User equipment (UE) routing policy configuration in evolved packet system and fifth generation system interworking

Abstract

Systems, apparatus, methods, and computer readable media are provided for a user equipment (UE) to know whether a network supports UE routing policy (URSP) configuration in an Evolved Packet System (EPS). For example, a UE may receive an indication of the ability of a session management function (SMF) and / or a packet data network (PDN) gateway-control plane function (PGW-C) to support UE routing policy (URSP) configuration in an EPS extension protocol configuration option (ePCO). The UE may send a request for bearer resource modification based on the indication. The request may include a UE policy container. Other embodiments may be described and claimed.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to the international patent application with application number PCT / CN2023 / 080049 filed on March 7, 2023 and the international patent application with application number PCT / CN2023 / 081548 filed on March 15, 2023. Background Art

[0003] Standards for interworking between the fifth generation (5G) system (5GS) and the evolved packet system (EPS) have been developed to enable user equipment (UE) to operate using both systems. However, challenges remain, such as the provisioning of UE routing policy (URSP) rules. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0004] Figure 1A and Figure 1B An attachment process according to various embodiments is shown.

[0005] Figure 2 A process for user equipment (UE) requested bearer resource modification according to various embodiments is shown.

[0006] Figure 3 A process for dedicated bearer activation according to various embodiments is shown.

[0007] Figure 4 A network according to various embodiments is shown.

[0008] Figure 5 A wireless network according to various embodiments is schematically illustrated.

[0009] Figure 6 is a block diagram illustrating components capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable medium or computer-readable medium (eg, a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein, according to some example embodiments.

[0010] Figure 7 A network according to various embodiments is shown.

[0011] Figure 8 Depicted are example procedures for practicing the various embodiments discussed herein.

[0012] Figure 9 Another example process for practicing the various embodiments discussed herein is depicted. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0013] The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numerals may be used to identify the same or similar elements in different drawings. In the following description, for the purpose of explanation rather than limitation, specific details (e.g., specific structures, architectures, interfaces, technologies, etc.) are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of the various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art who benefit from this disclosure that the various aspects of the various embodiments can be practiced in other examples that depart from these specific details. In some instances, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted to avoid obscuring the description of the various embodiments with unnecessary details. For the purposes of this document, the phrases "A or B" and "A / B" mean (A), (B), or (A and B).

[0014] Various embodiments herein relate to UE routing policy (URSP) configuration for user equipment (UE) in an Evolved Packet System (EPS) and Fifth Generation (5G) System (5GS) interworking scenario. URSP configuration in EPS may use extended protocol configuration options (ePCO) to carry the UE policy container. However, there is a risk that the session management function (SMF) and / or the packet data network (PDN) gateway - control plane function (PGW-C) may not support the ePCO for the URSP configuration of the UE. In this case, the UE policy container in the ePCO will not be forwarded to the policy control function (PCF) and the URSP rules will not be configured to the UE.

[0015] Various embodiments herein may provide techniques for a UE to understand whether an SMF and / or PGW-C supports URSP configuration in EPS (e.g., using ePCO). For example, a UE may receive an indication of the capability of an SMF and / or PGW-C to support URSP configuration in EPS. In some embodiments, the indication may be included in a PDN Connection Accept message (e.g., within a Protocol Configuration Option (PCO) and / or an ePCO) as part of the PDN connection establishment. In some embodiments, the UE may send an indication (e.g., an ePCO) in an Attach Request of the PDN Connection Establishment Procedure indicating that the UE supports URSP configuration in EPS (e.g., using ePCO).

[0016] If the UE knows (e.g., based on an indication from the SMF and / or PGW-C) that the SMF and PGW-C support URSP configuration in EPS (e.g., using ePCO), the UE may initiate a request bearer resource modification procedure containing a UE policy container (e.g., the UE may send a request message containing a UE policy container). The UE policy container may correspond to the UE policy container ePCO. The UE policy container may be forwarded to the PCF (e.g., via the SMF and / or PGW-C). Based on receipt of the UE policy container, the PCF knows that the UE supports URSP configuration in EPS and configures one or more URSP rules in the UE policy container to the UE. The UE policy container with the one or more URSP rules may be sent back to the UE.

[0017] Reference below Figure 1A-1B 、 Figure 2 and Figure 3 Aspects of the various embodiments are further described. Figure 1A and IB show the attachment process, for example, corresponding to the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Technical Standard (TS) 23.401 v18.0.0. Figure 5 .3.2.1-1, in which PGW is replaced by SMF+PGW-C for EPS and 5GS interoperability scenarios. Figure 2 The procedure for UE-requested bearer resource modification is shown, for example, corresponding to TS 23.401. Figure 5 .4.5-1, in which PGW is replaced by SMF+PGW-C for EPS and 5GS interoperability scenarios. Figure 3 The procedure for dedicated bearer activation is shown, for example, corresponding to TS 23.401 Figure 5 .4.1-1, in which PGW is replaced by SMF+PGW-C for EPS and 5GS interoperability scenarios.

[0018] In the PDN Connection Request message carried in the Attach Request, the UE includes an indication of ePCO (Extended Protocol Configuration Option) capabilities. If the SMF+PGW-C supports ePCO, it will include an indication of ePCO capabilities and an indication of URSP configuration support in the EPS ePCO in the PDN Connection Accept message carried in the Attach Accept message. Based on the UE receiving URSP configuration support in the EPS ePCO, the UE will initiate bearer resource modification, as further described below.

[0019] When the UE knows that the SMF+PGW-C supports ePCO and the URSP configuration in the EPS ePCO (e.g., based on the indication described herein), the UE includes the stored policy part identifier (PSI) in the UE policy container ePCO in the request bearer resource modification. The UE policy container ePCO will be further forwarded to the SMF+PGW-C. When the SMF+PGW-C receives the UE policy container ePCO, it further forwards the UE policy container ePCO to the PCF for the PDU session. The PCF for the PDU session establishes a UE policy association with the PCF for the UE and forwards the received UE policy container to the PCF for the UE. The PCF for the UE checks the PSI in the UE policy container and determines the URSP rules for the UE by querying the Unified Data Repository (UDR). The PCF for the UE then transparently sends the URSP rules in the UE policy container to the UE via the PCF for the PDU session and the SMF+PGW-C (e.g., as shown in operations 2, 3, 4, and 5, and in TS23.401 regarding Figure 5 .4.1-1) further described). The UE stores the received URSP rules.

[0020] In some embodiments, for Figure 3 In operation 2 and operation 3, the UE policy container ePCO is included in the create bearer request message. Additionally or alternatively, in Figure 3 In operations 4 and 5, the UE policy container ePCO is included in the session management request message.

[0021] System and implementation

[0022] Figure 4-Figure 7 Various systems, devices, and components are shown in which aspects of the disclosed embodiments may be implemented.

[0023] Figure 4 A network 400 is shown according to various embodiments. The network 400 may operate in a manner consistent with 3GPP technical specifications for LTE or 5G / NR systems. However, the example embodiments are not limited in this respect, and the described embodiments may be applied to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems, etc.

[0024] The network 400 may include a UE 402, which may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device designed to communicate with the RAN 404 via an over-the-air connection. The UE 402 may be communicatively coupled to the RAN 404 via a Uu interface. The UE 402 may be, but is not limited to, a smartphone, a tablet computer, a wearable computer device, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, an in-vehicle infotainment device, an in-car entertainment device, an instrument cluster, a head-up display device, an on-board diagnostic device, a dashboard mobile device, a mobile data terminal, an electronic engine management system, an electronic / engine control unit, an electronic / engine control module, an embedded system, a sensor, a microcontroller, a control module, an engine management system, a networked device, a machine type communication device, an M2M or D2D device, an IoT device, etc.

[0025] In some embodiments, the network 400 may include multiple UEs directly coupled to each other via sidelink interfaces. The UEs may be M2M / D2D devices that communicate using physical sidelink channels (such as, but not limited to, PSBCH, PSDCH, PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH, etc.).

[0026] In some embodiments, UE 402 may also communicate with AP 406 via an over-the-air connection. AP 406 may manage a WLAN connection, which may be used to offload some / all network traffic from RAN 404. The connection between UE 402 and AP 406 may be consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, where AP 406 may be a Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) In some embodiments, UE 402, RAN 404, and AP 406 may utilize cellular WLAN aggregation (eg, LWA / LWIP). Cellular WLAN aggregation may involve UE 402 being configured by RAN 404 to utilize both cellular radio resources and WLAN resources.

[0027] RAN 404 may include one or more access nodes, such as AN 408. AN 408 may terminate air interface protocols for UE 402 by providing access layer protocols, including RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC, and L1 protocols. In this manner, AN 408 facilitates data / voice connectivity between CN 420 and UE 402. In some embodiments, AN 408 may be implemented in a discrete device or as one or more software entities running on a server computer, for example, as part of a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN or virtual baseband unit pool. AN 408 is also referred to as a BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, ng-eNB, Node B, RSU, TRxP, TRP, etc. AN 408 may be a macrocell base station or a low-power base station used to provide a femtocell, picocell, or other similar cell with a smaller coverage area, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth than a macrocell.

[0028] In an embodiment where the RAN 404 includes multiple ANs, these ANs may be coupled to each other via an X2 interface (if the RAN 404 is an LTE RAN) or an Xn interface (if the RAN 404 is a 5G RAN). The X2 / Xn interface, which may be divided into a control / user plane interface in some embodiments, may allow the ANs to transfer information related to handover, data / context transfer, mobility, load management, interference coordination, etc.

[0029] Each AN of the RAN 404 may manage one or more cells, cell groups, component carriers, etc., to provide an air interface for network access to the UE 402. The UE 402 may be simultaneously connected to multiple cells provided by the same or different ANs of the RAN 404. For example, the UE 402 and the RAN 404 may use carrier aggregation to allow the UE 402 to connect to multiple component carriers, each corresponding to a PCell or an Scell. In a dual connectivity scenario, the first AN may be a primary node providing an MCG, and the second AN may be a secondary node providing an SCG. The first AN / second AN may be any combination of an eNB, a gNB, an ng-eNB, etc.

[0030] The RAN 404 may provide an air interface over a licensed spectrum or an unlicensed spectrum. To operate in an unlicensed spectrum, a node may employ LAA, eLAA, and / or feLAA mechanisms based on CA techniques utilizing PCell / Scell. Before accessing an unlicensed spectrum, a node may perform medium / carrier sensing operations based on, for example, a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

[0031] In a V2X scenario, the UE 402 or AN 408 may be or function as an RSU, which can refer to any transport infrastructure entity used for V2X communication. The RSU can be implemented in or by a suitable AN or a fixed (or relatively fixed) UE. An RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a "UE-type RSU," an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an "eNB-type RSU," an RSU implemented in or by a gNB may be referred to as a "gNB-type RSU," and so on. In one example, an RSU is a computing device coupled to roadside RF circuitry that provides connectivity support to passing vehicular UEs. The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry to store intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, and applications / software for sensing and controlling ongoing vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The RSU can provide very low-latency communications required for high-speed events (e.g., collision avoidance, traffic warnings, etc.). Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may provide other cellular / WLAN communication services. The components of the RSU may be housed in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller or backhaul network.

[0032] In some embodiments, the RAN 404 may be an LTE RAN 410 with an eNB (e.g., eNB 412). The LTE RAN 410 may provide an LTE air interface with the following characteristics: a 15 kHz SCS; a CP-OFDM waveform for the DL and an SC-FDMA waveform for the UL; turbo codes for data and TBCC for control; etc. The LTE air interface may rely on CSI-RS for CSI acquisition and beam management; PDSCH / PDCCH DMRS for PDSCH / PDCCH demodulation; and CRS for cell search and initial acquisition, channel quality measurement, and channel estimation for coherent demodulation / detection at the UE. The LTE air interface may operate in sub-6 GHz frequency bands.

[0033] In some embodiments, the RAN 404 may be an NG-RAN 414 having a gNB (e.g., gNB 416) or an ng-eNB (e.g., ng-eNB 418). The gNB 416 may connect to a 5G-enabled UE using a 5G NR interface. The gNB 416 may connect to the 5G core via an NG interface, which may include an N2 interface or an N3 interface. The ng-eNB 418 may also connect to the 5G core via an NG interface, but may connect to the UE via an LTE air interface. The gNB 416 and the ng-eNB 418 may connect to each other via an Xn interface.

[0034] In some embodiments, the NG interface can be divided into two parts: an NG user plane (NG-U) interface, which carries service data between the nodes of the NG-RAN 414 and the UPF 448 (e.g., the N3 interface); and an NG control plane (NG-C) interface, which is a signaling interface between the nodes of the NG-RAN 414 and the AMF 444 (e.g., the N2 interface).

[0035] The NG-RAN 414 may provide a 5G-NR air interface with the following features: variable SCS; CP-OFDM for DL, CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM for UL; polarization, repetition, simplex, and Reed-Muller codes for control, and LDPC for data. The 5G-NR air interface may rely on CSI-RS, PDSCH / PDCCH DMRS similar to the LTE air interface. The 5G-NR air interface may not use CRS, but may use PBCH DMRS for PBCH demodulation; PTRS for phase tracking of PDSCH; and tracking reference signals for time tracking. The 5G-NR air interface may operate in FR1 bands including bands below 6 GHz or FR2 bands including bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. The 5G-NR air interface may include an SSB, which is an area of ​​the downlink resource grid that includes PSS / SSS / PBCH.

[0036] In some embodiments, the 5G-NR air interface can utilize BWPs for various purposes. For example, BWPs can be used for dynamic adaptation of SCSs. For example, a UE 402 can be configured with multiple BWPs, each configured with a different SCS. When a BWP change is indicated to the UE 402, the transmitted SCS also changes. Another example use case for BWPs involves power conservation. Specifically, a UE 402 can be configured with multiple BWPs with different amounts of frequency resources (e.g., PRBs) to support data transmission in different traffic load scenarios. A BWP containing a smaller number of PRBs can be used for data transmission with light traffic load, while allowing power savings at the UE 402 and, in some cases, at the gNB 416. A BWP containing a larger number of PRBs can be used in scenarios with higher traffic loads.

[0037] RAN 404 is communicatively coupled to CN 420, which includes network elements for providing various functions to support data and telecommunication services to customers / subscribers (e.g., users of UE 402). Components of CN 420 may be implemented in one physical node or in separate physical nodes. In some embodiments, NFV may be used to virtualize any or all of the functions provided by the network elements of CN 420 onto physical compute / storage resources in servers, switches, etc. A logical instantiation of CN 420 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of CN 420 may be referred to as a network sub-slice.

[0038] In some embodiments, CN 420 may be an LTE CN 422, which may also be referred to as an EPC. LTE CN 422 may include an MME 424, an SGW 426, an SGSN 428, an HSS 430, a PGW 432, and a PCRF 434 coupled to one another via interfaces (or "reference points"), as shown. The functions of the elements of LTE CN 422 may be briefly described as follows.

[0039] The MME 424 may implement mobility management functions to track the current location of the UE 402 to facilitate paging, bearer activation / deactivation, handover, gateway selection, authentication, and the like.

[0040] The SGW 426 may terminate the S1 interface towards the RAN and route data packets between the RAN and the LTE CN 422. The SGW 426 may be the local mobility anchor for handovers between RAN nodes and may also provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful interception, charging, and some policy enforcement.

[0041] SGSN 428 can track the location of UE 402 and perform security functions and access control. In addition, SGSN 428 can perform inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between different RAT networks; PDN and S-GW selection specified by MME 424; MME selection for handover; etc. The S3 reference point between MME 424 and SGSN 428 can implement user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in idle / active states.

[0042] HSS 430 may include a database for network users, including subscription-related information used to support network entities' handling of communication sessions. HSS 430 may provide support for routing / roaming, authentication, authorization, naming / addressing resolution, location dependency, etc. The S6a reference point between HSS 430 and MME 424 enables the transfer of subscription and authentication data used to authenticate / authorize users' access to LTE CN 420.

[0043] The PGW 432 can terminate the SGi interface towards a data network (DN) 436, which can include application / content servers 438. The PGW 432 can route data packets between the LTE CN 422 and the data network 436. The PGW 432 can be coupled to the SGW 426 via an S5 reference point to facilitate user plane tunneling and tunnel management. The PGW 432 can also include a node (e.g., PCEF) for policy enforcement and charging data collection. Alternatively, the SGi reference point between the PGW 432 and the data network 436 can be an operator-external public or private PDN or an intra-operator packet data network, for example, for configuring IMS services. The PGW 432 can be coupled to the PCRF 434 via a Gx reference point.

[0044] PCRF 434 is the policy and charging control element of LTE CN 422. PCRF 434 can be communicatively coupled to application / content server 438 to determine appropriate QoS and charging parameters for service flows. PCRF 432 can configure the associated rules to the PCEF with the appropriate TFT and QCI (via the Gx reference point).

[0045] In some embodiments, CN 420 may be 5GC 440. 5GC 440 may include AUSF 442, AMF 444, SMF 446, UPF 448, NSSF 450, NEF 452, NRF 454, PCF 456, UDM 458, and AF 460 coupled to one another via interfaces (or "reference points"), as shown. The functions of the elements of 5GC 440 may be briefly described as follows.

[0046] The AUSF 442 may store data used for authentication of the UE 402 and handle authentication-related functions. The AUSF 442 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. In addition to communicating with other elements of the 5GC 440 over reference points as shown, the AUSF 442 may also present an interface based on the Nausf service.

[0047] The AMF 444 can allow other functions of the 5GC 440 to communicate with the UE 402 and the RAN 404 and subscribe to notifications about mobility events related to the UE 402. The AMF 444 can be responsible for registration management (e.g., for registering the UE 402), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF 444 can provide transport for SM messages between the UE 402 and the SMF 446 and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. The AMF 444 can also provide transport for SMS messages between the UE 402 and the SMSF. The AMF 444 can interact with the AUSF 442 and the UE 402 to perform various security anchor and context management functions. In addition, the AMF 444 can be the termination point for the RAN CP interface, which can include or be the N2 reference point between the RAN 404 and the AMF 444; and the AMF 444 can be the termination point for NAS (N1) signaling and perform NAS encryption and integrity protection. The AMF 444 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 402 through the N3 IWF interface.

[0048] The SMF 446 may be responsible for SM (e.g., session establishment, tunnel management between the UPF 448 and the AN 408); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP functions; configuring traffic steering at the UPF 448 to route traffic to the appropriate destination; terminating the interface toward the policy control function; controlling a portion of policy enforcement, billing, and QoS; lawful interception (for SM events and interfaces to the LI system); terminating the SM portion of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN-specific SM information, which is sent to the AN 408 via the AMF 444 over N2; and determining the SSC mode for the session. SM may refer to the management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or "session" may refer to a PDU connection service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between the UE 402 and the data network 436.

[0049] The UPF 448 can serve as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point for interconnecting to the data network 436, and a branch point to support multi-homed PDU sessions. The UPF 448 can also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, implement the user plane portion of policy rules, lawful interception of packets (UP collection), perform service usage reporting, perform user plane QoS processing (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL / DL rate enforcement), perform uplink service verification (e.g., SDF to QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. The UPF 448 can include an uplink classifier to support routing of service flows to the data network.

[0050] The NSSF 450 may select a set of network slice instances to serve the UE 402. If necessary, the NSSF 450 may also determine the allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAI. The NSSF 450 may also determine the set of AMFs or the list of candidate AMFs to be used to serve the UE 402 based on appropriate configuration and possibly by querying the NRF 454. The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 402 may be triggered by the AMF 444, to which the UE 402 is registered by interacting with the NSSF 450, which may result in a change of the AMF. The NSSF 450 may interact with the AMF 444 via the N22 reference point; and may communicate with another NSSF in the visited network via the N31 reference point (not shown). In addition, the NSSF 450 may present an interface based on the Nnssf service.

[0051] NEF 452 can securely expose services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions to third parties, internal exposure / re-exposure, AFs (e.g., AF 460), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, NEF 452 can authenticate, authorize, or throttle the AF. NEF 452 can also convert information exchanged with AF 460 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, NEF 452 can convert between AF-Service-Identifier and internal 5GC information. NEF 452 can also receive information from other NFs based on the exposed capabilities of other NFs. This information can be stored as structured data at NEF 452 or stored at a data storage device NF using standardized interfaces. The stored information can then be re-exposed by NEF 452 to other NFs and AFs or used for other purposes, such as analysis. In addition, NEF 452 can present an interface based on NNEF services.

[0052] NRF 454 can support service discovery functionality, receiving NF discovery requests from NF instances and providing information about discovered NF instances to the NF instances. NRF 454 also maintains information about available NF instances and the services they support. As used herein, the terms "instantiate," "instantiate," and the like can refer to the creation of an instance, and "instance" can refer to the specific occurrence of an object, for example, an object can occur during the execution of program code. In addition, NRF 454 can present an interface based on NRF services.

[0053] The PCF 456 can provide policy rules to the control plane functions for implementation and can also support a unified policy framework to manage network behavior. The PCF 456 can also implement a front end to access subscription information related to policy decisions in the UDR of the UDM 458. In addition to communicating with functions through reference points as shown, the PCF 456 also exposes an interface based on the Npcf service.

[0054] The UDM 458 can process subscription-related information to support network entities handling communication sessions and can store subscription data for the UE 402. For example, subscription data can be transferred via the N8 reference point between the UDM 458 and the AMF 444. The UDM 458 can include two components: an application frontend and a UDR. The UDR can store subscription data and policy data for the UDM 458 and PCF 456, and / or application data for the NEF 452 (including PFDs for application detection, application request information for multiple UEs 402), and structured data for exposure. The UDR 221 can present a Nudr service-based interface to allow the UDM 458, PCF 456, and NEF 452 to access a specific set of stored data, as well as read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notifications of changes to relevant data in the UDR. The UDM can include a UDM-FE, which is responsible for handling credentials, location management, subscription management, etc. Several different frontends can serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identity processing, access authorization, registration / mobility management, and subscription management. In addition to communicating with other NFs through reference points as shown, the UDM 458 can also present an interface based on Nudm services.

[0055] The AF 460 may provide application influence on service routing, provide access to the NEF, and interact with the policy framework for policy control.

[0056] In some embodiments, the 5GC 440 can implement edge computing by selecting an operator / third-party service that is geographically close to the point where the UE 402 is attached to the network. This can reduce latency and load on the network. To provide an edge computing implementation, the 5GC 440 can select a UPF 448 close to the UE 402 and perform service steering from the UPF 448 to the data network 436 via the N6 interface. This can be based on UE subscription data, UE location and information provided by the AF 460. In this way, the AF 460 can influence UPF (re)selection and service routing. Based on operator deployment, the network operator can allow the AF 460 to interact directly with the relevant NF when the AF 460 is considered a trusted entity. In addition, the AF 460 can present an interface based on the Naf service.

[0057] The data network 436 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third-party services that may be provided by one or more servers, including, for example, an application / content server 438 .

[0058] Figure 5 Schematically illustrated is a wireless network 500 according to various embodiments. The wireless network 500 may include a UE 502 in wireless communication with an AN 504. The UE 502 and the AN 504 may be similar to, and substantially interchangeable with, similarly named components described elsewhere herein.

[0059] UE 502 may be communicatively coupled with AN 504 via connection 506. Connection 506 is shown as an air interface for achieving the communicative coupling and may be consistent with a cellular communication protocol, such as a 5G NR protocol or an LTE protocol operating at mmWave or sub-6 GHz frequencies.

[0060] UE 502 may include a host platform 508 coupled to a modem platform 510. Host platform 508 may include application processing circuitry 512, which may be coupled to protocol processing circuitry 514 of modem platform 510. Application processing circuitry 512 may run various applications for UE 502 that generate / consume application data. Application processing circuitry 512 may also implement one or more layer operations to send / receive application data to / from a data network. These layer operations may include transport (e.g., UDP) operations and internet (e.g., IP) operations.

[0061] Protocol processing circuitry 514 may implement one or more of the layer operations to facilitate sending or receiving data over connection 506. The layer operations implemented by protocol processing circuitry 514 may include, for example, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC, and NAS operations.

[0062] The modem platform 510 may also include a digital baseband circuit system 516 that may implement one or more layer operations that are performed as "lower" layer operations by the protocol processing circuit system 514 in the network protocol stack. These operations may include, for example, PHY operations, including one or more of the following: HARQ-ACK functions, scrambling / descrambling, encoding / decoding, layer mapping / demapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol / bit metric determination, multi-antenna port precoding / decoding (which may include one or more of the following: space-time, space-frequency, or space coding), reference signal generation / detection, preamble sequence generation and / or decoding, synchronization sequence generation / detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and other related functions.

[0063] Modem platform 510 may also include transmit circuitry 518, receive circuitry 520, RF circuitry 522, and an RF front end (RFFE) 524, which may include or be connected to one or more antenna panels 526. Briefly, transmit circuitry 518 may include digital-to-analog converters, mixers, intermediate frequency (IF) components, etc.; receive circuitry 520 may include analog-to-digital converters, mixers, IF components, etc.; RF circuitry 522 may include low-noise amplifiers, power amplifiers, power tracking components, etc.; and RFFE 524 may include filters (e.g., surface / bulk acoustic wave filters), switches, antenna tuners, beamforming components (e.g., phased array antenna components), etc. The selection and arrangement of the components of transmit circuitry 518, receive circuitry 520, RF circuitry 522, RFFE 524, and antenna panels 526 (generally referred to as "transmit / receive components") may be specific to the details of a particular implementation, such as whether the communication is TDM or FDM, at millimeter-wave or sub-6 GHz frequencies, etc. In some embodiments, the transmit / receive components may be arranged in multiple parallel transmit / receive chains, may be provided in the same or different chips / modules, etc.

[0064] In some embodiments, protocol processing circuitry 514 may include one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functionality for the transmit / receive components.

[0065] UE reception may be established by and via antenna panel 526, RFFE 524, RF circuitry 522, receive circuitry 520, digital baseband circuitry 516, and protocol processing circuitry 514. In some embodiments, antenna panel 526 may receive transmissions from AN 504 via receive beamforming signals received by multiple antennas / antenna elements of one or more antenna panels 526.

[0066] UE transmission may be established by and via protocol processing circuitry 514, digital baseband circuitry 516, transmit circuitry 518, RF circuitry 522, RFFE 524, and antenna panel 526. In some embodiments, the transmit component of UE 504 may apply a spatial filter to the data to be transmitted to form a transmit beam that is transmitted by the antenna elements of antenna panel 526.

[0067] Similar to UE 502, AN 504 may include a host platform 528 coupled to a modem platform 530. Host platform 528 may include application processing circuitry 532 coupled to protocol processing circuitry 534 of modem platform 530. The modem platform may also include digital baseband circuitry 536, transmit circuitry 538, receive circuitry 540, RF circuitry 542, RFFE circuitry 544, and antenna panel 546. The components of AN 504 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with similarly named components of UE 502. In addition to performing data transmission / reception as described above, the components of AN 508 may also perform various logical functions, including, for example, RNC functions, such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management, and data packet scheduling.

[0068] Figure 6 is a block diagram illustrating components according to some example embodiments that are capable of reading instructions from a machine-readable medium or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and performing any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically, Figure 6 A diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 600 is shown, including one or more processors (or processor cores) 610, one or more memory / storage devices 620, and one or more communication resources 630, each of which can be communicatively coupled via a bus 640 or other interface circuitry. For embodiments in which node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 602 can be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices / subslices to utilize the hardware resources 600.

[0069] Processor 610 may include, for example, processor 612 and processor 614. Processor 610 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0070] The memory / storage device 620 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory / storage device 620 may include, but is not limited to, any type of volatile, non-volatile, or semi-volatile memory, such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

[0071] The communication resources 630 may include interconnect or network interface controllers, components, or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 604 or one or more databases 606 or other network elements via the network 608. For example, the communication resources 630 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB, Ethernet, etc.), cellular communication components, NFC components, (or Low power) components, components and other communication components.

[0072] The instructions 650 may include software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least one of the processors 610 to perform any one or more of the methods discussed herein. The instructions 650 may reside, in whole or in part, within the processor 610 (e.g., within a cache memory of the processor), the memory / storage device 620, or any suitable combination thereof. In addition, any portion of the instructions 650 may be transferred to the hardware resources 600 from any combination of the peripheral devices 604 or the database 606. Thus, the memory of the processor 610, the memory / storage device 620, the peripheral devices 604, and the database 606 are examples of computer-readable media and machine-readable media.

[0073] Figure 7A network 700 according to various embodiments is shown. The network 700 can operate in a manner consistent with the 3GPP technical specifications or technical reports for 6G systems. In some embodiments, the network 700 can operate simultaneously with the network 400. For example, in some embodiments, the network 700 can share one or more frequency or bandwidth resources with the network 400. As a specific example, a UE (e.g., UE 702) can be configured to operate in both the network 700 and the network 400. This configuration can be based on a UE that includes a circuit system configured to communicate with the frequency and bandwidth resources of both the network 400 and the network 700. Typically, several elements of the network 700 can share one or more characteristics with elements of the network 400. For the sake of brevity and clarity, these elements may not be repeated in the description of the network 700.

[0074] The network 700 may include a UE 702, which may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device designed to communicate with the RAN 708 via an over-the-air connection. The UE 702 may be similar to, for example, the UE 402. The UE 702 may be, but is not limited to, a smartphone, a tablet computer, a wearable computer device, a desktop computer, a laptop computer, an in-vehicle infotainment device, an in-car entertainment device, an instrument cluster, a head-up display device, an on-board diagnostic device, a dashboard mobile device, a mobile data terminal, an electronic engine management system, an electronic / engine control unit, an electronic / engine control module, an embedded system, a sensor, a microcontroller, a control module, an engine management system, a networked device, a machine type communication device, an M2M or D2D device, an IoT device, etc.

[0075] Despite Figure 7 Although not specifically shown in FIG, in some embodiments, the network 700 may include multiple UEs directly coupled to each other via sidelink interfaces. The UEs may be M2M / D2D devices that communicate using physical sidelink channels (e.g., but not limited to, PSBCH, PSDCH, PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH, etc.). Similarly, although not shown in FIG, Figure 7 Specific examples are shown, but UE 702 can communicate with AP (e.g., Figure 4 406) are communicatively coupled. Figure 7 Specific examples are shown, but in some embodiments, the RAN 708 may include one or more ANs, e.g. Figure 4 The depicted AN 408. The RAN 708 and / or the AN of the RAN 708 may be referred to as a base station (BS), a RAN node, or by some other terminology or designation.

[0076] The UE 702 and the RAN 708 may be configured to communicate via an air interface that may be referred to as a sixth generation (6G) air interface. The 6G air interface may include one or more features, such as communication in terahertz (THz) or lower THz bandwidth, or joint communication and sensing. As used herein, the term "joint communication and sensing" may refer to a system that allows wireless communication as well as radar-based sensing via various types of multiplexing. As used herein, THz or lower THz bandwidth may refer to communication in a frequency range of 80 GHz and above. Such frequency ranges may additionally or alternatively be referred to as "millimeter wave" or "mmWave" frequency ranges.

[0077] The RAN 708 may enable communication between the UE 702 and the 6G core network (CN) 710. Specifically, the RAN 708 may facilitate the transmission and reception of data between the UE 702 and the 6G CN 710. The 6G CN 710 may include various functions, such as the NSSF 450, the NEF 452, the NRF 454, the PCF 456, the UDM 458, the AF 460, the SMF 446, and the AUSF 442. The 6G CN 710 may also include the UPF 448 and the DN 436, as shown in FIG. Figure 7 shown.

[0078] Additionally, the RAN 708 may include various additional functions that supplement or replace the functions of legacy cellular networks (e.g., 4G or 5G networks). Two such functions may include a compute control function (Comp CF) 724 and a compute service function (Comp SF) 736. The Comp CF 724 and the Comp SF 736 may be parts or functions of the compute service plane. The Comp CF 724 may be a control plane function that provides functions such as management of the Comp SF 736, generation and management of compute task contexts (e.g., create, read, modify, delete), interaction with the underlying compute infrastructure for compute resource management, and the like. The Comp SF 736 may be a user plane function that acts as a gateway to connect compute service users (e.g., UE 702) and the compute nodes behind the Comp SF instance. Some functions of the Comp SF 736 may include: parsing compute service data received from users to compute tasks that can be performed by the compute nodes; maintaining a service mesh entry gateway or service API gateway; service and billing policy enforcement; performance monitoring and telemetry collection, and the like. In some embodiments, a Comp SF 736 instance may serve as a user plane gateway for a cluster of compute nodes. A Comp CF 724 instance may control one or more Comp SF 736 instances.

[0079] Two other such functions may include the Communication Control Function (Comm CF) 728 and the Communication Service Function (CommSF) 738. Comm CF 728 and Comm SF 738 may be part of the communication service plane. Comm CF 728 may be a control plane function for managing Comm SF 738, communication session creation / configuration / release, and managing communication session context. Comm SF 738 may be a user plane function for data transmission. Comm CF 728 and Comm SF 738 may be considered as upgrades to SMF 446 and UPF 448. Figure 4 The upgrade provided by CommCF 728 and CommSF 738 enables service-aware transmission. For legacy (e.g., 4G or 5G) data transmission, SMF 446 and UPF 448 can still be used.

[0080] Two other such functions may include a data control function (data CF) 722 and a data service function (data SF) 732, which may be part of the data service plane. The data CF 722 may be a control plane function and provide functions such as data SF 732 management, data service creation / configuration / release, data service context management, etc. The data SF 732 may be a user plane function and serve as a gateway between data service users (e.g., various functions of the UE 702 and 6GCN 710) and data service endpoints behind the gateway. Specific functions may include parsing data service user data and forwarding it to the corresponding data service endpoint, generating billing data, and reporting data service status.

[0081] Another such function may be the Service Orchestration and Linking Function (SOCF) 720, which can discover, orchestrate, and link communication / computing / data services provided by functions in the network. Upon receiving a service request from a user, the SOCF 720 may interact with one or more of the Comp CF 724, Comm CF 728, and Data CF 722 to identify Comp SF 736, Comm SF 738, and Data SF 732 instances, configure service resources, and generate a service chain, which may include multiple Comp SF 736, Comm SF 738, and Data SF 732 instances and their associated compute endpoints. Workload processing and data movement can then occur within the generated service chain. The SOCF 720 may also be responsible for maintaining, updating, and releasing the created service chain.

[0082] Another such function may be a service registration function (SRF) 714, which may serve as a registry for system services provided in the user plane, such as services provided by service endpoints behind the Comp SF 736 and Data SF 732 gateways, and services provided by the UE 702. The SRF 714 may be considered a counterpart to the NRF 454, which may serve as a registry for network functions.

[0083] Other such functions may include the evolved service communication proxy (eSCP) and the service infrastructure control function (SICF) 726, which can provide service communication infrastructure for control plane services and user plane services. The eSCP can be related to the 5G service communication proxy (SCP) with the addition of user plane service communication proxy capabilities. Therefore, the eSCP is represented by two parts: eCSP-C 712 and eSCP-U 734, for control plane service communication proxy and user plane service communication proxy, respectively. The SICF 726 can control and configure the eCSP instance in terms of service traffic routing policies, access rules, load balancing configuration, performance monitoring, etc.

[0084] Another such function is AMF 744. AMF 744 may be similar to AMF 444, but with additional functionality. Specifically, AMF 744 may include potential functional repartitioning, for example, moving message forwarding functionality from AMF 744 to RAN 708.

[0085] Another such function is the Service Orchestration Exposure Function (SOEF) 718. The SOEF may be configured to expose service orchestration and linked services to external users such as applications.

[0086] The UE 702 may include an additional functionality referred to as a compute client service function (comp CSF) 704. The comp CSF 704 may have both control plane functionality and user plane functionality and may interact with corresponding network-side functions (e.g., SOCF 720, Comp CF 724, Comp SF 736, Data CF 722, and / or Data SF 732) for service discovery, request / response, computing task workload exchange, etc. The Comp CSF 704 may also work with the network-side functions to decide whether computing tasks should be run on elements of the UE 702, the RAN 708, and / or the 6G CN 710.

[0087] UE 702 and / or Comp CSF 704 may include a service mesh proxy 706. Service mesh proxy 706 may serve as a proxy for service-to-service communications in the user plane. The capabilities of service mesh proxy 706 may include one or more of addressing, security, load balancing, and the like.

[0088] Example Process

[0089] In some embodiments, Figure 4-Figure 7 Or some other figure(s) in this document, the (one or more) electronic devices, (one or more) networks, (one or more) systems, (one or more) chips or (one or more) components or parts or implementations thereof may be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques or methods or parts thereof as described herein. Figure 8 One such process 800 is depicted in FIG. The process 800 may be performed by a UE, a portion thereof, and / or a device including the UE. At 802, the process 800 may include receiving an indication of a Session Management Function (SMF) and / or a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway - Control Plane Function (PGW-C) capability to support UE Routing Policy (URSP) configuration in an Evolved Packet System (EPS) Extended Protocol Configuration Option (ePCO). At 804, the process 800 may also include sending a request for bearer resource modification based on the indication. The request may include a UE policy container, ePCO.

[0090] Figure 9 Another example process 900 according to various embodiments is shown. In some embodiments, process 900 may be performed by a session management function (SMF) and / or a packet data network (PDN) gateway-control plane function (PGW-C), a portion thereof, and / or a device including an SMF and / or PGW-C. At 902, process 900 may include receiving a PDN connection request and an indicator of extended protocol configuration option (ePCO) capabilities from a user equipment (UE). At 904, process 900 may also include sending an indication that the SMF and / or PGW-C supports UE routing policy (URSP) configuration in an evolved packet system (EPS) ePCO based on the ePCO.

[0091] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components described in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and / or methods as described in the Examples section below. For example, the baseband circuit system described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples described below. As another example, the circuit system associated with the UE, base station, network element, etc., as described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures, may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples described in the Examples section below.

[0092] Example

[0093] Example 1 may include one or more computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, configure a user equipment (UE) to: receive an indication of the capability of a session management function (SMF) and / or a packet data network (PDN) gateway-control plane function (PGW-C) to support UE routing policy (URSP) configuration in an evolved packet system (EPS); and send a request for bearer resource modification based on the indication.

[0094] Example 2 may include the one or more computer-readable media of Example 1, wherein the request includes a UE policy container.

[0095] Example 3 may include the one or more computer-readable media of Example 2, wherein the instructions, when executed, further configure the UE to receive the UE policy container having one or more URSP rules from a policy control function (PCF).

[0096] Example 4 may include the one or more computer-readable media of Example 1, wherein the indication is received in an extended protocol configuration option (ePCO) of a PDN Connect Accept message.

[0097] Example 5 may include the one or more computer-readable media of Example 1, wherein the request includes one or more policy section identifiers (PSIs) stored by the UE.

[0098] Example 6 may include one or more computer-readable media of any one of Examples 1-5, wherein the instructions, when executed, further configure the UE to: send a PDN connection request, the PDN connection request including an indication of URSP configuration support in the EPS, wherein the indication of the capability of the SMF and / or the PGW-C is received based on the indication of URSP configuration support in the EPS from the UE.

[0099] Example 7 may include an apparatus of a user equipment (UE), the apparatus comprising: a memory for storing UE routing policy (URSP) information; and a processor circuit system coupled to the memory, the processor circuit system for: sending a packet data network (PDN) connection request; receiving a response based on the PDN connection request, wherein the response includes an indication that a session management function (SMF) and a PDN gateway-control plane function (PGW-C) support URSP configuration in an evolved packet system (EPS); and initiating a UE request bearer resource modification procedure based on the indication.

[0100] Example 8 may include the apparatus of Example 7, wherein the PDN connection request includes an extended protocol configuration option (ePCO).

[0101] Example 9 may include the apparatus of Example 8, wherein the ePCO indicates that the UE supports URSP configuration in the EPS.

[0102] Example 10 may include the apparatus of Example 7, wherein the response comprises a PDN Connection Accept message.

[0103] Example 11 may include the apparatus of any of Examples 7-10, wherein initiating the request bearer resource modification procedure includes sending a UE policy container ePCO.

[0104] Example 12 may include the apparatus of Example 11, wherein the processor circuit system is further configured to: receive the UE policy container ePCO having one or more URSP rules from a policy control function (PCF); and update the URSP information according to the one or more URSP rules.

[0105] Example 13 may include the apparatus of Example 11, wherein the UE policy container ePCO includes one or more policy part identifiers (PSIs).

[0106] Example 14 may include one or more computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon, which, when executed by one or more processors, configure a session management function (SMF) and / or a packet data network (PDN) gateway-control plane function (PGW-C) to: receive a PDN connection request from a user equipment (UE), an indicator of extended protocol configuration option (ePCO) capability; and send an indication that the SMF and / or PGW-C supports UE routing policy (URSP) configuration in an evolved packet system (EPS) ePCO based on the ePCO.

[0107] Example 15 may include one or more computer-readable media of Example 14, wherein the instructions, when executed, further configure the SMF and / or PGW-C to: receive a UE policy container ePCO from the UE; and forward the UE policy container ePCO to a policy control function (PCF) associated with the PDN session of the UE.

[0108] Example 16 may include the one or more computer-readable media of Example 15, wherein the UE policy container ePCO includes one or more policy part identifiers (PSIs).

[0109] Example 17 may include the one or more computer-readable media of Example 15, wherein the UE policy container ePCO is received from the UE via a UE request bearer resource modification message.

[0110] Example 18 may include one or more computer-readable media of any one of Examples 15-17, wherein the instructions, when executed, further configure the SMF and / or PGW-C to: receive the UE policy container ePCO having one or more URSP rules from the PCF; and forward the UE policy container ePCO having the one or more URSP rules to the UE.

[0111] Example 19 may include one or more computer-readable media of Example 18, wherein, in order to forward the UE policy container ePCO having the one or more URSP rules to the UE, the SMF and / or PGW-C is used to include the UE policy container ePCO having the one or more URSP rules in a create bearer request message to a mobility management entity (MME).

[0112] Example 20 may include an apparatus comprising means for performing one or more elements of the method described in or related to any of Examples 1-19, or any other method or process described herein.

[0113] Example 21 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media, which include instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of Examples 1-19 or any other method or process described herein.

[0114] Example 22 may include an apparatus including logic, modules, or circuitry to perform one or more elements of the method described in or related to any of Examples 1-19 or any other method or process described herein.

[0115] Example 23 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or relating to any of Examples 1-19 (or portions or components thereof).

[0116] Example 24 may include a device comprising: one or more processors; and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the above-described methods, techniques, or processes, as described in or related to any of Examples 1-19 (or portions or components thereof).

[0117] Example 25 may include a signal as described in or relating to any of Examples 1-19 (or a portion or component thereof).

[0118] Example 26 may include a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of Examples 1-19 (or a portion or component thereof), or as otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0119] Example 27 may include a signal encoded with data as described in or relating to any of Examples 1-19 (or portions or components thereof), or as otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0120] Example 28 may include a signal encoded using a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message, as described in or related to any of Examples 1-19 (or a portion or component thereof), or as otherwise described in this disclosure.

[0121] Example 29 may include an electromagnetic signal carrying computer-readable instructions, wherein the computer-readable instructions are executed by one or more processors to cause the one or more processors to perform the above-mentioned methods, techniques, or processes, as described in any of Examples 1-19 (or portions thereof) or related to any of Examples 1-19.

[0122] Example 30 may include a computer program comprising instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element causes the processing element to perform the above-mentioned method, technique, or process, as described in or related to any of Examples 1-19 (or portions thereof).

[0123] Example 31 may include signals in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0124] Example 32 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

[0125] Example 33 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

[0126] Example 34 may include an apparatus for providing wireless communications as shown and described herein.

[0127] Unless otherwise expressly stated, any of the above examples may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples). The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of the various embodiments.

[0128] abbreviation

[0129] Unless otherwise used herein, the terms, definitions, and abbreviations may be consistent with those defined in 3GPP TR 21.905 v16.0.0 (2019-06). For the purposes of this document, the following abbreviations may be applied to the examples and embodiments discussed herein.

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[0147] the term

[0148] For the purposes of this document, the following terms and definitions apply to the examples and embodiments discussed herein.

[0149] The term "application" can refer to a complete and deployable grouping environment that implements a certain function in an operating environment. The term "AI / ML application" can refer to an application that includes some AI / ML models and application-level descriptions.

[0150] As used herein, the term "circuitry" refers to a hardware component (e.g., an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and / or memory (shared, dedicated, or group), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC), a digital signal processor (DSP), etc.) that is configured to provide the described functionality, is part of, or includes the hardware component. In some embodiments, the circuitry may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality. The term "circuitry" may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system) and program code for executing the functionality of the program code. In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a specific type of circuitry.

[0151] As used herein, the term "processor circuitry" refers to, is part of, or includes a circuitry that can sequentially and automatically perform a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations or record, store, and / or transmit digital data. The processing circuitry may include one or more processing cores for executing instructions and one or more memory structures for storing program and data information. The term "processor circuitry" may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and / or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer-executable instructions (e.g., program code, software modules, and / or functional processes). The processing circuitry may include more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, and the like. One or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and / or deep learning (DL) accelerators. The terms "application circuitry" and / or "baseband circuitry" may be considered synonymous with "processor circuitry" and may be referred to as "processor circuitry."

[0152] As used herein, the term "interface circuitry" refers to, is a part of, or includes circuitry that enables information to be exchanged between two or more components or devices. The term "interface circuitry" may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, such as a bus, an I / O interface, a peripheral component interface, a network interface card, and the like.

[0153] As used herein, the term "user equipment" or "UE" refers to a device with radio communication capabilities and may describe a remote user of network resources in a communication network. The term "user equipment" or "UE" may be considered synonymous with, and may be referred to as, a client, a mobile device, a mobile device, a mobile terminal, a user terminal, a mobile unit, a mobile station, a mobile user, a subscriber, a user, a remote station, an access agent, a user agent, a receiver, a radio device, a reconfigurable radio device, a reconfigurable mobile device, or the like. Furthermore, the term "user equipment" or "UE" may include any type of wireless / wired device or any computing device having a wireless communication interface.

[0154] As used herein, the term "network element" refers to a physical or virtualized device and / or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless communication network services. The term "network element" may be considered synonymous with and / or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network device, network node, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN equipment, RAN node, gateway, server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, etc.

[0155] As used herein, the term "computer system" refers to any type of interconnected electronic devices, computing devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the terms "computer system" and / or "system" may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled to one another. Furthermore, the terms "computer system" and / or "system" may refer to multiple computing devices and / or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled to one another and configured to share computing and / or networking resources.

[0156] As used herein, the terms "apparatus," "computer apparatus," and the like refer to a computer device or computer system having program code (e.g., software or firmware) specifically designed to provide specific computing resources. A "virtual apparatus" is a virtual machine image to be implemented by a hypervisor-equipped apparatus that virtualizes or emulates a computer apparatus or is otherwise dedicated to providing specific computing resources.

[0157] As used herein, the term "resource" refers to a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, a physical or virtual device, and / or a physical or virtual component within a specific device, such as computer equipment, mechanical equipment, memory space, processor / CPU time, processor / CPU usage, processor and accelerator load, hardware time or usage, power, input / output operations, ports or network slots, channel / link allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, network, database, and application, workload units, etc. "Hardware resources" may refer to computing, storage, and / or network resources provided by (one or more) physical hardware elements. "Virtualized resources" may refer to computing, storage, and / or network resources provided by a virtualized infrastructure to an application, device, system, etc. The term "network resources" or "communication resources" may refer to resources accessible to a computer device / system via a communication network. The term "system resources" may refer to any type of shared entity that provides a service, and may include computing and / or network resources. System resources may be considered to be a set of coherent functions, network data objects, or services accessible through a server, wherein such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable.

[0158] As used herein, the term "channel" refers to any transmission medium, tangible or intangible, for transmitting data or data streams. The term "channel" may be synonymous and / or equivalent to "communication channel," "data communication channel," "transmission channel," "data transmission channel," "access channel," "data access channel," "link," "data link," "carrier," "radio frequency carrier," and / or any other similar terms representing a path or medium through which data is transmitted. Additionally, the term "link," as used herein, refers to a connection between two devices over a RAT for the purpose of sending and receiving information.

[0159] As used herein, the terms "instantiate," "instantiate," and the like refer to the creation of an instance. "Instance" also refers to a specific occurrence of an object, such as an object may occur during the execution of program code.

[0160] The terms "coupled", "communicatively coupled" and their derivatives are used herein. The term "coupled" can mean that two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with each other, can mean that two or more elements are in indirect contact with each other but still cooperate or interact with each other, and / or can mean that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between elements that are referred to as being coupled to each other. The term "directly coupled" can mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with each other. The term "communicatively coupled" can mean that two or more elements can contact each other by means of communication (including by wired or other interconnected connections, by wireless communication channels or links, etc.).

[0161] The term "information element" refers to a structural element that contains one or more fields. The term "field" refers to the individual contents of an information element or a data element that contains content.

[0162] The term "SMTC" refers to the SSB-based measurement timing configuration configured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration.

[0163] The term "SSB" refers to SS / PBCH block.

[0164] The term "primary cell" refers to an MCG cell operating on a primary frequency, where the UE performs an initial connection establishment procedure or initiates a connection re-establishment procedure.

[0165] The term "primary SCG cell" refers to an SCG cell in which a UE performs random access when performing reconfiguration using a synchronization procedure for DC operation.

[0166] The term "secondary cell" refers to a cell that provides additional radio resources on top of a special cell for a UE configured with CA.

[0167] The term "secondary cell group" refers to a subset of serving cells for a UE configured with DC, which includes a PSCell and zero or more secondary cells.

[0168] The term "serving cell" refers to a primary cell for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED where CA / DC is not configured, and there is only one serving cell including the primary cell.

[0169] The term "serving cell" or "serving cells" refers to a set of cells including special cell(s) and all secondary cells for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED configured with CA / .

[0170] The term "special cell" refers to the PCell of an MCG or the PSCell of an SCG for DC operation; otherwise, the term "special cell" refers to the Pcell.

[0171] The term "machine learning" or "ML" refers to the use of a computer system to implement algorithms and / or statistical models to perform (one or more) specific tasks without using explicit instructions, but instead relying on patterns and inferences. ML algorithms build or estimate (one or more) mathematical models (called "ML models", etc.) based on sample data (called "training data", "model training information", etc.) in order to make predictions or decisions without being explicitly programmed to perform such tasks. Generally, an ML algorithm is a computer program that learns from experience about a certain task and a certain performance measure, and an ML model can be any object or data structure created after training an ML algorithm using one or more training data sets. After training, the ML model can be used to make predictions on new data sets. Although the term "ML algorithm" refers to a different concept than the term "ML model", for the purposes of this disclosure, these terms discussed herein can be used interchangeably.

[0172] The terms "machine learning model," "ML model," etc., may also refer to the ML methods and concepts used by ML-assisted solutions. An "ML-assisted solution" is a solution that uses ML algorithms to solve specific use cases during operation. ML models include supervised learning (e.g., linear regression, k-nearest neighbors (KNN), decision tree algorithms, support vector machines, Bayesian algorithms, ensemble algorithms, etc.), unsupervised learning (e.g., K-means clustering, principal component analysis (PCA), etc.), reinforcement learning (e.g., Q-learning, multi-armed bandit learning, deep RL, etc.), neural networks, etc. Depending on the implementation, a specific ML model may have many sub-models as components, and all sub-models may be trained together. Separately trained ML models may also be linked together in an ML pipeline during inference. An "ML pipeline" is a set of functional, functional, or functional entities specific to an ML-assisted solution; an ML pipeline may include one or more data sources and actors within the data pipeline, model training pipeline, and model evaluation pipeline. An "actor" is the entity that hosts the ML-assisted solution using the output of ML model inference. The term "ML training host" refers to the entity that hosts the training of a model, such as a network function. The term "ML inference host" refers to the entity that hosts the model during inference mode, which includes model execution and any online learning (if applicable). The ML host notifies the actors of the output of the ML algorithm, and the actors make decisions about actions (actors perform "actions" as a result of the output of the ML-assisted solution). The term "model inference information" refers to the information used as input to the ML model to determine (one or more) inferences; the data used to train the ML model and the data used to determine inferences can overlap, however, "training data" and "inference data" refer to different concepts.

Claims

1. One or more computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, configure a user equipment (UE) to: receiving an indication of a Session Management Function (SMF) and / or a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway - Control Plane Function (PGW-C) capability to support UE Routing Policy (URSP) configuration in an Evolved Packet System (EPS); and A request for bearer resource modification is sent based on the indication.

2. One or more computer-readable media according to claim 1, wherein: The request includes a UE policy container.

3. One or more computer-readable media according to claim 2, wherein: The instructions, when executed, further configure the UE to receive the UE policy container having one or more URSP rules from a policy control function (PCF).

4. One or more computer-readable media according to claim 1, wherein: The indication is received in an extended protocol configuration option (ePCO) of a PDN Connection Accept message.

5. One or more computer-readable media according to claim 1, wherein: The request includes one or more policy section identifiers (PSIs) stored by the UE.

6. One or more computer-readable media according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: When the instruction is executed, the UE is also configured to: send a PDN connection request, the PDN connection request including an indication of URSP configuration support in the EPS, wherein the indication of the capability of the SMF and / or the PGW-C is received based on the indication of URSP configuration support in the EPS from the UE.

7. A device of a user equipment (UE), the device comprising: a memory, the memory being configured to store UE routing policy (URSP) information; as well as processor circuitry coupled to the memory, the processor circuitry configured to: Sending a packet data network (PDN) connection request; receiving a response based on the PDN connection request, wherein the response includes an indication that a session management function (SMF) and a PDN gateway-control plane function (PGW-C) support URSP configuration in an evolved packet system (EPS); and A UE-requested bearer resource modification procedure is initiated based on the indication.

8. The device according to claim 7, wherein The PDN connection request includes an extended protocol configuration option (ePCO).

9. The device according to claim 8, wherein The ePCO instructs the UE to support URSP configuration in the EPS.

10. The device according to claim 7, wherein The response includes a PDN Connection Accept message.

11. The device according to any one of claims 7 to 10, wherein: Initiating the process of requesting bearer resource modification includes sending a UE policy container ePCO.

12. The device according to claim 11, wherein The processor circuit system is further configured to: receiving the UE policy container ePCO having one or more URSP rules from a Policy Control Function (PCF); and The URSP information is updated according to the one or more URSP rules.

13. The device according to claim 11, wherein The UE policy container ePCO includes one or more policy part identifiers (PSIs).

14. One or more computer-readable media having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by one or more processors, configure a session management function (SMF) and / or a packet data network (PDN) gateway-control plane function (PGW-C) to: receiving a PDN connection request and an indicator of extended protocol configuration option (ePCO) capability from a user equipment (UE); and The SMF and / or PGW-C sends an indication that the SMF and / or PGW-C supports UE routing policy (URSP) configuration in an evolved packet system (EPS) ePCO based on the ePCO.

15. One or more computer-readable media according to claim 14, wherein: When executed, the instructions further configure the SMF and / or PGW-C to: receiving a UE policy container ePCO from the UE; as well as The UE policy container ePCO is forwarded to a policy control function (PCF) associated with the PDN session of the UE.

16. One or more computer-readable media according to claim 15, wherein: The UE policy container ePCO includes one or more policy part identifiers (PSIs).

17. One or more computer-readable media according to claim 15, wherein: The UE policy container ePCO is received from the UE via a UE request bearer resource modification message.

18. One or more computer-readable media according to any one of claims 15-17, wherein: When executed, the instructions further configure the SMF and / or PGW-C to: receiving the UE policy container ePCO having one or more URSP rules from the PCF; and The UE policy container ePCO having the one or more URSP rules is forwarded to the UE.

19. One or more computer-readable media according to claim 18, wherein: In order to forward the UE policy container ePCO with the one or more URSP rules to the UE, the SMF and / or PGW-C is used to include the UE policy container ePCO with the one or more URSP rules in a create bearer request message to a mobility management entity (MME).

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