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EP-4740563-A1 - METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MAINTAINING CALL CONTINUITY FOR A USER DEVICE

EP4740563A1EP 4740563 A1EP4740563 A1EP 4740563A1EP-4740563-A1

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a method and a system for maintaining call continuity for a user device. The disclosure encompasses: facilitating an establishment of a call for the user device in a higher generation network; facilitating a fallback procedure for switching the call to a lower generation network; changing a state of the user device to an idle state in an event of occurrence of one or more network coverage issues; receiving a registration retry request for establishing connection of the user device with the higher generation network; triggering the fallback procedure upon receiving an establishment request for establishing a target call flow for establishing the call in the higher generation network; and facilitating the call continuity for the user device in the lower generation network based on the fallback procedure.

Inventors

  • SINGH, MUKESH
  • Singh, Harbinder Pal
  • Aggarwal, Pravesh
  • SINGH, PRIYANKA
  • Soren, Rohit
  • Sahu, Bidhu
  • BHATNAGAR, AAYUSH
  • SHEKHAR, Shashi
  • SINGH, BHUPINDER
  • NADIMINTI, Manohar
  • PANDEY, AKASH
  • CHANDEKAR, Kalpak
  • VERMA, Harshit Kumar
  • Bisht, Birendra Singh

Assignees

  • Jio Platforms Limited

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20240612

Claims (11)

  1. 1. A method for maintaining call continuity for a user device, the method comprising: facilitating, by a call establishment unit [102A], an establishment of a call for the user device in a higher generation network; facilitating, by a switching unit [104A], a fallback procedure for switching the call to a lower generation network; changing, by a transition unit [106A], a state of the user device to an idle state, in an event of occurrence of one or more network coverage issues; receiving, by a transceiver unit [ 108A] from the user device, a registration retry request for establishing a connection of the user device with the higher generation network; - triggering, by the call establishment unit [102A], the fallback procedure upon receiving, from a session management entity [110A], an establishment request for establishing a target call flow for establishing the call in the higher generation network; and facilitating, by the session management entity [110A], the call continuity for the user device in the lower generation network based on the fallback procedure.
  2. 2. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the triggering, by the call establishment unit [102A], the fallback procedure upon receiving the establishment request comprises: rejecting, by the call establishment unit [102A], the establishment request for establishing the target call flow for establishing the call in the higher generation network.
  3. 3. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the triggering, by the call establishment unit [102A], the fallback procedure upon receiving the establishment request comprises: receiving, by the session management entity [110A] from a base station, an indication for performing the fallback procedure.
  4. 4. The method as claimed in claim 1, wherein the session management entity [110A] is a session management function (SMF) module implementing a session management function in a 5G network.
  5. 5. The method as claimed in claim 1 wherein the target call flow is a 5G Quality of Service Identifiers (5QI) call flow.
  6. 6. A system [100A] for maintaining call continuity for a user device, the system comprising: a call establishment unit [102A] configured to facilitate an establishment of a call for the user device in a higher generation network; a switching unit [104A] connected to at least the call establishment unit [102A], the switching unit [104A] configured to facilitate a fallback procedure for switching the call to a lower generation network; a transition unit [106A] connected to at least the switching unit [104A], the transition unit [106A] configured to change a state of the user device to an idle state, in an event of occurrence of one or more network coverage issues; and atransceiver unit [108A] connected to at least the transition unit [106A], the transceiver unit [108 A] configured to receive, from the user device, a registration retry request for establishing a connection of the user device with the higher generation network, wherein the call establishment unit [102A] is further configured to trigger the fallback procedure upon receiving an establishment request from a session management entity [110A] for establishing a target call flow for establishing the call in the higher generation network, wherein: the session management entity [110A] is configured to facilitate the call continuity for the user device in the lower generation network based on the fallback procedure.
  7. 7. The system [100A] as claimed in claim 6, wherein the call establishment unit [102A] for triggering the fallback procedure, is configured to reject the establishment request for establishing the target call flow for establishing the call in the higher generation network.
  8. 8. The system [100A] as claimed in claim 6, wherein the session management entity [110A] is a session management function (SMF) module implementing a session management function in a 5G network.
  9. 9. The system [100A] as claimed in claim 6, wherein the target call flow is a 5G Quality of Service Identifier (5 QI) call flow.
  10. 10. The system [100A] as claimed in claim 6, wherein prior to the call establishment unit [102A] triggering the fallback procedure upon receiving the establishment request, the session management entity [110A] is configured to: receive, from a base station, an indication for performing the fallback procedure.
  11. 1. A non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions for maintaining call continuity for a user device, the storage medium comprising executable code which, when executed by one or more units of a system [100A], causes: a call establishment unit [102A] to facilitate an establishment of a call for the user device in a higher generation network; a switching unit [104A] to facilitate a fallback procedure for switching the call to a lower generation network; a transition unit [106A] to change a state of the user device to an idle state, in an event of occurrence of one or more network coverage issues; a transceiver unit [108A] to receive, from the user device, a registration retry request for establishing a connection of the user device with the higher generation network; - the call establishment unit [102A] to trigger the fallback procedure upon receiving, from a session management entity [110A], an establishment request for establishing a target call flow for establishing the call in the higher generation network; and - the session management entity [110A] to facilitate the call continuity for the user device in the lower generation network based on the fallback procedure.

Description

METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR MAINTAINING CALL CONTINUITY FOR A USER DEVICE FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE [0001] The present disclosure relates generally to the field of wireless communication systems. More particularly, the present disclosure relates to methods and systems for maintaining call continuity during network coverage issues in lower generation networks such as 4G network. BACKGROUND [0002] The following description of related art is intended to provide background information pertaining to the field of the disclosure. This section may include certain aspects of the art that may be related to various features of the present disclosure. However, it should be appreciated that this section be used only to enhance the understanding of the reader with respect to the present disclosure, and not as admissions of prior art. [0003] Wireless communication technology has rapidly evolved over the past few decades, with each generation bringing significant improvements and advancements. The first generation of wireless communication technology was based on analog technology and offered only voice services. However, with the advent of the second-generation (2G) technology, digital communication and data services became possible, and text messaging was introduced. The third generation (3G) technology marked the introduction of high-speed internet access, mobile video calling, and location-based services. The fourth-generation (4G) technology revolutionized wireless communication with faster data speeds, better network coverage, and improved security. Currently, the fifth-generation (5G) technology is being deployed, promising even faster data speeds, low latency, and the ability to connect multiple devices simultaneously. With each generation, wireless communication technology has become more advanced, sophisticated, and capable of delivering more services to its users. [0004] There may be a scenario where the user equipment may not be able to connect to the services of higher generation network due to issues such as low-quality signal, user equipment being not supported, and other various issues, in that scenario to facilitate the service or network functions, the user equipment has to fall back to lower generation network for availing the services. When a higher generation network (say a 5G) user equipment falls back to a lower generation network (say a 4G network) for voice calls, it is assumed that it should come back to the higher generation network after release of the voice call from the lower generation network But in real network scenario it is observed that due to poor RF (radio frequency) conditions, the user in lower generation such as 4G during an ongoing call attempts to connect to higher generation such as 5G. In such condition, the sessions management function (SMF) denies the evolved packet service (EPS) Fallback trigger from the gNodeB as the call is still ongoing. This results in call drops and poor customer experience. The EPS fallback is when a UE tries to use voice services in a 5G network that does not support Voice over New Radio (VoNR), the gNB redirects or performs a handover to the Long Term Evolution (LTE) network, and consequently the user equipment (UE) is able to use voice services via Voice over Long Term Evolution (VoLTE). After the voice session is terminated, the UE can move back to the 5G network. [0005] Thus, there exists an imperative need in the art to provide a method and a system that allows for maintaining call continuity in 4G during network coverage issues in 4G network and enabling the user device to perform a smooth handover to 4G from 5G during the ongoing call, which the present disclosure aims to address. OBJECTS OF THE DISCLOSURE [0006] Some of the objects of the present disclosure, which at least one implementation disclosed herein satisfies are listed herein below. [0007] It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a system and a method that allows for maintaining call continuity for a user device in lower generation network such as 4G network during network coverage issues in the 4G network and enabling the user device to perform smooth handover to a lower generation network such as 4G network from a higher generation network such as 5G network during the ongoing call. [0008] It is another object of the present disclosure to provide a solution that improves user experience by eliminating or reducing call drops and/or muting of the call by enabling call continuity during network coverage issues in the lower generation network such as 4G network. [0009] It is yet another object of the present disclosure to provide a solution that enables the user device to perform a smooth handover to lower generation network such as 4G network from higher generation network such as 5G network during an ongoing call. SUMMARY [0010] This section is provided to introduce certain aspects of the present disclosure in a simplified form that are further described below in the detailed