EP4710515A1 - Parameter provisioning and registration to enable collaborative relay networks - Google Patents

Abstract

There may be collaborative WTRU networks, or collaborative relay networks, which may be device-to-device networks that may have more than one degrees/levels of worker/collaborative nodes. To enable collaborative relay networks, there may be methods for parameter provisioning. Specifically, procedures for provisioning of parameters being held by WTRUs in a collaborative network and/or for provisioning of parameters for discovering other WTRUs in a collaborative device-to-device network may be disclosed herein. In examples, a network element receives and stores information related to an execution of a collaborative task (VFL). This information may include a list of WTRUs that participate in the same VFL application, WTRU IDs identifying each WTRU within the system, User ID (e.g., GPSI, SUPI), FL or AI/ML models supported, features and data types/labels supported by the FL application and/or other WTRUs and Sidelink QoS related Parameters. This information may be used for generating policy parameters.

Description

PARAMETER PROVISIONING AND REGISTRATION TO ENABLE COLLABORATIVE RELAY NETWORKS

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001 ] This application claims the benefit of United States Provisional Patent Application No. 63/465,665 filed on May 11 , 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

[0002] Device-to-Device (D2D) direct communication protocols enable two devices to communicate directly between them with or without the aid of the network. Different scenarios exist for D2D communication depending on whether the WTRUs involved are within coverage or out of the coverage of a cellular network. Sidelink (SL) communications may enable proximate devices to directly communicate without packets going through the network. Targeted applications include mission critical services, vehicle- to-everything (V2X) services, and Industrial Internet of Things (lloT). D2D communication promises ultralow latency links and is therefore an attractive solution for various emerging applications such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and/or extended reality (XR).

SUMMARY

[0003] A method may be performed by a first network element. The first network element may receive Vertical Federated Learning (VFL) information related to an execution of a collaborative task related to a VFL application. The information may comprise, for example, a list of wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) that participate in the VFL application, an identifier associated with each WTRU in the list of WTRUs, and Quality of Service (QoS) related parameters. In some cases, the WTRUs of the list of WTRUs are in a device-to-device (D2D) communication environment. The first network element may determine policy parameters based on the VFL information related to the execution of the collaborative task related to the VFL application. The first network element may send the policy parameters to a second network element, or a WTRU.

[0004] In some examples, the policy parameters may comprise one or more policy and charging control (PCC) rules. In some cases, the first network element may comprise a Policy Control Function (PCF), and the policy parameters may be generated based on the VFL information to determine the policy parameters. In such cases, the policy parameters may be sent to the second network element.

[0005] The VFL information may comprise a User ID, an indication of one or more Federated Learning (FL) or Artificial I ntelligence/Machi ne Learning (AI/ML) models, one or more packet filter sets, and/or an indication of one or more features or data types supported by the VFL application.

[0006] In some cases, the first network element may comprise a session management function (SMF), and the policy parameters may be received from a second network element. In such cases, the second network element may comprise a policy control function (PCF), and the policy parameters may comprise policy charging and control (PCC) rules.

[0007] A method performed by a first network element, such as a PCF or SMF, may include the following. The method may include receiving Vertical Federated Learning (VFL) information related to an execution of a collaborative task related to a VFL application. The VFL information may include a list of wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) that participate in the VFL application, an identifier associated with each WTRU in the list of WTRUs, and/or Quality of Service (QoS) related parameters. In some examples, the WTRUs of the list of WTRUs may be in a device-to-device (D2D) communication environment. The method may include determining policy parameters based on the VFL information related to the execution of the collaborative task related to the VFL application. The policy parameters may include one or more policy and charging control (PCC) rules. The method may include sending the policy parameters to a second network element or a WTRU.

[0008] The first network element may include a Policy Control Function (PCF), and the method may include generating the policy parameters based on the VFL information in order to determine the policy parameters. In such examples, the policy parameters may be sent to the second network element.

[0009] The VFL information may include a User ID, an indication of one or more Federated Learning (FL) or Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) models, one or more packet filter sets, and/or an indication of one or more features or data types supported by the VFL application.

[0010] The method may include sending the policy parameters and the QoS related parameter to a RAN node using an N2 interface via an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF).

[0011] The first network element may include a session management function (SMF), and the method may include receiving the policy parameters from a second network element (e.g., to determine the policy parameters). The second network element may include a policy control function (PCF), and the policy parameters may include policy charging and control (PCC) rules. [0012] A method may be implemented by a network element, such as one that includes an Application Function (AF) or an Application Service (AS). The method may include detecting a Vertical Federated Learning (VFL) event related to a VFL application. The method may include generating VFL parameters associated with the VFL application based on the detection of the VFL event. The VFL event may be a new collaborative WTRU joining the VFL application, an update to the VFL application, and/or an update to the features that are supported by the VFL application. The method may include sending the parameters associated with the FL application. The network element may include an AF and/or an AS, and the parameters associated with the FL application may be sent to a Policy Control Function (PCF) and/or Session Management Function (SMF).

[0013] The VFL parameters may include one or more Side Link (SL) QoS rules, a list of collaborative WTRUs that are associated with the VFL application, and/or one or more features that are supported by the VFL application. The VFL parameters may include an indication of WTRU-to-WTRU connectivity states, an indication of whether WTRUs are collaborative relay WTRUs or non-relay WTRUs, and/or an indication of whether a WTRU is connected to one or more relay WTRUs. The VFL parameters may include a map or topology of the interconnectivity of a plurality of WTRUs that are associated with the VFL application. The VFL parameters may include one or more packet filter sets, an indication of a Federated Learning (FL) model or an Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning (AI/ML) model, or WTRU opt-out policies or triggers.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0014] FIG. 1 A is a system diagram illustrating an example communications system in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented.

[0015] FIG. 1 B is a system diagram illustrating an example wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A according to an embodiment.

[0016] FIG. 1C is a system diagram illustrating an example radio access network (RAN) and an example core network (CN) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1 A according to an embodiment.

[0017] FIG. 1 D is a system diagram illustrating a further example RAN and a further example CN that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1 A according to an embodiment.

[0018] FIG.2 illustrates a comparison of WTRU operation while running original federated learning (FL) and collaborative FL.

[0019] FIG. 3 illustrates three categories of FL. [0020] FIG. 4 illustrates exemplary structures of vertically partitioned FL models.

[0021] FIG. 5 is a system diagram illustrating collaborative WTRU networks for enabling vertical federated learning (VFL).

[0022] FIG. 6 is a flow diagram illustrating exemplary parameter provisioning for distributed collaborative learning networks using direct communication.

[0023] FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating WTRU registration with FL information.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating an example communications system 100 in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented. The communications system 100 may be a multiple access system that provides content, such as voice, data, video, messaging, broadcast, etc., to multiple wireless users. The communications system 100 may enable multiple wireless users to access such content through the sharing of system resources, including wireless bandwidth. For example, the communications systems 100 may employ one or more channel access methods, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), zero-tail unique-word DFT-Spread OFDM (ZT UW DTS-s OFDM), unique word OFDM (UW-OFDM), resource block-filtered OFDM, filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), and the like.

[0025] As shown in FIG. 1A, the communications system 100 may include wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, a RAN 104/113, a CN 106/115, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 108, the Internet 110, and other networks 112, though it will be appreciated that the disclosed embodiments contemplate any number of WTRUs, base stations, networks, and/or network elements. Each of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may be any type of device configured to operate and/or communicate in a wireless environment. By way of example, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, any of which may be referred to as a “station” and/or a “STA”, may be configured to transmit and/or receive wireless signals and may include a user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a fixed or mobile subscriber unit, a subscription-based unit, a pager, a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smartphone, a laptop, a netbook, a personal computer, a wireless sensor, a hotspot or Mi-Fi device, an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. Any of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and 102d may be interchangeably referred to as a WTRU. Further, any description herein that is described with reference to a UE may be equally applicable to a WTRU (or vice versa). For example, a WTRU may be configured to perform any of the processes or procedures described herein as being performed by a UE (or vice versa).

[0026] The communications systems 100 may also include a base station 114a and/or a base station 114b. Each of the base stations 114a, 114b may be any type of device configured to wirelessly interface with at least one of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to facilitate access to one or more communication networks, such as the CN 106/115, the I nternet 110, and/or the other networks 112. By way of example, the base stations 114a, 114b may be a base transceiver station (BTS), a Node-B, an eNode B, a Home Node B, a Home eNode B, a gNB, a NR NodeB, a site controller, an access point (AP), a wireless router, and the like. While the base stations 114a, 114b are each depicted as a single element, it will be appreciated that the base stations 114a, 114b may include any number of interconnected base stations and/or network elements.

[0027] The base station 114a may be part of the RAN 104/113, which may also include other base stations and/or network elements (not shown), such as a base station controller (BSC), a radio network controller (RNC), relay nodes, etc. The base station 114a and/or the base station 114b may be configured to transmit and/or receive wireless signals on one or more carrier frequencies, which may be referred to as a cell (not shown). These frequencies may be in licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or a combination of licensed and unlicensed spectrum. A cell may provide coverage for a wireless service to a specific geographical area that may be relatively fixed or that may change over time. The cell may further be divided into cell sectors. For example, the cell associated with the base station 114a may be divided into three sectors. Thus, in one embodiment, the base station 114a may include three transceivers, i.e., one for each sector of the cell. In an embodiment, the base station 114a may employ multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) technology and may utilize multiple transceivers for each sector of the cell. For example, beamforming may be used to transmit and/or receive signals in desired spatial directions.

[0028] The base stations 114a, 114b may communicate with one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d over an air interface 116, which may be any suitable wireless communication link (e.g., radio frequency (RF), microwave, centimeter wave, micrometer wave, infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), visible light, etc.). The air interface 116 may be established using any suitable radio access technology (RAT). [0029] More specifically, as noted above, the communications system 100 may be a multiple access system and may employ one or more channel access schemes, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, and the like. For example, the base station 114a in the RAN 104/113 and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), which may establish the air interface 115/116/117 using wideband CDMA (WCDMA). WCDMA may include communication protocols such as High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and/or Evolved HSPA (HSPA+). HSPA may include High-Speed Downlink (DL) Packet Access (HSDPA) and/or High-Speed UL Packet Access (HSUPA).

[0030] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), which may establish the air interface 116 using Long Term Evolution (LTE) and/or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) and/or LTE-Advanced Pro (LTE-A Pro).

[0031] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as NR Radio Access , which may establish the air interface 116 using New Radio (NR).

[0032] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement multiple radio access technologies. For example, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement LTE radio access and NR radio access together, for instance using dual connectivity (DC) principles. Thus, the air interface utilized by WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be characterized by multiple types of radio access technologies and/or transmissions sent to/from multiple types of base stations (e.g., a eNB and a gNB).

[0033] In other embodiments, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement radio technologies such as IEEE 802.11 (i.e, Wireless Fidelity (WiFi), IEEE 802.16 (i.e. Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), CDMA2000, CDMA2000 1X, CDMA2000 EV-DO, Interim Standard 2000 (IS-2000), Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), Interim Standard 856 (IS-856), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), and the like.

[0034] The base station 114b in FIG. 1 A may be a wireless router, Home Node B, Home eNode B, or access point, for example, and may utilize any suitable RAT for facilitating wireless connectivity in a localized area, such as a place of business, a home, a vehicle, a campus, an industrial facility, an air corridor (e.g., for use by drones), a roadway, and the like. In one embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.11 to establish a wireless local area network (WLAN). In an embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.15 to establish a wireless personal area network (WPAN). In yet another embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may utilize a cellular-based RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR etc.) to establish a picocell or femtocell. As shown in FIG. 1A, the base station 114b may have a direct connection to the Internet 110. Thus, the base station 114b may not be required to access the Internet 110 via the CN 106/115.

[0035] The RAN 104/113 may be in communication with the CN 106/115, which may be any type of network configured to provide voice, data, applications, and/or voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services to one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d. The data may have varying quality of service (QoS) requirements, such as differing throughput requirements, latency requirements, error tolerance requirements, reliability requirements, data throughput requirements, mobility requirements, and the like. The CN 106/115 may provide call control, billing services, mobile location-based services, pre-paid calling, Internet connectivity, video distribution, etc., and/or perform high-level security functions, such as user authentication. Although not shown in FIG. 1A, it will be appreciated that the RAN 104/113 and/or the CN 106/115 may be in direct or indirect communication with other RANs that employ the same RAT as the RAN 104/113 or a different RAT. For example, in addition to being connected to the RAN 104/113, which may be utilizing a NR radio technology, the CN 106/115 may also be in communication with another RAN (not shown) employing a GSM, UMTS, CDMA 2000, WiMAX, E-UTRA, or WiFi radio technology.

[0036] The CN 106/115 may also serve as a gateway for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to access the PSTN 108, the Internet 110, and/or the other networks 112. The PSTN 108 may include circuit- switched telephone networks that provide plain old telephone service (POTS). The Internet 110 may include a global system of interconnected computer networks and devices that use common communication protocols, such as the transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP) and/or the internet protocol (IP) in the TCP/IP internet protocol suite. The networks 112 may include wired and/or wireless communications networks owned and/or operated by other service providers. For example, the networks 112 may include another CN connected to one or more RANs, which may employ the same RAT as the RAN 104/113 or a different RAT.

[0037] Some or all of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d in the communications system 100 may include multi-mode capabilities (e.g., the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may include multiple transceivers for communicating with different wireless networks over different wireless links). For example, the WTRU 102c shown in FIG. 1A may be configured to communicate with the base station 114a, which may employ a cellular-based radio technology, and with the base station 114b, which may employ an IEEE 802 radio technology.

[0038] FIG. 1 B is a system diagram illustrating an example WTRU 102. As shown in FIG. 1 B, the WTRU 102 may include a processor 118, a transceiver 120, a transmit/receive element 122, a speaker/microphone 124, a keypad 126, a display/touchpad 128, non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132, a power source 134, a global positioning system (GPS) chipset 136, and/or other peripherals 138, among others. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may include any sub-combination of the foregoing elements while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0039] The processor 118 may be a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) circuits, any other type of integrated circuit (IC), a state machine, and the like. The processor 118 may perform signal coding, data processing, power control, input/output processing, and/or any other functionality that enables the WTRU 102 to operate in a wireless environment. The processor 118 may be coupled to the transceiver 120, which may be coupled to the transmit/receive element 122. While FIG. 1B depicts the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 as separate components, it will be appreciated that the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 may be integrated together in an electronic package or chip.

[0040] The transmit/receive element 122 may be configured to transmit signals to, or receive signals from, a base station (e.g., the base station 114a) over the air interface 116. For example, in one embodiment, the transmit/receive element 122 may be an antenna configured to transmit and/or receive RF signals. In an embodiment, the transmit/receive element 122 may be an emitter/detector configured to transmit and/or receive IR, UV, or visible light signals, for example. In yet another embodiment, the transmit/receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and/or receive both RF and light signals. It will be appreciated that the transmit/receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and/or receive any combination of wireless signals.

[0041] Although the transmit/receive element 122 is depicted in FIG. 1 B as a single element, the WTRU 102 may include any number of transmit/receive elements 122. More specifically, the WTRU 102 may employ MIMO technology. Thus, in one embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include two or more transmit/receive elements 122 (e.g., multiple antennas) for transmitting and receiving wireless signals over the air interface 116.

[0042] The transceiver 120 may be configured to modulate the signals that are to be transmitted by the transmit/receive element 122 and to demodulate the signals that are received by the transmit/receive element 122. As noted above, the WTRU 102 may have multi-mode capabilities. Thus, the transceiver 120 may include multiple transceivers for enabling the WTRU 102 to communicate via multiple RATs, such as NR and IEEE 802.11, for example.

[0043] The processor 118 of the WTRU 102 may be coupled to, and may receive user input data from, the speaker/microphone 124, the keypad 126, and/or the display/touchpad 128 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) display unit or organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display unit). The processor 118 may also output user data to the speaker/microphone 124, the keypad 126, and/or the display/touchpad 128. In addition, the processor 118 may access information from, and store data in, any type of suitable memory, such as the non-removable memory 130 and/or the removable memory 132. The non-removable memory 130 may include random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory storage device. The removable memory 132 may include a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, a memory stick, a secure digital (SD) memory card, and the like. In other embodiments, the processor 118 may access information from, and store data in, memory that is not physically located on the WTRU 102, such as on a server or a home computer (not shown).

[0044] The processor 118 may receive power from the power source 134, and may be configured to distribute and/or control the power to the other components in the WTRU 102. The power source 134 may be any suitable device for powering the WTRU 102. For example, the power source 134 may include one or more dry cell batteries (e.g., nickel-cadmium (NiCd), nickel-zinc (NiZn), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium-ion (Li-ion), etc.), solar cells, fuel cells, and the like.

[0045] The processor 118 may also be coupled to the GPS chipset 136, which may be configured to provide location information (e.g., longitude and latitude) regarding the current location of the WTRU 102. In addition to, or in lieu of, the information from the GPS chipset 136, the WTRU 102 may receive location information over the air interface 116 from a base station (e.g., base stations 114a, 114b) and/or determine its location based on the timing of the signals being received from two or more nearby base stations. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may acquire location information by way of any suitable locationdetermination method while remaining consistent with an embodiment. [0046] The processor 118 may further be coupled to other peripherals 138, which may include one or more software and/or hardware modules that provide additional features, functionality and/or wired or wireless connectivity. For example, the peripherals 138 may include an accelerometer, an e-compass, a satellite transceiver, a digital camera (for photographs and/or video), a universal serial bus (USB) port, a vibration device, a television transceiver, a hands free headset, a Bluetooth® module, a frequency modulated (FM) radio unit, a digital music player, a media player, a video game player module, an Internet browser, a Virtual Reality and/or Augmented Reality (VR/AR) device, an activity tracker, and the like. The peripherals 138 may include one or more sensors, the sensors may be one or more of a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a hall effect sensor, a magnetometer, an orientation sensor, a proximity sensor, a temperature sensor, a time sensor; a geolocation sensor; an altimeter, a light sensor, a touch sensor, a magnetometer, a barometer, a gesture sensor, a biometric sensor, and/or a humidity sensor.

[0047] The WTRU 102 may include a full duplex radio for which transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with particular subframes for both the UL (e.g., for transmission) and downlink (e.g., for reception) may be concurrent and/or simultaneous. The full duplex radio may include an interference management unit 139 to reduce and or substantially eliminate self-interference via either hardware (e.g., a choke) or signal processing via a processor (e.g., a separate processor (not shown) or via processor 118). In an embodiment, the WRTU 102 may include a half-duplex radio for which transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with particular subframes for either the UL (e.g., for transmission) or the downlink (e.g., for reception)).

[0048] FIG. 1C is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 104 and the CN 106 according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 104 may employ an E-UTRA radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may also be in communication with the CN 106.

[0049] The RAN 104 may include eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c, though it will be appreciated that the RAN 104 may include any number of eNode-Bs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In one embodiment, the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may implement MIMO technology. Thus, the eNode-B 160a, for example, may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to, and/or receive wireless signals from, the WTRU 102a.

[0050] Each of the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in the UL and/or DL, and the like. As shown in FIG. 1 C, the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may communicate with one another over an X2 interface.

[0051] The CN 106 shown in FIG. 1 C may include a mobility management entity (MME) 162, a serving gateway (SGW) 164, and a packet data network (PDN) gateway (or PGW) 166. While each of the foregoing elements are depicted as part of the CN 106, it will be appreciated that any of these elements may be owned and/or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0052] The MME 162 may be connected to each of the eNode-Bs 162a, 162b, 162c in the RAN 104 via an S1 interface and may serve as a control node. For example, the MME 162 may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, bearer activation/deactivation, selecting a particular serving gateway during an initial attach of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and the like. The MME 162 may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as GSM and/or WCDMA.

[0053] The SGW 164 may be connected to each of the eNode Bs 160a, 160b, 160c in the RAN 104 via the S1 interface. The SGW 164 may generally route and forward user data packets to/from the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. The SGW 164 may perform other functions, such as anchoring user planes during inter- eNode B handovers, triggering paging when DL data is available for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, managing and storing contexts of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and the like.

[0054] The SGW 164 may be connected to the PGW 166, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices.

[0055] The CN 106 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to circuit-switched networks, such as the PSTN 108, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and traditional land-line communications devices. For example, the CN 106 may include, or may communicate with, an IP gateway (e.g., an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 106 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to the other networks 112, which may include other wired and/or wireless networks that are owned and/or operated by other service providers.

[0056] Although the WTRU is described in FIGS. 1 A-1 D as a wireless terminal, it is contemplated that in certain representative embodiments that such a terminal may use (e.g., temporarily or permanently) wired communication interfaces with the communication network. [0057] In representative embodiments, the other network 112 may be a WLAN.

[0058] A WLAN in Infrastructure Basic Service Set (BSS) mode may have an Access Point (AP) for the BSS and one or more stations (STAs) associated with the AP. The AP may have an access or an interface to a Distribution System (DS) or another type of wired/wireless network that carries traffic in to and/or out of the BSS. Traffic to STAs that originates from outside the BSS may arrive through the AP and may be delivered to the STAs. Traffic originating from STAs to destinations outside the BSS may be sent to the AP to be delivered to respective destinations. Traffic between STAs within the BSS may be sent through the AP, for example, where the source STA may send traffic to the AP and the AP may deliver the traffic to the destination STA. The traffic between STAs within a BSS may be considered and/or referred to as peer-to- peer traffic. The peer-to-peer traffic may be sent between (e.g., directly between) the source and destination STAs with a direct link setup (DLS). In certain representative embodiments, the DLS may use an 802.11 e DLS or an 802.11 z tunneled DLS (TDLS). A WLAN using an Independent BSS (I BSS) mode may not have an AP, and the STAs (e.g., all of the STAs) within or using the I BSS may communicate directly with each other. The IBSS mode of communication may sometimes be referred to herein as an “ad- hoc” mode of communication.

[0059] When using the 802.11 ac infrastructure mode of operation or a similar mode of operations, the AP may transmit a beacon on a fixed channel, such as a primary channel. The primary channel may be a fixed width (e.g., 20 MHz wide bandwidth) or a dynamically set width via signaling. The primary channel may be the operating channel of the BSS and may be used by the STAs to establish a connection with the AP. In certain representative embodiments, Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA/CA) may be implemented, for example in in 802.11 systems. For CSMA/CA, the STAs (e.g., every STA), including the AP, may sense the primary channel. If the primary channel is sensed/detected and/or determined to be busy by a particular STA, the particular STA may back off. One STA (e.g., only one station) may transmit at any given time in a given BSS.

[0060] High Throughput (HT) STAs may use a 40 MHz wide channel for communication, for example, via a combination of the primary 20 MHz channel with an adjacent or nonadjacent 20 MHz channel to form a 40 MHz wide channel.

[0061] Very High Throughput (VHT) STAs may support 20MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and/or 160 MHz wide channels. The 40 MHz, and/or 80 MHz, channels may be formed by combining contiguous 20 MHz channels. A 160 MHz channel may be formed by combining 8 contiguous 20 MHz channels, or by combining two non-contiguous 80 MHz channels, which may be referred to as an 80+80 configuration. For the 80+80 configuration, the data, after channel encoding, may be passed through a segment parser that may divide the data into two streams. Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) processing, and time domain processing, may be done on each stream separately. The streams may be mapped on to the two 80 MHz channels, and the data may be transmitted by a transmitting STA. At the receiver of the receiving STA, the above described operation for the 80+80 configuration may be reversed, and the combined data may be sent to the Medium Access Control (MAC).

[0062] Sub 1 GHz modes of operation are supported by 802.11 af and 802.11 ah. The channel operating bandwidths, and carriers, are reduced in 802.11 af and 802.11 ah relative to those used in 802.11 n, and 802.11ac. 802.11 af supports 5 MHz, 10 MHz and 20 MHz bandwidths in the TV White Space (TVWS) spectrum, and 802.11 ah supports 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, and 16 MHz bandwidths using non-TVWS spectrum. According to a representative embodiment, 802.11 ah may support Meter Type Control/Machine- Type Communications, such as MTC devices in a macro coverage area. MTC devices may have certain capabilities, for example, limited capabilities including support for (e.g., only support for) certain and/or limited bandwidths. The MTC devices may include a battery with a battery life above a threshold (e.g., to maintain a very long battery life).

[0063] WLAN systems, which may support multiple channels, and channel bandwidths, such as 802.11 n, 802.11 ac, 802.11 af, and 802.11 ah, include a channel which may be designated as the primary channel. The primary channel may have a bandwidth equal to the largest common operating bandwidth supported by all STAs in the BSS. The bandwidth of the primary channel may be set and/or limited by a STA, from among all STAs in operating in a BSS, which supports the smallest bandwidth operating mode. In the example of 802.11 ah, the primary channel may be 1 MHz wide for STAs (e.g., MTC type devices) that support (e.g., only support) a 1 MHz mode, even if the AP, and other STAs in the BSS support 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, 16 MHz, and/or other channel bandwidth operating modes. Carrier sensing and/or Network Allocation Vector (NAV) settings may depend on the status of the primary channel. If the primary channel is busy, for example, due to a STA (which supports only a 1 MHz operating mode), transmitting to the AP, the entire available frequency bands may be considered busy even though a majority of the frequency bands remains idle and may be available.

[0064] In the United States, the available frequency bands, which may be used by 802.11 ah, are from 902 MHz to 928 MHz. In Korea, the available frequency bands are from 917.5 MHz to 923.5 MHz. In Japan, the available frequency bands are from 916.5 MHz to 927.5 MHz. The total bandwidth available for 802.11 ah is 6 MHz to 26 MHz depending on the country code. [0065] FIG. 1 D is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 113 and the CN 115 according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 113 may employ an NR radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 113 may also be in communication with the CN 115.

[0066] The RAN 113 may include gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c, though it will be appreciated that the RAN 113 may include any number of gNBs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In one embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement MIMO technology. For example, gNBs 180a, 108b may utilize beamforming to transmit signals to and/or receive signals from the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c. Thus, the gNB 180a, for example, may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to, and/or receive wireless signals from, the WTRU 102a. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement carrier aggregation technology. For example, the gNB 180a may transmit multiple component carriers to the WTRU 102a (not shown). A subset of these component carriers may be on unlicensed spectrum while the remaining component carriers may be on licensed spectrum. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) technology. For example, WTRU 102a may receive coordinated transmissions from gNB 180a and gNB 180b (and/or gNB 180c).

[0067] The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using transmissions associated with a scalable numerology. For example, the OFDM symbol spacing and/or OFDM subcarrier spacing may vary for different transmissions, different cells, and/or different portions of the wireless transmission spectrum. The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using subframe or transmission time intervals (TTIs) of various or scalable lengths (e.g., containing varying number of OFDM symbols and/or lasting varying lengths of absolute time).

[0068] The gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be configured to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c in a standalone configuration and/or a non-standalone configuration. In the standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c without also accessing other RANs (e.g., such as eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c). In the standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may utilize one or more of gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c as a mobility anchor point. In the standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using signals in an unlicensed band. In a non-standalone configuration WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with/connect to gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c while also communicating with/connecting to another RAN such as eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c. For example, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement DC principles to communicate with one or more gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c and one or more eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c substantially simultaneously. In the non-standalone configuration, eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may serve as a mobility anchor for WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may provide additional coverage and/or throughput for servicing WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c.

[0069] Each of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in the UL and/or DL, support of network slicing, dual connectivity, interworking between NR and E-UTRA, routing of user plane data towards User Plane Function (UPF) 184a, 184b, routing of control plane information towards Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 182a, 182b and the like. As shown in FIG. 1D, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may communicate with one another over an Xn interface.

[0070] The CN 115 shown in FIG. 1 D may include at least one AMF 182a, 182b, at least one UPF 184a, 184b, at least one Session Management Function (SMF) 183a, 183b, and possibly a Data Network (DN) 185a, 185b. While each of the foregoing elements are depicted as part of the CN 115, it will be appreciated that any of these elements may be owned and/or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0071] The AMF 182a, 182b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 113 via an N2 interface and may serve as a control node. For example, the AMF 182a, 182b may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, support for network slicing (e.g., handling of different PDU sessions with different requirements), selecting a particular SMF 183a, 183b, management of the registration area, termination of NAS signaling, mobility management, and the like. Network slicing may be used by the AMF 182a, 182b in order to customize CN support for WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c based on the types of services being utilized WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. For example, different network slices may be established for different use cases such as services relying on ultra-reliable low latency (URLLC) access, services relying on enhanced massive mobile broadband (eMBB) access, services for machine type communication (MTC) access, and/or the like. The AMF 162 may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 113 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, and/or non-3GPP access technologies such as WiFi. [0072] The SMF 183a, 183b may be connected to an AMF 182a, 182b in the CN 115 via an N11 interface. The SMF 183a, 183b may also be connected to a UPF 184a, 184b in the CN 115 via an N4 interface. The SMF 183a, 183b may select and control the UPF 184a, 184b and configure the routing of traffic through the UPF 184a, 184b. The SMF 183a, 183b may perform other functions, such as managing and allocating WTRU IP address, managing PDU sessions, controlling policy enforcement and QoS, providing downlink data notifications, and the like. A PDU session type may be IP-based, non-IP based, Ethernet-based, and the like.

[0073] The UPF 184a, 184b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 113 via an N3 interface, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices. The UPF 184, 184b may perform other functions, such as routing and forwarding packets, enforcing user plane policies, supporting multi-homed PDU sessions, handling user plane QoS, buffering downlink packets, providing mobility anchoring, and the like.

[0074] The CN 115 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 115 may include, or may communicate with, an IP gateway (e.g., an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 115 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 115 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to the other networks 112, which may include other wired and/or wireless networks that are owned and/or operated by other service providers. In one embodiment, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be connected to a local Data Network (DN) 185a, 185b through the UPF 184a, 184b via the N3 interface to the UPF 184a, 184b and an N6 interface between the UPF 184a, 184b and the DN 185a, 185b.

[0075] In view of Figures 1A-1 D, and the corresponding description of Figures 1A-1 D, one or more, or all, of the functions described herein with regard to one or more of: WTRU 102a-d, Base Station 114a-b, eNode-B 160a-c, MME 162, SGW 164, PGW 166, gNB 180a-c, AMF 182a-ab, UPF 184a-b, SMF 183a-b, DN 185a-b, and/or any other device(s) described herein, may be performed by one or more emulation devices (not shown). The emulation devices may be one or more devices configured to emulate one or more, or all, of the functions described herein. For example, the emulation devices may be used to test other devices and/or to simulate network and/or WTRU functions.

[0076] The emulation devices may be designed to implement one or more tests of other devices in a lab environment and/or in an operator network environment. For example, the one or more emulation devices may perform the one or more, or all, functions while being fully or partially implemented and/or deployed as part of a wired and/or wireless communication network in order to test other devices within the communication network. The one or more emulation devices may perform the one or more, or all, functions while being temporarily implemented/deployed as part of a wired and/or wireless communication network. The emulation device may be directly coupled to another device for purposes of testing and/or may performing testing using over-the-air wireless communications.

[0077] The one or more emulation devices may perform the one or more, including all, functions while not being implemented/deployed as part of a wired and/or wireless communication network. For example, the emulation devices may be utilized in a testing scenario in a testing laboratory and/or a non-deployed (e.g., testing) wired and/or wireless communication network in order to implement testing of one or more components. The one or more emulation devices may be test equipment. Direct RF coupling and/or wireless communications via RF circuitry (e.g., which may include one or more antennas) may be used by the emulation devices to transmit and/or receive data.

[0078] The following acronyms, among others, may be used herein: Acknowledgement (ACK); Access Network (AN); Federated Transfer Learning (FTL); Horizontal Federated Learning (HFL); Radio Access Network (RAN); Time-sensitive networking (TSN); Uplink (UL); Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC); and Vertical Federated Learning (VFL).

[0079] Parameter provisioning for enabling collaborative relay networks may be described herein.

[0080] A PCF may receive and store information related to the execution of a collaborative task (e.g., VFL). This information may include, for example, a list of WTRUs that participate in the same VFL application, WTRU IDs identifying each WTRU within the system, User ID (e.g., GPSI, SUPI), FL and/or AI/ML models supported, features and data types/labels supported by the FL application and/or other WTRUs, and/or Sidelink QoS related Parameters. This information may be used for generating policy parameters.

[0081] A SMF may receive and store information related to the execution of a collaborative task (VFL) This information may include, a list of WTRUs that participate in the same VFL application, WTRU IDs identifying each WTRU within the system, User ID (e.g., GPSI, SUPI), FL or AI/ML models supported, features and data types/labels supported by the FL application and/or other WTRUs, and/or Sidelink QoS related Parameters. This information may be used for managing PDU sessions associated with the collaborative task.

[0082] A WTRU Receives and stores information related to the execution of a collaborative task (VFL) This information may include, a list of WTRUs that participate in the same VFL application, WTRU IDs identifying each WTRU within the system, User ID (e.g., GPSI, SUPI), FL or AI/ML models supported, features and data types/labels supported by the FL application and/or other WTRUs, and/or Sidelink QoS related Parameters. This information may be used for updating WTRU local configurations. [0083] The registration of WTRUs for enabling collaborative relay networks may be described herein. A WTRU may send a message to the network for registering its capabilities related to forming collaborative networks for performing collaborative tasks (e.g., VFL). The WTRU may receive authorization from the 5G system, taking information related to WTRU types and capabilities may also be used for authorizing specific WTRU types within the collaborative network (e.g., authorize the WTRU to become a collaborative relay WTRU) into consideration. In some cases, a WTRU may be authorized to act as more than one WTRU type or WTRU capability.

[0084] A WTRU may receive a registration accept message from the 5G system. This message may contain information related to the approved WTRU capabilities. The WTRUs may be provisioned with multiple configurations for both Uu and PC5 connectivity. The Registration Accept message may include the codes/IDs associated with the collaborative operations, that the WTRU is able to use or provide as services to other WTRUs, according to the capabilities/services WTRU is authorized to inhibit or WTRU type (e.g., collaborative relay) the WTRU is able to inhibit. The WTRUs (endpoint or intermediate) may use these codes with sidelink WTRU discovery. The Registration Accept message may include known WTRUs that support FL and direct communication, known intermediate WTRUs and the WTRU types they hold, and/or the known topology.

[0085] D2D communication supports technologies, such as proximity services (ProSe) and Group Communication. ProSe services may allow devices which are within proximity to each other to communicate with each other (one-to-one communication). This may be enabled by D2D discovery and D2D direct communication procedures. Discovery mechanisms may allow a WTRU to discover another WTRU in its proximity, which may be performed directly by the WTRU or through the network. Group Communication mechanisms may allow one-to-many communication among WTRUs in a highly resource efficient manner, allowing messages to be disseminated easily to a large group of WTRUs, over a common downlink stream.

[0086] For unicast communication, communicating entities may use the pair of source/desti nation Layer-2 identifiers (IDs) for uniquely identifying the WTRUs, (e.g., one-to-one communication link). An application Layer ID may be associated with one or more vehicle to everything (V2X) applications within the same WTRU, while in scenarios where the WTRU has more than one application layer ID, each Application Layer ID of the same WTRU may be seen as a different WTRU. The WTRU may maintain the Application Layer ID and the Layer-2 IDs used for unicast links. The applications may not use the Layer-2 IDs and instead may use a Link ID, allowing the Application Layer IDs and/or Layer-2 IDs to change without an update to the applications.

[0087] User IDs such as evolved packet core (EPC) ProSe User IDs may uniquely identify a WTRU registered for ProSe. Application Layer Group ID may uniquely identify an application layer group that the WTRU belongs to, a user within the context of a specific application, and/or a group of users within the context of a specific application.

[0088] In a device to device federated learning (FL) scenario, an application server may have a transmission delay requirement for each FL member running in a WTRU. Some of these WTRUs may be far away from the gNB and they may not fulfill the transmission delay requirement imposed by the FL application, thereby holding valuable dataset, leading to a decreasing of FL performance.

[0089] This performance constraint may be alleviated by using device to device communications that may allow FL members to transmit their local Machine Learning (ML)parameters to nearby WTRUs, which may use a model received from other devices to train their local model, as illustrated in FIG. 2.

[0090] FIG.2 illustrates a comparison 200 of WTRU operation while running original federated learning (FL) and collaborative FL. Using the mechanisms illustrated in FIG. 2, using D2D communications, up to 6 WTRUs may be enabled to participate in communications, which may outperform other mechanisms, such as mechanisms which use 4 WTRUs that directly connect to the eNB, for example. Enabling D2D communication allow WTRUs to communicate that may not otherwise meet transmission latency requirements, but D2D communications may also reduce energy consumption, since ML model parameters may be transmitted to other WTRUs instead of a gNB that may be far away from the reach.

[0091] FL is a machine learning paradigm where multiple parties may collaboratively execute machine learning models without having to centralize their data. Three categories of FL include: Horizontal Federated Learning (HFL), Vertical Federated Learning (VFL), and Federated Transfer Learning (FTL). FIG. 3 illustrates these three categories of federated learning 300.

[0092] As shown in FIG. 3, in the HFL category, the participants may share the same feature space while holding different data. In the VFL category, each party may keep both its data and model local but exchanges intermediate computed results. In the FTL category, datasets may differ in both feature and sample spaces with limited overlaps. For example, EEG data from multiple subjects with heterogeneous distributions may collaboratively build BCI models using FTL.

[0093] Due to their differences in data partitions, HFL and VFL may adopt very different training protocols. Each party in HFL may train a local model and exchange model updates (e.g., parameters or gradients) with a server, which may aggregate the updates and/or send the aggregating result back to each party. While in VFL, each party may keep both its data and model local but exchange intermediate computed results. The output of the HFL training procedure may be a global model shared among each of the parties. Each party in the VFL may own a separate local model after training. During inference time, each party in HFL may use the global model separately, while parties in VFL may collaborate to make inferences. FL may be categorized into “cross-device” and “cross-silo” settings. The cross-device FL may involve a vast number of mobiles or edge devices as the participating parties. The participating parties in the cross-silo FL may be a limited number of organizations. HFL may be either cross-device or cross-silo FL. VFL may belong to the cross-silo FL. These differences between HFL, VFL, and FTL are illustrated in Table 1. Allowing each node to hold the complete feature may be prevented and/or less secure. Therefore, VFL provides a more promising federated learning, where different features are vertically distributed across participants, i.e., vertical federated learning (VFL).

Table 1

[0094] In VFL, each party may have a disjoint subset of features. VFL may be implemented for use cases where privacy is critical for use cases such as, military, finance and healthcare. For example, consider two different companies in the same city, one is a bank, and the other is an e-commerce company. Their user sets may include residents of the area, so they may have an intersecting user space. However, since the bank records may retain the user’s revenue and/or expenditure behavior and credit rating, and the e- commerce may retain the user’s browsing and purchasing history, their feature spaces may be different. Both parties may have a prediction model for product purchase based on user and product information. Backpropagation algorithms may be used for such models. [0095] FIG. 4 illustrates diagrams 400a, 400b of examples of vertically partitioned FL models. There may be a lack of procedures to enable collaborative FL. VFL may share intermediate results among the participating FL nodes and enable larger FL tasks to be broken down into sub-tasks, and may be trained and executed independently (e.g., towards solving the larger problem, as described by the well-known ‘divide-and-conquer’ principle), establishing a multi-hop topology of FL logical tasks. However, VFL may utilize participating FL nodes in collaboration for inference.

[0096] Embodiments may be described for enabling federated learning enablers using HFL algorithms, over direct device connectivity. In such scenarios, traffic may go through a single relay/master device, or a relay that is directly connected to the network through a Uu reference point. In such a context, solutions may be implemented for discovery, model distribution, Uu (e.g., PDU session) and Sidelink connectivity establishment satisfying QoS requirements.

[0097] When adopting VFL to network, interconnected local VFL nodes may be superimposed onto D2D networks, where FL nodes may correspond to WTRUs. When doing so, topologies beyond start may be established, as shown in FIG. 5 where multiple layers of interconnected worker nodes are established, resulting in collaborative multi-hop D2D networks.

[0098] FIG. 5 is a system diagram 500 illustrating collaborative WTRU networks for enabling vertical federated learning (VFL). Division of FL tasks may be done for various purposes, including supporting VFL algorithms (as in FIG. 5), supporting the increased complexity of VFL AI/ML tasks, utilizing distributed availability of AI/ML features that may be utilized for the models (e.g., features for a single model being available in different locations), privacy concerns with centralization of sensitive data, resource scarcity of WTRUs, and/or gaining other inherent benefits of VFL fully.

[0099] Procedures that enable VFL may be implemented to gain the benefits offered by VFL, where devices may perform VFL. VFL may be useful for use cases where WTRUs prefer to share the intermediate results of FL processes with other WTRUs or the network, while keeping both its data and model local. VFL may cause participating FL nodes - in this case the WTRUs - to collaborate when making inferences.

[0100] In the embodiments described herein, parameters related to VFL may be provisioned for implementation. The WTRUs may register for participating in VFL, as described herein. FL workload distribution to WTRUs may consider a one hop distance, resembling a star topology. Procedures may be implemented that enable topologies akin to a tree (e.g., thus, introducing cascading/multi-hop direct device connectivity paths and relay nodes) or mesh topology (e.g., where, one device may be connected to more than one device, for completing tasks). Cascading and Collaborating terms may be used interchangeably. [0101] Disclosed herein may be collaborative WTRU networks, or collaborative relay networks, which may be device-to-device networks that may have more than one degrees/levels of worker/collaborative nodes, as depicted in FIG. 5. These networks may be seen as a collection of multi-hop D3D networks.

[0102] WTRUs that act as FL worker nodes (as depicted in FIG. 5), may be collaborative WTRUs. The collaborative WTRUs may be capable of hosting FL worker nodes (one or many), WTRU-to-WTRU relaying, WTRU-to-Network relaying and/or acting as a multi-hop relay.

[0103] A collaborative WTRU may host a primary/coordinator/collaborator FL node (as depicted in FIG. 5) where the final results of the FL execution may be received. A collaborative WTRU may be connected to (at least one) parent collaborative WTRU in one leg (hosting its parent FL node). Parent collaborative WTRUs may have one or more worker/sub-tree/child/si bling/branch/leaf WTRUs (where worker node[s] are hosted), where its own Artificial I ntelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) learning or inference may depend on the results of its worker/sub-tree/child/sibling/branch/leaf nodes.

[0104] Collaborative WTRUs may be capable of collecting intermediate data from sub- tree/child/sibling/branch/leaf nodes (if any) and/or combining/updating models. Alternatively, a collaborative WTRU may act as a fully fledged FL Server where the global model has been stored and updated. A collaborative WTRU may have any combination of capabilities including intermediate result data processing, data relaying, and/or collaborative node/task coordination.

[0105] A QoS handling for collaborative WTRUs is disclosed herein. Each WTRU may maintain different PC5 QoS Contexts and/or PC5 QoS Rule(s) for each PC5 QoS Flow identified by a PC5 QoS Flow Identifier (PFI) per destination node (e.g., collaborative relay) identified by Destination Layer-2 ID. A collaborative WTRU may maintain multiple (e.g., two) kinds of PC5 flows. A control flow may be used for sharing control information and metadata related to the formed VFL collaborative network/WTRU group.

[0106] A results flow may be used for exchanging (intermediate or complete) results. A packet filter set for collaborative WTRUs is disclosed herein. The Packet Filter Set may support Packet Filters based on at least any combination of FL packet type, Packet direction, Collaborative node capabilities, hop, layer, and/or degree of the WTRU in the overall topology, and/or whether the source/destination is a collaborative node or not.

[0107] The FL packet type may include a control packet, a result packet, and/or a model packet. The packet direction may define that one direction may be differentiated as traffic goes from a collaborative node to a child collaborative node and/or that another direction may be differentiated as traffic goes from a child collaborative node to a parent collaborative node. The collaborative node capabilities may include intermediate result data processing, data relaying, and/or FL node/task coordination. When the WTRU assigns a PFI, the WTRU may associate with the collaborative node capabilities of the destination WTRU. [0108] A collaborative WTRU may prioritize its own results over its worker node’s results when results are forwarded/routed upstream towards the primary WTRU where the final results are generated. This may be due to the fact that its own results may be computed using worker node’s results, and therefore, may include results (or a processed version of the results) of the worker nodes.

[0109] Parameter provisioning for enabling collaborative relay networks is disclosed herein. Specifically, procedures for provisioning of parameters being held by WTRUs in a collaborative network and/or for provisioning of parameters for discovering other WTRUs in a collaborative device-to-device network may be disclosed herein.

[0110] In examples a PCF receives and stores information related to an execution of a collaborative task (VFL). This information may include a list of WTRUs that participate in the same VFL application, WTRU IDs identifying each WTRU within the system, User ID (e.g., GPSI, SUPI), FL or AI/ML models supported, features and data types/labels supported by the FL application and/or other WTRUs and Sidelink QoS related Parameters. This information may be used for generating policy parameters.

[0111] A SMF may receive and store information related to an execution of a collaborative task (VFL). This information may include a list of WTRUs that participate in the same VFL application, WTRU IDs identifying each WTRU within the system, User ID (e.g., GPSI, SUPI), FL or AI/ML models supported, features and data types/labels supported by the FL application and/or other WTRUs and Sidelink QoS related Parameters. This information may be used for managing PDU sessions associated with the collaborative task.

[0112] A WTRU may receive and store information related to an execution of a collaborative task (VFL). This information may include a list of WTRUs that participate in the same VFL application, WTRU IDs identifying each WTRU within the system, User ID (e.g., GPSI, SUPI), FL or AI/ML models supported, features and data types/labels supported by the FL application and/or other WTRUs and Sidelink QoS related Parameters. This information may be used for updating WTRU local configurations.

[0113] FIG. 6 is a flow diagram 600 illustrating exemplary parameter provisioning for distributed collaborative learning networks using direct communication. As shown in FIG. 6, at 602 an event may trigger the training or inference using FL, to create or modify or update configuration information in the core network, NG-RAN and the WTRUs that enables the network devices in the cellular communication system to assist the application (e.g., a FL application) in the transfer of application data that may be used for collaborative networks.

[0114] Examples of such triggers may include a network based trigger and an application event. The network triggers may include such triggers as discovery or registration of a WTRU/Collaborative WTRU and a WTRU joining the application through SL or Uu reference points. The application event may include such events as an FL application event that triggers the Application Function/Application Server (AF/AS) (e.g., V2X Application Server), starting of the application, updating of the model, updating of the model, and/or change to a configuration of the application (e.g., updated features).

[0115] At 604, the AF/AS may provide FL related information, and WTRU related information to the network devices in the cellular communication system by calling a Network Exposure Function (NEF) API. The information (e.g., Vertical Federated Learning (VFL) information or VFL parameters) may be related to an execution of a collaborative task related to a FL application, such as a VFL application. This information may include a list of WTRUs that participate in the same FL application, WTRU IDs identifying each WTRU within the system, user ID (e.g., GPSI, SUPI), application ID, Group ID, FL or AI/ML models supported, features and data types/labels supported by the FL application and/or other WTRUs, one or more packet filter sets, sidelink QoS related parameters, Uu QoS related parameters, WTRU opt-out policies and triggers, and/or information related to various WTRU types (e.g., processing WTRU type and/or collaborative relay) which the corresponding WTRUs associated with the application may hold.

[0116] In some examples, the VFL information/parameters may include one or more Side Link (SL) QoS rules, a list of collaborative WTRUs that are associated with the VFL application, and/or one or more features that are supported by the VFL application. The VFL parameters may include an indication of WTRU-to-WTRU connectivity states, an indication of whether WTRUs are collaborative relay WTRUs or non-relay WTRUs, and/or an indication of whether a WTRU is connected to one or more relay WTRUs. The VFL parameters may include a map or topology of the interconnectivity of a plurality of WTRUs that are associated with the VFL application. The VFL parameters may include one or more packet filter sets, an indication of a Federated Learning (FL) model or an Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning (AI/ML) model, or WTRU opt-out policies or triggers.

[0117] The WTRU opt-out policies and triggers may be used for opting out of its own membership voluntarily and/or opting out of other WTRUs that participate in the same application (e.g., decided based on an inactivity timer). [0118] The information related to various WTRU types may include a data structure holding any of, capabilities, WTRU ID, the WTRU type, their WTRU-to-WTRU connectivity (e.g., which WTRUs are connected which other WTRUs), type of neighboring WTRUs (e.g., collaborative relay vs non relay) at one hop distance, whether the WTRU is connected to other relays.

[0119] If configured, a map/topology of interconnectivity of WTRUs may be provided to the participating WTRUs. This may allow a WTRU to know where in the whole network it resides, giving it a holistic view of the whole network. A Network Exposure Function (NEF) may query the Binding Support Function (BSF) for determining which Policy Control Functions (PCF(s)) serve the WTRUs.

[0120] At 606, the NEF may forward the information received to the PCF(s) identified. PCF may use the received information to derive relevant configurations, such as policy parameters, related to the WTRUs and sessions involved e.g., Policy and Charging Control (PCC) rules). Alternatively, or additionally, the NEF may forward the information directly to the SMF at 608. The policy parameters may be determined based on the VFL information related to the execution of the collaborative task related to the VFL application. In some examples, the policy parameters may comprise one or more policy and charging control (PCC) rules.

[0121] The PCF may directly provision FL related information as well as the PCC rules to the SMF. The SMF may store the received configuration information for later use. Moreover, the SMF may store the received configuration information for later use. FL related information may be retrieved from a Unified Data Management (UDM) function or service, before forwarding to NG-RAN and WTRU.

[0122] At 610, the PCF may store and forward the received FL and WTRU related information to the RAN via the AMF over the N2 interface, alongside QoS parameters. However, this step may be executed independently of the received message from NEF in the previous step. The forwarded FL and WTRU related information and the QoS parameters from the PCF may be transmitted through the RAN, but logically not handled at the RAN. Rather, this message comes directly from the Core Network. Specifically, the forwarded information originates at the PCF or in some cases SMF and is encapsulated in a message that passes through the AMF and the RAN, but neither the RAN nor the AMF logically touches the message.

[0123] At 612, the WTRU may receive a configuration message from the network devices in the cellular communication system. The PCF may configure the WTRUs for direct communication for distributed learning tasks. FL related information (e.g., at 602) may be sent to the WTRU, via the AMF and N1 (NAS) interface. This message may include the QoS parameters. The QoS information and policies may cover any/each link that the WTRLI may establish with other WTRUs. This information may also be used as initial QoS values when negotiating/establishing SL connectivity.

[0124] Procedures for registration of WTRUs for enabling Collaborative relay networks may be disclosed herein. The disclosed procedures may allow WTRUs to provide device capabilities (e.g., AI/ML capabilities, collaborative relay capabilities) to the network devices in the cellular communication system, at the WTRU registration stage. This information may be used for authorizing AI/ML and collaborative relays.

[0125] FIG. 7 is a flow diagram illustrating WTRU registration 700 with FL information. At 702, a WTRU may register (or updates/modifies existing registration) with the network via the RAN. At 702 in which a WTRU may send a message to the network for registering its capabilities related to forming collaborative networks for performing collaborative tasks (e.g., VFL).

[0126] At 706, the WTRU may receive authorization from the network devices in the cellular communication system, taking information related to WTRU types and capabilities may also be used for authorizing specific WTRU types within the collaborative network (e.g., Authorize the WYRU to become a collaborative relay WTRU) into consideration. One WTRU may be authorized to act as more than one WTRU type or WTRU capability.

[0127] At 716, the WTRU may receive a Registration Accept message from the network devices in the cellular communication system. This message may include information related to the approved WTRU capabilities. The WTRUs may be provisioned with multiple configurations for both Uu and PC5 connectivity. The Registration Accept message may include the codes/IDs associated with the collaborative operations, that the WTRU is able to use or provide as services to other WTRUs, according to the capabilities/services WTRU is authorized to inhibit or WTRU type (e.g., collaborative relay) the WTRU is able to inhibit. The WTRUs (endpoint or intermediate) may use these codes with sidelink WTRU discovery. The Registration Accept message may include known WTRUs that support FL and direct communication, known intermediate WTRUs and the WTRU types they hold, and the known topology.

[0128] The radio access network (RAN) is a major component of a wireless telecommunications system that connects individual devices to other parts of a network through a radio link. The RAN links user equipment, such as a cellphone, computer or any remotely controlled machine, over a fiber or wireless backhaul connection. That link goes to the core network, which manages subscriber information, location and more. The WTRU may indicate its availability and/or capabilities related to the establishment of collaborative WTRU networks. Collaborative capability may be indicated as part of any of V2X, ProSe, PC5 capability indications. [0129] The indications provided by the WTRU may include the collaborative WTRU capabilities (e.g., as described in FIG. 6), FL or AI/ML models supported, AI/ML capabilities the WTRU may provide, if the WTRU is already aware of an existing FL application or a group that it likes to join, if the WTRU will create a new FL application grouping, and/or if the WTRU is able to authorize the addition/joining of WTRUs/nodes to the network (e.g., when the WTRU is a collaborative relay).

[0130] If FL or AI/ML models are supported, the WTRU indication may include hardware capabilities (e.g., GPU, Neural Processor, sensors) and data and software capabilities, e.g., available features, data types/labels.

[0131] If the WTRU being already aware of an existing FL application or a group that it likes to join, the WTRU indication may include application IDs, Group IDs of the target desired group communications, traffic related requirements information such as UL/DL foreseeable traffic size and type, a specific time at which the WTRU wants to engage in the communications, a time window (if the WTRU can produce it) for which the WTRU wants to engage in communications, and particular WTRU IDs (Collaborative relays, Processing nodes - with features/data of interest to the WTRU) that the registering WTRU may know in advance it will communicate directly with.

[0132] Concerning the creation of an FL application grouping, the WTRU indication information may be provided to the network so that it can be conveyed to the corresponding AF/AS. The creation of an FL application grouping request may specify if the WTRU is able to authorize the addition/joining of new WTRUs/nodes to the network (e.g., when the WTRU is a collaborative relay).

[0133] At 704, the RAN (or AMF configured to select an AMF) may select an AMF based on the provided information if a valid AMF is not already indicated for this communication. The RAN forwards the Registration Request message to the AMF.

[0134] At 706, the 5G system (AMF) validates the identity of the WTRU. If the WTRU hasn’t already sent the identity related information, it sends identity related information. AMF initiates this by invoking an Authentication Server Function (AUSF).

[0135] At 708, the UDM components may be selected. For the authorization of services provided by each WTRU, or the WTRU type the WTRU can act as (e.g., collaborative relay), AMF checks with UDM if there are any stored information regarding WTRU and authorized services or capabilities (e.g., collaborative relay capabilities). This information may have been stored previously in the UDM. If there is no such information at the UDM, after authorization with the AUSF, the authorized services/allowed WTRU types may be stored in the UDM to be used in the future. [0136] At 710, the AMF may select the PCF which supports the FL policy provisioning and establishes WTRU policy association with the PCF for WTRU policy/parameter provisioning. At 712, the AMF may report the capabilities received at 702 to the PCF and may store them in UDM. At 714, the PCF may determine the AI/ML or FL policy and parameters for specific RAT (or path) based on the received WTRU capabilities and the WTRU type (e.g., as processing WTRUs and collaborative relays). The policy parameters may include information associated with the path type for federated learning traffic. For example, the policy parameters may include an indication of a path type (e.g., Uu, PC5, etc.) to be used to transfer federated learning traffic. In case the policy parameters are determined at path granularity, it may determine AI/ML or FL policy and parameters for different paths (e.g., one path is through PC5 communication, and another one is through Uu communication). In some scenarios, the WTRU (or the PCF) may decide later on which path is the best for the operation.

[0137] At 716, the WTRU may receive a Registration Accept message from the network devices in the cellular communication system. This message may include information related to the approved WTRU type, and/or the duration the rules can be taken for. The WTRUs may be provisioned with multiple configurations for both Uu and PC5 connectivity. It may also include information of the services and the collaborative capabilities that are supported by the PLMN, Cell, the base station, or WTRUs, and/or information related to how to access those services and collaborative capabilities. Once the duration for a specific service (e.g., collaborative relay) expires, the WTRU may request authorization for that specific WTRU type again, to be able to operate with the requested capabilities. This may be done either through WTRU registration procedures, or PDU session establishment/modification procedures.

[0138] In response to the received Registration Accept message, the WTRU may respond to the network devices in the cellular communication system with a Registration Complete message (e.g., at 718). The Registration Accept message may include the codes/IDs associated with the AI/ML operations, that the WTRU is able to use or provide as services to other WTRUs, according to the capabilities/services WTRU is authorized to inhibit or WTRU type (e.g., collaborative relay) the WTRU is able to inhibit. The WTRUs (endpoint or intermediate) may use these codes with sidelink WTRU discovery.

[0139] The Registration Accept message may include known WTRUs that support collaboration and direct communication, known intermediate WTRUs and the WTRU types they hold, the known topology (most likely only include their neighboring WTRUs that are involved in the collaborative (AI/ML/ FL) operation, up to a certain number of limited hops. The WTRU might not know the full topology of the FL operation. This may limit the resource consumption of the direct device network. The WTRU may receive a partial topology that is associated with the WTRU’s location. A WTRU may be authorized to be more than one WTRLI type. In which case, parameters described above (such as AI/ML procedures/tasks) may be generated by each WRTU type the WTRU is able to inhibit.

Claims

CLAIMS:

1. A first network element comprising: a processor, wherein the processor is configured to: receive Vertical Federated Learning (VFL) information related to an execution of a collaborative task related to a VFL application, wherein the VFL information comprises a list of wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) that participate in the VFL application, an identifier associated with each WTRU in the list of WTRUs, and Quality of Service (QoS) related parameters; determine policy parameters based on the VFL information related to the execution of the collaborative task related to the VFL application; and send the policy parameters to a second network element or a WTRU.

2. The first network element of claim 1 , wherein the policy parameters comprise one or more of a path type to use for federated learning traffic and one or more policy and charging control (PCC) rules, wherein the path type is one of Uu or PC5.

3. The first network element of claim 1 , wherein the first network element comprises a Policy Control Function (PCF), wherein the processor is configured to generate the policy parameters based on the VFL information to determine the policy parameters, and wherein the policy parameters are sent to the second network element.

4. The first network element of claim 3, wherein the VFL information further comprises a User ID, an indication of one or more Federated Learning (FL) or Artificial I ntelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) models, one or more packet filter sets, or an indication of one or more features or data types supported by the VFL application.

5. The first network element of claim 3, wherein the processor is configured to send the policy parameters and the QoS related parameter to a RAN node using an N2 interface via an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF).

6. The first network element of claim 1 , wherein the first network element comprises a session management function (SMF), and wherein the processor is configured to receive the policy parameters from a third network element.

7. The first network element of claim 6, wherein the third network element comprises a policy control function (PCF), wherein the policy parameters comprise policy charging and control (PCC) rules.

8. A method performed by a first network element, the method comprising: receiving Vertical Federated Learning (VFL) information related to an execution of a collaborative task related to a VFL application, wherein the VFL information comprises a list of wireless transmit/receive units (WTRUs) that participate in the VFL application, an identifier associated with each WTRU in the list of WTRUs, and Quality of Service (QoS) related parameters; determining policy parameters based on the VFL information related to the execution of the collaborative task related to the VFL application; and sending the policy parameters to a second network element or a WTRU.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the policy parameters comprise one or more of a path type to use for federated learning traffic and one or more policy and charging control (PCC) rules, wherein the path type is one of Uu or PC5.

10. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first network element comprises a Policy Control Function (PCF), the method further comprising generating the policy parameters based on the VFL information to determine the policy parameters, and wherein the policy parameters are sent to the second network element.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein the VFL information further comprises a User ID, an indication of one or more Federated Learning (FL) or Artificial Intelligence/Machine Learning (AI/ML) models, one or more packet filter sets, or an indication of one or more features or data types supported by the VFL application.

12. The method of claim 10, further comprising sending the policy parameters and the QoS related parameter to a RAN node using an N2 interface via an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF).

13. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first network element comprises a session management function (SMF), the method further comprising receiving the policy parameters from a third network element.

14. The method of claim 13, wherein the third network element comprises a policy control function (PCF), wherein the policy parameters comprise policy charging and control (PCC) rules.

15. A method implemented by a network element, the method comprising: detecting a Vertical Federated Learning (VFL) event related to a VFL application; generating VFL parameters associated with the VFL application based on the detection of the VFL event, wherein the VFL parameters comprises one or more Side Link (SL) QoS rules, a list of collaborative WTRUs that are associated with the VFL application, and one or more features that are supported by the VFL application; and sending the parameters associated with the FL application.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the VFL event comprises a new collaborative WTRU joining the VFL application, an update to the VFL application, or an update to the features that are supported by the VFL application.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the VFL parameters comprise an indication of WTRU-to-WTRU connectivity states, an indication of whether WTRUs are collaborative relay WTRUs or non-relay WTRUs, or an indication of whether a WTRU is connected to one or more relay WTRUs.

18. The method of claim 15, wherein the VFL parameters comprise a map or topology of the interconnectivity of a plurality of WTRUs that are associated with the VFL application.

19. The method of claim 15, wherein the VFL parameters comprise one or more packet filter sets, an indication of a Federated Learning (FL) model or an Artificial Intelligence or Machine Learning (AI/ML) model, or WTRU opt-out policies or triggers.

20. The method of claim 15, wherein the network element comprises an Application Function (AF) or an Application Service (AS), and wherein the parameters associated with the FL application are sent to a Policy Control Function (PCF) or Session Management Function (SMF).