Energy-aware QOS optimization

Abstract

Various examples of the embodiments described herein relate to methods and apparatus for improving the likelihood of energy savings in a network. One such example of an embodiment relates to an apparatus comprising means for obtaining at least one energy saving measure involving at least one user equipment, where the energy saving measure comprises changing a quality of service of the at least one user equipment to adjust energy consumption in a network, and means for sending a notification comprising the at least one obtained energy saving measure to the network element.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Various example embodiments of the subject disclosure are directed to an apparatus, method, and computer program product for providing energy-aware QoS optimization. Background Art

[0002] The following meanings of the abbreviations used herein apply:

[0003] AI Artificial Intelligence

[0004] AMF access and mobility management function

[0005] CHF billing function

[0006] CM Connection Management

[0007] CN Core Network

[0008] DNN data network name

[0009] ES Energy Saving

[0010] FM Fault Management

[0011] FQDN Fully Qualified Domain Name

[0012] ML Machine Learning

[0013] MnS Management Services

[0014] NAS Non-Access Stratum

[0015] NF Network Function

[0016] NSC Network Slice Consumer

[0017] NSP Network Slicing Provider

[0018] NWDAF network data analysis function

[0019] PCF policy control function

[0020] PDU Packet Data Unit

[0021] PGW Packet Data Network Gateway

[0022] PM Performance Management

[0023] QoS Quality of Service

[0024] SMF session management function

[0025] SMS Short Message Service

[0026] SMSF SMS Function

[0027] SUPI Subscription Persistent Identifier

[0028] UDM Unified Data Management

[0029] UE User Equipment

[0030] A communication system is considered to be a facility that enables communication sessions between two or more entities (eg, communication devices, base stations, and / or other nodes) by providing carrier waves between the entities involved in the communication path.

[0031] The communication system may be a wireless communication system. Examples of wireless systems include public land mobile networks (PLMNs) operating based on radio standards (e.g., radio standards provided by 3GPP), satellite-based communication systems, and different wireless local networks. Wireless local networks are implemented, for example, as wireless local area networks (WLANs). Wireless systems can generally be divided into cells and are therefore generally referred to as cellular systems.

[0032] Communication systems and associated equipment typically operate in accordance with a given standard or specification, which specifies what the various entities associated with the system are allowed to do and how it should be achieved. Communication protocols and / or parameters applied to the connection are also typically defined. An example of a set of standards is the so-called 5G standard. Summary of the invention

[0033] Various example embodiments are intended to address at least a portion of the problems and / or issues and / or disadvantages explicitly described herein or apparent to a person skilled in the relevant art, so as to provide methods, apparatuses and computer programs by which the possibility of energy saving in a network is increased.

[0034] Several aspects of various example embodiments are detailed below:

[0035] According to a first aspect of various exemplary embodiments, there is provided an apparatus comprising:

[0036] means for obtaining at least one energy saving measure involving at least one user equipment, wherein the energy saving measure comprises changing a quality of service for at least one user equipment to adjust energy consumption in the network, and

[0037] Means for sending a notification including at least one obtained energy saving measure to a network element.

[0038] According to various example embodiments, the at least one energy saving measure further comprises adjusting charging based on changing a quality of service for the at least one user equipment.

[0039] According to various example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for obtaining, for each energy saving measure, a charging characteristic and a criterion for applying the obtained charging characteristic to the at least one user equipment, and means for sending the obtained charging characteristic and the criterion together with the notification to the network element.

[0040] According to various example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for receiving a response notification from the network element, the response notification comprising information indicating whether the at least one user equipment will participate in the at least one energy saving measure and / or whether the at least one user equipment accepts participating in the at least one energy saving measure.

[0041] According to various example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for initiating control of the quality of service based on the energy saving measure.

[0042] According to various example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for initiating said controlling of said quality of service based on said energy saving measure upon receiving and / or detecting a trigger.

[0043] According to various example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for obtaining the energy saving measure by analyzing a condition of the network and predicting an impact of the energy saving measure on energy consumed in the network based on historical information.

[0044] According to various example embodiments, the history information is information about a relationship between a network status, a network energy saving measure, and a network energy consumption.

[0045] According to various example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for analyzing the status of the network and predicting the impact of the energy saving measures by applying artificial intelligence.

[0046] According to various example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for obtaining the at least one energy saving measure based on a quality of service optimization guideline preconfigured in the network, and means for preparing an energy saving proposal based on the energy saving measure.

[0047] According to a second aspect of various example embodiments, there is provided an apparatus comprising:

[0048] means for receiving a notification comprising at least one energy saving measure relating to at least one user equipment, wherein the at least one energy saving measure comprises changing a quality of service for the at least one user equipment to adjust energy consumption in the network,

[0049] means for selecting at least one user equipment to participate in said at least one energy saving measure,

[0050] means for determining whether the selected at least one user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure, and

[0051] Means for applying the at least one energy saving measure to the selected at least one user equipment based on determining that the at least one user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure.

[0052] According to various example embodiments, the energy saving measures further include adjusting charging based on changing the quality of service for the at least one user equipment.

[0053] According to various example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for sending information to the network element that has sent the notification as to whether the selected at least one user equipment will participate in the at least one energy saving measure.

[0054] According to various example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for determining whether the determined at least one user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure by sending a proposal to participate in the energy saving measure to the at least one determined user equipment and receiving a response message from the user equipment.

[0055] According to various example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for sending the proposal to participate in the energy saving measure to the user equipment in a packet session modification command.

[0056] According to various example embodiments, the proposal comprises information about the change in quality of service and the impact on the billing in a human or machine readable format.

[0057] According to various example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for determining whether the selected at least one user equipment is to participate in the at least one energy saving measure by accessing user equipment subscription data information stored in the network element.

[0058] According to various exemplary embodiments, the user equipment subscription data information includes

[0059] information about whether the user equipment agrees to participate in regulating energy consumption in the network, and / or

[0060] information about whether the user equipment agrees to participate in a certain energy saving measure, and / or

[0061] information on whether to notify the user equipment about the energy saving measures to be applied, and / or

[0062] information about whether to require the user equipment to verify whether the user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure before applying the energy saving measure, and / or

[0063] Information about whether the user equipment agrees to participate in adjusting energy consumption in the network or participating in certain energy saving measures during a predetermined time period and / or at a specific location and / or within a specific network slice.

[0064] According to various example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises a component for sending a request to the user equipment to verify whether the user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure before applying the energy saving measure, when the user equipment subscription data information includes information requesting the user equipment to verify whether the user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure before applying the energy saving measure, or when the request is pre-configured in the network.

[0065] According to various example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises a component for sending information to the user equipment that the user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure before applying the energy saving measure, when the user equipment subscription data information includes information that will notify the user equipment about the energy saving measure to be applied, or when sending the information is preconfigured in the network.

[0066] According to various example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for selecting the at least one user equipment based on information received from the network element.

[0067] According to various example embodiments, the information received from the network element may include a charging characteristic for each energy saving measure and a criterion for applying the obtained charging characteristic to at least one user equipment.

[0068] According to various example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for selecting at least one network element involved in the at least one energy measure based on the information received from the network element.

[0069] According to a third aspect of various example embodiments, there is provided an apparatus comprising

[0070] means for receiving a proposal to participate in an energy saving measure, the proposal comprising information about at least one energy saving measure involving the user equipment, wherein the energy saving measure comprises changing a quality of service of the user equipment to adjust energy consumption in the network,

[0071] means for determining whether to accept the proposal, and

[0072] Means for sending a response including information indicating whether the proposal is accepted.

[0073] According to various example embodiments, the energy saving measures further include adjusting charging based on changing the quality of service for the at least one user equipment.

[0074] According to various example embodiments, the proposal comprises a request to verify whether the user equipment will participate in the energy measure, and the apparatus further comprises means for determining whether to accept the proposal by verifying the proposal.

[0075] According to various example embodiments, the proposal comprises a plurality of energy saving measures, and the apparatus further comprises means for selecting an energy saving measure from the plurality of energy saving measures.

[0076] According to various example embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for determining whether to accept the proposal based on preconfiguration, or receiving user or machine input on whether to accept the proposal, or by executing a predetermined process.

[0077] According to a fourth aspect of various example embodiments, there is provided a method comprising:

[0078] obtaining at least one energy saving measure involving at least one user equipment, wherein the energy saving measure comprises changing a quality of service for the at least one user equipment to adjust energy consumption in the network, and

[0079] A notification including at least one obtained energy saving measure is sent to a network element.

[0080] According to various example embodiments, the at least one energy saving measure further comprises adjusting charging based on changing a quality of service for the at least one user equipment.

[0081] According to various example embodiments, the method further comprises obtaining, for each energy saving measure, a charging characteristic and a criterion for applying the obtained charging characteristic to the at least one user equipment, and sending the obtained charging characteristic and criterion together with the notification to the network element.

[0082] According to various example embodiments, the method further comprises receiving a response notification from the network element, the response notification comprising information indicating whether the at least one user equipment will participate in the at least one energy saving measure and / or whether the at least one user equipment accepts participating in the at least one energy saving measure.

[0083] According to various example embodiments, the method further comprises initiating control of the quality of service based on the energy saving measure.

[0084] According to various example embodiments, the method further comprises initiating said controlling of said quality of service based on said energy saving measure upon receiving and / or detecting a trigger.

[0085] According to various example embodiments, the method further comprises obtaining the energy saving measure by analyzing a condition of the network and predicting an impact of the energy saving measure on energy consumed in the network based on historical information.

[0086] According to various example embodiments, the history information is information about a relationship between a network status, a network energy saving measure, and a network energy consumption.

[0087] According to various example embodiments, the method further comprises analyzing the status of the network and predicting the impact of the energy saving measures by applying artificial intelligence.

[0088] According to various example embodiments, the method further comprises obtaining the at least one energy saving measure based on a quality of service optimization guideline preconfigured in the network, and preparing an energy saving proposal based on the energy saving measure.

[0089] According to a fifth aspect of various example embodiments, there is provided a method comprising:

[0090] receiving a notification including at least one energy saving measure related to at least one user equipment, wherein the at least one energy saving measure includes changing a quality of service for the at least one user equipment to adjust energy consumption in the network,

[0091] selecting at least one user equipment to participate in the at least one energy saving measure,

[0092] determining whether the selected at least one user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure, and

[0093] The at least one energy saving measure is applied to the selected at least one user equipment based on a determination that the at least one user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure.

[0094] According to various example embodiments, the energy saving measures further include adjusting charging based on changing the quality of service for the at least one user equipment.

[0095] According to various example embodiments, the method further comprises sending information to the network element that has sent the notification regarding whether the selected at least one user equipment will participate in the at least one energy saving measure.

[0096] According to various example embodiments, the method further comprises determining whether the determined at least one user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure by sending a proposal to participate in the energy saving measure to the at least one determined user equipment and receiving a response message from the user equipment.

[0097] According to various example embodiments, the method further comprises sending the proposal to participate in the energy saving measure to the user equipment in a packet session modification command.

[0098] According to various example embodiments, the proposal comprises information about the change in quality of service and the impact on the billing in a human or machine readable format.

[0099] According to various example embodiments, the method further comprises determining whether the selected at least one user equipment is to participate in the at least one energy saving measure by accessing user equipment subscription data information stored in the network element.

[0100] According to various exemplary embodiments, the user equipment subscription data information includes

[0101] information about whether the user equipment agrees to participate in regulating energy consumption in the network, and / or

[0102] information about whether the user equipment agrees to participate in a certain energy saving measure, and / or

[0103] information on whether to notify the user equipment about the energy saving measures to be applied, and / or

[0104] information about whether to require the user equipment to verify whether the user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure before applying the energy saving measure, and / or

[0105] Information about whether the user equipment agrees to participate in adjusting energy consumption in the network or participating in certain energy saving measures during a predetermined time period and / or at a specific location and / or within a specific network slice.

[0106] According to various example embodiments, the method further includes sending a request to the user equipment to verify whether the user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure before applying the energy saving measure, when the user equipment subscription data information includes information requesting the user equipment to verify whether the user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure before applying the energy saving measure or when the request is pre-configured in the network.

[0107] According to various example embodiments, the method further comprises sending information to the user equipment that the user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure before applying the energy saving measure, when the user equipment subscription data information includes information that will notify the user equipment about the energy saving measure to be applied or when sending the information is preconfigured in the network.

[0108] According to various example embodiments, the method further comprises selecting the at least one user equipment based on information received from the network element.

[0109] According to various example embodiments, the information received from the network element includes a charging characteristic for each energy saving measure and a criterion for applying the obtained charging characteristic to at least one user equipment.

[0110] According to various example embodiments, the method further comprises selecting at least one network element involved in the at least one energy measure based on the information received from the network element.

[0111] According to a sixth aspect of various example embodiments, there is provided a method comprising:

[0112] receiving a proposal to participate in an energy saving measure, the proposal comprising information about at least one energy saving measure involving the user equipment, wherein the energy saving measure comprises changing a quality of service of the user equipment to adjust energy consumption in a network,

[0113] determine whether to accept the proposal, and

[0114] A response is sent including information indicating whether the proposal is accepted.

[0115] According to various example embodiments, the energy saving measures further include adjusting charging based on changing the quality of service for the at least one user equipment.

[0116] According to various example embodiments, the proposal comprises a request to verify whether the user equipment will participate in the energy measure, and the method further comprises determining whether to accept the proposal by verifying the proposal.

[0117] According to various example embodiments, the proposal comprises a plurality of energy saving measures, and the method further comprises selecting an energy saving measure from the plurality of energy saving measures.

[0118] According to various example embodiments, the method further comprises determining whether to accept the offer based on preconfiguration, or based on receiving user or machine input on whether to accept the offer, or by executing a predetermined process.

[0119] According to a seventh aspect of various example embodiments, there is provided a computer program product comprising code means for executing the method described in any one of the above-mentioned fourth to sixth aspects modified according to various examples when run on a processing means or module.

[0120] According to various example embodiments, the computer program product is embodied on a computer readable medium and / or can be directly loaded into an internal memory of the computer and / or can be sent via a network by means of at least one of an upload, download and push process. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0121] In the following, some example embodiments will be described in more detail by way of non-limiting and illustrative examples with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0122] Figure 1Ashows a network element performing a service producer function according to some example embodiments,

[0123] Figure 1B shows a process performed by a network element according to some example embodiments,

[0124] Figure 2A shows a CN NF (e.g., SMF) according to some example embodiments,

[0125] Figure 2B shows a process performed by a CN NF according to some example embodiments,

[0126] Figure 3A shows a UE according to some example embodiments,

[0127] Figure 3B shows a process performed by a UE according to some example embodiments,

[0128] Figure 4 A table showing an example of charging characteristic behavior for an SMF according to some example embodiments is shown.

[0129] Figure 5 A table showing an example of charging characteristic information configured in an AMF according to some example embodiments is shown.

[0130] Fig. 6A , Figure 6B , Figure 6C , Fig.6D , Fig. 6E A table illustrating default trigger conditions in an SMF according to some example embodiments is shown.

[0131] Figure 7 A table illustrating default trigger conditions in an SMF according to some example embodiments is shown.

[0132] Figure 8 A table showing PDU session related policy information according to some example embodiments is shown.

[0133] Fig. 9 A table showing UE subscription data according to some example embodiments is shown.

[0134] Fig.10 Signal flows according to some example embodiments are shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0135] Example embodiments will be described below. However, it should be understood that this description is given by way of example only, and the described example embodiments should not be construed as limiting in any way.

[0136] Before describing example embodiments, some challenges and / or problems and / or disadvantages addressed by various example embodiments will be discussed in more detail below.

[0137] In 3GPP SA5, several studies have been conducted and resulted in standard specifications in the context of energy efficiency and energy consumption measurements and indicators.

[0138] For example, one of the ongoing studies in TR 28.913 has a key question (key question #5) that focuses on the acceptance of energy savings through QoS degradation by network slice consumers (NSCs). In this case, NSCs can decide to accept QoS degradation to save energy on the network side, they can specify which QoS degradation they are prepared to accept, and they can receive reports on measured energy savings. QoS degradation can be expressed in various dimensions:

[0139] # “What”: The NSC may be able and willing to express that the NSC accepts, for example, bandwidth degradation and / or latency and / or number of simultaneously connected UEs, etc.

[0140] # “How much”: The NSC may be able and willing to express that the NSC accepts, for example, 10% QoS degradation, 50% QoS degradation, etc.

[0141] #“When”: NSC may be willing to express when NSC accepts some time-constrained QoS degradation, e.g., date, time period, punctual (e.g., on identified working days) / repeating (e.g., all Saturdays and Sundays of the year), etc.

[0142] #“Where”: The NSC may be willing to express where the NSC accepts some spatially constrained QoS degradation, e.g., in country X, city Y, etc.

[0143] The Network Slice Consumer (NSC) is enabled to provide energy saving guidelines as described in TR 28.913. The Network Slice Provider (NSP) can interpret these guidelines to apply QoS optimization to save energy. Such optimization may be constrained not only in terms of "what", "how much", "when" and "where", but also in terms of "who", such as UE.

[0144] It is possible to apply such QoS optimization to certain UEs based on subscription information or dynamic verification of the UE, which in turn may have an impact on billing aspects. However, there is no way to specify which UEs or UE groups will be affected by energy-saving based QoS optimization. Therefore, there is no method for energy-saving based QoS optimization (e.g., UE billing adjustment based on energy-saving based QoS optimization).

[0145] Thus, according to some example embodiments, UE impact of QoS optimization is determined, and processes are provided to enable (or otherwise facilitate) energy conservation based QoS optimization (e.g., UE charging adjustment based on energy conservation based QoS optimization) and corresponding communications.

[0146] According to some example embodiments, some procedures are proposed that may save energy in a network.

[0147] Below, reference Figure 1A , 1B , 2A, 2B, 3A and 3B describe a general overview of some example embodiments.

[0148] Figure 1A A network control element 1 according to some example embodiments is shown. For example, a network control element is an example of an apparatus, which may be a network control element or a part of a network control element, which network control element comprises a service producer functionality. Figure 1B A process executed by a network control element 1 is shown in FIG. Figure 1A The network control element 1 shown in FIG. 1 comprises at least one processor 11 and at least one memory 12, wherein the memory 12 stores instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor 11, cause the device to execute: obtaining ( Figure 1B S11 in the embodiment relates to at least one energy saving measure of at least one user equipment, wherein the energy saving measure comprises changing the quality of service of at least one user equipment to adjust the energy consumption in the network, and providing a network element (e.g., Figure 2A The CN NF2 shown in Figure 1B S12) in includes notification of at least one obtained energy-saving measure.

[0149] Figure 2A A CN NF (eg, SMF) 2 according to some example embodiments is shown. The CN NF 2 is an example of a device, which may be a network element or a part of a network element. Additionally or alternatively, for example, the device may be configured to operate as a network function. Figure 2B A process performed by CN NF2 is shown. Figure 2A The CN NF2 shown in FIG. 1 includes at least one processor 21 and at least one memory 22, wherein the memory 22 stores instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor 21, cause the device to execute: receiving ( Figure 2B S21 in the embodiment includes a notification of at least one energy-saving measure involving at least one user equipment, wherein the at least one energy-saving measure includes changing the quality of service of at least one user equipment to adjust energy consumption in the network, selecting ( Figure 2B S22 in which at least one user equipment participates in at least one energy saving measure, determining ( Figure 2B(S23 in the above) whether the at least one user equipment selected will participate in the energy-saving measure, and applying ( Figure 2B At least one energy-saving measure in S24).

[0150] Figure 3A A UE 3 according to some example embodiments is shown. For example, UE 3 is an example of an apparatus, which may be a user equipment or a part of a user equipment. Figure 3B A process performed by UE 3 is shown. Figure 3A The UE 3 shown in FIG. 1 includes at least one processor 31 and at least one memory 32, wherein the memory 32 stores instructions, which, when executed by the at least one processor 31, cause the device to execute: receiving ( Figure 3B S31 in the above) participates in a proposal of an energy-saving measure, the proposal comprising information about at least one energy-saving measure involving the user equipment, wherein the energy-saving measure comprises changing the quality of service of the user equipment to adjust energy consumption in the network, determining ( Figure 3B S32 in ) whether to accept the proposal and send ( Figure 3B The S33 in (a) includes a response indicating whether the proposal is accepted.

[0151] Figure 1A , 2A The apparatuses 1 to 3 shown in FIG. 3A may include more components than those described above, and may further include I / O units 13 , 23 , 33 configured to send to and receive from other network elements.

[0152] The energy saving measures also include adjusting charging based on changing the quality of service of at least one UE.

[0153] Thus, the server producer function 1 may obtain (eg, determine, generate) information related to at least one user entity (eg, Figure 3A 3) and may provide at least one energy saving measure to a network element (e.g., Figure 2A The CNNF2 shown in FIG. 1 sends a notification (message) including information about at least one energy-saving measure. The CNNF2 may select at least one UE to participate in at least one energy-saving measure, and determine whether the selected UE will participate in at least one energy-saving measure. If yes, the CNNF2 applies the energy-saving measure.

[0154] CN NF2 may determine whether the selected UE will participate in energy saving measures by sending a proposal (or energy saving (ES) proposal) to UE 3 (as an example of a selected UE). The UE may determine whether to accept the proposal (e.g., by receiving user input or by automatically providing a response based on pre-configuration in the UE).

[0155] CN NF2 determines whether the selected UE will participate in energy saving measures by accessing the user equipment subscription data information.

[0156] For example, the user equipment subscription data information may include one or more of the following:

[0157] Information about whether the UE agrees to participate in regulating energy consumption in the network,

[0158] Information about whether the UE agrees to participate in a certain energy saving measure,

[0159] Information about whether to inform the UE of the energy saving measures to be applied,

[0160] Information about whether to request the UE to verify whether the user equipment will participate in energy saving measures before applying the energy saving measures,

[0161] Information about whether the UE agrees to participate in adjusting energy consumption in the network or participating in certain energy saving measures during a predetermined time period and / or in a specific location and / or in a specific network slice.

[0162] The CN NF2 may inform the service producer function 1 whether and which selected UE will participate in at least one energy saving measure.

[0163] The service producer function 1 can obtain at least one energy saving measure through a mechanism in the service producer function 1, wherein the mechanism takes into account QoS optimization guidelines and current network information, for example, the current network information includes any FCAPS information, network conditions, UE information (e.g., UE context, UE subscription information), predictive analysis of potential energy saving in the network enabled by the obtained measures, etc.

[0164] The energy saving measures obtained by the service producer function 1 are provided to the service producer 2 (CN NF2), and then the service producer 2 obtains an energy saving proposal / proposal for the UE. The proposal is an ES (Energy Saving) proposal, and the service producer function also obtains (and, for example, provides) associated charging characteristics and standards to which the obtained charging characteristics apply. For example, the service producer function 1 may obtain at least one energy saving measure based on a Quality of Service (QoS) optimization guideline pre-configured in the network or dynamically negotiated during network operation between the network and the NSC, and may prepare an Energy Saving (ES) proposal based on the energy saving measure.

[0165] The above process is described in more detail below by referring to some more detailed embodiments.

[0166] According to some example embodiments, charging-based reimbursement is provided to motivate the UE to accept QoS optimization for energy saving (ES) on the network side. Specifically, the following contents are provided:

[0167] a. Introduce a new service producer function to obtain ES proposals, associated charging characteristics and applicable standards for proposals and charging for UE.

[0168] b. Extended billing feature information and its availability in the network.

[0169] c. Extend UE network signaling to negotiate the obtained proposal.

[0170] This will be described in more detail below.First, the Service Producer Function is described. According to some example embodiments, the Service Producer Function is an entity (eg, a network function) that produces or provides different types of services that a UE can use.

[0171] Specifically, the service producer function determines the following based on the ES guidance provided to service producers:

[0172] 1) One or more ES proposals for one or more UEs (including the impact of ES on UEs, such as QoS changes),

[0173] 2) the billing aspects associated with each ES proposal, and

[0174] 3) The applicable standards for each ES proposal.

[0175] Service producers can leverage AI to achieve this. Such AI can take into account various data and analytics available in the network, such as expected energy savings in the network, FM / CM / PM data, UE behavior analysis, slice load analysis, UE subscription data and / or UE context, and expected UE-side energy consumption changes when applying QoS optimization (e.g., intelligently obtained by using information like traffic size, periodicity, and burst characteristics of different QoS classes of UEs).

[0176] The service producer can be in OAM (MnS) or in CN (CN NF).

[0177] Depending on the ES guidelines and how the service producer interprets the guidelines, the obtained offer and the associated charging characteristics may be (semi-)permanent and / or limited, eg in terms of time or area, for the UE.

[0178] Next, the charging characteristic information is described. According to some example embodiments, the charging characteristic information is information on how a service provided or produced by a service producer is charged (eg, when QoS is reduced, the charging is reduced and to what extent).

[0179] The charging characteristics information (for sessions and access, registration and mobility) includes "charging method based on network energy saving". This is restricted according to ES guidelines (e.g. network slice, time, area, etc.). It is configured to AMF and / or SMF, or included in the subscription data stored at UDM.

[0180] ES proposals and criteria (based on whether permanent or temporary) may be stored in subscription data at the UDM or in the UE context when the UE registers to the network or even after the UE deregisters and the network decides to store the UE context for a predetermined period of time based on operator configuration.

[0181] In the following, UE-network signaling according to some example embodiments is described.

[0182] Specifically, according to some example embodiments, the subscription data (for sessions and access, registration and mobility) also includes a "supports network energy saving" parameter to help the network determine UEs to which ES-based QoS optimization can be applied (along with standard information). This parameter is "yes" or "no". Alternatively, it can be restricted based on network slices, time, area, etc. It can also indicate whether the UE prefers to be notified before applying ES proposals, whether the UE prefers to verify ES proposals before applying ES proposals, or whether the UE prefers not to be notified.

[0183] Once the service producer obtains the ES proposal and associated features, it sends them to the corresponding service consumer in the core network (CN). CN determines the UE that meets the standards and the corresponding NF (SMF, AMF, CHF, etc.), saves the information as described above (for example, billing information in SMF and / or AMF or subscription data, ES proposal in subscription data or UE context, etc.), and applies the selected ES proposal and its associated billing. If the UE indicates that it prefers to receive notifications and / or prefers to verify the ES proposal by itself or based on operator policies, CN also sends NAS messages about ES proposals and billing to the UE, for example in human-readable format and / or machine-readable format.

[0184] The CN may send NAS messages to the UE proactively (if the network is capable of ES-based QoS optimization) or based on new triggers (if the network is capable of ES-based QoS optimization and the network detects / receives a trigger to apply ES-based QoS optimization). For this purpose, UE-network communication may be performed by extending existing NAS messages (i.e., registration, PDU session establishment, and PDU session modification).

[0185] If the UE prefers to be notified and / or if the operator policy stipulates that the UE is notified, the UE receives the NAS message and waits for the ES proposal to be applied. If the UE prefers to verify the ES proposal itself and / or the operator policy stipulates that the verification is performed by the UE, the UE analyzes different ES proposals and their charging, selects the ES proposal and notifies the CN through a NAS message.

[0186] In the following, some more detailed implementations according to example embodiments will be described.

[0187] In particular, Figure 4 A table is shown showing the extension of charging characteristic information configured in SMF, which is based on TS 32.255, Annex A.

[0188] Figure 4 The table shown includes network side energy saving related billing methods according to some example embodiments as a new column on the right. Depending on the energy saving guidelines and / or operator implementation / configuration, the billing method for network energy saving may be the same or different from the default and PDU session billing methods. The content of this column is implementation specific.

[0189] exist Figure 4 In the example shown, different examples of network energy saving methods Ex1, Ex2 and Ex3 are shown. It should be noted that for each behavior index (index), there may be one or more network energy saving methods. In addition, for some behavior indexes, there may be no energy saving method.

[0190] Figure 5 A table is shown showing the extension of charging characteristic information configured in AMF based on TS 32.256, Annex A.

[0191] Specifically, an AMF charging profile is defined to allow the AMF to determine applicable charging triggers for registration, N2 connection charging and location reporting. A default AMF charging profile is provided by charging characteristics. According to some example embodiments, an extension of this charging profile is provided to include charging characteristics related to energy saving proposals. Figure 5 In the table shown, a column ("Energy Saving Billing") is added on the right, which includes two sub-columns "Activity" and "Billing Scenario". Figure 4 As mentioned, for some behavior indexes, there may not be an energy-saving method.

[0192] Charging is performed by the SMF / AMF or other affected NFs interacting with the CHF as specified in TS 32.255 and TS 32.256 respectively. Charging Data Request and Charging Data Response are exchanged between the SMF / AMF and the CHF. When energy saving conditions are met or the UE has accepted an energy saving proposal, the SMF / AMF issues a Charging Data Request to the CHF. It is recommended that energy saving conditions / events be added to the list of charging events. Fig. 6A , Figure 6B , Figure 6C , Fig.6D , Fig. 6E and Figure 7 The table shown illustrates an example of such an event (marked in italics) for SMF and AMF respectively.

[0193] Fig. 6A , Figure 6B , Figure 6C , Fig.6D , Fig. 6E The table shown is based on table 5.2.1.4.1 of TS 32.255 and shows the default trigger conditions in the SMF. According to some example embodiments, two new trigger conditions are defined, namely "UE accepts ES proposal" and "ES proposal notification". For both cases, the trigger level is defined by the PDU session, the default category for converged billing is "immediate", and the default category for offline billing is "immediate". In both cases, CHF allowed to change category and CHF allowed to enable and disable are both "no". The message for the "immediate report" category is "Charging Data Request [Update]".

[0194] Figure 7 The table shown is based on Table 5.2.1.2.1.1 of TS 32.256 and shows the default trigger conditions in AMF. Fig. 6A , Figure 6B , Figure 6C , Fig.6D , Fig. 6E Similar to the above, two new trigger conditions are defined, namely "UE accepts ES proposal" and "ES proposal notification". For both cases, the trigger level is not defined, the default category is "immediate", and the default category for offline charging is "immediate". In both cases, the CHF allowed change category is not applicable, and the CHF allowed enablement and disablement is "no". The message for the "immediate report" category is "PEC: charging data request [event]".

[0195] The triggering of charging update leads to the generation of CDR. For charging update based on energy saving, the CDR parameters are extended as follows (TS32.298):

[0196] - Service Level CDR parameters are extended with a new category "Network Energy Saving CDR parameters".

[0197] - The network energy saving CDR parameters include at least "user identifier" (user identifier), "ES proposal" (accepted proposal details), "location list" (information about the applicable locations of the ES proposal), and "time interval list" (information about the applicable time frame of the ES proposal).

[0198] Additionally, when network energy saving is applied, subscriber spending limits may be different. The PCF creates and keeps track of a new policy counter identifier for energy saving purposes. This is notified to the CHF. The CHF receives spending limit information from the PCF using the policy counter identifier.

[0199] Figure 8 A table based on Table 6.4-1 of TS23.503 is shown, in which the proposed extensions (in italics) to the session management related policy information are shown, including new charging characteristic information. In particular, a new attribute, namely the network energy saving charging method, is added.

[0200] Fig. 9 A table based on Table 5.2.3.3.1-1 of TS23.502 is shown, showing a proposed extension to UE subscription data for network energy saving.

[0201] In particular, a new parameter "Supports Network Energy Saving" has been added to the subscription data. As mentioned above, this parameter indicates whether the UE supports ES saving. It can be limited to ES-based QoS control. The parameter is "yes" or "no". Alternatively, the restriction can be based on network slices, time, area, etc. It also indicates whether the UE prefers to be notified before applying ES proposals, whether the UE prefers to verify ES proposals before applying them, or whether the UE prefers not to be notified. It also stores the accepted ES proposals (if (semi-)permanent) and refers to the corresponding billing characteristics in the subscription data.

[0202] Fig.10 A signal flow is shown, which shows the overall process according to some example embodiments, including the acquisition of an ES proposal, the generation of any relevant optimized QoS information in the network, and UE network signaling. More specifically, the signal flow (call flow) is based on the UE's verification of the ES proposal and signaling based on the PDU session.

[0203] In A1, an ES-based QoS optimization guide is established between service consumers and service producers.

[0204] In A2, the service producer obtains the ES proposal, associated charging characteristics and criteria. This is obtained through an ML model that takes into account various information (e.g., expected energy savings in the network, FM / PM / CM data, UE behavior analysis, slice load analysis, UE subscription / UE context, relative UE-side energy savings for different proposals and QoS categories). As an alternative to the ML model, any method that implements the corresponding calculation logic can be used.

[0205] In A3, in case of trigger-based ES-based QoS control initiation, the service producer detects a trigger based on a monitoring mechanism of the service producer itself or another network entity (or other network entities) that is delegated to perform monitoring.

[0206] In A4, the service producer communicates with the corresponding CN NF (e.g., configures charging features in the NF, etc.). In particular, it sends a notification including ES-based QoS control proposals, charging features and standards to the corresponding CN NF.

[0207] In A5, the affected CN NF (eg, SMF) determines the affected UEs and other affected CN NFs based on standards, UE subscription data, and operator policies.

[0208] In A6, if network-UE signaling should be performed, assuming that the UE has established a PDU session, a PDU Session Modification message (PDU Session Modification Command) is sent to the UE, which includes the ES proposal and charging information in a (human / machine) readable format.

[0209] In A7, if network-UE signaling should be performed, the UE selects the ES proposal and sends it in the PDU Session Modification Response message (PDU Session Modification Confirm). Note that the selection / rejection of the proposal is done manually by the UE (human-operated terminal) and also by some smart app residing inside the UE (in the case where the UE is not operated by a human).

[0210] In A8, if the response message includes the selected ES proposal, the CN NF (e.g., SMF) notifies the relevant CN NF (e.g., PCF, CHF) to apply the relevant charging to the selected ES proposal. Information about the accepted proposal is stored in, for example, UE context information or subscription data. The stored information may include the impact on the stored UE information, including session related information and charging information.

[0211] In A9, the CN NF (e.g., SMF) notifies the service producer of the ES proposal that has been applied or rejected. The notification may include information about the UE's accepted / rejected proposal.

[0212] It should be noted that if there is no need to request the UE to verify the proposal, for example because the UE subscription data already indicates that the UE will accept the proposal, the above-mentioned processes A6 and A7 are not performed.

[0213] In addition, in A7, a smart app or similar application (which is configured to perform selection / verification in the UE when the UE is not operated by a human) may also exist in a human-operated UE, for example when the user of the UE prefers to perform the selection automatically. A smart app is an example of a predetermined process executed in the UE. In addition, in addition to user input, such input can also be machine input, for example in IoT devices without time-sensitive tasks.

[0214] Therefore, according to some example embodiments, a process for ES-based QoS control proposals and associated signaling is provided. Specifically, according to some example embodiments, ES-based QoS control proposals and associated charging characteristics and standards are obtained at a newly introduced service producer function. The service producer function sends the ES-based QoS control proposals and associated charging characteristics and standards to the corresponding CN NF (e.g., SMF). The CN NF determines the affected UE based on the standard, UE subscription data, and operator policy. A PDU session modification message is sent to the UE, which includes ES proposals and charging information in a human-readable format and / or a machine-readable format. The UE selects the ES proposal and sends it in a PDU session modification response message. The CN NF (e.g., SMF) notifies the relevant CNNF (e.g., PCF, CHF) to apply the relevant charging and applies the optimized QoS in the selected ES proposal.

[0215] The various example embodiments disclosed in the subject matter are merely examples and may be modified.

[0216] The names of network elements, protocols and methods are based on standard terminology. In other versions or other technologies, the names of these network elements and / or protocols and / or methods are different, as long as they provide corresponding functions.

[0217] Typically, some example embodiments are implemented by computer software stored in memory (memory resources, memory circuits) 12, 22, 32 and executable by processors (processing resources, processing circuits) 11, 21, 31, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and / or firmware and hardware.

[0218] The terms "connected," "coupled," or any variations thereof, refer to any direct or indirect connection or coupling between two or more elements, and encompass the presence of one or more intermediate elements between two elements that are "connected" or "coupled" together. The coupling or connection between elements is physical, logical, or a combination thereof. As used herein, two elements may be considered to be "connected" or "coupled" together by using one or more wires, cables, and printed electrical connections, as well as by using electromagnetic energy, such as electromagnetic energy having wavelengths in the radio frequency region, microwave region, and optical (visible and invisible) region, as non-limiting and illustrative examples.

[0219] The memories (memory resources, memory circuits) 12, 22, 32 are of any type suitable for the local technical environment and are implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor-based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory, and non-volatile computer-readable media. The processors (processing resources, processing circuits) 11, 21, 32 are of any type suitable for the local technical environment and include one or more of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), and a processor based on a multi-core processor architecture, as non-limiting examples.

[0220] Furthermore, as used herein, the term "circuitry" refers to one or more or all of the following example embodiments:

[0221] (a) pure hardware circuit implementation (e.g. implementation in analog and / or digital circuits only) and

[0222] (b) a combination of hardware circuitry and software, such as (where applicable):

[0223] (i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuitry and software / firmware, and

[0224] (ii) any portion of a hardware processor (including a digital signal processor), software and memory with software that works together to enable a device such as a mobile phone or server to perform various functions, and

[0225] (c) Hardware circuits and / or processors (such as a microprocessor or portion of a microprocessor) that require software (such as firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

[0226] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term herein, including in any claims. As a further example embodiment, as used herein, the term circuitry also covers implementations of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in a server, cellular network node, or other computing or network node, if applicable to the particular claim element.

[0227] The term "non-transitory" as used herein refers to the limitation of the medium itself (ie, tangible, not a signal), not the limitation of data storage persistence (eg, RAM vs. ROM).

[0228] It is worth noting that, as used herein, “at least one of: ” and “at least one of ” and similar expressions, where a list of two or more elements is connected by “and” or “or”, mean at least any one element, or at least any two or more elements, or at least all elements.

[0229] It should be understood that the various exemplary embodiments disclosed in the subject matter are illustrative and non-restrictive and are not intended to be interpreted as limiting. Various modifications and applications may be obvious to those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit and scope of the various exemplary embodiments disclosed in the subject matter.

[0230] According to various example embodiments, an apparatus is provided, comprising at least one processor and at least one memory, the memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least perform: obtaining at least one energy saving measure involving at least one user equipment, wherein the energy saving measure comprises changing a quality of service of the at least one user equipment to adjust energy consumption in a network, and sending a notification comprising the at least one obtained energy saving measure to a network element.

[0231] According to various example embodiments, the at least one energy saving measure may further include adjusting charging based on changing quality of service of the at least one user equipment.

[0232] According to various example embodiments, at least one memory and computer program code may be configured to, together with at least one processor, cause the apparatus to further execute: obtaining, for each energy saving measure, a charging characteristic and a standard for applying the obtained charging characteristic to the at least one user equipment, and sending the obtained charging characteristic and the standard together with the notification to the network element.

[0233] According to various example embodiments, at least one memory and computer program code may be configured to, together with at least one processor, cause the apparatus to further execute: receiving a response notification from the network element, the response notification comprising information indicating whether the at least one user equipment will participate in the at least one energy saving measure and / or whether the at least one user equipment accepts participating in the at least one energy saving measure.

[0234] According to various example embodiments, at least one memory and computer program code may be configured to, with at least one processor, cause the apparatus to further perform: initiating control of the quality of service based on the energy saving measure.

[0235] According to various example embodiments, at least one memory and computer program code are configured to, with at least one processor, cause the apparatus to further perform: upon receiving and / or detecting a trigger, initiating the controlling of the quality of service based on the energy saving measure.

[0236] According to various example embodiments, at least one memory and computer program code may be configured to, together with at least one processor, cause the apparatus to further perform: obtaining the energy saving measure by analyzing a condition of the network and predicting an impact of the energy saving measure on energy consumed in the network based on historical information.

[0237] According to various example embodiments, the history information is information about the relationship between network conditions, network energy saving measures, and network energy consumption.

[0238] According to various example embodiments, at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with at least one processor, cause the apparatus to further perform: analyzing the status of the network and predicting the impact of the energy saving measures by applying artificial intelligence.

[0239] According to various example embodiments, at least one memory and computer program code may be configured to, together with at least one processor, cause the apparatus to further perform: obtaining the at least one energy saving measure based on a preconfigured quality of service optimization guideline in the network, and preparing an energy saving proposal based on the energy saving measure.

[0240] According to various example embodiments, an apparatus is provided that includes at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least perform: receiving a notification including at least one energy saving measure involving at least one user equipment, wherein the at least one energy saving measure includes changing a quality of service of the at least one user equipment to adjust energy consumption in a network, selecting at least one user equipment to participate in the at least one energy saving measure, determining whether the selected at least one user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure, and applying the at least one energy saving measure to the selected at least one user equipment based on determining that the at least one user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure.

[0241] According to various example embodiments, the energy saving measures further include adjusting charging based on changing the quality of service of the at least one user equipment.

[0242] According to various example embodiments, at least one memory and computer program code may be configured to, with at least one processor, cause the apparatus to further execute: sending information about whether the selected at least one user equipment will participate in the at least one energy saving measure to the network element that sent the notification.

[0243] According to various example embodiments, at least one memory and computer program code may be configured to, together with at least one processor, cause the apparatus to further execute: determining whether the determined at least one user device will participate in the energy saving measure by sending a proposal to participate in the energy saving measure to at least one determined user device and receiving a response message from the user device.

[0244] According to various example embodiments, the at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to further perform: sending the proposal to participate in the energy saving measure to the user equipment in a packet session modification command.

[0245] According to various example embodiments, the proposal includes information about the change in quality of service and the impact on the billing in a human or machine readable format.

[0246] According to various example embodiments, at least one memory and computer program code may be configured to, with at least one processor, cause the apparatus to further perform: determining whether the selected at least one user equipment will participate in the at least one energy saving measure by accessing user equipment subscription data information stored in the network element.

[0247] According to various example embodiments, the user equipment subscription data information may include information about whether the user equipment agrees to participate in adjusting energy consumption in the network, and / or information about whether the user equipment agrees to participate in certain energy-saving measures, and / or information about whether to notify the user equipment about the energy-saving measures to be applied, and / or information about whether to require the user equipment to verify whether the user equipment will participate in the energy-saving measures before applying the energy-saving measures, and / or information about whether the user equipment agrees to participate in adjusting energy consumption in the network or participating in certain energy-saving measures during a predetermined time period and / or at a specific location and / or within a specific network slice.

[0248] According to various example embodiments, at least one memory and a computer program code are configured to, together with at least one processor, cause the apparatus to further execute: when the user equipment subscription data information includes information requesting the user equipment to verify whether the user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure before applying the energy saving measure, or when the request is pre-configured in the network, sending a request to the user equipment to verify whether the user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure before applying the energy saving measure.

[0249] According to various example embodiments, at least one memory and a computer program code may be configured to, together with at least one processor, cause the apparatus to further execute: when user equipment subscription data information includes information that will notify the user equipment about the energy saving measure to be applied or when sending the information is preconfigured in the network, sending information to the user equipment that the user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure before applying the energy saving measure.

[0250] According to various example embodiments, the at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to further perform: selecting the at least one user equipment based on the information received from the network element.

[0251] According to various example embodiments, the information received from the network element includes a charging characteristic for each energy saving measure and a criterion for applying the obtained charging characteristic to at least one user equipment.

[0252] According to various example embodiments, the at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to further perform: selecting at least one network element related to the at least one energy measure based on the information received from the network element.

[0253] According to various example embodiments, an apparatus is provided that includes at least one processor and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least perform: receiving a proposal to participate in energy conservation measures, the proposal including information about at least one energy conservation measure involving a user equipment, wherein the energy conservation measure includes changing a quality of service of the user equipment to adjust energy consumption in a network, determining whether to accept the proposal, and sending a response including information indicating whether the proposal is accepted.

[0254] According to various example embodiments, the energy saving measures further include adjusting charging based on changing the quality of service of the at least one user equipment.

[0255] According to various example embodiments, the proposal includes a request to verify whether the user device will participate in the energy measure, and at least one memory and computer program code may be configured to, with at least one processor, cause the apparatus to further perform: determining whether to accept the proposal by verifying the proposal.

[0256] According to various example embodiments, the proposal comprises a plurality of energy saving measures, and the at least one memory and the computer program code may be configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to further perform: selecting an energy saving measure from the plurality of energy saving measures.

[0257] According to various example embodiments, at least one memory and computer program code may be configured to, together with at least one processor, cause the apparatus to further perform: determining whether to accept the proposal based on preconfiguration, or receiving user or machine input regarding whether to accept the proposal, or by executing a predetermined process.

Claims

1. A device comprising: means for obtaining at least one energy saving measure involving at least one user equipment, wherein the energy saving measure comprises changing a quality of service for the at least one user equipment to adjust energy consumption in the network, and Means for sending a notification including at least one obtained energy saving measure to a network element.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1, further comprising: means for obtaining a charging characteristic for each energy saving measure and a standard for applying the obtained charging characteristic to the at least one user equipment, and Means for sending the obtained charging characteristics and criteria along with the notification to the network element.

3. A device comprising: means for receiving a notification comprising at least one energy saving measure relating to at least one user equipment, wherein the at least one energy saving measure comprises changing a quality of service for the at least one user equipment to adjust energy consumption in the network, means for selecting at least one user equipment to participate in said at least one energy saving measure, means for determining whether the selected at least one user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure, and Component for applying the at least one energy saving measure to the selected at least one user equipment based on determining that the at least one user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure.

4. The apparatus according to claim 3, further comprising: Means for sending information to the network element that sent the notification regarding whether the selected at least one user equipment will participate in the at least one energy saving measure.

5. A device comprising: means for receiving a proposal to participate in an energy saving measure, the proposal comprising information about at least one energy saving measure involving a user equipment, wherein the energy saving measure comprises changing a quality of service for the user equipment to adjust energy consumption in the network, means for determining whether to accept the proposal, and Means for sending a response including information indicating whether the proposal is accepted.

6. The device according to claim 5, wherein: The proposal includes a request to verify whether the user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure, and the apparatus further includes: Means for determining whether to accept the proposal by validating the proposal.

7. A method comprising: obtaining at least one energy saving measure involving at least one user equipment, wherein the energy saving measure comprises changing a quality of service for the at least one user equipment to adjust energy consumption in the network, and A notification including at least one obtained energy saving measure is sent to a network element.

8. A method comprising: receiving a notification including at least one energy saving measure related to at least one user equipment, wherein the at least one energy saving measure includes changing a quality of service for the at least one user equipment to adjust energy consumption in the network, selecting at least one user equipment to participate in the at least one energy saving measure, determining whether the selected at least one user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure, and Based on determining that the at least one user equipment will participate in the energy saving measure, the at least one energy saving measure is applied to the selected at least one user equipment.

9. A method comprising: receiving a proposal to participate in an energy saving measure, the proposal comprising information about at least one energy saving measure involving a user equipment, wherein the energy saving measure comprises changing a quality of service for the user equipment to adjust energy consumption in a network, determine whether to accept the proposal, and A response is sent including information indicating whether the proposal is accepted.

10. A computer program product comprising code means for performing the method according to any one of claims 7 to 9 when run on a processing means or module.

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