Patent Publication Number: US-2013231073-A1

Title: Method of Handling Local Emergency Number List and Related Communication Device

Description:
CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS 
     This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/605,765, filed on Mar. 2, 2012 and entitled “Method to handle local emergency number list”, the contents of which are incorporated herein in their entirety. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a method used in a wireless communication system and related communication device, and more particularly, to a method of handling a local emergency number list and related communication device. 
     2. Description of the Prior Art 
     The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has developed a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) which adopts a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) as a wireless air interface. In the UMTS, a radio access network known as a universal terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN) includes multiple Node-Bs (NBs) for communicating with multiple user equipments (UEs) (i.e., mobile stations (MSs)). As a successor of a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) system, the UMTS provides high frequency spectrum utilization, universal coverage, and high-speed multimedia data transmission which are beneficial for the UEs and the NBs of the UMTS. 
     A long-term evolution (LTE) system supporting the 3GPP Rel-8 standard and/or the 3GPP Rel-9 standard are developed by the 3GPP as a successor of the UMTS, for further enhancing performance of the UMTS to satisfy increasing needs of users. The LTE system includes a new radio interface and a new radio network architecture that provides a high data rate, low latency, packet optimization, and improved system capacity and coverage. In the LTE system, a radio access network known as an evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN) includes multiple evolved Node-Bs (eNBs) for communicating with multiple UEs, and communicating with a core network including a mobility management entity (MME), a serving gateway, etc., for Non-Access Stratum (NAS) control. 
     On the other hand, there may be situations (e.g., natural disaster, car accident, robbery, etc.) where a user needs to input and dial an emergency number in a local emergency number list via the UE, to ask for help. However, the local emergency number list received from a first network with a mobility country code (MCC) is not valid according to the prior art, when the UE is in a coverage of a second network with a different MCC. That is, even if the first network and the second network are managed by the same network operator, the UE determines that the local emergency number list is not valid, e.g., emergency numbers in the local emergency number list are determined as normal numbers, when the MCCs of the networks are different. The situation may occur in countries such as India, United States, etc., where a network operator may manage networks with different MCCs. As a result, the user cannot input and dial the emergency number, when the UE enters the coverage of the second network and the UE has not received a new local emergency number list from the second network. Thus, handling the emergency number list when the UE moves between the networks with different MCCs is an important topic to be discussed. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     The present invention therefore provides a method and related communication device for handling a local emergency number list to solve the abovementioned problem. 
     A method of handling a local emergency number list for a communication device in a wireless communication system is disclosed. The method comprises receiving the local emergency number list transmitted by a first network with a first mobility country code (MCC) in the wireless communication system; and determining that the local emergency number list is valid when the communication device is in a coverage of a second network with a second MCC in the wireless communication system, if the first network and the second network are in a same country. 
     These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system according to an example the present invention. 
         FIG. 2  is a schematic diagram of a communication device according to an example to the present invention. 
         FIG. 3  is a flowchart of a process according to an example of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Please refer to  FIG. 1 , which is a schematic diagram of a wireless communication system  10  according to an example of the present invention. The wireless communication system  10  is briefly composed of a UE, networks NET 1  and NET 2 , wherein the networks NET 1  and NET 2  are configured with different mobility country codes (MCCs), respectively. The wireless communication system  10  may be a time division multiple access (TDMA) system such as a global system for mobile communications (GSM) system, a general packet radio service (GPRS) system or an enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE) system. Alternatively, the wireless communication system  10  maybe a wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) system such as a universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS). Besides, the wireless communication system  10  may be an orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) system and/or an orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) system, such as a long term evolution (LTE) system (e.g., 3GPP Rel-8/9/10 standard), a LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) system (e.g., 3GPP Rel-11 standard) or a successor of the LTE-A system. The wireless communication system  10  may also be a system supporting a combination of the abovementioned systems, and is not limited herein. That is, the networks NET 1  and NET 2  support multiple standards, and can provide various services to the UE. 
     Please note that, the UE, the networks NET 1  and NET 2  are simply utilized for illustrating a structure of the wireless communication system  10 . Practically, a network (the network NET 1  or NET 2 ) can be referred to one or more base stations (BSs) in the GSM system, the GPRS system or the EDGE system. Alternatively, the network can also be referred to as a universal terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN) comprising one or more NodeBs (NBs) in the UMTS, or an evolved UTRAN (E-UTRAN) comprising one or more evolved NodeBs (eNBs), relay nodes and/or remote radio heads (RRHs) in the LTE system or the LTE-A system, and are not limited herein. Each of the BSs, the NBs, the eNBs, the relay nodes and/or the RRHs can provide one or more cells (i.e., coverage) to the UE. The UE can be a mobile device such as a mobile phone, a laptop, a tablet computer, an electronic book or a portable computer system. Furthermore, the network may further include a mobile switching center (MSC), a serving GPRS support node (SGSN) and/or a core network (e.g., mobility management entity (MME)), for communicating with the UE. In another example, the network can also be referred to a public land mobile network (PLMN). Besides, the network and the UE can be seen as a transmitter or a receiver according to transmission directions, e.g., for an uplink (UL), the UE is the transmitter and the network is the receiver, and for a downlink (DL), the network is the transmitter and the UE is the receiver. 
     Please refer to  FIG. 2 , which is a schematic diagram of a communication device  20  according to an example of the present invention. The communication device  20  can be the UE, the network NET 1  and/or the network NET 2  shown in  FIG. 1 , but is not limited herein. The communication device  20  may include a processing means  200  such as a microprocessor or an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a storage unit  210  and a communication interfacing unit  220 . The storage unit  210  may be any data storage device that can store a program code  214 , accessed by the processing means  200 . Examples of the storage unit  210  include but are not limited to a subscriber identity module (SIM), read-only memory (ROM), flash memory, random-access memory (RAM), CD-ROM/DVD-ROM, magnetic tape, hard disk, and optical data storage device. The communication interfacing unit  220  is preferably a radio transceiver, and can transmit and receive wireless signals according to processing results of the processing means  200 . 
     Please refer to  FIG. 3 , which is a flowchart of a process  30  according to an example of the present invention. The process  30  is utilized in the UE shown in  FIG. 1 , for handling a local emergency number list in the UE. The process  30  maybe compiled into the program code  214  and includes the following steps: 
     Step  300 : Start. 
     Step  302 : Receive the local emergency number list transmitted by the network NET 1  with a first MCC. 
     Step  304 : Determine that the local emergency number list is valid when the UE is in a coverage of the network NET 2  with a second MCC, if the network NET 1  and the network NET 2  are in a same country. 
     Step  306 : End. 
     According to the process  30 , after receiving the local emergency number list transmitted by the network NET 1  with a first MCC, the UE stores the local emergency number list, wherein one or more emergency numbers are in the local emergency number list. When the UE is in a coverage of the network NET 2  with a second MCC, the UE determines that the local emergency number list is valid if the network NET 1  and the network NET 2  are in a same country. In other words, after the UE enters the coverage of the network NET 2 , the UE will determine the local emergency number list as valid even if the MCCs of the network NET 1  and the network NET 2  are different. Thus, if the UE receives a number input by a user, the UE determines the number as an emergency number, if the local emergency number list is determined valid and the number is in the local emergency number list. As a result, the user can still input and dial an emergency number in the local emergency number list via the UE, before the network NET 2  transmits a new local emergency number list to the UE to replace the local emergency number list. 
     Please note that, a method according to which the UE determines whether the network NET 1  and the network NET 2  are in the same country is not limited. For example, the UE can determine that the network NET 1  and the network NET 2  are in the same country, if the network NET 1  and the network NET 2  are managed by a same network operator. Besides, a time interval during which the UE receives the local emergency number list is not limited. For example, the UE may receive the local emergency number list transmitted by the network NET 1  during a registration procedure. Further, the network NET 1  may transmit a location updating accepting message or an attach accept message including the local emergency number list to the UE during the registration procedure, to configure or update the local emergency number list. 
     Those skilled in the art should readily make combinations, modifications and/or alterations on the abovementioned description and examples. The abovementioned steps of the processes including suggested steps can be realized by means that could be a hardware, a firmware known as a combination of a hardware device and computer instructions and data that reside as read-only software on the hardware device, or an electronic system. Examples of hardware can include analog, digital and mixed circuits known as microcircuit, microchip, or silicon chip. Examples of the electronic system can include a system on chip (SOC), system in package (SiP), a computer on module (COM), and the communication device  20 . 
     To sum up, the present invention provides a method for handling a local emergency number list in a UE. The UE determines the local emergency number list as valid according to the present invention, even if the UE enters a network with a different MCC. Thus, a user can still input and dial an emergency number in the local emergency number list via the UE, and inconvenience caused by the prior art is solved. 
     Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.