CN116548006A - QoS flow related measurement - Google Patents

Abstract

The disclosure of the present specification provides a method for a UE to perform measurement related communication. The method may comprise the steps of: performing access measurements for the first QoS flow; determining that an access measurement for the first QoS flow applies to a second QoS flow; and determining that no access measurements are performed for the second QoS flow.

Description

QoS flow related measurement

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to mobile communications.

Background

The 3 rd generation partnership project (3 GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) is a technology for realizing high-speed packet communication. Many initiatives have been proposed for LTE targets, including initiatives aimed at reducing user and provider costs, improving quality of service, and extending and improving coverage and system capacity. The 3GPP LTE requires lower cost per bit, improved service availability, flexible use of frequency bands, a simple structure, an open interface, and appropriate power consumption of the terminal as upper layer requirements.

Requirements and specifications for developing New Radio (NR) systems have begun to be established in the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and 3 GPP. The 3GPP must identify and develop technical components required for a new Radio Access Technology (RAT) that are successfully standardized to meet the requirements of the emergency market and the long-term requirements determined in the ITU-R International Mobile Telecommunications (IMT) -2020. In addition, NR must be able to use a spectrum band in the range of at least 100GHz, which can be used for future and even more distant wireless communications.

NR targets a single technology framework covering all usage scenarios, requirements and deployment scenarios including enhanced mobile broadband (emmbb), large-scale machine type communication (emtc), ultra-reliable and low latency communication (URLLC), etc. NR may be substantially forward compatible.

Meanwhile, a Multiple Access (MA) Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session is introduced in 5G. When using MA PDU sessions, multiple quality of service (QoS) flows may be used. In order to effectively use a plurality of QoS flows, a plurality of QoS flows may be measured. Conventionally, however, a method for effectively measuring a plurality of QoS flows has not been discussed. For example, multiple QoS flows may be mapped to one radio resource (e.g., radio bearer). In this case, according to the related art, measurement is performed for each QoS flow included in the plurality of QoS flows. Therefore, there is a problem in that radio resources and computing resources are wasted. In addition, when Packet Loss Rate (PLR) measurement is performed on a plurality of QoS flows, there is a problem in that many resources are wasted.

Disclosure of Invention

Technical problem

Accordingly, the disclosure of the present specification has been made in an effort to solve the above-described problems.

Technical proposal

In order to solve the above-described problems, one disclosure of the present specification provides a method for a UE to perform measurement-related communication. The method comprises the following steps: performing access measurements for the first QoS flow; determining that an access measurement for the first QoS flow is to be applied to a second QoS flow; and determining that no access measurements are performed for a second QoS flow based on the access measurements for the first QoS flow to be applied to the second QoS flow.

In order to solve the above-described problems, one disclosure of the present specification provides a UE that performs measurement-related communication. The UE includes: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions and operatively electrically connected to the at least one processor; wherein the operations performed based on the instructions executed by the at least one processor comprise: determining that an access measurement for the first QoS flow is to be applied to the second QoS flow; and determining that no access measurements are performed for the second QoS flow based on the access measurements for the first QoS flow being applied to the second QoS flow.

In order to solve the above-described problems, one disclosure of the present specification provides an apparatus in mobile communication. The device comprises: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions and operatively electrically connected to the at least one processor, wherein operations performed based on the instructions performed by the at least one processor comprise: determining that an access measurement for the first QoS flow is to be applied to the second QoS flow; and determining that no access measurements are performed for the second QoS flow based on the access measurements for the first QoS flow being applied to the second QoS flow.

To solve the above-described problems, one disclosure of the present specification provides a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium recording instructions. The instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to: determining that an access measurement for the first QoS flow is to be applied to a second QoS flow; and determining that no access measurements are performed for a second QoS flow based on the access measurements for the first QoS flow to be applied to the second QoS flow.

To address the above problems, one disclosure of the present specification provides a method for performing communication related to measurement of a UPF node. The method comprises the following steps: performing access measurements for the first QoS flow; determining that an access measurement for the first QoS flow applies to a second QoS flow; and determining that no access measurements are performed for the second QoS flow.

To address the above problems, one disclosure of the present specification provides a UPF node that performs measurement-related communications. The UPF node can include: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions and operatively electrically connected to the at least one processor; wherein the operations performed based on the instructions executed by the at least one processor comprise: performing access measurements for the first QoS flow; determining that an access measurement for the first QoS flow is to be applied to the second QoS flow; and determining that no access measurements are performed for the second QoS flow based on the access measurements for the first QoS flow being applied to the second QoS flow.

Advantageous effects

According to the disclosure of the present specification, the problems of the prior art can be solved.

The effects that can be obtained by the specific examples of the present specification are not limited to the effects listed above. For example, there may be various technical effects that one of ordinary skill in the related art can understand or derive from the present specification. Thus, the specific effects of the present specification are not limited to those explicitly described herein, and may include various effects that can be understood or derived from the technical features of the present specification.

Drawings

Fig. 1 shows an example of a communication system to which embodiments of the present disclosure are applied.

Fig. 2 shows an example of a wireless device to which embodiments of the present disclosure are applied.

Fig. 3 shows an example of a wireless device to which embodiments of the present disclosure are applied.

Fig. 4 shows an example of a UE to which the implementation of the present description is applied.

Fig. 5 shows an example of a 5G system architecture to which embodiments of the present disclosure are applied.

Fig. 6 is another example diagram showing a structure of a radio interface protocol (Radio Interface Protocol) between a UE and a gNB.

Fig. 7 illustrates an example of generating a MA PDU session.

Fig. 8 shows an example of applying the ats ss rule to a MA PDU session.

Fig. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a steering function of a UE.

Fig. 10 shows an example of a conventional RTT measurement and a modified RTT measurement.

Fig. 11 shows an example of packet loss rate measurement.

Fig. 12a and 12b show a first example of the operation of a seventh example according to the disclosure of the present specification.

Fig. 13a and 13b show a second example of the operation of a seventh example according to the disclosure disclosed in the present specification.

Fig. 14 shows an example of operation of a UE and/or operation of a UPF according to the disclosure of the present specification.

Fig. 15 shows an example of an operation related to PLR measurement according to the disclosure of the present specification.

Detailed Description

The following techniques, devices, and systems may be applied to various wireless multiple access systems. Examples of multiple-access systems include Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) systems, frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) systems, time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) systems, orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA) systems, single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) systems, and multiple carrier frequency division multiple access (MC-FDMA) systems. CDMA may be implemented by a radio technology such as Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA) or CDMA 2000. TDMA may be implemented by radio technologies such as global system for mobile communications (GSM), general Packet Radio Service (GPRS), or enhanced data rates for GSM evolution (EDGE). OFDMA may be implemented by a radio technology such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (WiMAX), IEEE 802.20, or evolved UTRA (E-UTRA). UTRA is part of Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS). The 3 rd generation partnership project (3 GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) is part of evolved UMTS (E-UMTS) that uses E-UTRA. 3GPP LTE employs OFDMA in the DL and SC-FDMA in the UL. The evolution of 3gpp LTE includes LTE-a (advanced), LTE-a Pro and/or 5G NR (new radio).

For ease of description, implementations of the present disclosure are described primarily with respect to 3 GPP-based wireless communication systems. However, technical features of the present disclosure are not limited thereto. For example, although the following detailed description is given based on a mobile communication system corresponding to a 3 GPP-based wireless communication system, aspects of the present disclosure are not limited to the 3 GPP-based wireless communication system and are applicable to other mobile communication systems.

For terms and techniques not specifically described among terms and techniques employed in the present disclosure, reference may be made to a wireless communication standard document published before the present disclosure.

In this disclosure, "a or B" may mean "a only", "B only" or "both a and B". In other words, "a or B" in the present disclosure may be interpreted as "a and/or B". For example, "A, B or C" in the present disclosure may represent "a only", "B only", "C only" or any combination of "A, B and C".

In this disclosure, a slash (/) or comma (,) may mean "and/or". For example, "A/B" may mean "A and/or B". Thus, "a/B" may mean "a only", "B only" or "both a and B". For example, "A, B, C" may represent "A, B or C".

In the present disclosure, "at least one of a and B" may mean "a only", "B only", or "both a and B". In addition, the expression "at least one of a or B" or "at least one of a and/or B" in the present disclosure may be interpreted as being the same as "at least one of a and B".

In addition, in the present disclosure, "at least one of A, B and C" may mean "a only", "B only", "C only", or "A, B and C in any combination. In addition, "at least one of A, B or C" or "A, B and/or at least one of C" may mean "at least one of A, B and C".

In addition, brackets used in this disclosure may mean "for example". Specifically, when it is shown as "control information (PDCCH)", the "PDCCH" may be proposed as an example of the "control information". In other words, the "control information" in the present disclosure is not limited to the "PDCCH", and the "PDCCH" may be proposed as an example of the "control information". In addition, even when shown as "control information (i.e., PDCCH)", a "PDCCH" may be proposed as an example of the "control information".

The technical features separately described in one drawing of the present disclosure may be implemented separately or simultaneously.

Although not limited thereto, the various descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts of the present disclosure disclosed herein may be applied to various fields that require wireless communication and/or connection (e.g., 5G) between devices.

Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described in more detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Unless otherwise indicated, like reference numerals in the following figures and/or descriptions may refer to like and/or corresponding hardware, software, and/or functional blocks.

In the drawings, for example, a User Equipment (UE) is shown. The UE may also be denoted as a terminal or Mobile Equipment (ME). In addition, the UE may be a laptop computer, a mobile phone, a PDA, a smart phone, a multimedia device, or other portable device, or may be a stationary device such as a PC or an in-vehicle device.

Hereinafter, the UE is used as an example of a wireless communication apparatus (or a wireless apparatus or a wireless device) capable of wireless communication. The operations performed by the UE may be performed by a wireless communication device. The wireless communication apparatus may also be referred to as a wireless device, a wireless apparatus, or the like. Hereinafter, an AMF may mean an AMF node, an SMF may mean an SMF node, and a UPF may mean a UPF node.

The term "base station" used hereinafter generally refers to a fixed station that communicates with the wireless devices and may be referred to by other terms, such as an evolved Node B (enode B), evolved Node B (eNB), base Transceiver System (BTS), access point, or next generation Node B (gNB).

I. Techniques and procedures applicable to the disclosure herein

Fig. 1 shows an example of a communication system to which embodiments of the present disclosure are applied.

The 5G usage scenario shown in fig. 1 is merely exemplary, and the technical features of the present disclosure may be applied to other 5G usage scenarios not shown in fig. 1.

Three main requirement categories of 5G include (1) enhanced mobile broadband (emmbb) category, (2) large-scale machine type communication (mctc) category, and (3) Ultra Reliable and Low Latency Communication (URLLC) category.

Some use cases may require multiple categories for optimization, and other use cases may focus only on Key Performance Indicators (KPIs). 5G uses a flexible and reliable method to support these various use cases.

ebb far exceeds basic mobile internet access and covers a large amount of two-way work in cloud and augmented reality as well as media and entertainment applications. Data is one of the 5G core powers, and in the 5G age, dedicated voice services may not be provided for the first time. In 5G, it is desirable to simply process speech as an application using the data connection provided by the communication system. The main reason for the increase in traffic is due to the increase in content size and the increase in the number of applications requiring high data transfer rates. Streaming services (audio and video), conversational video, and mobile internet access will be more widely used as more devices are connected to the internet. Many of these applications require connectivity in a normally open state in order to push real-time information and alerts to the user. Cloud storage and applications are rapidly increasing in mobile communication platforms and can be applied to both work and entertainment. Cloud storage is a special use case that accelerates the increase of uplink data transmission rate. 5G is also used for remote cloud work. When using a haptic interface, 5G requires lower end-to-end latency to maintain a good user experience. Entertainment (e.g., cloud gaming and video streaming) is another core element that increases the demand for mobile broadband capabilities. Entertainment is essential to smart phones and tablet computers wherever high mobility environments are involved, such as trains, vehicles and airplanes. Other use cases are augmented reality for entertainment and information searching. In this case, the augmented reality requires very low latency and instantaneous data volume.

In addition, one of the most desirable 5G use cases relates to a function (i.e., mctc) capable of smoothly connecting embedded sensors in all fields. The number of potential internet of things (IoT) devices is expected to reach 204 billion in 2020. Industrial IoT is one of the categories that plays a major role in implementing smart cities, asset tracking, smart utilities, agriculture, and security infrastructure through 5G.

URLLC includes new services (e.g., autonomous vehicles) that will change industries through remote control of the primary infrastructure and ultra-reliable/available low latency links. The level of reliability and latency is critical for controlling smart grids, automating the industry, implementing robots, and controlling and adjusting drones.

5G is a means of providing streaming services that evaluate to hundreds of megabits per second to gigabits per second, and may supplement fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) and cable-based broadband (or DOCSIS). Such fast speeds are needed to deliver 4K or higher (6K, 8K and higher) resolution TVs as well as virtual reality and augmented reality. Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) applications include almost immersive sporting events. A particular application may require a particular network configuration. For VR games, for example, gaming companies need to incorporate core servers into the network operator's edge network servers to minimize latency.

Along with many use cases for mobile communication of vehicles, automobiles are expected to become new important dynamics in 5G. For example, entertainment of passengers requires a high simultaneous capacity and a mobile broadband with high mobility. This is because future users continue to expect high quality connections regardless of their location and speed. Another example in the automotive field is AR dashboards. The AR dashboard allows the driver to recognize an object in the dark in addition to the object seen from the front window, and display the distance to the object and the movement of the object by overlapping information telling the driver. In the future, wireless modules allow for communication between vehicles, information exchange between vehicles and supporting infrastructure, and information exchange between vehicles and other connected devices (e.g., devices accompanying pedestrians). The safety system guides the alternative course of action so that the driver can drive more safely, thereby reducing the risk of accidents. The next stage would be to remotely or automatically drive the vehicle. This requires very high reliability and very fast communication between different autonomous vehicles and between the vehicle and the infrastructure. In the future, an autonomous vehicle will perform all driving activities and the driver will focus only on abnormal traffic that the vehicle cannot recognize. The technical requirements of autonomous vehicles require ultra low time delays and ultra high reliability to increase traffic safety to levels that are not reachable by humans.

Smart cities and smart homes/buildings, known as smart society, will be embedded in high density wireless sensor networks. The distributed network of intelligent sensors will identify the cost of the city or home and the conditions for energy conservation maintenance. Similar configuration may be performed for each household. The temperature sensor, the window and the heating controller, the burglar alarm and the household appliance are all in wireless connection. Many of these sensors are typically low in data transmission rate, power and cost. However, certain types of devices may require real-time HD video to perform monitoring.

The consumption and distribution of energy, including heat or gas, is distributed at a higher level, requiring automatic control of the distributed sensor network. The smart grid collects information and connects the sensors to each other using digital information and communication technology to act according to the collected information. Since this information may include the behavior of power companies and consumers, the smart grid may improve fuel distribution such as electricity by having efficient, reliable, economically viable, production sustainable, and automated methods. The smart grid may also be considered as another sensor network with low latency.

A mission critical application (e.g., electronic medical treatment) is one of the 5G usage scenarios. The health portion contains many applications that can enjoy the benefits of mobile communications. The communication system may support remote therapy that provides clinical therapy at a remote location. Remote therapy may help reduce distance obstructions and improve access to medical services that are not continuously available in remote rural areas. Tele-treatment is also used to perform important treatments and save lives in emergency situations. Wireless sensor networks based on mobile communications may provide remote monitoring and sensors for parameters such as heart rate and blood pressure.

Wireless and mobile communications are becoming increasingly important in the field of industrial applications. The installation and maintenance costs of the wiring are high. Thus, the possibility to replace cables with reconfigurable wireless links is an attractive opportunity in many industrial fields. However, in order to achieve this replacement, a wireless connection needs to be established with similar delay, reliability, and capacity as a cable, and management of the wireless connection needs to be simplified. When a connection to 5G is required, low latency and very low probability of error are new requirements.

Logistics and shipping tracking are important uses of mobile communications that allow inventory and packages to be tracked anywhere using a location-based information system. Use cases for logistics and shipping typically require low data rates, but require location information with a wide range and reliability.

Referring to fig. 1, a communication system 1 includes wireless devices 100a to 100f, a Base Station (BS) 200, and a network 300. Although fig. 1 shows a 5G network as an example of a network of the communication system 1, embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to the 5G system, and may be applied to future communication systems other than the 5G system.

BS 200 and network 300 may be implemented as wireless devices and a particular wireless device may operate as a BS/network node relative to other wireless devices.

The wireless devices 100a to 100f represent devices that perform communication using a Radio Access Technology (RAT) (e.g., 5G New RAT (NR) or LTE), and may be referred to as communication/radio/5G devices. Wireless devices may include, but are not limited to, robots 100a, vehicles 100b-1 and 100b-2, augmented reality (XR) devices 100c, handheld devices 100d, home appliances 100e, ioT devices 100f, and Artificial Intelligence (AI) devices/servers 400. For example, the vehicles may include vehicles having wireless communication functions, autonomous driving vehicles, and vehicles capable of performing communication between vehicles. The vehicle may include an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) (e.g., an unmanned aerial vehicle). The XR devices may include AR/VR/Mixed Reality (MR) devices, and may be implemented in the form of head-mounted devices (HMDs), head-up displays (HUDs) installed in vehicles, televisions, smart phones, computers, wearable devices, home appliances, digital signage, vehicles, robots, and the like. Handheld devices may include smart phones, smart tablets, wearable devices (e.g., smart watches or smart glasses), and computers (e.g., notebook computers). Home appliances may include TVs, refrigerators, and washing machines. IoT devices may include sensors and smart meters.

In the present disclosure, the wireless devices 100a to 100f may be referred to as User Equipment (UE). The UE may include, for example, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a laptop computer, a digital broadcast terminal, a Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), a Portable Multimedia Player (PMP), a navigation system, a tablet Personal Computer (PC), a tablet PC, a super-host, a vehicle with autonomous driving functions, a networked automobile, a UAV, an AI module, a robot, an AR device, a VR device, an MR device, a holographic device, a public safety device, an MTC device, an IoT device, a medical device, a FinTech device (or a financial device), a security device, a weather/environmental device, a device related to 5G services, or a device related to the fourth industrial revolution field.

The UAV may be, for example, an aircraft that is airborne by wireless control signals without an individual onboard the aircraft.

VR devices may include, for example, devices for implementing objects or backgrounds of a virtual world. AR devices may include devices implemented, for example, by connecting a virtual world object or context to a real world object or context. MR devices may include devices implemented, for example, by merging virtual world objects or backgrounds into real world objects or backgrounds. The hologram device may include, for example, a device for realizing a 360-degree stereoscopic image by recording and reproducing stereoscopic information using an interference phenomenon of light generated when two lasers meet, which is called holography.

The public safety device may comprise, for example, an image relay device or an image device that is wearable on the body of the user.

MTC devices and IoT devices may be devices that do not require direct manual intervention or manipulation, for example. For example, MTC devices and IoT devices may include smart meters, vending machines, thermometers, smart light bulbs, door locks, or various sensors.

For example, the medical device may be a device for the purpose of diagnosing, treating, alleviating, treating or preventing a disease. For example, the medical device may be a device for the purpose of diagnosing, treating, alleviating or correcting a lesion or disorder. For example, the medical device may be a device for the purpose of inspecting, replacing or modifying a structure or function. For example, the medical device may be a device for the purpose of regulating pregnancy. For example, the medical device may comprise a device for therapy, a device for surgery, a device for (in vitro) diagnosis, a hearing aid or a device for surgery.

For example, the safety device may be a device that is installed to prevent possible hazards and to maintain safety. For example, the security device may be a camera, a Closed Circuit Television (CCTV), a recorder, or a black box.

For example, the FinTech device may be a device capable of providing a financial service such as mobile payment. For example, the FinTech device may include a payment device or a point of sale (POS) system.

The weather/environment means may comprise, for example, means for monitoring or predicting the weather/environment.

The wireless devices 100a to 100f may be connected to the network 300 via the BS 200. AI technology may be applied to the wireless devices 100a to 100f, and the wireless devices 100a to 100f may be connected to the AI server 400 via the network 300. The network 300 may be configured using a 3G network, a 4G (e.g., LTE) network, a 5G (e.g., NR) network, and a super 5G network. Although the wireless devices 100a to 100f may communicate with each other through the BS 200/network 300, the wireless devices 100a to 100f may perform direct communication (e.g., side link communication) with each other without passing through the BS 200/network 300. For example, the vehicles 100b-1 and 100b-2 may perform direct communications (e.g., vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V)/vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communications). The IoT devices (e.g., sensors) may perform direct communications with other IoT devices (e.g., sensors) or other wireless devices 100 a-100 f.

Wireless communication/connections 150a, 150b, and 150c may be established between wireless devices 100 a-100 f and/or between wireless devices 100 a-100 f and BS 200 and/or between BS 200. Herein, wireless communication/connection may be established through various RATs (e.g., 5G NR) such as uplink/downlink communication 150a, side link communication (or device-to-device (D2D) communication) 150b, inter-base station communication 150c (e.g., relay, integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB)), and the like. The wireless devices 100a to 100f and the BS 200/wireless devices 100a to 100f can transmit/receive radio signals to/from each other through the wireless communication/connection 150a, 150b, and 150c. For example, the wireless communication/connections 150a, 150b, and 150c may transmit/receive signals over various physical channels. To this end, at least a part of various configuration information configuration procedures, various signal processing procedures (e.g., channel coding/decoding, modulation/demodulation, and resource mapping/demapping) and resource allocation procedures for transmitting/receiving radio signals may be performed based on various proposals of the present disclosure.

AI means a field of research on artificial intelligence or a method in which it can be created, and machine learning is a field in which various problems solved in the AI field and the method field are specified to be solved. Machine learning is also defined as an algorithm that improves the performance of a task by a steady experience of the task.

A robot means a machine that automatically processes or operates a given task through its own capabilities. In particular, robots that have the ability to recognize environments and make self-determinations to perform actions may be referred to as intelligent robots. Robots can be classified into industry, medical treatment, home, military, etc., according to the purpose or field of use. The robot may perform various physical operations such as moving a robot joint using actuators or motors. The mobile robot also includes wheels, brakes, propellers, etc. on the drive, allowing it to be driven on the ground or flown in the air.

Autonomous driving means a technique of self-driving, and autonomous vehicle means a vehicle that drives without user control or with minimal user control. For example, autonomous driving may include lane keeping movement, automatically adjusting speed (e.g., adaptive cruise control), automatically driving along a set route, and automatically setting a route when a destination is set. Vehicles include vehicles equipped with an internal combustion engine, hybrid vehicles equipped with an internal combustion engine and an electric motor, and electric vehicles equipped with an electric motor, and may include trains, motorcycles, and the like, as well as automobiles. An autonomous vehicle may be considered a robot with autonomous driving functions.

Augmented reality is collectively referred to as VR, AR, and MR. VR technology provides real world objects and background solely through Computer Graphics (CG) images. AR technology provides a virtual CG image on top of a real object image. MR technology is CG technology that combines virtual objects into the real world. MR technology is similar to AR technology in that they together show real and virtual objects. However, a difference is that in AR technology, a virtual object is used as a complementary form of a real object, whereas in MR technology, a virtual object and a real object are used as the same characteristics.

The NR supports multiple parameter sets (and/or multiple subcarrier spacings (SCS)) to support various 5G services. For example, if the SCS is 15kHz, then wide area can be supported in the legacy cellular band, and if the SCS is 30kHz/60kHz, then dense cities, lower latency, and wider carrier bandwidth can be supported. If the SCS is 60kHz or higher, a bandwidth of greater than 24.25GHz can be supported to overcome the phase noise.

The NR frequency bands can be defined as two types of frequency ranges, namely FR1 and FR2. The values of the frequency ranges may vary. For example, the frequency ranges of the two types (FR 1 and FR 2) can be shown in table 1 below. For ease of explanation, in the frequency range used in the NR system, FR1 may mean "below 6GHz range", FR2 may mean "above 6GHz range", and may be referred to as millimeter wave (mmW).

TABLE 1

As described above, the value of the frequency range of the NR system can be changed. For example, FR1 may include a frequency band of 410MHz to 7125MHz as shown in table 2 below. That is, FR1 may include a frequency band of 6GHz (or 5850MHz, 5900MHz, 5925MHz, etc.) or higher. For example, a frequency band of 6GHz (or 5850MHz, 5900MHz, 5925MHz, etc.) or higher included in FR1 may include an unlicensed frequency band. The unlicensed frequency band may be used for various purposes, such as for communication of a vehicle (e.g., autonomous driving).

TABLE 2

Here, radio communication techniques implemented in a wireless device in the present disclosure may include narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT) technology for low power communications, as well as LTE, NR, and 6G. For example, NB-IoT technology may be an example of Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technology, may be implemented in specifications such as LTE Cat NB1 and/or LTE Cat NB2, and may not be limited to the above names. Additionally and/or alternatively, radio communication techniques implemented in wireless devices in the present disclosure may communicate based on LTE-M techniques. For example, LTE-M technology may be an example of LPWAN technology, and may be referred to by various names such as enhanced machine type communication (eMTC). For example, LTE-M technology may be implemented in at least one of various specifications such as 1) LTE Cat 0, 2) LTE Cat M1, 3) LTE Cat M2, 4) LTE non-bandwidth limited (non-BL), 5) LTE-MTC, 6) LTE machine type communications, and/or 7) LTE M, and may not be limited to the above names. Additionally and/or alternatively, radio communication techniques implemented in wireless devices in the present disclosure may include at least one of ZigBee, bluetooth, and/or LPWAN to account for low power communications, and may not be limited to the above names. For example, zigBee technology may generate Personal Area Networks (PANs) associated with low power/low power digital communications based on various specifications such as IEEE 802.15.4, and may be referred to by various names.

Fig. 2 shows an example of a wireless device to which embodiments of the present disclosure are applied.

Referring to fig. 2, the first and second wireless devices 100 and 200 may transmit/receive radio signals to/from external devices through various RATs (e.g., LTE and NR).

In fig. 2, { first wireless device 100 and second wireless device 200} may correspond to at least one of { wireless devices 100a to 100f and BS 200}, { wireless devices 100a to 100f and wireless devices 100a to 100f } and/or { BS 200 and BS 200} of fig. 1.

The first wireless device 100 may include at least one transceiver (e.g., transceiver 106), at least one processing chip (e.g., processing chip 101), and/or one or more antennas 108.

The processing chip 101 may include at least one processor (e.g., processor 102) and at least one memory (e.g., memory 104). Fig. 2 exemplarily shows that the memory 104 is included in the processing chip 101. Additionally and/or alternatively, the memory 104 may be placed external to the processing chip 101.

The processor 102 may control the memory 104 and/or the transceiver 106 and may be configured to implement the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods, and/or operational flowcharts described in this disclosure. For example, the processor 102 may process the information within the memory 104 to generate first information/signals and then transmit radio signals including the first information/signals through the transceiver 106. The processor 102 may receive a radio signal including the second information/signal through the transceiver 106 and then store information obtained by processing the second information/signal in the memory 104.

The memory 104 may be operatively connected to the processor 102. Memory 104 may store various types of information and/or instructions. The memory 104 may store software code 105 implementing instructions that, when executed by the processor 102, perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods, and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in this disclosure. For example, the software code 105 may implement instructions that when executed by the processor 102 perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods, and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure. For example, the software code 105 may control the processor 102 to execute one or more protocols. For example, the software code 105 may control the processor 102 to execute one or more layers of a radio interface protocol.

Herein, the processor 102 and the memory 104 may be part of a communication modem/circuit/chip designed to implement a RAT (e.g., LTE or NR). The transceiver 106 may be connected to the processor 102 and transmit and/or receive radio signals through one or more antennas 108. Each transceiver 106 may include a transmitter and/or a receiver. The transceiver 106 may be used interchangeably with a Radio Frequency (RF) unit. In this disclosure, the first wireless device 100 may represent a communication modem/circuit/chip.

The second wireless device 200 may include at least one transceiver (e.g., transceiver 206), at least one processing chip (e.g., processing chip 201), and/or one or more antennas 208.

The processing chip 201 may include at least one processor (e.g., processor 202) and at least one memory (e.g., memory 204). Fig. 2 exemplarily shows that the memory 204 is included in the processing chip 201. Additionally and/or alternatively, the memory 204 may be placed external to the processing chip 201.

The processor 202 may control the memory 204 and/or the transceiver 206 and may be configured to implement the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods, and/or operational flowcharts described in this disclosure. For example, the processor 202 may process the information within the memory 204 to generate a third information/signal and then transmit a radio signal including the third information/signal through the transceiver 206. The processor 202 may receive a radio signal including the fourth information/signal via the transceiver 106 and then store information obtained by processing the fourth information/signal in the memory 204.

The memory 204 may be operatively connected to the processor 202. Memory 204 may store various types of information and/or instructions. Memory 204 may store software code 205 that implements instructions that, when executed by processor 202, perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods, and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in this disclosure. For example, software code 205 may implement instructions that when executed by processor 202 perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods, and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in this disclosure. For example, software code 205 may control processor 202 to execute one or more protocols. For example, software code 205 may control processor 202 to execute one or more layers of a radio interface protocol.

Herein, the processor 202 and the memory 204 may be part of a communication modem/circuit/chip designed to implement a RAT (e.g., LTE or NR). The transceiver 206 may be connected to the processor 202 and transmit and/or receive radio signals through one or more antennas 208. Each transceiver 206 can include a transmitter and/or a receiver. The transceiver 206 may be used interchangeably with RF unit. In this disclosure, the second wireless device 200 may represent a communication modem/circuit/chip.

Hereinafter, hardware elements of the wireless devices 100 and 200 will be described in more detail. One or more protocol layers may be implemented by, but are not limited to, one or more processors 102 and 202. For example, the one or more processors 102 and 202 may implement one or more layers (e.g., functional layers such as a Physical (PHY) layer, a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer, a Radio Resource Control (RRC) layer, and a Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer). The one or more processors 102 and 202 may generate one or more Protocol Data Units (PDUs) (or packet data units) and/or one or more Service Data Units (SDUs) according to the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods, and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in this disclosure. One or more processors 102 and 202 may generate messages, control information, data, or information in accordance with the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods, and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in this disclosure. The one or more processors 102 and 202 may generate signals (e.g., baseband signals) including PDUs, SDUs, messages, control information, data, or information according to the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods, and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in the present disclosure, and provide the generated signals to the one or more transceivers 106 and 206. The one or more processors 102 and 202 may receive signals (e.g., baseband signals) from the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 and obtain PDUs, SDUs, messages, control information, data, or information according to the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods, and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in this disclosure.

One or more of the processors 102 and 202 may be referred to as a controller, microcontroller, microprocessor, or microcomputer. One or more of the processors 102 and 202 may be implemented by hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof. As an example, one or more Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), one or more Digital Signal Processors (DSPs), one or more Digital Signal Processing Devices (DSPDs), one or more Programmable Logic Devices (PLDs), or one or more Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) may be included in the one or more processors 102 and 202. The descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in this disclosure may be implemented using firmware or software, and the firmware or software may be configured to include modules, procedures or functions. Firmware or software configured to perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods, and/or operational flow diagrams disclosed in this disclosure may be included in one or more processors 102 and 202 or stored in one or more memories 104 and 204 to be driven by one or more processors 102 and 202. The descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in this disclosure may be implemented using software or firmware in the form of codes, commands and/or command sets.

One or more memories 104 and 204 may be coupled to one or more processors 102 and 202 and store various types of data, signals, messages, information, programs, code, instructions, and/or commands. One or more of the memories 104 and 204 may be configured by read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, a hard drive, registers, flash memory, a computer-readable storage medium, and/or combinations thereof. The one or more memories 104 and 204 may be located internal and/or external to the one or more processors 102 and 202. The one or more memories 104 and 204 may be connected to the one or more processors 102 and 202 by various techniques, such as a wired or wireless connection.

One or more transceivers 106 and 206 may transmit the user data, control information, and/or radio signals/channels referred to in the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods, and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in this disclosure to one or more other devices. One or more transceivers 106 and 206 may receive the user data, control information, and/or radio signals/channels mentioned in the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods, and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in this disclosure from one or more other devices. For example, one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may be connected to one or more processors 102 and 202 and transmit and receive radio signals. For example, the one or more processors 102 and 202 may perform control such that the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may transmit user data, control information, or radio signals to one or more other devices. The one or more processors 102 and 202 may perform control such that the one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may receive user data, control information, or radio signals from one or more other devices.

One or more transceivers 106 and 206 may be connected to one or more antennas 108 and 208, and one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may be configured to transmit and receive the user data, control information, and/or radio signals/channels mentioned in the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods, and/or operational flowcharts disclosed in this disclosure through one or more antennas 108 and 208. In the present disclosure, one or more of antennas 108 and 208 may be multiple physical antennas or multiple logical antennas (e.g., antenna ports).

The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may convert received user data, control information, radio signals/channels, etc. from RF band signals to baseband signals for processing the received user data, control information, radio signals/channels, etc. using the one or more processors 102 and 202. The one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may convert user data, control information, radio signals/channels, etc., processed using the one or more processors 102 and 202 from baseband signals to RF band signals. To this end, one or more of the transceivers 106 and 206 may comprise (analog) oscillators and/or filters. For example, one or more transceivers 106 and 206 may up-convert the OFDM baseband signal to an OFDM signal through their (analog) oscillators and/or filters under the control of one or more processors 102 and 202 and transmit the up-converted OFDM signal at a carrier frequency. One or more transceivers 106 and 206 may receive the OFDM signal at the carrier frequency and down-convert the OFDM signal to an OFDM baseband signal through their (analog) oscillators and/or filters under the control of one or more processors 102 and 202.

In an implementation of the present disclosure, a UE may operate as a transmitting device in the Uplink (UL) and as a receiving device in the Downlink (DL). In an implementation of the present disclosure, the BS may operate as a receiving device in UL and as a transmitting device in DL. Hereinafter, for convenience of description, it is mainly assumed that the first wireless device 100 functions as a UE and the second wireless device 200 functions as a BS. For example, the processor 102 connected to the first wireless device 100, installed on the first wireless device 100, or initiated in the first wireless device 100 may be configured to perform UE actions in accordance with implementations of the present disclosure, or to control the transceiver 106 to perform UE actions in accordance with implementations of the present disclosure. The processor 202 connected to the second wireless device 200, installed on the second wireless device 200, or initiated in the second wireless device 200 may be configured to perform BS actions according to an implementation of the present disclosure, or to control the transceiver 206 to perform BS actions according to an implementation of the present disclosure.

In the present disclosure, a BS is also referred to as a Node B (NB), an eNodeB (eNB), or a gNB.

Fig. 3 shows an example of a wireless device to which embodiments of the present disclosure are applied.

Wireless devices may be implemented in various forms according to use cases/services (referring to fig. 1).

Referring to fig. 3, wireless devices 100 and 200 may correspond to wireless devices 100 and 200 of fig. 2 and may be configured by various elements, assemblies, units/portions, and/or modules. For example, each of the wireless devices 100 and 200 may include a communication unit 110, a control unit 120, a memory unit 130, and an additional component 140. The communication unit 110 may include a communication circuit 112 and a transceiver 114. For example, the communication circuit 112 may include one or more processors 102 and 202 of fig. 2 and/or one or more memories 104 and 204 of fig. 2. For example, transceiver 114 may include one or more transceivers 106 and 206 of fig. 2 and/or one or more antennas 108 and 208 of fig. 2. The control unit 120 is electrically connected to the communication unit 110, the memory unit 130, and the additional components 140, and controls the overall operation of each of the wireless devices 100 and 200. For example, the control unit 120 may control the electrical/mechanical operation of each of the wireless devices 100 and 200 based on programs/codes/commands/information stored in the memory unit 130. The control unit 120 may transmit information stored in the memory unit 130 to the outside (e.g., other communication devices) through a wireless/wired interface via the communication unit 110, or store information received from the outside (e.g., other communication devices) through a wireless/wired interface via the communication unit 110 in the memory unit 130.

The add-on component 140 may be variously configured according to the type of wireless devices 100 and 200. For example, the additional component 140 may include at least one of a power supply unit/battery, an input/output (I/O) unit (e.g., an audio I/O port, a video I/O port), a driving unit, and a computing unit. The wireless devices 100 and 200 may be implemented in the form of, but not limited to, robots (100 a of fig. 1), vehicles (100 b-1 and 100b-2 of fig. 1), XR devices (100 c of fig. 1), handheld devices (100 d of fig. 1), home appliances (100 e of fig. 1), ioT devices (100 f of fig. 1), digital broadcast terminals, holographic devices, public safety devices, MTC devices, medical devices, finTech devices (or financial devices), security devices, climate/environment devices, AI servers/devices (400 of fig. 1), BSs (200 of fig. 1), network nodes, and the like. The wireless devices 100 and 200 may be used in mobile or fixed locations depending on the use case/service.

In fig. 3, the various elements, assemblies, units/portions and/or modules in the wireless devices 100 and 200 may be connected to each other by wired interfaces, or at least a portion thereof may be connected wirelessly by the communication unit 110. For example, in each of the wireless apparatuses 100 and 200, the control unit 120 and the communication unit 110 may be connected by wire, and the control unit 120 and the first units (e.g., 130 and 140) may be connected wirelessly through the communication unit 110. Each element, component, unit/section, and/or module within wireless devices 100 and 200 may also include one or more elements. For example, the control unit 120 may be configured by a set of one or more processors. As an example, the control unit 120 may be configured by a set of a communication control processor, an Application Processor (AP), an Electronic Control Unit (ECU), a graphics processing unit, and a memory control processor. As another example, the memory unit 130 may be configured by RAM, DRAM, ROM, flash memory, volatile memory, non-volatile memory, and/or combinations thereof.

Fig. 4 shows an example of a UE to which the implementation of the present description is applied.

Referring to fig. 4, the ue 100 may correspond to the first wireless device 100 of fig. 2 and/or the wireless device 100 or 200 of fig. 3.

The UE 100 includes a processor 102, a memory 104, a transceiver 106, one or more antennas 108, a power management module 110, a battery 112, a display 114, a keypad 116, a Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) card 118, a speaker 120, and a microphone 122.

The processor 102 may be configured to implement the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods, and/or operational flowcharts disclosed herein. The processor 102 may be configured to control one or more other components of the UE 100 to implement the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods, and/or operational flowcharts disclosed herein. Layers of the radio interface protocol may be implemented in the processor 102. The processor 102 may include an ASIC, other chipset, logic circuit, and/or data processing device. The processor 102 may be an application processor. Processor 102 may include a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), a Central Processing Unit (CPU), a Graphics Processing Unit (GPU), a modem(modulator and demodulator). Examples of processor 102 may be found in Manufactured snapdagantm series processor, < +.>Manufactured EXYNOS ^TM A series of processors,Manufactured A series processor->HELIOTM series processor, and ∈K>The ATOMTM series of processors manufactured or the corresponding next generation of processors.

Memory 104 is operably coupled to processor 102 and stores various information for operating processor 102. The memory 104 may include ROM, RAM, flash memory, memory cards, storage media, and/or other storage devices. When the embodiments are implemented in software, the techniques described herein may be implemented using modules (e.g., procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the descriptions, functions, procedures, suggestions, methods, and/or operational flow diagrams disclosed herein. The modules may be stored in the memory 104 and executed by the processor 102. The memory 104 may be implemented within the processor 102 or external to the processor 102, in which case the memory 104 can be communicatively coupled to the processor 102 via various means as is known in the art.

Transceiver 106 is operably coupled to processor 102 and transmits and/or receives wireless signals. The transceiver 106 includes a transmitter and a receiver. The transceiver 106 may include baseband circuitry for processing radio frequency signals. The transceiver 106 controls one or more antennas 108 to transmit and/or receive radio signals.

The power management module 110 manages power for the processor 102 and/or the transceiver 106. The battery 112 provides power to the power management module 110.

The display 114 outputs results of processing by the processor 102. The keyboard 116 receives input for use by the processor 102. A keyboard 116 may be displayed on the display 114.

The SIM card 118 is an integrated circuit for securely storing an International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) and associated keys for identifying and authenticating subscribers in mobile telephone devices such as cellular telephones and computers. In addition, contact information may be stored on many SIM cards.

Speaker 120 outputs sound correlation results that are processed by processor 102. Microphone 122 receives input related to sound for use by processor 102.

Fig. 5 shows an example of a 5G system architecture to which embodiments of the present disclosure are applied.

The 5G system (5 GS) architecture includes the following Network Functions (NF).

Authentication server function (AUSF)

-access and mobility management functions (AMF)

Data Network (DN), e.g. operator service, internet access or third party service

Unstructured Data Storage Function (UDSF)

-network open function (NEF)

Intermediate NEF (I-NEF)

-Network Repository Function (NRF)

Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF)

Policy Control Function (PCF)

-Session Management Function (SMF)

Unified Data Management (UDM)

-unified data store (UDR)

-User Plane Function (UPF)

UE radio capability management function (UCMF)

-Application Function (AF)

-User Equipment (UE)

- (radio) access network ((R) AN)

-5G device identity registration (5G-EIR)

-network data analysis function (NWDAF)

Charging function (CHF)

In addition, the following network functions may be considered.

-non-3 GPP interworking function (N3 IWF)

-trusted non-3 GPP gateway function (TNGF)

Wired access gateway function (W-AGF)

Fig. 5 shows a 5G system architecture in a non-roaming case, where a reference point representation is used showing how the various network functions interact with each other.

In fig. 5, UDSF, NEF and NRF are not depicted for clarity of the point-to-point diagram. However, all described network functions may interact with UDSF, UDR, NEF and NRF as needed.

For clarity, the UDR and its connections to other NFs (e.g., PCFs) are not shown in fig. 5. For clarity, the NWDAF and its connections to other NFs (e.g., PCFs) are not shown in fig. 5.

The 5G system architecture includes the following reference points:

-N1: reference point between UE and AMF.

-N2: reference point between (R) AN and AMF.

-N3: (R) reference point between AN and UPF.

-N4: reference point between SMF and UPF.

-N6: reference points between UPF and data network.

-N9: reference point between two UPFs.

The following reference points illustrate interactions that exist between NF services in NF.

-N5: reference point between PCF and AF.

-N7: reference point between SMF and PCF.

-N8: reference point between UDM and AMF.

-N10: reference point between UDM and SMF.

-N11: reference point between AMF and SMF.

-N12: reference point between AMF and AUSF.

-N13: reference point between UDM and AUSF.

-N14: reference point between two AMFs.

-N15: representing the reference point between PCF and AMF in the roaming scenario and the reference point between AMF and PCF of the visited network.

-N16: reference point between two SMFs, (in case of roaming between an SMF in the visited network and an SMF in the home network).

-N22: reference point between AMF and NSSF.

-N30: reference point between PCF and NEF.

-N33: reference point between AF and NEF.

In some cases, it may be desirable to associate a pair of NFs with each other to serve a UE.

For reference, in fig. 5, AFs of third parties other than operators may be connected to 5GC through NEF.

Fig. 6 is another example diagram showing a structure of a radio interface protocol between a UE and a gNB.

The radio interface protocol is based on the 3GPP radio access network standard. The radio interface protocol is horizontally composed of a physical layer, a data link layer, and a network layer, and is vertically divided into a user plane for transmitting data information and a control plane for delivering control signals (signaling).

Based on the lower three layers of the Open System Interconnection (OSI) reference model widely known in communication systems, protocol layers can be divided into L1 (first layer), L2 (second layer) and L3 (third layer).

Hereinafter, each layer of the radio protocol will be described.

The first layer (physical layer) provides an information transfer service using a physical channel. The physical layer is connected to an upper medium access control layer through a transport channel, and data between the medium access control layer and the physical layer is transferred through the transport channel. In addition, data is transmitted between different physical layers (i.e., between physical layers of a transmitting side and a receiving side) through a physical channel.

The second layer includes a Medium Access Control (MAC) layer, a Radio Link Control (RLC) layer, and a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer.

The third layer includes radio resource control (hereinafter abbreviated RRC). The RRC layer is defined only in the control plane and is responsible for controlling logical channels, transport channels and physical channels related to configuration, reconfiguration and release of radio bearers. In this case, the RB refers to a service provided by the second layer for data transmission between the UE and the E-UTRAN.

The NAS layer performs functions such as connection management (session management) and mobility management.

The NAS layer is divided into a NAS entity for Mobility Management (MM) and a NAS entity for Session Management (SM).

1) NAS entities for MMs typically provide the following functions.

NAS procedures related to AMF include the following.

-registration management and access management procedures. The AMF supports the following functions.

Secure NAS signal connection (integrity protection, ciphering) between UE and AMF

2) The NAS entity for SM performs session management between the UE and the SMF.

SM signaling is handled, i.e., generated and handled, at the NAS-SM layer of the UE and SMF. The content of the SM signaling message is not interpreted by the AMF.

In the case of SM signalling transmission,

the NAS entity for the MM creates a NAS-MM message that derives how and where to deliver the SM signaling message through a security header that represents NAS transport of SM signaling and additional information about the received NAS-MM.

Upon receiving the SM signaling, the NAS entity for the SM performs an integrity check of the NAS-MM message, analyzes the additional information, and derives the method and location for deriving the SM signaling message.

Meanwhile, in fig. 6, an RRC layer, an RLC layer, a MAC layer, and a PHY layer located below a NAS layer are collectively referred to AS an access layer (AS).

The network system (i.e., 5 GC) for next generation mobile communications (i.e., 5G) also supports non-3 GPP access. An example of a non-3 GPP access is typically a WLAN access. WLAN access may include trusted WLANs and untrusted WLANs.

In the system for 5G, the AMF performs registration management (RM: registration management) and connection management (CM: connection management) for 3GPP access as well as non-3 GPP access.

Multiple Access (MA) PDU sessions using 3GPP access and non-3 GPP access may be used.

A MA PDU session is a PDU session that can be serviced simultaneously with 3GPP access and non-3 GPP access using one PDU session.

< Multiple Access (MA) PDU session >

In the prior art, a MA PDU session is a session that can be serviced simultaneously with 3GPP access and non-3 GPP access using one PDU session.

Fig. 7 illustrates an example of generating a MA PDU session.

In fig. 7, the MA PDU session is one PDU session and has a separate session channel for each access. One PDU session is established over a 3GPP access, while another PDU session is established over AN untrusted non-3 GPP access (e.g., WLAN AN).

Since the MA PDU session is one session, the MA PDU session has the following features.

(i) A DNN;

(ii) Sub>A UPF anchor point (UPF-A);

(iii) One PDU type (e.g., IPv 6);

(iv) A session IP address

(v) SSC mode

(vi) An HPLMN S-NSSAI.

The MA PDU session enables Sub>A multipath datSub>A link between the UE and UPF-A. This may be implemented below the IP layer.

The MA PDU session may be established by one of the following procedures.

(i) The MA PDU session may be established through two separate PDU session establishment procedures. This is referred to as set up alone.

(ii) The MA PDU session may be established by a MA PDU session establishment procedure. I.e. the MA PDU session is established simultaneously in two accesses with one session establishment request. This is called binding establishment.

After the MA PDU session is established, session Management (SM) signaling related to the MA PDU session may be transmitted and received through random access.

A. Establishing MA PDU sessions separately

The MA PDU session may be established through two separate PDU session establishment procedures. For example, the UE may establish a MA PDU session over the 3GPP access and then perform a PDU session establishment procedure over the non-3 GPP access to add the non-3 GPP access to the MA PDU session created over the 3GPP access. The request type in the setup request message for adding the second access may be set to "MA PDU request".

B. And (5) establishing binding.

MA PDU sessions may be established simultaneously for 3GPP access and non-3 GPP access by a procedure. Such a procedure may be referred to as a MA PDU session establishment procedure requested by the UE. The above procedure may be useful when the UE intends to establish a MA PDU session while the UE has registered with the 5GC through two accesses. Instead of performing two separate PDU session establishment procedures, the UE may establish a MA PDU session by performing one MA PDU session establishment procedure.

Fig. 8 shows an example of applying the ats ss rule to a MA PDU session.

Referring to fig. 8, if an SMF wants to move an IP flow transmitted to a non-3 GPP access to a 3GPP access in a state where a multi-access (MA) PDU session is established, updated ats (access traffic steering, handover and splitting) rules may be transmitted through the 3GPP access.

< Access traffic steering, handover, and splitting (ATSSS) >)

The ats ss functionality may be an optional feature supported by the UE and the 5GC network.

The ats ss function may enable multiple access PDU connectivity services. For example, the ats functionality may exchange PDUs between a UE and a data network by using one 3GPP access network and one non-3 GPP access network at the same time, and using two separate N3/N9 channels between the PSA and RAN/AN. The multi-access PDU connection service may be implemented by establishing a multi-access PDU (MAPDU) session. The MA PDU session may be, for example, a PDU session with user plane resources in both access networks.

The UE may request a MA PDU session if the UE is registered through 3GPP and non-3 GPP accesses, or if the UE registers only one access.

After setting up the MA PDU session, if user plane resources are present in both access networks, the UE applies network provided policies (e.g., ats ss rules) and exchanges local conditions (e.g., network interface availability, signal loss conditions, user preferences, etc.) in order to determine how to distribute uplink traffic over both access networks. Similarly, the UPF anchor application network of the MA PDU session provides policies (e.g., N4 rules) and feedback information received from the UE over the user plane (e.g., access network unavailability or availability) to determine allocation of downlink traffic to the two N3/N9 channels and the two access networks. If only one access network has user plane resources, the UE may apply the ats ss rule and may consider local conditions in order to trigger the establishment or activation of user plane resources through another access.

The MA PDU session type may be one of IPv4, IPv6, IPv4/IPv6 and ethernet, for example. The current version may not support unstructured types.

The ats functionality may be supported through any type of access network. Here, all types of access networks may include untrusted non-3 GPP access networks and trusted non-3 GPP access networks, wired 5G access networks, and the like. The ats functionality may be supported on any type of access network as long as MA PDU sessions may be established on any type of access network.

Hereinafter, a function for enabling the ats will be described.

First, the MA PDU session will be described. MA PDU sessions may be managed using session management functions with the following additions and modifications:

1) If the UE wants to request a new MA PDU session:

-when the UE registers in the same PLMN over both 3GPP access and non-3 GPP access, the UE may send a PDU session establishment request message including "MA PDU request" over one of the two accesses. The AMF may inform the SMF that the UE is registered via two accesses. The AMF informing the SMF may trigger the establishment of user plane resources in two access and two N3/N9 channels between the PDU Session Anchor (PSA) and the RAN/AN.

-when the UE registers with different PLMNs over the 3GPP access and the non-3 GPP access, the UE may send a PDU session establishment request message including "MA PDU request" over one of the two accesses. After establishing the PDU session in one N3/N9 channel between the PSA and the (R) AN/AN, the UE may send a PDU session establishment request message including a "MA PDU request" and the same PDU session ID via another access. User plane resources in both accesses and two N3/N9 tunnels between the PSA and RAN/AN may be established.

-if the UE registers with only one access, the UE may send a PDU session establishment request message comprising an indication of "MA PDU request" over the access with which the UE registers. AN N3/N9 channel may be established between the PSA and the RAN/AN and the user plane resources in the access. After the UE registers with the second access, the UE may establish user plane resources in the second access.

-the UE may provide ats capability information of the UE in a PDU session establishment request message sent to request a new MA PDU session. The ats ss capability information(s) may include information regarding the steering mode and steering function supported by the UE.

If the UE indicates that it can support an ats ss-LL (lower layer) function with any steering mode and the network accepts to activate this function, the network can provide UE measurement assistance information to the UE. And, the network may provide one or more ats ss rules to the UE.

The UE indicates that the UE can support MPTCP functions in any directed mode and can only support ats ss-LL functions in active-standby directed mode, which the network can accept to activate. In this case, the network provides MPTCP proxy information to the UE, which the network may assign one IP address/prefix for the MA PDU session and two additional IP addresses/prefixes called "link-specific multipaths". In addition, the network may provide UE measurement assistance information to the UE and one or more ats rules to the UE, including ats rules for non-MPTCP traffic. The ats ss rule for non-MPTCP traffic may use the ats ss-LL function and active-standby steering mode to indicate how to transmit non-MPTCP traffic over 3GPP access and non-3 GPP access in the uplink direction.

If the UE indicates that it can support MPTCP functions with all directed modes and ats ss-LL functions with all directed modes and the network accepts to enable these functions, the network can provide MPTCP proxy information to the UE. In addition, the network may assign one IP address/prefix for the MA PDU session and two additional IP addresses/prefixes, referred to as "link-specific multipaths". The network may provide UE measurement assistance information and one or more ats ss rules to the UE.

-if the UE requests S-nsai, S-nsai will be allowed in both accesses. Otherwise, the MA PDU session may not be established.

The SMF may determine the ats capabilities supported for the MA PDU session based on the ats capabilities provided by the UE and the DNN configuration of the SMF. The SMF may perform the following actions:

-a) if the UE includes in the ats ss capability "MPTCP function with any directed mode and ats ss-LL function with active-standby directed mode only"; and

-a-1) if DNN configuration allows MPTCP and ats ss s-LL to be used for all guided modes, (1) MPTCP and ats ss s-LL can be used for all guided modes in downlink for MA PDU session, (2) uplink MPTCP and ats ss s-LL can be used for active-standby mode; or alternatively

-a-2) if DNN configuration allows MPTCP for all guided modes and ats ss s-LL for active-standby mode, then MPTCP and ats ss s-LL are possible in active-standby mode in uplink and downlink for MA PDU session.

-b) if the UE includes an ats ss-LL function with any steering mode in the ats ss capability and the DNN setting allows ats ss-LL with any steering mode, the MA PDU session will cover all steering modes in uplink and downlink. ATSSS-LL is possible.

-c) if the UE includes in the ats capability "MPTCP function with any steering mode and ats-LL function with any steering mode" and DNN configuration allows MPTCP and ats-LL to be used for all steering modes, MPTCP and ats-LL may have all steering modes in uplink and downlink for MA PDU session.

While the PDU session establishment procedure is being performed, the SMF may provide the PCF with ATSSS capabilities for MA PDU sessions.

Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rules provided by the PCF may include ats ss control information. The PCC rules and ats control information may be used by the SMF to derive ats rules for the UE and N4 rules for the UPF. For MA PDU sessions, if dynamic PCC rules are not used, the SMF may provide the ats rules and N4 rules to the UE and UPF, respectively, based on a local configuration (e.g., a local configuration based on DNN or S-nsai).

The UE may receive the ats ss rule from the SMF. The ats ss rules may indicate how uplink traffic is routed through 3GPP access and non-3 GPP access. Similarly, the UPF may receive N4 rules from the SMF. The N4 rule may indicate how downlink traffic is routed through 3GPP access and non-3 GPP access.

-when the SMF receives a PDU session establishment request message comprising an indication of "MA PDU request" and if the PDU session requires UP security protection, the SMF may confirm the establishment of the MA PDU session only if UP security protection requiring 3GPP access can be implemented. The SMF does not need to check whether it can implement UP security protection requiring non-3 GPP access.

-2) after the MA PDU session establishment procedure (i.e. after the MA PDU session is established), the following description may be applied:

at any given time, the MA PDU session may have user plane resources in both 3GPP and non-3 GPP accesses, may have user plane resources in only one access, or may have no user plane resources in any access.

Even if the UE is deregistered from one access, AMF, SMF, PCF and UPF can maintain their MA PDU session context if the UE registers with another access.

When the UE is unregistered from one access and the UE registers another access, the AMF may inform the SMF that the access type for the MA PDU session has become unavailable. Thereafter, the SMF may inform the UPF that the access type of the unregistered access has become unavailable and the N3/N9 channel for the corresponding access type has been released.

When the UE wants to add user plane resources in one access of the MA PDU session (e.g. based on access network performance measurements and/or ats ss rules), the UE may send a PDU session establishment request message over the access. Here, the PDU session establishment request message may include a PDU session ID of the MA PDU session and an "MA PDU request" indication. For this access, if N3/N9 does not exist, N3/N9 for the access may be established.

When the UE wants to re-activate the user plane resources in one access of the MA PDU session (e.g. based on access network performance measurements and/or ats ss rules), the UE may initiate the UE triggered service request procedure through this access.

3) The network may initiate a network triggered service request procedure when the network wants to re-activate user plane resources through a 3GPP access or a non-3 GPP access of the MA PDU session.

The MA PDU session may also be established in one of the following cases:

a) When an ats-capable UE explicitly requests to establish a MA PDU session; or alternatively

b) A MA PDU session may be established if an ats-capable UE requests a single access PDU session, but the network decides to set up the MA PDU session instead. This example may correspond to an alternative scenario, which may occur when a UE requiring a single access for a PDU session has requested a single access PDU session, but without policies (e.g., UE routing policy (urs) rules) and local limitations.

When the UE moves from EPS to 5GS, the MA PDU session may be established while the PDU session modification procedure is performed.

The ats-capable UE may decide to request a MA PDU session based on the provided urs rules. In particular, if the urs rule triggers the UE to establish a new PDU session, and if the access type preference component of the urs rule indicates "multiple access", the UE may request a MA PDU session when the UEs apply the urs rule.

Hereinafter, a policy for ats ss control will be described.

While the establishment of the MA PDU session is being performed, if a dynamic PCC is used for the MA PDU session, the PCF may perform the ats policy determination and create PCC rules including the ats policy control information. Here, the ats policy control information may be used to determine how uplink traffic and downlink traffic of the MA PDU session are distributed over the 3GPP access and the non-3 GPP access.

The SMF may receive PCC rules and ats ss policy control information from the PCF. And, the SMF may map these rules to (a) ats ss rules sent to the UE and (b) N4 rules sent to the UPF. The ats rules may be a list of prioritized rules that the UE applies to enforcing the ats policy in the uplink direction. Also, the N4 rule may be applied by the UPF to implement the ats policy in the downlink direction.

The ats ss rules may be sent to the UE along with NAS messages when creating or updating MA PDU sessions by the SMF (e.g., after the SMF receives updated (or new) PCC rules from the PCF). Similarly, when a MA PDU session is created or updated by the SMF, the N4 rule may be sent to the UPF.

For ats, quality of service (QoS) may be supported. Hereinafter, qoS support (QoS support) will be described.

The 5G QoS model for a single access PDU session may also be applied to MA PDU sessions. For example, the QoS flow may be the finest granularity of QoS differentiation in a MA PDU session. One difference compared to a single access PDU session is that in a MA PDU session there may be separate user plane channels between the AN and the PSA, and each user plane channel may be associated with a specific access (3 GPP access or non-3 GPP access). However, qoS flows may not be associated with a particular access. That is, since QoS flows are access agnostic, the same QoS can be supported when distributing traffic through 3GPP access and non-3 GPP access. The SMF may provide the same QoS Flow ID (QFI) in both 3GPP and non-3 GPP accesses, thereby supporting the same QoS in both accesses.

Regarding ats ss, access network performance measurements may be supported. Hereinafter, access network performance measurements will be described.

When the MA PDU session is established, the network may provide measurement assistance information to the UE. Measurement assistance information may be used to determine which measurements the UE should perform in both accesses, and measurement assistance information may be used to determine whether the UE needs to send measurement reports to the network.

The measurement assistance information may include addressing information of a Performance Measurement Function (PMF) in the UPF, and the UE may transmit PMF protocol messages in a manner shown by the following example:

in case of an IP type PDU session, the measurement assistance information may comprise one IP address of the PMF, a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port associated with the 3GPP access, and another UDP port associated with the non-3 GPP access;

in case of an ethernet type PDU session, the measurement assistance information may comprise one MAC address related to the 3GPP access and another MAC address related to the non-3 GPP access.

Note 1: to protect PMFs in the UPF (e.g., distributed denial of service (DDOS) blocking of PMFs), the IP address of the PMF is only accessible from the UE IP address through the N3/N9 interface.

And (2) injection: after the MA PDU session is released, the same UE IP address/prefix of the MA PDU session may not be allocated to another UE for a short period of time.

PMF protocol messages such as the following examples may be exchanged between the UE and PMF:

messages may be exchanged to allow Round Trip Time (RTT) measurements. For example, if a "minimum delay" guided mode is used, messages may be exchanged that allow RTT measurements.

The UE may send a message to the UPF reporting access availability/unavailability.

PMF protocol messages exchanged between the UE and the UPF may use QoS flows related to default QoS rules for available access.

The QoS flows associated with the basic QoS rules of the MA PDU session may be non-GBR QoS flows.

For PMF protocol messages, the UE does not apply ats rules and the UPF does not apply Multimedia Authentication Request (MAR) rules.

The UE requests a MA PDU session, the UE may indicate that the UE may support MPTCP functionality in all directed modes and ats-LL functionality only in active-standby directed mode. In this case, in order for the UE to transmit an access availability/unavailability report to the UPF, the network may transmit measurement assistance information of the UE to the UE. In this case, since the UE and the UPF can use the measurements available in the MPTCP layer, the UE and the UPF do not perform RTT measurements using the PMF.

RTT measurements are described below.

RTT measurements may be performed independently by the UE and the UPF. There may be no measurement report from side to side. RTT measurements may be defined to support "minimum delay" guided modes.

RTT measurements for UE and UPF may be based on the following mechanisms:

the PMF of the ue sends PMF-echo request messages to the PMFs of the UPF through the user plane, which may respond with PMF-echo response messages for each. Similarly, the PMF of the UPF sends PMF-echo request messages to the PMF of the UE through the user plane, which may respond with PMF-echo response messages for each.

2. In the case of an IP type MA PDU session, the following may apply:

the PMF in the UE sends PMF messages to the PMF in the UPF over UDP/IP. The destination IP address is an IP address contained in the measurement assistance information, and the destination UDP port is one of two UDP ports contained in the measurement assistance information. One UDP port is used to send PMF messages to the UPF over 3GPP access and the other UDP port is used to send PMF messages to the UPF over non-3 GPP access. The source IP address is the IP address allocated to the UE for the MA PDU session and the source UDP port is the UDP port dynamically allocated by the UE for PMF communication. The source UDP port in the UE remains the same throughout the lifetime of the MA PDU session.

The PMF in UPF sends PMF messages to the PMF in UE over UDP/IP. The source IP address is the same IP address as that provided in the measurement assistance information, and the source UDP port is one of two UDP ports provided in the measurement assistance information. One UDP port is used to send PMF messages to the UE over 3GPP access and the other UDP port is used to send PMF messages to the UE over non-3 GPP access. The destination IPv4 address is an IPv4 address assigned to the UE for the MA PDU session (if any), and the destination IPv6 address is an IPv6 address selected by the UE from the IPv6 prefix assigned for the MA PDU session (if any). The destination UDP port is a dynamically allocated UDP port in the UE that is included in all PMF messages received from the UE. If the UE receives the measurement assistance information, the UE will inform the network via the user plane of the dynamically allocated UDP port of the UE, as well as the IPv6 address (if IPv6 is used for PMF messages), so that once the MA PDU session is established, the UPF can know the IPv6 address of the UE (if applicable) and the dynamically allocated UDP port.

3. In the case of an ethernet type MA PDU session, the following may be applied:

the PMF in the UE sends a PMF message to the PMF in the UPF over ethernet. The ethernet type is an ethernet type contained in the measurement assistance information, and the destination MAC address is one of two MAC addresses contained in the measurement assistance information. One MAC address is used to send PMF messages to the UPF over a 3GPP access, and the other MAC address is used to send PMF messages to the UPF over a non-3 GPP access. The source MAC address is the MAC address of the UE, which remains the same throughout the lifetime of the MA PDU session.

The PMF in UPF sends PMF messages to the PMF in UE over ethernet. The ethernet type is the same as the ethernet type provided in the measurement assistance information, and the source MAC address is one of two MAC addresses provided in the measurement assistance information. One MAC address is used to send PMF messages to the UE over a 3GPP access, and the other MAC address is used to send PMF messages to the UE over a non-3 GPP access. The destination MAC address is the MAC address of the UE, which is contained in all PMF messages received from the UE. If the UE receives the measurement assistance information, the UE will inform the network of the MAC address of the UE via the user plane so that the UPF can know the MAC address of the UE once the MA PDU session is established.

4. When the UP connection of the MA PDU session is deactivated on the access, no PMF-echo request message is sent on the access. If the UP connection is not available or after it receives notification from the (H-) SMF to stop sending PMF-echo requests for the access, the PMF in the UPF does not send PMF-echo requests for the access.

Ue and UPF derive an estimate of the average RTT over the access type by averaging RTT measurements obtained over the access type.

In ats, a pilot function may be supported. Hereinafter, the guiding function will be described.

The functionality of an ats-capable UE that can steer (coordinate), switch traffic with split MA PDU sessions through 3GPP access and non-3 GPP access may be referred to as "steering functionality". An ats-capable UE may support one or more of the following types of steering functions:

1) Higher layer steering functions operating above the Internet Protocol (IP) layer may be supported. For example, a higher layer steering function "MPTCP function" applying a multipath transmission control protocol (MPTCP) protocol may be supported. Here, the steering function ("MPTCP function") may be applied to steering, switching, and splitting TCP traffic of an application that allows the use of MPTCP. The MPTCP function of the UE may communicate with the associated MPTCP proxy function of the UPF via a 3GPP user plane and/or a non-3 GPP user plane.

2) Lower layer steering functions operating below the IP layer may be supported. For example, a lower-layer steering function called "ATSSS lower-layer function" or ATSSS-LL function may be supported. Here, the steering function ("ats ss low-level function" or ats ss-LL function) may be applied to steer, switch, and split any type of traffic (including TCP traffic, user Datagram Protocol (UDP) traffic, ethernet traffic, etc.). The ats-LL function must be supported in an ethernet type MA PDU session. In the network, there must be one UPF supporting the ATSSS-LL in the data path of the MA PDU session.

The UE may indicate to the network the steering functions and steering modes supported by the UE by including in the UE ats one of:

1) Ats ss-LL functionality with any guided mode. In this case, the UE may indicate that it may use the ats ss-LL function with all steering modes to steer, handover, and split all traffic of the MA PDU session.

2) MPTCP function with any guided mode and ats ss-LL function with active-standby guided mode only. In this case, an ats ss-LL function having only an MPTCP function and an active-standby guided mode having all guided modes can be supported. In this case, the UE may indicate:

2-a) the UE may use MPTCP functionality with all steering modes to steer, handover and split MPTCP traffic for MA PDU sessions.

2-b) the UE may use the ats ss-LL function with active-standby steering mode to steer, handover and split all other traffic (e.g., non-MPTCP traffic) of the MA PDU session.

3) MPTCP function with any guided mode and ats ss-LL function with any guided mode. In this case, the MPTCP function with all the guided modes and the ats ss-LL function with all the guided modes can be supported. In this case, the UE may indicate:

3-a) the UE may use MPTCP functionality with all steering modes to steer, handover and split MPTCP traffic for MA PDU sessions.

3-b) the UE may use the ats ss-LL function with any steering mode to steer, handover and split all other traffic (i.e., non-MPTCP traffic) in the MA PDU session.

The above-described steering function is schematically shown in fig. 9, which shows an exemplary model of an ats-capable UE supporting MPTCP function and ats-LL function.

Fig. 9 is a diagram illustrating an example of a steering function of a UE.

In the example of fig. 9, MPTCP flows may indicate traffic of an application to which MPTCP may be applied. In the figure, three different IP addresses (e.g., ip@1, ip@2, ip@3) are shown in the UE.

The "lower layer" in this figure may contain functions that operate below the IP layer (e.g., other network interfaces of the UE), while the "upper layer" may contain functions that operate above the IP layer.

Within the same MA PDU session of the UE, MPTCP functionality may be used to direct MPTCP flows, while ats-LL functionality may be used to direct all other flows. For the same packet flow, a steering function may be used.

All steering functions of the UE may use the same set of ats rules to perform ats decisions (e.g., how to steer, switch, split traffic). Similarly, all ats decisions in the UPF may be performed by applying the same N4 rule set that supports ats. When the MA PDU session is established, ats rules and N4 rules supporting ats may be provided to each of the UE and the UPF.

When the UE supports both MPTCP function and ats-LL function, the UE can determine a steering function to be applied to a specific packet stream by using the provided ats rule.

Hereinafter, the ats ss rule will be described in detail.

After establishing the MA PDU session, the UE may receive a priority list of ats rules from the SMF. An example of the structure of the ats rule is shown in table 3 below.

TABLE 3

In table 3 above, notes 1 to 5 are as follows:

note 1: each ats rule may have a different priority value than the other ats rules.

And (2) injection: there may be more than one service descriptor component.

And (3) injection: the application IDs may include an OSId (operating system ID) and an OSAppId (operating system application ID).

And (4) injection: the ats ss rule cannot contain IP descriptors and non-IP descriptors.

And (5) injection: if the UE supports only one steering function, this component is omitted.

The UE may evaluate the ats rules according to the priority order.

Each ats s rule may include a traffic descriptor (e.g., including one or more components described in the example of table 3) that may determine when the rule applies. When all components of the service descriptor match the Service Data Flow (SDF) under consideration, it may be determined that the ats rule is applicable.

Depending on the type of MA PDU session, the traffic descriptor may include components such as the following examples:

-when the type of MA PDU session is IPv4, IPv6 or IPv4v6 type: the traffic descriptor may include an application descriptor and/or an IP descriptor.

-when the type of MA PDU session is an ethernet type: the traffic descriptor may include an application descriptor and/or a non-IP descriptor.

One ats ss rule may be provided to the UE along with a "match all" traffic descriptor that matches all SDFs. If the ats rule is provided, the ats rule may have the lowest rule priority value. The ats ss rule may be last evaluated by the UE.

Each ats ss rule may include an access selection descriptor that includes components such as the following examples:

the ats ss rule may include a guided mode. The steering pattern may determine how the matching SDF should be distributed over 3GPP access and non-3 GPP access. A guided mode such as the following example may be supported:

-1) active-standby: active-standby may be used to steer the SDF in one access (active access) if that access is available. And, when active access is not available, active-standby may be used to switch the SDF to another available access (standby access). When active access becomes available again, the SDF may switch back to active access. If the standby access is not defined, the SDF is only allowed for active access and cannot be sent to other accesses.

-2) minimum delay: the minimum delay may be used to direct the SDF to an access determined to have a minimum Round Trip Time (RTT). Measurements may be performed by the UE and the UPF to determine RTTs on the 3GPP access and the non-3 GPP access. Furthermore, if one access becomes unavailable, SDF traffic may be handed over to another available access if the PCC rules allow.

-3) load balancing: when both accesses are available, load balancing may be used to split the SDF through both accesses. Load balancing may include the percentage of SDF traffic transmitted over 3GPP access and non-3 GPP access. Load balancing can only be applied to non-GBR (guaranteed bit rate) QoS flows. Furthermore, if one access becomes unavailable, all SDF traffic can be handed over to another available access as if the percentage of SDF traffic relative to the other available access were 100%.

-4) priority based: traffic directed to SDFs with high priority access based on priority may be used. Priority-based traffic can be used to direct SDF traffic to high priority access until high priority access congestion is determined. When high priority access congestion is determined, traffic for the SDF can be sent even with low priority access. That is, SDF traffic can be split through two accesses. Furthermore, if high priority access becomes unavailable, all SDF traffic may be exchanged over low priority access. How the UE and UPF determine when congestion occurs in the access may vary depending on implementation.

The ats ss rule may include a steering function. The steering function may be used to identify whether the MPTCP function or the ats ss-LL function may be used to steer traffic that matches the SDF. The steering function may be used when the UE supports multiple functions for ats.

Note that when an access becomes available or becomes unavailable, the ats rules do not have to be updated.

Examples of ats ss rules that may be provided to a UE are described below:

a) The ats ss rule may include "service descriptor: UDP, destAddr 1.2.3.4 "and" guided mode: active-standby, active = 3GPP, standby = non-3 GPP ":

the ats ss rule may mean "when active access (3 GPP access) is available, UDP traffic with destination IP address 1.2.3.4 is directed to active access (3 GPP access). If active access is not available, standby access (non-3 GPP access) is used.

b) The ats ss rule may include "service descriptor: TCP, destPort 8080 "and" guided mode: minimum delay ":

the ats ss rule may mean "direct TCP traffic with destination port 8080 to access with minimum delay". The UE may measure RTT on both accesses to determine the access with the smallest delay.

c) The ats ss rule may include "service descriptor: application-1 "," guided mode: load balancing, 3 gpp=20%, non-3 gpp=80% ", and" steering function: MPTCP ":

the ats ss rule may mean "use MPTCP function, transfer 20% of application-1 traffic on 3GPP access, and transfer 80% of application-1 traffic on non-3 GPP access".

Techniques and procedures related to the disclosure of this specification

Techniques and procedures related to the disclosure herein are described below. In addition, examples of the problems to be solved by the disclosure of the present specification may also be described below.

For ats, various steering modes (e.g., active-standby, minimum delay, load-balancing, priority-based, etc.) have been defined. In addition to the guided modes previously defined for ats, the question of which guided mode can be supported is discussed as follows.

Examples of problems associated with the additional guidance mode are as follows.

It is necessary to discuss whether or not additional guidance modes are supported and how to support the additional guidance modes. For problems related to the additional guided mode, the following examples may be discussed:

-identifying a gap of the guided mode;

-identifying whether and how the new steering mode can improve the network services delivered to the UE and the 5G RG, and determining whether additional steering modes can be defined.

Whether and how additional steering modes are negotiated between the UE and the network and possibly between NFs (e.g. between SMF and UPF);

whether and how to enhance PCC rules, ats ss rules and N4 rules to support these additional guided modes;

Whether and how to enhance the PMF to support these additional steering modes, and what the impact on UE and network is.

For an example of the problems associated with the additional guided mode, the following discussion is presented.

Hereinafter, an example of a new steering mode (autonomous steering mode with advanced PMF) will be described.

To support this new steering mode, the previously defined link Performance Measurement Function (PMF) must be improved. The legacy PMF may support RTT measurements and access availability reporting per PDU session. With respect to RTT measurements, the measurement traffic may be sent using a default QoS flow. In addition, the RTT value detected in the QoS flow may be treated as the RTT of the PDU session through the access. Obviously, the RTT value cannot reflect the exact RTT of all traffic of the PDU session on the access. For some service traffic that is delay sensitive, RTT measurements per QoS flow are required. In addition, better traffic steering/handover/splitting is possible since, in addition to RTT, the measurement of loss ratio and jitter is also important in determining link performance. Meanwhile, similar to RAN assistance information (e.g., defined for 3GPP access to support a RAN for handover threshold determination), some thresholds corresponding to these parameters, such as maximum RTT, maximum UL/DL packet loss rate, and jitter, may be sent to the UE and UPF to trigger traffic steering/handover/splitting.

Various characteristics may be described, such as the following examples:

RTT measurement for each QoS flow

Packet loss rate measurement for each QoS flow

Jitter measurement per QoS flow

-a threshold for traffic steering/handover/splitting;

these features may be independently selected.

Improvements in link performance measurements are described.

RTT measurement per QoS flow:

when the MA PDU session is established, the network may provide measurement assistance information to the UE.

RTT measurements per QoS flow may be triggered independently by the UE or UPF. The measurement assistance information contains QFI to which RTT measurement is to be applied. Alternatively, the RTT measurement frequency may also be decided by the network side and transmitted to the UE if assistance information is available via measurement.

For RTT measurements per QoS flow, mechanisms such as the following examples may be used.

In the case of an IP type MA PDU session, the following may apply:

the PMF in the UE sends PMF messages to the PMF in the UPF via one QoS flow. The destination IP address and UDP port are as conventionally defined, i.e. the destination IP address is a PMF IP address and the UDP port number corresponds to the access via which the message is sent. When the UPF receives the message, the UPF may identify the PMF message based on the destination IP address.

The PMF in UPF sends PMF messages to the PMF in UE over UDP/IP. The source IP address is the same IP address as provided in the measurement assistance information and the source UDP port is one of the two UDP ports provided in the measurement assistance information as conventionally defined. The destination IP address is the MA PDU session IP address assigned by the UE, and the UDP port is also sent by the UE via the user plane after the MA PDU session is established. When the message is received by the UE, the UE may identify the PMF message based on the source IP address of the PMF.

In the case of an ethernet type MA PDU session, the following may be applied:

the PMF in the UE sends a PMF message to the PMF in the UPF over ethernet. The destination MAC address is included in the measurement assistance information. The UPF may then identify the PMF message based on the destination MAC address.

The PMF in UPF sends PMF messages to the PMF in UE over ethernet. The source MAC address and the destination MAC address are as conventionally defined. The UE may then identify the PMF message based on the source MAC address.

The UE and UPF derive an estimate of the average RTT over the access type by averaging RTT measurements obtained over the access type.

The following figures are used to explain specific examples of the present specification. Since names of specific devices or specific signals/messages/fields depicted in the drawings are provided as examples, technical features of the present specification are not limited to the specific names used in the following drawings.

Fig. 10 shows an example of a conventional RTT measurement and a modified RTT measurement.

Referring to fig. 10, the "per PDU for RTT" written in the following section represents an example of RTT measurement according to the conventional method. The above written "per QoS flow for RTT" represents an example of enhanced RTT measurements.

Taking into account the QoS parameters of guaranteed GBR traffic, it is not recommended to make RTT measurements for GBR QoS flows, GBR traffic is transmitted over only one access, resulting in no comparison with the other path RTT value.

Enhanced RTT measurements (e.g., per QoS flow for RTT in fig. 10) result in more accurate RTT measurements than conventionally defined RTT measurements per PDU session. Because different QoS flows corresponding to different 5QI have different packet delay budget requirements even for non-GBR QoS flows (see, e.g., TS 23.501 table 5.7.4-1). For example, when 5 qi=5, the packet delay budget is 100ms, but if 5 qi=6, the packet delay budget is equal to 300ms, three times that of 5 qi=5. Thus, it is incorrect to use one non-GBR QoS flow RTT that represents all other non-GBR QoS flows.

1) Packet loss rate measurement per QoS flow. For reference, the same mechanism described in section 6.3.1.4 of TR 23.793V16.0.0 can be applied to packet loss rate measurement.

The UE and the UPF exchange packet count information over a period to calculate a packet loss rate during path performance measurements.

-the UE counting the number of UL packets transmitted over one QoS flow between the time of transmitting one PMF request message and the time of transmitting the previous PMF request message and providing the result to the UPF over the PMF request message.

In addition, the UPF may also calculate the number of UL packets received through one QoS flow between the time one PMF request message is received and the time the previous PMF request message is received. The UPF may calculate an UL packet loss rate based on the local count result and the number of UL packets transmitted by the UE.

The UPF may send the result of the UL packet loss rate to the UE through a PMF response message. When the UPF measures the DL packet loss rate between the time one PMF response message is sent and the time the previous PMF response message is sent, the UPF may also include information that counts the number of DL packets in the same message.

-the UE counts the number of DL received between one PMF response message and the previous PMF response message. The UE calculates a DL packet loss rate based on the local count result and the number of DL packets transmitted by the UPF, and transmits the DL packet loss rate to the UPF through a subsequent PMF message.

The PMF message for calculating the packet loss rate is the same as the PMF message for measuring RTT. The number of packets and/or the packet loss rate IE are added to the PMF message used to measure RTT, which can be used to calculate the packet loss rate. Taking UE-initiated UL packet loss rate measurements as an example, PMF request messages from the UE and corresponding PMF response messages from the UPF (transaction ID for identifying request/response messages) are applied to the number of transmission packets and loss rate, see fig. 11 below.

The following figures are used to explain specific examples of the present specification. Since names of specific devices or specific signals/messages/fields depicted in the drawings are provided as examples, technical features of the present specification are not limited to the specific names used in the following drawings.

Fig. 11 shows an example of packet loss rate measurement.

Referring to the example of fig. 11, an example of measuring a packet loss rate of UL traffic is shown.

The PMF request message transmitted by the UE may include TI (transaction ID) information and the number of packets transmitted by the UE (e.g., the number of UL packets between the time one PMF request message is transmitted and the time the previous PMF request message is transmitted). The TI information may be used to distinguish PMF messages. For example, the TI information may be an Extended Process Transaction Identifier (EPTI). For example, if the UE sets the EPTI included in the PMF request message to 1 and transmits the EPTI, the UPF may be transmitted by setting the EPTI included in the response message to the PMF request message to 1. For example, based on the EPTI included in the PMF message (e.g., request message, response message, etc.), the UE may know for which PMF request message the corresponding PMF message is the response message. The value of the EPTI may be increased each time a PMF request message is sent. For reference, procedure Transaction Identification (PTI) may also be used for NAS layer based message transport. EPTI is defined because the transmission of PMF messages occurs more frequently than the transmission of NAS layer based messages.

Upon receiving the PMF request message from the UE, UF may count the number of UL packets. For example, the UPF may also calculate the number of UL packets received through one QoS flow between the time one PMF request message is received and the time the previous PMF request message is received. In addition, the UPF may calculate the UL packet loss rate based on the local count result (e.g., the number of UL packets calculated by the UPF) and the number of UL packets transmitted by the UE. The PMF response message transmitted by the UPF may include TI information and information about UL packet loss rate.

As described above, the following may be affected according to the discussion (e.g., solution) of the new guided mode for 5 GS. The above solution may affect the following entities in 5 GS:

the SMF may support the selection of UPFs that support the new steering mode.

The PCF may support granting new steering modes for Service Data Flows (SDFs).

UPF can support new steering modes and enhancements to PMF.

The UE may support new steering modes and enhancements to PMF.

The 5G-AN/NG RAN may not be affected.

As described above, in the related art, a method of performing access measurement on a plurality of QoS flows using PMF has been discussed. In particular, a method of performing measurements on each of all QoS flows of a plurality of QoS flows is discussed.

Meanwhile, in 5GS, several QoS flows may be mapped to one radio bearer in the access network. For reference, in this specification, a radio bearer may be interpreted as a radio bearer of a 3GPP access and an Internet Key Exchange (IKE) channel (sub Security Association (SA)) in a non-3 GPP access.

When multiple QoS flows are managed over one radio bearer in the access network, user plane signaling and processing only increases, but there is no benefit, if the UE and/or UPF performs access measurements for each QoS flow. This is because measurements of each of several QoS flows mapped to one radio bearer produce similar results.

In other words, in order to effectively use a plurality of QoS flows, a plurality of QoS flows may be measured. Conventionally, however, a method for effectively measuring a plurality of QoS flows has not been discussed. For example, multiple QoS flows may be mapped to one radio resource (e.g., radio bearer). In this case, according to the related art, measurement is performed for each QoS flow included in the plurality of QoS flows, which results in a problem that radio resources and computing resources are wasted. In addition, when Packet Loss Rate (PLR) measurement is performed on a plurality of QoS flows, there is a problem in that many resources are wasted.

For example, measurements of multiple QoS flows may be performed in a MA PDU session. However, when multiple QoS flows are mapped to one radio resource (e.g., radio bearer), the measurement of each QoS flow may have nearly the same result, as the influence of the radio on the QoS flow is greatest. In this case, radio/computing resources for the measurement may be wasted.

PLR measurements may be performed for multiple QoS flows. In this case, it is necessary to check how many packets are transmitted based on the data actually transmitted. To this end, the UE and the UPF may continuously count the transmitted packets. If such a task is performed for each of a plurality of QoS flows, many resources may be required.

Therefore, a solution to these problems is needed.

III disclosure of the specification

The disclosure described later in this specification may be implemented in one or more combinations (e.g., combinations including at least one of the following descriptions). Each of the figures represents an embodiment of the present disclosure, but the embodiments of the figures may be implemented in combination with each other.

The description of the methods presented in the disclosure of this specification may consist of a combination of one or more of the operations/configurations/steps described below. The following methods described below may be performed or used in combination or complementarily.

In the disclosure of the present specification, the following methods are proposed to solve the above-described various problems. The following methods may be performed or used in combination or complementarily.

Hereinafter, the disclosure of the present specification will be described with reference to first to eighth examples of the disclosure of the present specification. The first to eighth examples of the present specification described below may be implemented in combination.

1. First example of disclosure of the present specification

The first example of the disclosure of this specification describes AN example of a method for AN SMF to request AN Access Network (AN) to allocate a separate radio bearer for each QoS flow.

According to a first example of the disclosure of the present specification, the SMF may inform AN Access Network (AN) of information of one radio bearer that is not mapped to a QoS flow requiring AN access measurement per QoS flow. For example, the SMF may identify that each QoS flow needs to access the measured QoS flow. In addition, the SMF may send information to the AN without mapping the QoS flows to one radio bearer. Thus, the AN can map these QoS flows to multiple radio bearers without mapping them to one radio bearer.

That is, when the SMF performs a procedure related to AN and radio resource establishment (e.g., a PDU session establishment procedure, a PDU session activation procedure, a PDU session modification procedure, etc.), the SMF can inform whether it is sufficient to generate only one radio bearer by bundling QoS flows with other QoS flows in the radio while the SMF transmits N2 information to the AN. This may inform whether each QoS flow is available or whether all QoS flows are available for each PDU session. For example, while sending N2 information to the AN, the SMF may inform the AN whether only one radio bearer can be created for a particular QoS flow along with another QoS flow. The SMF informs whether it can create one radio bearer by combining each QoS flow with another QoS flow, and the SMF can inform it whether it can create one radio bearer by binding all QoS flows of each PDU session with other QoS flows.

Based on this information, the AN can map multiple QoS flows to one radio bearer only if the SMF allows the multiple QoS flows to be mapped to one radio bearer. Conversely, if SMF does not allow this, the AN can create radio bearer 1:1 (e.g., 1 radio bearer per 1 QoS flow).

The radio bearer generation related information provided by the SMF to the AN may include information on whether to perform access measurement for the QoS flow. Alternatively, information on whether to perform access measurements on QoS flows may be provided together with radio bearer generation related information.

2. Second example of disclosure of the present specification

In a second example of the disclosure of the present specification, an example of a method in which the UE does not perform measurement reporting on QoS flows mapped to one radio bearer when several QoS flows are mapped to one radio bearer will be described.

For example, a second example of the disclosure of the present specification describes a method in which the UE does not perform measurement reporting on QoS flows grouped together when mapping a plurality of QoS flows to one radio bearer through RRC signaling.

For example, the terminal may check whether the QoS flow is mapped to one radio bearer. For example, based on the measured configuration information obtained from the SMF, the terminal may check whether the QoS flows, which need to perform each QoS flow measurement in the current AN, are mapped to one radio bearer. The terminal may receive mapping information between QoS flows and radio bearers through access network signaling (e.g., RRC signaling, IKE signaling). Thus, the terminal can determine whether the QoS flow required for each QoS flow measurement is mapped to one radio bearer.

Hereinafter, a first example and a second example of the present disclosure will be described as specific examples of the second example of the present disclosure.

2-1. First example of the second example of the disclosure of the present specification

A first example of the second example of the disclosure of the present specification will be described.

When a QoS flow is mapped to one radio bearer, the UE may inform the network of this. At this point, the UE may inform which QoS flows are mapped to one radio bearer. Alternatively, the UE may inform the mapping information itself between the network QoS flows and the radio bearers. The UE may inform the UPF and/or the SMF of mapping-related information (e.g., information about QoS flows mapped to one radio bearer or mapping information between QoS flows and radio bearers, etc.). For example, the terminal may use the newly defined PMF message to notify it as UPF through the user plane or as SMF through NAS signaling (e.g., information about which QoS flows are mapped to one radio bearer or mapping-related information such as mapping information between QoS flows and radio bearers). If the UE notifies the SMF using NAS signaling, the SMF may notify the UPF again. When the UE uses a new PMF message through the user plane, the UPF may notify the corresponding information through the SMF.

Based on this information, the UPF may perform measurements on only one of several QoS flows bound to one radio bearer. Alternatively, the UE may request the UPF to perform measurements on a particular QoS flow. The SMF may update the measurement configuration based on information received from the UE or the UPF. That is, the SMF may perform measurement on only one of QoS flows mapped to one radio bearer.

As described above, performing measurements on only one QoS flow may mean that measurements performed on that QoS flow are also applied to other QoS flows sharing a radio bearer, such as a Data Radio Bearer (DRB). For example, the UE and/or UPF may perform measurements on only one QoS flow. In addition, the UE and/or UPF may apply the performed measurements equally to other QoS flows sharing the radio bearer (e.g., DRB).

For example, initially, even if the SMF instructs the UE to perform access measurements for qfi=1, qfi=2, and qfi=3, respectively, all three QoS flows may be mapped to one DRB. In this case, the SMF receives the information (e.g., information that all three QoS flows are mapped to one DRB) from the UE. In order for the terminal to perform access measurements only for qfi=1, the SMF may update (e.g. update the measurement configuration) and provide this (e.g. measurement configuration) to the terminal.

As another example, even though the SMF initially instructs the terminal to perform access measurements for qfi=1, qfi=2, and qfi=3, where qfi=2 and qfi=3 may be mapped to one DRB. In this case, the SMF receives such information (e.g., information that qfi=2 and qfi=3 are mapped to one DRB) from the UE so that the terminal performs access measurement only for qfi=2 of qfi=2 and qfi=3, and the SMF can update (e.g., update a measurement configuration) and provide this (e.g., measurement configuration) to the terminal. In the case of qfi=1 mapped to a separate DRB, the SMF may explicitly or implicitly inform the UE that an access measurement is to be performed when an update is being performed.

In a first example of the second example of the disclosure of the present specification, the operation of mapping the QoS flows to the radio bearers in the AN may be differently performed for each base station and according to the resource condition of each base station. Thus, whenever a procedure such as handover/idle-to-connection conversion/PDU session activation occurs, the terminal may check the changed mapping information again and notify the network of it. In addition, when the UPF performs measurement in an idle mode or PDU session deactivation state, since the measurement packet itself causes the PDU session to be activated or converted to a connection mode, the mapping information may be updated later. For example, the measurement packet may be generated when the UE is in idle mode or when a PDU session used by the UE is in an inactive state. In this case, since the terminal updates the mapping information after the terminal enters the connection mode or after the PDU session used by the terminal is activated, the mapping information may be updated later.

2-2. Second example of the second examples of the disclosure of the present specification

A second example of the disclosure of the present specification will be described.

When the QoS flow is mapped to one radio bearer, the terminal may update the measurement configuration provided by the SMF and notify the SMF of the updated measurement configuration. The SMF may also inform the UPF of the updated measurement configuration.

For example, the SMF may instruct the UE to perform access measurements for qfi=1, qfi=2, and qfi=3, respectively. In this case, if all three QoS flows are mapped to one DRB, the terminal may update the measurement configuration to perform access measurement only for qfi=1 and provide it to the SMF.

As another example, the SMF may instruct the UE to perform access measurements for qfi=1, qfi=2, and qfi=3, respectively. In this case, if qfi=2 and qfi=3 are mapped to one DRB, the UE may update the measurement configuration to perform access measurement only for qfi=2 among qfi=2 and qfi=3 and provide it to the SMF.

In a second example of the second examples of the disclosure of the present specification, the operation of mapping the QoS flows to the radio bearers in the AN may be differently performed for each base station and according to the resource condition of each base station. Thus, whenever a procedure such as handover/idle to connection conversion/PDU session activation occurs, the terminal checks the changed mapping information again, and thus, the terminal can update the configuration for access measurement and notify it to the network. Further, when measurement is performed in the UPF in the idle mode or PDU session deactivation state, the configuration for access measurement may be updated later due to PDU session activation or connection mode transition caused by the measurement packet itself.

3. Third example of disclosure of the present specification

A third example of the disclosure of the present specification describes AN example of a method in which AN Access Network (AN) notifies AN SMF of mapping information between QoS flows and radio bearers.

According to a third example of the present specification, the AN may inform the SMF of mapping information between QoS flows and radio bearers. For example, when the SMF performs a procedure related to AN and radio resource establishment (e.g., a PDU session establishment procedure, a PDU session activation procedure, a PDU session modification procedure, etc.), the SMF may transmit N2 information to the AN. Then, when the AN transmits a response thereto to the SMF, the AN may transmit QoS flows and radio bearer mapping information or information on QoS flows mapped to one radio bearer to the SMF. After receiving the above information, the SMF may re-update the measurement configuration in consideration of the mapping information in the AN. Thus, for QoS flows bound to one radio bearer in the AN (e.g., qoS flows mapped to one radio bearer), the SMF may perform measurements on only one QoS flow. For example, the SMF may send updated measurement configurations to the UE and/or the UPF. Then, for QoS flows bonded to one radio bearer (e.g., qoS flows mapped to one radio bearer), the UE and/or UPF may perform measurements on only one QoS flow.

Performing measurements on only one QoS flow may mean that measurements performed on that QoS flow are also applied to other QoS flows sharing the DRB. For example, when the UE and/or UPF performs a measurement of one of the QoS flows bonded to one radio bearer (e.g., a QoS flow mapped to one radio bearer), the measurement of the QoS flow may be equally applied to other QoS flows sharing the radio bearer. For example, in this case, the UE and/or UPF may determine that measurements of one of the QoS flows bound by one radio bearer (e.g., the QoS flow mapped to one radio bearer) may be reused for other QoS flows (i.e., other QoS flows sharing the radio bearer). Thus, the UE and/or UPF may not perform measurements on other QoS flows sharing the radio bearer.

4. Fourth example of disclosure of the present specification

In a fourth example of the disclosure of the present specification, an example of an operation in which a terminal transmits a message to a UPF is described.

According to a fourth example of the disclosure of the present specification, when the terminal receives a PMF message from the UPF, the terminal may transmit a PMF response to the received PMF message to the UPF. At this time, the terminal may notify the UPF that measurement of the corresponding QoS flow is unnecessary while transmitting the PMF response. For example, the terminal may transmit a PMF response message including information indicating that measurement of the corresponding QoS flow is unnecessary for UPF.

In addition, in order for the UPF to use the measurements for other QoS flows, the UE may notify the UPF of information about the QoS flows on which the measurements are to be performed (information about one of the QoS flows bonded to the same radio bearer). When the UPF receives such a message from the UE, the UPF may no longer perform measurements on the corresponding QoS flows. If the radio bearer mapping information is then changed, measurement of the corresponding QoS flow may be resumed by sending a PMF message containing information about the QoS flow that the UE stopped measuring to the UPF. At this time, the terminal transmits a PMF message including information indicating that QoS flow mapping information is changed and measurement is performed again, or even if the terminal simply transmits the PMF message, the UPF may implicitly interpret this as meaning that measurement of the corresponding QoS flow is performed again.

5. Fifth example of disclosure of the present specification

In a fifth example of the disclosure of the present specification, an example of QoS flow measurement is described.

When the UE performs measurement on each QoS flow using the PMF message, the UE and UPF must transmit the PMF message through the target QoS flow. Two methods can support this:

option 1) for PMF messages, the SMF may provide the necessary QoS rules and N4 rules to the UE and UPF.

Option 2) the UE and UPF may ignore the QoS rules and N4 rules of the PMF message and send the PMF message over the target QoS flow.

Option 1 is more consistent with the overall QoS design, but each PMF message sent on the QoS flow must use different PMF address information (e.g., different address or port numbers). This means that the UE or UPF must assign a different PMF IP address or port for each QoS flow. If the UE allocates different addresses based on the information required for the SMF to generate the QoS rule and the N4 rule, the information may be transmitted to the network. However, this may result in additional NAS signaling. Thus, it may be meaningful for the UPF to assign different addresses.

Option 2 may be a simpler approach because the UE and UPF do not need to manage different PMF addresses for each QoS flow. However, this is not consistent with a general QoS framework. When PMF messages are sent over QoS flows, the UE and UPF may ignore existing QoS rules and N4 rules. In addition, when the 3GPP access leg is established through the EPC, the existing modem may not support transmission of PMF messages through the dedicated bearer. Thus, if one of the 3GPP access legs is established in the EPC, this option may not be supported.

In 5GS, unlike EPS, multiple QoS flows may be mapped to a single radio bearer in the NG-RAN. If this mapping is done by the NG-RAN, the per QoS flow level measurement does not provide much gain, as the end-to-end performance depends largely on the radio performance. Given that there is no existing mechanism that enables the NG-RAN to not combine multiple QoS flows into one radio bearer, additional information needs to be defined so that the QoS flows required per QoS flow measurement are not mapped to a single radio bearer. However, this affects the RAN, which may not be acceptable for this study. Other possibilities are to report QoS flow to radio bearer mapping information to the UPF so that measurements can be performed on only one of the QoS flows mapped to a single radio bearer.

6. A sixth example of the disclosure of the present specification

A sixth example of the disclosure of the present specification describes an example of a method of improving PMF to support QoS flow measurements (e.g., RTT measurements, packet Loss Rate (PLR) measurements, etc.).

For example, a sixth example of the disclosure of the present specification describes an example of PMF improvement supporting RTT measurement and PLR measurement for each QoS flow.

Regarding ats ss, access network performance measurements may be supported. Hereinafter, access network performance measurements will be described.

When the MA PDU session is established, the network may provide measurement assistance information to the UE. The measurement assistance information may be used to determine that the UE needs to perform measurements in both accesses, and the measurement assistance information may be used to determine whether the UE needs to send measurement reports to the network.

The measurement assistance information may include addressing information of a Performance Measurement Function (PMF) in the UPF, and the UE may transmit PMF protocol messages in a manner shown by the following example:

in case of an IP type PDU session, the measurement assistance information may comprise one IP address of the PMF, a User Datagram Protocol (UDP) port associated with the 3GPP access, and another UDP port associated with the non-3 GPP access;

in case of an ethernet type PDU session, the measurement assistance information may comprise one MAC address related to the 3GPP access and another MAC address related to the non-3 GPP access.

Note 1: to protect PMFs in the UPF (e.g., distributed denial of service (DDOS) blocking of PMFs), the IP address of the PMF is only accessible from the UE IP address through the N3/N9 interface.

And (2) injection: after the MA PDU session is released, the same UE IP address/prefix of the MA PDU session may not be allocated to another UE for a short period of time.

Access measurements may be performed for multiple QoS flows. The SMF indicates whether access measurements through a plurality of QoS flows are supported in the measurement assistance information. When performing access measurement through QoS flows, the UE and UPF should transmit PMF messages through QoS flows that the UE and UPF want to measure.

As shown by note X below, the UPF can infer and discover that multiple QoS flows are mapped to one AN resource without signaling from the UE. For example, the UPF may perform measurements for each QoS flow. As a result of the measurement, if the measurement of some QoS flows shows almost similar results, the UPF can determine that the corresponding QoS flow is mapped to one AN resource. In addition, in the case of the UE, the UE may directly know mapping information (e.g., mapping information between QoS flows and AN resources). When multiple QoS flows are mapped to the same AN resource, the UE may perform measurement on only one QoS flow when the UE performs access measurement. Thus, based on the access measurements performed by the terminal, the UPF can infer that QoS flows for which the UE is not performing measurements are mapped to the same AN resources as other QoS flows.

Based on this, when the terminal and the UPF perform Packet Loss Rate (PLR) measurement, the terminal and the UPF may perform the same operations as the examples related to "packet loss rate measurement" described below. For example, in the case where QoS flows are mapped to the same AN resource and access measurements are not required, the terminal may not send a count request for PLR measurements for the QoS flow to the UPF. In addition, if mapping information between QoS flows and AN resources is changed, the terminal can also suspend PLR measurement by not transmitting a counting request for QoS flows that do not require measurement. In addition, for QoS flows requiring re-measurement, the terminal may perform PLR measurement by transmitting a count request to the UPF. In this way, since packet counting of PLR can be performed only for QoS flows requiring measurement, it has an advantage of reducing overhead of UE and UPF.

Based on implementation (e.g., qoS flow-to-AN resource mapping information in the UE, detection of very similar or identical measurements for some QoS flows in the UPF), if the PMF detects that multiple QoS flows are mapped to a single AN resource, then access measurements need not be performed for all QoS flows.

The UPF may perform operations to determine whether QoS flows are mapped to the same AN resources as in the following example. For example, based on implementing a related timer, if the measurements of QoS flows are similar or identical to each other during the timer operating period, the UPF may determine that the QoS flows are mapped to the same AN resource. For example, based on implementing AN associated timer (e.g., 1 minute), if a particular number of measurements of QoS flows during a timer operating period are similar or identical, the UPF may determine that the QoS flows are mapped to the same AN resource. The determination method may also be used by the UE.

For reference, the SMF and/or PCF may indicate to the UE on which QoS flows measurements should be performed. Alternatively, the target QoS flow for which the UE and/or UPF perform measurements may be determined from the UE implementation and/or UPF implementation.

The addressing information of the PMF in the UPF may be retrieved by the SMF during the N4 session establishment procedure.

The following PMF protocol messages may be exchanged between the UE and the PMF:

messages allowing Round Trip Time (RTT) measurements, i.e. when using a "minimum delay" or "load balancing" guided mode;

-messages allowing Packet Loss Rate (PLR) measurements, i.e. when using a "load balancing" steering mode;

-a message for the UE reporting access availability/unavailability to the UPF.

For PMF protocol messages exchanged between the UE and the UPF for access availability/unavailability reporting, qoS flows associated with default QoS rules for available access may be used. PMF protocol messages exchanged between the UE and the UPF for access measurements may use QoS access flows on which the measurements are performed.

The QoS flows associated with the basic QoS rules of the MA PDU session may be non-GBR QoS flows.

For PMF protocol messages, the UE does not apply ats rules and the UPF does not apply Multimedia Authentication Request (MAR) rules.

The UE may request a MA PDU session and indicate that it can support MPTCP function with any guided mode and ats ss-LL function with active-standby guided mode only. In this case, the network may transmit measurement assistance information so that the UE transmits an access availability/unavailability report to the UPF. In this case, the UE and UPF will not use PMF to perform RTT measurements, as the UE and UPF can use measurements available at the MPTCP layer.

In the description of RTT measurement, description "ii. techniques and procedures related to the disclosure of the present specification" related to RTT measurement may be applied. In addition, the following may be applied to RTT measurement. RTT measurements may be defined as supporting "minimum delay" or "load balancing" guided modes. Both the UE and the UPF may include the QFI in the PMF message when the PMF message needs to be sent over the QoS flow. For reference, the manner in which PMF messages are transmitted through a specific QoS flow is not specifically defined. QoS rules and/or N4 rules are not made applicable because different PMF addresses are used for each QoS flow or may not be applied when special handling is used by the UE and UPF. In the latter case, the QFI information must be contained in the PMF message.

Hereinafter, an example of "packet loss rate measurement" will be described.

The PLR measurement may be calculated by exchanging the number of transmitted packets between the UE and the UPF. The UE and UPF may report the calculated PLR from one side to the other. RTT measurements are defined as supporting a "load balancing" guided mode.

The PLR calculation for UE and UPF is based on the following mechanism:

1. in the case of UL PLR, descriptions such as the following examples may be applied.

-the UE requesting the UPF to count the number of received UL packets by sending a PMF message. The UPF may begin counting received UL packets on the QoS flow and the access network that received the PMF message. The UE starts counting the transmitted UL packets through the QoS flow and the access network that sent the PMF message.

The UE may request the UPF report of the number of received UL packets via a PMF message. The UPF reports the counted number of received packets between the PMF message for the count request and the PMF message for the count report. For example, the UPF may count packets received between a time when the PMF message for the counting request is received and a time when the PMF message for the counting report is received, and report the counted number of packets to the UE.

And (3) injection: the PMF message for the count report may also indicate that packets are counted if the UE wants to continuously measure the packet loss rate.

The UE may calculate the UL packet loss rate based on a local count result of the number of transmitted UL packets and the number of received UL packets reported from the UPF. Here, the local counting result may refer to a result of counting the number of UL packets transmitted by the UE.

There is no definition as to how or whether buffered packets will be considered.

2. In the case of DL PLR, description such as the following examples may be applied.

-the UPF requesting the UE to count the number of DL packets received via PMF messages. The UE may begin counting received DL packets on the QoS flow and the access network that received the PMF message. The UPF starts counting the DL packets sent through the QoS flow and the access network sending the PMF message.

-the UPF requesting the UE to report the number of received UL packets via a PMF message. The UE reports the counted number of received packets between the PMF message for the counting request and the PMF message for the counting report. For example, the UE may count packets received between a time when the PMF message for the counting request is received and a time when the PMF message for the counting report is received, and report the counted number of packets to the UPF.

And (3) injection: the PMF message for the count report may also indicate that packets are counted if the UPF wants to continuously measure the packet loss rate.

The UPF may calculate the DL packet loss rate based on a local count result of the number of transmitted DL packets and the number of received DL packets reported from the UE. Here, the local count result may refer to a result of counting the number of DL packets through which the UPF is transmitted.

3. When the UP connection of the MA PDU session is deactivated on the access, no PMF message is sent on the access. If the UP connection is not available or after it receives notification from the (H-) SMF to stop sending PMF messages for the access, the PMF in the UPF should not send PMF messages for the access.

Ue and UPF derive an estimate of the average PLR per QoS flow over the access type by averaging PLR measurements obtained over the access type.

7. Seventh example of the disclosure of the present specification

In a seventh example of the disclosure of the present specification, examples of operations performed by the UE and/or the network are described according to what is described in the respective examples of the disclosure of the present specification. For example, in a seventh example of the disclosure of the present specification, operations of at least one or more of the first to sixth examples of the disclosure of the present specification described above may be performed.

The following figures are used to explain specific examples of the present specification. Since names of specific devices or specific signals/messages/fields depicted in the drawings are provided as examples, technical features of the present specification are not limited to the specific names used in the following drawings.

Fig. 12a and 12b show a first example of the operation of a seventh example according to the disclosure of the present specification.

For reference, the operations shown in the examples of fig. 12a and 12b are merely examples, and the scope of the disclosure of the present specification is not limited by the operations shown in fig. 12a and 12 b. For example, even if the operations are not shown in fig. 12a and 12b, the operations described in the first to sixth examples of the disclosure of the present specification may be performed.

The examples of fig. 12a and 12b show examples of how SMF allocates different resources for each QoS flow. According to the examples of fig. 12a and 12b, the SMF may perform an operation of requesting different resource allocation for each QoS flow.

1) It may be assumed that the terminal is registered in the network through the 3GPP access and the non-3 GPP access.

2) To create (or establish) a MA PDU session, the UE may send a UL NAS transport message that sends a PDU session establishment request. At this time, the terminal may transmit a message by setting an UL request type of the UL NAS transport message to "MA PDU request" indicating that the MA PDU session is requested. In addition, the terminal may transmit a message by including ats capability information in the PDU session establishment request message. The ats capability information may be capability information regarding whether the UE can perform the ats related operations described through the above various examples.

3-4) the AMF may send a PDU session establishment request message sent by the UE to the SMF.

5) The SMF may send the ats capability information sent by the UE to the PCF. The PCF may generate PCC rules based on the terminal's ats ss capability information. The PCF may send the generated PCC rule to the SMF.

6) Based on the PCC rules received from the PCF (or based on information configured in the SMF if the PCF is not used), the SMF may create ats rules to be sent to the terminal and N4 rules to be sent to the UPF.

7) When accepting the MA PDU session establishment, the SMF may place the generated ats rule in a PDU session establishment acceptance message and send it to the terminal. In addition, the SMF may also send an N2 message for allocating resources for the MA PDU session in the 3GPP access. At this time, if the SMF determines that each QoS flow needs to be measured according to the PCC rules, the SMF may send an indication to the UPF together requesting allocation of different resources for each QoS flow.

8) The AMF may send an N2 message and a PDU session establishment accept message sent by the SMF to the NG-RAN.

9) The NG-RAN may perform a procedure of allocating resources required for the MA PDU session while exchanging AN signaling with the UE. In addition, the NG-RAN may send a PDU session establishment accept message to the UE along with the procedure. If the SMF requests a different resource allocation for each QoS flow, the NG-RAN may perform the operation of mapping each QoS flow to another radio bearer.

10 NG-RAN may inform the SMF via AMF that 3GPP access resources were successfully allocated.

11 The AMF may deliver the message sent by the NG-RAN to the SMF.

12 To update the channel information sent by the NG-RAN, the SMF may perform an N4 session modification procedure using the UPF.

13 The SMF may send a response message for step 11) to the AMF.

14 SMF may send N2 messages for allocating resources for MA PDU sessions in non-3 GPP access. At this time, if the SMF determines that each QoS flow needs to be measured according to the PCC rules, the SMF may send an indication to the UPF together requesting allocation of different resources for each QoS flow.

15 The AMF may send the N2 message received from the SMF to the N3IWF.

16 The N3IWF may perform a procedure of allocating resources required for the MA PDU session while exchanging AN signaling with the UE. If the SMF requests a different resource allocation for each QoS flow, the N3IWF may create all the different internet protocol security (IPsec) tunnels for each QoS flow to map to the different AN resources of each QoS flow. The N3IWF may transmit the "indication of request to allocate different resources for each QoS flow" received from the SMF together with additional QoS information. Upon receiving the indication, the UE may request QoS resources for the non-3 GPP access in consideration of the corresponding indication.

17 The N3IWF may inform the SMF that the non-3 GPP access resources have been successfully allocated through the AMF.

18 The AMF may deliver the message sent by the NG-RAN to the SMF.

19 The SMF may perform an N4 session modification procedure with the UPF to update channel information transmitted by the N3 IWF.

20 The SMF may send a response message to the AMF for step 18).

21 The UE and UPF may perform measurements for each QoS flow based on the information sent by the SMF.

The following figures are used to explain specific examples of the present specification. Since names of specific devices or specific signals/messages/fields depicted in the drawings are provided as examples, technical features of the present specification are not limited to the specific names used in the following drawings.

Fig. 13a and 13b show a second example of the operation of a seventh example according to the disclosure disclosed in the present specification.

For reference, the operations shown in the examples of fig. 13a and 13b are merely examples, and the scope of the disclosure of the present specification is not limited by the operations shown in fig. 13a and 13 b. For example, even if the operations are not shown in fig. 13a and 13b, the operations described in the first to sixth examples of the disclosure of the present specification may be performed.

The examples of fig. 13a and 13b show examples of how a UE may determine based on mapping information between AN resources and QoS flows. According to the examples of fig. 13a and 13b, the terminal may perform a determination operation based on mapping information between AN resources and QoS flows.

1-6) 1) to 6) may be performed in the same manner as 1) to 6) in the examples of fig. 12a and 12 b.

7) When accepting the MA PDU session establishment, the SMF may place the generated ats rule in a PDU session establishment acceptance message and send it to the terminal. In addition, the SMF may also send an N2 message for allocating resources for the MA PDU session in the 3GPP access.

8) The AMF may send an N2 message and a PDU session establishment accept message sent by the SMF to the NG-RAN.

9) The NG-RAN may perform a procedure of allocating resources required for the MA PDU session while exchanging AN signaling with the terminal. In addition, the NG-RAN may send a PDU session establishment accept message to the terminal together with the procedure. In this procedure, the terminal may receive mapping information between the radio bearer of the 3GPP access and the QoS flows.

10 NG-RAN may inform the SMF of successful allocation of 3GPP access resources via AMF.

11 The AMF may deliver the message sent by the NG-RAN to the SMF.

12 To update the channel information sent by the NG-RAN, the SMF may perform an N4 session modification procedure using the UPF.

13 The SMF may send a response message for step 11) to the AMF.

14 SMF may send N2 messages for allocating resources for MA PDU sessions in non-3 GPP access.

15 The AMF may send the N2 message received from the SMF to the N3IWF.

16 The N3IWF may perform a procedure of allocating resources required for the MA PDU session while exchanging AN signaling with the terminal. In this procedure, the terminal may receive mapping information between the radio bearer of the 3GPP access and the QoS flows.

17 The N3IWF may inform the SMF that the non-3 GPP access resources have been successfully allocated through the AMF.

18 The AMF may deliver the message sent by the NG-RAN to the SMF.

19 The SMF may perform an N4 session modification procedure with the UPF to update channel information transmitted by the N3IWF.

20 The SMF may send a response message to the AMF for step 18).

21 Based on the AN resource-QoS flow mapping information in the 3GPP access and the AN resource-QoS flow mapping information in the non-3 GPP access received in step 9) and step 16) and the measurement assistance information transmitted by the SMF, the terminal can perform measurement for each QoS flow. For reference, measurement assistance information may be included in the PDU session establishment acceptance message, and the terminal may receive the measurement assistance information in step 9). At this time, if QoS flows requiring measurement for each QoS flow are mapped to the same AN resource, the UE may perform measurement on only one of the QoS flows mapped to the same AN resource. And, the UE may apply the measurement result of one QoS flow to QoS flows mapped to the same AN resources as the corresponding QoS flow. Since the AN resource-QoS flow mapping in 3GPP access and non-3 GPP access may be different, the terminal may perform a determination for each access (e.g., a determination to perform measurements for only one of the QoS flows mapped to the same AN resource, a decision to apply to QoS flows mapped to the same AN resource as the corresponding QoS flow, etc.).

8. Eighth example of the disclosure of the present specification

An eighth example of the disclosure of the present specification describes examples of operations of a terminal (e.g., UE) and/or a network according to the various examples of the disclosure of the present specification described above. For reference, the operation of the terminal and/or the operation of the network (e.g., UPF) described in the eighth example of the disclosure of the present specification are merely examples, and the scope of the disclosure of the present specification is not limited by what is described in the eighth example of the disclosure of the present specification. For example, the terminal and/or the network may perform the operations described in the first to seventh examples of the disclosure of the present specification, even though not described in the eighth example of the disclosure of the present specification.

The following figures are used to explain specific examples of the present specification. Since names of specific devices or specific signals/messages/fields depicted in the drawings are provided as examples, technical features of the present specification are not limited to the specific names used in the following drawings.

Fig. 14 shows an example of operation of a UE and/or operation of a UPF according to the disclosure of the present specification.

For reference, the operation of the UE and/or the operation of the UPF shown in the example of fig. 14 are merely examples, and the scope of the disclosure of the present specification is not limited by the operation shown in fig. 14. For example, the UE and/or the UPF may perform the operations described in the first to seventh examples of the present specification, even though the operations are not shown in fig. 14.

For reference, the operations shown in the example of fig. 14 may be operations performed by the UE. In addition, the UPF may also perform the operations shown in the example of fig. 14. Hereinafter, the example of fig. 14 will be described focusing on the operation of the UE, and the operation of the UPF will also be described.

In step S1401, the UE may perform access measurement on the first QoS flow. For example, the UE may perform access network performance measurements on the first QoS flow. For example, the UE may perform a Packet Loss Rate (PLR) measurement for the first QoS flow. An example of PLR measurement will be described in detail below with reference to fig. 15.

In step S1402, the UE may determine that access measurements of a first QoS flow may be applied to a second QoS flow. For example, based on a mapping between AN resources and QoS flows, the UE may determine that access measurements for a first QoS flow may be applied to a second QoS flow. For example, when the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow are mapped to the same AN resource, the UE may determine that access measurements of the first QoS flow may be applied to the second QoS flow.

In step S1403, the UE may decide not to perform access measurement on the second QoS flow. For reference, the first QoS flow and the second QoS flow may correspond to the same MA PDU session. For example, the UE must perform access measurements for each QoS flow, but if the access measurements for a first QoS flow are reusable for a second QoS flow, the UE may not perform access measurements for the second QoS flow. The UE may also apply access measurements for the first QoS flow to the second QoS flow.

As described above, the operations shown in the example of fig. 14 may also be performed by the UPF. For example, in step S1401, the UPF may perform access measurement on the first QoS flow. In step S1402, the UPF may determine that access measurements for the first QoS flow may be applied to the second QoS flow. In step S1403, the UPF may decide not to perform access measurement on the second QoS flow.

The following figures are used to explain specific examples of the present specification. Since names of specific devices or specific signals/messages/fields depicted in the drawings are provided as examples, technical features of the present specification are not limited to the specific names used in the following drawings.

Fig. 15 shows an example of an operation related to PLR measurement according to the disclosure of the present specification.

For reference, the operation related to PLR measurement shown in the example of fig. 15 is only an example, and the scope of disclosure of the present specification is not limited by the operation shown in fig. 15. Operations related to PLR measurement according to the example of fig. 15 may be included in step S1401 of the example of fig. 14. For example, even if the operation is not shown in fig. 15, the operations related to PLR measurement described in the first to seventh examples of the disclosure of the present specification may be performed.

In the example of fig. 15, step S1501 to step S1504 are examples of operations related to UL PLR measurement. Steps S1505 to S1508 are examples of operations related to DL PLR measurement. The operation related to UL PLR measurement and the operation related to DL PLR measurement may be selectively performed or may be performed together.

For example, only operations related to UL PLR measurement (e.g., step S1501 to step S1504) may be performed, or only operations related to DL PLR measurement (step S1505 to step S1508) may be performed. For example, operations related to UL PLR measurement (e.g., step S1501 to step S1504) and DL PLR measurement (step S1505 to step S1508) may be performed. For example, after performing operations related to UL PLR measurement (e.g., step S1501 to step S1504), operations related to DL PLR measurement may be performed (step S1505 to step S1508). For example, the operations related to UL PLR measurement (e.g., step S1501 to step S1504) may be performed after the operations related to DL PLR measurement (step S1505 to step S1508) are performed. For example, the operation related to DL PLR measurement (step S1505 to step S1508) and the operation related to UL PLR measurement (e.g., step S1501 to step S1504) may be performed simultaneously.

In step S1501, the UE may transmit a count request message to the UPF. Here, the counting request message may be, for example, a request message requesting the UPF to count the number of UL packets received through the target QoS flow (e.g., the first QoS flow). The request message may be a Performance Measurement Function (PMF) based message.

In step S1502, the UPF may transmit a response message informing that the count request message has been received to the terminal. After transmitting the response message to the counting request message, the UPF may count the number of UL packets received through the target QoS flow (e.g., the first QoS flow). For example, the UPF may count the target QoS flow (e.g., the first QoS flow), i.e., count the number of UL packets received by the access network of the request message. And, after transmitting the counting request message, the UE may count the number of UL packets transmitted through the target QoS flow (e.g., the first QoS flow). For example, the UE may count the target QoS flow (e.g., the first QoS flow), i.e., the number of UL packets sent by the access network that sent the count request message.

In step S1503, the UE may transmit a report request message to the UPF. For example, the report request message may be a message requesting the UPF to report the number of UL packets received through the target QoS flow (e.g., the first QoS flow) (e.g., the number of UL packets counted by the UPF). The report request message may also be a PMF-based message.

In step S1504, the UPF may transmit a report response message to the UE. The report response message may include information about the number of UL packets counted after the UPF last transmitted the count response message (e.g., a message requesting counting of the number of UL packets received through the target QoS flow).

After receiving the report response message, the UE may calculate UL PLR based on the "number of received UL packets" received from the UPF and the number of UL packets transmitted by the UE (e.g., the number of UL packets counted by the UE after the UE transmits the report request message).

In step S1505, the UPF may transmit a count request message to the UE. Here, the request message may be, for example, a request message requesting the UE to count the number of DL packets received through a target QoS flow (e.g., a first QoS flow). The count request message may be a PMF-based message.

In step S1506, the UE may send a response message to the UPF informing that the count request message has been received. After transmitting the response message to the counting request message, the UE may count the number of UL packets received through the target QoS flow (e.g., the first QoS flow). For example, the UE may count the number of DL packets received over a target QoS flow (e.g., a first QoS flow) (i.e., an access network over which the request message was received). Also, after transmitting the count request message, the UPF may count the number of DL packets transmitted through the target QoS flow (e.g., the first QoS flow). For example, the UPF may count the number of DL packets sent over the target QoS flow (e.g., the first QoS flow) (i.e., the access network from which the count request message was sent).

In step S1507, the UPF may transmit a report request message to the UE. For example, the report request message may be a message requesting the UE to report the number of DL packets (e.g., the number of DL packets counted by the UPF) received through the target QoS flow (e.g., the first QoS flow). The report request message may also be a PMF-based message.

In step S1508, the UPF may send a report response message to the UE. The report response message may include information on the number of DL packets counted after the UE finally transmits the count response message (e.g., a message requesting counting of the number of DL packets received through the target QoS flow).

After receiving the report response message, the UPF may calculate the DL PLR based on the "number of received DL packets" received from the UE and the number of DL packets transmitted by the UPF (e.g., the number of DL packets counted by the UPF after the UPF transmits the report request message).

According to the disclosure of the present specification referring to various examples, it is not necessary to perform access measurements for unnecessary QoS flows. According to the description in the disclosure of the present specification, measurement of a plurality of QoS flows can be effectively performed. According to the description in the disclosure of the present specification, when a plurality of QoS flows are measured, waste of radio resources and/or waste of computing resources can be reduced. According to the description in the disclosure of the present specification, when a plurality of QoS flows are measured, waste of resources for tasks such as counting packets can be reduced.

According to the disclosure of the present specification referring to various examples, when the SMF establishes user plane resources to the AN, the SMF may perform AN operation of informing whether a QoS flow can be mapped to one radio bearer. Based on mapping information between QoS flows and radio bearers received from the AN, the terminal may perform operations to determine QoS flows that do not require per QoS flow measurements and inform the network. When the SMF requests the user plane resource establishment from the AN, the AN may perform AN operation of informing the SMF of mapping information of the QoS flows and the radio bearers. Based on mapping information between QoS flows and radio bearers received from the AN, the terminal may determine that per QoS flow measurements are not required. When the terminal receives the PMF message of the QoS flow, which determines that the measurement per QoS flow is not required, and simultaneously transmits a response thereto, the UE may perform an operation of informing that the measurement of the corresponding QoS flow is not required.

For reference, the operations of the terminal (e.g., UE) described in the present specification may be implemented by the above-described devices of fig. 1 to 4. For example, a terminal (e.g., UE) may be the first apparatus 100 or the second apparatus 200 of fig. 2. For example, operations of a terminal (e.g., UE) described herein may be processed by one or more processors 102 or 202. The operations of the terminals described herein may be stored in one or more memories 104 or 204 in the form of instructions/programs (e.g., instructions, executable code) executable by one or more processors 102 or 202. The one or more processors 102 or 202 control the one or more memories 104 or 204 and the one or more transceivers 105 or 206, and may perform the operations of the terminals (e.g., UEs) described herein by executing instructions/programs stored in the one or more memories 104 or 204.

In addition, instructions for performing the operations of the terminal (e.g., UE) described in the disclosure of the present specification may be stored in a non-volatile computer-readable storage medium recording the instructions. The storage medium may be included in one or more memories 104 or 204. Also, the instructions recorded in the storage medium may be executable by one or more processors 102 or 202 to perform operations of a terminal (e.g., UE) described in the disclosure of the present specification.

For reference, the operations of the network node (e.g., N3IWF, AMF, SMF, UPF, PCF, etc.) or the base station (e.g., NG-RAN, gNB, eNB, RAN, E-UTRAN, etc.) described herein may be implemented by the apparatus of fig. 1 through 3 to be described below. For example, the network node or base station may be the first apparatus 100 of fig. 2 or the second apparatus 200 of fig. 2. For example, the operations of a network node or base station described herein may be processed by one or more processors 102 or 202. The operations of the terminals described herein may be stored in one or more memories 104 or 204 in the form of instructions/programs (e.g., instructions, executable code) executable by one or more processors 102 or 202. The one or more processors 102 or 202 may perform the operations of the network node or base station described herein by controlling the one or more memories 104 or 204 and the one or more transceivers 106 or 206 and executing instructions/programs stored in the one or more memories 104 or 204.

Additionally, instructions for performing the operations of the network node or base station described in this specification disclosure may be stored in a non-volatile (or non-transitory) computer-readable storage medium. The storage medium may be included in one or more memories 104 or 204. And, the instructions recorded in the storage medium are executed by the one or more processors 102 or 202 to perform the operations of the network node or base station.

In the above, the preferred embodiments have been described by way of example, but the disclosure of the present specification is not limited to this particular embodiment, and thus, modifications, variations may be improved.

In the above-described exemplary system, the methods are described as a series of steps or blocks based on a flowchart, but are not limited to the order of the described steps, and some steps may occur in a different order or concurrently with other steps as described above. Furthermore, those of skill in the art will understand that the steps shown in the flowcharts are not exclusive and may include other steps, or one or more steps of the flowcharts may be deleted without affecting the scope of the claims.

The claims described herein may be combined in various ways. For example, the technical features of the method claims of the present specification may be combined and implemented as an apparatus, and the technical features of the apparatus claims of the present specification may be combined and implemented as a method. In addition, the technical features of the method claims of the present specification and the technical features of the apparatus claims may be combined to be implemented as an apparatus, and the technical features of the method claims of the present specification and the technical features of the apparatus claims may be combined and implemented as a method.

Claims (19)

1. A method for performing measurement related communication by a user equipment, UE, the method comprising the steps of:

performing access measurements for a first quality of service, qoS, flow;

determining that an access measurement for the first QoS flow is to be applied to a second QoS flow; and

based on an access measurement for the first QoS flow to be applied to the second QoS flow, it is determined that no access measurement is performed for the second QoS flow.

2. The method according to claim 1,

wherein it is determined that the access measurement for the first QoS flow is applied to the second QoS flow based on a mapping between access network AN resources and QoS flows.

3. The method according to claim 1,

wherein the access measurements for the first QoS flow comprise packet loss rate, PLR, measurements for the first QoS flow.

4. The method of claim 1, wherein the step of performing access measurements for the first QoS flow further comprises the steps of:

a request message requesting counting of the number of uplink UL packets received through said first QoS flow is sent to a user plane function UPF.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the step of performing access measurements for the first QoS flow further comprises the steps of:

A report request message requesting reporting of the number of received UL packets is sent to the UPF.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the step of performing access measurements for the first QoS flow further comprises the steps of:

a report response message including information about the number of received UL packets is received from the UPF.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the step of performing access measurements for the first QoS flow further comprises the steps of:

a packet loss rate PLR is calculated based on the number of UL packets received from the UPF and the number of UL packets transmitted by the UE.

8. A user equipment, UE, for performing measurement related communications, the UE comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions and being operably and electrically connected to the at least one processor, wherein operations performed based on execution of the instructions by the at least one processor comprise:

performing access measurements for a first quality of service, qoS, flow;

determining that an access measurement for the first QoS flow is to be applied to a second QoS flow; and

Based on an access measurement for the first QoS flow to be applied to the second QoS flow, it is determined that no access measurement is performed for the second QoS flow.

9. The UE of claim 8,

wherein the UE is an autonomous driving apparatus that communicates with at least one of a mobile terminal, a network, and an autonomous vehicle other than the UE.

10. An apparatus in mobile communications, the apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions and being operably and electrically connected to the at least one processor, wherein operations performed based on execution of the instructions by the at least one processor comprise:

performing access measurements for a first quality of service, qoS, flow;

determining that an access measurement for the first QoS flow is to be applied to a second QoS flow; and

based on an access measurement for the first QoS flow to be applied to the second QoS flow, it is determined that no access measurement is performed for the second QoS flow.

11. A non-transitory computer readable medium storing instructions,

wherein the instructions, when executed by one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to:

Performing access measurements for a first quality of service, qoS, flow;

determining that an access measurement for the first QoS flow is to be applied to a second QoS flow; and

based on an access measurement for the first QoS flow to be applied to the second QoS flow, it is determined that no access measurement is performed for the second QoS flow.

12. A method for performing measurement related communication, the method being performed by a user plane function, UPF, node and comprising the steps of:

performing access measurements for a first quality of service, qoS, flow;

determining that an access measurement for the first QoS flow is to be applied to a second QoS flow; and

based on an access measurement for the first QoS flow to be applied to the second QoS flow, it is determined that no access measurement is performed for the second QoS flow.

13. The method according to claim 12,

wherein it is determined that the access measurement for the first QoS flow is applied to the second QoS flow based on detecting that the access measurement for the first QoS flow and the access measurement for the second QoS flow have very similar measurements or have the same measurements.

14. The method according to claim 12,

wherein the access measurements for the first QoS flow comprise packet loss rate, PLR, measurements for the first QoS flow.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the step of performing access measurements for the first QoS flow further comprises the steps of:

a request message is sent to the user equipment UE requesting counting of the number of downlink DL packets received through the first QoS flow.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of performing access measurements for the first QoS flow further comprises the steps of:

a report request message requesting reporting of the number of received DL packets is transmitted to the UE.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the step of performing access measurements for the first QoS flow further comprises the steps of:

a report response message including information about the number of received DL packets is received from the UE.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the step of performing access measurements for the first QoS flow further comprises the steps of:

the packet loss rate PLR is calculated based on the number of DL packets received from the UE and the number of DL packets transmitted by the UPF.

19. A user plane function, UPF, node for performing measurement related communications, the UPF node comprising:

At least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions and operably electrically connected to the at least one processor, wherein operations performed based on execution of the instructions by the at least one processor comprise:

performing access measurements for a first quality of service, qoS, flow;

determining that an access measurement for the first QoS flow is to be applied to a second QoS flow; and

based on an access measurement for the first QoS flow to be applied to the second QoS flow, it is determined that no access measurement is performed for the second QoS flow.