PERMITTING DIRECT MODE COMMUNICATIONS FOR PUBLIC SAFETY ONLY IN CERTAIN GEOGRAPHICAL AREAS

摘要

The application relates to wireless communication terminals which can, in addition to conventional communication via the network, communicate directly with other terminals without network involvement. This kind of communication is referred to as device-to-device D2D communication or one of mobile-to-mobile, machine-to-machine, terminal-to-terminal, peer-to-peer, direct mode. However, for this type of communication, misuse is an issue. For example a public safety network may permit D2D communication to operate in an area following a natural or other incident where the controlling network entity loses coverage. However this permission to allow device to device communication without the controlling entity can lead to users of D2D apparatus such as public safety communications devices configured for use in a first region being able to perform device to device communications in a second region in licensed bands that are illegal or not permitted. Furthermore, each device should be configured to setup ad hoc network using D2D only in those areas where the licence bands can be used legally by the device. Therefore, each device determines its position (403) and blocks D2D operation (408) when outside of a geographical area to which it was configured.