Home

Data-Capable Network Prioritization With Reject Code Handling

1. 2 14 W GSM 12 US 2010 0203888 A1 Aug 12 2010 Sheet 2 of 9 Patent Application Publication ore Eve SUOREOILUNIWOD suiaysksqng i eBuEy 0US aeq JIRO I if hf A i i vee EA 7 fa fN Spuet WIS Je i a SEZ GUDYJO4SIY vez Jeyeeds C amp S psBoghey eee Agidsig DEZ Hod eues 822 yoog sseuppy o oe aad Asowayy ysel H meed UOREJNBKEUOD LAA Lm ik ee w au E RODE DOD ann EE ame WOM me WM R iie ce iin a ERR aa pt A 4088900i j OJIN EPP Lake e EE SRN RT WE EE ROT NE ae EC OE w bei CN es mee FUT UK p EZ US 2010 0203888 A1 Aug 12 2010 Sheet 3 of 9 Patent Application Publication SWBOH uOREIS alqo GLE GLi S 31 as Syg y a 4 SPL Ba en NSOS CEL o9 081 CH Z ARUROD HOMBN SHdO WSD Kemo iaplog NSD Joplog ARMIES iepiog L Aguno HOMION SHdD WSO Ola DEL C JSplAOJ Gage ON4 SJOJELadQ YIOMION uao J8U1Q SOL SOL Z JOPIACI agag A8PJAGJJ I Sne Wo US 2010 0203888 A1 Aug 12 2010 Sheet 4 of 9 Patent Application Publication SYdD NSO Z HOMJON 2907 WSD E voa 2207 SIE G1Z SLIECY UGNEJS IGO za Sad WSO L SM E207 WSS p OMAR 1230 zie huo poddns Es BOCA L JOBING BABS WOH ich WSO SUDAN SWOJ goz 000 p 9l Patent Application Publ
2. GPRS attach request If the reject code has a value of 3 6 or 8 as identified in step 601 then the SIM is designated as invalid until power off or SIM card removal step 603 If the reject code does not have a value of 3 6 or 8 as identified in step 601 then flow proceeds to step 602 If the reject code has a value of 7 11 12 13 or 14 in step 602 the rejection is deemed critical and operation proceeds to step 614 where the mobile station will generally immediately proceed to reselect a different network If the reject code has any other value i e not 7 11 12 13 or 14 as tested in step 602 the rejection is deemed non critical and operation proceeds to step 604 where the mobile station will generally reattempt with the network Note that a critical error is deemed one in which a permanent problem or fault exists with the network or the end user s service subscription a non critical error is not critical but rather is one in which there is a problem or fault with the network or service subscription that may be passing or tem porary A reject code having a value of 3 corresponds to an illegal mobile station a value of 6 corresponds to an illegal mobile equipment and a value of 8 corresponds to GPRS services and non GPRS services not being allowed A reject code having a value of 7 corresponds to GPRS services not allowed a value of 11 corresponds to PLMN not allowed a value of 12 corresponds to location area not allowed a valu
3. nication between mobile station 115 and different systems or devices which need not necessarily be similar devices For example the subsystem 240 may include an infrared device and associated circuits and components or a Bluetooth communication module to provide for communication with similarly enabled systems and devices 0040 FIG 3 isa block diagram showing two GSM GPRS networks and a mobile station roaming between them FIG 3 depicts a mobile station 115 roaming between two GSM GPRS networks 120 and 125 This type of roaming arrange ment is similar to how a GSM only network might handle roaming but with minor differences In a GSM GPRS com bined network a mobile station that supports only voice only data or a combination of voice and data will be treated simi larly with respect to roaming between networks A mobile station entering a given area or country can detect the GSM and GSM GPRS networks through special RF radio channel interactions The illustration of FIG 3 provides a quick ref erence summary to describe how the process works Roaming relationships between operators are established mainly for billing issues Special Inter operator tariff IoT arrangements can be established between operators for GSM traffic only or GSM and GPRS traffic It is these relationships that are reflected in the PPLMN and FPLMN lists within the mobile station SIM cards 0041 GSM GPRS Network 1 is the home network 120 for the user of m
4. Out Provider HPLMN Or No GPRS PLMN Found if The Error is Non Ap Yes z Critical Display Data Connection Refused Ro Start HPLMN Timer Wi Else Display Data ne Or Start t1 Timer We Connection Refused Popup Please Contact 714 Your Service Provider 728 Available which is PLMN is HPLMN 4 No 708 710 Perform Auto Scan riz Any GPRS owable PLMNs t Unsuccessful PDP PLMN Yes Patent Application Publication Aug 12 2010 Sheet 8 of 9 US 2010 0203888 A1 Switch On F G 8 Or Recovery From Out Of Coverage Yes HPLMN 8 is Not Same As RPLMN 806 If There Is RPLMN Available And HPLMN Available And Aliowabie Popup Select HPLMIN Yes No User Reselection F Current Selected PLMN GSM Only And Any GPRS PLMN Becomes Available indicate G Selected Loss Of Radio Coverage Of seers eg Popup Select x3 RAU Reject B E On PLAN JUser Scan Reselecti G1 g RAU Timeout RE T3330 PDP Deactivatio ci Loss Of sro Coverage i 857 G2 Of Selected PLMN No Sim invalid 859 858 No B2 if Any PLMN Wat For PLMN Becomes Available To Appear Display Emergency H Service Only r Display All And Wait For Trying Previously 830 926 Previously Selected Selected PLMN Available PLMNs in Order And Give The Option To PLMN Becomes Or Wait For SA The User To Select Available Agai
5. PDP context requests from a mobile station Con nector U2 is from step 518 where the network sends a PDP deactivation to the mobile station Connector U is from step 516 of FIG 5 where the network sends a reject code to the mobile station in response to a PDP context request From connector U and U2 the mobile station tests whether the current APN is not a X net type APN i e a predetermined address or does not support e mail service step 700 If YES at step 700 then the mobile station remains on the current network step 701 If NO at step 700 then the flow proceeds to step 702 where the mobile station tests the reject code received from the network A reject code is an indication that the network has rejected the request for data connectivity for some reason Ifthe reject code is deemed non critical step 702 then operation proceeds to step 704 where the mobile station will generally reattempt with the network Ifthe reject code is deemed critical at step 702 then operation proceeds to step 706 where the mobile station will generally reselect a different network 0079 In the present embodiment reject codes that are deemed non critical are 26 31 34 102 38 36 39 and 35 Reject code 26 corresponds to insufficient resources reject code 31 corresponds to an unspecified activation rejection US 2010 0203888 Al reject code 34 corresponds to the service option being tem porarily out of order reject code
6. Step 522 is also performed if there is no RPLMN identified in step 502 or a GSM attach reject lt gt 2 is identified from step 521 or a radio coverage loss is expe rienced from state 542 through connector R1 In step 522 the mobile station identifies whether there is any PLMN available and allowable If there is any PLMN available and allowable the operation proceeds through a connector R FIG 6 If there is no PLMN available and allowable at step 522 then the mobile station will display No Allowable Net work Emergency Service Only where other networks are available but not allowable step 524 If there is no available network at step 522 then the mobile station will display Out Of Coverage No Service in step 524 Note that a connector Q leads to step 524 as well After step 524 the mobile station will wait for PLMNs to become available state 526 If the RPLMN becomes available and allowable in state 526 then operation proceeds through connector P If anon RPLMN becomes available and allowable in state 526 then operation proceeds through connector R US 2010 0203888 Al 0074 Reference will now be made to FIG 6 which con tinues with the automatic network selection and particularly describes the handling of reject codes from networks in response to GPRS attach requests from a mobile station Connector T is from step 514 of FIG 5 where the network sends a reject code to the mobile station in response to a
7. Switching Center MSC component 0049 After attaching to network 125 mobile station 115 will attempt to open a Packet Data Protocol PDP context to home service provider 100 through the local SGSN 132 in GSM GPRS network in country 2 125 The PDP context targets an APN and home service 100 The PDP context also allocates an IP address for mobile station 115 so that IP packets can be transmitted in either direction SGSN 132 detects mobile station 115 as a visiting mobile station 115 and routes the request through border GGSN 137 and onward to the correct GRX connection in GRX network 160 to a corre sponding border GGSN 135 in home network 120 As men tioned above this determination is made by the identification information provided by mobile station 115 during the attach process 0050 Each interface in the GSM GPRS network is labeled to identify which protocol is used Between all base stations 145 and SGSN 130 is the Gb interface Between SGSN 130 and GGSN 140 is the Gn interface which is also used between SGSN 130 and border GGSN 145 Between GGSN 140 and all service providers the G1 interface is used and between border gateways 135 and GRX network 160 the Gp interface is used From GRX network 160 all other foreign network operators FNO systems 165 can be reached assuming they have commonly linked GRX networks 0051 GSM network standards specify particular steps that mobile station 115 must perform to select a base station 1
8. both a receiver 212 and a transmitter 214 as well as associated components such as one or more preferably embedded or internal antenna elements 216 and 218 local oscillators LOs 213 and a processing module such as a digital signal processor DSP 220 As will be apparent to those skilled in the field of communications the particular design of the communication subsystem 211 will be dependent upon the communication network in which the device is intended to operate For example mobile station 115 may include a communication subsystem 211 designed to operate within the Mobitex mobile communication system the DataTAC mobile communication system or a GPRS network 0030 Network access requirements will also vary depend ing upon the type of network 219 For example in the Mobi tex and DataTAC networks mobile station 115 is registered on the network using a unique identification number associ ated with each mobile station In GPRS networks however network access is associated with a subscriber or user of mobile station 115 A GPRS mobile station therefore requires a subscriber identity module SIM card in order to operate on a GPRS network Without a valid SIM card a GPRS mobile station will not be fully functional Local or non network communication functions as well as legally required func tions if any such as 911 emergency calling may be avail able but mobile station 115 will be unable to carry out any other fu
9. connectivity through the first wireless network A critical error is deemed one in which a permanent problem or fault exists with the network or service subscription associated with the end user a non critical error is not critical but rather is one in which there is a problem or fault with the network or service subscription that may be passing or temporary Con ventionally the time period between the first attempt for data connectivity through the first wireless network including all reattempts and the first attempt for data connectivity through the second wireless network may be between about 25 min utes and 4 hours As apparent the inventive techniques reduce this time period to provide for a more time efficient selection of a data capable network 0023 Further an indication is made in memory of the mobile station of whether the wireless network currently makes voice and data connectivity available to the mobile station The indication for the wireless network may be indicative of currently available data connectivity if the request for data connectivity is accepted by the wireless net work or indicative of currently unavailable data connectiv ity if the reject code comprising the critical error is received or if the one or more requests for data connectivity through the wireless network are reattempted without success Similar results may be achieved through use of a list of currently unavailable data connectivity networ
10. first network is received from the first wireless network in response to the request for data connectivity 13 The mobile station of claim 12 wherein the request for data connectivity comprises an attach request 14 The mobile station of claim 12 wherein the request for data connectivity comprises a General Packet Radio Service GPRS attach request 15 The mobile station of claim 12 wherein the reject code indicating that data services are not allowed in the first wire less network corresponds to a permanent problem or fault that exists with the first wireless network 16 The mobile station of claim 12 wherein the one or more processors are further operative to reattempt the request for data connectivity to the first wireless network by reattempting the request up to a predetermined number of times 17 The mobile station of claim 12 wherein the one or more processors are further operative to reattempt the request for data connectivity without user intervention 18 The mobile station of claim 12 wherein the request for data connectivity comprises a Routing Area Update RAU request 19 The mobile station of claim 12 wherein the reject code indicative that data services are not allowed in the first wire less network has a value of 14 20 The mobile station of claim 12 wherein the one or more processors are further operative to select the second wireless network for communications only if the second wireless net work is no
11. network Each net work has a signature and a GPRS capable base station has an extended handshake protocol beyond the GSM protocol to identify its data capabilities Within a GSM GPRS network there exists a mobile country code MCC and a mobile network code MNC which contains a network assigned value and an access technology number The access technol ogy number indicates the radio frequency range of the net work i e 900 MHz 1800 MHz 1900 MHz etc 0048 As mobile station 115 selects a network it performs an attach to the network and provides its identification code For GSM GPRS this code could include both the Inter national Mobile Subscriber Identity IMSI or Temporary Mobile Subscriber Identity TMSI which identify a com munication network account or subscription and a Mobile Station ISDN PSTN Number MSISDN which identifies the mobile station user or subscriber If mobile station 115 is attempting to attach to a network other than its home network 120 such as network 125 then the other network 125 will use the GRX network 160 to verify the subscription with home network 120 This causes home network 120 to reference HLR 150 to determine if the subscription is valid Once verified mobile station 115 is placed in VLR table 157 of visiting network 125 To one skilled in the art this procedure is similar in a GSM only network except that the link between the home and visiting networks would be through a Gateway Mobile
12. network coverage area it may be capable ofcom municating with one or more wireless GSM or GSM GPRS networks to receive data and voice signals In England for example there are currently four GSM or GSM GPRS net works deployed and available for mobile stations to connect with Normally cellular telephones or mobile stations sold in England will only work with one network However mobile stations entering England from France might have two or three networks to select from Selection of a particular net work is currently performed by a mobile station randomly based on the strongest received signal at the time of arrival into the country 0028 Turning now to FIG 2 a block diagram is shown of a cellular mobile station which is one type of mobile com munication device Mobile station 115 is preferably a two way wireless communication device having at least voice and data communication capabilities Mobile station 115 prefer ably has the capability to communicate with other computer systems on the Internet Depending on the exact functionality provided the mobile device may be referred to as a data messaging device a two way pager a wireless e mail device Aug 12 2010 acellular telephone with data messaging capabilities a wire less Internet appliance or a data communication device as examples 0029 Where mobile station 115 is enabled for two way communication it will incorporate a communication sub system 211 including
13. or when a mobile station acquires a voice only network con nection in new region If the mobile station detects an avail able network capable of both voice and data communications then the mobile station preferably attempts to camp on this network Received signal strengths and PPLMN lists may be used substantially as described above during a rescan process Since a primary goal of the rescanning process is to find an available data communication service for the mobile station rescanning is preferably disabled when a mobile station is already operating within a network which has the data com munication service already available 0066 When a current network is on the O PPLMN list or the U PLMN list and a newly discovered network is not on the PPLMN list the mobile station may remain on the current network instead of switching to a new network It is likely that most GSM GPRS networks have been included somewhere on the O PPLMN list or possibly the U PPLMN list A net work change during a rescan process may also be dependent upon relative signal strengths to avoid switching from a strong GSM network to a significantly weaker GSM GPRS network Acceptable signal strength differences may be stored for example in a memory of a mobile station 0067 Time Efficient Selection Of Data Capable Net works For Data Capable Mobile Devices Thus a better and non traditional network selection technique for data capable mobile stations involves prio
14. services not allowed a value of 11 corresponds to PLMN not allowed a value of 12 corresponds to location area not allowed a value of 13 corresponds to roaming not allowed in the current location area and a value of 14 corresponds to GPRS services not allowed by the current PLMN US 2010 0203888 Al 0091 In step 904 the mobile station checks an attach RAU counter to see if its value is greater than or equal to five 5 Note that a connector B leads to step 904 as well If the attach R AU counter is not greater than or equal to five opera tion proceeds through a connector B2 if attach reject no network response or a connector B3 if RAU reject no net work response FIG 8 If the attach RAU counter is greater than or equal to five then the mobile station immediately displays Data Service Refused on this Network step 906 Next the mobile station proceeds to check whether a timer T3302 is set to a value that is greater than a predetermined internal timer value t2 step 908 The internal timer value t2 is typically set to between 5 30 minutes and preferably to greater than 12 minutes e g between 13 and 30 minutes Alternatively the internal timer value is set to between 5 10 minutes preferably about 6 minutes Iftimer T3302 is greater than the internal timer value t2 at step 908 the mobile station starts a timer based on the internal timer value t2 step 912 If timer T3302 is greater than the internal timer value at
15. station in response to a GPRS attach request A reject code is an indication that the network has rejected the request for data connectivity for some reason If the reject code has a value of 3 6 or 8 as identified in step 901 then the SIM is designated as invalid until power off or SIM card removal step 903 If the reject code does not have a value of 3 6 or 8 in step 901 then flow proceeds to step 902 If the reject code has a value of 7 11 12 13 or 14 as identified in step 902 the rejection is deemed critical and operation proceeds to step 914 where the mobile station will generally prompt for manual reselection of a network If the reject code has any other value i e not 7 11 12 13 or 14 as identified in step 902 the rejection is deemed non critical and operation proceeds to step 904 where the mobile station will generally reattempt with the network Note that a critical error is deemed one in which a permanent problem or fault exists with the network or the end user s service subscription a non critical error is not critical but rather is one in which there is a problem or fault with the network or service subscription that may be passing or tem porary A reject code having a value of 3 corresponds to an illegal mobile station a value of 6 corresponds to an illegal mobile equipment and a value of 8 corresponds to GPRS services and non GPRS services not being allowed A reject code having a value of 7 corresponds to GPRS
16. step 908 the mobile station starts a timer based on the timer T3302 value step 910 Upon timeout of the timer from steps 910 and steps 912 operation proceeds to connector B2 if attach reject no network response or connector B3 if RAU reject no network response After steps 910 and 912 the mobile station displays Select Network for the user to choose whether to manually select a network step 916 If the user selects YES at step 916 operation proceeds through con nector C If the user selects NO at step 916 the mobile station displays Data Service Refused on this Network step 918 At step 914 from earlier step 902 the mobile station displays Data Service Refused on this Network and prompts for end user selection of a network After step 914 operation proceeds to step 916 described previously above 0092 Reference will now be made to FIG 10 which continues with the manual network selection and particularly describes the handling of reject codes from networks in response to PDP context requests from a mobile station Con nector C2 is from step 818 of FIG 8 where the network sends a PDP deactivation to the mobile station Connector X is from step 816 of FIG 8 where the network sends a reject code to the mobile station in response to a PDP context request If the reject code is deemed non critical step 1002 then operation proceeds to step 1012 where the mobile station will generally reattemp
17. timer T3302 value step 612 Upon tim eout from either of the timers at steps 608 and steps 612 then operation proceeds through connector O if attach reject no network response or connector W if RAU reject no network response 0076 In step 614 the mobile station detects whether the current PLMN is the HPLMN If the current PLMN is the HPLMN then operation proceeds to step 616 In step 616 the mobile station displays Data Service Refused on this Net work Please Contact your Service Provider step 616 If Aug 12 2010 the current PLMN is not the HPLMN at step 614 then the mobile station operates to scan for a new network step 618 Step 618 is also performed in response to a NO decision at step 620 previously described above After step 618 the mobile station identifies whether there are any data capable i e GPRS capable PLMNs available and allowable step 624 If there are data capable DI MN available and allow able then the mobile station configures and marks the PLMN list accordingly step 638 For example PLMNs that are data capable may be flagged as preferred in the PLMN list Note that connector Z leads to step 638 as well Next the last selected PLMN is moved into the last position of the PLMN list step 640 with the exception of the HPLMN which is placed second in the list Note that connector S leads to step 640 as well The first PLMN in the PLMN list is then selected by the mobile stat
18. to the one or more processors where the one or more processors are opera tive to perform the method described 0069 Beginning at a connector M of FIG 5 where the mobile station gets powered on or recovers from an out of coverage condition a scanning operation identifies available networks within the mobile station s coverage area From the scan list the mobile station identifies whether or not there is a Registered PLMN RPLMN step 502 An RPLMN is only acknowledged as an RPLMN if it had a data connection e g GPRS connection otherwise the RPLMN is not acknowledged as an RPLMN If there is an RPLMN in step 502 then the mobile station identifies whether there is a Home PLMN and whether that HPLMN is not the same as the RPLMN step 504 If YES at step 504 the mobile station selects the HPLMN step 506 in this case where the RPLMN is available and the HPLMN is available and allowable If NO at step 504 the mobile station selects the RPLMN step 508 After step 508 and after step 506 where the mobile station selects the HPLMN the mobile station attempts reg istration with the selected PLMN step 510 Note that a connector P leads to step 510 as well By available it is meant that the network is available in the coverage area of the mobile station by allowable it is meant that the network provides at least GSM service e g obtained through a GSM attach procedure 0070 Upon an unsuccessful regis
19. 03888 A1 601 T Attach Reject Or 603 Failure Or RAU Reject Yes Sim invalid 616 Display Data Service Refuse On This Network 602 Popup Please Contact No Causes Your Service Provider 7744142713 6414 14 VM Attach Or RAU Counter gt Yes Display Data 654 Service Refuse On This Network 624 Any GPRS No Allowable PLMN Available 628 Display Data 638 ga ee Temporarily z Make Tha PLMN List Timer gt Gmin Yes 632 Failure Start internal 6 s Move Last Selected PLMN aan SEN Temporarily Into Last On Wait For cba T3302 gt Ne List Not HPLMN HPLMN Internal Timer Timeout Timeout Select First 542 Internal Timer ist Found HELIN Or Timeout aie A az 636 s Not Previously 2 Reject With Start HPLMN Timer TIA2 13 14 o Sim Invalid 2 For GSM Yes interna Timer tl Yas W Service 9 z Patent Application Publication Aug 12 2010 Sheet 7 of 9 US 2010 0203888 A1 FIG 7 w k PDP Deactivation By Network Ge 704 APN Is Not 5 R s Stay On U PDP Reject sA SS 702 Application Won t Try Critical Yes Error 708 Application Tries PDP Attempt Counter gt 5 720 o HPLMN Timer gt 8 min Yes Hf The Error Is Non Critica Then Display Data Connection Temporarily Failure 718 Else Display Data Connection Refuse Wait For Start intemal On This Network HPLMN Timer t1 For Time Out PLMN Search Popup Please Wi Contact Your Service Time Out Time
20. 102 corresponds to a tim eout from no response from the network reject code 38 corresponds to a network failure reject code 36 corresponds to a regular PDP context deactivation reject code 39 corre sponds to a reactivation request and reject code 35 corre sponds to the NSAPI already being used On the other hand reject codes that are deemed critical are 27 29 30 32 33 and 25 Reject code 27 corresponds to a missing or unknown APN reject code 29 corresponds to a user authentication failure reject code 30 corresponds to the activation being rejected by the GGSN reject code 32 corresponds to the service option being unsupported reject code 33 corresponds to the service option not being subscribed to and reject code 25 corresponds to an LLC or SNDCP failure 0080 In step 704 the mobile station checks whether the PDP attempt counter is greater than or equal to five 5 Note that connector U1 leads to step 704 as well Ifthe PDP attempt counter is not greater than or equal to five then operation proceeds through a connector X1 If the PDP attempt counter is greater than or equal to five the mobile station tests whether the reject code has a value of 102 step 705 If the reject code has a value of 102 then the mobile station sends a detach request to the network step 707 and proceeds through a connector O If the reject code does not have a value of 102 at step 705 then the mobile station checks whether the c
21. 2 2010 select and operate with the communication network having the highest priority in a preferred network list stored in memory of the mobile station There may be several preferred network lists commonly referred to as Preferred PLMN lists PPLMN lists stored on a Subscriber Identity Module SIM card of the mobile station For example the PPLMN lists may include a user controlled PPLMN U PPLMN list and an operator controlled PPLMN O PPLMN list 0008 The above described network selection method is commonly referred to as an automatic network selection method As an alternative to this automatic selection method an end user of the mobile station may be provided with the ability to manually select from a plurality of listed available networks which are visibly displayed on the mobile device This conventional network selection method may be referred to as a manual network selection method 0009 Mobile data communication devices which are known to facilitate services such as wireless e mail Internet access as well as voice telephony are becoming more and more popular In addition to operating in accordance with GSM for voice telephony these mobile stations may operate in accordance with General Packet Radio Service GPRS GPRS is a packet based communication protocol for mobile stations that allows data packets to be sent and received through a wireless communication network In order to receive data services throug
22. 47 in GSM GPRS network in country 2 125 First mobile sta tion 115 must achieve a certain minimum level of signal strength with the base station Once signal strength is estab lished and the networks associated with each base station which meet the minimum signal strength criterion are iden tified mobile station 115 uses its PPLMN and FPLMN lists on the SIM to determine what it considers the best network US 2010 0203888 Al choice Mobile station 115 checks the PPLMN list to see if one of the newly located networks matches a network on the PPLMN list Similarly mobile station 115 also checks the FPLMN list to determine which networks are forbidden If any of the newly located networks occur in the FPLMN then those networks are excluded from any further connection operations If there are no matches to the PPLMN list mobile station 115 may attempt to select one of the recently located networks based on signal strength 0052 FIG 4 is a block diagram illustrating a mobile sta tion in a region where there are several networks of different types In FIG 4 mobile station 115 is shown in a region with four networks 210 215 220 225 each having a base station 212 214 216 218 For illustrative purposes it is assumed that each base station 212 214 216 218 has similar RF strength from the point of view of mobile station 115 and that mobile station 115 receives strong enough signals from Local Network 1 210 Local Networ
23. US 20100203888A1 a2 Patent Application Publication o Pub No US 2010 0203888 A1 as United States Gunaratnam et al 43 Pub Date Aug 12 2010 54 DATA CAPABLE NETWORK PRIORITIZATION WITH REJECT CODE HANDLING 75 Inventors Jayasri Gunaratnam Waterloo CA Noushad Naqvi Waterloo CA Bryan Taylor Kitchener CA Craig Ian Haight Swann Waterloo CA Hugh Hind Waterloo CA Bao Quoc Nguyen San Diego CA US Darcy Richard Phipps Waterloo CA Correspondence Address John J Oskorep Esq LLC 980 North Michigan Avenue Suite 1400 One Mag nificent Mile Center Chicago IL 60611 US RESEARCH IN MOTION LIMITED Waterloo CA 73 Assignee 21 Appl No 12 704 699 22 Filed Feb 12 2010 Related U S Application Data 63 Continuation of application No 11 674 738 filed on Feb 14 2007 now Pat No 7 689 219 which is a continuation of application No 10 987 658 filed on Nov 12 2004 now Pat No 7 197 312 pa Local Network 4 GSM Ca 5 Ay AB A pe Mobile 216 Local Network 3 GSM Voice Mobile Station Station Roams 60 Provisional application No 60 519 150 filed on Nov 12 2003 provisional application No 60 519 141 filed on Nov 12 2003 Publication Classification 51 Int Cl H04W 60 00 2009 01 G E e EE 455 435 2 57 ABSTRACT Reject code handling is utilized for a more time efficient selection of
24. a specific method of manual network selection provided by a mobile station for an end user This method also includes a more time efficient selection of a data capable network according to the present application so as to overcome the deficiencies of conventional techniques A computer program product of the present application includes a storage medium and computer instructions stored in the storage medium where the computer instructions are executable by one or more processors of a mobile station for performing the method described The mobile station of the present applica tion includes one or more processors and a wireless trans ceiver coupled to the one or more processors where the one or more processors are operative to perform the method described 0084 Beginning at a connector A of FIG 8 where the mobile station gets powered on or recovers from an out of coverage condition a scanning operation identifies available networks within the mobile station s coverage area From the scan list the mobile station identifies whether or not there is a Registered PLMN RPLMN step 802 An RPLMN is only acknowledged as an RPLMN if it had a data connection e g GPRS connection otherwise the RPLMN is not acknowledged as an RPLMN If there is an RPLMN in step 802 then the mobile station identifies whether there is a Home PLMN and whether that HPLMN is not the same as the RPLMN step 804 If YES at step 804 the mobile station displ
25. ays Select HPLMN step 806 in this case where the RPLMN is available and the HPLMN is available and allow able If NO at step 804 the mobile station selects the RPLMN step 808 and attempts registration GSM attach with it step 810 If the end user selects YES in step 806 for selection of the HPLMN then flow proceeds through a con nector F to step 810 If the end user selects NO in step 806 then flow proceeds to step 808 0085 If the GSM attach is accepted at step 810 the selected PLMN is indicated in a visual display of the mobile station step 812 Step 812 is also performed through a connector G as well Next the mobile station identifies whether the PLMN is GSM only i e no data service step 850 If NO at step 850 then operation leads to step 814 to be described later If YES at step 850 then the mobile station remains registered and operates on this PLMN state 852 Note that a connector G2 leads to state 852 In state 852 the mobile station may receive a user manual selection of a network and thereafter proceed through a connector C Also in state 852 if the mobile station identifies that the current PLMN is GSM only and any GPRS PLMN becomes avail able operation proceeds to step 854 where the mobile station displays Select GPRS Network If the end user selects YES for this option then operation proceeds through con nector G1 otherwise operation proceeds through
26. cation signals but also provides for receiver and transmitter control For example the gains applied to communication signals in receiver 212 and transmitter 214 may be adaptively controlled through automatic gain control algorithms implemented in DSP 220 0032 Mobile station 115 preferably includes a micropro cessor 238 which controls the overall operation of the device Communication functions including at least data and voice communications are performed through communication US 2010 0203888 Al subsystem 211 Microprocessor 238 also interacts with fur ther device subsystems such as the display 222 flash memory 224 random access memory RAM 226 auxiliary input output I O subsystems 228 serial port 230 keyboard 232 speaker 234 microphone 236 a short range communications subsystem 240 and any other device subsystems generally designated as 242 0033 Some of the subsystems shown in FIG 2 perform communication related functions whereas other subsystems may provide resident or on device functions Notably some subsystems such as keyboard 232 and display 222 for example may be used for both communication related func tions such as entering a text message for transmission over a communication network and device resident functions such as a calculator or task list 0034 Operating system software used by the micropro cessor 238 is preferably stored in a persistent store such as flash memory 224 which may in
27. cially when there might be several networks available it normally checks for the HPLMN first As the user roams to another country or region where home network 120 is no longer available mobile station 115 scans for all available base stations 147 via received normally radio frequency RE signal strengths To one skilled in the art it is under stood that selecting a strong enough RE signal strength is open to a wide range of settings and interpretations As an example the GSM standards specify that a signal strength of 85 dBm or more should be considered an appropriate level for a strong enough signal However this exact signal level is not essential to the systems and methods described herein and other values may be useful depending upon the particular network mobile station or type of network or mobile station 0044 Those skilled in the art will appreciate that such scanning processes have pre defined patterns In a GSM or GPRS network for example scanning operations are defined in the standards governing GSM mobile stations There is some flexibility in the standards allowing a user to have some participation in the selection of a network to be used outside of the HPLMN Each network is defined as a PLMN and the relationship between PLMNs can be defined in tables within mobile station 115 Once mobile station 115 has identified base stations 147 and thus the networks within its range it turns to the PPLMN list to
28. connector US 2010 0203888 Al G2 Further in state 852 the mobile station may experience an out of coverage condition with the PLMN and thereafter pro ceed through connector C1 0086 If the GSM attach was rejected in step 810 the mobile station receives a reject code from the network This reject code is tested and if the reject code has a value of 2 3 or 6 step 855 then the flow continues to step 857 If the reject code has a specific value of 2 as identified in step 857 then flow continues through a connector B2 Ifthe reject code does not have a specific value of 2 in step 857 then the SIM is designated as invalid until power off or SIM card removal step 859 If the reject code does not have a value of 2 3 or 6 as identified in step 855 then the mobile station displays Emergency Service Only step 856 and continues to step 821 Note that a connector H1 leads to step 856 as well Next the mobile station identifies whether any PLMNs are avail able step 821 If no PLMNs are available at step 821 the mobile station waits for any PLMNSs to appear step 858 and proceeds through connector H when one does If one or more PLMNs are available at step 821 the mobile station proceeds to step 828 to be described later 0087 Ifin step 850 the mobile station identifies that the PLMN is not GSM only i e it may offer data service then the mobile station attempts a GPRS attach request with the selected network ste
29. ctor V FIG 6 In step 516 the mobile station may receive a reject code from the network in response to the PDP context request and thereafter proceed through aconnector U FIG 7 On the other hand in step 516 there may be a T3380 timer timeout where operation proceeds through a connector U1 FIG 7 0072 In state 518 the mobile station may receive a user manual reselection of a network and thereafter proceed through a connector S FIG 6 Also in state 518 the mobile station may experience a Routing Area Update RAU rejec tion and thereafter proceed through a connector T FIG 6 Further in state 518 the mobile station may experience a RAU T3330 timeout or a lower layer failure and thereafter proceed through a connector V FIG 6 Even further in state 518 if the current PLMN is not the HPLMN a periodic HPLMN timer expiration invokes the mobile station to iden tify whether the HPLMN or data capable PPLMN is now available step 520 If the HPLMN ora data capable PPLMN is available in step 520 the operation proceeds through a connector P If the HPLMN or a data capable PPLMN is not available in step 520 the mobile station remains registered and connected through the PLMN in state 518 Yet even further in state 518 a PDP deactivation from the network leads operation through connector U2 0073 In state 518 the mobile station may also experience an out of coverage condition with the PLMN and thereafter proceed to step 522
30. data capable networks One illustrative method for use in selecting a wireless communication network for communications involves the steps of selecting a first wire less network available for communications with the mobile station causing a request for data connectivity to be trans mitted to the first wireless network selected if a rejection is received from the first wireless network in response to the request for data connectivity reattempting the request for data connectivity to the first wireless network at least one time selecting a second wireless network available for com munications with the mobile station after the request for data connectivity to the first wireless network is reattempted the at least one time without success and selecting the second wire less network available for communications with the mobile station without reattempting the request for data connectivity to the first wireless network the at least one time if a reject code associated with the rejection indicates that data services are not allowed in the first network is received from the first wireless network in response to the request for data connec tivity 200 Home Network GSM GPRS Local Network 1 GSM GPRS Lecal Network 2 GSM GPRS Patent Application Publication Aug 12 2010 Sheet 1 of 9 US 2010 0203888 A1 R amp e 2 lt gt UI St 5 ASIA o IW Zi AUSTRALIA 8 EUROPE l GSM no FIG 1 16 CANADA 4
31. data connectivity through the first wireless net work A critical error is deemed one in which a permanent problem or fault exists with the network or service subscrip tion associated with the end user Conventionally the time period between the first attempt for data connectivity through the first wireless network including all reattempts and the first attempt for data connectivity through the second wireless network may be between about 25 minutes and 4 hours As apparent the inventive techniques reduce this time period to provide for a more time efficient selection of a data capable network Note that a computer program product of the present application includes a storage medium and computer instruc US 2010 0203888 Al tions stored on the storage medium where the computer instructions are executable by a processor for performing the method described above 0097 An indication may be made in memory of the mobile station of whether the wireless network currently makes data connectivity available to the mobile station The indication for the wireless network may be indicative of cur rently available data connectivity if the request for data connectivity is accepted by the wireless network or indica tive of currently unavailable data connectivity if the reject code comprising the critical error is received or if the one or more requests for data connectivity through the wireless net work are reattempted without success S
32. e of 13 corresponds to roaming not allowed in the current location area and a value of 14 corresponds to GPRS services not allowed by the current PLMN 0075 In step 604 the mobile station checks an attach counter or RAU counter to see if its value is greater than or equal to five 5 Note that a connector V leads to step 604 as well If the attach counter RAU counter is not greater than or equal to five then operation proceeds through connector O if attach reject no network response or connector W if RAU reject no network response FIG 5 If the attach counter RAU counter is greater than or equal to five then the mobile station proceeds to check whether the PLMN is the HPLMN step 620 If the PLMN is the HPLMN at step 620 then the mobile station displays Temporary Failure of Data Service step 622 and proceeds to check whether a timer T3302 is set to a value that is greater than a predetermined internal timer value step 606 The internal timer value is typically set to between 5 30 minutes and preferably greater than 12 minutes e g between 13 and 30 minutes Alternatively the internal timer value is set to between 5 10 minutes preferably about 6 minutes If timer T3302 is greater than the internal timer value at step 606 the mobile station starts a timer based on the internal timer value step 608 If timer T3302 is greater than the internal timer value at step 606 the mobile station starts a timer based on the
33. e home network operator a home service provider or a mobile station owner 0063 According to current GSM standards documents a mobile station has only the limited ability to rescan for a network that is higher in priority on the U PPLMN list or the O PPLMN list If a voice only GSM or otherwise limited service has been established for a mobile station however it may be desirable for the mobile station to periodically check for a new network such as a GSM GPRS network This may be done even if the network has a lower priority on the O PPLMN and U PPLMN lists This situation may also arise for other types of mobile stations and networks where a mobile device is enabled for communications over different types of networks which support different mobile station functions or services 0064 In FIG 4 mobile station 115 enters a new region or country and finds coverage i e a strong enough signal with only one GSM only base station located on Local Network 4 225 However as mobile station 115 travels within the same country it may come into coverage of another GSM GPRS base station in Local Network 1 210 In GSM standards mobile station 115 could only camp on the network 210 if it had higher priority in the PPLMN lists In accordance with the present application however mobile station 115 will attempt to rescan for other data capable networks not previ ously seen or available upon expiration of a time period or other suitable even
34. e loaded onto the mobile station 115 through the network 219 an auxiliary I O subsystem 228 serial port 230 short range communications subsystem 240 or any other suitable subsystem 242 and installed by a user in the RAM 226 or preferably a non volatile store not shown for execution by the microprocessor 238 Such flexibility in application installation increases the functionality of the device and may provide enhanced on device functions com munication related functions or both For example secure communication applications may enable electronic com merce functions and other such financial transactions to be performed using the mobile station 115 0036 In a data communication mode a received signal such as a text message or web page download will be pro cessed by the communication subsystem 211 and input to the microprocessor 238 which preferably further processes the received signal for output to the display 222 or alternatively to an auxiliary I O device 228 A user of mobile station 115 may also compose data items such as email messages for example using the keyboard 232 which is preferably a com plete alphanumeric keyboard or telephone type keypad in conjunction with the display 222 and possibly an auxiliary Aug 12 2010 I O device 228 Such composed items may then be transmit ted over a communication network through the communica tion subsystem 211 and stored in portions 251 of flash memory 224 0037 For voice c
35. e located substantially as described above According to one aspect of the invention data capable networks such as GPRS networks are then identified Mobile station 115 may then determine which of the identified data capable networks is listed first on a preferred network list which in GSM GPRS mobile stations would be the PPLMN list Mobile station 115 then checks to ensure that an interconnection such asa GRX network for a GPRS network is available to the home net work from this highest priority data capable network on the preferred list Ifno interconnection to the home network from the highest priority data capable network is available then mobile station 115 continues to try the identified data capable networks that are also in the preferred list until a link is found back to the home network 0055 If no links can be found that connect to the home network then mobile station 115 may revert to traditional network selection of a non data capable network such as a GSM network as described above Alternatively the network selection method might stop after scanning all data capable networks for links to the home network This may be particu larly desirable when the data capable networks have more Aug 12 2010 capabilities compared to a non data capable network In some circumstances even if a user cannot reach their home network they may be able to better use the mobile station on the new network for example to access the Inte
36. e mobile station identifies whether the HPLMN or a data capable e g GPRS capable PLMN has been found step 724 Ifthe HPLMN or data capable PLMN is found then operation proceeds through a connector Z Ifno HPLMN or data capable PLMN is found then the mobile station starts the HPLMN timer or internal timer tl step 726 0082 Preferably an indication is made in memory of the mobile station of whether the wireless network currently makes the voice and data connectivity available to the mobile station The indication for the wireless network may be indicative of currently available data connectivity if the request for data connectivity is accepted by the wireless net work or indicative of currently unavailable data connectiv Aug 12 2010 ity if the reject code comprising the critical error is received or if the one or more requests for data connectivity through the wireless network are reattempted without success Similar results may be achieved through use of a list of currently unavailable data connectivity networks stored in memory Such a list includes the wireless network if the reject code comprising the critical error is received or if the one or more requests for data connectivity through the wireless network are reattempted without success however the list fails to include the wireless network if the request for data connec tivity is accepted by it 0083 FIGS 8 9 and 10 form a flowchart which describes
37. effect if it exists in a memory such as the Flash memory 224 or the RAM 226 FIG 2 0059 One common way to build up a U PPLMN is through previous user or manual network selections As in the above example of FIG 4 it is assumed that mobile station 115 has entered a country or region where it receives signals of similar strengths from the four networks 210 215 220 and 225 However it is further assumed that these networks are not found on the O PPLMN list or the FPLMN list so mobile station 115 may consider them to be usable In this situation once these networks are identified the user may be prompted to choose which network they would like to try In the GSM standards documents this is referred to as manual network selection After the user has selected a network it is tried for connectivity back to home network 205 and if successful it is added to the U PPLMN 0060 The user interface UI to these manual network selections could be a standard dialog box a pick list a scroll ing menu or any other UI selection models available It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the UI could also include the network capabilities by showing capability iden tifying strings such as GPRS or GSM beside each of the network choices for the user In another embodiment the user might be presented with a dialog box entitled GPRS Net work Selections followed by GSM Network Selections if all the GPRS netw
38. financial and practical decisions as to when it should purchase and implement GPRS functionality onto an existing GSM network Therefore a user of a GSM phone or a GPRS capable mobile station might enter a given country and be faced with networks that support either GSM only or com bined GSM GPRS 0026 These networks implement interconnections to each other to support roaming between countries and to support billing and roaming notifications between networks Although shown as separate physical networks in FIG 1 the thirteen networks five GSM and eight GSM GPRS inter connect to form a total of four networks three GSM GPRS networks 1 2 and N and one GSM network 1 A GSM network could connect to one or more other GSM networks one or more GSM GPRS networks or both A GSM GPRS network could similarly connect with other GSM GPRS net works GSM networks or both GPRS GSM networks and GSM networks Networks in Canada shown as GSM GPRS1 2 and GSM GPRS2 4 respectively connect with GSM GPRS1 12 and GSM1 14 shown in the USA GSM GPRS2 4 also connects with GSM GPRS1 8 shown in the England area via communication link 6 Network GSM1 14 from the USA also connects with GSM1 10 shown in the middle of Europe Other networks 16 through 28 are similarly interconnected as shown These interconnections form the basis of traffic move ment and roaming support between the networks 0027 As a mobile station enters a given country or com munication
39. fter proceed through connector C2 Yet even further in state 818 the mobile station may experience an out of coverage condi tion with the PLMN and thereafter proceed to step 820 Step 820 is also performed if there is no RPLMN identified in step 802 0089 In step 820 the mobile station identifies whether there is any PLMN available If there is no PLMN available at step 820 then the mobile station displays No Service step 826 The mobile station will then wait for any PLMNs to appear step 862 If the previously selected PLMN becomes available in step 862 then operation proceeds through a con nector F otherwise if any other PLMN becomes available operation proceeds through a connector H If there is any PLMN available in step 820 then the mobile station then displays Select Network for the user to choose whether to Aug 12 2010 manually select a network step 828 Note that a connector H leads to step 828 as well If the user selects YES at step 828 the mobile station displays all available PLMNS in order and gives the user the option to select one of the PLMNs step 830 Note that a connector C leads to step 830 as well Once the user selects a network in step 830 the mobile station attempts to register with the selected PLMN The mobile station then identifies whether the selected PLMN is a For bidden PLMN FPLMN or whether there is a GPRS attach rejection or whether there is a PDP context rejection s
40. gnated as timer 3302 Timer 3302 is set to a value taken from GSM timer 3212 which is a periodic location update timer See e g 3GPP specification 4 08 Release 1997 From 3GPP specification 24 08 Release 1999 the default value of T3302 is 12 minutes if one is not provided by the network The mobile station ordinarily receives the value for timer 3212 over the air by the network or if one is not provided by the network utilizes a default value If provided over the air by the network the timer may be set to up to four 4 hours The mobile station is not able to attempt for GPRS services again until this timer 3302 expires As apparent this may cause substantial data delays e g delays in receiving pushed e mail messages US 2010 0203888 Al 0068 FIGS 5 6 and 7 form a flowchart which describes a specific method of automatic network selection performed by a mobile station This method includes a more time effi cient selection of a data capable network according to the present application so as to overcome the deficiencies of conventional techniques A computer program product of the present application includes a storage medium and computer instructions stored in the storage medium where the com puter instructions are executable by one or more processors of a mobile station for performing the method described The mobile station of the present application includes one or more processors and a wireless transceiver coupled
41. h a GPRS capable network the mobile station first performs a GPRS attach and provides its identification code and availability to the wireless network For GSM GPRS this code could include both the Interna tional Mobile Subscriber Identity IMSI or Packet Tempo rary Mobile Subscriber Identity PTMSI which identify a communication network account or subscription and a Mobile Station ISDN PSTN Number MSISDN which iden tifies the mobile station user or subscriber After attaching to the network the mobile station will attempt to establish a Packet Data Protocol PDP context The PDP context tar gets an access point name APN and home service of the mobile station The PDP context also allocates an IP address for the mobile station so that IP packets can be communi cated 0010 In order to operate fully as intended these data capable mobile stations must have the appropriate commu nication services supported and made available by the com munication network that it is registered with Ideally all communication networks around the world should be con nected through roaming agreements and support and make available all the different types of communication services that a mobile station is capable of providing In practice however some communication networks do not have or can not make a particular communication service e g a data communication service available to a mobile station This problem may be partiall
42. he mobile station makes a request for a data service which may be accepted or denied by the network When data service is denied the mobile station receives different reject cause codes from the net work which are associated with different reasons for service denial Depending on the reject code the mobile station may have to wait until it may request the data service again a timer expires the network changes or the user cycles the power off amp on of the mobile device If the end user is not viewing the display of the mobile station e g the mobile station is carried in a holster the user will not be aware of the data service unavailability and may not receive important push data in a timely fashion e g pushed e mail messages 0013 Inarelated problem ifthe GPRS attach ora Routing Area Update RAU attempt is not successful with the net work e g no network response or the receipt of a rejection code the mobile station consecutively reattempts for up to five 5 times If the GPRS attach or RAU attempt counter is greater than or equal to five the mobile station must place itself into a GPRS Deregistered state and start a timer designated as timer 3302 Timer 3302 is set to a value taken from GSM timer 3212 which is a periodic location update timer See e g 3GPP specification 4 08 Release 1997 From 3GPP specification 24 08 Release 1999 the default value of T3302 is 12 minutes if one is not provided by the
43. ication Aug 12 2010 Sheet 5 of 9 US 2010 0203888 A1 E IG 5 Switch On Or Recovery From Out Of Coverage M 504 508 502 es HPLMN amp is Not Same As RPLMN is There A RPLMN RPLMN Available And HPLMN Available And Allowable MS Selected Registered PLMN EN F Trying PLMN No Automatically Select HPLMN GSM Attach Reject GSM Attach Loss Of Radio 528 5 Accept Coverage Of 512 Selection PLMN ndicate Selection owo Ls E 3 Yes PLMN is Not PLMN GSM Only User tee ais Re Seiection Timer gt 6 min T 73310 Timeout Or Lower Layer Failure Start Internal XI Timer t For 516 RAU Timeout PLMN Search Z i PDF T3330 Or Time Out Time Out a User Reselection U Lower Layer On PLAIN Failure GPRS POP Deactivation w By The Network Om PLAIN GSM Ordy 620 P2 ifThe PLMNs Is Gi Not HPLMN HPLMN Timeout Available amp Allowable HPLMN Or GPRS No If Other Networks Are Available But Allowable p Popup Or Display No Allowable Network Emergency Service Oniy Sim invalid If There is No Available Network o Popup Or Display Out Of Coverage No Service 526 Wait For PLMNs SN Registered PLMN To ARNE PLMN Available amp Available amp Allowable Allowable Which is Not RPLMN E R Patent Application Publication Aug 12 2010 Sheet 6 of 9 US 2010 02
44. imilar results may be achieved through use of a list of currently unavailable data connectivity networks stored in memory Such a list includes the wireless network if the reject code comprising the critical error is received or if the one or more requests for data connectivity through the wireless network are reattempted without success however the list fails to include the wireless network if the request for data connectivity is accepted by it In any event however the home network is maintained as the highest priority network for communication with the mobile station 0098 A mobile station of the present application includes one or more processors memory coupled to the one or more processors and a wireless transceiver coupled to the one or more processors The one or more processors are operative to cause a request for data connectivity to be transmitted through a first wireless network with use of the wireless transceiver reattempt the request for data connectivity through the first wireless network one or more times if a reject code compris ing a non critical error is received in response to the request for data connectivity through the first wireless network and attempt to select a second wireless network for communica tions without reattempting the request for data connectivity through the first wireless network one or more times ifa reject code comprising a critical error is received in response to the request for data connectivit
45. ion step 642 Note that connector R also leads to step 642 The mobile station then identifies whether its SIM is invalid for GSM service step 643 If the SIM is invalid for GSM service at step 643 then operation proceeds through a connector O FIG 5 If the SIM is not invalid for GSM service at step 643 then operation proceeds through a connector P FIG 5 0077 In step 624 if there are no data capable PLMNs available then the mobile station displays Data Service Refused on this Network step 654 and proceeds to step 628 In step 628 the mobile station checks whether the HPLMN timer is greater than 6 minutes Ifthe HPLMN timer is greater than 6 minutes the mobile station starts an internal timer tl for PLMN search step 632 If the HPLMN timer is not greater than 6 minutes the mobile station waits for the HPLMN timer to timeout step 630 When a timeout occurs from either step 630 or 632 the mobile station identifies whether the HPLMN or a GPRS PLMN has been found step 634 This PLMN must not have been previously rejected witha reject code of 7 12 13 or 14 If YES at step 634 then operation proceeds through a connector Z If NO at step 634 then the mobile station starts the HPLMN timer or inter nal timer t1 step 636 0078 Reference will now be made to FIG 7 which con tinues with the automatic network selection and particularly describes the handling of reject codes from networks in response to
46. k 2 215 Local Network 3 220 and Local Network 4 225 Two of the networks 210 and 215 are GPRS capable and two of the networks 220 and 225 are GSM only networks that are not GPRS capable 0053 According to the present application in order for mobile station 115 to maximize its capabilities as a multi functional mobile station e g capable of both data and voice communication services it should select one of the GPRS networks 210 and 215 In conventional GSM operation mobile station 115 would compare all networks from which received signals are above any minimum required signal strength level and match them against the top most network found in the PPLMN Since the PPLMN is in priority order a GSM mobile station must by definition follow the ordering of this list In FIG 4 for example if Local Network 4 225 is the highest network listed in the PPLMN list then mobile station 115 must camp on this network However this process ignores the fact that mobile station 115 might also be data capable The choice of Local Network 4 225 which does not support data communications may therefore not always be optimal for mobile station 115 0054 To improve the capabilities of mobile station 115 the search for a better network preferably takes other factors into consideration Since mobile station 115 cannot effec tively communicate when signal strength is below a certain level only network base stations with strong enough signals ar
47. ks stored in memory Such a list includes the wireless network if the reject code comprising the critical error is received or if the one or more requests for data connectivity through the wireless network are reattempted without success however the list fails to include the wireless network if the request for data connec tivity is accepted by it 0024 With reference now to FIG 1 an overview of how networks connect around the world are described GSM and GPRS networks are shown as example wireless communica tion networks The voice network known as GSM is the older US 2010 0203888 Al component and has been available since about 1992 while GPRS a data component that has been combined or overlaid with GSM has been available only since about 1999 These two networks are now common throughout the world and have some of the fastest deployment rates of any voice and data networks Such combined voice and data networks also include modern Code Division Multiple Access CDMA networks and third generation 3G networks like Enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution EDGE and Universal Mobile Telecommunications Systems UMTS currently under development 0025 In FIG 1 there are five GSM only networks 10 14 16 22 26 and eight GSM GPRS combined networks 2 4 8 12 18 20 24 28 shown in various parts of the world At any point in time a given country might have one or more GSM and or GSM GPRS networks Each network operator makes
48. n for selecting the one communication network through which to register and operate 0006 Cellular telephony operation and network selection schemes are documented in standards specifications that gov ern the behavior of cellular mobile stations and associated systems One well known cellular standard is the Global Sys tem for Mobile Communications GSM standard GSM 03 22 European Technical Standards Institute ETSI Tech nical Specification TS 100 930 Technical Specification TS 23 122 from the 3 Generation Partnership Project 3GPP and other related standards documents describe the many details of cellular operation and network selection These documents describe how a mobile station behaves as it moves and roams between various regions and countries to maintain coverage with networks referred to as Public Land Mobile Networks or PLMNS primarily for the purpose of providing continuous telephone service 0007 Traditionally a mobile station performs network selection by initially scanning to identify all available com munication networks within its surrounding coverage area Each network is identified by a unique Mobile Country Code MCC and Mobile Network Code MNC pair If the Home Public Land Mobile Network HPLMN or home network of the mobile station is available the mobile station will ordinarily select and operate with the home network If the HPLMN is unavailable the mobile station will ordinarily Aug 1
49. n Previously Save The PLMN c ls No Available Selected PLMN ave tne Network Display Becomes Select PLMN No Service Available if The PLMN Is FPLMN Popup Emergency Service selected PLMN Is FPLMN Or Attach 862 Only Rej Or PDP Rej p ANY PLMN Save Cancel Wait For PLMN Becomes if The PLMN is Attach Rej Or gt To Appear Available PDP Rej i PLMN Previously z i i Selected PLMN Popup Voice Service Only GSM Trying PLMN Gi Becomes Available Save Cancel Attach T Accept tac el Failure F H G B4 Patent Application Publication Aug 12 2010 Sheet 9 of 9 US 2010 0203888 A1 FIG 9 B Attach Reject Or RAU Reject 903 Sim Yes Invalid Causes TMZ MIS No if The Attach Of Ke RAU Counter gt 25 Display Data Service Refuse On This Network 914 Display Data Service Refuse On This Network Popup Select Network 518 T3302 gt internal Popup Yes timer t2 Select Nework Start T3302 Start Internal Timer 2 S Timeout Timeout a Display Data Service Refuse On This Network US 2010 0203888 Al DATA CAPABLE NETWORK PRIORITIZATION WITH REJECT CODE HANDLING CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 0001 The present application is a continuation of and claims priority to U S non provisional patent application having application Ser No 11 674 738 and filing date of 14 Feb 2007 now U S Pat N
50. nctions involving communications over the network 219 The SIM interface 244 is normally similar to a card slot into which a SIM card can be inserted and removed The SIM card can have approximately 64K of memory and hold many key configuration identification and subscriber related infor mation 250 The O PPLMN the U PPLMN and the forbid den PLMN FPLMN are initially received from the SIM card 250 Reference to the PPLMN hereinafter will generally apply to both the O PPLMN and U PPLMN 0031 When required network registration or activation procedures have been completed mobile station 115 may send and receive communication signals over the network 219 Signals received by antenna 216 through communica tion network 219 are input to receiver 212 which may per form such common receiver functions as signal amplification frequency down conversion filtering channel selection and the like and in the example system shown in FIG 2 analog to digital A D conversion A D conversion of a received signal allows more complex communication functions such as demodulation and decoding to be performed in the DSP 220 In a similar manner signals to be transmitted are processed including modulation and encoding for example by DSP 220 and input to transmitter 214 for digital to analog conversion frequency up conversion filtering amplification and trans mission over the communication network 219 via antenna 218 DSP 220 not only processes communi
51. network Thus the mobile station ordinarily receives the value for timer 3212 over the air by the network or if one is not pro vided by the network utilizes a default value If provided over the air by the network the timer may be set to up to four 4 hours The mobile station is not able to attempt for GPRS services again until this timer 3302 expires As apparent this may cause substantial data delays e g delays in receiving pushed e mail messages 0014 Accordingly there is a resulting need for network selection methods and apparatus that overcome the deficien cies of the prior art BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 0015 FIG 1 is a block diagram illustrating a global net work interconnection 0016 FIG 2 is a block diagram of a mobile communica tion device which is a cellular mobile station 0017 FIG 3 is a block diagram showing two GSM GPRS networks and a mobile station roaming between them 0018 FIG 4 is a block diagram illustrating a mobile sta tion in a region where there are several communication net works of different types 0019 FIGS 5 6 and 7 form a flowchart for automatic network selection according to the present application and 0020 FIGS 8 9 and 10 form a flowchart for manual network selection according to the present application Aug 12 2010 DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS 0021 Methods and apparatus for performing network selection by a mobile communica
52. network that makes the data communication service available over a network that fails to make the data communication service available Preferably the method is performed in connection with the creation of one or more prioritized network lists In this case the mobile station assigns a higher priority in the prioritized network list to a communication network that makes the voice and data communication service available and allowable to it over a communication network that does not In any event however the home network is maintained as the highest priority network for communication with the mobile station 0096 Advantageously the specific techniques of the present application allow for a time efficient selection of data capable networks for data capable mobile stations One illustrative method of the present application includes the steps of causing a request for data connectivity to be trans mitted through a first wireless network reattempting the request for data connectivity through the first wireless net work one or more times if a reject code comprising a non critical error is received in response to the request for data connectivity through the first wireless network and attempt ing to select a second wireless network for communications without reattempting the request for data connectivity through the first wireless network one or more times ifa reject code comprising a critical error is received in response to the request for
53. o which is a continuation of U S non provisional patent application having application Ser No 10 987 658 and filing date of 12 Nov 2004 now U S Pat No 7 197 312 B2 which is subject to reissue application having application Ser No 12 412 963 and having filing date of 27 Mar 2009 which claims priority to U S provisional patent application having application No 60 519 150 and filing date of 12 Nov 2003 and U S provisional patent appli cation having application No 60 519 141 and filing date of 12 Nov 2003 each application being hereby incorporated by reference herein BACKGROUND 0002 1 Field of the Technology 0003 The present application relates generally to mobile stations and network selection methods employed thereby 0004 2 Description of the Related Art 0005 A mobile communication device such as a cellular mobile station may be capable of making and receiving tele phone calls and or sending and receiving data over a wireless communication network Before it is able to do this the mobile station selects and registers with one of a plurality of communication networks which are available within its geo graphic coverage area After registering with the selected network the mobile station operates in an idle mode where it camps on a particular wireless communication channel of the network to monitor for calls or messages Network selec tion is the particular process performed by the mobile statio
54. o different extents Finally although the mobile device oftentimes iden tifies a plurality of communication networks available within its geographic coverage area it may sometimes identify only Aug 12 2010 a single available network with which to act upon this under standing should not in any way limit the interpretation of the claims What is claimed is 1 A method for use by a mobile station in selecting a wireless communication network for communications with the mobile station the method comprising selecting a first wireless network available for communi cations with the mobile station causing a request for data connectivity to be transmitted to the first wireless network selected if a rejection is received from the first wireless network in response to the request for data connectivity reattempting the request for data connectivity to the first wireless network at least one time selecting a second wireless network available for com munications with the mobile station after the request for data connectivity to the first wireless network is reattempted the at least one time without success and selecting the second wireless network available for com munications with the mobile station without reat tempting the request for data connectivity to the first wireless network the at least one time if a reject code associated with the rejection indicates that data ser vices are not allowed in the first network is recei
55. obile station 115 The home network for the user is referred to as the home public land mobile network HPLMN and mobile stations registered within that network are maintained in a home location registry HLR 150 HLR 150 is used to verify subscribers on the home network and to confirm home subscribers on other networks Each wireless network supports a range of services where each of the ser vice access points tends to be a fixed connection not a radio US 2010 0203888 Al based connection Fixed connections generally allow greater capacity of data throughput for a large number of service subscribers supported by a single Access Point Name APN In FIG 3 one such service is termed a home service provider 100 as it might be the primary communications service for a given group of mobile stations 115 Some mobile stations 115 might have a single home service provider 100 or they might have several services 105 110 that they access 0042 The main components in GSM GPRS network 125 include base station 145 the serving GPRS support node SGSN 130 the gateway GPRS support node GGSN 140 the Border GGSN node 135 the HLR home location regis try 150 and the VLR visitor location registry 155 0043 Conventionally when mobile station 115 is within a coverage area of home network 120 it communicates via base station 145 back through network 120 to home service pro vider 100 When mobile station 115 is looking for coverage espe
56. ommunications overall operation of mobile station 115 is similar except that received signals would preferably be output to a speaker 234 and signals for transmission would be generated by a microphone 236 Alter native voice or audio I O subsystems such as a voice message recording subsystem may also be implemented on mobile station 115 Although voice or audio signal output is prefer ably accomplished primarily through the speaker 234 dis play 222 may also be used to provide an indication of the identity of a calling party the duration of a voice call or other voice call related information for example 0038 Serial port 230 in FIG 2 would normally be imple mented in a personal digital assistant PDA type mobile station for which synchronization with a user s desktop com puter not shown may be desirable but is an optional device component Such a port 230 would enable a user to set pref erences through an external device or software application and would extend the capabilities of mobile station 115 by providing for information or software downloads to mobile station 115 other than through a wireless communication network The alternate download path may for example be used to load an encryption key onto the device through a direct and thus reliable and trusted connection to thereby enable secure device communication 0039 A short range communications subsystem 240 is a further optional component which may provide for commu
57. orks failed to reach the home PLMN 0061 Network selection in this situation could instead be automatic not requiring user intervention In such a method mobile station 115 preferably identifies the networks that support GSM and those that support GSM GPRS and sepa rates the two types of networks The GSM only networks are placed on a Discouraged PLMN list DPLMN and are only tried after all the GSM GPRS networks have been tried and failed The only failure mentioned thus far was around the inability to reach home PLMN 205 Other failures could US 2010 0203888 Al include 1 PLMN not allowed 2 roaming not allowed in this local area 3 GPRS not allowed or 4 home network rejection These errors and others might cause the network to be placed on the FPLMN as the network link does not seem to be working for mobile station 115 0062 Manually or automatically selected networks are preferably added to the U PPLMN list which may be stored in a writable data store such as Flash memory 224 or RAM 226 FIG 2 in mobile station 115 The U PPLMN list may then be consulted during subsequent network selection pro cedures Normally mobile station 115 will first check the O PPLMN list for new networks detected during a network selection process before consulting the U PPLMN list It may also be possibly to configure a mobile station to check the U PPLMN list before the O PPLMN list depending for example upon restrictions controlled by th
58. p 814 Note that a connector B2 leads to step 814 as well If successful at step 814 the mobile station attempts a PDP context request with the selected network step 816 If successful at step 816 the mobile station remains registered and connected through this PLMN state 818 Note that a connector B3 leads to state 818 as well 0088 In step 814 the mobile station may receive a reject code from the network in response to the GPRS attach request and thereafter proceed through a connector B FIG 9 On the other hand in step 814 there may be a T3310 timer timeout where operation proceeds through a connector B FIG 9 In step 816 the mobile station may receive a reject code from the network in response to the PDP context request and thereafter proceed through a connector X FIG 10 Also in step 816 there may be a T3380 timer timeout where operation proceeds through a connector X2 Note also that a connector X3 leads to step 816 as well In state 818 the mobile station may receive a user manual selection of a network and thereafter proceed through a connector C Also in state 818 the mobile station may experience a Routing Area Update RAU rejec tion and thereafter proceed through a connector B FIG 9 Further in state 818 the mobile station may experience a RAU T3330 timeout and thereafter proceed through a con nector B FIG 9 Further in state 818 the mobile station may receive a PDP deactivation by the network and therea
59. r more wireless networks available in a coverage region of the mobile station wherein the first wireless network is selected from the one or more wireless networks identified 11 The method of claim 1 wherein the act of selecting the second wireless network is performed as part of an automatic network selection procedure 12 A mobile station comprising one or more processors memory coupled to the one or more processors a wireless transceiver coupled to the one or more proces sors US 2010 0203888 Al the one or more processors being operative to select a first wireless network available for communica tions with the mobile station cause a request for data connectivity to be transmitted to the first wireless network selected if a rejection is received from the first wireless network in response to the request for data connectivity reattempt the request for data connectivity to the first wireless network at least one time select a second wireless network available for com munications with the mobile station after the request for data connectivity to the first wireless network is reattempted the at least one time without success and select the second wireless network available for com munications with the mobile station without reat tempting the request for data connectivity to the first wireless network the at least one time ifa reject code associated with the rejection indicates that data services are not allowed in the
60. ritizing the selection of data capable communication networks e g GPRS over voice only networks e g GSM In such a procedure the mobile station may have to determine whether or not the data service is actually made available by the communication network Conventionally a mobile station makes a request for a data service which may be accepted or denied by the network When data service is denied the mobile station receives dif ferent reject cause codes from the network which are asso ciated with different reasons for service denial Depending on the reject code the mobile station may have to wait until it may request the data service again a timer expires the net work changes or the user cycles the power off amp on of the mobile device Ifthe end user is not viewing the display of the mobile station e g the mobile station is carried in a holster the user will not be aware of the data service unavailability and may not receive important push data in a timely fashion e g pushed e mail messages In a related efficiency prob lem if the GPRS attach or a Routing Area Update RAU attempt is not successful with the network e g no network response or the receipt ofa rejection code the mobile station consecutively reattempts for up to five 5 times Ifthe GPRS attach or RAU attempt counter is greater than or equal to five the mobile station must place itself into a GPRS Deregis tered state and start a timer desi
61. rnet at large 0056 Referring again to FIG 4 mobile station 115 nor mally has access to a preferred network list in the form of a PPLMN stored on a SIM card Data capable networks include the GSM GPRS Local Networks 1 and 2 210 and 215 whereas the GSM Local Networks 3 and 4 220 and 225 represent examples of non data capable networks 0057 Ifmobile station 115 performs the network selection method described briefly above and it is assumed that the PPLMN list follows the ordering of the networks shown in FIG 4 the first network that should be attempted is the Local Network 1 210 However since Local Network 1 210 does not have a GRX connection back to the home PLMN 205 Local Network 2 215 will be tried next Since this network does have a Gp link 240 back to home PLMN 205 and home service provider 200 it will be selected by mobile station 115 If Local Network 2 215 the last available data capable net work did not have a connection back to home PLMN 205 the first GSM network would be tried The first GSM network tried would be Local Network 3 220 and link 230 would be used to communicate with the HLR in that home PLMN 205 to verify the user s account information If that fails Local Network 4 225 would be tried via link 235 0058 In another embodiment of FIG 4 the new networks 210 215 220 225 are not included on the O PPLMN list on mobile station 115 This situation is more difficult as the U PPLMN list may come into
62. s a Routing Area Update RAU request 30 The communication system of claim 23 wherein the reject code indicative that data services are not allowed in the first wireless network has a value of 14 31 The communication system of claim 23 wherein the mobile station is further operative to select the second wire less network for communications only if the second wireless network is not on an Operator Controlled Public Land Mobile Network O PLMN list or a User Controlled PLMN U PLMN list of the mobile station 32 The communication system of claim 23 wherein the mobile station is further operative to identify one or more wireless networks available in a coverage region of the mobile station the first wireless network being selected from the one or more wireless networks identified 33 The communication system of claim 23 wherein the mobile station is further operative to select the second wire less network as part of an automatic network selection procedure
63. see if one ofthe networks matches a network in the PPLMN list 0045 Inconventional GPRS mobile stations there are two types of PPLMN lists within the mobile station 115 namely an O PPLMN and a U PPLMN as shown in FIG 2 The user defined list is a relatively new concept and is in limited use at the current time Similarly mobile station 115 also has a Forbidden PLMN FPLMN list which it uses to exclude certain network connections There is also a chance that a network located during a scanning operation does not fall into either of these lists In this case the network can preferably still be used in response to a confirmation by a mobile station user through a dialog box for example as to which network should be used 0046 GPRS networks are normally linked through a GPRS routing exchange GRX 160 and a border GGSN 135 and 137 The signaling involved with this exchange is described herein to the extent necessary to illustrate aspects of the invention Further details of GRX 160 may be apparent to those skilled in the art and can also be found in the GSM standards documents dealing with support for roaming in GPRS GGPP specification 23 122 Aug 12 2010 0047 When mobile station 115 experiences a prolonged out of coverage situation it begins to look for RF signals from base stations 145 or 147 Once a signal is acquired the radio protocols inform mobile station 115 which network has been reached and the capabilities of that
64. st wireless network is reattempted the at least one time without success and select the second wireless network available for com munications with the mobile station without reat tempting the request for data connectivity to the first wireless network the at least one time ifa reject code associated with the rejection indicates that data services are not allowed in the first network is received from the first wireless network in response to the request for data connectivity 24 The communication system of claim 23 wherein the request for data connectivity comprises an attach request 25 The communication system of claim 23 wherein the request for data connectivity comprises a General Packet Radio Service GPRS attach request 26 The communication system of claim 23 wherein the reject code indicating that data services are not allowed in the first wireless network corresponds to a permanent problem or fault that exists with the first wireless network 27 The communication system of claim 23 wherein the mobile station is further operative to reattempt the request for data connectivity to the first wireless network by reattempting the request up to a predetermined number of times 28 The communication system of claim 23 wherein the mobile station is further operative to reattempt the request for data connectivity without user intervention 29 The communication system of claim 23 wherein the request for data connectivity comprise
65. stead be a read only memory ROM or similar storage element not shown Those skilled in the art will appreciate that the operating system specific device applications or parts thereof may be temporarily loaded into a volatile memory such as RAM 226 Received communication signals may also be stored in RAM 226 0035 Microprocessor 238 in addition to its operating sys tem functions preferably enables execution of software applications on the mobile station A predetermined set of applications that control basic operations including at least data and voice communication applications for example will normally be installed on mobile station 115 during manufac turing A preferred software application may be a personal information manager PIM application having the ability to organize and manage data items relating to the user of the mobile station such as but not limited to e mail calendar events voice mails appointments and task items Naturally one or more memory stores would be available on the mobile station to facilitate storage of PIM data items Such PIM application would preferably have the ability to send and receive data items via the wireless network 219 In a pre ferred embodiment the PIM data items are seamlessly inte grated synchronized and updated via the wireless network 219 with the mobile station user s corresponding data items stored or associated with a host computer system Further applications may also b
66. t This includes any network that may be lower in priority on the O PPLMN and U PPLMN lists This time interval may be specified or configured by a network operator SIM manufacturer network standards documents mobile station manufacturers or a user of mobile device 115 as examples The goal of such rescanning is to improve the network capabilities of mobile station 115 In this example mobile station 115 has voice support through the Local Net work 4 225 but by changing network connections mobile station 115 could obtain data and voice support through Local Network 1 210 0065 A rescanning process may be triggered or initiated by any suitable event For example in the case of an interval timer a rescanning process may be executed whenever a rescan timer expires Such a timer is reset appropriately so that rescanning is performed at intervals If the timer is reset to the same value unless or until the time interval is reconfig ured rescanning will occur at regular intervals Rescan tim ing could instead be repeated at different intervals if the timer is reset to different values after some number of unsuccessful rescan operations during which no new data capable network is found In order to avoid rescanning at typically high net work traffic times rescanning could also be restricted during Aug 12 2010 certain times of day Rescanning could also or alternatively be performed when a mobile station detects a change in regions
67. t on an Operator Controlled Public Land Mobile Network O PLMN list or a User Controlled PLMN U PLMN list of the mobile station 21 The mobile station of claim 12 wherein the one or more processors are further operative to identify one or more wire less networks available in a coverage region of the mobile station the first wireless network being selected from the one or more wireless networks identified 22 The mobile station of claim 12 wherein the one or more processors are further operative to select the second wireless network as part of an automatic network selection procedure 23 A communication system comprising a first wireless communication network a second wireless communication network 14 Aug 12 2010 a mobile station operative to select one of the first wireless communication network and the second wireless com munication network for communications the mobile station being operative to select a first wireless network available for communica tions with the mobile station cause a request for data connectivity to be transmitted to the first wireless network selected if a rejection is received from the first wireless network in response to the request for data connectivity reattempt the request for data connectivity to the first wireless network at least one time select a second wireless network available for com munications with the mobile station after the request for data connectivity to the fir
68. t with the network Note that a connector X2 leads to step 1012 as well If the reject code is deemed critical at step 1002 then operation proceeds to step 1004 where the mobile station will generally prompt for manual reselection of a different network 0093 In the present embodiment reject codes that are deemed non critical are 26 31 34 102 38 36 39 and 35 Reject code 26 corresponds to insufficient resources reject code 31 corresponds to an unspecified activation rejection reject code 34 corresponds to the service option being tem porarily out of order reject code 102 corresponds to a tim eout from no response from the network reject code 38 corresponds to a network failure reject code 36 corresponds to a regular PDP context deactivation reject code 39 corre sponds to a reactivation request and reject code 35 corre sponds to the NSAPI already being used On the other hand reject codes that are deemed critical are 27 29 30 32 33 and 25 Reject code 27 corresponds to a missing or unknown APN reject code 29 corresponds to a user authentication failure reject code 30 corresponds to the activation being rejected by the GGSN reject code 32 corresponds to the Aug 12 2010 service option being unsupported reject code 33 corresponds to the service option not being subscribed to and reject code 25 corresponds to an LLC or SNDCP failure 0094 In step 1012 the mobile station identifies whether the PDP attempt coun
69. tep 834 If YES at step 834 then operation proceeds to step 838 If in step 838 the PLMN is the FPLMN then the mobile station displays Emergency Service Only Select SAVE or CANCEL step 838 Ifthe PLMN hada GPRS attach rejec tion or PDP context rejection then the mobile station displays Voice Service Only Select SAVE or CANCEL step 838 After step 838 if the end user selects CANCEL then opera tion proceeds back to step 828 If NO at step 834 then the mobile station attempts registration GSM attach with the PLMN step 860 Note that a connector G1 also leads to step 860 Ifthe GSM attach is accepted at step 860 then operation proceeds through a connector G Ifthe GSM attach is rejected at step 860 then operation proceeds through a connector B4 If the end user selects NO in step 828 then the mobile station displays Emergency Service Only and waits for the previously selected PLMN to become available again step 832 The mobile station will try the previously selected PLMN or wait for a previously selected PLMN to become available where operation proceeds through a connector F 0090 Reference will now be made to FIG 9 which con tinues with the manual network selection and particularly describes the handling of reject codes from networks in response to GPRS attach requests from a mobile station Connector B is from step 814 of FIG 8 where the network sends a reject code to the mobile
70. ter is greater than or equal to five 5 If the PDP attempt counter is not greater than or equal to five then operation proceeds to connector X3 If the PDP attempt counter is greater than or equal to five then the mobile station displays Data Connection Refused on this Network and prompts the user whether to manually Select Network step 1004 If the user chooses YES for manually selecting a network at step 1006 then operation proceeds through con nector C If the user chooses NO for manually selecting a network at step 1006 then the mobile station displays Data Connection Refused step 1008 Next if the error is non critical then the mobile station starts a timer t1 otherwise the mobile station waits for the user to manually select a network step 1010 If the tl timer expires from step 1010 then operation continues through connector X3 0095 Thus methods and apparatus for selecting a com munication network to provide one or more communication services for a mobile station have been described in detail In general a scanning operation is performed by the mobile station to identify one or more communication networks which support a voice communication service ina geographic coverage area The mobile station identifies which of the identified communication networks make a data communica tion service available for the mobile station The mobile sta tion then selects and registers with a communication
71. tion device are described herein In situations where more than one wireless network is available in a given coverage area a method of selecting or assigning priority to a wireless network that provides a data service or the best services over ones that do not is uti lized Such methods are applicable to mobile devices that operate in accordance with any suitable communication stan dard but are particularly applicable to advanced General Packet Radio Service GPRS capable mobile stations In this environment the method may place a priority on selecting a GPRS capable network over a Global System for Mobile Communications GSM only capable network 0022 In particular reject code handling is utilized for a time efficient selection of data capable networks One illus trative technique of the present application includes the steps of causing a request for data connectivity to be transmitted through a first wireless network reattempting the request for data connectivity through the first wireless network one or more times if a reject code comprising a non critical error is received in response to the request for data connectivity through the first wireless network and attempting to select a second wireless network for communications without reat tempting the request for data connectivity through the first wireless network one or more times if a reject code compris ing a critical error is received in response to the request for data
72. tration at step 510 i e a GSM attach reject the mobile station receives a reject code from the network The reject code is tested and if the reject code has a value of 2 3 or 6 step 521 then the mobile station proceeds to step 523 In step 523 the mobile station tests whether the reject code has a specific value of 2 If the reject code 2 in step 523 then the mobile station records that the network is preferred as GPRS step 527 where the flow continues through a connector O If the reject code does not have a value of 2 as identified in step 523 then the SIM is designated as invalid until power off or SIM card removal step 525 If the reject code does not have a value of 2 3 or 6 at step 521 then the flow proceeds to step 522 Upon a successful registration at step 510 i e a GSM attach accept the selected PLMN is indicated in a visual display of the mobile station step 512 From step 512 the mobile station identifies in step 540 whether the PLMN is GSM only i e no data service If YES in step 540 the mobile station remains registered and connected through this PLMN state 542 In state 542 the mobile station may experience an out of cov erage condition where operation proceeds through a connec tor R1 On the other hand in state 542 the mobile station may receive a user manual reselection of a network and thereafter proceed through a connector S FIG 6 Further in step 542 operation through connector P2 ma
73. urrent PLMN is the HPLMN step 706 Step 706 is also performed if the mobile station identifies that the reject code is indeed a critical error from step 702 If YES at step 706 then operation proceeds to step 708 In step 708 the mobile station displays Data Connection Temporarily Failed if the error is non critical or Data Connection Refused on Net work Please Contact Your Service Provider if the error is critical step 708 If NO at step 706 the mobile station scans to identify available networks step 710 The mobile station then identifies whether there are any data capable e g GPRS capable PLMNs allowable and not having an unsuc cessful PDP context step 712 If there is a data capable PLMN available then operation proceeds through connector Z If there is no data capable PLMN available then the mobile station displays Data Connection Refused if the error is non critical or Data Connection Refused Please Contact Your Service Provider if the error is critical step 714 0081 Next the mobile station checks whether the HPLMN timer is greater than 6 minutes step 720 If the HPLMN timer is greater than 6 minutes the mobile station starts an internal timer tl for PLMN search step 718 If the HPLMN timer is not greater than 6 minutes from step 720 the mobile station waits for the HPLMN timer to timeout step 722 Note that connector W1 leads to step 722 as well When a timeout occurs th
74. ved from the first wireless network in response to the request for data connectivity 2 The method of claim 1 wherein the request for data connectivity comprises an attach request 3 The method of claim 1 wherein the request for data connectivity comprises a General Packet Radio Service GPRS attach request 4 The method of claim 1 wherein the reject code indicat ing that data services are not allowed in the first wireless network corresponds to a permanent problem or fault that exists with the first wireless network 5 The method of claim 1 wherein the act of reattempting the request for data connectivity to the first wireless network comprises reattempting the request up to a predetermined number of times 6 The method of claim 1 wherein the act of reattempting is performed by the mobile station without user intervention 7 The method of claim 1 wherein the request for data connectivity comprises a Routing Area Update RAU request 8 The method of claim 1 wherein the reject code indica tive that data services are not allowed in the first wireless network has a value of 14 9 The method of claim 1 wherein the act of selecting the second wireless network for communications is performed only if the second wireless network is not on an Operator Controlled Public Land Mobile Network O PLMN list or a User Controlled PLMN U PLMN list of the mobile station 10 The method of claim 1 further comprising identifying one o
75. y lead to step 528 where the mobile station identifies whether the PLMN is not the HPLMN and the HPLMN timer is greater than 6 minutes If YES at step 528 then the mobile station starts an internal timer tl for a PLMN search step 530 If NO at step 528 Aug 12 2010 the mobile station waits for the HPLMN timer to timeout step 532 Upon timeouts in steps 530 and 532 the mobile station identifies whether the HPLMN or a data capable e g GPRS capable PLMN was found step 534 If YES at step 534 then operation proceeds through a connector Z If NO at step 534 then operation continues in state 542 0071 If NO from step 540 then operation proceeds to step 514 In step 514 the mobile station attempts a GPRS attach request with the selected network step 514 If suc cessful at step 514 the mobile station attempts a PDP context request with the selected network step 516 If successful at step 516 the mobile station remains registered and connected through this PLMN state 518 Note that a connector W leads to state 518 as well Note also that connector O leads to step 514 and a connector X1 leads to step 516 In step 514 the mobile station may receive a reject code from the network in response to the GPRS attach request and thereafter proceed through a connector T FIG 6 On the other hand in step 514 there may be a T3310 timer timeout or a low layer failure where operation proceeds through a conne
76. y mitigated in a given coverage area as there may be several communication networks from which the mobile station may select 0011 Traditional network selection techniques for GSM services however do not take into consideration the avail ability of other services e g data communication services in its decision making process That is traditional network selection techniques are voice service centric As a result an inadequate communication network may be selected by such mobile stations For example a mobile station may select a communication network that can provide an acceptable voice service but not a data service even though another adequate and available network could provide both the voice and the US 2010 0203888 Al data service Such traditional operation is undesirable espe cially for mobile stations that are primarily intended to pro vide the end user with a data communication service e g portable e mail devices In particular a GPRS GSM capable network is more preferably for these mobile stations than are GSM only networks 0012 A better and non traditional network selection tech nique for these mobile stations would involve prioritizing the selection of data capable communication networks e g GPRS over voice only networks e g GSM In such a pro cedure the mobile station may have to determine whether or not the data service is actually made available by the commu nication network More particularly t
77. y through the first wireless net work A communication system of the present application includes a first wireless communication network a second wireless communication network and a mobile station opera tive to select one of the first wireless communication network and the second wireless communication network for commu nications The mobile station of the communication system includes the components described above 0099 It will be appreciated that the above description relates to preferred embodiments by way of example only Many variations thereof will be obvious to knowledgeable in the field to which the invention pertains and such variations are within the scope of the invention as described and claimed whether or not expressly described For example although the detailed description has strictly used the term network in context of the inventive methods which pre sumes substantial homogeneity inside each network the invention also broadly includes selecting between sub sec tions of networks including network subnets and even indi vidual cells As another example although embodiments of the invention have placed an emphasis on GSM and GSM GPRS networks and voice and data capable mobile stations it should be appreciated that the invention is not limited to such networks mobile stations and services The invention is applicable to other systems in which mobile stations are enabled for communication services available t

Data-Capable Network Prioritization With Reject Code Handling

Contents

Download Pdf Manuals

Related Search

Related Contents