WO2017091115A1 - Method and control node for configuring carrier aggregation for a wireless device - Google Patents

Method and control node for configuring carrier aggregation for a wireless device Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2017091115A1
WO2017091115A1 PCT/SE2015/051260 SE2015051260W WO2017091115A1 WO 2017091115 A1 WO2017091115 A1 WO 2017091115A1 SE 2015051260 W SE2015051260 W SE 2015051260W WO 2017091115 A1 WO2017091115 A1 WO 2017091115A1
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
data flow
control node
radio communication
carriers
flow
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PCT/SE2015/051260
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Steven Corroy
Jing Fu
Martin Isaksson
Eric ANDERSSON
Tor Kvernvik
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Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)
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Priority to PCT/SE2015/051260 priority Critical patent/WO2017091115A1/en
Publication of WO2017091115A1 publication Critical patent/WO2017091115A1/en

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Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L5/00—Arrangements affording multiple use of the transmission path
    • H04L5/0001—Arrangements for dividing the transmission path
    • H04L5/0003—Two-dimensional division
    • H04L5/0005—Time-frequency
    • H04L5/0007—Time-frequency the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT
    • H04L5/001—Time-frequency the frequencies being orthogonal, e.g. OFDM(A), DMT the frequencies being arranged in component carriers
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L5/00—Arrangements affording multiple use of the transmission path
    • H04L5/003—Arrangements for allocating sub-channels of the transmission path
    • H04L5/0058—Allocation criteria
    • H04L5/0064—Rate requirement of the data, e.g. scalable bandwidth, data priority
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L5/00—Arrangements affording multiple use of the transmission path
    • H04L5/003—Arrangements for allocating sub-channels of the transmission path
    • H04L5/0078—Timing of allocation
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W28/00—Network traffic management; Network resource management
    • H04W28/16—Central resource management; Negotiation of resources or communication parameters, e.g. negotiating bandwidth or QoS [Quality of Service]
    • H04W28/18—Negotiating wireless communication parameters
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W72/00—Local resource management
    • H04W72/04—Wireless resource allocation
    • H04W72/044—Wireless resource allocation based on the type of the allocated resource
    • H04W72/0453—Resources in frequency domain, e.g. a carrier in FDMA

Definitions

  • the present disclosure relates generally to a method and a control node, for configuring carrier aggregation to be applied in radio communication of a data flow between a wireless device and a serving network node.
  • radio networks also referred to as wireless, cellular or mobile networks
  • wireless, cellular or mobile networks are constantly improved to provide better capacity, quality and coverage to meet the demands from users of increasingly advanced services and terminals, such as smartphones and tablets, which often require considerable amounts of bandwidth and resources for data transport in the networks. Therefore, it is often a challenge to achieve good performance, e.g. in terms of high data throughput, large data volumes, low latency and low rate of dropped or lost data, in the radio
  • wireless device is used to represent any combination
  • radio communication entity capable of radio communication with a radio network by sending and receiving radio signals, such as e.g. mobile telephones, tablets, laptop computers and so-called Machine-to-Machine, M2M, devices.
  • radio signals such as e.g. mobile telephones, tablets, laptop computers and so-called Machine-to-Machine, M2M, devices.
  • M2M Machine-to-Machine
  • UE User Equipment
  • network node is used herein to represent any node of a radio network that is operative to communicate radio signals with wireless devices, or to control some network entity having radio equipment for receiving/transmitting the radio signals.
  • the network node in this disclosure could also be referred to as a base station, radio node, e-NodeB, eNB, NB, base transceiver station, access point, etc., depending on the type of network and terminology used.
  • various radio network features can be employed to make the radio communication more efficient.
  • a feature called Carrier Aggregation, CA may be used for increasing data throughput and/or performance, as defined by the third Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP.
  • the feature of carrier aggregation discussed herein is not limited to LTE networks and it may be employed also in other types of radio networks and technologies for radio communication whenever applicable.
  • carrier aggregation multiple carriers are used simultaneously in radio communication with a wireless device, which will be briefly outlined below.
  • a network node In carrier aggregation, a network node is thus able to communicate radio signals with a wireless device simultaneously over two or more different carriers or frequencies, commonly referred to as Component Carriers, CC, which may correspond to multiple cells serving the wireless device, which is illustrated by an example in Fig. 1 .
  • a network node 100 sends downlink signals to a wireless device 102 over three different component carriers CC1 , CC2 and CC3 which in turn provide coverage in three corresponding cells 1 -3.
  • any number of carriers may be employed in carrier aggregation.
  • carrier aggregation may be employed for both uplink and downlink communication and the following description is valid for communications involving uplink or downlink or both.
  • Pcell Primary cell
  • Scell 1 Secondary cells
  • Scell 2 Secondary cells
  • Scell 3 Secondary cells
  • a Pcell is defined as the "main" cell serving the wireless device such that both data and control signaling can be transmitted over the Pcell
  • an Scell is defined as a supplementary cell that is typically used for transmitting data only, the Scell thus adding extra bandwidth to enable greater data throughput.
  • Carrier aggregation may thus be used in radio communication between a wireless device and a serving network node to provide higher bitrates and greater data throughput, as compared to using a single carrier.
  • Carrier aggregation can be used both for uplink communication and for downlink communication. Further, it is possible to configure a wireless device to aggregate a different number of carriers in the uplink than in the downlink, still originating from the same network node, thus enabling different bandwidths and bitrates in uplink and downlink.
  • the maximum number of downlink carriers that can be configured for a wireless device depends on the downlink aggregation capability of the device.
  • the maximum number of uplink carriers that can be configured depends on the uplink aggregation capability of the device which may be different than the downlink aggregation capability.
  • a maximum of 5 carriers is supported in a typical 3GPP radio network which provides an aggregated bandwidth of 100 MHz.
  • carrier aggregation with multiple carriers may be used in communications where fewer carriers, e.g. just one carrier, might be sufficient, at least sometimes.
  • the need for bandwidth may vary greatly over time during a radio communication of a data flow between a wireless device and a serving network node.
  • harmful interference may be generated by excessive usage of multiple carriers in carrier aggregation which could thus generally deteriorate capacity and
  • a method for configuring carrier aggregation to be applied in radio communication of a data flow between a wireless device and a serving network node.
  • flow characteristics related to the radio communication are predicted, e.g. by using a machine learning algorithm comprising a training phase in which information about the data flow is collected during an initial period of the flow and an execution phase in which the flow characteristics are predicted based on the flow information.
  • characteristics comprise at least one of a predicted data flow volume and a predicted data flow length. Then, a number of carriers is decided for the radio communication depending on at least one of: whether the predicted data flow volume is above or below a predefined volume threshold, and whether the predicted data flow length is above or below a predefined length threshold. Further, the serving network node is configured to apply said number of carriers in the radio communication. It is an advantage of this procedure that the number of carriers can thereby be decided such that when one or both of the above thresholds are exceeded, a higher number of carriers will be used than when they are not exceeded. It is thus an advantage of this solution that the number of carriers in the radio
  • communication can be more or less optimized to properly support the data flow without wasting radio resources in vain.
  • a control node is arranged to configure carrier aggregation to be applied in radio communication of a data flow between a wireless device and a serving network node.
  • the control node is configured to predict flow characteristics related to the radio communication, the flow
  • the control node is further configured to decide a number of carriers for the radio communication depending on at least one of: whether the predicted data flow volume is above or below a predefined volume threshold, and whether the predicted data flow length is above or below a predefined length threshold.
  • the control node is also configured to configure the serving network node to apply said number of carriers in the radio communication.
  • a computer program storage product comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor in the control node, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method described above for the control node.
  • Fig. 1 illustrates a communication scenario as an example of how carrier aggregation can be used for downlink communication, according to the prior art.
  • Fig. 2 illustrates schematically an example of a communication scenario where the solution may be employed, according to some possible embodiments.
  • Fig. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a procedure for configuring carrier aggregation to be applied in a radio communication, according to further possible embodiments.
  • Fig. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a more detailed example of a procedure for configuring carrier aggregation, according to further possible embodiments.
  • Figs 5-7 illustrates various examples of how the number of carriers may be decided for a radio communication, according to further possible embodiments.
  • Fig. 8 is a block diagram illustrating how a control node may be structured and configured, according to further possible embodiments.
  • Fig. 9 illustrates schematically an example of an operational flow when the solution is employed, according to further possible embodiments.
  • Fig. 10 illustrates schematically an example of how flow information may be collected for three wireless devices UE1 -UE3, according to further possible embodiments. Detailed description
  • a solution is provided to enable usage of carrier aggregation in a radio communication of a data flow in an appropriate manner to suit the radio communication so that the number of carriers used is sufficient to support the data flow without being higher than necessary so as to avoid waste of radio resources.
  • This can be accomplished by predicting certain flow characteristics related to the radio communication in terms of a data flow volume or a data flow length or both, e.g. by using a machine learning mechanism. This prediction of flow
  • the predicted flow characteristics can be made based on information about the data flow which can be collected during the radio communication.
  • the predicted flow characteristics basically provide an indication of what bandwidth, e.g. to enable a required bitrate, will be needed in the radio communication, and for how long.
  • the number of carriers to be used in the radio communication is then decided depending on at least one of: whether a predicted data flow volume is above or below a predefined volume threshold, and whether a predicted data flow length is above or below a predefined length threshold. Generally, this decision can be made such that when one or both of the above thresholds are exceeded a higher number of carriers will be used than when they are not exceeded. It is thus an advantage of this solution that the number of carriers in the radio communication can be more or less optimized to properly support the data flow without wasting radio resources in vain.
  • a default number of carriers e.g. two carriers, may be used immediately from the start of the radio communication and during a first evaluation of the data flow until a first prediction of flow characteristics has been attained and the number of carriers has been decided according to various embodiments to be described below.
  • the predefined volume and length thresholds may be set to provide a suitable, or even optimal, choice of number of carriers.
  • FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a communication scenario where the solution can be employed for configuring carrier aggregation for use in a radio communication 204 of a data flow between a wireless device 200 and a serving network node 202 that may belong to a radio network, not shown.
  • a control node 206 is also shown which may be implemented as a node
  • control node 206 may also be implemented in a schematically illustrated "cloud" environment 208 comprising various shared resources for processing and storing of data and information. In such a cloud environment, any processing and storing resources can be hired temporarily in a manner well-known in this field.
  • the control node 206 may be a physical node or a "virtual" node with its functionality distributed over multiple resources, e.g. in the cloud, and the solution is not limited in this respect. The embodiments of this solution are thus described herein as residing in a control node for simplicity.
  • a first operation 2:1 illustrates that a default number of carriers is/are initially activated for use when starting the communication, as explained above. This initial activation of one or more default carriers may be executed by the control node 206 or by the serving network node 202.
  • a next operation 2:2 illustrates that the control node 206 collects various information related to the data flow, which will be referred to as "flow information" herein.
  • the flow information may be collected from the serving network node 202 and some examples of such information will be described later below.
  • the flow information is indicative of at least one of a volume of the data flow and a length, i.e. total duration, of the data flow.
  • This operation can be seen as a first stage of collecting flow information in the procedure.
  • other information may also be collected or obtained that may influence the choice of carriers, such as capabilities of the wireless device and how many carriers are currently available for the device which are however outside the scope of this solution. It is a regular procedure in carrier aggregation to consider the latter two aspects which are thus not necessary to describe herein.
  • the control node 206 predicts flow characteristics related to the radio communication based on the collected flow information.
  • the flow characteristics comprises at least one of a predicted data flow volume and a predicted data flow length.
  • the prediction of flow characteristics may be performed by means of a machine learning algorithm using the flow information as a basis, which will be described in more detail later below.
  • This operation can be seen as a second stage in the procedure when flow characteristics are predicted which is done after the flow information has been collected for a preset duration of the radio communication.
  • Another operation 2:4 illustrates that the control node 206 then decides how many carriers to use for the radio communication depending on at least one of the predicted data flow volume and data flow length. More specifically, the choice of number of carriers is dependent on whether the predicted data flow volume is above or below a predefined volume threshold, and/or whether the predicted data flow length is above or below a predefined length threshold.
  • This operation can be seen as a third stage in the procedure when the number of carriers is decided for the radio communication.
  • the volume and length thresholds may be set, e.g. by fine-tuning them over time, to provide a suitable, or even optimal, choice of number of carriers.
  • control node 206 finally configures the serving network node 202 to apply the chosen number of carriers in the radio
  • This operation can be seen as a fourth stage in the procedure when the carriers are activated for use in the radio communication.
  • the number of carriers in the radio communication can be more or less optimized to properly support the data flow without wasting radio resources in vain.
  • the above procedure involving operations 2: 1 - 2:4 may be repeated any number of times in order to update the prediction of flow characteristics, which may change during the ongoing radio communication, and also the choice of how many carriers to use. This way, it is possible to constantly adapt the number of carriers to changing conditions, and the basis for prediction, i.e. the collected flow information, will also be more substantial and reliable over time.
  • An action 300 illustrates that the control node predicts flow characteristics related to the radio communication, the flow characteristics comprising at least one of a predicted data flow volume and a predicted data flow length. This action corresponds to operation 2:2 above. Before making this prediction, it is assumed that the control node has access to some information about the data flow that has been collected e.g. during an initial preset duration of the radio communication which may, without limitation, be in the range of 0.1 - 1 second. It is further assumed that a default number of carriers has been activated at the start and is used during the initial collection of flow information, as explained above.
  • An optional action 302 illustrates that the control node may also determine a classification of the data flow, to be described in more detail later below.
  • the control node decides a number of carriers for the radio
  • a final action 306 illustrates that the control node configures the serving network node to apply said number of carriers in the radio communication.
  • the prediction of the flow characteristics in action 300 may be performed based on flow information collected during a preset duration, Tobservation , of the radio communication.
  • the flow information may comprise at least one of the following flow parameters: - The number of communicated bytes or data packets.
  • Tobservation , i can be predicted that the data flow volume will be correspondingly high, and vice versa.
  • This parameter may further be valid for uplink communication, or for downlink communication, or for both uplink and downlink communication.
  • Packet Inter Arrival Time which is a parameter indicating the time between consecutive packets in the data flow.
  • This parameter may be specified as an average value, possibly also adding a standard deviation value.
  • a short Packet Inter Arrival Time may thus indicate a high data flow volume, and vice versa.
  • this parameter may likewise be valid for uplink communication, or for downlink communication, or for both uplink and downlink communication.
  • the standard deviation of Packet Inter Arrival Time is effectively an indication of how "bursty" the flow is.
  • a high value indicates a bursty flow and vice versa.
  • the time since the latest data packet was communicated. This parameter may indicate whether the data flow is currently active or in a resting phase. A high value can be seen as an indication that the flow has already been terminated.
  • the number of active radio bearers used in the radio communication which may be indicative of the bandwidth and bitrate needed.
  • One or more protocols used in the radio communication which may likewise be indicative of the bandwidth and bitrate needed.
  • the protocols used may implicitly indicate what type of application that is used which in turn indicates the required bandwidth and/or expected session duration.
  • the type of application used for uplink communication or downlink communication which may likewise be indicative of the bandwidth and bitrate needed, as explained above. This may also indicate the expected total duration and "behaviour" of the communication.
  • the flow characteristics may be predicted by using a machine learning algorithm comprising a training phase in which the flow information is collected and an execution phase in which the flow characteristics are predicted based on the flow information. For example, any of the above parameters may be collected as flow information during the training phase which may be referred to as the "observation time".
  • the training phase may be executed either online or offline or both. If offline training is employed, the above parameters and features may be recorded by a network node when serving multiple wireless devices over a period of time.
  • the results, or "ground truth”, may be obtained by recording the direction, time and amount of communicated bytes or number of packets for each device from the time the device becomes connected to the network until it enters idle state and the communication is completed.
  • the recorded parameters and features for each data flow with the corresponding ground truth are then used to create a machine learning model.
  • a machine learning model There are several different algorithms available that can be used to create the machine learning model, such as for example logistic regression, neural networks, SVM, gradient boosting or decision tree, and random forest. The choice of machine learning algorithm is thus optional in this solution.
  • an algorithm that may be used for training is Random Forest with 50 trees.
  • a series of models are built, one for each possible combination of predefined thresholds in lists of thresholds denoted for data flow volume and tachi ⁇ 3 ⁇ 4 for data flow length.
  • the threshold lists could e.g. be:
  • This training procedure could thus be performed offline using the same machine learning models for all devices, but in reality a model could also be built online during a specific radio communication using unique models in real time for the respective wireless device. This training procedure can be repeated when the models needs to be updated.
  • the flow characteristics may be predicted for uplink communication and/or downlink communication separately. This means that the flow characteristics may be predicted for uplink communication only, or for downlink communication only, or for both uplink and downlink communication. To predict the flow characteristics, one or more of the above-mentioned flow
  • the prediction of flow characteristics may be repeated at regular intervals or continuously as long as the wireless device is connected to the network node, and wherein deciding a number of carriers for the radio communication is repeated based on the latest predicted flow characteristics.
  • the prediction of flow characteristics may thus be performed any number of times throughout the radio communication, e.g. to obtain flow characteristics that are adapted to changing conditions, and also using an increasingly substantial and reliable basis for the prediction which is the flow information being collected since the communication was started.
  • the classification of the data flow may be determined based on whether the predicted data flow volume is above or below the volume threshold, and/or whether the predicted data flow length is above or below the length threshold, and the number of carriers may be decided based on the above classification.
  • the classification of the data flow may in this case be determined based on multiple predefined volume thresholds and/or multiple predefined length thresholds. Some examples of how such thresholds may be configured and employed will be described later below with reference to Figs 5-7.
  • the number of carriers decided for the radio communication when the predicted data flow volume is above the volume threshold, and/or when the predicted data flow length is above the length threshold may be higher than when the predicted data flow volume is below the volume threshold, and/or when the predicted data flow length is below the length threshold.
  • a preset number of carriers can be initially applied in the radio communication as a default, e.g. during the above- mentioned preset duration or observation time Tobservation , before deciding the number of carriers for the radio communication.
  • the preset number of carriers may be one or two carriers to be increased once the above-described prediction has been made in action 300 and used for deciding the number of carriers in action 304.
  • the data flow may comprise user plane traffic when the wireless device is in Radio Resource Control, RRC, connected mode.
  • RRC Radio Resource Control
  • the above-described actions 300-306 may be performed by a control node which is connected to the serving network node or implemented in the serving network node.
  • the control node is implemented in a cloud environment, which was shown in Fig. 2.
  • a more detailed example of how the procedure in Fig. 3 may be executed when put into practice, will now be described with reference to the flow chart in Fig. 4 comprising actions that may be performed by a control node or the equivalent.
  • one or more thresholds are used for deciding the number of carriers to use. It is further assumed that one or more carriers are already used in the radio communication during the initial observation phase, e.g. one or two carriers as default.
  • a first action 400 illustrates that a default number of carriers is activated at the start for use during the initial collection of flow information.
  • flow information is collected during the initial observation phase, and some examples of flow information have been described above.
  • flow characteristics are predicted which may be performed in the manner described for action 300. It was mentioned that the flow characteristics comprise at least one of a predicted data flow volume and a predicted data flow length.
  • a next action 406 illustrates that it is determined whether the predicted flow characteristics are above a threshold or not.
  • a threshold should be understood as at least one threshold which may include one or more of the above-mentioned volume and length thresholds. It was further mentioned above that multiple predefined volume thresholds and/or multiple predefined length thresholds may be used in this procedure. If it is found in action 406 that the data flow volume or the data flow length is above a corresponding volume or length threshold, respectively, a carrier is added to the already used carrier(s), in an action 408. If the volume or length threshold is not exceeded in action 406, the process may return to action 402 for collecting further flow information and repeat action 404 and 406 after another observation time or periodically.
  • the volume or length threshold is also changed for use in a later decision when a longer, i.e. extended, observation period has passed.
  • the volume or length threshold may be increased so that if the data flow volume or the data flow length is above the increased volume or length threshold after the extended observation period, another carrier may be added. In this way, the number of carriers may thus be gradually increased by adding one carrier at the time.
  • action 408 it may be checked in another action 410 whether there is still a connection between the wireless device and the serving network node, i.e.
  • the process may return to action 402 for collecting further flow information and repeat action 404 and 406 after another observation time or period. If not, the process ends in a final action 412.
  • volume and length thresholds may be set, e.g. by fine-tuning them over time, to provide a suitable, or even optimal, choice of number of carriers.
  • This fine-tuning of the volume and length thresholds may for example be done by using so-called "reinforcement learning”.
  • Fig. 5 is table illustrating a first example of how volume and length thresholds may be configured and used in the above- described procedure for deciding the number of carriers. This table may be applied in practice such that the indicated carriers is chosen when at least one of the thresholds is exceeded or when both thresholds are exceeded.
  • Fig. 5 can also be seen as an example of determining a classification of the data flow based on multiple predefined volume thresholds and/or multiple predefined length thresholds.
  • Fig. 6 is a diagram that illustrates a second example of using volume and length thresholds. It also provides an example of determining a classification of a data flow based on a single volume threshold Th1 and a single length threshold Th2.
  • the data flow is classified as "Short time + small volume” which results in choosing 2 carriers, here denoted “CCs”, which may have been used so far as a default number during the observation time or period. If one of the data flow volume and the data flow length is above its corresponding threshold Th1 or Th2, the data flow is classified as "Short time + large volume” or “Long time + small volume”, respectively, which results in choosing 3 carriers. Finally, If both of the data flow volume and the data flow length are above their corresponding thresholds Th1 and Th2, the data flow is classified as "Long time + large volume” which results in choosing 4 carriers.
  • Fig. 7 is another diagram that illustrates a third example of using volume and length thresholds.
  • the data flow volume has a greater influence on the number of carriers than the data flow length by employing three volume thresholds
  • Th1 -1 , Th1 -2 and Th1 -3, and only one length threshold Th2-1 The figure indicates how different combinations of data flow volume and data flow length result in different choices of number of carriers.
  • any number of thresholds may be employed when choosing the number of carriers and the solution is not limited in this respect.
  • decisions for adding a carrier e.g. after initially using only one or two carriers, may be taken based on the outcome of the prediction for the different thresholds.
  • the decision of carriers can be performed directly based on all thresholds after some observation time ⁇ of data collection. The decision may also be done sequentially, i.e. by letting T obaervati09lt increase between each prediction and make stepwise decisions, thus allowing for more observation and better predictions.
  • the block diagram in Fig. 8 illustrates a detailed but non-limiting example of how a control node 800 may be structured to bring about the above-described solution and embodiments thereof.
  • the control node 800 may be configured to operate according to any of the examples and embodiments of employing the solution as described above, where appropriate, and as follows.
  • the control node 800 is shown to comprise a processor "P", a memory “M” and a communication circuit "C" with suitable equipment for transmitting and receiving radio signals in the manner described herein.
  • the communication circuit C in the control node 800 comprises equipment configured for communication with one or more network nodes 804 e.g. over suitable radio interfaces using a suitable protocol for radio communication depending on the implementation. This communication may be performed over communication links of a core network or the like.
  • the solution is however not limited to any specific types of networks, communication technology or protocols.
  • the control node 800 comprises means configured or arranged to perform at least some of the actions 300-306 and 400-412 of the flow charts in Figs 3 and 4, respectively.
  • the control node 800 is arranged to configure carrier aggregation to be applied in radio communication of a data flow between a wireless device 802 and a serving network node 804.
  • the control node 800 may thus comprise the processor P and the memory M, said memory comprising instructions executable by said processor, whereby the control node 800 may be operative as follows.
  • the control node 800 may be configured to collect flow information related to the data flow. This operation may be performed by a collecting module 800A in the control node 800, e.g. in the manner described for action 402 above.
  • the control node 800 is further configured to predict flow characteristics related to the radio communication, the flow characteristics comprising at least one of a predicted data flow volume and a predicted data flow length. This predicting operation may be performed by a predicting module 800B in the control node 800, e.g. as in actions 300 and 404 above.
  • the control node 800 is also configured to decide a number of carriers for the radio communication depending on at least one of: whether the predicted data flow volume is above or below a predefined volume threshold, and whether the predicted data flow length is above or below a predefined length threshold. This decision operation may be performed by a deciding module 800C in the control node 800, e.g. as described for any of actions 304 and 406 above.
  • the control node 800 is further configured to configure the serving network node 804 to apply said number of carriers in the radio communication. This operation may be performed by a configuring module 800D in the control node 800, e.g. as in action 306 above.
  • Fig. 8 illustrates various functional modules in the control node 800, and the skilled person is able to implement these functional modules in practice using suitable software and hardware.
  • the solution is generally not limited to the shown structures of the control node 800, and the functional units 800A-D therein may be configured to operate according to any of the features and embodiments described in this disclosure, where appropriate.
  • the functional units 800A-D described above can be implemented in the control node 800 by means of program modules of a computer program comprising code means which, when run by the processor P causes the control node 800 to perform the above-described actions and procedures.
  • the processor P may comprise a single Central Processing Unit (CPU), or could comprise two or more processing units.
  • the processor P may include a general purpose microprocessor, an instruction set processor and/or related chips sets and/or a special purpose microprocessor such as an Application Specific Integrated Circuit
  • the processor P may also comprise a storage for caching purposes.
  • Each computer program may be carried by a computer program product in the control node 800 in the form of a memory having a computer readable medium and being connected to the processor P.
  • the computer program product or memory M in the control node 800 thus comprises a computer readable medium on which the computer program is stored e.g. in the form of computer program modules or the like.
  • the memory M may be a flash memory, a Random-Access Memory (RAM), a Read-Only Memory (ROM), an Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM) or hard drive storage (HDD), and the program modules could in alternative embodiments be distributed on different computer program products in the form of memories within the control node 800.
  • control node 800 may be implemented in the control node 800 by means of a computer program storage product comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions according to any of the above embodiments, where appropriate.
  • Fig. 9 illustrates another example of a procedure for configuring carrier
  • aggregation for a radio communication between a wireless device and a serving network node which involves the above-described four stages applied for both uplink communication illustrated on top of the figure and downlink communication illustrated below the uplink case in the figure.
  • the process thus involves an input stage 900 where flow information is collected as a basis for predicting flow characteristics, which may last for a preset duration, Tobservation , of the radio communication before moving to the next stage.
  • this stage 900 it is also shown that capabilities of the wireless device, "UE capabilities" and information on available carriers, "configured Scells" are collected in this example to provide further basis for the prediction.
  • a prediction stage 902 illustrates that the predicting of flow characteristics is performed based on the collected flow information, here indicated as "session length prediction (volume and time)" which may include predicting data flow volume or data flow length, or both.
  • a next decision stage 904 illustrates that the number of carriers to use in the communication is decided by comparing at least one of the predicted data flow volume and the predicted data flow length with one or more thresholds 1 , 2... n.
  • a final configuration stage 906 illustrates configuring of the serving network node to apply carrier aggregation with the decided number of carriers in the radio communication.
  • this stage 900 it is also shown that one or more features x may be activated, and that one or more parameters y may be set for use in the communication.
  • the parameters y may include various radio related parameters such as identification of the carriers, power settings, modulation and encoding schemes, and so forth.
  • Fig. 10 illustrates how a data flow may vary over time in radio communications for three different wireless devices, respectively, which are denoted UE1 , UE2 and UE3. All three communications comprise data flows in both uplink and downlink. A classification of the data flows is also indicated in the figure. Data transmission is schematically indicated by "bubble-like" symbols. In this case, the initial observation time 1000 is 5 seconds which is gradually extended for updating the prediction of flow characteristics and choice of carriers.
  • the session length 1002 is relatively short and that the data traffic is quite intense, and its data flow is therefore classified as "Short and heavy”.
  • the session length will be much longer while a relatively short packet Inter Arrival Time 1004 indicates that the data traffic is quite intense, and its data flow is consequently classified as "Long and heavy”.
  • the session length 1002 is short and the time since last packet arrival 1006 is relatively long, and its data flow can therefore be classified as "Short and light”.
  • control node wireless device
  • network node network node
  • carrier data flow
  • flow characteristics data flow volume
  • data flow length data flow length
  • flow information machine learning algorithm

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Abstract

A method and a control node (206) for configuring carrier aggregation to be applied in radio communication (204) of a data flow between a wireless device (202) and a serving network node (200). Flow characteristics (2:1) comprising data flow volume and/or data flow length of the radio communication are predicted (2:2) and a number of carriers is decided (2:2) for the radio communication depending on whether the predicted data flow volume is above or below a predefined volume threshold, and/or whether the predicted data flow length is above or below a predefined length threshold. The serving network node (200) then applies said number of carriers in the radio communication. The flow characteristics may be predicted by using a machine learning algorithm comprising a training phase in which information about the data flow is collected during an initial period of the flow and an execution phase in which the flow characteristics are predicted based on the flow information. Thereby, the choice of number of carriers can be more accurate and suitable for the radio communication.

Description

METHOD AND CONTROL NODE FOR CONFIGURING CARRIER
AGGREGATION FOR A WIRELESS DEVICE
Technical field
The present disclosure relates generally to a method and a control node, for configuring carrier aggregation to be applied in radio communication of a data flow between a wireless device and a serving network node.
Background
In recent years, different types of radio networks have been developed to provide radio communication for various wireless terminals in different areas such as cells. The radio networks, also referred to as wireless, cellular or mobile networks, are constantly improved to provide better capacity, quality and coverage to meet the demands from users of increasingly advanced services and terminals, such as smartphones and tablets, which often require considerable amounts of bandwidth and resources for data transport in the networks. Therefore, it is often a challenge to achieve good performance, e.g. in terms of high data throughput, large data volumes, low latency and low rate of dropped or lost data, in the radio
communication between network nodes in the radio network and various wireless devices connected to the network nodes.
In this disclosure, the term "wireless device" is used to represent any
communication entity capable of radio communication with a radio network by sending and receiving radio signals, such as e.g. mobile telephones, tablets, laptop computers and so-called Machine-to-Machine, M2M, devices. Another common generic term in this field is "User Equipment, UE" which could also be used instead of wireless device. Further, the term "network node", is used herein to represent any node of a radio network that is operative to communicate radio signals with wireless devices, or to control some network entity having radio equipment for receiving/transmitting the radio signals. The network node in this disclosure could also be referred to as a base station, radio node, e-NodeB, eNB, NB, base transceiver station, access point, etc., depending on the type of network and terminology used. In order to improve the performance and optimize the usage of radio resources in such radio communication, various radio network features can be employed to make the radio communication more efficient. In radio networks operating according to Long Term Evolution, LTE, a feature called Carrier Aggregation, CA, may be used for increasing data throughput and/or performance, as defined by the third Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP. However, the feature of carrier aggregation discussed herein is not limited to LTE networks and it may be employed also in other types of radio networks and technologies for radio communication whenever applicable. In carrier aggregation, multiple carriers are used simultaneously in radio communication with a wireless device, which will be briefly outlined below.
In carrier aggregation, a network node is thus able to communicate radio signals with a wireless device simultaneously over two or more different carriers or frequencies, commonly referred to as Component Carriers, CC, which may correspond to multiple cells serving the wireless device, which is illustrated by an example in Fig. 1 . In this example, a network node 100 sends downlink signals to a wireless device 102 over three different component carriers CC1 , CC2 and CC3 which in turn provide coverage in three corresponding cells 1 -3. It should be noted that any number of carriers may be employed in carrier aggregation. Further, carrier aggregation may be employed for both uplink and downlink communication and the following description is valid for communications involving uplink or downlink or both.
When serving the wireless device 102 with the carriers CC1 , CC2 and CC3, one of the cells is commonly appointed to act as a Primary cell, Pcell, in Fig. 1 denoted Pcell 1 which is served by a component carrier CC1. The other two cells are appointed to act as Secondary cells, Scells, denoted Scell 2 and Scell 3 which are served by further component carriers CC2 and CC3, respectively. In this field of technology, a Pcell is defined as the "main" cell serving the wireless device such that both data and control signaling can be transmitted over the Pcell, while an Scell is defined as a supplementary cell that is typically used for transmitting data only, the Scell thus adding extra bandwidth to enable greater data throughput. Carrier aggregation may thus be used in radio communication between a wireless device and a serving network node to provide higher bitrates and greater data throughput, as compared to using a single carrier. Carrier aggregation can be used both for uplink communication and for downlink communication. Further, it is possible to configure a wireless device to aggregate a different number of carriers in the uplink than in the downlink, still originating from the same network node, thus enabling different bandwidths and bitrates in uplink and downlink. The maximum number of downlink carriers that can be configured for a wireless device depends on the downlink aggregation capability of the device. Similarly, the maximum number of uplink carriers that can be configured depends on the uplink aggregation capability of the device which may be different than the downlink aggregation capability. Currently, a maximum of 5 carriers is supported in a typical 3GPP radio network which provides an aggregated bandwidth of 100 MHz.
Naturally, more radio resources are needed and consumed when using carrier aggregation as compared to using only one carrier, and it is a problem that carrier aggregation with multiple carriers may be used in communications where fewer carriers, e.g. just one carrier, might be sufficient, at least sometimes. The need for bandwidth may vary greatly over time during a radio communication of a data flow between a wireless device and a serving network node. Another problem is that harmful interference may be generated by excessive usage of multiple carriers in carrier aggregation which could thus generally deteriorate capacity and
performance in the network. It is also a problem that much power is consumed in the wireless devices when carrier aggregation is employed, such that their batteries may be drained rapidly. Summary
It is an object of embodiments described herein to address at least some of the problems and issues outlined above. It is possible to achieve this object and others by using a method and a control node as defined in the attached
independent claims. According to one aspect, a method is provided for configuring carrier aggregation to be applied in radio communication of a data flow between a wireless device and a serving network node. In this method, flow characteristics related to the radio communication are predicted, e.g. by using a machine learning algorithm comprising a training phase in which information about the data flow is collected during an initial period of the flow and an execution phase in which the flow characteristics are predicted based on the flow information. The flow
characteristics comprise at least one of a predicted data flow volume and a predicted data flow length. Then, a number of carriers is decided for the radio communication depending on at least one of: whether the predicted data flow volume is above or below a predefined volume threshold, and whether the predicted data flow length is above or below a predefined length threshold. Further, the serving network node is configured to apply said number of carriers in the radio communication. It is an advantage of this procedure that the number of carriers can thereby be decided such that when one or both of the above thresholds are exceeded, a higher number of carriers will be used than when they are not exceeded. It is thus an advantage of this solution that the number of carriers in the radio
communication can be more or less optimized to properly support the data flow without wasting radio resources in vain.
According to another aspect, a control node is arranged to configure carrier aggregation to be applied in radio communication of a data flow between a wireless device and a serving network node. The control node is configured to predict flow characteristics related to the radio communication, the flow
characteristics comprising at least one of a predicted data flow volume and a predicted data flow length. The control node is further configured to decide a number of carriers for the radio communication depending on at least one of: whether the predicted data flow volume is above or below a predefined volume threshold, and whether the predicted data flow length is above or below a predefined length threshold. The control node is also configured to configure the serving network node to apply said number of carriers in the radio communication. The above method and control node may be configured and implemented according to different optional embodiments to accomplish further features and benefits, to be described below.
A computer program storage product is also provided comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor in the control node, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method described above for the control node.
Brief description of drawings
The solution will now be described in more detail by means of exemplary embodiments and with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 illustrates a communication scenario as an example of how carrier aggregation can be used for downlink communication, according to the prior art.
Fig. 2 illustrates schematically an example of a communication scenario where the solution may be employed, according to some possible embodiments.
Fig. 3 is a flow chart illustrating a procedure for configuring carrier aggregation to be applied in a radio communication, according to further possible embodiments.
Fig. 4 is a flow chart illustrating a more detailed example of a procedure for configuring carrier aggregation, according to further possible embodiments.
Figs 5-7 illustrates various examples of how the number of carriers may be decided for a radio communication, according to further possible embodiments. Fig. 8 is a block diagram illustrating how a control node may be structured and configured, according to further possible embodiments.
Fig. 9 illustrates schematically an example of an operational flow when the solution is employed, according to further possible embodiments.
Fig. 10 illustrates schematically an example of how flow information may be collected for three wireless devices UE1 -UE3, according to further possible embodiments. Detailed description
Briefly described, a solution is provided to enable usage of carrier aggregation in a radio communication of a data flow in an appropriate manner to suit the radio communication so that the number of carriers used is sufficient to support the data flow without being higher than necessary so as to avoid waste of radio resources. This can be accomplished by predicting certain flow characteristics related to the radio communication in terms of a data flow volume or a data flow length or both, e.g. by using a machine learning mechanism. This prediction of flow
characteristics can be made based on information about the data flow which can be collected during the radio communication. The predicted flow characteristics basically provide an indication of what bandwidth, e.g. to enable a required bitrate, will be needed in the radio communication, and for how long.
The number of carriers to be used in the radio communication is then decided depending on at least one of: whether a predicted data flow volume is above or below a predefined volume threshold, and whether a predicted data flow length is above or below a predefined length threshold. Generally, this decision can be made such that when one or both of the above thresholds are exceeded a higher number of carriers will be used than when they are not exceeded. It is thus an advantage of this solution that the number of carriers in the radio communication can be more or less optimized to properly support the data flow without wasting radio resources in vain.
A default number of carriers, e.g. two carriers, may be used immediately from the start of the radio communication and during a first evaluation of the data flow until a first prediction of flow characteristics has been attained and the number of carriers has been decided according to various embodiments to be described below. The predefined volume and length thresholds may be set to provide a suitable, or even optimal, choice of number of carriers.
The solution will be described herein in terms of functionality and operations in a control node which is referred to here as a schematic and non-limiting
representation of one or more entities in which the solution may be implemented to achieve the embodiments herein. Fig. 2 illustrates an example of a communication scenario where the solution can be employed for configuring carrier aggregation for use in a radio communication 204 of a data flow between a wireless device 200 and a serving network node 202 that may belong to a radio network, not shown. A control node 206 is also shown which may be implemented as a node
connected to the serving network node 202, as shown in the figure, or it may be implemented in the serving network node 202 itself. Further, the control node 206 may also be implemented in a schematically illustrated "cloud" environment 208 comprising various shared resources for processing and storing of data and information. In such a cloud environment, any processing and storing resources can be hired temporarily in a manner well-known in this field. Hence, the control node 206 may be a physical node or a "virtual" node with its functionality distributed over multiple resources, e.g. in the cloud, and the solution is not limited in this respect. The embodiments of this solution are thus described herein as residing in a control node for simplicity.
A first operation 2:1 illustrates that a default number of carriers is/are initially activated for use when starting the communication, as explained above. This initial activation of one or more default carriers may be executed by the control node 206 or by the serving network node 202. Once the radio communication has started and a data flow is communicated, either in uplink or downlink or both, a next operation 2:2 illustrates that the control node 206 collects various information related to the data flow, which will be referred to as "flow information" herein. The flow information may be collected from the serving network node 202 and some examples of such information will be described later below. In general, the flow information is indicative of at least one of a volume of the data flow and a length, i.e. total duration, of the data flow. This operation can be seen as a first stage of collecting flow information in the procedure. In this stage, other information may also be collected or obtained that may influence the choice of carriers, such as capabilities of the wireless device and how many carriers are currently available for the device which are however outside the scope of this solution. It is a regular procedure in carrier aggregation to consider the latter two aspects which are thus not necessary to describe herein.
In a further operation 2:3, the control node 206 predicts flow characteristics related to the radio communication based on the collected flow information. The flow characteristics comprises at least one of a predicted data flow volume and a predicted data flow length. The prediction of flow characteristics may be performed by means of a machine learning algorithm using the flow information as a basis, which will be described in more detail later below. This operation can be seen as a second stage in the procedure when flow characteristics are predicted which is done after the flow information has been collected for a preset duration of the radio communication. Some examples of how flow information can be extracted from different data flows will also be described later below with reference to Fig. 10.
Another operation 2:4 illustrates that the control node 206 then decides how many carriers to use for the radio communication depending on at least one of the predicted data flow volume and data flow length. More specifically, the choice of number of carriers is dependent on whether the predicted data flow volume is above or below a predefined volume threshold, and/or whether the predicted data flow length is above or below a predefined length threshold. This operation can be seen as a third stage in the procedure when the number of carriers is decided for the radio communication. As mentioned above, The volume and length thresholds may be set, e.g. by fine-tuning them over time, to provide a suitable, or even optimal, choice of number of carriers.
In another operation 2:5, the control node 206 finally configures the serving network node 202 to apply the chosen number of carriers in the radio
communication. This operation can be seen as a fourth stage in the procedure when the carriers are activated for use in the radio communication. Thereby, the number of carriers in the radio communication can be more or less optimized to properly support the data flow without wasting radio resources in vain. The above procedure involving operations 2: 1 - 2:4 may be repeated any number of times in order to update the prediction of flow characteristics, which may change during the ongoing radio communication, and also the choice of how many carriers to use. This way, it is possible to constantly adapt the number of carriers to changing conditions, and the basis for prediction, i.e. the collected flow information, will also be more substantial and reliable over time.
An example of how the solution may be employed in terms of actions in a procedure for configuring carrier aggregation to be applied in radio communication of a data flow between a wireless device and a serving network node, will now be described with reference to the flow chart in Fig. 3. This procedure can thus be used to accomplish the functionality described above, and some possible but non- limiting embodiments will also be described herein. The following actions may be performed by a control node such as the control node 206 in Fig. 2, or the equivalent.
An action 300 illustrates that the control node predicts flow characteristics related to the radio communication, the flow characteristics comprising at least one of a predicted data flow volume and a predicted data flow length. This action corresponds to operation 2:2 above. Before making this prediction, it is assumed that the control node has access to some information about the data flow that has been collected e.g. during an initial preset duration of the radio communication which may, without limitation, be in the range of 0.1 - 1 second. It is further assumed that a default number of carriers has been activated at the start and is used during the initial collection of flow information, as explained above.
An optional action 302 illustrates that the control node may also determine a classification of the data flow, to be described in more detail later below. In a next action 304, the control node decides a number of carriers for the radio
communication depending on at least one of: whether the predicted data flow volume is above or below a predefined volume threshold, and whether the predicted data flow length is above or below a predefined length threshold. This action corresponds to operation 2:3 above. A final action 306 illustrates that the control node configures the serving network node to apply said number of carriers in the radio communication. In some possible embodiments, the prediction of the flow characteristics in action 300 may be performed based on flow information collected during a preset duration, Tobservation , of the radio communication. The flow information may comprise at least one of the following flow parameters: - The number of communicated bytes or data packets. For example, if a relatively high number of bytes or data packets have been communicated during the preset duration, Tobservation , i can be predicted that the data flow volume will be correspondingly high, and vice versa. This parameter may further be valid for uplink communication, or for downlink communication, or for both uplink and downlink communication.
- Packet Inter Arrival Time, which is a parameter indicating the time between consecutive packets in the data flow. This parameter may be specified as an average value, possibly also adding a standard deviation value. A short Packet Inter Arrival Time may thus indicate a high data flow volume, and vice versa. Also this parameter may likewise be valid for uplink communication, or for downlink communication, or for both uplink and downlink communication. The standard deviation of Packet Inter Arrival Time is effectively an indication of how "bursty" the flow is. A high value indicates a bursty flow and vice versa. - The time since the latest data packet was communicated. This parameter may indicate whether the data flow is currently active or in a resting phase. A high value can be seen as an indication that the flow has already been terminated.
- The number of active radio bearers used in the radio communication, which may be indicative of the bandwidth and bitrate needed.
- One or more protocols used in the radio communication, which may likewise be indicative of the bandwidth and bitrate needed. The protocols used may implicitly indicate what type of application that is used which in turn indicates the required bandwidth and/or expected session duration. - The type of application used for uplink communication or downlink communication, which may likewise be indicative of the bandwidth and bitrate needed, as explained above. This may also indicate the expected total duration and "behaviour" of the communication. In another possible embodiment, the flow characteristics may be predicted by using a machine learning algorithm comprising a training phase in which the flow information is collected and an execution phase in which the flow characteristics are predicted based on the flow information. For example, any of the above parameters may be collected as flow information during the training phase which may be referred to as the "observation time".
The training phase may be executed either online or offline or both. If offline training is employed, the above parameters and features may be recorded by a network node when serving multiple wireless devices over a period of time. The results, or "ground truth", may be obtained by recording the direction, time and amount of communicated bytes or number of packets for each device from the time the device becomes connected to the network until it enters idle state and the communication is completed.
The recorded parameters and features for each data flow with the corresponding ground truth are then used to create a machine learning model. There are several different algorithms available that can be used to create the machine learning model, such as for example logistic regression, neural networks, SVM, gradient boosting or decision tree, and random forest. The choice of machine learning algorithm is thus optional in this solution.
As an example, an algorithm that may be used for training is Random Forest with 50 trees. A series of models are built, one for each possible combination of predefined thresholds in lists of thresholds denoted for data flow volume and t„^¾ for data flow length. The threshold lists could e.g. be:
A* j = [ 1 kB., 10 kB, 100 kB, 1 MB] and ¾R erg^h = [ Is, 2s, 3s, 5 s, 10s, 20s]. This training procedure could thus be performed offline using the same machine learning models for all devices, but in reality a model could also be built online during a specific radio communication using unique models in real time for the respective wireless device. This training procedure can be repeated when the models needs to be updated.
In further possible embodiments, the flow characteristics may be predicted for uplink communication and/or downlink communication separately. This means that the flow characteristics may be predicted for uplink communication only, or for downlink communication only, or for both uplink and downlink communication. To predict the flow characteristics, one or more of the above-mentioned flow
parameters may thus be obtained for uplink communication and/or downlink communication.
In another possible embodiment, the prediction of flow characteristics may be repeated at regular intervals or continuously as long as the wireless device is connected to the network node, and wherein deciding a number of carriers for the radio communication is repeated based on the latest predicted flow characteristics. The prediction of flow characteristics may thus be performed any number of times throughout the radio communication, e.g. to obtain flow characteristics that are adapted to changing conditions, and also using an increasingly substantial and reliable basis for the prediction which is the flow information being collected since the communication was started.
In further possible embodiments, the classification of the data flow may be determined based on whether the predicted data flow volume is above or below the volume threshold, and/or whether the predicted data flow length is above or below the length threshold, and the number of carriers may be decided based on the above classification. In another possible embodiment, the classification of the data flow may in this case be determined based on multiple predefined volume thresholds and/or multiple predefined length thresholds. Some examples of how such thresholds may be configured and employed will be described later below with reference to Figs 5-7. In further possible embodiments, the number of carriers decided for the radio communication when the predicted data flow volume is above the volume threshold, and/or when the predicted data flow length is above the length threshold, may be higher than when the predicted data flow volume is below the volume threshold, and/or when the predicted data flow length is below the length threshold. Some examples of this are also illustrated in Figs 5-7, to be described.
Another possible embodiment may be that a preset number of carriers can be initially applied in the radio communication as a default, e.g. during the above- mentioned preset duration or observation time Tobservation , before deciding the number of carriers for the radio communication. The preset number of carriers may be one or two carriers to be increased once the above-described prediction has been made in action 300 and used for deciding the number of carriers in action 304.
In another possible embodiment, the data flow may comprise user plane traffic when the wireless device is in Radio Resource Control, RRC, connected mode. In further possible embodiments, the above-described actions 300-306 may be performed by a control node which is connected to the serving network node or implemented in the serving network node. Another possible embodiment may be that the control node is implemented in a cloud environment, which was shown in Fig. 2.
A more detailed example of how the procedure in Fig. 3 may be executed when put into practice, will now be described with reference to the flow chart in Fig. 4 comprising actions that may be performed by a control node or the equivalent. In this example, one or more thresholds are used for deciding the number of carriers to use. It is further assumed that one or more carriers are already used in the radio communication during the initial observation phase, e.g. one or two carriers as default. A first action 400 illustrates that a default number of carriers is activated at the start for use during the initial collection of flow information. In a next action 402, flow information is collected during the initial observation phase, and some examples of flow information have been described above. In a next action 404, flow characteristics are predicted which may be performed in the manner described for action 300. It was mentioned that the flow characteristics comprise at least one of a predicted data flow volume and a predicted data flow length.
A next action 406 illustrates that it is determined whether the predicted flow characteristics are above a threshold or not. In this context, the term "a threshold" should be understood as at least one threshold which may include one or more of the above-mentioned volume and length thresholds. It was further mentioned above that multiple predefined volume thresholds and/or multiple predefined length thresholds may be used in this procedure. If it is found in action 406 that the data flow volume or the data flow length is above a corresponding volume or length threshold, respectively, a carrier is added to the already used carrier(s), in an action 408. If the volume or length threshold is not exceeded in action 406, the process may return to action 402 for collecting further flow information and repeat action 404 and 406 after another observation time or periodically. In action 408, the volume or length threshold is also changed for use in a later decision when a longer, i.e. extended, observation period has passed. For example, the volume or length threshold may be increased so that if the data flow volume or the data flow length is above the increased volume or length threshold after the extended observation period, another carrier may be added. In this way, the number of carriers may thus be gradually increased by adding one carrier at the time.
After action 408, it may be checked in another action 410 whether there is still a connection between the wireless device and the serving network node, i.e.
whether the radio communication is still ongoing or has been terminated. If there is a connection, the process may return to action 402 for collecting further flow information and repeat action 404 and 406 after another observation time or period. If not, the process ends in a final action 412.
It was mentioned above that the volume and length thresholds may be set, e.g. by fine-tuning them over time, to provide a suitable, or even optimal, choice of number of carriers. This fine-tuning of the volume and length thresholds may for example be done by using so-called "reinforcement learning". Some examples of how such thresholds may be configured and used will now be described.
Fig. 5 is table illustrating a first example of how volume and length thresholds may be configured and used in the above- described procedure for deciding the number of carriers. This table may be applied in practice such that the indicated carriers is chosen when at least one of the thresholds is exceeded or when both thresholds are exceeded. Fig. 5 can also be seen as an example of determining a classification of the data flow based on multiple predefined volume thresholds and/or multiple predefined length thresholds. Fig. 6 is a diagram that illustrates a second example of using volume and length thresholds. It also provides an example of determining a classification of a data flow based on a single volume threshold Th1 and a single length threshold Th2. If the data flow volume and the data flow length are both below their corresponding thresholds Th1 and Th2, the data flow is classified as "Short time + small volume" which results in choosing 2 carriers, here denoted "CCs", which may have been used so far as a default number during the observation time or period. If one of the data flow volume and the data flow length is above its corresponding threshold Th1 or Th2, the data flow is classified as "Short time + large volume" or "Long time + small volume", respectively, which results in choosing 3 carriers. Finally, If both of the data flow volume and the data flow length are above their corresponding thresholds Th1 and Th2, the data flow is classified as "Long time + large volume" which results in choosing 4 carriers.
Fig. 7 is another diagram that illustrates a third example of using volume and length thresholds. In this case, the data flow volume has a greater influence on the number of carriers than the data flow length by employing three volume thresholds
Th1 -1 , Th1 -2 and Th1 -3, and only one length threshold Th2-1 . The figure indicates how different combinations of data flow volume and data flow length result in different choices of number of carriers.
It should be noted that any number of thresholds may be employed when choosing the number of carriers and the solution is not limited in this respect. Further, decisions for adding a carrier, e.g. after initially using only one or two carriers, may be taken based on the outcome of the prediction for the different thresholds. The decision of carriers can be performed directly based on all thresholds after some observation time ^^^^ of data collection. The decision may also be done sequentially, i.e. by letting Tobaervati09lt increase between each prediction and make stepwise decisions, thus allowing for more observation and better predictions.
The block diagram in Fig. 8 illustrates a detailed but non-limiting example of how a control node 800 may be structured to bring about the above-described solution and embodiments thereof. The control node 800 may be configured to operate according to any of the examples and embodiments of employing the solution as described above, where appropriate, and as follows. The control node 800 is shown to comprise a processor "P", a memory "M" and a communication circuit "C" with suitable equipment for transmitting and receiving radio signals in the manner described herein. The communication circuit C in the control node 800 comprises equipment configured for communication with one or more network nodes 804 e.g. over suitable radio interfaces using a suitable protocol for radio communication depending on the implementation. This communication may be performed over communication links of a core network or the like. The solution is however not limited to any specific types of networks, communication technology or protocols.
The control node 800 comprises means configured or arranged to perform at least some of the actions 300-306 and 400-412 of the flow charts in Figs 3 and 4, respectively. The control node 800 is arranged to configure carrier aggregation to be applied in radio communication of a data flow between a wireless device 802 and a serving network node 804. The control node 800 may thus comprise the processor P and the memory M, said memory comprising instructions executable by said processor, whereby the control node 800 may be operative as follows.
The control node 800 may be configured to collect flow information related to the data flow. This operation may be performed by a collecting module 800A in the control node 800, e.g. in the manner described for action 402 above. The control node 800 is further configured to predict flow characteristics related to the radio communication, the flow characteristics comprising at least one of a predicted data flow volume and a predicted data flow length. This predicting operation may be performed by a predicting module 800B in the control node 800, e.g. as in actions 300 and 404 above.
The control node 800 is also configured to decide a number of carriers for the radio communication depending on at least one of: whether the predicted data flow volume is above or below a predefined volume threshold, and whether the predicted data flow length is above or below a predefined length threshold. This decision operation may be performed by a deciding module 800C in the control node 800, e.g. as described for any of actions 304 and 406 above. The control node 800 is further configured to configure the serving network node 804 to apply said number of carriers in the radio communication. This operation may be performed by a configuring module 800D in the control node 800, e.g. as in action 306 above.
It should be noted that Fig. 8 illustrates various functional modules in the control node 800, and the skilled person is able to implement these functional modules in practice using suitable software and hardware. Thus, the solution is generally not limited to the shown structures of the control node 800, and the functional units 800A-D therein may be configured to operate according to any of the features and embodiments described in this disclosure, where appropriate.
The functional units 800A-D described above can be implemented in the control node 800 by means of program modules of a computer program comprising code means which, when run by the processor P causes the control node 800 to perform the above-described actions and procedures. The processor P may comprise a single Central Processing Unit (CPU), or could comprise two or more processing units. For example, the processor P may include a general purpose microprocessor, an instruction set processor and/or related chips sets and/or a special purpose microprocessor such as an Application Specific Integrated Circuit
(ASIC). The processor P may also comprise a storage for caching purposes. Each computer program may be carried by a computer program product in the control node 800 in the form of a memory having a computer readable medium and being connected to the processor P. The computer program product or memory M in the control node 800 thus comprises a computer readable medium on which the computer program is stored e.g. in the form of computer program modules or the like. For example, the memory M may be a flash memory, a Random-Access Memory (RAM), a Read-Only Memory (ROM), an Electrically Erasable Programmable ROM (EEPROM) or hard drive storage (HDD), and the program modules could in alternative embodiments be distributed on different computer program products in the form of memories within the control node 800.
The solution described herein may be implemented in the control node 800 by means of a computer program storage product comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions according to any of the above embodiments, where appropriate.
Fig. 9 illustrates another example of a procedure for configuring carrier
aggregation for a radio communication between a wireless device and a serving network node, which involves the above-described four stages applied for both uplink communication illustrated on top of the figure and downlink communication illustrated below the uplink case in the figure. The process thus involves an input stage 900 where flow information is collected as a basis for predicting flow characteristics, which may last for a preset duration, Tobservation , of the radio communication before moving to the next stage. In this stage 900, it is also shown that capabilities of the wireless device, "UE capabilities" and information on available carriers, "configured Scells" are collected in this example to provide further basis for the prediction.
Next, a prediction stage 902 illustrates that the predicting of flow characteristics is performed based on the collected flow information, here indicated as "session length prediction (volume and time)" which may include predicting data flow volume or data flow length, or both. A next decision stage 904 illustrates that the number of carriers to use in the communication is decided by comparing at least one of the predicted data flow volume and the predicted data flow length with one or more thresholds 1 , 2... n.
A final configuration stage 906 illustrates configuring of the serving network node to apply carrier aggregation with the decided number of carriers in the radio communication. In this stage 900 it is also shown that one or more features x may be activated, and that one or more parameters y may be set for use in the communication. The parameters y may include various radio related parameters such as identification of the carriers, power settings, modulation and encoding schemes, and so forth.
Fig. 10 illustrates how a data flow may vary over time in radio communications for three different wireless devices, respectively, which are denoted UE1 , UE2 and UE3. All three communications comprise data flows in both uplink and downlink. A classification of the data flows is also indicated in the figure. Data transmission is schematically indicated by "bubble-like" symbols. In this case, the initial observation time 1000 is 5 seconds which is gradually extended for updating the prediction of flow characteristics and choice of carriers.
For device UE1 it is predicted that the session length 1002 is relatively short and that the data traffic is quite intense, and its data flow is therefore classified as "Short and heavy". For the next device UE2, it is predicted that the session length will be much longer while a relatively short packet Inter Arrival Time 1004 indicates that the data traffic is quite intense, and its data flow is consequently classified as "Long and heavy". For the third device UE3, it can be predicted that the session length 1002 is short and the time since last packet arrival 1006 is relatively long, and its data flow can therefore be classified as "Short and light".
While the solution has been described with reference to specific exemplifying embodiments, the description is generally only intended to illustrate the inventive concept and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the solution. For example, the terms "control node", "wireless device", "network node", "carrier", "data flow", "flow characteristics", "data flow volume", "data flow length", "flow information" and "machine learning algorithm" have been used throughout this disclosure, although any other corresponding entities, functions, and/or parameters could also be used having the features and characteristics described here. The solution is defined by the appended claims.

Claims

1 . A method for configuring carrier aggregation to be applied in radio communication (204) of a data flow between a wireless device (200) and a serving network node (202), the method comprising: - predicting (2:2, 300) flow characteristics related to the radio communication, the flow characteristics comprising at least one of a predicted data flow volume and a predicted data flow length,
- deciding (2:2, 304) a number of carriers for the radio communication depending on at least one of: whether the predicted data flow volume is above or below a predefined volume threshold, and whether the predicted data flow length is above or below a predefined length threshold, and
- configuring (2:3, 306) the serving network node (202) to apply said number of carriers in the radio communication.
2. A method according to claim 1 , wherein predicting the flow
characteristics is performed based on flow information collected (2: 1 , 402) during a preset duration (1000, Tobservation) of the radio communication, the flow information comprising at least one of:
- the number of communicated bytes or data packets,
- Packet Inter Arrival Time (1004), - the time (1006) since the latest data packet was communicated,
- the number of active radio bearers used in the radio communication,
- one or more protocols used in the radio communication, and
- type of application used for uplink communication or downlink
communication.
3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the flow characteristics are predicted by using a machine learning algorithm comprising a training phase in which the flow information is collected and an execution phase in which the flow characteristics are predicted based on the flow information.
4. A method according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the flow characteristics are predicted for uplink communication and/or downlink communication separately.
5. A method according to any of claims 2-4, wherein the prediction of flow characteristics is repeated at regular intervals or continuously as long as the wireless device (200) is connected to the network node (202), and wherein deciding a number of carriers for the radio communication is repeated based on the latest predicted flow characteristics.
6. A method according to any of claims 1 -5, wherein the number of carriers is decided based on a classification of the data flow which is determined (302) based on whether the predicted data flow volume is above or below the volume threshold, and/or whether the predicted data flow length is above or below the length threshold.
7. A method according to claim 6, wherein the classification of the data flow is determined based on multiple predefined volume thresholds and/or multiple predefined length thresholds (Figs 5, 7).
8. A method according to any of claims 1 -7, wherein the number of carriers decided for the radio communication when the predicted data flow volume is above the volume threshold, and/or when the predicted data flow length is above the length threshold, is higher than when the predicted data flow volume is below the volume threshold, and/or when the predicted data flow length is below the length threshold.
9. A method according to any of claims 1 -8, wherein a preset number of carriers are initially applied in the radio communication as a default before deciding the number of carriers for the radio communication.
10. A method according to any of claims 1 -9, wherein the data flow comprises user plane traffic when the wireless device (200) is in Radio Resource Control, RRC, connected mode.
1 1 . A method according to any of claims 1 -10, wherein the method is performed by a control node (206) which is connected to the serving network node (202) or implemented in the serving network node (202).
12. A method according to claim 1 1 , wherein the control node (206) is implemented in a cloud environment (208).
13. A control node (800) arranged to configure carrier aggregation to be applied in radio communication of a data flow between a wireless device (802) and a serving network node (804), wherein the control node (800) is configured to:
- predict (800B) flow characteristics related to the radio communication, the flow characteristics comprising at least one of a predicted data flow volume and a predicted data flow length, - decide (800C) a number of carriers for the radio communication depending on at least one of: whether the predicted data flow volume is above or below a predefined volume threshold, and whether the predicted data flow length is above or below a predefined length threshold, and
- configure (800D) the serving network node (804) to apply said number of carriers in the radio communication.
14. A control node (800) according to claim 13, wherein the control node (800) is configured to predict the flow characteristics based on flow information collected (2: 1 , 402) during a preset duration (1000, Tobservation) of the radio communication, the flow information comprising at least one of: - the number of communicated bytes or data packets,
- Packet Inter Arrival Time (1004), - the time (1006) since the latest data packet was communicated,
- the number of active radio bearers used in the radio communication,
- one or more protocols used in the radio communication, and
- type of application used for uplink communication or downlink
communication.
15. A control node (800) according to claim 14, wherein the control node (800) is configured to predict the flow characteristics by using a machine learning algorithm comprising a training phase in which the flow information is collected and an execution phase in which the flow characteristics are predicted based on the flow information.
16. A control node (800) according to claim 14 or 15, wherein the control node (800) is configured to predict the flow characteristics for uplink
communication and/or downlink communication separately.
17. A control node (800) according to any of claims 14-16, wherein the control node (800) is configured to repeat the prediction of flow characteristics at regular intervals or continuously as long as the wireless device (802) is connected to the network node (202), and to repeat deciding a number of carriers for the radio communication based on the latest predicted flow characteristics.
18. A control node (800) according to any of claims 13-17, wherein the control node (800) is configured to determine a classification of the data flow based on whether the predicted data flow volume is above or below a volume threshold, and/or whether the predicted data flow length is above or below a length threshold, and to decide the number of carriers based on said classification.
19. A control node (800) according to claim 18, wherein the control node (800) is configured to determine the classification of the data flow based on multiple predefined volume thresholds and/or multiple predefined length
thresholds.
20. A control node (800) according to any of claims 13-19, wherein the control node (800) is configured to decide a higher number of carriers for the radio communication when the predicted data flow volume is above the volume threshold and/or when the predicted data flow length is above the length threshold, than when the predicted data flow volume is below the volume threshold and/or when the predicted data flow length is below the length threshold.
21 . A control node (800) according to any of claims 13-20, wherein the control node (800) is configured to apply a preset number of carriers initially in the radio communication as a default before deciding the number of carriers for the radio communication.
22. A control node (800) according to any of claims 13-21 , wherein the data flow comprises user plane traffic when the wireless device (802) is in Radio
Resource Control, RRC, connected mode.
23. A control node (800) according to any of claims 13-22, wherein the control node (800) is connected to the serving network node (804) or implemented in the serving network node (804).
24. A control node (800) according to claim 23, wherein the control node (800) is implemented in a cloud environment.
25. A computer program storage product comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method according to any one of claims 1 -12.
PCT/SE2015/051260 2015-11-24 2015-11-24 Method and control node for configuring carrier aggregation for a wireless device WO2017091115A1 (en)

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