WO2023209684A1 - Assistance information for network power saving - Google Patents

Assistance information for network power saving Download PDF

Info

Publication number
WO2023209684A1
WO2023209684A1 PCT/IB2023/054480 IB2023054480W WO2023209684A1 WO 2023209684 A1 WO2023209684 A1 WO 2023209684A1 IB 2023054480 W IB2023054480 W IB 2023054480W WO 2023209684 A1 WO2023209684 A1 WO 2023209684A1
Authority
WO
WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
uai
power saving
network
network power
activation
Prior art date
Application number
PCT/IB2023/054480
Other languages
French (fr)
Inventor
Ryan PADERNA
Sina MALEKI
Ilmiawan SHUBHI
Xu Zhu
Ali Nader
Andres Reial
Lian ARAUJO
Sladana JOSILO
Original Assignee
Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)
Priority date (The priority date is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the date listed.)
Filing date
Publication date
Application filed by Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ) filed Critical Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)
Publication of WO2023209684A1 publication Critical patent/WO2023209684A1/en

Links

Classifications

    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W52/00—Power management, e.g. TPC [Transmission Power Control], power saving or power classes
    • H04W52/02—Power saving arrangements
    • H04W52/0203—Power saving arrangements in the radio access network or backbone network of wireless communication networks
    • H04W52/0206—Power saving arrangements in the radio access network or backbone network of wireless communication networks in access points, e.g. base stations
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L41/00—Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
    • H04L41/08—Configuration management of networks or network elements
    • H04L41/085—Retrieval of network configuration; Tracking network configuration history
    • H04L41/0853—Retrieval of network configuration; Tracking network configuration history by actively collecting configuration information or by backing up configuration information
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L41/00—Arrangements for maintenance, administration or management of data switching networks, e.g. of packet switching networks
    • H04L41/50—Network service management, e.g. ensuring proper service fulfilment according to agreements
    • H04L41/5061—Network service management, e.g. ensuring proper service fulfilment according to agreements characterised by the interaction between service providers and their network customers, e.g. customer relationship management
    • H04L41/5067—Customer-centric QoS measurements
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L43/00—Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
    • H04L43/08—Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L43/00—Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
    • H04L43/08—Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
    • H04L43/0852—Delays
    • H04L43/087—Jitter
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04L—TRANSMISSION OF DIGITAL INFORMATION, e.g. TELEGRAPHIC COMMUNICATION
    • H04L43/00—Arrangements for monitoring or testing data switching networks
    • H04L43/08—Monitoring or testing based on specific metrics, e.g. QoS, energy consumption or environmental parameters
    • H04L43/0876—Network utilisation, e.g. volume of load or congestion level
    • H04L43/0888—Throughput
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W28/00—Network traffic management; Network resource management
    • H04W28/02—Traffic management, e.g. flow control or congestion control
    • H04W28/10—Flow control between communication endpoints
    • H04W28/12—Flow control between communication endpoints using signalling between network elements
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W52/00—Power management, e.g. TPC [Transmission Power Control], power saving or power classes
    • H04W52/02—Power saving arrangements
    • H04W52/0209—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices
    • H04W52/0212—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices managed by the network, e.g. network or access point is master and terminal is slave
    • H04W52/0216—Power saving arrangements in terminal devices managed by the network, e.g. network or access point is master and terminal is slave using a pre-established activity schedule, e.g. traffic indication frame

Definitions

  • the present disclosure relates to methods, apparatuses, and computer readable media for reducing the power consumption of cellular networks.
  • 3GPP introduces a UE-based support mechanism through UE Assistance Information (UAI).
  • UAI UE Assistance Information
  • a UE can send its preference for several Radio Resource Control (RRC) parameters, including parameters related to Discontinuous Reception (DRX) configuration, bandwidth (BW), the number of serving cells, etc.
  • RRC Radio Resource Control
  • the limit on how frequently the UE can send UAI is determined by a prohibit timer set by the network for each UAI item.
  • the network then, can configure the UE according to its preferred configurations whenever possible. It should be noted, that the network also evaluates its own considerations before following the configurations suggested by the UE.
  • UEAssistancelnformation-IEs :: SEQUENCE ! delayBudgetReport Delay BudgetReport OPTIONAL, lateNonCriticalExtension OCTET STRING OPTIONAL, nonCritical Extension UEAssistancelnformation-v1540-IEs OPTIONAL
  • reducedMaxMlMO-LayersFRI SEQUENCE ⁇ reducedMIMO-LayersFR1-DL MIMO-LayersDL, reducedMIMO-LayersFR1-UL MIMO-LayersUL
  • reducedMaxMIMO-LayersFR2 SEQUENCE ! reducedMIMO-LayersFR2-DL MIMO-LayersDL, reducedMIMO-LayersFR2-UL MIMO-LayersUL
  • AffectedCarrierFreqList-r16 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1.. maxFreqlDC-r16)) OF AffectedCarrierFreq-r16
  • AffectedCarrierFreq-r16 SEQUENCE ⁇ carrierFreq-r16 ARFCN-ValueNR, interferenceDirection-r16 ENUMERATED ⁇ nr, other, both, spare ⁇
  • AffectedCarrierFreqCombList-r16 :: SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxComblDC-r16)) OF
  • AffectedCarrierFreqComb-r16 SEQUENCE ⁇ affectedCarrierFreqComb-r16 SEQUENCE (SIZE (2..maxNrofServingCells)) OF ARFCN-ValueNR
  • VictimSystemType-r16 SEQUENCE ⁇ gps-r16 ENUMERATED ⁇ true ⁇ OPTIONAL, glonass-r16 ENUMERATED ⁇ true ⁇ OPTIONAL, bds-r16 ENUMERATED ⁇ true ⁇ OPTIONAL, galileo-r16 ENUMERATED ⁇ true ⁇ OPTIONAL, navlC-r16 ENUMERATED ⁇ true ⁇ OPTIONAL, wlan-r16 ENUMERATED ⁇ true ⁇ OPTIONAL, bluetooth-r16 ENUMERATED ⁇ true ⁇ OPTIONAL,
  • DRX-Preference-r16 SEQUENCE ⁇ preferredDRX-lnactivityTimer-r16 ENUMERATED ⁇ msO, ms1 , ms2, ms3, ms4, ms5, ms6, ms8, ms10, ms20, ms30, ms40, ms50, ms60, ms80, ms100, ms200, ms300, ms500, ms750, ms1280, ms1920, ms2560, spare9, spare8, spare/, spare6, spare5, spare4, spare3, spare2, sparel ⁇ OPTIONAL, preferredDRX-LongCycle-r16 ENUMERATED ⁇ ms10, ms20, ms32, ms40, ms60, ms64, ms70, ms80, ms128, ms160, ms256, ms320, ms
  • reducedMaxBW-FR2-r16 SEQUENCE ⁇ reducedBW-FR2-DL-r16 ReducedAggregated Bandwidth reducedBW-FR2-UL-r16 ReducedAggregated Bandwidth
  • MaxCC-Preference-r16 :: SEQUENCE ⁇ reducedCCsDL-r16 INTEGER (0..31), reducedCCsUL-r16 INTEGER (0..31)
  • ReleasePreference-r16 SEQUENCE ! preferred RRC-State-r16 ENUMERATED ⁇ idle, inactive, connected ⁇ OPTIONAL
  • SL-UE-AssistancelnformationNR-r16 SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofTrafficPattern-r16)) OF TrafficPatternlnfo-r16
  • TrafficPatternlnfo-r16 SEQUENCE ! trafficPeriodicity-r16 ENUMERATED ⁇ ms20,ms50, ms100, ms200, ms300, ms400, ms500, ms600, ms700, ms800, ms900, ms1000 ⁇ , timingOffset-r16 INTEGER (0..10239) OPTIONAL, messageSize-r16 BIT STRING (SIZE (8)) OPTIONAL, sl-QoS-Flowldentity-r16 SL-QoS-Flowldentity-r16 OPTIONAL
  • the UE Upon initiating the procedure, the UE shall: ctext omitted>
  • the UE shall set the contents of the UEAssistancelnformation message as follows ctext omitted>
  • a method performed by a user equipment includes detecting a trigger for transmitting a UE assistance information (UAI) for network power saving, and transmitting to a network node, in response to detecting the trigger, UAI for network power saving.
  • UAI UE assistance information
  • Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantages.
  • the network node may acquire additional information such as UAI from a UE to make network adjustments for network node power-saving such as time to sleep, reduced carrier power, Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) sleep, or carrier deactivation, without compromising UE performance.
  • MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output
  • the UAI for network power saving includes UAI for relaxed scheduler activation.
  • the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation includes: (a) a maximum permitted delay of the UE; (b) a specific data volume for traffic data to be transmitted by the UE; (c) a specific data volume for traffic data to be received by the UE; (d) a type of traffic data to be transmitted by the UE; (e) a type of traffic data to be received by the UE; (f) information that describes a packet size distribution or packet size including an average, a minimum, a maximum, or a standard deviation of packets transmitted by the UE; (g) information that describes a packet size or packet size distribution including an average, a minimum, a maximum, or a standard deviation of packets received by the UE; (h) a typical period of traffic data transmitted by the UE; (i) a typical period of traffic data received by the UE; (j) a jitter tolerance of traffic data transmitted by the a
  • the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation includes one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation. In some embodiments, the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation includes only one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation. In some embodiments, the one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation in the UAI vary from one instance of the UAI transmitted at a first time instance and a second instance of the UAI transmitted at a second time instance. In some embodiments, the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation includes information that indicates multiple traffic types of traffic data transmitted or received by the UE. In some embodiments, the UAI for network power saving includes UAI for Quality of Experience (QoE) indication. In some embodiments, the UAI for the QoE indication includes one or more QoE values related to one or more applications including web browsing, video streaming, instant messaging, or another application.
  • QoE Quality of Experience
  • the UAI for network power saving further includes one or more activation timer values.
  • the one or more activation timer values include a single activation timer value for all of the UAI for network power saving.
  • the one or more activation timer values include different activation timer values for different parts of the UAI for network power saving.
  • the UAI for network power saving further includes one or more expiration timer values.
  • the one or more expiration timer values include a single expiration timer value for all of the UAI for network power saving.
  • the one or more expiration timer values include different expiration timer values for different parts of the UAI for network power saving.
  • the method further includes providing user data; and forwarding the user data to a host via the transmission to the network node.
  • a method is performed by a network node.
  • the method includes receiving from a UE, UAI for network power saving; and performing one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE.
  • the UAI for network power saving includes UAI for relaxed scheduler activation.
  • the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation includes: (a) a maximum permitted delay of the UE; (b) a specific data volume for traffic data to be transmitted by the UE; (c) a specific data volume for traffic data to be received by the UE; (d) a type of traffic data to be transmitted by the UE; (e) a type of traffic data to be received by the UE; (f) information that describes a packet size distribution or packet size including an average, a minimum, a maximum, or a standard deviation of packets transmitted by the UE; (g) information that describes a packet size or packet size distribution including an average, a minimum, a maximum, or a standard deviation of packets received by the UE; (h) a typical period of traffic data transmitted by the UE; (i) a typical period of traffic data received by the UE; (j) a jitter tolerance of traffic data transmitted by the UE
  • the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation includes one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation. In some embodiments, the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation includes only one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation. In some embodiments, the one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation in the UAI vary from one instance of the UAI transmitted at a first time instance and a second instance of the UAI transmitted at a second time instance. In some embodiments, the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation includes information that indicates multiple traffic types of traffic data transmitted or received by the UE. In some embodiments, the UAI for network power saving includes UAI for QoE indication. In some embodiments, the UAI for QoE indication includes one or more QoE values related to one or more applications including web browsing, video streaming, instant messaging, or another application.
  • the method further includes starting an activation timer upon receiving the UAI for network power saving, wherein performing the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE includes starting the performing the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE responsive to expiry of the activation timer.
  • the UAI for network power saving further includes an activation timer value for the activation timer.
  • the method further includes starting one or more activation timers for one or more parts of the UAI including upon receiving the UAI for network power saving, wherein performing the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE includes, for each part of the one or more parts of the UAI, starting the performing the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the part of the UAI responsive to expiry of the activation timer associated to the part of the UAI.
  • the UAI for network power saving further includes one or more activation timer values for the one or more activation timers.
  • the method further includes starting an expiration timer upon receiving the UAI for network power saving or upon expiry of an associated activation timer, wherein performing the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE includes stopping the performing the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE responsive to expiry of the expiration timer.
  • the UAI for network power saving further includes an expiration timer value for the expiration timer.
  • the method further includes starting one or more expiration timers for one or more parts of the UAI, respectively, upon receiving the UAI for network power saving or upon expiry of respective activation timers, wherein performing the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE includes, for each part of the one or more parts of the UAI, stopping the performing the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the part of the UAI responsive to expiry of the expiration timer associated to the part of the UAI.
  • the UAI for network power saving further includes one or more expiration timer values for the one or more expiration timers, respectively.
  • a user equipment includes receiver circuitry and processing circuitry associated with the receiver circuitry.
  • the processing circuitry is configured to cause the second network node apparatus to at least detect a trigger for transmitting a UAI for network power saving and transmit, to a network node, in response to detecting the trigger, UAI for network power saving.
  • a network node includes receiver circuitry and processing circuitry associated with the receiver circuitry.
  • the processing circuitry is configured to cause the second network node to at least receive, from a user equipment, UE, UAI for network power saving and perform one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE.
  • Figure 1 illustrates the operation of a User Equipment (UE) and a network node such as a base station.
  • UE User Equipment
  • Figure 3 shows an example of a communication system, in accordance with some embodiments.
  • Figure 4 shows a UE, in accordance with some embodiments.
  • Figure 5 shows a network node, in accordance with some embodiments.
  • Figure 7 shows a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized, in accordance with some embodiments.
  • Figure 8 shows a communication diagram of a host communicating via a network node with a UE over a partially wireless connection, in accordance with some embodiments.
  • UE User Equipment
  • UAI Assistance Information
  • DRX Discontinuous Reception
  • MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output
  • a scenario is considered in which a UE is configured with UAI for network power saving, where the UAI for network power saving may include: UAI for relaxed scheduler activation and/or UAI for QoE indication.
  • the interest here is to develop UAI for network power saving such that the network can decide to determine parameters related to relaxed scheduler activation and/or QoE indication.
  • Figure 1 illustrates the operation of a UE 100 and a network node 102 (e.g., a base station such as, e.g., a gNB or a network node that implements some of the functionality of a base station, e.g., a gNB Distrusted Unit (gNB-DU) or a gNB Central Unit (gNB-CU)).
  • a network node 102 e.g., a base station such as, e.g., a gNB or a network node that implements some of the functionality of a base station, e.g., a gNB Distrusted Unit (gNB-DU) or a gNB Central Unit (gNB-CU)).
  • gNB-DU gNB Distrusted Unit
  • gNB-CU gNB Central Unit
  • the UE 100 may detect a trigger for sending UAI for network power saving (operation 104).
  • the UE sends (e.g., responsive to the trigger detected in operation 104), to the network node 102, UAI for network power saving (operation 106).
  • the UAI for network power saving may include, in some embodiments, UAI for relaxed scheduler activation, UAI for QoE indication, or both UAI for relaxed scheduler activation and UAI for QoE indication.
  • the network node 102 starts an activation timer (operation 108) and/or starts an expiration timer (110).
  • the network node 102 may start the expiration timer at the same time that the activation timer is started in which case the expiration timer would preferably be initialized to a value that is greater than the initial value of the activation timer or the expiration timer may be started at expiration of the activation timer.
  • the activation timer defines when the network node is to start to use the UAI received in operation 106 and the expiration timer defines when the network node is to stop using the UAI received in operation 106.
  • the network node 102 performs one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI for network power saving received from the UE 100 (operation 112).
  • the network node 102 may, in one embodiment, start performing the one or more actions based on the received UAI upon expiration of the activation timer (if one is used) and/or stop performing the one or more actions based on the received UAI upon expiration of the expiration timer (if one is used). Note that while a single activation timer and a single expiration timer are shown in the example of Figure 1 , in another embodiment, different parts of the received UAI may have different activation timers and/or different expiration timers, as described below in detail.
  • the UE may be configured to provide UAI for relaxed scheduler activation.
  • the UE may provide information related to the maximum permitted delay, type of traffic data, etc. As the UE typically has good knowledge about the type of traffic data, the volume of data, how long it can afford a delay, etc., it would be beneficial for the network if the UE could indicate such information to the network e.g., via UAI.
  • FIG. 2 shows examples of UAI that support low energy scheduler operation, in accordance with one example embodiment of the present disclosure.
  • a UE 200 indicates to a New Radio (NR) base station (gNB) 202 a delay tolerance of 20ms (operation 204A).
  • the gNB 202 determines additional sleep time (e.g., micro-sleep or light-sleep) based on the received UAI and operates accordingly (operation 206A).
  • additional sleep time e.g., micro-sleep or light-sleep
  • the network may also set a schedule for this UE 200 such that the schedule is aligned with Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) transmissions, and by doing so, the network (e.g., gNB 202) may gain additional sleep time e.g., light sleep if there are no other activities in between, or micro sleep if there are other activities in between.
  • SSB Synchronization Signal Block
  • the UE 200 transmits UAI including a specific data volume (operation 204B), then the gNB 202 decides to save power by reducing the number of MIMO layers such that it can go to some MIMO sleep mode through deactivation of certain transceiver branches by deactivating some of the carriers, or performing similar actions, and operates accordingly (operation 206B).
  • the UE e.g., UE 202
  • the UE can be configured to provide UAI to the network (e.g., gNB 202) concerning the relaxed scheduler activation such that:
  • the UE may provide only one or multiple parameters relevant to the relaxed scheduler activation. This allows for a flexible solution in which the parameters are independent of each other. For example, if at one instant of time the UE only requires low data arrival, the corresponding UAI will contain the information about the packet data size only. However, if at the next time instant the UE requires high data arrival, the corresponding UAI may contain multiple parameters such as packet data size, maximum permitted delay, and type of traffic data.
  • the UAI may provide an activation timer such that UAI can only activate after timer expiration after the network received the previous UAI.
  • the UAI may also provide an expiration timer as an additional feature to avoid conflict with the next UAI arrival.
  • the UE e.g., UE 202
  • the traffic type may include typical period, jitter tolerance, User Throughput (UPT) Target, etc.
  • the traffic type can be described as PC5 5QI (PQI) value for PC5 Quality of Service (QoS) characteristics in Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Technical Specification (TS) 23.287 (see, e.g., V17.2.0).
  • PQI PC5 5QI
  • 3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project
  • TS Technical Specification
  • the indication may include fixed size indicator (average or maximum), or describe a distribution (avg /min /max/ standard deviation), or include a distribution class/parameter.
  • the multiple parameters may be provided as part of a single UAI report or as individual UAI reports.
  • the permitted delay indication may also include multiple acceptance/preference levels, in addition to the absolute maximum permitted delay.
  • the traffic type indication may be a single traffic type identifier (e.g., index to a predefined table) where each traffic type is associated with previously defined typical parameters.
  • the traffic type may be conveyed by providing a set of multiple parameters to describe the traffic use case, e.g., TypicalSize (or a range/distribution), TypicalPeriod (or a range/distribution), DelayTolerance (may be same as MaxDelay), JitterTolerance, UPTTarget, etc.
  • TypicalSize or a range/distribution
  • TypicalPeriod or a range/distribution
  • DelayTolerance may be same as MaxDelay
  • JitterTolerance UPTTarget, etc.
  • the UAI format allows the UE to indicate multiple different traffic types to convey info about multiple ongoing flows or bearers.
  • the UE may "directly” provide a set of UAI parameters per a 5G QoS flow.
  • the UE may “directly” provide a tolerable delay for a certain specific 5G QoS Indicator (5QI) value.
  • 5QI 5G QoS Indicator
  • the UE may “indirectly” provide a set of UAI parameters per a 5G QoS flow by specifying different values per Data Radio Bearer (DRB), which the lower layers understand.
  • DRB Data Radio Bearer
  • This solution is suitable if the lower layers of the RAN node are not aware of various 5G flows, which is typically the case.
  • the UE may know which DRBs are associated with which flows (how flows are mapped to DRBs).
  • the gNB can behave differently per such DRB. For example, the UE might tolerate a larger delay on certain DRBs compared to other DRBs and provide such information to the gNB.
  • the gNB may postpone the scheduling of a UE with respect to the specific DRB until enough data is available for that DRB.
  • the gNB may activate more resources (e.g., MIMO, or carrier aggregation) when scheduling data that is relevant for other DRBs that have a low delay tolerance.
  • the UE could send several values for each parameter in a single transmission, either higher or lower than the currently configured value for the Network (NW). This is useful, e.g., in applications where the type of traffic data, volume of data, and delay are more dynamic, and thus it makes sense that the UE is able to indicate its preferred parameters.
  • the NW may receive suggestions from the UE such that it is able to configure multiple maximum permitted delay (MaxDelay Threshold) at different times using only UAI shown below:
  • UEAssistancelnformation SEQUENCE ⁇ critical Extensions CHOICE ⁇ ueAssistancelnformation UEAssistancelnformation-IEs, critical ExtensionsFuture SEQUENCE ⁇
  • UEAssistancelnformation-IEs :: SEQUENCE ! delayBudgetReport Delay BudgetReport OPTIONAL, late NonCriticalExtension OCTET STRING OPTIONAL, nonCriticalExtension UEAssistancelnformation-v1540-IEs OPTIONAL
  • UEAssistancelnformation-v1610-IEs SEQUENCE ! idc-Assistance-r16 IDC-Assistance-r16 OPTIONAL, drx-Preference-r16 DRX-Preference-r16 OPTIONAL, maxBW-Preference-r16 MaxBW-Preference-r16 OPTIONAL, maxCC-Preference-r16 MaxCC-Preference-r16 OPTIONAL, maxMl MO-LayerPreference-r16 MaxMl MO-LayerPreference-r16 OPTIONAL, minSchedulingOffsetPreference-r16 MinSchedulingOffsetPreference-r16 OPTIONAL, releasePreference-r16 ReleasePreference-r16 OPTIONAL, sl-UE-AssistancelnformationNR-r16 SL-UE-AssistancelnformationNR-r16 OPTIONAL, referenceTimelnfoPreference-r16 BOOLEAN OPTIONAL, nonCriticalExtension
  • UEAssistancelnformation-v18xy-IEs :: SEQUENCE ⁇ maxDelayThreshold-r18 MaxDelayThreshold-r18 OPTIONAL, nonCriticalExtension SEQUENCE ⁇ OPTIONAL
  • MaxDelayThreshold-r18 SEQUENCE ⁇ delayO ENUMERATED ⁇ msO, ms10, ms20, ms30 ⁇ OPTIONAL, actimerO ENUMERATED ⁇ msO, rnsl OOO, ms2000, ms3000 ⁇ OPTIONAL, extimerO ENUMERATED ⁇ min5, minW, mini 5, min20 ⁇ OPTIONAL, delayl ENUMERATED ⁇ msO, ms10, ms20, ms30 ⁇ OPTIONAL, actimerl ENUMERATED ⁇ msO, rnsl OOO, ms2000, ms3000 ⁇ OPTIONAL, extimerl ENUMERATED ⁇ min5, minW, mini 5, min20 ⁇ OPTIONAL,
  • i Indicates maximum permitted delay and the validity period of the UAI message for i ongoing flows or bearers; delayO and delayl specify the maximum permitted delay for i i two different flows/bearers; actimerO and actimerl specify when the UAI message i sent by the UE starts to be applicable for two different flows/bearers; extimerO and i extimerl specify for how long upon the values specified by actimerO and actimerl, i respectively the UAI message sent by the UE will be valid for two different i flows/bearers.
  • msO corresponds to 0ms
  • ms 10 corresponds to 10ms
  • ms20 i corresponds to 20ms
  • min5 corresponds to 5min
  • min10 i co rrespo nds to 10min, and so on.
  • the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation allows for specifying the trafficspecific information
  • the scope of the information is limited to QoS, which is based on technical needs for the applications, e.g., UAI related 5QI for different traffic types or QoS. Therefore, the purpose of the UAI for a Quality of Experience (QoE) indication is to allow the UE to provide a UAI that is more directly related to QoE.
  • QoE is known by UE, especially at the application layer for activities such as such as web-browsing, video streaming, etc., while the gNB does not have knowledge about QoE.
  • the QoE values can be directly related to applications such as web browsing, video streaming, Instant Messaging (IM), etc., as shown in the example below:
  • UEAssistancelnformation SEQUENCE ] critical Extensions CHOICE ] ueAssistancelnformation UEAssistancelnformation-IEs, critical ExtensionsFuture SEQUENCE ⁇
  • UEAssistancelnformation-IEs :: SEQUENCE ] delayBudgetReport DelayBudgetReport OPTIONAL, lateNonCriticalExtension OCTET STRING OPTIONAL, nonCritical Extension U EAssistance I nformation-v1540-I Es OPTIONAL
  • UEAssistancelnformation-v1610-IEs SEQUENCE ] idc-Assistance-r16 IDC-Assistance-r16 OPTIONAL, drx-Preference-r16 DRX-Preference-r16 OPTIONAL, maxBW-Preference-r16 MaxBW-Preference-r16 OPTIONAL, maxCC-Preference-r16 MaxCC-Preference-r16 OPTIONAL, maxMl M0-LayerPreference-r16 MaxMIMO-LayerPreference-r16 OPTIONAL, minSchedulingOffsetPreference-r16 MinSchedulingOffsetPreference-r16 OPTIONAL, releasePreference-r16 ReleasePreference-r16 OPTIONAL, sl-UE-AssistancelnformationNR-r16 SL-UE-AssistancelnformationNR-r16 OPTIONAL, referenceTimelnfoPreference-r16 BOOLEAN OPTIONAL, nonCritical Extension UEA
  • the UE will use a video streaming service with an immediate activation time for 10 minutes, it can set trafficType to “video streaming”, actimerO to Omin and extimerO to lOminn in UAI_QoE specified above.
  • some of the introduced traffic type description parameters may be related to QoS or QoE classes.
  • the UE may then omit duplicating the same information in multiple UAI types, e.g., by omitting in its UAI signaling certain traffic type parameters that may be deduced from the QoS/QoE indications.
  • the sending of UAI for network power saving may be triggered (or prevented to be triggered) (e.g., in operation 104 of Figure 1) by any of following:
  • the UE During a handover, e.g. right after the handover (reconfiguration with sync) to a target cell, the UE indicates a UAI for network power saving to the target cell;
  • If sending an UAI message that no longer includes fields related to network power saving may indicate to the network that the UE no longer has a preference about network power saving, or can no longer cope with a certain network pattern for power saving.
  • the network can request the UE through a Downlink Control Information (DO) or Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling to transmit a UAI related to network power saving, or request more explicitly about one or more individual UAI types.
  • DO Downlink Control Information
  • MAC Medium Access Control
  • the DO or MAC signaling can additionally also determine the resources which the UE can use in order to transmit the UAI. This approach is particularly useful when aperiodic UAI is required by the network in order to tune its power saving measures.
  • the UAI (e.g., the UAI sent from the UE 100 to the network node 102 in operation 106 of Figure 1) can be defined by at least one IE and/or at least one field containing information for network power saving. It may further include one or more of the following:
  • IES and/or fields that carry different information for network power saving, e.g. one IE for relaxed scheduler activation, and an IE for QoE / DRB indication.
  • a single UAI message may contain multiple information for network power saving;
  • (b) A structure with values for network power saving information, e.g. relaxed scheduler activation, and QoE/DRB indication.
  • the UE can then send a UAI message containing one of the values.
  • the UE can also indicate different values for network power saving by sending multiple UAI messages.
  • An indication can be included to inform the network node that an already existing UAI (e.g., Rel-16 UAI for power saving) is used to provide assistance info about network power saving.
  • an already existing UAI e.g., Rel-16 UAI for power saving
  • Such expiration timer may also work as a prohibit timer, e.g. where while the timer is running, the UE is not allowed to send another UAI for network power saving.
  • the network may override the existing timer and re-start it according to the value received by the UE for the new UAI.
  • the UAI message may also be valid until the UE sends a new UAI. This case can be indicated by the absence of an expiration timer in the UAI message, or a timer expiration is set to an infinite value.
  • the expiration timer and behavior described above can be applied to an entire UAI message containing lEs/fields for network power saving, or each lE/field containing information for NW power saving can also have an individual expiration timer.
  • the granularity of prevention can be specified or configured by the network.
  • the UE may have provided a specific UAI for a certain DRB/flow/QoE and starts a prohibit timer that is only relevant for this DRB/flow/QoE. This means that the UE is allowed to transmit another set of UAI for another DRB/flow/QoE even though the first prohibit timer is running. In another embodiment, the UE is not allowed to transmit further UAI irrespective of which DRB/flow/QoE it is referring to if a prohibit timer is running.
  • a triggering timer to define when the UAI message sent by the UE starts to be applicable. Upon timer expiration, the network power saving information contained within the UAI message starts to be valid.
  • Such triggering timer may also work as a prohibit timer, e.g. while the timer is running the UE is not allowed to send another UAI for network power saving.
  • the network may override the existing timer and re-start it according to the value received by the UE on the new UAI.
  • the UAI message may also be valid from the moment the network received the UE sent UAI. This case can be indicated by the absence of a triggering timer in the UAI message, or a triggering timer set to a value of zero.
  • the triggering timer and behavior described above can be applied to an entire UAI message containing lEs/fields for network power saving, or each lE/field containing information for network power saving can also have an individual triggering timer.
  • a network node e.g., gNB 102 of Figure 1 can configure the UE (e.g., UE 100) to provide UE assistance information to the network concerning network power saving. Based on the reception of such report from the UE, the network node may take any of the following actions (e.g., in operation 112 of Figure 1):
  • the NW may not schedule the UE each time there is data for the UE in the buffer. Rather, the NW may wait for a certain amount of time until at least some percentage of physical resource block (PRB) is fulfilled by the data;
  • PRB physical resource block
  • Network node e.g., gNB 102
  • Figure 3 shows an example of a communication system 300, in accordance with some embodiments.
  • the communication system 300 includes a telecommunication network 302 that includes an access network 304, such as a Radio Access Network (RAN), and a core network 306, which includes one or more core network nodes 308.
  • the access network 304 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 310A and 310B (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 310), or any other similar Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access node or non-3GPP Access Point (AP).
  • 3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project
  • the network nodes 310 facilitate direct or indirect connection of User Equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 312A, 312B, 312C, and 312D (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 312) to the core network 306 over one or more wireless connections.
  • UE User Equipment
  • Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors.
  • the communication system 300 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and/or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signals whether via wired or wireless connections.
  • the communication system 300 may include and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and/or other similar type of system.
  • the UEs 312 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 310 and other communication devices.
  • the network nodes 310 are arranged, capable, configured, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 312 and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 302 to enable and/or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and/or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 302.
  • the core network 306 connects the network nodes 310 to one or more hosts, such as host 316. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts.
  • the core network 306 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 308) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and/or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 308.
  • Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-Concealing Function (SIDE), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and/or a User Plane Function (UPF).
  • MSC Mobile Switching Center
  • MME Mobility Management Entity
  • HSS Home Subscriber Server
  • AMF Access and Mobility Management Function
  • SMF Session Management Function
  • AUSF Authentication Server Function
  • SIDE Subscription Identifier De-Concealing Function
  • UDM Unified Data Management
  • SEPP Security Edge Protection Proxy
  • NEF Network Exposure Function
  • UPF User Plane Function
  • the host 316 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 304 and/or the telecommunication network 302, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider.
  • the host 316 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio/video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.
  • the communication system 300 of Figure 3 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts.
  • the communication system 300 may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or other suitable Second, Third, Fourth, or Fifth Generation (2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G) standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., Sixth Generation (6G)); Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and/or any Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.
  • GSM Global System for Mobile Communications
  • UMTS Universal Mobile
  • the telecommunication network 302 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunication network 302 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 302. For example, the telecommunication network 302 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and/or massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC)/massive Internet of Things (loT) services to yet further UEs.
  • URLLC Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication
  • eMBB enhanced Mobile Broadband
  • mMTC massive Machine Type Communication
  • LoT massive Internet of Things
  • the UEs 312 are configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction.
  • a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 304 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 304.
  • a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-Radio Access Technology (RAT) or multi-standard mode.
  • RAT Radio Access Technology
  • a UE may operate with any one or combination of WiFi, New Radio (NR), and LTE, i.e. be configured for Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC), such as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial RAN (E-UTRAN) NR - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).
  • MR-DC Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity
  • E-UTRAN Evolved UMTS Terrestrial RAN
  • EN-DC Dual Connectivity
  • a hub 314 communicates with the access network 304 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 312C and/or 312D) and network nodes (e.g., network node 310B).
  • the hub 314 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs.
  • the hub 314 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 306 for the UEs.
  • the hub 314 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs.
  • the hub 314 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data.
  • the hub 314 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a Virtual Reality (VR) headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 314 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 314 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and/or after adding additional local content.
  • the hub 314 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular in if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.
  • the hub 314 may have a constant/persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 310B.
  • the hub 314 may also allow for a different communication scheme and/or schedule between the hub 314 and UEs (e.g., UE 312C and/or 312D), and between the hub 314 and the core network 306.
  • the hub 314 is connected to the core network 306 and/or one or more UEs via a wired connection.
  • the hub 314 may be configured to connect to a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) service provider over the access network 304 and/or to another UE over a direct connection.
  • M2M Machine-to-Machine
  • UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 310 while still connected via the hub 314 via a wired or wireless connection.
  • the hub 314 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to/from the UEs from/to the network node 310B.
  • the hub 314 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and the network node 310B, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and/or end point for certain data channels.
  • a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged, and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other UEs.
  • a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), wireless camera, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, Laptop Embedded Equipment (LEE), Laptop Mounted Equipment (LME), smart device, wireless Customer Premise Equipment (CPE), vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded/integrated wireless device, etc.
  • Other examples include any UE identified by the 3GPP, including a Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) UE, a Machine Type Communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.
  • NB-IoT Narrowband Internet of Things
  • MTC Machine Type Communication
  • eMTC
  • a UE may support Device-to-Device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), Vehicle-to- Vehicle (V2V), Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I), or Vehicle-to-Every thing (V2X).
  • a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/or operates the relevant device.
  • a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller).
  • a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).
  • the UE 400 includes processing circuitry 402 that is operatively coupled via a bus 404 to an input/output interface 406, a power source 408, memory 410, a communication interface 412, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof.
  • Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 4. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.
  • the processing circuitry 402 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine -readable computer programs in the memory 410.
  • the processing circuitry 402 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines e.g., in discrete logic, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or Digital Signal Processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above.
  • the processing circuitry 402 may include multiple Central Processing Units (CPUs).
  • the input/output interface 406 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and/or output devices.
  • Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof.
  • An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 400.
  • Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like.
  • the presence- sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user.
  • a sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof.
  • An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.
  • USB Universal Serial Bus
  • the power source 408 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used.
  • the power source 408 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 408 itself, and/or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 400 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging the power source 408.
  • Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 408 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 400 to which power is supplied.
  • the memory 410 may be or be configured to include memory such as Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), Programmable ROM (PROM), Erasable PROM (EPROM), Electrically EPROM (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth.
  • the memory 410 includes one or more application programs 414, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 416.
  • the memory 410 may store, for use by the UE 400, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.
  • the memory 410 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, High Density Digital Versatile Disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, Holographic Digital Data Storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini Dual In-line Memory Module (DIMM), Synchronous Dynamic RAM (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as a tamper resistant module in the form of a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) including one or more Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs), such as a Universal SIM (USIM) and/or Internet Protocol Multimedia Services Identity Module (ISIM), other memory, or any combination thereof.
  • RAID Redundant Array of Independent Disks
  • HD-DVD High Density Digital Versatile Disc
  • HDDS Holographic Digital Data Storage
  • DIMM Dual In-line Memory Module
  • the UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as a ‘SIM card.’
  • the memory 410 may allow the UE 400 to access instructions, application programs, and the like stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data.
  • An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system, may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 410, which may be or include a device-readable storage medium.
  • the processing circuitry 402 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 412.
  • the communication interface 412 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 422.
  • the communication interface 412 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network).
  • Each transceiver may include a transmitter 418 and/or a receiver 420 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth).
  • the transmitter 418 and receiver 420 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., the antenna 422) and may share circuit components, software, or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.
  • communication functions of the communication interface 412 may include cellular communication, WiFi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, NFC, location-based communication such as the use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof.
  • GPS Global Positioning System
  • Communications may be implemented according to one or more communication protocols and/or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, NR, UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Quick User Datagram Protocol Internet Connection (QUIC), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.
  • a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 412, or via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE.
  • the output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).
  • periodic e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature
  • random e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors
  • a triggering event e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent
  • a request e.g., a user initiated request
  • a continuous stream e.g., a live video feed of a patient
  • a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection.
  • the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change.
  • the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.
  • a UE when in the form of an loT device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application, and healthcare.
  • Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a television, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door/window sensor, a flood/moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or VR, a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animator item-tracking device, a
  • a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another UE and/or a network node.
  • the UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device.
  • the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard.
  • a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship, an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.
  • a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone.
  • the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g., by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed.
  • the first and/or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above.
  • a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.
  • FIG. 5 shows a network node 500 in accordance with some embodiments.
  • network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and/or with other network nodes or equipment in a telecommunication network.
  • Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, APs (e.g., radio APs), Base Stations (BSs) (e.g., radio BSs, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs), and NR Node Bs (gNBs)).
  • APs e.g., radio APs
  • BSs Base Stations
  • eNBs evolved Node Bs
  • gNBs NR Node Bs
  • BSs may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto BSs, pico BSs, micro BSs, or macro BSs.
  • a BS may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay.
  • a network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio BS such as centralized digital units and/or Remote Radio Units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such RRUs may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio.
  • RRUs Remote Radio Heads
  • Parts of a distributed radio BS may also be referred to as nodes in a Distributed Antenna System (DAS).
  • DAS Distributed Antenna System
  • network nodes include multiple Transmission Point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, Multi-Standard Radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as Radio Network Controllers (RNCs) or BS Controllers (BSCs), Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, Multi-Cell/Multicast Coordination Entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and/or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).
  • MSR Transmission Point
  • MSR Multi-Standard Radio
  • RNCs Radio Network Controllers
  • BSCs Base Transceiver Stations
  • MCEs Multi-Cell/Multicast Coordination Entities
  • OFM Operation and Maintenance
  • OSS Operations Support System
  • SON Self-Organizing Network
  • positioning nodes
  • the network node 500 includes processing circuitry 502, memory 504, a communication interface 506, and a power source 508.
  • the network node 500 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a Node B component and an RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components.
  • the network node 500 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components)
  • one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes.
  • a single RNC may control multiple Node Bs.
  • each unique Node B and RNC pair may in some instances be considered a single separate network node.
  • the network node 500 may be configured to support multiple RATs. In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 504 for different RATs) and some components may be reused e.g., an antenna 510 may be shared by different RATs).
  • the network node 500 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 500, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within the network node 500.
  • the processing circuitry 502 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, CPU, DSP, ASIC, FPGA, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software, and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 500 components, such as the memory 504, to provide network node 500 functionality.
  • the processing circuitry 502 includes a System on a Chip (SOC).
  • the processing circuitry 502 includes one or more of Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 512 and baseband processing circuitry 514.
  • RF Radio Frequency
  • the RF transceiver circuitry 512 and the baseband processing circuitry 514 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units.
  • part or all of the RF transceiver circuitry 512 and the baseband processing circuitry 514 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.
  • the memory 504 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, RAM, ROM, mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD), or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable, and/or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 502.
  • volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, RAM, ROM, mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD), or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable, and/or computer
  • the memory 504 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and/or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 502 and utilized by the network node 500.
  • the memory 504 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 502 and/or any data received via the communication interface 506.
  • the processing circuitry 502 and the memory 504 are integrated.
  • the radio front-end circuitry 518 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection.
  • the radio front-end circuitry 518 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of the filters 520 and/or the amplifiers 522.
  • the radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 510.
  • the antenna 510 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 518.
  • the digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 502.
  • the communication interface 506 may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.
  • the network node 500 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 518; instead, the processing circuitry 502 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 510. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 512 is part of the communication interface 506. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 506 includes the one or more ports or terminals 516, the radio front-end circuitry 518, and the RF transceiver circuitry 512 as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 506 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 514, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).
  • the antenna 510 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals.
  • the antenna 510 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 518 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly.
  • the antenna 510 is separate from the network node 500 and connectable to the network node 500 through an interface or port.
  • the antenna 510, the communication interface 506, and/or the processing circuitry 502 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node 500. Any information, data, and/or signals may be received from a UE, another network node, and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 510, the communication interface 506, and/or the processing circuitry 502 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node 500. Any information, data, and/or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node, and/or any other network equipment.
  • the power source 508 provides power to the various components of the network node 500 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component).
  • the power source 508 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 500 with power for performing the functionality described herein.
  • the network node 500 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid or an electricity outlet) via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 508.
  • the power source 508 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.
  • Embodiments of the network node 500 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 5 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein.
  • the network node 500 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 500 and to allow output of information from the network node 500. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 500.
  • FIG. 6 is a block diagram of a host 600, which may be an embodiment of the host 316 of Figure 3, in accordance with various aspects described herein.
  • the host 600 may be or comprise various combinations of hardware and/or software including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, container, or processing resources in a server farm.
  • the host 600 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.
  • the host 600 includes processing circuitry 602 that is operatively coupled via a bus 604 to an input/output interface 606, a network interface 608, a power source 610, and memory 612.
  • processing circuitry 602 that is operatively coupled via a bus 604 to an input/output interface 606, a network interface 608, a power source 610, and memory 612.
  • Other components may be included in other embodiments. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices of previous figures, such as Figures 4 and 5, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the host 600.
  • the memory 612 may include one or more computer programs including one or more host application programs 614 and data 616, which may include user data, e.g. data generated by a UE for the host 600 or data generated by the host 600 for a UE.
  • Embodiments of the host 600 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown.
  • the host application programs 614 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), VP9) and audio codecs e.g., Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC), Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, and heads-up display systems).
  • VVC Versatile Video Coding
  • HEVC High Efficiency Video Coding
  • AVC Advanced Video Coding
  • MPEG Moving Picture Experts Group
  • VP9 Moving Picture Experts Group
  • audio codecs e.g., Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC), Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711
  • FLAC Free Lossless Audio Codec
  • AAC Advanced Audio Coding
  • the host application programs 614 may also provide for user authentication and licensing checks and may periodically report health, routes, and content availability to a central node, such as a device in or on the edge of a core network. Accordingly, the host 600 may select and/or indicate a different host for Over-The-Top (OTT) services for a UE.
  • the host application programs 614 may support various protocols, such as the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH or MPEG-DASH), etc.
  • FIG. 7 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 700 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized.
  • virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices, and networking resources.
  • virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components.
  • Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more Virtual Machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 700 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host.
  • VMs Virtual Machines
  • the node may be entirely virtualized.
  • Applications 702 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment 700 to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.
  • Hardware 704 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and/or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and/or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input/output interface, and so forth.
  • Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 706 (also referred to as hypervisors or VM Monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 708A and 708B (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 708), and/or perform any of the functions, features, and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein.
  • the virtualization layer 706 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 708.
  • the VMs 708 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking, or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 706.
  • Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 702 may be implemented on one or more of the VMs 708, and the implementations may be made in different ways.
  • Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as Network Function Virtualization (NFV).
  • NFV Network Function Virtualization
  • NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers and customer premise equipment.
  • a VM 708 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non- virtualized machine.
  • Each of the VMs 708, and that part of the hardware 704 that executes that VM be it hardware dedicated to that VM and/or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs 708, forms separate virtual network elements.
  • a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 708 on top of the hardware 704 and corresponds to the application 702.
  • the hardware 704 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components.
  • the hardware 704 may implement some functions via virtualization.
  • the hardware 704 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g., such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 710, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of the applications 702.
  • the hardware 704 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas.
  • Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a RAN or a BS.
  • some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 712 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.
  • Figure 8 shows a communication diagram of a host 802 communicating via a network node 804 with a UE 806 over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments.
  • Example implementations, in accordance with various embodiments, of the UE (such as the UE 312A of Figure 3 and/or the UE 400 of Figure 4), the network node (such as the network node 310A of Figure 3 and/or the network node 500 of Figure 5), and the host (such as the host 316 of Figure 3 and/or the host 600 of Figure 6) discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to Figure 8.
  • embodiments of the host 802 include hardware, such as a communication interface, processing circuitry, and memory.
  • the host 802 also includes software, which is stored in or is accessible by the host 802 and executable by the processing circuitry.
  • the software includes a host application that may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as the UE 806 connecting via an OTT connection 850 extending between the UE 806 and the host 802.
  • a host application may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection 850.
  • the network node 804 includes hardware enabling it to communicate with the host 802 and the UE 806 via a connection 860.
  • the connection 860 may be direct or pass through a core network (like the core network 306 of Figure 3) and/or one or more other intermediate networks, such as one or more public, private, or hosted networks.
  • an intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.
  • the UE 806 includes hardware and software, which is stored in or accessible by the UE 806 and executable by the UE’s processing circuitry.
  • the software includes a client application, such as a web browser or operator-specific “app” that may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via the UE 806 with the support of the host 802.
  • a client application such as a web browser or operator-specific “app” that may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via the UE 806 with the support of the host 802.
  • an executing host application may communicate with the executing client application via the OTT connection 850 terminating at the UE 806 and the host 802.
  • the UE’s client application may receive request data from the host's host application and provide user data in response to the request data.
  • the OTT connection 850 may transfer both the request data and the user data.
  • the UE's client application may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides to the host application
  • the OTT connection 850 may extend via the connection 860 between the host 802 and the network node 804 and via a wireless connection 870 between the network node 804 and the UE 806 to provide the connection between the host 802 and the UE 806.
  • the connection 860 and the wireless connection 870, over which the OTT connection 850 may be provided, have been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host 802 and the UE 806 via the network node 804, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices.
  • the host 802 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application.
  • the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE 806.
  • the user data is associated with a UE 806 that shares data with the host 802 without explicit human interaction.
  • the host 802 initiates a transmission carrying the user data towards the UE 806.
  • the host 802 may initiate the transmission responsive to a request transmitted by the UE 806.
  • the request may be caused by human interaction with the UE 806 or by operation of the client application executing on the UE 806.
  • the transmission may pass via the network node 804 in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Accordingly, in operation 812, the network node 804 transmits to the UE 806 the user data that was carried in the transmission that the host 802 initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In operation 814, the UE 806 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application executed on the UE 806 associated with the host application executed by the host 802.
  • the UE 806 executes a client application which provides user data to the host 802.
  • the user data may be provided in reaction or response to the data received from the host 802.
  • the UE 806 may provide user data, which may be performed by executing the client application.
  • the client application may further consider user input received from the user via an input/output interface of the UE 806. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE 806 initiates, in operation 818, transmission of the user data towards the host 802 via the network node 804.
  • the network node 804 receives user data from the UE 806 and initiates transmission of the received user data towards the host 802.
  • the host 802 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the UE 806.
  • One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 806 using the OTT connection 850, in which the wireless connection 870 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve, e.g., power consumption thereby provide benefits such as, e.g., improved system performance.
  • factory status information may be collected and analyzed by the host 802.
  • the host 802 may process audio and video data which may have been retrieved from a UE for use in creating maps.
  • the host 802 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion e.g., controlling traffic lights).
  • the host 802 may store surveillance video uploaded by a UE.
  • the host 802 may store or control access to media content such as video, audio, VR, or AR which it can broadcast, multicast, or unicast to UEs.
  • the host 802 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time critical electrical load to balance power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as compiling diagrams etc. from data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing, and/or transmitting data.
  • a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency, and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve.
  • the measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 850 may be implemented in software and hardware of the host 802 and/or the UE 806.
  • sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with other devices through which the OTT connection 850 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or by supplying values of other physical quantities from which software may compute or estimate the monitored quantities.
  • the reconfiguring of the OTT connection 850 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing, etc.; the reconfiguring need not directly alter the operation of the network node 804. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art.
  • measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency, and the like by the host 802.
  • the measurements may be implemented in that software causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection 850 while monitoring propagation times, errors, etc.
  • computing devices described herein may include the illustrated combination of hardware components
  • computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components.
  • a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and/or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface.
  • non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.
  • processing circuitry executing instructions stored in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium.
  • some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hardwired manner.
  • the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole and/or by end users and a wireless network generally.
  • Embodiment 1 A method performed by a user equipment, UE, (100; 200), the method comprising: transmitting (106; 204A; 204B), to a network node (102; 202), UE assistance information, UAI, for network power saving.
  • Embodiment 2 The method of embodiment 1 wherein the UAI for network power saving comprises UAI for relaxed scheduler activation.
  • Embodiment 3 The method of embodiment 2 wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises: (a) a maximum permitted delay of the UE (100; 200); (b) a specific data volume for traffic data to be transmitted by the UE (100; 200); (c) a specific data volume for traffic data to be received by the UE (100; 200); (d) a type of traffic data to be transmitted by the UE (100; 200); (e) a type of traffic data to be received by the UE (100; 200); (f) information that describes a packet size distribution or packet size (e.g., average, minimum, maximum, or standard deviation) of packets transmitted by the UE (100; 200); (g) information that describes a packet size or packet size distribution (e.g., average, minimum, maximum, or standard deviation) of packets received by the UE (100; 200); (h) a typical period of traffic data transmitted by the UE (100; 200); (i) a typical period of traffic data received by the UE (
  • Embodiment 4 The method of embodiment 2 or 3 wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation.
  • Embodiment 5 The method of embodiment 2 or 3 wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises only one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation.
  • Embodiment 6 The method of embodiment 4 or 5 wherein the one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation comprised in the UAI vary from one instance of the UAI transmitted at a first time instance and a second instance of the UAI transmitted at a second time instance.
  • Embodiment 7 The method of embodiment 2 or 3 wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises information that indicates multiple traffic types of traffic data transmitted or received by the UE (100; 200).
  • Embodiment 8 The method of embodiment 1 wherein the UAI for network power saving comprises UAI for Quality of Experience, QoE, indication.
  • Embodiment 9 The method of embodiment 8 wherein the UAI for QoE indication comprises one or more QoE values related to one or more applications (e.g., web browsing, video streaming, instant messaging, etc.).
  • Embodiment 10 The method of any of embodiments 1 to 9 wherein the UAI for network power saving further comprises one or more activation timer values.
  • Embodiment 11 The method of embodiment 10 wherein the one or more activation timer values comprise a single activation timer value for all of the UAI for network power saving.
  • Embodiment 12 The method of embodiment 10 wherein the one or more activation timer values comprise different activation timer values for different parts of the UAI for network power saving.
  • Embodiment 13 The method of any of embodiments 1 to 12 wherein the UAI for network power saving further comprises one or more expiration timer values.
  • Embodiment 14 The method of embodiment 13 wherein the one or more expiration timer values comprise a single expiration timer value for all of the UAI for network power saving.
  • Embodiment 15 The method of embodiment 13 wherein the one or more expiration timer values comprise different expiration timer values for different parts of the UAI for network power saving.
  • Embodiment 16 The method of any of embodiments 1 to 15 further comprising detecting (104) a trigger for transmitting the UAI for network power saving, wherein transmitting (106) the UAI for network power saving comprises transmitting (106) the UAI for network power saving responsive to detecting (104) the trigger.
  • Embodiment 17 The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: providing user data; and forwarding the user data to a host via the transmission to the network node.
  • Embodiment 18 A method performed by a network node (102; 202), the method comprising: receiving (106; 204A; 204B), from a user equipment, UE, (100; 200), UE assistance information, UAI, for network power saving; and performing (112; 206A; 206B) one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200).
  • Embodiment 19 The method of embodiment 18 wherein the UAI for network power saving comprises UAI for relaxed scheduler activation.
  • Embodiment 20 The method of embodiment 19 wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises: (a) a maximum permitted delay of the UE (100; 200); (b) a specific data volume for traffic data to be transmitted by the UE (100; 200); (c) a specific data volume for traffic data to be received by the UE (100; 200); (d) a type of traffic data to be transmitted by the UE (100; 200); (e) a type of traffic data to be received by the UE (100; 200); (f) information that describes a packet size distribution or packet size (e.g., average, minimum, maximum, or standard deviation) of packets transmitted by the UE (100; 200); (g) information that describes a packet size or packet size distribution (e.g., average, minimum, maximum, or standard deviation) of packets received by the UE (100; 200); (h) a typical period of traffic data transmitted by the UE (100; 200); (i) a typical period of traffic data received by the UE (
  • Embodiment 21 The method of embodiment 19 or 20 wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation.
  • Embodiment 22 The method of embodiment 19 or 20 wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises only one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation.
  • Embodiment 23 The method of embodiment 21 or 22 wherein the one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation comprised in the UAI vary from one instance of the UAI transmitted at a first time instance and a second instance of the UAI transmitted at a second time instance.
  • Embodiment 24 The method of embodiment 19 or 20 wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises information that indicates multiple traffic types of traffic data transmitted or received by the UE (100; 200).
  • Embodiment 25 The method of embodiment 18 wherein the UAI for network power saving comprises UAI for Quality of Experience, QoE, indication.
  • Embodiment 26 The method of embodiment 25 wherein the UAI for QoE indication comprises one or more QoE values related to one or more applications (e.g., web browsing, video streaming, instant messaging, etc.).
  • applications e.g., web browsing, video streaming, instant messaging, etc.
  • Embodiment 27 The method of any of embodiments 18 to 26 further comprising: starting (108) an activation timer (e.g., upon receiving (106; 204A; 204B) the UAI for network power saving); wherein performing (112; 206 A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200) comprises starting the performing (112; 206A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200) responsive to expiry of the activation timer.
  • an activation timer e.g., upon receiving (106; 204A; 204B) the UAI for network power saving
  • performing (112; 206 A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200) comprises starting the performing (112; 206A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the
  • Embodiment 28 The method of embodiment 27 wherein the UAI for network power saving further comprises an activation timer value for the activation timer.
  • Embodiment 29 The method of any of embodiments 18 to 26 further comprising: starting (108) one or more activation timers for one or more parts of the UAI, respectively, (e.g., upon receiving (106; 204A; 204B) the UAI for network power saving); wherein performing (112; 206A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200) comprises, for each part of the one or more parts of the UAI, starting the performing (112; 206 A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the part of the UAI responsive to expiry of the activation timer associated to the part of the UAI.
  • Embodiment 30 The method of embodiment 29 wherein the UAI for network power saving further comprises one or more activation timer values for the one or more activation timers, respectively.
  • Embodiment 31 The method of any of embodiments 18 to 30 further comprising: starting (110) an expiration timer (e.g., upon receiving (106; 204A; 204B) the UAI for network power saving or upon expiry of an associated activation timer); wherein performing (112; 206A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200) comprises stopping the performing (112; 206A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200) responsive to expiry of the expiration timer.
  • an expiration timer e.g., upon receiving (106; 204A; 204B) the UAI for network power saving or upon expiry of an associated activation timer
  • performing (112; 206A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200) comprises stopping the performing (112; 206A; 206
  • Embodiment 32 The method of embodiment 31 wherein the UAI for network power saving further comprises an expiration timer value for the expiration timer.
  • Embodiment 33 The method of any of embodiments 18 to 30 further comprising: starting (110) one or more expiration timers for one or more parts of the UAI, respectively, (e.g., upon receiving (106; 204A; 204B) the UAI for network power saving or upon expiry of respective activation timers); wherein performing (112; 206A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200) comprises, for each part of the one or more parts of the UAI, stopping the performing (112; 206A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the part of the UAI responsive to expiry of the expiration timer associated to the part of the UAI.
  • Embodiment 34 The method of embodiment 33 wherein the UAI for network power saving further comprises one or more expiration timer values for the one or more expiration timers, respectively.
  • Embodiment 35 The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: obtaining user data; and forwarding the user data to a host or a user equipment.
  • Embodiment 36 A user equipment comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group A embodiments; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.
  • Embodiment 37 A network node comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments; power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.
  • Embodiment 38 A user equipment (UE) comprising: an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals; radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry; the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group A embodiments; an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.
  • UE user equipment
  • Embodiment 39 A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises a communication interface and processing circuitry, the communication interface and processing circuitry of the UE being configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group A embodiments to receive the user data from the host.
  • OTT over-the-top
  • Embodiment 40 The host of the previous embodiment, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit the user data to the UE from the host.
  • Embodiment 41 The host of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.
  • Embodiment 42 A method implemented by a host operating in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: providing user data for the UE; and initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the network node, wherein the UE performs any of the operations of any of the Group A embodiments to receive the user data from the host.
  • UE user equipment
  • Embodiment 43 The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising: at the host, executing a host application associated with a client application executing on the UE to receive the user data from the UE.
  • Embodiment 44 The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising: [0146] at the host, transmitting input data to the client application executing on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application, wherein the user data is provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application.
  • Embodiment 45 A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises a communication interface and processing circuitry, the communication interface and processing circuitry of the UE being configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group A embodiments to transmit the user data to the host.
  • OTT over-the-top
  • Embodiment 46 The host of the previous embodiment, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit the user data from the UE to the host.
  • Embodiment 47 The host of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.
  • Embodiment 48 A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host, receiving user data transmitted to the host via the network node by the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the operations of any of the Group A embodiments to transmit the user data to the host.
  • UE user equipment
  • Embodiment 49 The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising: at the host, executing a host application associated with a client application executing on the UE to receive the user data from the UE.
  • Embodiment 50 The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising: at the host, transmitting input data to the client application executing on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application, wherein the user data is provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application.
  • Embodiment 51 A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a network node in a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.
  • OTT over-the-top
  • Embodiment 52 The host of the previous embodiment, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application that provides the user data; and the UE comprises processing circuitry configured to execute a client application associated with the host application to receive the transmission of user data from the host.
  • Embodiment 53 A method implemented in a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: providing user data for the UE; and initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the network node, wherein the network node performs any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.
  • UE user equipment
  • Embodiment 54 The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising, at the network node, transmitting the user data provided by the host for the UE.
  • Embodiment 55 The method of any of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein the user data is provided at the host by executing a host application that interacts with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.
  • Embodiment 56 A communication system configured to provide an over-the-top service, the communication system comprising: a host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data for a user equipment (UE), the user data being associated with the over-the-top service; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data toward a cellular network node for transmission to the UE, the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.
  • a host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data for a user equipment (UE), the user data being associated with the over-the-top service; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data toward a cellular network node for transmission to the UE, the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the
  • Embodiment 57 The communication system of the previous embodiment, further comprising: the network node; and/or the user equipment.
  • Embodiment 58 A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to initiate receipt of user data; and a network interface configured to receive the user data from a network node in a cellular network, the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to receive the user data from a user equipment (UE) for the host.
  • OTT over-the-top
  • Embodiment 59 The host of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.
  • Embodiment 60 The host of the any of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein the initiating receipt of the user data comprises requesting the user data.
  • Embodiment 61 A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host, initiating receipt of user data from the UE, the user data originating from a transmission which the network node has received from the UE, wherein the network node performs any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to receive the user data from the UE for the host.
  • UE user equipment
  • Embodiment 62 The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising at the network node, transmitting the received user data to the host.

Abstract

Disclosed are methods, apparatuses, and computer readable media for reducing the power consumption of cellular networks. In one aspect, a method performed by a user equipment (UE) includes: detecting a trigger for transmitting a UE assistance information (UAI) for network power saving; and transmitting to a network node, in response to detecting the trigger, UAI for network power saving. In some embodiments, the UAI for network power saving includes UAI for relaxed scheduler activation.

Description

ASSISTANCE INFORMATION FOR NETWORK POWER SAVING
Related Applications
[0001] This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application serial number 63/336,105, filed April 28, 2022, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
Technical Field
[0002] The present disclosure relates to methods, apparatuses, and computer readable media for reducing the power consumption of cellular networks.
Background
[0003] Energy consumption is a challenge in cellular systems including the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Fifth Generation (5G) system. The main power consumption in the 5G system comes from the radio of the Radio Access Network (RAN). The network power consumption for 5G New Radio (NR) is said to be less compared to Long Term Evolution (LTE) because of its lean design. In the current implementation, however, NR will most likely consume more power than LTE due to the higher bandwidth and other new performanceenhancing features that contribute additional energy consumption. As the network is expected to be able to support the User Equipment (UE) with its maximum capability (e.g., throughput, coverage, etc.), the network may need to use a full capability configuration even when maximum support from the network support is not actually, or is rarely, needed by the UE. The network needs to know what network capability the UE is actually needs to avoid a full capability configuration and save energy when less than full capability is enough for the UE. [0004] 3GPP introduces a UE-based support mechanism through UE Assistance Information (UAI). In this mechanism, a UE can send its preference for several Radio Resource Control (RRC) parameters, including parameters related to Discontinuous Reception (DRX) configuration, bandwidth (BW), the number of serving cells, etc. The limit on how frequently the UE can send UAI is determined by a prohibit timer set by the network for each UAI item. The network, then, can configure the UE according to its preferred configurations whenever possible. It should be noted, that the network also evaluates its own considerations before following the configurations suggested by the UE.
[0005] The complete UAI available for a UE can be seen in UEAssistancelnformation information element captured in the following excerpt from 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.331 V17.0.0 Section 6.2.2. *****START EXCERPT FROM 3GPP TS 38.331*****
The UEAssistancelnformation message is used for the indication of UE assistance information to the network.
Signalling radio bearer: SRB 1
RLC-SAP: AM
Logical channel: DCCH
Direction: UE to Network
UEAssistancelnformation message
ASN1 START
- TAG-UEASSISTANCEINFORMATION-START
UEAssistancelnformation ::= SEQUENCE { critical Extensions CHOICE { ueAssistancelnformation UEAssistancelnformation-IEs, critical ExtensionsFuture SEQUENCE {}
UEAssistancelnformation-IEs ::= SEQUENCE ! delayBudgetReport Delay BudgetReport OPTIONAL, lateNonCriticalExtension OCTET STRING OPTIONAL, nonCritical Extension UEAssistancelnformation-v1540-IEs OPTIONAL
DelayBudgetReport: := CHOICE { typel ENUMERATED { msMinus1280, msMinus640, msMinus320, msMinus160,msMinus80, msMinus60, msMinus40, msMinus20, msO, ms20,ms40, ms60, ms80, ms160, ms320, ms640, ms1280},
UEAssistancel nformation-v1540-I Es SEQUENCE ! overheatingAssistance OverheatingAssistance OPTIONAL, nonCritical Extension UEAssistancel nformation-v16xy-IEs OPTIONAL
OverheatingAssistance ::= SEQUENCE ! reducedMaxCCs SEQUENCE ! reducedCCsDL INTEGER (0..31), reducedCCsUL INTEGER (0..31)
} OPTIONAL, reducedMaxBW-FR1 SEQUENCE ! reducedBW-FR1-DL ReducedAggregatedBandwidth, reducedBW-FR1-UL ReducedAggregatedBandwidth
} OPTIONAL, reducedMaxBW-FR2 SEQUENCE ! reducedBW-FR2-DL ReducedAggregatedBandwidth, reducedBW-FR2-UL ReducedAggregatedBandwidth
} OPTIONAL, reducedMaxMlMO-LayersFRI SEQUENCE { reducedMIMO-LayersFR1-DL MIMO-LayersDL, reducedMIMO-LayersFR1-UL MIMO-LayersUL
} OPTIONAL, reducedMaxMIMO-LayersFR2 SEQUENCE ! reducedMIMO-LayersFR2-DL MIMO-LayersDL, reducedMIMO-LayersFR2-UL MIMO-LayersUL
} OPTIONAL
ReducedAggregatedBandwidth ::= ENUMERATED {mhzO, mhz10, mhz20, mhz30, mhz40, mhz50, mhz60, mhz80, mhzIOO, mhz200, mhz300, mhz400}
UEAssistancelnformation-v16xy-IEs SEQUENCE ! idc-Assistance-r16 IDC-Assistance-r16 OPTIONAL, drx-Preference-r16 DRX-Preference-r16 OPTIONAL, maxBW-Preference-r16 MaxBW-Preference-r16 OPTIONAL, maxCC-Preference-r16 MaxCC-Preference-r16 OPTIONAL, maxMl MO-LayerPreference-r16 MaxMl MO-LayerPreference-r16 OPTIONAL, minSchedulingOffsetPreference-r16 MinSchedulingOffsetPreference-r16 OPTIONAL, releasePreference-r16 ReleasePreference-r16 OPTIONAL, sl-UE-AssistancelnformationNR-r16 SL-UE-AssistancelnformationNR-r16 OPTIONAL, nonCriticalExtension SEQUENCE {} OPTIONAL
IDC-Assistance-r16 ::= SEQUENCE { affectedCarrierFreqList-r16 AffectedCarrierFreqList-r16 OPTIONAL, affectedCarrierFreqCombList-r16 AffectedCarrierFreqCombList-r16 OPTIONAL,
AffectedCarrierFreqList-r16 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1.. maxFreqlDC-r16)) OF AffectedCarrierFreq-r16
AffectedCarrierFreq-r16 ::= SEQUENCE { carrierFreq-r16 ARFCN-ValueNR, interferenceDirection-r16 ENUMERATED {nr, other, both, spare}
AffectedCarrierFreqCombList-r16 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxComblDC-r16)) OF
AffectedCarrierFreqComb-r16
AffectedCarrierFreqComb-r16 ::= SEQUENCE } affectedCarrierFreqComb-r16 SEQUENCE (SIZE (2..maxNrofServingCells)) OF ARFCN-ValueNR
OPTIONAL, victimSystemType-r16 Victi mSystemT y pe -r 16
VictimSystemType-r16 ::= SEQUENCE { gps-r16 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, glonass-r16 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, bds-r16 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, galileo-r16 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, navlC-r16 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, wlan-r16 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL, bluetooth-r16 ENUMERATED {true} OPTIONAL,
DRX-Preference-r16 ::= SEQUENCE { preferredDRX-lnactivityTimer-r16 ENUMERATED { msO, ms1 , ms2, ms3, ms4, ms5, ms6, ms8, ms10, ms20, ms30, ms40, ms50, ms60, ms80, ms100, ms200, ms300, ms500, ms750, ms1280, ms1920, ms2560, spare9, spare8, spare/, spare6, spare5, spare4, spare3, spare2, sparel} OPTIONAL, preferredDRX-LongCycle-r16 ENUMERATED { ms10, ms20, ms32, ms40, ms60, ms64, ms70, ms80, ms128, ms160, ms256, ms320, ms512, ms640, ms1024, ms1280, ms2048, ms2560, ms5120, ms10240, spare12, sparel 1 , sparel 0, spare9, spare8, spare/, spare6, spare5, spare4, spare3, spare2, sparel } OPTIONAL, preferred DRX-ShortCycle-r16 ENUMERATED { ms2, ms3, ms4, ms5, ms6, ms7, ms8, ms10, ms14, ms16, ms20, ms30, ms32, ms35, ms40, ms64, ms80, ms128, ms160, ms256, ms320, ms512, ms640, spare9, spare8, spare/, spare6, spare5, spare4, spare3, spare2, sparel } OPTIONAL, preferredDRX-ShortCycleTimer-r16 INTEGER (1..16) OPTIONAL
MaxBW-Preference-r16 ::= SEQUENCE } reducedMaxBW-FR1-r16 SEQUENCE } reducedBW-FR1-DL-r16 ReducedAggregated Bandwidth reducedBW-FR1-UL-r16 ReducedAggregated Bandwidth
} OPTIONAL, reducedMaxBW-FR2-r16 SEQUENCE } reducedBW-FR2-DL-r16 ReducedAggregated Bandwidth reducedBW-FR2-UL-r16 ReducedAggregated Bandwidth
} OPTIONAL
MaxCC-Preference-r16 ::= SEQUENCE } reducedCCsDL-r16 INTEGER (0..31), reducedCCsUL-r16 INTEGER (0..31)
MaxMIMO-LayerPreference-r16 ::= SEQUENCE } reducedMaxMIMO-LayersFR1-r16 SEQUENCE } reducedMI MO-LayersFR1 -DL-r 16 INTEGER (1..8), reducedMI MO-LayersFR1 -UL-r 16 INTEGER (1..4)
{ OPTIONAL, reducedMaxMIMO-LayersFR2-r16 SEQUENCE { reducedMIMO-LayersFR2-DL-r16 INTEGER (1..8), reducedMIMO-LayersFR2-UL-r16 INTEGER (1..4)
[ OPTIONAL
MinSchedulingOffsetPreference-r16 SEQUENCE ! preferred K0-r16 SEQUENCE ! preferredK0-SCS-15kHz-r16 ENUMERATED {sl1 , sl2, sl4, sl6[ OPTIONAL, preferredK0-SCS-30kHz-r16 ENUMERATED {sl1 , sl2, sl4, sl6[ OPTIONAL, preferredK0-SCS-60kHz-r16 ENUMERATED {sl2, sl4, sl8, sl12[ OPTIONAL, preferredK0-SCS-120kHz-r16 ENUMERATED {sl2, sl4, sl8, s!12[ OPTIONAL
[ OPTIONAL, preferred K2-r16 SEQUENCE { preferredK2-SCS-15kHz-r16 ENUMERATED {si 1 , sl2, sl4, sl6[ OPTIONAL, preferred K2-SCS-30kHz-r16 ENUMERATED {si 1 , sl2, sl4, sl6[ OPTIONAL, preferred K2-SCS-60kHz-r16 ENUMERATED {sl2, sl4, sl8, sl12[ OPTIONAL, preferredK2-SCS-120kHz-r16 ENUMERATED {sl2, sl4, sl8, s!12[ OPTIONAL
[ OPTIONAL
ReleasePreference-r16 ::= SEQUENCE ! preferred RRC-State-r16 ENUMERATED {idle, inactive, connected} OPTIONAL
SL-UE-AssistancelnformationNR-r16 ::= SEQUENCE (SIZE (1..maxNrofTrafficPattern-r16)) OF TrafficPatternlnfo-r16
TrafficPatternlnfo-r16::= SEQUENCE ! trafficPeriodicity-r16 ENUMERATED { ms20,ms50, ms100, ms200, ms300, ms400, ms500, ms600, ms700, ms800, ms900, ms1000}, timingOffset-r16 INTEGER (0..10239) OPTIONAL, messageSize-r16 BIT STRING (SIZE (8)) OPTIONAL, sl-QoS-Flowldentity-r16 SL-QoS-Flowldentity-r16 OPTIONAL
- TAG-UEASSISTANCEINFORMATION-STOP
ASN1 STOP
*****END EXCERPT FROM 3GPP TS 38.331*****
[0006] Below is an example of the UAI procedures in 3GPP TS 38.331 Section 5.7.4. The example is for Connected-mode DRX (CDRX) UAI. Similar UAI procedures for other parameters can also be found in the same section.
*****START EXCERPT FROM 3GPP TS 38.331*****
5.7.4.2 Initiation ctext omitted>
Upon initiating the procedure, the UE shall: ctext omitted>
1 >if configured to provide its preference on DRX parameters for power saving:
2> if the UE did not transmit a UEAssistancelnformation message with drx- Preference since it was configured to provide its preference on DRX parameters for power saving; or
2> if the current preference on DRX parameters is different from the one indicated in the last transmission of the UEAssistancelnformation message including drx- Preference and timer T346a is not running:
3>start timer T346a with the timer value set to the drx-PreferenceProhibitTimer
3>initiate transmission of the UEAssistancelnformation message in accordance with 5.7.4.3 to provide its preference on DRX parameters for power saving; ctext omitted>
5.7.4.3 Actions related to transmission of UEAssistancelnformation message
The UE shall set the contents of the UEAssistancelnformation message as follows ctext omitted>
1 >if transmission of the UEAssistancelnformation message is initiated to provide its preference on DRX parameters for power saving according to 5.7.4.2: 2>include drx-Preference in the UEAssistancelnformation message;
2>set preferredDRX-LongCycle to a desired value;
2>set preferredDRX-lnactivityTimerto a desired value;
2>set preferredDRX-ShortCycle to a desired value;
2> set preferredDRX-ShortCycleTimer to a desired value;
*****END EXCERPT FROM 3GPP TS 38.331*****
[0007] There are currently exist certain challenges in reducing the power consumption of cellular networks. In particular, new techniques are needed to reduce power consumption by both UEs and, in particular, in the network equipment.
Summary
[0008] Disclosed are methods, apparatuses, and computer readable media for reducing the power consumption of cellular networks. In one aspect, a method performed by a user equipment (UE) includes detecting a trigger for transmitting a UE assistance information (UAI) for network power saving, and transmitting to a network node, in response to detecting the trigger, UAI for network power saving. Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantages. Using the disclosed embodiments, the network node may acquire additional information such as UAI from a UE to make network adjustments for network node power-saving such as time to sleep, reduced carrier power, Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) sleep, or carrier deactivation, without compromising UE performance.
[0001] In some embodiments, the UAI for network power saving includes UAI for relaxed scheduler activation. In some embodiments, the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation includes: (a) a maximum permitted delay of the UE; (b) a specific data volume for traffic data to be transmitted by the UE; (c) a specific data volume for traffic data to be received by the UE; (d) a type of traffic data to be transmitted by the UE; (e) a type of traffic data to be received by the UE; (f) information that describes a packet size distribution or packet size including an average, a minimum, a maximum, or a standard deviation of packets transmitted by the UE; (g) information that describes a packet size or packet size distribution including an average, a minimum, a maximum, or a standard deviation of packets received by the UE; (h) a typical period of traffic data transmitted by the UE; (i) a typical period of traffic data received by the UE; (j) a jitter tolerance of traffic data transmitted by the UE; (k) a jitter tolerance of traffic data received by the UE; (1) a User Throughput (UPT) target of traffic data transmitted by the UE; (m) a UPT target of traffic data received by the UE; (n) one or more Quality of Service (QoS) characteristics of traffic data transmitted by the UE; (o) one or more QoS characteristics of traffic data received by the UE; or (p) a combination of any two or more of (a)-(o).
[0002] In some embodiments, the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation includes one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation. In some embodiments, the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation includes only one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation. In some embodiments, the one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation in the UAI vary from one instance of the UAI transmitted at a first time instance and a second instance of the UAI transmitted at a second time instance. In some embodiments, the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation includes information that indicates multiple traffic types of traffic data transmitted or received by the UE. In some embodiments, the UAI for network power saving includes UAI for Quality of Experience (QoE) indication. In some embodiments, the UAI for the QoE indication includes one or more QoE values related to one or more applications including web browsing, video streaming, instant messaging, or another application.
[0003] In some embodiments, the UAI for network power saving further includes one or more activation timer values. In some embodiments, the one or more activation timer values include a single activation timer value for all of the UAI for network power saving. In some embodiments, the one or more activation timer values include different activation timer values for different parts of the UAI for network power saving.
[0004] In some embodiments, the UAI for network power saving further includes one or more expiration timer values. In some embodiments, the one or more expiration timer values include a single expiration timer value for all of the UAI for network power saving. In some embodiments, the one or more expiration timer values include different expiration timer values for different parts of the UAI for network power saving.
[0005] In some embodiments, the method further includes providing user data; and forwarding the user data to a host via the transmission to the network node.
[0006] In another aspect, a method is performed by a network node. The method includes receiving from a UE, UAI for network power saving; and performing one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE.
[0007] In some embodiments, the UAI for network power saving includes UAI for relaxed scheduler activation. In some embodiments, the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation includes: (a) a maximum permitted delay of the UE; (b) a specific data volume for traffic data to be transmitted by the UE; (c) a specific data volume for traffic data to be received by the UE; (d) a type of traffic data to be transmitted by the UE; (e) a type of traffic data to be received by the UE; (f) information that describes a packet size distribution or packet size including an average, a minimum, a maximum, or a standard deviation of packets transmitted by the UE; (g) information that describes a packet size or packet size distribution including an average, a minimum, a maximum, or a standard deviation of packets received by the UE; (h) a typical period of traffic data transmitted by the UE; (i) a typical period of traffic data received by the UE; (j) a jitter tolerance of traffic data transmitted by the UE; (k) a jitter tolerance of traffic data received by the UE; (1) a UPT target of traffic data transmitted by the UE; (m) a UPT target of traffic data received by the UE; (n) one or more QoS characteristics of traffic data transmitted by the UE; (o) one or more QoS characteristics of traffic data received by the UE; or (p) a combination of any two or more of (a)-(o).
[0008] In some embodiments, the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation includes one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation. In some embodiments, the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation includes only one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation. In some embodiments, the one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation in the UAI vary from one instance of the UAI transmitted at a first time instance and a second instance of the UAI transmitted at a second time instance. In some embodiments, the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation includes information that indicates multiple traffic types of traffic data transmitted or received by the UE. In some embodiments, the UAI for network power saving includes UAI for QoE indication. In some embodiments, the UAI for QoE indication includes one or more QoE values related to one or more applications including web browsing, video streaming, instant messaging, or another application.
[0009] In some embodiments, the method further includes starting an activation timer upon receiving the UAI for network power saving, wherein performing the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE includes starting the performing the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE responsive to expiry of the activation timer. In some embodiments, the UAI for network power saving further includes an activation timer value for the activation timer.
[0010] In some embodiments, the method further includes starting one or more activation timers for one or more parts of the UAI including upon receiving the UAI for network power saving, wherein performing the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE includes, for each part of the one or more parts of the UAI, starting the performing the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the part of the UAI responsive to expiry of the activation timer associated to the part of the UAI. In some embodiments, the UAI for network power saving further includes one or more activation timer values for the one or more activation timers.
[0011] In some embodiments, the method further includes starting an expiration timer upon receiving the UAI for network power saving or upon expiry of an associated activation timer, wherein performing the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE includes stopping the performing the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE responsive to expiry of the expiration timer. In some embodiments, the UAI for network power saving further includes an expiration timer value for the expiration timer.
[0012] In some embodiments, the method further includes starting one or more expiration timers for one or more parts of the UAI, respectively, upon receiving the UAI for network power saving or upon expiry of respective activation timers, wherein performing the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE includes, for each part of the one or more parts of the UAI, stopping the performing the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the part of the UAI responsive to expiry of the expiration timer associated to the part of the UAI. In some embodiments, the UAI for network power saving further includes one or more expiration timer values for the one or more expiration timers, respectively.
[0013] In yet another aspect, a user equipment includes receiver circuitry and processing circuitry associated with the receiver circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to cause the second network node apparatus to at least detect a trigger for transmitting a UAI for network power saving and transmit, to a network node, in response to detecting the trigger, UAI for network power saving.
[0014] In yet another aspect, a network node includes receiver circuitry and processing circuitry associated with the receiver circuitry. The processing circuitry is configured to cause the second network node to at least receive, from a user equipment, UE, UAI for network power saving and perform one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE.
Brief Description of the Drawings
[0009] The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part of this specification illustrate several aspects of the disclosure, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.
[0010] Figure 1 illustrates the operation of a User Equipment (UE) and a network node such as a base station.
[0011] Figure 2 shows examples of UE Assistance Information (UAI) that supports a low energy scheduler operation, in accordance with some embodiments.
[0012] Figure 3 shows an example of a communication system, in accordance with some embodiments.
[0013] Figure 4 shows a UE, in accordance with some embodiments.
[0014] Figure 5 shows a network node, in accordance with some embodiments.
[0015] Figure 6 shows a block diagram of a host 600, in accordance with some embodiments.
[0016] Figure 7 shows a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized, in accordance with some embodiments.
[0017] Figure 8 shows a communication diagram of a host communicating via a network node with a UE over a partially wireless connection, in accordance with some embodiments.
Detailed Description
[0018] The embodiments set forth below represent information to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments and illustrate the best mode of practicing the embodiments. Upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawing figures, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the disclosure and will recognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressed herein. It should be understood that these concepts and applications fall within the scope of the disclosure.
[0019] There are challenges to reducing network power consumption and increasing power efficiency. Most User Equipment (UE) Assistance Information (UAI) is used for saving UE power, e.g., Discontinuous Reception (DRX) parameters, maximum aggregated bandwidth, number of secondary components carriers, number of Multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO) layers, etc. While these preferences provide a good tool for the UE to inform the network about power-consumption friendly configuration for most applications, these parameters are designed mainly for UE power saving and do not consider network power saving. Although the existing UAI preferences can be exploited for network power saving, the existing UAI does not provide a full set of parameters that are needed for network power saving. Furthermore, a UE typically has a good knowledge about the traffic types and the channel conditions which can help the network to perform a power saving configuration, e.g., relax scheduler activation and Quality of Experience (QoE) indicator. However, the foregoing features are not included in the current UAI. As such there is a need for mechanisms which allow a UE to provide the relevant assistance information to the network to enable network power saving.
[0020] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. Embodiments of systems and methods in which a UE can provide UE assistance information for network power saving purposes, such as UAI for relaxed scheduler activation and/or QoE indication are disclosed herein.
[0021] Herein, a scenario is considered in which a UE is configured with UAI for network power saving, where the UAI for network power saving may include: UAI for relaxed scheduler activation and/or UAI for QoE indication. Specifically, the interest here is to develop UAI for network power saving such that the network can decide to determine parameters related to relaxed scheduler activation and/or QoE indication.
[0022] Figure 1 illustrates the operation of a UE 100 and a network node 102 (e.g., a base station such as, e.g., a gNB or a network node that implements some of the functionality of a base station, e.g., a gNB Distrusted Unit (gNB-DU) or a gNB Central Unit (gNB-CU)).
Optional operations are represented by dashed lines/boxes. As illustrated, the UE 100 may detect a trigger for sending UAI for network power saving (operation 104). The UE sends (e.g., responsive to the trigger detected in operation 104), to the network node 102, UAI for network power saving (operation 106). As discussed below in detail, the UAI for network power saving may include, in some embodiments, UAI for relaxed scheduler activation, UAI for QoE indication, or both UAI for relaxed scheduler activation and UAI for QoE indication. Optionally, the network node 102 starts an activation timer (operation 108) and/or starts an expiration timer (110). Note that, if both timers are used, then the network node 102 may start the expiration timer at the same time that the activation timer is started in which case the expiration timer would preferably be initialized to a value that is greater than the initial value of the activation timer or the expiration timer may be started at expiration of the activation timer. As described below, if used, the activation timer defines when the network node is to start to use the UAI received in operation 106 and the expiration timer defines when the network node is to stop using the UAI received in operation 106. The network node 102 performs one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI for network power saving received from the UE 100 (operation 112). The network node 102 may, in one embodiment, start performing the one or more actions based on the received UAI upon expiration of the activation timer (if one is used) and/or stop performing the one or more actions based on the received UAI upon expiration of the expiration timer (if one is used). Note that while a single activation timer and a single expiration timer are shown in the example of Figure 1 , in another embodiment, different parts of the received UAI may have different activation timers and/or different expiration timers, as described below in detail.
[0023] Further details are provided below for a number of example embodiments. While described under separate headings, these embodiments may be used separately or in any desired combination.
UAI for Relaxed Scheduler Activation
[0024] To save the power of either or both the UE and the network, the UE may be configured to provide UAI for relaxed scheduler activation. The UE may provide information related to the maximum permitted delay, type of traffic data, etc. As the UE typically has good knowledge about the type of traffic data, the volume of data, how long it can afford a delay, etc., it would be beneficial for the network if the UE could indicate such information to the network e.g., via UAI.
[0025] It is important to note that one principal difference between network power saving oriented use of the UAI for network power saving and UE power saving oriented use of UAI e.g., existing UAI) is that, for network power saving, the objective is to find opportunities for sparse and compact scheduling of data for one or more UEs without violating relevant quality metrics for those UEs, while previously presented UE power saving oriented solutions focused on configuring individual UEs with suitable Connected-mode DRX (CDRX) patterns to maximize UE off-duration and inactive state durations.
[0026] Figure 2 shows examples of UAI that support low energy scheduler operation, in accordance with one example embodiment of the present disclosure. In Figure 2 at 210, a UE 200 indicates to a New Radio (NR) base station (gNB) 202 a delay tolerance of 20ms (operation 204A). The gNB 202 determines additional sleep time (e.g., micro-sleep or light-sleep) based on the received UAI and operates accordingly (operation 206A). If needed, the network (e.g., gNB 202) may also set a schedule for this UE 200 such that the schedule is aligned with Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) transmissions, and by doing so, the network (e.g., gNB 202) may gain additional sleep time e.g., light sleep if there are no other activities in between, or micro sleep if there are other activities in between. In another example embodiment, as illustrated in Figure 2 at 220, the UE 200 transmits UAI including a specific data volume (operation 204B), then the gNB 202 decides to save power by reducing the number of MIMO layers such that it can go to some MIMO sleep mode through deactivation of certain transceiver branches by deactivating some of the carriers, or performing similar actions, and operates accordingly (operation 206B).
[0027] The UE (e.g., UE 202) can be configured to provide UAI to the network (e.g., gNB 202) concerning the relaxed scheduler activation such that:
(a) The UE may provide only one or multiple parameters relevant to the relaxed scheduler activation. This allows for a flexible solution in which the parameters are independent of each other. For example, if at one instant of time the UE only requires low data arrival, the corresponding UAI will contain the information about the packet data size only. However, if at the next time instant the UE requires high data arrival, the corresponding UAI may contain multiple parameters such as packet data size, maximum permitted delay, and type of traffic data.
(b) Conflicts with different UAIs are avoided. In order to avoid conflicts with different UAIs, the UAI may provide an activation timer such that UAI can only activate after timer expiration after the network received the previous UAI. In addition, the UAI may also provide an expiration timer as an additional feature to avoid conflict with the next UAI arrival. [0028] In addition, the UE (e.g., UE 202) may provide description of packet size distribution such as average, minimum, maximum, or standard deviation. Furthermore, the traffic type may include typical period, jitter tolerance, User Throughput (UPT) Target, etc. The traffic type can be described as PC5 5QI (PQI) value for PC5 Quality of Service (QoS) characteristics in Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Technical Specification (TS) 23.287 (see, e.g., V17.2.0). There are different solutions for allowing the UE to indicate the traffic type related parameters via UAL
[0029] In some embodiments, some of the above parameters may be specified with more than one value. To indicate typical packet sizes the indication may include fixed size indicator (average or maximum), or describe a distribution (avg /min /max/ standard deviation), or include a distribution class/parameter. The multiple parameters may be provided as part of a single UAI report or as individual UAI reports. Similarly, the permitted delay indication may also include multiple acceptance/preference levels, in addition to the absolute maximum permitted delay. [0030] In another embodiment, the traffic type indication may be a single traffic type identifier (e.g., index to a predefined table) where each traffic type is associated with previously defined typical parameters.
[0031] In another embodiment, the traffic type may be conveyed by providing a set of multiple parameters to describe the traffic use case, e.g., TypicalSize (or a range/distribution), TypicalPeriod (or a range/distribution), DelayTolerance (may be same as MaxDelay), JitterTolerance, UPTTarget, etc.
[0032] Furthermore, in one embodiment, the UAI format allows the UE to indicate multiple different traffic types to convey info about multiple ongoing flows or bearers.
[0033] In one embodiment, the UE may "directly” provide a set of UAI parameters per a 5G QoS flow. For example, the UE may “directly” provide a tolerable delay for a certain specific 5G QoS Indicator (5QI) value. This solution is suitable if the lower layers of the RAN node are aware of various 5G flows.
[0034] In another embodiment, the UE may “indirectly” provide a set of UAI parameters per a 5G QoS flow by specifying different values per Data Radio Bearer (DRB), which the lower layers understand. This solution is suitable if the lower layers of the RAN node are not aware of various 5G flows, which is typically the case. The UE may know which DRBs are associated with which flows (how flows are mapped to DRBs). As a result, if the UE provides the UAI parameters per the DRB, then the gNB can behave differently per such DRB. For example, the UE might tolerate a larger delay on certain DRBs compared to other DRBs and provide such information to the gNB. Consequently, the gNB may postpone the scheduling of a UE with respect to the specific DRB until enough data is available for that DRB. Conversely, the gNB may activate more resources (e.g., MIMO, or carrier aggregation) when scheduling data that is relevant for other DRBs that have a low delay tolerance. Here, the UE could send several values for each parameter in a single transmission, either higher or lower than the currently configured value for the Network (NW). This is useful, e.g., in applications where the type of traffic data, volume of data, and delay are more dynamic, and thus it makes sense that the UE is able to indicate its preferred parameters. For example, the NW may receive suggestions from the UE such that it is able to configure multiple maximum permitted delay (MaxDelay Threshold) at different times using only UAI shown below:
UEAssistancelnformation message
- ASN1 START
- TAG-UEASSISTANCEINFORMATION-START
UEAssistancelnformation ::= SEQUENCE { critical Extensions CHOICE { ueAssistancelnformation UEAssistancelnformation-IEs, critical ExtensionsFuture SEQUENCE {}
UEAssistancelnformation-IEs ::= SEQUENCE ! delayBudgetReport Delay BudgetReport OPTIONAL, late NonCriticalExtension OCTET STRING OPTIONAL, nonCriticalExtension UEAssistancelnformation-v1540-IEs OPTIONAL
UEAssistancelnformation-v1610-IEs ::= SEQUENCE ! idc-Assistance-r16 IDC-Assistance-r16 OPTIONAL, drx-Preference-r16 DRX-Preference-r16 OPTIONAL, maxBW-Preference-r16 MaxBW-Preference-r16 OPTIONAL, maxCC-Preference-r16 MaxCC-Preference-r16 OPTIONAL, maxMl MO-LayerPreference-r16 MaxMl MO-LayerPreference-r16 OPTIONAL, minSchedulingOffsetPreference-r16 MinSchedulingOffsetPreference-r16 OPTIONAL, releasePreference-r16 ReleasePreference-r16 OPTIONAL, sl-UE-AssistancelnformationNR-r16 SL-UE-AssistancelnformationNR-r16 OPTIONAL, referenceTimelnfoPreference-r16 BOOLEAN OPTIONAL, nonCriticalExtension UEAssistancelnformation-v18xy-IEs OPTIONAL
UEAssistancelnformation-v18xy-IEs ::= SEQUENCE { maxDelayThreshold-r18 MaxDelayThreshold-r18 OPTIONAL, nonCriticalExtension SEQUENCE {} OPTIONAL
MaxDelayThreshold-r18 ::= SEQUENCE { delayO ENUMERATED {msO, ms10, ms20, ms30} OPTIONAL, actimerO ENUMERATED {msO, rnsl OOO, ms2000, ms3000} OPTIONAL, extimerO ENUMERATED {min5, minW, mini 5, min20} OPTIONAL, delayl ENUMERATED {msO, ms10, ms20, ms30} OPTIONAL, actimerl ENUMERATED {msO, rnsl OOO, ms2000, ms3000} OPTIONAL, extimerl ENUMERATED {min5, minW, mini 5, min20} OPTIONAL,
-- TAG-UEASSISTANCEINFORMATION-STOP
- ASN1 STOP E Assistancein formation field descriptions |
Figure imgf000018_0001
i Indicates maximum permitted delay and the validity period of the UAI message for i ongoing flows or bearers; delayO and delayl specify the maximum permitted delay for i i two different flows/bearers; actimerO and actimerl specify when the UAI message i sent by the UE starts to be applicable for two different flows/bearers; extimerO and i extimerl specify for how long upon the values specified by actimerO and actimerl, i respectively the UAI message sent by the UE will be valid for two different i flows/bearers. Value in msO corresponds to 0ms, ms 10 corresponds to 10ms, ms20 i corresponds to 20ms, and so on. Value in min5 corresponds to 5min, min10 i co rrespo nds to 10min, and so on. i
U Al for QoE Indication
[0035] Although the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation allows for specifying the trafficspecific information, the scope of the information is limited to QoS, which is based on technical needs for the applications, e.g., UAI related 5QI for different traffic types or QoS. Therefore, the purpose of the UAI for a Quality of Experience (QoE) indication is to allow the UE to provide a UAI that is more directly related to QoE. QoE is known by UE, especially at the application layer for activities such as such as web-browsing, video streaming, etc., while the gNB does not have knowledge about QoE. In the UAI for QoE indication, the QoE values can be directly related to applications such as web browsing, video streaming, Instant Messaging (IM), etc., as shown in the example below:
UEAssistancelnformation message
- ASN1 START
- TAG-UEASSISTANCEINFORMATION-START
UEAssistancelnformation ::= SEQUENCE ] critical Extensions CHOICE ] ueAssistancelnformation UEAssistancelnformation-IEs, critical ExtensionsFuture SEQUENCE {}
UEAssistancelnformation-IEs ::= SEQUENCE ] delayBudgetReport DelayBudgetReport OPTIONAL, lateNonCriticalExtension OCTET STRING OPTIONAL, nonCritical Extension U EAssistance I nformation-v1540-I Es OPTIONAL
UEAssistancelnformation-v1610-IEs ::= SEQUENCE ] idc-Assistance-r16 IDC-Assistance-r16 OPTIONAL, drx-Preference-r16 DRX-Preference-r16 OPTIONAL, maxBW-Preference-r16 MaxBW-Preference-r16 OPTIONAL, maxCC-Preference-r16 MaxCC-Preference-r16 OPTIONAL, maxMl M0-LayerPreference-r16 MaxMIMO-LayerPreference-r16 OPTIONAL, minSchedulingOffsetPreference-r16 MinSchedulingOffsetPreference-r16 OPTIONAL, releasePreference-r16 ReleasePreference-r16 OPTIONAL, sl-UE-AssistancelnformationNR-r16 SL-UE-AssistancelnformationNR-r16 OPTIONAL, referenceTimelnfoPreference-r16 BOOLEAN OPTIONAL, nonCritical Extension UEAssistancelnformation-v18xy-IEs OPTIONAL
Figure imgf000019_0001
i Indicates traffic type and the validity period of the UAI message; actimerO specifies i when the UAI message sent by the UE starts to be applicable; extimerO specifies for i i how long upon the values specified by actimerO the UAI message sent by the UE will i i be valid. Value in msO corresponds to 0ms, rnslOOO corresponds to 1000ms, and so i I on. Value in min5 corresponds to 5min. min10 corresponds to I Om/n. and so on.
[0036] For example, if the UE will use a video streaming service with an immediate activation time for 10 minutes, it can set trafficType to “video streaming”, actimerO to Omin and extimerO to lOminn in UAI_QoE specified above.
[0037] In some embodiments, some of the introduced traffic type description parameters may be related to QoS or QoE classes. The UE may then omit duplicating the same information in multiple UAI types, e.g., by omitting in its UAI signaling certain traffic type parameters that may be deduced from the QoS/QoE indications.
Triggers of UAI for NW Power Saving
[0038] The sending of UAI for network power saving may be triggered (or prevented to be triggered) (e.g., in operation 104 of Figure 1) by any of following:
(a) A timer to prohibiting frequent reports sent by the UE. For example, the UE can only send another report once the timer expires;
(b) Providing different information as a condition to send a subsequent report. For example, if the UE has already sent a report concerning network power saving (or a particular field/Information Element (IE) within UAI for network power saving), it can only send another report if it concerns different information compared to the previous report;
(c) During a handover, e.g. right after the handover (reconfiguration with sync) to a target cell, the UE indicates a UAI for network power saving to the target cell;
(d) During a reconfiguration procedure other than a handover;
(e) During a connection setup, e.g. after security is established;
(f) During a re-establishment procedure;
(g) During a resume procedure;
(h) Before the UE is suspended;
(i) For a UE that is configured to provide UAI on network power saving, when the UE initiates a RRC connection re-establishment procedure or when the UE initiates a RRC resume procedure, the configuration related with UAI on network power saving is released by the UE.
(j) If sending an UAI message that no longer includes fields related to network power saving may indicate to the network that the UE no longer has a preference about network power saving, or can no longer cope with a certain network pattern for power saving.
(k) Network configured conditions which could include any of the other conditions listed here; and/or
(l) Upon network request, e.g., the network can request the UE through a Downlink Control Information (DO) or Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling to transmit a UAI related to network power saving, or request more explicitly about one or more individual UAI types. In this case, the DO or MAC signaling can additionally also determine the resources which the UE can use in order to transmit the UAI. This approach is particularly useful when aperiodic UAI is required by the network in order to tune its power saving measures.
Format of UAI for Network Power Saving
[0039] The UAI (e.g., the UAI sent from the UE 100 to the network node 102 in operation 106 of Figure 1) can be defined by at least one IE and/or at least one field containing information for network power saving. It may further include one or more of the following:
(a) Multiple optional IES and/or fields that carry different information for network power saving, e.g. one IE for relaxed scheduler activation, and an IE for QoE / DRB indication. In this manner, a single UAI message may contain multiple information for network power saving;
(b) A structure with values for network power saving information, e.g. relaxed scheduler activation, and QoE/DRB indication. The UE can then send a UAI message containing one of the values. The UE can also indicate different values for network power saving by sending multiple UAI messages.
(c) An indication can be included to inform the network node that an already existing UAI (e.g., Rel-16 UAI for power saving) is used to provide assistance info about network power saving.
(d) An expiration timer to define the validity of the UAI message sent by the UE. Upon timer expiration, the network power saving information contained in the UAI message is no longer valid. In this way, the network knowledge, e.g. about sleep opportunities and /or carrier activation/deactivation for a certain period of time.
(i) Such expiration timer may also work as a prohibit timer, e.g. where while the timer is running, the UE is not allowed to send another UAI for network power saving. Alternatively, if the UE sends a new UAI while the expiration timer is running, the network may override the existing timer and re-start it according to the value received by the UE for the new UAI.
(ii) The UAI message may also be valid until the UE sends a new UAI. This case can be indicated by the absence of an expiration timer in the UAI message, or a timer expiration is set to an infinite value.
(iii) The expiration timer and behavior described above can be applied to an entire UAI message containing lEs/fields for network power saving, or each lE/field containing information for NW power saving can also have an individual expiration timer.
(iv) In one embodiment, the granularity of prevention can be specified or configured by the network. For example, in one embodiment, the UE may have provided a specific UAI for a certain DRB/flow/QoE and starts a prohibit timer that is only relevant for this DRB/flow/QoE. This means that the UE is allowed to transmit another set of UAI for another DRB/flow/QoE even though the first prohibit timer is running. In another embodiment, the UE is not allowed to transmit further UAI irrespective of which DRB/flow/QoE it is referring to if a prohibit timer is running.
(e) A triggering timer to define when the UAI message sent by the UE starts to be applicable. Upon timer expiration, the network power saving information contained within the UAI message starts to be valid.
(i) Such triggering timer may also work as a prohibit timer, e.g. while the timer is running the UE is not allowed to send another UAI for network power saving. Alternatively, if the UE sends a new UAI while the triggering timer is running, the network may override the existing timer and re-start it according to the value received by the UE on the new UAI. (ii) The UAI message may also be valid from the moment the network received the UE sent UAI. This case can be indicated by the absence of a triggering timer in the UAI message, or a triggering timer set to a value of zero.
(iii) The triggering timer and behavior described above can be applied to an entire UAI message containing lEs/fields for network power saving, or each lE/field containing information for network power saving can also have an individual triggering timer.
Network Actions
[0040] A network node e.g., gNB 102 of Figure 1) can configure the UE (e.g., UE 100) to provide UE assistance information to the network concerning network power saving. Based on the reception of such report from the UE, the network node may take any of the following actions (e.g., in operation 112 of Figure 1):
(a) Implement a relaxed scheduler mechanism. When a relaxed scheduler is in use, the NW may not schedule the UE each time there is data for the UE in the buffer. Rather, the NW may wait for a certain amount of time until at least some percentage of physical resource block (PRB) is fulfilled by the data;
(b) Maximize the network power savings by optimizing the schedule for transmitting the data to the UE, setting the threshold on the Physical Resource Block (PRB) usage before transmitting the data to the UE, optimizing the settings such as the number of carriers, MIMO layers, etc.;
(c) Network node (e.g., gNB 102) can use a QoE indication as a basis for how high the network can configure for sleep mode, MIMO sleep, and/or carrier deactivation;
(d) Reconfigure the UE, e.g. adding/releasing Secondary Cells (SCells).
(e) Send DO or MAC CE to deactivate SCells or change the active BWP;
Further Description
[0041] Figure 3 shows an example of a communication system 300, in accordance with some embodiments.
[0042] In the example of Figure 3, the communication system 300 includes a telecommunication network 302 that includes an access network 304, such as a Radio Access Network (RAN), and a core network 306, which includes one or more core network nodes 308. The access network 304 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 310A and 310B (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 310), or any other similar Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access node or non-3GPP Access Point (AP). The network nodes 310 facilitate direct or indirect connection of User Equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 312A, 312B, 312C, and 312D (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 312) to the core network 306 over one or more wireless connections.
[0043] Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system 300 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and/or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system 300 may include and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and/or other similar type of system.
[0044] The UEs 312 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes 310 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 310 are arranged, capable, configured, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 312 and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 302 to enable and/or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and/or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network 302.
[0045] In the depicted example, the core network 306 connects the network nodes 310 to one or more hosts, such as host 316. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network 306 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 308) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and/or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 308. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-Concealing Function (SIDE), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and/or a User Plane Function (UPF).
[0046] The host 316 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 304 and/or the telecommunication network 302, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 316 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio/video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.
[0047] As a whole, the communication system 300 of Figure 3 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system 300 may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and/or other suitable Second, Third, Fourth, or Fifth Generation (2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G) standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., Sixth Generation (6G)); Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and/or any Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.
[0048] In some examples, the telecommunication network 302 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunication network 302 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 302. For example, the telecommunication network 302 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and/or massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC)/massive Internet of Things (loT) services to yet further UEs.
[0049] In some examples, the UEs 312 are configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 304 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 304. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-Radio Access Technology (RAT) or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of WiFi, New Radio (NR), and LTE, i.e. be configured for Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC), such as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial RAN (E-UTRAN) NR - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).
[0050] In the example, a hub 314 communicates with the access network 304 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 312C and/or 312D) and network nodes (e.g., network node 310B). In some examples, the hub 314 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 314 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 306 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 314 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes 310, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 314. As another example, the hub 314 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 314 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a Virtual Reality (VR) headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 314 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 314 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and/or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 314 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular in if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.
[0051] The hub 314 may have a constant/persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 310B. The hub 314 may also allow for a different communication scheme and/or schedule between the hub 314 and UEs (e.g., UE 312C and/or 312D), and between the hub 314 and the core network 306. In other examples, the hub 314 is connected to the core network 306 and/or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 314 may be configured to connect to a Machine-to-Machine (M2M) service provider over the access network 304 and/or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 310 while still connected via the hub 314 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 314 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to/from the UEs from/to the network node 310B. In other embodiments, the hub 314 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and the network node 310B, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and/or end point for certain data channels.
[0052] Figure 4 shows a UE 400 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged, and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, Personal Digital Assistant (PDA), wireless camera, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, Laptop Embedded Equipment (LEE), Laptop Mounted Equipment (LME), smart device, wireless Customer Premise Equipment (CPE), vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded/integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3GPP, including a Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) UE, a Machine Type Communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.
[0053] A UE may support Device-to-Device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), Vehicle-to- Vehicle (V2V), Vehicle-to-Infrastructure (V2I), or Vehicle-to-Every thing (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).
[0054] The UE 400 includes processing circuitry 402 that is operatively coupled via a bus 404 to an input/output interface 406, a power source 408, memory 410, a communication interface 412, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 4. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc. [0055] The processing circuitry 402 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine -readable computer programs in the memory 410. The processing circuitry 402 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines e.g., in discrete logic, Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or Digital Signal Processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 402 may include multiple Central Processing Units (CPUs). [0056] In the example, the input/output interface 406 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and/or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 400. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence- sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.
[0057] In some embodiments, the power source 408 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source 408 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 408 itself, and/or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 400 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging the power source 408. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 408 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 400 to which power is supplied.
[0058] The memory 410 may be or be configured to include memory such as Random Access Memory (RAM), Read Only Memory (ROM), Programmable ROM (PROM), Erasable PROM (EPROM), Electrically EPROM (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 410 includes one or more application programs 414, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 416. The memory 410 may store, for use by the UE 400, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.
[0059] The memory 410 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, High Density Digital Versatile Disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, Holographic Digital Data Storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini Dual In-line Memory Module (DIMM), Synchronous Dynamic RAM (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as a tamper resistant module in the form of a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) including one or more Subscriber Identity Modules (SIMs), such as a Universal SIM (USIM) and/or Internet Protocol Multimedia Services Identity Module (ISIM), other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as a ‘SIM card.’ The memory 410 may allow the UE 400 to access instructions, application programs, and the like stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system, may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 410, which may be or include a device-readable storage medium.
[0060] The processing circuitry 402 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 412. The communication interface 412 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 422. The communication interface 412 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 418 and/or a receiver 420 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 418 and receiver 420 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., the antenna 422) and may share circuit components, software, or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.
[0061] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 412 may include cellular communication, WiFi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, NFC, location-based communication such as the use of the Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented according to one or more communication protocols and/or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, NR, UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol (TCP/IP), Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Quick User Datagram Protocol Internet Connection (QUIC), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth. [0062] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 412, or via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).
[0063] As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.
[0064] A UE, when in the form of an loT device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application, and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a television, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door/window sensor, a flood/moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or VR, a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animator item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and/or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 400 shown in Figure 4.
[0065] As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another UE and/or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship, an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.
[0066] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g., by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and/or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.
[0067] Figure 5 shows a network node 500 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and/or with other network nodes or equipment in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, APs (e.g., radio APs), Base Stations (BSs) (e.g., radio BSs, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs), and NR Node Bs (gNBs)).
[0068] BSs may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto BSs, pico BSs, micro BSs, or macro BSs. A BS may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio BS such as centralized digital units and/or Remote Radio Units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such RRUs may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio BS may also be referred to as nodes in a Distributed Antenna System (DAS).
[0069] Other examples of network nodes include multiple Transmission Point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, Multi-Standard Radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as Radio Network Controllers (RNCs) or BS Controllers (BSCs), Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, Multi-Cell/Multicast Coordination Entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and/or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).
[0070] The network node 500 includes processing circuitry 502, memory 504, a communication interface 506, and a power source 508. The network node 500 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a Node B component and an RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 500 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple Node Bs. In such a scenario, each unique Node B and RNC pair may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 500 may be configured to support multiple RATs. In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 504 for different RATs) and some components may be reused e.g., an antenna 510 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 500 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 500, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within the network node 500.
[0071] The processing circuitry 502 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, CPU, DSP, ASIC, FPGA, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software, and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 500 components, such as the memory 504, to provide network node 500 functionality.
[0072] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 502 includes a System on a Chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 502 includes one or more of Radio Frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 512 and baseband processing circuitry 514. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuitry 512 and the baseband processing circuitry 514 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of the RF transceiver circuitry 512 and the baseband processing circuitry 514 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.
[0073] The memory 504 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, RAM, ROM, mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD), or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable, and/or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry 502. The memory 504 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and/or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry 502 and utilized by the network node 500. The memory 504 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 502 and/or any data received via the communication interface 506. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 502 and the memory 504 are integrated.
[0074] The communication interface 506 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and/or data between a network node, access network, and/or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface 506 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) 516 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 506 also includes radio front-end circuitry 518 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 510. The radio front-end circuitry 518 comprises filters 520 and amplifiers 522. The radio front-end circuitry 518 may be connected to the antenna 510 and the processing circuitry 502. The radio front-end circuitry 518 may be configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna 510 and the processing circuitry 502. The radio front-end circuitry 518 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 518 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of the filters 520 and/or the amplifiers 522. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 510. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 510 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 518. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 502. In other embodiments, the communication interface 506 may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.
[0075] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 500 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 518; instead, the processing circuitry 502 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 510. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 512 is part of the communication interface 506. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 506 includes the one or more ports or terminals 516, the radio front-end circuitry 518, and the RF transceiver circuitry 512 as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 506 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 514, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).
[0076] The antenna 510 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. The antenna 510 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 518 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 510 is separate from the network node 500 and connectable to the network node 500 through an interface or port.
[0077] The antenna 510, the communication interface 506, and/or the processing circuitry 502 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node 500. Any information, data, and/or signals may be received from a UE, another network node, and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 510, the communication interface 506, and/or the processing circuitry 502 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node 500. Any information, data, and/or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node, and/or any other network equipment.
[0078] The power source 508 provides power to the various components of the network node 500 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 508 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 500 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 500 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid or an electricity outlet) via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source 508. As a further example, the power source 508 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.
[0079] Embodiments of the network node 500 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 5 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node 500 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 500 and to allow output of information from the network node 500. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 500.
[0080] Figure 6 is a block diagram of a host 600, which may be an embodiment of the host 316 of Figure 3, in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, the host 600 may be or comprise various combinations of hardware and/or software including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, container, or processing resources in a server farm. The host 600 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.
[0081] The host 600 includes processing circuitry 602 that is operatively coupled via a bus 604 to an input/output interface 606, a network interface 608, a power source 610, and memory 612. Other components may be included in other embodiments. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices of previous figures, such as Figures 4 and 5, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the host 600.
[0082] The memory 612 may include one or more computer programs including one or more host application programs 614 and data 616, which may include user data, e.g. data generated by a UE for the host 600 or data generated by the host 600 for a UE. Embodiments of the host 600 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown. The host application programs 614 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), VP9) and audio codecs e.g., Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC), Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, and heads-up display systems). The host application programs 614 may also provide for user authentication and licensing checks and may periodically report health, routes, and content availability to a central node, such as a device in or on the edge of a core network. Accordingly, the host 600 may select and/or indicate a different host for Over-The-Top (OTT) services for a UE. The host application programs 614 may support various protocols, such as the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH or MPEG-DASH), etc.
[0083] Figure 7 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 700 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices, and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more Virtual Machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 700 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized.
[0084] Applications 702 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment 700 to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.
[0085] Hardware 704 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and/or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and/or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input/output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 706 (also referred to as hypervisors or VM Monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 708A and 708B (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 708), and/or perform any of the functions, features, and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 706 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 708.
[0086] The VMs 708 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking, or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 706. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 702 may be implemented on one or more of the VMs 708, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as Network Function Virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers and customer premise equipment.
[0087] In the context of NFV, a VM 708 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non- virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 708, and that part of the hardware 704 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and/or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs 708, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 708 on top of the hardware 704 and corresponds to the application 702.
[0088] The hardware 704 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. The hardware 704 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, the hardware 704 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g., such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 710, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of the applications 702. In some embodiments, the hardware 704 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a RAN or a BS. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 712 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.
[0089] Figure 8 shows a communication diagram of a host 802 communicating via a network node 804 with a UE 806 over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments. Example implementations, in accordance with various embodiments, of the UE (such as the UE 312A of Figure 3 and/or the UE 400 of Figure 4), the network node (such as the network node 310A of Figure 3 and/or the network node 500 of Figure 5), and the host (such as the host 316 of Figure 3 and/or the host 600 of Figure 6) discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to Figure 8.
[0090] Like the host 600, embodiments of the host 802 include hardware, such as a communication interface, processing circuitry, and memory. The host 802 also includes software, which is stored in or is accessible by the host 802 and executable by the processing circuitry. The software includes a host application that may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as the UE 806 connecting via an OTT connection 850 extending between the UE 806 and the host 802. In providing the service to the remote user, a host application may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection 850.
[0091] The network node 804 includes hardware enabling it to communicate with the host 802 and the UE 806 via a connection 860. The connection 860 may be direct or pass through a core network (like the core network 306 of Figure 3) and/or one or more other intermediate networks, such as one or more public, private, or hosted networks. For example, an intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.
[0092] The UE 806 includes hardware and software, which is stored in or accessible by the UE 806 and executable by the UE’s processing circuitry. The software includes a client application, such as a web browser or operator-specific “app” that may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via the UE 806 with the support of the host 802. In the host 802, an executing host application may communicate with the executing client application via the OTT connection 850 terminating at the UE 806 and the host 802. In providing the service to the user, the UE’s client application may receive request data from the host's host application and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 850 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The UE's client application may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides to the host application through the OTT connection 850.
[0093] The OTT connection 850 may extend via the connection 860 between the host 802 and the network node 804 and via a wireless connection 870 between the network node 804 and the UE 806 to provide the connection between the host 802 and the UE 806. The connection 860 and the wireless connection 870, over which the OTT connection 850 may be provided, have been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host 802 and the UE 806 via the network node 804, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices.
[0094] As an example of transmitting data via the OTT connection 850, in operation 808, the host 802 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE 806. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with a UE 806 that shares data with the host 802 without explicit human interaction. In operation 810, the host 802 initiates a transmission carrying the user data towards the UE 806. The host 802 may initiate the transmission responsive to a request transmitted by the UE 806. The request may be caused by human interaction with the UE 806 or by operation of the client application executing on the UE 806. The transmission may pass via the network node 804 in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Accordingly, in operation 812, the network node 804 transmits to the UE 806 the user data that was carried in the transmission that the host 802 initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In operation 814, the UE 806 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application executed on the UE 806 associated with the host application executed by the host 802.
[0095] In some examples, the UE 806 executes a client application which provides user data to the host 802. The user data may be provided in reaction or response to the data received from the host 802. Accordingly, in operation 816, the UE 806 may provide user data, which may be performed by executing the client application. In providing the user data, the client application may further consider user input received from the user via an input/output interface of the UE 806. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE 806 initiates, in operation 818, transmission of the user data towards the host 802 via the network node 804. In operation 820, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the network node 804 receives user data from the UE 806 and initiates transmission of the received user data towards the host 802. In operation 822, the host 802 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the UE 806.
[0096] One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 806 using the OTT connection 850, in which the wireless connection 870 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve, e.g., power consumption thereby provide benefits such as, e.g., improved system performance.
[0097] In an example scenario, factory status information may be collected and analyzed by the host 802. As another example, the host 802 may process audio and video data which may have been retrieved from a UE for use in creating maps. As another example, the host 802 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion e.g., controlling traffic lights). As another example, the host 802 may store surveillance video uploaded by a UE. As another example, the host 802 may store or control access to media content such as video, audio, VR, or AR which it can broadcast, multicast, or unicast to UEs. As other examples, the host 802 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time critical electrical load to balance power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as compiling diagrams etc. from data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing, and/or transmitting data.
[0098] In some examples, a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency, and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 850 between the host 802 and the UE 806 in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 850 may be implemented in software and hardware of the host 802 and/or the UE 806. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with other devices through which the OTT connection 850 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or by supplying values of other physical quantities from which software may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection 850 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing, etc.; the reconfiguring need not directly alter the operation of the network node 804. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency, and the like by the host 802. The measurements may be implemented in that software causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection 850 while monitoring propagation times, errors, etc.
[0099] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and/or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions, and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining, or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box or nested within multiple boxes, in practice computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and/or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.
[0100] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hardwired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole and/or by end users and a wireless network generally.
[0101] Some example embodiments of the present disclosure are as follows: Group A Embodiments
[0102] Embodiment 1: A method performed by a user equipment, UE, (100; 200), the method comprising: transmitting (106; 204A; 204B), to a network node (102; 202), UE assistance information, UAI, for network power saving.
[0103] Embodiment 2: The method of embodiment 1 wherein the UAI for network power saving comprises UAI for relaxed scheduler activation.
[0104] Embodiment 3: The method of embodiment 2 wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises: (a) a maximum permitted delay of the UE (100; 200); (b) a specific data volume for traffic data to be transmitted by the UE (100; 200); (c) a specific data volume for traffic data to be received by the UE (100; 200); (d) a type of traffic data to be transmitted by the UE (100; 200); (e) a type of traffic data to be received by the UE (100; 200); (f) information that describes a packet size distribution or packet size (e.g., average, minimum, maximum, or standard deviation) of packets transmitted by the UE (100; 200); (g) information that describes a packet size or packet size distribution (e.g., average, minimum, maximum, or standard deviation) of packets received by the UE (100; 200); (h) a typical period of traffic data transmitted by the UE (100; 200); (i) a typical period of traffic data received by the UE (100;
200); (j) a jitter tolerance of traffic data transmitted by the UE (100; 200); (k) a jitter tolerance of traffic data received by the UE (100; 200); (1) a UPT target of traffic data transmitted by the UE (100; 200); (m) a UPT target of traffic data received by the UE (100; 200); (n) one or more QoS characteristics of traffic data transmitted by the UE (100; 200); (o) one or more QoS characteristics of traffic data received by the UE (100; 200); or (p) a combination of any two or more of (a)-(o).
[0105] Embodiment 4: The method of embodiment 2 or 3 wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation. [0106] Embodiment 5: The method of embodiment 2 or 3 wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises only one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation.
[0107] Embodiment 6: The method of embodiment 4 or 5 wherein the one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation comprised in the UAI vary from one instance of the UAI transmitted at a first time instance and a second instance of the UAI transmitted at a second time instance.
[0108] Embodiment 7 : The method of embodiment 2 or 3 wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises information that indicates multiple traffic types of traffic data transmitted or received by the UE (100; 200).
[0109] Embodiment 8: The method of embodiment 1 wherein the UAI for network power saving comprises UAI for Quality of Experience, QoE, indication. [0110] Embodiment 9: The method of embodiment 8 wherein the UAI for QoE indication comprises one or more QoE values related to one or more applications (e.g., web browsing, video streaming, instant messaging, etc.).
[0111] Embodiment 10: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 9 wherein the UAI for network power saving further comprises one or more activation timer values.
[0112] Embodiment 11: The method of embodiment 10 wherein the one or more activation timer values comprise a single activation timer value for all of the UAI for network power saving.
[0113] Embodiment 12: The method of embodiment 10 wherein the one or more activation timer values comprise different activation timer values for different parts of the UAI for network power saving.
[0114] Embodiment 13: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 12 wherein the UAI for network power saving further comprises one or more expiration timer values.
[0115] Embodiment 14: The method of embodiment 13 wherein the one or more expiration timer values comprise a single expiration timer value for all of the UAI for network power saving.
[0116] Embodiment 15: The method of embodiment 13 wherein the one or more expiration timer values comprise different expiration timer values for different parts of the UAI for network power saving.
[0117] Embodiment 16: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 15 further comprising detecting (104) a trigger for transmitting the UAI for network power saving, wherein transmitting (106) the UAI for network power saving comprises transmitting (106) the UAI for network power saving responsive to detecting (104) the trigger.
[0118] Embodiment 17: The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: providing user data; and forwarding the user data to a host via the transmission to the network node.
Group B Embodiments
[0119] Embodiment 18: A method performed by a network node (102; 202), the method comprising: receiving (106; 204A; 204B), from a user equipment, UE, (100; 200), UE assistance information, UAI, for network power saving; and performing (112; 206A; 206B) one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200).
[0120] Embodiment 19: The method of embodiment 18 wherein the UAI for network power saving comprises UAI for relaxed scheduler activation.
[0121] Embodiment 20: The method of embodiment 19 wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises: (a) a maximum permitted delay of the UE (100; 200); (b) a specific data volume for traffic data to be transmitted by the UE (100; 200); (c) a specific data volume for traffic data to be received by the UE (100; 200); (d) a type of traffic data to be transmitted by the UE (100; 200); (e) a type of traffic data to be received by the UE (100; 200); (f) information that describes a packet size distribution or packet size (e.g., average, minimum, maximum, or standard deviation) of packets transmitted by the UE (100; 200); (g) information that describes a packet size or packet size distribution (e.g., average, minimum, maximum, or standard deviation) of packets received by the UE (100; 200); (h) a typical period of traffic data transmitted by the UE (100; 200); (i) a typical period of traffic data received by the UE (100; 200); (j) a jitter tolerance of traffic data transmitted by the UE (100; 200); (k) a jitter tolerance of traffic data received by the UE (100; 200); (1) a UPT target of traffic data transmitted by the UE (100; 200); (m) a UPT target of traffic data received by the UE (100; 200); (n) one or more QoS characteristics of traffic data transmitted by the UE (100; 200); (o) one or more QoS characteristics of traffic data received by the UE (100; 200); or (p) a combination of any two or more of (a)-(o).
[0122] Embodiment 21: The method of embodiment 19 or 20 wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation. [0123] Embodiment 22: The method of embodiment 19 or 20 wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises only one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation.
[0124] Embodiment 23: The method of embodiment 21 or 22 wherein the one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation comprised in the UAI vary from one instance of the UAI transmitted at a first time instance and a second instance of the UAI transmitted at a second time instance.
[0125] Embodiment 24: The method of embodiment 19 or 20 wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises information that indicates multiple traffic types of traffic data transmitted or received by the UE (100; 200).
[0126] Embodiment 25: The method of embodiment 18 wherein the UAI for network power saving comprises UAI for Quality of Experience, QoE, indication.
[0127] Embodiment 26: The method of embodiment 25 wherein the UAI for QoE indication comprises one or more QoE values related to one or more applications (e.g., web browsing, video streaming, instant messaging, etc.).
[0128] Embodiment 27: The method of any of embodiments 18 to 26 further comprising: starting (108) an activation timer (e.g., upon receiving (106; 204A; 204B) the UAI for network power saving); wherein performing (112; 206 A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200) comprises starting the performing (112; 206A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200) responsive to expiry of the activation timer.
[0129] Embodiment 28: The method of embodiment 27 wherein the UAI for network power saving further comprises an activation timer value for the activation timer.
[0130] Embodiment 29: The method of any of embodiments 18 to 26 further comprising: starting (108) one or more activation timers for one or more parts of the UAI, respectively, (e.g., upon receiving (106; 204A; 204B) the UAI for network power saving); wherein performing (112; 206A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200) comprises, for each part of the one or more parts of the UAI, starting the performing (112; 206 A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the part of the UAI responsive to expiry of the activation timer associated to the part of the UAI.
[0131] Embodiment 30: The method of embodiment 29 wherein the UAI for network power saving further comprises one or more activation timer values for the one or more activation timers, respectively.
[0132] Embodiment 31: The method of any of embodiments 18 to 30 further comprising: starting (110) an expiration timer (e.g., upon receiving (106; 204A; 204B) the UAI for network power saving or upon expiry of an associated activation timer); wherein performing (112; 206A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200) comprises stopping the performing (112; 206A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200) responsive to expiry of the expiration timer.
[0133] Embodiment 32: The method of embodiment 31 wherein the UAI for network power saving further comprises an expiration timer value for the expiration timer.
[0134] Embodiment 33: The method of any of embodiments 18 to 30 further comprising: starting (110) one or more expiration timers for one or more parts of the UAI, respectively, (e.g., upon receiving (106; 204A; 204B) the UAI for network power saving or upon expiry of respective activation timers); wherein performing (112; 206A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200) comprises, for each part of the one or more parts of the UAI, stopping the performing (112; 206A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the part of the UAI responsive to expiry of the expiration timer associated to the part of the UAI. [0135] Embodiment 34: The method of embodiment 33 wherein the UAI for network power saving further comprises one or more expiration timer values for the one or more expiration timers, respectively.
[0136] Embodiment 35: The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: obtaining user data; and forwarding the user data to a host or a user equipment. Group C Embodiments
[0137] Embodiment 36: A user equipment comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group A embodiments; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.
[0138] Embodiment 37: A network node comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments; power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.
[0139] Embodiment 38: A user equipment (UE) comprising: an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals; radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry; the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group A embodiments; an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.
[0140] Embodiment 39: A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises a communication interface and processing circuitry, the communication interface and processing circuitry of the UE being configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group A embodiments to receive the user data from the host.
[0141] Embodiment 40: The host of the previous embodiment, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit the user data to the UE from the host.
[0142] Embodiment 41: The host of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.
[0143] Embodiment 42: A method implemented by a host operating in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: providing user data for the UE; and initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the network node, wherein the UE performs any of the operations of any of the Group A embodiments to receive the user data from the host.
[0144] Embodiment 43: The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising: at the host, executing a host application associated with a client application executing on the UE to receive the user data from the UE.
[0145] Embodiment 44: The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising: [0146] at the host, transmitting input data to the client application executing on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application, wherein the user data is provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application.
[0147] Embodiment 45: A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the UE comprises a communication interface and processing circuitry, the communication interface and processing circuitry of the UE being configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group A embodiments to transmit the user data to the host.
[0148] Embodiment 46: The host of the previous embodiment, wherein the cellular network further includes a network node configured to communicate with the UE to transmit the user data from the UE to the host.
[0149] Embodiment 47: The host of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.
[0150] Embodiment 48: A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host, receiving user data transmitted to the host via the network node by the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the operations of any of the Group A embodiments to transmit the user data to the host.
[0151] Embodiment 49: The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising: at the host, executing a host application associated with a client application executing on the UE to receive the user data from the UE.
[0152] Embodiment 50: The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising: at the host, transmitting input data to the client application executing on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application, wherein the user data is provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application.
[0153] Embodiment 51 : A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a network node in a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.
[0154] Embodiment 52: The host of the previous embodiment, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application that provides the user data; and the UE comprises processing circuitry configured to execute a client application associated with the host application to receive the transmission of user data from the host.
[0155] Embodiment 53: A method implemented in a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: providing user data for the UE; and initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the network node, wherein the network node performs any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.
[0156] Embodiment 54: The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising, at the network node, transmitting the user data provided by the host for the UE.
[0157] Embodiment 55: The method of any of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein the user data is provided at the host by executing a host application that interacts with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.
[0158] Embodiment 56: A communication system configured to provide an over-the-top service, the communication system comprising: a host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data for a user equipment (UE), the user data being associated with the over-the-top service; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data toward a cellular network node for transmission to the UE, the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.
[0159] Embodiment 57: The communication system of the previous embodiment, further comprising: the network node; and/or the user equipment.
[0160] Embodiment 58: A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to initiate receipt of user data; and a network interface configured to receive the user data from a network node in a cellular network, the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to receive the user data from a user equipment (UE) for the host.
[0161] Embodiment 59: The host of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.
[0162] Embodiment 60: The host of the any of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein the initiating receipt of the user data comprises requesting the user data.
[0163] Embodiment 61: A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host, initiating receipt of user data from the UE, the user data originating from a transmission which the network node has received from the UE, wherein the network node performs any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to receive the user data from the UE for the host.
[0164] Embodiment 62: The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising at the network node, transmitting the received user data to the host.
[0165] Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the embodiments of the present disclosure. All such improvements and modifications are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein.

Claims

Claims
1. A method performed by a user equipment, UE, (100; 200), the method comprising: detecting (104) a trigger for transmitting a UE assistance information, UAI, for network power saving; and transmitting (106; 204 A; 204B), to a network node (102; 202), in response to detecting (104) the trigger for the UAI, for network power saving.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the UAI for network power saving comprises UAI for relaxed scheduler activation.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises:
(a) a maximum permitted delay of the UE (100; 200);
(b) a specific data volume for traffic data to be transmitted by the UE (100; 200);
(c) a specific data volume for traffic data to be received by the UE (100; 200);
(d) a type of traffic data to be transmitted by the UE (100; 200);
(e) a type of traffic data to be received by the UE (100; 200);
(f) information that describes a packet size distribution or packet size including an average, a minimum, a maximum, or a standard deviation of packets transmitted by the UE (100; 200);
(g) information that describes a packet size or packet size distribution including an average, a minimum, a maximum, or a standard deviation of packets received by the UE (100; 200);
(h) a typical period of traffic data transmitted by the UE (100; 200);
(i) a typical period of traffic data received by the UE (100; 200);
(j) a jitter tolerance of traffic data transmitted by the UE (100; 200);
(k) a jitter tolerance of traffic data received by the UE (100; 200);
(l) a User Throughput, UPT, target of traffic data transmitted by the UE (100; 200);
(m) a UPT target of traffic data received by the UE (100; 200);
(n) one or more Quality of Service, QoS, characteristics of traffic data transmitted by the UE (100; 200);
(o) one or more QoS characteristics of traffic data received by the UE (100; 200); or
(p) a combination of any two or more of (a)-(o).
4. The method of claim 2 or 3, wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation.
5. The method of claim 2 or 3, wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises only one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation.
6. The method of claim 4 or 5, wherein the one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation of the UAI vary from one instance of the UAI transmitted at a first time instance and a second instance of the UAI transmitted at a second time instance.
7. The method of claim 3, wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises information that indicates multiple traffic types of the traffic data transmitted or received by the UE (100; 200).
8. The method of claim 1, wherein the UAI for network power saving comprises UAI for Quality of Experience, QoE, indication.
9. The method of claim 8, wherein the UAI for the QoE indication comprises one or more QoE values related to one or more applications including web browsing, video streaming, instant messaging, or another application.
10. The method of any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the UAI for network power saving further comprises one or more activation timer values.
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more activation timer values comprise a single activation timer value for all of the UAI for network power saving.
12. The method of claim 10, wherein the one or more activation timer values comprise different activation timer values for different parts of the UAI for network power saving.
13. The method of any of claims 1 to 12, wherein the UAI for network power saving further comprises one or more expiration timer values.
14. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more expiration timer values comprise a single expiration timer value for all of the UAI for network power saving.
15. The method of claim 13, wherein the one or more expiration timer values comprise different expiration timer values for different parts of the UAI for network power saving.
16. The method of any of any of claims 1 to 15, further comprising: providing user data; and forwarding the user data to a host via the transmitting to the network node (102; 202).
17. A method performed by a network node (102; 202), the method comprising: receiving (106; 204A; 204B), from a user equipment, UE, (100; 200), UE assistance information, UAI, for network power saving; and performing (112; 206 A; 206B) one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200).
18. The method of claim 17, wherein the UAI for network power saving comprises UAI for relaxed scheduler activation.
19. The method of claim 18, wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises:
(a) a maximum permitted delay of the UE (100; 200);
(b) a specific data volume for traffic data to be transmitted by the UE (100; 200);
(c) a specific data volume for traffic data to be received by the UE (100; 200);
(d) a type of traffic data to be transmitted by the UE (100; 200);
(e) a type of traffic data to be received by the UE (100; 200);
(f) information that describes a packet size distribution or packet size including an average, a minimum, a maximum, or a standard deviation of packets transmitted by the UE (100; 200);
(g) information that describes the packet size distribution or the packet size including an average, a minimum, a maximum, or a standard deviation of packets received by the UE (100; 200);
(h) a typical period of traffic data transmitted by the UE (100; 200);
(i) a typical period of traffic data received by the UE (100; 200);
(j) a jitter tolerance of traffic data transmitted by the UE (100; 200);
(k) a jitter tolerance of traffic data received by the UE (100; 200);
(l) a User Throughput, UPT, target of traffic data transmitted by the UE (100; 200); (m) a UPT target of traffic data received by the UE (100; 200);
(n) one or more Quality of Service, QoS, characteristics of traffic data transmitted by the UE (100; 200);
(o) one or more QoS characteristics of traffic data received by the UE (100; 200); or
(p) a combination of any two or more of (a)-(o).
20. The method of claim 18 or 19, wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation.
21. The method of claim 18 or 19, wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises only one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation.
22. The method of claim 20 or 21, wherein the one or more parameters relevant to relaxed scheduler activation of the UAI vary from one instance of the UAI transmitted at a first time instance and a second instance of the UAI transmitted at a second time instance.
23. The method of claim 19, wherein the UAI for relaxed scheduler activation comprises information that indicates multiple traffic types of the traffic data transmitted or received by the UE (100; 200).
24. The method of claim 17, wherein the UAI for network power saving comprises UAI for Quality of Experience, QoE, indication.
25. The method of claim 24 wherein the UAI for QoE indication comprises one or more QoE values related to one or more applications including web browsing, video streaming, instant messaging, or another application.
26. The method of any of claims 17 to 25, further comprising: starting (108) an activation timer upon receiving (106; 204A; 204B) the UAI for network power saving, wherein performing (112; 206A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200) comprises starting the performing (112; 206A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200) responsive to expiry of the activation timer.
27. The method of claim 26, wherein the UAI for network power saving further comprises an activation timer value for the activation timer.
28. The method of any of claims 17 to 25, further comprising: starting (108) one or more activation timers for one or more parts of the UAI including upon receiving (106; 204A; 204B) the UAI for network power saving, wherein the performing (112; 206A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200) comprises, for each part of the one or more parts of the UAI, starting the performing (112; 206A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on a UAI part responsive to expiry of an UAI activation timer associated to the UAI part.
29. The method of claim 28, wherein the UAI for network power saving further comprises one or more activation timer values for the one or more activation timers.
30. The method of any of claims 17 to 29, further comprising: starting (110) an expiration timer upon receiving (106; 204A; 204B) the UAI for network power saving or upon expiry of an associated activation timer, wherein performing (112; 206A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200) comprises stopping the performing (112; 206A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200) responsive to expiry of the expiration timer.
31. The method of claim 30, wherein the UAI for network power saving further comprises an expiration timer value for the expiration timer.
32. The method of any of claims 17 to 29, further comprising: starting (110) one or more expiration timers for one or more parts of the UAI, respectively, upon receiving (106; 204A; 204B) the UAI for network power saving or upon expiry of respective activation timers, wherein performing (112; 206A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200) comprises, for each part of the one or more parts of the UAI, stopping the performing (112; 206A; 206B) the one or more actions related to network power saving based on a UAI part responsive to expiry of a UAI expiration timer associated to the part of the UAI.
33. The method of claim 32, wherein the UAI for network power saving further comprises one or more expiration timer values for the one or more expiration timers, respectively.
34. A User Equipment, UE (312A; 312B; 400), comprising: receiver circuitry (420); and processing circuitry (402) associated with the receiver circuitry (420), the processing circuitry (402) configured to cause a second network node apparatus to at least: detect (104) a trigger for transmitting UE assistance information, UAI, for network power saving; and transmit (106; 204A; 204B), to a network node (102; 202), in response to detecting (104) the trigger the UAI for network power saving.
35. A network node (310A; 310B; 500), comprising: receiver circuitry (506); and processing circuitry (502) associated with the receiver circuitry (506), the processing circuitry (502) configured to cause a second network node apparatus to at least: receive (106; 204A; 204B), from a user equipment, UE (100; 200), UE assistance information, UAI, for network power saving; and perform (112; 206A; 206B) one or more actions related to network power saving based on the UAI received from the UE (100; 200).
36. An apparatus adapted to perform the method of any of claims 1 to 33.
37. A non-transitory computer readable medium having code stored thereon, the code, when executed, causing a processor to perform the method recited in any of claims 1 to 33.
PCT/IB2023/054480 2022-04-28 2023-04-28 Assistance information for network power saving WO2023209684A1 (en)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Application Number Priority Date Filing Date Title
US202263336105P 2022-04-28 2022-04-28
US63/336,105 2022-04-28

Publications (1)

Publication Number Publication Date
WO2023209684A1 true WO2023209684A1 (en) 2023-11-02

Family

ID=86497521

Family Applications (1)

Application Number Title Priority Date Filing Date
PCT/IB2023/054480 WO2023209684A1 (en) 2022-04-28 2023-04-28 Assistance information for network power saving

Country Status (1)

Country Link
WO (1) WO2023209684A1 (en)

Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20130301500A1 (en) * 2012-05-11 2013-11-14 Ali T. Koc Systems and methods for enhanced user equipment assistance information in wireless communication systems

Patent Citations (1)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Publication number Priority date Publication date Assignee Title
US20130301500A1 (en) * 2012-05-11 2013-11-14 Ali T. Koc Systems and methods for enhanced user equipment assistance information in wireless communication systems

Non-Patent Citations (4)

* Cited by examiner, † Cited by third party
Title
3GPP TS 38.331
ERICSSON: "Other aspects related to network energy saving", vol. RAN WG1, no. Electronic meeting; 20220509 - 20220520, 29 April 2022 (2022-04-29), XP052144100, Retrieved from the Internet <URL:https://ftp.3gpp.org/tsg_ran/WG1_RL1/TSGR1_109-e/Docs/R1-2204883.zip R1-2204883 Other aspects related to network energy saving.docx> [retrieved on 20220429] *
HUAWEI ET AL: "Power saving techniques", vol. RAN WG1, no. Spokane, USA; 20181112 - 20181116, 11 November 2018 (2018-11-11), XP051554103, Retrieved from the Internet <URL:http://www.3gpp.org/ftp/Meetings%5F3GPP%5FSYNC/RAN1/Docs/R1%2D1812231%2Ezip> [retrieved on 20181111] *
VIVO: "Value range for UAI in power saving", vol. RAN WG2, no. electronic; 20200817 - 20200828, 7 August 2020 (2020-08-07), XP051911604, Retrieved from the Internet <URL:https://ftp.3gpp.org/tsg_ran/WG2_RL2/TSGR2_111-e/Docs/R2-2006688.zip For submission/R2-2006688_Value range for UAI in power saving.doc> [retrieved on 20200807] *

Similar Documents

Publication Publication Date Title
WO2023105073A1 (en) Inter-network-node admission control for a sidelink relay ue
WO2023209684A1 (en) Assistance information for network power saving
WO2023207433A1 (en) Methods and apparatuses for communication in wireless communication system with network power saving feature
WO2023209683A1 (en) Assistance information for network power saving using a power-critical indication
WO2024027838A1 (en) Method and apparatus for stopping location reporting
WO2023069005A1 (en) Multiple drx configurations with traffic flow information
WO2024072281A1 (en) Methods for making user equipment aware of discontinuous transmission or reception by a network
WO2023249529A1 (en) Handling of in-device coexistence problems
CA3223388A1 (en) Methods for supporting multiple discontinuous reception (drx) configurations
WO2023218383A1 (en) Systems and methods for enabling per service configuration for mt-sdt
WO2023014264A1 (en) Reduction of unnecessary radio measurement relaxation reports
WO2023011942A1 (en) Early radio measurement relaxation reporting
WO2024028840A1 (en) Reporting user equipment assistance information to facilitate radio access network energy savings
WO2024028838A1 (en) Network power saving in split ng-ran
WO2023249520A1 (en) Activation of a backup user terminal to transmit data to ensure qos
WO2023037011A1 (en) Connected mode discontinuous reception in a wireless communication network
WO2023063859A1 (en) Secondary cell (scell) deactivation timer in cross-carrier scheduling
WO2023062509A1 (en) Temporary reference signal-based secondary cell activation via radio resource control
WO2023073677A2 (en) Measurements in a communication network
WO2024019652A1 (en) Storing of qoe and rvqoe configurations in rrc_idle
WO2023014253A1 (en) Relaxed measurement mode of operation when ue performs high-priority actions
WO2023068983A1 (en) Measurement reporting based on measurement configurations using frequency specific priority indications
WO2024028814A1 (en) Assistance information from the ue on how qoe is affected by network sleep
WO2023152043A1 (en) Efficient inter-cell l1-rsrp measurement and reporting
WO2023014255A1 (en) Event-based qoe configuration management

Legal Events

Date Code Title Description
121 Ep: the epo has been informed by wipo that ep was designated in this application

Ref document number: 23725819

Country of ref document: EP

Kind code of ref document: A1