GB2499986A

GB2499986A - Emergency data transmission and base station with emergency data handling module

Info

Publication number: GB2499986A
Application number: GB1203556.4A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Zhaojun Li; Makiko Hisatomi
Original assignee: Fujitsu Ltd
Current assignee: Fujitsu Ltd
Priority date: 2012-02-29
Filing date: 2012-02-29
Publication date: 2013-09-11
Also published as: GB201203556D0

Abstract

A method of emergency data transmission over a communications network, the network including a user equipment and a base station with an emergency data handling module, the method comprising: the user equipment wirelessly transmitting an emergency indicator to the base station; the emergency data handling module of the base station recognizing an emergency by associating the emergency indicator and related emergency data with an emergency event; the user equipment transmitting the related emergency data wirelessly to the base station with emergency priority based on the emergency event; the base station transmitting the emergency indicator and the related emergency data to a server. The emergency indicator may be transmitted as an uplink transmission request. The emergency data may also be transmitted with emergency priority from the base station to the server. The emergency data handling module may instruct one or more radio bearers for the emergency data with emergency quality label or emergency scheduling label. Suspension of lower priority traffic in the network may also take place to allow transmission of emergency priority traffic to maintain acceptable quality and/or delay levels. The emergency data may be transmitted to the user equipment from one or more sensor units, wherein the user equipment acts as a data collector in a local sensing network such as a body area network (BAN). The sensing units may be a medical device to monitor patient health or other sensor device such as a flood/environment/nuclear radiation/temperature etc. monitor. Follow-up measurements may also take place with an associated high priority allocated. The base station may provide a femtocell in a remote sensing environment to act as a home NodeB. The base station may further function as a gateway for direct access to a supporting server via the internet.

Description

INTELLECTUAL

PROPERTY OFFICE

Application No. GB1203556.4 RTM Date :25 June 2012

The following terms are registered trademarks and should be read as such wherever they occur in this document:

BBC

iPlayer

Bluetooth

Intellectual Property Office is an operating name of the Patent Office www.ipo.gov.uk

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A Method and System of Emergency Data Transmission, and a Base Station and User Equipment of a Communications Network for Emergency Data Transmission

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This invention relates to transmission of emergency data such as data relating to healthcare, environmental control, component and regional monitoring and other applications in which emergency values may occur.

10 To take the example of healthcare, data may include data from body sensor units monitoring healthcare measurements such as blood pressure, body temperature, body positioning etc.

Healthcare in the community (including home care), instead of in-patient and intensive 15 care, is becoming a global trend, with the aim of reducing healthcare expenditure and improving patient experience, as shown in Figure 1 which depicts a graph of cost against medical facility levels, with the arrows sharing trends towards more self care (and hence lower costs).

20 To enable the progression towards healthcare in the community, continuous/frequent measurements may need to be taken in patients' normal everyday life, in addition to one-stop measurement at clinics, especially for chronic disease management. If the condition changes are notified to the clinical organisations, early detection can potentially prevent degradation of patients' conditions and save cost associated with 25 further treatment. Especially for people living alone, detection of condition change is critical in emergency cases (e.g. falling down, stroke, heart attack).

In remote healthcare services (for example in a domestic setting or in a care home or other facility with low to moderate staffing levels), different types of data need to be 30 transmitted between a patient's home (or other location) and the healthcare organisation. For example there may be transmission of any or all of alerts/alarms, device control/status data, episodic data and batch data. Alerts/alarms and devices control/status data consist of a small data payload, which needs to be sent urgently to the care providers for their action. Episodic data include measurement data, typically

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with moderate payload size, which tend to be sent on a regular basis. Batch data often with large payload size need not to be sent urgently, however require error-free transmission. Therefore although all of the above mentioned data are healthcare-related, they have different quality of service (QoS) requirements in terms of reliability 5 and latency.

There are some healthcare applications in which low latency is more important than reliability. For example, it is acceptable to drop some data as a trade-off for sending real-time waveform data quickly. On the other hands, for some applications (e.g. 10 sending history, report etc), it is acceptable to wait for the data to be retransmitted and these applications require that all data are sent correctly.

In addition, the urgency of the data transmission to a healthcare organization depends on the condition of the patient at home (or at alternative) location. For example, there 15 are patients who require continuous monitoring just in case their condition deteriorates. Such conditions are not as critical as those requiring constant clinical attention, however, the patients would require clinical response within a reasonably short amount of time (e.g. within one hour or one day). For these patients, if the networks between home and the hospital/clinics are reliable, and also alert mechanisms are reliable, they 20 could stay at home. Because network reliability and the alert mechanisms cannot be completely guaranteed and relied on, currently those patients tend to stay at hospital longer.

Corresponding considerations to those above apply to other applications. For example, 25 a local sensing network for environmental control (sensing temperature, nuclear radiation levels, flooding etc), can have a variety of different data types, and a reliable and appropriate data transfer will allow less intervention. In these cases the user may be a legal entity or business or specific monitored area.

30 There are a number of ways in which the data could be transmitted from a user's location, such as fixed broadband (e.g. ADSL) and mobile networks, as shown in Figure 2, for healthcare. There are also different levels of QoS performance which can be provided by these networks depending on many factors, i.e. locations, number of active users in the area, time of the day, etc.

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Some invention embodiments aim to address the transmission of data in home care and other remote sensing scenarios and specifically how to ensure that urgent data (i.e. with low latency and high reliability requirement) is sent correctly without any 5 delay. If this type of data can be handled in a reliable and efficient manner, it is possible to address an emergency situation.

As an example, imagine that a patient has an ADSL line as well as a mobile phone at home. If the patient is already consuming the available bandwidth, for example 10 watching BBC iPlayer on the computer (using the ADSL line) while an alert has been raised because she fell down, how can we make sure that the alert is prioritised even though the ADSL line is overloaded and therefore its network performance can be degraded quite significantly? Since the network (both fixed and wireless) is used not only for healthcare, but also for social and entertainment purpose, the inventors have 15 come to the realisation that it is necessary to differentiate those urgent alerts in order for them to be prioritised at least for the access network from home. In addition, there might be multiple users for the same networks, and therefore the usage of network can easily diversify.

20 According to a first aspect, invention embodiments provide a method of emergency data transmission over a communications network, the network including a user equipment and a base station with an emergency data handling module, the method comprising: the user equipment wirelessly transmitting an emergency indicator to the base station; the emergency data handling module of the base station recognizing an 25 emergency by associating the emergency indicator and related emergency data with an emergency event; the user equipment transmitting the related emergency data wirelessly to the base station with emergency priority based on the emergency event; the base station transmitting the emergency indicator and the related emergency data to a server. The data may be healthcare data, or other emergency data, which is 30 preferably sensed in a local sensing network.

There are several ways which can be used to provide the connectivity between a user's equipment and a healthcare or other supporting service. Although exclusive use of a fixed broadband network seems a simple and straightforward solution, and thus the

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most obvious, it cannot guarantee the QoS requirements for the data delivery. The inventors suggest that instead an at least partially wireless system, such as the 3GPP mobile network can be used in an adapted way to provide QoS improved or preferably QoS guaranteed services for delivery of data with emergency priority, as well as 5 mobility support.

It is difficult to handle an emergency situation by an alert alone. In order to understand the situation more precisely, it is necessary to have corresponding data (e.g. measurements in healthcare scenarios, such as blood pressure or ECG, in the case of 10 a suspected heart attack) and the transmission of these data should be also assigned with emergency priority.

Emergency priority as used herein refers to a priority that is higher than another (standard) priority used for normal data transmission in the network.

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The use of a dedicated emergency data handling module can allow the emergency indicator (or alert) to be recognised and processed to give emergency priority for transfer of the data to which it refers from the user equipment. In addition, this module also allows the corresponding data transmission to and/or from the server to be treated 20 with emergency priority. The data to be transmitted is usually measurement data or data derived therefrom.

The recognition of the data as emergency data uses the emergency indicator in invention embodiments. The indicator may be sent to the base station before the data 25 itself and/or with the data. For example the indicator may be sent first; and associated with an emergency event in the module, and then the related data may be sent, and thus also associated in the module with the same emergency event. Alternatively the indicator and related data can be sent at the same time. In this case, the module can recognise the indicator and then associate it and the related data with the emergency 30 event at the same time.

Advantageously, the emergency indicator is transmitted from the user equipment to the base station with a request for uplink transmission of the data (the indicator may be transmitted as the data/payload of the request). The emergency priority is then

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assigned for transmission of the emergency data (also referred to as related measurement data) from the user equipment to the base station (and then to the supporting server). Thus pre-transmission of the indicator by the user equipment effectively serves to mark the following data transmission and/or the communication 5 session with the emergency priority. The indicator may also be transmitted with the data, in addition to pre-transmission.

An emergency priority may also be provided for the uplink transmission from the base station to the server (as a further result of the emergency data handling module's 10 actions).

For example, in a healthcare scenario, when the module receives an emergency indicator regarding one patient, based on a stored profile, the module may associate the related measurement data which is subsequently or simultaneously transmitted 15 (such as ECG data) with an event in a particular condition (such as a suspected heart attack). All transmission related to the emergency event (including resultant downlink transmission) may then be prioritised. In an environmental control scenario for supercomputers, the module may associate the related measurement data (such as temperature data) with an event such as dangerous overloading of a component. All 20 subsequent transmission relating to the overloading may then be prioritised. The transmission from the UE to (and optionally from) the server via the base station may have the same (or corresponding) emergency priority throughout.

Transmission with an emergency priority may involve the use of emergency quality. 25 Additionally or alternatively it may involve emergency scheduling (that is faster scheduling than for normal transmission). Preferably the emergency data handling module instructs a radio bearer with an emergency quality label and an emergency-scheduling label. The radio bearer advantageously extends between the user equipment and the base station and the corresponding bearer between the base 30 station and the PDN gateway towards the supporting server

Further, the emergency data handling module (also referred to herein as a logical function) may optionally instruct scheduling of the data packets for transmission from

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the user equipment to the supporting server (which supports emergency services for the UE and/or local sensing network described below).

Other data traffic may have a detrimental effect on transmission of the emergency data.

5 Therefore measures may be taken such as suspension or slowing of some or all other data traffic sent to and/or from the base station when there is to be a transmission with emergency priority. Preferably, the emergency data handling module instructs suspension of transmission of other data traffic having a lower priority than the emergency priority. Advantageously, the emergency data handling module only 10 instructs suspension if it is necessary to guarantee delivery of the emergency data, or to guarantee delivery within an acceptable time and/or at an acceptable quality level. Thus the module may have the functionality to determine these factors and take action as necessary.

15 The user equipment (or UE) may form the collector of a local sensing network, such as a body area network (BAN). The collector is also known as a collector node or base station of the local sensing network and data from sensor nodes may be sent to the collector for onward transmission. In this scenario the UE forms part of two networks, the communication network and a local network. Alternatively, the UE may be directly 20 linked to or form part of or comprise a sensor, so that no wireless transmission of the emergency data to the UE is needed. Additionally, each UE may include more than one collector. For example, if there is a network of temperature sensors on each floor of a building, the data for all the floors could be collected at the UE, with data from each floor being individually marked, so that the server can identify where an 25 emergency event (such as a fire) has occurred. The same principle applies to networks in separate buildings, such a separate buildings on a site or greenhouses in a greenhouse facility growing valuable plants, which could all be linked to a single collector node. The local sensing network may be a closed community network, and there may be several such networks attached to the same UE, or to different UEs, 30 depending on the implementation. In any of these scenarios, discrete sensor devices are linked via the collector in the local sensing network.

The skilled reader will appreciate that data (usually measurements) are sent from one or more sensor nodes in a local sensing network to the collector on a periodic basis,

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and/or as a result of triggers. Triggers may include thresholds for the measurements taken and external requests for measurements from the collector and/or the server.

Triggers may reside in the user equipment or in the emergency data handling module 5 or even in the remote server, as well as in the sensor device (for example the healthcare device). In particular, once an indication of emergency (or emergency data itself) has been transmitted, one or more follow-up measurements may be triggered in the emergency handling module if they have not already been triggered by the user equipment or device itself.

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Preferably, the emergency data handling module checks if the indicator or emergency data has triggered one or more follow-up measurements, and optionally activates the follow-up measurements if necessary. In the case of the emergency data handling module activating the follow-up measurements, an instruction must be sent to the UE 15 to request the follow-up measurements accordingly, to example to one or more sensor nodes in the local sensing network.

The base station may allocate a high priority bearer to transmit the measurements (the data following the emergency indication and any follow-up measurements) on the 20 emergency data handling module's instructions .

The base station may provide a smaller cell amongst standard (macro) cells in the system, commonly referred to as a micro-, pico- or femtocell. The smaller cell can be located in a home care or other remote environment, and preferably acts as a Home 25 Node B in a 3GPP network or a Home eNode B in an LTE network.

Home based stations (including LTE Home eNodeBs and UMTS Home NodeBs, H(e)NB) have been specified in 3GPP, and seem to provide a best choice for home care and other remote scenarios. H(e)NBs, with similar features/functions as LTE eNB 30 and UMTS NodeB, are expected to provide attractive services and data rates in home environments. In addition, gateway functions for the data can be co-located in H(e)NB allowing the user equipments served by the H(e)NB to access the Internet directly,

even with a certain QoS guarantee. Because the HNB/HeNB are part of the 3GPP

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network, the end-to-end QoS can be guaranteed by the HNB/HeNB as for any other 3GPP base stations (i.e. Macro, Pico base stations)

According to embodiments of a second aspect there is provided a communications 5 network implementing a method of emergency data transmission, the network comprising a user equipment and a base station with an emergency data handling module, wherein: the user equipment is operable to wirelessly transmit an emergency indicator to the base station; the emergency data handling module of the base station is operable to recognize an emergency by associating the emergency indicator and 10 related emergency data with an emergency event; the user equipment is operable to transmit the related emergency data wirelessly to the base station with emergency priority based on the emergency event; and the base station is operable to transmit the emergency indicator and the related emergency data to a server.

15 This second aspect relates to a network (or system), with network computer being arranged/configured to carry out the method according to embodiments detailed above.

According to embodiments of a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a method of emergency data processing carried out in a base station within a 20 communications network, the network comprising a user equipment and the base station, and the base station including an emergency data handling module, the method comprising: wirelessly receiving an emergency indicator from the user equipment; the emergency data handling module of the base station recognizing an emergency by associating the emergency indicator and related emergency data, with 25 an emergency event; wirelessly receiving the emergency data from the user equipment; and transmitting the emergency data with emergency priority based on the emergency event to a server.

According to embodiments of still further aspect there is provided a base station 30 implementing a method of emergency data processing within a communications network, the network comprising a user equipment and the base station, the base station comprising a receiver operable to receive an emergency indicator, and related emergency data from the user equipment; an emergency data handling module operable to recognise an emergency by associating the emergency indicator and

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related emergency data with an emergency event; and a transmitter operable to transmit the emergency data with emergency priority based on the emergency event to a server,

5 According to embodiments of a yet further aspect there is provided a user equipment method of emergency data transmission over a communications network, the network including the user equipment and a base station with an emergency data handling module, the method comprising: receiving data from a medical device, detecting that the data is emergency data, wirelessly transmitting an emergency indicator related to 10 the emergency data to the base station; and wirelessly transmitting the emergency data to the base station.

According to embodiments of a final aspect there is provided a user equipment implementing a method of emergency data transmission over a communications 15 network, the network including the user equipment and a base station with an emergency data handling module, the user equipment comprising: an inputter operable to input data from a sensing device, a processor operable to detect that the data is emergency data, a processor operable to generate an emergency indicator; and a transmitter operable to transmit the emergency indicator and the emergency data 20 wirelessly to the base station.

Any and all features of the different aspects can be combined since they relate to the same invention. Particularly, the preferable features of the first method aspect can be 25 applied in any combination to the other aspects.

In any of the above aspects, the various features may be implemented in hardware, or as software modules running on one or more processors. Features of one aspect may be applied to any of the other aspects.

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The invention also provides a computer program or a computer program product for carrying out any of the methods described herein, and a computer readable medium having stored thereon a program for carrying out any of the methods described herein.

5 A computer program embodying the invention may be stored on a computer-readable medium, or it could, for example, be in the form of a signal such as a downloadable data signal provided from an Internet website, or it could be in any other form.

Brief Description of the Drawings

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Reference is made, by way of example only, to the accompanying drawings in which:

Figure 1 is a graph of cost for indication against medical facility levels;

Figure 2 is an example of two different network possibilities for transmitting remote 15 monitoring data to care providers;

Figure 3 is a block diagram showing one view of architecture in a UMTS network;

Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of a typical related art eHNB deployment;

Figure 5 is a schematic diagram of 3GPP bearer service architecture;

Figure 6 is a schematic diagram of control plane and user plane protocol architecture in 20 LTE;

Figure 7 is a schematic diagram of a method according to invention embodiments; Figure 8 is a schematic diagram of a network according to invention embodiments; Figure 9 is a schematic diagram of a base station according to invention embodiments; Figure 10 is a schematic diagram of a user equipment according to invention 25 embodiments;

Figure 11 is a schematic diagram of a body area network (BAN) used in healthcare embodiments; and

Figure 12 is a flowchart of emergency data handling in a base station according to invention embodiments.

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Invention embodiments rely on modern telecommunication systems for data transmission in emergency situations. This application refers in particular to 3GPP communications, but the principles are equally applicable to other modern

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telecommunication systems, such as WiMAX (IEEE802.16) and many others, so that the details referring to 3GPP systems are merely exemplary.

UMTS (or 3G) wireless communication systems are being deployed worldwide. The 5 current UMTS system supports both circuit-switched and packet-switched communication. One view of the connection of macrocells to the core network in such a system is shown in Figure 3. The UMTS radio access network (UTRAN) is shown to the left of the Figure and it is this radio access network which connects users (or more precisely user equipments, UEs) to the network using access nodes which are 10 effectively base stations, referred to in Figure 3 as NodeB. One or more of these base stations are linked to a controller known as the radio network controller (RNC) which controls the NodeBs connected to it, carries out radio resource management and some validity management and acts as an encryption point. The RNC connects to the core network via different interfaces, depending on the communication type. The 15 connection to the circuit-switched core network and the packet-switched core network are shown separately in the Figure. Connections to the broadcast (BC) domain are also separate.

Future development of UMTS systems is centred on the so-called evolved UMTS 20 terrestrial radio access network (evolved UTRAN or eUTRAN), more commonly referred to by the project name LTE.

In LTE, the architecture of the wireless communication system evolves from one supporting both circuit-switched and packet-switched communications, to an all-IP, 25 packet-switched system. The overall architecture of the eUTRAN and its core network becomes simplified, and they combine to form the so-called Evolved Packet System (EPS), also called System Architecture Evolution (SAE).

As in current UMTS systems, the basic architecture proposed for LTE consists of a 30 radio access network (the eUTRAN) connecting users (or more precisely, user equipments, UEs) to access nodes acting as base stations, these access nodes in turn being linked to a core network. In eUTRAN terminology the access node is called an eNode B or eNB and is the sole type of node in the eUTRAN as such, thus simplifying the architecture and reducing the number of hops in comparison with earlier wireless

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communication systems. A separate radio network controller (RNC) as used in previously-proposed systems is no longer required, its functions being incorporated into the eNodeB. The eNBs connect to the core network which, in LTE, is referred to as the evolved packet core (EPC).

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Each eNB is in communication with one or more UEs and is also connected to entities of the core network (EPC) via an interface referred to as S1. Such entities include a mobility management entity (MME), a PDN gateway (P-GW) and a serving gateway (S-GW).

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Any wireless communication system involves both communication links for user data and communication links for control information (sometimes alternatively known as control signalling or control data). These aspects of the system are often referred to as the "user plane" and "control plane". In LTE the user plane and control plane are 15 logically distinct, but their routing is always through the mobile operator's network for macrocells. The E-UTRAN comprises the eNBs which provide the E-UTRA user plane and control plane terminations towards the UEs.

Figure 4 shows a typical HeNB deployment scenario in LTE. The E-UT(RAN provides 20 relatively wide-area cells each served by an eNodeB and connected to the EPC via the S-GW and MME. In contrast, the Home eNodeB connects to the EPC via an IP access network such as the internet using an IP gateway as part of the customer's broadband. The Home eNodeB is shown separately from the E-UTRAN but could be geographically speaking within the E-UTRAN or to the edge of it, to enhance coverage 25 or fill coverage holes.

A similar arrangement applies for the Home NodeB and UTRAN in 3G, with the user plane and control plane both routed through the internet to the mobile operator's core network. However, the Home NodeB links to the mobile operator's network via a 30 gateway known as a 3G HNB GW,

The Home NodeB or eNodeB corresponds to the so-called femtocell of some other proposals. One basic idea of the home NodeB or eNodeB or femtocell is to enable fixed-mobile convergence, in which a single handset (UE) is capable of communicating

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with a NodeB/eNodeB covering a macrocell whilst the user is out and about, and thus of switching to an HNB/eNB once the user is within range of a home or office cell without needing to duplicate hardware resources needed for systems of different types. HNBs and HeNBs are also considered a promising solution to solve many other issues 5 in mobile communication networks, such as coverage, capacity and cost. They can deliver an improved user experience for services in the home or work location, at a very low cost. As shown in Figure 4, they can use the customers broadband (such as DSL or cable) for backhaul, that is connections to the core network are routed via the internet. In both LTE and 3G the connection between the internet and the EPC shown 10 in Figure 4 is usually via a security Gateway. Although the internet connection gateway is shown in the Figure separately from any serving gateway S-GW, it is possible for a single hardware unit to provide both functions.

One advantage of modern systems such as 3GPP mobile communication systems, (currently UMTS and LTE), is that the end-to-end (e.g. a user equipment (UE) to 15 another UE or an application server) QoS can be guaranteed via bearer services with clearly defined characteristics and functionality set up from the source to the destination. Figure 5 depicts a basic bearer service layered architecture, where each bearer service on a specific layer offers its individual services using services provided by the layers below. The three connections in Figure 5 (UE to eNB, eNB to S-GW and 20 S-GW to P-GW) correspond to those in Figure 6 user plane . There are slight differences for the cases when HeNB Gateway or HNB Gateway is used in the architecture.

25 Generally speaking, the quality of the radio link between a UE and a base station is crucial in order to provide end-to-end QoS guaranteed service in a mobile network. Currently in 3GPP mobile communication systems in order to guarantee the quality of service provided by a mobile communication network, the performance of the radio link needs to be monitored and controlled carefully at different layers in both base stations 30 and mobile devices. Figure 6 illustrates the control plane and user plane protocol architecture in a 3GPP network [TS36.300].

Typically, multiple applications may be running in a UE at the same time, each one having different QoS requirements. In order to support multiple QoS requirements,

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different bearers are set up within the network architecture, each being associated with QoS Class Identifier (QCI), and an Allocation and Retention Priority (ARP). Each QCI is characterized by priority, packet delay budget and acceptable packet loss rate. The QCI label for a bearer determines how it is handled in the eNodeB. The ARP is a 5 mechanism which allows lower priority bearers to be dropped or downgraded when the network becomes congested.

The priority and packet delay budget (and to some extent the acceptable packet loss rate) from the QCI label determine the RLC mode configuration, and how the scheduler 10 in the MAC handles packets sent over the bearer (e.g. in terms of scheduling policy, queue management policy and rate shaping policy). For example, a packet with a higher priority can be expected to be scheduled before a packet with lower priority. For bearers with a low acceptable loss rate, an Acknowledged Mode (AM) can be used within the RLC protocol layer to ensure that packets are delivered successfully across 15 the radio interface.

According to invention embodiments, the emergency data handling module in the base station instructs a radio bearer to be set up with QoS label so that emergency data will be delivered in the 3GPP network with a certain QoS guarantee. In the control plane 20 (Uu interface) the UE sends a service request with an emergency indicator in order to request radio resource for uplink data transmission from the UE to the BS. When the BS receives the request, it allocates radio resource (a radio bearer) for the data transmission in the user plane (Uu interface). The emergency indicator can be based on the existing 3GPP standard (or other standard if used) or configured by the service 25 provider. One example of an emergency indicator is an actual telephone number.

In the case of an emergency the highest priority (of the available priorities in the system used) is allocated for a transmission of data. For example in LTE this is reflected by the corresponding QCI and ARP values. These values are based on the operator's 30 policy in a 3GPP network.

Figure 7 is a simplified schematic diagram of a method according to invention embodiments. Emergency data is transmitted or input to the UE. This data is then marked with an emergency indicator in the UE and transmitted to the base station

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wirelessly. The base station receives the emergency data with its indication and a logical function (or emergency data module) within the base station recognizes the emergency indicator. The emergency data is therefore sent on to a supporting server with the appropriate priority. The logical function co-located in the base station is a key 5 part of invention embodiments. It may simply take the form of an appropriately programmed processor linked to a memory. For example in the case of healthcare, the memory may store patient data such as a look-up table which relates emergency indicators to healthcare emergencies and required healthcare measurements for the patient. Alternatively or additionally the module may be operable to analyse the data 10 itself, with or without storage of patient-specific or other data.

Figure 8 shows an arrangement according to some invention embodiments. Sensor units (SU) may transmit wirelessly to a user equipment (UE). In preferred embodiments the transmission may be over Bluetooth or another short range wireless 15 transmission protocol such as Zigbee. The UE acts as a collector for measurements (or for data transmission relating to measurements) usually on a periodic basis.

Transmission to the base station is over a different network (referred to herein as a communications network). Transmission is wireless and is shown in the figure as 20 being to a local base station, for example a Home Node B or Home eNode B in 3GPP systems. The base station transmits to a supporting server for example over the internet in a fixed-line or wireless link.

Figure 9 shows a base station according to one embodiment of the invention. The 25 base station (or Home NodeB in 3GPP systems) receives a wireless emergency signal (and request for transmission) using receiver 10 which is sent on to an emergency data handling module 20. This module recognizes the emergency and allocates a bearer for transmission of the following emergency data. When the emergency data is received, it is passed to an output module 30. In the case of a Home eNodeB or Home 30 NodeB, the output is via a broadband fixed link. The emergency data handling module 20 may also send a request for follow-up data transmission to the UE. In this case the transmitter sends the follow-up request wirelessly to the UE.

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Figure 10 shows a UE, A UE may comprise two receivers 40, one for the communications network and the other for the BAN of embodiments of the present invention. Processor 50 and memory 60 are provided for the UE basic functions and also for the enhanced functionality relating to embodiments of the present invention.

5 For example the memory can hold patient data. The processor can use the patient data to recognize an emergency and thus send an emergency indicator. The UE may also comprise a communications network interface 70 and a BAN interface 80. A transmitter 90, 100 may be provided for each separate network.

10 In healthcare embodiments of the invention, healthcare monitoring devices may be body sensor units that monitor healthcare systems such as ECG, blood pressure, body temperature, body positioning (to monitor if the patient falls), etc. These body sensor units can form sensor nodes of a body area network (BAN). An emergency can be detected, for example if there is a sudden change in body position, or blood pressure or 15 if the body temperature is beyond certain threshold. The detection of emergency can also be configured, for example by healthcare providers, based on a patient's condition. It may take place at the sensor nodes or at the UE.

Figure 11 shows a body area network (BAN) with the UE employed as a collector or 20 hub.

In healthcare embodiments of the invention, the monitoring devices may be body sensor units that monitor ECG, blood pressure, body temperature, body positioning (to monitor if the patient falls), etc. These body sensor units can form a body area network 25 (BAN). An emergency can be detected, for example if there is a sudden change in body position, or blood pressure or body temperature is beyond certain threshold. The detection of emergency can also be configured, for example by healthcare providers, based on a patient's condition. It may take place at the UE or at the sensor nodes.

30 The UE, which may be a mobile phone (or other handheld telecommunications device) acts as a collector (hub or gateway) that delivers the measurements collected by the BAN to a remote healthcare server via a base station, and also delivers the instructions from the server to the BAN via the base station. The mobile phone has at least two interfaces: one is BAN related radio access interface (e.g. Zigbee or Bluetooth) to be

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connected to the BAN, and another, for example, is LTE or UMTS interface to be connected to the (3GPP) telecommunication network. In addition, the mobile phone may have a WiFi interface that allows it to be connected to a WLAN.

5 The triggering of follow-up measurements can be configured in the UE or in the base station. The actual request (trigger) is sent from the UE (as a BAN Hub) to the corresponding body sensors to initiate the measurements.

The initial "data" in the first UE message is an emergency indicator, used to request 10 radio resource for data transmission from the UE to the BS with high priority, for example based on the existing 3GPP standard. This can be done by using predefined/configured emergency numbers (by e.g. healthcare providers).Thus the data handling module does not merely send on data packets, but has the functionality to review the data and determine emergency data. The skilled reader will appreciate that 15 the majority of transmissions from the UE to the BS will have no emergency indication, and will be simple requests for bandwidth or transmission of healthcare data.

We now consider the efficient mechanism of invention embodiments to guarantee emergency data delivery with low latency and high reliability in home care (or other 20 remote care) scenarios. The preferred mechanism is structured as follows:

1) the user equipment marks the message with an indication of emergency; This can be achieved using a request for uplink resources including one or more pre-defined/configured emergency numbers (by e.g. healthcare

25 providers).

2) a logical function (the module), which can be co-located in a home base station:

- analyses the emergency indicator;

- associates the related healthcare measurements based on the patient's 30 condition/profile (e.g. heart monitoring, blood pressure, body temperature, etc.)

with the emergency event;

- allocates radio bearer(s) for the emergency data transmission with appropriate QCI and ARP

- and schedules the corresponding data packets with highest priority.

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3) the Healthcare server, upon receipt of emergency data, may trigger urgent actions immediately, which may include initial analysis of the received measurement so that the appropriate action and treatment can be sent to the patient's home.

5

The main innovation in this preferred mechanism is the logical function that handles the emergency data. Its description is as follows:

The collocated logical function in the home base station monitors the user data packets 10 received from the user equipment. When a data packet marked as emergency is received, the proposed emergency data handling scheme is triggered as shown in Figure 12.

In step S10 the logical function monitors the user data packets from the UEs. Normal 15 data is handled without using particular emergency priority. However if in step S11 an emergency mark is detected, the module takes action. In step S12 a module allocates a radio bearer with the highest priority for the emergency message. In step S13 it suspends other data traffic with low priority. In step S14 it checks if corresponding measurements have been triggered. If so in step S15 it allocates a radio bearer with a 20 highest priority for the measurement reports. If not, in step S16 it triggers the measurements and allocates the radio bearer with the highest priority from the reports.

Thus, when an emergency data packet is detected, the Emergency Data Handling Module may analyse and processes the associated emergency data via the following 25 specific procedure:

Instructs the corresponding functional module in the home base station (i.e. radio resource management functions with the best suitable radio access network) to allocates radio bearer for the emergency message delivery, with highest priority;

30

Instructs the corresponding functional module in the home base station (i.e. radio resource management functions) to suspend other data traffic with low priority if necessary so that the low latency and high reliability can be guaranteed for the emergency data delivery;

19

Checks if the corresponding measurements have been triggered (e.g. if there is a specific indication in the request for measurements delivery including the emergency indicator). This can be pre defined/configured by the health care providers)

If no, activate the measurements in the home network; and allocate radio bearer(s) with high priority for the reports delivery.

If yes, allocate radio bearer(s) with high priority for the measurements reports delivery.

20

Claims

1. A method of emergency data transmission over a communications network, the network including a user equipment and a base station with an emergency

5 data handling module, the method comprising:

the user equipment wirelessly transmitting an emergency indicator to the base station;

the emergency data handling module of the base station recognizing an emergency by associating the emergency indicator and related emergency data 10 with an emergency event;

the user equipment transmitting the related emergency data wirelessly to the base station with emergency priority based on the emergency event;

the base station transmitting the emergency indicator and the related emergency data to a server.

15

2. A method according to claim 1, wherein the user equipment transmits the emergency indicator as an uplink transmission request including the emergency indicator and requesting transmission of the emergency data.

20

3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the emergency indicator and/or the emergency data are transmitted from the base station to the server with emergency priority based on the emergency event.

4. A method according to claim any of the preceding claims, wherein the 25 emergency data handling module instructs one or more radio bearers for the emergency data with an emergency quality label and/or emergency scheduling label, and wherein the emergency data handling module optionally instructs scheduling of the data packets for transmission from the user equipment to the server.

30

5. A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the emergency data handling module instructs suspension of transmission of other data traffic having a lower priority than the emergency priority, and preferably wherein the emergency data handling module only instructs suspension if it is necessary to

21

guarantee delivery of the emergency data, or to guarantee delivery within an acceptable time and/or at an acceptable quality level.

6. A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the emergency 5 data is transmitted to the user equipment from a sensor unit, and preferably wherein the user equipment acts as a collector and the sensor unit acts as a node in a local sensing network, such as a body area network (BAN).

7. A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the emergency 10 data handling module checks if the emergency data triggers one or more follow-

up measurements, and optionally activates the follow-up measurements if necessary.

8. A method according to claim 7, wherein the emergency data handling 15 module allocates a bearer with a high priority for delivery of the follow-up measurements.

9. A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the base station provides a femtocell located in a remote sensing environment, and

20 preferably acts as a Home Node B in a 3GPP network or at Home eNode B in an LTE network.

10. A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein the base station includes a gateway function for direct access to a supporting server via

25 the internet.

11. A method according to any of the preceding claims, wherein a plurality of different types of emergency data are defined in the communications network and the emergency data handling module recognizes the data as emergency

30 data of a specific type and instructs transmission of the emergency data with an emergency priority matched to the type of emergency data.

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12. A communications network implementing a method of emergency data transmission, the network comprising a user equipment and a base station with an emergency data handling module, wherein:

the user equipment is operable to wirelessly transmit an emergency 5 indicator to the base station;

the emergency data handling module of the base station is operable to recognize an emergency by associating the emergency indicator and related emergency data with an emergency event;

the user equipment is operable to transmit the related emergency data 10 wirelessly to the base station with emergency priority based on the emergency event; and the base station is operable to transmit the emergency indicator and the related emergency data to a server.

15

13. A method of emergency data processing carried out in a base station within a communications network, the network comprising a user equipment and the base station, and the base station including an emergency data handling module, the method comprising:

wirelessly receiving an emergency indicator from the user equipment; 20 the emergency data handling module of the base station recognizing an emergency by associating the emergency indicator and related emergency data, with an emergency event;

wirelessly receiving the emergency data from the user equipment; and transmitting the emergency data with emergency priority based on the 25 emergency event to a server.

14. A base station implementing a method of emergency data processing within a communications network, the network comprising a user equipment and the base station, the base station comprising:

30 a receiver operable to receive an emergency indicator, and related emergency data from the user equipment;

an emergency data handling module operable to recognise an emergency by associating the emergency indicator and related emergency data with an emergency event;

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a transmitter operable to transmit the emergency data with emergency priority based on the emergency event to a server,

15, A user equipment method of emergency data transmission over a communications network, the network including the user equipment and a base station with an emergency data handling module, the method comprising:

receiving data from a medical device,

detecting that the data is emergency data,

wirelessly transmitting an emergency indicator related to the emergency data to the base station; and wirelessly transmitting the emergency data to the base station.

16. A user equipment implementing a method of emergency data transmission over a communications network, the network including the user equipment and a base station with an emergency data handling module, the user equipment comprising:

an inputter operable to input data from a sensing device,

a processor operable to detect that the data is emergency data,

a processor operable to generate an emergency indicator; and a transmitter operable to transmit the emergency indicator and the emergency data wirelessly to the base station.