Wireless emergency alert geofencing enhancements

Abstract

A base station receives an alert indicating a geofenced area, and determines whether its coverage area is completely within the area. If so, the base station generates/sends a wireless emergency alert (WEA) to user equipment in the coverage area that does not indicate the area. Otherwise, the base station generates/sends a WEA that indicates the area. The base station sends action messages that indicate a periodicity and end time for the user equipment to determine whether its location is within the geofenced area, a lack of service time limit and lack of service action for the user equipment to perform after it has been without cellular service for the lack of service time limit, a lack of location time limit and lack of location action for the user equipment to perform if its location cannot be determined for the lack of location time limit, and/or that the WEA has ended.

1 . A user equipment device, comprising:
 a receiver configured to:
 receive a wireless emergency alert, and 
 receive one or more action messages based on the wireless emergency alert, the one or more action messages comprising a lack of location time limit and a lack of location action; and 
   one or more processors coupled to the receiver and configured to:
 determine that the lack of location time limit has elapsed based on not determining a location of the user equipment, and 
 perform the lack of location action based on the lack of location time limit elapsing. 
   
     
     
         2 . The user equipment device of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more action messages comprise a wireless emergency alert identifier corresponding to the wireless emergency alert. 
     
     
         3 . The user equipment device of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more action messages comprise a first field comprising a tag indicating a type of the one or more action messages, a second field comprising a length of a value, and a third field comprising the value. 
     
     
         4 . The user equipment device of  claim 3 , wherein the value of the one or more action messages comprises a wireless emergency alert identifier, the lack of location time limit, and the lack of location action. 
     
     
         5 . The user equipment device of  claim 1 , wherein the receiver is configured to receive a system information block comprising a maximum wait time, and the lack of location time limit comprising the maximum wait time. 
     
     
         6 . The user equipment device of  claim 1 , wherein the lack of location action comprises displaying the wireless emergency alert. 
     
     
         7 . The user equipment device of  claim 1 , wherein the lack of location action is based on an implementation of the user equipment. 
     
     
         8 . The user equipment device of  claim 1 , wherein the one or more action messages conform to an Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) standard. 
     
     
         9 . A non-transitory, computer-readable medium, comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of user equipment, cause the one or more processors to:
 receive, via a receiver of the user equipment, one or more action messages associated with a wireless emergency alert, the one or more action messages comprising a lack of location time limit;   determine that the lack of location time limit has elapsed based on not determining a location of the user equipment; and   display, via a display of the user equipment, the wireless emergency alert based on the lack of location time limit elapsing.   
     
     
         10 . The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of  claim 9 , wherein the one or more action messages comprise a wireless emergency alert identifier corresponding to the wireless emergency alert. 
     
     
         11 . The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of  claim 9 , wherein the one or more action messages conform to an Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) standard. 
     
     
         12 . The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of  claim 9 , wherein the one or more action messages comprise a first field comprising a tag indicating a type of the one or more action messages, a second field comprising a length of a value, and a third field comprising the value. 
     
     
         13 . The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of  claim 12 , wherein the value of the one or more action messages comprises a wireless emergency alert identifier and the lack of location time limit. 
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory, computer-readable medium of  claim 9 , wherein the instructions are configured to cause the one or more processors to receive, via the receiver of the user equipment, a system information block comprising a maximum wait time, and the lack of location time limit comprising the maximum wait time. 
     
     
         15 . A method performed by user equipment, comprising:
 receiving, via a receiver of the user equipment, a wireless emergency alert;   receiving, via the receiver of the user equipment, one or more action messages based on the wireless emergency alert, the one or more action messages comprising
 a periodicity indicative of a frequency, and 
 an indication to end the wireless emergency alert, the indication comprising an end time to stop determining whether the user equipment is within a geofenced area; and 
   ending processing of the wireless emergency alert based on the end time elapsing.   
     
     
         16 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the geofenced area comprises latitude and longitude coordinates. 
     
     
         17 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the one or more action messages conforms to an Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions (ATIS) Wireless Emergency Alert (WEA) standard. 
     
     
         18 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the one or more action messages comprise a wireless emergency alert identifier corresponding to the wireless emergency alert. 
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 15 , wherein the one or more action messages comprise a first field comprising a tag indicating a type of the one or more action messages, a second field comprising a length of a value, and a third field comprising the value. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 19 , wherein the value comprises a wireless emergency alert identifier, the periodicity, and the indication to end the wireless emergency alert.