This application claims the priority benefit of Taiwan application serial no. 110144440, filed on Nov. 29, 2021, and Taiwan application serial no. 110144441, filed on Nov. 29, 2021. The entirety of each of the above-mentioned patent applications is hereby incorporated by reference herein and made a part of this specification.
The disclosure relates to a technology for accessing services of a private network, and relates to a method for assisting an unregistered user device to access services of a private network and a communication system.
Please refer to
However, if the user device 110 uses the telecommunication service through the operator C without authorization, the user device 110 can only perform functions like initiating an emergency call through the operator C without accessing the Internet through the operator C.
Please refer to
The disclosure provides a method for assisting an unregistered user device to access an end-to-end call service of a private network, which is suitable for a communication system of mobile edge computing. The method includes: determining by a mobile edge computing server whether the user device that is not registered on the private network wants to initiate an emergency-call request; and in response to the mobile edge computing server determining that the user device that is not registered on the private network wants to initiate the emergency-call request, assisting the user device by the mobile edge computing server to access the end-to-end call service without being registered on the private network.
The disclosure provides a communication system for assisting an unregistered user device to access an end-to-end call service of a private network, which includes a mobile edge computing server. The mobile edge computing server is configured to: determine whether the user device that is not registered on the private network wants to initiate an emergency-call request; and in response to determining that the user device that is not registered on the private network wants to initiate an emergency call, assist the user device to access the end-to-end call service without being registered on the private network.
Please refer to
In different embodiments, the user device 210 is, for example, smart devices/computer devices with communication functions, but it is not limited thereto. In
In the embodiment of the disclosure, the core network 230b may include an access and mobility management function (AMF) entity 231, a session management function (SMF) entity 232, a policy control function (PCF) entity 233, and a unified data management (UDM) entity 234. Please refer to relevant 5G specifications for their features/functions, which are not described here.
In addition, the MEC server 220 may include a user plane function (UPF) entity 221, a network access service module 222, policy/charging rules module 233, a private service module 224, an authorization module 225, and a location module 226.
In a different embodiment, the MEC server 220 and the core network 230b can be implemented as independent devices or can be implemented as different modules integrated in the same device, but it is not limited thereto.
In the embodiment of the disclosure, for user devices that have been registered on the private network 230, the MEC server 220 provides private services to these user devices through the private service module 224 (for example, an end-to-end call service between registered user devices).
For example, assuming that the service range of the private network 230 corresponds to an amusement park, the communication devices held by the employees of the amusement park can be planned as registered user devices of the private network 230. Therefore, those employees can communicate end-to-end with each other through the private service module 224 of the MEC server 220 with their own communication devices, but it is not limited thereto. In some embodiments, those employees can, for example, insert a SIM card registered on the private network 230 into the communication device they possess to make them registered user devices of the private network 230, but it is not limited thereto.
In the embodiment of the disclosure, it is assumed that the user device 210 (which is, for example, a communication device held by a tourist) is not registered on the private network 230, which makes the MEC server 220 unable to directly provide the private services to these user devices through the private service module 224 (such as the end-to-end call established between the user device 210 and the communication device of the aforementioned employee).
In one embodiment, it is assumed that the holder of the user device 210 wants to initiate an emergency call to contact the relevant medical care unit due to an emergency. In this scenario, the user device 210 will generally contact a general private medical care unit (such as a fire station outside an amusement park) through the mechanism shown in
In view of this, the MEC server 220 of the disclosure solves the above technical problems by executing the method proposed by the disclosure, whose details are described in detail as follows.
Please refer to
First, in step S310, the MEC server 220 determines whether the user device 210 that is not registered on the private network 230 wants to initiate an emergency-call request. If yes, the MEC server 220 continues to execute step S320; otherwise, it executes step S310 again, but it is not limited thereto.
In an embodiment, the MEC server 220 executes step S310 based on the process shown in
Correspondingly, in step S430, in response to the MEC server 220 receiving the session information of the emergency-call session, the MEC server 220 determines that the user device 210 that is not registered on the private network 230 wants to initiate an emergency-call request, but it is not limited thereto.
Please refer to
In an embodiment, the MEC server 220 executes step S320 based on the flow shown in
In one embodiment, it is assumed that the end-to-end conversation service provided by the MEC server 220 allows the user device 210 to make an end-to-end conversation with one of the preset service devices 241 to 24N registered on the private network 230. In this scenario, the private service module 224 obtains the preset service devices 241 to 24N corresponding to the end-to-end call service.
Then, in step S520, the private service module 224 selects a specific service device from the preset service devices 241 to 24N, and the PCF entity 233 of the private network 230 is required to send a call-service request CQ to the specific service device through a policy/charging rule module 223.
In one embodiment, the private service module 224 requests the location module 226 to analyze the locations of the preset service devices 241 to 24N in response to the aforementioned session information when determining that the user device 210 wants to initiate an emergency call. In an embodiment, after obtaining the location of the user device 210 and the location of each of the preset service devices 241 to 24N from the location module 226, the private service module 224 then finds out the closest service device to the user device 210 from the preset service devices 241 to 24N to be the specific service device. In other embodiments, the private service module 224 may also select a specific service device from the preset service devices 241 to 24N based on other principles. For example, the private service module 224 may also randomly select one of the preset service devices 241 to 24N to be the specific service device, but it is not limited thereto.
For the ease of description, it is assumed hereinafter that the preset service device 241 is the specific service device selected by the private service module 224 and is adapted for end-to-end calls. In this scenario, the PCF entity 233 may send a call-service request CQ to the preset service device 241 according to the above teaching. Correspondingly, the preset service device 241 sends a call-service response CR to the PCF entity 233 in response to the call-service request CQ, and the PCF entity 233 notifies the policy/charging rule module 223.
After that, in step S530, in response to the call-service response CR, the policy/charging rule module 223 triggers the private service module 224 to assist the user device 210 in having an end-to-end communication with the specific service device (i.e., the preset service device 241).
In an embodiment, the MEC server 220 performs step S530 through the flowchart shown in
Then, in step S620, the MEC server 220 sends an emergency-call response to the user device 210, where the emergency-call response corresponds to the aforementioned emergency-call request. Correspondingly, the user device 210 performs an end-to-end call with the specific service device through the MEC server 220, but it is not limited thereto.
In one embodiment, the MEC server 220 first obtains information of a list of the amusement park employees who correspond to the emergency call services (such as medical staff), and then regards the user devices held by these employees as the preset service devices. After that, the MEC server 230 finds the closest one to the user device 210 from these preset service devices to be the specific service device, and then establishes an end-to-end call between the user device 210 and the specific service device. In this way, tourists who need emergency call service can find the nearest medical staff to assist with the emergency through the end-to-end call service, but it is not limited thereto.
In addition, the MEC server 220 may also regard all user devices registered on the private network 230 as the preset service devices, and then select the one closest to the user device 210 as the specific service device. In this way, the MEC server 220 allows the user device 210 to directly find any preset service device closest to the user device 210 to conduct an end-to-end call with the user device 210 after the emergency call is initiated (for example, the amusement park employee closest to the user device 210 is found to handle the emergency).
Although it is assumed that the service range of the private network 230 corresponds to an amusement park, it is used as an example and it is not intended to limit the possible implementations of the disclosure. In other embodiments, the service range of the private network 230 may be designed to correspond to a field in any form, such as a factory or a national park, based on the needs of the designer.
Upon this basis, any user device 210 located in the service range of the private network 230 that is not registered on the private network 230 may adopt the above process to make end-to-end calls with the registered user devices (which are held, for example, by factory employees or by national park staff) of the private network 230.
In summary, the embodiments of the disclosure allows the MEC server to assist a user device that is not registered on the private network to make an end-to-end call with a preset service device registered on the private network upon determining that the user device not registered on the private network wants to initiate an emergency call. In this way, when the user device initiates an emergency call, the end-to-end call is made to a closer preset service device instead of trying to contact a relatively distant unit (such as a private fire station). Thus, the emergency is dealt with in a more immediate manner, thereby reducing the impact of emergency.
Although the disclosure has been disclosed in the above embodiments, they are not intended to limit the disclosure. Anyone with common, general knowledge in the art can make changes and modifications without departing from the spirit and scope of the disclosure. The scope of the disclosure shall be determined by the scope of the claims.
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Number | Date | Country | |
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20230171577 A1 | Jun 2023 | US |