USER EQUIPMENT-INITIATED CONTROL METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR PROVIDING PROXIMITY SERVICE

• US 20150087233A1
• Filed: 12/20/2012
• Published: 03/26/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 12/20/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Original Assignee: LG Electronics, Inc. (LG Corporation)
• Inventors: Kim, Laeyoung, Kim, Jaehyun, Kim, Taehyeon, Kim, Hyunsook
• Granted Patent: US 9,648,653 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/41.2
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 4/80 Services using short range communication, e.g. near-field communication [NFC], radio-frequency identification [RFID] or low energy communication
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 76/14 Direct-mode setup

Abstract

The present invention relates to a wireless communication system. More particularly, disclosed are a UE-initiated control method and apparatus for providing a proximity service. A method in which first user equipment of a wireless communication system performs a proximity service (ProSe) according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises: a step in which the first user equipment detects second user equipment with which the ProSe can be performed; a step of transmitting a message requesting for a permission of ProSe to a network node; a step of receiving a response to the request for a permission of ProSe from the network node; and a step of setting up a direct data path to the second user equipment.

Claims

1. A method for performing a proximity service (ProSe) by a first user equipment (UE) of a wireless communication system, the method comprising:

detecting a second UE with which the first UE is capable of performing ProSe;

transmitting a ProSe permission request message to a network node;

receiving a response to the ProSe permission request from the network node; and

setting up a direct data path to the second UE.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second UE is detected using one or more of:

a scheme for directly detecting the second UE by the first UE;

a scheme for detecting the second UE based on information about the second UE provided from the network node; and

a scheme for receiving information about the second UE detected by the network node.

3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the detected second UE corresponds to one or more of identification information of a UE to be detected, identification information of a user to be detected, identification information of a group to be detected, and identification information of a UE camped on the same base station or cell as the first UE.

4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the ProSe permission request message comprises one or more of a request for use of ProSe, a request for direct communication, and a request for direct data path setup.

5. The method according to claim 1, wherein the ProSe permission request message comprises one or more of information about one or more opposite UEs comprising the second UE, information about a media type, a content type, an application type, or a service type for ProSe, information about ProSe directionality, information about the amount of data for ProSe, and information about an access type for ProSe.

6. The method according to claim 1, wherein the ProSe permission request message is transmitted immediately after the first UE detects the second UE, or at a point of time when direct communication with the second UE is required after the first UE detects the second UE.

7. The method according to claim 1, wherein the response to the ProSe permission request indicates whether the ProSe permission request is accepted, which is determined by the network node using ProSe permission determination basis information.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein the ProSe permission determination basis information comprises one or more of subscriber information, ProSe related capability information, ProSe related capability enabled state information, preference related information, UE identification information, information about a media type, a content type, an application type, or a service type requested for ProSe, information about ProSe directionality, information about the amount of data requested for ProSe, and information about an access type requested for ProSe, of one or more of the first and second UEs.

9. The method according to claim 7, wherein the ProSe permission determination basis information comprises one or more of operator policy information, network ProSe capability related information, and network congestion related information related to one or more of the first and second UEs.

10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the response to the ProSe permission request comprises one or more of a response to a request for use of ProSe, a response to a request for direct communication, and a response to a request for direct data path setup.

11. The method according to claim 1, wherein the response to the ProSe permission request comprises one or more of ProSe identification information, direct communication identification information, direct data path identification information, direct data path type information, Quality of Service (QoS) related information, policy control rule related information, charging control rule related information, and information indicating operation after ProSe is completely performed.

12. The method according to claim 11, wherein one or more of the ProSe identification information, the direct communication identification information, and the direct data path identification information are defined with one or more granularities among a media or content type, an Access Point Name (APN), a QoS Class Identifier (QCI), a bearer or connection type, an application type, a service type, a destination domain, an opposite UE for communication, and a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG).

13. The method according to claim 1, further comprising transmitting ProSe performance result information to the network node,

wherein the ProSe performance result information comprises one or more of ProSe identification information, direct communication identification information, direct data path identification information, information indicating whether the direct data path is successfully set up, information about the amount of data communicated through the direct data path, information about a time for which the direct data path is maintained, information about the types of media or contents communicated through the direct data path, information about the number of opposite UEs comprising the second UE, information about directionality of the direct data path, information about an access type used for the direct data path, and information about the number and types of bearers used for the direct data path.

14. The method according to claim 1, wherein the network node comprises one of a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Serving GPRS (General Packet Radio Service) Supporting Node (SGSN), an evolved Node B (eNodeB) and a ProSe server.

15. A user equipment (UE) for performing a proximity service (ProSe) in a wireless communication system, the UE comprising:

a transceiver module for transmitting and receiving signals to and from an external device; and

a processor for controlling the transceiver module,

wherein the processor is configured to detect another UE with which the UE is capable of performing ProSe, transmit a ProSe permission request message to a network node using the transceiver module, receive a response to the ProSe permission request from the network node using the transceiver module, and set up a direct data path to the other UE.