WO2025071456A1

WO2025071456A1 - Methods and apparatuses for periodic reporting for metrics with varying rates of generation

Info

Publication number: WO2025071456A1
Application number: PCT/SE2024/050810
Authority: WO
Inventors: Vengatanathan KRISHNAMOORTHI; Luca LUNARDI; Angelo Centonza; Ioanna Pappa
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Current assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget LM Ericsson AB
Priority date: 2023-09-27
Filing date: 2024-09-24
Publication date: 2025-04-03
Anticipated expiration: 2026-03-27

Abstract

Embodiments described herein relate to methods and apparatuses for enabling periodic reporting for metrics with varying rates of generation A method performed by a first network node (710, 900) for enabling reporting of measurements of one or more measurement objects by a second network node, comprises: transmitting (502) a data collection request to the second network node, wherein the data collection request comprises a first indication that a plurality of measurement values for each of the one or more measurement objects are allowed to be reported by the second network node within a data collection update message.

Description

METHODS AND APPARATUSES FOR PERIODIC REPORTING FOR METRICS WITH VARYING RATES OF GENERATION

TECHNICAL FIELD

[1] Embodiments of the present disclosure are directed to measurement reporting in a communications network, and, more particularly, to enabling periodic reporting for metrics with varying rates of generation.

BACKGROUND

[2] The Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN) comprises a set of network nodes (e.g. gNBs) connected to the 5^th Generation Core (5GC) through an NG interface.

[3] NOTE: As specified in TS 38.300 v 17.5.0, the NG-RAN may also comprise a set of ng-evolved Node

Bs (ng-eNBs), an ng-eNB may consist of an ng-eNB-Central Unit (ng-eNB-CU) and one or more ng-eNB- Distributed Unit(s) (ng-eNB-DU(s)). An ng-eNB-CU and an ng-eNB-DU may be connected via W1 interface. The general principle described in this section also applies to ng-eNB and W1 interface, if not explicitly specified otherwise.

[4] An network node (e.g. gNB) may support Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) mode, Time Division Duplex (TDD) mode, or a dual mode operation.

[5] gNBs may be interconnected through the Xn interface.

[6] A gNB may comprise a gNB-CU and one or more gNB-DU(s). A gNB-CU and a gNB-DU may be connected via F1 interface.

[7] One gNB-DU may be connected to only one gNB-CU.

[8] NOTE: In case of network sharing with multiple cell identification (ID) broadcast, each Cell Identity associated with a subset of Public Land Mobile Networks (PLMNs) corresponds to a gNB-DU and the gNB-CU it is connected to, i.e. the corresponding gNB-DUs share the same physical layer cell resources.

[9] NOTE: For resiliency, a gNB-DU may be connected to multiple gNB-CUs by appropriate implementation.

[10] NG, Xn, and F1 are logical interfaces.

[11] For NG-RAN, the NG and Xn-C interfaces for a gNB comprising a gNB-CU and gNB-DUs, terminate in the gNB-CU. For EN-DC, the S1-U and X2-C interfaces for a comprising a gNB-CU and gNB-DUs, terminate in the gNB-CU. The gNB-CU and connected gNB-DUs may only be visible to other gNBs and the 5GC as a gNB.

[12] The network node hosting the user plane part of a New Radio NR Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) (e.g. gNB-Control Unit (CU), gNB-CU-User Plane (UP), and for E-UTRAN New Radio (EN)-Dual Connectivity (DC), Master eNB (MeNB) or Secondary gNB (SgNB) depending on the bearer split) shall perform user inactivity monitoring and may further inform its inactivity or (re)activation to the network node having a control plane connection towards the core network (e.g. over E1, X2). The network node hosting New Radio (NR) Radio Link Control (RLC) (e.g. gNB-Distributed Unit (DU)) may perform user inactivity monitoring and further inform its inactivity or (re)activation to the network node hosting the control plane, e.g. gNB-CU or gNB-CU-Control Plane (CP).

[13] Uplink (UL) PDCP configuration (e.g. how the User Equipment (UE) uses the UL at the assisting node) is indicated via X2-C (for EN-DC), Xn-C (for NG-RAN) and F1-C. Radio Link Outage/Resume for Downlink (DL) and/or UL is indicated via X2-U (for EN-DC), Xn-U (for NG-RAN) and F1-U.

[14] The NG-RAN is layered into a Radio Network Layer (RNL) and a Transport Network Layer (TNL).

[15] The NG-RAN architecture, i.e., the NG-RAN logical nodes and interfaces between them, is defined as part of the RNL.

[16] For each NG-RAN interface (NG, Xn, F1) the related TNL protocol and the functionality are specified. The TNL provides services for user plane transport, signalling transport.

[17] In NG-Flex configuration, each NG-RAN node is connected to all Access and Mobility Management Functions (AMFs) of AMF Sets within an AMF Region supporting at least one slice also supported by the NG-RAN node. The AMF Set and the AMF Region are defined in 3GPP TS 23.501 v 18.3.0.

[18] If security protection for control plane (CP) and user plane (UP) data on TNL of NG-RAN interfaces has to be supported, NDS/IP 3GPP TS 33.501 v 18.3.0 shall be applied.

[19] The overall architecture for separation of gNB-CU-CP and gNB-CU-UP is depicted in Figure 1 and specified in TS 37.483 V 17.6.0.

[20] Figure 1 illustrates an overall architecture for separation of gNB-CU-CP and gNB-CU-UP.

[21] A gNB may comprise a gNB-CU-CP, multiple gNB-CU-UPs and multiple gNB-DUs;

[22] The gNB-CU-CP many be connected to the gNB-DU through the F1-C interface;

[23] The gNB-CU-UP may be connected to the gNB-DU through the F1-U interface;

[24] The gNB-CU-UP may be connected to the gNB-CU-CP through the E1 interface;

[25] One gNB-DU may be connected to only one gNB-CU-CP;

[26] One gNB-CU-UP may be connected to only one gNB-CU-CP;

[27] NOTE 1 : For resiliency, a gNB-DU and/or a gNB-CU-UP may be connected to multiple gNB-CU-CPs by appropriate implementation.

[28] One gNB-DU may be connected to multiple gNB-CU-UPs under the control of the same gNB-CU-CP;

[29] One gNB-CU-UP may be connected to multiple DUs under the control of the same gNB-CU-CP;

[30] NOTE 2: The connectivity between a gNB-CU-UP and a gNB-DU may be established by the gNB-CU- CP using Bearer Context Management functions.

[31] NOTE 3: The gNB-CU-CP may select the appropriate gNB-CU-UP(s) for the requested services for the UE. In case of multiple CU-UPs being selected, that belong to same security domain as defined in TS 33.210 v 17.1.0.

[32] NOTE 4: Data forwarding between gNB-CU-UPs during Intra-gNB-CU-CP handover within a gNB may be supported by Xn-U.

The following (in quotations) is taken from R3-234786. [33] "DATA COLLECTION REPORITNG procedure.

[34] 1) Data Collection Reporting Initiation

[35] This procedure is used by an NG-RAN node to request the reporting of Artificial Intelligence (Al)/ Machine Learning (ML) related information to another NG-RAN node.

[36] The procedure uses non UE-associated signalling.

[37] Editor's Note: FFS other information that can be requested using this procedure.

[38] Editor's Note: FFS content of AL/ML related information.

[39] Successful Operation

[40] Figure 8.4.AA.2-1 {Figure 2 of the present disclosure): Data Collection Reporting Initiation, successful operation.

[41] NG-RAN nodei initiates the procedure by sending the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message to NG- RAN node2 to start AI/ML related information reporting and stop AI/ML related information reporting. Upon receipt, NG-RAN node2:

[42] - shall initiate the requested AI/ML related information reporting according to the parameters given in the request in case the Registration Reguest \E is set to "start”; or

[43] - shall stop all cells AI/ML related information reporting and terminate the reporting in case the Registration Reguest \E is set to "stop”; or

[44] - FFS

[45] If the Registration Reguest IE is set to "start” in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message and the Report Characteristics IE indicates cell specific AI/ML related information reporting, the Cell To Report List IE shall be included.

[46] If NG-RAN node2 is capable to provide all of the requested information, it shall initiate the AI/ML related information reporting as requested by NG-RAN nodei and respond with the DATA COLLECTION RESPONSE message.

[47] If NG-RAN node2 is capable to provide some but not all of the requested information, it shall initiate the AI/ML related information reporting for the admitted requested information and include the Node Measurement Initiation Result\E or the Per Cell Measurement Initiation Result IE or both in the DATA COLLECTION RESPONSE message.

[48] If the Reporting Periodicity IE in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST is present, this indicates the periodicity for the reporting of periodic AI/ML related information. The NG-RAN node2 shall report only once, unless otherwise requested within the Reporting Periodicity IE.

[49] If the Reguested Prediction Time IE in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is present, it indicates the specific point in time to which the prediction of the information requested applies. The NG-RAN node2 shall take it into account when generating the requested predicted information. [50] Interaction with other procedures

[51] When starting a measurement, the Report Characteristics IE in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST indicates the type of objects NG-RAN node2 shall perform measurements or prediction on. NG-RAN node2 shall include in the DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message:

[52] - the Predicted Radio Resource Status IE, if the first bit, "Predicted Radio Resource Status” of the Report Characteristics IE included in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is set to "1”. FFS on the details of Predicted Radio Resource Status IE.

[53] - the Predicted Number of Active UEs IE, if the second bit, "Predicted Number of Active UEs” of the Report Characteristics IE included in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is set to "1”;

[54] - the Predicted RRC Connections IE, if the third bit, "Predicted RRC Connections” of the Report Characteristics IE included in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is set to "1”.

[55] - the Average UE Throughput DL IE, if the fourth bit, "Average UE Throughput DL” of the Report Characteristics IE included in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is set to "1”.

[56] - the Average UE Throughput UL IE, if the fifth bit, "Average UE Throughput UL” of the Report Characteristics IE included in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is set to "1”.

[57] - the Average Packet Delay IE, if the sixth bit, "Average Packet Delay” of the Report Characteristics IE included in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is set to “1”.

[58] - the Average Packet Loss IE, if the seventh bit, "Average Packet Loss” of the Report Characteristics IE included in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is set to “1”.

[59] - the Energy Cost IE, if the eighth bit, "Energy Cost” of the Report Characteristics IE included in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is set to "1”.

[60] Unsuccessful Operation

[61] Figure 8.4.AA.3-1 {Figure 3 of the present disclosure): Data Collection Reporting Initiation, unsuccessful operation.

[62] If none of the requested AI/ML related information reporting cannot be initiated, NG-RAN node2 shall send the DATA COLLECTION FAILURE message with an appropriate cause value.

[63] Abnormal Conditions

[64] For the same Measurement ID, if the initiating NG-RAN nodei does not receive either the DATA COLLECTION RESPONSE message or the DATA COLLECTION FAILURE message, the NG-RAN nodei may reinitiate the Data Collection Reporting Initiation procedure towards the same NG-RAN node, provided that the content of the new DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is identical to the content of the previously unacknowledged DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message.

[65] If the NG-RAN node2 receives an DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message which includes the Registration Reguest IE set to "stop” and if the NG-RAN node2 Measurement ID value received in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is not used, the NG-RAN node₂ shall initiate DATA COLLECTION FAILURE message with an appropriate cause value.

[66] If the Report Characteristics IE bitmap is set to "0” (all bits are set to "0”) in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message then NG-RAN node₂ shall initiate an DATA COLLECTION FAILURE message with an appropriate cause value.

[67] If the NG-RAN node₂ receives a DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message which includes the Registration Request IE set to "start” and the NG-RAN nodel Measurement ID IE corresponding to an existing on-going Data Collection reporting, then NG-RAN node₂ shall initiate a DATA COLLECTION FAILURE message with an appropriate cause value.

[68] Data Collection Reporting

[69] General

[70] This procedure is initiated by an NG-RAN node to report AI/ML related information accepted by the NG- RAN node following a successful Data Collection Reporting Initiation procedure.

[71] The procedure uses non UE-associated signalling.

[72] Editor's Note: FFS other information that can be reported using this procedure.

[73] Editor's Note: FFS content of AL/ML related information.

[74] Successful Operation

[75] Figure 8.4.11 .2-1 {Figure 4 of the present disclosure): Data Collection Reporting, successful operation.

[76] NG-RAN node₂ shall report the accepted AI/ML related information in DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message. The accepted AI/ML related information is the information that was successfully initiated during the preceding Data Collection Reporting Initiation procedure.”

[77] It will be appreciated that the below details of the procedure above from R3-234786 may be of particular relevance to embodiments described later herein.

[78] The DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is sent by NG-RAN nodei to NG-RAN node₂ to initiate request for AI/ML related information.

[79] The DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message may comprise an indication that UE performance feedback should be provided after a handover event. According to the agreed TP (R3-234786) for TS 38.423 , in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message, a g N B 1 sends a request to gNB2 for reporting UE performance feedback, by setting one or more of the appropriate bits of the Report Characteristics IE.

[80] After this initial phase is completed, the "Measurement ID” pair, namely the NG-RAN node1/2 Measurement ID lEs that are included in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST/DATA COLLECTION RESPONSE messages, may be added to the HANDOVER REQUEST message of each relevant UE for which UE Performance Feedback reporting should be carried out. [81] It has been proposed to introduce an Information Element (IE) called UE Performance Reporting Configuration in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST to specify the maximum duration during which UE Performance Reporting will be performed.

[82] Table 1 illustrates an example of the IE UE Performance Reporting Configuration.

Table 2: Reporting periodicity IE

SUMMARY

[85] There currently exist certain challenge(s).

[86] It has been agreed to enhance the Data Collection Request procedure with an IE indicating the reporting duration for UE Performance Feedback:

[87] “A new IE is introduced in the Data Collection Request, indicating the Reporting Duration for the UE Performance Feedback, starting at successful Handover Execution. Any UE Performance Feedback reporting should occur no later than the expiration of the Reporting Duration”, (see SoD R3-234548)

[88] This reporting duration may be considered to specify the time window within which UE Performance Feedback shall be sent to the requesting node after a successful handover.

[89] The UE Performance Feedback is a measurement object configured via the Data Collection Request/Response and reported via the Data Collection Update message. Currently, the periodicity of measurement objects other than the UE Performance Feedback is set by the requesting node via the Reporting Periodicity IE in the Data Collection Request message. In other words, the measurement of the measurement objects occurs at the same periodicity that the Data Collection Update message is reported. One immediate problem is whether the UE Performance Feedback should be reported at the same periodicity indicated by the Reporting Periodicity IE or if a different period for reporting of the UE Performance Feedback should be introduced.

[90] The option of defining a separate UE Performance Feedback period, which is not the same as the Reporting Periodicity, leads to the drawback of generating Data Collection Update messages at two different periodicities, one marked by the Reporting Periodicity IE and one marked by the UE Performance Feedback periodicity. For this reason, it may be assumed that the UE Performance Feedback period is indicated by the existing Reporting Periodicity.

[91] Under such assumption however, it cannot be ensured that the Reporting Periodicity is suitable for reporting of the UE Performance Feedback. As an example, the Reporting Periodicity may be configured as 10000ms. In this case it may occur that a UE handover is completed right after the occurrence of a particular period of 10000ms. Therefore, if the UE Performance Feedback only has to be reported with a period of 10000ms (a relatively long time frame), the next UE Performance Feedback report would be in approximately 10000ms, which is a very long time when it comes to monitoring the performance of a UE after a handover execution. Hence, the requesting node may prefer to observe a handed over UE's performance under a duration/periodicity that is different from the periodicity of the Data Collection procedure. Therefore the assumption of respecting a single Reporting Periodicity for all measurement objects may present a problem. It is worth noting that the feedback on UE performance is an important tool to the requesting node to fine-tune its mobility thresholds and/or it is a valuable input to AI/ML models that may rely on it to perform handover decisions.

[92] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges.

[93] Embodiments described herein allow for a network node to request that different measurement objects have different measurement period, potentially for different measurement periodicity for each measurement object.

[94] However, the network node reporting the measurement objects may measure one or more values of measurement object at the measurement periodicity requested for that measurement object, but it may report the one or more measurement object values at a different reporting periodicity than the measurement periodicity.

[95] It will be appreciated therefore, that a single report may comprise a plurality of measured values of a measurement object.

[96] The embodiments described herein may be generalized to any measurement object configured by a first network node (e.g. a first RAN node) to be reported by a second network node (e.g. a second RAN node). However, in the non-limiting example of the Xn-AP UE Performance Feedback, the proposed embodiments allows for a first network node requesting UE Performance Feedback to specify to a receiving second network node, either implicitly or explicitly, the measurement periodicity with which the UE Performance Feedback should be collected. In addition to collecting UE performance feedback with a different periodicity than the one used for other measurement objects configured together with the UE Performance Feedback, the embodiments described herein also specifies how the collected information (with a different periodicity) may be reported by the reporting node according to yet another reporting period.

[97] According to a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a first network node for enabling reporting of measurements of one or more measurement objects by a second network node. The method comprises transmitting a data collection request to the second network node, wherein the data collection request comprises a first indication that a plurality of measurement values for each of the one or more measurement objects are allowed to be reported by the second network node within a data collection update message.

[98] According to a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method performed by a second network node for enabling reporting of a measurement object by the second network node. The method comprises receiving a data collection request from a first network node, wherein the data collection request comprises a first indication that a plurality of measurement values for each of one or more measurement objects are allowed to be reported by the second network node within a data collection update message.

[99] According to some embodiments there is provided a first network node for enabling reporting of measurements of one or more measurement objects by a second network node, the first network node comprising processing circuitry and memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the first network node is operable to transmit a data collection request to the second network node, wherein the data collection request comprises a first indication that a plurality of measurement values for each of one or more measurement objects are allowed to be reported by the second network node within a data collection update message.

[100] According to some embodiments there is provided a second network node for enabling reporting of a measurement object by the second network node, the second network node comprising processing circuitry and memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the second network node is operable to receive a data collection request from a first network node, wherein the data collection request comprises a first indication that a plurality of measurement values for each of one or more measurement objects are allowed to be reported by the second network node within a data collection update message.

[101] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s).

[102] Embodiments described herein enable having a finer observability into procedures collecting metrics with different generation rates without establishing a separate procedure for each metric having to report one or more metrics with a different periodicity than the requested periodicity of the procedure. having to align the reporting periodicity of the reporting procedure with the required periodicity of one or more metrics contained within it. [103] Hence the advantages of the embodiments described herein are to enable the measurement of a given metric according to a specific periodicity, while enabling reporting of the measured values of that metric according to a different periodicity. This procedure reduces the number of signalling messages produced by the reporting node to report all the measured values of the metrics configured to be collected.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[104] For a better understanding of the embodiments of the present disclosure, and to show how it may be put into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example only, to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[105] Fig. 1 illustrates the overall architecture for separation of gNB-CU-CP and gNB-CU-UP;

[106] Fig. 2 illustrates Data Collection Reporting Initiation, successful operation;

[107] Fig. 3 illustrates Data Collection Reporting Initiation, unsuccessful operation;

[108] Fig. 4 illustrates Data Collection Reporting, successful operation;

[109] Fig. 5 is a flow chart illustrating a method in accordance with some embodiments;

[110] Fig. 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method in accordance with some embodiments;

[111] Fig. 7 shows an example of a communication system in accordance with some embodiments;

[112] Fig. 8 shows a UE in accordance with some embodiments;

[113] Fig. 9 shows a network node in accordance with some embodiments; and

[114] Fig. 10 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized.

DESCRIPTION

[115] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[116] For convenience, some simplifications have been made herein and the methods are often described:

• for a specific Radio Access Technology, RAT (NR)

• for specific XnAP messages and procedures ("DATA COLLECTION RECUEST”, "DATA COLLECTION RESPONSE”, "DATA COLLECTION FAILURE”, "DATA COLLECTION UPDATE”, Data Collection Reporting Initiation, Data Collection Reporting),

• for NG-RAN nodes.

• for requesting and reporting of a metric called UE Performance Feedback

[117] The above simplifications should not be regarded as limiting, and the described methods can equally apply to: any RAT (NR, EUTRA, 6G) • different messages/procedures over any interface where measurement objects are configured by an interface end point towards the other end point and where the results of the measurement object configuration in the reporting node is to generate signalling messages towards the requesting node containing the measured values of the measurement objects,

• any network signaling protocols (e.g., for messages exchanged between a gNB-CU and a gNB-DU via F1AP)

• any network nodes/functions in a wireless communication network (see also bullet above)

• any metric that can be generated with at a rate that is different (e.g., higher) compared to a reporting periodicity specified for a message used to accommodate the reporting of such metric.

• Any measurement object, where a measurement object is not necessarily a metric that can be measured but also a metric that can be predicted. In the latter case the term "measured value” would correspond to the predicted value derived for the metric subject to prediction.

[118] A network node may comprise be a RAN node, an NG-RAN node, an E-UTRA node, a gNB, an eNB, an en-gNB, an ng-eNB, a gNB-CU, a gNB-CU-CP, a gNB-DU, a gNB-CU-UP, an eNB-CU, an eNB-CU-CP, an eNB- CU-UP, an lAB-node, an lAB-donor DU, an lAB-donor-CU, an IAB-DU, an IAB-MT, an Open RAN (O-RAN) CU (O-CU), an O-CU-CP, an O-CU-UP, an O-DU, an O-RU, an O-eNB, a Non-Real Time RAN Intelligent Controller (Non-RT RIG), a Real-Time RAN Intelligent Controller (RT-RIC).

[119] The Data Collection Reporting Initiation procedure controls the collection of several metrics and predictions, and the reporting periodicity of the Data Collection Reporting procedure, namely the periodicity at which the Data Collection Update messages are signalled, is dictated by the Reporting Periodicity. The measurement objects reported in a Data collection update message may comprise one or more of: Predicted Radio Resource Status, Predicted Number of Active UEs, Predicted RRC connections, Average UE throughput DL Average UE throughput UL, Average packet delay, Average packet loss, and Energy cost. Note that these metri cs/pred lotions are expected to be consistent across short periods of time, e.g., in the order of a few seconds. Therefore, there may not be a need to request a very low reporting periodicity. It has also been agreed that the Data Collection Reporting procedure may include UE Performance Feedback measurements, if the requesting node requests their reporting.

[120] However, in the context of UE performance feedback, the source gNB is primarily interested in observing the performance that the UE receives from a target gNB and for a short duration after the handover execution, to analyze if a handover decision was justified in terms of the performance that the UE can receive at the target cell. This requirement necessitates the UE performance feedback to be reported at a potentially much shorter periodicity when compared to the reporting periodicity of the Data Collection Reporting procedure.

[121] As explained in the problem description, one plausible approach to avoid generation of Data Collection Update messages at different reporting rates is that the periodicity of the Data Collection Reporting procedure will also be the periodicity of the UE Performance Feedback. Hence, if frequent reporting of the UE Performance Feedback wants to be achieved after handover execution, the Reporting Periodicity for the Data Collection Update messages should be set at a short value. However, this may lead to significant signaling overhead in situations where there are not many handovers (or any handover) for which UE performance feedback may be required and where reporting of other metrics configured in the Data collection Reporting Initiation do not require very frequent reporting.

[122] On the contrary, a different approach would be to set the Reporting Periodicity to mainly accommodate optimal reporting of all configured measurement objects except for the UE Performance Feedback. This approach may lead to very poor reporting of UE Performance Feedback information, where very few values of the measured UE performance metrics may be reported long after handover execution.

[123] Figure 5 depicts a method in accordance with particular embodiments. The method of Figure 5 may be performed by a first network node (e.g. the network node 710 or network node 900 as described later with reference to Figures 7 and 9 respectively). The method may be for enabling reporting of measurements of one or more measurement objects by a second network node. The method begins at step 502 with transmitting a data collection request to the second network node, wherein the data collection request comprises a first indication that a plurality of measurement values are allowed to be reported by the second network node within a data collection update message for each of one or more measurement objects. A data collection request may comprise any message containing a first indication as described above. It will be appreciated that the data collection request may be requesting the collection of data (e.g. measurements of the one or more measurement objects) comprising AI/ML related information. The AI/ML relation information may comprise, for example, training data or input data for an AI/ML model.

[124] The one or more measurement objects may comprise one or more UE Performance Feedback metrics.

[125] In step 504 the method may in some examples comprise receiving a first data collection update message or a failure indication from the second network node.

[126] For example, step 504 may comprise receiving a first data collection update message from the second network node, wherein the first data collection update message comprises a first plurality of measurement values associated a first measurement object. It will be appreciated that the first data collection update message may comprise a plurality of measurement values for each of the one or more measurement objects, where the first measurement object is one of the one or more measurement objects. A data collection update message may comprise any message comprising a plurality of measurement values as described above.

[127] In other examples, the second network node may not be able to provide a data collection update message as requested in the data collection request. In these examples step 504 may comprise receiving from the second network node, a failure indication that a data collection update message cannot be transmitted as requested in the data collection request. The content of such a failure indication will be described in more detail later.

[128] Figure 6 depicts a method in accordance with particular embodiments. The method of Figure 6 may be performed by a network node (e.g. the network node 710 or network node 900 as described later with reference to Figures 7 and 9 respectively). The method may be for enabling reporting of a measurement object by the second network node. The method begins at step 602 with receiving a data collection request from the first network node, wherein the data collection request indicates that a plurality of measurement values are allowed to be reported by the second network node within a data collection update message for each of one or more measurement objects. Step 602 may be considered to correspond to step 502 of Figure 5.

[129] In step 604 the method may in some examples comprise transmitting a first data collection update message or a failure indication to the first network node.

[130] For example, the method of Figure 6 may comprise performing a plurality of measurements of a first measurement object to generate a first plurality of measurement values, and transmitting in step 604 a first data collection update message to the first network node, wherein the first data collection update message comprises the first plurality of measurement values. It will be appreciated that the first data collection update message may comprise a plurality of measurement values for each of the one or more measurement objects, where the first measurement object is one of the one or more measurement objects. It will be appreciated that the performing of the plurality of measurements may be performed according to one or more indication (e.g. as described in more detail later) in the data collection request.

[131] In other examples, the second network node may not be able to provide a data collection update message as requested in the data collection request. In these examples step 604 may comprise transmitting, to the first network node, a failure indication that a data collection update message cannot be transmitted as requested in the data collection request. The content of such a failure indication will be described in more detail later.

[132] For example, the first indication of step 502 or step 602 may comprise an indication that a measurement periodicity for measuring the one or more measurement objects is different from a reporting periodicity for the data collection update message. For example, an additional information element (IE) may be introduced within the Data Collection Request (e.g., within a UE Performance Reporting Configuration IE) to signal to the second network node (receiving gNB) that the measurement periodicity of UE performance feedback is different from that of the reporting periodicity of the DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message, and whenever the UE Performance Feedback measurement periodicity is smaller than the reporting periodicity of the DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message, multiple samples (e.g. measurement values) of the UE Performance Feedback measurement (collected at the measurement periodicity established for the UE Performance Feedback) may be reported in a single DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message. It will be appreciated that each of the plurality of measurement values may be considered to correspond to the time duration under which one UE Performance Feedback is computed over. In some examples, the order of the measurement values (e.g. UE Performance Feedback values) in the DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message may indicate the order in which the corresponding measurements were taken. For example, the order of the measurement values may correspond to the measured UE performance feedback value during each of the period according to the measurement periodicity.

[133] It will be appreciated that one or more measurement objects comprise one or more UE Performance Feedback measurements. In some examples, the data collection request indicates a reporting duration during which the second network node should perform the plurality of measurements starting at a time when a handover execution is completed. For example, the measurement periodicity (e.g. the UE Performance Feedback measurement periodicity) may indicate the periodicity at which the second network node (e.g. the target NG-RAN node) is requested to measure the UE performance Feedback measurements during a time duration equal to the Time Duration IE and starting at the time when the handover execution is completed.

[134] In these examples, the method of Figure 6 may further comprise responsive to the reporting duration continuing after a reporting period for the first data collection update message expiring, reporting measurement values collected before the expiration of the reporting period in the first data collection update message, and reporting measurement values collected after the expiration of the reporting period in a second data collection update message. In other words, in such examples the second network node (e.g. target NG-RAN node) may measure and store UE performance Feedback measurement values at the rate indicated by the measurement periodicity (e.g. UE Performance Feedback periodicity). At the point in time when the period for signalling the Data Collection Update message expires (for example, as dictated by the reporting periodicity), the second network node (E.g. target NG-RAN node) may include in the Data Collection Update message the measurement values for each UE Performance Feedback measurement collected up to that point in time. If the UE Performance Reporting Duration then continues after the time of sending the Data Collection Update message, the second network node e(.g. target NG-RAN node) may keep on measuring UE Performance Feedback measurements until either the next point in time when the Data Collection Update message has to be sent, in which case the UE Performance Feedback measurement values collected since sending the previous data collection update message (E.g. during the last Reporting Period) will be included in the Data Collection Update message, while the UE Performance Feedback measurements will continue thereafter, or until the UE Performance Reporting Duration expires, in which case the measurement values collected during the last Reporting Period and up to the point where the Reporting Duration expired are included in the next Data Collection Update message signaled to the first network node (e.g. source NG-RAN node).

[135] Example 1

[136] In Example 1 below it is illustrated how the messages/IEs for such a solution may look like. The changes to the base line document (TS 38.423 v 17.6.0) are shown in underline.

DATA COLLECTION REQUEST XnAP message:

9.2.3.JJ: UE Performance Reporting Configuration IE

DATA COLLECTION UPDATE XnAP message:

9.2.3 ,Y UE Performance Feedback

[137] In some embodiments, the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message may be extended with a first indication (e.g., implemented in a Multiple UE Performance Feedback IE, or similar name), indicating that multiple measurement values of one or more measurement objects (e.g., UE Performance Feedback measurements) can be reported in a single DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message. For example, the first indication of step 502 or 602 may comprise a flag indicating that a plurality of measurement values are allowed to be reported by the second network node within a data collection update message for each of one or more measurement objects. A possible implementation of such a flag or IE may be ENUMERATED with values "true”, "false”, where a value "true” indicates that multiple measurement values of each UE Performance Feedback measurement can be reported in a single DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message. In a first variant, it is left to network node implementation what the time duration under which an individual UE Performance Feedback is computed over should be (for example what the measurement periodicity should be).

[138] In some examples however, the data collection request further comprises a second indication of a suggested time duration over which the second network node is to compute any measurement value associated with the one or more measurement objects. Alternatively, the data collection request may comprise a second indication of plurality of suggested time durations over which the second network node is to compute any measurement value associated with each of a respective plurality of measurement objects. For example, where there are multiple measurement objects for which a plurality of measurement values may be reported in the data collection update message, there may be different time durations for each measurement object. For example, a second indication may be included in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST (e.g., implemented in a UE Performance Feedback Averaging Window IE, or similar) to indicate a requested/suggested time duration (e.g., an average, or a maximum, or a minimum) under which an individual measurement value of a UE Performance Feedback metric is to be computed over. The suggested time duration(s) may serve the purpose, e.g., to let the first network node (requesting node) deduce, as it receives the measurement values of the UE Performance Feedback metric in a DATA COLLECTION UPDATE, the "age” of the individual measurement values and/or the window of time across which the UE Performance Feedback has been averaged. The suggested time duration(s) may be indicated as a fraction or percentage of a reporting periodicity for a data collection update message.

[139] In another embodiment, the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is extended with an indication to indicate a requested/suggested time duration, or an averaging window (e.g., an average, or a maximum, or a minimum) under which an individual UE Performance Feedback metric is to be computed over. As a possible implementation, a UE Performance Feedback Averaging Window IE can be defined with a value that is a percentage or a fraction of a requested periodicity and this would implicitly indicate that multiple measurement values of UE Performance Feedback metrics can be reported in a single DATA COLLECTION UPDATE. As in the previous solution, a possible implementation of the time duration indication can be a Multiple UE Performance Feedback Averaging Window IE (or similar). In one case, the said time duration can be used as a mechanism to implicitly indicate that it is possible/allowed/requested to report multiple measurement values of UE Performance Feedback metrics in a single DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message. In other words, the first indication of step 502 or 602 may comprise the suggested time duration(s). In this case, the said time duration indication can serve the same purpose as the Multiple UE Performance Feedback IE (or similar name) described in the embodiment above. Possible scenarios where this can occur can be when the value of the Reporting Periodicity IE included in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST is larger than the time duration, or the value of the Reporting Periodicity IE is a multiple of the time duration (or at least a multiple of the time duration).

[140] In some embodiments, the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message does not comprise the Reporting Periodicity IE, and the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST is extended with a first indication (e.g., implemented in a Multiple UE Performance Feedback IE, or similar name) to indicate that multiple measurement values of UE Performance Feedback metric is possible/requested/allowed in the data collection update message. In this case, the NG-RAN node receiving the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST is requested to provide only one update (DATA COLLECTION UPDATE) if feasible, and the update can comprise multiple measurement values of the UE Performance Feedback metrics.

[141] In some embodiments, the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message does not comprise the Reporting Periodicity IE, and the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST is extended with an indication of time duration under which an individual measurement value of a UE Performance Feedback metric is to be computed over. In this case, the NG-RAN node receiving the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST is requested to provide only one update (DATA COLLECTION UPDATE) if feasible, and the update can comprise multiple measurement values of the UE Performance Feedback metrics.

[142] In some embodiments the first indication further comprises a reporting duration during which the plurality of measurement values for each of the one or more measurement objects are to be measured. For example, the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message may not comprise the Reporting Periodicity IE, and the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST is extended with an indication of the UE Performance Feedback metric Periodicity, as well as with the Reporting Duration during which the measurement values of the UE Performance Feedback metrics are collected (at the UE Performance Feedback metric Periodicity). In this case, the NG-RAN node receiving the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST is requested to provide only one update (DATA COLLECTION UPDATE) if feasible, and the update can comprise multiple measurement values of the UE Performance Feedback metrics.

[143] In some embodiments the first indication of step 502 or 602 comprises a maximum or minimum number of measurement values for each of the one or more measurement objects to include in the data collection update message.

[144] For example, the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message may be extended with an indication (e.g., implemented in a Maximum Number Of UE Performance Feedback Amount IE, or similar name) of maximum amount of measurement values of an individual UE Performance Feedback metric that the second network node (requested network node) can possibly insert in a single DATA COLLECTION UPDATE. The above indication can be implemented explicitly or implicitly. For instance, the encoding of the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST includes a list of elements and the maximum amount of UE Performance Feedback the responder can possibly insert in a single DATA COLLECTION UPDATE is the maximum number of elements the list can comprise). In another embodiment of this method, the first network node (requesting node) may include in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message the exact amount of measurement values of the UE Performance Feedback metric the responding node should provide in one DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message. The second network node (responding node) may provide the requested amount of measurement values back to the requesting node in the data collection updated message, or a lower number of them in case it was not possible to measure all the requested measurement values during the time before signalling of the DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message. In one example, the second network node (responding node) may signal a cause value back to the first network node (requesting node), included in the DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message or in the DATA COLLECTION RESPONSE message, in case the UE Performance Feedback metric values cannot be reported in accordance to the requirements from the first network node (requesting node). For example, if the first network node (requesting node) requires the second network node (reporting node) to report a given number of UE Performance Feedback measuring values, and the second network node (reporting node) is not able to report such a high number of measurement values, the second network node (reporting node) may include in the DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message a cause value stating that the number of requested measurement values could not be reported due to a specific reason, e.g. due to lack of available measurements or due to processing power limitation or due to resource limitations in general.

[145] In another example, the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is extended with an indication (e.g., implemented in a Minimum Number Of UE Performance Feedback Amount IE, or similar name) of minimum amount of measurement values of an individual UE Performance Feedback metric that the requested network node can possibly insert in a single DATA COLLECTION UPDATE. The above indication can be implemented explicitly or implicitly. For instance, the encoding of the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST includes a list of elements and the minimum amount of UE Performance Feedback the responder should insert in a single DATA COLLECTION UPDATE is the minimum number of elements the list can comprise.

[146] In another example, in the case that several different UE Performance Feedback metrics for different events (e.g. an event may be, for example, handover) are included in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message, all the previous methods can be used to indicate for per event UE Performance Feedback, that multiple samples of UE Performance Feedback measurements can be reported in a single DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message. For per event UE Performance feedback, different numbers of measurement values can be indicated as in the above methods. Also, a priority can be included in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message, as to which event-UE Performance Feedback should be prioritized in order to report multiple samples of UE Performance Feedback measurements.

[147] In another example in the case that multiple events are included in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message, all the previous methods can be used in the case that different reporting configurations are needed for the different events. It can be that multiple measurement values can be reported in a single DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message for some of the events or it can be that for some events a measurement value can be reported not in every DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message, but with a different frequency (e.g., every other DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message) if for some events a less frequent reporting is needed). A priority can also be indicated as to which events should be prioritized in order to provide multiple measurements in a single DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message.

[148] In another example, it can also be that more frequent reporting is needed for the beginning of the reporting, but then a less frequent reporting is needed. In that case a duration can be indicated for how long multiple measurements need to be included in a single DATA REQUEST message.

[149] Example 2

[150] An example is provided below where the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST XnAP message is extended with a first indication to indicate that reporting more than one measurement value of a UE Performance Feedback metric is possible (the changes to the base line document (TS 38.423 v 17.6.0) are shown in underline).

[151] Example 3

[152] An example is provided below where the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST XnAP message is extended with a first indication of Averaging Window, that can be used to implicitly indicate that reporting more than one measurement value of a UE Performance Feedback metric is possible (the changes to the base line document (TS 38.423 v 17.6.0) are shown in underline).

[153] Failure scenarios

[154] As described above, in some examples, the second network node, upon receiving a DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message (step 602), may transmit (step 604) to the requesting node (e.g. in a DATA COLLECTION RESPONSE or in a DATA COLLECTION FAILURE message), a failure indication indicating one or more of the following: that sending of a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is not supported or not possible at the second network node (e.g . an indication (e.g., a cause value) indicating that sending of multiple instances of UE Performance Feedback in a single update message (i.e., in a single DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message) is not supported (or not possible)); that sending a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is temporarily not supported or not possible at the second network node (e.g. an indication (e.g., a cause value) indicating that sending of multiple instances of UE Performance Feedback in a single update message (i.e., in a single DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message) is temporarily not supported (or temporarily not possible)); that sending of a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is not supported or not possible at the second network node for a specified time period (e.g. an indication (e.g., a cause value) indicating that sending of multiple instances of UE Performance Feedback in a single update message (i.e., in a single DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message) is not supported (or not possible) in combination with the specified time duration (under which one UE Performance Feedback is to be computed over)); that sending a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is temporarily not supported or not possible at the second network node for a specified time period (e.g. an indication (e.g., a cause value) indicating that sending of multiple instances of UE Performance Feedback in a single update message (i.e., in a single DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message) is temporarily not supported (or not possible) in combination with the specified time duration (under which one UE Performance Feedback is to be computed over)); that sending of a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is not supported or not possible at the second network node for a specified reporting periodicity (e.g. an indication (e.g., a cause value) indicating that sending of multiple instances of UE Performance Feedback in a single update message (i.e., in a single DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message) is not supported (or not possible) in combination with the specified reporting periodicity); that sending of a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is temporarily not supported or not possible at the second network node for a specified reporting periodicity (e.g. an indication (e.g., a cause value) indicating that sending of multiple instances of UE Performance Feedback in a single update message (i.e., in a single DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message) is temporarily not supported (or not possible) in combination with the specified reporting periodicity). [155] In one embodiment, the sending of a failure message (e.g., a DATA COLLECTION FAILURE message) implicitly implies that sending multiple measurement values of a UE Performance Feedback metric in a single update message is not supported.

[156] Example 3

[157] An example is provided below with extended values (shown in underline) for the Cause IE in TS 38.423 v15.0.0 to reflect an inability (or a temporarily inability) to support reporting of multiple instances (e.g. a plurality of measurement values) of a metric in the same update message (e.g., in a single DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message).

The purpose of the Cause IE is to indicate the reason for a particular event for the XnAP protocol.

[158] Figure 7 shows an example of a communication system 700 in accordance with some embodiments.

[159] In the example, the communication system 700 includes a telecommunication network 702 that includes an access network 704, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 706, which includes one or more core network nodes 708. The access network 704 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 710a and 710b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 710), or any other similar 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points. Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network 702 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network 702 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the O-RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any node in the telecommunication network 702, including one or more network nodes 710 and/or core network nodes 708. [160] Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (O-RU), an open distributed unit (O-DU), an open central unit (O-CU), including an O-CU control plane (O-CU-CP) or an O-CU user plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near-real time or non-real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near- real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective "open” designating support of an ORAN specification). The network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an A1 , F1 , W1 , E1 , E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN access node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an 0-2 interface defined by the O-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes 710 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs 712a, 712b, 712c, and 712d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 712) to the core network 706 over one or more wireless connections.

[161] 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 700 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 700 may include and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and/or other similar type of system.

[162] The UEs 712 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 710 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 710 are arranged, capable, configured, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs 712 and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network 702 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 702.

[163] In the depicted example, the core network 706 connects the network nodes 710 to one or more hosts, such as host 716. 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 706 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 708) 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 708. 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).

[164] The host 716 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 704 and/or the telecommunication network 702, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 716 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more services. Examples of such applications include the provision of live and/or pre-recorded audio/video content, data collection services, for example, 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.

[165] As a whole, the communication system 700 of Figure 7 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.

[166] In some examples, the telecommunication network 702 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network 702 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network 702. For example, the telecommunications network 702 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.

[167] In some examples, the UEs 712 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 704 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 704. 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).

[168] In the example illustrated in Figure 7, the hub 714 communicates with the access network 704 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 712c and/or 712d) and network nodes (e.g., network node 710b). In some examples, the hub 714 may be a controller, router, a content source and analytics node, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 714 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 706 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 714 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 710, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 714. As another example, the hub 714 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 714 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 714 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 714 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and/or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 714 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[169] The hub 714 may have a constant/persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 710b. The hub 714 may also allow for a different communication scheme and/or schedule between the hub 714 and UEs (e.g., UE 712c and/or 712d), and between the hub 714 and the core network 706. In other examples, the hub 714 is connected to the core network 706 and/or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 714 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 704 and/or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 710 while still connected via the hub 714 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 714 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 710b. In other embodiments, the hub 714 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 710b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and/or end point for certain data channels.

[170] Figure 8 shows a UE 800 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 camera, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle, 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-loT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[171] 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).

[172] The UE 800 includes processing circuitry 802 that is operatively coupled via a bus 804 to an input/output interface 806, a power source 808, a memory 810, a communication interface 812, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 8. 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.

[173] The processing circuitry 802 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 810. The processing circuitry 802 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 802 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs). The processing circuitry 802 may be operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other UE 800 components, such as the memory 810, UE 800 functionality.

[174] In the example, the input/output interface 806 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 800. 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.

[175] In some embodiments, the power source 808 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 808 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 808 itself, and/or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE 800 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source 808. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source 808 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE 800 to which power is supplied. 1 [176] The memory 810 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 read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory 810 includes one or more application programs 814, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 816. The memory 810 may store, for use by the UE 800, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[177] The memory 810 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 (eUlCC), integrated UICC (IUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.' The memory 810 may allow the UE 800 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 810, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[178] The processing circuitry 802 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 812. The communication interface 812 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 822. The communication interface 812 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 818 and/or a receiver 820 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 818 and receiver 820 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 822) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[179] In some embodiments, communication functions of the communication interface 812 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, locationbased 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/! nternet protocol (TCP/IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[180] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface 812, 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).

[181] 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 controls a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[182] A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (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 devices which are or which are 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 on the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE 800 shown in Figure 8.

[183] 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-loT 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.

[184] 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.

[185] Figure 9 shows a network node 900 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)), O-RAN nodes or components of an O-RAN node (e.g., O-RU, O-DU, O-CU).

[186] 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, distributed units (e.g., in an O-RAN access node) 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).

[187] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multistandard 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).

[188] The network node 900 includes processing circuitry 902, a memory 904, a communication interface 906, and a power source 908, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. The network node 900 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 900 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 900 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 904 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 910 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 900 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 900, 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 900.

[189] The processing circuitry 902 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 900 components, such as the memory 904, network node 900 functionality. For example, the processing circuitry 902 may be configured to cause the network node to perform the methods as described with reference to Figure 5 or 6.

[190] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 902 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 902 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 912 and baseband processing circuitry 914. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 912 and the baseband processing circuitry 914 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 912 and baseband processing circuitry 914 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[191] The memory 904 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 902. The memory 904 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 902 and utilized by the network node 900. The memory 904 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 902 and/or any data received via the communication interface 906. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 902 and memory 904 is integrated.

[192] The communication interface 906 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 906 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) 916 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface 906 also includes radio front-end circuitry 918 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna 910. Radio front-end circuitry 918 comprises filters 920 and amplifiers 922. The radio front-end circuitry 918 may be connected to an antenna 910 and processing circuitry 902. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 910 and processing circuitry 902. The radio front-end circuitry 918 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 918 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 920 and/or amplifiers 922. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 910. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 910 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 918. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 902. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.

[193] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 900 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 918, instead, the processing circuitry 902 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 910. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 912 is part of the communication interface 906. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 906 includes one or more ports or terminals 916, the radio front-end circuitry 918, and the RF transceiver circuitry 912, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 906 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 914, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[194] The antenna 910 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. The antenna 910 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 918 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 910 is separate from the network node 900 and connectable to the network node 900 through an interface or port.

[195] The antenna 910, communication interface 906, and/or the processing circuitry 902 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 910, the communication interface 906, and/or the processing circuitry 902 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.

[196] The power source 908 provides power to the various components of network node 900 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 908 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 900 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 900 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 908. As a further example, the power source 908 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.

[197] Embodiments of the network node 900 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 9 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 900 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 900 and to allow output of information from the network node 900. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 900.

[198] Figure 10 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1000 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 1000 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. In some embodiments, the virtualization environment 1000 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface.

[199] Applications 1002 (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.

[200] Hardware 1004 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 1006 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 1008a and 1008b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 1008), and/or perform any of the functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 1006 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 1008.

[201] The VMs 1008 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 1006. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 1002 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 1008, 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.

[202] In the context of NFV, a VM 1008 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 1008, and that part of hardware 1004 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 1008 on top of the hardware 1004 and corresponds to the application 1002.

[203] Hardware 1004 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 1004 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 1004 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 1010, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 1002. In some embodiments, hardware 1004 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 1012 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[204] 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.

[205] 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 B Embodiments

1 . A method performed by a first network node for enabling reporting of measurements of one or more measurement objects by a second network node, the method comprising: transmitting a data collection request to the second network node, wherein the data collection request comprises a first indication that a plurality of measurement values are allowed to be reported by the second network node within a data collection update message for each of one or more measurement objects.

2. The method of embodiment 1 wherein the first indication comprises an indication that a measurement periodicity for measuring the one or more measurement objects is different from a reporting periodicity for the data collection update message.

3. The method of embodiment 1 wherein the first indication comprises a flag indicating that a plurality of measurement values are allowed to be reported by the second network node within a data collection update message for each of one or more measurement objects.

4. The method of embodiment 3 wherein the data collection request further comprises a second indication of a suggested time duration over which the second network node is to compute any measurement value associated with the one or more measurement objects.

5. The method of embodiment 3 wherein the data collection request further comprises a second indication of plurality of suggested time durations over which the second network node is to compute any measurement value associated with each of a respective plurality of measurement objects.

6. The method of embodiment 1 wherein the first indication comprises a suggested time duration over which the second network node is to compute any measurement value associated with the one or more measurement objects.

7. The method of embodiment 1 wherein the first indication comprises plurality of suggested time durations over which the second network node is to compute any measurement value associated with each of a respective plurality of measurement objects.

8. The method of embodiment 6 wherein the suggested time duration is indicated as a percentage or a fraction of a reporting periodicity for a data collection update message. The method of embodiment 7 wherein the plurality of suggested time durations are indicated as a percentage or a fraction of a reporting periodicity for a data collection update message. The method of embodiment 6 or 8, wherein the first indication further comprises a reporting duration during which the plurality of measurement values for each of one or more measurement objects are to be measured. The method of embodiment 6 to 10, wherein the suggested time period comprises an average, maximum or minimum time period. The method of embodiment 1 wherein the first indication comprises a maximum or minimum number of measurement values for each of the one or more measurement objects to include in the data collection update message. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 12, wherein the one or more measurement objects comprise one or more UE Performance Feedback metrics. The method of embodiment 13, wherein the data collection request indicates a reporting duration during which the second network node should perform a plurality of measurements of the one or more measurement objects starting at a time when a handover execution is completed. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 14, further comprising receiving a data collection update message comprising a first plurality of measurement values for a first measurement object. The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 14, further comprising receiving, from the second network node, a failure indication that a data collection update message cannot be transmitted as requested in the data collection request. The method of embodiment 16 wherein the failure indication indicates one or more of: that sending of a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is not supported or not possible at the second network node; that sending a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is temporarily not supported or not possible at the second network node;

31 that sending of a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is not supported or not possible at the second network node for a specified time period; that sending a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is temporarily not supported or not possible at the second network node for a specified time period; that sending of a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is not supported or not possible at the second network node for a specified reporting periodicity; that sending of a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is temporarily not supported or not possible at the second network node for a specified reporting periodicity. A method performed by a second network node for enabling reporting of a measurement object by the second network node, the method comprising: receiving a data collection request from the first network node, wherein the data collection request indicates that a plurality of measurement values are allowed to be reported by the second network node within a data collection update message for each of one or more measurement objects. The method of embodiment 18 further comprising: performing a plurality of measurements of a first measurement object to generate a first plurality of measurement values, transmitting a first data collection update message to the first network node, wherein the first data collection update message comprises the first plurality of measurement values. The method of embodiments 19 wherein the step of performing the plurality of measurements is performed according one or more indications in the data collection request. The method of embodiment 18 further comprising transmitting, to the first network node, a failure indication that a data collection update message cannot be transmitted as requested in the data collection request. The method of embodiment 21 , wherein the failure indication indicates one or more of: that sending of a plurality of measurement values for each of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is not supported or not possible at the second network node; that sending a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is temporarily not supported or not possible at the second network node; that sending of a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is not supported or not possible at the second network node for a specified time period; that sending a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is temporarily not supported or not possible at the second network node for a specified time period; that sending of a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is not supported or not possible at the second network node for a specified reporting periodicity; that sending of a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is temporarily not supported or not possible at the second network node for a specified reporting periodicity. The method of embodiment 18 to 22, wherein the first indication comprises an indication that a measurement periodicity for measuring the one or more measurement objects is different from a reporting periodicity for the data collection update message. The method of embodiment 15 to 20, wherein the first indication comprises a flag indicating that a plurality of measurement values are allowed to be reported by the second network node within a data collection update message for each of one or more measurement objects. The method of embodiment 24, wherein the data collection request further comprises a second indication of a suggested time duration over which the second network node is to compute any measurement value associated with the one or more measurement objects. The method of embodiment 24, wherein the data collection request further comprises a second indication of plurality of suggested time durations over which the second network node is to compute any measurement value associated with each of a respective plurality of measurement objects. The method of embodiment 18 to 26, wherein the first indication comprises a suggested time duration over which the second network node is to compute any measurement value associated with the one or more measurement objects. The method of embodiment 18 to 26, wherein the first indication comprises a plurality of suggested time durations over which the second network node is to compute any measurement value associated with each of a respective plurality of measurement objects. The method of embodiment 27 wherein the suggested time duration is indicated as a percentage or a fraction of a reporting periodicity for a data collection update message. The method of embodiment 28 wherein the plurality of suggested time durations are indicated as a percentages or a fractions of a reporting periodicity for a data collection update message. The method of any one of embodiments 27 to 30, wherein the first indication further comprises a reporting duration during which the plurality of measurement values for each of one or more measurement objects are to be measured. The method of embodiment 29 or 27, wherein the suggested time period comprises an average, maximum or minimum time period. The method of embodiment 18 to 22, wherein the first indication comprises a maximum or minimum number of measurement values for each of the one or more measurement objects to include in the data collection update message. The method of any one of embodiments 18 to 33, wherein the one or more measurement objects comprise one or more UE Performance Feedback metrics. The method of embodiment 34, wherein the data collection request indicates a reporting duration during which the second network node should perform a plurality of measurements to generate of the one or more measurement objects starting at a time when a handover execution is completed. The method of embodiment 35 when dependent on claim 19, further comprising: responsive to the reporting duration continuing after a reporting period for the first data collection update message expiring: reporting measurement values collected before the expiration of the reporting period in the first data collection update message, and reporting measurement values collected after the expiration of the reporting period in a second data collection update message. 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

38. A network node, the network node comprising: processing circuitry configured to cause the network node to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments; power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

39. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a 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.

40. 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.

41 . 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.

42. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising, at the network node, transmitting the user data provided by the host for the UE. 43. 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.

44. A communication system configured to provide an over-the-top (OTT) 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.

45. The communication system of the previous embodiment, further comprising: the network node; and/or the UE.

46. 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.

47. The host of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application that receives 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.

48. The host of the any of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein the initiating receipt of the user data comprises requesting the user data. 49. 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 U E, 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.

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

Claims

1. A method performed by a first network node (710, 900) for enabling reporting of measurements of one or more measurement objects by a second network node, the method comprising: transmitting (502) a data collection request to the second network node, wherein the data collection request comprises a first indication that a plurality of measurement values for each of the one or more measurement objects is allowed to be reported by the second network node within a data collection update message.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the first indication comprises an indication that a measurement periodicity for measuring the one or more measurement objects is different from a reporting periodicity for the data collection update message.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the first indication comprises a flag indicating that a plurality of measurement values is allowed to be reported by the second network node within a data collection update message for each of one or more measurement objects.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the data collection request further comprises one of: a second indication of a suggested time duration over which the second network node is to compute any measurement value associated with the one or more measurement objects; and a second indication of plurality of suggested time durations over which the second network node is to compute any measurement value associated with each of a respective plurality of measurement objects.

5. The method of claim 1 wherein the first indication comprises one of: a suggested time duration over which the second network node is to compute any measurement value associated with the one or more measurement objects; and a plurality of suggested time durations over which the second network node is to compute any measurement value associated with each of a respective plurality of measurement objects.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first indication further comprises a reporting duration during which the plurality of measurement values for each of one or more measurement objects are to be measured.

7. The method of claim 1 , wherein the first indication comprises a maximum or a minimum number of measurement values for each of the one or more measurement objects to include in the data collection update message.

8. The method of any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the one or more measurement objects comprise one or more UE Performance Feedback metrics.

9. The method of claim 8, wherein the data collection request indicates a reporting duration during which the second network node should perform a plurality of measurements of the one or more measurement objects starting at a time when a handover execution is completed.

10. The method of any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising receiving (504), from the second network node, a first data collection update message comprising a first plurality of measurement values for a first measurement object.

11. The method of any one of claims 1 to 9, further comprising receiving (504), from the second network node, a failure indication that a data collection update message cannot be transmitted as requested in the data collection request.

12. The method of claim 11 wherein the failure indication indicates one or more of: that sending of a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is not supported or not possible at the second network node; that sending a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is temporarily not supported or not possible at the second network node; that sending of a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is not supported or not possible at the second network node for a specified time period; that sending a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is temporarily not supported or not possible at the second network node for a specified time period; that sending of a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is not supported or not possible at the second network node for a specified reporting periodicity; and that sending of a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is temporarily not supported or not possible at the second network node for a specified reporting periodicity.

13. A method performed by a second network node (710, 900) for enabling reporting of a measurement object by the second network node, the method comprising: receiving (602) a data collection request from a first network node, wherein the data collection request comprises a first indication that a plurality of measurement values for each of one or more measurement objects are allowed to be reported by the second network node within a data collection update message.

14. The method of claim 13 further comprising: performing a plurality of measurements of a first measurement object to generate a first plurality of measurement values, and transmitting (604) a first data collection update message to the first network node, wherein the first data collection update message comprises the first plurality of measurement values.

15. The method of claims 14 wherein the step of performing the plurality of measurements is performed according one or more indications in the data collection request.

16. The method of claim 13 further comprising transmitting (604), to the first network node, a failure indication that a data collection update message cannot be transmitted as requested in the data collection request.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the failure indication indicates one or more of: that sending of a plurality of measurement values for each of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is not supported or not possible at the second network node; that sending a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is temporarily not supported or not possible at the second network node; that sending of a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is not supported or not possible at the second network node for a specified time period; that sending a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is temporarily not supported or not possible at the second network node for a specified time period; that sending of a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is not supported or not possible at the second network node for a specified reporting periodicity; and that sending of a plurality of measurement values for one of each, or any, or all of the one or more measurement objects in a data collection update message is temporarily not supported or not possible at the second network node for a specified reporting periodicity.

18. The method of claim 13 to 17, wherein the first indication comprises an indication that a measurement periodicity for measuring the one or more measurement objects is different from a reporting periodicity for the data collection update message.

19. The method of claim 13 to 17, wherein the first indication comprises a flag indicating that a plurality of measurement values is allowed to be reported by the second network node within a data collection update message for each of one or more measurement objects.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the data collection request further comprises one of: a second indication of a suggested time duration over which the second network node is to compute any measurement value associated with the one or more measurement objects; and a second indication of plurality of suggested time durations over which the second network node is to compute any measurement value associated with each of a respective plurality of measurement objects.

21 . The method of claim 13 to 20, wherein the first indication comprises one of: a suggested time duration over which the second network node is to compute any measurement value associated with the one or more measurement objects; and a plurality of suggested time durations over which the second network node is to compute any measurement value associated with each of a respective plurality of measurement objects.

22. The method of claim 21 , wherein the first indication further comprises a reporting duration during which the plurality of measurement values for each of one or more measurement objects are to be measured.

23. The method of claim 13 to 17, wherein the first indication comprises a maximum or a minimum number of measurement values for each of the one or more measurement objects to include in the data collection update message.

24. The method of any one of claims 13 to 23, wherein the one or more measurement objects comprise one or more UE Performance Feedback metrics.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the data collection request indicates a reporting duration during which the second network node should perform a plurality of measurements to generate of the one or more measurement objects starting at a time when a handover execution is completed.

26. A first network node (710, 900) for enabling reporting of measurements of one or more measurement objects by a second network node, the first network node comprising processing circuitry (902) and memory (904), the memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the first network node is operable to: transmit (502) a data collection request to the second network node, wherein the data collection request comprises a first indication that a plurality of measurement values for each of one or more measurement objects are allowed to be reported by the second network node within a data collection update message.

27. The first network node as claimed in claim 26 wherein the memory contains further instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the first network node is operable to perform the method as claimed in any one of claims 2 to 12.

28. A second network node (710, 900) for enabling reporting of a measurement object by the second network node, the second network node comprising processing circuitry (902) and memory (904), the memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the second network node is operable to: receive (602) a data collection request from a first network node, wherein the data collection request comprises a first indication that a plurality of measurement values for each of one or more measurement objects are allowed to be reported by the second network node within a data collection update message.

29. The second network node as claimed in claim 28 wherein the memory contains further instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the second network node is operable to perform the method as claimed in any one of claims 14 to 25.