WO2025208643A1

WO2025208643A1 - Conditional transmission of application layer data reports

Info

Publication number: WO2025208643A1
Application number: PCT/CN2024/086265
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ping Yuan; Jing He
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2024-04-05
Filing date: 2024-04-05
Publication date: 2025-10-09
Anticipated expiration: 2026-10-05
Also published as: CN120786456A

Abstract

Disclosed is a conditional pause and resume mechanism. In the mechanism, a radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising configuration information for controlling transmission of application layer data reports, the configuration information comprising a first condition and a second condition, the first condition defining when to start to monitor the second condition, and the second condition defining whether to pause or resume the transmission of the application layer data reports is used. When the first condition is met, monitoring whether the second condition is met is started. When the second condition defining to pause the transmission of the application layer data reports is met, the transmission of the application layer data reports is paused. When the second condition defining to resume the paused transmission of the application layer data reports is met, the transmission of the application layer data reports is resumed.

Description

CONDITIONAL TRANSMISSION OF APPLICATION LAYER DATA REPORTS

TECHNICAL FIELD

The following example embodiments relate to wireless communication.

BACKGROUND

In wireless communication, devices, e.g. terminal devices, may be configured to transmit application layer data reports over a wireless connection towards a serving apparatus in the wireless network. The application layer data may comprise low-priority, non-time critical port data such as quality of experience related measurements, which are used to measure e.g. the quality experienced by the user of the device. As this data is low-priority and non-time critical, its transmission is often paused for the duration of a handover from source network cell to target network cell via direct pause/resume control messages from the network device. However, in certain situations, such as when the device is operating in a non-terrestrial network cell, a more efficient pause/resume mechanism than use of the pause/resume commands to control the transmission of application layer data reports is desired.

SUMMARY

The scope of protection sought for various example embodiments is set out by the claims. The example embodiments and features, if any, described in this specification that do not fall under the scope of the claims are to be interpreted as examples useful for understanding various embodiments.

According to an aspect there is provided a device comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device at least to: receive, over a wireless network connection, a radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising configuration information for controlling transmission of application layer data reports, the configuration information comprising a first condition and a second condition, the first condition defining when to start to monitor the second condition, and the second condition defining whether to pause or resume the transmission of the application layer data reports; start, in response the first condition being met, to monitor whether the second condition is met; pause, when the second condition defining to pause the transmission of the application layer data reports is met, the transmission of the application layer data reports; and resume, when the second condition defining to resume the paused transmission of the application layer data reports is met, the transmission of the application layer data reports.

In an embodiment, the network connection is a non-terrestrial network connection.

In embodiments, the application layer data reports comprise quality of experience measurement data reports.

In embodiments, the at least one processor and the at least one memory storing instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the device to monitor whether the second condition is met in access stratum.

In embodiments, the first condition at least indicates one or more events to monitor amongst events comprising: expiration of a timer, reception of a handover command, transmission of a Layer 3 measurement report, reception of an overload indication, or an elevation-angle decreasing below a pre-determined threshold.

In embodiments, the at least one processor and the at least one memory storing instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the device to: start to monitor the at least one second condition immediately after receiving the configuration information, if the configuration information contains no first condition.

In embodiments, the second condition comprises at least one threshold for at least one of the following characteristics: an elevation-angle, a reference signal received power level, or a buffer-level.

In embodiments, the at least one threshold comprises a first threshold and a second threshold, and wherein the at least one processor and the at least one memory storing instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the device to: pause the transmission of application layer data reports if a value of the characteristic is below a first threshold; and/or resume the transmission of application layer data reports if a value of the characteristic is above a second threshold for the characteristic.

In embodiments, the first threshold is smaller than, or equal to, the second threshold.

In embodiments, the at least one processor and the at least one memory storing instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the device to: stop the monitoring of the second condition after resuming the transmission of the application layer data reports; and continue the monitoring of the first condition after resuming the transmission of the application layer data reports.

In embodiments, the at least one processor and the at least one memory storing instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the device to: monitor, after resuming the transmission of the application layer data reports, whether the second condition defining to pause is met; and monitor, after pausing the transmission of the application layer data reports, whether the second condition defining to resume is met.

In embodiments, the at least one processor and the at least one memory storing instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the device to: continue applying the configuration information until receiving a second radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising further configuration information for controlling transmission of application layer data reports; and start applying the further configuration information.

In embodiments, the device comprises or is comprised in a user equipment.

According to an aspect there is provided 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: transmit, over a network connection, to a device, a radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising configuration information for controlling transmission of application layer data reports from the device, the configuration information comprising a first condition and a second condition, the first condition defining when to start, by the device, to monitor the second condition, and the second condition defining whether to pause or resume, by the device, the transmission of the application layer data reports; and receive, from the device over the network connection, application layer data reports under the pause and resume based on the second condition.

In embodiments, the at least one processor and the at least one memory storing instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to: determine for the first condition one or more events to monitor amongst events comprising: expiration of a timer, reception of a handover command, transmission of a Layer 3 measurement report, reception of an overload indication, or an elevation-angle decreasing below a pre-determined threshold; determine for the second condition one or more characteristics, the one or more characteristics comprising: an elevation-angle, a reference signal received power level, or a buffer-level; insert to the configuration information as the first condition at least an indication of the event and as the second condition at least the one or more thresholds.

In embodiments, the apparatus comprises, or is comprised in, a non-terrestrial network satellite.

According to an aspect there is provided a method, comprising: receiving, over a wireless network connection, a radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising configuration information for controlling transmission of application layer data reports, the configuration information comprising a first condition and a second condition, the first condition defining when to start to monitor the second condition, and the second condition defining whether to pause or resume the transmission of the application layer data reports; starting, in response the first condition being met, to monitor whether the second condition is met; pausing, when the second condition defining to pause the transmission of the application layer data reports is met, the transmission of the application layer data reports; and resuming, when the second condition defining to resume the paused transmission of the application layer data reports is met, the transmission of the application layer data reports.

In an embodiment, the method further comprises: monitoring whether the second condition is met in access stratum.

In embodiments, the method further comprises: starting to monitor the at least one second condition immediately after receiving the configuration information, if the configuration information contains no first condition.

In embodiments, the method further comprises: pausing the transmission of application layer data reports if a value of the characteristic is below a first threshold; and/or resuming the transmission of application layer data reports if a value of the characteristic is above a second threshold for the characteristic.

In embodiments, the method further comprises: stopping the monitoring of the second condition after resuming the transmission of the application layer data reports; and continuing the monitoring of the first condition after resuming the transmission of the application layer data reports.

In embodiments, the method further comprises: monitoring, after resuming the transmission of the application layer data reports, whether the second condition defining to pause is met; and monitoring, after pausing the transmission of the application layer data reports, whether the second condition defining to resume is met.

In embodiments, the method further comprises: continuing applying the configuration information until receiving a second radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising further configuration information for controlling transmission of application layer data reports; and starting applying the further configuration information.

According to an aspect there is provided a method, comprising: transmitting, over a network connection, to a device, a radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising configuration information for controlling transmission of application layer data reports from the device, the configuration information comprising a first condition and a second condition, the first condition defining when to start, by the device, to monitor the second condition, and the second condition defining whether to pause or resume, by the device, the transmission of the application layer data reports; and receiving, from device over the network connection, application layer data reports under the pause and resume based on the second condition.

In an embodiment, the method further comprises: determining for the first condition one or more events to monitor amongst events comprising: expiration of a timer, reception of a handover command, transmission of a Layer 3 measurement report, reception of an overload indication, or an elevation-angle decreasing below a pre-determined threshold; determining for the second condition one or more characteristics, the one or more characteristics comprising: an elevation-angle, a reference signal received power level, or a buffer-level; inserting to the configuration information as the first condition at least an indication of the event and as the second condition at least the one or more thresholds.

In embodiments, the network connection is a non-terrestrial network connection.

According to an aspect there is provided a computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a device, cause the device to perform at least: receiving, over a wireless network connection, a radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising configuration information for controlling transmission of application layer data reports, the configuration information comprising a first condition and a second condition, the first condition defining when to start to monitor the second condition, and the second condition defining whether to pause or resume the transmission of the application layer data reports; starting, in response the first condition being met, to monitor whether the second condition is met; pausing, when the second condition defining to pause the transmission of the application layer data reports is met, the transmission of the application layer data reports; and resuming, when the second condition defining to resume the paused transmission of the application layer data reports is met, the transmission of the application layer data reports.

According to an aspect there is provided a computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform at least: transmitting, over a network connection, to a device, a radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising configuration information for controlling transmission of application layer data reports from the device, the configuration information comprising a first condition and a second condition, the first condition defining when to start, by the device, to monitor the second condition, and the second condition defining whether to pause or resume, by the device, the transmission of the application layer data reports; and receiving, from device over the network connection, application layer data reports under the pause and resume based on the second condition.

In embodiments, the computer readable medium is a non-transitory computer readable medium.

According to an aspect there is provided a computer program comprising instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method.

According to an aspect there is provided an apparatus comprising at least means for performing the method.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In the following, various example embodiments will be described in greater detail with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a wireless communication network;

FIG. 2 illustrates the operation principle of an earth fixed non-terrestrial network cell;

FIG. 3 illustrates the operation principle of an earth moving non-terrestrial network;

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart according to an example embodiment of a method for controlling the transmission of application layer data reports;

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart according to an example embodiment of a method for controlling the transmission of application layer data reports in which it is assumed that after pausing and resuming transmission of the application layer data reports the process returns to monitor the first condition;

FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart according to an example embodiment of a method for controlling the transmission of application layer data reports in which it is assumed that after the first condition is met once, the process monitors in turns, whether to pause or resume transmission of the application layer data reports;

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart according to an example embodiment of a method for controlling the transmission of application layer data reports in which it is assumed that after the first condition is met once, the process monitors in turns, whether to pause or resume transmission of the application layer data reports is continued until a next RRC reconfiguration message comprising configuration information is received;

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow chart according to an example embodiment of a process for controlling the transmission of application layer data reports;

FIG. 9 illustrates examples of information exchange in a system comprising NTN cells;

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of a device; and

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of an apparatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following embodiments are exemplifying. Although the specification may refer to “an” , “one” , or “some” embodiment (s) in several locations of the text, this does not necessarily mean that each reference is made to the same embodiment (s) , or that a particular feature only applies to a single embodiment. Single features of different embodiments may also be combined to provide other embodiments within the scope of the claims. Furthermore, the words "comprising" and "including" should be understood as not limiting the described embodiments to consist of only those features that have been mentioned, and such embodiments may also contain features that have not been specifically mentioned. Reference numbers, in the description and/or in the claims, serve to illustrate the embodiments with reference to the drawings, without limiting the embodiments to these examples only.

Some example embodiments described herein may be implemented in a wireless communication network comprising a radio access network based on one or more of the following radio access technologies (RATs) : global system for mobile communications (GSM) or any other second generation (2G) radio access technology, universal mobile telecommunication system (UMTS, 3G) based on basic wideband-code division multiple access (W-CDMA) , high-speed packet access (HSPA) , long term evolution (LTE) , LTE-Advanced, fourth generation (4G) , fifth generation (5G) , 5G new radio (NR) , 5G-Advanced (i.e., 3GPP NR Rel-18 and beyond) , or sixth generation (6G) . Some examples of radio access networks include the universal mobile telecommunications system (UMTS) radio access network (UTRAN) , the evolved universal terrestrial radio access network (E-UTRA) , or the next generation radio access network (NG-RAN) . The wireless communication network may further comprise a core network, and some example embodiments may also be applied to network functions of the core network.

It should be noted that the embodiments are not restricted to the wireless communication network given as an example, but a person skilled in the art may also apply the solution to other wireless communication networks or systems provided with necessary properties. For example, some example embodiments may also be applied to a communication system based on IEEE 802.11 specifications, or a communication system based on IEEE 802.15 specifications. IEEE is an abbreviation for the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.

FIG. 1 depicts an example of a simplified wireless communication network showing some physical and logical entities. The connections shown in FIG. 1 may be physical connections or logical connections. It is apparent to a person skilled in the art that the wireless communication network may also comprise other physical and logical entities than those shown in FIG. 1.

The example embodiments described herein are not, however, restricted to the wireless communication network given as an example but a person skilled in the art may apply the example embodiments described herein to other wireless communication networks provided with necessary properties.

The example wireless communication network shown in FIG. 1 includes a radio access network (RAN) and a core network 110.

FIG. 1 shows user equipment (UE) 100, 102 configured to be in a wireless connection on one or more communication channels in a radio cell with an access node 104 of a radio access network.

The access node 104 may comprise a computing device configured to control the radio resources of the access node 104 and to be in a wireless connection with one or more UEs 100, 102. The access node 104 may also be referred to as a base station, a base transceiver station (BTS) , an access point, a cell site, a network node, a radio access network node, or a RAN node. In this description, the terms “access node” and “radio access network node” may be used interchangeably.

The access node 104 may be, for example, an evolved NodeB (abbreviated as eNB or eNodeB) , or a next generation evolved NodeB (abbreviated as ng-eNB) , or a next generation NodeB (abbreviated as gNB or gNodeB) , providing the radio cell. The access node 104 may include or be coupled to transceivers. From the transceivers of the access node 104, a connection may be provided to an antenna unit that establishes a bi-directional radio link to one or more UEs 100, 102. The antenna unit may comprise an antenna or antenna element, or a plurality of antennas or antenna elements.

The wireless connection (e.g., radio link) from a UE 100, 102 to the access node 104 may be called uplink (UL) or reverse link, and the wireless connection (e.g., radio link) from the access node 104 to the UE 100, 102 may be called downlink (DL) or forward link. A UE 100 may also communicate directly with another UE 102, and vice versa, via a wireless connection generally referred to as a sidelink (SL) . It should be appreciated that the access node 104 or its functionalities may be implemented by using any node, host, server, access point or other entity suitable for providing such functionalities.

The radio access network may comprise more than one access node 104, in which case the access nodes may also be configured to communicate with one another over wired or wireless links. These links between access nodes may be used for sending and receiving control plane signaling and also for routing data from one access node to another access node.

The access node 104 may further be connected to a core network (CN) 110. The core network 110 may comprise an evolved packet core (EPC) network and/or a 5^th generation core network (5GC) . The EPC may comprise network entities, such as a serving gateway (S-GW for routing and forwarding data packets) , a packet data network gateway (P-GW) for providing connectivity of UEs to external packet data networks, and/or a mobility management entity (MME) . The 5GC may comprise one or more network functions, such as at least one of: a user plane function (UPF) , an access and mobility management function (AMF) , a location management function (LMF) , and/or a session management function (SMF) .

The core network 110 may also be able to communicate with one or more external networks 113, such as a public switched telephone network or the Internet, or utilize services provided by them. For example, in 5G wireless communication networks, the UPF of the core network 110 may be configured to communicate with an external data network via an N6 interface. In LTE wireless communication networks, the P-GW of the core network 110 may be configured to communicate with an external data network.

It should also be understood that the distribution of functions between core network operations and access node operations may differ in future wireless communication networks compared to that of the LTE or 5G, or even be non-existent.

The illustrated UE 100, 102 is one type of an apparatus to which resources on the air interface may be allocated and assigned. The UE 100, 102 may also be called a wireless communication device, a subscriber unit, a mobile station, a remote terminal, an access terminal, a user terminal, a terminal device, or a user device, just to mention but a few names. The UE 100, 102 may be a computing device operating with or without a subscriber identification module (SIM) , including, but not limited to, the following types of computing devices: a mobile phone, a smartphone, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , a handset, a computing device comprising a wireless modem (e.g., an alarm or measurement device, etc. ) , a laptop computer, a desktop computer, a tablet, a game console, a notebook, a multimedia device, a reduced capability (RedCap) device, a wearable device (e.g., a watch, earphones or eyeglasses) with radio parts, a sensor comprising a wireless modem, or a computing device comprising a wireless modem integrated in a vehicle.

It should be appreciated that the UE 100, 102 may also be a nearly exclusive uplink-only device, of which an example may be a camera or video camera loading images or video clips to a network. The UE 100, 102 may also be a device having capability to operate in an Internet of Things (IoT) network, which is a scenario in which objects may be provided with the ability to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction.

The wireless communication network may also be able to support the usage of cloud services. For example, at least part of core network operations may be carried out as a cloud service (this is depicted in FIG. 1 by “cloud” 114) . The UE 100, 102 may also utilize the cloud 114. In some applications, the computation for a given UE may be carried out in the cloud 114 or in another UE.

The wireless communication network may also comprise a central control entity, such as a network management system (NMS) , or the like. The NMS is a centralized suite of software and hardware used to monitor, control, and administer the network infrastructure. The NMS is responsible for a wide range of tasks such as fault management, configuration management, security management, performance management, and accounting management. The NMS enables network operators to efficiently manage and optimize network resources, ensuring that the network delivers high performance, reliability, and security.

5G enables using multiple-input and multiple-output (MIMO) antennas in the access node 104 and/or the UE 100, 102, many more base stations or access nodes than an LTE network (aso-called small cell concept) , including macro sites operating in co-operation with smaller stations and employing a variety of radio technologies depending on service needs, use cases and/or spectrum available. 5G wireless communication networks may support a wide range of use cases and related applications including video streaming, augmented reality, different ways of data sharing and various forms of machine-type applications, such as (massive) machine-type communications (mMTC) , including vehicular safety, different sensors and real-time control.

In 5G wireless communication networks, access nodes and/or UEs may have multiple radio interfaces, such as below 6 gigahertz (GHz) , centimeter wave (cmWave) and millimeter wave (mmWave) , and also being integrable with legacy radio access technologies, such as LTE. Integration with LTE may be implemented, for example, as a system, where macro coverage may be provided by LTE, and 5G radio interface access may come from small cells by aggregation to LTE. In other words, a 5G wireless communication network may support both inter-RAT operability (such as interoperability between LTE and 5G) and inter-RI operability (inter-radio interface operability, such as between below 6GHz, cmWave, and mmWave) .

5G wireless communication networks may also apply network slicing, in which multiple independent and dedicated virtual sub-networks (network instances) may be created within the same physical infrastructure to run services that have different requirements on latency, reliability, throughput and mobility. 5G may enable analytics and knowledge generation to occur at the source of the data. This approach may involve leveraging resources that may not be continuously connected to a network, such as laptops, smartphones, tablets and sensors. Multi-access edge computing (MEC) may provide a distributed computing environment for application and service hosting. It may also have the ability to store and process content in close proximity to cellular subscribers for faster response time. Edge computing may cover a wide range of technologies, such as wireless sensor networks, mobile data acquisition, mobile signature analysis, cooperative distributed peer-to-peer ad hoc networking and processing also classifiable as local cloud/fog computing and grid/mesh computing, dew computing, mobile edge computing, cloudlet, distributed data storage and retrieval, autonomic self-healing networks, remote cloud services, augmented and virtual reality, data caching, Internet of Things (massive connectivity and/or latency critical) , critical communications (autonomous vehicles, traffic safety, real-time analytics, time-critical control, healthcare applications) .

In one embodiment, an access node 104 may comprise: a radio unit (RU) comprising a radio transceiver (TRX) , i.e., a transmitter (Tx) and a receiver (Rx) ; one or more distributed units (DUs) 105 that may be used for the so-called Layer 1 (L1) processing and real-time Layer 2 (L2) processing; and a central unit (CU) 108 (also known as a centralized unit) that may be used for non-real-time L2 and Layer 3 (L3) processing. The CU 108 may be connected to the one or more DUs 105 for example via an F1 interface. Such an embodiment of the access node 104 may enable the centralization of CUs relative to the cell sites and DUs, whereas DUs may be more distributed and may even remain at cell sites. The CU and DU together may also be referred to as baseband or a baseband unit (BBU) . The CU and DU may also be comprised in a radio access point (RAP) .

The CU 108 may be a logical node hosting radio resource control (RRC) , service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) and/or packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) , of the NR protocol stack for an access node 104. The CU 108 may comprise a control plane (CU-CP) , which may be a logical node hosting the RRC and the control plane part of the PDCP protocol of the NR protocol stack for the access node 104. The CU 108 may further comprise a user plane (CU-UP) , which may be a logical node hosting the user plane part of the PDCP protocol and the SDAP protocol of the CU for the access node 104.

The DU 105 may be a logical node hosting radio link control (RLC) , medium access control (MAC) and/or physical (PHY) layers of the NR protocol stack for the access node 104. The operations of the DU 105 may be at least partly controlled by the CU 108. It should also be understood that the distribution of functions between the DU 105 and the CU 108 may vary depending on the implementation.

Cloud computing systems may also be used to provide the CU 108 and/or DU 105. A CU provided by a cloud computing system may be referred to as a virtualized CU (vCU) . In addition to the vCU, there may also be a virtualized DU (vDU) provided by a cloud computing system. Furthermore, there may also be a combination, where the DU may be implemented on so-called bare metal solutions, for example application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) or customer-specific standard product (CSSP) system-on-a-chip (SoC) .

Edge cloud may be brought into the radio access network by utilizing network function virtualization (NFV) and software defined networking (SDN) . Using edge cloud may mean access node operations to be carried out, at least partly, in a computing system operationally coupled to a remote radio head (RRH) or a radio unit (RU) of an access node 104. It is also possible that access node operations may be performed on a distributed computing system or a cloud computing system located at the access node 104. Application of cloud RAN architecture enables RAN real-time functions being carried out at the radio access network (e.g., in a DU 105) , and non-real-time functions being carried out in a centralized manner (e.g., in a CU 108) .

5G (or new radio, NR) wireless communication networks may support multiple hierarchies, where multi-access edge computing (MEC) servers may be placed between the core network 110 and the access node 104. It should be appreciated that MEC may be applied in LTE wireless communication networks as well.

A 5G wireless communication network ( “5G network” ) may also comprise a non-terrestrial communication network, such as a satellite communication network, to enhance or complement the coverage of the 5G radio access network. For example, satellite communication may support the transfer of data between the 5G radio access network and the core network 110, enabling more extensive network coverage. Possible use cases may include: providing service continuity for machine-to-machine (M2M) or Internet of Things (IoT) devices or for passengers on board of vehicles, or ensuring service availability for critical communications, and future railway, maritime, or aeronautical communications. Satellite communication may utilize geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite systems, but also low earth orbit (LEO) satellite systems, in particular mega-constellations (i.e., systems in which hundreds of (nano) satellites are deployed) . A given satellite 106 in the mega-constellation may cover several satellite-enabled network entities that create on-ground cells. The on-ground cells may be created through an on-ground relay access node or by an access node located on-ground or in a satellite.

It is obvious for a person skilled in the art that the access node 104 depicted in FIG. 1 is just an example of a part of a radio access network, and in practice the radio access network may comprise a plurality of access nodes 104, the UEs 100, 102 may have access to a plurality of radio cells, and the radio access network may also comprise other apparatuses, such as physical layer relay access nodes or other entities. At least one of the access nodes may be a Home eNodeB or a Home gNodeB. A Home gNodeB or a Home eNodeB is a type of access node that may be used to provide indoor coverage inside a home, office, or other indoor environment.

Additionally, in a geographical area of a radio access network, a plurality of different kinds of radio cells as well as a plurality of radio cells may be provided. Radio cells may be macro cells (or umbrella cells) which may be large cells having a diameter of up to tens of kilometers, or smaller cells such as micro-, femto-or picocells. The access node (s) 104 of FIG. 1 may provide any kind of these cells. A cellular radio network may be implemented as a multilayer access networks including several kinds of radio cells. In multilayer access networks, one access node may provide one kind of a radio cell or radio cells, and thus a plurality of access nodes may be needed to provide such a multilayer access network.

For fulfilling the need for improving performance of radio access networks, the concept of “plug-and-play” access nodes may be introduced. A radio access network, which may be able to use “plug-and-play” access nodes, may include, in addition to Home eNodeBs or Home gNodeBs, a Home Node B gateway (HNB-GW) (not shown in FIG. 1) . An HNB-GW, which may be installed within an operator’s radio access network, may aggregate traffic from a large number of Home eNodeBs or Home gNodeBs back to a core network 110 of the operator. 6G wireless communication networks are expected to adopt flexible decentralized and/or distributed computing systems and architecture and ubiquitous computing, with local spectrum licensing, spectrum sharing, infrastructure sharing, and intelligent automated management underpinned by mobile edge computing, artificial intelligence, short-packet communication and blockchain technologies. Key features of 6G may include intelligent connected management and control functions, programmability, integrated sensing and communication, reduction of energy footprint, trustworthy infrastructure, scalability and affordability. In addition to these, 6G is also targeting new use cases covering the integration of localization and sensing capabilities into system definition to unifying user experience across physical and digital worlds.

Some example embodiments are described below using principles and terminology of 5G radio access technology without limiting the example embodiments to 5G radio access technology, however.

As mentioned above, on-ground cells with 5G radio access may be implemented using non-terrestrial network communication utilizing satellite communication which, in turn, may utilize GEO satellite systems or LEO satellite systems. For example, the LEO satellites operate at an altitude of 500 to 1500 km and may provide NR service on earth through one or more satellite beams creating on-ground cells, i.e. non-terrestrial network cells, NTN cells. Characteristics of the NTN cells include that as the moving speed of the satellite is high, e.g. LEO satellites move with a speed of approximately 7.5 km/s, and the beam footprint on earth is finite with e.g. 50 to 1000 km NTN cell diameter, the serving time of one NTN cell to one served device, such as an UE, is short. The serving time may range from 6 to 132 seconds. Further characteristics of the NTN cell is that distance, pathloss and elevation angle between the UE and satellite providing the NTN service is constantly changing depending on the relative locations of the UE and the satellite. The distance is defined as the shortest distance between the UE and the satellite providing the NTN service, and the pathloss is defined as the attenuation of the signal travelling from the satellite serving the UE to the UE (due to e.g. atmospheric effects) which is affected by the distance and the elevation angle between the UE and satellite serving the UE, among other factors. The type of an NTN cell is determined based on its movement relative to earth. The type may be an earth fixed cell, illustrated in FIG. 2, or an earth moving cell, illustrated in FIG. 3.

FIG. 2 illustrates an earth fixed cell which entails the satellite 106 is continuously adjusting the satellite beam pointing direction (illustrated by the solid lines) to fix the NTN cell to a specific point on earth. In the FIG. 2. the movement of the satellite relative to earth is illustrated with arrows. As can be seen, the beam pointing direction is changing continuously, and this causes the elevation angle between the device 203 and the satellite 106 to also change continuously. The elevation angle is the angle between the tangent of the surface of the earth at the location of the device 203 and the line of shortest distance between the UE and the satellite 106. The maximum elevation angle 201 and the minimum elevation angle 202, 204 are predefined threshold values such that the minimum elevation angle 202, 204 is smaller than, or equal to, the maximum elevation angle 201. When the elevation angle reaches a value below the minimum elevation angle, the pointing direction of the beam will change to the next location, and this will result in a handover event. Thus, a characteristic of such a scenario is that the handover events from source NTN cell to target NTN take place continuously.

FIG. 3 illustrates an earth moving cell, which entails that the satellite 106 beam pointing direction is fixed and thus the beam footprint, i.e. NTN cell, is moving on earth. In FIG. 3, NTN cell location 301 at certain time is illustrated by the solid lines, and NTN cell location 302 after certain amount of time has passed is illustrated by the dashed lines and the movement of the satellite is illustrated by the arrows. Even though not separately illustrated, also in the earth moving cell, the elevation angle between the UE and the satellite changes. As can be seen, the NTN cell moves on earth in a continuous manner, and, therefore, the UE handovers from source NTN cell to target NTN cell (i.e. handover events) take place continuously.

Compared to a terrestrial scenario, messages, such as radio resource controlling messages over an NTN wireless connection, be that in the earth fixed cell or in earth moving cell, have a longer latency. Due to that, traditional controlling of the transmission of application layer data reports from the device implemented with RRC messages comprising pause/resume commands do not work well in NTN scenario. To enable more effective pause/resume mechanism relating to transmission of application layer data reports, a mechanism called herein a conditional pause/resume mechanism may be used. In said conditional pause/resume mechanism the control of said transmissions is transferred to a device, which is configured to transmit the application layer data reports. Different examples of the conditional pause/resume mechanism will be described below. By transferring the control to the device, a delay caused by the latency to pause/resume commands is avoided, thereby enabling more efficient controlling of the network.

FIG. 4 illustrates a flow chart according to an example embodiment of a process for controlling the transmission of application layer data reports. The process may be performed by a device, for example by a user equipment (UE) , non- limiting examples of which are described above with FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 4, the process comprises: receiving (block 401) a radio resource control reconfiguration message (RRC reconfiguration message) over a wireless network connection, the radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising configuration information for controlling transmission of application layer data reports, the configuration information comprising a first condition and a second condition, the first condition defining when to start to monitor the second condition, and the second condition defining whether to pause or resume the transmission of the application layer data reports; monitoring (block 402) whether the first condition has been met and, and in response to the first condition being met, monitoring (block 403) whether the second condition is met, and pausing (block 404) , when the second condition defining to pause the transmission of the application layer data reports is met, the transmission of the application layer data reports. Further monitoring (block 405) whether the second condition defining to resume the paused transmission of the application layer data reports is met, and resuming (block 406) the transmission of the application layer data reports.

Additionally, it is possible that the device buffers, while the transmission of the application layer data reports is paused, the application layer data reports, for example in a memory for access stratum layer, and transmits the buffered application layer data reports when the transmission of the application layer data reports is resumed.

For example, the wireless network connection may comprise a non-terrestrial network connection, for example based on LTE, 5G, 6G or any other applicable radio technology.

The application layer data reports may comprise reports of data collected, or measured, by the device. The data may comprise low-priority and/or non-time critical data such as metrics that characterize performed measurements may be used to assess the performance of a network or a particular service within the network, e.g. Quality of Experience (QoE) related metrics. Examples of the QoE-related metrics include (average) throughput, latency, playout delay for media startup and buffer status.

The first condition may comprise an indication for one or more of the following events: expiration of a timer, reception of a handover command, transmission of a Layer 3 measurement report, reception of an overload indication, or an elevation-angle decreasing below a pre-determined threshold. It should be appreciated that the pre-determined threshold value covers herein a preset threshold value, for example semi-statically configured value, and a threshold value received in an RRC configuration message, for example in said configuration information. In other words, a pre-determined threshold value is a value that is not determined during the monitoring but at the latest when the configuration information is received.

The expiration of a timer may be an expiration of a timer which starts to count from the reception an RRC Reconfiguration message comprising the configuration information for controlling transmission of application layer data reports. For example, a pre-defined timer value of larger than, or equal to, 0 seconds may be used as a timer value (threshold) after which the timer is considered expired. In another implementation, a timer value received in the configuration information may be used instead of the pre-defined timer value. The timer value received in the configuration information may be an indication, i.e. to indicate, that the event of expiration of a timer is to be monitored as the first condition.

A handover command may be received over the wireless NTN connection, for example in an RRC Reconfiguration message, as will be described below with FIG. 11. The receiving of the handover command may be the indication for the event of reception of a handover command.

A Layer 3 measurement report may be a measurement report for a handover related event, as will be described in more detail below with FIG. 11.

An overload indication may be a cell overload indication received e.g. in dedicated signalling or broadcast signalling. The dedicated and broadcast signaling comprise e.g. messages carried within RRC Reconfiguration message. The benefit of the dedicated signalling is that it allows the network to adjust the number of devices which will be paused, while the broadcast signalling allows for pausing multiple devices, which have been configured with the configuration information, in the NTN cell simultaneously thereby reducing the network overload quickly. The first condition may be considered met once at least one of the abovementioned events comprised in the received configuration information has been observed.

Alternatively, or additionally, the first condition may be considered met when the configuration information is received. For example, if the configuration information specifies no first condition, the device may be configured to start to evaluate the second condition immediately after receiving the configuration information.

The second condition comprises at least one threshold for at least one of the following characteristics: an elevation-angle, a reference signal received power level, or a buffer-level.

The elevation-angle means herein the angle between the tangent of the surface of the earth at the location of the device and the line of shortest distance between the device and the satellite, as explained above in reference to FIG. 2.

The reference signal received power level represents a measured power level of a reference signal when the reference signal is received from the NTN satellite. The value of the reference signal received power level is the power level measured at the reception of the reference signal from the NTN and its value is related to e.g. the pathloss from the satellite 106 to the device.

The buffer-level indicates the amount of occupied buffer resources, amongst resources reserved in the device. The buffer-level may be given in e.g. percentage of total memory, or as an absolute value.

The second condition defining to pause can be considered met once a threshold is met. Any of the following embodiments of the second condition may be used: the elevation-angle is below the first threshold; the reference signal received power level is below the first threshold; the buffer-level is below the first threshold. For the elevation-angle, first threshold may be pre-determined, or it may be received in the configuration information, or it may correspond to an angle below which the quality of the wireless connection to/from the satellite becomes unacceptable. For the reference signal received power level, the first threshold may correspond to a reference signal received power level below which e.g. the attenuation of the signal (i.e. the pathloss) becomes unacceptable for receiving/transmitting data. For the buffer level, the first threshold may correspond to the amount of occupied memory which allows the storing the application layer data reports.

The second condition defining to resume is met once the same (first) threshold is met again or another (asecond) threshold is met. Different thresholds may be defined for the pause and resume to avoid rapid pause-resume repetitions in borderline situations. Any of the embodiments of the second condition to be monitored for said resume may be used: the elevation-angle is above the threshold; the reference signal received power level is above the threshold; the buffer-level is above the threshold value. For the elevation-angle, second threshold may correspond to an angle above which the quality of the wireless connection, as measured by e.g. the latency, to/from the satellite becomes acceptable. For the reference signal received power level, the second threshold may correspond to the first threshold, or it may correspond to a reference signal received power level above which e.g. the attenuation of the signal (i.e. the pathloss) becomes low enough for receiving/transmitting data; For the buffer level, the second threshold may correspond amount of occupied memory which does not allow for the storing of the application layer data reports.

Alternatively, or additionally, the monitoring of the second condition defining to pause may be performed for the same characteristic as the second condition defining to resume; for example, if the second condition is the elevation-angle, then the elevation-angle decreasing below the first threshold will lead to monitoring of the elevation-angle increasing above the second threshold. However, it may also be possible that the characteristics are different; for example, if the second condition is the elevation-angle, then the elevation-angle decreasing below the first threshold will lead to monitoring of the reference signal received power level increasing above the second threshold.

Alternatively, or additionally, the device can monitor whether the second condition is met in access stratum. Access stratum means herein a plane where the device communicates with the radio access network.

Alternatively, or additionally, the first threshold can be smaller than, or equal to, the second threshold.

Alternatively, or additionally, one or more of the first and second threshold values can be pre-determined, or they can be determined for example by the device, based on the operating conditions.

Alternatively, or additionally, the device can stop the monitoring of the second condition after resuming the transmission of the application layer data reports; and continue the monitoring of the first condition after resuming the transmission of the application layer data reports.

Alternatively, or additionally, the device can monitor, after resuming the transmission of the application layer data reports, whether the second condition defining to pause is met; and monitor, after pausing the transmission of the application layer data reports, whether the second condition defining to resume is met.

Alternatively, or additionally, the device can continue applying the configuration information until receiving a second radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising further configuration information for controlling transmission of application layer data reports; and start applying the further configuration information.

Alternatively, or additionally, multiple indications related to the abovementioned events, or any combination thereof, need to be met before the first condition can be considered met. Furthermore, in such a scenario, it is possible that the events are prioritized such that once the indication related to one high priority event is met, it will override the monitoring of indications related to lower priority events. The prioritization can be pre-determined, or it can be determined based on operation environment. Non-limiting examples of such prioritization schemes are provided in the following: the reception of handover command overrides the other events; the reception of an overload indication overrides the other events; the elevation-angle decreasing below a pre-determined threshold (e.g. the minimum elevation-angle) overrides the other events. It is also possible that more than one event may have the same priority level.

Alternatively, or additionally, it is possible that the indication related to the expiration of a timer is configured such that it will expire when the cell service is expected to deteriorate (this can be estimated based on the frequency of handover events, which, in turn, can be calculated e.g. based on speed of the device, speed of the satellite, minimum acceptable elevation-angle and diameter of the NTN cell) . In such a scenario, the expiration of a timer can be considered a safety mechanism that allows the device to continue operation without jeopardizing the application layer data reporting.

Alternatively, or additionally, multiple thresholds related to the characteristics related to the second condition, or any combination thereof, need to be met before the second condition can be considered met. Furthermore, in such a scenario, it is possible that the characteristics are prioritized such that once the threshold related to one high priority characteristic is met, it will override the monitoring of thresholds related to lower priority characteristics. The prioritization can be pre-determined, or it can be determined based on operation environment. Non-limiting examples of such prioritization schemes include the buffer-level overrides the lower priority characteristics; the elevation-angle overrides the lower priority characteristics; the reference signal received power level overrides the lower priority characteristics. The benefit of designating e.g. the elevation-angle as highest priority level characteristic is that it secures that application layer data reports are not transmitted when signal conditions are poor and may result to loss of application layer data reports. It is also possible that more than one event may have the same priority level.

As can be seen, the process described in FIG. 4. reduces the amount of RRC messages because it allows the device to pause or resume the transmission of the application layer data reports without receiving separate pause or resume control commands from the network. This enables higher efficiency controlling of the network.

Let us then elaborate some non-limiting examples of processes that may be performed by a device configurable to control transmission of application layer data reports. In the examples it is assumed, for the sake of description, that conditions are met at least once.

FIG. 5 illustrates a flow chart of a process, in which it is assumed after pausing and resuming transmission of the application layer data reports the process returns to monitor the first condition. Further, it is assumed, for the sake of clarity, that the configuration information comprises a first condition and a second condition with two thresholds for a characteristic. The two thresholds are a first threshold for pause and a second threshold for resume. It is a straightforward task for a person skilled in the art to implement the principles to solutions in which the second condition comprises more thresholds, for example.

Referring to FIG. 5, a radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising configuration information is received (block 501) . Monitoring whether the first condition is met is started (block 502) . The monitoring continues (block 503: no) until the first condition is met. When the first condition is met (block 503: yes) , monitoring the second condition is started (block 504) . More precisely, it is monitored (block 505) for the pause whether a value for the characteristic is below the first threshold. The monitoring continues (block 505: no) as long as a value for the characteristic remains above the first threshold. When the value is below the first threshold (block 505: yes) , transmission of of the application layer data reports is paused (block 506) . The pausing may include buffering the application layer data reports. Further, it is monitored (block 507) for the resume whether a value for the characteristic is above the second threshold. The monitoring continues (block 507: no) as long as a value for the characteristic remains below the second threshold. When the value is above the second threshold (block 507: yes) , transmission of the application layer data reports is resumed (block 508) . The resuming may include transmitting buffered application layer data reports. Further, in the example of FIG. 5, monitoring the second condition is stopped (block 509) and the process proceeds to block 502 and starts (block 502) again to monitor the first condition.

To further elaborate the example, some use case examples are discussed.

In one use case, the event to be monitored for the first condition is transmission of Layer 3 measurement report comprising an A3 conditional handover indication, and the characteristic to be monitored regarding the second condition is the elevation-angle with first threshold and second threshold defined both as the minimum elevation-angle. In such scenario, transmitting the Layer 3 measurement report leads to first condition being met and the second condition being monitored. Then, once the elevation-angle falls below the first threshold i.e. below the minimum elevation-angle, the transmission of application layer data reports is paused. Then, once the elevation-angle increases above the second threshold, i.e. above the minimum elevation-angle, the transmission of application layer data reports is resumed. After this, the device returns to monitor the first condition i.e. whether the transmission of Layer 3 measurement report takes place. The benefit of the said process is that at no point direct pause/resume commands are needed and yet the pause is started in a timely manner, to avoid transmission of the application layer data reports when during actual handover, thereby reducing the network traffic Further, since the process returns after resuming to monitor the first condition, the energy consumption of the device is resumed compared to a situation in which in the new serving cell monitoring the second condition would continue.

In another use case, the event to be monitored for the first condition is the elevation-angle decreasing below a pre-determined threshold, and the characteristic to be monitored for the second condition is the elevation-angle. In such scenario, the pre-determined threshold of the first condition, and the second threshold of the second condition may be defined as equal and larger than the minimum elevation-angle, while the first threshold of the second condition may be defined as minimum elevation-angle. In such scenario, the elevation-angle decreasing below the pre-determined threshold (i.e. below an elevation-angle which is larger than the minimum elevation-angle) leads to first condition being considered met and the second condition being monitored. Then, once the elevation-angle decreases below the first threshold, i.e. below the minimum elevation-angle, the second condition is considered met and the transmission of application layer data reports is paused. Then, once the elevation-angle increases above the second threshold (i.e. above the elevation-angle, which is larger than the minimum elevation-angle) the transmission of the application layer data reports is resumed. After this, the device returns to monitor the first condition i.e. whether the elevation-angle falls below the pre-determined threshold. Similar to previous use case, the benefit of the said process is that by timely pausing, when the elevation-angle is so small that most probably transmission of the application layer data reports fail, or requires several attempts, reduces the network traffic.

FIG. 6 illustrates a flow chart of a process, in which it is assumed that after the first condition is met once, the process monitors in turns, whether to pause or resume transmission of the application layer data reports. Further, it is assumed, for the sake of clarity, that the configuration information comprises a first condition and a second condition with two thresholds for a characteristic. The two thresholds are a first threshold for pause and a second threshold for resume. It is a straightforward task for one skilled in the art to implement the principles to solutions in which the second condition comprises more thresholds, for example.

Referring to FIG. 6, a radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising configuration information is received (block 601) . Upon receiving the configuration information, monitoring (block 602) whether the first condition is met is started. The monitoring continues (block 603: no) until the first condition is met. When the first condition is met (block 603: yes) , monitoring (block 604) of the second condition is started. The monitoring continues (block 605: no) as long as a value for the characteristic remains below the first threshold. When the value is not any more below the first threshold (block 605: yes) , transmission of the application layer data reports is paused (block 606) . The pausing may include buffering the application layer data reports. Further, it is monitored (block 607) whether a value for the characteristic is above the second threshold. The monitoring continues (block 607: no) as long as a value for the characteristic remains below the second threshold. When the value is not any more below the second threshold (block 607: yes) , transmission of the application layer data reports is resumed (block 608) . Further, in the example of FIG. 6, the process proceeds to block 605 to monitor whether the characteristic falls below the first threshold.

To further elaborate the example, some use case examples are discussed.

In a use case, the first condition is reception of an overload indication, and the characteristic to be monitored regarding the second condition is the buffer-level. In such scenario, reception of the overload indication leads to first condition being considered met and the second condition being monitored. Then, once the buffer-level falls below the first threshold i.e. there is enough buffer to store the application layer data reports, the transmission of application layer data reports is paused and it is stored to the buffer. Then, once the buffer-level increases above the second threshold, i.e. there is not enough buffer to store the application layer data reports, the transmission of application layer data reports is resumed. After this, the monitoring whether the buffer level falls below the first threshold, i.e. whether there is enough buffer to store the application layer data reports, is continued. The benefit of the said process is that in an overload situation of a cell only one indication needs to be transmitted over the cell, to cause the device to take the overload into account while ensuring that no application layer data is lost because the application layer data is stored in the buffer during pausing and transmitted once the buffer is full.

In another use case, the event to be monitored for the first condition is the expiration of a timer, and the characteristic to be monitored regarding the second condition is the elevation-angle with first threshold and second threshold defined both as the minimum elevation-angle. In such scenario, expiration of the timer leads to first condition being considered met and the second condition being monitored. Then, once the elevation-angle falls below the first threshold (i.e. below the minimum elevation-angle) , the transmission of application layer data reports is paused. Then, once the elevation-angle increases above the minimum elevation-angle, the transmission of application layer data reports is resumed. After this, the device returns to monitor the first threshold of the second condition, i.e. whether the elevation-angle decreases below the first threshold takes place. The benefit of the said process is that at no point direct pause/resume commands are needed and this reduces the network traffic.

In yet another use case, one event for the first condition is monitored, and multiple characteristics for second condition are monitored: the event to be monitored is the expiration of the timer and the characteristics to be monitored are the elevation-angle, with first threshold and second threshold set to minimum elevation-angle, and the reference signal received power level, with first and second threshold set to minimum power level where transmission is still possible. In the example use case, expiration of the timer leads to first condition being considered met and the second condition being monitored. Then, once the elevation-angle and the reference signal received power level both fall below their respective first thresholds, the transmission of application layer data reports is paused. However, if only the elevation-angle falls below the first threshold, but the reference signal received power level does not, or vice versa, then it is continued to monitor the second condition falling below the first threshold. In other words, in this use case, it necessary for both characteristics to fall below the first threshold before the transmission of application layer data reports is paused. Similarly, it is then required that both characteristics increase above the second threshold before the transmission can be resumed and the process returns to monitor whether the characteristics fall below the first threshold. The benefit of the said process is that it can be used to optimize the time when the device stops to transmit the application data layer reports; for example, it is possible that the atmospheric conditions at the time when the minimum elevation-angle is reached are better than average, and therefore the pathloss (as measured by the reference signal received power level) is still at an acceptable level and it would not make sense to stop the transmission.

In yet another use case, one event for the first condition is monitored, and multiple characteristics for second condition are monitored and the characteristics have different priority levels: the event to be monitored is the expiration of a time and the characteristics to be monitored are the elevation-angle, with first threshold and second threshold set to minimum elevation-angle, and the buffer-level, with first and second threshold set at maximum amount of occupied memory which still allows for storing of application layer data reports. Furthermore, elevation-angle is assigned high priority, and buffer-level is assigned low priority. In such scenario, the expiration of a timer leads to the first condition being considered met and the second condition being monitored. Then, the following will depend on whether the first characteristic decreasing below the first threshold is the high priority characteristic or the low priority characteristic; for example, if the buffer-level (low priority) is the first characteristic to decrease below the first threshold, the process will not proceed to pausing the transmission, but will continue to monitor whether also the elevation-angle (high priority) will decrease below the first threshold. If, however, the first characteristic to decrease below the first threshold is the elevation-angle (high priority) , the process will immediately proceed to pausing the transmission. Same logic dictates how the process proceeds when it is monitored whether the characteristic increases above the second threshold; for example, if the buffer-level is the first characteristic to increase above the second threshold, the process will continue to monitor the elevation-angel until it too has increased above the second threshold. After this the process will proceed as explained in the previous use case. One benefit of the said process is that it prevents the unnecessary stopping of the application layer data reports due to buffer-level decreasing below the first threshold; more specifically, the said process prevents the situation where the transmission of the application layer data reports is paused because there is enough storage in the buffer although the elevation-angle would enable successful transmission of the application layer data reports. Another benefit of the said process is that it prevents the device trying to transmit application layer data reports, when it is not possible. For example, the elevation-angle decreasing below a minimum angle may mean that the attenuation of the transmitted signal is too severe to enable successful transmission of the application layer data; in this case, it may be beneficial to pause the transmission despite the buffer not being able to store the application layer data.

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow chart of a process, in which it is assumed that after the first condition is met once, the process monitors in turns, whether to pause or resume transmission of the application layer data reports is continued until a next RRC reconfiguration message comprising configuration information is received, and for the clarity of description that the next RRC reconfiguration message comprising the configuration information is received after the first condition is met once. It is a straightforward task for a person skilled in the art to implement the principles to solutions in which a new RRC reconfiguration message comprising the configuration information is received before the earlier received first condition is met, for example.

Referring to FIG. 7, a radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising configuration information is received (block 701) . In the example of FIG. 7, it is checked (block 702) , whether the configuration information comprises a first condition. If the configuration information comprises the first condition, it is monitored (block 703: no) whether the first condition is met. When the first condition is met (block 703: yes) , it is monitored whether a second condition to pause is met (block 704) or whether a further RRC Reconfiguration message comprising configuration information is received (block 705) . When the pause condition is met (block 704: yes) , transmission of the application layer data reports is paused (block 706) . The pausing may include buffering the application layer data reports. Further, it is monitored whether a second condition to resume is met (block 707) or whether a further RRC Reconfiguration message comprising configuration information is received (block 708) . When the second condition to resume is met (block 707: yes) , transmission of the application layer data reports is resumed (block 709) , and the process returns to monitor whether the second condition to pause is met (block 704) or whether a further RRC Reconfiguration message comprising configuration information is received (block 705) .

When an RRC Reconfiguration message comprising configuration information is received (block 705: yes, or block 708: yes) , the process proceeds block 702 to check whether the configuration information comprises the first condition again. When the RRC Reconfiguration message comprising configuration information is received while the transmission of the application layer data reports is paused, reception of the configuration information may be interpreted to comprise a resume command, in which case transmission of the application layer data reports is resumed.

In another implementation, checking, whether the configuration information comprises a first condition (i.e. block 702) may be omitted. In such implementation it is assumed that there is always a first condition indicating at least one event. For example, the at least one event may be the expiration of the timer, and by setting the threshold timer value for timer expiration to be 0 seconds, after receiving the configuration information, the timer will immediately expire and the first condition will be immediately met, and the monitoring of the second condition is started.

To further elaborate the example, some use case examples are discussed.

In a use case, the first condition is transmission of Layer 3 measurement report comprising an A3 conditional handover indication, and the characteristic to be monitored regarding the second condition is the minimum elevation-angle. In such scenario, reception of the handover command leads to first condition being considered met and the second condition being monitored. Then, once the elevation-angle is less than the minimum elevation-angle, the transmission of application layer data reports is paused. Then, once the elevation-angle increases above the minimum elevation-angle, the transmission of application layer data reports is resumed. The monitoring of the elevation angel is continued until another (next) RRC reconfiguration message comprising configuration information is received. Then the process returns to monitor the first condition according to the last received (updated) configuration information, and once it is met, the second condition according to the last received configuration information. The benefit of the said process is that it allows for updating the conditions based on which the device transmits and pauses the application layer data; this, in turn, may be used to e.g. optimize the performance of the device depending on the operation environment. Further, it enables that after a handover from a source cell to a target cell, the target cell may configure the device with another configuration than what was used in the source cell.

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow chart according to an example embodiment of a process for controlling the transmission of application layer data reports. The process may be performed by an apparatus, for example an apparatus providing an NTN cell, such as a satellite 106, non-limiting examples of which are described above with FIG. 1.

Referring to FIG. 8, the process comprises: transmitting (block 801) a radio resource control reconfiguration message (RRC reconfiguration message) over a wireless network connection, the radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising configuration information for controlling transmission of application layer data reports, the configuration information comprising a first condition and a second condition, the first condition defining when to start to monitor the second condition, and the second condition defining whether to pause or resume the transmission of the application layer data reports; and receiving (block 802) , from the device over the network connection, application layer data reports under the pause and resume based on the second condition.

The apparatus may be configured to transmit the configuration information for pause/resume to one device, or to two or more devices. The apparatus may be configured to determine, or select the device, or the devices randomly, or based on data rate, or based on service priority, or based on device priority, or any combination thereof.

The wireless network connection may be a non-terrestrial network connection. Different examples of the first condition and the second condition are described above, not repeated in vain herein.

Additionally, or alternatively, the apparatus may disable the transmission of direct pause /resume commands for controlling the transmission of application layer data reports from the device.

Additionally, the apparatus may also be configured to transmit further RRC reconfiguration messages comprising configuration information, for example due to changes in operation environment.

Additionally, or alternatively, the apparatus may be configured to determine for the first condition, the events to be monitored, and/or for the second condition, the characteristics to be monitored together with the at least one threshold related to characteristics. The determination may be based on operation conditions.

FIG. 9 illustrates examples of information exchange in a system comprising NTN cells. For the sake of clarity, the information exchange is illustrated between a device, depicted herein by a user equipment (UE) , and two apparatuses, depicted by two satellites (SAT 1 and SAT 2) , providing radio connection to their respective NTN cells. It should be noted that there may be two or more UEs and more than two satellites. it is a straightforward solution for the person skilled in the art to extend and apply the principles of the information exchange illustrated in FIG. 9 to any number of UEs and satellites, or any apparatus (es) providing an NTN cell, and for example to situations when a handover is performed from an NTN cell to a terrestrial cell.. In the example it is assumed that the first condition indicates the transmission of Layer 3 measurement report comprising A3 conditional handover indication as an event, and that the characteristic for the second condition is the elevation-angle with first threshold and second threshold set as minimum elevation-angle.

Referring to FIG. 9, the UE is operating initially in the NTN cell provided by the satellite 1, , and it is transmitting (message 901) application layer data reports to satellite 1 according to an earlier received configuration information for reporting, not illustrated in FIG 9. Then, the satellite 1 determines to allow the UE to control pause/resume of application layer data report transmissions and configures (block 902) the UE correspondingly e.g. by determining one or more events and/or threshold, and by transmitting an RRC reconfiguration message (message 903) comprising the configuration information for pause/resume to the UE.Message 903 may be transmitted using broadcast or dedicated signalling. After this, the satellite 1 may disable the transmission of direct commands for pause /resume of application layer data report transmissions from the UE. The UE continues to transmit (message 904) the application layer data reports while simultaneously monitoring whether the first condition is met. Then in the illustrated example of FIG. 9, the UE transmits a Layer 3 measurement report comprising A3 conditional handover indication (message 905) , which results in the first condition being met (906) .

Then the UE monitors whether the second condition defining to pause is met while simultaneously transmitting (message 908 further application layer data reports to satellite 1 until the second condition defining to pause is met. In the illustrated example, it is assumed that the elevation-angle decreases below the minimum elevation-angle, the second condition defining to pause is met (block 910) , and the UE pauses, i.e. stops, the transmission of application layer data reports before receiving a handover command.

After receiving the said Layer 3 measurement report, the satellite 1 transmits to satellite 2 a message (message 907) comprising a handover request, and the satellite responds by transmitting to satellite 2 a message (message 908) comprising handover request acknowledgement followed by the satellite 1 transmitting to the UE a message (message 911) comprising a RRC reconfiguration message for handover. More precisely, a handover command is transmitted in message 911. The RRC Reconfiguration message for handover may comprise cell ID and all information required to access the target cell so that the UE can access the target cell. Then the handover of UE takes place between the satellite 1, satellite 2 (block 912) and the UE, resulting that the UE will have a wireless network connection to the satellite 2. When the elevation-angle increases above the minimum elevation-angle, the second condition defining to resume is met (block 913) , and the UE transmits to satellite 2 messages (message 914) comprising application layer data reports.

The blocks, related functions, and information exchanges (messages) described above by means of FIGS. 4 to 9 are in no absolute chronological order, and some of them may be performed simultaneously or in an order differing from the described one. Other functions can also be executed between them or within them, and other information may be sent, and/or other rules applied. Some of the blocks or part of the blocks or one or more pieces of information can also be left out or replaced by a corresponding block or part of the block or one or more pieces of information.

As used herein, “one or more events to monitor amongst events comprising: expiration of a timer, reception of a handover command, transmission of a Layer 3 measurement report, reception of an overload indication, or an elevation-angle decreasing below a pre-determined threshold. ” and “at least one threshold for at least one of the following characteristics: an elevation-angle, a reference signal received power level, or a buffer-level. ” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements, be that an event or a characteristic, 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.

FIG. 10 illustrates an example of an apparatus 1000 comprising means for performing one or more of the example embodiments (e.g., the methods of FIG. 4 to FIG. 9) described above. For example, the apparatus 1000 may be an apparatus such as, or comprising, or comprised in, a user equipment (UE) 100, 102, or any corresponding device. The user equipment may also be called a wireless communication device, a subscriber unit, a mobile station, a remote terminal, an access terminal, a user terminal, a terminal device, a user device or a device.

According to an embodiment, there is provided an apparatus comprising at least: means for receiving, over a wireless network connection, a radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising configuration information for controlling transmission of application layer data reports, the configuration information comprising a first condition and a second condition, the first condition defining when to start to monitor the second condition, and the second condition defining whether to pause or resume the transmission of the application layer data reports; means for starting, in response the first condition being met, to monitor whether the second condition is met; means for pausing, when the second condition defining to pause the transmission of the application layer data reports is met, the transmission of the application layer data reports; and means for resuming, when the second condition defining to resume the paused transmission of the application layer data reports is met, the transmission of the application layer data reports the transmission of the application layer data reports. The apparatus 1000 may comprise a circuitry or a chipset applicable for realizing one or more of the example embodiments described above. For example, the apparatus 1000 may comprise at least one processor 1010. The at least one processor 1010 interprets instructions (e.g., computer program instructions) and processes data. The at least one processor 1010 may comprise one or more programmable processors. The at least one processor 1010 may comprise programmable hardware with embedded firmware and may, alternatively or additionally, comprise one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) .

The at least one processor 1010 is coupled to at least one memory 1020. The at least one processor is configured to read and write data to and from the at least one memory 1020. The at least one memory 1020 may comprise one or more memory units. The memory units may be volatile or non-volatile. It is to be noted that there may be one or more units of non-volatile memory and one or more units of volatile memory or, alternatively, one or more units of non-volatile memory, or, alternatively, one or more units of volatile memory. Volatile memory may be for example random-access memory (RAM) , dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) or synchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM) . Non-volatile memory may be for example read-only memory (ROM) , programmable read-only memory (PROM) , electronically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) , flash memory, optical storage or magnetic storage. In general, memories may be referred to as non-transitory computer readable media. 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) . The at least one memory 1020 stores computer readable instructions that are executed by the at least one processor 1010 to perform one or more of the example embodiments described above. For example, non-volatile memory stores the computer readable instructions, and the at least one processor 1010 executes the instructions using volatile memory for temporary storage of data and/or instructions. The computer readable instructions may refer to computer program code.

The computer readable instructions may have been pre-stored to the at least one memory 1020 or, alternatively or additionally, they may be received, by the apparatus, via an electromagnetic carrier signal and/or may be copied from a physical entity such as a computer program product. Execution of the computer readable instructions by the at least one processor 1010 causes the apparatus 1000 to perform one or more of the example embodiments described above. That is, the at least one processor and the at least one memory storing the instructions may provide the means for providing or causing the performance of any of the methods and/or blocks described above.

In the context of this document, a “memory” or “computer-readable media” or “computer-readable medium” may be any non-transitory media or medium or means that can contain, store, communicate, propagate or transport the instructions for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device, such as a computer. 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) .

The apparatus 1000 may further comprise, or be connected to, an input unit 1030. The input unit 1030 may comprise one or more interfaces for receiving input. The one or more interfaces may comprise for example one or more temperature, motion and/or orientation sensors, one or more cameras, one or more accelerometers, one or more microphones, one or more buttons and/or one or more touch detection units. Further, the input unit 1030 may comprise an interface to which external devices may connect to.

The apparatus 1000 may also comprise an output unit 1040. The output unit may comprise or be connected to one or more displays capable of rendering visual content, such as a light emitting diode (LED) display, a liquid crystal display (LCD) and/or a liquid crystal on silicon (LCoS) display. The output unit 1040 may further comprise one or more audio outputs. The one or more audio outputs may be for example loudspeakers.

The apparatus 1000 further comprises a connectivity unit 1050. The connectivity unit 1050 enables wireless connectivity to one or more external devices. The connectivity unit 1050 comprises at least one transmitter and at least one receiver that may be integrated to the apparatus 1000 or that the apparatus 1000 may be connected to. The at least one transmitter comprises at least one transmission antenna, and the at least one receiver comprises at least one receiving antenna. The connectivity unit 1050 may comprise an integrated circuit or a set of integrated circuits that provide the wireless communication capability for the apparatus 1000. Alternatively, the wireless connectivity may be a hardwired application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC) . The connectivity unit 1050 may also provide means for performing at least some of the blocks or functions of one or more example embodiments described above. The connectivity unit 1050 may comprise one or more components, such as: power amplifier, digital front end (DFE) , analog-to-digital converter (ADC) , digital-to-analog converter (DAC) , frequency converter, (de) modulator, and/or encoder/decoder circuitries, controlled by the corresponding controlling units.

It is to be noted that the apparatus 1000 may further comprise various components not illustrated in FIG. 10. The various components may be hardware components and/or software components.

FIG. 11 illustrates an example of an apparatus 1100 comprising means for performing one or more of the example embodiments (e.g., the method of FIG. 10) described above. For example, the apparatus 1100 may be an apparatus such as, or comprising, or comprised in. a satellite-enabled network entity, such as a satellite 106, that creates one or more on-ground cells in a radio access network.

According to an embodiment, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for transmitting, over a network connection, to a device, a radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising configuration information for controlling transmission of application layer data reports from the device, the configuration information comprising a first condition and a second condition, the first condition defining when to start, by the device, to monitor the second condition, and the second condition defining whether to pause or resume, by the device, the transmission of the application layer data reports; means for receiving, from the device over the network connection, application layer data reports under the pause and resume based on the second condition. The apparatus 1100 may comprise, for example, a circuitry or a chipset applicable for realizing one or more of the example embodiments described above. The apparatus 1100 may be an electronic device comprising one or more electronic circuitries. The apparatus 1100 may comprise a communication control circuitry 1110 such as at least one processor, and at least one memory 1120 storing instructions 1122 which, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus 1100 to carry out one or more of the example embodiments described above. Such instructions 1122 may, for example, include computer program code (software) . The at least one processor and the at least one memory storing the instructions may provide the means for providing or causing the performance of any of the methods and/or blocks described above.

The processor is coupled to the memory 1120. The processor is configured to read and write data to and from the memory 1120. The memory 1120 may comprise one or more memory units. The memory units may be volatile or non-volatile. It is to be noted that there may be one or more units of non-volatile memory and one or more units of volatile memory or, alternatively, one or more units of non-volatile memory, or, alternatively, one or more units of volatile memory. Volatile memory may be for example random-access memory (RAM) , dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) or synchronous dynamic random-access memory (SDRAM) . Non-volatile memory may be for example read-only memory (ROM) , programmable read-only memory (PROM) , electronically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM) , flash memory, optical storage or magnetic storage. In general, memories may be referred to as non-transitory computer readable media. 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) . The memory 1120 stores computer readable instructions that are executed by the processor. For example, non-volatile memory stores the computer readable instructions, and the processor executes the instructions using volatile memory for temporary storage of data and/or instructions.

The computer readable instructions may have been pre-stored to the memory 1120 or, alternatively or additionally, they may be received, by the apparatus, via an electromagnetic carrier signal and/or may be copied from a physical entity such as a computer program product. Execution of the computer readable instructions causes the apparatus 1100 to perform one or more of the functionalities described above.

The memory 1120 may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, flash memory, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and/or removable memory. The memory may comprise a configuration database for storing configuration data, such as a current neighbour cell list, and, in some example embodiments, structures of frames used in the detected neighbour cells.

The apparatus 1100 may further comprise or be connected to a communication interface 1130, such as a radio unit, comprising hardware and/or software for realizing communication connectivity with one or more wireless communication devices according to one or more communication protocols. The communication interface 1130 comprises at least one transmitter (Tx) and at least one receiver (Rx) that may be integrated to the apparatus 1100 or that the apparatus 1100 may be connected to. The communication interface 1130 may provide means for performing some of the blocks and/or functions (e.g., transmitting and receiving) for one or more example embodiments described above. The communication interface 1130 may comprise one or more components, such as: power amplifier, digital front end (DFE) , analog-to-digital converter (ADC) , digital-to-analog converter (DAC) , frequency converter, (de) modulator, and/or encoder/decoder circuitries, controlled by the corresponding controlling units.

The communication interface 1130 provides the apparatus with radio communication capabilities to communicate in the wireless communication network. The communication interface may, for example, provide a radio interface to one or more UEs 100, 102. The apparatus 1100 may further comprise or be connected to another interface towards a core network 110, such as the network coordinator apparatus or AMF, and/or to the access nodes 104 of the wireless communication network, and/or to other satellite-enabled entities of the wireless communication network, such as other satellites 106.

The apparatus 1100 may further comprise a scheduler 1140 that is configured to allocate radio resources. The scheduler 1140 may be configured along with the communication control circuitry 1110 or it may be separately configured.

It is to be noted that the apparatus 1100 may further comprise various components not illustrated in FIG. 11. The various components may be hardware components and/or software components.

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, to perform various functions) ; and c) hardware circuit (s) and/or processor (s) , such as a microprocessor (s) or a portion of a microprocessor (s) , that requires software (for example firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

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

The techniques and methods described herein may be implemented by various means. For example, these techniques may be implemented in hardware (one or more devices) , firmware (one or more devices) , software (one or more modules) , or combinations thereof. For a hardware implementation, the apparatus (es) of example embodiments may be implemented within one or more application-specific integrated circuits (ASICs) , digital signal processors (DSPs) , digital signal processing devices (DSPDs) , programmable logic devices (PLDs) , field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) , graphics processing units (GPUs) , processors, controllers, micro-controllers, microprocessors, other electronic units designed to perform the functions described herein, or a combination thereof. For firmware or software, the implementation can be carried out through modules of at least one chipset (for example procedures, functions, and so on) that perform the functions described herein. The software codes may be stored in a memory unit and executed by processors. The memory unit may be implemented within the processor or externally to the processor. In the latter case, it can be communicatively coupled to the processor via various means, as is known in the art. Additionally, the components of the systems described herein may be rearranged and/or complemented by additional components in order to facilitate the achievements of the various aspects, etc., described with regard thereto, and they are not limited to the precise configurations set forth in the given figures, as will be appreciated by one skilled in the art.

It will be obvious to a person skilled in the art that, as technology advances, the inventive concept may be implemented in various ways within the scope of the claims. The embodiments are not limited to the example embodiments described above, but may vary within the scope of the claims.

Therefore, all words and expressions should be interpreted broadly, and they are intended to illustrate, not to restrict, the embodiments.

Claims

A device comprising at least one processor, and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the device at least to:

receive, over a wireless network connection, a radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising configuration information for controlling transmission of application layer data reports, the configuration information comprising a first condition and a second condition, the first condition defining when to start to monitor the second condition, and the second condition defining whether to pause or resume the transmission of the application layer data reports;

start, in response the first condition being met, to monitor whether the second condition is met;

pause, when the second condition defining to pause the transmission of the application layer data reports is met, the transmission of the application layer data reports; and

resume, when the second condition defining to resume the paused transmission of the application layer data reports is met, the transmission of the application layer data reports.
The device according to claim 1, wherein

the network connection is a non-terrestrial network connection.
The device according to any of claims 1 or 2, wherein

the application layer data reports comprise quality of experience measurement data reports.
The device according to any preceding claim, wherein the at least one processor and the at least one memory storing instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the device to monitor whether the second condition is met in access stratum.
The device according to any preceding claim, wherein

the first condition at least indicates one or more events to monitor amongst events comprising: expiration of a timer, reception of a handover command, transmission of a Layer 3 measurement report, reception of an overload indication, or an elevation-angle decreasing below a pre-determined threshold.
The device according to any preceding claim, wherein the at least one processor and the at least one memory storing instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the device to:

start to monitor the at least one second condition immediately after receiving the configuration information, if the configuration information contains no first condition.
The device according to any preceding claim, wherein

the second condition comprises at least one threshold for at least one of the following characteristics: an elevation-angle, a reference signal received power level, or a buffer-level.
The device according to claim 7, wherein the at least one threshold comprises a first threshold and a second threshold, and wherein the at least one processor and the at least one memory storing instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the device to:

pause the transmission of application layer data reports if a value of the characteristic is below a first threshold; and/or

resume the transmission of application layer data reports if a value of the characteristic is above a second threshold for the characteristic.
The device according to claim 8, wherein

the first threshold is smaller than, or equal to, the second threshold.
The device according to any preceding claim, wherein the at least one processor and the at least one memory storing instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the device to:

stop the monitoring of the second condition after resuming the transmission of the application layer data reports; and

continue the monitoring of the first condition after resuming the transmission of the application layer data reports.
The device according to any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the at least one processor and the at least one memory storing instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the device to:

monitor, after resuming the transmission of the application layer data reports, whether the second condition defining to pause is met; and

monitor, after pausing the transmission of the application layer data reports, whether the second condition defining to resume is met.
The device according to any preceding claim, wherein the at least one processor and the at least one memory storing instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the device to:

continue applying the configuration information until receiving a second radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising further configuration information for controlling transmission of application layer data reports; and.

start applying the further configuration information.
The device according to any preceding claim, wherein

the device comprises or is comprised in a user equipment.
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:

transmit, over a network connection, to a device, a radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising configuration information for controlling transmission of application layer data reports from the device, the configuration information comprising a first condition and a second condition, the first condition defining when to start, by the device, to monitor the second condition, and the second condition defining whether to pause or resume, by the device, the transmission of the application layer data reports; and

receive, from the device over the network connection, application layer data reports under the pause and resume based on the second condition.
The apparatus according to 14, wherein

the network connection is a non-terrestrial network connection.
The apparatus according to any of claims 14 or 15, wherein

the application layer data reports comprise quality of experience measurement data reports.
The apparatus according to any of claims 14 to 16, wherein the at least one processor and the at least one memory storing instructions, when executed by the at least one processor, further cause the apparatus to:

determine for the first condition one or more events to monitor amongst events comprising: expiration of a timer, reception of a handover command, transmission of a Layer 3 measurement report, reception of an overload indication, or an elevation-angle decreasing below a pre-determined threshold;

determine for the second condition one or more characteristics, the one or more characteristics comprising: an elevation-angle, a reference signal received power level, or a buffer-level;

insert to the configuration information as the first condition at least an indication of the event and as the second condition at least the one or more thresholds.
The apparatus according to any of claims 14 to 17, wherein

the apparatus comprises, or is comprised in, a non-terrestrial network satellite.
A method, comprising:

receiving, over a wireless network connection, a radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising configuration information for controlling transmission of application layer data reports, the configuration information comprising a first condition and a second condition, the first condition defining when to start to monitor the second condition, and the second condition defining whether to pause or resume the transmission of the application layer data reports;

starting, in response the first condition being met, to monitor whether the second condition is met;

pausing, when the second condition defining to pause the transmission of the application layer data reports is met, the transmission of the application layer data reports; and

resuming, when the second condition defining to resume the paused transmission of the application layer data reports is met, the transmission of the application layer data reports.
The method according to claim 19, further comprising:

monitoring whether the second condition is met in access stratum.
The method according to claim 19 or 20, wherein

the first condition at least indicates one or more events to monitor amongst events comprising: expiration of a timer, reception of a handover command, transmission of a Layer 3 measurement report, reception of an overload indication, or an elevation-angle decreasing below a pre-determined threshold.
The method according to any of claims 19 to 21, further comprising:

starting to monitor the at least one second condition immediately after receiving the configuration information, if the configuration information contains no first condition.
The method according to any of claims 19 to 22, wherein

the second condition comprises at least one threshold for at least one of the following characteristics: an elevation-angle, a reference signal received power level, or a buffer-level.
The method according to any of claims 19 to 23, further comprising:

pausing the transmission of application layer data reports if a value of the characteristic is below a first threshold; and/or

resuming the transmission of application layer data reports if a value of the characteristic is above a second threshold for the characteristic.
The method according to claim 24, wherein

the first threshold is smaller than, or equal to, the second threshold.
The method according to any of claims 19 to 25, further comprising:

stopping the monitoring of the second condition after resuming the transmission of the application layer data reports; and

continuing the monitoring of the first condition after resuming the transmission of the application layer data reports.
The method according to any of claims 19 to 26, further comprising:

monitoring, after resuming the transmission of the application layer data reports, whether the second condition defining to pause is met; and

monitoring, after pausing the transmission of the application layer data reports, whether the second condition defining to resume is met.
The method according to any of claims 19 to 27, further comprising:

continuing applying the configuration information until receiving a second radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising further configuration information for controlling transmission of application layer data reports; and

starting applying the further configuration information.
A method comprising:

transmitting, over a network connection, to a device, a radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising configuration information for controlling transmission of application layer data reports from the device, the configuration information comprising a first condition and a second condition, the first condition defining when to start, by the device, to monitor the second condition, and the second condition defining whether to pause or resume, by the device, the transmission of the application layer data reports; and

receiving, from device over the network connection, application layer data reports under the pause and resume based on the second condition.
The method according to claim 29, further comprising:

determining for the first condition one or more events to monitor amongst events comprising: expiration of a timer, reception of a handover command, transmission of a Layer 3 measurement report, reception of an overload indication, or an elevation-angle decreasing below a pre-determined threshold;

determining for the second condition one or more characteristics, the one or more characteristics comprising: an elevation-angle, a reference signal received power level, or a buffer-level;

inserting to the configuration information as the first condition at least an indication of the event and as the second condition at least the one or more thresholds.
The method according to any of claims 19 to 30 wherein

the network connection is a non-terrestrial network connection.
The method according to any of claims 19 or 31, wherein

the application layer data reports comprise quality of experience measurement data reports.
A computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by a device, cause the device to perform at least:

receiving, over a wireless network connection, a radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising configuration information for controlling transmission of application layer data reports, the configuration information comprising a first condition and a second condition, the first condition defining when to start to monitor the second condition, and the second condition defining whether to pause or resume the transmission of the application layer data reports;

starting, in response the first condition being met, to monitor whether the second condition is met;

pausing, when the second condition defining to pause the transmission of the application layer data reports is met, the transmission of the application layer data reports; and

resuming, when the second condition defining to resume the paused transmission of the application layer data reports is met, the transmission of the application layer data reports.
A computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform at least:

transmitting, over a network connection, to a device, a radio resource control reconfiguration message comprising configuration information for controlling transmission of application layer data reports from the device, the configuration information comprising a first condition and a second condition, the first condition defining when to start, by the device, to monitor the second condition, and the second condition defining whether to pause or resume, by the device, the transmission of the application layer data reports; and

receiving, from device over the network connection, application layer data reports under the pause and resume based on the second condition.
The computer readable medium according to claim 33 or 34, wherein the computer readable medium is a non-transitory computer readable medium.
A computer program comprising instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to any of claims 19 to 35.
An apparatus comprising at least means for performing the method according to any of claims 19 to 32.