US-12628067-B2 - Access to SNPN by using credential owned by entity separated from SNPN, and support for F1 interface therefor

US12628067B2US 12628067 B2US12628067 B2US 12628067B2US-12628067-B2

Abstract

Provided are a method and apparatus for: access to a stand-alone non-public network (SNPN) by using credential owned by an entity separated from the SNPN; and support for an F1 interface therefor. User Equipment (UE) operating in a wireless communication system receives system information from the stand-alone non-public network (SNPN). The system information includes information about whether or not the SNPN supports underconfigured UE. The UE transmits a first registration request message to the SNPN, on the basis of the information about whether or not to support the underconfigured UE, and receives, from the SNPN, a registration reject message as a response to same. The registration reject message includes information about home SPs supported by the SNPN. The UE performs registration by selecting at least one home SP from which the UE desires to receive a service from among the home SPs supported by the SNPN.

Inventors

Seokjung KIM
Myungjune Youn
Jian Xu
Daewook Byun

Assignees

LG ELECTRONICS INC.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20210708
Priority Date: 20200720

Claims (7)

1 . A method comprising: acquiring, by a user equipment (UE), system information from a base station, wherein the system information includes i) an identity (ID) of a stand-alone non-public network (SNPN) the base station provides access to, and ii) information informing whether the SNPN allows registration attempts with credentials from a credential holder from the UE that is not explicitly configured to select the SNPN; transmitting, by the UE, a first registration request message to the SNPN based on the information informing that the SNPN allows registration attempts with credentials from the credential holder from the UE that is not explicitly configured to select the SNPN, wherein the first registration request message includes an identifier (ID) of a home service provider (SP) from which the UE intends to receive service through the SNPN and credentials for the home SP; based on a service level agreement (SLA) not being established between the home SP and the SNPN, receiving, by the UE, a registration reject message from the SNPN in response to the first registration request message, wherein the registration reject message includes information related to home SPs supported by the SNPN; selecting, by the UE, at least one home SP among the home SPs supported by the SNPN; and transmitting, by the UE, a second registration request message including an ID of the selected home SP and credentials for the selected home SP to the SNPN.
2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the home SPs supported by the SNPN have established an SLA with the SNPN.
3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein authentication of the UE is performed through Authentication Server Function (AUSF) and Unified Data Management (UDM) of the selected home SP based on the ID of the selected home SP.
4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein, based on the authentication of the UE being completed, a registration accept message is received from the SNPN in response to the second registration request message.
5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the UE is in communication with at least one of a mobile device, a network, and/or autonomous vehicles other than the UE.
6 . A user equipment (UE) comprising: at least one transceiver; at least one processor; and at least one memory operably connectable to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, based on being executed by the at least one processor, perform operations comprising: acquiring, via the at least one transceiver, system information from a base station, wherein the system information includes i) an identity (ID) of a stand-alone non-public network (SNPN) the base station provides access to, and ii) information informing whether the SNPN allows registration attempts with credentials from a credential holder from the UE that is not explicitly configured to select the SNPN; transmitting, via the at least one transceiver, a first registration request message to the SNPN based on the information informing that the SNPN allows registration attempts with credentials from the credential holder from the UE that is not explicitly configured to select the SNPN, wherein the first registration request message includes an identifier (ID) of a home service provider (SP) from which the UE intends to receive service through the SNPN and credentials for the home SP; based on a service level agreement (SLA) not being established between the home SP and the SNPN, receiving, via the at least one transceiver, a registration reject message from the SNPN in response to the first registration request message, wherein the registration reject message includes information related to home SPs supported by the SNPN; selecting at least one home SP among the home SPs supported by the SNPN; and transmitting, via the at least one transceiver, a second registration request message including an ID of the selected home SP and credentials for the selected home SP to the SNPN.
7 . A base station comprising: at least one transceiver; at least one processor; and at least one memory operably connectable to the at least one processor and storing instructions that, based on being executed by the at least one processor, perform operations comprising: transmitting, via the at least one transceiver, system information to a user equipment (UE), wherein the system information includes i) an identity (ID) of a stand-alone non-public network (SNPN) the base station provides access to, and ii) information informing whether the SNPN allows registration attempts with credentials from a credential holder from the UE that is not explicitly configured to select the SNPN; receiving, via the at least one transceiver, a first registration request message from the UE based on the information informing that the SNPN allows registration attempts with credentials from the credential holder from the UE that is not explicitly configured to select the SNPN, wherein the first registration request message includes an identifier (ID) of a home service provider (SP) from which the UE intends to receive service through the SNPN and credentials for the home SP; based on a service level agreement (SLA) not being established between the home SP and the SNPN, transmitting, via the at least one transceiver, a registration reject message to the UE in response to the first registration request message, wherein the registration reject message includes information related to home SPs supported by the SNPN; and receiving, from the UE via the at least one transceiver, a second registration request message including an ID of a home SP selected by the UE among the home SPs supported by the SNPN and credentials for the selected home SP.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS This application is a National Stage application under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No. PCT/KR2021/008709, filed on Jul. 8, 2021, which claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2020-0089726, filed on Jul. 20, 2020. The disclosures of the prior applications are incorporated by reference in their entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to stand-alone non-public network (SNPN) access using credentials owned by a separate entity from SNPN and support for an F1 interface therefor. BACKGROUND 3rd generation partnership project (3GPP) long-term evolution (LTE) is a technology for enabling high-speed packet communications. Many schemes have been proposed for the LTE objective including those that aim to reduce user and provider costs, improve service quality, and expand and improve coverage and system capacity. The 3GPP LTE requires reduced cost per bit, increased service availability, flexible use of a frequency band, a simple structure, an open interface, and adequate power consumption of a terminal as an upper-level requirement. Work has started in international telecommunication union (ITU) and 3GPP to develop requirements and specifications for new radio (NR) systems. 3GPP has to identify and develop the technology components needed for successfully standardizing the new RAT timely satisfying both the urgent market needs, and the more long-term requirements set forth by the ITU radio communication sector (ITU-R) international mobile telecommunications (IMT)-2020 process. Further, the NR should be able to use any spectrum band ranging at least up to 100 GHz that may be made available for wireless communications even in a more distant future. The NR targets a single technical framework addressing all usage scenarios, requirements and deployment scenarios including enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), massive machine-type-communications (mMTC), ultra-reliable and low latency communications (URLLC), etc. The NR shall be inherently forward compatible. Non-public networks (NPN) are intended for the sole use of a private entity such as an enterprise, and may be deployed in a variety of configurations, utilizing both virtual and physical elements. Specifically, they may be deployed as completely standalone networks, they may be hosted by a public land mobile network (PLMN), or they may be offered as a slice of a PLMN. In any of these deployment options, it is expected that unauthorized user equipments (UEs), those that are not associated with the enterprise, will not attempt to access the non-public network, which could result in resources being used to reject that UE and thereby not be available for the UEs of the enterprise. It is also expected that UEs of the enterprise will not attempt to access a network they are not authorized to access. For example, some enterprise UEs may be restricted to only access the non-public network of the enterprise, even if PLMN coverage is available in the same geographic area. Other enterprise UEs may be able to access both a non-public network and a PLMN where specifically allowed. SUMMARY A method in which a UE accesses an NPN and a service of a network (e.g., a home service provider (SP)) separated from the NPN is supported through the NPN is being discussed. In this case, a UE that does not have enough information may unnecessarily and repeatedly transmit a registration request to the network in order to receive service from a specific home SP. In an aspect, a method performed by a user equipment (UE) operating in a wireless communication system is provided. The method comprises receiving system information from a stand-alone non-public network (SNPN). The system information includes information about whether the SNPN supports an underconfigured UE. The underconfigured UE is a UE that has not received through a pre-configuration which SNPN can be selected to receive a service from a home service provider (SP). The method further comprises transmitting a first registration request message to the SNPN based on the information about whether the SNPN supports the underconfigured UE. The first registration request message includes an identifier (ID) of a home SP from which the UE intends to receive service. The method further comprises receiving a registration reject message from the SNPN in response to the first registration request message. The registration reject message includes information about home SPs supported by the SNPN. The method further comprises selecting at least one home SP from which the UE intends to receive service from among the home SPs supported by the SNPN, and transmitting a second registration request message including an ID of the selected home SP to the SNPN. In another aspect, an apparatus for implementing the above method is provided. The present disclosure may have various advantageous effects. For example, a network (e.g., a stand-alone non-public network (SNPN)) can in