WO2024028814A1

WO2024028814A1 - Assistance information from the ue on how qoe is affected by network sleep

Info

Publication number: WO2024028814A1
Application number: PCT/IB2023/057881
Authority: WO
Inventors: Sladana JOSILO; Lian ARAUJO; Ali Nader; Sina MALEKI
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)
Priority date: 2022-08-03
Filing date: 2023-08-03
Publication date: 2024-02-08

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a method whereby a user equipment device (UE) can provide assistance information to a network node (e.g., a gNB) that include Quality of Experience (QoE) information and how a sleeping pattern of the network node may have impacted the QoE. The network node can then use that information to improve a sleeping pattern of the network node and other configurations so that the effect on the QoE can be reduced.

Description

ASSISTANCE INFORMATION FROM THE UE ON HOW QoE IS AFFECTED BY NETWORK SLEEP

Related Applications

This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application serial number 63/394,799, filed August 3, 2022, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to a method for providing assistance information comprising information about Quality of Experience (QoE) from a User Equipment (UE) to a network node in a wireless communication system.

Background

NW power consumption

Energy consumption is a considerable challenge of Fifth Generation (5G) systems today where a major contributor to the energy consumption is the radio unit of the Radio Access Network (RAN) system. The network (NW) power consumption for New Radio (NR) is said to be less compared to Long Term Evolution (LTE) because of its lean design, i.e., no Cell-specific Reference Signals (CRS) and the Synchronization Signal Block (SSB) periodicity is by default 20 ms. However, NR in the current implementation might consume more energy compared to LTE, partly due to higher bandwidths (BWs), shorter Transmission Time Intervals (TTIs) and a massive number of antennas. This is still evident even at times when cells and beams are lightly loaded or serve no traffic or no users at all. One basic method for saving NW energy is to simply turn off a New Radio Base Station (gNB) or cell completely when it is seen or predicted that there is little or no traffic or even no user in the cell.

Discontinuous reception

NR, similar to LTE, includes mechanisms for discontinuous reception (DRX) for the User Equipment devices (UEs) in order to reduce UE power consumption. DRX may be used both in Radio Resource Control (RRC) connected mode (C-DRX) and RRC Idle/Inactive (DRX) and serves as a common agreement between the UE and the NW that upon any downlink (DL) traffic, the NW will only try to contact the UE during the on-time of the DRX pattern. Based on a configured DRX cycle, the UE then only needs to monitor the DL channels according to the agreement and sleep otherwise. When it comes to uplink (UL) traffic, the UE may initiate the connection regardless of the DRX configuration, i.e., the gNB should be prepared to receive UL at any time. There are, however, multiple energy-saving techniques (e.g., in time, frequency, and spatial domain) that are being introduced in NR for the NW. Some of these address the gNB receiver relaxations such that the UE may only be allowed to contact the gNB at certain occasions configured by the NW. As such, the gNB may then, similar to UE DRX, put certain receiver (Rx) circuitry to sleep and only wake up when the UEs are allowed to contact.

User Assistance information

UE assistance information is a message which is defined in LTE and NR specifications. This is an RRC message which the UE can trigger to provide assistance information to the NW. This message contains several different types of information, for example information about that the UE is preferring a certain DRX setting, that the UE is overheated, etc. The NW can individually configure the UE to send the different information elements of this message. For example, the NW can configure the UE to send the overheating information, but not send information related to the UE preferred DRX setting, and vice versa. For some types of information, the NW can configure the UE to send separate assistance information relevant for the Master Cell Group (MCG) and Secondary Cell Group (SCG). The limit on how frequent the UE could send UAI is usually determined by the prohibit timer set by the NW for each UAI item. The NW, then, could configure the UE by the respected configurations whenever possible. It should be noted, however, that the NW also has its own consideration before blindly following the configurations suggested by the UE. The complete UAI available of a UE can be seen in the UE Assistanceinformation information element captured in TS 38.331 Section 6.2.2.

There currently exist certain challenge(s). Even though techniques may be introduced to relax the gNB receiver according to a NW-DRX scheme, for the UL, the gNB may not be aware of the potential delay incurred if the UE is not able to contact the gNB at certain points in time. Without such knowledge, the NW may not know how much the Quality of Experience (QoE) of the UE was affected by a particular sleeping pattern, and hence it can’t fully optimize the sleeping pattern. This may lead to poor QoE.

Summary

In an embodiment, a method performed by a UE for reporting assistance information to a network node can include determining to transmit assistance information, wherein the assistance information comprises QoE information identified by the UE and transmitting the assistance information to a network node.

In another embodiment, a UE is configured to report assistance information, and the UE can include radio circuitry and processing circuitry configured to determine to transmit assistance information, wherein the assistance information comprises QoE information identified by the UE and the processing circuitry can also transmit the assistance information to a network node.

In an embodiment, a method performed by a network node for utilizing assistance information can include receiving the assistance information from the UE, wherein the assistance information comprises QoE information identified by the UE about a negative impact on QoE due to a configuration of the network node. The method can also include adjusting a power usage of the network node based on the assistance information.

In another embodiment, a network node is configured to utilize assistance information, and the network node can include radio circuitry and processing circuitry configured to receive the assistance information from the UE, wherein the assistance information comprises QoE information identified by the UE about a negative impact on QoE due to a configuration of the network node. The processing circuitry can also adjust a power usage of the network node based on the assistance information.

Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). The UE will be able to provide the information to the network node or network on how the network sleeping pattern affected its QoE. Based on this information from the UE, the network cam then modify the sleeping pattern so that the effect of the sleeping pattern on the QoE of the UE can be reduced.

Brief Description of the Drawings

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.

Figure 1 shows an example of a communication system 100 in accordance with some embodiments;

Figure 2 shows a flowchart of a method in accordance with some embodiments; Figure 3 depicts a message sequence chart for reporting assistance information from a User Equipment device (UE) to a network node 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 6 is a block diagram of a host in accordance with some embodiments;

Figure 7 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in accordance with some embodiments; and

Figure 8 shows a communication diagram of a host 802 communicating via a network node with a UE over a wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments.

Detailed Description

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.

The terms “assistance information from the UE” and “UE report” are used interchangeably, both can refer to information provided by the User Equipment (UE) either via Radio Resource Control (RRC) (e.g., UE assistance information (UAI) message), Medium Access Control (MAC), or User Control Interface (UCI). The term “gNB sleeping pattern” is merely a system description whereby the New Radio Base Station (gNB) has configured certain time/frequency occasions/resources for UE uplink (UL) access. In-between these occasions, the gNB may or may not actually sleep. The UE may not necessarily be aware of the fact that the gNB is asleep or not, or that the configuration is sleep/energy-related, rather only based on the configuration provided from the network (NW) the UE knows that it is not allowed to contact the gNB outside the configured occasions.

The present disclosure provides a method whereby a UE can provide assistance information to a network node (e.g., a gNB) that include Quality of Experience (QoE) information and how a sleeping pattern of the network node may have impacted the QoE. The network node can then use that information to improve a sleeping pattern of the network node and other configurations so that the effect on the QoE can be reduced.

Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to the challenges described above. For example, certain embodiments may enable the UE to provide assistance/feedback information on how a NW sleeping pattern affected its QoE. With such feedback from the UEs, the NW can make the best decisions that would be beneficial in terms of energy-saving at the NW (and possibly at the UE side) with no or limited impact on the overall system performance. Certain embodiments may provide a framework that would allow the UEs to provide the information to the NW that can further enhance NW energy-saving techniques. Based on its own knowledge and on the feedback from the UEs, the NW can then make decisions that would be beneficial in terms of energy-saving at the NW side (and possibly at the UE side) with no or limited impact on the overall system performance.

Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). The UE will be able to provide the information to the NW on how a NW sleeping pattern affected its QoE. Based on this information from the UE, the NW will be able to optimize the sleeping pattern so that its effect on the QoE of the UEs is minimized.

The UE report can contain a posteriori information that tells how the configured sleeping pattern affected the UE’s QoE. For example, the UE can report how much it was delayed in UL due to the sleeping pattern configured for gNB or the increment of the buffer level during the time the NW node was in a sleep mode. As another example, the UE can be configured to provide assistance information related to the effect of the NW sleep on the QoE in the downlink, e.g., the effect on the QoE metrics as those specified for progressive download in TS 26.247. As another example, the UE can report that the radio link failure was a result of not being able to contact to the NW due to unavailable UL resources caused by the NW sleeping configuration. As another example, the UE can be configured to provide assistance information on how the NW should adapt/adopt its sleeping pattern, e.g., the UE can indicate to the NW its preferred length of NW sleeping time. The UE may report one, all, or a combination of two or more of the examples above.

The UE can be configured to provide assistance information related to delay incurred in relation to UL access. For example, where such delay can e.g., be measured from the point in time when the UE originally wanted to access the NW but lacked resources/allowance for such request until the UE finally accessed the NW. Where such a delay can be the time a certain packet has spent in a UE layer buffer (e.g., Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP)ZRadio Link Control (RLC)/MAC buffer) before being transmitted. Where said point in time can have a certain granularity such as an absolute frame number in which the UE wanted to access, or the absolute symbol number in a frame number, or a relative/delta time prior to actual access occasion such as slots/symbols/frames/milliseconds. Where such delay is configured by the NW or prespecified in the specifications to only be provided for a subset of UL access activities. For example, the NW may have configured the UE to only measure and provide assistance for all or only a subset of services/QoS flows/DRBs/SRBs. Where such a delay is the excess delay in addition to the UL access delay tolerable by the UE, which is either reported to the NW already or maybe based on a configuration. The tolerable delay can also be configured for the UE, e.g., by the NW or standardization documentations. It can also be based on UE type or UE service type, e.g., Redcap, Internet of Things (loT), enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra Reliable and Low Latency Communications (URLLC).

In some embodiments, the UE can be configured to send this type of assistance information regardless of whether its QoE was affected by the NW sleeping pattern; only if its QoE was affected by the NW sleeping pattern; or only if a certain condition specified by the NW (e.g., delay threshold, buffer increment value) was met.

In some embodiments, assistance information and/or activation requests may be triggered (or prevented to be triggered) by any one or more of the following: a timer to prohibit frequent reports sent by the UE, i.e., the UE can only send another report or trigger once the timer expires. The timer can be in order of seconds, e.g., 1 to 30 sec including an infinity option, where the infinity option indicates that the UE can only send the assistance information report once. conditions to send a subsequent report, i.e., if the UE has already sent a report, it can only send another report if it concerns different information compared to the previous report. For example, if the UE traffic type, service requirements, data volume, mobility status, or received power has changed.

NW configured conditions, which could include (but not limited to) conditions such as where the condition could be related to a certain channel (e.g., PRACH, and/or PUSCH, and/or PUCCH). In such case, the UE only provides information about the delay incurred on that channel; where the condition could be related to a certain specific radio bearer (e.g., SRB and/or DRB). For example, the UE may be configured to provide assistance on SRBx but not on SRBy; or where the condition could be related to certain services e.g., identified by certain 5Qis.

In some embodiments, the UE may be configured with one or more triggers. For example, thresholds, which mandates or enables the UE to report the assistance information, e.g., if the UE received power falls below a specific level. As another example, a report based on cause value, i.e., the UE can only send a report if it is triggered by specific cause e.g., traffic level, or traffic type. As another example, handover e.g., right after the handover (reconfiguration with sync) to a target cell, the UE indicates its report to the target cell. Similarly for a reconfiguration procedure, a connection setup e.g., after security is established, a re-establishment procedure, a resume procedure, or before the UE is suspended. As another example, conditions configured for the Master Cell Group (MCG) or secondary cell group (SCG) in the case of the UE with DC. The conditions for triggering the UE report associated with the MCG and SCG can be different. Depending on the assistance information type, the UE can be configured to provide the assistance information on how the NW sleeping pattern affected its QoE for either all or only a subset of configured cells of the MCG or SCG, respectively.

In some embodiments, the NW may perform actions before and/or after the reception of the UE indications. For example, a NW node can configure the UE to provide UE assistance information to the NW to assist on NW energy savings. The NW node can configure the UE to provide assistance information to the NW to assist it in determining the incurred delay on UL related activity, potentially serving as input for gNB energy savings scheme. For example, the NW node can configure the UE to provide assistance information to the NW to assist determining the effect of a particular NW sleeping pattern on the QoE in downlink, potentially serving as input for gNB energy saving scheme. As another example, the NW can configure the UE to provide assistance information related to the NW power savings only in a time interval specified by the NW. For example, given its sleeping pattern, the NW can configure the UE to send the assistance information only during the intervals when the NW node is awake or only prior to its intended update of the energy-saving technique.

Upon the reception of a report from the UE, the NW node may, for example, use the reported information to reconfigure the UL resource availability and potentially adjust the gNB sleeping pattern. The NW node may choose to do so if, e.g., the UL related incurred delay causes QoE degradations beyond acceptable levels. As another example, the NW node may generate its own assistance information report to be sent to another node. As another example, the NW may activate/deactivate the SCells or reconfigure the UE, e.g., add or release the SCells. Reconfigure a group of UEs, such that the transmissions to/from them are synchronized in a way that would allow a NW node to perform longer sleep while keeping the QoE of the UEs at an acceptable level.

Figure 1 shows an example of a communication system 100 in accordance with some embodiments.

In the example, the communication system 100 includes a telecommunication network 102 that includes an access network 104, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 106, which includes one or more core network nodes 108. The access network 104 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 110a and 110b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 110), or any other similar 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access node or non-3GPP access point. The network nodes 110 facilitate direct or indirect connection of UE, such as by connecting UEs 112a, 112b, 112c, and 112d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 112) to the core network 106 over one or more wireless connections.

The UEs 112 may report assistance information to the network nodes 110 about QoE information, and the network nodes 110 may adjust power usages to reduce the impact of a sleeping pattern of the network on the UEs 112.

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 100 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 100 may include and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and/or other similar type of system.

The UEs 112 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 110 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 110 are arranged, capable, configured, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 112 and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 102 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 102.

In the depicted example, the core network 106 connects the network nodes 110 to one or more hosts, such as host 116. 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 106 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 108) 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 108. 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 (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and/or a User Plane Function (UPF).

The host 116 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 104 and/or the telecommunication network 102, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 116 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.

As a whole, the communication system 100 of Figure 1 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system 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 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 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.

In some examples, the telecommunication network 102 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 102 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 102. For example, the telecommunications network 102 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 loT services to yet further UEs.

In some examples, the UEs 112 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 104 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 104. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e., being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

In the example, the hub 114 communicates with the access network 104 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 112c and/or 112d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 110b). In some examples, the hub 114 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 114 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 106 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 114 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 110, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 114. As another example, the hub 114 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 114 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 114 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 114 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and/or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 114 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 114 may have a constant/persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 110b. The hub 114 may also allow for a different communication scheme and/or schedule between the hub 114 and UEs (e.g., UE 112c and/or 112d), and between the hub 114 and the core network 106. In other examples, the hub 114 is connected to the core network 106 and/or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 114 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 104 and/or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 110 while still connected via the hub 114 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 114 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 110b. In other embodiments, the hub 114 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 110b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and/or end point for certain data channels.

Figure 2: Method in accordance with some embodiments

Figure 2 depicts a method in accordance with particular embodiments. For purposes of simplifying the discussion, the steps performed by a user equipment (noted with a “(UE)” following the reference number) and a network node (noted with a “(NN)” following the reference number) have been combined in the above flow chart. Thus, neither a user equipment nor a network node will perform all the steps of Figure 2. As depicted, the method begins at step 205 (NN) where the network node transmits a message to the UE that comprises one or more parameters that can be used by the UE to configure how the UE prepares and/or transmits a report based on any impact the UE experienced to its quality of experience. At step 210 the UE receives the message comprising the parameters. The parameters may, for example, comprise an indication of a threshold delay to be incurred by the UE before the UE transmits the report. The parameters may also specify a time interval for when the UE is to transmit a report.

At step 215 the UE determines one or more impacts to its QoE. The impact may be an amount of time the UE was delayed in sending a message on an UL. The delay may be measured based on the amount of time the UE was delayed as measured from a point in time when the UE originally wanted to access the NW but lacked resources for such request until the network node came out of sleep. The impact may be determined based on the amount of time a packet spent in a buffer before being sent. The impact may be based on a delta between the actual access and initial attempt to access. The delta may be measured in terms of slots/symbols/frames/milliseconds. The impact may be an increase in a buffer level. For example, if during a sleep period a buffer increases a threshold amount, the UE may determine there was an impact to the QoE. The impact may be based on the effect on the QoE in the downlink. The impact may be determining that a radio link failure was a result of not being able to contact the network node due to unavailable UL resources caused by the network node’s sleeping configuration. The impact may be the result of a sleeping pattern used by the network node.

At step 220 the UE transmits a report comprising information based on the determined impacts to QoE. The report is received by the network node at step 225. In some embodiments, the report comprises information indicating how the network node should adapt its sleeping pattern. The report may be associated with a particular sleeping pattern used by the network node. The report may contain information for all activities, all UL activities, all DL activities, a subset of DL activities or a subset of UL access activities. In some embodiments, the UE may first determine that it experienced an impact (e.g., a delay) that exceeded a threshold amount before it transmits the report. The report may be transmitted only if there is an impact to the QoE of the UE or regardless of whether there is an impact to the QoE of the UE affected by the NW sleeping pattern.

In some embodiments the report is transmitted upon detecting a triggering event. For example, the triggering event may be the expiration of a timer based on a prior report transmittal. This may help to limit the number of reports sent by the UE. In some instances, the triggering even may be a new/different impact to the QoE is determined to have occurred. That is, if the same type of impact occurs twice, it would only be reported once, only if a new/different would a second report be transmitted. It may be that triggering event is the occurrence of one or more impacts to the QoE under specific conditions, such as on a specific channel, a specific radio bearer, a specific type of impact, or with respect to a specific service. The triggering event may be based on an event such as completion of a handover, a reconfiguration procedure, a connection setup procedure, a security configuration procedure, a connection re-establishment procedure, a resume procedure, or prior to entering a suspended state. In some cases the triggering event is different for a Master Cell Group (MCG) and for a secondary cell group (SCG). As seen above, not all the triggering events are based on detecting an impact to a QoE of the UE. Accordingly, it may be the case that a triggering event occurs but there has been no impact to the QoE (or no reportable QoE) in such a case the UE may either refrain from sending a report or it may send a report indicating that there were no reportable impacts to the QoE.

At step 230 the network node may adjust power usage based on information in the report. The adjustment may comprise reconfiguring the UL resources that are made available to the UE that sent the report. It may also or alternatively reconfigure the UL resources of other UEs. The adjustment may also or alternatively comprise adjusting a sleep pattern of the network node. The adjustment may also or alternatively comprise activating or deactivating one or more secondary cells supported by the network node. It may also or alternatively comprise reconfiguring one or more additional UEs such that transmissions to or from the UE and the one or more additional UEs are synchronized in a way that would allow a network node to perform longer sleep while keeping the QoE of the UEs at an acceptable level.

At step 235 the network node generates a second report that is then transmitted at step 240 to another node. This is an optional step that may not occur in all instances.

At step 245, the UE provides user data (e.g., a request for data based on user input). At step 250 the UE forwards the user data to a host computer via the NN. At step 255 the NN obtains the user data. At step 260 the NN then forwards the user data to the host computer. User data can also flow in the opposite direction in which the NN obtains user data and then forwards the data to the UE.

Figure 3 depicts a message sequence chart for reporting assistance information from a UE to a network node in accordance with some embodiments. The message sequence chart in Figure 3 is merely a restatement of the method described in Figure 2, and is organized differently to show the source and target of the messages.

At step 302, the network node 110 may optionally provide a configuration to the UE 112 to report assistance information. In an embodiment, the configuration can include one or more parameters to configure how the UE 112 prepares and transmits the report. In an embodiment, the one or more parameters can include an indication of a threshold delay to be incurred by the UE 112 before the UE 112 transmits the report.

At step 304, the UE 112 can determine to transmit assistance information, wherein the assistance information comprises Quality of Experience, QoE, information identified by the UE. The determining can be based on determining in step 306 that there has been a negative impact on QoE due to a configuration of the network node. In an embodiment, the UE 112 can determine there has been the negative impact on the QoE based on an increase in a buffer level during a time the network node 110 was in a sleep mode, or based on an amount of time an uplink transmission of the UE (112) was delayed being larger than a threshold time, where the amount of time the uplink transmission of the UE (112) was delayed is due to a sleep mode used by the network node. Additionally, the amount of time the uplink transmission of the UE 112 was delayed is based on a difference in time between when the UE 112 attempted to access the network node 110 but lacked resources until the network node 110 came out of a sleep mode, where the amount of time the uplink transmission of the UE 112 was delayed is associated with an amount of time a packet has spent in a buffer before being transmitted. In an embodiment, the amount of time the uplink transmission of the UE 112 was delayed is based on a difference in time between actual access of the network node 110 and initial attempted access of the network node 110, wherein the difference in time is measured in one of slots, symbols, frames, or milliseconds.

Alternatively, or in addition, the UE 112 can determine to transmit the assistance information in response to determining at step 308 that a delay experienced by the UE 112 exceeds a threshold time, or determining to transmit assistance information is in response to detection of a triggering event, where the triggering event comprises expiration of a timer based on a prior report transmittal, the timer configured to limit a number of reports sent by the UE 112. In an embodiment, the triggering event is different for a Master Cell Group and for a Secondary Cell group.

At step 310, the UE 112 can then transmit the assistance information to the network node. In an embodiment, the assistance information can include information indicating how the network node 110 should adapt its sleeping pattern. In an embodiment, transmitting the report comprises transmitting the report for a subset of UL access activities.

In some embodiments, the report is transmitted regardless of whether there is an impact to the QoE of the UE 112.

At step 312, the network node 312 can adjust a power usage of the network node 110 based on the assistance information. The adjusting the power usage of the network node 110 can include reconfiguring, at step 314, uplink resource availability for the UE, or adjusting, at step 316, a sleep pattern of the network node, and/or activating or deactivating, at step 318, one or more secondary cells.

At step 320, the network node 110 can optionally determine whether to generate a second report for another network node, and then at step 322 the network node 110 can optionally transmit that second report to the other network node 110-1.

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 IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, 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 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

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-everything (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).

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, a 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. For example, the processing circuitry 402 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

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.

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 of 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 read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable readonly memory (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.

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 random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and/or 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 ‘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 comprise 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). Moreover, the transmitter 418 and receiver 420 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 422) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 412 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, 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 in according to one or more communication protocols and/or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol/intcrnct protocol (TCP/IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 412, 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).

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.

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 TV, 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 Virtual Reality (VR), a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or 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.

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 and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

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.

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, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)). Base stations 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 base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station 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 base station such as centralized digital units and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

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 base station 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).

The network node 500 includes a processing circuitry 502, a 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 NodeB component and a 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 NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB 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 radio access technologies (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., a same 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, 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 network node 500. The processing circuitry 502 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, 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.

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 radio frequency (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 RF transceiver circuitry 512 and 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, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (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 memory 504 is integrated.

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. Radio front-end circuitry 518 comprises filters 520 and amplifiers 522. The radio front-end circuitry 518 may be connected to an antenna 510 and processing circuitry 502. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 510 and 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 filters 520 and/or 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 may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.

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 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. 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.

The antenna 510, 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. 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. 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 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, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or 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.

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.

Figure 6 is a block diagram of a host 600, which may be an embodiment of the host 116 of Figure 1, in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, the host 600 may be or comprise various combinations 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 a 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 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), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., 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, 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 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 (MPEG-DASH), etc.

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.

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 Q400 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 virtual machine 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 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.

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 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, 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.

Hardware 704 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 704 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, 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 applications 702. In some embodiments, 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 radio access node or a base station. 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.

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 a UE 112a of Figure 1 and/or UE 400 of Figure 4), network node (such as network node 110a of Figure 1 and/or network node 500 of Figure 5), and host (such as host 116 of Figure 1 and/or host 600 of Figure 6) discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to Figure 8. Like host 600, embodiments of host 802 include hardware, such as a communication interface, processing circuitry, and memory. The host 802 also includes software, which is stored in or 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 over-the-top (OTT) connection 850 extending between the UE 806 and 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.

The network node 804 includes hardware enabling it to communicate with the host 802 and UE 806. The connection 860 may be direct or pass through a core network (like core network 106 of Figure 1) 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.

The UE 806 includes hardware and software, which is stored in or accessible by 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 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 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.

The OTT connection 850 may extend via a 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 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.

As an example of transmitting data via the OTT connection 850, in step 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 step 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 step 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 step 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.

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 step 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 step 818, transmission of the user data towards the host 802 via the network node 804. In step 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 step 822, 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 the power consumption of the network while either improving the quality of service or without degrading the quality of service more a set amount. This may thereby provide benefits such as better responsiveness.

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.

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 UE 806, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection may be implemented in software and hardware of the host 802 and/or 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 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.

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.

In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on 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 hard-wired 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. EMBODIMENTS

Group A Embodiments

Embodiment 1 : A method performed by a user equipment (UE) for reporting assistance information, the method comprising: determining one or more impacts to quality of experience (QoE) for the UE; and transmitting a report to a network node, the report comprising information based on the determined impacts to the QoE for the UE.

Embodiment 2: The method of 1 wherein determining the one or more impacts to QoE comprises determining an amount of time the UE was delayed in uplink (UL).

Embodiment 3: The method of 2 wherein the delay is due to a sleeping pattern used by the network node.

Embodiment 4: The method of 2 wherein determining the one or more impacts to QoE comprises determining an increase in a buffer level during a time network node was in a sleep mode.

Embodiment 5: The method of 2 wherein determining the amount of time the UE was delayed comprises measuring from a point in time when the UE originally wanted to access the NW but lacked resources for such request until the network node came out of sleep. Embodiment 6: The method of 2 wherein determining the amount of time the UE was delayed comprises measuring an amount of time a certain packet has spent in a buffer before being transmitted.

Embodiment 7 : The method of 2 wherein determining the amount of time the UE was delayed comprises measuring a delta between actual access and initial attempted access, wherein the delta is measured in terms of slots/symbols/frames/milliseconds.

Embodiment 8: The method of 1 wherein the UE determines an impact of the NW sleep on the QoE in the downlink.

Embodiment 9: The method of 1 wherein determining the one or more impacts to QoE comprises determining that a radio link failure was a result of not being able to contact the network node due to unavailable UL resources caused by the network node’s sleeping configuration.

Embodiment 10: The method of 1 wherein the report comprises information indicating how the network node should adapt its sleeping pattern.

Embodiment 11: The method of any of 1-10 wherein transmitting the report comprises transmitting the report for a subset of UL access activities.

Embodiment 12: The method of any of 1-10 wherein transmitting the report comprises determining that a delay experienced by the UE exceeds a threshold amount before the transmitting the report.

Embodiment 13: The method of any of 1-12 wherein the report is transmitted regardless of whether there is an impact to the QoE of the UE affected by the NW sleeping pattern.

Embodiment 14: The method of any of 1-12 wherein the report is transmitted only if there is an impact to the QoE of the UE affected by the NW sleeping pattern.

Embodiment 15: The method of any of 1-12 wherein the report is transmitted upon detecting a triggering event.

Embodiment 16: The method of 15 wherein the triggering event comprises expiration of a timer based on a prior report transmittal, the timer configured to limit the number of reports sent by the UE.

Embodiment 17: The method of 15 wherein the triggering event comprises determining one or more additional impacts to the QoE, the one or more additional impacts to the QoE different than the one more impacts to the QoE.

Embodiment 18: The method of 15 wherein the triggering event comprises determining that the one or more impacts to the QoE were experienced on a specific channel, a specific radio bearer, a specific type of impact, or with respect to a specific service. Embodiment 19: The method of 15 wherein the triggering event is based on completion of a handover, a reconfiguration procedure, a connection setup procedure, a security configuration procedure, a connection re-establishment procedure, a resume procedure.

Embodiment 20: The method of 15 wherein the triggering event occurs before the UE enters a suspended state.

Embodiment 21: The method of any of 15-20 wherein the triggering event is different for a Master Cell Group (MCG) and for a secondary cell group (SCG).

Embodiment 22: 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

Embodiment 23: A method performed by a network node for reporting assistance information, the method comprising: receiving a report from a user equipment (UE), the report comprising information based on determined impacts to the QoE for the UE; and adjusting a power usage of the network node based on information in the report.

Embodiment 24: The method of 23 further comprising transmitting a message to the UE, the message comprising one or more parameters to configure how the UE prepares and transmits the report.

The method of 25 : wherein the one or more parameters comprises an indication of a threshold delay to be incurred by the UE before the UE transmits the report.

Embodiment 26: The method of any of 23-25 wherein the report is associated with a particular sleeping pattern used by the network node.

Embodiment 27: The method of any of 23-26 wherein the one or more parameters comprises an indication of a time interval in which the UE is to transmit the report.

Embodiment 28: The method of any of 23-27 wherein adjusting a power usage of the network node comprises reconfiguring the UL resource availability for at least the UE.

Embodiment 29: The method of any of 23-28 wherein adjusting a power usage of the network node comprises adjusting a sleep pattern of the network node.

Embodiment 30: The method of any of 23-29 wherein adjusting the power usage of the network node comprises activating or deactivating one or more secondary cells.

Embodiment 31: The method of any of 23-30 wherein adjusting the power usage of the network node comprises reconfiguring one or more additional UEs such that transmissions to or from the UE and the one or more additional UEs are synchronized in a way that would allow a NW node to perform longer sleep while keeping the QoE of the UEs at an acceptable level Embodiment 32: The method of any of 23-31 further comprising: generating a second report; and transmitting the second report to another node.

Embodiment 33: 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

Embodiment 34: A user equipment for reporting assistance information, comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

Embodiment 35: A network node for reporting assistance information, the network node comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments; power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

Embodiment 36: A user equipment (UE) for reporting assistance information, the 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 steps 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.

Embodiment 37 : 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 steps of any of the Group A embodiments to receive the user data from the host.

Embodiment 38: 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 39: 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 40: 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.

Embodiment 41: 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 42: 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 43: 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 steps of any of the Group A embodiments to transmit the user data to the host.

Embodiment 44: 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 45: 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 46: 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 steps of any of the Group A embodiments to transmit the user data to the host. Embodiment 47: 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 48: 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 49: 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.

Embodiment 50: 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 51 : 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.

Embodiment 52: The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising, at the network node, transmitting the user data provided by the host for the UE.

Embodiment 53: 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 54: 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.

Embodiment 55: The communication system of the previous embodiment, further comprising: the network node; and/or the user equipment.

Embodiment 56: 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.

Embodiment 57: 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 58: The host of the any of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein the initiating receipt of the user data comprises requesting the user data.

Embodiment 59: 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 steps of any of the Group B embodiments to receive the user data from the UE for the host.

Embodiment 60: The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising at the network node, transmitting the received user data to the host.

At least some of the following abbreviations may be used in this disclosure. If there is an inconsistency between abbreviations, preference should be given to how it is used above. If listed multiple times below, the first listing should be preferred over any subsequent listing(s).

• 3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project

• 5G Fifth Generation

• 5GC Fifth Generation Core

• 5GS Fifth Generation System

• AF Application Function AMF Access and Mobility Function

AN Access Network

AP Access Point

ASIC Application Specific Integrated Circuit

AUSF Authentication Server Function

CPU Central Processing Unit

DN Data Network

DSP Digital Signal Processor eNB Enhanced or Evolved Node B

EPS Evolved Packet System

E-UTRA Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access

FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array gNB New Radio Base Station gNB-DU New Radio Base Station Distributed Unit

HSS Home Subscriber Server loT Internet of Things

IP Internet Protocol

LTE Long Term Evolution

MME Mobility Management Entity

MTC Machine Type Communication

NEF Network Exposure Function

NF Network Function

NR New Radio

NRF Network Function Repository Function

NSSF Network Slice Selection Function

OTT Over-the-Top

PC Personal Computer

PCF Policy Control Function

P-GW Packet Data Network Gateway

QoE Quality of Experience

QoS Quality of Service

RAM Random Access Memory

RAN Radio Access Network • ROM Read Only Memory

• RRH Remote Radio Head

• RTT Round Trip Time

• SCEF Service Capability Exposure Function

• SMF Session Management Function

• UDM Unified Data Management

• UE User Equipment

• UPF User Plane Function

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

1. A method performed by a user equipment, UE, (112) for reporting assistance information to a network node (110), the method comprising: determining (304) to transmit assistance information, wherein the assistance information comprises Quality of Experience, QoE, information identified by the UE (112); and transmitting (310) the assistance information to a network node (110).

2. The method of claim 1, wherein determining to transmit assistance information is based on determining (306) that there has been a negative impact on QoE due to a configuration of the network node (110).

3. The method of any of claims 1 to 2, wherein the determining to transmit assistance information is in response to: receiving (302), from the network node (110), a configuration to report the assistance information.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein determining (306) that there has been the negative impact on the QoE is based on an increase in a buffer level during a time the network node (110) was in a sleep mode.

5. The method of claim 2, wherein determining (306) that there has been the negative impact on the QoE is based on an amount of time an uplink transmission of the UE (112) was delayed being larger than a threshold time.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the amount of time the uplink transmission of the UE (112) was delayed is due to a sleep mode used by the network node (110).

7. The method of claim 5, wherein the amount of time the uplink transmission of the UE (112) was delayed is based on a difference in time between when the UE (112) attempted to access the network node (110) but lacked resources until the network node (110) came out of a sleep mode.

8. The method of claim 5, wherein the amount of time the uplink transmission of the UE (112) was delayed is associated with an amount of time a packet has spent in a buffer before being transmitted.

9. The method of claim 5, wherein the amount of time the uplink transmission of the UE (112) was delayed is based on a difference in time between actual access of the network node (110) and initial attempted access of the network node (110), wherein the difference in time is measured in one of slots, symbols, frames, or milliseconds.

10. The method of claim 2, wherein determining (306) that there has been a negative impact on QoE is based on a radio link failure as a result of not being able to contact the network node (110) due to unavailable uplink resources caused by a sleeping pattern of the network node (HO).

11. The method of any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the assistance information further comprises information indicating how the network node (110) should adapt its sleeping pattern.

12. The method of any of claims 1 to 11, wherein transmitting (310) the report comprises transmitting the report for a subset of uplink, UL, access activities.

13. The method of any of claims 1 to 12, wherein determining to transmit assistance information comprises determining (308) that a delay experienced by the UE (112) exceeds a threshold time.

14. The method of any of claims 1 to 13, wherein the report is transmitted regardless of whether there is an impact to the QoE of the UE (112).

15. The method of any of claims 1 to 13, wherein determining to transmit assistance information is in response to detection of a triggering event.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the triggering event comprises expiration of a timer based on a prior report transmittal, the timer configured to limit a number of reports sent by the UE (112).

17. The method of any of claims 15 to 16, wherein the triggering event is different for a Master Cell Group and for a Secondary Cell group.

18. A user equipment, UE, (112) configured to report assistance information, the UE (112) comprising radio circuitry and processing circuitry configured to: determine (304) to transmit assistance information, wherein the assistance information comprises Quality of Experience, QoE, information identified by the UE (112); and transmit (310) the assistance information to a network node (110).

19. The UE (112) of claim 18, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to perform any of the steps of claims 2-17.

20. A method performed by a network node (110) for utilizing assistance information, the method comprising: receiving (310) the assistance information from the user equipment, UE, (112), wherein the assistance information comprises Quality of Experience, QoE, information identified by the UE (112) about a negative impact on QoE due to a configuration of the network node (110); and adjusting (312) a power usage of the network node (110) based on the assistance information.

21. The method of claim 20, further comprising: configuring (302) the UE (112) to provide the assistance information.

22. The method of claim 21, wherein the configuring the UE (112) further comprises providing one or more parameters to configure how the UE (112) prepares and transmits the report.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the one or more parameters comprises an indication of a threshold delay to be incurred by the UE (112) before the UE (112) transmits the report.

24. The method of any of claims 20 to 23, wherein adjusting the power usage of the network node (110) comprises reconfiguring (314) uplink resource availability for the UE (112).

25. The method of any of claims 20 to 23, wherein adjusting the power usage of the network node (110) comprises adjusting (316) a sleep pattern of the network node (110).

26. The method of any of claims 20 to 23, wherein adjusting the power usage of the network node (110) comprises activating or deactivating (318) one or more secondary cells.

27. The method of any of claims 20 to 26, further comprising: generating (320) a second report; and transmitting (322) the second report to another network node (110-1).

28. A network node (110), for utilizing assistance information, the network node comprising radio circuitry and processing circuitry configured to: receive (310) the assistance information from the user equipment, UE, (112), wherein the assistance information comprises Quality of Experience, QoE, information identified by the UE (112) about a negative impact on QoE due to a configuration of the network node (110); and adjust (312) a power usage of the network node (110) based on the assistance information.

29. The network node (110) of claim 28, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to perform any of the steps of claims 21 to 27.