Systems and methods for managing circuit switched fallback calls

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016100336-A1
Application number	US-201514686506-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Apr 14, 2015
Priority date	Oct 3, 2014
Publication date	Apr 7, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Techniques described herein may enable a wireless cellular network to transfer a call from a packet-switched (PS) portion of the wireless cellular network to a circuit-switched (CS) portion of the wireless cellular network, in a manner that ensures that the CS network receiving the call can actually support the call. For instance, before the wireless cellular network selects RAT for the CS network for transferring a call, the wireless cellular network may identify a call type for the call (e.g., simple voice call, video call, etc.), identify a RAT for the CS network that can support the call type, and proceed to transfer the call to the CS portion of the wireless cellular network that can support the call type, thus ensuring that the call is not dropped as a result of the transfer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A network device comprising circuitry to:
receive, from a User Equipment (UE) and via a packet-switched portion of a wireless telecommunications network, a request to establish a call using a circuit-switched portion of a wireless telecommunications network; determine, based on the request, a call type of the call; identify, based on the call type, a type of radio access network, of a plurality of radio access networks capable of supporting different call types, that can support the type of the call requested by the UE, each of the plurality of radio access networks being connected to the circuit-switched portion of the wireless telecommunications network; and communicate, to the packet-switched portion of a wireless telecommunications network, a request to establish the call using the identified radio access network.

2 . The network device of claim 1 , wherein the UE is located in a service area corresponding to an Evolved Node B (eNB) and each of the plurality of radio access networks.

3 . The network device of claim 1 ,
wherein the plurality of radio access networks include at least one Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), or a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution Radio Access Network (GERAN), and wherein the circuit-switched portion of the wireless telecommunications network includes a Core Network.

4 . The network device of claim 1 , wherein the call type includes an Unrestricted Digital Information (UDI) video call and the radio access network identified for the call is a UTRAN.

5 . The network device of claim 1 , wherein the request, to establish the call using the circuit-switched portion of the wireless telecommunications network, includes a request for a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Circuit-Switched Fallback (CSFB) procedure with respect to the call.

6 . The network device of claim 1 , wherein the call type is determined based on a call type code included in the request to establish the call using the circuit-switched portion of the wireless telecommunications network.

7 . The network device of claim 1 ,
wherein the request to establish the call using the radio access network includes an S1 Application Protocol (S1AP) Request Message when the wireless network is capable of performing the packet-switched handover procedure with respect to the call, and wherein the request to establish the call using the radio access network includes a UE Context Modification Request when the wireless network is incapable of performing a packet-switched handover procedure with respect to the call.

8 . The network device of claim 1 , wherein the plurality of radio access networks includes,
the radio access network capable of supporting the call based on the call type, and another radio access network incapable of supporting the call based on the call type.

9 . The network device of claim 1 , wherein the network device is a Mobility Management Entity (MME).

10 . The network device of claim 1 , wherein the request to establish the call using the circuit-switched portion of a wireless telecommunications network is received by an eNB.

11 . The network device of claim 1 , wherein the request to establish the call using the identified radio access network is received by an eNB, in communication with the UE, and
wherein the eNB participates in a circuit-switched fallback (CSFB) procedure with respect to the UE, in response to receiving the request to establish the call using the identified radio access network.

12 . A User Equipment (UE) comprising:
a radio access interface capable of establishing a call via a plurality of radio access networks connected to a wireless telecommunications network, the radio access networks being capable of supporting different types of circuit-switched calls; a computer-readable medium to store processor-executable instructions; and processing circuitry to execute the processor executable instructions to:
receive, from a user, a request to establish a call,
identify, based on the request, a call type for the call,
communicate, to a packet-switched portion of the wireless telecommunications network, a request to establish the call via a circuit-switched portion of the wireless telecommunications network, the request to establish the call including the call type,
receive, from the packet-switched portion of the wireless telecommunications network, a command to establish the call via a particular radio access network, of the plurality of radio access networks, associated with the circuit-switched portion of the network and capable of supporting the call type of the call, and
establish, based on the command, the call via the particular radio access network associated with the circuit-switched portion of the wireless telecommunications network.

13 . The UE of claim 12 , wherein the UE is located in a service area corresponding to each of the plurality of radio access networks.

14 . The UE of claim 12 ,
wherein the packet-switched portion of the wireless telecommunications network includes a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network, and wherein communicating the request to establish the call the processing circuitry is to:
communicate, via the radio access interface and to an Evolved Node B (eNB) of the LTE network, the request to establish the call via the circuit-switched portion of the wireless telecommunications network.

15 . The UE of claim 12 ,
wherein the plurality of radio access networks include at least one Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), or a Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution Radio Access Network (GERAN), and wherein the circuit-switched portion of the wireless telecommunications network includes a Core Network.

16 . The UE of claim 12 , wherein the call type includes an Unrestricted Digital Information (UDI) video call and the radio access network capable of supporting the call includes a UTRAN.

17 . The UE of claim 12 , wherein the request to establish the call via a circuit-switched portion of the wireless telecommunications network includes a request to initiate a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Circuit-Switched Fallback (CSFB) procedure with respect to the call.

18 . The UE of claim 12 , wherein the plurality of radio access networks includes:
the radio access network capable of supporting the call based on the call type, and another radio access network incapable of supporting the call based on the call type.

19 . A method, implemented by a network device, method comprising:
receiving, from a User Equipment (UE), a request, via a wireless telecommunications network, to initiate a Circuit-Switched Fallback (CSFB) procedure for a call, the request including call type information representing a circuit-switched (CS) Unrestricted Digital Information (UDI) video call; identifying, in response to the request and based on the call type information, a Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN) available to the UE and connected to the wireless telecommunications network, from among at least one Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution Radio Access Network (GERAN) available to the UE and connected to the wireless telecommunications network; and communicating, to an Evolved Node B (eNB) connected to the UE, a c

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Basavarajappa Nitin Gowda
• Dash Deepak

Classifications

• H04W76/10

  Connection setup · CPC title

• H04W88/06

  adapted for operation in multiple networks {or having at least two operational modes}, e.g. multi-mode terminals · CPC title

• H04W48/18 Primary

  Selecting a network or a communication service · CPC title

• H04W76/16

  Involving different core network technologies, e.g. a packet-switched [PS] bearer in combination with a circuit-switched [CS] bearer · CPC title

• H04W36/14

  Reselecting a network or an air interface · CPC title