Granted Patent B2

US 12,396,061 · App. 17/910,845 · Granted Aug 19, 2025

Inventors: Alexander Vesely (Feldbach, AT); Hans Bertil Rönneke (Kungsbacka, SE); Paul Schliwa-Bertling (Ljungsbro, SE)

Assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson (publ)

H04W76/40H04W4/06H04W76/11H04L12/189

Abstract

Claims (46)

1. A method performed by an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) for a Multicast/Broadcast (MB) session join procedure, the method comprising:

receiving a MB session join request from a User Equipment (UE) via a Radio Access Network (RAN) node, the MB session join request being a request to join a particular MB session;

determining that the MB session join request is permitted by a subscription of the UE;

selecting a MB Session Management Function (MB-SMF) based on information comprised in the MB session join request;

determining whether the UE is authorized to join the MB session, wherein determining whether the UE is authorized to join the MB session comprises providing a UE identity (ID) of the UE and a MB session ID of the particular MB session to the MB-SMF;

communicating with the MB-SMF to create a MB session context in the AMF and to add a reference to the AMF to an MB session context in the MB-SMF; and

sending a MB session join accept message to the UE.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the MB session join request comprises the MB session ID and selecting the MB-SMF comprises selecting the MB-SMF based on the MB session ID.

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the MB session ID is a Temporary Mobile Group Identity (TMGI) associated to the particular MB session.

4. The method of claim 1 , further comprising storing an identifier of the particular MB session, as a joined MB session, to a UE context of the UE stored at the AMF.

5. The method of claim 1 , further comprising allocating an identity used to page the UE when the UE is in an idle state when a specific service associated to the particular MB session starts.

6. The method of claim 5 wherein the allocated identity is a Temporary Mobile Group Identity (TMGI) associated to the particular MB session or a group page identity associated to the TMGI.

7. The method of claim 5 further comprising storing the allocated identity in either the MB session context or a UE context of the UE stored at the AMF.

8. The method of claim 1 , wherein the MB session context in the MB-SMF comprises information that indicates the AMF.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the MB session join procedure does not involve setup of individual user plane resources for the UE.

10. A network node that implements an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) for a Multicast/Broadcast (MB) session join procedure, the network node comprising:

processing circuitry,

wherein the processing circuitry is configured to cause the network node to:

receive a MB session join request from a User Equipment (UE) via a Radio Access Network (RAN) node, the MB session join request being a request to join a particular MB session;

determine that the MB session join request is permitted by a subscription of the UE;

select a MB Session Management Function (MB-SMF) based on information comprised in the MB session join request;

determine whether the UE is authorized to join the MB session, wherein determining whether the UE is authorized to join the MB session comprises providing a UE identity (ID) of the UE and a MB session ID of the particular MB session to the MB-SMF;

communicate with the MB-SMF to create a MB session context in the AMF and to add a reference to the AMF to an MB session context in the MB-SMF; and

send a MB session join accept message to the UE.

11. A method performed by a Multicast/Broadcast Session Management Function (MB-SMF) for a MB session join procedure, the method comprising:

communicating with an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) to update a MB session context in the MB-SMF during a join procedure in which a User Equipment (UE) joins a particular MB session, the MB session Context comprising information that indicates the AMF;

receiving, from the AMF, a UE identity (ID) of the UE and a MB session ID of the particular MB session;

determining whether the UE is authorized to join the particular MB session based on the UE ID and the MB session ID, comprising determining not to establish a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) Session if a request for the UE to join the particular MB session is invalid; and

sending a response to the AMF that indicates whether the UE is authorized to join the particular MB session.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein determining whether the UE is authorized to join the particular MB session comprises:

determining whether the request for the UE to join the particular MB session is compliant with a subscription associated to the UE and with local policies; or

determining whether the UE is eligible to join a service associated with the MB session ID of the particular MB session; or

determining whether the UE is located within a service area in which UEs are eligible to join the particular MB session, based on a location of the UE.

13. The method of claim 11 further comprising:

sending, towards an Application Server (AS), via a Network Exposure Function (NEF) or a Multicast Broadcast Service Function (MBSF), a message comprising the UE ID and the MB session ID to request authorization; and

receiving, from the application server, a response that indicates whether the UE is authorized to join the particular MB session.

14. A network node that implements a Multicast/Broadcast Session Management Function (MB-SMF) for a Multicast/Broadcast (MB) session join procedure, the network node comprising:

processing circuitry,

wherein the processing circuitry is configured to cause the network node to:

communicate with an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) to update a MB session context in the MB-SMF during a join procedure in which a User Equipment (UE) joins a particular MB session, the MB session Context comprising information that indicates the AMF;

receive, from the AMF, a UE identity (ID) of the UE and a MB session ID of the particular MB session;

determine whether the UE is authorized to join the particular MB session based on the UE ID and the MB session ID, comprising determining not to establish a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) Session if a request for the UE to join the particular MB session is invalid; and

send a response to the AMF that indicates whether the UE is authorized to join the particular MB session.

15. The method of claim 11 wherein determining whether the UE is authorized to join the particular MB session comprises determining whether the request for the UE to join the particular MB session is compliant with a subscription associated to the UE and with local policies.

16. The method of claim 11 wherein determining whether the UE is authorized to join the particular MB session comprises determining whether the UE is eligible to join a service associated with the MB session ID of the particular MB session.

17. The method of claim 11 wherein determining whether the UE is authorized to join the particular MB session comprises determining whether the UE is located within a service area in which UEs are eligible to join the particular MB session, based on a location of the UE.

Assignments (1)

Continuity (2)

References Cited (17)