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EP-4497232-B1 - USER EQUIPMENT, SESSION MANAGEMENT NODE AND METHODS IN A COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK

EP4497232B1EP 4497232 B1EP4497232 B1EP 4497232B1EP-4497232-B1

Inventors

  • FOTI, GEORGE

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20220321

Claims (15)

  1. A method performed by a User Equipment, UE, (120) for accessing services in an Internet Protocol, IP, Multimedia Subsystem, IMS, network (105) in a communications network (100), which UE (120) is associated to a non-public network, NPN, (106) connected to the communications network (100), the method comprising: establishing (201) a first session by sending a first request message towards a session management node (140), which first request message comprises an indication indicating a session type for the first session, the session type being an IMS onboarding session type, the method being characterized in : connecting (202) to a server node (110) using the first session and an address associated to the server node (110), wherein the address is pre-configured in the UE (120), obtaining (203), from the connected server node (110), credentials related to the UE (120), ending (204) the first session, and establishing (205) a second session to the IMS network (105), which established second session enables the UE (120) to access services in the IMS network (105) using the obtained credentials in an authentication procedure.
  2. The method according to claim 1, wherein connecting (202) to the server node (110) comprises using an address associated to the server node (110), and wherein the address is: - obtained from the session management node (140), when the address is not pre-configured in the UE (120).
  3. The method according to claim 2, wherein when the address is obtained from the session management node (140), the address is comprised in a first response message received from the session management node (140), which first response message indicates that the first session is established.
  4. The method according to any of claims 2-3, wherein the first response message comprises an address of the server node (110).
  5. The method according to any of claims 1-4, wherein obtaining (203) the credentials further comprises obtaining, from the server node 110, a client application for obtaining the credentials.
  6. A computer program (670) comprising instructions, which when executed by a processor (650), causes the processor (650) to perform actions according to any of the claims 1-5.
  7. A carrier (680) comprising the computer program (670) of claim 6, wherein the carrier (680) is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, an electromagnetic signal, a magnetic signal, an electric signal, a radio signal, a microwave signal, or a computer-readable storage medium.
  8. A method performed by a session management node (140) for assisting a User Equipment, UE, (120) in accessing services in an Internet Protocol, IP, Multimedia Subsystem, IMS, network (105) in a communications network (100), the UE (120) associated to a non-public network, NPN, (106) connected to the communications network (100), the method comprising: establishing (302) a first session by receiving a first request message from the UE (120), which first request message comprises an indication indicating a session type, the session type being an IMS onboarding session type, the method being characterized in : obtaining (303), from a data management node (150), subscription data associated to the UE (120), which subscription data is related to the indicated session type, and further comprises obtaining an address of the server node (110), the address being a target address used by the UE (120) for establishing the first session, and instructing (305), based on the indicated session type, a user plane node (160) to enforce a rule, which rule comprises enforcing a server node (110) related to provisioning as the only allowed destination for the first session, wherein the rule further comprises using the obtained address as the address of the server node (140), enabling the UE (120) to obtain credentials related to the UE (110) from the server node (110) in order to establish a second session to the IMS network (105) and to access services in the IMS network (105).
  9. The method according to claim 8, further comprising: sending (304), to the UE (120), a first response message, which first response message indicates that the first session is established.
  10. The method according to claim 9, wherein the first response message comprises the obtained address of the server node (140).
  11. The method according to any of claims 8-10, further comprising: receiving (301), from a network node (130), a subscription request for session status events in the NPN (106), wherein the session status events are related to sessions being of an IMS onboarding session type, and upon determining that the first session is an IMS onboarding session type, sending (306), to the network node (130), a notification message, which notification message notifies the network node (130) that a session being an IMS onboarding session type is established.
  12. A computer program (770) comprising instructions, which when executed by a processor (750), causes the processor (750) to perform actions according to any of the claims 8-11.
  13. A carrier (780) comprising the computer program (770) of claim 12, wherein the carrier (780) is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, an electromagnetic signal, a magnetic signal, an electric signal, a radio signal, a microwave signal, or a computer-readable storage medium.
  14. A User Equipment, UE, (120) configured to access services in an Internet Protocol, IP, Multimedia Subsystem, IMS, network (105) in a communications network (100), which UE (120) is adapted to be associated to a non-public network, NPN, (106) connected to the communications network (100), the UE (120) further being configured to: establish a first session by sending a first request message towards a session management node (140), which first request message is adapted to comprise an indication indicating a session type for the first session, the session type adapted to be an IMS onboarding session type, connect to a server node (110) by using the first session and an address associated to the server node (110), wherein the address is adapted to be pre-configured in the UE (120), obtain, from the connected server node (110), credentials adapted to be related to the UE (120), end the first session, and establish a second session to the IMS network (105), which established second session is adapted to enable the UE (120) to access services in the IMS network (105) using the obtained credentials in an authentication procedure.
  15. A session management node (140) configured to assist a User Equipment, UE, (120) to access services in an Internet Protocol, IP, Multimedia Subsystem, IMS, network (105) in a communications network (100), the UE (120) adapted to be associated to a non-public network, NPN, (106) connected to the communications network (100), the method comprising: establish a first session by receiving a first request message from the UE (120), which first request message is adapted to comprise an indication indicating a session type, the session type adapted to be an IMS onboarding session type, obtain, from a data management node (150), subscription data adapted to be associated to the UE (120), which subscription data is adapted to be related to the indicated session type, wherein the session management node (140) is configured to obtain the subscription data by further being configured to obtain an address of the server node (110), the address adapted to be a target address used by the UE (120) for establishing the first session, and instruct, based on the indicated session type, a user plane node (160) to enforce a rule, which rule is adapted to comprise to enforce a server node (110) related to provisioning as the only allowed destination for the first session, wherein the rule further comprises using the obtained address as the address of the server node (140), wherein the rule is adapted to enable the UE (120) to obtain credentials adapted to be related to the UE (110) from the server node (110) in order to establish a second session to the IMS network (105) and to access services in the IMS network (105).

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD Embodiments herein relate to a User Equipment (UE), a session management node and methods therein. In some aspects, they relate to accessing services in an Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) network, in a communications network. BACKGROUND In a typical wireless communication network, wireless devices, also known as wireless communication devices, mobile stations, stations (STA) and/or User Equipments (UE), communicate via a Wide Area Network or a Local Area Network such as a Wi-Fi network or a cellular network comprising a Radio Access Network (RAN) part and a Core Network (CN) part. The RAN covers a geographical area which is divided into service areas or cell areas, which may also be referred to as a beam or a beam group, with each service area or cell area being served by a radio network node such as a radio access node e.g., a Wi-Fi access point or a radio base station (RBS), which in some networks may also be denoted, for example, a NodeB, eNodeB (eNB), or gNB as denoted in Fifth Generation (5G) telecommunications. A service area or cell area is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the radio network node. The radio network node communicates over an air interface operating on radio frequencies with the wireless device within range of the radio network node. 3GPP is the standardization body for specify the standards for the cellular system evolution, e.g., including 3G, 4G, 5G and the future evolutions. Specifications for the Evolved Packet System (EPS), also called a Fourth Generation (4G) network, have been completed within the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). As a continued network evolution, the new releases of 3GPP specifies a 5G network also referred to as 5G New Radio (NR). Multi-antenna techniques can significantly increase the data rates and reliability of a wireless communication system. The performance is in particular improved if both the transmitter and the receiver are equipped with multiple antennas, which results in a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) communication channel. Such systems and/or related techniques are commonly referred to as MIMO. In addition to faster peak Internet connection speeds, 5G planning aims at higher capacity than current 4G, allowing higher number of mobile broadband users per area unit, and allowing consumption of higher or unlimited data quantities in gigabyte per month and user. This would make it feasible for a large portion of the population to stream high-definition media many hours per day with their mobile devices, when out of reach of Wi-Fi hotspots. 5G research and development also aims at improved support of machine to machine communication, also known as the Internet of things, aiming at lower cost, lower battery consumption and lower latency than 4G equipment. The IMS is a well-known 3GPP standard allowing sessions to be set up between two or more parties for a broad variety of services such as voice or video call, interactive messaging sessions or third party specific applications. A protocol chosen by 3GPP is the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP). SIP provides a mechanism for the registration of UEs and for setting up multimedia sessions. The SIP REGISTER method enables the registration of user agent's current location and the INVITE method enables the setting up of a session. IMS is being implemented by Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) operators as an architectural framework for delivering IP multimedia services to their subscribers. Stand-alone Non-Public Networks (NPN) using 5G technology will be widely deployed in the future. These networks may integrate with public 5G networks in more than one way, as defined in 3GPP TS 23.501. There is a need to enable UEs in NPNs to be able to fully utilize IMS services. These IMS services may be provided by the NPN itself or via third party providers, as depicted in 3GPP TS 23.228. The prior art document WO2021/205339 A1 shows User Equipment (UE) connected to a Standalone Non-Public Network (SNPN) and which receives Internet Protocol Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) and emergency services by using an Enhanced Subscriber Identity Module (eSIM) to onboard access IMS credentials needed by the UEs to access those services. The prior art document WO2022/032220 A1 presents a base station which receives, from a network, a configuration message that comprises an indication that the network supports onboarding tecniques for a second network. SUMMARY As part of developing embodiments herein a problem was identified by the inventor and will first be discussed. One obvious choice for providing IMS services to NPN UEs is to allocate a profile in the IMS domain, provision necessary IMS credentials in the NPN UEs, and setup a subscriptions in a Home Subscriber Server (HSS). This has to be done for each NPN UE. However, the actual provisioning is an elaborate task for NPNs that may slow down the adoption of IMS services by NPNs. An object of embodiments herein is