Managing node, and method performed therein

Abstract

Embodiments herein relate to a method performed by a managing node (15) for handling a service in a communication network. The managing node obtains a performance indication indicating a level of performance of the service being below or above a threshold; and initiates, based on the obtained performance5 indication, a collaboration between a first domain of the communication network, which first domain handles data traffic routing in the communication network, and a second domain of the communication network, which second domain handles application deployment in the communication network. The managing node (15) obtains data from the first domain and data from the second domain, and10 generates a response indication based on the obtained data, wherein the response indication indicates information related to handling data traffic routing in the communication network and / or handling application deployment in the communication network. The managing node (15) provides the response indication to the first domain of the communication network, and / or the second15 domain of the communication network.

Description

[0001] MANAGING NODE, AND METHOD PERFORMED THEREIN

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] Embodiments herein relate to a managing node, and a method performed therein regarding communication. Furthermore, a computer program product and a computer readable storage medium are also provided herein. In particular, embodiments herein relate to handling a service in a communication network.

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] In a typical communication network, user equipments (UE), also known as wireless communication devices, mobile stations, stations (STA) and / or wireless devices, communicate via an Access Network (AN), such as a radio access network (RAN), with one or more core networks (CN). A RAN covers a geographical area which is divided into service areas or cells, with each service area or cell being served by a radio network node such as an access node e.g. a Wi-Fi access point or a radio base station (RBS), which in some networks may also be called, for example, a NodeB, a gNodeB, or an eNodeB. The service area or cell is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the radio network node. The radio network node operates on radio frequencies to communicate over an air interface with the UEs within range of the radio network node. The radio network node communicates over a downlink (DL) to the UE and the UE communicates over an uplink (UL) to the radio network node.

[0006] A Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) is a third generation (3G) telecommunication network, which evolved from the second generation (2G) Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM). The UMTS terrestrial radio access network (UTRAN) is essentially a RAN using wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) and / or High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) for communication with user equipment. In a forum known as the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), telecommunications suppliers propose and agree upon standards for present and future generation networks and investigate e.g. enhanced data rate and radio capacity. In some RANs, e.g. as in UMTS, several radio network nodes may be connected, e.g., by landlines or microwave, to a controller node, such as a radio network controller (RNC) or a base station controller (BSC), which supervises and coordinates various activities of the plural radio network nodes connected thereto. The RNCs are typically connected to one or more core networks.

[0007] Specifications for the Evolved Packet System (EPS) have been completed within the 3GPP and coming 3GPP releases, such as New Radio (NR) and 6 generation (6G), are worked on. The EPS comprises the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), also known as the Long-Term Evolution (LTE) radio access network, and the Evolved Packet Core (EPC), also known as System Architecture Evolution (SAE) core network. E-UTRAN / LTE is a 3GPP radio access technology wherein the radio network nodes are directly connected to the EPC core network. As such, the Radio Access Network (RAN) of an EPS has an essentially non-hierarchical architecture comprising radio network nodes connected directly to one or more core networks.

[0008] With the emerging 5G technologies such as NR, the use of very many transmit- and receive-antenna elements may be of great interest as it makes it possible to utilize beamforming, such as transmit-side and receive-side beamforming. Transmit-side beamforming means that the transmitter can amplify the transmitted signals in a selected direction or directions, while suppressing the transmitted signals in other directions. Similarly, on the receive-side, a receiver can amplify signals from a selected direction or directions, while suppressing unwanted signals from other directions. NR is connected to a 5G Core Network (5GC) which comprises a number of Network Functions (NF) such as User Plane Function (UPF), Session Management Function (SMF), Access Management Function (AMF), Authentication Service Function (AUSF), Policy Control Function (PCF), Unified Data Manager (UDM), Network Repository Function (NRF), Network Exposure Function (NEF), just to mention some. In the 5GC, NFs can discover other NFs by using a discovery service provided by the Network Repository Function (NRF).

[0009] Augmented reality (AR) may be defined as an interactive experience that combines the real world and computer-generated content. The content can span multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory, haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. AR can be defined as a system that incorporates three basic features: a combination of real and virtual worlds, real-time interaction, and accurate three dimensional (3D) registration of virtual and real objects.

[0010] In addition to the “AR” term the industry uses two other related terms. Mixed reality (MR) is an advanced form of AR where some virtual elements are inserted into the physical scene with the intent to provide the illusion that these elements are part of the real scene. Extended reality (XR) refers to all real-and-virtual combined environments and human-machine interactions generated by computer technology and wearables. It includes representative forms such as AR, MR and virtual reality (VR) and the areas interpolated among them. The levels of virtuality range from partially sensory inputs to fully immersive VR. A key aspect of XR is the extension of human experiences especially relating to the senses of existence, represented by VR, and the acquisition of cognition, represented by AR. While it is herein mostly used the “AR” term in the description but “MR” and “XR” may equally be applied to embodiments herein.

[0011] Applications and services for smart phones, automotive, XR and smart manufacturing etc. are moving to the cloud, with 5G as the connectivity solution. Access needs to be optimized to guarantee a rich experience for consumers of an application or consumers of content. The optimization may involve the deployment of applications / content at edge cloud sites which are close to or even collocated with the mobile operator’s network. Typically, these edge empowered applications consist of an edge application client, running on the UE, which is connected via the mobile network, and an Edge Application Server (EAS), running in the edge hosting environment at the edge cloud site(s) to provide an edge service for the edge application client. When considering the cloud based XR gaming as an example, on the terminal device, the lightweight client function provides a minimum set of capabilities like rendering the VR / AR experience. It communicates with the cloud-based AR / VR services, like video coding, remote rendering, the gaming engine etc. which are deployed at edge cloud sites to fulfill for example low latency requirements. The server components of such edge applications could be deployed in the distributed edge cloud sites.

[0012] Fig.1 shows an example network connectivity of mobile network and edge sites.

[0013] In Fig. 1, the edge service deployment scenario in 5G network is illustrated. The edge runtime environment consists of multiple geographic distributed edge sites which can be deployed at the various locations in the mobile network and are connected to the core network through the User Plane Function (UPF). One edge site can be connected directly to multiple UPFs via the N6 interfaces defined in 5G network, while UPFs can also be connected directly to multiple edge sites. In addition, one edge site can communicate with other edge sites and the UPF can also communicate with other UPFs. The edge service may comprise multiple microservices which can be deployed into different clusters / edge sites. Each microservice may have one or more replicates in more than one edge sites.

[0014] When end users are requesting the deployed services, it is the mobile network that sets up the data plane path between the UEs and the edge site that hosts the selected service replicate. The application client on the UE needs firstly to discover a proper application server instance and the mobile network needs to setup a connectivity satisfying given quality of service (QoS) requirements accordingly.

[0015] Edge service discovery procedure may include UPF selection and edge service instance selection. Usually, the network control plane determines which UPF(s) the UE should be attached to only based on the policies within mobile network, without considering which edge service(s) UE is actually going to access. For example, the network control plane may apply policies for attaching a UE to UPFs based on location of the UE. With a list of candidate UPF’s selected, the selection of edge sites and routing from the UPF to the edge site could be handled via a domain name server (DNS). Operators may allow service providers to update DNS entries in order to select the edge site and control the routing from the UPF to edge.

[0016] Here the service selection may comprise selection of an ingress microservice of the requested service.

[0017] Deployment of applications are moving from the placement of monolithic application to services comprising smaller microservices. In addition to the general benefits of microservices such as high agility, flexibility, and scalability, deploying small sized microservices is particularly beneficial to edge sites which are usually resources limited. The smallest edge sites may only have a few physical services. For example, an edges site that is closer to the UEs but with less capacity may have only those microservices requiring frequent interaction with the mobile clients of UEs deployed in it. Other microservices may be deployed in those edge sites with larger capacity but being further away from the UE. But such distributed deployment across multiple edge sites introduces additional complexity and challenge, for example, how to determine the edge sites to run the replicates of the microservice belonging to the same edge service.

[0018] There is an increasing trend in the importance of cross-domain management of end-to-end services. For example, The ZSM framework reference architecture disclosed in ETSI GS ZSM 002 V1.1.1 (2019-08) defines a set of flexible and distributed management and services organized into management domains that are integrated via a cross-domain integration fabric. An end-to-end (E2E) service management domain in the framework provides end-to-end management of services provided by one or more management domains.

[0019] The vision of network compute fabric is that compute resources will be fully integrated with the network as a single unified execution environment, ensuring for example optimized application performance with real end-to-end guarantees. SUMMARY

[0020] As part of developing embodiments herein one or more problems have been identified. Currently UE traffic routing is managed by a mobile network, while the deployment lifecycle of an edge application is separately controlled by an edge cloud orchestrator. The network connectivity, conditions, and how the traffic from the UE is routed to the edge service can have significant impact on resource distribution and hence on the performance of the services hosted in the edge environment. Likewise, constraints in the cloud infrastructure may influence edge connectivity and traffic routing. Section ‘6.2 EAS Discovery and Re-discovery’ in 3GPP 23.548: 5G System Enhancement for Edge Computing, Stage 2, V17.1.0, 2021-12 specifies the procedure of conveying EAS deployment information to 5G Core Network, from application function (AF) via NEF or direct provisioning, to SMF, which later establishes the traffic routing path for the discovered EAS IP address, through DNS procedure, based on the corresponding EAS deployment information. Section ‘8.5 EAS Discovery’ in 3GPP TS 23.558: Architecture for enabling Edge Applications, Release 17, V17.20.0, 2021-12 specifies how edge enablement server selects a proper EAS based on the UE location and the dynamic status of EAS instances.

[0021] As mentioned previously, even if service discovery can be done dynamically it is far from sufficient for adaptive performance optimization. Firstly, performance management throughout the application lifetime requires a continuous performance monitoring and optimization. Secondly, the procedure may result in the mobile network making decision that may affect the performance of the application in the edge cloud.

[0022] Let’s take example use cases to show one or more problems in existing systems, see Fig. 2. For clarity, the scenarios are kept simpler than a full real world use cases. Initially the UE is accessing the service, such as the ingress microservice ms1 and the dependent service ms2, at edge site A through UPF1 , left in Fig. 2.

[0023] Scenariol shows a case where performance is met with high overhead.

[0024] The scenariol shows a change in UPF, from UPF1 to UPF2, due to, for example, mobility of UE1. We consider two example options with decisions that fulfill performance requirements but with different re-configuration costs. The first option, denoted as scenariol-optionl , leads to a change in the edge site where the UE is served, i.e., from edge site A to edge site B. The edge platform also performs replication of the dependent service (ms2) at edge site B. Another option, denoted as scenario1-option2, is the UE still access edge site A but through the newly selected UPF. Edge site A is far from UPF2 compared to edge site B. Both options require selection of UPF and routing from the UPF to the edge sites. The first option also needs to instantiate a new instance making it more costly, and may result in higher reaction time and / or resource over-provisioning. There is no mechanism that evaluates the impact of changes, i.e. , both the potential gain and cost of re-configuration of each decision before making the final decision.

[0025] Scenario2 shows a case where actions do not lead to global optimum.

[0026] The scenario2 considers a decision at the network, by also considering the distribution of the ingress service ms1 in the edge cloud, that results in a re-selection of UPF and an edge site (to LIPF2 and to edge site B) due to mobility of UE1, shown as scenario2 in Fig. 2. This may create a high demand on the link connecting microservice ms1 in edge site B and ms2 in edge site A, consequently affecting the QoS of the service. It will be challenging to achieve a given global E2E requirement objective without synchronized, cross-functional knowledge and orchestration.

[0027] Scenarios, not shown, relates to a case where decision-making leads to limited performance improvement.

[0028] The scenarios considers the case where no action in the mobile network, e.g., initial state, scenario1-option2, scenario2 in the Fig. 2, results in the fulfilment of network side performance requirement if there is no multiple levels of interaction and joint optimization. For instance, the decision to select LIPF2 and edge site B for the mobile UE (i.e., scenario2) alone may not guarantee service performance requirement.

[0029] Scenario4, not shown, relates to a case where actions lead to un-converged adjustment.

[0030] It might be the case that the environment is dynamic and when conditions change frequently performing own optimization of traffic routing and deployment based on the information they could obtain (in unidirectional manner), might lead to failure to observe the effects of the new resource allocation, result in more variable performance and a solution not converging.

[0031] An object herein is to provide a mechanism to handle a service in an efficient manner to improve performance of a communication network.

[0032] According to an aspect the object is achieved, according to some embodiments herein, by providing a method performed by a managing node, such as an operations, administration and maintenance (OAM) node, for handling a service in a communication network. The managing node obtains a performance indication indicating a level of performance of the service being below or above a threshold; and initiates, based on the obtained performance indication, a collaboration between a first domain of the communication network, which first domain handles data traffic routing in the communication network, and a second domain of the communication network, which second domain handles application deployment in the communication network. The managing node obtains data from the first domain and data from the second domain, and generates a response indication based on the obtained data, wherein the response indication indicates information related to handling data traffic routing in the communication network and / or handling application deployment in the communication network. The managing node provides the response indication to the first domain of the communication network, and / or the second domain of the communication network.

[0033] According to another aspect the object is achieved, according to some embodiments herein, by providing a managing node for handling a service in a communication network. The managing node is configured to obtain a performance indication indicating a level of performance of the service being below or above a threshold; and to initiate, based on the obtained performance indication, a collaboration between a first domain of the communication network, which first domain handles data traffic routing in the communication network, and a second domain of the communication network, which second domain handles application deployment in the communication network. The managing node is further configured to obtain data from the first domain and data from the second domain, and to generate a response indication based on the obtained data, wherein the response indication indicates information related to handling data traffic routing in the communication network and / or handling application deployment in the communication network. The managing node is configured to provide the response indication to the first domain of the communication network, and / or the second domain of the communication network.

[0034] It is furthermore provided herein a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method herein, as performed by the managing node. It is additionally provided herein a computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method herein, as performed by the managing node.

[0035] Embodiments herein propose a coordinated method between a first domain such as mobile network and a second domain such as edge cloud domain to harmoniously and jointly optimize the UE traffic routing and edge application distribution in the fulfillment of a given QoS requirement. Embodiments herein provide a method allowing end to end (E2E) performance adaptation and enhancement by taking full advantage of the collaboration between domains such as mobile network and edge cloud domains. This is useful for emerging use cases having strict performance requirements and for future generation of mobile networks (such as 6G) in providing E2E support with highest efficiency. In particular, embodiments herein provide one or more of the following advantages:

[0036] • provide a flexible decision making, i.e. , UE traffic routing decisions are not constrained by individual deployment decision and conversely deployment decisions are not constrained by individual UE traffic routing decisions.

[0037] • hide complexity in multi-domain environment by providing a unified optimal solution to the UE routing and deployment problem.

[0038] • mitigate service performance issues in a wide area edge deployment through a cross-layer orchestration.

[0039] • minimize communication / coordination overhead by instantiating cross-level optimization only when needed.

[0040] This will thus result in an improved performance of the communication network handling a service in the communication network.

[0041] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0042] Embodiments will now be described in more detail in relation to the enclosed drawings, in which:

[0043] Fig. 1 shows a schematic architecture according to prior art;

[0044] Fig. 2 shows schematic scenarios according to prior art;

[0045] Fig. 3 shows an overview depicting a communication network according to embodiments herein;

[0046] Fig. 4 shows a signalling scheme according to some embodiments herein;

[0047] Fig. 5 shows a flowchart illustrating a method performed by a managing node according to embodiments herein;

[0048] Fig. 6 shows a schematic overview according to some embodiments herein;

[0049] Fig. 7 shows a list of possible actions according to some embodiments herein;

[0050] Fig. 8 shows a signalling scheme according to some embodiments herein;

[0051] Fig. 9 shows a block diagram depicting a first managing node according to embodiments herein;

[0052] Fig. 10 schematically illustrates a telecommunication network connected via an intermediate network to a host computer; Fig. 11 is a generalized block diagram of a host computer communicating via a base station with a user equipment over a partially wireless connection; and

[0053] Figs. 12, 13, 14, and 15 are flowcharts illustrating methods implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment.

[0054] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0055] Embodiments herein relate to communication networks in general. Fig. 3 is a schematic overview depicting a communication network 1. The communication network 1 comprises one or more RANs and one or more CNs. The communication network 1 may use one or a number of different technologies. Embodiments herein relate to recent technology trends that are of particular interest in a New Radio (NR) context, however, embodiments are also applicable in further development of existing wireless communications systems such as e.g. Wi-Fi, LTE or Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA).

[0056] In the communication network 1, a user equipment (UE) 10 exemplified herein as a wireless device such as a mobile station, a non-access point (non-AP) station (STA), a STA and / or a wireless terminal, is comprised communicating via e.g. one or more Access Networks (AN), e.g. radio access network (RAN), to one or more core networks (CN). It should be understood by the skilled in the art that “UE” is a non-limiting term which means any terminal, wireless communications terminal, user equipment, narrowband internet of things (NB-loT) device, Machine Type Communication (MTC) device, Device to Device (D2D) terminal, or node e.g. smart phone, laptop, mobile phone, sensor, relay, mobile tablets or even a small base station capable of communicating using radio communication with a radio network node within an area served by the radio network node.

[0057] The communication network 1 comprises a first radio network node 12 or just radio network node, providing radio coverage over a geographical area, a first service area 11 or first cell, of a first radio access technology (RAT), such as NR, LTE, or similar. The radio network node 12 may be a transmission and reception point such as an access node, an access controller, a base station, e.g. a radio base station such as a gNodeB (gNB), an evolved Node B (eNB, eNode B), a NodeB, a base transceiver station, a radio remote unit, an Access Point Base Station, a base station router, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point or an Access Point Station (AP STA), a transmission arrangement of a radio base station, a stand-alone access point or any other network unit or node capable of communicating with a UE within the area served by the first radio network node depending e.g. on the first radio access technology and terminology used. The first radio network node may be referred to as a serving radio network node wherein the service area may be referred to as a serving cell, and the serving network node communicates with the wireless device in form of DL transmissions to the wireless device and UL transmissions from the wireless device. It should be noted that a service area may be denoted as cell, beam, beam group or similar to define an area of radio coverage.

[0058] The communication network 1 comprises a second radio network node 13 or just radio network node, providing radio coverage over a geographical area, a second service area 14 or second cell, of a second radio access technology (RAT), such as NR, LTE, or similar. The second radio network node 13 may be a transmission and reception point such as an access node, an access controller, a base station, e.g. a radio base station such as a gNodeB (gNB), an evolved Node B (eNB, eNode B), a NodeB, a base transceiver station, a radio remote unit, an Access Point Base Station, a base station router, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point or an Access Point Station (AP STA), a transmission arrangement of a radio base station, a stand-alone access point or any other network unit or node capable of communicating with a wireless device within the area served by the second radio network node depending e.g. on the first radio access technology and terminology used. The second radio network node may be referred to as a visiting radio network node or target radio network node, wherein the service area may be referred to as a visiting cell or target cell, and the second radio network node communicates with the UE in form of DL transmissions to the UE and UL transmissions from the UE. It should be noted that a service area may be denoted as cell, beam, beam group or similar to define an area of radio coverage.

[0059] The communication network may comprise a network comprising one or more managing network nodes. For example, an OAM node or another network node.

[0060] A first managing node 15 , also referred to as the managing node 15, may thus be a managing node in a centralized manner and a second managing node 16 may be a managing node for a certain domain or implementation of the communication network. For example, the second managing node 16 may be a managing node in a data traffic routing domain or a managing node in an application deployment domain. The managing node 15 may, in some embodiments, comprise one or more second managing nodes 16.

[0061] The communication network 1 may further comprise a number of core network nodes providing, e.g. in NR, network functions (NF) or actually instantiations of NFs also referred to as NF instances, such as a second network node 17 providing, for example, an instantiation of a UPF, a fourth network node 18 providing an instantiation of an SMF, and a third network node 19 providing, for example, an instantiation of an AMF, or any other NF instances in the communication network 1. The different NF instances may have different tasks. Other functions may be for LTE such as MME or similar.

[0062] The respective managing node may be a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server or processing resources in a server farm or same node. Embodiments herein may be implemented as physical bare metal, virtual or cloud native such as Kubernetes environment in, e.g., hyper-cloud networks.

[0063] Although present works contribute to an enhanced QoS experience, they are not enough to conform to the QoS requirements for performance-critical services. There is no direct, synchronized, and joint coordination to handle both UE traffic routing and application deployment for the full attainment of E2E performance, a requirement for the new emerging uses cases.

[0064] Having a visibility of each layer and making an informed decision dynamically by considering the gains, e.g., performance improvement and costs, such as resource reconfiguration cost, of the combined UE traffic routing and application deployment decisions would be very important for the provisioning of an enhanced and synchronized E2E performance with minimal overhead. This would be in particular very useful for services that require high-performance end to end.

[0065] Embodiments herein may jointly consider data such as service, infrastructure and topology information in the mobile network and edge cloud for proper configuration of both UE traffic routing and service deployment. By this, it mitigates the issues with prior works in terms of low cost, enhanced flexibility, performance improvement, and converged decision making.

[0066] The proposed method is able to evaluate actions with respect to their impact on performance fulfilment and optimal resource reconfiguration. It then selects and executes the optimal action(s) that meets performance requirements with minimal cost. The control mechanism is dynamic and automatic to handle E2E QoS requirement throughout the life cycle of the service.

[0067] Fig. 4 is an example of a combined flowchart and signalling scheme according to some embodiments herein.

[0068] Action 401. A second managing node 16 such as a traffic routing manager may send data to the managing node 15, for example, performance data such as mobile network side latency. Action 402. Another second managing node 16’ such as a deployment manager may send data to the managing node 15, for example, performance data such as edge cloud side latency.

[0069] Action 403. The managing node 15 then detects a performance violation or a performance that goes beyond a set threshold. The managing node 15 may for example, determine or detect that obtained performance data of one or more second managing nodes be over or below a respective set performance threshold, such as a set value.

[0070] Action 404. The managing node 15, upon detection of performance goes beyond the threshold, initiate collaboration of the different domains. The managing node 15 may transmit a request to respective domain (managing node) for collaborate. The managing node 15 may transmit a subscription request to the second managing node 16 requesting for monitoring data of the data traffic routing domain.

[0071] Action 405. The managing node 15 may transmit a subscription request to the other second managing node 16’ requesting for monitoring data of the application deployment domain.

[0072] Thus, the managing node 15 may collect and aggregate domain specific knowledge including aggregation of service performance in a mobile network and an edge cloud over a given period and aggregation of resource usage that are related to individual microservices of the service.

[0073] Action 406. The managing node 15 may analyze and evaluate the monitored data from respective domain. This may be performed using a machine learning (ML) technique that incrementally learns from its environment while taking actions. It may consider cross domain metrics such as current configuration, performance, service properties, topology as inputs and make an action to a select / unselect routing and / or deployment configurations that minimize performance violation. It may also take historical information into account. This results in a generated response indication suggesting a handling of traffic routing and / or deployment of applications / services. The response indication may comprise information such as deployment configuration that may contain the scaling, migration, and / or deployment decision for one or more instances of a service chain, and / or routing configuration that may comprise information for a change in UPF and / or edge site hosting the ingress service of the microservice chain.

[0074] Action 407. The managing node 15 may transmit the response indication, in case of comprising routing configuration, to the second managing node 16.

[0075] Action 408. The managing node 15 may transmit the response indication, in case of comprising deployment configuration, to the other second managing node 16’. Action 409. The second managing node 16 may evaluate the response indication indicating suggested actions that can be performed, e.g., UPF and / or edge site reselection. The second managing node 16 may or may not accept the response indication based on factors such as agreements on service level.

[0076] Action 410. The other second managing node 16’ may evaluate the response indication indicating suggested actions that can be performed, e.g., re-deployment, scaling, and / or migration of microservice instances. The other second managing node 16’ may or may not accept the response indication based on factors such as agreements on service level.

[0077] Action 411. The second managing node 16 may transmit a message indication whether response indication is accepted or rejected.

[0078] Action 412. The other second managing node 16’ may then transmit a message indication whether response indication is accepted or rejected.

[0079] Action 413. The managing node 15 may, based on one or more received message indications, generate a notify message. The managing nodes may negotiate in case the response indication is rejected by any of the second managing nodes.

[0080] Action 414. The managing node 15 may, upon confirmation from respective domain, send a notify message notifying respective domain to initiate configuration according to the response indication. The managing node may transmit a notify message to the second managing node 16.

[0081] Action 415. The managing node 15 may transmit a notify message to the other second managing node 16’.

[0082] Action 416. The second managing node 16 may then initiate changes according to the response indication.

[0083] Action 417. The other second managing node 16’ may then initiate changes according to the response indication.

[0084] The method actions performed by the managing node 15, such as an OAM node, for handling a service in the communication network 1, for example, handling data traffic routing and / or application deployment, according to embodiments herein will now be described with reference to a flowchart depicted in Fig. 5. The actions do not have to be taken in the order stated below, but may be taken in any suitable order. Actions performed in some embodiments are marked with dashed boxes.

[0085] Action 501. The managing node 15 may obtain performance data from a first domain of the communication network, which first domain handles data traffic routing in the communication network, and a second domain of the communication network, which second domain handles application deployment in the communication network. Each domain may comprise a separate managing node, e.g., the second managing node 16 such as a traffic routing manager, and the other second managing node 16’ such as an application deployment manager.

[0086] Action 502. The managing node 15 obtains a performance indication indicating a level of performance of the service being beyond, i.e., below or above, a threshold. For example, the managing node 15 may detect a condition being fulfilled indicating a performance violation of the service such as below a set E2E performance. The managing node 15 may thus from the obtained performance indication detect a performance violation. The managing node 15 may receive the performance indication from another network node and / or read the performance indication internally. The respective second managing node may apply a local control loop for the performance assurance based on the current performance requirements, i.e., cloud-side and network-side performance requirements respectively. As part of continuous performance monitoring by the managing node 15, the managing node 15 may detect E2E performance violation of a service chain, that has not been resolved locally, based on for example, the obtained performance data.

[0087] Action 503. The managing node 15 initiates, based on the obtained performance indication, a collaboration between a first domain of the communication network, which first domain handles data traffic routing in the communication network, and a second domain of the communication network, which second domain handles application deployment in the communication network. The managing node 15 may send a respective request for collaborating to the second managing node 16 and the other second managing node 16’ in order to resolve the detected performance violation.

[0088] Action 504. The managing node 15 then obtains data from the first domain and data from the second domain. For example, the managing node 15 may subscribe to collect data relating to the service, performance and resource metrics from the first domain such as a mobile network (MN) Monitoring, and the second domain such as an edge cloud (EC) Monitoring. The managing node may subscribe for monitoring data from the first domain and / or the second domain of the communication network.

[0089] Action 505. The managing node 15 generates a response indication based on the obtained data, wherein the response indication indicates information related to handling data traffic routing in the communication network and / or handling application deployment in the communication network. The managing node 15 may generate the response indication by evaluating the obtained data. The managing node 15 may generate the response indication by analyzing one or more metrics, from monitored data from the respective domain, associated with one or more routing and / or deployment configurations. For example, the managing node 15 may retrieve and analyze monitoring data from a MN Monitoring, e.g., through NEF, and an EC Monitoring, e.g., through EC Exposure, that includes, e.g., service topology, e.g. service dependencies, current performance, e.g., latency, throughput, of individual services in a service chain, aggregated current and target performance requirements at network and edge cloud side as well as E2E performance target of a service chain, deployment and traffic path information of the service chain, infrastructure topology, i.e. , Network topology, edge infrastructure topology, resource, e.g. central processing unit (CPU), memory, capacity and status information. The managing node 15 may further evaluate metrics, may dynamically map the E2E SLO to cloud-side and mobile network side SLOs and / or map the metrics to routing and deployment configurations. The evaluation may be based on history information, estimation, calculation or similar.

[0090] The response indication may comprise information such as deployment configuration that may contain the scaling, migration, and / or deployment decision for one or more instances of a service chain, and / or routing configuration that may comprise information for a change in UPF and / or edge site hosting the ingress service of the microservice chain. Thus, the information may comprise suggested traffic routing and / or application deployment.

[0091] Action 506. The managing node 15 provides the response indication to the first domain of the communication network, and / or the second domain of the communication network. Thus, the managing node 15 may transmit suggested traffic routing and / or application deployment to respective domain. For example, the managing node 15 may send a traffic routing decision to the second managing node 16 and / or a deployment decision to the other second managing node 16’ as proposals. The managing node 15 may initiate an evaluation of the response indication at the first domain and / or the second domain by providing the response indication.

[0092] Action 507. The response indication may be evaluated at the first domain and / or the second domain of the communication network. For example, the managing node 15 may, when comprising one or more second managing nodes, evaluate the response indication at the respective domain of the communication network. This may alternatively, or additionally, may be performed at respective domain that may comprise a respective second managing node. Thus, the second managing node 16 and the other second managing node 16’ may evaluate the proposals accordingly. The evaluation may be based on history information, estimation, calculation of data or similar.

[0093] Action 508. The managing node 15 may receive from the first domain and / or the second domain of the communication network, one or more messages in response to the response indication indicating confirmation or rejection of the information.

[0094] The managing node 15 may receive, from the first domain and / or the second domain of the communication network, a respective message in response to the response indication indicating confirmation or not of the information. For example, the managing node 15 may receive a respective decision or indication of decision from the second managing node 16 and the second managing node 16’.

[0095] Action 509. The managing node 15 may transmit, upon the one or more messages indicate confirmation, to the first domain and / or the second domain of the communication network, one or more notify messages notifying the first domain and / or the second domain of the communication network to initiate configuration according to the response indication. Thus, the managing node may transmit a notify message notifying respective domain to initiate configuration according to the response indication.

[0096] Action 510. The managing node 15 may, when comprising the second managing node 16 and / or the other second managing node 16’, initiate or apply configuration, such as deployment, scaling, orchestration or traffic routing change or changes based on the one or more notify messages.

[0097] The proposed method is mainly performed through the interaction between subsystems in the multi-domain environment. The subsystems may broadly be grouped into three: the deployment management in the edge cloud, the UE traffic routing management in the mobile network and the E2E performance management sub-systems. The interaction and type of information transmitted depends on how the collaboration is carried out.

[0098] The UE traffic routing management and the deployment management subsystems normally perform a local decision to fulfill their individual performance target, contributing to an E2E performance. In cases where collaboration is needed, e.g., when the E2E performance is violated, they can communicate with the E2E performance management sub-system to instantiate collaboration.

[0099] The E2E performance management sub-system can also initiate the collaboration. It can subscribe to receive service, resource, and topology related information from the two sub-systems. It aggregates the received domain-specific information to form a global knowledge, map the reported metrics into routing and deployment configurations. The routing configuration may incorporate information for a change in UPF and / or edge site hosting the ingress service of the microservice chain and the deployment configuration may contain the scaling, migration, and / or re- deployment decision for one or more instances of a service chain and / or microservices of a given service chain. Then the E2E performance management sub-system sends traffic routing and deployments decisions as proposals to the UE traffic routing management and application deployment management sub-systems. The UE traffic routing management and application deployment management sub-systems evaluate the proposals and send their decision accordingly. If they accept the proposal, the E2E performance management sub-system sends notifications to them to make routing and deployment changes respectively. The UE traffic routing management and application deployment management sub-systems make the necessary configuration changes, for example by calling the edge cloud orchestration framework (e.g., Kubernetes) to re-deploy the microservices belonging to the microservice chain into corresponding edge sites in the case of application deployment management sub-system and by interacting and triggering a network component (e.g., SMF) that perform UPF (re-) selection, and / or the DNS resolver to control the routing from the UPF to edge in the case of UE traffic routing management sub-system.

[0100] For example, the method that coordinates the mobile network and the edge cloud in the combined selection of distribution of edge application and UE traffic routing to provide synchronized and enhanced E2E performance. The method may comprise:

[0101] • Tuning / triggering traffic routing operation based on the operations of deployment in the edge environment and vice versa

[0102] • Decision of UE routing not to be constrained by individual decision of deployment and vice versa

[0103] • Translation of cross-domain parameters to routing and deployment configurations

[0104] • Tweaking UPF selection by extending the capabilities of existing mobile network

[0105] Fig. 6 shows the management functions for ensuring E2E performance. The end- to-end (E2E) service performance are mainly determined by the performance of the service both at network and edge cloud layers and hence a Service Level Objective (SLO) targets are specified to represent E2E performance target covering the network and cloud side requirements. The E2E SLO can be decomposed into SLOs for constituent network and edge cloud parts. A MN Traffic Routing Manager 610 and an Application Deployment Manager 620, being examples of second managing nodes, normally work independently in optimizing to fulfill their individual performance target, i.e. , the networkside and edge cloud-side SLO targets respectively. This is achieved through a continues monitoring, decision making, and execution of actions.

[0106] The Application Deployment Manager 620 may decide the best location where the different application components or micro-services shall be hosted in the distributed infrastructure based on the information provided by the application, e.g., application structure and cloud-side performance requirements, and edge cloud infrastructure, e.g., edge topology and resource usage. The optimization can be adapted to dynamic conditions in the edge cloud via continuous placement updates and scaling of service instances.

[0107] The MN Traffic Routing Manager 610 may configure connectivity based on network conditions and mobile-side performance requirement. The connectivity consists of RAN, user plane path traversing core network and networking between UPF and EAS instance. The MN Traffic Routing Manager 610 determines which instance of the EAS and the corresponding UPF should be used. This need to be done dynamically for example by applying policies that attach a client to UPFs based on location and network conditions. For efficient decision, the MN Traffic Routing Manager 610 may use techniques such as caching to extract the latest information about the selected UPF for a given UE and its performance. It may also consider the impact of other UEs in the UPF selection process.

[0108] In cases where collaboration is needed, i.e., detected by the managing node 15, for example that i) a performance degradation in the mobile network could not be solved locally through traffic re-routing, e.g., UPF selection, and edge site selection, ii) a performance degradation in the edge cloud could not be solved locally through application deployment / distribution, e.g., placement, scaling up and scaling down, iii) E2E performance violation, cross-domain knowledge is needed to exploit a wider view of the system. The low-level domain management systems, i.e., the Application Deployment Manager and the MN Traffic Routing Manager, can send request to an E2E Application Manager 630, being an example of the managing node 15, for enhanced decision making. The E2E Application Manager 630 may thus initiate the collaboration.

[0109] Depending on how the collaboration is initiated, the E2E Application Manager 630 may send request to collaborate to the MN Traffic Routing Manager 610 for UE re-routing in the mobile network and / or to the Application Deployment Manager 620 for service redeployments. The E2E Application Manager 630 may also subscribe to data of service, performance, and resource metrics of a mobile network (MN) Monitor 612 and edge cloud (EC) Monitor 622. Monitoring data from the MN Monitor (e.g., through NEF) 612 and EC Monitor 622, e.g., through EC Exposure, including the service topology, e.g. service dependencies, current performance, e.g., latency, throughput, of individual services in a service chain, aggregated current and target performance requirements at network and edge cloud side as well as E2E performance target of a service chain, deployment and traffic path information of the service chain, infrastructure topology, i.e., Network topology, edge infrastructure topology, resource, e.g. central processing unit (CPU) capacity, memory capacity, and capacity information are sent and to an E2E Data Analyzer 632.

[0110] The E2E Data Analyzer 632 may collect and aggregate domain specific knowledge including aggregation of service performance in the mobile network and edge cloud over a given period and aggregation of resource usage that are related to individual microservices, such as Pods and / or virtual machines (VM), service chains and edge sites. The E2E Data Analyzer 632 may report the performance, service, and resource parameters to an E2E Translator 634 when the latter is triggered by the E2E Application Manager 630.

[0111] The E2E Translator 634 may then evaluate the reported metrics, may, for example, dynamically map the E2E SLO to cloud-side and mobile network side SLOs and / or map the metrics to routing and deployment configurations. The deployment configuration may contain the scaling, migration, and (re-) deployment decision for one or more instances of a service chain and routing configuration may incorporate information for a change in UPF and / or edge site hosting the ingress service of the microservice chain.

[0112] The E2E Translator 634 may be implemented using machine learning (ML) techniques such as RL-based methods that incrementally learns from its environment while taking actions. It may consider cross domain metrics such as current configuration, performance, service properties, topology as inputs and make an action to a select / unselect routing and / or deployment configurations that minimize performance violation. This may also take historical information into account.

[0113] The E2E Translator 634 may send traffic routing and deployments decisions as proposals to the MN Traffic Routing Manager 610 and the Application Deployment Manager 620 respectively. MN Traffic Routing Manager and Edge Application Deployment Manager evaluate the proposals accordingly. The proposals indicate the actions that can be performed, e.g., re-placement, scaling, UPF and / or application server re-selection. It can also provide other related information, for example, the potential performance gain and the potential cost of each action. Then the MN Traffic Routing Manager 610 and Edge Application Deployment Manager 620 send their decision accordingly. If the MN Traffic Routing Manager 610 and Edge Application Deployment Manager 620 accept the proposal, the E2E Application Manager 630 sends notifications to them to make routing and deployment changes respectively. The MN Traffic Routing Manager 610 and Edge Application Deployment Manager 620 make the necessary configuration changes for the new mapping.

[0114] The Application Deployment Manager 620 may generate deployments configuration to make the necessary deployment changes according to the cloud orchestration framework used. The Application Deployment Manager 620 may call edge cloud orchestration framework, e.g., Kubernetes, for example, to re-deploy the microservices belonging to the microservice chain into corresponding edge sites. The MN Traffic Routing Manager 610 may work to tune traffic routing by interacting and triggering a network component, e.g., SMF, that performs UPF (re-) selection and / or control the routing from the UPF to edge, e.g., the DNS resolver. The actuators may then apply the configurations, for example, the SMF update the policy and changes the routing for requests based on the newly selected UPF(s),and the DNS resolver updates DNS entries to select the edge site hosting the ingress service of the service chain.

[0115] If the MN Traffic Routing Manager 610 and / or the Edge Application Deployment Manager 620 don’t accept any of the proposals from the E2E Application Manager 630, the E2E Application Manager 630 may notify that it is not possible to fulfill requirement. This may result for instance in re-negotiation of service level agreement (SLA), prioritization, etc.

[0116] The joint coordination according to embodiments herein may be performed in a per need and dynamic manner, updating and reconfiguring the service both in the compute and the network parts in order to maintain the e2E performance in an acceptable level.

[0117] It should be noted that the E2E performance management including the E2E Application Manager 630, E2E Data Analyzer 632, and E2E Translator 634 may belong to a connectivity service provider, the cloud service provider or an entity providing a unified service covering the mobile network and the edge cloud.

[0118] Figs. 7a, 7b, 7c, 7d, 7e, 7f, 7g: are examples showing possible set of actions. It is shown an example of a set of possible actions that can be performed when a user is connected to edge site A through UPF1. The ingress service is running at both edge sites, edge site A and edge site B while a dependent edge service is running only at edge site B initially, initial state, shown in Fig. 7a. Option 1 , Fig. 7b, shows an edge site re-selection, from edge site A to edge site B, option 2, Fig. 7c, provides UPF re-selection, from UPF 1 to UPF 2, and edge site re-selection, from edge site A to edge site B, while option 3, Fig. 7d, results in UPF reselection, from UPF 1 to UPF 2. Options 1-3 can be performed locally in the network domain to assure its individual network-side performance target or it can be the result of collaboration in case of cloud side performance violation that could not be resolved locally in the cloud domain. Option 4, Fig. 7e, is service placement update where the edge service is moved from site B to site A while option 5, Fig. 7f, is a scaling action that adds a replica in site A. Option 4 and option 5 can be performed locally in the edge cloud domain to assure individual cloud-side performance target or it can be the result of collaboration in case of network-side performance violation that could not be resolved locally in the mobile network domain. Option 6, Fig. 7g, is an action that scales out the service to site A, i.e. , to redistribute load to multiple replicas, and at the same time perform a UPF re-selection connecting the user to UPF 2, due to lower delay between the UE and UPF 2. As shown in option 6 the joint coordination may result in actions both the mobile network and edge cloud domain. For actions that require joint coordination, the managing node 16 may interact with the MN Traffic Routing Manager 610 and the Application Deployment Manager 620 to select the best action(s).

[0119] Fig. 8 is a diagram flow that illustrate an example of collaboration for E2E performance enhancement.

[0120] 1.. The MN Traffic Routing Manager 610 and the Application Deployment Manager 620 apply the local control loop for the performance assurance based on the current performance requirements, i.e., cloud-side and network-side performance requirements respectively.

[0121] 2.. As part of continuous performance monitoring, the E2E Application Manager 630 detects E2E performance violation of a service chain, that has not been resolved using step 1.

[0122] 3a-3b The E2E Application Manager 630 sends request to collaborate to the MN Traffic Routing Manager 610 and the Application Deployment Manager 620 in order to resolve the issue.

[0123] 4a-4b The E2E Application Manager 630 also subscribes to the service, performance and resource metrics to the MN Monitoring and the EC Monitoring. 5a-5b The E2E Data Analyzer 632 gets and analyzes the monitoring data from the MN Monitoring 612, e.g., through NEF, and EC Monitoring 622, e.g., through EC Exposure, that includes service topology, e.g. service dependencies, current performance, e.g., latency, throughput, of individual services in a service chain, aggregated current and target performance requirements at network and edge cloud side as well as e2e performance target of a service chain, deployment and traffic path information of the service chain, infrastructure topology, i.e., Network topology, edge infrastructure topology, resource, e.g. CPU, memory, capacity and status information.

[0124] 6.. The E2E Data Analyzer 632 reports the topology, service performance, and resource parameters to the E2E Translator 634.

[0125] 7.. The E2E Translator 634 evaluates the reported metrics, may dynamically map the E2E SLO to cloud-side and mobile network side SLOs and / or map the metrics to routing and deployment configurations. The deployment configuration may contain the scaling, migration, deployment decision for one or more instances of a service chain and routing configuration may incorporate information for a change in UPF and / or edge site hosting the ingress service of the microservice chain.

[0126] 8a-8b The E2E Translator 634 sends traffic routing and deployments decisions as proposals to the MN Traffic Routing Manager 610 and the Application Deployment Manager 620, respectively.

[0127] 9a-9b The MN Traffic Routing Manager 610 and the Application Deployment Manager 620 evaluate the proposals accordingly.

[0128] 10a-10b The MN Traffic Routing Manager 610 and the Application Deployment Manager 620 send their decision.

[0129] 11a-11b If the MN Traffic Routing Manager 610 and the Application Deployment Manager 620 accept the proposal, the E2E Application Manager sends notifications to them to apply the updated SLO and / or make routing and deployment changes respectively.

[0130] The MN Traffic Routing Manager 610 and the Application Deployment Manager 620 make the necessary configuration changes for the new mapping.

[0131] 12a: The Application Deployment Manager 620 applies updated SLO / Generate deployment according to EC orchestrator

[0132] 12a.1. The Application Deployment Manager 620 generates deployments configuration to make the necessary deployment changes according to the cloud orchestration framework used. 12b: The MN Traffic Routing Manager 610 applies updated SLO / make tunning for traffic routing

[0133] 12b.1. The MN Traffic Routing manager 610 works to tune traffic routing by interacting and triggering a network component that performs UPF (re-) selection, e.g., SMF.

[0134] 12b.2: To control the routing from the UPF to edge, the MN Traffic Routing manager 610 may also interact with the DNS resolver to (re-) select an edge site(s) based on the new configuration.

[0135] The actuation logics, i.e., SMF, DNS resolver, and the cloud orchestration framework, apply the changes

[0136] 13a: The edge cloud orchestration framework (e.g., Kubernetes) may (re-) deploy / scale the microservices belonging to the microservice chain into corresponding edge sites

[0137] 13b: The SMF may update the policy and changes the routing for requests based on the newly selected UPF(s),

[0138] 13c: The DNS resolver may update DNS entries to select the edge site hosting the ingress service of the service chain.

[0139] Fig. 9 shows a block diagram depicting the managing node 15 for handling a service in the communication network 1 , for example, handling traffic routing and / or application deployment, according to embodiments herein.

[0140] The managing node 15 may comprise processing circuitry 901 , e.g. one or more processors, configured to perform the methods herein.

[0141] The managing node 15 and / or the processing circuitry 901 is configured to obtain the performance indication indicating the level of performance of the service being below or above a threshold.

[0142] The managing node 15 and / or the processing circuitry 901 is configured to initiate, based on the obtained performance indication, the collaboration between the first domain of the communication network, which first domain handles data traffic routing in the communication network, and the second domain of the communication network, which second domain handles application deployment in the communication network.

[0143] The managing node 15 and / or the processing circuitry 901 is configured to obtain data from the first domain and data from the second domain. The managing node 15 and / or the processing circuitry 901 is configured to generate the response indication based on the obtained data, wherein the response indication indicates information related to handling data traffic routing in the communication network and / or handling application deployment in the communication network.

[0144] The managing node 15 and / or the processing circuitry 901 is configured to provide the response indication to the first domain of the communication network, and / or the second domain of the communication network. The information may comprise suggested traffic routing and / or application deployment.

[0145] The managing node 15 and / or the processing circuitry 901 may be configured to initiate an evaluation of the response indication at the first domain and / or the second domain by providing the response indication. The response indication may be evaluated at the first domain and / or the second domain of the communication network.

[0146] The managing node 15 and / or the processing circuitry 901 may be configured to receive from the first domain and / or the second domain of the communication network, the one or more messages in response to the response indication indicating confirmation / acceptance or rejection of the information.

[0147] The managing node 15 and / or the processing circuitry 901 may be configured to, upon the one or more messages indicate confirmation, transmit to the first domain and / or the second domain of the communication network, one or more notify messages notifying the first domain and / or the second domain of the communication network to initiate configuration according to the response indication.

[0148] The managing node 15 and / or the processing circuitry 901 may be configured to obtain the data by subscribing for monitoring data from the first domain and / or the second domain of the communication network.

[0149] The managing node 15 and / or the processing circuitry 901 may be configured to generate the response indication by analyzing one or more metrics, from monitored data from the respective domain, associated with one or more routing and / or deployment configurations.

[0150] The managing node 15 may comprise a memory 903. The memory 903 comprises one or more units to be used to store data on, such as monitoring data, response indication, routing configuration, deployment configuration, capabilities, indications, services, IDs, messages, thresholds, events and applications to perform the methods disclosed herein when being executed, and similar. Furthermore, the managing node 15 may comprise a communication interface 904 such as comprising a transmitter, a receiver, a transceiver and / or one or more antennas.

[0151] The methods according to the embodiments described herein for the managing node 15 are respectively implemented by means of e.g. a computer program product 905 or a computer program, comprising instructions, i.e. , software code portions, which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by the managing node 15. The computer program product 905 may be stored on a computer-readable storage medium 906, e g., a disc, a universal serial bus (USB) stick or similar. The computer-readable storage medium 906, having stored thereon the computer program product, may comprise the instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the actions described herein, as performed by managing node 15. In some embodiments, the computer-readable storage medium may be a transitory or a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Thus, embodiments herein may disclose the managing node 15 for handling communication in a communication network, wherein the managing node 15 comprises processing circuitry and a memory, said memory comprising instructions executable by said processing circuitry whereby said managing node 15 is operative to perform any of the methods herein.

[0152] In some embodiments a more general term “managing node” is used and it can correspond to any type of radio-network node or any network node, which communicates with a UE and / or with another network node.

[0153] In some embodiments the non-limiting term wireless device or user equipment (UE) is used and it refers to any type of wireless device communicating with a network node and / or with another wireless device in a cellular or mobile communication system. Examples of UE are target device, device to device (D2D) UE, proximity capable UE (aka ProSe UE), loT capable device, machine type UE or UE capable of machine to machine (M2M) communication, Tablet, mobile terminals, smart phone, laptop embedded equipped (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles etc.

[0154] Embodiments are applicable to any RAT or multi-RAT systems, where the wireless device receives and / or transmit signals (e.g. data) e.g. NR, Wi-Fi, LTE, LTE-Advanced, Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Global System for Mobile communications / enhanced Data rate for GSM Evolution (GSM / EDGE), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), or Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), just to mention a few possible implementations. As will be readily understood by those familiar with communications design, that functions means or circuits may be implemented using digital logic and / or one or more microcontrollers, microprocessors, or other digital hardware. In some embodiments, several or all of the various functions may be implemented together, such as in a single application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or in two or more separate devices with appropriate hardware and / or software interfaces between them. Several of the functions may be implemented on a processor shared with other functional components of a wireless device or network node, for example.

[0155] Alternatively, several of the functional elements of the processing means discussed may be provided through the use of dedicated hardware, while others are provided with hardware for executing software, in association with the appropriate software or firmware. Thus, the term “processor” or “controller” as used herein does not exclusively refer to hardware capable of executing software and may implicitly include, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware and / or program or application data. Other hardware, conventional and / or custom, may also be included. Designers of communications devices will appreciate the cost, performance, and maintenance trade-offs inherent in these design choices.

[0156] Any appropriate steps, methods, features, functions, or benefits disclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual apparatuses. Each virtual apparatus may comprise a number of these functional units. These functional units may be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and / or data communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause the respective functional unit to perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0157] With reference to Fig. 10, in accordance with an embodiment, a communication system includes a telecommunication network 3210, such as a 3GPP-type cellular network, which comprises an access network 3211 , such as a radio access network, and a core network 3214. The access network 3211 comprises a plurality of base stations 3212a, 3212b, 3212c, such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points being examples of the radio network node 12 herein, each defining a corresponding coverage area 3213a, 3213b, 3213c. Each base station 3212a, 3212b, 3212c is connectable to the core network 3214 over a wired or wireless connection 3215. A first user equipment (UE) 3291, being an example of the UE 10, located in coverage area 3213c is configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding base station 3212c. A second UE 3292 in coverage area 3213a is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding base station 3212a. While a plurality of UEs 3291 , 3292 are illustrated in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to a situation where a sole UE is in the coverage area or where a sole UE is connecting to the corresponding base station 3212.

[0158] The telecommunication network 3210 is itself connected to a host computer 3230, which may be embodied in the hardware and / or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server or as processing resources in a server farm. The host computer 3230 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider, or may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The connections 3221, 3222 between the telecommunication network 3210 and the host computer 3230 may extend directly from the core network 3214 to the host computer 3230 or may go via an optional intermediate network 3220. The intermediate network 3220 may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private or hosted network; the intermediate network 3220, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, the intermediate network 3220 may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown).

[0159] The communication system of Figure 10 as a whole enables connectivity between one of the connected UEs 3291, 3292 and the host computer 3230. The connectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection 3250. The host computer 3230 and the connected UEs 3291 , 3292 are configured to communicate data and / or signaling via the OTT connection 3250, using the access network 3211, the core network 3214, any intermediate network 3220 and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. The OTT connection 3250 may be transparent in the sense that the participating communication devices through which the OTT connection 3250 passes are unaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example, a base station 3212 may not or need not be informed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communication with data originating from a host computer 3230 to be forwarded (e.g., handed over) to a connected UE 3291. Similarly, the base station 3212 need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the UE 3291 towards the host computer 3230.

[0160] In some embodiments, the telecommunication network 3210 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network 3210 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the O-RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any node in the telecommunication network 3210, including one or more network nodes and / or core network nodes.

[0161] Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (O-RU), an open distributed unit (O-DU), an open central unit (O-CU), including an O-CU control plane (O-CU-CP) or an O-CU user plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near- real time or non-real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective “open” designating support of an ORAN specification). The network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an A1 , F1 , W1, E1, E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN access node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface defined by the O-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 3291, 3292) to the core network over one or more wireless connections.

[0162] Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the UE, base station and host computer discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to Fig. 11. In a communication system 3300, a host computer 3310 comprises hardware 3315 including a communication interface 3316 configured to set up and maintain a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the communication system 3300. The host computer 3310 further comprises processing circuitry 3318, which may have storage and / or processing capabilities. In particular, the processing circuitry 3318 may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The host computer 3310 further comprises software 3311, which is stored in or accessible by the host computer 3310 and executable by the processing circuitry 3318. The software 3311 includes a host application 3312. The host application 3312 may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as a UE 3330 connecting via an OTT connection 3350 terminating at the UE 3330 and the host computer 3310. In providing the service to the remote user, the host application 3312 may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection 3350.

[0163] The communication system 3300 further includes a base station 3320 provided in a telecommunication system and comprising hardware 3325 enabling it to communicate with the host computer 3310 and with the UE 3330. The hardware 3325 may include a communication interface 3326 for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the communication system 3300, as well as a radio interface 3327 for setting up and maintaining at least a wireless connection 3370 with a UE 3330 located in a coverage area (not shown in Fig.11) served by the base station 3320. The communication interface 3326 may be configured to facilitate a connection 3360 to the host computer 3310. The connection 3360 may be direct or it may pass through a core network (not shown in Fig.11) of the telecommunication system and / or through one or more intermediate networks outside the telecommunication system. In the embodiment shown, the hardware 3325 of the base station 3320 further includes processing circuitry 3328, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The base station 3320 further has software 3321 stored internally or accessible via an external connection.

[0164] The communication system 3300 further includes the UE 3330 already referred to. Its hardware 3335 may include a radio interface 3337 configured to set up and maintain a wireless connection 3370 with a base station serving a coverage area in which the UE 3330 is currently located. The hardware 3335 of the UE 3330 further includes processing circuitry 3338, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The UE 3330 further comprises software 3331, which is stored in or accessible by the UE 3330 and executable by the processing circuitry 3338. The software 3331 includes a client application 3332. The client application 3332 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via the UE 3330, with the support of the host computer 3310. In the host computer 3310, an executing host application 3312 may communicate with the executing client application 3332 via the OTT connection 3350 terminating at the UE 3330 and the host computer 3310. In providing the service to the user, the client application 3332 may receive request data from the host application 3312 and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 3350 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The client application 3332 may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.

[0165] It is noted that the host computer 3310, base station 3320 and UE 3330 illustrated in Fig. 11 may be identical to the host computer 3230, one of the base stations 3212a, 3212b, 3212c and one of the UEs 3291 , 3292 of Fig. 10, respectively. This is to say, the inner workings of these entities may be as shown in Fig. 11 and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that of Fig. 10.

[0166] In Fig. 11 , the OTT connection 3350 has been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host computer 3310 and the user equipment 3330 via the base station 3320, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices. Network infrastructure may determine the routing, which it may be configured to hide from the UE 3330 or from the service provider operating the host computer 3310, or both. While the OTT connection 3350 is active, the network infrastructure may further take decisions by which it dynamically changes the routing (e.g., on the basis of load balancing consideration or reconfiguration of the network).

[0167] The wireless connection 3370 between the UE 3330 and the base station 3320 is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 3330 using the OTT connection 3350, in which the wireless connection 3370 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve the performance since services may be handled more efficiently and thereby provide benefits such as reduced user waiting time, and better responsiveness. A measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 3350 between the host computer 3310 and UE 3330, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and / or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 3350 may be implemented in the software 3311 of the host computer 3310 or in the software 3331 of the UE 3330, or both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which the OTT connection 3350 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software 3311, 3331 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection 3350 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not affect the base station 3320, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to the base station 3320. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling facilitating the host computer’s 3310 measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like. The measurements may be implemented in that the software 3311 , 3331 causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection 3350 while it monitors propagation times, errors etc.

[0168] Fig. 12 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to Figures 10 and 11. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 12 will be included in this section. In a first step 3410 of the method, the host computer provides user data. In an optional substep 3411 of the first step 3410, the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In a second step 3420, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. In an optional third step 3430, the base station transmits to the UE the user data which was carried in the transmission that the host computer initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In an optional fourth step 3440, the UE executes a client application associated with the host application executed by the host computer. Fig. 13 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to Figures 10 and 11. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 13 will be included in this section. In a first step 3510 of the method, the host computer provides user data. In an optional substep (not shown) the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In a second step 3520, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. The transmission may pass via the base station, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In an optional third step 3530, the UE receives the user data carried in the transmission.

[0169] Fig. 14 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to Figures 10 and 11. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 14 will be included in this section. In an optional first step 3610 of the method, the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionally or alternatively, in an optional second step 3620, the UE provides user data. In an optional substep 3621 of the second step 3620, the UE provides the user data by executing a client application. In a further optional substep 3611 of the first step 3610, the UE executes a client application which provides the user data in reaction to the received input data provided by the host computer. In providing the user data, the executed client application may further consider user input received from the user. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE initiates, in an optional third substep 3630, transmission of the user data to the host computer. In a fourth step 3640 of the method, the host computer receives the user data transmitted from the UE, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.

[0170] Fig. 15 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to Figures 10 and 11. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 15 will be included in this section. In an optional first step 3710 of the method, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the base station receives user data from the UE. In an optional second step 3720, the base station initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer. In a third step 3730, the host computer receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the base station.

[0171] It will be appreciated that the foregoing description and the accompanying drawings represent non-limiting examples of the methods and apparatus taught herein. As such, the apparatus and techniques taught herein are not limited by the foregoing description and accompanying drawings. Instead, the embodiments herein are limited only by the following claims and their legal equivalents.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method performed by a managing node 15 for handling a service in a communication network, the method comprising obtaining (502) a performance indication indicating a level of performance of the service being below or above a threshold;Initiating (503), based on the obtained performance indication, a collaboration between a first domain of the communication network, which first domain handles data traffic routing in the communication network, and a second domain of the communication network, which second domain handles application deployment in the communication network; obtaining (504) data from the first domain and data from the second domain; generating (505) a response indication based on the obtained data, wherein the response indication indicates information related to handling data traffic routing in the communication network and / or handling application deployment in the communication network; and- providing (506) the response indication to the first domain of the communication network, and / or the second domain of the communication network.

2. The method according to claim 1, further comprising receiving (508), from the first domain and / or the second domain of the communication network, one or more messages in response to the response indication indicating confirmation or rejection of the information.

3. The method according to claim 2, further comprising, upon the one or more messages indicate confirmation, transmitting (509) to the first domain and / or the second domain of the communication network, one or more notify messages notifying the first domain and / or the second domain of the communication network to initiate configuration according to the response indication.

4. The method according to any of the claims 1-3, wherein the information comprises suggested traffic routing and / or application deployment.

5. The method according to any of the claims 1-4, wherein providing (506) the response indication initiates an evaluation of the response indication at the first domain and / or the second domain.

6. The method according to any of the claims 1-5, wherein obtaining (504) data comprising subscribing for monitoring data from the first domain and / or the second domain of the communication network.

7. The method according to any of the claims 1-6, wherein generating (505) the response indication comprises analyzing one or more metrics, from monitored data from the respective domain, associated with one or more routing and / or deployment configurations.

8. A managing node (15) for handling a service in a communication network, wherein the managing node (15) is configured to obtain a performance indication indicating a level of performance of the service being below or above a threshold; initiate, based on the obtained performance indication, a collaboration between a first domain of the communication network, which first domain handles data traffic routing in the communication network, and a second domain of the communication network, which second domain handles application deployment in the communication network; obtain data from the first domain and data from the second domain; generate a response indication based on the obtained data, wherein the response indication indicates information related to handling data traffic routing in the communication network and / or handling application deployment in the communication network; and provide the response indication to the first domain of the communication network, and / or the second domain of the communication network,9. The managing node (15) according to claim 8, wherein the managing node is configured to receive from the first domain and / or the second domain of the communication network, one or more messages in response to the response indication indicating confirmation or rejection of the information.

10. The managing node (15) according to claim 9, wherein the managing node (15) is configured to, upon the one or more messages indicate confirmation, transmit to the first domain and / or the second domain of the communication network, one or more notify messages notifying the first domain and / or the second domain of the communication network to initiate configuration according to the response indication.

11. The managing node (15) according to any of the claims 8-10, wherein the information comprises suggested traffic routing and / or application deployment.

12. The managing node (15) according to any of the claims 8-11, wherein the managing node (15) is configured to initiate an evaluation of the response indication at the first domain and / or the second domain by providing the response indication.

13. The managing node (15) according to any of the claims 8-12, wherein the managing node (15) is configured to obtain the data by subscribing for monitoring data from the first domain and / or the second domain of the communication network.

14. The managing node (15) according to any of the claims 8-13, wherein the managing node (15) is configured to generate the response indication by analyzing one or more metrics, from monitored data from the respective domain, associated with one or more routing and / or deployment configurations.

15. A computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method according to any of the claims 1-7, as performed by the managing node.

16. A computer-readable storage medium, having stored thereon a computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method according to any of the claims 1-7, as performed by the managing node.

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