Communication apparatus, terminal, and communication method

• US 10,327,126 B2
• Filed: 06/27/2016
• Issued: 06/18/2019
• Est. Priority Date: 06/26/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Original Assignee: NEC Corporation
• Inventors: Suzuki, Naoaki, Tamura, Toshiyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): Taylor, Nathan S
• Application Number:
  US15/739,251
• Publication Number:
  US 20180184277A1
• Time in Patent Office: 1,086 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1016 IP multimedia subsystem [IMS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1033 Signalling gateways
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/104 in the network
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1069 Session establishment or de-establishment
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1073 Registration or de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1104 Session initiation protocol [SIP]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/029 Location-based management or tracking services
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/90 Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/18 Management of setup rejection or failure
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/50 for emergency connections
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 80/10 adapted for application session management, e.g. SIP [Session Initiation Protocol] connection management H04W76/00; arrangements for session management H04L67/14
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/14 Backbone network devices

Abstract

A communication apparatus includes a location information acquisition unit that acquires location information of a terminal, a reception unit that receives a call request transmitted by the terminal, a service identification unit that identifies a service of the request based on the location information of the terminal and a destination telephone number of the request, and a transmission unit that transmits a response to the terminal, when the service corresponding to the request cannot be provided.

Claims

1. A communication apparatus in a home network comprising:

a receiver configured to receive a session establishment request from a terminal, the terminal being registered in an IMS (IP (Internet Protocol) Multimedia Subsystem) in the home network and located in a visited network;

a receiver configured to receive first information from a management apparatus managing a policy and a charging rule, the first information related to identify the visited network in which the terminal is located;

a controller configured to access a database to obtain second information related to emergency numbers for the visited network corresponding to the first information;

and

a transmitter configured to send a response to the terminal, the response indicating a rejection of the session establishment request in response to detection of the session establishment request for an emergency session, the detection being based on the second information.

2. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the response includes information on a service of the request.

3. The communication apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the response includes information designating a domain able to provide the service of the session establishment request or a domain unable to provide the service.

4. The communication apparatus according to claim 2, wherein the service of the session establishment request includes an emergency call.

5. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication apparatus includes an apparatus configured to control a call of the IMS belonging to a PS (packet exchange) domain on the home network side and to receive the session establishment request transmitted by the terminal with a call mode of VoLTE (Voice over LTE (Long Term Evolution) Protocol) at a roaming destination.

6. The communication apparatus according to claim 5, wherein the communication apparatus acquires location information of the terminal, from the management apparatus or a gateway in a packet core network belonging to a PS (packet switching) domain on the home network side, to which the IMS belonging to the PS (packet switching) domain on the home network side connects.

7. The communication apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the gateway is a PGW (Packet Data Network (PDN) gateway) that assigns an IP address to the terminal, and wherein

the management apparatus is a Policy and Charging Rule Function (PCRF).

8. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the communication apparatus detects, based on the second information, that the session establishment request is a request to establish an emergency session.

9. The communication apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the second information is obtained from the database after the controller accessing the database.

10. A terminal comprising:

a transmitter configured to send a session establishment request to a communication apparatus in a home network, the terminal being registered in an IMS (IP (Internet Protocol) Multimedia Subsystem) in the home network and being located in a visited network;

a receiver configured to receive a response from the communication apparatus, the response indicating a rejection of the session establishment request in response to detection of the session establishment request for an emergency session corresponding to the visited network; and

a controller configured to select a domain for the emergency session based on the response and information related to whether a domain is available to the terminal.

11. The terminal according to claim 10, wherein the response further includes information designating a domain that can provide a service of the session establishment request or a domain that cannot provide the service.

12. The terminal according to claims 11, wherein the service of the session establishment request includes an emergency call.

13. The terminal according to claim 10, wherein the transmitter transmits the session establishment request in a call mode of VoLTE (Voice over LTE (Long Term Evolution)) to the communication apparatus of the IMS belonging to a PS (packet switching) domain on the home network side, from a roaming destination of the terminal, and

the controller selects a CS (circuit switching) domain of the roaming destination, and transmits a session establishment request for receiving a service corresponding to the session establishment request transmitted to the communication apparatus.

14. The terminal according to claim 10, wherein the terminal sends a SIP (Session Initiation Protocol) REGISTER message to the communication apparatus in order to register the terminal in the IMS, and

the terminal sends the session establishment request to the communication apparatus after sending the SIP REGISTER message.

15. A communication method by a communication apparatus, comprising:

receiving a session establishment from a terminal, the terminal being registered in an IMS (IP (Internet Protocol) Multimedia Subsystem) in the home network and being located in a visited network;

receiving first information from a management apparatus managing a policy and a charging rule, the first information related to identify the visited network in which the terminal is located;

accessing a database to obtain second information related to emergency numbers for the visited network corresponding to the first information; and

transmitting a response to the terminal, the response indicating a rejection of the session establishment request in response to detection of the session establishment request for an emergency session, the detection being based on the second information.

16. The communication method according to claim 15, further comprising

putting information on a service of the session establishment request in the response.

17. The communication method according to claim 16, wherein the service of the session establishment request includes an emergency call.

18. The communication method according to claim 16, further comprising:

putting information in the response, the information designating a domain that can provide the service of the session establishment request or a domain that cannot provide the service.

19. The communication method according to claim 15, wherein the communication apparatus is an apparatus controlling a call of the IMS belonging to a PS (packet exchange) domain on the home network side, which receives the session establishment request transmitted by the terminal with a call mode of VoLTE (Voice over LTE (Long Term Evolution) Protocol) at a roaming destination.

20. The communication method according to claim 19, further comprising:

acquiring location information of the terminal from the management apparatus or a gateway in a packet core network belonging to a PS (packet switching) domain on the home network side, to which an IMS belonging to the PS (packet switching) domain on the home network side connects.

21. A communication method by a terminal, comprising:

transmitting a session establishment request to a communication apparatus in a home network, the terminal being registered in an IMS (IP (Internet Protocol) Multimedia Subsystem) in the home network and being located in a visited network;

receiving a response from the communication apparatus, the response indicating a rejection of the session establishment request in response to detection of the session establishment request for an emergency session corresponding to the visited network; and

selecting a domain for the emergency session based on the response and information related to whether a domain is available to the terminal.

22. The communication method according to claim 21, wherein the response further includes information designating a domain that can provide the service of the session establishment request or a domain that cannot provide the service.

23. The communication method according to claim 22, wherein the service of the session establishment request includes an emergency call.

24. The communication method according to claim 21, further comprising:

transmitting the session establishment request in a call mode of VoLTE (Voice over LTE (Long Term Evolution)) to the communication apparatus of the IMS belonging to a PS (packet switching) domain on the home network side from a roaming destination of the terminal;

selecting a CS (circuit switching) domain of the roaming destination; and

transmitting a session establishment request for receiving a service corresponding to the session establishment request transmitted to the communication apparatus.