Method and apparatus for controlling network access in a wireless communication system

An infrastructure device capable of controlling network access in a wireless communication system, the infrastructure device comprising:

• a processor;
• an at least one memory device that is configured to store a set of instructions that, when executed by the processor, implement a device class prioritization control function (DCP-CF), which DCP-CF performs the following functions:
• receives a geographical location of an incident;
• determines one or more of a cell and a corresponding access node corresponding to the geographical location;
• determines one or more access class barring parameters comprising acBarringFactor, acBarringTime, acBarringForEmergency, and/or acBarringForSpecialAC for the one or more of the cell and the corresponding access node;
• determines whether to enable access class barring at one or more of the cell and the corresponding access node based on the access class barring parameters;
• and
• in response to determining to enable access class barring at one or more of the cell and the corresponding access node, provides the one or more one or more access class barring parameters to the one or more of the cell and the corresponding access node;
• wherein the infrastructure device comprises:
• one or more network interfaces that are configured to receive one or more of an incident type, an incident severity, an operational status of the one or more of the cell and the access node, and an administrative status of the one or more of the cell and the access node;
• and
• wherein the set of instructions, when executed by the processor, determine whether to enable access class barring based on one or more of the incident type, the incident severity, the operational status of the one or more of the cell and the access node, and the administrative status of the one or more of the cell and the access node such that access is barred when a combination of the incident type, the incident severity, and a loading for a cell exceeds a trigger.