Cell Broadcast Overcrowding Detection and Dispersal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing emergency alert systems, such as Cell Broadcast, do not effectively address overcrowding situations that can contribute to the spread of airborne diseases like COVID-19, as they lack the capability to detect and alert users to conditions that may lead to disease transmission.
Innovation Solution
A method is introduced where a network entity tracks the number of user equipment (UEs) in specific spatial regions and broadcasts warning messages using Cell-Radio Network Temporary Identifiers and Cell Broadcast mechanisms when the UE density exceeds a threshold, providing users with information to disperse and avoid crowded areas.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Speed
If Cell Broadcast emergency alert systems are used to rapidly distribute alerts to all UEs in one or more cells, then the speed of information dissemination is improved, but the system lacks the capability to detect and alert users to overcrowding conditions that may lead to disease transmission
Solution Approach 1:
The existing Cell Broadcast system is extended to perform multiple functions: it not only distributes emergency alerts but also detects overcrowding conditions by monitoring UE density in spatial regions and broadcasts warnings when thresholds are exceeded. This multi-functional approach resolves the contradiction by maintaining the fast dissemination capability while adding the versatility to detect and respond to overcrowding situations.
Solution Approach 2:
The system utilizes the existing network infrastructure and UE identifiers already present in the Cell Broadcast system to perform crowd detection and warning functions. By leveraging existing resources (network entities, UE identifiers, spatial region data) rather than requiring completely new detection mechanisms, the system achieves overcrowding detection capability while maintaining rapid alert dissemination speed.
2Reliability
If the network entity broadcasts warning messages to all UEs in a spatial region when UE density exceeds a threshold, then the effectiveness of alerting users to overcrowding is improved, but the network resources and energy consumption increase
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of broadcasting to all UEs in the entire network, the system applies the warning message broadcast function locally only to specific spatial regions where UE density exceeds the threshold. The network entity determines the number of UEs in each spatial region and selectively broadcasts warnings only where needed, thereby maintaining high alerting effectiveness while reducing overall network energy consumption compared to network-wide broadcasts.
Solution Approach 2:
The system uses a threshold parameter to control when warning broadcasts are initiated. By monitoring UE density and comparing it against a predefined threshold, the system ensures broadcasts occur only when genuinely needed (when density exceeds the threshold), avoiding unnecessary energy consumption from routine broadcasts while maintaining reliable alerting when overcrowding conditions exist.
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the system monitors UE density in spatial regions and broadcasts warnings when thresholds are exceeded, then the public health safety is improved, but the device complexity of the network entity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The network entity pre-establishes spatial regions and density thresholds before monitoring begins. By having the monitoring framework, region definitions, and threshold criteria ready in advance, the system can quickly respond to overcrowding conditions without requiring complex real-time analysis or decision-making logic, thus reducing the operational complexity of the network entity while maintaining effective disease transmission risk mitigation.
Data Source
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AI summary
This document describes methods, devices, systems, and means for alerting a user equipment, UE, to an overcrowding situation by network entity, the network entity storing UE identifiers and region identifiers, already known to the network entity, for multiple UEs (1002)and for each region identifier, determining a number of UEs in a spatial region associated with the region identifier (1004). The network entity compares comparing the determined number of UEs with a region identifier to a first threshold value (1006). If the determined number of UEs in the spatial region exceeds the first threshold value, the network entity transmits a first message including a warning message indicator to UEs in the spatial region, the warning message indicator providing an indication of warning message parameters (1008) and, based on the warning message parameters, broadcasts a second message to the UEs in the spatial region (1010).