VOICE SERVICE IN EVOLVED PACKET SYSTEM

• US 20110002267A1
• Filed: 06/03/2010
• Published: 01/06/2011
• Est. Priority Date: 06/03/2009
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: 3G Licensing S.A. (Fineur International S.A.)
• Original Assignee: 3G Licensing S.A. (Fineur International S.A.)
• Inventors: Faccin, Stefano, Dwyer, Johanna Lisa, Burbidge, Richard Charles, Chin, Chen Ho
• Granted Patent: US 10,736,026 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 370/328
• CPC Class Codes: H04L 65/1073 Registration or de-registration
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/18 Selecting a network or a communication service

Abstract

Methods and apparatus to manage voice service in evolved packet systems are disclosed. An example method in a User Equipment (UE) with a first indicator related to voice services in an Evolved Packet System (EPS) comprises receiving a Non Access Stratum (NAS) protocol response message with a second indicator and responsive to at least one of the first indicator or the second indicator, determining availability of voice services over IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) in at least one of long term evolution (LTE) or global system for mobile communications edge radio access network (GERAN)/universal mobile telecommunications system terrestrial radio access network(UTRAN).

Claims

1. A method in a User Equipment (UE) with a first indicator related to voice services in an Evolved Packet System (EPS), the method comprising:

receiving a Non Access Stratum (NAS) protocol response message with a second indicator; and

responsive to at least one of the first indicator or the second indicator, determining availability of voice services over IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS).

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining availability of voice services over IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) comprises determining availability of voice services over IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) in at least one of long term evolution (LTE) or global system for mobile communications edge radio access network (GERAN)/universal mobile telecommunications system terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN).

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the NAS protocol response message comprises a NAS registration response message.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein at least one of the first indicator or the second indicator are Voice Service Indicators (VSIs).

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the second indicator is a VSI and the VSI is a Voice over IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS VoPS) indicator.

6. The method of claim 4, wherein one or more of the VSIs are set to:

IMS Voice over PS session supported indication;

IMS Voice over PS session not supported indication

Voice Centric;

Data Centric;

CS Voice Only;

IMS PS Voice Only;

CS Voice Preferred, IMS Voice Secondary; and

IMS Voice Preferred, CS Voice Secondary.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the second indicator is at least one of a cause value or a failure indication.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein at least one of the cause value or the failure indication is set to:

Failure to register UE for circuit switched (CS) or packet switched (PS) services;

or

CS domain not available.

9. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the availability of voice services further comprises initiating an IMS registration when the UE is not already IMS registered.

10. The method of claim 7, wherein initiating the IMS registration when the UE is not already IMS registered is determined by at least one of the first indicator or the second indicator.

11. The method of claim 7, wherein initiating the IMS registration further comprises attempting IMS Registration with at least one of the first indicator or the second indicator when the UE is not already IMS registered for voice services.

12. The method of claim 1, wherein determining the availability of voice services comprises determining:

UE not having initiated an IMS registration attempt;

IMS registration failure following an IMS registration attempt;

rejection due to limitations in the subscription of the user;

dropped messages;

delayed messages; and

disallowing transmitting voice media.

13. The method of claim 7, wherein the IMS registration attempt is followed by at least one of:

terminating further attempts due to repeated attempts to register with the IMS;

a user aborting further attempts to register to the IMS after failing repeated attempts;

performing user initiated de-registration;

or

the UE being deregistered by the network.

14. The method of claim 8, wherein at least one of the first indicator or the second indicator comprises at least one Voice Service Indicator set to at least one of:

the UE'"'"'s usage setting is not Voice Centric;

the UE'"'"'s voice setting is PS Voice Only;

or

the UE'"'"'s voice setting is IMS Voice Preferred, CS Voice Secondary.

15. The method of claim 8, wherein the NAS protocol response message comprises a NAS registration response message and wherein initiating the IMS registration when the UE is not already IMS registered is determined from a NAS registration response message indicating successful completion of at least one of attach or registration update.

16. The method of claim 3, wherein the NAS registration response message is received by lower layers of the UE.

17. The method of claim 1, wherein availability of voice services over IMS changes due to the mobility of the UE.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein subsequent to determining voice services over IMS are available, the UE determines voice services over IMS in at least one of LTE or GERAN/UTRAN are unavailable and the UE performs at least one of:

Combined Tracking Are Update for CSFB

at least one of selecting or reselecting to another radio access technology (RAT) in which voice services can be realized;

selecting at least one of GERAN or UTRAN radio access technology;

or

not reselecting evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN) radio access technology until at least one of switching off or the universal integrated circuit card (UICC) containing the universal subscriber identity module (USIM) is removed.

19. The method of claim 1, wherein determining availability of voice services over IMS further comprises determining voice services over IMS in at least one of LTE or GERAN/UTRAN are available and subsequently performing at least one of:

user initiated de-registration;

or

de-registration by the network.

20. The method of claim 1, wherein determining availability of voice services over IMS further comprises determining voice services over IMS in at least one of LTE or GERAN/UTRAN are unavailable and subsequently performing:

receiving a second NAS registration response message with a third indicator; and

initiating an IMS registration if the UE is not already IMS registered as determined by the third indicator.

21. The method of claim 18, wherein receiving the second NAS registration response message with the third indicator;

is preceded by detecting at least one of a cell with a different tracking area (TA) or a cell with a TA outside the UE tracking area identity (TAI) list.

22. The method of claim 1, wherein determining availability is responsive to both the first indicator and the second indicator.