CN113228743A

CN113228743A - User equipment and access control method thereof through access classification

Info

Publication number: CN113228743A
Application number: CN201980086989.3A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 刘建华; 陈振豪
Original assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Current assignee: Guangdong Oppo Mobile Telecommunications Corp Ltd
Priority date: 2019-04-01
Filing date: 2019-04-01
Publication date: 2021-08-06
Anticipated expiration: 2039-04-01
Also published as: CN113228743B; WO2020199106A1

Abstract

A User Equipment (UE) and a method for access control thereof through an access class are provided. The method for access control of the UE through the access classification comprises the following steps: receiving a processing rule from a network node, or when the UE is an NPN capable UE, knowing the processing rule, wherein the processing rule indicates or allows for determining an access category of an access attempt in a non-public network (NPN); determining an access category and an access attempt associated with the access category according to the processing rules, and performing access control in relation to the NPN environment using the determined access category and the determined access attempt associated with the determined access category. Such an access classification may also be used to determine an RRC establishment cause that may indicate that access is by an NPN capable UE.

Description

User equipment and access control method thereof through access classification

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of communication systems, and more particularly, to a User Equipment (UE) and a method for access control thereof through access classification.

Background

Currently, when a User Equipment (UE) accesses a mobile network through an access network element, a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG) mechanism is introduced to restrict the UE from accessing a specific access network element. In the CSG mechanism, the CSG identifies a group of UEs. These UEs are allowed to access one or more cells of the operator, but other UEs are prevented from accessing these cells. One CSG area includes one or more cells, and all cells included in the CSG area are identified by one CSG Identity (ID). One CSG area is restricted to access by a group of UEs, and restricts access by UEs other than the group of UEs. For one UE, the CSG IDs of all CSG areas that the UE can access form an allowed CSG list.

When the CSG mechanism is used to perform access management on the UE, an access network element accessed by the UE has three modes, i.e., an open mode, a hybrid mode, and a closed mode. When the UE seeks access through each of the access network elements in the three access modes, the mobility management network element obtains an allowed CSG list in the user subscription data from a Home Subscriber Server (HSS), and determines whether to allow the access of the UE according to a CSG ID of a cell to which the UE is currently accessed, the access mode of the access network element, and the allowed CSG list in the user subscription data. In detail, if the UE seeks access through the cell under the access network element in the open mode, the network side allows the UE to access, and if the UE seeks access through the cell under the access network element in the mixed mode, the network side allows the UE to access when the resources of the network side are sufficient; when the network side resource is insufficient, the network side obtains the allowed CSG list in the user subscription data from the HSS when the UE seeks to access, and 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, allowing the user to access; otherwise, not allowing the user to access, and if the user seeks access through the cell under the access network element in the closed mode, the network side determines whether the CSG ID of the cell accessed by the user is in the allowed CSG list in the user subscription data: if yes, allowing the user to access; otherwise, the user is not allowed access.

Therefore, there is a need for a User Equipment (UE) and a method for access control thereof through access classification.

Disclosure of Invention

An object of the present disclosure is to provide a User Equipment (UE) and a method for access control thereof through access classification, thereby being capable of providing good communication performance and high reliability.

In a first aspect of the disclosure, a User Equipment (UE) for access control by access classification includes a memory, a transceiver, and a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver. The processor is configured to: the method comprises the steps of knowing a processing rule when the UE is a non-public network (NPN) -capable UE or controlling the transceiver to receive the processing rule from a network node, wherein the processing rule indicates or allows a determination of an access category of an access attempt in the 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 access control related to the NPN environment using the determined access category and the determined access attempt associated with the determined access category.

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

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

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

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate embodiments of the present disclosure or related art, the following drawings, which will be described in the embodiments, are briefly introduced. It is apparent that the drawings are merely some embodiments of the disclosure and that other drawings may be derived by one of ordinary skill in the art without undue experimentation.

Fig. 1 is a block diagram of a user equipment and a network node for access control by access classification according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

Fig. 2 is a flowchart illustrating a method of access control by access classification of a user equipment according to an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Fig. 3 is a block diagram of a system for wireless communication in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

Detailed Description

Technical contents, structural features, objects of implementation, and effects in the embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. In particular, the terminology used in the embodiments of the present disclosure is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention.

Fig. 1 illustrates that in some embodiments, a User Equipment (UE)10 and a network node 20 for access control by access classification according to embodiments 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 comprise a processor 21, a memory 22 and a transceiver 23. The

processor

11 or 21 may be configured to implement the proposed functions, procedures and/or methods described in this specification. Layers of the 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 various 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 wireless signals.

The

processor

11 or 21 may comprise an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), other chipset, logic circuit and/or data processing device. The

memory

12 or 22 may include Read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), flash memory, memory cards, storage media, and/or other storage devices. The

transceiver

13 or 23 may comprise a baseband circuit for processing radio frequency signals. When the embodiments are implemented in software, the techniques described herein may be implemented with modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. These modules may be stored in

memory

12 or 22 and executed by

processor

11 or 21. The

memory

12 or 22 may be implemented within the

processor

11 or 21 or external to the

processor

11 or 21, wherein the memory may be communicatively coupled to the

processor

11 or 21 via various means as is known in the art.

According to sidelink technologies developed under third generation partnership project (3GPP) releases 14, 15 and beyond, communication between UEs involves vehicle-to-ambient (V2X) communication including vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-pedestrian (V2P), and vehicle-to-infrastructure/network (V2I/N). The UEs communicate directly with each other via a sidelink interface, such as a PC5 interface.

The scheme of the embodiment of the disclosure is to provide a user equipment capable of providing good communication performance and high reliability and a method for controlling access through access classification.

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

In particular, if the processing rule is a defined standardized rule, such processing rule may also be a rule known to the UE, so the UE being an NPN capable UE will know to use the standardized rule to determine the access category of 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 used for access control for NPN UEs and/or Closed Access Group (CAG) UEs. In some embodiments, the access attempt includes accessing the NPN for Mobile Originated (MO) signaling on a non-access stratum (NAS) level that occurs in addition to paging.

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

In some embodiments, the access category is an operator defined access category, and if the access attempt is triggered by uplink data and the UE is an independent NPN (snpn) capable UE or a UE allowed to access a CAG cell and attempting to access the CAG cell, the access attempt comprises accessing the NPN for Mobile Originated (MO) signaling. In some embodiments, the access category is an operator defined access category, and the operator defined access category is extended by adding NPN features.

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 the use of the RRC establishment cause value indicates which access is made by the NPN capable UE. The RRC establishment cause value is a new value or an existing value.

In detail, such access classification may also be used to determine an RRC establishment cause value, which may indicate that access is by an NPN capable UE. The determined access category may also be used to derive a new RRC establishment cause value, which will highlight the nature of the UE accessing the NPN.

Fig. 2 illustrates a method 200 for access control by access classification of a user equipment according to an embodiment of the disclosure. The method 200 comprises the following steps: a block 202, which either knows a processing rule when the UE is a non-public network (NPN) -capable UE or receives a processing rule from a network node, wherein the processing rule indicates or allows a determination of an access category of an access attempt in the non-public network (NPN); block 204, determining an access category and an access attempt associated with the access category according to the processing rule; and block 206, performing access control relating to the NPN environment using the determined access category and the determined access attempt associated with the determined access category.

In some embodiments, the access category is a standardized access category, and the standardized access category is used for access control for NPN UEs and/or Closed Access Group (CAG) UEs. In some embodiments, the access attempt includes accessing the NPN for Mobile Originated (MO) signaling on a non-access stratum (NAS) level that is generated in addition to paging.

In some embodiments, the access category is an operator defined access category and the access attempt comprises accessing the NPN for Mobile Originated (MO) signaling if the access attempt is triggered by uplink data and the UE is an independent NPN (snpn) capable UE or a UE allowed to access the CAG cell and 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 extended by adding NPN features.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises: a Radio Resource Control (RRC) establishment cause value is derived using the determined access category, and 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 working on vertical Local Area Networks (LANs), 3GPP developed features for non-public networks (NPN), an example of which is used is an enterprise network. There are two types of NPN.

The non-public network (NPN) is a fifth generation system (5GS) deployed for non-public use. The NPN can be deployed as follows. A stand-alone non-public network (SNPN), i.e. a network function operated by the NPN operator and not dependent on the PLMN offering, or a public network integrated NPN, i.e. a non-public network deployed with the support of a Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN).

The UEs/mobile devices operating in these NPN are not normal mobile devices operating in normal 3GPP systems such as 5GS New Radio (NR), 5GS Long Term Evolution (LTE) and so on, due to the non-public nature of these networks, as such networks are "off" for public use.

In any case, when such an NPN mobile device attempts to access, an access check is made. It is contemplated that if the mobile devices are hosting machines/robots of factory plants and warehouses, then these devices will be determined to be lower priority than non-public networks, such as for emergency personnel, public services, and/or hospitals. Therefore, there is a need to check and allow or deny access of these mobile devices in NPN, SNPN or public network integrated NPN, i.e. access control is needed.

The control of access (or access control) can be considered as follows.

1. Control of access to the wireless system, i.e. wireless access control; cell level access and after this phase/attempt is allowed, and/or

2. Control of access to the core network (via network level registration), and access to services accompanying it (which may require further level registration of services).

This submission/document and its discussion are with respect to wireless access control, although references to access control of services and explanations thereof will occur as necessary to aid in understanding the content of this document.

Part of this access control should also deal with times of congestion or overload or even for better management of the use of radio resources. At these times, the NPN operator (enterprise operator) wishes to differentiate its UE population and selectively allow a few or more of its users to attempt access. In order to prevent access by authorized UEs due to network congestion/overload, the network may support the following mechanisms to provide protection for itself in case of congestion. Reactive congestion control is provided to perform Access Stratum (AS)/non-access stratum (NAS) congestion and overload control to alleviate congestion. Active congestion control is provided. In the case of extreme congestion scenarios, access barring (access barring) mechanisms are used to ensure that an unauthorized UE does not even access a cell in its non-public network (i.e., Random Access Channel (RACH) access) to alleviate congestion.

As can be seen from the work done so far, for radio access control, the specification work does not specify how such access attempts will be managed, applied, controlled and checked for the mobile side and the radio network side, even if they will be based on a User Agent Client (UAC) and utilize such mobile devices with NPN with identifiable access identities.

To distinguish mobile devices in SNPN from mobile devices in a common integrated NPN, it should be understood that SNPN-enabled UEs are UEs configured to use independent non-common networks. The SNPN access mode is that a UE operating in the SNPN access mode selects an independent non-public network only on Uu.

A Closed Access Group (CAG) is used only for CAG mobile devices and such mobile devices can only access/use the closed public integrated NPN instead of the ordinary public network. In contrast, ordinary 3GPP mobile devices will not be allowed access through a closed access group, i.e., an isolated network form that is used only for a set of closely related mobile devices — the enterprise network, which has its strictly defined mobile devices. Therefore, based on the understanding of the available information (see below annex a and referenced TR and CR), current solutions propose either to use a special access identity; or instead of using the access identity, the assigned network identifier is utilized and the UAC characteristics and access class are applied for the NPN UE. The current solution suffers from the disadvantage and problem that the proposed use of the network identifier and UAC work to provide its achievable access control is too ambiguous.

Option #1 of the current solution: although it has not been stated yet that the access identities are for "special" types of users, an access identity is introduced to the 5G system, it being clear that the ordinary users are given a common access identity, i.e. an access identity of 0. This is in contrast to "special" users like MPS (multimedia priority service) users and MCS (mission critical service) users, which are assigned

access identities

1, 2, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, respectively. The currently allocated access identities point to reserved access identities that will also be used for "special" users instead of "ordinary" users (they have been aggregated into only one access identity ═ 0).

The access class (access class) assigned to a user already exists since GSM and remains unchanged. Each ordinary user/subscriber is given an AC from 0 to 9. Special users (e.g., police, fire, network technicians) obtain ACs 11 through 15. This is acceptable as critical service customers, emergency personnel, their NPN network support personnel are special customers in a public network environment, but not for factory robots or pipeline automation machines. In addition to the critical service subscribers, the emergency personnel and the hospital emergency personnel themselves are also important enough to have been assigned a specific access identity, so that it is not optimal to assign these special subscribers another special access identity that is used only in the NPN. In fact, this is a drawback, since more access control checks need to be specified and implemented for the NPN deployment, while the current handling of access identities is sufficient to cover these "special" users.

Another point against these "special" users having another access identity is that they have been built into the UAC feature/framework and will pass if the UE passes the access control check for one access identity, even if the UE is assigned another access identity to which access is barred. It was thus found that even in an NPN environment, there are drawbacks, which do increase the complexity, specification and implementation problems of NPN access control with access identities, since a particular class of users already has one or more access identities not equal to 0.

Option #2 of the current solution: the NPN cell will broadcast an indication that the cell is "reserved for other purposes". Thus, a UE that does not use an NPN will not attempt access. For a UE intended to operate within an NPN, option #2 illustrates: for SNPN, the combination of cell broadcast channel plus NPN-ID indicating that the cell is "reserved for other uses" may be used by those SNPN-capable UEs to determine that it may attempt access, and/or for commonly integrated NPN, the combination of cell broadcast channel indication plus CAG _ ID indicating that the cell is "reserved for other uses" may be used by those UEs to determine their right to access.

Furthermore, for option #2, the "solution allows non-public networks to use a fully mature (full-brown) UAC feature set, assigning their own UE with its own access control class to support the active congestion control mechanism of its UE", although the content in TR does not preclude the use of UAC for option # 1. Indeed, option #2 does not require the assignment of a new access identity, but as also indicated in clause 6.5.4 of 3GPP TR 23.734, this option #2 requires a new "framework". But nothing is said about this "frame". Nor how the UAC works to be suitable for a UE working in NPN. For the avoidance of doubt, we do not challenge the UAC designed and introduced as part of the (release 15) Rel-155 GS may be a framework for access by SNPN-capable UEs or CAG-capable UEs or both. We argue in this IDF that although the UAC is named, there is currently a lack of methods of application and how it works, and this IDF is proposing methods and solutions that allow such application of the UAC to work.

Further regarding future work with SNPN and CAG: the CAG cell has broadcast information so that only UEs supporting CAG access the cell. The above also implies that the cell is a CAG cell or a general PLMN cell. Such NPN cells are strictly only used for NPN UEs, i.e. these cells are not hybrid cells that both NPN UEs and ordinary UEs can access. However, it is conceivable that a mixed cell of the vertical LAN occurs sooner or later. When such a time comes, then the current lack of an explicit solution will exacerbate the current weakness of access control for NPN UEs. It will be explained later in the embodiments that the proposed solution will alleviate this weakness in the current access control in the hybrid cell.

The core of the UAC is the assignment of an access class to each access attempt that the UE wishes to make. The choice of access category is determined by the service the UE is requesting or the most adapted service. For example, if the UE wishes to send an SMS, the access category to be used to check if access is allowed is access category 6. When determining the access category, an access identifier allocated for the UE is also determined. The access identity is also used by the radio resource control procedure to determine whether to allow or disallow the access attempt. Once the access identity and access category are determined, the access control is checked to see if the (wireless) network allows access to the services of that category. This access category determination is specified. Together with the access identity and access category, the RRC establishment cause is also determined. The RRC establishment cause is passed to the radio network and then on to the core network as an indication of the UE access cause.

The UE may have more than one access identity (e.g., ambulance personnel who are also MCS users) and the access may also match more than one access category (e.g., users requiring emergency services make voice calls). In case more than one access category matches the access cause, then rules are formulated to determine the one access category used in the access control check.

It is further noted that there are two types of access categories, namely standardized access categories and operator defined access categories. Standardized access category a standardized service is classified into categories, e.g., MMTEL video category 5. The operator-defined access categories allow each operator to classify a plurality of service criteria (e.g., a particular 5QI for a particular DNN and/or a service criteria matching a particular slice S-NSSAI) into an access category. Such operator defined access categories are in the range of 32 to 63.

And in order to allow control of such access, the wireless network will broadcast access allow/disallow factor criteria for the access category. Thus, on the UE side, after determining an access attempt to a certain access category, the UE looks at the broadcasted barring factors and derives therefrom whether to allow the access attempt. Thus, in case of congestion and/or overload, the wireless network will manipulate such access enabling/disabling factors, thereby being able to control the access attempts of the UE.

The proposed solution is: the solution assigns/assigns a new (or more than one new) standardized access class for SNPN UEs and CAG UEs. In 3GPP TS22.261, classes 9 to 31 are reserved standardized access classes. One or more of these reserved categories may be set aside for NPN (SNPN or common integrated network NPN or both). We provide an example of introducing this new standardized access category by specifying changes to 3GPP TS22.261, subclause 6.22.2.3, table 6.22.2.3-1 (see annex B), which is used to illustrate the method of the present invention. With this new method of standardizing access categories, the processing rules in table 4.5.2.2 of 3GPP TS 24.501 will be updated to incorporate this new category. We provide an example of such an update to table 4.5.2.2 of 3GPP TS 24.501 in annex B of the present embodiment, which serves to further illustrate the method of the invention.

It is contemplated in this approach that the wireless network will introduce a new standardized access category (or categories) and associated enabling or disabling factors or both in its broadcast information. With this approach, we can continue to use the same RRC establishment cause set. Alternatively, together with the standardized access categories, we define new or more than one new RRC establishment cause value. This (or these) new RRC establishment cause value(s) will provide the network with a more explicit reason for the association of access to UEs through NPN access. As a further alternative, only new RRC establishment cause values are used with existing access classes. With this further alternative, the existing set of access classes will be used as is for access control and a new RRC establishment cause is derived to provide the network with access information associated with UEs accessing through the NPN.

Another proposed solution is: this solution proposes to introduce a new operator defined access category, dedicated to the access control of UEs operating in an NPN environment. To adapt to specific NPN characteristics, the method proposes the following such operator defined access categories as parameters or standard types for NPN UEs. A network ID, or a range of network IDs, or a number of network IDs that are not within range, or any combination of these. CAG IDs, or a range of CAG IDs, or a number of CAG IDs not within range, or any combination of these. As a further explanation of the method and solution we provide an example modification to 3GPP TS 24.501 in annex C of the present embodiment, introducing what has been proposed for operator defined access classes, see annex C. An existing RRC establishment cause value may be used or, as above, a new or multiple new RRC establishment cause values may be introduced. The new RRC establishment cause has the advantage that the access request can be clearly identified as an access request for NPN services. It is contemplated in this approach that the wireless network will introduce a new operator-defined access category (or categories) and associated enabling or disabling factors or both in its broadcast information.

Another proposed solution is: in this solution, instead of a new operator defined access category, an existing operator defined access category may extend its parameters or standard types to accommodate the specific NPN characteristics. Thus, the method considers the following as additional parameters or standard types that can be added to existing operator defined access categories to facilitate access control for UEs operating in an NPN environment. Network IDs or ranges of network IDs or number of network IDs that are not within range, or any combination of these. CAG IDs or ranges of CAG IDs or number of CAG IDs not within range or any combination of these. An existing RRC establishment cause value may be used or, as above, a new or multiple new RRC establishment cause values may be introduced. The new RRC establishment cause has the advantage that the access request can be clearly identified as an access request for NPN services. It is contemplated in this approach that the wireless network will introduce a new operator-defined access category (or categories) and associated enabling or disabling factors or both in its broadcast information.

In one approach, this embodiment proposes to introduce a new standardized access class. With such introduction, new or modified processing rules must be enacted to determine the access category of the access attempt. In order to be able to perform an access control check for this new standardized access category, another aspect of the embodiment is that the Radio Access Network (RAN) introduces this new standardized access category and a barring factor for this access category to its broadcast information. With the new standardized access categories, access attempts by the UE can be explicitly classified and access control related to the NPN environment can be performed. The above does not exclude more than one new access category for access control of NPN UEs and/or CAG UEs.

In another approach, this embodiment proposes to introduce a new operator defined access category. The new operator defined access category should have new characteristics, which are characteristics defined for NPN use. In order to be able to perform an access control check for this new operator defined access category, the RAN must introduce this new operator defined access category and a barring factor for this access category to its broadcast information. In this way, access attempts by the NPN UE population may be controlled to allow access to a portion of the population.

In yet another approach, the existing operator defined access categories may be extended by adding NPN features to the existing standard types of operator defined access categories. For this approach, since existing operator-defined access categories are used, the RAN needs to adjust the barring factors for its NPN UE population for the existing operator-defined access categories to facilitate access control to the NPN UE population. The above does not exclude more than one new operator defined access category for access control of NPN UEs and/or CAG UEs.

In all the described methods of embodiments, it is clear and stated that there is an option to introduce a new or updated RRC establishment cause value identifying that the access of the UE is related to NPN or CAG or both. By doing so, the network can distinguish between requests for services, in particular NPN UE/CAG UE, made for NPN/CAG related services. It is also clear and stated that all described methods and alternatives and options of the embodiments are equally applicable to such a hybrid cell if it is deployed to support both normal and NPN UEs.

An accessory A:

an accessory B:

an accessory C:

fig. 3 is a block diagram of an example system 700 for wireless communication in accordance with an embodiment of the disclosure. The embodiments described herein may be implemented into a system using any suitably configured hardware and/or software. Fig. 5 shows a system 700, the system 700 including Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry 710, baseband circuitry 720, application circuitry 730, memory/storage 740, a display 750, a camera 760, a sensor 770, and an input/output (I/O) interface 780, coupled to one another at least as shown.

The application circuitry 730 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor may include any combination of general-purpose processors and special-purpose processors (e.g., a graphics processor and an application processor). The processor 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 to run on the system.

Baseband circuitry 720 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor may comprise a baseband processor. The baseband circuitry may handle various wireless control functions that enable communication with one or more wireless networks via the RF circuitry. The wireless control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation, encoding, decoding, radio frequency shifting, and the like. In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may provide communications compatible with one or more wireless 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 (WMANs), Wireless Local Area Networks (WLANs), Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPANs). Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry is configured to support wireless communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

In various embodiments, baseband circuitry 720 may include circuitry for operating with signals that are not strictly considered to be in baseband frequencies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may include circuitry for operating with signals having an intermediate frequency between the baseband frequency and the radio frequency.

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

In various embodiments, RF circuitry 710 may include circuitry for operating with signals that are not strictly considered to be at radio frequencies. For example, in some embodiments, the RF circuitry may include circuitry for operating with signals having an intermediate frequency 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 implemented in whole or in part in one or more of RF circuitry, baseband circuitry, and/or application circuitry. As used herein, "circuitry" may refer to, be part of, or include the following: an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit executing one or more software or firmware programs, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group), a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable hardware components that provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the electronics circuitry may be implemented in, or functions associated with, one or more software or firmware modules.

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

Memory/storage 740 may be used to load and store data and/or instructions, for example, for a system. The memory/storage of one embodiment may comprise any combination of suitable volatile memory (e.g., Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM)) and/or non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory).

In various embodiments, the I/O interface 780 may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable a user to interact with the system and/or a peripheral component interface designed to enable a peripheral component to interact with the system. The user interface may include, but is not limited to, a physical keyboard or keypad, a touchpad, a speaker, a microphone, and the like. The 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 interface.

In various embodiments, the sensor 770 may include one or more sensing devices for determining environmental conditions and/or location information related to the system. In some embodiments, the sensors may include, but are not limited to, a gyroscope 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 baseband circuitry and/or RF circuitry to communicate with components of a positioning network, such as Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites.

In various embodiments, display 750 may include displays such as liquid crystal displays and touch screen displays. In various embodiments, 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, and the like. In various embodiments, the system may have more or fewer components and/or may have a different architecture. Where appropriate, the 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 disclosure, the user equipment and the method for controlling access through the access classification thereof can provide good communication performance and high reliability. Embodiments of the present disclosure are a combination of techniques/processes that may be employed in 3GPP specifications to create an end product.

It will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art that each of the units, algorithms, and steps described and disclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented using electronic hardware, or a combination of computer software and electronic hardware. Whether these functions are implemented in hardware or software depends on the application and design requirements of the solution.

Skilled artisans may implement the functionality in varying ways for each particular application, and such implementation decisions should not be interpreted as causing a departure from the scope of the present disclosure. It will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that reference may be made to the operation of the systems, devices and units described in the above embodiments as the operation of the systems, devices and units described above is substantially the same. For convenience of description and brevity, these operations will not be described in detail.

It should be understood that the systems, devices and methods disclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in other ways. The embodiments described above are merely illustrative. The division of the cells is based on logic functions only, and other division modes exist in the implementation. Multiple units or components may be combined or may be integrated into another system. Some features may also be omitted or skipped. On the other hand, the shown or discussed mutual coupling, direct coupling or communication connection may be an indirect coupling or communication connection through some ports, devices or units, and may be in an electrical, mechanical or other form.

Elements described as separate components may or may not be physically separate. The unit for displaying is or is not a physical unit, i.e. located in one place, or distributed over a plurality of network elements. Some or all of the cells are used for purposes of the embodiments. In addition, each functional unit in each embodiment may be integrated into one processing unit, may be physically independent, or may be integrated into one processing unit by two or more units.

If the software functional units are implemented and sold as separate products, they may be stored in a computer readable storage medium. Based on such understanding, the technical solutions proposed by the present disclosure can be implemented in the form of software products in nature or in part. Or a part of the technical solution that is advantageous for the prior art may be implemented in the form of a software product. The software product in the computer is stored in a storage medium and includes a plurality of commands for a computing device (e.g., a personal computer, server, or network device) to execute all or part of the steps disclosed in the embodiments of the present disclosure. The storage medium includes a USB disk, a removable hard disk, a Read Only Memory (ROM), a Random Access Memory (RAM), a floppy disk, or other types of media capable of storing program code.

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

Claims

1. A user equipment, UE, for access control by access classification, comprising:

a memory;

a transceiver; and

a processor coupled to the memory and the transceiver;

wherein the processor is configured to:

knowing a processing rule when the UE is a non-public network NPN capable UE or controlling the transceiver to receive the processing rule from a network node, wherein the processing rule indicates or allows determining an access category of an access attempt in the non-public network NPN;

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

performing access control relating to an NPN environment using a determined access category and a determined access attempt associated with the determined access category.

2. The UE of claim 1, wherein the access class is a standardized access class and the standardized access class is used for access control for NPN UEs and/or closed access group, CAG, UEs.

3. The UE of claim 1 or 2, wherein the access attempt comprises accessing an NPN for mobile originated MO signaling on non-access stratum, NAS, level that is generated in addition to paging.

4. 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 as a function of a network identification ID, a range of network IDs, a number of out-of-range network IDs, or any combination thereof.

5. The UE of claim 4, wherein the access category criteria type of the network ID is used only if the UE making the access attempt is an independent NPN (SNPN) capable UE or a UE allowed to access a CAG cell and attempting to access a CAG cell.

6. 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 as a function of a closed access group, CAG, identity, range of CAGIDs, number of CAGIDs not within range, or any combination thereof.

7. The UE of claim 5, wherein the access category criteria type of CAGID is used only if the UE making the access attempt is an independent NPN (SNPN) capable UE or a UE allowed to access a CAG cell and attempting to access a CAG cell.

8. The UE of claim 1, wherein the access category is an operator defined access category, and if the access attempt is triggered by uplink data and the UE is an independent NPN (SNPN) capable UE or a UE allowed to access a CAG cell and attempting to access a CAG cell, the access attempt comprises accessing NPN for mobile originated MO signaling.

9. The UE of claim 1, wherein the access class is an operator defined access class and is extended by adding NPN features.

10. 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 the use of the RRC establishment cause value indicates which access is made by the NPN capable UE.

11. The UE of claim 10, wherein the RRC establishment cause value is a new value or an existing value.

12. A method for access control of User Equipment (UE) through access classification comprises the following steps:

knowing a processing rule when 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 determining an access category of an access attempt in the non-public network NPN;

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the access class is a standardized access class and the standardized access class is used for access control for NPN UEs and/or closed access group, CAG, UEs.

14. The method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein the access attempt comprises accessing an NPN for mobile originated MO signaling on non-access stratum NAS level generated in addition to paging.

15. 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 as a function of a network Identification (ID), a range of network IDs, a number of out-of-range network IDs, or any combination thereof.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the access category criteria type of the network ID is used only when the UE making the access attempt is an independent NPN (SNPN) capable UE or a UE allowed to access a CAG cell and attempting to access the CAG cell.

17. 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 as a function of a CAG identification ID, a range of CAG IDs, a number of CAG IDs not within range, or any combination thereof.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein the access category criteria type of the CAGID is used only when the UE making the access attempt is an independent NPN (SNPN) capable UE or a UE allowed to access the CAG cell and attempting to access the CAG cell.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the access category is an operator defined access category, and if the access attempt is triggered by uplink data and the UE is an independent NPN (SNPN) capable UE or a UE allowed to access a CAG cell and attempting to access a CAG cell, the access attempt comprises accessing NPN for mobile originated MO signaling.

20. The method of claim 12, wherein the access category is an operator defined access category, and the operator defined access category is extended by adding NPN features.

21. The method of claim 12, further comprising: deriving a radio resource control, RRC, establishment cause value using the determined access category, wherein use of the RRC establishment cause value indicates which access is by the NPN capable UE.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the RRC establishment cause value is a new value or an existing value.

23. A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium having instructions stored thereon, which when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 12 to 22.

24. A terminal device, comprising: a processor and a memory, the 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 of claims 12 to 22.