WO2025093159A1

WO2025093159A1 - Vendor-specific data collection

Info

Publication number: WO2025093159A1
Application number: PCT/EP2024/074413
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jerediah FEVOLD; Anna Pantelidou
Original assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2023-11-03
Filing date: 2024-09-02
Publication date: 2025-05-08
Anticipated expiration: 2026-05-03

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for vendor-specific data collection. The method comprises: receiving, by a management entity from a vendor server, a vendor configuration for data collection comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a data collection device-specific configuration; determining a trace configuration comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a configuration for vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a configuration for standardized measurement data collection; transmitting the trace configuration to at least one network node; receiving, from the at least one network node, at least one message comprising vendor-proprietary data and/or standardized measurement data obtained by using the trace configuration, and transmitting the vendor- proprietary data and/or the standardized measurement data to a data collection entity.

Description

VENDOR-SPECIFIC DATA COLLECTION

FIELDS

[0001] The present disclosure generally relates to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for vendor-specific data collection.

BACKGROUND

[0002] During a study of data collection for artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML), whether the existing data collection frameworks should be modified has been studied. Based on the study, Minimization of Drive Test (MDT) is eligible to be studied for enhancement.

SUMMARY

[0003] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an apparatus. The apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receive, a vendor server, a vendor configuration for data collection comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a data collection device-specific configuration; determine a trace configuration comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a configuration for vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a configuration for standardized measurement data collection; transmit the trace configuration to at least one network node; receive, from the at least one network node, at least one message comprising vendor-proprietary data and/or standardized measurement data obtained by using the trace configuration, and transmit the vendor-proprietary data and/or the standardized measurement data to a data collection entity.

[0004] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an apparatus. The apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receive, from a management node, a trace configuration comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a configuration for vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a configuration for standardized measurement data collection: transmit, to at least one user device, a configuration for a vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a standardized measurement data collection based on at least one data collection device identifier; receive, from the at least one user device, at least one message comprising vendor-proprietary data and/or standardized measurement data obtained by using the configuration; and transmit the at least one message to a data collection entity for forwarding to a vendor server as a trace data for at least one trace data collection.

[0005] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an apparatus. The apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receive, from at least one network node, a configuration for a vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a standardized measurement data collection; collect vendor-proprietary data and/or standardized measurement data by carrying out, according to the configuration, one or more measurements associated with the vendor-proprietary data collection and/or the standardized measurement data collection; and transmit, to the at least one network node, at least one message comprising the collected vendor-proprietary data and/or the collected standardized measurement data.

[0006] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: receiving, by a management entity from a vendor server, a vendor configuration for data collection comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a data collection device-specific configuration; determining a trace configuration comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a configuration for vendorproprietary data collection and/or a configuration for standardized measurement data collection; transmitting the trace configuration to at least one network node; receiving, from the at least one network node, at least one message comprising vendor-proprietary data and/or standardized measurement data obtained by using the trace configuration, and transmitting the vendor-proprietary data and/or the standardized measurement data to a data collection entity.

[0007] In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: receiving, by a network node from a management node, a trace configuration comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a configuration for vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a configuration for standardized measurement data collection: transmitting, to at least one user device, a configuration for a vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a standardized measurement data collection based on at least one data collection device identifier ; receiving, from the at least one user device, at least one message comprising vendor-proprietary data and/or standardized measurement data obtained by using the configuration; and transmitting the at least one message to a data collection entity for forwarding to a vendor server as a trace data for at least one trace data collection.

[0008] In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: receiving, by a user equipment from at least one network node, a configuration for a vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a standardized measurement data collection; collecting vendor-proprietary data and/or standardized measurement data by carrying out, according to the configuration, one or more measurements associated with the vendor-proprietary data collection and/or the standardized measurement data collection; and transmitting, to the at least one network node, at least one message comprising the collected vendor-proprietary data and/or the collected standardized measurement data.

[0009] In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a apparatus. The apparatus comprises means for receiving, by a management entity from a vendor server, a vendor configuration for data collection comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a data collection device-specific configuration; means for determining a trace configuration comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a configuration for vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a configuration for standardized measurement data collection; means for transmitting the trace configuration to at least one network node; means for receiving, from the at least one network node, at least one message comprising vendor-proprietary data and/or standardized measurement data obtained by using the trace configuration, and means for transmitting the vendorproprietary data and/or the standardized measurement data to a data collection entity.

[0010] In an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a apparatus. The apparatus comprises means for receiving, by a network node from a management node, a trace configuration comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a configuration for vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a configuration for standardized measurement data collection: means for transmitting, to at least one user device, a configuration for a vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a standardized measurement data collection based on at least one data collection device identifier ; means for receiving, from the at least one user device, at least one message comprising vendorproprietary data and/or standardized measurement data obtained by using the configuration; and means for transmitting the at least one message to a data collection entity for forwarding to a vendor server as a trace data for at least one trace data collection.

[0011] In a ninth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a apparatus. The apparatus comprises means for receiving, by a user equipment from at least one network node, a configuration for a vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a standardized measurement data collection; means for collecting vendor-proprietary data and/or standardized measurement data by carrying out, according to the configuration, one or more measurements associated with the vendor-proprietary data collection and/or the standardized measurement data collection; and means for transmitting, to the at least one network node, at least one message comprising the collected vendor-proprietary data and/or the collected standardized measurement data.

[0012] In a tenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to carry out at least the method according to the fourth aspect.

[0013] In an eleventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to carry out at least the method according to the fifth aspect.

[0014] In a twelfth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to carry out at least the method according to the sixth aspect.

[0015] It is to be understood that the Summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of examples of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] Some examples will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where: [0017] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment in which examples of the present disclosure can be carried out;

[0018] FIG. 2 illustrates a signaling chart of an example process according to some examples of the present disclosure;

[0019] FIG. 3 illustrates a signaling chart of an example process according to some examples of the present disclosure;

[0020] FIG. 4 illustrates a flowchart of a method carried out at a first device according to some examples of the present disclosure;

[0021] FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of a method carried out at a second device according to some examples of the present disclosure;

[0022] FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of a method carried out at a third device according to some examples of the present disclosure;

[0023] FIG. 7 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for carrying out examples of the present disclosure; and

[0024] FIG. 8 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some examples of the present disclosure.

[0025] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0026] Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some examples. It is to be understood that these examples are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and carry out the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. Examples described herein can be carried out in various manners other than the ones described below.

[0027] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0028] References in the present disclosure to “one example,” “an example,” and the like indicate that the example described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every example includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same example. Additionally, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an example, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other examples whether or not explicitly described.

[0029] It shall be understood that although the terms “first,” “second,”..., etc. in front of noun(s) and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another and they do not limit the order of the noun(s). For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of examples. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0030] As used herein, “at least one of the following: <a list of two or more elements>” and “at least one of <a list of two or more elements>” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or”, mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

[0031] As used herein, unless stated explicitly, carrying out a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is carry outed immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included.

[0032] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular examples only and is not intended to be limiting of examples. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “has”, “having”, “includes” and/or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/ or combinations thereof.

[0033] As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:

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

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

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

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

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

[0034] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As an example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0035] As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution

(LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and so on. Additionally, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be carry outed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G), the sixth generation (6G) communication protocols, and/or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Examples of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

[0036] As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), for example, a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-ground network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. As an example, radio access network (RAN) split architecture comprises a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) at a gNB. As an example, radio access network (RAN) split architecture comprises a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) at an IAB donor node. An IAB node comprises a Mobile Terminal (IAB-MT) part that behaves like a UE toward the parent node, and a DU part of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward the next-hop IAB node.

[0037] The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), a Subscriber Station (SS), a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS), or an Access Terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) part of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node). In the following description, the terms “terminal device”, “communication device”, “terminal”, “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

[0038] As used herein, the term “resource,” “transmission resource,” “resource block,” “physical resource block” (PRB), “uplink resource,” or “downlink resource” may refer to any resource for carrying out a communication, for example, a communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as a resource in time domain, a resource in frequency domain, a resource in space domain, a resource in code domain, or any other combination of the time, frequency, space and/or code domain resource enabling a communication, and the like. In the following, unless explicitly stated, a resource in both frequency domain and time domain will be used as an example of a transmission resource for describing some examples of the present disclosure. It is noted that examples of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

[0039] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment 100 in which examples of the present disclosure can be carried out. The communication environment 100 comprises a network node 110 and a management entity 120, which may communicate with each other. The network node 110 hereinafter may also be referred to as e.g., a RAN node, a gNB or a base station. The management entity 120 hereinafter may also be referred to as e.g., a management function or a management system. Specifically, the management entity 120 may be referred to as an Operation Administration and Maintenance (0AM).

[0040] The communication environment 100 comprises UEs 130-1, 130-2 and 130-3, each of the UEs 130-1, 130-2 and 130-3 may communicate with the network node 110. Hereinafter each of the UEs 130-1, 130-2 and 130-3 may also be referred to as a terminal device, a user terminal, or a user device. The UEs 130-1, 130-2 and 130-3 hereinafter may also be referred to as the UE 130 collectively.

[0041] As an example, a link from the network node 110 to the UE 130 is referred to as a downlink (DL), and a link from the UE 130 to the network node 110 is referred to as an uplink (UL). In DL, the network node 110 is a transmitting (TX) device (or a transmitter) and the UE 130 is a receiving (RX) device (or a receiver). In UL, the UE 130 is a TX device (or a transmitter) and the network node 110 is a RX device (or a receiver).

[0042] Additionally, the communication environment 100 may comprise a vendor server 140, which may communicate with the management entity 120.

[0043] It is to be understood that the number of network nodes, UEs, management entities and/or vendor servers shown in FIG. 1 is given for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations. The communication network 100 may include any suitable number of network nodes, UEs, management entities and/or vendor servers.

[0044] Communications in the communication environment 100 may be carried out according to any proper communication protocol(s), comprising, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), the fifth generation (5G), the sixth generation (6G), and the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and/or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), Time Division Duplex (TDD), Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM), Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and/or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.

[0045] According to the study of non-standardized measurement data collection, two requirements are raised, namely the ability to collect data at a server that may not be part of the operator network and the ability to collect non-standardized measurement data and target the configuration to specific types of UEs.

[0046] The term “non-standardized measurement data collection” herein used may be referred to a collection of one or more specific data. In relation to carrying out measurement to obtain data that is vendor or user equipment specific, there is a need to enable collecting data that may not be obtained by standardized measurements but using vendor-specific measurements and measurement configurations. The data may be used in training or executing an AI/ML model either on the UE side or on a vendor server. [0047] The “non-standardized measurement data collection” may be carried out by one or more UEs. “non-standardized measurement data collection” hereinafter may also be referred to as vendor-proprietary data collection or vendor-specific data collection. In this situation, the one or more UEs carrying out the “non-standardized measurement data collection” may also be referred to as one or more data collection device. The data collected by the non-standardized measurement data collection may also be referred to as “non-standardized measurement data”, “vendor-proprietary data”, “proprietary data” or “proprietary measurement data”.

[0048] The “standardized measurement data collection” used herein may refer to at least one of radio measurement data collection, sensor data collection or device state data collection, such as battery level or temperature.

[0049] The “non-standardized measurement data collection” may be required by a data collection entity from the one or more data collection device. For example, the data collection entity may be located at the vendor server and/or at the management entity.

[0050] Through the normal course of UE operation, measurements on demodulation reference symbols (e.g., associated with a demodulation reference signal (DMRS)) are collected by the UE to equalize the radio channel, measurements on channel state information reference symbols (e.g., associated with channel state information-reference signal (CSI-RS)) are collected by the UE to support channel adaptation and mobility.

[0051] The measurement is first used as the input to an algorithm internal to the UE, and the form of the measurement is proprietary. When it is required to report a measurement to the network, as is the case in CSI feedback and measurement reports for mobility, the measurement is transmitted in a standardized format which can be understood by the network.

[0052] The measurement’s first form is of interest for the purpose of training a UE-side AI/ML model because it is the form that would eventually be provided as input to an AI/ML running on the UE. However, there is currently no standardized mechanism to transmit these types of measurements. The training of AI/ML models using UE processing resources is not supported until now, and there is currently neither an appetite for training UE-side AI/ML models in the network nor any strong pursuit of developing open-format models, i.e., models that could run on more than one UE platform, possibly across vendors. [0053] The second form of the measurement supports transmitting measurement reports through current data collection mechanisms to the network. From this aspect, of particular interest is the minimization of drive test (MDT) framework, which supports the transmission of standardized measurements from a gNB to a trace collection entity (TCE).

[0054] MDT begins in the 0AM function in the network. Inside of 0AM is a management entity (e.g., management system (MaS)), from which the MDT procedure is triggered, and TCE(s). The 0AM has a full view of the operator network, enabling significant flexibility in the configuration of data collection campaigns.

[0055] The MDT Framework enables the collection, at 0AM in the network, of radio measurements, which are transmitted by a UE through measurement reports to a network node such as gNB, by configuring a gNB with a trace configuration and a trace destination, or TCE.

[0056] The configuration can target a specific UE in signaling-based MDT, or a specific area, e.g., specific cells, in management-based MDT. There are also two collection modes, namely immediate MDT and logged MDT. The immediate MDT functions in RRC CONNECTED mode, wherein the UE transmits radio resource control (RRC) measurement reports to a gNB, which are then packaged into trace records to be forwarded to the TCE. The logged MDT functions in RRC INACTIVE and IDLE modes, wherein the UE collects measurements in a log, which is transmitted to the gNB upon return to RRC CONNECTED, which the gNB forwards to the TCE.

[0057] As described, the non-standardized measurement from UEs is expected. However, there is no mechanism for centrally configuring the collection of nonstandardized datatypes. A data collection entity (e.g., located at the vendor) would neither have a deep knowledge of a network, including the locations of relevant UEs, nor control over its configuration.

[0058] Additionally, no entity exists to coherently combine a configuration of nonstandardized measurement data collection with a configuration of standardized measurement data collection.

[0059] Therefore, according to some examples of the present disclosure, there is provided a solution of non-standardized measurement data collection (e.g., vendorproprietary data collection or vendor-specific data collection). In this way, a configuration for vendor-specific, or UE-hardware-specific, data collection can be received from a vendor data collection entity and the standardized measurement data, and vendor-specific, or UE-specific data can be collected.

[0060] Examples of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0061] Reference is now made to FIG. 2, which illustrates a signaling chart 200 of an example process according to some examples of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 2, the signaling chart 200 involves the network node 110 (e.g., a gNB), the management entity 120 (e.g., an 0AM), a UE 130 and a vendor server 140. Reference is made to FIG. 1 to describe the signaling chart 200.

[0062] As an option, the vendor server 140 may be located in the operator network or even collocated with the management entity 120.

[0063] As another option, the vendor server 140 may be located outside of the operator network and connected to the management entity 120 through a secure connection, such as a VPN tunnel.

[0064] The vendor server 140 transmits (205) a vendor configuration to the management entity 120 for data collection.

[0065] As an example, the vendor configuration may comprise a data collection devicespecific configuration, which may contain one or more measurement configuration to be carried out by data collection device(s) for the device-specific data collection.

[0066] As another example, the vendor configuration may comprise at least one data collection device identifier. The at least one data collection device identifier may be associated with the data collection device-specific configuration. The at least one data collection device identifier refer to identifier(s) of one or more devices on which the data collection device-specific configuration is to be applied.

[0067] The at least one data collection device identifier and the data collection devicespecific configuration may be shown in FIG. 2 with “UE CFG”.

[0068] The data collection device identifier may be a vendor-specific identifier, a trace data collection-specific identifier, user-device-hardware-specific identifier, and/or a subscriber-specific identifier. [0069] As an example, a data collection device identifier may be an international mobile equipment identity (IMEI), an IMEI TAC type allocation code (IMEI-TAC), a hashed IMEL An IMEI having 14-digit or 15 -di git numbers may serve as a distinct identifier for the device, to guaranteed to be globally unique. The first eight digits of an IMEI make up the Type Allocation Code (TAC), which may indicate the manufacturer and model of the particular device.

[0070] As another example, a data collection device identifier may be a chipset hardware model and/or a type identifier of the data collection. It is possible that one or more data collection devices having a same chipset hardware model and/or a same type identifier of the data collection may have a same data collection device identifier.

[0071] As another option, a data collection device identifier may be a firmware and/or a firmware version associated with a data collection device.

[0072] It is possible that a data collection device identifier may be assigned by a vendor server based on one or more of hardware models, one or more chipset hardware models and/or a requirement of data collection associated with a data collection device. Additionally or alternatively, a data collection device identifier may also be assigned based on a machine learning-based data collection and may be provided by an entity owning a data collection process (e.g., a data collection entity) based on an identifier of a machine learning model and/or machine learning capability.

[0073] In addition to the at least one data collection device identifier and a data collection device-specific configuration, the vendor configuration may comprise a network node configuration, which may also be referred to as gNB preferences or gNB configuration (gNB-CFG). Examples of the network node configuration may comprise preferred reference symbol types, reference symbol configurations, beam configurations, and/or multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) configurations.

[0074] The vendor configuration may comprise a configuration for a scenario associated with the data collection, which may also be referred to as scenario preferences. Examples of the configuration for the scenario may comprise one or more geographical areas, one or more deployment types, and/or cell sites.

[0075] As described above, as an example, the vendor configuration comprising the data collection device-specific configuration, the at least one data collection device identifier, the network node configuration and the configuration for the scenario may be provided from the vendor server 140 to the management entity 120. In this situation, the vendor server not only influences on which types of data to be collected, but also influences which network node is to be selected, and how they will be configured.

[0076] It is also possible that the vendor configuration does not comprise of the network node configuration and/or the configuration for the scenario. If the network node configuration is not configured, the vendor server does not specifically require any enhancements to the one or more network node configurations.

[0077] Based on received vendor configuration, a trace configuration may be determined by the management entity 120. The trace configuration may comprise at least one data collection device identifier. Additionally, a configuration for vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a configuration for standardized measurement data collection may also be comprised in the trace configuration.

[0078] For example, the at least one data collection device identifier and the configuration for vendor-proprietary data collection may be considered as “UE CFG” and transmitted (210) from the management entity 120 to the network node 110.

[0079] Additionally, the network node configuration, which may be considered as high- level configuration for the gNB, may be signaled (215) in the “gNB-CFG” along with a configuration of standardized measurement data collection (e.g., the MDT-related configuration parameters) to the network node 110.

[0080] If the network node configuration is received, the management entity 120 may determine, based on the network node configuration, to which network node the trace configuration is to be transmitted.

[0081] As an example, the trace configuration, comprising the at least one data collection device identifier, the configuration for vendor-proprietary data collection and a configuration of a configuration for standardized measurement data collection, may be transmitted from the management entity 120 to the network device 110 via a same trace activation message or separate trace activation messages.

[0082] Upon receiving the trace configuration, a configuration for a vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a standardized measurement data collection may be transmitted from the network node 110 to one or more UEs 130 based on the trace configuration. [0083] As an example, the network node 110 may select UE(s) based on the at least one data collection device identifier in the trace configuration. One data collection device identifier may map to one or more UEs. For example, UEs having same firmware version or same model type may be associated with a same data collection device identifier.

[0084] The network node 110 may configure a vendor-proprietary data collection configuration and transmit (220) it to the one or more UEs 130. The vendor-specific measurement configuration may be used by the one or more UEs 130 for the vendorproprietary data collection.

[0085] The network node 110 may configure an RRC physical layer configuration and transmit (225) it to the one or more UEs 130. The RRC physical layer configuration may be used by the one or more UEs 130 for the vendor-proprietary data collection and/or the standardized measurement data collection. For example, the one or more UEs 130 may perform measurement(s) associated with the vendor-proprietary data collection by using time-frequency resources indicated in the RRC physical layer configuration. If no additional RRC physical layer configuration was provided, then the one or more UEs 130 may use the physical layer configuration previously provided.

[0086] Additionally, the network node 110 may transmit (230) a vendor-proprietary measurement report configuration for the non-standardized measurement data collection and/or a standardized measurement report configuration for the standardized measurement data collection for the one or more UEs 130 to report one or more measurements associated with the vendor-proprietary data collection and/or the standardized measurement data collection.

[0087] The trace configuration may comprise a configuration for a connected mode and/or a configuration for an idle/inactive mode of the at least one user device, which may indicate whether the vendor-proprietary data collection and/or the standardized measurement data collection is to be performed by the data collection device in a connected mode or an idle/inactive mode. It is also possible that the vendor-proprietary data collection and/or the standardized measurement data collection is to be performed in the connected mode and continues to be performed when the UEs enter the idle/inactive mode.

[0088] Upon receiving the configuration for the vendor-proprietary data collection and/or the standardized measurement data collection, the one or more UEs 130 may carry out corresponding measurement(s) associated with the vendor-proprietary data collection and/or the standardized measurement data collection.

[0089] After collecting the vendor-proprietary data and/or the collected standardized measurement data by the one or more UEs 130, the collected data may be reported from the one or more UEs 130 to the vendor server 140 via the network node 110 and the management entity 120. That is, the one or more UEs 130 does not have a direct connection to the vendor server 140 for data collection, but rather, the network node 110/ management entity 120 node receives the vendor-proprietary measurement report and provides it to the data collection entity /vendor server.

[0090] Reference is now made to FIG. 3, which illustrates a signaling chart 300 of an example process according to some examples of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 3, the signaling chart 300 involves the network node 110 (e.g., a gNB), the management entity 120 (e.g., an 0AM), a UE 130 and a vendor server 140. Reference is made to FIG. 1 to describe the signaling chart 300.

[0091] The one or more UEs 130 may transmit at least one message comprising the collected vendor-proprietary data and/or the collected standardized measurement data to the vendor server 140 via the network node 110 and the management entity 120.

[0092] The content of collected vendor-proprietary data is assumed to be decodable by any entity that is capable of decoding vendor-specific measurement reports, but these reports are ultimately destined for the vendor server, and as such are forwarded (305) from the network node 110 to the management entity 120 and then to the vendor server 140. The collected standardized measurement data are decodable, by default, by the gNB, which forwards (310) the collected standardized measurement data to the management entity 120, which forwards (310) the collected standardized measurement data to the vendor server 140, the latter two of which are also assumed to be able to decode the measurements by default.

[0093] Specifically, the vendor-proprietary data and/or standardized measurement data may be forwarded to the vendor server (140) as a trace data for at least one trace data collection.

[0094] Upon receiving the collected data, the vendor server 140 may aggregate the vendor-proprietary data with the standardized measurement data. The level of aggregation could depend on vendor-network agreements.

[0095] As an example, aggregation of measurements may be at the UE level, where the UE could be anonymous or identified and all the measurements from the session, vendorproprietary data and/or standardized measurement data, would be associated and/or ordered in time.

[0096] As another example, aggregation of measurements may be at a gNB or area level, where measurements from one or more UEs, which would be anonymous or identified, and all the measurements from the session, vendor-proprietary data and/or standardized measurement data would be associated and/or ordered in time.

[0097] FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of an example method 400 of a management entity 120 that may carry out in accordance with examples described above by means of FIG. 1-3. The method 400 will be described from the perspective of the management entity 120 in FIG. 1.

[0098] At block 410, the management entity 120 receives, from a vendor server, a vendor configuration for data collection comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a data collection device-specific configuration.

[0099] At block 420, the management entity 120 determines a trace configuration comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a configuration for vendorproprietary data collection and/or a configuration for standardized measurement data collection.

[0100] At block 430, the management entity 120 transmits the trace configuration to at least one network node.

[0101] At block 440, the management entity 120 receives from the at least one network node, at least one message comprising vendor-proprietary data and/or standardized measurement data obtained by using the trace configuration, and

[0102] At block 450, the management entity 120 transmits the vendor-proprietary data and/or the standardized measurement data to a data collection entity.

[0103] As an example, the vendor configuration for the data collection comprises: a network node configuration comprising one or more of more reference symbol types, one or more reference symbol configurations, one or more beam configurations, and/or one or more multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) configurations.

[0104] As an example, the vendor configuration for the data collection comprises: a configuration for a scenario associated with the data collection comprising one or more geographical areas, one or more deployment types, and/or cell sites.

[0105] As an example, the standardized measurement data is usable by the data collection entity in the vendor server and/or the at least one network node, and the vendorproprietary data is protected from use by the data collection entity and the at least one network node.

[0106] As an example, the vendor-proprietary data comprises one or more radio measurements, sensor data, and/or a state of the data collection device.

[0107] As an example, the standardized measurement data comprises measurement data that is transmitted in a standardized format from the data collection device to the at least one network node.

[0108] As an example, the vendor server is in an operator network or co-located with the management entity.

[0109] As an example, the vendor server is located outside of an operator network and connected to the apparatus through a secure connection.

[0110] FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of an example method 500 of a network node 110 that may carry out in accordance with examples described above by means of FIG. 1-3. The method 500 will be described from the perspective of the network node 110 in FIG. 1.

[0111] At block 510, the network node 110 receives, by a network node from a management node, a trace configuration comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a configuration for vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a configuration for standardized measurement data collection.

[0112] At block 520, the network node 110 transmits, to at least one user device, a configuration for a vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a standardized measurement data collection based on at least one data collection device identifier.

[0113] At block 530, the network node 110 receives, from the at least one user device, at least one message comprising vendor-proprietary data and/or standardized measurement data obtained by using the configuration. [0114] At block 540, the network node 110 transmits the at least one message to a data collection entity for forwarding to a vendor server as a trace data for at least one trace data collection.

[0115] As an example, the standardized measurement data is usable by the data collection entity in a vendor server and/or the network node, and the vendor-proprietary data is protected from use by the data collecting entity and the network node.

[0116] As an example, the trace configuration comprises an identifier of at least one user device for at least one trace data collection, wherein the identifier is a vendor-specific identifier, a trace data collection-specific identifier, user-device-hardware-specific identifier, and/or a subscriber-specific identifier.

[0117] As an example, the method 500 comprises: transmitting, to at least one user device, a physical-layer configuration associated with one or more measurements related to the vendor-proprietary data collection and/or the standardized measurement data collection.

[0118] As an example, the trace configuration comprises a configuration for a connected mode and/or a configuration for an idle/inactive mode of the at least one user device.

[0119] FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of an example method 600 of a UE 130 that may carry out in accordance with examples described above by means of FIG. 1-3. The method 600 will be described from the perspective of the UE 130 in FIG. 1.

[0120] At block 610, the UE 130 receives, by a user equipment from at least one network node, a configuration for a vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a standardized measurement data collection.

[0121] At block 620, the UE 130 collects vendor-proprietary data and/or standardized measurement data by carrying out, according to the configuration, one or more measurements associated with the vendor-proprietary data collection and/or the standardized measurement data collection.

[0122] At block 630, the UE 130 transmits, to the at least one network node, at least one message comprising the collected vendor-proprietary data and/or the collected standardized measurement data.

[0123] As an example, an apparatus capable of carrying out any of the method 400 (for example, the management entity 120 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for carrying out the respective operations of the method 400. The means may be carried out in any suitable form. For example, the means may be carried out in a circuitry or software module. The apparatus may be carried out as or included in the management entity 120 in FIG. 1.

[0124] As an example, the apparatus comprises means for receiving, by a management entity from a vendor server, a vendor configuration for data collection comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a data collection device-specific configuration; means for determining a trace configuration comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a configuration for vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a configuration for standardized measurement data collection; means for transmitting the trace configuration to at least one network node; means for receiving, from the at least one network node, at least one message comprising vendor-proprietary data and/or standardized measurement data obtained by using the trace configuration, and means for transmitting the vendor-proprietary data and/or the standardized measurement data to a data collection entity.

[0125] As an example, the vendor configuration for the data collection comprises: a network node configuration comprising one or more of more reference symbol types, one or more reference symbol configurations, one or more beam configurations, and/or one or more multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) configurations.

[0126] As an example, the vendor configuration for the data collection comprises: a configuration for a scenario associated with the data collection comprising one or more geographical areas, one or more deployment types, and/or cell sites.

[0127] As an example, the standardized measurement data is usable by the data collection entity in the vendor server and/or the at least one network node, and the vendorproprietary data is protected from use by the data collecting entity and the at least one network node.

[0128] As an example, the vendor-proprietary data comprises one or more radio measurements, sensor data, and/or a state of the data collection device.

[0129] As an example, the standardized measurement data comprises measurement data that is transmitted in a standardized format from the data collection device to the at least one network node. [0130] As an example, the vendor server is in an operator network or co-located with the management entity.

[0131] As an example, the vendor server is located outside of an operator network and connected to the apparatus through a secure connection.

[0132] As an example, the apparatus comprises means for carrying out other operations as an example of the method 400 or the management entity 120. As an example, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the apparatus.

[0133] As an example, an apparatus capable of carrying out any of the method 500 (for example, the network node 110 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for carrying out the respective operations of the method 500. The means may be carried out in any suitable form. For example, the means may be carried out in a circuitry or software module. The apparatus may be carried out as or included in the network node 110 in FIG. 1.

[0134] As an example, the apparatus comprises means for receiving, by a network node from a management node, a trace configuration comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a configuration for vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a configuration for standardized measurement data collection: means for transmitting, to at least one user device, a configuration for a vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a standardized measurement data collection based on at least one data collection device identifier; means for receiving, from the at least one user device, at least one message comprising vendor-proprietary data and/or standardized measurement data obtained by using the configuration; and means for transmitting the at least one message to a data collection entity for forwarding to a vendor server as a trace data for at least one trace data collection.

[0135] As an example, the standardized measurement data is usable by the data collection entity in a vendor server and/or the network node, and the vendor-proprietary data is protected from use by the data collecting entity and the network node.

[0136] As an example, the trace configuration comprises an identifier of at least one user device for at least one trace data collection, wherein the identifier is a vendor-specific identifier, a trace data collection-specific identifier, user-device-hardware-specific identifier, and/or a subscriber-specific identifier. [0137] As an example, the apparatus comprises: means for transmitting, to at least one user device, a physical-layer configuration associated with one or more measurements related to the vendor-proprietary data collection and/or the standardized measurement data collection.

[0138] As an example, the trace configuration comprises a configuration for a connected mode and/or a configuration for an idle/inactive mode of the at least one user device.

[0139] As an example, the apparatus comprises means for carrying out other operations as an example of the method 500 or the network node 110. As an example, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the apparatus.

[0140] As an example, an apparatus capable of carrying out any of the method 600 (for example, the UE 130 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for carrying out the respective operations of the method 600. The means may be carried out in any suitable form. For example, the means may be carried out in a circuitry or software module. The apparatus may be carried out as or included in the UE 130 in FIG. 1.

[0141] As an example, the apparatus comprises means for receiving, by a user equipment from at least one network node, a configuration for a vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a standardized measurement data collection; means for collecting vendor-proprietary data and/or standardized measurement data by carrying out, according to the configuration, one or more measurements associated with the vendor-proprietary data collection and/or the standardized measurement data collection; and means for transmitting, to the at least one network node, at least one message comprising the collected vendor-proprietary data and/or the collected standardized measurement data.

[0142] As an example, the apparatus comprises means for carrying out other operations As an example of the method 600 or the UE 130. As an example, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the apparatus.

[0143] FIG. 7 is a simplified block diagram of a device 700 that is suitable for carrying out examples of the present disclosure. The device 700 may be provided to carry out a communication device, for example, the management entity 120, the network node 110 or the UE 130 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 700 includes one or more processors 710, one or more memories 720 coupled to the processor 710, and one or more communication modules 740 coupled to the processor 710.

[0144] The communication module 740 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 740 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. As an example, the communication module 740 may include at least one antenna.

[0145] The processor 710 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 700 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

[0146] The memory 720 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 724, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disk (DVD), an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and/or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) 722 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

[0147] A computer program 730 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 710. The instructions of the program 730 may include instructions for carrying out operations/acts of some examples of the present disclosure. The program 730 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 724. The processor 710 may carry out any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 730 into the RAM 722.

[0148] The examples of the present disclosure may be carried out by means of the program 730 so that the device 700 may carry out any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 6. The examples of the present disclosure may also be carried out by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware. [0149] As an example, the program 730 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 700 (such as in the memory 720) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 700. The device 700 may load the program 730 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 722 for execution. As an example, the computer readable medium may include any types of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term “non-transitory,” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM).

[0150] FIG. 8 shows an example of the computer readable medium 800 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 800 has the program 730 stored thereon.

[0151] Generally, various examples of the present disclosure may be carried out in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be carried out in hardware, and other aspects may be carried out in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. Although various aspects of examples of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be carried out in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[0152] Some examples of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer readable medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor, to carry out any of the methods as described above. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that carry out particular tasks or carry out particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various examples. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0153] Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions/operations specified in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams to be carried out. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

[0154] In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to carry out various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

[0155] The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0156] Additionally, although operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be carry outed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be carry outed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, although several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular examples. Unless explicitly stated, certain features that are described in the context of separate examples may also be carried out in combination in a single example. Conversely, unless explicitly stated, various features that are described in the context of a single example may also be carried out in a plurality of examples separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

[0157] Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of carrying out the claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receive, by a management entity from a vendor server, a vendor configuration for data collection comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a data collection device-specific configuration; determine a trace configuration comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a configuration for vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a configuration for standardized measurement data collection; transmit the trace configuration to at least one network node; receive, from the at least one network node, at least one message comprising vendorproprietary data and/or standardized measurement data obtained by using the trace configuration, and transmit the vendor-proprietary data and/or the standardized measurement data to a data collection entity.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the vendor configuration for the data collection comprises: a network node configuration comprises one or more of more reference symbol types, one or more reference symbol configurations, one or more beam configurations, and/or one or more multiple-input-multiple-output (MIMO) configurations.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the vendor configuration for the data collection comprises: a configuration for a scenario associated with the data collection comprising one or more geographical areas, one or more deployment types, and/or cell sites.

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the standardized measurement data is usable by the data collection entity in the vendor server and/or the at least one network node, and the vendor-proprietary data is protected from use by the data collecting entity and the at least one network node.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the vendor-proprietary data comprises one or more radio measurements, sensor data, and/or a state of the data collection device.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the standardized measurement data comprises measurement data that is transmitted in a standardized format from the data collection device to the at least one network node.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the vendor server is in an operator network or co-located with the management entity.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the vendor server is located outside of an operator network and connected to the apparatus through a secure connection.

9. An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receive, by a network node from a management node, a trace configuration comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a configuration for vendorproprietary data collection and/or a configuration for standardized measurement data collection: transmit, to at least one user device, a configuration for a vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a standardized measurement data collection based on the at least one data collection device identifier; receive, from the at least one user device, at least one message comprising vendorproprietary data and/or standardized measurement data obtained by using the configuration; and transmit the at least one message to a data collection entity for forwarding to a vendor server as a trace data for at least one trace data collection.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the standardized measurement data is usable by the data collection entity in a vendor server and/or the network node, and the vendorproprietary data is protected from use by the data collecting entity and the network node.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the trace configuration comprises an identifier of at least one user device for at least one trace data collection, wherein the identifier is a vendor-specific identifier, a trace data collection-specific identifier, user-device- hardware-specific identifier, and/or a subscriber-specific identifier.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the apparatus is caused to: transmit, to at least one user device, a physical-layer configuration associated with one or more measurements related to the vendor-proprietary data collection and/or the standardized measurement data collection.

13. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the trace configuration comprises a configuration for a connected mode and/or a configuration for an idle/inactive mode of the at least one user device.

14. An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receive, by a user equipment from at least one network node, a configuration for a vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a standardized measurement data collection; collect vendor-proprietary data and/or standardized measurement data by carrying out, according to the configuration, one or more measurements associated with the vendorproprietary data collection and/or the standardized measurement data collection; and transmit, to the at least one network node, at least one message comprising the collected vendor-proprietary data and/or the collected standardized measurement data.

15. A method comprising: receiving, by a management entity from a vendor server, a vendor configuration for data collection comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a data collection device-specific configuration; determining a trace configuration comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a configuration for vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a configuration for standardized measurement data collection; transmitting the trace configuration to at least one network node; receiving, from the at least one network node, at least one message comprising vendor-proprietary data and/or standardized measurement data obtained by using the trace configuration, and transmitting the vendor-proprietary data and/or the standardized measurement data to a data collection entity.

16. A method comprising: receiving, by a network node from a management node, a trace configuration comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a configuration for vendorproprietary data collection and/or a configuration for standardized measurement data collection: transmitting, to at least one user device, a configuration for a vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a standardized measurement data collection based on at least one data collection device identifier; receiving, from the at least one user device, at least one message comprising vendorproprietary data and/or standardized measurement data obtained by using the configuration; and transmitting the at least one message to a data collection entity for forwarding to a vendor server as a trace data for at least one trace data collection.

17. A method comprising: receiving, by a user equipment from at least one network node, a configuration for a vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a standardized measurement data collection; collecting vendor-proprietary data and/or standardized measurement data by carrying out, according to the configuration, one or more measurements associated with the vendor-proprietary data collection and/or the standardized measurement data collection; and transmitting, to the at least one network node, at least one message comprising the collected vendor-proprietary data and/or the collected standardized measurement data.

18. An apparatus comprising: means for receiving, by a management entity from a vendor server, a vendor configuration for data collection comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a data collection device-specific configuration; means for determining a trace configuration comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a configuration for vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a configuration for standardized measurement data collection; means for transmitting the trace configuration to at least one network node; means for receiving, from the at least one network node, at least one message comprising vendor-proprietary data and/or standardized measurement data obtained by using the trace configuration, and means for transmitting the vendor-proprietary data and/or the standardized measurement data to a data collection entity.

19. An apparatus comprising: means for receiving, by a network node from a management node, a trace configuration comprising at least one data collection device identifier and a configuration for vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a configuration for standardized measurement data collection: means for transmitting, to at least one user device, a configuration for a vendorproprietary data collection and/or a standardized measurement data collection based on at least one data collection device identifier; means for receiving, from the at least one user device, at least one message comprising vendor-proprietary data and/or standardized measurement data obtained by using the configuration; and means for transmitting the at least one message to a data collection entity for forwarding to a vendor server as a trace data for at least one trace data collection.

20. An apparatus comprising: means for receiving, by a user equipment from at least one network node, a configuration for a vendor-proprietary data collection and/or a standardized measurement data collection; means for collecting vendor-proprietary data and/or standardized measurement data by carrying out, according to the configuration, one or more measurements associated with the vendor-proprietary data collection and/or the standardized measurement data collection; and means for transmitting, to the at least one network node, at least one message comprising the collected vendor-proprietary data and/or the collected standardized measurement data.

21. A computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus at least to carry out the method of claim 15 or the method of claim 16 or the method of claim 17.