Method and apparatus for indicating restricted resources of wireless terminal

1. A wireless terminal that participates in communications over a radio interface with an access node of a radio access network (RAN), the wireless terminal comprising:

processor circuitry configured:

to detect an abnormal operation of the wireless terminal in which a capability of the wireless terminal should be temporarily unavailable to avoid exposure to wireless terminal malfunction;

to autonomously declare, without permission of the radio access network, a Safe Mode in which the capability of the wireless terminal is temporarily unavailable; and

to generate a safe mode indication configured to indicate to the access node that one or more capabilities supported by the wireless terminal is temporarily not available at the wireless terminal, the safe mode indication being included as an information element in at least one of the following messages: (1) a UECapabilityInformation message of a UE capability transfer procedure; (2) RRCConnectionRequest message of a RRC connection establishment procedure; (3) a RRCConnectionResumeRequest message of a RRC connection resume procedure; (4) RRCConnectionReconfigurationComplete message generated in response to receipt from the access node of a connection reconfiguration request message of a RRC connection reconfiguration procedure; and, (5) a RRCConnectionReestablishmentRequest message of a RRC connection re-establishment procedure; and

transmitter circuitry configured to transmit the safe mode indication over the radio interface to the access node.

2. The wireless terminal of claim 1 , wherein the processor circuitry is configured to generate a level of safe mode indication, the level of safe mode indication having one of plural level values depending on a corresponding one of plural types of capability restriction for the wireless terminal.

3. The wireless terminal of claim 2 , wherein at least one of the plural values for the level of safe mode indication indicates that the wireless terminal has restricted a network independent wireless terminal capability.

4. The wireless terminal of claim 2 , wherein at least one of the plural values for the level of safe mode indication requests approval by the access node for the wireless terminal to restrict one or more wireless terminal capabilities.

5. The wireless terminal of claim 2 , wherein at least one of the plural values for the level of safe mode indication indicates that the wireless terminal has restricted wireless terminal capability to support a set of basic operations.

6. The wireless terminal of claim 2 , wherein the plural values for the level of safe mode indication correspond to plural degrees of severity of unavailability.

7. A method in a wireless terminal that participates in communications over a radio interface with an access node of a radio access network (RAN), the method comprising:

detecting an abnormal operation of the wireless terminal in which a capability of the wireless terminal should be temporarily unavailable to avoid exposure to wireless terminal malfunction;

autonomously declaring, without permission of the radio access network, a Safe Mode in which the capability of the wireless terminal is temporarily unavailable;

generating a safe mode indication configured to indicate to the access node that one or more capabilities supported by the wireless terminal is temporarily not available at the wireless terminal; and

generating the safe mode indication to be included in at least one of the following messages: (1) a UECapabilitylnformation message of a UE capability transfer procedure; (2) RRCConnectionRequest message of a RRC connection establishment procedure; (3) a RRCConnectionResumeRequest message of a RRC connection resume procedure; (4) RRCConnectionReconfigurationComplete message generated in response to receipt from the access node of a connection reconfiguration request message of a RRC connection reconfiguration procedure; and, (5) a RRCConnectionReestablishmentRequest message of a RRC connection re-establishment; and

transmitting the safe mode indication over the radio interface to the access node.

8. The method of claim 7 , further comprising generating a level of safe mode indication, the level of safe mode indication having one of plural level values depending on a corresponding one of plural types of capability restriction for the wireless terminal.

9. The method of claim 8 , wherein at least one of the plural values for the level of safe mode indication indicates that the wireless terminal has restricted a network independent wireless terminal capability.

10. The method of claim 9 , wherein at least one of the plural values for the level of safe mode indication requests approval by the access node for the wireless terminal to restrict one or more wireless terminal capabilities.

11. The method of claim 9 , wherein at least one of the plural values for the level of safe mode indication indicates that the wireless terminal has restricted wireless terminal capability to support a set of basic operations.

12. The method of claim 9 , wherein the plural values for the level of safe mode indication correspond to plural degrees of severity of unavailability.

13. An access node of a radio access network (RAN) that communicates over a radio interface with a wireless terminal, the access node comprising:

receiver circuitry configured to receive a safe mode indication from the wireless terminal, the safe mode indication configured to indicate to the access node that one or more capabilities supported by the wireless terminal is temporarily not available at the wireless terminal in order to avoid exposure to malfunction of the wireless terminal;

processor circuitry configured to generate a message to the wireless terminal relating to a capability of the wireless terminal, wherein the message is at least one of the following: (1) a UECapabilityInformation message of a UE capability transfer procedure; (2) RRCConnectionRequest message of a RRC connection establishment procedure; (3) a RRCConnectionResumeRequest message of a RRC connection resume procedure; (4) RRCConnectionReconfigurationComplete message; and, (5) a RRCConnectionReestablishmentRequest;

transmitter circuitry configured to transmit the message over the radio interface to the wireless terminal.

14. The access node of claim 13 , wherein the receiver circuitry is further configured to receive a list of available capabilities of the wireless terminal.

15. The wireless terminal of claim 1 , wherein the abnormal operation is one of:

requested resources/capability being utilized by other applications;

resources of the wireless terminal are overloaded;

a maximum number of processes performed by the wireless terminal is reached or exceeded;

overheating of the wireless terminal;

a memory issues of the wireless terminal;

high radio frequency (RF) interference, a security issue;

a program or application error at the wireless terminal; and,

a reboot issue at the wireless terminal.

16. The method of claim 7 , wherein the abnormal operation is one of:

requested resources/capability being utilized by other applications;

resources of the wireless terminal are overloaded;

a maximum number of processes performed by the wireless terminal is reached or exceeded;

overheating of the wireless terminal;

a memory issues of the wireless terminal;

high radio frequency (RF) interference, a security issue;

a program or application error at the wireless terminal; and,

a reboot issue at the wireless terminal.