Providing services according to subscription status of user equipment

1. A method for providing different levels of service by a femtocell base station according to a subscription status of user equipment, the method comprising:

determining whether the user equipment coupled to the femtocell base station is a closed subscriber group (CSG) member or a non-CSG member based on subscription information of the user equipment; and

if the user equipment is determined to be a CSG member:

allocating a private IP address associated with an intranet service of the femtocell base station to the user equipment determined as the CSG-member;

otherwise, if the user equipment is determined to be a non-CSG member:

allocating a public IP address associated with an internet service of the femtocell base station to the user equipment determined as the non-CSG member.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining includes:

collecting the subscription information of the user equipment from at least one of a subscriber server and the user equipment.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the collecting includes:

requesting the subscriber server to transmit the subscription information of the user equipment; and

receiving the requested subscription information from the subscriber server.

4. The method of claim 2 , wherein the collecting includes:

requesting the user equipment to transmit the subscription information stored in the user equipment; and

receiving the requested subscription information from the user equipment.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the subscription information is in a universal subscriber identity module (USIM) card of the user equipment.

6. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining includes:

extracting the subscription information from one or more messages exchanged with at least one of the user equipment and a packet data network gateway.

7. The method of claim 6 , wherein the message includes a user equipment (UE) REGISTER REQUEST message in a registration procedure and a non-access-stratum (NAS) REQUEST message in a NAS procedure.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the determining includes:

extracting an allowed CSG list from the subscription information of the user equipment;

determining the user equipment as the CSG member when the allowed CSG list includes a CSG identity of the femtocell base station; and

determining the user equipment as the non-CSG member when the allowed CSG list does not include the CSG identity of the femtocell base station.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the allocating includes:

requesting allocation of the private IP address by a packet data network gateway to the user equipment determined as the CSG member;

receiving the requested private IP address from the packet data network gateway; and

assigning the private IP address to the user equipment determined as the CSG member.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising:

receiving packets from the user equipment determined as the CSG member and forwarding the received packets to a private network associated with the private IP address; and

receiving packets from the private network and forwarding the received packets to the user equipment determined as the CSG member.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the allocating includes:

requesting allocation of the public IP address by a packet data network gateway to the user equipment determined as the non-CSG member;

receiving the requested public IP address from the packet data network gateway; and

assigning the public IP address to the user equipment determined as the non-CSG member.

12. The method of claim 11 , further comprising:

receiving packets from the user equipment determined as the non-CSG member and forwarding the received packets to a public network associated with the public IP address; and

receiving packets from the public network and forwarding the received packets to the user equipment determined as the non-CSG member.

13. The method of claim 1 , comprising employing, by the femtocell base station, an access control mode.

14. The method of claim 1 , comprising operating the femtocell base station in one of a CSG access mode and a hybrid mode.

15. A femtocell base station for providing different levels of service according to a subscription status of user equipment, the femtocell base station comprising:

a determination unit configured to determine whether user equipment coupled to the femtocell base station is a closed subscriber group (CSG) member or a non-CSG member based on subscription information of the user equipment; and

an IP request unit configured to allocate a private IP address to user equipment determined as the CSG-member and to allocate a public IP address to user equipment determined as the non-CSG member,

wherein the private IP address is associated with an intranet service of the femtocell base station and the public IP address is associated with an internet service of the femtocell base station.

16. The femtocell base station of claim 15 , further comprising a packet routing unit configured to:

route packets having the private IP address between the user equipment determined as the CSG member and an Intranet network associated with the private IP address; and

route packets having the public IP address between the user equipment determined as the non-CSG member and an Internet network associated with the public IP address.

17. The femtocell base station of claim 15 , wherein the determination unit is configured to:

collect the subscription information of the user equipment from at least one of a subscriber server and the user equipment;

extract an allowed CSG list from the subscription information of the user equipment;

determine the user equipment as the CSG member when the allowed CSG list includes a CSG identity of the femtocell base station; and

determine the user equipment as the non-CSG member when the allowed CSG list does not include the CSG identity of the femtocell base station.

18. The femtocell base station of claim 15 , wherein the IP request unit is configured to:

request a packet data network gateway to allocate the private IP address to the user equipment determined as the CSG member and to allocate the public IP address to the user equipment determined as the non-CSG member;

receive one of the private IP address and the public IP address from the packet data network gateway;

assign the user equipment determined as the CSG member with the private IP address; and

assign the user equipment determined as the non-CSG member with the public IP address.

19. The femtocell base station of claim 15 , wherein the femtocell base station operates in one of a CSG access mode and a hybrid mode.