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EP1941751A1 - A cell broadcast control system and method - Google Patents

A cell broadcast control system and method

Info

Publication number
EP1941751A1
EP1941751A1 EP06796050A EP06796050A EP1941751A1 EP 1941751 A1 EP1941751 A1 EP 1941751A1 EP 06796050 A EP06796050 A EP 06796050A EP 06796050 A EP06796050 A EP 06796050A EP 1941751 A1 EP1941751 A1 EP 1941751A1
Authority
EP
European Patent Office
Prior art keywords
broadcast
message
controller
cells
emergency message
Prior art date
Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
Withdrawn
Application number
EP06796050A
Other languages
German (de)
French (fr)
Inventor
Peter Sanders
Current Assignee (The listed assignees may be inaccurate. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation or warranty as to the accuracy of the list.)
Markport Ltd
Original Assignee
Markport Ltd
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Markport Ltd filed Critical Markport Ltd
Publication of EP1941751A1 publication Critical patent/EP1941751A1/en
Withdrawn legal-status Critical Current

Links

Classifications

    • G—PHYSICS
    • G08—SIGNALLING
    • G08B—SIGNALLING OR CALLING SYSTEMS; ORDER TELEGRAPHS; ALARM SYSTEMS
    • G08B27/00—Alarm systems in which the alarm condition is signalled from a central station to a plurality of substations
    • G08B27/006—Alarm systems in which the alarm condition is signalled from a central station to a plurality of substations with transmission via telephone network
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W72/00—Local resource management
    • H04W72/30—Resource management for broadcast services
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
    • H04W4/06—Selective distribution of broadcast services, e.g. multimedia broadcast multicast service [MBMS]; Services to user groups; One-way selective calling services
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W4/00—Services specially adapted for wireless communication networks; Facilities therefor
    • H04W4/90—Services for handling of emergency or hazardous situations, e.g. earthquake and tsunami warning systems [ETWS]
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W76/00—Connection management
    • H04W76/50—Connection management for emergency connections
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W88/00—Devices specially adapted for wireless communication networks, e.g. terminals, base stations or access point devices
    • H04W88/18—Service support devices; Network management devices
    • H04W88/184—Messaging devices, e.g. message centre

Definitions

  • the invention relates to cell broadcast messaging.
  • the invention addresses this problem.
  • a broadcast controller for transmitting messages to mobile network cells for broadcast, wherein the controller:
  • the controller delays broadcast of a non-emergency message for a time period after broadcast of the emergency message.
  • said time period is configurable.
  • the controller determines the time period according to duration of the emergency message.
  • the controller determines that a message is an emergency message according to an indicator in a field of the message.
  • the controller determines that a message is an emergency message according to a channel selected for transmission of the message.
  • a kernel of the CBC determines if a message is an emergency message.
  • the controller is a Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service controller.
  • the invention also provides, in a mobile network having a broadcast controller and cells for controlling broadcast of messages to mobile devices in cells, a method including the steps of the broadcast controller:
  • determining if a message for broadcast is an emergency message if an emergency message, deteraiining which cells of the mobile network are to be used to broadcast the emergency message, and
  • the controller determines that a message is an emergency message according to an indicator in a field of the message.
  • said tune period is configurable.
  • the controller determines the time period according to duration of the emergency message.
  • the invention also provides a computer readable medium comprising software code for implementing the steps of any method defined above when executing on a digital computer.
  • Fig. H a diagram illustrating a cell broadcast (CB) system
  • Fig. 2 is a block diagram of an individual CBC of the system
  • a cell broadcast system 1 comprises a Cell Broadcast Centre (CBC) 2, Base Station Controllers (BSCs) and Radio Network Controllers, RNCs 3, and broadcast cells 4.
  • the CBC 2 comprises a GIS (Geographic Information System) server 5, a CBE (Cell Broadcast Entity) interface 6, a kernel 7 linked to a database 8, and a cell controller 9.
  • GIS Geographic Information System
  • CBE Cell Broadcast Entity
  • a message that is submitted to the CBC 2 over the CBE interface 6 consists of the message body and some parameters, such as schedule and requested area of broadcast. From the area description in the message, the GIS Server 5 determines which cells 4 are inside the requested area of broadcast or have coverage in the requested area of broadcast, and therefore need to broadcast the message.
  • the kernel 7 defines messages for each BSC 3 that controls the cells 4 in question. When the time comes to broadcast the message, the kernel 7 sends the messages to the appropriate cell controllers 9, which serve as an interface between the CBC 2 and the BSCs and RNCs 3. The BSCs and RNCs 3 forward the message to the appropriate cells 4.
  • the database 8 is used for storage of the messages and the cell data.
  • the system proceeds in a manner different from the conventional method.
  • the CBC 2 determines that a message has an emergency status by monitoring a field for indicating such status.
  • emergency status may be determined according to the channel selected for transmission of the message.
  • Another alternative is to use a redundant channel intended for a different purpose.
  • the CBE interface 6 instructs the GIS server 5 to determine which cells 4 need to broadcast the message.
  • the kernel 7 sends a reset message through the cell controller 9 to all of the cells 4 involved. This effectively means that these cells are now empty of messages.
  • the configurable period during which no new message will be broadcast is a pre-fixed time period configured in the CBC (e.g. the kernel 7). In another embodiment, this can be dynamically determined according to the duration (validity period) of the emergency message.
  • the CBC 2 will start synchronizing the affected cells again with the content of the database and resume message broadcasting (giving due consideration to original message attributes including original message duration).
  • the method 10 is as follows in more detail. 11 - A message is submitted to the CBC at the CBE interface 6 (can be a normal message or an emergency message).
  • the GIS server 5 determines which cells shall broadcast the message from the area information contained in the message.
  • the CBC waits till the start-time of the message has arrived during which time the message is held in the database 8.
  • the kernel 7 checks if the message is an emergency message.
  • the kernel 7 checks in the database 8 if an emergency message is currently being broadcast. If it is, the CBC holds back the new message.
  • the cell controller 9 forwards the message to the network.
  • the network takes care of broadcasting.
  • the kernel 7 will reset all the cells 4 in the area where the emergency message is to be broadcast.
  • the kernel 7 forwards the emergency message through the cell controller to the network.
  • the network takes care of broadcasting.
  • the emergency message contains the area definition and selecting all cells covering this area is functionality of a CBC. Without the reset, it would be required to check the CBC database 8 for messages that run or are scheduled to run in all cells that define the area, or retrieve this information from each cell individually. This is a more complicated and time-consuming approach.
  • the invention is not limited to the embodiments described but may be varied in construction and detail. While the invention is described in the context of a CBC, it may equally apply to a different message broadcast protocol.
  • An example is the Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS), which provides for broadcasting multimedia content.
  • MBMS Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service

Landscapes

  • Business, Economics & Management (AREA)
  • Emergency Management (AREA)
  • Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • General Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)

Abstract

A cell broadcast system (1) comprises a Cell Broadcast Centre (CBC, 2), Base Station Controllers (BSCs, 3), and Radio Network Controllers, RNCs 3, and broadcast cells 4. When a message is submitted to the CBC (2) it determines which cells need to broadcast the message. At the start time, the CBC (2) sends the message to all BSCs (3) that control the cells (4) in question. The BSCs (3) send the message to the cells and take care of the repetition of the message. However, when a message is submitted to the CBC (2) that has an indication that it is to be treated as an emergency message, it will work differently. The CBE interface (6) instructs the GIS server (5) to determine which cells (4) need to broadcast the message. At the start time of the message the kernel (7) sends a reset message through the cell controller (9) to all the cells (4) involved. This effectively means that these cells are now empty of messages. The CBC then sends the emergency message into the network, and the emergency message is then the only message that is being broadcast. When the emergency message has been broadcast, the CBC (2) will not broadcast any other messages after that for a configurable period of time (which can be a pre-fixed time period configured in the system, or it can be related to the duration (validity period) of the emergency message), to prevent the emergency message being overwritten by a new message.

Description

"A Cell Broadcast Control System and Method"
INTRODUCTION
Field of the Invention
The invention relates to cell broadcast messaging.
Prior Art Discussion
US 2004/0203562 describes an arrangement in which an emergency broadcast station uses a special channel, the frequency of which is broadcast via a cellular network. WO2005/ 107225 describes a system in which a mobile phone calls a reserved number included in a broadcast authorization list. The system broadcasts a message, such as an emergency message.
At present, a problem with cell broadcast of emergency messages is that they may be over- written as they may be immediately followed by non-emergency messages.
The invention addresses this problem.
Statements of Invention
According to the invention, there is provided a broadcast controller for transmitting messages to mobile network cells for broadcast, wherein the controller:
automatically determines if a message for broadcast is an emergency message,
if an emergency message, determines which cells of the mobile network are to be used to broadcast the emergency message, and
resets said cells, and instructs broadcast of the emergency message by said reset cells. In one embodiment, the controller delays broadcast of a non-emergency message for a time period after broadcast of the emergency message.
In one embodiment, said time period is configurable.
In one embodiment, the controller determines the time period according to duration of the emergency message.
In one embodiment, the controller synchronises the mobile network cells upon expiry of the time period by loading them with messages for broadcast.
In one embodiment, the controller determines that a message is an emergency message according to an indicator in a field of the message.
In another embodiment, the controller determines that a message is an emergency message according to a channel selected for transmission of the message.
In one embodiment, the broadcast controller is a Cell Broadcast Controller (CBC).
In one embodiment, a kernel of the CBC determines if a message is an emergency message.
In one embodiment, the controller is a Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service controller.
The invention also provides, in a mobile network having a broadcast controller and cells for controlling broadcast of messages to mobile devices in cells, a method including the steps of the broadcast controller:
determining if a message for broadcast is an emergency message, if an emergency message, deteraiining which cells of the mobile network are to be used to broadcast the emergency message, and
resetting said cells and instructing broadcast of the emergency message by said reset cells.
In one embodiment, the controller determines that a message is an emergency message according to an indicator in a field of the message.
In one embodiment, the controller delays broadcast of a non-emergency message for a time period after broadcast of the emergency message.
In one embodiment, said tune period is configurable.
In one embodiment, the controller determines the time period according to duration of the emergency message.
In one embodiment, the controller synchronises the mobile network cells upon expiry of the time period by loading them with messages for broadcast.
The invention also provides a computer readable medium comprising software code for implementing the steps of any method defined above when executing on a digital computer.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
Brief Description of the Drawings
The invention will be more clearly understood from the following description of some embodiments thereof, given by way of .example only with reference to the accompanying drawings in which:-
Fig. Hs a diagram illustrating a cell broadcast (CB) system; Fig. 2 is a block diagram of an individual CBC of the system; and
Fig. 3 is a flow diagram for operation of the system according to the invention.
Referring to Figs. 1 and 2, a cell broadcast system 1 comprises a Cell Broadcast Centre (CBC) 2, Base Station Controllers (BSCs) and Radio Network Controllers, RNCs 3, and broadcast cells 4. The CBC 2 comprises a GIS (Geographic Information System) server 5, a CBE (Cell Broadcast Entity) interface 6, a kernel 7 linked to a database 8, and a cell controller 9.
A message that is submitted to the CBC 2 over the CBE interface 6 consists of the message body and some parameters, such as schedule and requested area of broadcast. From the area description in the message, the GIS Server 5 determines which cells 4 are inside the requested area of broadcast or have coverage in the requested area of broadcast, and therefore need to broadcast the message. The kernel 7 defines messages for each BSC 3 that controls the cells 4 in question. When the time comes to broadcast the message, the kernel 7 sends the messages to the appropriate cell controllers 9, which serve as an interface between the CBC 2 and the BSCs and RNCs 3. The BSCs and RNCs 3 forward the message to the appropriate cells 4. The database 8 is used for storage of the messages and the cell data.
In broadcasting within the cells 4 messages are repeated because voice and data traffic have priority over cell broadcast messages, and therefore a mobile terminal may miss the cell broadcast message. It is also possible that the mobile terminal enters the broadcast area some time after the start-time of the message, but still during the validity period (the message is still being repeated). The mobile terminal receives one of the repetitions. Messages that have been received once by the mobile terminal will not be displayed again.
When a message is submitted to the CBC 2 that has an indication that it is to be treated as an emergency message, the system proceeds in a manner different from the conventional method. The CBC 2 determines that a message has an emergency status by monitoring a field for indicating such status. However in another embodiment emergency status may be determined according to the channel selected for transmission of the message. Another alternative is to use a redundant channel intended for a different purpose.
If emergency status is identified, the CBE interface 6 instructs the GIS server 5 to determine which cells 4 need to broadcast the message. At the start time of the message the kernel 7 sends a reset message through the cell controller 9 to all of the cells 4 involved. This effectively means that these cells are now empty of messages.
The CBC then sends the emergency message into the network, and the emergency message is then the only message that is being broadcast.
When the emergency message has been broadcast, the CBC 2 will not broadcast any other messages after that for a configurable period of time, to prevent the emergency message being overwritten by new messages. Mobile terminals may not store cell broadcast messages, and each new message overwrites the previous one. It is therefore very advantageous not to broadcast any other message for some period of time after the emergency message has been broadcast. During this time the emergency message is repeated.
The configurable period during which no new message will be broadcast is a pre-fixed time period configured in the CBC (e.g. the kernel 7). In another embodiment, this can be dynamically determined according to the duration (validity period) of the emergency message.
After the delay, or when the emergency message has passed its end-time, the CBC 2 will start synchronizing the affected cells again with the content of the database and resume message broadcasting (giving due consideration to original message attributes including original message duration).
Referring to Fig. 3 the method 10 is as follows in more detail. 11 - A message is submitted to the CBC at the CBE interface 6 (can be a normal message or an emergency message).
12 - The GIS server 5 determines which cells shall broadcast the message from the area information contained in the message.
13 - The CBC waits till the start-time of the message has arrived during which time the message is held in the database 8.
14 - The kernel 7 checks if the message is an emergency message.
15 - If the new message is not an emergency message, the kernel 7 checks in the database 8 if an emergency message is currently being broadcast. If it is, the CBC holds back the new message.
16 - The cell controller 9 forwards the message to the network. The network takes care of broadcasting.
17 - When the end-time has arrived, the kernel 7 proceeds to:
18 — kill the message in the network.
19 - If at 14 there is an emergency message submitted to the CBC 2, the kernel 7 will reset all the cells 4 in the area where the emergency message is to be broadcast.
20 - The kernel 7 checks if it has received restart indications for the cells, and waits until it has.
21 - The kernel 7 forwards the emergency message through the cell controller to the network. The network takes care of broadcasting.
22 - When the end-time of the emergency message has arrived, the kernel 7 proceeds to:
23 - kill the message in the network.
24 - The kernel 7 retrieves the information from the database 8 and sends the messages to the network through the cell controller 9.
It will be appreciated that deleting running messages from a cell through a reset is quite straightforward to implement in a CBC. The emergency message contains the area definition and selecting all cells covering this area is functionality of a CBC. Without the reset, it would be required to check the CBC database 8 for messages that run or are scheduled to run in all cells that define the area, or retrieve this information from each cell individually. This is a more complicated and time-consuming approach.
The invention is not limited to the embodiments described but may be varied in construction and detail. While the invention is described in the context of a CBC, it may equally apply to a different message broadcast protocol. An example is the Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service (MBMS), which provides for broadcasting multimedia content.

Claims

Claims
1. A broadcast controller (2) for transmitting messages to mobile network cells (4) for broadcast, wherein the controller:
automatically determines (14) if a message for broadcast is an emergency message,
if an emergency message, determines (12) which cells of the mobile network are to be used to broadcast the emergency message, and
resets (19) said cells (4), and instructs broadcast of the emergency message by said reset cells.
2. A broadcast controller as claimed in claim 1, wherein the controller (2) delays (22) broadcast of a non-emergency message for a time period after broadcast of the emergency message.
3. A broadcast controller as claimed in claim 2, wherein said time period is configurable.
4. A broadcast controller as claimed in claim 2, wherein the controller determines the time period according to duration of the emergency message.
5. A broadcast controller as claimed in any of claims 2 to 4, wherein the controller synchronises the mobile network cells (4) upon expiry of the time period by loading them (24) with messages for broadcast.
6. A broadcast controller as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the controller (2) determines that a message is an emergency message according to an indicator in a field of the message.
7. A broadcast controller as claimed in any of claims 1 to 5, wherein the controller (2) determines that a message is an emergency message according to a channel selected for transmission of the message.
8. A broadcast controller as claimed in any preceding claim, wherein the broadcast controller is a Cell Broadcast Controller (CBC).
9. A broadcast controller as claimed in claim 8, wherein a kernel (7) of the CBC (2) determines if a message is an emergency message.
10. A broadcast controller as claimed in any of claims 1 to 7, wherein the controller is a Multimedia Broadcast/Multicast Service controller.
11. In a mobile network having a broadcast controller (2) and cells (4) for controlling broadcast of messages to mobile devices in cells, a method including the steps of the broadcast controller:
determining (14) if a message for broadcast is an emergency message,
if an emergency message, deterrnining (12) which cells (4) of the mobile network are to be used to broadcast the emergency message, and
resetting (19) said cells (4) and instructing broadcast of the emergency message by said reset cells.
12. A method as claimed in claim 11, wherein the controller determines that a message is an emergency message according to an indicator in a field of the message.
13. A method as claimed in claims 11 or 12, wherein the broadcast controller delays broadcast of a non-emergency message for a time period after broadcast of the emergency message.
14. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein said time period is configurable.
15. A method as claimed in claim 13, wherein the controller (2) determines the time period according to duration of the emergency message.
16. A method as claimed in any of claims 13 to 15, wherein the controller synchronises the mobile network cells upon expiry of the time period by loading them with messages for broadcast.
17. A computer readable medium comprising software code for implementing the steps of the method of any of claims 11 to 16 when executing on a digital computer.
EP06796050A 2005-10-04 2006-10-04 A cell broadcast control system and method Withdrawn EP1941751A1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US72298605P 2005-10-04 2005-10-04
PCT/IE2006/000108 WO2007039890A1 (en) 2005-10-04 2006-10-04 A cell broadcast control system and method

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
EP1941751A1 true EP1941751A1 (en) 2008-07-09

Family

ID=37679965

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
EP06796050A Withdrawn EP1941751A1 (en) 2005-10-04 2006-10-04 A cell broadcast control system and method

Country Status (2)

Country Link
EP (1) EP1941751A1 (en)
WO (1) WO2007039890A1 (en)

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US7907930B2 (en) 2007-07-16 2011-03-15 Cisco Technology, Inc. Emergency alert system distribution to mobile wireless towers
US8433280B2 (en) 2008-08-11 2013-04-30 Htc Corporation Method of managing reception of natural disaster warning notification messages for a wireless communication system and related communication device
CN101959133A (en) * 2009-07-15 2011-01-26 华为技术有限公司 M2M user equipment as well as operation control method and system thereof
CN102065375A (en) * 2010-12-28 2011-05-18 中兴通讯股份有限公司 Broadcast server realization method and system and broadcast system
CA2835808A1 (en) * 2011-06-30 2013-01-03 Ntt Docomo, Inc. Communication device and communication method
EP2919213A1 (en) * 2014-03-14 2015-09-16 Mobilarm AS Location-based emergency warning system and method
JP6740544B2 (en) * 2017-04-26 2020-08-19 日本電気株式会社 Breaking message delivery device, breaking message delivery method and computer program

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US20030143974A1 (en) * 2002-01-30 2003-07-31 Randy Navarro Emergency warning indication over a wireless network
JP4589343B2 (en) * 2004-02-13 2010-12-01 エンビジョンアイティー・エルエルシー Public service message broadcasting system and method

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Also Published As

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