WO2020199106A1

WO2020199106A1 - User equipment and method for access control through access categorization of same

Info

Publication number: WO2020199106A1
Application number: PCT/CN2019/080891
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jianhua Liu; Chenho Chin
Original assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp., Ltd.
Priority date: 2019-04-01
Filing date: 2019-04-01
Publication date: 2020-10-08
Also published as: CN113228743A; CN113228743B

Abstract

A user equipment (UE) and a method for access control through access categorization of same are provided. The method for access control through access categorization of the UE includes receiving a processing rule from a network node, or knowing a standardized processing rule as UE is a NPN capable UE, wherein the processing rule indicates or allows a determination of an access category for an access attempt in a non-public network (NPN), determining the access category and the access attempt associated with the access category according to the processing rule, and performing an access control pertinent to an NPN environment using a determined the access category and a determined access attempt associated with the determined access category. Such an access categorization can further be used to determine an RRC establishment cause that could indicate the access is by a NPN capable UE.

Description

USER EQUIPMENT AND METHOD FOR ACCESS CONTROL THROUGH ACCESS CATEGORIZATION OF SAME

BACKGROUND OF DISCLOSURE

1. Field of Disclosure

The present disclosure relates to the field of communication systems, and more particularly, to a user equipment (UE) and a method for access control through access categorization of the same.

2. Description of Related Art

At present, when a user equipment (UE) accesses a mobile network through an access network element, a closed subscriber group (CSG) mechanism is introduced to restrict a UE from accessing a particular access network element. In the CSG mechanism, a CSG identifies a group of UEs. These UEs are allowed to access one or more cells of an operator, but other UEs are prevented from accessing these cells. One CSG area contains one or more cells, and all the cells contained in the CSG area are identified by one CSG identify (ID) . One CSG area is restricted to access of one group of UEs and restricts a UE other than those of this group from accessing. For one UE, CSG IDs of all CSG areas that can be accessed by the UE forms an allowed CSG list.

When the CSG mechanism is used to perform access management on a UE, access network elements accessed by the UE have three modes: an open mode, a hybrid mode, and a closed mode. When the UE seeks access through each of access network elements in the preceding three access modes, a mobility management network element obtains the allowed CSG list in user subscription data from a home subscriber server (HSS) , and, according to the CSG ID of a cell currently accessed by the UE, an access mode of an access network element, and the allowed CSG list in the user subscription data, judges whether to allow access of the UE. In details, if the UE seeks access through a cell under an access network element in open mode, a network side allows access of the UE, if the UE seeks access through a cell under an access network element in hybrid mode, when resources are sufficient on the network side, the network side allows the UE to access; when resources are insufficient on the network side, the network side obtains the allowed CSG list in the user subscription data from the HSS when the UE seeks access, and judges whether the CSG ID of the cell accessed by a user is in the allowed CSG list in the user subscription data: if yes, access of the user is allowed; otherwise, access of the user is not allowed, and if the user seeks access through a cell under an access network element in closed mode, the network side judges whether the CSG ID of the cell accessed by the user is in the allowed CSG list in the user subscription data: If yes, access of the user is allowed; otherwise, access of the user is not allowed.

Therefore, there is a need for a user equipment (UE) and a method for access control through access categorization of the same.

SUMMARY

An object of the present disclosure is to propose a user equipment (UE) and a method for access control through access categorization of the same capable of providing a good communication performance and high reliability.

In a first aspect of the present disclosure, a user equipment (UE) for access control through access categorization includes a memory, a transceiver, and a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver. The processor is configured to know a processing rule as the UE is a non-public network (NPN) capable UE or control the transceiver to receive the processing rule from a network node, wherein the processing rule indicates or allows a determination of an access category for an access attempt in a non-public network (NPN) , the processor is configured to determine the access category and the access attempt associated with the access category according to the processing rule, and the processor is configured to perform an access control pertinent to an NPN environment using a determined the access category and a determined access attempt associated with the determined access category.

In a second aspect of the present disclosure, a method for access control through access categorization of a user equipment includes knowing a processing rule as the UE is a non-public network (NPN) capable UE or receiving the processing rule from a network node, wherein the processing rule indicates or allows a determination of an access category for an access attempt in a non-public network (NPN) , determining the access category and the access attempt associated with the access category according to the processing rule, and performing an access control pertinent to an NPN environment using a determined the access category and a determined access attempt associated with the determined access category.

In a third aspect of the present disclosure, a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium has stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the above method.

In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, a terminal device includes a processor and a memory configured to store a computer program. The processor is configured to execute the computer program stored in the memory to perform the above method.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present disclosure or related art, the following figures will be described in the embodiments are briefly introduced. It is obvious that the drawings are merely some embodiments of the present disclosure, a person having ordinary skill in this field can obtain other figures according to these figures without paying the premise.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a user equipment and a network node for access control through access categorization according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method for access control through access categorization of a user equipment according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of a system for wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail with the technical matters, structural features, achieved objects, and effects with reference to the accompanying drawings as follows. Specifically, the terminologies in the embodiments of the present disclosure are merely for describing the purpose of the certain embodiment, but not to limit the disclosure.

FIG. 1 illustrates that, in some embodiments, a user equipment (UE) 10 and a network node 20 for access control through access categorization according to an embodiment of the present disclosure are provided. The UE 10 may include a processor 11, a memory 12, and a transceiver 13. The network node 20 may include a processor 21, a memory 22 and a transceiver 23. The

processor

11 or 21 may be configured to implement proposed functions, procedures and/or methods described in this description. Layers of radio interface protocol may be implemented in the

processor

11 or 21. The

memory

12 or 22 is operatively coupled with the

processor

11 or 21 and stores a variety of information to operate the

processor

11 or 21. The

transceiver

13 or 23 is operatively coupled with the

processor

11 or 21, and the

transceiver

13 or 23 transmits and/or receives a radio signal.

The

processor

11 or 21 may include an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) , other chipsets, logic circuit and/or data processing devices. The

memory

12 or 22 may include a read-only memory (ROM) , a random access memory (RAM) , a flash memory, a memory card, a storage medium and/or other storage devices. The

transceiver

13 or 23 may include baseband circuitry to process radio frequency signals. When the embodiments are implemented in software, the techniques described herein can be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. The modules can be stored in the

memory

12 or 22 and executed by the

processor

11 or 21. The

memory

12 or 22 can be implemented within the

processor

11 or 21 or external to the

processor

11 or 21, in which those can be communicatively coupled to the

processor

11 or 21 via various means are known in the art.

The communication between UEs relates to vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication including vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) , vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P) , and vehicle-to-infrastructure/network (V2I/N) according to a sidelink technology developed under 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) release 14, 15, and beyond. UEs communicate with each other directly via a sidelink interface such as a PC5 interface.

A solution of an embodiment of the present disclosure is to propose a user equipment and a method for access control through access categorization of the same capable of providing a good communication performance and high reliability.

In some embodiments, the processor 11 is configured to know a processing rule as the UE is a non-public network (NPN) capable UE or control the transceiver 13 to receive the processing rule from a network node 20, wherein the processing rule indicates or allows a determination of an access category for an access attempt in a non-public network (NPN) , the processor 11 is configured to determine the access category and the access attempt associated with the access category according to the processing rule, and the processor 11 is configured to perform an access control pertinent to an NPN environment using a determined the access category and a determined access attempt associated with the determined access category.

In details, the processing rule can also be a rule known to the UE if such rule is a standardized rule defined, so a UE that is an NPN capable UE will know to use this standardized rule for determination of an access category for an access attempt in a non-public network (NPN) .

In some embodiments, the access category is a standardized access category, and the standardized access category is for access control of an NPN UE and/or a closed access group (CAG) UE. In some embodiments, the access attempt includes accessing the NPN for a mobile originating (MO) signalling on a non-access stratum (NAS) level resulting from other than paging.

In some embodiments, the access category is an operator defined access category, and the operator defined access category includes an access category criteria type set according to a network identity (ID) , a range of network IDs, a number of network IDs not in a range, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the access category criteria type of the network ID is only used if the UE making the access attempt is a standalone NPN (SNPN) capable UE or a UE that is allowed to access a CAG cell and is attempting to access the CAG cell.

In some embodiments, the access category is an operator defined access category, and the operator defined access category includes an access category criteria type set according to a closed access group (CAG) identity (ID) , a range of CAG IDs, a number of CAG IDs not in a range, or any combination thereof. In some embodiments, the access category criteria type of the CAG ID is only used if the UE making the access attempt is a standalone NPN (SNPN) capable UE or a UE that is allowed to access a CAG cell and is attempting to access the CAG cell.

In some embodiments, the access category is an operator defined access category, and the access attempt includes accessing the NPN for a mobile originating (MO) signalling if the access attempt is triggered by uplink data and the UE is a standalone NPN (SNPN) capable UE or a UE that is allowed to access a CAG cell and is attempting to access the CAG cell. In some embodiments, the access category is an operator defined access category, and the operator defined access category is expanded by adding NPN characteristics.

In some embodiments, the processor 11 is further configured to derive a radio resource control (RRC) establishment cause value using the determined access category, and a use of the RRC establishment cause value indicates which access is by the NPN capable UE. The RRC establishment cause value is a new value or an existing value.

In details, such an access categorization can further be used to determine an RRC establishment cause value that could indicate the access is by a NPN capable UE. The determined access category can further be used to derive a new RRC establishment cause value, that would highlight the nature of UE access to an NPN.

FIG. 2 illustrates a method 200 for access control through access categorization of a user equipment according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. The method 200 includes: a block 202, knowing a processing rule as the UE is a non-public network (NPN) capable UE or receiving the processing rule from a network node, wherein the processing rule indicates or allows a determination of an access category for an access attempt in a non-public network (NPN) , a block 204, determining the access category and the access attempt associated with the access category according to the processing rule, and a block 206, performing an access control pertinent to an NPN environment using a determined the access category and a determined access attempt associated with the determined access category.

In some embodiments, the method further includes deriveing a radio resource control (RRC) establishment cause value using the determined access category, and a use of the RRC establishment cause value indicates which access is by the NPN capable UE. The RRC establishment cause value is a new value or an existing value.

As part of a work on a vertical local area network (LAN) , 3GPP a feature for non-public networks (NPNs) wherein an example of use is enterprise networks is developed. There are two types of NPNs.

A non-public network (NPN) is a 5th generation system (5GS) deployed for non-public use. An NPN may be deployed as follows. A stand-alone non-public network (SNPN) , i.e. operated by an NPN operator and not relying on network functions provided by a PLMN, or a public network integrated NPN, i.e. a non-public network deployed with the support of a public land mobile network (PLMN) .

UEs/mobiles that work in these NPNs are –by nature of these networks being non-public, not the normal mobiles that work in normal 3GPP systems such as 5GS new radio (NR) , 5GS long term evolution (LTE) etc., as such networks are “closed off” from public use.

Regardless, when mobiles of such NPNs attempt access, access checks are done. One can envisage that if mobiles are hosting machine/robots on factory floors and warehouse these will be judged lower in priority than e.g. non-public networks for first responders, public services, and /or hospitals. Thus, access of these mobiles in NPNs, SNPNs, or public network integrated NPNs will need to be checked and permitted or rejected i.e. there need be access control.

Control of access (or access control) can be viewed as follows.

1. control of access to a radio system, i.e. radio access control; cell level access, and after that phase/attempt is allowed, and/or

2. control of access to a core network (through network level registration) and with that access of services (which might take in a further level of registration of services) .

This submission/document and its discussion is on radio access control although mention of access control of services and explanations of it occurs where necessary to aid understanding of contents of this document.

Part of such access control also copes with for times of congestion or overload or even to better manage radio resource usage. At those times, an NPN operator (an enterprise operator) would want to differentiate amongst its population of UEs and selectively allow few or a number of its users to attempt access. To prevent access due to network congestion/overload for authorized UE (s) , network can support the following mechanisms in order to guard itself in case of congestion is provided. Reactive congestion control is provided to perform access stratum (AS) /non-access stratum (NAS) congestion and overload control to alleviate congestion. Proactive congestion control is provided. In case of extreme congestion scenarios, use access barring mechanism to ensure that the unauthorized UE (s) are not even accessing the cell (i.e. random-access channel (RACH) access) in its non-public network to alleviate congestion.

What is clear from work done to date, is that for the radio access control, normative work has not detailed how for the mobile side and the radio network side, such access attempts will be managed, applied, controlled and checked, even if it is to be based on user agent client (UAC) and with such mobiles of NPNs having identifiable access identities.

To distinguish mobile in SNPNs from mobile in public-integrated NPNs, it is understood that a SNPN enabled UE is a UE configured to use stand-alone non-public networks. A SNPN access mode is that a UE operating in SNPN access mode only selects stand-alone non-public networks over Uu.

A close access group (CAG) is only for CAG mobiles and such mobiles can only access/use this closed off Public-integrated NPNs and not normal public networks. Conversely, normal 3GPP mobiles will not be allowed to access through the Closed Access Group, i.e. a form of fenced off network only for a closed knit group of mobile –enterprise networks with their strictly defined mobiles. Therefore, an understanding based on available information (see following annex A and referenced TR and CRs) , a current solution proposes that, either use a special access identity; or not use access identity, but leverage on assigned network identifier and apply UAC features and access categories for NPN UEs. The current solution has drawbacks and problems, that is too vague about how a suggested used of network identifier and UAC works to provide access control for it to be implementable.

Option #1 of the current solution: While it has not been spelled out that access identities are meant for ‘special’ type of users, it is introduced access identities to the 5G system is clear that normal users are given one common access identity and that is access identity = 0. This is in contrast to ‘special’ users like the MPS (Multi-media Priority Service) users and the MCS (Mission Critical Service) users, who gets assigned

access identities

1, 2, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 respectively. the presently assigned access identities point to the reserved access identities will also be for ‘special’ users and not for ‘normal’ users (who have been bunched into just one access identity = 0) .

Access class as assigned to users, have been in place and remains unchanged since GSM. Every normal user/subscriber is given an AC from AC 0 to 9. Special users (like police, fire, network technicians) gets AC 11 to 15. This is accepted that critical services users, first responders, network support staff of their NPN are as in public network environment special users, but that cannot be said of factory robots or assembly line automated machines. Besides the critical services users, first responders and hospital emergency staff are themselves of sufficient importance to be assigned the already specified Access Identities, so assigning these special users another special access identity just for use within NPN is not optimal. In fact, it is a drawback as more access control checks need be specified and implemented for NPN deployments while the present handling of access identities adequately covers for these ‘special’ users.

A further point against having yet another access identity for these ‘special’ users is that already built into the UAC feature/framework, if a UE pass an access control check for one Access Identity, it will still go through even if UE is assigned other Access Identities which in turn are barred from access. Thus, it is found that whilst even in NPN environment, as special class of user would already have one or more Access Identities not equal to 0, there are drawbacks, indeed adding complexity, specification and implementation problems with utilizing Access Identities for NPN access control.

Option #2 of the current solution: the NPN cells will broadcast an indication that that cell is “reserved-for-other-use” . That way UEs which are not to use NPNs will not attempt access. As for UE which are meant to work within NPNs, what Option #2 states is that: for SNPNs a combination of the cell’s broadcast channels indicating cell is “reserved-for-other-use” plus the NPN-ID can be used by those SNPN capable UEs to determine it can attempt access, and/or for public-integrated NPNs a combination of the cell’s broadcast channels indication cell is “reserved-for-other-use” plus the CAG_ID can be used by those UEs to determine its right to access.

Additionally, for Option #2, the “solution allows the Non-public network to use the full-blown set of UAC features, assign own access control categories for own UE (s) in order to support proactive congestion control mechanism for its UE (s) ” , although what is in the TR does not exclude using UAC for Option #1 either. Admittedly, Option #2 does not need to assign new access identity but as the 3GPP TR 23.734 also indicated in subclause 6.5.4, this Option #2, requires a new “framework” . But what is this “framework” is not alluded to. Also how is UAC to work, to be applied for UE working in NPNs, that too, is not described. For avoidance of doubt, what we do not challenge is that UAC, designed and introduced as part of (release 15) Rel-15 5GS can be the framework for access control of SNPN capable UEs or CAG capable UEs or both. What we are arguing in this IDF is that while UAC is named, the application methods and how that would work are current missing and this IDF is proposing methods and solutions to allow for such application of UAC to work.

Further on future work on SNPNs and CAGs: The CAG cell have broadcast information such that only UEs supporting CAG are accessing the cell. The above also implies that cells are either CAG cells or normal PLMN cells. Cells of such NPNs are strictly only for NPN UEs, i.e. these cells are not hybrid cells which can be accessed by NPN UEs and normal UEs. However, one can envisage that in time Hybrid cells for vertical LAN will come about. When such a time come, then the current lack of clear solutions will exasperate the weakness of current access control of NPN UEs. It will be illustrated later in an embodiment that a proposed solution will mitigate such weakness in current access control in hybrid cells.

At the heart of UAC is the assignment of an access category to each access attempt a UE wishes to make. The choice of the access category is determined by the service or best fitting service that the UE is requesting. For instance, if the UE wishes to send an SMS, then the access category to use to check if access is allowed is Access Category 6. In determining the access category, the Access Identity allocated for that UE is also determined. Access Identity is also used by the radio resource control procedures to determine if an access attempt is allowed or is barred. Once that Access Identity and Access Category are determined, then access control is checked to see if the (radio) network allows that category of service to access. Such Access Category determination is specified. Along with the Access Identity and access category the RRC establishment cause is also determined. This RRC establishment cause is passed to the radio network and then onwards to the core network as an indication of the UE’s reason for access.

A UE can have more than one access identity (e.g. an ambulance personnel who is also an MCS user) and also an access can be matched to more than one access categories (e.g. a user wanting an emergency service for making a voice call) . In the event that more than one access category matches the reason for access, sets out the rules to determine one access category for use in access control checks.

Further to note, there are two types of access categories, namely, standardized access categories and operator defined access Categories. Standardized access category classifies a standardized service with a category, e.g. MMTEL video = Category 5. Operator defined Access category allows individual Operators to classify a number of criteria of services (e.g. of certain 5QI for certain DNN and/or matching certain slice S-NSSAI) into an Access Category. Such Operator defined Access Category are in the range of 32 to 63.

And to allow for control of such access the radio network will broadcast access allowance/barring factors criteria against the Access Category. Thus, on the UE side, having determined an access attempt to a certain Access Category, the UE look at the broadcasted barring factors and from that work out if access attempt is allowed. And so, in times of congestion and/or overload, the radio network will manipulate such access allowance /barring factors thereby able to control access attempts of UEs.

A proposed solution: This solution assigns/allocates a new (or more than one new) Standardized Access Category for SNPN and CAG UEs. In 3GPP TS 22.261, Categories 9 to 31 are reserved Standardized Access Categories. One or more of these reserved categories can be set aside for NPN (SNPN or Public integrated network NPN or both) . We provide an example of introducing this new Standardized Access Category by illustrating the change to 3GPP TS 22.261, subclause 6.22.2.3, Table 6.22.2.3-1 –see Annex B -which serves to illustrate this inventive method. With this method of a new Standardized Access Category, the processing rules in 3GPP TS 24.501, Table 4.5.2.2 will be updated to take in this new category. We provide in Annex B of this embodiment, an example of such an update to 3GPP TS 24.501, Table 4.5.2.2, which serve to further illustrate this inventive method.

Encompassed in this method, the radio network will introduce in its broadcast information, the new Standardized Access Category (or categories) and the associated allowance or barring factors or both. With this method, we could continue to use the same set of RRC establishment causes. Alternatively, along with a Standardized Access Category, we defined a new or more than one new RRC establishment cause values. This (or these) new RRC establishment cause value (s) would then provide clearer reasons to the network that the access is associated with UE accessing through NPNs. As a further alternative, just new RRC establishment cause value is used with existing Access Categories. With this further alternative, the existing set of Access Categories will be used as it is for access control and the new RRC establishment Cause is derived to provide information to network that access is associated with UE accessing through NPNs.

Another proposed solution: This solution proposes to introduce a new Operator defined Access Category specifically for use for access control for UE operating in NPN environments. To accommodate specific NPN characteristics, this method proposes the following to be parameters or criteria types for such Operator defined Access Category for NPN UEs. Network ID or a range of Network IDs or a number of Network IDs not in a range, or any combination of these. CAG IDs or a range of CAG IDs or a number of CAG IDs not in a range or any combination of these. We provide in Annex C of this embodiment, as further illustration of this method and solution, an example change to 3GPP TS 24.501, introducing what have been proposed for Operator defined Access Category, see Annex C. The existing RRC establishment cause values can be used or like above, a new or a number of new RRC establishment cause values can be introduced. The benefit with new RRC establishment cause is that the request for access can be clearly identified as that for NPN service. Encompassed in this method, the radio network will introduce in its broadcast information, the new Operator defined Access Category (or categories) and the associated allowance or barring factors or both.

Another proposed solution: In this solution, instead of a new Operator defined Access Category, an existing Operator defined Access Category can be have its parameters or criteria types expanded to accommodate specific NPN characteristics. This method thus considers the following to be additional parameters or criteria types that can be added to an existing Operator defined Access Category just so facilitate access control of UEs operating in NPN environments. Network ID or a range of Network IDs or a number of Network IDs not in a range, or any combination of these. CAG IDs or a range of CAG IDs or a number of CAG IDs not in a range or any combination of these. The existing RRC establishment cause values can be used or like above, a new or a number of new RRC establishment cause values can be introduced. The benefit with new RRC establishment cause is that the request for access can be clearly identified as that for NPN service. Encompassed in this method, the radio network will introduce in its broadcast information, the new Operator defined Access Category (or categories) and the associated allowance or barring factors or both.

In one method, the embodiment proposes introducing a new Standardized Access Category. With such an introduction, new or changed processing rule to determine access category for access attempt will have to be made. To enable access control checks to be done against this new Standardized Access Category, another aspect of this embodiment, is that a radio access network (RAN) introduces to its broadcast information, this new Standardized Access Category along with the barring factors for that access category. With a new Standardized Access Category, the UE’s access attempt can be clearly classified and access control performed pertinent to NPN environments. Nothing in the above precludes that more than one new Access Categories for access control of NPN and/or CAG UEs.

In another method, the embodiment proposes introducing a new Operator defined Access Category. This new Operator defined Access Category shall have new characteristics that are characteristics defined for NPN use. To enable access control checks to be done against this new Operator defined Access Category, the RAN will have to introduce to its broadcast information, this new Operator defined Access Category along with the barring factors for that access category. In that way, the population of NPN UEs access attempts can be control to allow part of the population to gain access.

In yet another method, an existing Operator defined Access Category can be expanded by adding NPN characteristics to existing criteria types of Operator defined Access Category. For this method as an existing Operator defined Access Category is use, the RAN need to adjust the barring factors for that existing Operator defined Access Category for its population of NPN UEs to facilitate access control for that population of NPN UEs. Nothing in the above precludes that more than one new Operator defined Access Categories for access control of NPN and/or CAG UEs.

In all the described methods of the embodiments, it is clear and claimed that there is an option to introduce a new or newer RRC establishment cause values that identifies the UE’s access is related to NPN or CAG or both. By doing so, the network can distinguish that the request for services is specifically by an NPN/CAG UE for NPN/CAG related services. It is also clear and claimed that all the described methods and alternatives and options of the embodiments apply equally to Hybrid cells should such Hybrid cells be deployed to support both normal UEs and NPN UEs.

Annex A:

Annex B:

Annex C:

FIG. 3 is a block diagram of an example system 700 for wireless communication according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Embodiments described herein may be implemented into the system using any suitably configured hardware and/or software. FIG. 5 illustrates the system 700 including a radio frequency (RF) circuitry 710, a baseband circuitry 720, an application circuitry 730, a memory/storage 740, a display 750, a camera 760, a sensor 770, and an input/output (I/O) interface 780, coupled with each other at least as illustrated.

The application circuitry 730 may include a circuitry, such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processors may include any combinations of general-purpose processors and dedicated processors, such as graphics processors and application processors. The processors may be coupled with the memory/storage and configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications and/or operating systems running on the system.

The baseband circuitry 720 may include a circuitry, such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processors may include a baseband processor. The baseband circuitry may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation, encoding, decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may support communication with an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) and/or other wireless metropolitan area networks (WMAN) , a wireless local area network (WLAN) , a wireless personal area network (WPAN) . Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

In various embodiments, the baseband circuitry 720 may include circuitry to operate with signals that are not strictly considered as being in a baseband frequency. For example, in some embodiments, baseband circuitry may include circuitry to operate with signals having an intermediate frequency, which is between a baseband frequency and a radio frequency.

The RF circuitry 710 may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network.

In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 710 may include circuitry to operate with signals that are not strictly considered as being in a radio frequency. For example, in some embodiments, RF circuitry may include circuitry to operate with signals having an intermediate frequency, which is between a baseband frequency and a radio frequency.

In various embodiments, the transmitter circuitry, control circuitry, or receiver circuitry discussed above with respect to the user equipment, eNB, or gNB may be embodied in whole or in part in one or more of the RF circuitry, the baseband circuitry, and/or the application circuitry. As used herein, “circuitry” may refer to, be part of, or include an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC) , an electronic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) , and/or a memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the electronic device circuitry may be implemented in, or functions associated with the circuitry may be implemented by, one or more software or firmware modules.

In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry, the application circuitry, and/or the memory/storage may be implemented together on a system on a chip (SOC) .

The memory/storage 740 may be used to load and store data and/or instructions, for example, for system. The memory/storage for one embodiment may include any combination of suitable volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM) ) , and/or non-volatile memory, such as flash memory.

In various embodiments, the I/O interface 780 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the system and/or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interaction with the system. User interfaces may include, but are not limited to a physical keyboard or keypad, a touchpad, a speaker, a microphone, etc. Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, and a power supply interface.

In various embodiments, the sensor 770 may include one or more sensing devices to determine environmental conditions and/or location information related to the system. In some embodiments, the sensors may include, but are not limited to, a gyro sensor, an accelerometer, a proximity sensor, an ambient light sensor, and a positioning unit. The positioning unit may also be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuitry and/or RF circuitry to communicate with components of a positioning network, e.g., a global positioning system (GPS) satellite.

In various embodiments, the display 750 may include a display, such as a liquid crystal display and a touch screen display. In various embodiments, the system 700 may be a mobile computing device such as, but not limited to, a laptop computing device, a tablet computing device, a netbook, an ultrabook, a smartphone, etc. In various embodiments, system may have more or less components, and/or different architectures. Where appropriate, methods described herein may be implemented as a computer program. The computer program may be stored on a storage medium, such as a non-transitory storage medium.

In the embodiment of the present disclosure, a user equipment and a method for access control through access categorization of the same capable of providing a good communication performance and high reliability. The embodiment of the present disclosure is a combination of techniques/processes that can be adopted in 3GPP specification to create an end product.

A person having ordinary skill in the art understands that each of the units, algorithm, and steps described and disclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure are realized using electronic hardware or combinations of software for computers and electronic hardware. Whether the functions run in hardware or software depends on the condition of application and design requirement for a technical plan.

A person having ordinary skill in the art can use different ways to realize the function for each specific application while such realizations should not go beyond the scope of the present disclosure. It is understood by a person having ordinary skill in the art that he/she can refer to the working processes of the system, device, and unit in the above-mentioned embodiment since the working processes of the above-mentioned system, device, and unit are basically the same. For easy description and simplicity, these working processes will not be detailed.

It is understood that the disclosed system, device, and method in the embodiments of the present disclosure can be realized with other ways. The above-mentioned embodiments are exemplary only. The division of the units is merely based on logical functions while other divisions exist in realization. It is possible that a plurality of units or components are combined or integrated in another system. It is also possible that some characteristics are omitted or skipped. On the other hand, the displayed or discussed mutual coupling, direct coupling, or communicative coupling operate through some ports, devices, or units whether indirectly or communicatively by ways of electrical, mechanical, or other kinds of forms.

The units as separating components for explanation are or are not physically separated. The units for display are or are not physical units, that is, located in one place or distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units are used according to the purposes of the embodiments. Moreover, each of the functional units in each of the embodiments can be integrated in one processing unit, physically independent, or integrated in one processing unit with two or more than two units.

If the software function unit is realized and used and sold as a product, it can be stored in a readable storage medium in a computer. Based on this understanding, the technical plan proposed by the present disclosure can be essentially or partially realized as the form of a software product. Or, one part of the technical plan beneficial to the conventional technology can be realized as the form of a software product. The software product in the computer is stored in a storage medium, including a plurality of commands for a computational device (such as a personal computer, a server, or a network device) to run all or some of the steps disclosed by the embodiments of the present disclosure. The storage medium includes a USB disk, a mobile hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM) , a random access memory (RAM) , a floppy disk, or other kinds of media capable of storing program codes.

While the present disclosure has been described in connection with what is considered the most practical and preferred embodiments, it is understood that the present disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments but is intended to cover various arrangements made without departing from the scope of the broadest interpretation of the appended claims.

Claims

A user equipment (UE) for access control through access categorization, comprising:

a memory;

a transceiver; and

a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver,

wherein the processor is configured to:

know a processing rule as the UE is a non-public network (NPN) capable UE or control the transceiver to receive the processing rule from a network node, wherein the processing rule indicates or allows a determination of an access category for an access attempt in a non-public network (NPN) ;

determine the access category and the access attempt associated with the access category according to the processing rule; and

perform an access control pertinent to an NPN environment using a determined the access category and a determined access attempt associated with the determined access category.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the access category is a standardized access category, and the standardized access category is for access control of an NPN UE and/or a closed access group (CAG) UE.
The UE of claim 1 or 2, wherein the access attempt comprises accessing the NPN for a mobile originating (MO) signalling on a non-access stratum (NAS) level resulting from other than paging.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the access category is an operator defined access category, and the operator defined access category comprises an access category criteria type set according to a network identity (ID) , a range of network IDs, a number of network IDs not in a range, or any combination thereof.
The UE of claim 4, wherein the access category criteria type of the network ID is only used if the UE making the access attempt is a standalone NPN (SNPN) capable UE or a UE that is allowed to access a CAG cell and is attempting to access the CAG cell.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the access category is an operator defined access category, and the operator defined access category comprises an access category criteria type set according to a closed access group (CAG) identity (ID) , a range of CAG IDs, a number of CAG IDs not in a range, or any combination thereof.
The UE of claim 5, wherein the access category criteria type of the CAG ID is only used if the UE making the access attempt is a standalone NPN (SNPN) capable UE or a UE that is allowed to access a CAG cell and is attempting to access the CAG cell.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the access category is an operator defined access category, and the access attempt comprises accessing the NPN for a mobile originating (MO) signalling if the access attempt is triggered by uplink data and the UE is a standalone NPN (SNPN) capable UE or a UE that is allowed to access a CAG cell and is attempting to access the CAG cell.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the access category is an operator defined access category, and the operator defined access category is expanded by adding NPN characteristics.
The UE of claim 1, wherein the processor is further configured to derive a radio resource control (RRC) establishment cause value using the determined access category, and a use of the RRC establishment cause value indicates which access is by the NPN capable UE.
The UE of claim 10, wherein the RRC establishment cause value is a new value or an existing value.
A method for access control through access categorization of a user equipment (UE) , comprising:

knowing a processing rule as the UE is a non-public network (NPN) capable UE or receiving the processing rule from a network node, wherein the processing rule indicates or allows a determination of an access category for an access attempt in a non-public network (NPN) ;

determining the access category and the access attempt associated with the access category according to the processing rule; and

performing an access control pertinent to an NPN environment using a determined the access category and a determined access attempt associated with the determined access category.
The method of claim 12, wherein the access category is a standardized access category, and the standardized access category is for access control of an NPN UE and/or a closed access group (CAG) UE.
The method of claim 12 or 13, wherein the access attempt comprises accessing the NPN for a mobile originating (MO) signalling on a non-access stratum (NAS) level resulting from other than paging.
The method of claim 12, wherein the access category is an operator defined access category, and the operator defined access category comprises an access category criteria type set according to a network identity (ID) , a range of network IDs, a number of network IDs not in a range, or any combination thereof.
The method of claim 15, wherein the access category criteria type of the network ID is only used if the UE making the access attempt is a standalone NPN (SNPN) capable UE or a UE that is allowed to access a CAG cell and is attempting to access the CAG cell.
The method of claim 12, wherein the access category is an operator defined access category, and the operator defined access category comprises an access category criteria type set according to a CAG) identity (ID) , a range of CAG IDs, a number of CAG IDs not in a range, or any combination thereof.
The method of claim 16, wherein the access category criteria type of the CAG ID is only used if the UE making the access attempt is a standalone NPN (SNPN) capable UE or a UE that is allowed to access a CAG cell and is attempting to access the CAG cell.
The method of claim 12, wherein the access category is an operator defined access category, and the access attempt comprises accessing the NPN for a mobile originating (MO) signalling if the access attempt is triggered by uplink data and the UE is a standalone NPN (SNPN) capable UE or a UE that is allowed to access a CAG cell and is attempting to access the CAG cell.
The method of claim 12, wherein the access category is an operator defined access category, and the operator defined access category is expanded by adding NPN characteristics.
The method of claim 12, further comprising deriving a radio resource control (RRC) establishment cause value using the determined access category, wherein a use of the RRC establishment cause value indicates which access is by the NPN capable UE.
The method of claim 21, wherein the RRC establishment cause value is a new value or an existing value.
A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having stored thereon instructions that, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 12 to 22.
A terminal device, comprising: a processor and a memory configured to store a computer program, the processor configured to execute the computer program stored in the memory to perform the method of any one of claims 12 to 22.