Extended access barring for CSG cells

• US 20150141007A1
• Filed: 05/14/2012
• Published: 05/21/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 05/14/2012
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy (Nokia Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Nokia Solutions and Networks US LLC (Nokia Corporation)
• Inventors: Du, Lei, Sebire, Benoist Pierre, Decarreau, Guillaume
• Granted Patent: US 9,578,597 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 455/434
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/06 based on traffic conditions
• CPC Class Codes: H04W 48/16 Discovering, processing access restriction or access information

Abstract

It is provided an apparatus, comprising CSG (closed subscriber group) determining means adapted to determine one of plural CSG types to which the apparatus belongs, based on a CSG entry stored by the apparatus, wherein the plural CSG types are related to a closed subscriber group advertisement received from a cell of a base station; selecting means adapted to select one of plural EAB (extended access barring) parameter sets based on the determined one of the plural CSG types, wherein the plural EAB parameter sets are received from the cell and wherein each of the plural EAB parameter sets is related to one of the plural CSG types; applying means adapted to apply extended access barring to an access of the apparatus to the cell based on the selected EAB parameter set.

Claims

1-20. -20. (canceled)

21. A method comprising:

determining one of plural CSG (closed subscriber group) types to which an apparatus performing the method belongs, based on a CSG entry stored by the apparatus, wherein the plural CSG types are related to a closed subscriber group advertisement received from a cell of a base station;

selecting one of plural EAB (extended access barring) parameter sets based on the determined one of the plural CSG types, wherein the plural EAB parameter sets are received from the cell and wherein each of the plural EAB parameter sets is related to one of the plural CSG types; and

applying extended access barring to an access of the apparatus to the cell based on the selected EAB parameter set.

22. The method of claim 21, further comprising:

evaluating a CSG type indication comprised in an EAB parameter set to obtain a CSG type of the EAB parameter set, wherein the EAB parameter set is received from the cell;

checking if the CSG type of the apparatus corresponds to the CSG type of the EAB parameter set; and

applying extended access barring to an access of the apparatus to the cell based on the EAB parameter set if a result of the checking is affirmative.

23. The method according to claim 22, further comprising:

determining, based on a home network of the apparatus, if the apparatus belongs to one of plural categories related to a network indication received from the cell;

evaluating a category indication additionally comprised in the EAB parameter set to obtain a category of the EAB parameter set;

checking if the category of the apparatus corresponds to the category of the EAB parameter set; and

applying extended access barring to the access of the apparatus to the cell based on the EAB parameter set if the result of the checking of the CSG type is affirmative and the result of the checking of the category is affirmative.

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

determining, based on a home network of the apparatus, if the apparatus belongs to one of plural categories related to a network indication received from the cell;

evaluating a category indication comprised in a PLMN-EAB parameter set to obtain a category of the PLMN-EAB parameter set, wherein the PLMN-EAB parameter set is received from the cell;

checking if the category of the apparatus corresponds to the category of the PLMN-EAB parameter set; and

applying extended access barring to the access of the apparatus to the cell based on the PLMN-EAB parameter set if the result of the checking is affirmative.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein the applying comprises applying extended access barring to the access based on the EAB parameter set if the closed subscriber group advertisement is received, and applying extended access barring to the access based on the PLMN-EAB parameter set if the closed subscriber advertisement is not received.

26. The method according to claim 24, further comprising:

checking, based on a CSG-EAB indication, whether a received parameter set comprising the CSG-EAB indication is an EAB parameter set or a PLMN-EAB parameter set, wherein

the applying comprises applying extended access barring to the access based on the EAB parameter set if the CSG-EAB indication is received, and applying extended access barring to the access based on the PLMN-EAB parameter set if the CSG-EAB indication is not received.

27. The method according to claim 25, wherein the applying comprises applying extended access barring to the access based on the EAB parameter set and the PLMN-EAB parameter set if the closed subscriber group advertisement is received.

28. The method according to claim 24, further comprising:

prioritizing one of the EAB parameter set and the PLMN-EAB parameter set based on a priority indication received from the cell;

wherein

the applying comprises applying extended access barring to the access of the apparatus to the cell based only on the prioritized one of the EAB parameter set and the PLMN-EAB parameter set.

29. The method according to claim 21, wherein the plural CSG types comprise a first and a second CSG type, wherein the first CSG type comprises that the apparatus is configured for extended access barring, and the second CSG type comprises that the apparatus is configured for extended access barring and is not a member of the closed subscriber group.

30. The method according to claim 29, wherein the plural CSG types comprise a third CSG type, and the third CSG type comprises that the apparatus is configured for extended access barring and is a guest member of the closed subscriber group, wherein a guest member is only temporarily included in the closed subscriber group.

31. The method according to claim 21, wherein the plural CSG types comprises a fourth CSG type, wherein the fourth CSG type comprises that the apparatus is not a member of the closed user group.

41. A computer program product including a program comprising software code portions being arranged, when run on a processor of an apparatus, to perform the method according to any claim 21.

42. The computer program product according to claim 41 comprising a computer-readable medium on which the software code portions are stored, and/or wherein the program is directly loadable into a memory of the processor.

32. A method comprising:

advertising a closed subscriber group of an apparatus performing the method;

broadcasting plural EAB (extended access barring) parameter sets each related to one of plural CSG (closed subscriber groups) types, wherein the plural CSG types are related to the closed subscriber group.

33. The method of claim 32, wherein the broadcasting comprises:

broadcasting an EAB parameter set comprising one of plural CSG type indications, wherein each of the plural CSG type indications corresponds to a respective one of plural CSG types, and wherein the plural CSG types are related to the closed subscriber group.

34. The method according to claim 33, wherein the broadcasting comprises broadcasting the EAB parameter set additionally comprising one of plural category indications, wherein each or the plural category indications is related to a roaming status.

35. The method according to claim 32, further comprising:

providing a CSG-EAB indication if an EAB parameter set comprising the CSG type indication is to be broadcast, wherein

the broadcasting comprises broadcasting the CSG-EAB indication together with the EAB parameter set.

36. The method according to claim 32, further comprising:

evaluating if a user equipment attempting to access the apparatus belongs to the closed subscriber group; and

applying a group policy to the access attempt of the user equipment, wherein the group policy is based on the closed subscriber group.

37. The method according to claim 32, further comprising:

providing a priority indication indicating a priority of one of extended access barring based on the CSG types and extended access barring based on PLMN categories.

38. The method according to claim 32, wherein the plural CSG types comprise a first and a second CSG type, wherein the first CSG type comprises that a user equipment receiving the advertising of the closed user group is configured for extended access barring, and the second CSG type comprises that the user equipment is configured for extended access barring and not a member of the closed subscriber group.

39. The method according to claim 38, wherein the plural CSG types comprise a third CSG type, and the third CSG type comprises that the user equipment is configured for extended access barring and is a guest member of the closed subscriber group, wherein a guest member is only temporarily included in the closed subscriber group.

40. The method according to claim 32, wherein the plural CSG types comprises a fourth CSG type, wherein the fourth CSG type comprises that the user equipment is not a member of the closed user group.