Enhanced voice roaming for UE devices associated with a home network without SRVCC
Some embodiments relate to a cellular network which better utilizes packet-switched (PS) voice technologies, such as VoLTE, for roaming user equipment (UE) devices. When a roaming UE associated with a home cellular carrier that does not support PS to CS handover (SRVCC) desires to make a VoLTE call, the cellular network may determine probability of such a handover during the the call. The cellular network may selectively accept or reject the packet-switched wireless voice call based on the handover probability. If the probability of handover is high, the cellular network may reject the packet-switched wireless voice and trigger the UE to fall back to a circuit-switched network and re-originate the wireless voice call on the circuit-switched network. In the case of a mobile terminated call, the cellular network may provide signaling to the UE to perform a fallback to a circuit-switched network in order to receive the mobile terminated call.
1. A method performed by a cellular network, the method comprising:
receiving, in a wireless manner, a request from a user equipment (UE) to make a packet-switched wireless voice call;
in response to receiving the request to make the packet-switched wireless voice call:
determining that the UE is associated with a home cellular carrier that does not support handover of an active call from a packet-switched network to a circuit-switched network; and
determining information associated with a likelihood of a handover of the packet-switched wireless voice call from the packet-switched network to the circuit-switched network, wherein said determining information associated with the likelihood of the handover comprises determining amount of packet-switched network coverage near the UE and determining information regarding mobility of the UE;
providing, in a wireless manner, signaling to the UE rejecting the packet-switched wireless voice call, wherein said providing signaling to the UE rejecting the packet-switched wireless voice call is performed in response to said determining that the UE is associated with the home cellular carrier that does not support handover from the packet-switched network to the circuit-switched network and is based on the information associated with the likelihood of the handover from the packet-switched network to the circuit-switched network during the packet-switched wireless voice call.
2. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein said providing signaling to the UE rejecting the packet-switched wireless voice call is performed in response to determining that the likelihood of the handover of the wireless voice call from the packet-switched network to the circuit-switched network is greater than a threshold.
3. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the signaling rejecting the packet-switched wireless voice call comprises a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) cause code.
4. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the UE is in a first tracking area;
wherein said determining the amount of packet-switched wireless network coverage comprises determining the amount of packet-switched wireless network coverage in the first tracking area.
5. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the handover from the packet-switched network to the circuit-switched network comprises a single radio voice call continuity (SRVCC) handover.
6. The method of claim 1 ,
wherein the signaling is configured to trigger the UE to fall back to the circuit-switched network and re-originate the wireless voice call on the circuit-switched network.
7. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
providing, in a wireless manner, signaling to the UE accepting the packet-switched wireless voice call in response to determining that the likelihood of the handover of the wireless voice call from the packet-switched network to the circuit-switched network is low.
8. The method of claim 1 , further comprising:
prior to said receiving the request from the UE to make the packet-switched wireless voice call:
receiving, in a wireless manner, a request from the UE to attach to the packet-switched network of a carrier network, wherein the UE is roaming on the carrier network; and
in response to the request from the UE, communicating in a wireless manner to the UE that the UE should attach to the packet-switched network.
9. A base station, comprising:
at least one antenna;
at least one radio coupled to the at least one antenna for performing wireless cellular communications;
at least one processing element coupled to the at least one radio;
wherein the base station is configured to:
receive, in a wireless manner, a request from a user equipment (UE) to make a packet-switched wireless voice call;
in response to receiving the request to make the packet-switched wireless voice call, provide, in a wireless manner, signaling to the UE rejecting the packet-switched wireless voice call, wherein said providing signaling to the UE rejecting the packet-switched wireless voice call is performed in response to a determination that the UE is associated with a home cellular carrier that does not support handover of an active call from a packet-switched network to a circuit-switched network and that a likelihood of a handover from the packet-switched network to the circuit-switched network is greater than a threshold, wherein the likelihood of the handover is based on an amount of packet-switched network coverage near the UE and mobility of the UE;
wherein the signaling is configured to trigger the UE to fall back to the circuit-switched network and re-originate the wireless voice call on the circuit-switched network.
10. The base station of claim 9 ,
wherein the determination that the UE is associated with the home cellular carrier that does not support handover from the packet-switched network to the circuit-switched network is made by a cellular network device coupled to the base station.
11. The base station of claim 9 ,
wherein a determination that the likelihood of the handover from the packet-switched network to the circuit-switched network is greater than the threshold is made by a cellular network device coupled to the base station.
12. The base station of claim 9 ,
wherein the base station is configured to make the determination that the UE is associated with the home cellular carrier that does not support handover from the packet-switched network to the circuit-switched network.
13. The base station of claim 9 ,
wherein the base station is configured to determine whether the likelihood of the handover from the packet-switched network to the circuit-switched network is greater than the threshold.
14. The base station of claim 9 ,
wherein the UE is in a first tracking area;
wherein a determination that the likelihood of the handover from the packet-switched network to the circuit-switched network is greater than the threshold comprises a determination regarding the amount of packet-switched wireless network coverage in the first tracking area.
15. The base station of claim 9 ,
wherein the signaling rejecting the packet-switched wireless voice call comprises a Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) cause code.
16. The base station of claim 9 ,
wherein the handover from the packet-switched network to the circuit-switched network comprises a single radio voice call continuity (SRVCC) handover.
17. The base station of claim 9 ,
wherein the base station is further configured to:
provide, in a wireless manner, signaling to the UE accepting the packet-switched wireless voice call in response to a determination that the likelihood of the handover of the wireless voice call from the packet-switched network to the circuit-switched network is low.
18. A user equipment (UE), comprising:
at least one antenna;
a radio coupled to the at least one antenna for performing wireless cellular communications;
at least one processing element coupled to the radio;
wherein the UE is associated with a home cellular carrier that does not support handover of an active call from a packet-switched network to a circuit-switched network;
wherein the UE is configured to:
transmit, in a wireless manner, a request to a base station to make a packet-switched wireless voice call;
receive, in a wireless manner, signaling from the base station rejecting the packet-switched wireless voice call, wherein the signaling rejecting the packet-switched wireless voice call is received from the base station in response to a determination that the UE is associated with the home cellular carrier that does not support handover from the packet-switched network to the circuit-switched network and is based on information associated with a likelihood of a UE handover from the packet-switched network to the circuit-switched network being greater than a threshold, wherein the information associated with the likelihood of a UE handover comprises an amount of packet-switched network coverage near the UE and information regarding mobility of the UE.
19. The UE of claim 18 ,
wherein the UE is further configured to fall back to the circuit-switched network and re-originate the wireless voice call on the circuit-switched network in response to receiving the signaling from the base station rejecting the packet-switched wireless voice call.
20. The UE of claim 18 ,
wherein the UE handover from the packet-switched network to the circuit-switched network comprises a single radio voice call continuity (SRVCC) handover.