CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/204,228, filed August 12, 2015, entitled "METHODS FOR SIGNALLING OF ACDC BARRING INFORMATION" and to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 62/106,431 , filed January 22, 2015, entitled "METHOD FOR APPLICATION SPECIFIC CONGESTION CONTROL FOR DATA COMMUN ICATIONS", the entire disclosures of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments described herein generally relate to wireless communications. More particularly, but not exclusively, embodiments described herein generally relate to methods and apparatus for communicating information for congestion control in a wireless communication network.

BACKGROUND

It is sometimes desirable in wireless communications networks to prioritize some applications that are operating on user equipment (UE) over others. For example, when the network is congested, it may be desired to prioritize certain applications over some other applications.

Application specific congestion control for data communication (ACDC) is a new access control mechanism which is being specified in the 3GPP Release 13 specifications (3GPP TS 22.01 1 V13.2.0 (2015-06) and 3GPP TS 22.01 1 V13.3.0 (2015-09)). ACDC is optional for both UE and the network, is applicable for Long Term Evolution (LTE) and Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), and is provided to control or prevent new access attempts from UEs in idle mode for operator-defined applications, for example to prioritize certain applications in congestion situations, such as Disaster Message Board (DMB) service, Disaster Voice Messaging Service, and to bar other types of applications. According to the ACDC access control mechanism a UE can be configured by the network with a number of ranked ACDC categories to which application can then be associated. Applications which are to be restricted the least shall be assigned the highest ACDC category and applications which are to be restricted the most shall be assigned the lowest ACDC category or not assigned to any category at all. The serving network can then broadcast barring information for the ACDC categories which are configured in a cell and the UE can respond to access attempts from the applications based on the barring information and the configuration of categories in the UE.

Various solutions for broadcasting barring information for ACDC categories have been proposed but the proposed solutions are not optimum in terms of signaling load as they rely on an individual indication of each ACDC category broadcast by the serving network. This is not optimum in the case where a high number of ACDC categories is configured and needs to be signaled by the serving network.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments described herein are illustrated, without limitation, by way of example, in the accompanying drawings, in which:

Figure 1 is schematic block diagram of a wireless communications network;

Figure 2 is schematic block diagram illustrating a base station in the network; Figure 3 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a user equipment (UE) in the network;

Figure 4 is a schematic block diagram illustrating some components of the UE; Figure 5 schematically illustrates a signaling message in the network;

Figure 6 depicts a flow diagram of processing operations associated with handling barring information received in a UE;

Figure 7 depicts a flow diagram of processing operations associated with handling an access attempt from an application in a UE;

Figure 8 schematically illustrates how the UE maps received barring information to configured ACDC categories;

Figure 9 depicts a flow diagram of processing operations associated with obtaining and sending barring information in a base station; Figure 10 illustrates signaling within the UE and between the network and the UE; and

Figure 11 is a schematic block diagram illustrating some components of the UE. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS

Figure 1 schematically illustrates a wireless communication network 100. The wireless communication network 100 may provide an access network of a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) long-term evolution (LTE) or long-term evolution-advanced (LTE-A) network such as an evolved universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS) terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRAN). The communication network comprises a control network 110, a plurality of base stations 120 and a plurality of user equipment (UE) 130. The control network 110 may comprise an evolved packet core (EPC) and an operator packet data network. The base stations 120 may comprise evolved node base stations (eNodeBs). They may be fixed or mobile stations/nodes. In Figure 1 , three base stations 120, BS A, BS B and BS C, are shown. The plurality of UEs may comprise one or more mobile devices or terminals. In Figure 1 , three UEs 130, UE A, UE B and UE C, are shown. The eNodeBs are configured to wirelessly communicate with the UEs using signals 140. The network 100 provides radio service coverage over a number of cells formed by the eNodeBs. A UE, within a cell, connects to an associated eNodeB and receives and transmits data, including voice data, from and to the network via the eNodeB to which it is connected. During operation of the wireless network 100, a UE 130 may move through the area covered by the network. For example, when the UE A is within the cell area associated with eNodeB A, the UE A will transmit and receive signals 140 to and from the network via that eNodeB A. Subsequently, the UE A may move to a different position outside of the cell area associated with eNodeB A, but within the area covered by eNodeB B. As the UE A moves from the first position to the second position, a handover procedure will be initiated such that the UE's connection to the wireless network 100 is via signals (shown with a dashed line) transmitted and received to and from the eNodeB B. Two or more of the eNodeBs may cover overlapping cell areas such that a UE in the cell area can communicate with two or more eNodeBs. For example, UE C may be able to communicate with both eNodeB B and eNodeB C. The eNodeB that a UE is connected to is referred to as the serving base station for that UE.

Parts of the network 100 may be used by a plurality of wireless network operators. Some of the infrastructure provided by the network may be used by only one operator and some of the infrastructure, for example some of the eNodeBs, may be shared by operators. Each operator controls its own public land mobile network (PLMN) which may or may not share radio access network (RAN) infrastructure with another PLMN. Each UE has a home PLMN (HPLMN), which is the PLMN in which the user's subscriber profile is held. However, when the UE is outside the coverage of the HPLMN, the UE may connect to a PLMN provided by another operator. This is known as roaming. For example, if the HPLMN of UE B does not have access to eNodeB A and eNodeB C, UE B may need to roam if it moves away from the cell area covered by eNodeB B into a cell area covered by eNodeB A or eNodeB C.

The EPC may comprise a mobility management entity (MME), a serving gateway (S-GW), a packet data network gateway (P-GW) and a home subscriber server (HSS). The components of an EPC will be known by the skilled person and will not be described herein. The EPC may be connected to external networks including but not limited to an IP multimedia core network subsystem (IMS) and the internet.

The UEs 130 are configured to operate a plurality of applications for interacting with a remote server via the network 100. The application may for example allow the UE to interact with a remote server over the internet. The UE may be pre- configured with at least some of the applications. A user of the UE may also control the UE to download new applications. A UE 130, for example UE A in Figure 1 , may further be configured with a plurality of application specific congestion control for data communication (ACDC) categories to which applications for the UEs can be associated. The network 100 can configure the UE with the categories. The network 100 can also configure the UEs such that applications operating on the UE are assigned a category. The control network 110 and an eNodeB 120, for example eNodeB A in Figure 1 , may be configured to broadcast barring information for various categories and the UEs may be configured to match the broadcast barring information to its configured categories and control the associated applications in accordance with the broadcast barring information. The barring information may be different for different cells and the access network may signal barring information for a specific cell. Alternatively, it may signal the same barring information in a plurality of cells. In implementations in which multiple networks, for example operated by different operators, share the same access network, the access network may be configured to signal different barring information to different networks. In some embodiments, the control network 110 and the eNodeB will also broadcast information indicating how the barring information applies to roaming UEs.

In more detail, the 3GPP Release 13 specification sets out details for the new ACDC access control mechanism. The latest stage 1 details for the new ACDC functionality are specified in 3GPP TS 22.011 V13.2.0 (2015-06) and 3GPP TS 22.011 V13.3.0 (2015-09), section 4.3.5. According to the stage 1 specification a UE can be configured by its HPLMN with a number of ACDC categories (minimum value to be supported by the standard is 4) to which applications are associated to and for which the ACDC access control mechanism in idle mode shall be applied. Furthermore, with regards to the configuration of the ACDC categories in UE by its HPLMN the applications shall be assigned to the ACDC categories according to their expected restriction/barring level, i.e.

the applications whose use is expected to be restricted the least shall be assigned the highest ACDC category;

the applications whose use is expected to be restricted more than applications in the highest category shall be assigned the second-to- highest ACDC category, and so on; and

the applications whose use is expected to be restricted the most shall either be assigned the lowest ACDC category, or not be categorized at all. With regards to the broadcast of ACDC barring information it is desired to meet the stage 1 specification, amongst other the following ones:

On the serving network side when applying ACDC, it broadcasts barring information starting from the highest to the lowest ACDC category.

The number of ACDC categories configured in UE and broadcast by serving network may differ, i.e. the number of categories configured in the UE can be less or greater than the number of categories broadcast by the serving network.

If the serving network broadcasts more ACDC categories than the UE's configuration, the UE shall use barring information for the matching ACDC categories (i.e. categories which have the same rank as the configured ACDC categories in the UE), and shall bar uncategorized applications using the barring information for the lowest category broadcast by the serving network, and shall ignore barring information for unmatched categories.

If the serving network broadcasts barring information for fewer ACDC categories than the UE's configuration, the UE shall use barring information for the matching ACDC categories and shall bar other applications using the barring information for the lowest category broadcast by the serving network.

Support of RAN sharing deployment scenarios where ACDC barring information may be applied either individually or commonly for all PLMNs sharing the RAN. According to some embodiments, the network 100 is configured to meet the stage 1 specification. Moreover, the network is also configured to realize the communication of barring information in an efficient manner. At least some embodiments discussed herein relate to ACDC barring information for LTE and UMTS. According to embodiments, a plurality of ACDC categories are defined for the network. For example, in some implementations, the number of network categories is sixteen. In other implementations the number of network categories may be as high as 256. In some implementations, the minimum number of network categories may be four categories. Different PLMNs may have different number of categories. Each operator may set its own barring information for the categories. Alternatively, the same barring information may be set for a number or all PLMNs by the serving network. The categories are ranked in order of the probability of being restricted, such that a category with a higher rank shall be associated with applications that are subject to lower access restrictions than applications associated with a category of a lower rank. In some implementations, each category is assigned a category identifier. In some implementation the identifier may be the rank of the category. For example, if sixteen categories are used the different categories may be identified with the numbers 1 to 16 respectively, with the number 1 identifying the highest ranked category and the number 16 identifying the lowest ranked category. The eNodeB is configured to determine barring information for at least some of the categories and is configured to communicate the barring information in an efficient way to the UE. The UE receives the barring information and maps the received barring information to the categories with which it is configured and then controls application access attempts based on the barring information and the category configuration. The arrangement and processes of the network 100, and specifically the eNodeB and the UE, for obtaining, communicating and updating barring information and controlling applications will be described in more detail below. Firstly, the components of the eNodeB and the UE will be described with respect to Figures 2 and 3. As used herein, the term "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 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 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, circuitry may include logic, at least partially operable in hardware. Embodiments described herein may be implemented into a system using any suitably configured hardware and/or software.

Figure 2 illustrates for one embodiment, example components of an eNodeB, for example, eNodeB A in Figure 1. The eNodeB comprises a wireless transmission block 201 for communicating wirelessly with UEs such as, for example, UEs A, B and C described with respect to Figure 1. The transmission block 201 has an associated antenna 202 and may have a number of antennas for MIMO operation. A network transmission block 203 may be provided, which supports network communications such as communication with the control network 1 10 and, for example, backhaul communications with other eNodeBs such as eNodeB B and eNodeB C, or any other network entity. The eNodeB can comprise, therefore, a network connection 204 such as, for example, the communication link with the control network 110 described above. A processor 205 is provided for controlling overall operations of the eNodeB. The processor 205 can comprise a number of processors, and/or one or more multi-core processors. The processor 205 operates in accordance with software 206 stored within a processor readable, or processor accessible, memory or storage 207. The software 206 is arranged so that the eNodeB can implement the examples described herein, and, in particular, can implement the eNodeB aspects of the flowcharts and flow diagrams described herein. The memory 207 may store data and software defining routines for implementing sensing, inter-cell interference coordination (ICIC), mobility, access control, radio resource management (RRM) and scheduler functions. The memory 207 may also comprise elements of a protocol stack such as, for example, elements of an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) protocol including, for example, physical (PHY), media access control (MAC), radio link control (RLC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), and/or radio resource control (RRC) elements. Figure 3 illustrates, for one embodiment, example components of a User Equipment (UE) device 130. It may, for example, be the UE A of Figure 1. In some embodiments, the UE device 130 may include application circuitry 302, baseband circuitry 304, radio frequency (RF) circuitry 306, front-end module (FEM) circuitry 308 and one or more antennas 310, coupled together at least as shown.

The application circuitry 302 may include one or more application processors. For example, the application circuitry 302 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The processor(s) may include any combination of general-purpose processors and dedicated processors (e.g., graphics processors, application processors, etc.). The processors may be coupled with and/or may include memory/storage and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications and/or operating systems to run on the system. The application circuitry 302 will be described in more detail with respect to Figure 4.

The baseband circuitry 304 may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more single-core or multi-core processors. The baseband circuitry 304 may include one or more baseband processors and/or control logic to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry 106 and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 306. Baseband processing circuity 304 may interface with the application circuitry 302 for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry 306. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 304 may include a second generation (2G) baseband processor 304a, third generation (3G) baseband processor 304b, fourth generation (4G) baseband processor 304c, and/or other baseband processor(s) 304d for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., fifth generation (5G), 6G, etc.). The baseband circuitry 304 (e.g., one or more of baseband processors 104a-d) may handle various radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry 306. The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry 304 may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), precoding, and/or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry 304 may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, and/or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functionality in other embodiments.

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 304 may include elements of a protocol stack such as, for example, elements of an evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (EUTRAN) protocol including, for example, physical (PHY), media access control (MAC), radio link control (RLC), packet data convergence protocol (PDCP), and/or radio resource control (RRC) elements. A central processing unit (CPU) 304e of the baseband circuitry 304 may be configured to run elements of the protocol stack for signaling of the PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP and/or RRC layers. In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry may include one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP) 104f. The audio DSP(s) 304f may include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. The baseband circuitry 304 may further include memory/storage 304g. The memory/storage 304g may be used to load and store data and/or instructions for operations performed by the processors of the baseband circuitry 304. Memory/storage for one embodiment may include any combination of suitable volatile memory and/or non-volatile memory. The memory/storage 304g may include any combination of various levels of memory/storage including, but not limited to, read-only memory (ROM) having embedded software instructions (e.g., firmware), random access memory (e.g., dynamic random access memory (DRAM)), cache, buffers, etc. The memory/storage 304g may be shared among the various processors or dedicated to particular processors.

Components of the baseband circuitry may be suitably combined in a single chip, a single chipset, or disposed on a same circuit board in some embodiments. In some embodiments, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry 304 and the application circuitry 302 may be implemented together such as, for example, on a system on a chip (SOC).

In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 304 may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry 304 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 304 is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry.

RF circuitry 306 may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry 106 may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry 306 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 308 and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry 304. RF circuitry 06 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry 304 and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry 308 for transmission.

In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 306 may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the RF circuitry 306 may include mixer circuitry 306a, amplifier circuitry 306b and filter circuitry 306c. The transmit signal path of the RF circuitry 306 may include filter circuitry 306c and mixer circuitry 306a. RF circuitry 306 may also include synthesizer circuitry 306d for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 306a of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 306a of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry 308 based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry 306d. The amplifier circuitry 306b may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry 306c may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals may be provided to the baseband circuitry 304 for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero- frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry 306a of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 306a of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry 306d to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry 308. The baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry 304 and may be filtered by filter circuitry 306c. The filter circuitry 306c may include a low-pass filter (LPF), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 306a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 306a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion and/or upconversion respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 306a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 306a of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 306a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 306a may be arranged for direct downconversion and/or direct upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry 306a of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry 306a of the transmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation.

In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RF circuitry 306 may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry 304 may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry 306.

In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect.

In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 306d may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry 306d may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider.

The synthesizer circuitry 306d may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry 306a of the RF circuitry 306 based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry 306d may be a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer.

In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Divider control input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry 304 or the applications processor 302 depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by the applications processor 302. Synthesizer circuitry 306d of the RF circuitry 306 may include a divider, a delay- locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle. In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry 306d may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (f _L o). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry 306 may include an IQ/polar converter.

FEM circuitry 308 may include a receive signal path which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from one or more antennas 310, amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry 306 for further processing. FEM circuitry 308 may also include a transmit signal path which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry 306 for transmission by one or more of the one or more antennas 310.

In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry 308 may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry may include a low-noise amplifier (LNA) to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry 306). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry 308 may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry 106), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission (e.g., by one or more of the one or more antennas 310.

In some embodiments, the UE 130 may include additional elements such as, for example, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor, and/or input/output (I/O) interface.

In some embodiments, the UE 130 may be configured to perform one or more techniques, processes, and/or methods as described herein, or portions thereof. The UE and the software may implement the examples described herein, and, in particular, can implement the UE aspects of the flowcharts and flow diagrams described herein.

Although an embodiment of an eNodeB has been described with respect to Fig 2 and an embodiment of a UE has been described with respect to Figure 3, Figure 3 may alternatively illustrate, for one embodiment, example components of an eNodeB or some other electronic device in the system 100.

With reference to Figure 4, circuitry 400 comprising a processing module 410 and memory 420 for storing data and programs for implementing some of the processes and mechanisms according to embodiments described herein is schematically shown. The circuitry 400 may, for example, comprise one or more of the processors of the application circuitry 302 and one or more of the processors 304a to 304f of the baseband circuitry 304. The memory 420 may, for example, comprise some of the memory or storage in the application circuitry 302 and some of the memory or storage 304g of the baseband circuitry 304. The memory 420 may also include a memory area on a subscriber identity module (SIM) or a universal subscriber identity module (USIM). The memory 420 may store a plurality of applications 421. The applications when run by the processing module may cause the UE to interact with one or more external servers. Data may be transmitted by the application via the baseband circuitry 304, RF circuitry 306, FEM circuitry 308 and antenna 310 to the eNodeB which in turn transmits the data via the control network 1 10, and external networks, to the external server. Correspondingly, data for the application may be received via the network 110 and the eNodeB 120 by the antenna 310 and passed to the application via the FEM, RF and baseband circuitry 308, 306 and 304. For example, the applications 421 may comprise a number of core applications such as a telephony application. The applications may also comprise a Disaster Message Board service application and/or a Disaster Voice Messaging Service and a gaming or social networking application. The memory 420 may further comprise an access manager 422 which manages access attempts by the applications 421. For example, the access manager 422 may comprise software which when invoked by the processing module 410 manages the access attempts by the applications. The access manager may include elements that form part of the RRC layer and the access stratum (AS). In some embodiments, the access manager may comprise a random access generator as will be described in more detail with respect to Figure 5. Additionally, the memory 420 may store barring information 423 for the ACDC categories configured in the UE. In more detail, it may store barring information for all categories associated with an application in the UE. The barring information may include identifiers, such as the rank, for all categories associated with an application in the UE and associated access control information. The number of ACDC categories configured in the UE may be smaller than the full set of ACDC categories supported by the network. Additionally, the memory 420 may store data 424 linking the applications to ACDC categories. Some applications may not be associated with a category. The data 424 may include an indication of all applications operating on the UE and, for each application, a field indicating an associated category. For applications that are not associated with a category, the field may be empty. The memory may also store algorithms 425 for mapping received barring information to the configured ACDC categories and for associating ACDC categories to the applications. The processing module 410 may access and run the algorithms 425, either directly or via the access manager 421 , to implement access control. In some implementations, the data 424 linking the applications to ACDC categories is stored as a management object (MO) for ACDC specific use. Alternatively, it may be stored on the USIM, for example in an 'elementary file'. The linking of the applications to the ACDC categories will be determined by the specific network implementation. For example it may be pre-configured in the UE by the HPLMN. For example, when a Message Disaster Board is installed in the UE the HPLMN may map the Message Disaster Board application to the highest category for the ACDC categories in an ACDC MO. The processing module 410 may invoke the algorithms 425 to implement any mapping information received from the HPLMN.

When a new application attempts to access the network in idle mode, the non- access stratum (NAS) may request the AS to initiate an RRC connection establishment and may indicate an ACDC category related to it from the data linking applications and ACDC categories 425. In some implementations, the access manager 422 then checks which barring information in the barring information 424 in memory 420 is applicable to the RRC connection establishment and applies the barring information to the access attempt. An example of a process for handling an access attempt from an application in the UE will be described in more detail with respect to Figure 8.

With reference to Figure 5, the network sends a signaling message 500 to the UE with barring information 510 for the UE to control access attempts from the applications operating on the UE. In some embodiments, the barring information is communicated using four different fields comprising the rank of the category (51 1 ), a type of the category (512), a barring factor (513) and a barring time (514). The RRC protocol may be modified to define these fields. In some implementations, the fields are given the following labels:

• acdc-CategoryRank

· acdc-Barring

• acdc-BarringFactor

• acdc-BarrringTime The fields may all be included in an RRC information element for defining the barring information for a category and the RRC information element may be included in the signaling message to the UE. The acdc-CategoryRank field corresponds to the category rank which may be a number indicating the position of the category in the ranking. In some implementations, this rank serves as an identifier for the category. The acdc- Barring field corresponds to the category type. In some embodiments, there are three types of categories, namely categories associated which applications that have should have no restrictions applied to them, categories associated with application that should have some restrictions applied to them and categories associated with applications that should be barred from accessing the network. The value for the category type field for categories which have no restrictions may be 'NotBarred' or another value indicating that the category is not barred. The value for the category type field for categories which are not allowed to access the network may be 'Barred' or another value indicating that the category is barred from accessing the network.

The restrictions for categories that should have some restrictions applied to them can be indicated using fields acdc-BarringFactor and acdc-BarringTime, corresponding to a barring factor and a barring time respectively. The barring factor is a number between a minimum barring factor, for example zero, and a maximum barring factor, for example 1 . The access manager 422 is configured to generate a random number and compare it to the barring factor. The access manager 422 allows an access attempt of an application, assigned a category associated with barring information comprising a specific barring factor, if the random number is lower than the specific barring factor. Consequently, a lower barring factor corresponds to a higher level of access restriction since a random number that is lower than a low barring factor will only be generated a low percentage of the time. The barring time indicates a time period after the first access attempt during which the access manager 422 shall prevent the application to access the network again. After the time period set by the barring time has elapsed, the access manager may generate a new random number and compare the barring factor to the new random number, provided that the barring information for the category has not been updated with a new barring factor or other barring information. As mentioned above, the barring factor is typically a number between 0 and 1. The barring time is normally given in seconds. In one example, the value of acdc- BarringFactor may be one out of a set number of values, such as 0.05, 0.10 and so on to 0.95. In other words, the possible barring factor values may increase in increments of 0.05. In other examples it may be any number within a range. However, it will be realized that the barring factor may be any value that allows the UE to determine the level to which it needs to restrict access attempts by applications associated with a particular category. Moreover, as a specific example, the value of the acdc-BarringTime field may be enumerated and be one out of 3s, 8s, 16s, 32s, 64s, 128s and 256s. Alternatively, the barring time field could have alternative values. It may for example be any number within a range.

According to some embodiments, by including a barring type, the barring factor and barring time will not need to be indicated for some categories. If the category is associated with applications for which there shall be no restrictions or which are fully barred, it is not necessary to indicate a barring factor or a barring time. In those embodiments, the barring factor field and the barring time field may not have a value for some categories. Instead, the barring type field has a value that indicates the category as not barred or barred. However, in some implementations, a barring time may optionally be provided for fully barred categories, indicating to the access manager 422 that the access manager shall bar the application from accessing the network for the time period indicated by the barring time. Moreover, it is recognized according to some embodiments that for categories for which some restrictions are applied the barring factor and time fields are sufficient and it is not necessary to include a value for the barring type field. For example, the barring type field may be empty or have a 'null' value. Consequently, according to some embodiments, the amount of barring information that is actually transmitted to the UE can be reduced and signaling load improved. The algorithms 425 in memory can be used to determine all necessary barring information from the reduced barring information data set received from the network.

According to embodiments, the amount of information that is sent from the network to the UE is further reduced by only including information for some categories. In more detail, in some embodiments, the setting of the ACDC barring information for an ACDC category in the respective signaling message(s) shall follow the following rules: 1. There can be at most one entry with a rank value k (with k≥ 1 ) for which the field acdc-Barring is set to "notBarred". For such entry the fields acdc- BarringFactor and acdc-BarringTime may not be present. A value "notBarred" means that all ACDC categories 1 to k are fully allowed to access the cell. 2. There can be zero or more entries with a rank value (k+1) to (k+n) for which the field acdc-Barring is not present. For those entries the fields acdc-BarringFactor and acdc-BarringTime are present. Those entries shall be provided in order according to the restriction level (minimum barring factor < acdc-BarringFactor < maximum barring factor).

3. There can be zero or more entries with a rank value m (with m > k+n) for which the field acdc-Barring is set to "Barred". A value "barred" means that the associated ACDC categories (k+n+1 ) to m are fully blocked and not allowed to access the cell. For those entries the field acdc-BarringTime is optionally present and the field acdc-BarringFactor is not present. If the field acdc-BarringTime is not present then it means "infinity", i.e. the associated ACDC categories are then barred without any time limit.

In some embodiments, zero entries can only be provided for either rule 2) or rule 3). That means, if there are zero entries according to rule 2) then there must be non-zero entries according to rule 3) and vice versa. As shown in Figure 5, the signaling message 500 provides information for five categories. The first entry indicates the lowest category rank that has no access restrictions. In other words, it indicates a threshold for where the categories with no access restrictions end and the categories with access restrictions start. If k is, for example, equal to 5, the barring information would implicitly indicate that categories 1 to 4 shall also not be associated with any access restrictions. In other words, the UE would be able to deduce that all categories with a rank value lower than k, i.e. categories with a higher rank, are not barred. Three of the five categories, with ranks x=k+1 , y=k+2 and z=k+n, in the signaling message are associated with a barring factor and a barring time, indicating that the categories have some access restrictions. Moreover, the last entry only has a barring type which, using the rules set out above, would have a value indicating that the category m is fully barred. In some embodiments, access control information for all categories with a rank between k and m would be included in the signaling message. As indicated above, the signaling message may comprise more than one entry each indicating categories which are fully barred. The different fully barred categories may for example have different barring times. As a specific example, one fully barred category may have an access time of 256 seconds and another may have an access time of 'infinity'.

The barring information 510 may also comprise an indication of whether the access control information applies to roaming UEs. For example, the barring information may comprise a roaming flag 515 which when set to 'true' indicates to the UE that the barring information is relevant even if the UE is roaming.

With reference to Figure 4 and Figure 5, if the UE determines that the barring information is applicable to the UE it stores the information locally in memory 420. The processing module 410 of the application circuitry may, on receipt of the information of the barring information 510, invoke the algorithms 425 stored in memory 420 to map the barring information onto the categories configured in the UE. Using the algorithms 425, the processing module determines that all categories configured in the UE with a rank higher than k are not barred. The barring information may be determined for a particular cell and is broadcast to all UEs in the cell. In some implementations, the ACDC barring information may be provisioned in a new system information block (SIB) or alternatively in a legacy SIB, e.g. SIB2 in LTE or SIB3 in UMTS. In case of a new ACDC SIB it shall be updated in LTE either based on the system information (SI) modification period or dynamically based on dedicated paging. The ACDC barring information may be sent out in system information and, additionally, paging may be used to indicate to UEs in idle mode that new system information is available. For example, if dedicated paging is used, a new "acdc-ParamModification" indication shall be sent in the paging message. The "acdc-ParamModification" may be a flag that is set to true if new ACDC system information is available in the new SIB. In UMTS the update mechanism for the new ACDC SIB maybe based on Cell Value Tag. The master information block (MIB) may include a tag that indicates that the SIB with the barring information includes updated information and should be read by the UE.

The ACDC barring information may be signaled commonly for all PLMNs or individually for each PLMN sharing the RAN. Consequently, in some examples ACDC barring information may be common to all PLMNs using the RAN. In other examples, each PLMN can determine its own ACDC barring information. In some implementations, RRC information elements in the SIB may be configured to allow the network to selectively signal the ACDC barring information commonly for all PLMNs or individually for each PLMN sharing the RAN. Furthermore, as indicated with respect to Figure 5, a roaming flag may be used to indicate whether ACDC is applicable for UEs not in their HPLMN. The roaming flag may be included in the SIB. If the roaming flag is set to true then it means that the ACDC barring information is applicable also for UEs not in their HPLMNs. If the roaming flag is set to false then it means that the ACDC barring information is applicable for UEs only in their HPLMNs.

As an alternative to using an explicit roaming flag, the ACDC barring information may be split into barring information that is relevant for roaming UEs as well as for UEs in their HPLMN and barring information that is only relevant to UEs in their HPLMN. The barring information may be provided in two different data sets or blocks, or the information elements comprising the rank, barring type, barring factor and barring field values may be referenced from different information elements depending on whether the barring information is relevant for roaming UEs or not. As a specific example, the ACDC barring information may be provisioned separately in two different configurations:

• acdc-ConfigCommon: contains all ACDC categories which are the same in HPLMN and serving network. In this case the associated ACDC barring information shall be applied also for UEs not in their HPLMNs.

• acdc-ConfigDedicated: contains all ACDC categories which differ between HPLMN and serving network. In this case the associated ACDC barring information shall be applied for UEs only in their HPLMNs. Compared to known proposed solutions, at least some embodiments described herein allow barring information to be communicated with a smaller data set. At least some of the known solutions rely on an individual indication of each ACDC category defined by the serving network. A process 600 for receiving barring information from the network and setting barring information for configured categories will now be described with respect to Figure 6. The UE receives 601 a signaling message, for example a signaling message having the information indicated in Figure 5. The signaling message may be received as part of system information, for example as part of a SIB as described herein. The processing module 410 of the UE then checks 602 whether the system information is relevant for the UE. If the system information indicates that the barring information is for all PLMNs using the RAN or if the system information indicates the identity of the PLMN that is the serving PLMN for the UE, the barring information is relevant. If the barring information is not relevant the UE ignores 603 the barring information. The UE may then wait for the next system information update or a paging message indicating that updated system information is available. If the system information is indicated to be relevant for the UE, the UE determines

604 whether it is roaming. If it is not roaming, the UE determines that all the barring information indicated in the system information is relevant and extracts

605 all the barring information. If the UE is not in its HPLMN, it may determine that only some of the barring information, or none of the barring information, is relevant for the UE and it may only extract 606 the relevant barring information or not extract any barring information. For example, it may determine whether the barring information is relevant by checking whether a roaming flag is set to true. Alternatively, as described above, the signaling message may divide the barring information into a first data set or information element that contains barring information common to all PLMNs and a second data set or information element that contains barring information that is different for the serving network and the home networks of roaming UEs. In that case, the UE may only extract the barring information in the first data set or information element. It will be appreciated that in other implementations, the UE may extract and store all barring information even if it is roaming. However, it may not use all the information. The processing module 410 may determine whether the UE is roaming, extract the relevant barring information and store the extracted or relevant information locally in memory 420.

The UE then updates 607 the barring information for the categories configured in the UE. If the ranks of the categories for which access control information has been indicated in the signaling message match the ranks of any configured categories in the UE, the UE updates the barring information 423 in memory 420 for those configured categories with the received barring information for the matching categories in the signaling message. Moreover, the UE updates the stored barring information for all configured categories with a rank equal to or higher than the rank of the category indicated as not barred in the signaling message as not barred. The UE further ignores barring information for unmatched categories. The processing module 410 of the UE may invoke the algorithms 425 in memory 420 to map the received barring information to configured categories and store updated barring information in memory 420. If the UE has configured categories for which no barring information was indicated in the message, it may delete the stored barring information for those categories in the barring information 423 in memory or update those categories with the barring information for a default category, for example the category with the lowest rank in the signaling message. An example of how received barring information can be mapped to configured categories will be described below with respect to Figure 8.

An example of a process for handling an access attempt from an application in the UE will now be described with respect to Figure 7. When an attempt to use an application is made, the application may trigger a connection request for connecting to the network. The access manager 424 receives 701 a connection establishment request together with an indication of the ACDC category associated with the application that is attempting to access the network. This information may for example be obtained from an ACDC MO in the UE, with data 424 linking applications and categories. The access manager 702 then matches stored barring information 423 with the indicated ACDC category and applies 703 the barring information to the connection establishment request. For example, if the stored barring information 423 indicates that applications associated with the category should be barred from accessing the network, the access manager prevents the application from accessing the network. Conversely, the access manager may determine that the category is not barred and allow the application to access the network or generate a random number that is compared to a barring factor indicated for the category, as has already been described herein. If the application which attempts to access the network does not have an associated category or the barring information for that category is not stored in memory, the UE may use the barring information for the lowest ranked category.

In more detail, in a specific implementation, the RRC layer in the UE may receive an RRC connection establishment request from the NAS layer when the application attempts to access the network. The RRC layer also receives an indication by the NAS layer for which ACDC category the respective RRC connection establishment request has been triggered. The RRC layer then matches stored barring information with the indicated ACDC category and applies the barring information of the matched ACDC category to the RRC connection establishment request.

In some embodiments, the setting of the ACDC barring information for an ACDC category may be implemented by including the information in a new ACDC- CategoryConfig-r13 information element (IE) in the SIB, as will be illustrated by Code Sample 1 and Code Sample 2 below.

The non-limiting code set out below in Code Sample 1 shows a data structure defined in (Abstract Syntax Notation 1 ) (ASN.1 ) code which may be used to include the barring information and the roaming information in system information. The code includes an ACDC-CategoryConfig-r13 IE which includes the fields acdc-CategoryRank- 3, acdc-Barring-r1 , acdc-BarringFactor-r13 and acdc- BarringTime, corresponding to the fields category rank, category type, barring factor and barring time described with respect to Figure 5. When used to communicate barring information, some of the fields would have values. As is clear from the code, barring type, factor and time is optional fields, depending on the category the barring information relates to. The code defines which IE a field belongs and the characteristics and/or possible value of each field. In some embodiments, the data structure could be used to signal and store the barring information. The data structure may be included in an RRC message in the system information.

In the proposed ASN.1 structure shown below the ACDC barring information can selectively be signaled commonly for all PLMNs or individually for each PLMN sharing the RAN. When the barring information is signaled individually for each PLMN, the IE ACDC-ConfigPerPLMN-r13 is used to indicate a PLMN and references an IE ACDC-Config-r13 which in turn references the ACDC- CategoryConfig-r13 IE with the access control information for the PLMN. Furthermore, the roaming flag "acdc-Roaming- 3" in the IE ACDC-Config-r13 is used to indicate whether ACDC is applicable for UEs not in their HPLMN. As indicated above, the priority setting of the ACDC categories as well as the association of the applications to the ACDC categories in the UE may be given by a new Management Object (MO) for ACDC specific use. The UE can extract the barring information from the system information and using the extracted information and the ACDC MO control new access attempts by applications when the UE is in idle mode. As is clear from the code, it is assumed that the maximum number of ACDC categories that can be configured is 256.

ASNlSTART

SystemlnformationBlockTypeXX- SEQUENCE (

acdc-Param-rl3 CHOICE (

acdc-CommonPLMN-L s - ACDC-Config-rl3,

acdc-PerPLMN-List-rl3 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPLMN-rl1 ) ) OF ACDC- ConfigPerPLMN-rl3

) OPTIONAL, — Need

lateNonCriticalExtension OCTET STRING OPTIONAL,

ACDC-ConfigPerPLMN-rl3 SEQUENCE (

plmn-Identitylndex- INTEGER (1..raaxPLMN-rll) ,

acdc-Config-r!3 ACDC-Config-rl3 OPTIONAL

ACDC-Config-rl3 ::= SEQUENCE (

acdc-CategoryConfigList-rl3 SEQUENCE (SIZE ( 1..maxACDC-Categories-rl3) )

ACDC-CategoryConfig-rl3 OPTIONAL, Need OP

acdc-Roaming- l3 BOOLEAN OPTIONAL -- Need OP

)

ACDC-CategoryConfig-rl3 ::= SEQUENCE (

acdc-CategoryRank-rl3 INTEGER (1.. maxACDC-Categories-rl3) , acdc-Barring-rl3 ENUMERATED (barred, notBarred) OPTIONAL,

Need OP

acdc-BarringFactor-rl3 ENUMERATED (

p05, plO, pl5, p20, p25, p30, p40, p50, p60, p70, pT5, p80, p85, p90, p95, sparel)

OPTIONAL, -- Need OP

acdc-BarringTime ENUMERATED (s4, s8, s!6, s32, s64, s!28, s256, s512} OPTIONAL — Need OP

)

ma ACDC-Categories-rl3 INTEGER 256 — Maximum number of ACDC categories

— ASN1STOP

Code Sample 1 A specific example of setting and use of ACDC barring information will now be described. In this example, the ACDC barring information may be signaled commonly for all PLMNs sharing the RAN. In this example the acdc-Roaming-r13 flag, indicated in Code Sample 1 , is set to true, i.e. the ACDC barring information is applicable also for UEs not in their HPLMNs. Consequently, the UE extracts all the barring information from the signaling message. The extracted barring information is shown in Figure 8. Moreover, the categories configured in the UE is also shown in Figure 8. Based on the configuration of the HPLMN overall 4 ACDC categories are configured in the UE, as shown in Figure 8, and ranked in the following order with category 1 as the highest category having the least restriction level and category 32 as the lowest category having the highest restriction level:

1. ACDC category 1

2. ACDC category 5

3. ACDC category 25

4. ACDC category 32

The UE may be camped on a cell operated by its HPLMN. The serving network may have signaled per acdc-CommonPLMN-List-r13 overall 6 ACDC categories in order and with following setting of the ACDC barring information per IE ACDC- CategoryConfig-r13:

1. ACDC category 28: the field acdc-CategoryRank set to 28; the field acdc- Barring set to "notBarred".

2. ACDC category 29: the field acdc-CategoryRank set to 29; the field acdc- BarringFactor set to "p10"; the field acdc-BarringTime set to "s4", i.e. 4 seconds.

3. ACDC category 30: the field acdc-CategoryRank set to 30; the field acdc- BarringFactor set to "p20"; the field acdc-BarringTime set to "s16", i.e. 16 seconds.

4. ACDC category 31 : the field acdc-CategoryRank set to 31 ; the field acdc- BarringFactor set to "p30"; the field acdc-BarringTime set to "s16", i.e. 16 seconds. 5. ACDC category 32: the field acdc-CategoryRank set to 32; the field acdc- BarringFactor set to "p75"; the field acdc-BarringTime is set to "s64", i.e. 64 seconds. 6. ACDC category 48: the field acdc-CategoryRank set to 48; the field acdc-Barring set to "barred"; the field acdc-BarringTime set to "s128", i.e. 128 seconds.

Figure 8 shows how the mapping of the ACDC categories configured in the UE is performed by the UE in accordance with the ACDC categories broadcast by the serving network: The ACDC categories 1 , 5, 25 are mapped to ACDC category 28, since category 28 is indicated as "notBarred" and categories 1 , 5 and 25 have a higher rank than category 28. The ACDC categories 29, 30, 31 broadcast by serving network are ignored by the UE, as there are no categories with a matching rank configured in the UE. The ACDC category 32 is mapped to ACDC category 32, as the rank of category 32 configured in the UE matches the rank of category 32 in the received barring information. All uncategorized applications in the UE are mapped to ACDC category 48. The access manager 422 may also apply the access control information for category 48 to access attempts by applications that are not categorized, In Code Sample 2, an alternative ASN.1 structure for provisioning ACDC barring information is shown where instead of using an explicit roaming flag the ACDC barring information is provisioned separately in two different configurations: The IE acdc-ConfigCommon-r13 contains all ACDC categories which are the same in HPLMN and serving network. In this case the associated ACDC barring information shall be applied also for UEs not in their HPLMNs. The IE acdc- ConfigDedicated-r13 contains all ACDC categories which differ between HPLMN and the serving network. In this case the associated ACDC barring information shall be applied for UEs only in their HPLMNs. In the case where ACDC barring information shall be signaled commonly for all PLMNs sharing the RAN and the ACDC barring information shall be applicable also for UEs not in their HPLMNs, the serving network signals the ACDC barring information for each category configured in the radio cell per acdc- CommonPLMN-List-r13 and acdc-ConfigCommon-r13 in the same way as described for the first example above.

— ASN1START

SystemInformationBlockTypeXX-rl3 SEQUENCE (

acdc-Param-rl3 CHOICE (

acdc-CommonPLMN-List-rl3 ACDC-ConfigCommonPLMN-rl3,

acdc-PerPLMN-List-rl3 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxPLMN-rll) ) OF ACDC- ConfigPerPLMN-rl3

) OPTIONAL, -- Need OR lateNonCriticalExtension OCTET STRING OPTIONAL,

ACDC-ConfigCommonPLMN-r13 ::= SEQUENCE (

acdc-ConfigCommon-rl ACDC-Config-rl3 OPTIONAL, Need OP acdc-ConfigDedicated-rl3 ACDC-Config-r13 OPTIONAL Need OP

ACDC-ConfigPerPLMN-r13 SEQUENCE {

plmn-ldentitylndex-rl3 INTEGER (1..maxPLMN-rll) ,

acdc-ConfigCommon-r13 ACDC-Config-rl3 OPTIONAL, Need OP acdc-ConfigDedicated-rl3 ACDC-Config-rl3 OPTIONAL Need OP

ACDC-Config-rl3 ::= SEQUENCE (

acdc-CategoryConfigList-rl3 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxACDC-Categories-rl3) ) OF ACDC-CategoryConfig-rl3 OPTIONAL — Need OP

)

ACDC-CategoryConfig-rl3 ::= SEQUENCE (

acdc-CategoryRank-rl3 INTEGER (1.. maxACDC-Categories-rl3) , acdc-Barring-rl3 ENUMERATED (barred, notBarred) OPTIONAL, --

Need OP

acdc-BarringFactor-rl3 ENUMERATED (

p05, plO, pl5, p20, p25, p30, p40, p50, p60, p70, p75, p80, p85, p90, p95, sparel)

OPTIONAL, -- Need OP

acdc-BarringTime ENUMERATED (s4, s8, sl6, s32, s64, sl28, s256, s512) OPTIONAL — Need OP

}

ma ACDC-Categories INTEGER ::= 256 — Maximum number of ACDC categories — ASN1STOP

Code Sample 2 Conversely, assuming a UE with HPLMN corresponding to PLMN A is roaming in PLMN B and receives signaling information comprising updated barring information. With reference to Figure 8 again, if the restrictions on category 30 and category 32 are different in PLMN A and PLMN B and the network does not want the barring information for categories 30 and 32 defined for PLMN A to be used by UEs roaming in PLMN A, the barring information for categories 30 and 32 is then included in the information element acdc-ConfigDedicated-r13 of acdc- ConfigCommon PLMN- 3. The UE extracts the IE acdc-ConfigCommon-r13 and maps the barring information for category 28 to configured categories 1 , 5 and 25. It also determines that the barring information for category 48 should apply to uncategorized applications. However, it does not map the barring information for category 32 to the configured ACDC category 32 since the barring information for category 32 is not in the acdc-ConfigCommon PLMN-r13 IE. In some embodiments, it may still extract the barring information for category 32 in acdc- ConfigDedicated-r13 but it may not use it. If the UE was not roaming, it would use the barring information from acdc-ConfigDedicated-r13 IE as well as the barring information from acdc-ConfigCommon PLMN- 3 and map the barring information for category 32 to the configured category 32. The structures described herein for provisioning of ACDC barring information in a new SIB is applicable to both LTE and UMTS.

With reference to Figure 9, an example of a process 900 for an eNodeB for obtaining and signaling barring information to a UE will now be described. The eNodeB determines 901 barring information for the cell and generates 902 a barring information message comprising the reduced data set for communication barring information for the cell to UEs in the cell. In some implementations or situations, the eNodeB may determine the barring information locally based on for example the current load situation in the cell. In other cases, for example in a disaster situation, the eNodeB may receive the barring information from the control network 110. It may receive the barring information in the reduced form in which it will send it to the UE. In yet other embodiments, it receives all the barring information for all the categories set in the network and the eNodeB has to decide which barring information to include in a reduced data set, as described above with respect to Figure 5, that would allow the UE to determine barring information for all categories configured for the cell by the network. Generating the barring information message may include generating a number of information elements comprising the barring information, as described with respect to for example Code Sample 1 and Code Sample 2. The eNodeB may set a flag indicating whether the access control information is relevant to roaming UEs as well or it may include access control information common to all PLMNs in a separate information element to access control information that differs for the serving PLMN and other PLMNs. The eNodeB may also include an indication in the system information indicating whether the ACDC barring information is for all PLMNs using the RAN or for a specific PLMN. It may have received this information from the network.

The eNodeB then transmits 903 the system information with the barring information message to the UE at the scheduled times. In some implementations, it may also send dedicated paging messages to UEs in idle mode to let them know that updated system information is available.

Figure 10 illustrates one example of how messages can be exchanged within the UE and between the UE and the network. As shown in Figure 10, the RRC layer of the UE receives the barring information in SIB messages from the network and stores it locally. Moreover, when a user attempts to use an application and the application attempts to access the network, the NAS will identify the category associated with the application from data stored in memory, for example from an ACDC MO, and send an connection request with the relevant ACDC category to the RRC layer. The RRC layer will then determine whether to establish the connection based on the barring information associated with the relevant ACDC category.

Some embodiments herein relate to solutions which fully meet the ACDC stage 1 specification specified in 3GPP TS 22.011 V13.2.0 (2015-06) and 3GPP TS 22.011 V13.3.0 (2015-09), section 4.3.5. and provides advantages in terms of signaling load requirements in the case where a high number of ACDC categories are configured and needs to be signaled by the serving network. It will be appreciated that the UE can be implemented in other ways than described with respect to Figure 3 and 4 and may comprise alternative or additional components. Additional components of a UE, which can be used in the network described herein and which can receive and apply ACDC barring information, are shown in Figure 1 1. For example, the UE may comprise one or more user interfaces, one or more peripheral component interfaces and one or more sensors. In various embodiments, user interfaces could include, but are not limited to, a display 1102 (e.g., a liquid crystal display, a touch screen display, etc.), a speaker 1104, a microphone 1106, one or more cameras 1108 (e.g., a still camera and/or a video camera), a flashlight (e.g., a light emitting diode flash), and a keyboard 1110, taken jointly or severally in any and all permutations. In various embodiments, the peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, an audio jack, and a power supply interface. In various 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 interact with a receiver chain of the UE to receive signals from components of a positioning network, e.g., a global positioning system (GPS) satellite. In various embodiments, the UE may be a mobile computing device such as, but not limited to, a laptop computing device, a tablet computing device, a netbook, a mobile phone, etc. In various embodiments, the UE may have more or less components, and/or different architectures.

Although specific embodiments and implementations have been illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that a wide variety of alternate and/or equivalent embodiments or implementations designed to achieve the same purposes may be substituted for the specific embodiments and implementations shown and described, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the embodiments discussed herein. Therefore, it is manifestly intended that the embodiments of the present disclosure be limited only by the claims and the equivalents thereof. It will be appreciated that although implementations of the eNodeB, the UE, and a signaling message with barring information have been described with respect to specific examples shown in the drawings other implementations are contemplated. It will be appreciated that although a base station in the network has been described as an eNodeB, the description is relevant to any base station that can implement the processes and methods described. It will be appreciated that the eNodeB can also be an eNB. Moreover, although Figure 2 and Figure 3 were described with respect to a specific UE and base station in the network of Figure 1 , it will be appreciated that the descriptions could apply to any base station or eNodeB in the network.

While embodiments are described with reference to an LTE network, some embodiments may be used with other types of wireless access networks.

In embodiments, the implemented wireless network may be a 3rd Generation Partnership Project's long term evolution (LTE) advanced wireless communication standard, which may include, but is not limited to releases 13, or later, of the 3GPP's LTE-A standards.

As used herein, the term "module" 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 memory (shared, dedicated, or group) that execute one or more software or firmware instructions and/or programs, a combinational logic circuit, and/or other suitable components that provide the described functionality. Although the examples and embodiments have been described separately with respect to their accompanying drawings, embodiments are not limited thereto. Embodiments can be realised in which the embodiments or examples associated with the figures can be taken jointly and severally in any and all permutations. For example, the features of figure 1 , and/or the features of the description of figure 1 , can be taken together with the features of figure 2 or the description of figures 2 and so on.

Where variations of examples or embodiments have been presented as being at least a member of an enumerated list, either with or without the accompanying language "taken jointly or severally in any and all permutations", it is clear that all permutations of such enumerated list members are contemplated, which is made more emphatic by the accompanying language "taken jointly and severally in any and all permutations" or, where appropriate, "taken jointly and severally in any and all combinations".

Embodiments can be realized according to any of the following clauses and/or examples taken jointly and severally in any and all permutations: Clause 1 . Apparatus for a user equipment for use in a wireless communication network comprising:

a communication module configured to receive barring information for a plurality of Application Specific Congestion Control For Data Communication

(ACDC) categories; and

processing circuitry configured to control access by an application, configured in the user equipment, to the communication network based on said received barring information,

wherein the received barring information comprises an indication of a category barring type for one or more of said plurality of ACDC categories.

Clause 2. Apparatus according to clause 1 , wherein the barring information indicates a barring factor for one or more other categories of said plurality of categories, the one or more other categories being different to the one or more categories for which the barring information comprises an indication of a barring type.

Clause 3. Apparatus according to clause 1 or clause 2, wherein the indication of a barring type indicates that applications associated with a category shall be allowed to access the network or shall be barred from accessing the network.

Clause 4. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding clauses, wherein the barring information is received in a plurality of information elements, each information element comprising a field for indicating a rank of a category, a field for indicating a category barring type, a field for indicating a barring factor and a field for indicating a barring time.

Clause 5. Apparatus according to clause 4, wherein, for each category of the plurality of categories, the category rank field has a value indicating a rank of the category, and either the barring type field or the barring factor field has a value.

Clause 6. Apparatus according to clause 4, wherein for at least one category the category rank field has a value indicating a rank and the category type field has a value indicating a type and the barring factor and barring time fields do not have a value.

Clause 7. Apparatus according to any one of clauses 4 to 6, wherein the information element is a Radio Resource Control (RRC) information element.

Clause 8. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding clauses, further comprising memory configured to store information about one or more user equipment ACDC categories to which one or more applications operating in the user equipment are associated.

Clause 9. Apparatus according to clause 8, wherein the indication of a category barring type for one or more of said plurality of categories comprises an indication that applications associated with an indicated category shall be allowed to access the network, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to determine if a category of the one or more user equipment ACDC categories has a rank higher or equal to the rank of the indicated category and, in response to a positive determination, update the stored information for the category to indicate that applications associated with the determined category shall be allowed to access the network.

Clause 10. Apparatus according to clause 8 or 9, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to, in response to an access attempt by said application, determine a category associated with the application and respond to the access attempt from the application based on the barring information for the associated category.

Clause 1 1 . Apparatus according to clause 10, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to, if said application is not associated with a category, determine that the application is associated with a default category.

Clause 12. Apparatus according to clause 1 1 , wherein the default category is the category with the lowest rank in the received barring information.

Clause 13. Apparatus according to clause 4, 5, 6 or 7 wherein the plurality of information elements comprises:

at most one information element with a category rank field value k, where k ≥ 1 , and comprising a barring type field value indicating that associated applications are not barred from accessing the network;

zero or more information elements with a rank field value x, where k+1 <x k+n, and comprising a barring factor field value and a barring time value; and zero or more information elements with a rank field value m, where m > k+n, and comprising a barring type field value indicating that associated applications are barred from accessing the network.

Clause 14. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding clauses, wherein the communication module is further configured to receive information indicating whether the barring information is for all public land mobile networks (PLMNs) sharing a radio access network or for a specific PLMN of the PLMNs sharing the radio access network. Clause 15. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding clauses, wherein the barring information further comprises an indication indicating whether the barring information is applicable to a user equipment not in its home PLMN (HPLMN) and the processing circuitry is configured, when the user equipment is not in its HPLMN, only to control access of applications based on the received barring information in response to a determination that the barring information is applicable to a user equipment not it its HPLMN.

Clause 16. Apparatus according to clause 15, wherein the indication is a flag. Clause 17. Apparatus according to clause 15, wherein the indication is in the form of the barring information being provided in two parts, a first part with barring information applicable for user equipment in their HPLMN and roaming user equipment and a second part with barring information not applicable for roaming user equipment.

Clause 18. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding clauses, wherein the barring information is transmitted in a system information block (SIB).

Clause 19. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding clauses, wherein the barring information is defined for a radio cell.

Clause 20. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding clauses, wherein the user equipment is for use in a network implementing the 3 ^rd Generation Partnership Project long term evolution (LTE) advanced wireless communication standard. Clause 21. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding clauses, further comprising one or more of: a screen, a speaker, a keyboard, multiple antennas and/or a speaker. Clause 22. A user equipment comprising an apparatus of any one of the preceding clauses.

Clause 23. Apparatus for an eNodeB for use in a wireless communication system, the apparatus comprising:

a communication module configured to transmit a wireless signal to at least one user equipment in a radio cell; and

processing circuitry coupled to the communication module and configured to:

determine barring information for a plurality of Application Specific Congestion Control For Data Communication (ACDC) categories for the cell, the barring information comprising an indication of a category barring type for one or more of said plurality of categories; and

cause the communication module to transmit the barring information to the at least one user equipment.

Clause 24. Apparatus according to clause 23, wherein the barring information indicates a barring factor for one or more other categories of said plurality of categories, the one or more other categories being different to the one or more categories for which the barring information comprises an indication of a barring type.

Clause 25. Apparatus according to clause 23 or 24, wherein the indication of a barring type indicates that applications associated with a category shall be allowed to access the network or shall be barred from accessing the network.

Clause 26. Apparatus according to clause 23, 24 or 25, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to send the barring information as a plurality of information elements, each information element comprising a field for indicating a rank of a category, a field for indicating a category barring type, a field for indicating a barring factor and a field for indicating a barring time.

Clause 27. Apparatus according to clause 26, wherein for at least one category the category rank field has a value indicating a rank and the category type field has a value indicating a type and the barring factor and barring time fields do not have a value.

Clause 28. Apparatus according to clause 26, wherein, only for a single category, the barring information includes an indication of a barring type indicating that applications associated with the category shall be allowed to access the network.

Clause 29. Apparatus according to any one of clauses 23 to 28, wherein the processing circuitry is configured to determine the barring information locally based on the current load situation in the cell.

Clause 30. Apparatus according to any one of clauses 23 to 27, wherein the barring information comprises:

at most one information element with a category rank value k, where k≥ 1 , and comprising a barring type value indicating that associated applications are not barred, from accessing the network;

zero or more information elements with a rank value x, where k+1 x < k+n, and comprising a barring factor value and a barring time value; and

zero or more information elements with a rank value m, where m > k+n, and comprising a barring type value indicating that associated applications are barred from accessing the network.

Clause 31. Apparatus according to any one of clauses 23 to 30, wherein processing circuitry is further configured to cause the communication module to transmit information indicating whether the barring information is for all public land mobile networks PLMNs sharing a radio access network or for a specific PLMN of the PLMNs sharing the radio access network. Clause 32. Apparatus according to any one of clauses 23 to 31 , wherein the barring information further comprises an indication indicating whether the barring information is applicable to a user equipment not in its home public land mobile network (HPLMN).

Clause 33. Apparatus according to any one of clauses 23 to 32, wherein processing circuitry is configured to cause the communication module to transmit the barring information in a system information block (SIB).

Clause 34. An eNodeB comprising apparatus according to any one of clauses 23 to 33.

Clause 35. An eNodeB according to clause 34 for use in a network

implementing the 3 ^rd Generation Partnership Project long term evolution (LTE) advanced wireless communication standard.

Clause 36. A user equipment for use in a wireless communication network comprising:

a communication module configured to receive barring information for a subset of a set of ranked Application Specific Congestion Control For Data Communication (ACDC) categories for an area associated with the user equipment; and

processing circuitry configured to set barring information for one or more ACDC categories configured in the user equipment based on the received barring information,

wherein the received barring information indicates a category for which associated applications shall be allowed to access the network and the processing circuitry is configured to determine one or more categories with a higher rank than the indicated category and set the barring information to indicate that applications associated with the one or more determined categories shall be allowed to access the network. Clause 37. A user equipment according to clause 36, wherein, for one or more first categories of the subset of the set of ranked ACDC categories, the barring information comprises a parameter indicating a type of category and wherein a value of said parameter indicates that applications associated with a category of the one or more first categories shall be allowed to access to the network or shall be barred from accessing the network.

Clause 38. A user equipment according to clause 37, wherein, for one or more second categories of the subset of the set of ranked categories, the barring information comprises a barring factor, the one or more second categories being different to the one or more first categories.

Clause 39. A user equipment according to any one of clauses 36 to 38, wherein the barring information is received in a system information block (SIB) for a radio cell in which the user equipment is located.

Clause 40. A user equipment according to any one of clauses 36 to 39, further comprising a memory for storing the barring information for the one or more categories configured in the user equipment and information indicating applications that are associated with the one or more categories and wherein the processing circuitry is configured to, in response to an access attempt by an application, determine based on the information in memory a category associated with the application and respond to the access attempt based on the barring information for the determined category.

Clause 41. A user equipment for use in a wireless communication network comprising:

a communication module configured to receive a message comprising barring information for a plurality of control categories for controlling access of applications associated with the categories to the network; and

processing circuitry configured to set barring information for one or more congestion control categories configured in the user equipment based on the received barring information, wherein the message comprises a plurality of radio resource control (RRC) information elements, each comprising a category rank field for indicating a rank of a category, a barring type field for indicating the type of the category, barring factor field for indicating a barring factor for the category and a barring time field for indicating a barring time for the category.

Clause 42. A user equipment according to clause 41 , wherein, for each category of the plurality of categories, the category rank field has a value indicating a rank of the category, and either the barring type field or the barring factor field has a value.

Clause 43. A user equipment according to clause 41 or 42, wherein, for one category of the plurality of congestion control categories, the barring type information comprises a barring type field value that indicates that applications associated with the category shall be allowed to access the network.

Clause 44. A user equipment according to clause 41 , 42 or 43, wherein, for at least one category of the plurality of congestion control categories, the barring type information comprises a barring type field value that indicates that applications associated with the category shall be barred from accessing the network.

Clause 45. A user equipment for use in a wireless communication network comprising:

means for receiving barring information for a plurality of control categories for a radio cell;

means for storing barring information based on the received barring information; and

means for controlling access by an application in the user equipment to the network based on the stored barring information, wherein the barring information is received in a plurality of information elements each comprising a field for indicating a rank of a category, a field for indicating the type of the category, a field for indicating a barring factor for the category and a field for indicating a barring time for the category. Clause 46. A user equipment according to clause 45, wherein the barring type information comprising a barring type field value for one category of the plurality of control categories that indicates that applications associated with the category shall be allowed to access the network.

Clause 47. A computer program comprising instructions that when executed on one or more processors of a user equipment in a wireless communication network cause the one or more processors to control access by an application, in the user equipment, to the communication network based on received barring information for a plurality of Application Specific Congestion Control For Data Communication (ACDC) categories, the received barring information comprises an indication of a category barring type for at least one category of said plurality of categories. Clause 48. A computer program according to clause 47, wherein the computer program instructions comprises instructions to process an radio resource control (RRC) information element comprising a field for indicating a rank of a category, a field for including said indication of a category barring type, a field for indicating a barring factor and a field for indicating a barring time.

Clause 49. A computer program comprising computer program instructions that when executed on one or more processors of a base stations cause the one or more processors to:

determine barring information for a plurality of Application Specific Congestion Control For Data Communication (ACDC) categories for an associated cell, the barring information comprising an indication of a category barring type for one or more of said plurality of categories; and cause a communication module of the base station to transmit the barring information to at least one user equipment.

Clause 50. A computer program according to clause 49, wherein the computer program instructions comprises instructions to cause the communication module to transmit the barring information in a plurality of radio resource control (RRC) information elements, each comprising a field for indicating a rank of a category, a field for including a category barring type, a field for indicating a barring factor and a field for indicating a barring time. Clause 51. A computer readable medium having a computer program according to any one of clauses 47 to 50 stored thereon.

Clause 52. A non-transient computer readable medium comprising a computer program according to any one of clauses 47 to 50.

Clause 53. A method of handling congestion control information in a wireless communications network comprising:

receiving in a user equipment barring information for a plurality of

Application Specific Congestion Control For Data Communication (ACDC) categories for a radio cell; and

controlling access by an application in the user equipment to the network based on the received barring information, wherein the received barring information comprises an indication of a category barring type for at least one category of said plurality of categories.

Clause 54. A method according to clause 53, wherein the barring information indicates a barring factor for one or more other categories of said plurality of categories, the one or more other categories being different to the one or more categories for which the barring information comprises an indication of a barring type.

Clause 55. A method according to clause 53 or clause 54, wherein the indication of a barring type is arranged to indicate that applications associated with a category shall be allowed to access the network or shall be barred from accessing the network.

Clause 56. A method according to clause 53, 54 or 55, further comprising processing the received barring information, wherein processing the received barring information comprises processing a plurality of information elements, each information element comprising a field for indicating a rank of a category, a field for indicating a category barring type, a field for indicating a barring factor and a field for indicating a barring time.

Clause 57. A method according to clause 56, wherein, for each information element of the plurality of information elements, the category rank field has a value indicating a rank of the category, and either the barring type field or the barring factor field has a value.

Clause 58. A method according to clause 56 or 57, wherein the plurality of information elements are Radio Resource Control (RRC) information elements.

Clause 59. A method according to any one of clauses 53 to 58, further comprising storing information about one or more user equipment ACDC categories to which one or more applications operating in the user equipment are associated, wherein the indication of a category barring type for one or more of said plurality of categories comprises an indication that applications associated with an indicated category shall be allowed to access the network and the method further comprises determining that a category of the one or more user equipment ACDC categories has a rank higher or equal to the rank of the indicated category and updating the stored information for the determined category to indicate that applications associated with the determined category shall be allowed to access the network.

Clause 60. A method of handling congestion control information in a wireless communications network, the method comprising:

determining in a base station barring information for a plurality of

Application Specific Congestion Control For Data Communication (ACDC) categories for an associated cell, the barring information comprising an indication of a category barring type for one or more of said plurality of categories; and

causing the barring information to be sent to at least one user equipment. Clause 61. A method according to clause 60, wherein the barring information indicates a barring factor for one or more other categories of said plurality of categories, the one or more other categories being different to the one or more categories for which the barring information comprises an indication of a category barring type.

Clause 62. A method according to clause 60 or 61 , wherein the indication of a barring type is arranged to indicate that applications associated with a category shall be allowed to access the network or shall be barred from accessing the network.

Clause 63. A method according to clause 60, 61 or 62, wherein determining the barring information comprises determining the barring information locally based on the current load situation in the associated cell.

Clause 64. A method according to any one of clauses 60 to 63, wherein causing the barring information to be sent comprises causing a communication module to transmit the barring information in a plurality of radio resource control (RRC) information elements, each comprising a field for indicating a rank of a category, a field for including a category barring type, a field for indicating a barring factor and a field for indicating a barring time.

Clause 65. A method according to clause 64, wherein the barring information comprises."

at most one information element with a category rank value k, where k≥ 1 , and comprising a barring type value indicating that associated applications are not barred from accessing the network;

zero or more information elements with a rank value x, where k+1 < x < k+n, and comprising a barring factor value and a barring time value; and

zero or more information elements with a rank value m, where m > k+n, and comprising a barring type value indicating that associated applications are barred from accessing the network. Clause 66. Apparatus comprising means for implementing a method of any one of clauses 53 to 65.

Clause 67. Machine executable instructions arranged, when executed by at least one processor, for implementing a method of any one of clauses 53 to 65.

Clause 68. Machine readable storage storing machine executable instructions according to clause 67. Clause 69. An apparatus, UE, method, eNodeB substantially as described herein with reference to and/or as illustrated in any one or more of the

accompanying drawings.

Example 1 may include a method comprising: transmitting, by a network, a broadcast message to a UE located in a radio cell including an indication about barring information for each ACDC category defined in the radio cell; receiving the broadcast message, by a UE that supports the ACDC type of access control; determining by the UE whether an application is subject to the ACDC type of access control; and using the barring information of the ACDC category associated with the application that is subject to the ACDC type of access control.

Example 2 may include the method of example 1 or some other method herein, wherein the indication about barring information for each ACDC category defined in the radio cell includes information about acdc-CategoryRank, acdc-BarringFlag, acdc-BarringFactor and acdc-BarringTime.

Example 3 may include the method of example 2 or some other method herein, wherein the setting of the barring information for an ACDC category follows the following rules: There is at most one entry with a rank value k (with k≥ 1 ) for which the field acdc-Barring is set to "notBarred". For such entry the fields acdc- BarringFactor and acdc-BarringTime are not present. There can be zero or more entries with a rank value (k+1) to (k+n) for which the field acdc-Barring is not present. For those entries then the fields acdc-BarringFactor and acdc- BarringTime are present. Those entries are provided in order acc. to the restriction level (0 < acdc-BarringFactor < 1 ). There can be zero or more entries with a rank value M (with M > k+n) for which the field acdc- Barring is set to "Barred". For those entries the field acdc-BarringTime is optionally present and the field acdc- BarringFactor is not present.

Example 4 may include the method of example 2 or some other method herein, wherein the barring information is signalled commonly for all PLMNs or individually for each PLMN sharing the RAN.

Example 5 may include the method of example 4 or some other method herein, wherein the barring information that is signalled for a PLMN consists an indication whether ACDC is applicable for UEs not in their HPLMN. Example 6 may include the method of example 1 or some other method herein, wherein the broadcast message is transmitted in the radio cell on a System Information Block.

Example 7 may include the method of example 6 or some other method herein, wherein an update of the System Information Block is notified per dedicated paging indication.

Example 8 may include the method of example 1 or some other method herein, wherein the broadcast message is transmitted in the radio cell that is operated in accordance with the LTE radio access technology.

Example 9 may include the method of example 1 or some other method herein, wherein the broadcast message is transmitted in the radio cell that is operated in accordance with the UMTS radio access technology.

Example 10 may include a network comprising a transmitter circuitry to transmit a broadcast message to a UE located in a radio cell including an indication about barring information for each ACDC category defined in the radio cell. Example 11 may include the network of example 10 or some other method herein, wherein the indication about barring information for each ACDC category defined in the radio cell includes information about acdc-CategoryRank, acdc- Barring flag, acdc-Barring Factor and acdc-BarringTime.

Example 12 may include the network of example 1 1 or some other method herein, wherein the setting of the barring information for an ACDC category follows the following rules: There is at most one entry with a rank value k (with k > 1 ) for which the field acdc-Barring is set to "notBarred". For such entry the fields acdc- BarringFactor and acdc-BarringTime are not present. There can be zero or more entries with a rank value (k+1 ) to (k+n) for which the field acdc-Barring is not present. For those entries then the fields acdc-BarringFactor and acdc- BarringTime are present. Those entries are provided in order acc. to the restriction level (0 < acdc-BarringFactor < 1 ). There can be zero or more entries with a rank value M (with M > k+n) for which the field acdc- Barring is set to "Barred". For those entries the field acdc-BarringTime is optionally present and the field acdc- BarringFactor is not present. Example 13 may include the network of example 1 1 or some other method herein, wherein the barring information is signalled commonly for all PLMNs or individually for each PLMN sharing the RAN.

Example 14 may include the network of example 13 or some other method herein, wherein the barring information that is signalled for a PLMN consists an indication whether ACDC is applicable for UEs not in their HPLMN.

Example 15 may include the network of example 10 or some other method herein, wherein the broadcast message is transmitted in the radio cell on a System Information Block. Example 16 may include the network of example 15 or some other method herein, wherein an update of the System Information Block is notified per dedicated paging indication. Example 17 may include a UE that supports the ACDC type of access control comprising a receiver circuitry to receive a broadcast message that includes an indication about barring information for each ACDC category defined in the radio cell; a storage medium to store the broadcast message; a processing circuitry to determine whether an application is subject to the ACDC type of access control, and for using the barring information of the ACDC category associated with the application that is subject to the ACDC type of access control.

Example 18 may include a UE of example 17 or some other method herein, wherein the indication about barring information for each ACDC category defined in the radio cell includes information about acdc-CategoryRank, acdc-Barring flag, acdc-Barring Factor and acdc-BarringTime.

Example 19 may include the UE of example 17 or some other method herein, wherein the barring information is received commonly for all PLMNs or individually for each PLMN sharing the RAN.

Example 20 may include the UE of example 19 or some other method herein, wherein the barring information that is received for a PLMN consists an indication whether ACDC is applicable for UEs not in their HPLMN.

Example 21 may include the UE of example 17 or some other method herein, wherein the broadcast message is received in the radio cell on a System Information Block.

Example 22 may include the UE of example 21 or some other method herein, wherein the notification of an update of the System Information Block is received per dedicated paging indication. Example 23 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-22, or any other method or process described herein. Example 24 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-22, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 25 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, and/or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-22, or any other method or process described herein.

Example 26 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-22, or portions or parts thereof.

Example 27 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

Example 28 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. Example 29 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.