Apparatus, method and computer program for exchanging impact information

Abstract

According to various, but not necessarily all examples, there is provided an apparatus for a network node, the apparatus comprising: means for sending a message to a target network node, the message comprising a request for measurement information for a measurement of an energy cost of the target network node, and the message comprises a message field requesting influence information of an influence of at least one other network node on the measurement; means for receiving the measurement information and the influence information from the target network node; and means for performing at least one action related to traffic offloading on the basis of the measurement information and the influence information.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Examples of the present disclosure relate to apparatus, methods, and computer programs for exchanging impact information.Some relate to apparatus, methods, and computer programs for exchanging impact information of an impact of one network node on a measurement of energy cost of another network node. Background Art

[0002] In cellular networks, measurements of node-level and cell-level metrics may be performed, and information about these measurements may be exchanged between network nodes. One such metric is energy cost.

[0003] It may be useful to determine the energy cost of a network node in response to offloading traffic from another network node to the network node in order to optimize the network. Traffic offloading may involve one or more handovers, such as handovers of user equipment. Summary of the invention

[0004] According to various but not necessarily all examples, there is provided a device for a network node, the device comprising: a device for sending a message to a target network node, the message comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement of an energy cost of the target network node, and the message comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurement; a device for receiving the measurement information and the impact information from the target network node; and a device for performing at least one action related to traffic offloading based on the measurement information and the impact information.

[0005] The network node may be a node in a radio access network. The measurement of energy cost may involve at least one handover from the network node to the target network node.

[0006] The impact may be an impact on a measurement of at least one traffic offloading action between the target network node and at least one other network node.

[0007] The impact information may include an impact level. The impact level may be an energy cost due to the impact of at least one other network node on the measurement. The impact information may include an impact indicator indicating whether the impact level includes any impact from ongoing offload traffic. The impact information may include a duration of the impact.

[0008] The message may also include configuration information, wherein the configuration information is used to configure the sending of measurement information and impact information from the target network node. The configuration information may include instructions for sending the impact information in response to: an offloading action between the target network node and at least one other network node; an impact level exceeding a threshold; and / or a ratio of the impact level to the energy cost exceeding a threshold. The configuration information may include instructions for sending the impact information substantially immediately after acquiring the impact information and / or sending the impact information simultaneously with the measurement information.

[0009] The apparatus may further include means for sending a further message to the target network node, the further message including an indication of completion of the offload service. The configuration information may include instructions for sending impact information in response to the target network node receiving the indication of completion of the offload service.

[0010] According to various but not necessarily all examples, a device for a network node is provided, the device comprising: a device for receiving a message from a requesting network node, the message comprising a request for measurement information regarding a measurement of an energy cost of the network node, and the message comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurement; a device for obtaining the measurement information; a device for obtaining the impact information; a device for sending the measurement information and the impact information to the requesting network node; and a device for performing at least one action related to service offloading based on the sent measurement information and the sent impact information.

[0011] According to various but not necessarily all examples, a method for communication is provided, comprising: sending, by a requesting network node, a message to a target network node, the message comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement of an energy cost of the target network node, and the message comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurement; receiving, by the requesting network node, the measurement information and the impact information from the target network node; and performing, by the requesting network node, at least one action related to service offloading based on the measurement information and the impact information.

[0012] According to various but not necessarily all examples, a computer program product is provided, comprising program instructions for causing a network node to perform at least the following operations: sending a message to a target network node, the message comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement of an energy cost of the target network node, and the message comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurement; receiving the measurement information and the impact information from the target network node; and performing at least one action related to service offloading based on the measurement information and the impact information.

[0013] According to various but not necessarily all examples, a method for communication is provided, comprising: receiving, by a target network node, a message from a requesting network node, the message comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement of an energy cost of the target network node, and the message comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurement; obtaining, by the target network node, the measurement information; obtaining, by the target network node, the impact information; sending, by the target network node, the measurement information and the impact information to the requesting network node; and performing, by the target network node, at least one action related to service offloading based on the sent measurement information and the sent impact information.

[0014] According to various but not necessarily all examples, a computer program product is provided, comprising program instructions for causing a network node to perform at least the following operations: receiving a message from a requesting network node, the message comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement of an energy cost of a target network node, and the message comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurement; obtaining the measurement information; obtaining the impact information; sending the measurement information and the impact information to the requesting network node; and performing at least one action related to service offloading based on the sent measurement information and the sent impact information.

[0015] According to various but not necessarily all examples, a computer-readable medium is provided, comprising program instructions stored thereon and used to perform at least the following operations: sending a message to a target network node, the message comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement of an energy cost of the target network node, and the message comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurement; receiving the measurement information and the impact information from the target network node; and performing at least one action related to service offloading based on the measurement information and the impact information.

[0016] According to various but not necessarily all examples, a computer-readable medium is provided, comprising program instructions stored thereon and used to perform at least the following operations: receiving a message from a requesting network node, the message comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement of an energy cost of the target network node, and the message comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurement; obtaining the measurement information; obtaining the impact information; sending the measurement information and the impact information to the requesting network node; and performing at least one action related to service offloading based on the sent measurement information and the sent impact information.

[0017] Although the above examples and optional features of the present disclosure are described separately, it should be understood that they are included in the present disclosure in all possible combinations and arrangements. It should be understood that various examples of the present disclosure may include any or all features described with respect to other examples of the present disclosure, and vice versa. In addition, it should be understood that any one or more or all features may be implemented / included in / performed by devices, methods, and / or computer program instructions in any combination. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] Some examples will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0019] Figure 1 An example embodiment of a communication system is shown;

[0020] Figure 2 An example embodiment of a signaling diagram for providing impact information is shown;

[0021] Figure 3a and 3b A further example embodiment of a signalling diagram is shown;

[0022] Figure 4 Another example embodiment of a signaling diagram is shown;

[0023] Figure 5 Another example embodiment of a signaling diagram for providing impact information is shown;

[0024] Figure 6 Another example embodiment of a signaling diagram for providing impact information is shown;

[0025] Figure 7 Another example embodiment of a signaling diagram for providing impact information is shown;

[0026] Figure 8 Another example embodiment of a signaling diagram for providing impact information is shown;

[0027] Fig. 9 Another example embodiment of a signaling diagram for providing impact information is shown;

[0028] Fig.10 An example embodiment of a method for providing impact information is shown;

[0029] Fig.11 Another example embodiment of a method for providing impact information is shown;

[0030] Fig.12 An example embodiment of a controller is shown; and

[0031] Fig.13 An example embodiment of a delivery mechanism is shown.

[0032] The drawings are not necessarily drawn to scale. For clarity and brevity, certain features and views of the drawings may be shown schematically or scaled up. For example, the dimensions of some elements in the drawings may be exaggerated relative to other elements to aid in explanation. Similar reference numerals are used in the drawings to indicate similar features. For clarity, all reference numerals need not be shown in all drawings.

[0033] definition

[0034] 3GPP Third Generation Partnership Project

[0035] 5G fifth generation

[0036] AI Artificial Intelligence

[0037] BS Base Station

[0038] E-UtranEvolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network

[0039] FPGA Field Programmable Gate Array

[0040] gNB 5G / NR base station

[0041] LTE Long Term Evolution

[0042] ML Machine Learning

[0043] NG-RAN Next Generation Radio Access Network

[0044] NR New Radio

[0045] OAM operations, management and maintenance

[0046] Quality of Experience (QoE)

[0047] QoS Quality of Service

[0048] RAN Radio Access Network

[0049] RRC Radio Resource Control

[0050] UE User Equipment

[0051] UIUser Interface

[0052] XnAP Xn Application Protocol DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0053] Figure 1An example of a network 100 is shown that includes a plurality of network nodes, including a terminal node 110, an access node 120, and one or more core nodes 129. The terminal node 110 and the access node 120 communicate with each other. The one or more core nodes 129 communicate with the access node 120.

[0054] In this example, the network 100 is a radio communication network in which at least some of the terminal nodes 110 and the access nodes 120 communicate with each other using transmission / reception of radio waves.

[0055] In some examples, one or more core nodes 129 can communicate with each other. In some examples, one or more access nodes 120 can communicate with each other.

[0056] The network 100 may be a cellular network comprising a plurality of cells 122, each cell 122 being served by an access node 120. In this example, the interface between the terminal node 110 and the access node 120 defining the cell 122 is a wireless interface 124, and the nodes 110, 120, 129 are wireless network nodes.

[0057] The access node 120 is a cellular radio transceiver. The terminal node 110 is a cellular radio transceiver.

[0058] In the example shown, the cellular network 100 is a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) network, wherein the terminal nodes 110 are user equipments (UEs) 110 and the access nodes 120 are base stations.

[0059] In the particular example shown, the network 100 is an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN). The E-UTRAN consists of E-UTRAN Node Bs (eNBs) 120, which provide E-UTRA user plane and control plane (RRC) protocol terminations to the UE 110. The eNBs 120 are interconnected to each other via an X2 interface 126. The eNBs are also connected to a Mobility Management Entity (MME) 129 by means of an S1 interface 128.

[0060] In other examples, the network 100 is a next generation (or new radio, NR) radio access network (NG-RAN). The NG-RAN consists of gNodeBs (gNBs) 120, which provide user plane and control plane (RRC) protocol terminations to the UE 110. The gNBs 120 are interconnected to each other via an X2 / Xn interface 126. The gNBs are also connected to an access and mobility management function (AMF) via an N2 interface 128.

[0061] User equipment 110 comprises a mobile device. Where reference is made to a user equipment, the reference includes and wherever possible encompasses a reference to a mobile device.

[0062] Millions of base stations (BSs) are being deployed to meet the critical performance requirements of 5G networks and the unprecedented growth in mobile users. Such rapid growth brings up the problem of optimizing the network. Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning (ML) techniques can be leveraged to automate this optimization. Some use cases for AI / ML-enabled RAN are network energy saving, load balancing, and mobility optimization.

[0063] Cells may be distinguished into "coverage cells" and "capacity cells", where coverage cells are deployed to provide basic coverage, and "capacity cells" are deployed to increase capacity. When additional capacity is not needed, a capacity cell and its corresponding node 120 may be turned off to increase network energy efficiency. Traffic may be offloaded from the turned off node to other nodes. This may involve performing a handover between two nodes 120, such as a handover of a UE 110.

[0064] Artificial intelligence (AI) / machine learning (ML) techniques require input of data collected by measuring network parameters. One such parameter is an energy cost metric that captures information related to energy consumption or energy efficiency of the network 100. The energy cost may be a node-level metric of energy cost or a cell-level metric of energy cost. In some examples, the energy cost metric reflects a normalized value reflecting node-level total energy consumption, energy efficiency, or energy efficiency. In some examples, the energy cost metric reflects a normalized value reflecting cell-level total energy consumption, energy efficiency, or energy efficiency. In some examples, the energy cost metric may include the sum of additional energy consumption at a target node or cell after at least one user device 110 is handed over to the target node or cell. In other examples, the energy cost metric may include a reduction in energy consumption at a source node or cell after at least one user device 110 is unloaded to a different target node. In some examples, the energy cost metric includes information depending on the additional load caused by serving at least one additional user device 110.

[0065] The energy cost may also be an inferred (predicted or estimated) value. The inferred energy cost may represent a prediction or estimate of the total energy consumption or energy efficiency at the node level, or a prediction or estimate reflecting a normalized value of the energy consumption or energy efficiency at the node level. The inferred energy cost may also represent a prediction or estimate of the total energy consumption or energy efficiency at the cell level, or a prediction or estimate reflecting a normalized value of the energy consumption or energy efficiency at the cell level. If the inferred energy cost represents an energy cost value assuming the additional load is served, the measured energy cost may represent, for example, the actual energy cost value after the additional load is transferred at the target node. If the inferred energy cost represents a delta increment of the energy cost value assuming the additional load is served, the measured energy cost may represent a delta increment (difference) of the energy cost value after the additional load is transferred.

[0066] Even though energy cost may reflect energy consumption (relative to the number of joules consumed by a network node or cell) or energy efficiency (relative to the number of bits consumed per joule), the information exchanged between network nodes may be an abstraction and / or normalized value of the measurement.

[0067] Normalization of energy cost metrics at the node level or cell level can be done by operation, management and maintenance (OAM) so that different nodes can understand the energy cost measurements provided by neighboring nodes in the same way. Normalization can abstract energy cost measurements in a range of, for example, from 0 to a maximum range such as 100 or 1000 or 10000. When a node reports an energy cost value closer to 0, it has a smaller energy cost measurement, and when it reports an energy cost value closer to the defined maximum value, it has a higher energy cost measurement. Normalization by OAM can also be used to scale the energy cost reported by a network node located in a central location and serving a large number of user devices 110, rather than the energy cost reported by a network node located in a more remote area and serving fewer user devices 110. Therefore, for example, when the two nodes report the same energy cost value, the latter has a higher normalized energy cost at the remote node. Normalization can also be used to scale energy costs to reflect whether a node is willing to participate in energy-saving actions. For example, a node can be normalized by OAM to report a higher normalized energy cost value to indicate that it is unwilling to participate in unloading. This may be because the node may also be running other ML operations or algorithms (such as load balancing) that may cause conflicting decisions at the node.

[0068] To name just a few examples, in order to normalize energy cost values, OAM may provide rules to NG-RAN nodes on how to scale their measured energy cost values ​​based on their location, the services served, the cell size, the number of concurrent AI / ML operations, or AI / ML algorithms executed. These rules may instruct network nodes to scale down the energy cost reported by a network node to a smaller value with respect to the energy consumed or the inferred energy consumed, so as to indicate a preference for selecting the node for decisions related to energy efficiency. These rules may instruct network nodes to scale up the energy cost reported by a network node to a higher value with respect to the energy consumed or the inferred energy consumed, so as to indicate to other network nodes a reluctance to participate in decisions related to energy efficiency.

[0069] Figure 2 An example signaling diagram according to an example of the present disclosure is shown. The signaling diagram shows a first network node 120A, a second network node 120B, and a third network node 120C. The first network node 120A, the second network node 120B, and the third network node 120C may be as follows: Figure 1 1. The access nodes 120 shown, and each may be a base station 120, such as a gNB 120. The first network node 120A acts as a requesting network node 120A, the second network node 120B acts as a target network node 120B, and the third network node 120C is another network node 120C or an influencing network node 120C. In some examples, the first network node 120A and the second network node 120B are neighboring nodes. In some examples, the first network node 120A, the second network node 120B, and the third network node 120C are neighboring nodes.

[0070] The first device 120A is for the first network node 120A, and the second device 120B is for the second network node 120B. In some examples, the first device 120A comprises the first network node 120A, and the second device 120B comprises the second network node 120B.

[0071] At block 210, the requesting network node 120A sends a message 215 to the target network node 120B. The message 215 includes a request for measurement information of measurements of the target network node 120B. The message 215 may be considered a request message 215. In some examples, the measurements are based on an energy cost metric and the measurement information includes an energy cost value. The measurements may be node-based measurements or cell-based measurements. In some other examples, the measurements may be related to other metrics such as UE performance feedback, for example, energy cost metrics measured by a UE handing over to a target node; or other UE performance such as throughput, uplink or downlink delay, packet loss rate, quality of experience (QoE), or quality of service (QoS) measurements experienced and reported by the UE at the target cell.

[0072] The message 215 also includes a message field requesting impact information of at least one other network node 120C on the measured impact 235. In some examples, the message field includes a flag requesting the impact information. The message 215 may include one or more information elements.

[0073] In some examples, the measurements relate to offloading of traffic from requesting network node 120A to target network node 120B. Offloading traffic may include performing at least one handoff from requesting network node 120A to target network node 120B, and thus the measurements may relate to at least one handoff from requesting network node 120A to target network node 120B. In some examples, the measurement information includes an energy cost of the at least one handoff from requesting node 120A to target node 120B.

[0074] At block 220, target network node 120B receives message 215 from requesting network node 120A.

[0075] At block 230 , the target network node 120B obtains measurement information. In some examples, obtaining the measurement information includes the target network node 120B performing measurements related to the requesting network node 120A. In other examples, the measurements are performed by a different network node 120 .

[0076] The measurement is affected by an influence 235 of at least one other network node 120C. The influence 235 may be a direct influence 235 of the at least one other network node 120C on the target network node 120B. In some examples, the influence 235 is based at least in part on the at least one other network node 120C sending a message to the target network node 120B. The message may cause processing in the target network node 120B and may also cause a signal to be transmitted from the target network node 120B, thereby increasing energy consumption in the target network node 120B. In some examples, the influence 235 is an influence 235 on the measurement of at least one traffic offloading action between the at least one other network node 120C and the target network node 120B. The at least one traffic offloading action may include at least one handover between the target network node 120B and the at least one other network node 120C. The handover from the at least one other network node 120C to the target network node 120B adds a new user equipment 110 to be served by the target network node, thereby increasing its node-level (or cell-level) energy consumption. In other examples, the impact 235 may be due to cell congestion and / or cell interference or long-range interference. Cell congestion may increase the energy cost at the target network node 120B linearly or nonlinearly based on the number of user equipments 110 served. High interference levels may also mean transmitting at a higher transmit power level at the NG-RAN node 120 and at the UE 110 side and thus increasing the energy cost value measured by the node 120 or when the UE 110 reports UE performance to the network. High interference levels may also trigger additional signal processing functions that increase energy costs.

[0077] At block 240, target network node 120B obtains the impact information. In some examples, obtaining the impact information includes target network node 120B measuring the impact information and / or calculating the impact level. In other examples, this may be performed by a different node 120. In some examples, target network node 120B determines whether to obtain the impact information based on received request message 215.

[0078] At block 250 , the target network node 120B sends the measurement information and the impact information to the requesting network node 120A. In some examples, the target network node 120B sends a message 255 including the measurement information and the impact information to the requesting network node 120A. The message 255 may be considered a report message 255 .

[0079] At block 260, the requesting network node 120A receives the measurement information and the impact information from the target network node 120B. In some examples, this involves receiving a report message 255. In some examples, the measurement information is used as input to the AI / ML model. The requesting network node 120A may input the measurement information and / or the input information to the AI / ML model.

[0080] At block 270, the requesting network node 120A performs at least one action related to traffic offloading based on the measurement information and the impact information. In some, but not necessarily all, examples, performing the at least one action involves offloading traffic between the requesting network node 120A and the target network node 120B. Offloading traffic between the requesting network node 120A and the target network node 120B may include performing at least one handoff from the requesting network node 120A to the target network node 120B. In some examples, the decision is made based on the measurement information at the local (requesting) network node 120B and the impact information and the measurement information received by the target network node 120A.

[0081] At block 280, target network node 120B performs at least one action related to traffic offloading based on the transmitted measurement information and the transmitted impact information. In some, but not necessarily all, examples, performing the at least one action involves offloading traffic from requesting network node 120A to target network node 120B. Performing the at least one action may include receiving a handoff configuration from requesting network node 120A and / or performing a handoff of UE 110 as target network node 120B for the handoff.

[0082] In some examples, the requesting node 120A sends a message 215 to the target network node 120B, which includes a request for measurement information regarding a measurement of energy cost, the measurement being related to the offloading of traffic from the requesting network node 120A to the target network node 120B. The target network node 120B then performs an energy cost measurement. The purpose of doing so may be to determine the energy cost incurred by the offloaded traffic from the requesting node 120A. This may be used to determine an action to be performed and may be input to an AI / ML algorithm to determine such an action. The structure and operating logic of the AI / ML algorithm is beyond the scope of this disclosure. Several prior art algorithms may be suitable for determining the number of offloaded connections based on the measurement information and impact information received from the target network node 120B.

[0083] However, the measurement may be affected by the influence 235 of other network nodes 120C. For example, by at least one traffic offloading action between the target network node 120B and at least one other network node 120C. This may result in the measurement being no longer accurate for the energy cost caused by the offloaded traffic from the requesting node 120A. This is because the energy cost of the target network node 120B will be increased during the measurement due to the concurrent offloaded traffic from both the requesting network node 120A and the other network node 120C.

[0084] To illustrate this, the requesting node 120A requests impact information from the target node 120B. Once received, the impact information may be used to determine the energy cost incurred by the offloaded traffic of the requesting node 120A. This provides a technical effect of improving the accuracy of measured metrics such as the inferred (predicted or estimated) energy cost of the traffic offloaded from the requesting node 120A to the target network node 120B. This leads to better decisions, resulting in an improved and more efficient radio access network.

[0085] The impact information includes an impact level. In some examples, the impact level is the (extra) energy cost due to the impact 235 of the measurement by at least one other network node 120C. In some examples, the impact level depends on the additional load and is expressed as a fraction of the (extra) energy cost due to the impact 235 of the measurement by at least one other network node 120C. Compared with the additional energy cost corresponding to the action of node 120A affecting node 120B, the impact level can be represented by a percentage in the range of 0 to 100 of the additional energy cost caused by the additional load transferred from the impact 235 to node 120B. The value 0 can represent that there is no other impact on the energy cost measurement from other network nodes (i.e., the energy cost reported by node 120B corresponds purely to the unloading action of node 120A). The value 100 can correspond to a very high impact in the energy cost measurement originating from other network nodes. Naturally, the impact level can alternatively take an integer value, which may be higher than 100. In other examples, the impact level is a qualitative indicator of the impact 235. For example, the impact level can be low, medium or high.

[0086] In some examples, the impact level is based at least in part on the number of handoffs from the requesting node 120A to the target node 120B by the UE 110, and the number of handoffs from at least one other node 120C by the UE 110 to the target node 120B. For example, the impact level can be based on the ratio or relationship between the number of handoffs from the requesting node 120A and the number of handoffs from at least one other node 120C. If the portion of handoffs from other nodes 120C is small compared to the number of handoffs from the requesting node, the impact level is low. In other examples, the impact level is based at least in part on the physical resource block usage. For example, the physical resource block usage of the UE 110 from the requesting node 120A to the target node 120B is compared to the physical resource block usage of the UE 110 from the at least one other node 120C.

[0087] In some examples, the impact information includes an impact indicator indicating whether the impact level includes any impact from ongoing offload traffic 235. The impact indicator may indicate whether the impact from other network nodes 120C has been completed or is ongoing during the measurement. Thus, the impact indicator may indicate whether the impact 235 is ongoing or has been completed.

[0088] In some examples, the impact information includes a duration of the impact 235. For example, the duration of the traffic offloading from the other network node 120C measured by the impact. The duration of the impact 235 may be an expected or predicted duration. The target node 120B may predict the duration of the impact 235. For example, based on the number of handoffs expected in the traffic offloading from the other node 120C. In some examples, the other network node 120C may send the expected or predicted duration and / or the number of expected handoffs to the target network node 120B.

[0089] In some examples, the request message 215 also includes configuration information. The configuration information is used to configure the measurement and / or configure the sending of measurement information and impact information from the target network node 120B.

[0090] In some examples, the configuration information specifies a metric to be measured. In some examples, the metric is an energy cost measured at the NG-RAN node.

[0091] The configuration information may include instructions for the target network node 120B on when to send impact information and / or measurement information. For example, the configuration information may include instructions for sending impact information in response to an offloading action between the target network node 120B and at least one other network node 120C. In some other examples, the configuration information includes instructions for sending impact information when a certain number of handover actions (e.g., corresponding to an offloading plan) are completed. In some other examples, the configuration information includes instructions for sending impact information when the impact level exceeds a threshold. In some other examples, the configuration information includes instructions for sending impact information when a ratio of the impact level to the energy cost exceeds a threshold; and / or instructions for receiving an indication of completion of the offloading service to the network node. The target node 120B may send measurement information and impact information based on the configuration information.

[0092] In some examples, the requesting node 120A may request impact information about multiple handoff actions to the target node. In those examples, the requesting node 120A may send a further message including an indication that the offload service is complete. In response to receiving the indication that the offload service is complete, the target node 120B may send the impact information. This provides the target node 120B with certainty that the offload action is complete and no further impact will occur from the offload action. This certainty is achieved even in the case where some handoffs have failed and therefore the number of handoffs received by the target node 120B is lower than expected; the target node can calculate the impact information based on all handoff actions from the requesting node starting from the first handoff and until the indication that the handoff service is complete.

[0093] In some examples, the configuration information includes instructions for sending the impact information substantially immediately after the impact information is obtained. In some examples, this is within 500 ms after the impact information is obtained. In other examples, this is within 5 seconds or 10 seconds after the impact information is obtained. This may involve the impact information and the measurement information being sent in different messages 255. In other examples, the configuration information includes instructions for sending the impact information and the measurement information simultaneously. For example, the impact information combined with the measurement information is sent in a single message 255. In some examples, sending the impact information is delayed until the measurement information is available for sending, while in other examples, sending the impact information is not delayed.

[0094] Figure 3a and Figure 3b An exemplary signaling diagram according to examples of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 3a and Figure 3b The signaling diagram may include Figure 2 Some or all of the features of a signalling diagram. Figure 3a and Figure 3bBoth illustrate scenarios where a plurality of handoffs 325, 345 occur both from the requesting network node 120A to the target network node 120B and from the further network node 120C to the target network node 120B. The handoffs 325, 345 may be handoffs of at least one user equipment 110.

[0095] exist Figure 3a and Figure 3b In both, at block 315, a message 215 including a request for measured measurement information is sent by the requesting network node 120A and received by the target network node 120B.

[0096] Multiple handoffs 325 occur between the requesting network node 120A and the target network node 120B, where handoff 325-1 is the first of n handoffs and 325-n is the last of n handoffs. The three dots shown indicate that many other handoffs may occur. The handoffs shown are continuous handoffs. Multiple handoffs 325 are considered to be offload actions 325.

[0097] Multiple handoffs 345 occur between another network node 120C and target network node 120B, where handoff 345-1 is the first of m handoffs, and 345-m is the last of m handoffs. Other handoffs may occur. The illustrated handoffs are continuous handoffs. Multiple handoffs 345 are considered to be offload actions 345 and / or offload plans 345.

[0098] exist Figure 3a , the first handoff 325-1 from the requesting network node 120A to the target network node 120B is before the first handoff 345-1 from the other network node 120C to the target network node 120B. The last handoff 325-n from the requesting network node 120A to the target network node 120B is after the last handoff 345-m from the other network node 120C to the target network node 120B. Therefore, the offloading action 325 from the requesting network node 120A to the target network node 120B can be considered to be synchronized / completely concurrent with the offloading action 325 from the other network node 120C to the target network node 120B. Therefore, the measurements related to the offloading action 325 from the requesting network node 120A to the target network node 120B will be affected by all handoffs 345 corresponding to the offloading actions from the other network node 120C to the target network node 120B.

[0099] exist Figure 3b, the first handoff 325-1 from the requesting network node 120A to the target network node 120B is before the first handoff 345-1 from the other network node 120C to the target network node 120B. The last handoff 325-n from the requesting network node 120A to the target network node 120B is before the last handoff 345-m from the other network node 120C to the target network node 120B. Therefore, the offloading action 325 from the requesting network node 120A to the target network node 120B can be considered to be partially synchronized / partially concurrent with the offloading action 345 from the other network node 120C to the target network node 120B. Therefore, the measurements related to the offloading action 325 from the requesting network node 120A to the target network node 120B will only be affected by some of the handoffs 345 of the offloading plan from the other network node 120C to the target network node 120B.

[0100] Although multiple handoffs are shown, in other examples, the offload action may include only a single handoff.

[0101] In some examples, a plurality of other influencing network nodes 120C, 120D may have an influence 235 on the measurement. Figure 4 An exemplary signaling diagram according to examples of the present disclosure is shown. Figure 4 The signaling diagram may include Figure 2 , 3a and some or all of the features of the signaling diagram of 3b. Figure 4 A second other / influencing network node 120D is included that is similar to the first other / influencing network node 120C.

[0102] exist Figure 4 In the example, there are a plurality of handoffs 445 corresponding to the offloading plan from the second influencing network node 120D to the target network node 120B, which may be considered as offloading actions 445. These handoffs 445 may also have an impact 235 on the measurement. The impact level of the impact information may relate to the combined impact of the offloading actions 345, 445 of the two influencing network nodes 120C, 120D on the measurement.

[0103] As depicted, the first offloading action affecting network node 120C is synchronized / fully concurrent with the offloading action 325 of requesting network node 120A, while the second offloading action affecting network node 120D is partially synchronized / partially concurrent with the offloading action 325 of requesting network node 120A.

[0104] A metric called energy cost has recently been introduced to evaluate the impact of AI / ML energy saving actions on neighboring nodes 120. Energy cost provides a representation of energy consumption at the NG-RAN node 120. The NG-RAN node 120 exchanges energy cost with neighboring NG-RAN nodes upon request. Energy cost is encoded as an exponent, normalized by rules provided by Operations, Administration and Maintenance (OAM).

[0105] Typically, the measurements that have been exchanged over the RAN interface are cell-level measurements. However, when different cells share physical resources, the energy cost may not always be calculated at the cell level. For this case, a coarser-grained energy cost is required. For this purpose, the energy cost metric can be a node-level measurement.

[0106] The energy cost measurement is typically coupled with an offload action performed by the node 120. The offload action includes handing off one or more UEs to a neighboring NG-RAN node 120. The handover may be triggered by a number of use cases, such as AI / ML network energy saving (e.g., cell / beam shut-down), AI / ML load balancing, or AI / ML mobility optimization.

[0107] In a simple scenario involving two NG-RAN nodes 120, it is sufficient to exchange energy cost measurements after an offload action, where the first NG-RAN node 120A triggers an offload action to the second NG-RAN node 120B and there are no other offload actions by the other NG-RAN nodes 120C, 120D towards the second NG-RAN node 120B. In this scenario, if the second NG-RAN node 120B periodically reports energy cost measurements to the first NG-RAN node 120A (as measured at the second NG-RAN node 120B), then according to the configured measurement settings, this energy cost purely reflects the impact of the offload action from the NG-RAN node 120A on the energy cost of the NG-RAN node 120B. In this scenario, since there are no other concurrent offload actions to the second NG-RAN node 120B, the impact on the energy cost measurement is due to the offload action of the first NG-RAN node 120A. Therefore, the reported energy cost value corresponds to the additional load at the second NG-RAN node 120B due to the offloaded UEs.

[0108] However, it may be an oversimplified assumption that a single NG-RAN node performs the offloading action towards the second NG-RAN node. In practice, for example, during low load situations, such as at night, energy saving is enabled in the RAN and offloading from multiple (coverage) cells to the same (capacity) cell for energy saving purposes may very well occur. When concurrent offloading actions from multiple NG-RAN nodes 120 to another NG-RAN node 120B occur, then calculating the impact based on the energy cost (or another measurement) from a single NG-RAN node 120A becomes more complicated. In this case, the reported energy cost may be contaminated / influenced by the energy costs corresponding to the offloading actions from other NG-RAN nodes 120. In one scenario, if the energy cost is reported periodically from the second NG-RAN node 120B to the first NG-RAN node 120A, the reported measurement value may also include the impact 235 due to the offloading action from the third NG-RAN node 120C to the second NG-RAN node 120B. The second NG-RAN node 120B may calculate the impairments from the other nodes 120C, 120D and report to the first NG-RAN node 120A. This may be extended by providing a solution of how to calculate the impact 235 of concurrent offloading actions and how to report such information to the requesting node 120A.

[0109] When an NG-RAN node 120A performs an offload action to another NG-RAN node 120B and requests an energy cost measurement corresponding to the offload action, the requesting node 120A may not be able to determine whether the energy cost provided from the NG-RAN node 120B corresponds only to the offload action of the first node 120A, or whether it is further affected by the offload actions from other NG-RAN nodes 120C, 120D. Such a scenario may be highly likely because, as previously mentioned, network energy saving operations will be scheduled by the network when the network load is low (e.g., at night). Therefore, a low load condition may be detected by more than one NG-RAN node 120 at any given time, which may trigger one or more NG-RAN nodes 120 to initiate cell shutdown and initiate offloading, such as handover of UE 110.

[0110] Furthermore, the first NG-RAN node 120A may need to determine the collective impact 235 of other offloading actions at the second NG-RAN node 120B, i.e., the impact on the energy cost of (one or more) UEs 110 being handed over from other neighboring NG-RAN nodes 120C, 120D, rather than the impact 235 of each handover.

[0111] Concurrent offload actions performed by neighboring NG-RAN nodes 120C, 120D may be classified as fully concurrent / synchronous / fully overlapping (entirely within the duration of another offload action) or partially concurrent / partially synchronous / partially overlapping (extending beyond the duration of another offload action), as explained in the previous example.

[0112] Scenario 1: Fully concurrent

[0113] In this scenario, the offloading action from the first NG-RAN node 120A to the second NG-RAN node 120B includes n handovers, and the offloading action from the third NG-RAN node 120C to the second NG-RAN node 120B includes m handovers. If the offloading action from the third NG-RAN node 120C to the second NG-RAN node 120B is completely within the offloading action from the first NG-RAN node 120A to the second NG-RAN node 120B, such as Figure 3a As shown, the offloading can be considered to be fully concurrent. This means that the third NG-RAN node 120C wishes to complete the handover of all UEs 110 offloaded to the second NG-RAN node 120B before the handover from the first NG-RAN node 120A to the second NG-RAN node 120B is completed.

[0114] Scenario 2: Partial Concurrency

[0115] As in scenario 1, the offloading action from the first NG-RAN node 120A to the second NG-RAN node 120B includes n handovers, and the offloading action from the third NG-RAN node 120C to the second NG-RAN node 120B includes m handovers. If when the offloading action from the first NG-RAN node 120A to the second NG-RAN node 120B is completed, the offloading action from the third NG-RAN node 120C to the second NG-RAN node 120B still continues, as shown in FIG. Figure 3b As shown, the unloading can be considered partially concurrent. Figure 3b As depicted, when the offloading action from the first NG-RAN node 120A is completed, the offloading action from the third NG-RAN node 120C still continues, that is, when the last handover of the offloading plan from the first NG-RAN node 120A to the second NG-RAN node 120B is completed, all UE handovers corresponding to the offloading plan from the third NG-RAN node 120C to the second NG-RAN node 120B are not completed.

[0116] Two situations may occur, such as Figure 4As depicted in the figure, when both the offload action from the third RAN node 120C and the offload action from the fourth RAN node 120D are compared with the offload action from the first RAN node 120A, the offload action from the third RAN node 120C is completed, while the offload action from the fourth RAN node 120D is not completed.

[0117] In some examples, the metric is not an energy cost and / or the impact 235 is not due to a handover. For example, when the target cell 120B that is collecting UE performance feedback measurements for UE 110 is unloaded from the source cell 120A and if its operation is affected due to other circumstances (e.g., it becomes a victim of inter-cell interference or long-range interference), the UE performance measurements will be negatively affected. If it is not possible to indicate this information to the requesting node 120A, the requesting node 120A may incorrectly believe that the poor UE performance feedback is associated with the AI / ML action performed, while the poor UE performance is actually associated with the cell operation impact at the target NG-RAN node or with other external factors such as long-range interference. The examples of the present disclosure allow the impact to be reported to the requesting node 120A and used to determine the correct UE performance feedback, or at least take the impact into account. The requesting node 120A can use the impact information when making further business offloading decisions (e.g., a decision on performing a handover of UE 110 to the target node 120B).

[0118] Examples of the present disclosure provide a method that enables a first NG-RAN node 120A that requests node or cell level metrics evaluated at a second NG-RAN node 120B from a second NG-RAN node 120B to determine the impact 235 on the reported node or cell level metrics due to offload actions taken at one or more third NG-RAN nodes 120C. Indications are provided to enable the NG-RAN node 120B to determine events that may affect or contaminate the requested node or cell level metrics, and the level of impact is introduced in the reported information. The node or cell level metrics considered may be energy cost metrics.

[0119] Specifically, examples of the present disclosure provide a mechanism for a first NG-RAN node 120A to request, for example, node-level metrics of energy cost to indicate to a reporting second NG-RAN node 120B whether the reported information (e.g., energy cost information) is also reported to be affected by other offloading actions performed by one or more third NG-RAN nodes 120C, 120D.

[0120] The mechanism may be implemented by means of a process that may configure reporting of a metric (e.g., energy cost) along with a flag requesting the reporting node to provide information about whether the reported metric / energy cost is affected by other offloading actions. The reported metric may be a cell-level metric or a node-level metric. In some examples, the reporting configuration may be implemented by a Class 1 XnAP process based on a request / response message sequence.

[0121] In addition, there is a process for reporting the actual metric (such as energy cost). In some examples, this can be achieved through a Class 2 XnAP process. In some examples, the reported measurement value corresponding to the metric can be associated with a measurement ID. The measurement ID (meas ID) is used in a message 215, which includes a measurement information request from the NG-RAN node 120A towards the NG-RAN node 120B to enable the NG-RAN node 120B to associate the impact 235 of the handover from the other NG-RAN node 120C with the requested measurement value from the NG-RAN node 120A.

[0122] In the request message 215 including the request for the measurement information, event-based reporting triggers may be configured based on thresholds, offloading actions and / or additional load across respective offloading actions across neighboring nodes. Furthermore, there may be an additional message in which the first node 120A explicitly signals the end of the offloading action to the second node 120B, so that the latter can determine the impact 235 on the calculated energy cost metric for the overall offloading action of the first node 120A (including multiple handovers towards it).

[0123] In some examples, the first network node 120A sends a request message 215 to the second network node 120B. The request message 215 includes a message ID (measID1) associated with the first network node 120A, an impact flag, a field identifying the requested measurement corresponding to the metric, and a field identifying an event trigger for reporting the impact 235. The second network node 120B may then send an acknowledgment including the message ID (meas ID 2) associated with the second network node 120B. The first network node 120A then initiates a handoff to the second network node 120B, which may include measID1 and measID2. The second network node 120B then sends an impact update including the impact information. This may include an impact description, an impact level, and information about the nodes 120C, 120D exerting the impact.

[0124] Benefits of the described process include enabling the requesting node 120A to request how its offloading actions affect node or cell level metric values ​​(e.g., based on energy cost) at the neighboring node 120B by allowing the neighboring node 120B to provide information to the requesting node 120A about the impact of the offloading actions of other nodes 120C, 120D in the reported metric values.

[0125] The following sections describe different parameters that appear in the measurement reporting process, for example, to describe the energy cost caused by the offloading action. Although various parts of this disclosure use energy cost as a metric, it should be understood that the method can also be used for other metrics, including other node-level metrics and other cell-level metrics.

[0126] In some but not necessarily all examples, the configuration for the performance metric is included in the request message 215 (e.g., in the AI / ML information request 215 or other request message 215 to determine the node-level or cell-level impact on the metric measurement), as shown in the following table:

[0127]

[0128] Table 1 - Fields related to configuration in request message 215

[0129] Request message 215 may include a subset or all of the fields of Table 1.

[0130] In some examples, information about the influencing factors in the report value in the report message 255 reporting the influencing information from the second network node 120B to the first network node 120A is shown in the following table:

[0131]

[0132] Table 2 - Fields for Impact 235 in Report Message 255

[0133] Report message 255 may include a subset of the fields of Table 2 or all of the fields.

[0134] In some examples, the configuration information in the request message 215 includes some or all of the following information: The information may be an information element.

[0135] Impact flag: This indication enables the NG-RAN node 120A to indicate to another NG-RAN node 120B whether it wishes to be informed about the impact on the requested metric (such as energy cost or UE performance metric) due to other concurrent offloading actions from other NG-RAN nodes 120C, 120D.

[0136] Metric: It indicates the metric requested by the node 120A. It may be an energy cost metric corresponding to energy consumption or energy efficiency measured at the network node level or cell level. It may also be a UE performance metric such as throughput, uplink or downlink latency, packet loss rate, QoE metrics such as related to UE buffer size, UE related energy consumption, to name a few examples. For example, the NG-RAN node 120A may request from a neighboring NG-RAN node 120B how the UE performance metrics of the UE served by the NG-RAN node 120B are affected by the actions of the NG-RAN node 120A, or whether the impact on the UE performance is due to actions originating from other NG-RAN nodes 120C. However, other node-level or cell-level performance metrics measured at the NG-RAN node or performance metrics measured by the UE may be indicated.

[0137] Event trigger: It indicates that the requesting node 120A is notified of an event affecting 235:

[0138] Threshold based: In this option, when the metric is affected by a configured threshold / margin, then a notification 255 of the impact 235 is triggered. For example, the NG-RAN node 120A may indicate that if the energy cost is affected by actions corresponding to other NG-RAN nodes 120C, 120D by more than 10% or more than 20%, then the NG-RAN node 120A should be notified.

[0139] Handover or offload action based: In this option, a notification 255 of the impact 235 is triggered for each handover or offload action from any other NG-RAN node 120C, 120D while an offload action from the requesting node 120A is still ongoing. In the case of handover based, the NG-RAN node 120B sends a notification 255 for each handover action received by the neighboring NG-RAN node 120C (corresponding to the additional load and therefore the additional impact towards the NG-RAN node 120B). In the case of offload action based, the NG-RAN node 120B may determine the end of the offload action (corresponding to multiple handovers) by an indicator indicating the end of the offload action provided to it by the neighboring node 120C performing the offload. When the NG-RAN node 120B receives this indicator from the neighboring NG-RAN node 120C, it may trigger a report of the corresponding impact on the NG-RAN node 120A.

[0140] Based on total additional load: In this option, the notification 255 of the impact 235 is triggered using the combined impact of the offloading actions from the neighboring nodes 120C, 120D. This can be the total impact in terms of total additional load, for example, when the total additional load from the neighboring nodes 120C, 120D exceeds a certain threshold, the notification 255 of the impact 235 is triggered. The total additional load can be measured in terms of the number of offloading actions or in terms of the additional traffic load caused by the offloading from the neighboring nodes 120C, 120D.

[0141] Reporting configuration: The request message 215 may indicate whether the impact notification 255 should be made immediately, or when measurement information about the performance metric is reported from the second NG-RAN node 120B. Thus, this information element may be set to be immediate or in conjunction with metric reporting.

[0142] Additionally, in some examples, the indication of impact 235 is as follows:

[0143] Impact Level: This information element indicates the impact factor in the reported performance metric, which may be the energy cost caused by other concurrent offload actions. The impact level can be calculated and / or indicated in a number of different ways. Two examples are provided below:

[0144] Active UE count: can be based on the size of the offload action, i.e., active UEs in handover

[0145] For example, if the first NG-RAN node 120A triggers an offload action with 50 UEs to the second NG-RAN node 120B, and if the third NG-RAN node 120C triggers a concurrent offload action with 10 UEs, the impact level on the energy cost may be indicated as 20%, which is calculated by:

[0146] The number of UEs in concurrent offloading actions ÷ the number of UEs in offloading actions from the requesting node 120A (10 / 50).

[0147] When the requesting node 120A receives the energy cost measurement and the 20% impact level, it may interpret that the reported energy cost additionally includes the cost of the 20% UEs handing off from other concurrent offload plans.

[0148] If the target node 120B indicates an impact level of 0% (in some examples, the target node 120B may not explicitly indicate this to the requesting node 120A as it can infer, for example, from the absence of an impact level value), then there are no concurrent offloading actions, and therefore the requesting node 120A recognizes that the reported energy cost is solely due to its own traffic offloading.

[0149] Share of energy cost: In some examples, the energy cost is proportional to the amount of physical resource blocks (PRBs) used by each UE. Examples of the present disclosure include a target node 120B that indicates an average share of PRB utilization of one or more UEs 110 unloaded from the requesting node 120A compared to one or more UEs 110 unloaded from concurrent unloading of other nodes 120C, 120D. For example, if we consider the average utilization of 100 PRBs, of which 60 PRBs are allocated to UEs 110 from the requesting node 120A and 40 PRBs are allocated to UEs 110 of other concurrent unloading actions from other nodes 120C, 120D, this may result in an impact level of 40 / 60=66.6%. This enables the requesting node 120A to identify that N additional active UEs contribute to X% of the reported energy cost Y. Calculating the impact level based on PRB utilization may be more accurate than using active UE counts, however, it will use more computing resources.

[0150] · Impacted node information: In some examples, the impact information includes additional information about other nodes 120C, 120D that caused the impact 235. This indicates a list of nodes 120C, 120D that triggered concurrent offloading actions that overlap with the offloading actions from the requesting node 120A. In addition, the cells of those nodes participating in the concurrent offloading actions can be listed by node. In some examples, when the impact level is substantially 0%, this indication is not included. In addition, the impact range can be included to indicate the number of affected cells. In an NG-RAN node 120B with one or more cells, the triggering event may only affect a subset of cells. In these cells, the requesting node 120A can be notified only when some data collection (e.g., related to energy costs or UE performance) is in progress. In some examples, the impact level is described quantitatively (e.g., from 0 to 100), while in other examples, the impact level is described qualitatively (e.g., low / medium / high).

[0151] Impact indicator: In some examples, when requesting a report of impact information based on an offload action, the impact indicator indicates whether the impact level includes any ongoing offload actions. Any ongoing offload operations may further affect the performance metric. Therefore, if such an indication is received, the requesting node 120A may request subsequent measurements of performance to determine the total impact.

[0152] Duration: This indicates the duration of the impact 235. For example, how long the target node 120B detected the impact. In some examples, this may be a predicted or expected duration.

[0153] In summary, the reported impact 235 may include at least the level of impact according to the determined metric or measure and, if applicable, impact node information and / or an impact indicator and / or duration.

[0154] Figures 5 to 7 is a signaling diagram depicting examples of procedures for different impact calculation and reporting configurations (shedding action based, total additional load based, threshold based).

[0155] Based on the uninstall action ( Figure 5 )

[0156] Figure 5 The signaling diagram may include Figure 2 , 3a , 3b and 4.

[0157] The first node 120A sends a request message 215 to the second node 120B. Then, the first node 120A initiates an unloading action to the second node 120B. The unloading action includes a first handoff 325-1, a last handoff 325-n, and may include other handoffs between the first handoff and the last handoff.

[0158] The third node 120C initiates a first unloading action to the second node 120B. The first unloading action includes a first handover 345-1, a second handover 345-2, a final handover 345-m, and may include other handovers between the first handover and the final handover. In the example shown, the final handover 345-m includes an indication that the first unloading action is complete.

[0159] At block 510 , in response to receiving an indication that the first offloading action is complete, the second node 120B determines that the first offloading action from the third node 120C is complete.

[0160] At block 520, in response to the determination, the second node 120B calculates an impact level of the first offloading action. In some examples, this is the number of handoffs from the third node 120C divided by the number of handoffs from the first node 120A.

[0161] The second node 120B then sends a message 525 comprising the impact information. The impact information comprises the calculated impact level.

[0162] The third node 120C initiates a second offloading action to the second node 120B. The second offloading action includes a first handoff 545-1, a second handoff 545-2, a final handoff 545-k, and may include other handoffs. The final handoff 545-k includes an indication that the second offloading action is complete.

[0163] At block 530 , in response to receiving the indication that the second offload action is complete, the second node 120B determines that the offload action from the third node 120C is complete.

[0164] At block 540 , in response to the determination, the second node 120B calculates an impact level of the first offloading action.

[0165] The second node 120B then sends a message 545 comprising the impact information. The impact information comprises the calculated impact level.

[0166] The first node 120A then completes its last handoff 325-n of the offloading action. In the example shown, the last handoff 325 includes an indication that the offloading action is complete.

[0167] exist Figure 5 In the example, the second NG-RAN node 120B identifies the end of the offload action from the third RAN node 120C by an explicit "offload action complete indicator". The second NG-RAN node 120B then evaluates the impact level and sends a notification to the first NG-RAN node 120A. The second NG-RAN node 120B continues to notify the impact level of any subsequent offload actions from the third NG-RAN node 120C until the offload action from the first NG-RAN node 120A is completed.

[0168] Based on the total additional load ( Figure 6 )

[0169] Figure 6 The signaling diagram may include Figure 2 , 3a , 3b, 4 and 5. Figure 6 The signaling diagram is similar to Figure 5 signaling diagram, but with some differences.

[0170] At block 520, the second node 120B calculates an impact level of the first offloading action. In this example, the second node 120B does not report the impact level substantially immediately thereafter.

[0171] At block 640, the second node 120B calculates the impact level of the second offloading action. The second node 120B also calculates the total impact level of both the first offloading action and the second offloading action from the third node 120C.

[0172] The first node 120A then completes its final handoff 325-n of the offloading action. The final handoff 325 includes an indication that the offloading action is complete.

[0173] In response to receiving this indication from the first node 120A that the offloading action is complete, the second node 120B sends a message 645 including the impact information. The impact information includes the calculated total impact level.

[0174] exist Figure 6 , the second NG-RAN node 120B continues to evaluate the impact level of each offload action triggered from one or more NG-RAN nodes. After completing the offload action from the first NG-RAN node 120A, the second NG-RAN node 120B then sends the combined impact level of all offload actions together. This reduces signaling and therefore reduces interference, and may also reduce the computing resources used by the first node 120A. However, this delays the reporting of the impact 235.

[0175] Based on the impact threshold ( Figure 7 )

[0176] Figure 7 The signaling diagram may include Figure 2 , 3a , 3b, 4, 5 and 6.

[0177] At block 710 , the second node 120B calculates an impact level of the first handoff 345 - 1 from the third node 120C.

[0178] At block 720, the second node 120B calculates an impact level of the second handoff 345-1 from the third node 120C. The second node 120B also calculates a total impact level.

[0179] At block 730, the second node 120B calculates the impact level of the m-th handoff 345-1 from the third node 120C. The second node 120B also calculates the total impact level.

[0180] At block 740, the second node 120B determines that the total impact level has reached a threshold. In response, the second node 120B sends a message 745 including impact information to the first node 120A. The impact information includes the calculated total impact level. In the example shown, the message 745 also includes measurement information such as energy cost.

[0181] exist Figure 7 In the example, the second NG-RAN node 120B calculates the impact level of each handover request and checks whether the impact level reaches a preconfigured threshold. When the impact level reaches or exceeds the threshold, a notification to the first NG-RAN node 120A is triggered. Prior to this, the cumulative impact level is calculated for the handover request.

[0182] Figure 8 An example of the overall process is depicted. Figure 8The signaling diagram may include Figure 2 , 3a , 3b, 4, 5, 6 and 7.

[0183] 1: The first NG-RAN node 120A sends a request message 215 to the second NG-RAN node 120B. This includes configuration information for measurements of the second RAN node 120B. The measurements may be measurements for AI / ML operations. In addition, the request message 215 includes configuration information related to event-based notification of metric impact. In this example, the metric is an energy cost metric. The first NG-RAN node 120A includes its meas ID in the message 215.

[0184] 2: The second NG-RAN node 120B sends an acknowledgement 805 to the first NG-RAN node 120A, including its measurement ID in the message 805 .

[0185] 3: The first NG-RAN node 120A starts the offloading action by triggering the handover procedure. This includes sending a first handover request 325-1. The first handover request 325-1 includes the corresponding measurement ID (a pair of measurement IDs from the two NG-RAN nodes 120A, 120B).

[0186] 4.1: At block 810, upon receiving the first handover request 325-1, the second NG-RAN node 120B determines whether it needs to collect information about the impact 235 of the requested energy cost metric caused by the offloading of the neighboring NG-RAN node 120C. In some examples, this may be based on the impact flag in the request message 215 being set to "true". If this is the case, proceed to block 820.

[0187] 4.2: At box 820, the second NG-RAN node 120B identifies the time instance at which it receives the first handover request 325-1 as the start of the offloading action from the first NG-RAN node 120A.

[0188] 4.3: At box 830, the second NG-RAN node 120B starts monitoring other actions that may affect the requested energy cost metric (e.g., offloading actions from other NG-RAN nodes 120C).

[0189] In some examples, the second NG-RAN node 120B sends a handover request acknowledgment to the first NG-RAN node 120A. Subsequent handover requests and responses continue.

[0190] 5: The offloading action from the third NG-RAN node 120C starts with a first handover request 345-1. The second NG-RAN node 120B starts evaluating 235 the impact on the requested performance metric (energy cost).

[0191] 6: When the offload action from the third NG-RAN node 120C is completed with a handover 345-m, if the reporting configuration is set to "immediate", the second NG-RAN node 120B triggers an immediate notification to the first NG-RAN node 120A (third NG-RAN node 120C) with the impact level and the impacting NG-RAN node information. If the reporting configuration is set to "combined with node performance metrics reporting", the second NG-RAN node 120B does not trigger reporting, but continues to monitor and calculate the impact 235. Even in the case of an "immediate" reporting configuration, the second NG-RAN node 120B may continue to monitor and calculate further impact 235 after the immediate notification and send a further report of the further impact in 845, as described below.

[0192] 7: The first NG-RAN node 120A sends a handover request 325-n corresponding to the last handover in offloading.

[0193] 8: At box 840, if the reporting trigger is based on an offload action, when the second NG-RAN node 120B determines that the offload has been completed at other nodes (here the third NG-RAN node 120C), it will calculate the impact of each action on the energy cost metric.

[0194] 9: At box 850, perform the calculation.

[0195] 10: The second NG-RAN node 120B sends the measured energy cost value, for example in an AI / ML information update message 845. The message 845 may include information about the impact level and the node (in the example, the third NG-RAN node 120C) involved in the impact 235. If the offloading from the third NG-RAN node 120C is completed, it is indicated by an indicator that no other concurrent offloading actions are in progress.

[0196] Fig. 9 An example is shown where multiple offloads occur from the third NG-RAN node 120C and the fourth NG-RN node 120D towards the second NG-RAN node 120B. Fig. 9 The signaling diagram may include Figure 2 , 3a , 3b, 4, 5, 6, 7 and 8. Fig. 9 The signaling diagram is similar to Figure 8 signaling diagram, but with some differences.

[0197] The fourth network node 120D sends two or more handoff requests 445 - 1 , 445 - k to the second network node 120B.

[0198] In this example, even though the offload from the third NG-RAN node 120C is complete, this is not the case for the fourth NG-RAN node 120D. In the reporting of energy costs from the second NG-RAN node 120B to the first NG-RAN node 120A, the second NG-RAN node 120B indicates that there is an ongoing offload from the fourth NG-RAN node 120D.

[0199] Fig.10 An exemplary method 1000 according to an example of the present disclosure is shown. The method may be performed by a target network node 120B or a device for the target network node 120B.

[0200] At box 1002, the device receives a message 215 from a requesting network node 120A, the message 215 including a request for measurement information of a measurement of an energy cost of a target network node 120B, and the message 215 includes a message field requesting impact information of an impact 235 of at least one other network node 120C, 120D on the measurement.

[0201] At block 1004, the device obtains measurement information. At block 1006, the device obtains impact information. At block 1008, the device sends the measurement information and the impact information to the requesting network node 120A. At block 1010, the device performs at least one action related to traffic offloading based on the sent measurement information and the sent impact information.

[0202] Fig.11 An exemplary method 1100 according to an example of the present disclosure is shown. The method may be performed by a requesting network node 120A or an apparatus for requesting a network node 120A.

[0203] At box 1102, the device sends a message 215 to the target network node 120B, the message 215 includes a request for measurement information of a measurement of energy cost of the target network node 120B, and the message 215 includes a message field requesting impact information of an impact 235 of at least one other network node 120C, 120D on the measurement.

[0204] At block 1104, the device receives measurement information and impact information from the target network node 120B. At block 1106, the device performs at least one action related to traffic offloading based on the measurement information and the impact information.

[0205] Fig.12An example of a controller 1200 suitable for use in a device such as the network node 120 is shown. The device may be a device for the target network node 120B or a device for the requesting network node 120A.

[0206] Controller 1200 may be implemented as a controller circuit.Controller 1200 may be implemented in hardware alone, with certain aspects in software including firmware only, or may be a combination of hardware and software (including firmware).

[0207] like Fig.12 As shown, the controller 1200 may be implemented using instructions that enable hardware functionality, for example, by using executable instructions of a computer program 1206 in a general or special purpose processor 1202, which executable instructions may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium (disk, memory, etc.) for execution by such a processor 1202.

[0208] The processor 1202 is configured to read from and write to the memory 1204. The processor 1202 may also include an output interface through which the processor 1202 outputs data and / or commands and an input interface through which data and / or commands are input to the processor 1202.

[0209] The memory 1204 stores a computer program 1206, which includes computer program instructions (computer program code) that control the operation of the device when loaded into the processor 1202. The computer program instructions of the computer program 1206 provide logic and routines that enable the device to perform the methods shown in the drawings. The processor 1202 can load and execute the computer program 1206 by reading the memory 1204.

[0210] The apparatus for requesting the network node 120A includes:

[0211] at least one processor 1202; and

[0212] at least one memory 1204 including computer program code,

[0213] The at least one memory 1204 and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor 1202, cause the apparatus to at least perform:

[0214] sending, by the requesting network node 120A, to the target network node 120B, a message 215 comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement of an energy cost of the target network node 120B, and the message 215 comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact 235 of at least one other network node 120C on the measurement;

[0215] receiving, by the requesting network node 120A, the measurement information and the impact information from the target network node 120B; and

[0216] At least one action related to traffic offloading is performed by the requesting network node 120A and based on the measurement information and the impact information.

[0217] The equipment used for the target network node 120B includes:

[0218] at least one processor 1202; and

[0219] at least one memory 1204 including computer program code,

[0220] The at least one memory 1204 and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor 1202, cause the apparatus to at least perform:

[0221] receiving, by the target network node 120B, a message 215 from the requesting network node 120A, the message 215 comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement of an energy cost of the target network node 120B, and the message 215 comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact 235 of at least one other network node 120C on the measurement;

[0222] The target network node 120B obtains measurement information;

[0223] The target network node 120B obtains the impact information;

[0224] The target network node 120B sends the measurement information and the impact information to the requesting network node 120A; and the target network node 120B performs at least one action related to traffic offloading based on the sent measurement information and the sent impact information.

[0225] The apparatus for requesting the network node 120A includes:

[0226] at least one processor 1202; and

[0227] At least one memory 1204 storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor 1202, cause the apparatus to at least:

[0228] sending, by the requesting network node 120A, to the target network node 120B, a message 215 comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement of an energy cost of the target network node 120B, and the message 215 comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact 235 of at least one other network node 120C on the measurement;

[0229] receiving, by the requesting network node 120A, the measurement information and the impact information from the target network node 120B; and

[0230] At least one action related to traffic offloading is performed by the requesting network node 120A and based on the measurement information and the impact information.

[0231] The equipment used for the target network node 120B includes:

[0232] at least one processor 1202; and

[0233] At least one memory 1204 storing instructions that, when executed by at least one processor 1202, cause the apparatus to at least:

[0234] receiving, by the target network node 120B, a message 215 from the requesting network node 120A, the message 215 comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement of an energy cost of the target network node 120B, and the message 215 comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact 235 of at least one other network node 120C on the measurement;

[0235] The target network node 120B obtains measurement information;

[0236] The target network node 120B obtains the impact information;

[0237] Sending, by the target network node 120B, the measurement information and the impact information to the requesting network node 120A; and

[0238] At least one action related to traffic offloading is performed by the target network node 120B and based on the transmitted measurement information and the transmitted impact information.

[0239] like Fig.13 As shown, the computer program 1206 may arrive at the device via any suitable delivery mechanism 1208. The delivery mechanism 1208 may be, for example, a machine-readable medium, a computer-readable medium, a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium, a computer program product, a memory device, a recording medium such as a compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM) or a digital versatile disk (DVD) or a solid-state memory, an article of manufacture including or tangibly embodying the computer program 1206. The delivery mechanism may be a signal configured to reliably deliver the computer program 1206. The device may propagate or transmit the computer program 1206 as a computer data signal.

[0240] Computer program instructions for causing a device to perform at least the following or for performing at least the following:

[0241] sending, by the requesting network node 120A, to the target network node 120B, a message 215 comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement of an energy cost of the target network node 120B, and the message 215 comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact 235 of at least one other network node 120C on the measurement;

[0242] receiving, by the requesting network node 120A, the measurement information and the impact information from the target network node 120B; and

[0243] At least one action related to traffic offloading is performed by the requesting network node 120A and based on the measurement information and the impact information.

[0244] Computer program instructions for causing a device to perform at least the following or for performing at least the following:

[0245] receiving, by the target network node 120B, a message 215 from the requesting network node 120A, the message 215 comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement of an energy cost of the target network node 120B, and the message 215 comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact 235 of at least one other network node 120C on the measurement;

[0246] The target network node 120B obtains measurement information;

[0247] The target network node 120B obtains the impact information;

[0248] Sending, by the target network node 120B, the measurement information and the impact information to the requesting network node 120A; and

[0249] At least one action related to traffic offloading is performed by the target network node 120B and based on the transmitted measurement information and the transmitted impact information.

[0250] The computer program instructions may be included in a computer program, a non-transitory computer readable medium, a computer program product, a machine readable medium. In some but not necessarily all examples, the computer program instructions may be distributed over more than one computer program.

[0251] Although memory 1204 is illustrated as a single component / circuit, it may be implemented as one or more separate components / circuit(s), some or all of which may be integrated / removable and / or may provide permanent / semi-permanent / dynamic / cache storage.

[0252] Although processor 1202 is shown as a single component / circuit, it may be implemented as one or more separate components / circuit, some or all of which may be integrated / removable.Processor 1202 may be a single-core or multi-core processor.

[0253] References to "computer-readable storage medium," "computer program product," "tangibly embodied computer program," etc., or "controller," "computer," "processor," etc., should be understood to include not only computers with different architectures, such as single-processor / multi-processor architectures and sequential (von Neumann) / parallel architectures, but also special-purpose circuits, such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application-specific circuits (ASICs), signal processing devices, and other processing circuits. References to computer programs, instructions, code, etc. should be understood to cover software or firmware for programmable processors, such as, for example, the programmable content of a hardware device, whether instructions for a processor, or configuration settings for a fixed-function device, gate array, or programmable logic device, etc.

[0254] The blocks shown in the figures may represent steps in a method and / or code segments in a computer program 1206. The illustration of a particular order of blocks does not necessarily mean that there is a required or preferred order for the blocks, and the order and arrangement of the blocks may vary. In addition, some blocks may be omitted.

[0255] Where a structural feature has been described, it may be replaced by a means for performing one or more of the functions of the structural feature, whether that function or those functions are described explicitly or implicitly.

[0256] In some but not necessarily all examples, the device is configured to transfer data from the device with or without storing the data locally in the memory 1204 at the device and with circuitry or a processor at the device processing the data locally.

[0257] The data may be stored remotely at one or more devices in a processed or unprocessed format. The data may be stored in the cloud.

[0258] The data may be processed remotely at one or more devices. The data may be processed partially locally at one or more devices and partially remotely.

[0259] For example, data may be transmitted wirelessly to a remote device via short-range radio communications such as Wi-Fi or Bluetooth, or over a long-range cellular radio link.The device may include a communication interface, such as, for example, a radio transceiver for data communications.

[0260] The processing of data, whether local or remote, may involve artificial intelligence or machine learning algorithms. For example, the data may be used as learning input to train a machine learning network, or may be used as a query input to a machine learning network that provides a response. The machine learning network may, for example, use linear regression, logistic regression, support vector machines, or non-recurrent machine learning networks, such as single or multiple hidden layer neural networks.

[0261] The system, apparatus, method and computer program may use machine learning that may include statistical learning. Machine learning is a field of computer science that gives computers the ability to learn without explicit programming. The computer learns from experience E about a class of tasks T, and if its performance in tasks in T is measured by P, the performance measure P improves with experience E. Computers can usually learn from previous training data to predict future data. Machine learning includes fully or partially supervised learning and fully or partially unsupervised learning. It can achieve discrete outputs (e.g., classification, clustering) and continuous outputs (e.g., regression). Machine learning can be implemented, for example, using different methods, such as cost function minimization, artificial neural networks, support vector machines, and Bayesian networks. Cost function minimization can be used, for example, for linear and polynomial regression and K-means clustering. For example, an artificial neural network with one or more hidden layers models the complex relationship between input vectors and output vectors. Support vector machines can be used for supervised learning. A Bayesian network is a directed acyclic graph that represents the conditional independence of many random variables.

[0262] According to an example of the present disclosure, the device can be set in an electronic device (e.g., a mobile terminal). However, it should be understood that the mobile terminal is merely an illustration of an electronic device that will benefit from the example of the implementation of the present disclosure, and therefore the scope of the present disclosure should not be limited thereto. Although in some implementation examples, the device can be set in a mobile terminal, the implementation examples of the present disclosure can be easily adopted by other types of electronic devices as follows, such as but not limited to: mobile communication devices, handheld portable electronic devices, wearable computing devices, portable digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, mobile computers, desktop computers, televisions, gaming devices, laptop computers, cameras, video recorders, GPS devices, and other types of electronic systems. In addition, devices can easily adopt examples of the present disclosure, regardless of their intention to provide mobility.

[0263] According to various but not necessarily all examples, there is provided a device for a network node, the device comprising: a device for sending a message to a target network node, the message comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement related to the target network node, and the message comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurement; a device for receiving the measurement information and the impact information from the target network node; and a device for performing at least one action based on the measurement information and the impact information.

[0264] According to various but not necessarily all examples, a device for a network node is provided, the device comprising: a device for receiving a message from a requesting network node, the message comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement related to the network node, and the message comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurement; a device for obtaining the measurement information; a device for obtaining the impact information; a device for sending the measurement information and the impact information to the requesting network node; and a device for performing at least one action based on the sent measurement information and the sent impact information.

[0265] According to various but not necessarily all examples, a method for communication is provided, comprising: sending, by a requesting network node, a message to a target network node, the message comprising a request for measurement information of measurements related to the target network node, and the message comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurements; receiving, by the requesting network node, the measurement information and the impact information from the target network node; and performing, by the requesting network node, at least one action based on the measurement information and the impact information.

[0266] According to various but not necessarily all examples, a computer program product is provided, comprising program instructions for causing a network node to perform at least the following: sending a message to a target network node, the message comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement related to the target network node, and the message comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurement; receiving the measurement information and the impact information from the target network node; and performing at least one action based on the measurement information and the impact information.

[0267] According to various but not necessarily all examples, a method for communication is provided, comprising: receiving, by a target network node, a message from a requesting network node, the message comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement related to the target network node, and the message comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurement; obtaining, by the target network node, the measurement information; obtaining, by the target network node, the impact information; sending, by the target network node, the measurement information and the impact information to the requesting network node; and performing, by the target network node, at least one action based on the sent measurement information and the sent impact information.

[0268] According to various but not necessarily all examples, a computer program product is provided, comprising program instructions for causing a network node to perform at least the following: receiving a message from a requesting network node, the message comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement related to the target network node, and the message comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurement; obtaining the measurement information; obtaining the impact information; sending the measurement information and the impact information to the requesting network node; and performing at least one action based on the sent measurement information and the sent impact information.

[0269] According to various but not necessarily all examples, a computer-readable medium is provided, comprising program instructions stored thereon and used to perform at least the following operations: sending a message to a target network node, the message comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement of an energy cost of the target network node, and the message comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurement; receiving the measurement information and the impact information from the target network node; and performing at least one action related to service offloading based on the measurement information and the impact information.

[0270] According to various but not necessarily all examples, a computer-readable medium is provided, comprising program instructions stored thereon and used to perform at least the following operations: receiving a message from a requesting network node, the message comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement of an energy cost of the target network node, and the message comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurement; obtaining the measurement information; obtaining the impact information; sending the measurement information and the impact information to the requesting network node; and performing at least one action related to service offloading based on the sent measurement information and the sent impact information.

[0271] The term "comprising" is used in this document in an inclusive rather than exclusive sense. That is, any reference to X comprising Y indicates that X may comprise only one Y or may comprise more than one Y. If the exclusive meaning of "comprising" is intended, it will become clear from the context by referring to "comprising only one..." or by using "consisting of..."

[0272] In this specification, the terms "connected", "coupled" and "in communication" and their derivatives mean operatively connected / coupled / in communication. It should be understood that any number or combination of intermediate components (including no intermediate components) may be present, i.e., to provide direct or indirect connection / coupling / communication. Any such intermediate components may include hardware and / or software components.

[0273] As used herein, the term "determining" (and grammatical variations thereof) may include at least the following: calculating, computing, processing, deriving, measuring, investigating, discerning, searching (e.g., searching in a table, database, or other data structure), confirming, etc. In addition, "determining" may include receiving (e.g., receiving information), accessing (e.g., accessing data in a memory), obtaining, etc. In addition, "determining" may include resolving, selecting, choosing, establishing, etc.

[0274] In this specification, reference has been made to various examples. The description of features or functions of an example indicates that those features or functions are present in the example. Whether explicitly stated or not, the use of the term "example" or "for example" or "may" or "can" in the text indicates that such features or functions are present in at least the example described, whether or not described as an example, and they may, but not necessarily, be present in some or all other examples. Therefore, "example", "for example", "may" or "can" refers to a specific instance in a class of examples. The attributes of an instance may be attributes of only that instance, or attributes of a class, or attributes of a subclass of a class including some but not all instances in the class. Therefore, it is implicitly disclosed that features described with reference to one example rather than with reference to another example may be used as part of a working combination in that other example where possible, but do not necessarily have to be used in that other example.

[0275] Although several examples have been described in the preceding paragraphs with reference to various examples, it should be appreciated that modifications to the examples given can be made without departing from the scope of the claims.

[0276] Features described in the preceding description may be used in combinations other than the combinations explicitly described above.

[0277] Although functions have been described with reference to certain features, those functions may be performable by other features whether described or not.

[0278] Although features have been described with reference to certain examples, those features may also be present in other examples whether described or not.

[0279] The terms "a", "an", "said", or "the" are used in this document in an inclusive, rather than exclusive, sense. That is, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise, any reference to X including a / an / the / said Y indicates that X may include only one Y or may include more than one Y. If the exclusive meaning of "a", "an", "the", or "said" is intended, it will be clear from the context. In some cases, the use of "at least one" or "one or more" may be used to emphasize the inclusive meaning, but the absence of these terms should not be considered to infer any exclusive meaning.

[0280] The presence of a feature (or combination of features) in a claim is a reference to that feature or (combination of features) itself, and also to features that achieve substantially the same technical effect (equivalent features). Equivalent features include, for example, features that are variants and achieve substantially the same result in substantially the same way. Equivalent features include, for example, features that perform substantially the same function in substantially the same way to achieve substantially the same result.

[0281] In this specification, reference has been made to various examples using adjectives or adjective phrases to describe features of examples. Such descriptions of features of examples indicate that the features exist in some examples exactly as described, and in other examples exist substantially as described.

[0282] The above description describes some examples of the present disclosure, however, those of ordinary skill in the art will be aware of possible alternative structures and method features that provide equivalent functions to the specific examples of such structures and features described above, and for the sake of brevity and clarity, these structures and features have been omitted from the above description. Nevertheless, unless such alternative structures or method features are explicitly excluded in the above description of examples of the present disclosure, the above description should be understood to implicitly include reference to such alternative structures and method features that provide equivalent functions.

[0283] While an effort has been made in the foregoing description to draw attention to those features regarded as important, it should be understood that the applicant may seek protection by way of claims for any patentable feature or combination of features mentioned above and / or shown in the drawings, whether or not emphasis has been placed thereon.

Claims

1. A device for a network node, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least perform: sending a message to a target network node, the message comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement of an energy cost of the target network node, and the message comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurement; receiving the measurement information and the impact information from the target network node; and Based on the measurement information and the impact information, at least one action related to service offloading is performed.

2. The device according to claim 1, wherein: The network node is a node in a radio access network; and wherein the measuring of the energy cost involves at least one handover from the network node to the target network node.

3. The device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein: The impact is a measured impact on at least one traffic offloading action between the target network node and the at least one other network node.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1, 2 or 3, wherein: The impact information comprises an impact level, wherein the impact level is an energy cost due to the impact of the at least one other network node on the measurement.

5. The device according to claim 4, wherein: The impact information includes an impact indicator indicating whether the impact level includes any impact from ongoing offload traffic.

6. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The impact information includes the duration of the impact.

7. Apparatus according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein: The message further includes configuration information, wherein the configuration information is used to configure sending the measurement information and the impact information from the target network node.

8. The device according to claim 7, wherein: The configuration information includes instructions for sending the impact information in response to: an offloading action between the target network node and at least one other network node; the impact level exceeding a threshold; and / or a ratio of the impact level to the energy cost exceeding a threshold.

9. The device according to claim 7 or 8, wherein: The configuration information includes instructions for sending the impact information substantially immediately after acquiring the impact information and / or for sending the impact information simultaneously with the measurement information.

10. The apparatus according to claim 7, 8 or 9, wherein: The device is further configured to send a further message to the target network node, the further message including an indication of completion of the offload service; and wherein the configuration information includes instructions for sending the impact information in response to the target network node receiving the indication of completion of the offload service.

11. A device for a network node, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, The at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least perform: receiving a message from a requesting network node, the message comprising a request for measurement information regarding a measurement of energy cost of the network node, and the message comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurement; obtaining the measurement information; obtaining the impact information; sending the measurement information and the impact information to the requesting network node; and At least one action related to service offloading is performed based on the sent measurement information and the sent impact information.

12. A method for communication, comprising: sending, by a requesting network node to a target network node, a message comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement of an energy cost of the target network node, and comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurement; Receiving, by the requesting network node, the measurement information and the impact information from the target network node; and At least one action related to traffic offloading is performed by the requesting network node based on the measurement information and the impact information.

13. A computer program product comprising program instructions for a network node to perform at least the following operations: sending a message to a target network node, the message comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement of an energy cost of the target network node, and the message comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurement; receiving the measurement information and the impact information from the target network node; and At least one action related to service offloading is performed based on the measurement information and the impact information.

14. A method for communication, comprising: receiving, by a target network node from a requesting network node, a message comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement of an energy cost of the target network node, and the message comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurement; Acquiring the measurement information by the target network node; Acquiring the impact information by the target network node; The target network node sends the measurement information and the impact information to the requesting network node; and At least one action related to traffic offloading is performed by the target network node based on the sent measurement information and the sent impact information.

15. A computer program product comprising program instructions for causing a network node to perform at least the following operations: receiving a message from a requesting network node, the message comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement of an energy cost of the target network node, and the message comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurement; obtaining the measurement information; obtaining the impact information; sending the measurement information and the impact information to the requesting network node; and At least one action related to traffic offloading is performed based on the sent measurement information and the sent impact information.

16. A computer readable medium comprising program instructions stored thereon and configured to perform at least the following operations: sending a message to a target network node, the message comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement of an energy cost of the target network node, and the message comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurement; receiving the measurement information and the impact information from the target network node; and At least one action related to service offloading is performed based on the measurement information and the impact information.

17. A computer readable medium comprising program instructions stored thereon for performing at least the following operations: receiving a message from a requesting network node, the message comprising a request for measurement information of a measurement of an energy cost of the target network node, and the message comprising a message field requesting impact information of an impact of at least one other network node on the measurement; obtaining the measurement information; obtaining the impact information; sending the measurement information and the impact information to the requesting network node; and At least one action related to traffic offloading is performed based on the sent measurement information and the sent impact information.

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