System and Methods for Critical Communication

• US 20170171732A1
• Filed: 06/13/2016
• Published: 06/15/2017
• Est. Priority Date: 12/09/2015
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Original Assignee: Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. (Huawei Investment & Holding Co., Ltd.)
• Inventors: DAO, Ngoc Dung, SENARATH, Nimal Gamini
• Granted Patent: US 10,257,684 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/03 Reselecting a link using a direct mode connection
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 36/033 in pre-organised networks
• 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 76/50 for emergency connections

Abstract

A system and method is provided for mission critical communications. In an aspect, a computer-implemented method may be implemented for a node device on a network to facilitate communication between a sending device and an intended recipient device. The node device may receive from the sending device a mission critical (MC) communication directed to the intended recipient device. The node device may process the received MC communication to produce processed MC data and cache some or all of the processed MC data. The node device may transmit at least a portion of the received MC communication, the processed MC data, and/or the cached MC data to the intended recipient device.

Claims

1. A method for transmitting data in a communication system, the method comprising an access point:

establishing a mission critical (MC) session with a UE and an intended recipient device in response to receiving a MC request that indicates an emergency condition;

receiving, from the UE, MC data associated with the MC session;

caching at least a portion of the received MC data; and

,

transmitting at least some of the received MC data to the intended recipient device.

2. The method of claim 1, further comprising the access point:

receiving the MC data before forwarding an acknowledgement of the MC session establishment from the intended recipient device to the UE.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the establishing the MC session further comprises receiving the MC session request from the UE and forwarding the MC session request to the intended recipient device.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the access point caches the at least a portion of the received MC data prior to the intended recipient device acknowledging the MC session request.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the establishing the MC session further comprises the access point prioritizing network resources for the MC session.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the prioritizing network resources comprises communicating with other access points on the network to reduce network data traffic during the MC session.

7. The method of claim 1 wherein the establishing a mission critical (MC) session further comprises:

receiving the MC request from the intended recipient device or another UE; and

,

forwarding the MC request to the UE to instruct the UE to carry out at least one of the following steps of;

collecting data at the UE as collected MC data;

caching at least some of the collected MC data at the UE; and

,

transmitting at least some of the collected MC data to the access point.

8. The method of claim 7, further comprising:

after instructing the UE, receiving the MC data from the UE.

9. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

in response to receiving the MC request, instructing the UE to perform at least one of the following actions;

i) conserve computing resources to prioritize an MC session between the node device and the device;

ii) evaluate a battery condition of the device and to enter a low power state if the battery condition is below a predetermined threshold;

iii) activate sensors of the device to capture data;

iv) store the captured data on the device; and

,

v) transmit at least some of the captured data as MC data over the network.

10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

detecting that the intended recipient device has not received the transmitted at least some of the received MC data; and

,

re-transmitting the at least some of the received MC data to at least one of;

the intended recipient device, and

a pre-defined destination in place of the control center.

11. A method for transmitting data to an intended recipient device in a communication system, the method comprising a UE:

capturing MC data from one or more MC sensors;

establishing a MC session with an access point available on the communication system and the intended recipient device; and

,

transmitting the MC data to the access point for the access point to forward the MC data to the intended recipient device before receiving an acknowledgment of the MC session from the intended recipient device.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the method further comprises the UE caching the MC data before transmitting the MC data to the access point.

13. The method of claim 11, further comprising the UE sending the MC data to the access point by relaying the MC data to a relay UE device for relay transmission from the relay UE device to the access point.

14. A system for communicating mission critical (MC) communications over a network, the system comprising:

a UE and an intended recipient device each connected to the network and operative to enter a MC mode to establish a MC session over the network;

at least one of the UE or the intended recipient device operative to receive a MC session request; and

,

the at least one of the UE or the intended recipient device operative to enter the MC mode in response to receiving the MC session request, and to establish the MC session over the network when the MC mode is entered.

15. The system of claim 14, wherein the UE is further operative to activate one or more MC sensors in response to entering the MC mode, and to capture MC data for the MC session using the activated one or more MC sensors.

16. The system of claim 15, wherein the UE is further operative to store the captured MC data and to transmit some or all of the captured MC data for the MC session to the intended recipient device.

17. The system of claim 15, wherein the sending device is operative to transmit the some or all of the captured MC data by at least one of:

i) a direct device-to-device communication for relay to the network; and

, ii) a direct connection to a node device of the network.

18. The system of claim 15, wherein the system further comprises:

an access point operative to establish the MC session and to receive MC data sent by the UE to the network, and to forward the received MC data to the intended recipient device.

19. The system of claim 18, wherein the access point is further operative to cache at least a portion of the received MC data.

20. The system of claim 14, wherein the UE is further operative to generate the MC session request, and to forward the MC session request to the network to establish the MC session.

21. The system of claim 14, wherein the UE is operative to receive the MC session request.

22. An apparatus comprising:

a UE operable to connect to a wireless network and to enable a MC session on the UE and to establish a MC session with an intended recipient device through an access point available on the network;

wherein the UE is further operable when the MC session is enabled to capture MC data from one or more MC sensors, cache the captured MC data on the UE, and to transmit, prior to receiving acknowledgment of the MC session from the intended recipient device, at least a portion of the captured MC data to the access point to forward to the intended recipient device.