Handling plmn prioritization

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a user equipment (UE) transmitting a registration request message to a first public land mobile network (PLMN), wherein the first PLMN is a roaming PLMN; receiving a registration accept message from the first PLMN; determining that the registration accept message includes a steered roaming guidance (SoR) container or does not include a SoR container, wherein the SoR container is configured by a home PLMN (HPLMN) of the UE and transmitted to the first PLMN from the HPLMN; determining that the registration accept message includes an indication that voice over packet switched (VoPS) is not supported by the first PLMN; and adding the first PLMN to a first list of PLMNs in which voice services are not possible in N1 mode.

Description

Background Technology

[0001] 5G New Radio (NR) wireless communication supports updates to UE parameters by the Home PLMN (HPLMN) when the User Equipment (UE) is roaming. HPLMMN parameter updates are based on the network provider's policy. For example, according to current 3GPP standards, parameters such as the Roaming Guided List (SoR) can be updated on the UE by the HPLMMN. However, there are scenarios where UE parameters may not be updated correctly. Summary of the Invention

[0002] Some exemplary embodiments relate to a user equipment (UE) having: a transceiver configured to connect to multiple networks; and a processor communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to perform operations. The operations include transmitting a registration request message to a first public terrestrial mobile network (PLMN), wherein the first PLMN is a roaming PLMN; receiving a registration acceptance message from the first PLMN; determining whether the registration acceptance message includes an manipulated roaming guidance (SoR) container or does not include a SoR container, wherein the SoR container is configured by the UE's home PLMN (HPLMN) and transmitted from the HPLMN to the first PLMN; determining whether the registration acceptance message includes an indication that the first PLMN does not support packet-switched voice (VoPS); and adding the first PLMN to a first list of PLMNs in which voice service is not possible in N1 mode.

[0003] Other exemplary embodiments include a processor of a user equipment (UE) configured to perform operations. The operations include transmitting a registration request message to a first public terrestrial mobile network (PLMN), wherein the first PLMN is a roaming PLMN; receiving a registration acceptance message from the first PLMN; determining that the registration acceptance message includes an manipulated roaming guidance (SoR) container or does not include a SoR container, wherein the SoR container is configured by the UE's home PLMN (HPLMN) and transmitted from the HPLMN to the first PLMN; determining that the registration acceptance message includes an indication that the first PLMN does not support packet-switched voice (VoPS); and adding the first PLMN to a first list of PLMNs in which voice service is not possible in N1 mode.

[0004] Other exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a user equipment (UE). The method includes transmitting a registration request message to a first public terrestrial mobile network (PLMN), wherein the first PLMN is a roaming PLMN; receiving a registration acceptance message from the first PLMN; determining that the registration acceptance message includes or does not include a manipulated roaming guidance (SoR) container, wherein the SoR container is configured by the UE's home PLMN (HPLMN) and transmitted from the HPLMN to the first PLMN; determining that the registration acceptance message includes an indication that the first PLMN does not support packet-switched voice (VoPS); and adding the first PLMN to a first list of PLMNs in which voice service is not possible in N1 mode. Attached Figure Description

[0005] Figure 1 Exemplary network arrangements according to various exemplary implementations are shown.

[0006] Figure 2 Exemplary UEs according to various exemplary implementations are shown.

[0007] Figure 3 Methods for selecting a combination of Radio Access Technology (RAT) and Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) according to various exemplary embodiments are illustrated. Detailed Implementation

[0008] The exemplary embodiments can be further understood with reference to the following description and related figures, wherein similar elements have the same reference numerals. The exemplary embodiments describe how a user equipment (UE) selects a combination of Radio Access Technology (RAT) / Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) while roaming.

[0009] The exemplary implementation is described with reference to networks including 5G (New Radio) NR RAT. However, the exemplary implementation can be implemented in other types of networks using the principles described herein.

[0010] Exemplary embodiments are described with reference to the UE. However, the use of the UE is for illustrative purposes only. The exemplary embodiments can be used with any electronic component capable of establishing a connection to a network and configured with hardware, software, and / or firmware for exchanging information and data with that network. Therefore, the UE described herein is used to represent any electronic component.

[0011] Based on the current 3GPP standards TS 24.501 and 23.122, a UE registered on a roaming PLMN with voice-centric usage settings will have its 5G NR RAT service disabled on the current PLMN and will search for other RATs (e.g., legacy RATs such as LTE) on the same PLMN without any packet-switched voice (VoPS) indication from the network.

[0012] Additionally, in some cases, the UE's User Identity Module (SIM) can be configured with an indication that the UE will receive a Roaming Guided Roaming (SoR) Transparent Container Information Element (IE). When the Home PLMN (HPLMN) sends a SoR container, including a list of preferred PLMNs, to the UE via the Roaming PLMN, the HPLMN adds a unique signature to encrypt the container. If the Roaming PLMN attempts to manipulate the SoR container or fails to forward the container to the UE, the UE will designate the Roaming PLMN as the lowest priority PLMN and continue searching for a higher priority PLMN that can support 5G RAT.

[0013] The problem arises when both scenarios occur simultaneously. The current 3GPP standard does not address the following scenarios, where (1) the roaming PLMN indicates that the network does not support VoPS, and (2) no SoR container is received in the registration acceptance message received from the roaming PLMN.

[0014] According to some exemplary implementations, when both scenarios 1) and 2) occur simultaneously, the UE adds the current PLMN to the list of PLMNs that temporarily do not support voice services (e.g., VoPS) on 5G RAT (e.g., N1 mode) and the list of PLMNs whose registration has been suspended due to SoR failure. Therefore, the UE does not immediately disable its 5G RAT service, but instead begins searching for a 5G RAT on a higher priority PLMN. If no higher priority PLMN with a 5G RAT is found, the UE disables its 5G RAT service and pre-occupies the traditional RAT on the current PLMN.

[0015] Figure 1An exemplary network arrangement 100 according to various exemplary embodiments is illustrated. The exemplary network arrangement 100 includes a UE 110. It should be noted that any number of UEs may be used in the network arrangement 100. Those skilled in the art will understand that the UE 110 may alternatively be any type of electronic component configured to communicate via a network, such as a mobile phone, tablet computer, desktop computer, smartphone, phablet, embedded device, wearable device, Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc. It should also be understood that a practical network arrangement may include any number of UEs used by any number of users. Therefore, for illustrative purposes, only an example with a single UE 110 is provided.

[0016] UE 110 can be configured to communicate with one or more networks. In the example of network arrangement 100, the networks with which UE 110 can wirelessly communicate are 5G New Radio (NR) Radio Access Network (5G NR-RAN) 120, LTE Radio Access Network (LTE-RAN) 122, and Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) 124. However, it should be understood that UE 110 can also communicate with other types of networks, and UE 110 can also communicate with networks via wired connections. Therefore, UE 110 may include a 5G NR chipset communicating with 5G NR-RAN 120, an LTE chipset communicating with LTE-RAN 122, and an ISM chipset communicating with WLAN 124.

[0017] 5G NR-RAN 120 and LTE-RAN 122 may be portions of a cellular network that can be deployed by a cellular provider (e.g., Verizon, AT&T, T-Mobile, etc.). These networks 120, 122 may include, for example, cells or base stations (NodeB, eNodeB, HeNB, eNBS, gNB, gNodeB, macrocell base stations, microcell base stations, small cell base stations, femtocell base stations, etc.) configured to send and receive traffic from UEs equipped with appropriate cellular chipsets. WLAN 124 may include any type of wireless local area network (WiFi, hotspot, IEEE 802.11x network, etc.).

[0018] UE 110 can connect to 5G NR-RAN 120 via gNB 120A and / or gNB 120B. During operation, UE 110 can be within range of multiple gNBs. Therefore, simultaneously or alternatively, UE 110 can connect to 5G NR-RAN 120 via gNBs 120A and 120B. Additionally, UE 110 can communicate with eNB 122A of LTE-RAN 122 to transmit and receive control information for downlink and / or uplink synchronization relative to the 5G NR-RAN 120 connection.

[0019] Those skilled in the art will understand that any relevant procedures can be performed for UE 110 to connect to 5G NR-RAN 120. For example, as described above, 5G NR-RAN 120 can be associated with a specific cellular provider, where UE 110 and / or its user have protocol and credential information (e.g., stored on a SIM card). Upon detecting the presence of 5G NR-RAN 120, UE 110 can transmit the corresponding credential information to associate with 5G NR-RAN 120. More specifically, UE 110 can be associated with a specific base station (e.g., gNB 120A of 5G NR-RAN 120).

[0020] In addition to networks 120, 122, and 124, network deployment 100 also includes a cellular core network 130, an Internet 140, an IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) 150, and a network service backbone 160. The cellular core network 130 also manages traffic flowing between the cellular network and the Internet 140. The cellular core network 130 can be viewed as an interconnected collection of components that manage the operation and traffic of the cellular network. The cellular core network may include various other components performing any of a variety of different functions.

[0021] Figure 2 An exemplary UE 110 according to various exemplary embodiments is shown. Reference will be made to... Figure 1 The network layout 100 is used to describe UE 110. It should be noted that UE 110 can represent any electronic device and may include processor 205, memory layout 210, display device 215, input / output (I / O) device 220, transceiver 225, and other components 230. Other components 230 may include, for example, audio input devices, audio output devices, batteries providing a limited power source, data acquisition devices, ports for electrically connecting UE 110 to other electronic devices, one or more antenna panels, etc. For example, UE 110 may be coupled to industrial equipment via one or more ports.

[0022] Processor 205 can be configured to execute multiple engines of UE 110. For example, an engine may include PLMN management engine 235. As will be described in more detail below, PLMN management engine 235 can perform various operations related to pre-occupancy on PLMNs based on, for example, a stored list of PLMNs.

[0023] The engine described above, as an application (e.g., a program) executed by processor 205, is merely exemplary. The functionality associated with the engine may also be represented as a separate, integrated component of UE 110, or as a modular component coupled to UE 110, such as an integrated circuit with or without firmware. For example, the integrated circuit may include an input circuitry for receiving signals and a processing circuitry for processing signals and other information. The engine may also be embodied as a single application or multiple separate applications. Furthermore, in some UEs, the functionality described for processor 205 is distributed among two or more processors, such as a baseband processor and an application processor. Exemplary implementations can be implemented according to any of these or other configurations of the UE.

[0024] Memory arrangement 210 may be a hardware component configured to store data related to operations performed by UE 110. Display device 215 may be a hardware component configured to display data to a user, while I / O device 220 may be a hardware component enabling user input. Display device 215 and I / O device 220 may be separate components or may be integrated together (such as a touchscreen). Transceiver 225 may be a hardware component configured to establish connections with 5G NR-RAN 120, LTE-RAN 122, WLAN 124, etc. Therefore, transceiver 225 may operate on multiple different frequencies or channels (e.g., a continuous set of frequencies).

[0025] Figure 3 A method 300 for selecting a combination of Radio Access Technology (RAT) and Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) according to various exemplary embodiments is illustrated. Figure 3 In the example, we can consider that the usage settings of UE 110 are voice-centric, and the SIM of UE 110 is configured with an instruction that the UE will receive a SoR transparent container IE.

[0026] At 305, UE 110 sends a registration request to the first PLMN (e.g., the gNB of the first PLMN) while roaming. Although in Figure 3 Not shown, but the first PLMN transmits a Nudm_SDM_Get_request message to the HPLMN to obtain the SoR container from the HPLMN. At 310, UE 110 receives a registration accept transmission from the first PLMN. In some embodiments, the registration accept transmission includes the SoR container and an indication of whether the first PLMN supports VoPS services. At 315, UE 110 may transmit a registration complete message to the first PLMN. In some embodiments, if the UE determines that it will not ultimately pre-register on that PLMN, the UE may alternatively not transmit a registration complete message.

[0027] At 320, UE 110 determines whether the first PLMN supports VoPS and whether an unmanipulated SoR container was received during the registration accept transmission. It should be noted that if no SoR container was received at all, or if a SoR container was received but UE 110 determines that the first PLMN attempted to manipulate the SoR container, the answer to the latter (unmanipulated SoR container) will be negative.

[0028] Although the following description addresses scenarios where two parameters respond to affirmative or negative answers, it should be noted that if the response to one is affirmative and the response to the other is negative (e.g., VoPS is supported but SoR is not received, or vice versa), the UE 110 will act in accordance with the standards defined in 3GPP 24.501 and 23.122.

[0029] If UE 110 determines that the first PLMN supports VoPS and has received an unmanipulated SoR, then at 325, UE 110 pre-occupies the 5G RAT on the first PLMN. However, if UE 110 determines that the first PLMN does not support VoPS and has not yet received an unmanipulated SoR, then at 330, UE 110 releases the connection to the first PLMN. Subsequently, at 335, UE 110 adds the first PLMN to the list of PLMNs on which voice services (e.g., VoPS) are temporarily not supported on the 5G RAT (e.g., N1 mode), and also to the list of PLMNs whose registration was terminated due to a failure to receive an unmanipulated SoR container. Therefore, the first PLMN is assigned the lowest priority. However, UE 110 does not immediately disable its 5G RAT service.

[0030] At 340, UE 110 searches for higher priority PLMNs with a 5G RAT and other available RATs supported by UE 110. In some implementations, this search may be based on a list of PLMN priorities stored on UE 110 (e.g., locally, on the SIM). At 345, UE 110 determines whether a higher priority PLMN has been found. If so, at 350, UE 110 pre-occupies the higher priority PLMN. However, if no higher priority PLMN has been found, UE 110 disables its 5G RAT service and pre-occupies a traditional RAT (e.g., LTE, 3G, etc.) on the first PLMN. As a result of method 300, UE 110 advantageously minimizes the probability of pre-occupying a lower priority PLMN, thereby improving user experience and minimizing roaming fees.

[0031] Those skilled in the art will understand that the exemplary embodiments described above can be implemented with any suitable software or hardware configuration or combination thereof. Exemplary hardware platforms for implementing the exemplary embodiments may include, for example, Intel x86-based platforms with compatible operating systems, Windows OS, Mac platforms and MAC OS, and mobile devices with operating systems such as iOS, Android, etc. In other examples, exemplary embodiments of the methods described above may be embodied as programs comprising lines of code stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, which, at compile time, can be executed on a processor or microprocessor.

[0032] Although this patent application describes various combinations of aspects, each with different features, those skilled in the art will understand that any feature of one aspect can be combined with features of other aspects or features that are not functionally or logically inconsistent with the operation or function of the device of the aspect disclosed in this invention in any manner not disclosed in the patent application.

[0033] As is widely recognized, the use of personally identifiable information should comply with privacy policies and practices that are generally accepted to meet or exceed industry or governmental requirements for protecting user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly explained to users.

[0034] It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications can be made to this disclosure without departing from its spirit or scope. Therefore, this disclosure is intended to cover all modifications and variations thereof, provided that such modifications and variations are within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents.

Claims

1. A user equipment (UE), comprising: A transceiver configured to connect to multiple networks; and A processor, communicatively coupled to the transceiver and configured to perform operations including: Transmit a registration request message to a first public land mobile network (PLMN), wherein the first PLMN is a roaming PLMN; Receive a registration acceptance message from the first PLMN, wherein the registration acceptance message includes roaming guidance SoR information and an indication that the first PLMN does not support packet-switched voice (VoPS); Without disabling the N1 mode capability, based on the indication that the first PLMN does not support VoPS and has not yet received unmanipulated SoR information, a second PLMN with a higher priority than the first PLMN is searched. The first PLMN is selected at least based on the fact that the UE cannot obtain service from the second PLMN; as well as Disable the N1 mode capability.

2. The UE according to claim 1, wherein the operation further comprises: Add the first PLMN to the second list of PLMNs whose registration has been aborted due to SoR container failure.

3. The UE according to claim 2, wherein the operation further includes: Release the connection with the first PLMN.

4. The UE of claim 2, further comprising indicating on the second list that the first PLMN is the lowest priority PLMN.

5. The UE according to claim 4, wherein the operation further comprises: Search for a second PLMN with a higher priority than the first PLMN.

6. The UE according to claim 5, wherein the operation further comprises: When the second PLMN is found, it is reserved on the second PLMN.

7. The UE according to claim 5, wherein the operation further comprises: If the second PLMN is not found, it is reserved on the conventional RAT of the first PLMN.

8. A processor for a user equipment (UE), the processor being configured to perform operations including: Transmit a registration request message to a first public land mobile network (PLMN), wherein the first PLMN is a roaming PLMN; Receive a registration acceptance message from the first PLMN, wherein the registration acceptance message includes roaming guidance SoR information and an indication that the first PLMN does not support packet-switched voice (VoPS); Without disabling the N1 mode capability, based on the indication that the first PLMN does not support VoPS and has not yet received unmanipulated SoR information, a second PLMN with a higher priority than the first PLMN is searched. The first PLMN is selected at least based on the fact that the UE cannot obtain service from the second PLMN; as well as Disable the N1 mode capability.

9. The processor of claim 8, wherein the operation further comprises: Add the first PLMN to the second list of PLMNs whose registration has been aborted due to SoR container failure.

10. The processor of claim 9, wherein the operation further comprises: Release the connection with the first PLMN.

11. The processor of claim 9, further comprising indicating on the second list that the first PLMN is the lowest priority PLMN.

12. The processor of claim 11, wherein the operation further comprises: Search for a second PLMN with a higher priority than the first PLMN.

13. The processor of claim 12, wherein the operation further comprises: When the second PLMN is found, it is reserved on the second PLMN.

14. The processor of claim 12, wherein the operation further comprises: If the second PLMN is not found, it is reserved on the conventional RAT of the first PLMN.

15. A method performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: Transmit a registration request message to a first public land mobile network (PLMN), wherein the first PLMN is a roaming PLMN; Receive a registration acceptance message from the first PLMN, wherein the registration acceptance message includes roaming guidance SoR information and an indication that the first PLMN does not support packet-switched voice (VoPS); Without disabling the N1 mode capability, based on the indication that the first PLMN does not support VoPS and has not yet received unmanipulated SoR information, a second PLMN with a higher priority than the first PLMN is searched. The first PLMN is selected at least based on the fact that the UE cannot obtain service from the second PLMN; as well as Disable the N1 mode capability.

16. The method of claim 15, further comprising: Add the first PLMN to the second list of PLMNs whose registration has been aborted due to SoR container failure.

17. The method of claim 16, further comprising: Release the connection with the first PLMN.

18. The method of claim 16, further comprising indicating on the second list that the first PLMN is the lowest priority PLMN.

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising: Search for a second PLMN with a higher priority than the first PLMN.

20. The method of claim 19, further comprising: When the second PLMN is found, it is reserved on the second PLMN.

21. The method of claim 19, further comprising: If the second PLMN is not found, it is reserved on the conventional RAT of the first PLMN.

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