# US 12,010,614 B2 · Non-terrestrial networks for international areas > Agents: this data is available as JSON from the patentgrep API and MCP server — see https://patentgrep.com/llms.txt - Number: US 12,010,614 B2 - Document ID: US12010614B2 - Status: Granted - Kind: B2 - Application number: 17/576,578 - Filed: 2022-01-14 - Published: 2022-07-21 - Granted: 2024-06-11 - Earliest claimed: 2021-01-15 - Assignees: Apple Inc. - Applicants: Apple Inc. - Inventors: Mohammed Sadique; Alosious Pradeep Prabhakar; Chunlei Lin; Han Pu; Krisztian Kiss; Rohit R. Matolia; Vijay Venkataraman; Sarma Vangala - Web page: https://patentgrep.com/patent/US12010614B2 ## CPC - H04W 48/18: Selecting a network or a communication service - H04W 8/08: Mobility data transfer - H04W 48/16: Discovering, processing access restriction or access information - H04W 60/04: using triggered events - H04W 84/042: {Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems} - H04W 84/06: Airborne or Satellite Networks (space-based or airborne stations H04B7/185) - H04W: WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS (broadcast communication H04H; communication systems using wireless links for non-selective communication, e.g. wireless extensions H04M1/72) ## Abstract Systems, devices and methods for a user equipment (UE) to perform public land mobile network (PLMN) selection with a non-terrestrial network (NTN) dedicated to an international area. The UE receives a downlink message from the NTN, where the downlink message includes a public land mobile network (PLMN) identifier of a first PLMN of the NTN including an information element (IE). The IE indicates that the NTN is dedicated to an international area. Responsive to receiving the downlink message, the UE determines a current location of the UE and determines whether the current location is in the international area. The UE provides an international area notification to an access and mobility management function (AMF) servicing the UE to forward to a home PLMN (HPLMN) of the UE indicating whether the current location is in the international area. ## Claims ### Claim 1 A user equipment (UE), comprising: a radio; and a processor coupled to the radio, wherein the UE is configured to: receive a downlink message from a non-terrestrial network (NTN), wherein the downlink message comprises a public land mobile network (PLMN) identifier of a first PLMN of the NTN including an information element (IE), wherein the IE indicates that the NTN is dedicated to an international area; responsive to receiving the downlink message, determine a current location of the UE; determine whether the current location is in the international area; provide an international area notification to an access and mobility management function (AMF) servicing the UE to forward to a home PLMN (HPLMN) of the UE, wherein the international area notification indicates whether the current location is in the international area; based on a determination that the current location is in the international area: determine a distance of the UE from a border of a first country within which the UE has most recently established a network connection; based on a determination that the distance is less than a predetermined threshold distance, register with a home PLMN with a mobile country code (MCC) of the first country; and based on a determination that the distance is greater than the predetermined threshold distance, perform a PLMN search procedure based on a priority ranking indicated by a network of the first country. ### Claim 2 (depends on 1) The UE of claim 1, wherein the predetermined distance is half of an estimated beam size of the downlink message. ### Claim 3 (depends on 1) The UE of claim 1, wherein the UE is further configured to: based on a determination that the current location is not in the international area: determine whether a most recently registered mobile country code (MCC) of the UE belongs to a shared PLMN; and based on a determination that the most recently registered MCC of the UE belongs to the shared PLMN, perform PLMN selection based on a shared PLMN database. ### Claim 4 (depends on 1) The UE of claim 1, wherein the downlink message specifies one or more prioritized lists of PLMNs, and wherein the downlink message specifies a polygon geofence or coordinates describing one or more geographical regions within which the UE is to utilize the one or more prioritized lists of PLMNs for performing PLMN selection. ### Claim 5 (depends on 1) The UE of claim 1, wherein the downlink message specifies a first factor by which the UE modifies a search timer periodicity for the first PLMN, wherein the first factor is selected based at least in part on a satellite type servicing the NTN. ### Claim 6 (depends on 5) The UE of claim 5, wherein when the satellite type is geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO), the first factor decreases the search timer periodicity, and wherein when the satellite type is low earth orbit (LEO) or high-altitude pseudo-satellite (HAPS), the first factor increases the search timer periodicity. ### Claim 7 (depends on 1) The UE of claim 1, wherein the indication whether the current location is in the international area is provided in an information element (IE) of a registration request message or service request message. ### Claim 8 (depends on 1) The UE of claim 1, wherein the UE is further configured to: receiving a polygon geofence from the NTN within a steering of roaming (SoR) container provisioned by the HPLMN, wherein the polygon geofence describes a geographical extent of the international area, wherein determining whether the current location is in the international area comprises determining whether the current location is within the geographical extent of the polygon geofence. ### Claim 9 (depends on 1) The UE of claim 1, wherein the downlink message comprises: a broadcast message, or a dedicated non-access stratum (NAS) message. ### Claim 10 (depends on 1) The UE of claim 1, wherein the UE is further configured to: transmit a capability indication to the network indicating whether the UE supports 5th generation New Radio (5G NR) satellite access. ### Claim 11 A method for communicating with a non-terrestrial network (NTN), the method comprising: by a user equipment (UE): receiving a downlink message from the NTN, wherein the downlink message comprises a public land mobile network (PLMN) identifier of a first PLMN of the NTN including an information element (IE), wherein the IE indicates that the NTN is dedicated to an international area; responsive to receiving the downlink message, determining a current location of the UE; determining whether the current location is in the international area; providing an international area notification to an access and mobility management function (AMF) servicing the UE to forward to a home PLMN (HPLMN) of the UE indicating whether the current location is in the international area; and receiving a polygon geofence from the NTN within a steering of roaming (SoR) container, wherein the polygon geofence describes a geographical extent of the international area, and wherein determining whether the current location is in the international area comprises determining whether the current location is within the geographical extent of the polygon geofence. ### Claim 12 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, the method further comprising: based on a determination that the current location is in the international area: determining a distance of the UE from a border of a first country within which the UE has most recently established a network connection; based on a determination that the distance is less than a predetermined threshold distance, registering with a home PLMN with a mobile country code (MCC) of the first country; and based on a determination that the distance is greater than the predetermined threshold distance, performing a PLMN search procedure based on a priority ranking indicated by a network of the first country. ### Claim 13 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the downlink message specifies one or more prioritized lists of PLMNs, and wherein the downlink message specifies a polygon geofence or coordinates describing one or more geographical regions within which the UE is to utilize the one or more prioritized lists of PLMNs for performing PLMN selection. ### Claim 14 (depends on 11) The method of claim 11, wherein the downlink message specifies a first factor by which the UE modifies a search timer periodicity for the first PLMN, wherein the first factor is selected based at least in part on a satellite type servicing the NTN, wherein when the satellite type is geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO), the first factor decreases the search timer periodicity, and wherein when the satellite type is low earth orbit (LEO) or high-altitude pseudo-satellite (HAPS), the first factor increases the search timer periodicity. ### Claim 15 An apparatus, comprising: a processor configured to cause a user equipment (UE) to: receive a downlink message from a non-terrestrial network (NTN), wherein the downlink message comprises a public land mobile network (PLMN) identifier of a first PLMN of the NTN including an information element (IE), wherein the IE indicates that the NTN is dedicated to an international area, wherein the downlink message specifies a first factor by which the UE modifies a search timer periodicity for the first PLMN, and wherein the first factor is selected based at least in part on a satellite type servicing the NTN; responsive to receiving the downlink message, determine a current location of the UE; determine whether the current location is in the international area; and provide an international area notification to an access and mobility management function (AMF) servicing the UE to forward to a home PLMN (HPLMN) of the UE indicating whether the current location is in the international area. ### Claim 16 (depends on 15) The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the UE to: based on a determination that the current location is in the international area: determine a distance of the UE from a border of a first country within which the UE has most recently established a network connection; based on a determination that the distance is less than a predetermined threshold distance, register with a home PLMN with a mobile country code (MCC) of the first country; and based on a determination that the distance is greater than the predetermined threshold distance, perform a PLMN search procedure based on a priority ranking indicated by a network of the first country. ### Claim 17 (depends on 15) The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the downlink message specifies one or more prioritized lists of PLMNs, and wherein the downlink message specifies a polygon geofence or coordinates describing one or more geographical regions within which the UE is to utilize the one or more prioritized lists of PLMNs for performing PLMN selection. ### Claim 18 (depends on 15) The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the downlink message specifies a first factor by which the UE modifies a search timer periodicity for the first PLMN, wherein the first factor is selected based at least in part on a satellite type servicing the NTN, wherein when the satellite type is geosynchronous equatorial orbit (GEO), the first factor decreases the search timer periodicity, and wherein when the satellite type is low earth orbit (LEO) or high-altitude pseudo-satellite (HAPS), the first factor increases the search timer periodicity. ### Claim 19 (depends on 15) The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the processor is further configured to cause the UE to: based on a determination that the current location is not in the international area: determine whether a most recently registered mobile country code (MCC) of the UE belongs to a shared PLMN; and based on a determination that the most recently registered MCC of the UE belongs to the shared PLMN, perform PLMN selection based on a shared PLMN database. ### Claim 20 (depends on 15) The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the indication whether the current location is in the international area is provided in an information element (IE) of a registration request message or service request message.