Prioritizing location request of a certain type in a congestion situation

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016157253-A1
Application number	US-201414556643-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 1, 2014
Priority date	Dec 1, 2014
Publication date	Jun 2, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Systems and methods related to prioritization of location requests in a cellular communications system are disclosed. Embodiments including a method of operation of a network node in a cellular communications system to process a message related to a location request are disclosed. In some embodiments, the method of operation of the network node comprises receiving a message related to a location request and performing congestion control with respect to the message related to the location request, either prior to or during setup of a radio connection between a Radio Access Network (RAN) of the cellular communications network and a target wireless device of the location request, based on a priority assigned to the location request. In this manner, the location request can be allowed even if the target wireless device is located in a congested cell.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of operation of a network node in a cellular communications system to process a message related to a location request, comprising:
receiving a message related to a location request; and performing congestion control with respect to the message related to the location request, either prior to or during setup of a radio connection between a radio access network of the cellular communications system and a target wireless device of the location request, based on a priority assigned to the location request.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the network node is a radio access node in the radio access network, and the message is a paging request related to the location request.

3 . The method of claim 2 wherein the paging request comprises an indication of the priority assigned to the location request.

4 . The method of claim 3 wherein the paging request is a S1 Application Protocol, S1AP, paging request, and the indication of the priority assigned to the location request comprised in the S1AP paging request is comprised in a paging priority information element of the S1AP paging request.

5 . The method of claim 3 wherein performing congestion control comprises performing congestion control with respect to the paging request based on the indication of the priority assigned to the location request comprised in the paging request.

6 . The method of claim 1 wherein the network node is a radio access node in the radio access network, and the message is a connection request from the target wireless device of the location request.

7 . The method of claim 6 wherein the connection request comprises an indication of the priority assigned to the location request.

8 . The method of claim 7 wherein the connection request is a Radio Resource Control, RRC, Connection Request, and the indication of the priority assigned to the location request is provided by an Establishment Cause comprised in the RRC Connection Request.

9 . The method of claim 8 wherein the Establishment Cause is set to a value that is indicative of a high priority location request if the priority assigned to the location request is a high priority.

10 . The method of claim 7 wherein performing congestion control comprises performing congestion control with respect to the connection request based on the indication of the priority assigned to the location request comprised in the connection request.

11 . The method of claim 7 further comprising, prior to receiving the connection request, sending a paging request to the target wireless device including an indication of the priority assigned to the location request.

12 . The method of claim 11 wherein the paging request is a Radio Resource Control, RRC, paging request and the indication of the priority assigned to the location request is comprised in an information element in the RRC paging request that is dedicated to providing an indication of location request priority.

13 . The method of claim 12 wherein the connection request is an RRC Connection Request, and the RRC Connection Request comprises an Establishment Cause set to an indication of a high priority location request if the indication of the priority assigned to the location request comprised in the information element in the RRC paging request is indicative of the location request being a high priority location request.

14 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the network node is a core network node in a core network of the cellular communications system, and the message is a location request reporting control message.

15 . The method of claim 14 wherein the location request reporting control message comprises an indication of the priority assigned to the location request.

16 . The method of claim 1 wherein performing congestion control with respect to the message related to the location request comprises:
determining whether the network node is congested;
if the network node is congested, determining whether the location request is a high priority location request; and
if the location request is a high priority location request, taking an action to enable acceptance of the location request.

17 . The method of claim 1 further comprising receiving an indication of the priority assigned to the location request from another network node.

18 . The method of claim 1 further comprising determining the priority assigned to the location request.

19 . The method of claim 1 further comprising:
obtaining information related to the priority assigned to the location request; and
setting the priority assigned to the location requested based on the information.

20 . The method of claim 19 wherein the information related to the priority assigned to the location request comprises at least one of a group consisting of: a source of the location request, one or more targets of the location request, and a cause of the location request.

21 . The method of claim 19 wherein setting the priority comprises dynamically setting the priority assigned to the location request based on the information and one or more predefined rules.

22 . A network node in a cellular communications system enabled to process a message related to a location request, comprising:
an interface; at least one processor; and memory containing software executable by the at least one processor whereby the network node is configured to:
receive a message related to a location request via the interface; and
perform congestion control with respect to the message related to the location request, either prior to or during setup of a radio connection between a radio access network of the cellular communications system and a target wireless device of the location request, based on a priority assigned to the location request.

23 . A method of operation of a network node to enable prioritization of a location request in a cellular communications system, comprising:
obtaining information related to a priority of a location request; setting the priority of the location request based on the information; and providing an indication of the priority of the location request to another network node prior to or during connection setup between a radio access network and a target wireless device of the location request with respect to the location request.

24 . The method of claim 23 wherein providing the indication of the priority of the location request to another network node comprises providing the indication of the priority of the location request to a core network node prior to connection setup between the radio access network and the target wireless device of the location request with respect to the location request.

25 . The method of claim 24 wherein providing the indication of the priority of the location request to the core network node comprises providing the indication of the priority of the location request to the core network node as part of a Provide Subscriber Location message.

26 . The method of claim 23 wherein the network node is a core network node, and providing the indication of the priority of the location request to another network node comprises providing the indication of the priority of the location request from the core network node to a radio access node prior to connection setup between the radio access network and the target wireless device of the location request with respe

Assignees

• Ericsson Telefon Ab L M

Inventors

• Yamine Badawi
• Siomina Iana
• Wigren Torbjörn

Classifications

• H04W72/56 Primary

  based on priority criteria · CPC title

• H04W72/10 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W76/046

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H04W28/02

  Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control · CPC title

• H04W76/27

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