• comparing a selected telephone number of the voice call request with one or more predetermined telephone numbers stored in the memory;
• if the selected telephone number matches one of the predetermined telephone numbers stored in the memory, then prior to initiating the voice call, deriving GPS assistance data based on the GPS navigational-type data that was received and stored prior to the voice call request, and performing a GPS fix with the GPS system using the GPS assistance data for thereby obtaining GPS measurement data;
• if the selected telephone number fails to match one of the predetermined telephone numbers stored in the memory, then refraining from performing the GPS fix prior to establishing the voice call;
• initiating the voice call from the mobile communication device via the wireless communication network;
• and
• during the voice call, sending via the wireless transmitter the GPS measurement data and a request for calculating a location of the mobile communication device to a location server in the wireless communication network for calculating the location of the mobile communication device based on the GPS measurement data.

A communication system, comprising:

• a wireless communication network;
• a mobile communication device which is configured to operate in the wireless communication network;
• the mobile communication device being operative to obtain a location of the mobile communication device with use of a Global Positioning System (GPS) by:
• receiving GPS navigational-type data via the wireless communication network;
• storing the GPS navigational-type data in memory of the mobile communication device;
• receiving, through a user interface of the mobile communication device, a voice call request for establishing a voice call;
• in response to receiving the voice call request:
• comparing a selected telephone number of voice call request with one or more predetermined telephone numbers stored in the memory;
• if the selected telephone number matches one of the predetermined telephone numbers stored in the memory, then prior to initiating the voice call, deriving GPS assistance data based on the GPS navigational-type data that was received and stored prior to the voice call request, and performing a GPS fix with the GPS system using the GPS assistance data for thereby obtaining GPS measurement data;
• if the selected telephone number fails to match one of the predetermined telephone numbers stored in the memory, then refraining from performing the GPS fix prior to establishing the voice call;
• initiating the voice call from the mobile communication device via a the wireless communication network;
• and
• during the voice call, sending via the wireless communication network the GPS measurement data and a request for calculating a location of the mobile communication device to a location server in the wireless communication network for calculating the location based on the GPS measurement data.