Login| Sign Up| Help| Contact|

Patent Searching and Data


Title:
PRIORITIZATION AND OVERLOAD CONTROL FOR PUBLIC SAFETY SERVICES
Document Type and Number:
WIPO Patent Application WO/2017/023307
Kind Code:
A1
Abstract:
An apparatus, a method and a computer program product related to prioritization and overload control for specific services such as public safety services are provided. The apparatus comprises a processor and a memory for storing instructions to be executed by the processor, wherein the processor is configured to determine whether the apparatus is allowed to request for a specific service, and, when it is determined that the apparatus is allowed to request for the specific service, to cause sending a connection request to a network, the connection request including a specific service indication indicating the request is initiated for the specific service.

Inventors:
CHANDRAMOULI DEVAKI (US)
GULBANI GIORGI (FI)
NEVANDER MIKA JUHANI (FI)
LIEBHART RAINER (DE)
WOLFNER GYORGY TAMAS (HU)
LEIS PETER (DE)
MERKEL JUERGEN (DE)
ARRAKOSKI JARNO JANOS (FI)
Application Number:
PCT/US2015/043759
Publication Date:
February 09, 2017
Filing Date:
August 05, 2015
Export Citation:
Click for automatic bibliography generation   Help
Assignee:
NOKIA SOLUTIONS & NETWORKS OY (FI)
CHANDRAMOULI DEVAKI (US)
GULBANI GIORGI (FI)
NEVANDER MIKA JUHANI (FI)
LIEBHART RAINER (DE)
WOLFNER GYORGY TAMAS (HU)
LEIS PETER (DE)
MERKEL JUERGEN (DE)
ARRAKOSKI JARNO JANOS (FI)
International Classes:
H04L5/00; G06F15/16
Domestic Patent References:
WO2014084848A12014-06-05
Foreign References:
US20120269099A12012-10-25
US20130288634A12013-10-31
US20130344841A12013-12-26
US20140010179A12014-01-09
US20110188416A12011-08-04
US20140064193A12014-03-06
Attorney, Agent or Firm:
GOLDHUSH, Douglas H. et al. (US)
Download PDF:
Claims:
CLAIMS

1. An apparatus comprising

a processor and

a memory for storing instructions to be executed by the processor, wherein the processor is configured

to determine whether the apparatus is allowed to request for a specific service, and, when it is determined that the apparatus is allowed to request for the specific service,

to cause sending a connection request to a network, the connection request including a specific service indication indicating the request is initiated for the specific service.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the processor is configured to determine whether the apparatus is allowed to request for the specific service

based on an application running on the apparatus requiring the specific service, and/or

based on a configuration of the apparatus for the specific service.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the connection request is a radio access connection request, and the processor is configured

to send the specific service indication as a part of a radio connection establishment cause of the radio access connection request, and/or

to send the specific service indication in an information element within the radio access connection request. 4. The apparatus according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the connection request is a non-access stratum connection request and the processor is configured

to send the specific service indication by setting a type of the non- access stratum connection request, and/or

to send the specific service indication in an information element within the non-access stratum connection request. 5. The apparatus according to claim 4, wherein

the non-access stratum connection request is an attach request and the specific service indication is a specific evolved packet service attach type, and/or

the non-access stratum connection request is a tracking area update request and the specific service indication is a specific evolved packet service update type, and/or

the non-access stratum connection request is an extended service request and the specific service indication is a specific service type, and/or

the non-access stratum connection request is a packet data network connectivity request and the specific service indication is a specific request type.

6. An apparatus comprising

a processor and

a memory for storing instructions to be executed by the processor, wherein the processor is configured

to receive a connection request from a user equipment,

to detect whether the connection request contains a specific service indication indicating that the request is initiated for the specific service, and

to prioritize the user equipment in case the initial connection request contains the specific service indication. 7. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the connection request is a radio access connection request, and

the specific service indication is a part of a radio connection establishment cause of the radio access connection request, and/or the specific service indication is in an information element included in the radio access connection request.

8. The apparatus according to claim 7, wherein the apparatus is a radio access network control element.

9. The apparatus according to claim 6, wherein the connection request is a non-access stratum connection request and

the specific service indication is a type of the non-access stratum connection request, and/or

the specific service indication is an information element included in the non-access stratum connection request.

10. The apparatus according to claim 9, wherein

the non-access stratum connection request is an attach request and the specific service indication is a specific evolved packet service attach type, and/or

the non-access stratum connection request is a tracking area update request and the specific service indication is a specific evolved packet service update type, and/or

the non-access stratum connection request is an extended service request and the specific service indication is a specific service type, and/or

the non-access stratum connection request is a packet data network connectivity request and the specific service indication is a specific request type.

11. The apparatus according to claim 9 or 10, wherein the apparatus is a mobility management entity.

12. The apparatus according to any one of the claims 6 to 11, wherein the processor is configured

to allocate resources necessary for handling the connection request for the specific service.

13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein the processor is configured

to allocate the resources before receiving the connection request.

14. The apparatus according to any one of the claims 6 to 13, wherein the processor is configured

to download subscriber data regarding the connection request from a home subscriber server and

to confirm whether the user equipment is authorized to use the specific service or not based on the downloaded subscriber data.

15. The apparatus according to any one of the claims 1 to 14, wherein the specific service is a public safety service or a public safety emergency service.

16. A method comprising

determining whether a user equipment carrying out the method is allowed to request for a specific service, and, when it is determined that the user equipment is allowed to request for the specific service,

causing sending a connection request to a network, the connection request including a specific service indication indicating the request is initiated for the specific service.

17. The method according to claim 16, wherein it is determined whether the user equipment is allowed to request for the specific service based on an application running on the user equipment requiring the specific service, and/or

based on a configuration of the user equipment for the specific service.

18. The method according to claim 16 or 17, wherein the connection request is a radio access connection request, and the method further comprises

sending the specific service indication as a part of a radio connection establishment cause of the radio access connection request, and/or

sending the specific service indication in an information element within the radio access connection request.

19. The method according to claim 16 or 17, wherein the connection request is a non-access stratum connection request and the method further comprises

sending the specific service indication by setting a type of the non- access stratum connection request, and/or

sending the specific service indication in an information element within the non-access stratum connection request.

20. The method according to claim 19, wherein

the non-access stratum connection request is an attach request and the specific service indication is a specific evolved packet service attach type, and/or

the non-access stratum connection request is a tracking area update request and the specific service indication is a specific evolved packet service update type, and/or

the non-access stratum connection request is an extended service request and the specific service indication is a specific service type, and/or

the non-access stratum connection request is a packet data network connectivity request and the specific service indication is a specific request type.

21. A method comprising

receiving a connection request from a user equipment,

detecting whether the connection request contains a specific service indication indicating that the request is initiated for the specific service, and

prioritizing the user equipment in case the initial connection request contains the specific service indication.

22. The method according to claim 21, wherein the connection request is a radio access connection request, and

the specific service indication is a part of a radio connection establishment cause of the radio access connection request, and/or

the specific service indication is in an information element included in the radio access connection request.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein the method is carried out by a radio access network control element.

24. The method according to claim 21, wherein the connection request is a non-access stratum connection request and

the specific service indication is a type of the non-access stratum connection request, and/or

the specific service indication is an information element included in the non-access stratum connection request.

25. The method according to claim 24, wherein

the non-access stratum connection request is an attach request and the specific service indication is a specific evolved packet service attach type, and/or

the non-access stratum connection request is a tracking area update request and the specific service indication is a specific evolved packet service update type, and/or

the non-access stratum connection request is an extended service request and the specific service indication is a specific service type, and/or

the non-access stratum connection request is a packet data network connectivity request and the specific service indication is a specific request type.

26. The method according to claim 24 or 25, wherein the method is carried out by a mobility management entity.

27. The method according to any one of the claims 21 to 26, further comprising

allocating resources necessary for handling the connection request for the specific service.

28. The method according to claim 27, wherein the resources are allocated before receiving the connection request.

29. The method according to any one of the claims 21 to 28, further comprising

downloading subscriber data regarding the connection request from a home subscriber server and

confirming whether the user equipment is authorized to use the specific service or not based on the downloaded subscriber data.

30. The method according to any one of the claims 16 to 29, wherein the specific service is a public safety service or a public safety emergency service.

31. A computer program product comprising code means for performing a method according to any one of the claims 16 to 30 when run on a processing means or module. 32. The computer program product according to claim 31, wherein the computer program product is embodied on a computer-readable medium, and/or the computer program product is directly loadable into the internal memory of the computer and/or transmittable via a network by means of at least one of upload, download and push procedures.

Description:
Prioritization and Overload Control for Public Safety Services Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to an apparatus, a method and a computer program product for prioritization and overload control for specific services such as Public Safety services.

Related background Art

The following meanings for the abbreviations used in this specification apply:

3GPP 3rd generation partnership project

AC Access class

ACB Access class barring

API Access point interface

AS Access Stratum

eNB Evolved Node B, E-UTRAN Node B

EPC Evolved packet core

EPS Evolved packet system

EMM EPS mobility management

ESM EPS session management

ETSI European telecommunications standards institute

HSS Home subscriber server

IE Information element

IMSI International mobile subscriber identity

IP Internet protocol

LA Location area

LTE Long term evolution

MME Mobility management entity MMTEL Multimedia telephony

MO Mobile originated

MT Mobile terminated

NAS Non Access Stratum

OMA-DM Open mobile alliance device management

OTA Over the Air

PDN Packet data network

PLMN Public land mobile network

PubS Public Safety services

RACH Random Access CHannel

RAN Radio Access Network

RRC Radio Resource Control

TA Tracking Area

TAU Tracking Area Update

UE User equipment

Embodiments of the present invention relate to prioritizing of certain services in a mobile communication network, such as Public Safety communication. The Public Safety feature was introduced in 3GPP Rel-12 and contains two sub features: Group Communication using LTE (GCSE) [3GPP TS 23.468] and Proximity Services (ProSe) [3GPP TS 23.303] .

When the network is heavily loaded, the network (eNB or MME) may reject a RRC connection request and/or attach request immediately as it does not know that the UE is a public safety UE. From the MME perspective, this may apply also for TAU request and Service request since they are initial UE messages. The importance of the public safety communication becomes paramount at the time of natural disaster. At the time of natural disaster, it can be foreseen that the network is heavily used by devices in the region. So, in such situations, network needs the ability to prioritize public safety communication without which public safety officials may not able to register with the network or setup communication with others especially if the radio is shared by regular users and public safety users.

In case of eNB, the eNB analyzes the requests based on the parameters within the RRC connection request. Unless the UE is configured with a special Access Class, the RRC establishment cause may not be set to high priority and this level of granularity may not be sufficient to differentiate public safety communication from different public safety personnel. When MME receives an attach request from UE, if MME is heavily loaded and doesn't know that the attach request is for Public Safety services (PubS), MME may reject the request before downloading the subscriber information from HSS even if the subscriber info does contain information that the UE is used for PubS.

So, in short, a request initiated by public safety services cannot be prioritized at the early stage of the request handling in the network over other requests. Currently, 3GPP specs (Rel-12 and Rel-13) do not offer any solution to the problem. One indirect possibility is for PubS UE(s) to be configured with special access class (AC 11 to 15). However, even if the UE(s) are configured for ACl l-15, this is not visible at the MME level and at the eNB level, this is a very coarse level of granularity and it does not help differentiate requests initiated for originating call, terminating call, MO data, MT data etc. Again the specification does not require public safety UE to be configured as such and this is left up to operator's choice. Also, if the network is dedicated for public safety services communication only, using AC11 - 15 for all public safety devices could be a problem because not all police men and firemen will require highest priority at all times and ACl l-15 is a very static configuration at this time. They will require higher priority treatment only in case they are serving public in times of disaster. Summary of the Invention Embodiments of the present invention address this situation and aim to overcome the above-described problem and to enable a prioritization of specific services such as Public Safety services in a mobile network.

According to a first aspect of the present invention an apparatus is provided which comprises a processor and a memory for storing instructions to be executed by the processor, wherein the processor is configured to determine whether the apparatus is allowed to request for a specific service, and, when it is determined that the apparatus is allowed to request for the specific service, to cause sending a connection request to a network, the connection request including a specific service indication indicating the request is initiated for the specific service.

According to a second aspect of the present invention a method is provided which comprises comprising determining whether a user equipment carrying out the method is allowed to request for a specific service, and, when it is determined that the user equipment is allowed to request for the specific service, causing sending a connection request to a network, the connection request including a specific service indication indicating the request is initiated for the specific service.

The first aspect and the second aspect may be modified as follows:

For example, the determination whether the apparatus (user equipment) is allowed to request for the specific service may be based on an application running on the apparatus (user equipment) requiring the specific service, and/or based on a configuration of the apparatus (user equipment) for the specific service. The connection request may be a radio access connection request, and the specific service indication may be sent as a part of a radio connection establishment cause of the radio access connection request, and/or the specific service indication may be sent in an information element within the radio access connection request.

The connection request may be a non-access stratum connection request, and the specific service indication may be sent by setting a type of the non-access stratum connection request, and/or the specific service indication may be sent in an information element within the non-access stratum connection request.

The non-access stratum connection request may be an attach request and the specific service indication may be a specific evolved packet service (EPS) attach type; and/or the non-access stratum connection request may be a tracking area update (TAU) request and the specific service indication may be a specific evolved packet service (EPS) update type; and/or the non-access stratum connection request may be an extended service request and the specific service indication may be a specific service type; and/or the non-access stratum connection request may be a packet data network (PDN) connectivity request and the specific service indication may be a specific request type.

According to a third aspect of the present invention an apparatus is provided which comprises a processor and a memory for storing instructions to be executed by the processor, wherein the processor is configured to receive a connection request from a user equipment, to detect whether the connection request contains a specific service indication indicating that the request is initiated for the specific service, and to prioritize the user equipment in case the initial connection request contains the specific service indication.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention a method is provided which comprises receiving a connection request from a user equipment, detecting whether the connection request contains a specific service indication indicating that the request is initiated for the specific service, and prioritizing the user equipment in case the initial connection request contains the specific service indication.

The connection request may be a radio access connection request, and the specific service indication may be a part of a radio connection establishment cause of the radio access connection request, and/or the specific service indication may be in an information element included in the radio access connection request.

The apparatus according to the above modification of the third aspect and an apparatus carrying out the method according to the above modification of the fourth aspect may be a radio access network control element (e.g ., eNB).

Furthermore, the connection request may be a non-access stratum connection request and the specific service indication may be a type of the non-access stratum connection request, and/or the specific service indication may be in an information element included in the non-access stratum connection request.

The non-access stratum connection request may be an attach request and the specific service indication is a specific evolved packet service (EPS) attach type; and/or the non-access stratum connection request may be a tracking area update (TAU) request and the specific service indication is a specific evolved packet service (EPS) update type; and/or the non-access stratum connection request may be an extended service request and the specific service indication may be a specific service type; and/or the non-access stratum connection request may be a packet data network (PDN) connectivity request and the specific service indication may be a specific request type. The apparatus according to the above modification of the third aspect and an apparatus carrying out the method according to the above modification of the fourth aspect may be a mobility management entity (e.g . MME).

Furthermore, resources necessary for handling the connection request for the specific service may be allocated . For example, the resources may be allocated before receiving the connection request.

Moreover, subscriber data regarding the connection request may be downloaded from a home subscriber server and it may be confirmed whether the user equipment is authorized to use the specific service or not based on the downloaded subscriber data.

The specific service according to any of the first to fourth aspects and their modifications may be a public safety service or a public safety emergency service. According to a fifth aspect of the present invention a computer program product is provided which comprises code means for performing a method according to the second or fourth aspects and/or their modifications when run on a processing means or module. The computer program product may be embodied on a computer-readable medium, and/or the computer program product may be directly loadable into the internal memory of the computer and/or transmittable via a network by means of at least one of upload, download and push procedures.

Brief Description of the Drawings

These and other objects, features, details and advantages will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description of embodiments of the present invention which is to be taken in conjunction with the appended drawings, in which :

Fig . 1A shows a simplified structure of a user equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention,

Fig . 1A shows a method carried out by a user equipment according to the embodiment of the present invention, Fig . 2A shows a simplified structure of a network control element (e.g . eNB or MME) according to an embodiment of the present invention, and

Fig . 2B shows a method carried out by a network control element according to the embodiment of the present invention,

Detailed Description of embodiments

In the following, description will be made to embodiments of the present invention. It is to be understood, however, that the description is given by way of example only, and that the described embodiments are by no means to be understood as limiting the present invention thereto.

In the following, a general embodiment of the present invention is described by referring to Figs. 1A to 2A.

In particular, Fig . 1A shows a user equipment 1 as an example for an apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention. The UE 1 comprises a processor 11 and a memory 12 for storing instructions to be executed by the processor.

The processor 11 is configured to carry out processes as shown in Fig . IB. The processes may be started when a user would like to make a call or an application on the UE requests access to the radio network, for example. In step SI, the processor 1 determines whether the apparatus (e.g ., the UE 1) is allowed to request for a specific service. When it is determined that the apparatus is allowed to request for the specific service, the processor causes sending a connection request to the network, the connection request including a specific service indication indicating that the request is initiated for the specific service.

The UE may also comprise a transmitter/receiver 13 which is configured to provide a connection with the network.

Moreover, in case the determination in step SI is negative, the connection request may be sent without the specific service indication.

Furthermore, Fig . 2A shows a network control element 2 as an example for a corresponding apparatus according to an embodiment of the invention. For example, the network control element 2 may be an eNB or a MME. The network control element 2 comprises a processor 21 and a memory 22 for storing instructions to be executed by the processor.

The processor 21 is configured to carry out processes as shown in Fig . 2B. In step S21, the processor 21 receives a connection request from a user equipment (e.g ., UE 1). In step S22, the processor 21 determines whether the connection request contains a specific service indication indicating that the request is initiated for a specific service. In step S23, the processor 21 prioritizes the user equipment in case the initial connection request contains the specific service indication.

Similar as in case of the UE 1, the network control element 2 may also comprise a transmitter/receiver 23 which is configured to provide a connection with the network.

Moreover, in case the determination in step S22 is negative, the connection request is not prioritized and may be decided based on the load on the network control element. That is, if necessary, the connection request may be rejected. The decision to prioritize the request can be cross checked with the subscriber information when MME receives subscriber info from HSS. If the subscriber info does not authorize the given UE for using public safety (PubS) services, the request may be rejected, because this indicates UE behaves maliciously.

An example for the specific service mentioned above is a Public Safety service. Hence, a UE using such a public safety service can be prioritized already upon requesting a radio connection (e.g ., in a RRC connection request). That is, in case of an emergency, the network control element (such as eNB and MME) may accept only connection requests from user equipments which can provide the specific service indication (in this case, a public safety service indication) and reject all other connection requests. In the following, more detailed embodiments of the present invention are described .

According to some embodiments of the present invention, a solution to enable prioritization of AS and NAS (EMM and ESM) requests from public safety UE(s) in a more determined fashion is proposed . Enabling prioritization of requests from public safety UE(s) especially when the network is congested and/or overloaded will ensure that PubS services are offered in a timely manner. Also, an ability to offload secondary users and prioritize public safety users is provided .

In the following, some options to enable this are described :

1. When the request from the UE is triggered by a PubS application running in the UE, NAS layer in the UE shall consider this as a request triggered for public safety communication thus decides on the appropriate attach type within NAS attach request, EPS update type within TAU request, Service type within Extended Service Request, Request type within PDN connection request and RRC establishment cause.

It is noted that PubS applications are special applications that are installed in special, or tailored commodity phones (e.g . smart phones with PubS applications) used for public safety communication. So, a PubS application is expected to be a trusted application. For enhanced security, the PubS application should be required to authenticate itself when calling an API and this can be used as a trigger to set the necessary NAS parameter i.e. to avoid prioritization of requests from malicious applications in the UE.

2. Public Safety UE(s) are configured via OMA-DM or OTA with "public safety" configuration (e.g . general Public Safety indication or PubS priority levels to distinguish between normal PubS personnel and first responders). NAS layer in the UE uses the device configuration in the UE to decide on the appropriate attach type within NAS attach request, EPS update type within TAU request, Service type within Extended Service Request, Request type within PDN connection request and RRC establishment cause.

While option 2 is a more static approach, a combination of options 1 and 2 enables a dynamic determination of the type of request at the time of disasters. This enables the network to prioritize the request and allocate resources for critical communication over other regular communication. It is also possible that the operator prefers that both conditions are enabled in the UE in order for the UE to be prioritized, i.e. UE is configured for public safety and the request is triggered by a PubS application in the UE. In the following, some implementations of the above embodiments are described .

First, enhancements required to enable prioritization of AS requests within the eNB are described .

The proposal to address heavily loaded eNB use case is for the UE to send an appropriate RRC establishment cause within the RRC connection establishment request and for the UE NAS layer to indicate an appropriate call type towards the UE AS layer.

If the UE is initiating a PDN connection request triggered by PubS application (option 1 described above) or if the UE is configured for public safety (option 2 described above), then the UE sets the RRC establishment cause e.g. to "public safety". For further granularity, the UE can also append "public safety" to existing RRC establishment causes on a need basis. Examples can be:

Public Safety MO Signalling

Public Safety MO data

- Public Safety MT access

Public Safety Emergency call

The "call type" set by the NAS layer towards the AS layer can also be set accordingly. The "call type" is used by the AS layer to determine whether the initial RACH access is allowed or not (i.e. when the access is barred by the network, UE uses the "call type" to determine if it is allowed to access the network or not). So, for a request initiated by a PubS application or a UE configured for public safety, the call type should be set as follows:

- Public Safety (optionally normal Public Safety user and Public Safety first responder)

Public Safety originating signalling

Public Safety originating MMTEL voice Public Safety originating MMTEL video

Public Safety terminating call

Public Safety emergency call Alternatively, UE can also send "public safety" indication (i.e. as part of a new Information Element (IE)) in addition to an existing RRC establishment cause and call type.

The eNB can use the public safety indication sent either as part of RRC establishment cause and/or new IE to prioritize the request. In addition, the eNB can also differentiate access class barring for public safety devices from normal devices and UE can use the "call type" to determine whether access for public safety is barred or not. Access class barring skip principle can be re-used to skip barring for a certain category of devices identified by "call type" e.g . when eNB activates barring for AC6, then devices with "call type = Public Safety *" can be considered exempt from barring . This is especially useful when operators are being used for commercial services and operators wish to use a method to offload commercial users at the time of disaster to prioritize public safety communication.

Moreover, the eNB may also allocate necessary resources for handling the request by executing a pre-emption feature, e.g ., by reserving resources beforehand . For example, the eNB may need resources for downloading subscriber data from the HSS, which will confirm if the UE is authorized to use public safety services, or not.

Here is an illustration for how new RRC establishment cause and call type can be specified in TS 24.301 Annex D (Table D. l . l : Mapping of NAS procedure to establishment cause and call type) : NAS RRC establishment cause Call type procedure

Attach If an ATTACH REQUEST has EPS attach "Public

type set to "Public Safety", the RRC Safety establishment cause shall be set to Public Originating Safety MO signalling except when the UE signalling" initiates attach procedure to establish

emergency bearer services.

It is noted that Annex D of TS 24.301 is a normative annex for UE to implement. Enhancements required to enable prioritization of NAS requests within the MME:

The proposal for addressing a heavily loaded MME use case is that within a NAS Attach Request, NAS TAU request, Extended Service request, and PDN connectivity request the UE should send an explicit indication that the request is requested for public safety services (either triggered by

PubS application and/or the UE is configured for public safety by the operator). A heavily loaded MME will prioritize the request with PubS indication over other, ordinary Attach Request, TAU request, Service request, PDN connectivity requests messages. The MME may also allocate necessary resources for handling the request by executing a pre-emption feature. The MME needs resources for downloading subscriber data from the HSS, which will confirm if the UE is authorized to use public safety services, or not. MME may have some level of prioritization algorithm when it is overloaded and/or congested . At times of disaster, lot of people will try to setup emergency calls. The emergency calls from PS users have to be prioritized in this case. Then emergency calls of normal users will be prioritized. Only then normal calls of PubS users and finally normal calls of normal users will be prioritized . In order to enable this, UE needs to indicate both emergency and PubS in the request thus this should be enabled at the protocol level. At a protocol level (NAS), enhancements to Attach Request, TAU Request, Extended Service Request and PDN connection Request are needed in order to enable the UE include a special indication for public safety use case and special indication to indicate both Public Safety and emergency use case.

Attach Request - EPS attach type should be updated to include public safety indication, as illustrated in the below quote for 3GPP TS 24.301 (just an example) :

Fig . 9.9.3.11.1 shows the EPS attach type information element:

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

EPS attach type IEI 0 EPS attach type octet 1

Spare value

In the following, the amendment according to the embodiment to the Table 9.9.3.11.1 : EPS attach type information element is shown.

As shown in the above table, the entry for bits 0-1-1 indicates attach for public safety use or 1-1-1 attach for public safety emergency services.

TAU request: - EPS update type should be updated to include public safety indication as illustrated in the below quote for 3GPP TS 24.301 (just an example). In the following, the amendment according to the embodiment to Table 9.9.3.14.1 : EPS update type information element is shown :

As shown in the above table, the new entry according to the embodiment for bits 1-0-0 indicates "PubS application or UE configured for public safety", and the new entry according to the embodiment for bits 1-0-1 indicates "PubS application or UE configured for public safety requesting for emergency services" .

Extended Service Request - Service type should be updated to include public safety indication as illustrated in the below quote for 3GPP TS 24.301 (just an example). As described in chapter 9.9.3.27 of TS 24.301, the purpose of the Service type information element is to specify the purpose of the service request procedure. The Service type information element is coded as shown in figure 9.9.3.27.1 and table 9.9.3.27.1 in the following. The Service type is a type 1 information element.

In the following, figure 9.9.3.27.1: Service type information element is shown:

8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

In the following, the amendments according to the present embodiment to Table 9.9.3.27.1: Service type information elements are shown:

As shown in the above table, the new entry according to the embodiment for bits 1-0-0-1 indicates "packet services via SI for public safety", and the new entry according to the embodiment for bits 1-0-1-0 indicates "packet services via SI for public safety emergency services".

PDN Connectivity Request - Request type should be updated to include public safety indication as illustrated in the below quote for 3GPP TS 24.301 (just an example) :

As described in chapter 10.5.6.17 of TS 24.008, the purpose of the Request type information element is to indicate whether the MS requests to establish a new connectivity to a PDN or keep the connection(s) to which it has connected via non-3GPP access. The Request type information element is also used to indicate that the MS is requesting connectivity to a PDN that provides emergency bearer services.

The Request type information element is coded as shown in figure 10.5.158/3GPP TS 24.008 and table 10.5.173/3GPP TS 24.008.

The Request type is a type 1 information element.

In the following, figure 10.5.158/3GPP TS 24.008: Request type information element is shown : 1

In the following, the amendments according to the present embodiment to Table 10.5.173 of 3GPP TS 24.008: Service type information element is shown :

As shown in the above table, the new entry according to the embodiment for bits 0-0-1 indicates "initial request for public safety services", and the new entry according to the embodiment for bits 1-1-1 indicates "initial request for public safety emergency services".

Alternatively, UE can also send "public safety" indication (i.e. as part of a new IE) as part of attach request, TAU request, Extended Service request and PDN connectivity request. MME can use this indication to perform overload control (OLC) within the network for EMM and ESM procedures.

It is noted that the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described above. In particular, modifications and variations are possible. For example, the above amendments for the definitions regarding the attach request, TAU request, Extended Service request and PDN connectivity request in TS 24.301 and TS 24.008 are only examples, and the corresponding amendments can be effected also in other suitable forms. Furthermore, the Public Safety services are only an example for a specific service. That is, also other services can be handled as a specific service so that, if necessary or desired, only connection requests for this particular specific service are allowed . That is, this solution can be applied to any service that has specific requirements and needs to deal with specifically. Examples for such services include ultra reliable low latency services or mission critical services. According to another aspect of embodiments of the present invention, an apparatus is provided which comprises means for determining whether a user equipment carrying out the method is allowed to request for a specific service, and means for causing sending a connection request to a network, the connection request including a specific service indication indicating the request is initiated for the specific service, when it is determined that the user equipment is allowed to request for the specific service.

According to a further aspect of embodiments of the present invention, an apparatus is provided which comprises means for receiving a connection request from a user equipment, detecting whether the connection request contains a specific service indication indicating that the request is initiated for the specific service, and prioritizing the user equipment in case the initial connection request contains the specific service indication.

It is to be understood that any of the above modifications can be applied singly or in combination to the respective aspects and/or embodiments to which they refer, unless they are explicitly stated as excluding alternatives.

For the purpose of the present invention as described herein above, it should be noted that - method steps likely to be implemented as software code portions and being run using a processor at a network element or terminal (as examples of devices, apparatuses and/or modules thereof, or as examples of entities including apparatuses and/or modules therefore), are software code independent and can be specified using any known or future developed programming language as long as the functionality defined by the method steps is preserved;

- generally, any method step is suitable to be implemented as software or by hardware without changing the idea of the invention in terms of the functionality implemented;

- method steps and/or devices, units or means likely to be implemented as hardware components at the above-defined apparatuses, or any module(s) thereof, (e.g., devices carrying out the functions of the apparatuses according to the embodiments as described above, eNode-B etc. as described above) are hardware independent and can be implemented using any known or future developed hardware technology or any hybrids of these, such as MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor), CMOS (Complementary MOS), BiMOS (Bipolar MOS), BiCMOS (Bipolar CMOS), ECL (Emitter Coupled Logic), TTL (Transistor-Transistor Logic), etc., using for example ASIC (Application Specific IC (Integrated Circuit)) components, FPGA (Field-programmable Gate Arrays) components, CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device) components or DSP (Digital Signal Processor) components;

- devices, units or means (e.g . the above-defined apparatuses, or any one of their respective means) can be implemented as individual devices, units or means, but this does not exclude that they are implemented in a distributed fashion throughout the system, as long as the functionality of the device, unit or means is preserved;

- an apparatus may be represented by a semiconductor chip, a chipset, or a (hardware) module comprising such chip or chipset; this, however, does not exclude the possibility that a functionality of an apparatus or module, instead of being hardware implemented, be implemented as software in a (software) module such as a computer program or a computer program product comprising executable software code portions for execution/being run on a processor;

- a device may be regarded as an apparatus or as an assembly of more than one apparatus, whether functionally in cooperation with each other or functionally independently of each other but in a same device housing, for example.

It is noted that the embodiments and examples described above are provided for illustrative purposes only and are in no way intended that the present invention is restricted thereto. Rather, it is the intention that all variations and modifications be included which fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.