System and method for determining establishment causes for emergency sessions

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10542051-B2
Application number	US-201715725107-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 4, 2017
Priority date	Oct 2, 2009
Publication date	Jan 21, 2020
Grant date	Jan 21, 2020

Abstract

A method for initiating a Packet Switched emergency call using a user equipment (UE) is presented. The UE includes a plurality of protocol layers. The plurality of protocol layers including an IMS sublayer, a non-access stratum (NAS) layer and an access stratum (AS) layer. The method includes generating an ATTACH REQUEST using the UE. The ATTACH REQUEST has an attach type. The method includes retrieving the attach type of the ATTACH REQUEST using the NAS layer of the UE, and generating an RRC CONNECTION REQUEST. The RRC CONNECTION REQUEST includes an RRC establishment cause based upon the attach type of the attach request.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A method for initiating a Packet Switched (PS) emergency call using a user equipment (UE), the UE including a plurality of protocol layers, the plurality of protocol layers including an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) sublayer, a non-access stratum (NAS) layer and an access stratum (AS) layer, the method comprising:
generating, at the UE, a first request comprising an indicator that indicates a request type;
determining, at the UE, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) establishment cause based on the request type, wherein the RRC establishment cause indicates that the UE is requesting an establishment of an RRC connection for an emergency call via a PS network; and
generating, at the UE, an RRC CONNECTION REQUEST, the RRC CONNECTION REQUEST including the RRC establishment cause.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein generating the first request comprises generating the first request in response to the UE being NAS unregistered.

3. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first request is to be sent to a mobility function within a core network.

4. The method of claim 1 , wherein the RRC connection is a signaling connection.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the request type comprises a type associated with establishing the PS emergency call via a PS network.

6. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: transmitting the RRC CONNECTION REQUEST to a base station.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first request is one of an ATTACH REQUEST or a Packet Data Network (PDN) CONNECTIVITY REQUEST.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the emergency call via the PS network comprises at least one of evolved packet system (EPS) emergency call or session, PS emergency, or IMS emergency call or session.

9. A user equipment (UE), comprising:
a plurality of protocol layers, the plurality of protocol layers including an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) sublayer, a non-access stratum (NAS) layer and an access stratum (AS) layer;
a memory; and
at least one hardware processor communicatively coupled with the memory and configured to:
generate, at the UE, a first request comprising an indicator that indicates a request type;
determine, at the UE, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) establishment cause based on the request type, wherein the RRC establishment cause indicates that the UE is requesting an establishment of an RRC connection for an emergency call via a Packet Switched (PS) network; and
generate, at the UE, an RRC CONNECTION REQUEST, the RRC CONNECTION REQUEST including the RRC establishment cause.

10. The UE of claim 9 , wherein generating the first request comprises generating the first request in response to the UE being NAS unregistered.

11. The UE of claim 9 , wherein the first request is to be sent to a mobility function within a core network.

12. The UE of claim 9 , wherein the RRC connection is a signaling connection.

13. The UE of claim 9 , wherein the at least one hardware processor is further configured to: transmit the RRC CONNECTION REQUEST.

14. The UE of claim 9 , wherein the request type comprises a type associated with establishing a PS emergency call via a PS network.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions which, when executed, cause a computing device to perform operations for initiating a Packet Switched (PS) emergency call using a user equipment (UE), the operations comprising:
generating, at the UE, a first request comprising an indicator that indicates a request type, wherein the UE comprises a plurality of protocol layers, the plurality of protocol layers including an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) sublayer, a non-access stratum (NAS) layer and an access stratum (AS) layer; and
determining, at the UE, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) establishment cause based on the request type, wherein the RRC establishment cause indicates that the UE is requesting an establishment of an RRC connection for an emergency call via a PS network; and
generating, at the UE, an RRC CONNECTION REQUEST, the RRC CONNECTION REQUEST including the RRC establishment cause.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein generating the first request comprises generating the first request in response to the UE being NAS unregistered.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the first request is to be sent to a mobility function within a core network.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15 , wherein the RRC connection is a signaling connection.

Assignees

• Blackberry Ltd

Inventors

• Chin Chen Ho
• Burbidge Richard C

Classifications

• H04W76/12

  Setup of transport tunnels · CPC title

• H04W76/27

  Transitions between radio resource control [RRC] states · CPC title

• H04W76/50 Primary

  for emergency connections · CPC title

• H04W4/90

  Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS] · CPC title

• H04L65/1016 Primary

  IP multimedia subsystem [IMS] · CPC title