Subscription-based mobile station idle mode cell selection

A mobile communication system that is partitioned into a number of cells, comprising:

• a public land mobile network, wherein a mobile communication device is permitted to utilize cells in a predefined service area of the public land mobile network and wherein at least one other mobile communication device is not permitted to utilize cells in the predefined service area;
• means for broadcasting cell-related information from at least one of the cells, wherein for each cell, the cell-related information indicates whether that cell belongs to the predefined service area of the public land mobile network in which allowed access is controlled by subscription data;
• and
• at least one mobile communication device that comprises:
• means for receiving the cell-related information from at least one of the cells;
• means, responsive to the received cell-related information, for determining whether the mobile communication device is permitted to camp on the at least one of the cells;
• detecting means for detecting that the cell-related information indicates that the cell belongs to a part of the public land mobile network in which allowed access is controlled by subscription data;
• means for receiving cell barred information from the at least one of the cells;
• and
• means, responsive to the detecting means, for ignoring the cell barred information if the determining means determines that the cell may be camped on.

A method for use in a communications system that is partitioned into a number of cells, comprising the steps of:

• broadcasting cell-related information from at least one of the cells, wherein for each cell, the cell-related information indicates whether that cell belongs to a predefined service area of the public land mobile network in which allowed access is controlled by subscription data and wherein a mobile communication device is permitted to utilize cells in the predefined service area and at least one other mobile communication device is not permitted to utilize cells in the predefined service area;
• and
• in a mobile communication device, performing the steps of:
• receiving the cell-related information from at least one of the cells;
• in response to the received cell-related information, determining whether the mobile communication device is permitted to camp on the at least one of the cells, wherein the step of determining whether the mobile communication device is permitted to camp on one of the cells comprises retrieving stored information about which of the cells may be camped on;
• detecting that the cell-related information indicates that the cell belongs to a part of the public land mobile network in which allowed access is controlled by subscription data;
• receiving cell barred information from the at least one of the cells;
• and
• ignoring the cell barred information if the determining means determines that the cell may be camped on and the cell-related information indicates that the cell belongs to a part of the public land mobile network in which allowed access is controlled by subscription data.

A mobile communication device for use in a communication system that includes a public land mobile network and that is partitioned into a number of cells, the mobile communication device comprising:

• wireless means for receiving cell-related information from one or more of the cells, wherein the cell-related information indicates whether the cell belongs to a part of the public land mobile network in which allowed access is controlled by the subscription data;
• means for determining from the cell-related information whether one or more cells in the communication system are to be given preference over other cells in the communication system with respect to selection of a cell to be camped on during an idle mode operation of the mobile communication device;
• and
• wherein said means for determining from the cell-related information whether one or more cells in the communication system are to be given preference over other cells in the communication system with respect to selection of a cell to be camped on during an idle mode operation of the mobile communication device comprises:
• detecting means for detecting that the cell-related information indicates that the cell belongs to a part of the public land mobile network in which allowed access is controlled by subscription data;
• means for receiving cell barred information from the communication system;
• and
• means, responsive to the detecting means, for ignoring the cell barred information if the determining means determines that the cell may be given preference over other cells in the communication system with respect to selection of a cell to be camped on during an idle mode operation of the mobile communication device.

A method for use in a communications system that is partitioned into a number of cells, comprising the steps of:

• broadcasting cell-related information from at least one of the cells, wherein the cell-related information indicates whether the cell belongs to a part of the public land mobile network in which allowed access is controlled by subscription data;
• and
• in a mobile communication device for use in the communications systems, performing the steps of:
• receiving the cell-related information from at least one of the cells;
• and
• using the received cell-related information to determine whether said at least one of the cells in the communication system is to be given preference over other cells in the communication system with respect to selection of a cell to be camped on during an idle mode operation of the mobile communication device;
• detecting that the cell-related information indicates that said at least one of the cells in the communication system belongs to a part of the public land mobile network in which allowed access is controlled by subscription data;
• receiving cell barred information from the at least one of the cells;
• and
• ignoring the cell barred information if the determining means determines that the cell may be given preference over other cells in the communication system with respect to selection of a cell to be camped on during an idle mode operation of the mobile communication device.