Method for verifying location information of a terminal connected to a cellular telecommunications network

A processing server connected to a cellular telecommunications network, for verifying location information of a terminal equipped with a security module and located in a current cell, said terminal storing in said security module an identifier of the current cell and at least one identifier of a previous cell in which the terminal was previously located;

• said server comprising at least one processor configured to perform the operations of:
• receiving said identifiers coming from the terminal via the communication network;
• determining first location information using the identifier of the current cell;
• estimating second location information using the identifier of said at least one previous cell;
• detecting a location error if the two items of location information correspond to different geographical positions according to a defined criterion;
• and
• updating a repository of cell identifiers in the processing server based on the location error;
• wherein the first location information contains a first set of location coordinates corresponding to a first geographical area covered by the current cell;
• wherein the second location information contains a second set of location coordinates corresponding to a second geographical area covered by the cells adjacent to the last cell in which the terminal was located;
• and
• wherein the two items of location information correspond to different geographical positions according to a criterion determined as a function of the surface area of the intersection of the first and the second geographical area.

A locating device comprised in a terminal equipped with a security module, the terminal being connected to a telecommunications network and located in a current cell, said terminal storing in the security module an identifier of the current cell and at least one identifier of a previous cell in which the terminal was previously located;

• the device comprising a microcontroller configured to carry out the steps of:
• receiving said identifiers coming from the terminal via the communication network;
• determining first location information using the identifier of the current cell;
• estimating second location information using the identifier of said at least one previous cell;
• detecting a location error if the two items of location information correspond to different geographical positions according to a defined criterion;
• and
• updating a repository of cell identifiers in the processing server based on the location error;
• wherein the first location information contains a first set of location coordinates corresponding to a first geographical area covered by the current cell;
• wherein the second location information contains a second set of location coordinates corresponding to a second geographical area covered by the cells adjacent to the last cell in which the terminal was located;
• and
• wherein the two items of location information correspond to different geographical positions according to a criterion determined as a function of the surface area of the intersection of the first and the second geographical area.