WO2021253375A1

WO2021253375A1 - Self-adaptive emergency calling

Info

Publication number: WO2021253375A1
Application number: PCT/CN2020/097016
Authority: WO
Inventors: Xuesong Chen; Guojing LIU; Dongsheng Wang; Chaofeng HUI; Fojian ZHANG; Haibo Liu; Xiaomeng Lu
Original assignee: Qualcomm Incorporated
Priority date: 2020-06-19
Filing date: 2020-06-19
Publication date: 2021-12-23

Abstract

A user equipment (UE) may work in multiple subscriptions, one of them being more preferred to handle emergency calls than other. When the UE receives an emergency call through a first subscription, instead of immediately attempting to handle the emergency call through the first subscription, the UE may determine whether the first subscription is best suited to handle the emergency call. If not, the UE may forward the emergency call to be handled by a second subscription which is better suited.

Description

SELF-ADAPTIVE EMERGENCY CALLING

TECHNICAL FIELD

Various aspects described herein generally relate to wireless communication systems, and more particularly, to self-adaptive emergency calling in a user equipment with multiple data subscriptions.

BACKGROUND

Wireless communication systems have developed through various generations, including a first-generation analog wireless phone service (1G) , a second-generation (2G) digital wireless phone service (including interim 2.5G and 2.75G networks) , a third-generation (3G) high speed data, Internet-capable wireless service and a fourth-generation (4G) service (e.g., Long-Term Evolution (LTE) or WiMax) . There are presently many different types of wireless communication systems in use, including Cellular and Personal Communications Service (PCS) systems. Examples of known cellular systems include the cellular Analog Advanced Mobile Phone System (AMPS) , and digital cellular systems based on Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) , Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) , Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) , the Global System for Mobile access (GSM) variation of TDMA, etc.

A fifth generation (5G) mobile standard calls for higher data transfer speeds, greater numbers of connections, and better coverage, among other improvements. The 5G standard, according to the Next Generation Mobile Networks Alliance, is designed to provide data rates of several tens of megabits per second to each of tens of thousands of users, with 1 gigabit per second to tens of workers on an office floor. Several hundreds of thousands of simultaneous connections should be supported in order to support large sensor deployments. Consequently, the spectral efficiency of 5G mobile communications should be significantly enhanced compared to the current 4G standard. Furthermore, signaling efficiencies should be enhanced and latency should be substantially reduced compared to current standards.

5G New Radio (NR) connectivity, or simply NR connectivity, has gained significant commercial traction in recent time. Thus, to attract more users to their network, network operators would like to show NR connectivity to users most of the time on the user interface (UI) of the mobile device such as the user equipment (UE) .

SUMMARY

This summary identifies features of some example aspects, and is not an exclusive or exhaustive description of the disclosed subject matter. Whether features or aspects are included in, or omitted from this summary is not intended as indicative of relative importance of such features. Additional features and aspects are described, and will become apparent to persons skilled in the art upon reading the following detailed description and viewing the drawings that form a part thereof.

An exemplary user equipment (UE) configured to operate in first and second radio access technologies (RATs) is disclosed. The UE may comprise a processor, a memory, and a transceiver. The processor, the memory, and/or the transceiver may be configured to receive an emergency call through a first subscription. The processor, the memory, and/or the transceiver may also be configured to determine whether the first subscription is an emergency preferred subscription. The processor, the memory, and/or the transceiver may further be configured to determine, when it is determined that the first subscription is not the emergency preferred subscription, whether a second subscription is registered on a second RAT with emergency support. The processor, the memory, and/or the transceiver may yet be configured to handle, when it is determined that the second subscription is registered on the second RAT with emergency support, the emergency call through the second subscription.

An exemplary method performed by a user equipment (UE) configured to operate in first and second radio access technologies (RATs) is disclosed. The method may comprise receiving an emergency call through a first subscription. The method may also comprise determining whether the first subscription is an emergency preferred subscription. The method may further comprise determining, when it is determined that the first subscription is not the emergency preferred subscription, whether a second subscription is registered on a second RAT with emergency support. The method may yet comprise handling, when it is determined that the second subscription is registered on the second RAT with emergency support, the emergency call through the second subscription.

Another exemplary user equipment (UE) configured to operate in first and second radio access technologies (RATs) is disclosed. The UE may comprise means for receiving an emergency call through a first subscription. The UE may also comprise means for determining whether the first subscription is an emergency preferred subscription. The UE may further comprise means for determining, when it is determined that the first subscription is not the emergency preferred subscription, whether a second subscription is registered on a second RAT with emergency support. The UE may yet comprise means for handling, when it is determined that the second subscription is registered on the second RAT with emergency support, the emergency call through the second subscription.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for a user equipment (UE) configured to operate in first and second radio access technologies (RATs) is disclosed. The executable instructions may comprise one or more instructions instructing the UE to receive an emergency call through a first subscription. The executable instructions may also comprise one or more instructions instructing the UE to determine whether the first subscription is an emergency preferred subscription. The executable instructions may further comprise one or more instructions instructing the UE to determine, when it is determined that the first subscription is not the emergency preferred subscription, whether a second subscription is registered on a second RAT with emergency support. The executable instructions may yet comprise one or more instructions instructing the UE to handle, when it is determined that the second subscription is registered on the second RAT with emergency support, the emergency call through the second subscription.

Other objects and advantages associated with the aspects disclosed herein will be apparent to those skilled in the art based on the accompanying drawings and detailed description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The accompanying drawings are presented to aid in the description of examples of one or more aspects of the disclosed subject matter and are provided solely for illustration of the examples and not limitation thereof:

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary wireless communications system in accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosure;

FIG. 2 is a simplified block diagram of several sample aspects of components that may be employed in wireless communication nodes and configured to support communication in accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosure;

FIG. 3 illustrates a flow of an example scenario that shows a technique implemented by a user equipment for self-adaptive emergency calling in accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary method performed by a user equipment for self-adaptive emergency calling in accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates a simplified block diagram of several sample aspects of a user equipment apparatus configured for self-adaptive emergency calling in accordance with one or more aspects of the disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Aspects of the subject matter are provided in the following description and related drawings directed to specific examples of the disclosed subject matter. Alternates may be devised without departing from the scope of the disclosed subject matter. Additionally, well-known elements will not be described in detail or will be omitted so as not to obscure the relevant details.

The word “exemplary” is used herein to mean “serving as an example, instance, or illustration. ” Any aspect described herein as “exemplary” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects. Likewise, the term “aspects” does not require that all aspects include the discussed feature, advantage, or mode of operation.

The terminology used herein describes particular aspects only and should not be construed to limit any aspects disclosed herein. As used herein, the singular forms “a, ” “an, ” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. Those skilled in the art will further understand that the terms “comprises, ” “comprising, ” “includes, ” and/or “including, ” as used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

Further, various aspects may be described in terms of sequences of actions to be performed by, for example, elements of a computing device. Those skilled in the art will recognize that various actions described herein can be performed by specific circuits (e.g., an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC) ) , by program instructions being executed by one or more processors, or by a combination of both. Additionally, these sequences of actions described herein can be considered to be embodied entirely within any form of non-transitory computer-readable medium having stored thereon a corresponding set of computer instructions that upon execution would cause an associated processor to perform the functionality described herein. Thus, the various aspects described herein may be embodied in a number of different forms, all of which have been contemplated to be within the scope of the claimed subject matter. In addition, for each of the aspects described herein, the corresponding form of any such aspects may be described herein as, for example, “logic configured to” and/or other structural components configured to perform the described action.

As used herein, the terms “user equipment” (UE) and “base station” are not intended to be specific or otherwise limited to any particular Radio Access Technology (RAT) , unless otherwise noted. In general, such UEs may be any wireless communication device (e.g., a mobile phone, router, tablet computer, laptop computer, tracking device, Internet of Things (IoT) device, etc. ) used by a user to communicate over a wireless communications network. A UE may be mobile or may (e.g., at certain times) be stationary, and may communicate with a Radio Access Network (RAN) . As used herein, the term “UE” may be referred to interchangeably as an “access terminal” or “AT, ” a “client device, ” a “wireless device, ” a “subscriber device, ” a “subscriber terminal, ” a “subscriber station, ” a “user terminal” or UT, a “mobile terminal, ” a “mobile station, ” or variations thereof. Generally, UEs can communicate with a core network via a RAN, and through the core network the UEs can be connected with external networks such as the Internet and with other UEs. Of course, other mechanisms of connecting to the core network and/or the Internet are also possible for the UEs, such as over wired access networks, WiFi networks (e.g., based on Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, etc. ) and so on.

A base station may operate according to one of several RATs in communication with UEs depending on the network in which it is deployed, and may be alternatively referred to as an Access Point (AP) , a Network Node, a NodeB, an evolved NodeB (eNB) , a general Node B (gNodeB, gNB) , etc. In addition, in some systems a base station may provide edge node signaling functions while in other systems it may provide additional control and/or network management functions.

UEs can be embodied by any of a number of types of devices including but not limited to printed circuit (PC) cards, compact flash devices, external or internal modems, wireless or wireline phones, smartphones, tablets, tracking devices, asset tags, and so on. A communication link through which UEs can send signals to a RAN is called an uplink channel (e.g., a reverse traffic channel, a reverse control channel, an access channel, etc. ) . A communication link through which the RAN can send signals to UEs is called a downlink or forward link channel (e.g., a paging channel, a control channel, a broadcast channel, a forward traffic channel, etc. ) . As used herein the term traffic channel (TCH) can refer to either an uplink /reverse or downlink /forward traffic channel.

FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary wireless communications system 100 according to one or more aspects. The wireless communications system 100, which may also be referred to as a wireless wide area network (WWAN) , may include various base stations 102 and various UEs 104. The base stations 102 may include macro cells (high power cellular base stations) and/or small cells (low power cellular base stations) . The macro cells may include Evolved NodeBs (eNBs) where the wireless communications system 100 corresponds to an Long-Term Evolution (LTE) network, gNodeBs (gNBs) where the wireless communications system 100 corresponds to a 5G network, and/or a combination thereof, and the small cells may include femtocells, picocells, microcells, etc.

The base stations 102 may collectively form a Radio Access Network (RAN) and interface with an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) or Next Generation Core (NGC) through backhaul links. In addition to other functions, the base stations 102 may perform functions that relate to one or more of transferring user data, radio channel ciphering and deciphering, integrity protection, header compression, mobility control functions (e.g., handover, dual connectivity) , inter-cell interference coordination, connection setup and release, load balancing, distribution for non-access stratum (NAS) messages, NAS node selection, synchronization, RAN sharing, multimedia broadcast multicast service (MBMS) , subscriber and equipment trace, RAN information management (RIM) , paging, positioning, and delivery of warning messages. The base stations 102 may communicate with each other directly or indirectly (e.g., through the EPC /NGC) over backhaul links 134, which may be wired or wireless.

The base stations 102 may wirelessly communicate with the UEs 104. Each of the base stations 102 may provide communication coverage for a respective geographic coverage area 110. In an aspect, although not shown in FIG. 1, coverage areas 110 may be subdivided into a plurality of cells (e.g., three) , or sectors, each cell corresponding to a single antenna or array of antennas of a base station 102. As used herein, the term “cell” or “sector” may correspond to one of a plurality of cells of a base station 102, or to the base station 102 itself, depending on the context.

While neighbor macro cell geographic coverage areas 110 may partially overlap (e.g., in a handover region) , some of the geographic coverage areas 110 may be substantially overlapped by a larger geographic coverage area 110. For example, a small cell base station 102' may have a coverage area 110' that substantially overlaps with the coverage area 110 of one or more macro cell base stations 102. A network that includes both small cell and macro cells may be known as a heterogeneous network. A heterogeneous network may also include Home eNBs (HeNBs) and/or Home gNodeBs, which may provide service to a restricted group known as a closed subscriber group (CSG) . The communication links 120 between the base stations 102 and the UEs 104 may include uplink (UL) (also referred to as reverse link) transmissions from a UE 104 to a base station 102 and/or downlink (DL) (also referred to as forward link) transmissions from a base station 102 to a UE 104. The communication links 120 may use multiple input multiple output (MIMO) antenna technology, including spatial multiplexing, beamforming, and/or transmit diversity. The communication links may be through one or more carriers. Allocation of carriers may be asymmetric with respect to DL and UL (e.g., more or less carriers may be allocated for DL than for UL) .

The wireless communications system 100 may further include a wireless local area network (WLAN) access point (AP) 150 in communication with WLAN stations (STAs) 152 via communication links 154 in an unlicensed frequency spectrum (e.g., 5 GHz) . When communicating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the WLAN STAs 152 and/or the WLAN AP 150 may perform a clear channel assessment (CCA) prior to communicating in order to determine whether the channel is available.

The small cell base station 102' may operate in a licensed and/or an unlicensed frequency spectrum. When operating in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, the small cell base station 102' may employ LTE or 5G technology and use the same 5 GHz unlicensed frequency spectrum as used by the WLAN AP 150. The small cell base station 102', employing LTE /5G in an unlicensed frequency spectrum, may boost coverage to and/or increase capacity of the access network. LTE in an unlicensed spectrum may be referred to as LTE-unlicensed (LTE-U) , licensed assisted access (LAA) , or MulteFire.

The wireless communications system 100 may further include a mmW base station 180 that may operate in mmW frequencies and/or near mmW frequencies in communication with a UE 182. Extremely high frequency (EHF) is part of the radio frequency (RF) range in the electromagnetic spectrum. EHF has a range of 30 GHz to 300 GHz and a wavelength between 1 millimeter and 10 millimeters. Radio waves in this band may be referred to as a millimeter wave. Near mmW may extend down to a frequency of 3 GHz with a wavelength of 100 millimeters. The super high frequency (SHF) band extends between 3 GHz and 30 GHz, also referred to as centimeter wave. Communications using the mmW/near mmW radio frequency band have high path loss and a relatively short range. The mmW base station 180 may utilize beamforming 184 with the UE 182 to compensate for the extremely high path loss and short range. Further, it will be appreciated that in alternative configurations, one or more base stations 102 may also transmit using mmW or near mmW and beamforming. Accordingly, it will be appreciated that the foregoing illustrations are merely examples and should not be construed to limit the various aspects disclosed herein.

The wireless communications system 100 may further include one or more UEs, such as UE 190, that connects indirectly to one or more communication networks via one or more device-to-device (D2D) peer-to-peer (P2P) links. In the embodiment of FIG. 1, UE 190 has a D2D P2P link 192 with one of the UEs 104 connected to one of the base stations 102 (e.g., through which UE 190 may indirectly obtain cellular connectivity) and a D2D P2P link 194 with WLAN STA 152 connected to the WLAN AP 150 (through which UE 190 may indirectly obtain WLAN-based Internet connectivity) . In an example, the D2D P2P links 192-194 may be supported with any well-known D2D radio access technology (RAT) , such as LTE Direct (LTE-D) , WiFi Direct (WiFi-D) , Bluetooth, and so on. Any of the

base stations

102, 102’, 180 may send measurement requests (e.g., measurement control order (MCO) ) to the

UEs

104, 182, 190, and the UE’s 104, 182, 190 may respond with measurement reports accordingly.

FIG. 2 illustrates several sample components (represented by corresponding blocks) that may be incorporated into an apparatus 202 and an apparatus 204 (corresponding to, for example, a UE and a base station (e.g., eNB, gNB) , respectively, to support the operations as disclosed herein. As an example, the apparatus 202 may correspond to a UE, and the apparatus 204 may correspond to a network node such as a gNB and/or an eNB. It will be appreciated that the components may be implemented in different types of apparatuses in different implementations (e.g., in an ASIC, in a System-on-Chip (SoC) , etc. ) . The illustrated components may also be incorporated into other apparatuses in a communication system. For example, other apparatuses in a system may include components similar to those described to provide similar functionality. Also, a given apparatus may contain one or more of the components. For example, an apparatus may include multiple transceiver components that enable the apparatus to operate on multiple carriers and/or communicate via different technologies.

The apparatus 202 and the apparatus 204 each may include at least one wireless communication device (represented by the communication devices 208 and 214) for communicating with other nodes via at least one designated RAT (e.g., LTE, New Radio (NR) ) . Each communication device 208 may include at least one transmitter (represented by the transmitter 210) for transmitting and encoding signals (e.g., messages, indications, information, and so on) and at least one receiver (represented by the receiver 212) for receiving and decoding signals (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, and so on) . Each communication device 214 may include at least one transmitter (represented by the transmitter 216) for transmitting signals (e.g., messages, indications, information, pilots, and so on) and at least one receiver (represented by the receiver 218) for receiving signals (e.g., messages, indications, information, and so on) .

A transmitter and a receiver may comprise an integrated device (e.g., embodied as a transmitter circuit and a receiver circuit of a single communication device) in some implementations, may comprise a separate transmitter device and a separate receiver device in some implementations, or may be embodied in other ways in other implementations. In an aspect, a transmitter may include a plurality of antennas, such as an antenna array, that permits the respective apparatus to perform transmit “beamforming, ” as described further herein. Similarly, a receiver may include a plurality of antennas, such as an antenna array, that permits the respective apparatus to perform receive beamforming, as described further herein. In an aspect, the transmitter and receiver may share the same plurality of antennas, such that the respective apparatus can only receive or transmit at a given time, not both at the same time. A wireless communication device (e.g., one of multiple wireless communication devices) of the apparatus 204 may also comprise a Network Listen Module (NLM) or the like for performing various measurements.

The apparatus 204 may include at least one communication device (represented by the communication device 220) for communicating with other nodes. For example, the communication device 220 may comprise a network interface (e.g., one or more network access ports) configured to communicate with one or more network entities via a wire-based or wireless backhaul connection. In some aspects, the communication device 220 may be implemented as a transceiver configured to support wire-based or wireless signal communication. This communication may involve, for example, sending and receiving messages, parameters, or other types of information. Accordingly, in the example of FIG. 2, the communication device 220 is shown as comprising a transmitter 222 and a receiver 224 (e.g., network access ports for transmitting and receiving) .

The

apparatuses

202 and 204 may also include other components used in conjunction with the operations as disclosed herein. The apparatus 202 may include a processing system 232 for providing functionality relating to, for example, communication with the network. The apparatus 204 may include a processing system 234 for providing functionality relating to, for example, communication with the UEs. In an aspect, the

processing systems

232 and 234 may include, for example, one or more general purpose processors, multi-core processors, ASICs, digital signal processors (DSPs) , field programmable gate arrays (FPGA) , or other programmable logic devices or processing circuitry.

The apparatus 202 may include first and second data subscriptions (e.g., subscriber identify modules (SIMs) ) 252 and 256 that may be associated with providing services in different radio access technologies (e.g., 4G LTE, 5G NR) .

The

apparatuses

202 and 204 may include memory components 238 and 240 (e.g., each including one or more memory devices) , respectively, for maintaining information (e.g., information indicative of reserved resources, thresholds, parameters, and so on) . In various implementations, the memory component 238 can comprise a computer-readable medium storing one or more computer-executable instructions for a user equipment (UE) where the one or more instructions instruct apparatus 202 (e.g., processing system 232 in combination with communications device 208 and/or other aspects of apparatus 202) to perform any of the functions described herein. In addition, the

apparatuses

202 and 204 may include

user interface devices

244 and 246, respectively, for providing indications (e.g., audible and/or visual indications) to a user and/or for receiving user input (e.g., upon user actuation of a sensing device such a keypad, a touch screen, a microphone, and so on) .

For convenience, the

apparatuses

202 and 204 are shown in FIG. 2 as including various components that may be configured according to the various examples described herein. It will be appreciated, however, that the illustrated blocks may have different functionality in different designs. The components of FIG. 2 may be implemented in various ways. In some implementations, the components of FIG. 2 may be implemented in one or more circuits such as, for example, one or more processors and/or one or more ASICs (which may include one or more processors) . Here, each circuit may use and/or incorporate at least one memory component for storing information or executable code used by the circuit to provide this functionality. For example, some or all of the functionality represented by

blocks

208, 232, 238, and 244 may be implemented by processor and memory component (s) of the apparatus 202 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and/or by appropriate configuration of processor components) . Similarly, some or all of the functionality represented by

blocks

214, 220, 234, 240, and 246 may be implemented by processor and memory component (s) of the apparatus 204 (e.g., by execution of appropriate code and/or by appropriate configuration of processor components) .

In an aspect, the apparatus 204 may correspond to a “small cell” or a Home gNodeB. The apparatus 202 may transmit and receive messages via a wireless link 260 with the apparatus 204, the messages including information related to various types of communication (e.g., voice, data, multimedia services, associated control signaling, etc. ) . The wireless link 260 may operate over a communication medium of interest, shown by way of example in FIG. 2 as the medium 262, which may be shared with other communications as well as other RATs. A medium of this type may be composed of one or more frequency, time, and/or space communication resources (e.g., encompassing one or more channels across one or more carriers) associated with communication between one or more transmitter /receiver pairs, such as the apparatus 204 and the apparatus 202 for the medium 262.

In general, the apparatus 202 and the apparatus 204 may operate via the wireless link 260 according to one or more radio access types, such as LTE, LTE-U, or NR, depending on the network in which they are deployed. These networks may include, for example, different variants of CDMA networks (e.g., LTE networks, NR networks, etc. ) , TDMA networks, FDMA networks, Orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA) networks, Single-Carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA) networks, and so on.

A UE may be capable of operating in multiple radio access technologies (RATs) . For example, a UE may be capable of operating in a first RAT (e.g., NR) and in a second RAT (e.g., LTE) . These are merely examples, and first and second RATs may be any of the RATs currently known (e.g., WiMax, CDMA, WCDMA, UTRA, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) , GSM, FDMA, GSM, TDMA, etc. ) .

Also, a UE may be may be capable of operating in multiple RATs at the same time. For example, a UE that can operate in both LTE and NR simultaneously is an E-UTRA-NR Dual Connectivity (ENDC) capable UE. Note that ENDC is an example of Multi-RAT DC (MRDC) capability. In general, when an MRDC capable UE is operating in two RATs, it may be communicating with a base station (e.g., gNB) of a first RAT (e.g., NR) and with a base station (e.g., eNB) of a second RAT (e.g., LTE) . When the UE operates in the first RAT, it may communicate with a network node (e.g., base station, gNB, etc. ) of the first RAT. Similarly, when the UE operates in the second RAT, it may communicate with a network node (e.g., base station, eNB, etc. ) of the second RAT.

The UE may be capable of operating in a standalone (SA) or in a non-standalone (NSA) mode within a given RAT. When operating in the SA mode, the UE is able to exchange both control and data plane (also referred to as user plane) information with the network node and/or the core network of the given RAT (e.g., NR) . When operating in the NSA mode, the UE is communicating with network nodes of the first and second RATs. In the NSA mode, the UE can exchange data plane information with the network nodes of both the first RAT (e.g., NR) and the second RAT (e.g., LTE) . However, the control plane information is exchanged only with the network node of the second RAT (e.g., LTE) .

A UE may be configured such that it can be equipped with multiple subscriptions –e.g., default data subscription (DDS) and non-DDS. For example, multiple subscriber identity modules (SIMs) may be inserted in the UE. The UE may also be capable of operating in multiple radio access technologies (RATS) . The DDS (e.g., primary SIM) may be registered or otherwise configured for operation in one RAT (e.g., 5G NR) and the non-DDS (secondary SIM) may be registered or otherwise configured for operation in another RAT (e.g., 4G LTE) .

Conventionally, in a multiple subscription UE, emergency call (E-call) is typically handled through the default subscription, i.e., through the primary SIM and the DDS. In a 5G multi-SIM (MSIM) UE, it is very likely that the DDS (primary SIM) is registered in NR and the non-DDS (secondary SIM) is registered in LTE. When an emergency call (e-call) is made from the UE, the e-call will be attempted on the subscription registered on the NR. Unfortunately, it does take some time for the NR network to deploy the e-call in voice-over-NR (VONR) . Thus, in most instances, the e-call can fail in NR meaning that limited public land mobile network (PLMN) search procedure for services over other RATs –LTE, Wideband CDMA (WCDMA) , GSM, etc. –will be conducted, and NR service will be dropped. In sum, one RAT (e.g., NR) may be less well suited for e-calls than other RATs (e.g., non-NR) .

To address such issues, the following is proposed. When an e-call comes in, e.g. on the DDS, the 5G MSIM UE may first determine whether the non-DDS (corresponding to secondary SIM) is non-NR subscription. The UE may then check whether that subscription is registered with emergency service support. If so, the e-call may be initiated through the non-NR subscription. If not, then the e-call may be initiated through the NR subscription. In the proposed technique, there is a preferential diversion to the non-NR RAT to initiate e-calls even though the DDS (corresponding to the primary SIM) may be subscribed to NR.

FIG. 3 an example flow of a scenario 300 in which a proposed technique is implemented. In FIG. 3, it is assumed that the DDS is registered for operation in NR and the non-DDS is registered for operation in non-NR such as LTE, WCDMA, GSM, etc. It is also assumed that the non-DDS is registered in non-NR with emergency service support. The flow may proceed when an e-call comes in on the first subscription (e.g., first SIM) . For example, the user may initiate the e-call on the first subscription.

When the e-call comes in, the UE may then check or otherwise determine whether the first subscription is non-DDS, i.e., operates on non-NR. If so, the UE may check or otherwise determine whether the first subscription is registered on non-NR with emergency services support. If so, the UE may handle the e-call through the first subscription over the non-NR.

When it is determined that the first subscription is not non-DDS, i.e., is DDS, then the UE may check or otherwise determine whether the second subscription is registered on non-NR with emergency services support. Even when the first subscription is non-DDS, the UE may check or otherwise determine whether the second subscription is registered on non-NR with emergency services support if it is determined that the first subscription is not registered on non-NR with emergency services support.

When it is determined that the second subscription is registered on non-NR with emergency services support, then the UE may handle the e-call through the secondary subscription. On the other hand, when it is determined that the second subscription is not registered on non-NR with emergency services support, then the UE may handle the e-call through the first subscription.

As seen, the e-calls are diverted to e-call preferred RATs (e.g., LTE, WCDMA, GSM, etc. ) at least initially. That is, when the e-call comes in on a subscription that is less suited for emergency calls, the e-call is diverted instead of first attempting to handle the e-call through the less well suited subscription. The proposed technique has at least the following benefits. First, e-calls can be handled and setup more efficiently. Second, the UE may maintain NR service better.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart of an exemplary recovery method performed by a UE, e.g., for self-adaptive emergency calling when there are multiple data subscriptions (e.g., multiple SIMs) in operation in the UE. FIG. 4 may be viewed as a generalization of the flow of FIG. 3. Here, the UE (such as the UE 202) may be capable of operating in multiple RATs such as 4G LTE and 5G NR. The memory component 238 may be viewed as an example of a non-transitory computer-readable medium that stores computer-executable instructions to operate components of the UE 202 such as the transceiver 208 (including transmitter 210 and receiver 212) , the processing system 232 (including one or more processors) , memory component 238, etc.

In block 410, the UE may receive an emergency call through a first subscription, e.g., a first SIM. For example, a user of the UE may have initiated the emergency call while the UE is operating in accordance with the first subscription. The first subscription may be either DDS or non-DDS. Means for performing block 410 may include the first data subscription 252, the processing system 232, the memory component 238 and/or the transceiver 208 of the UE 202.

In block 420, the UE may determine whether the first subscription is an emergency preferred subscription. In an aspect, the emergency preferred subscription may be the subscription that is associated with operating over one RAT (e.g., LTE, WCDMA, GSM, etc. ) while a subscription associated with operating over another RAT (e.g., NR) may not be preferred. In some 5G MSIM UEs, the DDS (e.g., primary SIM) may be associated with operating over NR and the non-DDS (e.g., secondary SIM) may be associated with operating over non-NR. Between the two, the non-DDS may be emergency preferred subscription. Means for performing block 420 may include the processing system 232 and/or the memory component 238 of the UE 202.

If it is determined that the first subscription is not the emergency preferred subscription (N branch from block 420) , then the UE in block 430 may determine whether a second subscription (e.g., a second SIM) is registered on a second RAT with emergency support. Means for performing block 430 may include the second data subscription 256, the processing system 232, the memory component 238 and/or the transceiver 208 of the UE 202.

If it is determined that the second subscription is registered on the second RAT with emergency support (Y branch from block 430) , then the UE in block 440 may handle the emergency call through the second subscription over the second RAT. Means for performing block 440 may include the second data subscription 256, the processing system 232, the memory component 238 and/or the transceiver 208 of the UE 202.

Note that in a dual subscription/SIM UE, if the first subscription is not the emergency preferred subscription, this implies that the second subscription is the emergency preferred subscription. For example, the first subscription may be the DDS and the second subscription may be the non-DDS. In this instance, the first RAT may be NR and the second RAT may be non-NR such as LTE, WCDMA, GSM, etc.

On the other hand, if it is determined that the second subscription is not registered on the second RAT with emergency support (N branch from block 430) , then the UE in block 460 may handle the emergency call through the first subscription over the first RAT. Means for performing block 460 may include the first data subscription 252, the processing system 232, the memory component 238 and/or the transceiver 208 of the UE 202.

Going back to block 420, if it is determined that the first subscription is the emergency preferred subscription (Y branch from block 420) , then the UE in block 450 may determine whether the first subscription is registered on the first RAT with emergency support. Means for performing block 450 may include the first data subscription 252, the processing system 232, the memory component 238 and/or the transceiver 208 of the UE 202.

If it is determined that the first subscription is registered on the first RAT with emergency support (Y branch from block 460) , then the UE in block 460 may handle the emergency call through the first subscription over the first RAT. On the other hand, if it is determined that the first subscription is not registered on the first RAT with emergency support (N branch from block 450) , then the UE in block 430 may determine whether the second subscription is registered on the second RAT with emergency support. From there, the UE in block 440 may handle the emergency call through the second subscription over the second RAT if the second subscription is registered on the second RAT with emergency support (Y branch from block 430) or through the first subscription over the first RAT if the second subscription is not registered on the second RAT with emergency support (N branch from block 430) .

FIG. 5 illustrates an example user equipment apparatus 500 represented as a series of interrelated functional modules connected by a common bus. Each of the modules may be implemented in hardware or as a combination of hardware and software. For example, the modules may be implemented as any combination of the modules of the apparatus 202 of FIG. 2. A module for determining receiving an emergency call through a first subscription 510 may correspond at least in some aspects to a first subscription (e.g., first data subscription 252) , a communication device (e.g., communication device 208) , a processing system (e.g., processing system 232) and/or a memory component (e.g., memory component 238) . A module for determining whether the first subscription is an emergency preferred subscription 520 may correspond at least in some aspects to a processing system (e.g., processing system 232) and/or a memory component (e.g., memory component 238) . A module for determining whether a second subscription is registered on a second RAT with emergency support 530 may correspond at least in some aspects to a second subscription (e.g., second data subscription 256) , a communication device (e.g., communication device 208) , a processing system (e.g., processing system 232) , and/or a memory component (e.g., memory component 238) . A module for handling the emergency call through the second subscription over the second RAT 540 may correspond at least in some aspects to a second subscription (e.g., second data subscription 256) , a communication device (e.g., communication device 208) , a processing system (e.g., processing system 232) , and/or a memory component (e.g., memory component 238) . A module for determining whether the first subscription is registered on a first RAT with emergency support 550 may correspond at least in some aspects to a first subscription (e.g., first data subscription 252) , a communication device (e.g., communication device 208) , a processing system (e.g., processing system 232) , and/or a memory component (e.g., memory component 238) . A module for handling the emergency call through the first subscription over the first RAT 540 may correspond at least in some aspects to a first subscription (e.g., first data subscription 252) , a communication device (e.g., communication device 208) , a processing system (e.g., processing system 232) , and/or a memory component (e.g., memory component 238) .

The functionality of the modules of FIG. 5 may be implemented in various ways consistent with the teachings herein. In some designs, the functionality of these modules may be implemented as one or more electrical components. In some designs, the functionality of these blocks may be implemented as a processing system including one or more processor components. In some designs, the functionality of these modules may be implemented using, for example, at least a portion of one or more integrated circuits (e.g., an ASIC) . As discussed herein, an integrated circuit may include a processor, software, other related components, or some combination thereof. Thus, the functionality of different modules may be implemented, for example, as different subsets of an integrated circuit, as different subsets of a set of software modules, or a combination thereof. Also, it will be appreciated that a given subset (e.g., of an integrated circuit and/or of a set of software modules) may provide at least a portion of the functionality for more than one module.

In addition, the components and functions represented by FIG. 5, as well as other components and functions described herein, may be implemented using any suitable means. Such means also may be implemented, at least in part, using corresponding structure as taught herein. For example, the components described above in conjunction with the “module for” components of FIG. 5 also may correspond to similarly designated “means for” functionality. Thus, in some aspects one or more of such means may be implemented using one or more of processor components, integrated circuits, or other suitable structure as taught herein.

Those of skill in the art will appreciate that information and signals may be represented using any of a variety of different technologies and techniques. For example, data, instructions, commands, information, signals, bits, symbols, and chips that may be referenced throughout the above description may be represented by voltages, currents, electromagnetic waves, magnetic fields or particles, optical fields or particles, or any combination thereof.

Further, those of skill in the art will appreciate that the various illustrative logical blocks, modules, circuits, and algorithm steps described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented as electronic hardware, computer software, or combinations of both. To clearly illustrate this interchangeability of hardware and software, various illustrative components, blocks, modules, circuits, and steps have been described above generally in terms of their functionality. Whether such functionality is implemented as hardware or software depends upon the particular application and design constraints imposed on the overall system. Skilled artisans may implement the described functionality in varying ways for each particular application, but such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure.

The various illustrative logical blocks, modules, and circuits described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be implemented or performed with a general purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA, or other programmable logic device, discrete gate or transistor logic, discrete hardware components, or any combination thereof designed to perform the functions described herein. A general purpose processor may be a microprocessor, but in the alternative, the processor may be any conventional processor, controller, microcontroller, or state machine. A processor may also be implemented as a combination of computing devices, e.g., a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in conjunction with a DSP core, or any other such configuration.

The methods, sequences and/or algorithms described in connection with the aspects disclosed herein may be embodied directly in hardware, in a software module executed by a processor, or in a combination of the two. A software module may reside in random access memory (RAM) , flash memory, read-only memory (ROM) , erasable programmable ROM (EPROM) , electrically erasable programmable ROM (EEPROM) , registers, hard disk, a removable disk, a CD-ROM, or any other form of storage medium known in the art. An exemplary storage medium is coupled to the processor such that the processor can read information from, and write information to, the storage medium. In the alternative, the storage medium may be integral to the processor. The processor and the storage medium may reside in an ASIC. The ASIC may reside in a user terminal (e.g., UE) . In the alternative, the processor and the storage medium may reside as discrete components in a user terminal.

In one or more exemplary aspects, the functions described may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, or any combination thereof. If implemented in software, the functions may be stored on or transmitted over as one or more instructions or code on a computer-readable medium. Computer-readable media includes both computer storage media and communication media including any medium that facilitates transfer of a computer program from one place to another. A storage media may be any available media that can be accessed by a computer. By way of example, and not limitation, such computer-readable media can comprise RAM, ROM, EEPROM, CD-ROM or other optical disk storage, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, or any other medium that can be used to carry or store desired program code in the form of instructions or data structures and that can be accessed by a computer. Also, any connection is properly termed a computer-readable medium. For example, if the software is transmitted from a website, server, or other remote source using a coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, digital subscriber line (DSL) , or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave, then the coaxial cable, fiber optic cable, twisted pair, DSL, or wireless technologies such as infrared, radio, and microwave are included in the definition of medium. Disk and disc, as used herein, includes compact disc (CD) , laser disc, optical disc, digital versatile disc (DVD) , floppy disk and Blu-ray disc where disks usually reproduce data magnetically, while discs reproduce data optically with lasers. Combinations of the above should also be included within the scope of computer-readable media.

While the foregoing disclosure shows illustrative aspects of the disclosure, it should be noted that various changes and modifications could be made herein without departing from the scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claims. The functions, steps and/or actions of the method claims in accordance with the aspects of the disclosure described herein need not be performed in any particular order. Furthermore, although elements of the disclosure may be described or claimed in the singular, the plural is contemplated unless limitation to the singular is explicitly stated.

Claims

A user equipment (UE) configured to operate in first and second radio access technologies (RATs) , comprising:

a processor;

a memory; and

a transceiver,

wherein the processor, the memory, and/or the transceiver are configured to:

receive an emergency call through a first subscription;

determine whether the first subscription is an emergency preferred subscription;

determine, when it is determined that the first subscription is not the emergency preferred subscription, whether a second subscription is registered on a second RAT with emergency support; and

handle, when it is determined that the second subscription is registered on the second RAT with emergency support, the emergency call through the second subscription.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the first and second subscriptions are first and second subscriber identity modules (SIMs) .
The UE of claim 1, wherein the emergency preferred subscription is a non-default data subscription (non-DDS) .
The UE of claim 1, wherein when it is determined that the first subscription is not the emergency preferred subscription, the first RAT is 5G New Radio (NR) and the second RAT is a RAT other than NR.
The UE of claim 4, wherein the second RAT is one of 4G LTE, wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) , and global system for mobile communication (GSM) .
The UE of claim 1, wherein the processor, the memory, and/or the transceiver are further configured to:

handle, when it is determined that the second subscription is not registered on the second RAT with emergency support, the emergency call through the first subscription.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the processor, the memory, and/or the transceiver are further configured to:

determine, when it is determined that the first subscription is the emergency preferred subscription, whether the first subscription is registered on the first RAT with emergency support; and

handle, when it is determined that the first subscription is registered on the first RAT with emergency support, the emergency call through the first subscription.
The UE of claim 7, wherein when it is determined that the first subscription is the emergency preferred subscription, the second RAT is 5G New Radio (NR) and the first RAT is a RAT other than NR.
The UE of claim 8, wherein the first RAT is one of 4G LTE, wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) , and global system for mobile communication (GSM) .
The UE of claim 7, wherein the processor, the memory, and/or the transceiver are further configured to:

determine, when it is determined that the first subscription is not registered on the first RAT with emergency support, whether the second subscription is registered on the second RAT with emergency support;

handle, when it is determined that the second subscription is registered on the second RAT with emergency support, the emergency call through the second subscription; and

handle, when it is determined that the second subscription is not registered on the second RAT with emergency support, the emergency call through the first subscription.
A method of a user equipment (UE) configured to operate in first and second radio access technologies (RATs) , comprising:

receiving an emergency call through a first subscription;

determining whether the first subscription is an emergency preferred subscription;

determining, when it is determined that the first subscription is not the emergency preferred subscription, whether a second subscription is registered on a second RAT with emergency support; and

handling, when it is determined that the second subscription is registered on the second RAT with emergency support, the emergency call through the second subscription.
The method of claim 11, wherein the first and second subscriptions are first and second subscriber identity modules (SIMs) .
The method of claim 11, wherein the emergency preferred subscription is a non-default data subscription (non-DDS) .
The method of claim 11, wherein when it is determined that the first subscription is not the emergency preferred subscription, the first RAT is 5G New Radio (NR) and the second RAT is a RAT other than NR.
The method of claim 14, wherein the second RAT is one of 4G LTE, wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) , and global system for mobile communication (GSM) .
The method of claim 11, further comprising:

handling, when it is determined that the second subscription is not registered on the second RAT with emergency support, the emergency call through the first subscription.
The method of claim 11, further comprising:

determining, when it is determined that the first subscription is the emergency preferred subscription, whether the first subscription is registered on the first RAT with emergency support; and

handling, when it is determined that the first subscription is registered on the first RAT with emergency support, the emergency call through the first subscription.
The method of claim 17, wherein when it is determined that the first subscription is the emergency preferred subscription, the second RAT is 5G New Radio (NR) and the first RAT is a RAT other than NR.
The method of claim 18, wherein the first RAT is one of 4G LTE, wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) , and global system for mobile communication (GSM) .
The method of claim 17, further comprising:

determining, when it is determined that the first subscription is not registered on the first RAT with emergency support, whether the second subscription is registered on the second RAT with emergency support;

handling, when it is determined that the second subscription is registered on the second RAT with emergency support, the emergency call through the second subscription; and

handling, when it is determined that the second subscription is not registered on the second RAT with emergency support, the emergency call through the first subscription.
A user equipment (UE) configured to operate in first and second radio access technologies (RATs) , comprising:

means for receiving an emergency call through a first subscription;

means for determining whether the first subscription is an emergency preferred subscription;

means for determining, when it is determined that the first subscription is not the emergency preferred subscription, whether a second subscription is registered on a second RAT with emergency support; and

means for handling, when it is determined that the second subscription is registered on the second RAT with emergency support, the emergency call through the second subscription.
A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions for a user equipment (UE) , the computer-executable instructions comprising:

one or more instructions instructing the UE to receive an emergency call through a first subscription;

one or more instructions instructing the UE to determine whether the first subscription is an emergency preferred subscription;

one or more instructions instructing the UE to determine, when it is determined that the first subscription is not the emergency preferred subscription, whether a second subscription is registered on a second RAT with emergency support; and

one or more instructions instructing the UE to handle, when it is determined that the second subscription is registered on the second RAT with emergency support, the emergency call through the second subscription.