WO2020062000A1

WO2020062000A1 - Proactive resource reservation for communications

Info

Publication number: WO2020062000A1
Application number: PCT/CN2018/108249
Authority: WO
Inventors: Xiang Xu; Alessio Casati; Devaki Chandramouli
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co., Ltd.; Nokia Solutions And Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2018-09-28
Filing date: 2018-09-28
Publication date: 2020-04-02
Also published as: CN112106326A; CN112106326B

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to proactive resource reservation for communications. A method implemented at a terminal device for resource reservation comprises transmitting to a network controller a reservation request indicating at least a target area within which resource reservation is expected; receiving a reservation response to the reservation request from the network controller, the reservation response indicating whether the resource reservation is accepted or rejected by an access network node located within the target area; and in response to the reservation response indicating that the resource reservation is accepted for at least a reservation time window, obtaining, from the access network node and based on at least an access token provided by the access network node, a resource reserved for communication between the terminal device and the access network node within the reservation time window.

Description

PROACTIVE RESOURCE RESERVATION FOR COMMUNICATIONS

FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to proactive resource reservation for communications.

BACKGROUND

In the communications arena, there is a constant evolution ongoing in order to provide efficient and reliable solutions for utilizing wireless communication networks. Each new generation has it owns technical challenges for handling the different situations and processes that are needed to connect and service devices connected to the wireless network. To meet the demand for wireless data traffic having increased since deployment of 4th generation (4G) communication systems, efforts have been made to develop an improved 5th generation (5G) or pre-5G communication system. The new communication systems can support various types of service applications for terminal devices. In the communications, resources are always important to guarantee the communications to and/or from the terminal devices to meet different communication requirement/demand.

SUMMARY

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for proactive resource reservation for communications.

In a first aspect, there is provided a method implemented at a terminal device for resource reservation. The method comprises transmitting to a network controller a reservation request indicating at least a target area within which resource reservation is expected; receiving a reservation response to the reservation request from the network controller, the reservation response indicating whether the resource reservation is accepted or rejected by at least an access network node located within the target area; and in response to the reservation response indicating that the resource reservation is accepted for at least a reservation time window, obtaining, from the access network node and based on at least an access token provided by the access network node, a resource reserved for communication between the terminal device and the access network node within the reservation time window.

In a second aspect, there is provided a method implemented at an access network node for resource reservation. The method comprises receiving from a network controller a reservation request indicating at least an identity of a serving area of the access network node and a target time window during which resource reservation is expected; transmitting a reservation response to the reservation request to the network controller, the reservation response indicating whether the resource reservation is accepted or rejected, at least an access token being provided to the network controller if the resource reservation is accepted; and in response to the reservation response indicating that the resource reservation is accepted for at least a reservation time window, allocating, based on the access token, a resource reserved for communication between a terminal device and the access network node within the reservation time window, the reservation time window being comprised in the target time window.

In a third aspect, there is provided a method implemented at a network controller for resource reservation. The method comprises transmitting to an access network node a first reservation request indicating at least an identity of a serving area of the access network node and a first target time window during which resource reservation is expected within the serving area; receiving a first reservation response to the first reservation request from the access network node, the first reservation response indicating whether the resource reservation is accepted or rejected by the access network node; and in response to the first reservation response indicating that the resource reservation is accepted for at least a reservation time window, transmitting at least an access token for use in obtaining a resource reserved for communication between a terminal device and the access network node within the reservation time window, the reservation time window being comprised in the first target time window.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided an apparatus for resource reservation. The apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program codes; the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform the method of the first aspect.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided an apparatus for resource reservation. The apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program codes; the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform the method of the second aspect.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided for resource reservation. The apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program codes; the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform the method of the third aspect.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the above first aspect.

In an eighth aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the above second aspect.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the above third aspect.

It is to be understood that the summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

Fig. 1 illustrates an example communication network in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

Fig. 2 illustrates a flowchart illustrating a process for resource reservation according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 3 illustrates a schematic diagram showing resource reservation requested by terminal devices in different cells according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 4 illustrates a flowchart illustrating a process for resource reservation according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 5 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a terminal device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 6 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at an access network node according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Fig. 7 illustrates a flowchart of a method implemented at a network controller according to some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

Fig. 8 illustrates a simplified block diagram of an apparatus that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. The disclosure described herein can be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment, ” “an embodiment, ” “an example embodiment, ” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It shall be understood that although the terms “first” and “second” etc. may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a” , “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” , “comprising” , “has” , “having” , “includes” and/or “including” , when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/or combinations thereof.

As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) and

(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable) :

(i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit (s) with software/firmware and

(ii) any portions of hardware processor (s) with software (including digital signal processor (s) ) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and

(c) hardware circuit (s) and or processor (s) , such as a microprocessor (s) or a portion of a microprocessor (s) , that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

As used herein, the term “wireless communication network” refers to a network following any suitable wireless communication standards, such as New Radio (NR) , Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) , and so on. The “wireless communication network” may also be referred to as a “wireless communication system. ” Furthermore, communications between network devices, between a network device and a terminal device, or between terminal devices in the wireless communication network may be performed according to any suitable communication protocol, including, but not limited to, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) , Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) , Long Term Evolution (LTE) , New Radio (NR) , wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the IEEE 802.11 standards, and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard either currently known or to be developed in the future.

As used herein, the term “access network node” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The access network node may also refer to a network device, a base station (BS) , or an access point (AP) , for example, a node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , a Home Node B, a Home eNode B, a NR NB (also referred to as a gNB) , a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) , a radio header (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , a relay, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology.

The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE) , a Subscriber Station (SS) , a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS) , or an Access Terminal (AT) . The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE) , laptop-mounted equipment (LME) , USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE) , 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. In the following description, the terms “terminal device” , “communication device” , “terminal” , “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

Fig. 1 illustrates an example communication system 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. The communication system 100 includes access network (AN) nodes 110-1, 110-2, 110-3 and terminal devices 120-1, 120-2, 120-3 served by the access network nodes within their respective serving areas 112-1, 112-2, 112-3. For purpose of description, the AN nodes 110-1, 110-2, 110-3 may be collectively or individually referred to as AN nodes 110, the terminal devices 120-1, 120-2, 120-3 may be collectively or individually referred to as terminal devices 120, and the serving areas 112-1, 112-2, 112-3 may be collectively or individually referred to as serving areas 112 or cells 112. The terminal device 120 can communicate user and control data with the serving AN nodes 110.

Generally the communication system 100 comprises on a high level an access infrastructure and a core infrastructure. In Fig. 1, the AN nodes 110 and their terminal devices 120 are within the access infrastructure. Fig. 1 also illustrates a network controller 130 in the core infrastructure. The core infrastructure or core network provides authentication, billing, quality of service (QoS) handling, and similar user/device management features. The access infrastructure provides radio access for connecting terminal devices and handles the connectivity of these terminal devices. Furthermore, the core infrastructure also provides access to external networks such as for instance Internet access. With the development of communication, especially the advent of the 5th generation (5G) communication, many different types of devices, functions and solutions are being supported by the communication systems.

The network controller 130 includes different entities/functions/components for different functionalities. In Fig. 1, the network controller 130 is shown to comprise a Session Management (SM) function (SMF) 132 handling the session management for the terminal devices 120 and an Access and Mobility Management function (AMF) 134 handling access and mobility management for the terminal devices 120. Although shown to be included within the network controller 130, the SMF 132 and AMF 134 may also be separate and implemented as different entities. Although one SMF is shown, in some implementations, more than one SMF may be included in the network controller 130 for different types of service applications. The terminal devices 120 and/or the AN nodes 110 may also communicate with the network controller.

The communications in the communication system 100 may conform to any suitable standards including, but not limited to, Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Evolution, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , 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. Furthermore, the communications may be performed according to any generation communication protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Examples of the communication protocols include, but not limited to, the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G) communication protocols.

It is to be understood that the number of AN nodes and terminal devices is only for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations. The communication system 100 may include any suitable number of AN nodes and terminal devices adapted for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. Although not shown, it would be appreciated that one or more terminal devices may be located in a cell 112 and served by the corresponding access network node 110. In addition, other entities/functions/components, such as an Application Function (AF) , a Policy Control Function (PCF) , a Unified Data Management (UDM) , a User Plane Function (UPF) , other SMFs for different service applications and the like, may also be included in the core infrastructure in addition to the SMF 132 and AMF 134.

In some communication systems, such as the 5G communication system, there has been proposed communications based on Quality of Service (QoS) flows. For example, in the 5G system, the 5G QoS model supports both QoS Flows that require a guaranteed flow bit rate (GBR QoS Flows) and QoS Flows that do not require a guaranteed flow bit rate (Non-GBR QoS Flows) . For a GBR QoS flow, the network resources are permanently allocated (e.g. by an admission control function in a radio base station) . Each GBR QoS flow is associated with a set of QoS parameters, including, for example, a bit rate, a priority level, a packet delay budget (PDB) , a packet error rate, an averaging window, and a maximum data burst volume.

During the QoS flow establishment procedure, the GBR QoS flow is either granted (i.e. with resource permanently allocated) or rejected (i.e. no resource allocated at all) . The AMF informs the access network node about the QoS parameters for each QoS flow, e.g. via the PDU Session Resource Setup Request Transfer information element (IE) . Each GBR QoS Flow is associated with one set of QoS parameters, e.g. the bit rate, the PDB, and the like.

As a specific example, it has been specified in the specification for the 5G system (such as 3GPP TS23.501) the signalling exchanged for the QoS flow. For example, the PDU Session Resource Setup Request Transfer IE transparent to the AN is specified as below Table 1, the QoS parameters to be applied to a QoS flow as defined by the IE in Table 1 are specified as below Table 2, and the QoS parameters for a GBR QoS flow for downlink and uplink as defined by the IE in Table 1 are specified as below Table 3. The terminal devices can be informed of the signaled QoS parameters via a non-access stratum (NAS) procedure.

Table 1 PDU Session Resource Setup Request Transfer IE

Table 2 QoS Flow Level QoS Parameters

Table 3 GBR QoS Flow Information

In any types of communication systems, radio resources are normally allocated in a reactive mode by access network nodes for terminal devices. For example, when a terminal device moves from one cell to another cell, resources is allocated at the time of handover. In the example of communications based on QoS flows, resources may be allocated for the duration of a QoS flow during the session establishment or modification procedure. However, in conventional communication systems, it is not possible to reserve radio resources for a certain time window in a certain area for use in the future.

In some use cases, the terminal devices may expect that resources can be reserved for a certain geographic area and time. With the emerging of new service applications in the communication system such as the vehicle-to-everything (V2X) application and the enhanced V2X (eV2X) application, the resource reservation is especially desirable when the terminal devices are travelling from one place to another place and/or have specific communication demand in certain geographical areas. Without resources reserved in advance, it might be hard to guarantee the quality of service of the terminal devices for the certain geographical areas and time.

According to embodiments of the present disclosure, there is proposed a solution for proactive resource reservation for communications. In the solution of the present disclosure, a terminal device requests resource reservation for one or more target areas. Each of one or more access network nodes having respective service areas partially or totally covered by the target area (s) determines whether to accept or reject the resource reservation for one or more target time windows. If the resource reservation is accepted by an access network node for at least part of a target time window (referred to as a reservation time window) , an access token is provided to the terminal device and a corresponding resource is reserved for the terminal device within the reservation time window. The terminal device can use the access token to obtain the resource from the access network node within the reservation time window. In the solution of the present disclosure, the terminal device is allowed to obtain proactive resource reservation in a certain geographical area and in the future, which make guarantee the quality of service of the terminal device.

Principle and implementations of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to Fig. 2, which shows a process 200 for resource reservation according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the process 200 will be described with reference to Fig. 1. The process 200 may involve a terminal device 120, one or more access network (AN) nodes 110, and a network controller 130 in Fig. 1.

The SMF 132 and AMF 134 are illustrated as separate entities and thus interactions between the two entities are also illustrated here. It would be appreciated that the SMF 132 and AMF 134 in the core infrastructure may be implemented as a single entity or some of the functionalities in one of the SMF 132 and AMF 134 may be implemented at the other one of the SMF 132 and AMF 134. The AN nodes 110-1 and 110-2 are involved here for purpose of illustration only. As can be understood from the following description, the AN nodes 110-3 and/or other AN nodes in the communication system may perform in a similar manner as the AN node 110-1 or 110-2. The terminal device 120 involved in the process 200 may be any terminal device that is located within the cells 112-1, 112-2, 112-3 or other cells in the communication system.

In the process 200, the terminal device 120 transmits (205) to the network controller 130 a reservation request to request resource reservation for at least a target area. When the terminal device 120 initiates the reservation request, the terminal device 120 may or may not be served by the AN node 110-1 or 110-2.

The reservation request at least indicates a target area within which resource reservation is expected. The target area might be indicated by any identity of a geographical area. For example, the target area may be indicated by a name and/or an address of the target area, such as a name of a route, the origination address and destination address of the route, a name or address of a building, a house or a park, and the like. The target area may be any geographical area where the terminal device 120 is currently located and/or has a distance from the current location of the terminal device 120. In some other embodiments, the target area may be indicated by an identity or identities of one or more serving areas of one or more access network nodes if such identities are available in the terminal device 120. The scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard. In some embodiments, more than one different target area may be indicated in the reservation request by the terminal device 120.

In some embodiments, the reservation request from the terminal device 120 further indicate a target time window during which the resource reservation is expected within a target area. The target time window may have any expected duration for the resource reservation. The target time window may be indicated by an expected time for entry to the target area and an expected duration for the resource to be reserved. The target time window may also be explicitly indicated by the date and a time of a day. In some embodiments, more than one target time window for the same target area or for different target areas may be indicated in the reservation request by the terminal device 120.

In some embodiments, one or more of the target time windows for the resource reservation is not provided by the terminal device 120 but may instead be determined at the network application side. The network controller 130 (e.g., the AMF 134) may determine the entry time when the terminal device 120 enters a target area and the time duration when the terminal device 120 travels in the target area. The time duration may be determined based on a predicted or known movement speed of the terminal device 120. As a specific example, a target area may be a path along which the terminal device 120 (a vehicle or a UE carried in the vehicle) will follow on a road system. The terminal device 120 may indicate to the network side the start time of such journey. The target time window may be determined based on the path, the start time and possibly based on the movement speed of the terminal device 120. The determination of the target time window may also be performed by entities such as the Application Function or other network entities in the system.

The reservation request may be included any existing or new messages to be transmitted to the network controller. In some embodiments, the reservation request may be included in a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) Session Establishment request or a PDU Session Modification request. Any other types of messages exchanged with the network controller may also be possible. In some embodiments, the reservation request may further include a set of QoS parameters of the terminal device 120, such as one or more of a bit rate, a priority level, a packet delay budget (PDB) , a packet error rate, an averaging window, and a maximum data burst volume. A set of QoS parameters may be used for communication of a GBR QoS flow for the terminal device 120. In some embodiments, the reservation request may include two or more sets of QoS parameters for different QoS flows. Each set of QoS parameters may be used for communication of a QoS flow within one target time window. For example, the reservation request may include a first set of QoS parameter for a time window from 10: 00 am to 11: 00 am in a day and a second set of QoS parameters for a time window from 11: 30 am to 12: 00 am in the day.

If a target area in its reservation request is not indicated by the identity or identities of the serving area (s) of the access network node (s) , the network controller 130 converts the target area to one or more identities of the serving areas of the AN nodes in the communication system 100. The converting of the target area may be performed by the AMF 134, the Application Function (not shown in the figure) , or any other network entities in the system 100. As shown in Fig. 2, the reservation request of the terminal device 120 may be transmitted to the AMF 134 in the network controller 130. Upon reception of the reservation request, the AMF 134 determines which serving area of the AN node is covered by the target area, for example, based on information on access networks in the system 100. In some examples, more than one serving area may cover the target area. For example, the target area may be a route extending for a long distance and thus is covered by two or more serving areas.

For purpose of illustration, in Fig. 2, it is assumed that the serving areas 112-1, 112-2 of the AN nodes 110-1, 110-2 are covered by the target area indicated in the reservation request from the terminal device 120. Of course, it is also possible that one of the serving areas 112-1, 112-2 of the AN nodes 110-1, 110-2 is not covered by the target area and thus the interactions with that AN node may be omitted from the process 200. Upon determining that one or more serving areas 112-1, 112-2 are covered by the target area, the AMF 134 may communicate with the AN nodes 110 to request the resource reservation for the terminal device 120 by using their identities to refer to the serving areas 112. An identity of the serving area may be any information/identification used to identify the corresponding serving area and/or its serving AN node. Examples of such identity may include, but are not limited to, a cell ID, a tracking area identity (TAI) , an identity of the corresponding AN node, a combination thereof, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, before requesting to the AN nodes 110, the AMF 134 may optionally interact with the SMF 132 to determine whether the session with the terminal device 120 (such as the PDU session) is supported and/or whether the proactive resource reservation for the terminal device 120 is accepted. Specifically, the AMF 134 transmits (210) a reservation request to the SMF 132. The reservation request transmitted to the SMF 132 may be substantially the same as the reservation request transmitted from the terminal device 120 except that the target area is replaced by the one or more identities of the serving areas covered by the target area, or it may be a Nsmf_PDUSession_CreateSMContext Request or Nsmf_PDUSession_UpdateSMContext Request including additional information for the reservation. Thus, the reservation request may include the identities of the serving areas 112-1, 112-2 and the target time window. The reservation request transmitted by the AMF 134 may also include the set of QoS parameters. In some embodiments, the AMF 134 directly adds the identities of the serving areas 112-1, 112-2 to the reservation request from the terminal device 120 and then forwards the reservation request together with the identities to the SMF 132. In some other embodiments, the AMF 134 may directly forward the reservation request (such as the PDU Session Establishment/Modification request) received from the terminal device 120 to the SMF 132.

The SMF 132 receives the reservation request from the AMF 134 and may use the received information to create or update an AMF-SMF session to support this PDU session. The SMF 132 may also contact with other network entity, e.g. UDM (not shown in the figure) , to register a PDU session. In some embodiments, the SMF 132 may perform additional check to determine whether the proactive resource reservation for the terminal device 120 is accepted. For example, the SMF 132 may determine whether the set of QoS parameters indicated in the reservation request match a QoS profile of the terminal device 120. In response to the set of QoS parameters match the QoS profile, the SMF 132 determines that the proactive resource reservation is accepted.

In another embodiment, the SMF 132 may determine whether a resource can be reserved in advance for the target area and the target time based on the type of the service application related to the terminal device 120. The type of the service application may be associated with the AMF 134, which is responsible for the session management (for example, the PDU session management) of a specific type of service application (such as the eV2X application) . The SMF 132 may use a predetermined policy, such as a policy provided by a PCF, to make the determination about the resource reservation. The predetermined policy may be associated with a certain session. In some examples, the SMF 132 may request the PCF for the predetermined policy if it is not available locally. In some examples, the determination regarding the resource reservation may be performed when the terminal device 120 is to access other cells or radio access technology (RAT) networks.

If the SMF 132 determines that the PDU session establishment or modification request can be processed and/or the proactive resource reservation for the terminal device 120 is accepted, the SMF132 responds (212) to the AMF 134 to indicate the result. In response to receiving such response from the SMF 132, the AMF 134 may interact with the AN nodes 110 to request the resource reservation.

More particularly, if the AMF 134 determines that the serving area 112-2 of the AN node 110-2 is covered by the target area, the AMF 134 transmits (215) a reservation request indicating an identity of the serving area 112-2 to the AN node 110-2. The reservation request may further indicate other information, such as the target time window and/or the set of QoS parameters as included in the request sent by the terminal device 120. The identity/identities of other serving areas (such as the identity of the serving area 112-1) may be excluded from the reservation request sent to the AN node 110-2. Similarly, if the reservation request indicates an identity of the serving area 112-1 of the AN node 110-1, the AMF 134 transmits (220) a reservation request indicating an identity of the serving area 112-1 to the AN node 110-1. The identity/identities of other serving areas (such as the identity of the serving area 112-2) may be excluded from the reservation request sent to the AN node 110-2. Of course, the AMF 134 may send a reservation request to both the AN nodes 110-1, 110-2 without excluding the irrelevant identities.

Upon receipt of the reservation request from the network controller 130, such as the AMF 134, the AN node 110-2 determines whether to accept or reject the resource reservation and transmits (225) a reservation response to the reservation request from the network controller 130 to indicate whether the resource reservation is accepted or rejected. As used herein, the resource to be reserved may be any available resource that is used by the AN node to support communication, including time, frequency, and/or code resources.

To determine whether to accept or reject the resource reservation, the AN node 110-2 determines whether sufficient resources are available in at least part of the target time window. In the case when the reservation request includes the set of QoS parameters or any indication indicating that a resource should be reserved for the GBR QoS flow of the terminal device 120, the AN node 110-2 may determine available sufficient resources can be reserved in at least part of the target time window to support communication between the terminal device 120 and the AN node 110-2 and/or to satisfy the set of QoS parameters (i.e., support the guaranteed bit rate QoS flow) . Alternatively, or in addition, the AN node 110-2 determines the planned resources reserved for a network slicing associated with the service application of the terminal device 120 and check whether the amount of resources required to be reserved for at least part of the target time window will not exceed the amount of the planned resources.

The resource reservation may be totally accepted (for example, for the whole target time window, for all of the multiple target time windows (if indicated in the reservation request) , and for all required QoS flows corresponding to the QoS parameters) , partially accepted (for example, for at least part of a target time window, for one of the multiple target time windows, part of the required QoS flows, or a reduced bit rate of a QoS flow) , or totally rejected (for example, none of the resource can be reserved) . A time window during which the resource reservation is accepted can also be referred to as a reservation time window herein. The reservation time window is included in the target time window, which means that the reservation time window is a part of the target time window or has the same length as the target time window. If it is determined that a resource can be reserved for the terminal device 120 in the reservation time window (for example, sufficient available resources can be reserved without exceeding the amount of the planned resources) , the reservation response transmitted by the AN node 110-2 may indicate that the resource reservation within its serving area 112-2 is accepted for the reservation time window.

In the case that the resource reservation is partially or totally accepted, an access token may be issued by the AN node 110-2 to the terminal device 120 to obtain the reserved resource within a reservation time window. The access token may be included in the reservation response of the AN node 110-2 and thus may also be used to indicate that the resource reservation is accepted. Since the resource is reserved by the AN node 110-2 in response to a request from the terminal device 120, the access token is specific to the terminal device 120. The access token may be any indication information to indicate the resource reservation for the terminal device 120 for a part of the target area (that is, the serving area 112-2) . In some examples, the access token may be a combination of an identity of the terminal device 120 and any further indication for the resource reservation. In some embodiments, if the resource reservation is partially or totally accepted in different reservation time windows (which may be different time segments of a target time window or of different target time windows) and possible for different QoS flows, then different access tokens may be issued and included in the reservation response for the reservation time windows and/or for the QoS flows.

In addition to the access token, the reservation response may also include an indication to indicate the reservation time window, which may be the same as a target time window or at least part of the target time window if the resource reservation is partially accepted. In the case that the resource reservation is partially accepted, the AN node 110-2 may also include additional information about the accepted QoS flow (s) , the reduced bit rate, and the like in the reservation response.

Upon receipt of the reservation request from the network controller 130 such as the AMF 134, the AN node 110-1 determines whether to accept or reject the resource reservation and transmits (230) a reservation response to the reservation request from the network controller 130 to indicate whether the resource reservation is accepted or rejected. The determination of accepting or rejecting the resource reservation and the determination of the reservation response transmitted by the AN node 110-1 may be similar as those in the AN node 110-2, which will not be described for purpose of brevity. In the case that the AN node 110-1 determines to accept the resource reservation for the terminal device 120 within a reservation time window for a specific QoS flow, the access token used for such indication may also be issued and included in the reservation response of the AN node 110-1, which may also be specific to the terminal device 120 and indicate that the resource reservation is accepted by the AN node 110-1 for a part of the target area (that is, the serving area 112-1) . The access tokens issued by the AN nodes 110-1, 110-2 may be different.

Upon receipt of the responses from AN nodes 110-1, 110-2, the AMF 134 transmits (240) a reservation response to the terminal device 120. The AMF 134 may combine the response (s) received from one or more AN nodes 110 and transmit the combined response to the terminal device 120. In some embodiments, if a resource cannot be reserved for the terminal device 120 in a part or all of the target area for a part or all of the target time window (partially or totally rejected) , the reservation response from the AMF 134 may include one or more rejection causes for the resource reservation. As discussed above, the resource reservation may be failed due to either the check performed at the SMF 132 or the decision made at the AN nodes 110. Thus, the rejection causes may include, for example, a rejection due to insufficient resources provided by a certain AN node, a rejection due to the service application supported by the terminal device 120, a rejection due to a mismatch of the QoS parameters, and the like.

In some embodiments, if the terminal device 120 initiates a PDU Session Establishment request to request the resource reservation, the AMF 134 may transmit a PDU Session Establishment accept or reject message including the reservation response. In some embodiments, if the terminal device 120 initiates a PDU Session Modification request to request the resource reservation, the AMF 134 may transmit a PDU Session Modification command or reject message including the reservation response.

If the reservation response from the network controller 130 indicates that the resource reservation is accepted (partially or totally) by one or more AN nodes 110 located within the target area for one or more reservation time windows, for example, if the reservation request comprises one or more corresponding access tokens issued by the AN nodes, the terminal device 120 can obtain a resource that is reserved for communication between the terminal device 120 and the one or more AN nodes 110 within the corresponding reservation time windows.

In the example of Fig. 2, if it is assumed that the resource reservation is accepted by the AN node 110-1, the terminal device 120 obtains (245) a resource reserved for communication between the terminal device 120 and the AN node 110-1 within the reservation time window as indicated in the reservation response. The terminal device 120 obtains the resource allocation based on the access token issued by the AN node 110-1. More specifically, the terminal device 120 transmits access token information to the AN node 110-1 in order to obtain the reserved resource. The access token information may include one or more access tokens for one or more AN node (s) , even if the serving AN node of the terminal device 120 may not be in the target area. The later case enables the serving AN node 110 to transfer the received access token information to a target AN node during a handover procedure.

The terminal device 120 may or may not have an access connection established with the AN node 110-1 (for example, the terminal device 120 may just enter the serving area 112-1 at a later time) . In the case that no access connection has been established, the terminal device 120 may transmit the access token to the AN node 110-1 during a connection establishment procedure, such as in a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection request (the RRCConnectionRequest message) or a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection setup complete (the RRCConnectionSetupComplete message) . In some embodiments, the access token may alternatively be transmitted during a connection reestablishment procedure, a connection reconfiguration procedure or a connection resume procedure. If there is an access connection established with the AN node 110-1, the terminal device 120 may transmit the access token to the AN node 110-1 via the access connection.

In some embodiments, the access token may be transmitted to the AN node 110-1 by other entities such as another AN node or even the network controller. For example, in the case ofhandover from the AN node 110-2 to the AN node 110-1, the access token that is associated with the resource reservation in the AN node 110-1 may be provided by the AN node 110-2 or the AMF 134 to the AN node 110-1 during the handover procedure. As such, it is possible to prevent the AN node 110-1 from accidently rejecting the handover of the terminal device 120 (for example, due to resource shortage) . In some embodiments, for example, for security reasons, the operator may configure the network to always let the network controller to send the access token information to the serving AN node and overwrite the access token provided by the terminal device. In that case, the serving AN node saves the received access token information received from the network controller. The access token information may include one or more access token for one or more AN node (s) , even if the serving AN node may not be in the target area. The serving AN node transfers the received access token information to the target AN node during a handover procedure.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 120 may transmit the access token to the network controller 130 (for example, the AMF 134 or other network entities) first. The access token may be then forwarded to the AN node 110-1. In this case, the access token may be transmitted by the network controller 130 to the AN node 110-1 during an initial setup procedure.

Upon receipt of the access token, the AN node 110-1 may determine whether the access token is valid for the terminal device 120. The AN node 110-1, when issuing the access token, may also store the access token for future validation. In some examples, the AN node 110-1 may determine whether the received access token was issued by the AN node 110-1 for this specific terminal device 120, whether the current time is still within the valid reservation time window, and/or the like.

If it is determined that the access token is valid, the AN node 110-1 may allocate the resource to the terminal device 120 at a time within the reservation time window. The resource allocation procedure between the AN node 110-1 and the terminal device 120 may be similar to those utilized in the access networks. Since the terminal device 120 has proactive resource reservation for the reservation time window, the AN node 110-1 may guarantee that the resource can always be allocated and used by the terminal device 120 at this time. In the case of resource reservation for the GBR QoS flow, the AN node 110-1 may reserve and allocate the resource that support the communication of the terminal device 120 satisfying the set of QoS parameter, so as to meet the QoS requirements of the terminal device 120.

In some embodiments, additional verification may be performed to ensure that it is the right terminal device to use the access token. For example, the NG INITIAL USE MESSAGE may include the access token and the AN node 110-1 may perform a further check to determine whether the received access token matches the stored access token for the terminal device 120. The network controller 130 sends back the check result to the AN node 110 via a NG procedures. The check result may also include the access token information, which may include one or more access tokens for one or more AN node (s) 110.

It would be appreciated that although the resource allocation between the terminal device 120 and the AN node 110-1 is described, the terminal device 120 may also require a resource that is reserved for the reservation time window from one or more other AN nodes (such as the AN node 110-2) if the corresponding access tokens are received. In the case that the terminal device 120 has no resource reservation or its resource reservation is rejected by a certain AN node 110, the QoS requirements may not be guaranteed in advance. At this time, the resource of the AN node 110 may be allocated to the terminal device 120 as in the current resource allocation where the AN node 110 may treat the terminal device 120 at its best efforts at the time of resource allocation.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 120 may revoke or modify the accepted resource reservation within at least part of the target area for at least part of the reservation time window. For example, the terminal device 120 may initiate a revoke or modify request to the network controller 130 indicating that the resource reservation within a part or all of the target area can be released or modified and/or the resource reservation for a part of or the whole reservation time window. The network controller 130 may determine, based on the part or all of the target area, which AN node (s) 110 should release or modify the resource reservation and then transmit a revoke or modify request to the AN node (s) 110. The AN nodes 110, upon receipt of the revoke or modify request, may release or modify a resource reserved for the terminal device 120. By revoking/releasing or modifying the resource reservation, the resources of the AN node 110 may not be wasted but can be reused for other communications.

In some embodiments, the AN node 110 (the node 110-1 or 110-2) may release the resource reservation for the terminal device 120 if the terminal device 120 does not enter the serving area 112 at time. If it is determined that no access connection is established with the terminal device 120 after a predetermined period of time is lapsed within the at least part of the reservation time window, the AN node 110 may determine to release its resource reservation for the terminal device 120. If no access connection has been established, the AN node 110 may conclude that the terminal device 120 is late to reach the serving area 112 and thus no resource is needed for the terminal device 120.

Alternatively, or in addition, the network controller 130 may indicate to one or more AN nodes 110 to release their resource reservations for a part or all of the reservation time window. In this embodiment, the network controller 130 (for example, the AMF 134, or other network node) may track an area where the terminal device 120 is currently located. The terminal device 120 may periodically report its location to the AMF 134 as it moves. In other examples, the network controller 130 may inquiry the terminal device 120 on its location.

If the network controller 130 predicts, based on the real-time area, that the terminal device 120 fails to reach a serving area 112 within at least part of the reservation time window, which means that the terminal device 120 is late, the network controller 130 may decide to revoke or modify the resource reservation for the at least part of the reservation time window. The network controller 130 may indicate the decision to the corresponding AN node 110 so as to release the resource reservation for the at least part of the reservation time window. The AMF 134 in the network controller 130 may transmit a revoke or modify request to the AN node 110 to revoke or modify the resource reservation for the at least part of the reservation time window. The AN node 110, upon receipt of the revoke request, may release a resource reserved for the terminal device 120 for the at least part of the reservation time window.

Although in the above embodiments the access token issued by a AN node 110 is provided to the terminal device 120 for obtaining resource allocation, in some other embodiments, the access token may be provided by the AN node 110 to the network controller 130 (such as the AMF 134) only, not to the terminal device 120. That is, the access token is unknown to the terminal device 120. When the terminal device 120 enters the serving area 112 of the AN node 110 in time and requests the reserved resource, the network controller 130 may transmit the access token to the AN node 110 so that the AN node 110 may verify and determine whether the terminal device 120 is the right one to allocate the reserved resource.

It has been discussed in the above embodiments that the resource of a certain AN node 110 may be reserved for a specific terminal device 120 in a response to a reservation request initiated by this terminal device 120. In some embodiments, the network controller 130 may proactively request the AN node 110 to reserve its resource for a time window. For example, the network controller 130 may request the resource reservation for a group of terminal devices (for example, for a specific type of service application associated with an AMF, or an AF in the network controller 130) . The network controller 130 may allocate the resource reservation to one or more terminal devices 130 in response to requests directed directly to the network controller 130.

The proactive resource reservation by the network controller 130 may be beneficial and useful based on the following observation. It has been found that as more and more terminal devices 120 supporting the same service application start to use the proactive resource reservation, the total requested resources may be stable in the related serving areas 112. Fig. 3 shows a schematic diagram 300 showing resource reservation requested by terminal devices (UE1 to UE5 supporting the same service application) in different cells (cell#1 to cell#4) within a period of time (from 10: 00 to 13: 00) .

It can be seen from Fig. 3 that the amount of resources requested by the individual terminal device (represented by the length of the block corresponding to this terminal device) may be quite dynamic, for example, depending on the original/destination location of the terminal device, its movement speed, and the like. However, the total resources requested by the terminal devices supporting the same service application (for example, the V2X or eV2X application) may be stable in all the four cells.

Fig. 4 shows a process 400 for resource reservation where the network controller proactively obtains resource reservation. Similar as in the process 200, the process 400 may involve the terminal device 120, the access network nodes 110-1, 110-2, and the network controller 130 in Fig. 1.

In the process 400, the network controller 130 (for example, the AMF 134) expects to proactively request resource reservation for a service application, such as a V2X application, eV2X application, or any other types of application handled by the network controller 130 (for example, the AMF 134) . The network controller 130 (for example, the AMF 134) determines one or more serving areas 112 and one or more target time windows (referred to as first target time windows sometimes) during which resource reservation are expected within the corresponding serving areas. In some embodiments, the AMF 134 determines the one or more serving areas 112 and/or the target time window based on historical communications for the service application occurred within an area covering the serving area. For example, if the communications for the service application occurred in a specific broad geographical area actively for a specific time window, the AMF 134 may determine the serving areas 112 provided by the AN nodes 110 within the geographical area for that specific time window. The AMF 134 then communicates with the AN nodes 110 in the serving areas 112 to request the resource reservation for the terminal device 120.

In some embodiments, before requesting to the AN nodes 110, the AMF 134 may optionally interact with the SMF 132 to determine whether a session with the terminal device 120 (such as a PDU session) is supported and/or whether the proactive resource reservation for the service application and/or for the terminal devices of the service application is accepted. Specifically, the AMF 134 transmits (410) a reservation request to the SMF 132 and receives (412) a response from the SMF 132. The SMF 132 performs in a similar way as described above in the process 200 to provide the response indicating whether the session with the terminal device 120 is supported and/or whether the proactive resource reservation is accepted. The difference as compared to the process 200 lies in that the request/response may indicate a group of terminal devices.

Upon reception of the response from the SMF 132 indicating that the session with the terminal device 120 is supported and/or the proactive resource reservation is accepted, the AMF 134 transmits respective reservation requests to the AN nodes 110 identified in the reservation request from the AMF 134. It is still assumed that the AN nodes 110-1, 110-2 are located within the target area. Then, the AMF 134 transmits (415, 420) corresponding reservation requests (also referred to first reservation requests sometimes) to the AN nodes 110-1, 110-2, respectively, and receives (425, 430) corresponding reservation responses (also referred to first reservation responses sometimes) from the AN nodes 110-1, 110-2, respectively. The first reservation request sent to the AN node 110-1 indicates an identity of the serving area 110-1 and one or more corresponding first target time windows, and the first reservation request sent to the AN node 110-2 indicates an identity of the serving area 110-2 and one or more corresponding first target time windows. In some embodiments, the reservation request sent to the AN node 110-1 and/or the AN node 110-2 may include one or more sets of QoS parameters for one or more first target time windows. In these embodiments, the QoS parameters are associated with the specific service application.

The reservation requests and responses to/from the AN nodes 110-1, 110-2 may be similar as described in the process 200 and the processing within the AN nodes 110-1, 110-2 are similar as described in the process 200. The only difference may lie in that if the resource reservation is accepted by the AN node 110 for at least part of a first target time window (i.e., a reservation time window) , the access token provided by the AN node 110 may not be specific to a terminal device 120 but may be specific to the service application, or a group of terminal devices of the service application of the AMF 134. That is, when accepting the resource reservation, the AN node 110 may determine that the reserved resource can be allocated/used by any terminal device that is in the service application. The amount of the reserved resource may be the available and/or planned resource for the specific service application, or a group of the terminal devices of the specific service application.

Upon receipt of the responses from AN nodes 110-1, 110-2, the AMF 134 may obtain the resource reservation in a serving area 112 of a certain AN node 110 for a specific reservation time window. The resource reservation for at least part of the specific reservation time window may be provided by the AMF 134 in response to a request from the terminal device 120.

The terminal device 120 transmits (435) to the network controller 130 (for example, the AMF 134) a reservation request to request resource reservation for at least a target area (also referred to as a second reservation request herein) . In the embodiments of the process 400, the second reservation request of the terminal device 120 is transmitted after the AMF 134 has requested the AN nodes 110 for the resource reservation.

The second reservation request may be similar as the reservation request initiated by the terminal device 120 in the process 200. For example, the second reservation request indicates at least one or more target areas within which the resource reservation is expected by the terminal device 120. The second reservation request may be included in a PDU Session Establishment/Modification request. In some embodiments, the second reservation request may further indicate one or more target time windows during which the resource reservation is expected by the terminal device 120 (also referred to as a second target time window sometimes) . In some embodiments, the second target time window may not be provided by the terminal device 120 but may instead be determined by the network controller 130 (such as the AMF 134 or the SMF 132) or other network entities. The determination of the second target time window for the terminal device 120 is similar as that described in the process 200.

Upon receipt of the second reservation request from the terminal device 120, the AMF 134 can make the decision about whether to accept or reject the resource reservation by itself and transmits (440) a reservation response to indicate the decision, which reservation response is also referred to as a second reservation response sometimes. Specifically, the AMF 134 determines whether one or more of the serving areas 112 of the AN nodes 110 from which the resource reservation has been accepted are covered by the target area indicated by the terminal device 120. In addition, the AMF 134 may also determine whether the second target time window is overlapped with the reservation time window (s) corresponding to the one or more AN nodes 110.

If it is determined that a serving area 112 is covered by the target area and possible that the second target time window is overlapped with a reservation time window, the AMF 134 may determine that the resource reservation with the serving area 112 is accepted. The resource reservation is determined to be partially accepted if the second target time window is partially overlapped with the reservation time window. The resource reservation is determined to be totally accepted if the second target time window is totally included within the reservation time window. Based on the determination, the AMF 134 determines the second reservation response to indicate that the resource reservation is accepted or rejected within that serving area 112.

In the case that the resource reservation is accepted, the access token issued by the AN node 110 corresponding to the determined serving area 112 may be included in the second reservation response. The second reservation response may also include an indication indicating at least part of the second target time window that is overlapped with the reservation time window corresponding to that AN node 110.

In the case that the resource reservation is rejected or partially rejected, the second reservation response may include a rejection cause to indicate why the resource reservation is rejected in at least part of the target area for at least part of the second target time window. The reasons of why the resource reservation expected by the terminal device 120 cannot be accepted may be one or more of the following: the reserved resource in some serving area cannot support the communication of the terminal device 120 satisfying the QoS parameters, the target area indicated by the terminal device 120 is not covered by any serving areas in which the resource reservation has been obtained previously, the QoS parameters of the terminal device 120 mismatch the QoS profile at the network side, and/or the like.

In some embodiments, if the terminal device 120 initiates a PDU Session Establishment request to request the resource reservation, the AMF 134 may transmit a PDU Session Establishment accept or reject message including the second reservation response. In some embodiments, if the terminal device 120 initiates a PDU Session Modification request to request the resource reservation, the AMF 134 may transmit a PDU Session Modification command or reject message including the second reservation response.

In some embodiments, if AMF 134 determines that the resource reservation expected by the terminal device 120 has not been obtained previously when receiving the second reservation request, the AMF 134 may initiate a process similar as to the process 200 to attempt to obtain the resource reservation from the AN nodes 110.

If the reservation response from the network controller 130 indicates that the resource reservation is accepted (partially or totally) by one or more AN nodes 110 located within the target area for one or more reservation time windows, the terminal device 120 can obtain a resource that is reserved for communication between the terminal device 120 and the one or more AN nodes 110 within the corresponding reservation time windows. In the example of Fig. 2, if it is assumed that the resource reservation is accepted by the AN node 110-1, the terminal device 120 obtains (445) a resource reserved for communication between the terminal device 120 and the AN node 110-1 within the reservation time window as indicated in the reservation response. The resource allocation between the terminal device 120 and the AN node 110 is similar as described above in the process 200.

In some embodiments of the process 400, the network controller 130 may indicate to one or more AN nodes 110 to release or modify their resource reservations for a part or all of the reservation time window, similar as in the process 400. By releasing or modifying the resource reservation, the resources of the AN node 110 may not be wasted but can be reused for other communications.

Fig. 5 shows a flowchart of an example method 500 implemented at a terminal device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 500 will be described from the perspective of the terminal device 120 with reference to Fig. 1.

At block 510, the terminal device 120 transmits to a network controller a reservation request indicating at least a target area within which resource reservation is expected. At block 520, the terminal device 120 receives a reservation response to the reservation request from the network controller, the reservation response indicating whether the resource reservation is accepted or rejected by at least an access network node located within the target area. At block 530, the terminal device 120 determines whether the reservation response indicates that the resource reservation is accepted for at least a reservation time window. In response to the reservation response indicating that the resource reservation is accepted for at least a reservation time window, at block 540, the terminal device 120 obtains, from the access network node and based on at least an access token provided by the access network node, a resource reserved for communication between the terminal device and the access network node within the reservation time window.

In some embodiments, if the reservation response indicates that the resource reservation is rejected at block 530, the resource of the access network node may be allocated to the terminal device as in the current resource allocation where the assess network node may treat the terminal device at its best efforts at the time of resource allocation.

In some embodiments, the reservation request further indicates a target time window comprising the reservation time window. In some embodiments, the reservation response comprises the access token to indicate that the resource reservation is accepted by the access network node for a part of the target area and/or a rejection cause to indicate that the resource reservation is rejected by a further access network node for a further part of the target area. In some embodiments, the access token is specific to the terminal device or to a service application supported by the terminal device.

In some embodiments, the reservation request further indicates a set of quality of service (QoS) parameters associated with the terminal device. In some embodiments, obtaining the resource comprises obtaining the resource that is sufficient to support the communication satisfying the set of QoS parameters.

In some embodiments, obtaining the resource comprises: transmitting the access token to the access network node directly or via the network controller; and in response to an access connection being established with the access network node, obtaining the resource from the access network node at a time in the reservation time window.

In some embodiments, the access token is transmitted to the access network node during a connection establishment procedure, a connection reestablishment procedure, a connection reconfiguration procedure, or a connection resume procedure. In some embodiments, the access token is forwarded by the network controller to the access network node during an initial context setup procedure.

In some embodiments, a further access network node is located within the target area and the reservation response further indicates whether the resource reservation is accepted or rejected by the further access network node.

In some embodiments, the reservation request is comprised in a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) Session Establishment request, and the reservation response is comprised in a PDU Session Establishment accept or reject message. In some embodiments, the reservation request is comprised in a PDU Session Modification request, and the reservation response is comprised in a PDU Session Modification command or reject message.

In some embodiments, the method 500 further comprises revoking or modifying the resource reservation within at least part of the target area for at least part of the reservation time window.

Fig. 6 shows a flowchart of an example method 600 implemented at an access network node in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 600 will be described from the perspective of the access network node 110 with reference to Fig. 1.

At block 610, the access network node 110 receives from a network controller a reservation request indicating at least an identity of a serving area of the access network node and a target time window during which resource reservation is expected. At block 620, the access network node 110 transmits a reservation response to the reservation request to the network controller, the reservation response indicating whether the resource reservation is accepted or rejected, at least an access token being provided to the network controller if the resource reservation is accepted for a reservation time window. At block 630, the access network node 110 determines whether the reservation response indicates that the resource reservation is accepted for at least a reservation time window. In response to the reservation response indicating that the resource reservation is accepted for at least a reservation time window, at block 640, the access network node 110 allocates, based on the access token, a resource reserved for communication between a terminal device and the access network node within the reservation time window, the reservation time window being comprised in the target time window.

In some embodiments, if the reservation response indicates that the resource reservation is rejected at block 630, the resource of the access network node may be allocated to the terminal device as in the current resource allocation where the assess network node may treat the terminal device at its best efforts at the time of resource allocation.

In some embodiments, the reservation response comprises the access token in response to the reservation response indicating that the resource reservation is accepted by the access network node for the serving area or comprises a rejection cause in response to the reservation response indicating that the resource reservation is rejected by the access network node for the serving area. In some embodiments, the access token is specific to the terminal device or to a service application supported by the terminal device. In some embodiments, the reservation response further include a list of access tokens provided for the terminal device 120 by one or more other access network nodes having serving areas covered by the target area.

In some embodiments, the reservation request further indicates a set of quality of service (QoS) parameters associated with the terminal device or a service application, and allocating the resource comprises allocating the resource that is sufficient to support the communication satisfying the set of QoS parameters.

In some embodiments, allocating the resource comprises: receiving the access token from the terminal device, a further access network node, or the network controller; and in response to an access connection being established with the terminal device, allocating the resource to the terminal device at a time within the reservation time window.

In some embodiments, the access token is received from the terminal device during a connection establishment procedure, a connection reestablishment procedure, a connection reconfiguration procedure, or a connection resume procedure.

In some embodiments, the method 600 further comprises releasing or modifying the resource reservation for at least part of the reservation time window in response to: receiving a revoke or modify request to revoke or modify the resource reservation or determining that an access connection with the terminal device is absent after a predetermined period of time is lapsed within the reservation time window.

Fig. 7 shows a flowchart of an example method 700 implemented at a network controller in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the method 700 will be described from the perspective of the network controller 130 with reference to Fig. 1.

At block 710, the network controller 130 transmits to an access network node a first reservation request indicating at least an identity of a serving area of the access network node and a first target time window during which resource reservation is expected within the serving area. At block 720, the network controller 130 receives a first reservation response to the first reservation request from the access network node, the first reservation response indicating whether the resource reservation is accepted or rejected by the access network node. At block 730, the network controller 130 determines whether the first reservation response indicates that the resource reservation is accepted for a reservation time window. In response to the first reservation response indicating that the resource reservation is accepted for a reservation time window, at block 740, the network controller 130 transmits at least an access token for use in obtaining a resource reserved for communication between a terminal device and the access network node within the reservation time window, the reservation time window being comprised in the first target time window.

In some embodiments, transmitting the first reservation request comprises: receiving from the terminal device a second reservation request at least indicating a target area within which the resource reservation is expected by the terminal device; and in response to determining that the serving area is covered by the target area, transmitting the first reservation request. In some embodiments, transmitting the access token comprises: transmitting a second reservation response to the second reservation request, the second reservation response comprising the access token and indicating that the resource reservation is accepted for the reservation time window, and the access token being specific to the terminal device.

In some embodiments, the second reservation request further indicates the first target time window. In some embodiments, the second reservation response further comprises a rejection cause in response to the resource reservation being rejected.

In some embodiments, the method 700 further comprises tracking an area where the terminal device is currently located; determining, based on the area of the terminal device, whether the terminal device fails to reach the serving area within at least part of the reservation time window; and in response to determining that the terminal device fails to reach the serving area, indicating to the access network node to revoke or modify the resource reservation for the at least part of the reservation time window.

In some embodiments, transmitting the access token comprises after transmitting the first reservation request, receiving from the terminal device a second reservation request at least indicating a target area within which resource reservation is expected by the terminal device; and in response to at least determining that the serving area is covered by the target area, transmitting to the terminal device a second reservation response to the second reservation request, the second reservation response comprising the access token and indicating that the resource reservation is accepted by the access network node for the serving area. The access token is specific to a service application supported by the terminal device.

In some embodiments, transmitting the second reservation response comprises transmitting the second reservation response in response to further determining that a second target time window is overlapped with the reservation time window, the second target time window being indicated in the second reservation request or being determined based on the target area. The second reservation response further comprises an indication indicating at least part of the second target time window that is overlapped with the reservation time window.

In some embodiments, the method 700 further comprises determining at least one of the serving area and the first target time window based on historical communications for the service application occurred within an area covering the serving area.

In some embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing any of the method 500 (for example, the terminal device 120) may comprise means for performing the respective steps of the method 500. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.

In some embodiments, the apparatus comprises: means for transmitting to a network controller a reservation request indicating at least a target area within which resource reservation is expected; means for receiving a reservation response to the reservation request from the network controller, the reservation response indicating whether the resource reservation is accepted or rejected by an access network node located within the target area; and means for in response to the reservation response indicating that the resource reservation is accepted for a reservation time window, obtaining, from the access network node and based on an access token provided by the access network node, a resource reserved for communication between the terminal device and the access network node within the reservation time window.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for performing other steps in some embodiments of the method 500. In some embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the performance of the apparatus.

In some embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing any of the method 600 (for example, the access network node 110) may comprise means for performing the respective steps of the method 600. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.

In some embodiments, the apparatus comprises: means for receiving from a network controller a reservation request indicating at least an identity of a serving area of the access network node and a target time window during which resource reservation is expected; means for transmitting a reservation response to the reservation request to the network controller, the reservation response indicating whether the resource reservation is accepted or rejected, an access token being provided to the terminal device if the resource reservation is accepted; and means for in response to the reservation response indicating that the resource reservation is accepted for a reservation time window, allocating, based on the access token, a resource reserved for communication between the terminal device and the access network node within the reservation time window, the reservation time window being comprised in the target time window.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for performing other steps in some embodiments of the method 600. In some embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the performance of the apparatus.

In some embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing any of the method 700 (for example, the network controller) may comprise means for performing the respective steps of the method 700. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.

In some embodiments, the apparatus comprises: means for transmitting to an access network node a first reservation request indicating at least an identity of a serving area of the access network node and a first target time window during which resource reservation is expected within the serving area; means for receiving a first reservation response to the first reservation request from the access network node, the first reservation response indicating whether the resource reservation is accepted or rejected by the access network node; and means for in response to the first reservation response indicating that the resource reservation is accepted for a reservation time window, transmitting an access token to a terminal device for use in obtaining a resource reserved for communication between the terminal device and the access network node within the reservation time window, the reservation time window being comprised in the first target time window.

In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for performing other steps in some embodiments of the method 700. In some embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the performance of the apparatus.

Fig. 8 illustrates a simplified block diagram of an apparatus 800 that can be embodied as or comprised in a terminal device 120, an access network node 110, or a network controller shown in Fig. 1, to implement embodiments of the present disclosure.

The apparatus 800 comprises at least one processor 811, such as a data processor (DP) and at least one memory (MEM) 812 coupled to the processor 811. The apparatus 89 may further include a transmitter TX and receiver RX 813 coupled to the processor 811, which may be operable to communicatively connect to other apparatuses. The MEM 812 stores a program or computer program code 814. The at least one memory 812 and the computer program code 814 are configured to, with the at least one processor 811, cause the apparatus 800 at least to perform in accordance with embodiments of the present disclosure, for example the

method

5000, 600, or 700.

A combination of the at least one processor 811 and the at least one MEM 812 may form processing means 815 configured to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by computer program executable by the processor 811, software, firmware, hardware or in a combination thereof.

The MEM 812 may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory, as non-limiting examples.

The processor 811 may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment, and may include one or more of general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples.

Although some of the above descriptions on the GD based signal detection and staged signal detection are made in the context of a wireless communication system shown in Fig. 1, it should not be construed as limiting the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. The principle and concept of the present disclosure may be more generally applicable to other scenarios.

In addition, the present disclosure may also provide a carrier containing the computer program as mentioned above (e.g., computer instructions/grogram code 814 in Fig. 8) . The carrier includes a computer readable storage medium and a transmission medium. The computer readable storage medium may include, for example, an optical compact disk or an electronic memory device like a RAM (random access memory) , a ROM (read only memory) , Flash memory, magnetic tape, CD-ROM, DVD, Blue-ray disc and the like. The transmission medium may include, for example, electrical, optical, radio, acoustical or other form of propagated signals, such as carrier waves, infrared signals, and the like.

Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor, to carry out the

method

700 or 800 as described above with reference to Figs. 7 and 8. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program codes, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions/operations specified in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program codes or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable media.

The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM) , a read-only memory (ROM) , an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) , an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) , an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

For the purpose of the present disclosure as described herein above, it should be noted that,

-method steps likely to be implemented as software code portions and being run using a processor at a network element or terminal (as examples of devices, apparatuses and/or modules thereof, or as examples of entities including apparatuses and/or modules therefore) , are software code independent and can be specified using any known or future developed programming language as long as the functionality defined by the method steps is preserved;

-generally, any method step is suitable to be implemented as software or by hardware without changing the idea of the invention in terms of the functionality implemented;

-method steps and/or devices, units or means likely to be implemented as hardware components at the above-defined apparatuses, or any module (s) thereof, (e.g., devices carrying out the functions of the apparatuses according to the embodiments as described above, eNode-B etc. as described above) are hardware independent and can be implemented using any known or future developed hardware technology or any hybrids of these, such as MOS (Metal Oxide Semiconductor) , CMOS (Complementary MOS) , BiMOS (Bipolar MOS) , BiCMOS (Bipolar CMOS) , ECL (Emitter Coupled Logic) , TTL (Transistor-Transistor Logic) , etc., using for example ASIC (Application Specific IC (Integrated Circuit) ) components, FPGA (Field-programmable Gate Arrays) components, CPLD (Complex Programmable Logic Device) components or DSP (Digital Signal Processor) components;

-devices, units or means (e.g. the above-defined apparatuses, or any one of their respective means) can be implemented as individual devices, units or means, but this does not exclude that they are implemented in a distributed fashion throughout the system, as long as the functionality of the device, unit or means is preserved;

-an apparatus may be represented by a semiconductor chip, a chipset, or a (hardware) module comprising such chip or chipset; this, however, does not exclude the possibility that a functionality of an apparatus or module, instead of being hardware implemented, be implemented as software in a (software) module such as a computer program or a computer program product comprising executable software code portions for execution/being run on a processor;

-a device may be regarded as an apparatus or as an assembly of more than one apparatus, whether functionally in cooperation with each other or functionally independently of each other but in a same device housing, for example.

It is noted that the embodiments and examples described above are provided for illustrative purposes only and are in no way intended that the present disclosure is restricted thereto. Rather, it is the intention that all variations and modifications be included which fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

Further, while operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, while several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Various embodiments of the techniques have been described. In addition to or as an alternative to the above, the following examples are described. The features described in any of the following examples may be utilized with any of the other examples described herein.

Claims

A method implemented at a terminal device for resource reservation, comprising:

transmitting to a network controller a reservation request indicating at least a target area within which resource reservation is expected;

receiving a reservation response to the reservation request from the network controller, the reservation response indicating whether the resource reservation is accepted or rejected by at least an access network node located within the target area; and

in response to the reservation response indicating that the resource reservation is accepted for at least a reservation time window, obtaining, from the access network node and based on at least an access token provided by the access network node, a resource reserved for communication between the terminal device and the access network node within the reservation time window.
The method of claim 1, wherein the reservation request further indicates a target time window comprising the reservation time window,

wherein the reservation response comprises the access token to indicate that the resource reservation is accepted by the access network node for a part of the target area and/or a rejection cause to indicate that the resource reservation is rejected by a further access network node for a further part of the target area, or

wherein the access token is specific to the terminal device or to a service application supported by the terminal device.
The method of claim 1, wherein the reservation request further indicates a set of quality of service (QoS) parameters associated with the terminal device, and

wherein obtaining the resource comprises obtaining the resource that is sufficient to support the communication satisfying the set of QoS parameters.
The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the resource comprises:

transmitting the access token to the access network node directly or via the network controller; and

in response to an access connection being established with the access network node, obtaining the resource from the access network node at a time in the reservation time window.
The method of claim 4, wherein the access token is transmitted to the access network node during a connection establishment procedure, a connection reestablishment procedure, a connection reconfiguration procedure, or a connection resume procedure, or

wherein the access token is forwarded by the network controller to the access network node during an initial context setup procedure.
The method of claim 1, wherein a further access network node is located within the target area and the reservation response further indicates whether the resource reservation is accepted or rejected by the further access network node.
The method of claim 1, wherein the reservation request is comprised in a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) Session Establishment request, and the reservation response is comprised in a PDU Session Establishment accept or reject message, or

the reservation request is comprised in a PDU Session Modification request, and the reservation response is comprised in a PDU Session Modification command or reject message.
The method of claim 1, further comprising:

revoking or modifying the resource reservation within at least part of the target area for at least part of the reservation time window.
A method implemented at an access network node for resource reservation, comprising:

receiving from a network controller a reservation request indicating at least an identity of a serving area of the access network node and a target time window during which resource reservation is expected;

transmitting a reservation response to the reservation request to the network controller, the reservation response indicating whether the resource reservation is accepted or rejected, at least an access token being provided to the network controller if the resource reservation is accepted; and

in response to the reservation response indicating that the resource reservation is accepted for at least a reservation time window, allocating, based on the access token, a resource reserved for communication between a terminal device and the access network node within the reservation time window, the reservation time window being comprised in the target time window.
The method of claim 9, wherein the reservation response comprises the access token in response to the reservation response indicating that the resource reservation is accepted by the access network node for the serving area or comprises a rejection cause in response to the reservation response indicating that the resource reservation is rejected by the access network node for the serving area, or

wherein the access token is specific to the terminal device or to a service application supported by the terminal device.
The method of claim 9, wherein the reservation request further indicates a set of quality of service (QoS) parameters associated with the terminal device or a service application, and

wherein allocating the resource comprises allocating the resource that is sufficient to support the communication satisfying the set of QoS parameters.
The method of claim 9, wherein allocating the resource comprises:

receiving the access token from the terminal device, another access network node, or the network controller; and

in response to an access connection being established with the terminal device, allocating the resource to the terminal device at a time within the reservation time window.
The method of claim 12, wherein the access token is received from the terminal device during a connection establishment procedure, a connection reestablishment procedure, a connection reconfiguration procedure, or a connection resume procedure.
The method of claim 9, further comprising:

releasing or modifying the resource reservation for at least part of the reservation time window in response to:

receiving a revoke request or modify request to revoke or modify the resource reservation, or

determining that an access connection with the terminal device is absent or late after a predetermined period of time is lapsed within the reservation time window.
A method implemented at a network controller for resource reservation, comprising:

transmitting to an access network node a first reservation request indicating at least an identity of a serving area of the access network node and a first target time window during which resource reservation is expected within the serving area;

receiving a first reservation response to the first reservation request from the access network node, the first reservation response indicating whether the resource reservation is accepted or rejected by the access network node; and

in response to the first reservation response indicating that the resource reservation is accepted for at least a reservation time window, transmitting at least an access token for use in obtaining a resource reserved for communication between a terminal device and the access network node within the reservation time window, the reservation time window being comprised in the first target time window.
The method of claim 15, wherein transmitting the first reservation request comprises:

receiving from the terminal device a second reservation request at least indicating a target area within which the resource reservation is expected by the terminal device; and

in response to determining that the serving area is covered by the target area, transmitting the first reservation request, and

wherein transmitting the access token comprises:

transmitting a second reservation response to the second reservation request, the second reservation response comprising the access token and indicating that the resource reservation is accepted for the reservation time window, and the access token being specific to the terminal device.
The method of claim 16, wherein the second reservation request further indicates the first target time window, or

wherein the second reservation response further comprises a rejection cause in response to the resource reservation being rejected.
The method of claim 16, further comprising:

tracking an area where the terminal device is currently located;

determining, based on the area of the terminal device, whether the terminal device fails to reach the serving area within at least part of the reservation time window; and

in response to determining that the terminal device fails to reach the serving area, indicating to the access network node to revoke or modify the resource reservation for the at least part of the reservation time window.
The method of claim 15, wherein transmitting the access token comprises:

after transmitting the first reservation request, receiving from the terminal device a second reservation request at least indicating a target area within which resource reservation is expected by the terminal device; and

in response to at least determining that the serving area is covered by the target area, transmitting to the terminal device a second reservation response to the second reservation request, the second reservation response comprising the access token and indicating that the resource reservation is accepted by the access network node for the serving area,

wherein the access token is specific to a service application supported by the terminal device.
The method of claim 19, wherein transmitting the second reservation response comprises:

transmitting the second reservation response in response to further determining that a second target time window is overlapped with the reservation time window, the second target time window being indicated in the second reservation request or being determined based on the target area, and

wherein the second reservation response further comprises an indication indicating at least part of the second target time window that is overlapped with the reservation time window.
The method of claim 19, further comprising:

determining at least one of the serving area and the first target time window based on historical communications for the service application occurred within an area covering the serving area.
An apparatus for resource reservation, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program codes;

the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any of claims 1-8.
An apparatus for resource reservation, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program codes;

the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any of claims 9-14.
An apparatus for resource reservation, comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory including computer program codes;

the at least one memory and the computer program codes are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to perform the method of any of claims 15-21.
An apparatus for resource reservation comprising means for performing steps of the method of any of claims 1-8.
An apparatus for resource reservation comprising means for performing steps of the method of any of claims 9-14.
An apparatus for resource reservation comprising means for performing steps of the method of any of claims 15-21.
A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of any of claims 1-8.
A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of any of claims 9-14.
A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of any of claims 15-21.