GB2463163A

GB2463163A - Estimating energy costs for network operations

Info

Publication number: GB2463163A
Application number: GB0915780A
Authority: GB
Inventors: Tim Frost; David Andrew Fox; Gavin Wong
Original assignee: Vodafone Group PLC
Current assignee: Vodafone Group PLC
Priority date: 2008-09-09
Filing date: 2009-09-09
Publication date: 2010-03-10
Also published as: EP2335378A1; GB0816449D0; WO2010029354A1; GB0915780D0

Abstract

The environmental cost of previous, current or future user-executable operations in a mobile network in terms of energy/power consumption or carbon footprint is estimated based on the idle/connected status of the device and the carbon efficiency of other network components (eg. base station power sources, fig. 2) and displayed on the user's mobile phone 1. Costs associated with a network layer 80, a base station 3 and a maintenance server 82 are calculated and displayed by an EcoServer 85, and a billing server may actually charge the user with said cost. Alternative options are displayed, allowing a user to choose to eg. make call outside, where the phone works less hard to reach the base station, or accept lower quality channels.

Description

Estimating the Cost of a User Executable Network Operation The present invention relates to a method for providing an indication of an estimated cost associated with a user executable network operation, in particular the cost in terms of the amount of power used and/or the carbon footprint of the operation. An associated mobile device and systems are also described.

Background

The general population is becoming ever more aware of environmental issues, and in particular the impact of their actions on the environment. At least partly due this trend, it is becoming increasingly popular to give a measureable, comparable value to activities and actions which represent their "environmental cost".

Environmental costs measurements are typically derived from the amount of power consumed/produced by an activity and/or action. One of the most popular measurements of environmental cost is known as a "carbon footprint" which can be described as the total set of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions caused directly and indirectly by an individual, organization, event or product. For simplicity of reporting, it is often expressed in terms of the amount of carbon dioxide, or its equivalent of other GHGs, emitted each time a particular activity or action is undertaken.

It is increasingly common for consumers action and activity choice to be influenced by the environmental costs of each option available. For example, W02008 152396 describes a method of determining a mode of transport for a portion of a user's journey based at least partly on the carbon footprint associated with each mode of transportation.

Furthermore, it is likely that there will be increasing financial incentives for individuals and businesses to reduce their environmental costs, in particular their respective carbon footprints. Therefore it is desirable for businesses and service providers to give their customers information which will enable them to take actions to minimise their cost to the environment.

It is an object of the present invention to provide users of electronic devices, in particular cellular mobile devices, information representing the environmental cost of their previous, current, and/or potential future actions, which enables the user to reduce their average environmental cost.

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there is provided method for providing an indication of an estimated cost associated with a user executable network operation, comprising the step of: determining the operating state of a user device; estimating the energy consumption associated with the execution of the network operation for one of more network components in dependence of the operating state of the user device; calculating the estimated cost based on the estimated the energy consumption; and indicating the estimated cost associated with a user executable network operation to the user.

Preferably the method further comprises the step of receiving data representing the carbon efficiency of the one or more network components; and wherein the step of calculating the estimated cost comprises: calculating an estimated carbon footprint based on the estimated energy consumption and the received data on the carbon efficiency of the one of more network components associated with the network operation. Data representing the carbon efficiency of the one or more network components is used in the calculation of the estimated cost so that the estimated carbon footprint can be calculated. The step of indicating the estimated cost associated with a user executable network operation to the user can then advantageously include displaying on the user device the estimated carbon footprint relative to an estimated minimum energy consumption associated with the network operation.

It is preferable to record the accumulated cost of user initiated network operations over a predetermined period of time; and reconfiguring the user device so as to reduce its average energy consumption if the accumulated cost exceeds a threshold value. The reconfiguring step can be carried out completely automatically, or partially automatically and partially under control of the user. The instructions to reconfigure the user device may originate from the network or the device itself When the user is allowed at least partial control over the reconfiguration it is preferable to determine which of one or more user adjustable device operating state variables may effect the cost associated with a user executable network operation present one or more options to the user of the user device to enable them to adjust the one or more variables; and update the estimated cost associated with a user executable network operation in response to a change in the one or more variables.

Allowing the user to control which of the operating conditions change is advantageous because some changes may be easier, or more preferable than others at that moment in time. For example, if the signal strength is weak and the mobile device is operating the modem at the highest power setting, the user may decide that it is easy for them to leave the building they are located and make a call outside.

where the signal strength will be stronger and thus the modem can operate at a lower power setting. Other variables may be internal to the device, for example a call could be made in either half-duplex or full-duplex mode depending on the call quality required.

Preferably the estimated cost associated with an executed user executable network operation is communicated to a billing server; and billing the user of said user device based on the estimated cost associated with an executed user executable network operation. As explained in the detailed description below, it is desirable to include the cost in terms of carbon emissions, power usage, or other "environmental cost" in a user's bill. For example, if the device user has a lower than average carbon footprint due to device usage over a specified period of time, then they may be entitled to a reduced bill. There are many different ways that the environmental cost can be factored into the bill, each with the aim of rewarding the device user for reducing there power usage, or choosing different ways of using there device which lower the environment cost.

Preferably the step of estimating the energy consumption associated with the execution of said network operation for one of more network components comprises: estimating the energy consumption associated with executing said network operation in the user device; estimating the energy consumption associated with executing said network operation in a base station to which the user device is connected; and estimating the energy consumption associated with executing said network operation in the network infrastructure to which the user device is connected. Whilst it is advantageous to estimate the energy consumption of the mobile device on its own, it will be appreciated that factors such as the time of day, congestion on the network, and current power source also effect the power consumption and carbon footprint of the base station and other parts of the network infrastructure.

According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a mobile device arranged to provide an indication of an estimated cost associated with a user executable network operation, the device comprising: means fo r s t o r i n g t h e operating state of the user device; a processor arranged to: calculate the estimated energy consumption associated with executing said network operation; and calculate the estimated cost based on the estimated the energy consumption; and a display for indicating the cost associated with a user executable network operation to the user.

Preferably the device also includes means for storing data received from the network representing the estimated energy consumption associated with executing said network operation for one or more network components; wherein the processor is arranged to calculate the estimated cost based on the estimated the energy consumption of the user device and the one or more network components.

Preferably the device also includes means for storing data representing the carbon efficiency of one or more network components received from a network component; wherein the estimated cost is the estimated carbon footprint, and the processor is arranged to calculate the estimated carbon footprint associated with a user executable network operation based on the estimated energy consumption and the data representing the carbon efficiency of one or more network components.

According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a network system for providing an indication of an estimated cost associated with a user executable network operation on a mobile device, the system comprising: one or more mobile devices according to any of claims 8 to 10; a base station to which one or more of said mobile devices are registered; and an operations and maintenance server in communication with said base station; wherein said operations and maintenance server comprises data representing the carbon efficiency of the one or more network components, said data arranged to be communicated to the base station in response to a request from the base station, and communicated from the base station to the one or more mobile devices in response to a request from one or more of the mobile devices.

According to a further aspect of the present invention there is provided a network system for providing an indication of an estimated cost associated with a user executable network operation on a mobile device, the system comprising: one or more mobile devices according to any of claims 8 to 10; a base station to which one or more of said mobile devices are registered, said base station configured to send power related information to an operations and maintenance server connected to said base station; and an Eco-server connected to said operations and maintenance server configured to receive power related information from the operations and maintenance server; wherein said Eco-server comprises data representing the carbon efficiency of the one or more network components, said data arranged to be communicated directly to the one or more mobile devices in response to a request from one or more of the mobile devices.

For a better understanding of the present invention, embodiments of the invention will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: Figure 1 illustrates a mobile telecommunications network useful in explaining the operation of the embodiments of the invention; Figure 2 is a diagrammatic drawing of the power consuming components of a UE; Figure 3 is a diagrammatic drawing of the power consuming components of a base station; Figure 4 is a diagrammatic drawing of the main network components according to one embodiment of the invention; Figure 5 is a diagrammatic drawing of the main network components according to a further embodiment of the invention; Figures 6a and 6b are illustrative representations of mobile devices according to embodiments of the present invention and Figures 7a and 7b are illustrative representations of mobile devices according to further embodiments of the present invention.

In the drawings like elements are generally designated with the same reference sign.

Detailed Description

Key elements of a mobile telecommunications network, and its operation, will now briefly be described with reference to Figure 1. Figure 1 incorporates elements from a GSM network, a UMTS network and an LTE network. These are just examples of a network environment within which the present invention may be implemented.

and other network formats are possible.

Each base station (BS) in the network serves a respective cell of its cellular or mobile telecommunications network and receives calls from and transmits calls to a mobile device in that cell by wireless radio communication in one or both of the circuit switched or packet switched domains. Such a subscriber's mobile device (UE) is shown at 1. The mobile device may be any form of mobile communications device, including a handheld mobile telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA) or a laptop computer (e.g. a laptop equipped with a mobile telecommunications network datacard, a laptop having an attached dongle modem, or indeed a laptop with an embedded mobile telecommunications network modem chipset).

In a GSM mobile telecommunications network, each base station includes a base transceiver station (BTS) and a base station controller (BSC). A BSC may control more than one BTS. The BTSs and BSCs comprise the radio access network.

In a UMTS mobile telecommunications network, each base station comprises a node B and a radio network controller (RNC). An RNC may control more than one node B. The node Bs and RNCs comprise the radio access network.

In the proposed LTE mobile telecommunications network, each base station comprises an eNode B. The base stations are arranged in groups and each group of base stations is controlled by a Mobility Management Entity (MME) and a User Plane Entity (UPE).

Conventionally, in a GSM/UMTS network, the base stations are arranged in groups and each group of base stations is controlled by one mobile switching centre (MSC), such as MSC 2 for base stations 3, 4 and 5. As shown in Figure 1, the network has another MSC 6, which is controlling a further three base stations 7, 8 and 9. In practice, the network will incorporate many more MSCs and base stations than shown in Figure 1. The base stations 3, 4, 5, 7, 8 and 9 each have dedicated (not shared) connection to their MSC2 or MSC6 -typically a cable connection. This prevents transmission speeds being reduced due to congestion caused by other traffic.

The MSCs 2 and 6 support communications in the circuit switched domain -typically voice calls. Corresponding SGSNs 16 and 18 are provided to support communications in the packet switched domain -such as GPRS data transmissions.

The SGSNs 16 and 18 function in an analogous way to the MSCs 2 and 6. For the sake of simplicity, all future references to an MSC are also to be taken as equivalently covering an SGSN or a Node 13.

Each subscriber to the network is provided with a smart card (or SIM card) which, when associated with the user's/subscriber's mobile device (UE) identifies the subscriber to the network. The SIM card is pre-programmed with a unique identification number, the "International Mobile Subscriber Identity" (IMSI), which is not printed on the card and is not generally known to the subscriber. The subscriber is issued with a publicly known number, that is, the subscriber's telephone number, by means of which callers initiate calls to the subscriber. This number is the MSISDN.

The network includes a home location register (HLR) 10 which, for each subscriber to the network, stores the IMSI and the corresponding MSISDN together with other subscriber data, such as the current or last known location of the subscriber's mobile device. This information is used when paging a mobile device.

Power Consumption in the UE Referring now to Figure 2, there is shown a model of the major power consuming components in a typical UE 1, comprising a modem component 40, phone functions component 50, and an application layer component 60.

The Modem component 40 of power consumption relates to the power required by the lower layers of the UE to communicate with the network. This is split into the Power to Transmit 41 and the Power to Receive 45, and then stibsequently split between Network Related 42, 46 and Service Related 43, 47 components.

The Network Related aspects 42, 46 include the power to remain attached to the network, for example: * When the UE 1 is in Idle mode -for the UE to perform periodic and mobility based Location Updates; to acquire system information on a cell, and perform cell selection and reselection processes (including making neighbour cell measurements).

* When the UE 1 is in Connected mode -for the UE to perform handover, measurement reports, and maintenance of uplink synchronisation and power control. This depends on the type of service, the data throughput and the coverage of the UE.

The Service Related aspects 43, 47 include the additional power consumed due to receiving and transmitting data to and from the network. This category may vary depending on the type of service, the data throughput and the coverage of the UE 1.

The "Phone Functions" component 50 of power consumption is made tip of the power consumed to maintain the Man to Machine Interface (MMI) 51, the menu systems of the phone 52, the screen etc. The "Application Layer" component 60 of power consumption is made up of the power required to support services 61. The incremental power required by those services at the application layer, e.g.; to process codecs, and/or to power speakers.

The power at the device would be drawn from the battery, with each device having its own efficiency criteria know as the Device Power Source Efficiency. The amount of pollution incurred from charging the device would dependent on the source of the electricity used to charge the device. An average figure could be used for the ratio of energy to pollution for a given country based on the average generation to the electricity grid. Alternatively a value for the Device Power Source Efficiency could be a User entered value, particularly if the user contract a green electricity supplier for their household electricity.

Power Consumption at the Base station Figure 3 provides an illustration of the power consumption at the base station 3. The power consumption at the BS 3 can be modelled as follows: * The base power 70 at the BS 3, for just being powered on and connected to the transport network of the operator. This also includes the power required to allow UEs 1 in idle mode to camp on the cell, i.e. transmitting the pilot channels and system information.

* The "power to keep UEs 1 Radio Resource Control (RRC) connected" 71 to the network, to control their measurement reports, and provide mobility (i.e. handover) for the UEs 1.

* The "Power for User Services" 72 is the incremental power to transmit data to the UE 1 and this depends on the type of service, the data throughput and the coverage of the UE 1. This would be made up of the additional transmit power (i.e. power needed for the power amplifier and additional processing load, and the additional power required to cool the BS due to any additional heat generated).

Each base station has an associated power efficiency and this would depend on the hardware and firmware version, so the above aspect could vary from BS to BS.

The quantity of C02 (and other polluting elements) the BS creates depends on the power source; some are powered by Solar or wind at the BS site, others are powered from the mains, where the type of generation may be known (or an average unit from the power supplier is available), for example; wind, tidal, solar, gas or coal power stations. When these supplies are not available a BS would draw power from a diesel generator on site -which would also be rated for its efficiency and pollution.

Power Consumption in the Network/Service Infrastructure When the UE 1 has any interaction with the network, it requires the network infrastructure to perform tasks or services. The total power to perform these tasks would vary dramatically depending on the network implementation, and on the task.

For each Service the quantity of power required can be calculated based on which network entities need to be involved in providing the service. This can be done in a simple manner by summing up: * the capacity of each entity and the total power consumed by the entity running at full capacity, and calculating the power per transaction; and * the operator can then look at the average number of entities required by the network to complete a service.

Then for each service the network can calculate a figure for the cost per minute, transaction, or kB in terms of power and carbon.

Provisioning of Terminal with Network Power Consumption and Efficiency Information The Network provides the UE 1 with information about the Power consumption in the BS and the Service Infrastructure. The UE uses this information to ascertain the total quantity of power, and carbon footprint from Mobile Station (UE), BS and NetworktService Infrastructure. There are a number of ways to provide this information, the following describes two implementations.

Implementation 1 -Radio Layer Figure 4 is an illustration of the main network elements for providing one or more UEs 1 with the information necessary to calculate the carbon footprint for a particular network service/task. A network/service layer 80 communicates with a BS 3, which in turn communicates with one or more UEs 1. An Operations & Maintenance server (O&M) 82 transmits costing configuration information 81 to the BS 3, which can be used to transmit the cost and/or parameter information 83 to UE 1.

The BS 3 is pre-configured via O&M 82 with values for one or more of the following: a. The Cost per Minute for VoIP for Network/Service Infrastructure.

b. The Cost per kB for Network/Service Infrastructure.

c. The Cost per IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) transaction for Network/Service Infrastructure.

d. The efficiency of each of the power sources for the BS.

e. Parameters to allow the BS 3 to calculate its efficiency depending on the external Temperature.

The Cost is provided in terms of power and/or in terms of the Carbon Footprint.

If implemented in a manner where the calculation of network power consumption is mainly completed at the terminal: * When the terminal connects to this BS 3 (i.e. either through the Initial Access procedure, or incoming handover), the BS signals: a. A value for the Cost associated of Network/Service Infrastructure associated with each Resource Block (RB) configured in the UE per kB/Transaction.

b. The efficiency of the BS for User Data transmission (at a temperature), i.e. the amount of power consumed by BS/amount of power transmitted on the radio in 1 Resource Block. This would include the power to transmit the associated control channels.

c. The Carbon Efficiency of the BS 3. The ratio of the Power to Carbon footprint of the BS on its current power source.

* When a new RB is configured at the UE by the BS, the BS provides new information relating to the costing of this System Architecture Evolution (SAE) Bearer (and RB), i.e. a) to c).

* The UE 1 uses these parameters to calculate the Carbon footprint of the task/service.

Implementation 2 -Service Layer Figure 5 represents an alternative way of providing the UE 1 with the information required to calculate the power consumption for each resource block, task, or service. A network/service layer 80 communicates with a BS 3, which in turn communicates with one or more UEs 1. Power-related information 86 is sent from the BS 3 to an O&M 82, which communicates power efficiency information 87 to and from an Eco-Server 85. The Eco-Server 85 is arranged to transmit cost and/or parameter information 88 to the UEs 1.

Currently it is assumed that the O&M 82 will be provided with information on the power source and BS 3 temperature for other purposes, which means that no additional functionality is required from the BS 3. The Eco-Server 85 would be configured with the product information for each BS manufacturer on the power efficiency at different temperatures, and the Carbon Efficiency of each power source.

A UE 1 requiring carbon footprint information would contact the Eco-Server 85 and provide the Cell ID of the current cell. The Eco-Server 85 may quely the O&M 82 to retrieve information on the BS 3, and this server would provide information about the carbon rating of the BS 3 to the UE 1. The information would be provided to the UE 1 as follows: * A value for the Cost associated of Network/Service Infrastructure associated with each RB configured in the UE per kB/transaction and * A set of figures for the power/carbon cost of the BS at the current time (i.e. based on its current power source and temperature) per kB, per bearer, for a given signal strength.

The UE would use these parameters for each bearer to calculate the Power Consumption for each RB.

Calculation of the Footprint Depending on the particular implementation, the carbon footprint can be calculated either at the UE 1 or at the network. The calculations may alternatively be divided between the network and the UE.

AttheUE: The UE 1 measures the power used by the device for the application layer 60, the phone functions 50, and the transmitting and receiving Modem 40. The UE 1 then calculates the carbon footprint for this power based on the used power, the device efficiency, and the Device Power Source Efficiency (from the power source information provided by the User). The terminal can query the Eco-Server 85 to determine the Power Source Efficiency for the Power Source indicated by the UE 1 through the MMI.

If the parameters are provided by the BS 3, the UE 1 uses these parameters to calculate the Carbon footprint by: * Calculating the BS 3Transmit power for each Resource Block (RB) allocated to the terminal by measuring the signal strength/quality of the Resource Blocks allocated to the UE 1, and compares to the signal strength of the Common pilots (which are at a known power, indicated in the system information of the cell).

* Calculating the Network Carbon Footprint by multiplying the BS Transmit power, by the BS efficiency and the Carbon Efficiency and adding the Network/Service Infrastructure overhead.

Alternatively, if the parameters are provided by the Eco-Server 85 the UE 1 uses these parameters to calculate the Carbon footprint by: * Measuring the received signal strengthlquality of the cell and looking up the power efficiency for each Radio Bearer associated with this signal strength from the information received from the Eco-Server for this BS.

* Calculating the total Network/Service Infrastructure overhead per kB or transaction for each bearer.

At the Network: If the calculation is to be completed at the Network, the calculation could be completed at either the BS 3, or the Eco-Server 85.

When completed at the Radio layer, the UE 1 does not provide any information to the BS 3. The BS 3 already is configured with the necessary parameters, and the BS just sums the amount of power it is using to transmit data to the UE on each of the RBs.

When completed at the Service layer, the UE 1 provides the following information to the Eco-Server 85: * Signal Strength/quality of the network at the UE; * Ce11ID * kBforeachRB.

* Number of Service Transactions A figure for the network Power/Carbon usage would then be provided to the UE 1.

Potential Carbon Footprint The UE can provide an indication of the potential carbon footprint to the user indicating at the current time and location how large a footprint each service would create.

These figures would be based information provided from the network (as described above for the active case): a. The Cost per Minute for VoIP for Network/Service Infrastructure; b. The Cost per kB for Network/Service Infrastructure; c. The Cost per IMS transaction for Network/Service Infrastructure; d. Power/Carbon efficiency of the BS at the current time; e. UE signal strength and interference measurements of the current cell.

By providing this information to the UE user there is the added benefit to the operator that it could spread out the calls, and therefore average the instantaneous network load out of the busy time.

Representation to the User A new meter 90 would be included on the screen of the UE 1, indicating the size of the carbon footprint of the UE. An illustrative example of a basic graphical meter is illustrated in Figure 6a. Alternatively, or in addition to the graphical meter, the user could simply be presented with text representing the carbon footprint of the UE as shown in Figure 6b.

A more advanced form of the meter could include a break down of the different services 90a, 90b, 90c that the UE 1 is currently running and their respective carbon footprint, this is illustrated in Figures 7a and 7b.

The meter 90 is created by the UE 1 from information calculated at the UE based on the power used by the modem 40, the base phone functions 50 and for each of the applications/services 60; and from information received from the network informing the device how to calculate the power used and the carbonlpollution created by the BS 3 to provide basic connectivity and for each incremental service.

The UE 1 may also be configured to alert the user when the carbon/pollution creation goes too high, and when affirmative action should be taken by the user.

The meter 90 on the display of the UE could also indicate the relative or absolute carbon footprint if the user were to make a call at that moment in time. This calculation would be based on information received from the network, along with signal strength measurements of the current cell, and the system information broadcasted would provide the transmit power of the network.

The UE 1 could be configured to hide or mask the instantaneous fluctuations of data throughput spikes from the user, and the meter 90 could be passed on a short trend.

Carbon Capping by the User Subscriber Preference for Performance vs. Power Efficiency: The MMI of the UE 1 may be modified to include the ability for the user to manage the balance between carbon footprint and UE performance. The UE could be arranged to modify the settings such as the periodic Tracking Area Update timer, the paging cycle, the measurement performance of the UE, the access technology the UE is using, the brightness of the screen on the UE, etc., to either provide a better performance or to be more power conscious depending on the user's preferences.

Carbon Capping: In one embodiment, the user can decide to cap the quantity of C02 that they create at anyone time, or within a time period. This could either be configured through the MMI, and the terminal would provide this to the network; or directly to the network, and the network configures the UE accordingly.

The network receiving this capping information passes this information to the Radio Access Network (RAN). This information is then used as part of the Call Admission Control to accept or reject the Guaranteed Bit Rate (GBR) bearers and hence limit the amount of network resource utilised by the user's UE for Guaranteed Data Rate Services.

The Carbon Capping information would also be used to modify the Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (AMBR) used at the RAN for non-Guaranteed services, thereby reducing the amount of resources allocated to the UE in the uplink and downlink, throttling the user throughput for these bearers to meet the carbon usage threshold included in the Carbon Capping Information.

The RAN would then be responsible for limiting the amount of average network resources utilised by the user's UE, with an accepted reduction in throughput, or increased delay, which might reduce the level of user experience.

Carbon-usage Logging/Charging The information on Carbon Usage can be captured at the RAN for a subscriber whilst the subscriber is in connected state. This information is passed to the core network and stored centrally. This information could be appended to the charging records created for the subscriber. The billing system can be arranged to use this information to provide Carbon Footprint information related to the subscriber's monthly usage on the bill, such that the operator could offset their carbon footprint relating to their mobile usage.

The invention is not limited to the calculation or estimation of power consumption and/or carbon footprint, and can be readily applied to any measure of environmental cost, including any component of the ecological footprint or other green house gas emissions.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method for providing an indication of an estimated cost associated with a user executable network operation, comprising the step of: determining the operating state of a user device; estimating the energy consumption associated with the execution of the network operation for one of more network components in dependence of the operating state of the user device; calculating the estimated cost based on the estimated the energy consumption; and indicating the estimated cost associated with a user executable network operation to the user.
2. A method according to claim 1, further comprising the step of receiving data representing the carbon efficiency of the one or more network components; and wherein the step of calculating the estimated cost comprises: calculating an estimated carbon footprint based on the estimated energy consumption and the received data on the carbon efficiency of the one of more network components associated with the network operation.
3. A method according to claim 2, wherein the step of indicating the cost associated with a user executable network operation to the user comprises: displaying on the user device the estimated carbon footprint relative to an estimated minimum energy consumption associated with the network operation.
4. A method according to any of claims 1 to 3 further including the steps of: recording the accumulated cost of user initiated network operations over a predetermined period of time; and reconfiguring the user device so as to reduce its average energy consumption if the accumulated cost exceeds a threshold value.
5. A method according to any of claims ito 3 further including the steps of: determining which of one or more user adjustable device operating state variabies may effect the cost associated with a user executable network operation; presenting one or more options to the user of the user device to enable them to adjust the one or more variables; and updating the estimated cost associated with a user executable network operation in response to a change in the one or more variables.
6. A method according to any of claims 1 to 5 further including the steps of: communicating the estimated cost associated with an executed user executable network operation to a billing server; and billing the user of said user device based on the estimated cost associated with an executed user executable network operation.
7. A method according to any of claims 1 to 6, wherein the step of estimating the energy consumption associated with the execution of said network operation for one of more network components comprises: estimating the energy consumption associated with executing said network operation in the user device; estimating the energy consumption associated with executing said network operation in a base station to which the user device is connected; and estimating the energy consumption associated with executing said network operation in the network infrastructure to which the user device is connected.
8. A mobile device arranged to provide an indication of an estimated cost associated with a user executable network operation, the device comprising: means for storing the operating state of the user device; a processor arranged to: calculate the estimated energy consumption associated with executing said network operation; and calculate the estimated cost based on the estimated the energy consumption; and a display for indicating the cost associated with a user executable network operation to the user.
9. A mobile device according to claim Y, further comprising: means for storing data received from the network representing the estimated energy consumption associated with executing said network operation for one or more network components; wherein the processor is arranged to calculate the estimated cost based on the estimated the energy consumption of the user device and the one or more network components.
10. A mobile device according to claim Y, further comprising: means for storing data representing the carbon efficiency of one or more network components received from a network component; wherein the estimated cost is the estimated carbon footprint, and the processor is arranged to calculate the estimated carbon footprint associated with a user executable network operation based on the estimated energy consumption and the data representing the carbon efficiency of one or more network components.
11. A network system for providing an indication of an estimated cost associated with a user executable network operation on a mobile device, the system comprising: one or more mobile devices according to any of claims 8 to 10; a base station to which one or more of said mobile devices are registered; and an operations and maintenance server in communication with said base station; wherein said operations and maintenance server comprises data representing the carbon efficiency of the one or more network components, said data arranged to be communicated to the base station in response to a request from the base station, and communicated from the base station to the one or more mobile devices in response to a request from one or more of the mobile devices.
12. A network system for providing an indication of an estimated cost associated with a user executable network operation on a mobile device, the system comprising: one or more mobile devices according to any of claims 8 to 10; a base station to which one or more of said mobile devices are registered, said base station configured to send power related information to an operations and maintenance server connected to said base station; and an E c 0-server connected to said operations and maintenance server configured to receive power related information from the operations and maintenance server; wherein said Eco-server comprises data representing the carbon efficiency of the one or more network components, said data arranged to be communicated directly to the one or more mobile devices in response to a request from one or more of the mobile devices.
13. A method substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and/or substantially as illustrated in any one of or any combination of the accompanying drawings.
14. A mobile device substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and/or substantially as illustrated in any one of or any combination of the accompanying drawings.
15. A network substantially as hereinbefore described with reference to and/or substantially as illustrated in any one of or any combination of the accompanying drawings.