Systems and methods for identifying a cell type and cell communication capabilities from cellular broadcast data

• US 10,548,029 B2
• Filed: 10/29/2018
• Issued: 01/28/2020
• Est. Priority Date: 04/26/2018
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Original Assignee: Verizon Patent and Licensing Incorporated (Verizon Communications Inc.)
• Inventors: Panchal, Jignesh S., Zhu, Lily, Chan, Yee Sin, Stone, William H., Dial, Gregory, Moussa, Ahmed, Schmidt, Christopher M., Kondratiuk, Michael, Flynn, Gerard J., Raghavachari, Balaji L.
• Primary Examiner(s): Duong, Frank
• Application Number:
  US16/173,713
• Publication Number:
  US 20190335343A1
• Time in Patent Office: 456 Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 24/02 Arrangements for optimising operational condition
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/10 Connection setup
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 84/042 Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 88/02 Terminal devices
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 92/10 between terminal device and access point, i.e. wireless air interface

Abstract

A user device receives system information block data from a cell. The user device obtains, from the system information block data, cell metadata that includes a cellular parameter. The user device parses the cell metadata to identify the cellular parameter. The cellular parameter includes an upper layer indicator element, a public land mobile network (PLMN) information list element, and a network capability indicator element. The user device determines, based on the cellular parameter, that the cell is of a particular cell type of a plurality of cell types, and that the cell has a particular capability of a plurality of types of capabilities. The user device performs an action based on the particular cell type or the particular capability.

Claims

1. A user device comprising:

one or more memories; and

one or more processors, communicatively coupled to the one or more memories, to;

receive system information block data from a cell;

obtain cell metadata from the system information block data,

wherein the cell metadata includes a cellular parameter;

parse the cell metadata to identify the cellular parameter,

wherein the cellular parameter includes an upper layer indicator element, a public land mobile network (PLMN) information list element, and a network capability indicator element;

determine, based on the cellular parameter, that the cell is of a particular cell type of a plurality of cell types;

determine, based on the cellular parameter, that the cell has a particular capability of a plurality of types of capabilities; and

perform an action based on the particular cell type and the particular capability.

2. The user device of claim 1, wherein the upper layer indicator element is a three-bit string.

3. The user device of claim 2, wherein:

the upper layer indicator element is associated with a value; and

the one or more processors, when determining, based on the cellular parameter, that the cell is of the particular cell type of the plurality of cell types, are to;

determine that the value associated with the upper layer indicator element is associated with the particular cell type.

4. The user device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, when performing the action based on the particular cell type and the particular capability, are to:

cause display of an indicator on a display of the user device,

wherein the indicator indicates that the user device is in communication with the particular cell type.

5. The user device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, when performing the action based on the particular cell type and the particular capability, are to:

cause display of information on a display of the user device,

wherein the information concerns the particular capability.

6. The user device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, when performing the action based on the particular cell type and the particular capability, are to:

cause display of one or more icons related to the particular cell type and the particular capability.

7. The user device of claim 1, wherein the one or more processors, when performing the action based on the particular cell type and the particular capability, are to:

determine whether to connect to the cell.

8. A method, comprising:

receiving, by a user device, system information block data from a cell;

obtaining, by the user device, cell metadata from the system information block data,

wherein the cell metadata includes a cellular parameter;

parsing, by the user device, the cell metadata to identify the cellular parameter,

wherein the cellular parameter includes a network capability indicator element and at least one of;

a public land mobile network (PLMN) information list element, or

an upper layer indicator element;

determining, by the user device and based on the cellular parameter, that the cell is of a particular cell type of a plurality of cell types, and that the cell has a particular capability of a plurality of types of capabilities,

wherein the plurality of types of capabilities includes;

an enhanced mobile broadband type,

a connected vehicles type,

a real-time service type,

an enhanced multi-media type,

an internet of things type,

an ultra-reliable low latency applications type, or

a fixed wireless access type; and

performing, by the user device, an action based on the particular cell type and the particular capability.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the upper layer indicator element has an enumerated type data type.

10. The method of claim 8, wherein the upper layer indicator element has a single-element enumerated type data type.

11. The method of claim 8, wherein determining that the cell is of the particular cell type of the plurality of cell types, and that the cell has the particular capability of the plurality of types of capabilities comprises:

determining that the cellular parameter includes the PLMN information list element and that the cellular parameter does not include the upper layer indicator element.

12. The method of claim 8, wherein determining that the cell is of the particular cell type of the plurality of cell types, and that the cell has the particular capability of the plurality of types of capabilities comprises:

determining that the cellular parameter includes the PLMN information list element and the upper layer indicator element.

13. The method of claim 8, wherein performing the action based on the particular cell type and the particular capability comprises:

causing display of a first indicator on a display of the user device,

wherein the first indicator indicates the particular cell type; and

causing display of a second indicator on the display of the user device,

wherein the second indicator indicates the particular capability.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein performing the action based on the particular cell type and the particular capability comprises:

configuring a communication component of the user device based on the particular cell type and the particular capability.

15. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing instructions, the instructions comprising:

one or more instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to;

receive system information block data from a cell;

obtain cell metadata from the system information block data,

wherein the cell metadata includes a cellular parameter;

parse the cell metadata to identify the cellular parameter,

wherein the cellular parameter includes an upper layer indicator element and a network capability indicator element;

determine, based on the cellular parameter, that the cell is of a particular cell type of a plurality of cell types, and that the cell has a particular capability of a plurality of types of capabilities; and

perform an action based on the particular cell type or the particular capability.

16. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the plurality of types of capabilities concern at least one of:

an area capacity communication capability,

a density communication capability,

a guaranteed minimum data rate communication capability,

a maximum bitrate communication capability,

a relative priority communication capability,

an absolute priority communication capability,

a latency rate communication capability, or

a reliability communication capability.

17. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 16, wherein:

the network capability indicator element is associated with a value; and

the one or more instructions, when executed by the one or more processors, further cause the one or more processors to;

determine that the value associated with the network capability indicator element is associated with the particular capability.

18. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to perform the action based on the particular cell type or the particular capability, cause the one or more processors to:

cause display of an indicator on a display of a user device associated with the one or more processors,

wherein the indicator indicates the particular capability.

19. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to perform the action based on the particular cell type or the particular capability, cause the one or more processors to:

configure a communication component of a user device associated with the one or more processors based on the particular capability.

20. The non-transitory computer-readable medium of claim 15, wherein the one or more instructions, that cause the one or more processors to perform the action based on the particular cell type or the particular capability, cause the one or more processors to:

determine whether to connect to the cell based on the particular capability.