Mobile initiated priority access solutions for cellular networks

The rapid growth of wireless communication networks has provided subscribers with economical, and nearly ubiquitous, wireless access throughout the world. As a result, not only individual subscribers but also subscribers in government and public organizations have become dependent on commercial wireless services to perform their duties. With this said, commercial wireless services have become a more cost-effective means to assist national security and emergency preparedness as compared to the costly development of a private network. Sharing with commercial wireless services, however, could result in the blocking of security or emergency calls during or after a disaster when heavy traffic demand is placed on the surviving systems. We discuss enhancements to the mobile stations that make user initiated priority access possible. These enhancements can operate with or without the priority access provisioned in current or ongoing standards, and the additional complexity they impose is very marginal. With the combination of these enhancements, different levels of emergency call service can be provided to guarantee the success of emergency calls and shorten their setup time.