Vendor-specific data collection

Abstract

Examples of the present disclosure relate to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for vendor-specific configuration data collection. The method comprises: receiving, by a network node from an access and mobility management function, during an initial context setup procedure, at least one user equipment identifier for associating a user equipment with data collection; receiving, from a management entity, at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection and at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one configuration for data collection; determining whether the at least one received user equipment identifier is associated with the at least one data collection device identifier; in accordance with a determination that the at least one received user equipment identifier is associated with the at least one data collection device identifier, selecting the user equipment for the data collection; and transmitting, to the at least one user equipment, the at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection.

Description

VENDOR-SPECIFIC DATA COLLECTIONFIELDS

[0001] The present disclosure generally relates to the field of telecommunication and in particular, to methods, devices, apparatuses and computer readable storage medium for vendor-specific data collection.BACKGROUND

[0002] During a study of data collection for artificial intelligence (AI) / machine learning (ML), whether the existing data collection frameworks should be modified has been studied. Based on the study, Minimization of Drive Test (MDT) is eligible to be studied for enhancement.SUMMARY

[0003] In a first aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an apparatus. The apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receive, from an access and mobility management function (AMF), during an initial context setup procedure, at least one user equipment identifier for associating a user equipment with data collection; receive, from a management entity, at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection and at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one configuration for data collection; determine whether the at least one received user equipment identifier is associated with the at least one data collection device identifier; in accordance with a determination that the at least one received user equipment identifier is associated with the at least one data collection device identifier, select the user equipment for the data collection; and transmit, to the at least one user equipment, the at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection.

[0004] In a second aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an apparatus. The apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: configure, ifor a network node, at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection from a data collection device and at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendor specific configuration; and transmit, to the network node, information on the at least one vendor specific configuration for the data collection and the at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendor specific configuration.

[0005] In a third aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an apparatus. The apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: transmit, to a network node, during an initial context setup procedure, at least one user equipment identifier for associating a user equipment with data collection.

[0006] In a fourth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an apparatus. The apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receive, from a network node, at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection; and carry out the data collection according to the at least one vendor specific configuration.

[0007] In a fifth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: receiving, by a network node from an access and mobility management function, during an initial context setup procedure, at least one user equipment identifier for associating a user equipment with data collection; receiving, from a management entity, at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection and at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one configuration for data collection; determining whether the at least one received user equipment identifier is associated with the at least one data collection device identifier; in accordance with a determination that the at least one received user equipment identifier is associated with the at least one data collection device identifier, selecting the user equipment for the data collection; and transmitting, to the at least one user equipment, the at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection.

[0008] In a sixth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: configuring, by a management entity for a network node, at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection from a data collection device and at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendor specificconfiguration; and transmitting, to the network node, information on the at least one vendor specific configuration for the data collection and the at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendor specific configuration.

[0009] In a seventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: transmitting, by an access and mobility management function to a network node, during an initial context setup procedure, at least one user equipment identifier for associating a user equipment with data collection.

[0010] In an eighth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method. The method comprises: receiving, by a user equipment from a network node, at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection; and carrying out the data collection according to the at least one vendor specific configuration.

[0011] In a ninth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a first apparatus. The first apparatus comprises means for receiving, by a network node from an access and mobility management function, during an initial context setup procedure, at least one user equipment identifier for associating a user equipment with data collection; means for receiving, from a management entity, at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection and at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one configuration for data collection; means for determining whether the at least one received user equipment identifier is associated with the at least one data collection device identifier; means for in accordance with a determination that the at least one received user equipment identifier is associated with the at least one data collection device identifier, selecting the user equipment for the data collection; and means for transmitting, to the at least one user equipment, the at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection.

[0012] In a tenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a second apparatus. The second apparatus comprises means for configuring, by a management entity for a network node, at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection from a data collection device and at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendor specific configuration; and means for transmitting, to the network node, information on the at least one vendor specific configuration for the data collection and the at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendor specific configuration.

[0013] In an eleventh aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a third apparatus.The third apparatus comprises means for transmitting, by an access and mobility management function to a network node, during an initial context setup procedure, at least one user equipment identifier for associating a user equipment with data collection.

[0014] In a twelfth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a fourth apparatus. The fourth apparatus comprises means for receiving, by a user equipment from a network node, at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection; and means for carrying out the data collection according to the at least one vendor specific configuration.

[0015] In a thirteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the fifth aspect.

[0016] In a fourteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the sixth aspect.

[0017] In a fifteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the seventh aspect.

[0018] In a sixteenth aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer readable medium. The computer readable medium comprises instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method according to the eighth aspect.

[0019] It is to be understood that the Summary section is not intended to identify key or essential features of examples of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0020] Some examples will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, where:

[0021] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment in which examples of the present disclosure can be carried out;

[0022] FIG. 2 illustrates a signaling chart of an example process of a subscription of avendor server to a management entity according to some examples of the present disclosure;

[0023] FIG. 3 illustrates a signaling chart of an example process of the data collection based on vendor-specific configuration according to some examples of the present disclosure;

[0024] FIG. 4 illustrates a diagram of an example process of forwarding the collected vendor-specific data according to some examples of the present disclosure;

[0025] FIG. 5 illustrates a flowchart of a method carried out at an apparatus according to some examples of the present disclosure;

[0026] FIG. 6 illustrates a flowchart of a method carried out at an apparatus according to some examples of the present disclosure;

[0027] FIG. 7 illustrates a flowchart of a method carried out at an apparatus according to some examples of the present disclosure;

[0028] FIG. 8 illustrates a flowchart of a method carried out at an apparatus according to some examples of the present disclosure;

[0029] FIG. 9 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for carrying out examples of the present disclosure; and

[0030] FIG. 10 illustrates a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some examples of the present disclosure.

[0031] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals represent the same or similar element.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some examples. It is to be understood that these examples are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and carry out the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. Examples described herein can be carried out in various manners other than the ones described below.

[0033] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technicaland scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0034] References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment,” “an embodiment,” “an example embodiment,” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Additionally, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other examples whether or not explicitly described.

[0035] It shall be understood that although the terms “first,” “second,”..., etc. in front of noun(s) and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another and they do not limit the order of the noun(s). For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of examples. As used herein, the term “and / or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0036] As used herein, “at least one of the following: ” and “at least one of ” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or”, mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

[0037] As used herein, unless stated explicitly, carrying out a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is carried out immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included.

[0038] The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular examples only and is not intended to be limiting of examples. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be understood that the terms “comprises”, “comprising”, “has”, “having”, “includes” and / or “including”, when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and / or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof.

[0039] As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and / or digital circuitry) and(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable):(i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuit(s) with software / firmware and(ii) any portions of hardware processor(s) with software (including digital signal processor(s)), software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and(c) hardware circuit(s) and or processor(s), such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

[0040] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As an example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0041] As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR), Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA), Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and so on. Additionally, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be carried out according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G),4.5G, the fifth generation (5G), the sixth generation (6G) communication protocols, and / or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Examples of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

[0042] As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP), for example, a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a radio header (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-ground network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. In some examples, radio access network (RAN) split architecture comprises a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU). An IAB node comprises a Mobile Terminal (IAB-MT) part that behaves like a UE toward the parent node, and a DU part of an IAB node behaves like a base station toward the next-hop IAB node.

[0043] The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), a Subscriber Station (SS), a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS), or an Access Terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounteddisplay (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) part of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node). In the following description, the terms “terminal device”, “communication device”, “terminal”, “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

[0044] As used herein, the term “resource,” “transmission resource,” “resource block,” “physical resource block” (PRB), “uplink resource,” or “downlink resource” may refer to any resource for carrying out a communication, for example, a communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as a resource in time domain, a resource in frequency domain, a resource in space domain, a resource in code domain, or any other combination of the time, frequency, space and / or code domain resource enabling a communication, and the like. In the following, unless explicitly stated, a resource in both frequency domain and time domain will be used as an example of a transmission resource for describing some examples of the present disclosure. It is noted that examples of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

[0045] FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication environment 100 in which examples of the present disclosure can be carried out. The communication environment 100 comprises a network node 110 and a management entity 120, which may communicate with each other. The network node 110 hereinafter may be referred to as a RAN device, a RAN node, a gNB or a base station. The management entity 120 hereinafter may be referred to as a management function or a management system. Specifically, the management entity 120 may be referred to as an Operation, Administration and Maintenance (0AM). The communication environment 100 comprises an AMF 130, which may communicate with a management entity 120.

[0046] The communication environment 100 comprises UEs 140-1, 140-2 and 140-3, each of the UEs 140-1, 140-2 and 140-3 may communicate with the network node 110. Hereinafter each of the UEs 140-1, 140-2 and 140-3 may also be referred to as a user equipment (UE), a terminal device, a user terminal, or a user device. The UEs 140-1, 140- 2 and 140-3 hereinafter may also be referred to as the UEs 140 collectively.

[0047] In some examples, a link from the network node to the UE is referred to as a downlink (DL), and a link from the UE to the network node is referred to as an uplink (UL). In DL, the network node is a transmitting (TX) device (or a transmitter) and the UE is a receiving (RX) device (or a receiver). In UL, the UE is a TX device (or a transmitter) and the network node is a RX device (or a receiver).

[0048] Additionally, the communication environment 100 may comprise a vendor server 150, which may communicate with the management entity 120.

[0049] It is to be understood that the number of network nodes, UEs, management entities and / or vendor servers shown in FIG. 1 is given for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations. The communication network 100 may include any suitable number of network nodes, UEs, management entities and / or vendor servers.

[0050] Communications in the communication environment 100 may be carried out according to any proper communication protocol(s), comprising, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G), the second generation (2G), the third generation (3G), the fourth generation (4G), the fifth generation (5G), the sixth generation (6G), and the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and / or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, comprising but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA), Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA), Frequency Division Duplex (FDD), Time Division Duplex (TDD), Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM), Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and / or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.

[0051] According to the study of non-standardized measurement data collection for UE side model, two requirements are raised, namely the ability to collect data at a server that may not be part of the operator network and the ability to collect vendor-proprietary data and target the configuration to specific types of UEs.

[0052] The term “non-standardized measurement data collection” herein used may be referred to a collection of one or more specific data. In relation to carrying out measurement to obtain data that is vendor or user equipment specific, there is a need toenable collecting data that may not be obtained by standardized measurements but using vendor-specific measurements and measurement configurations. The data may be used in training or executing an AI / ML model either on the UE side or on a vendor server.

[0053] The “non-standardized measurement data collection” may be carried out by one or more UEs. In this situation, the one or more UEs carrying out the “non-standardized measurement data collection” may also be referred to as one or more data collection device. The data collected by the non-standardized measurement data collection may also be referred to as “vendor-proprietary data” or “proprietary data”.

[0054] The “non-standardized measurement data collection” may refer to radio measurement data collection, sensor data collection and / or device state data collection, such as battery level or temperature.

[0055] The “non-standardized measurement data collection” may be required by a data collection entity from the one or more data collection device. For example, the data collection entity may be located at the vendor server and / or at the management entity.

[0056] As described above, based on the study of data collection for AI / ML, MDT is eligible to be studied for enhancement. The MDT feature is currently widely used by operators who want feedback on the coverage on a particular area of their network (Management-based MDT) or feedback on the radio conditions experienced by some specific UE(s) in a given coverage area of the Public Land Mobile Network (PLMN) (signaling based MDT).

[0057] There are two types of MDT, namely logged MDT and immediate MDT. The logged MDT applies for idle or inactive mode (i.e., RRC IDLE or RRC INACTIVE mode). For logged MDT, the UE, when it is in a connected mode (i.e., RRC CONNECTED), receives a logged MDT configuration from the network. The logged MDT configuration may be stored in the UE. The configured logged MDT measurements are carried out when the UE is in RRC IDLE / RRC INACTIVE mode during the configured logging duration (max. 2 hours in current specification), and measurement results are buffered in the UE. When the UE reconnects, the availability of buffered measurements is signaled to the network which may retrieve the logs and forward to 0AM (e.g., to the Trace Collection Entity (TCE)). In RRC CONNECTED mode the logged MDT configuration is simply kept, but the measurements are not carried out, however the network may be configured with immediate MDT configuration. The lattermay result the UE to be configured with RRC measurements, however the UE is not aware whether the purpose of these RRC measurements is RRM (Radio Resource Management) or MDT.

[0058] For obtaining the MDT measurement data, the management system may transmit a trace session activation request to the gNB, including parameters for configuring MDT measurements. The gNB may select the suitable UEs for MDT data collection. The selection is based on the area received from the management system and the area where UE is located, user consent information received from the core network as part of the management-based MDT PLMN List IE.

[0059] For example, masked international mobile equipment identity software version (Masked IMEISV) may be transmitted through an initial context setup request message from an AMF to a RAN network node (e.g., gNB).

[0060] This IE (i.e., Masked IMEISV) contains the IMEISV value with a mask, to identify a terminal model without identifying an individual mobile equipment.

[0061] The IMEISV is be composed of the following elements (each element shall consist of decimal digits only): Type Allocation Code (TAC) with 8 digits length; serial number (SNR) with 6 digits length, which is an individual serial number uniquely identifying each equipment within each TAC; and software version number (SVN) with 2 digits length for identify the software version number of the mobile equipment.

[0062] The TAC may be issued by the Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) association in its capacity as the global decimal administrator. Manufacturers may allocate individual serial numbers (SNR) in a sequential order. An IMEISV contains the IMEI with the SV appended.

[0063] For management-based MDT data collection, the UE selection is done in the radio network at gNB, based on implementation, by using input information received from management system and the user consent information stored in the gNB.

[0064] However, current management-based data collection methods do not allow configuration of measurements towards specific UEs or UE types, e.g., UE hardware models, UE chipset models or UE firmware versions, in a vendor-specific way.

[0065] It is not possible for a RAN node to configure measurements, that may be proprietary or non-proprietary, towards specific UEs or specific UE types with a vendor-specific configuration. It is not possible for the network to configure a UE, transparently to the network, with vendor-specific, proprietary measurements.

[0066] According to some examples of the present disclosure, there is provided a RAN- centric solution enabling a network node (e.g., a RAN node) to configure measurements, that may be proprietary or non-proprietary, towards specific UEs or specific UE types with a vendor-specific configuration.

[0067] Examples of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0068] Reference is now made to FIG. 2, which illustrates a signaling chart 200 of an example process of a subscription of a vendor server to a management entity according to some examples of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 2, the signaling chart 200 involves the vendor server 150 and the management entity 120 (e.g., an 0AM).

[0069] Upon the vendor server 150 subscribing to the operator’s network, the vendor server 150 may subscribe (205) to the management entity 120 associated with the operator’s network. The management entity 120 may be provided with a data collection device identifier corresponding to non-standardized measurement data collection from the vendor server 150 requesting data collection. An allowed set of data collection device identifiers for the non-standardized measurement data collection may be assumed to be known to the management entity 120 when the vendor server 150 subscribes to the operator’s network. Upon the subscription, the vendor server 150 may initiate (210) at least one vendor specific configuration towards the management entity 120 by including the at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendor specific configuration.

[0070] It is to be understood that a plurality of vendor servers may be subscribed at the same time to the management entity 120. The example shown in FIG. 2 is only for the propose of illustration. Upon receiving the at least one vendor specific configuration and the at least data collection device identifier, the network node may enable device(s) associated with the at least data collection device identifier to carry out the data collection according to the at least one vendor specific configuration. A process of data collection based on vendor-specific configuration will be described in detail with reference to FIG. 3 as below.

[0071] Reference is now made to FIG. 3, which illustrates a signaling chart 300 of an example process of the data collection based on vendor-specific configuration according to some examples of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 3, the signaling chart 300 involves the network node 110 (e.g., a gNB), the management entity 120 (e.g., an 0AM) and a AMF 130 and a UE 140. Reference is made to FIG. 1 to describe the signaling chart 300.

[0072] The process may also involve a data collection entity 301, which can be considered as being co-located with the management entity 120 or co-located with the vendor server 150 (e.g., a vendor server) or may be located at a new network entity.

[0073] As shown in FIG. 3, the management entity 120 may transmit (305), to the network node 110, at least one at least one vendor-specific configuration for the data collection from at least one data collection device along with at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendor-specific configuration.

[0074] For example, the data collection from at least one data collection device may be referred to as a collection of proprietary data (e.g., vendor-specific data required for the UE side model) from the at least one data collection device according to the at least one vendor-specific configuration. Hereinafter the at least one data collection device may be referred to as at least one UE. The at least one vendor-specific configuration may comprise at least one vendor-specific measurement configuration.

[0075] By configuring the at least one vendor-specific configuration and the associated data collection device identifier(s), the vendor sensor may request non-standardized measurement data collection which can be used for enhancing specific performance at data collection device(s). For example, the proprietary data may be used for training a UE side model that requests data from non-standardized measurement data collection as the training data.

[0076] The at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendor-specific configuration may refer to identifier(s) of one or more devices on which the at least one vendor-specific configuration data is to be applied. That is, one or more devices configured with the at least one vendor-specific configuration may collect data according to the at least one vendor-specific configuration.

[0077] The at least one data collection device identifier may refer to one or moreidentifier types.

[0078] In some examples, the at least one data collection device identifier may have an identifier type of a permanent identifier. As an example, the permanent identifier may be international mobile equipment identities (IMEIs) associated with one or more data collection devices and / or an IMEI type allocation code (IMEI-TAC) associated with one or more data collection devices. An IMEI having 14-digit or 15-digit numbers may serve as a distinct identifier for the device, to guaranteed to be globally unique. The first eight digits of an IMEI make up the Type Allocation Code (TAC), which may indicate the manufacturer and model of the particular device. Therefore, device models from a particular manufacturer may have the same TAC.

[0079] It is to be understood that the at least one data collection device identifier provided by the management entity 120 may correspond to one or more UEs whose identities are known to an AMF. For example, one IMEI-TAC provided by the management entity 120 may correspond to one or more UEs whose IMEI-TAC field matches the provided IMEI-TAC. This means that the vendor-specific configuration provided by the management entity 120 may not need to be aware of the UE’s IMEI.

[0080] Additionally, the permanent identifier may also be a hashed IMEI associated with one or more data collection devices.

[0081] As another example, the permanent identifier may also be a chipset hardware model and / or a type identifier of the data collection associated with one or more data collection devices. That is, one or more data collection devices having a same chipset hardware model and / or a same type identifier of the data collection may have a same data collection device identifier.

[0082] As an example, the at least one data collection device identifier may have an identifier type of a semi -permanent identifier. The semi-permanent identifier herein used may be a firmware and / or a firmware version associated with a data collection device.

[0083] As another example, the at least one data collection device identifier may have an identifier type of a temporary identifier. For example, the temporary identifier may be assigned by a vendor server based on one or more of hardware models, one or more chipset hardware models and / or a requirement of data collection associated with a data collection device. Additionally, the temporary identifier may also be assigned based on a machinelearning-based data collection and may be provided by an entity owning a data collection process (e.g., a data collection entity) based on an identifier of a machine learning model and / or machine learning capability.

[0084] It is possible the at least one data collection device identifier, provided by the management entity 120, may refer to one of the identifiers as described above. In some examples, the at least one data collection device identifier may also refer to a range of one of the identifiers as described above. For example, the at least one data collection device identifier may be IMEI-TAC 0-10.

[0085] It is also possible that the at least one data collection device identifier, provided by the management entity 120, may refer to a list of one or more of the identifiers as described above or the at least one data collection device identifier may also refer to a list of ranges of more than one of the identifiers as described above. Optionally, the at least one data collection device identifier may comprise a combination of a list of ranges of more than one of the identifiers as described above and a list of one or more of the identifiers as described above.

[0086] As described, the benefit of providing more than one identifier is to target a vendor specific configuration for data collection to more UEs than can be identified with a single data collection device identifier.

[0087] As shown in FIG. 3, the management entity 120 may transmit (305) at least one vendor-specific configuration for the data collection from at least one data collection device and at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendor-specific configuration to the network node 110 through a trace activation message. For example, this trace activation message may be associated with a new trace job type for the data collection according to the vendor-specific configuration.

[0088] Optionally, the management entity 120 may transmit (310), to the network node 110, an MDT configuration configuring the network node 110 with a configuration requesting radio measurements of device(s) (e.g., UE(s)). In this case, the at least one at least one vendor-specific configuration and at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendor-specific configuration may be transmitted from the management entity 120 to the network node 110 along with the MDT configuration.

[0089] For example, the management entity 120 may transmit the at least one at leastone vendor-specific configuration and at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendor-specific configuration along with the MDT configuration through two separate trace activation messages or a same trace activation message.

[0090] It is also possible that a new trace job type may be introduced to request both non-standardized measurement data collection and standardized measurement data collection (e.g., measurement(s) associated with the MDT configuration) from the network node 110. That is, the management entity 120 may transmit the at least one at least one vendor-specific configuration and at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendor-specific configuration along with an MDT configuration through a same trace activation message associated with this new introduced trace job type.

[0091] Upon receiving the at least one vendor-specific configuration for the data collection and the at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendor-specific configuration, the network node 110 may store (315) them. Optionally, the network node 110 may also store (320) the MDT configuration if the MDT configuration had also been provided by the management entity 120.

[0092] During an initial context setup procedure, the AMF 130 may transmit (325), to the network node 110, at least one UE identifier associating at least one UE 140 with the data collection. For example, a plurality of UEs 140 with a same UE identifier may indicate theses UEs belong to a same vendor or hardware and may be configured with a same vendor-specific configuration.

[0093] The “at least one UE identifier associating the at least one user equipment 140 with the data collection” used herein may be associated with the at least one data collection identifier as described above.

[0094] Similarly, the at least one UE identifier may refer to one or more identifier types.

[0095] As an example, the at least one UE identifier may have an identifier type of a permanent identifier. As an example, the permanent identifier may be international mobile equipment identities (IMEIs) associated with one or more data collection devices and / or an IMEI type allocation code (IMEI-TAC) associated with one or more data collection devices. An IMEI having 14-digit or 15-digit numbers may serve as a distinctidentifier for the device, to guaranteed to be globally unique. The first eight digits of an IMEI make up the Type Allocation Code (TAC), which may indicate the manufacturer and model of the particular device. Therefore, device models from a particular manufacturer may have the same TAC. It is to be understood that one IMEI-TAC provided by the AMF 130 may correspond to one or more UEs whose IMEI-TAC field matches the provided IMEI-TAC.

[0096] Additionally, the permanent identifier may also be a hashed IMEI associated with one or more data collection devices.

[0097] As another example, the permanent identifier may also be a chipset hardware model and / or a type identifier of the data collection associated with one or more data collection devices. That is, one or more data collection devices having a same chipset hardware model and / or a same type identifier of the data collection may have a same data collection device identifier.

[0098] It is possible the at least one UE identifier may have an identifier type of a semipermanent identifier. The semi-permanent identifier herein used may be a firmware and / or a firmware version associated with a data collection device.

[0099] It is also possible the at least one UE identifier may have an identifier type of a temporary identifier. For example, the temporary identifier may be assigned by a vendor server based on one or more of hardware models, one or more chipset hardware models and / or a requirement of data collection associated with a data collection device. Additionally, the temporary identifier may also be assigned based on a machine learningbased data collection and may be provided by an entity owning a data collection process (e.g., a data collection entity) based on an identifier of a machine learning model and / or machine learning capability.

[0100] Referring back to FIG. 3, upon receiving the at least one UE identifier from the AMF 130, the network node 110 may store (330) the at least one UE identifier in the UE content.

[0101] Then a selection of a device for the data collection according to the at least one vendor-specific configuration may be carried out at the network node 110. The network node 110 may determine whether the at least one received UE identifier, provided by the AMF 130, maps to the at least one data collection device identifier provided by themanagement entity 120.

[0102] For example, if a received UE identifier is associated with one of the at least one data collection device identifier, at least one user equipment 140 is maps to the received UE identifier may be selected as a device for the data collection according to the at least one vendor-specific configuration.

[0103] As another example, in a case where the at least one data collection device identifier refers to a range of and / or a list of and / or a list of ranges of the identifier(s) having one or more identifier types (e.g., a permanent identifier, a semi-permanent identifier and a temporary identifier), if the at least one received UE identifier is associated with / maps to the identifier(s) as described above, the at least one user equipment 140 associating the at least one received UE identifier may be selected as a device for the data collection according to the at least one vendor-specific configuration. It is to be understood that one data collection device identifier may be associated with a plurality of UEs 140.

[0104] More examples of how to associate the UE identifier with at least one data collection device identifier / how to map the UE identifier to at least one data collection device identifier are listed below.

[0105] As described above, the at least one data collection device identifier may comprise a single data collection device identifier of an identifier type (such as an IMEI) or may comprise a plurality of data collection device identifiers of an identifier type (such as a range of IMEI-TAC (e.g., taking values in the range 0-10).

[0106] Alternatively, the at least one data collection device identifier may comprise a plurality of data collection device identifiers of more than one identifier types. That is, a set of data collection device identifiers in the plurality of data collection device identifiers may be the permanent identifiers and the other set of data collection device identifiers in the plurality of data collection device identifiers may be the temporary identifiers.

[0107] For example, in a case where the at least one data collection device identifier comprises a plurality of data collection device identifiers of an identifier type, if a received UE identifier of the identifier type is among / is associated with / maps to the plurality of data collection device identifiers of this identifier type, at least one UE associated with the received UE identifier may be selected as a device for the data collection according tothe at least one vendor-specific configuration.

[0108] As another example, in a case where at least one data collection device identifier comprises a plurality of data collection device identifiers of more than one identifier types, if a received UE identifier of the identifier type maps to the plurality of data collection device identifiers of any of the more than one identifier types, at least one UE associated with the received UE identifier may be selected as a device for the data collection according to the at least one vendor-specific configuration. For example, the received UE identifier may be an IMEI and the plurality of data collection device identifiers may comprise a range of IMEI-TACs and a set of hashed IMEIs, if the received IMEI is among / is associated with / maps to the range of IMEI-TACs and / or the set of hashed IMEIs, the UE associated with the IMEI may be selected as a device for the data collection according to the at least one vendor-specific configuration.

[0109] It is also possible that the at least one data collection device identifier comprises a single data collection device identifier of an identifier type. In this case, as one option, if the received UE identifier of a same identifier type maps to the single data collection device identifier, at least one UE associated with the received UE identifier may be selected as a device for the data collection according to the at least one vendor-specific configuration.

[0110] As another option, the received UE identifier may have a different identifier type with that of the single data collection device identifier. For example, the received UE identifier may be an IMEI and the single data collection device identifier may be an IMEI- TAC. As described above, an IMEI TAC may be first 8-digit of an IMEI. That is, even if the received UE identifier may have a different identifier type with that of the single data collection device identifier, if the received IMEI has same first 8-digit with the IMEI TAC that was provided as a data collection device identifier, the received UE identifier (i.e., the IMEI) may also be considered as being matched with the single data collection device identifier.

[0111] In this way, the selection of UE, by matching identifiers from UE and management entity with same or different identifier types, can be achieved more flexible.

[0112] In addition to the mapping of the at least one received UE identifier to the at least one data collection device identifier, the network node 110 may also consider user capability and user consent for the selection of a device for the data collection accordingto the at least one vendor-specific configuration.

[0113] Based on the determination of the mapping and optionally the user capability and user consent, the network node 110 may select (335) the at least one user equipment 140 as the device for the data collection according to the vendor-specific configuration.

[0114] Optionally, if the network node 110 has received an MDT configuration, the network node 110 may also determine (340) the at least one user equipment 140 to be configured with one or more measurements associated with a standardized measurement data collection, e.g., based on a consideration of the user consent or UE capability information.

[0115] Upon selecting the at least one user equipment 140 as the device for the data collection according to the vendor-specific configuration, the network node 110 may transmit (345), to the at least one user equipment 140, the at least one vendor-specific configuration for carrying out the data collection according to the at least one vendorspecific configuration.

[0116] If the network node 110 has received an MDT configuration, the network node 110 may also transmit (350) the MDT configuration to the at least one user equipment 140.

[0117] The at least one user equipment 140 then may perform the data collection based on the at least one vendor-specific configuration. Specifically, the at least one user equipment 140 may perform one or more vendor-specific measurements associated with the at least one vendor-specific configuration. The UE 140 may generate (355) a report of the data collection according to the at least one vendor-specific configuration and transmit (360) the same to the network node 110. The report of the data collection according to the at least one vendor-specific configuration may not be decodable by the network node 110, because the data collected based on the at least one vendor-specific configuration is to be used by data collection entity or by the vendor server.

[0118] If the at least one UE 140 is configured with a MDT configuration, the at least one UE 140 may also perform one or more measurements associated with a standardized measurement data collection according to the MDT configuration. The at least one UE 140 generates (365) a report of the one or more measurements associated with a standardized measurement data collection and transmit (370) the same to the network node110. The report of the one or more measurements associated with a standardized measurement data collection is decodable by the network node 110.

[0119] The at least one UE 140 may transmit the report of the one or more measurements associated with a standardized measurement data collection along with the data collected according to the at least one vendor-specific configuration. Alternatively, the at least one UE 140 may transmit the report of the one or more measurements associated with a standardized measurement data collection and the data collected according to the at least one vendor-specific configuration separately.

[0120] The network node 110 may store (375) the report of the data collection according to the at least one vendor-specific configuration and the report of the one or more measurements associated with a standardized measurement data collection (if exists) at the network node 110.

[0121] Then the network node 110 may transmit the report of the data collection according to the at least one vendor-specific configuration to the management entity 120. If it exists, the report of the one or more measurements associated with a standardized measurement data collection may also be transmitted from the network node 110 to the management entity 120. If a same trace job type is used for at least one vendor-specific configuration and an MDT configuration, then they may be transmitted in a common MDT report.

[0122] As shown, the network node 110 may transmit (380) the report of the data collection according to the at least one vendor-specific configuration and the report of the one or more measurements associated with a standardized measurement data collection (if it exists) to a TCE in the data collection entity 301 within the management entity 120.

[0123] In some scenarios, the TCE and UE vendor-specific Data Collection (UEvsDC) may not be collocated. FIG. 4 illustrates a diagram of an example process of forwarding the collected vendor-specific data according to some examples of the present disclosure.

[0124] In this case, the report of the data collection according to the at least one vendorspecific configuration may be forwarded from a data collection entity 401 within the management entity 120 (e.g., a management entity) to a UEvsDC located at a data collection entity 402 within the vendor server 150 (e.g., the vendor server) subscribed to the management entity 120.

[0125] Based on the solutions, a configuration of measurements towards specific UEs or UE types, e.g., UE hardware models, UE chipset models or UE firmware versions, in a vendor-specific way can be achieved. In this way, non-standardized measurement data collection and standardized measurement data collection associated with specific UEs or specific UE Types may be collected according to a vendor-specific configuration and therefore the performance of UE side model may be enhanced.

[0126] FIG. 5 shows a flowchart of an example method 500 of a network node 110 that may carry out in accordance with examples and examples described above by means of FIG. 1-4. The method 500 will be described from the perspective of the network node 110 in FIG. 1.

[0127] At block 510, the network node 110 receives, by a network node from an access and mobility management function, during an initial context setup procedure, at least one user equipment identifier for associating a user equipment with data collection.

[0128] At block 520, the network node 110 receives, from a management entity, at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection and at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one configuration for data collection.

[0129] At block 530, the network node 110 determines whether the at least one received user equipment identifier is associated with the at least one data collection device identifier.

[0130] At block 540, in accordance with a determination that the at least one received user equipment identifier is associated with the at least one data collection device identifier, the network node 110 selects the user equipment for the data collection.

[0131] At block 550, the network node 110 transmits, to the at least one user equipment, the at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection.

[0132] As an example, the method 500 comprises: receiving the at least one data collection device identifier associated with at least one identifier type comprising a permanent identifier, a semi-permanent identifier, and / or a temporary identifier.

[0133] As an example, the at least one data collection device identifier comprises a plurality of data collection device identifiers associated with one or more identifier types, the method 500 comprises in accordance with a determination that a received user equipment identifier maps to the plurality of data collection device identifiers of at leastone of the one or more identifier types, selecting at least one user equipment associated with the received user equipment identifier for the data collection.

[0134] As an example, the at least one data collection device identifier comprises a data collection device identifier of an identifier type, the method 500 comprises in accordance with a determination that a received user equipment identifier maps to the data collection device identifier of the identifier type, selecting at least one user equipment associated with the received user equipment identifier for the data collection.

[0135] In some examples, the permanent identifier and comprises an IMEI associated with one or more data collection devices, an IMEI type allocation code, IMEI-TAC associated with one or more data collection devices, a hashed IMEI associated with one or more data collection devices, an identifier of a chipset hardware model associated with one or more data collection devices, and / or a type identifier of a data collection associated with one or more data collection devices.

[0136] In some examples, the semi -permanent identifier that is based on a firmware and / or a firmware version associated with a data collection device.

[0137] In some examples, the temporary identifier that is assigned by a vendor server based on: one or more of hardware models associated with a data collection device; one or more chipset hardware models associated with a data collection device; a requirement of data collection associated with a data collection device, and / or a machine learningbased data collection and is provided by an entity owning a data collection process based on an identifier of a machine learning model and / or machine learning capability.

[0138] FIG. 6 shows a flowchart of an example method 600 of a management entity 120 that may carry out in accordance with examples and examples described above by means of FIG. 1-4. The method 600 will be described from the perspective of the management entity 120 in FIG. 1.

[0139] At block 610, the management entity 120 configures, for a network node, at least one vendor-specific configuration for data collection from a data collection device and at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendorspecific configuration.

[0140] At block 620, the management entity 120 transmits, to the network node, information on the at least one vendor-specific configuration for the data collection andthe at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendorspecific configuration.

[0141] FIG. 7 shows a flowchart of an example method 700 of an AMF 130 that may carry out in accordance with examples and examples described above by means of FIG. 1-4. The method 700 will be described from the perspective of the AMF 130 in FIG. 1.

[0142] At block 710, the AMF 130 transmits, to a network node, during an initial context setup procedure, at least one user equipment identifier for associating at least one user equipment with data collection.

[0143] In some examples, the at least one user equipment identifier has an identifier type of a permanent identifier that comprises an IMEI associated with one or more data collection devices, an IMEI type allocation code, IMEI-TAC associated with one or more data collection devices, a hashed IMEI associated with one or more data collection devices, an identifier of a chipset hardware model associated with one or more data collection devices, and / or a type identifier of a data collection associated with one or more data collection devices.

[0144] In some examples, the at least one user equipment identifier is related to a semipermanent identifier that is based on a firmware and / or a firmware version associated with a data collection device.

[0145] In some examples, the at least one user equipment identifier has an identifier type of a temporary identifier that is assigned by a vendor server based on one or more of hardware models associated with a data collection device; one or more chipset hardware models associated with a data collection device; a requirement of data collection associated with a data collection device, and / or a machine learning-based data collection and is provided by an entity owning a data collection process based on an identifier of a machine learning model and / or machine learning capability.

[0146] FIG. 8 shows a flowchart of an example method 800 of a UE 140 that may carry out in accordance with examples and examples described above by means of FIG. 1-4. The method 800 will be described from the perspective of the fourth device 140 in FIG. 1.

[0147] At block 810, the UE 140 receives, from a network node, one or more vendorspecific configurations allocated for the UE for carrying out data collection according tothe one or more vendor-specific configurations.

[0148] At block 820, the UE 140 carries out the data collection according to the at least one vendor specific configuration.

[0149] In some examples, an apparatus capable of carrying out any of the method 500 (for example, the network node 110 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for carrying out the respective operations of the method 500. The means may be carried out in any suitable form. For example, the means may be carried out in a circuitry or software module. The apparatus may be carried out as or included in the network node 110 in FIG. 1.

[0150] In some examples, the apparatus comprises means for receiving, from an access and mobility management function, during an initial context setup procedure, at least one user equipment identifier for associating a user equipment with data collection; means for receiving, from a management entity, at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection and at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one configuration for data collection; means for determining whether the at least one received user equipment identifier is associated with the at least one data collection device identifier; means for in accordance with a determination that the at least one received user equipment identifier is associated with the at least one data collection device identifier, selecting the user equipment for the data collection; and means for transmitting, to the at least one user equipment, the at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection.

[0151] As an example, the apparatus comprises means for receiving the at least one data collection device identifier associated with at least one identifier type comprising a permanent identifier, a semi-permanent identifier, and / or a temporary identifier.

[0152] As an example, the at least one data collection device identifier comprises a plurality of data collection device identifiers associated with one or more identifier types, the apparatus comprises means for, in accordance with a determination that a received user equipment identifier maps to the plurality of data collection device identifiers of at least one of the one or more identifier types, selecting at least one user equipment associated with the received user equipment identifier for the data collection.

[0153] As an example, the at least one data collection device identifier comprises a data collection device identifier of an identifier type, the apparatus comprises means for, in accordance with a determination that a received user equipment identifier maps to the datacollection device identifier of the identifier type, selecting at least one user equipment associated with the received user equipment identifier for the data collection.

[0154] In some examples, the at least one data collection device identifier has an identifier type of a permanent identifier comprises an IMEI associated with one or more data collection devices, an IMEI type allocation code, IMEI-TAC associated with one or more data collection devices, a hashed IMEI associated with one or more data collection devices, an identifier of a chipset hardware model associated with one or more data collection devices, and / or a type identifier of a data collection associated with one or more data collection devices.

[0155] In some examples, the at least one data collection device identifier is related to a semi -permanent identifier that is based on a firmware and / or a firmware version associated with a data collection device.

[0156] In some examples, the at least one data collection device identifier has an identifier type of a temporary identifier that is assigned by a vendor server based on one or more of hardware models associated with a data collection device; one or more chipset hardware models associated with a data collection device; a requirement of data collection associated with a data collection device, and / or a machine learning-based data collection and is provided by an entity owning a data collection process based on an identifier of a machine learning model and / or machine learning capability.

[0157] In some examples, the apparatus comprises means for carrying out other operations in some examples of the method 500 or the network node 110. In some examples, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the apparatus.

[0158] In some examples, an apparatus capable of carrying out any of the method 600 (for example, the management entity 120 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for carrying out the respective operations of the method 600. The means may be carried out in any suitable form. For example, the means may be carried out in a circuitry or software module. The apparatus may be carried out as or included in the management entity 120 in FIG. 1.

[0159] In some examples, the apparatus comprises means for configuring, for a network node, at least one vendor-specific configuration for data collection from a data collectiondevice and at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendor-specific configuration; and means for transmitting, to the network node, information on the at least one vendor-specific configuration for the data collection and the at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendorspecific configuration.

[0160] In some examples, the apparatus comprises means for carrying out other operations in some examples of the method 600 or the management entity 120. In some examples, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the apparatus.

[0161] In some examples, an apparatus capable of carrying out any of the method 700 (for example, the AMF 130 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for carrying out the respective operations of the method 700. The means may be carried out in any suitable form. For example, the means may be carried out in a circuitry or software module. The apparatus may be carried out as or included in the AMF 130 in FIG. 1.

[0162] In some examples, the apparatus comprises means for transmitting, to a network node during an initial context setup procedure, at least one user equipment identifier for associating at least one user equipment with data collection.

[0163] In some examples, the at least one user equipment identifier has an identifier type of a permanent identifier that comprises an IMEI associated with one or more data collection devices, an IMEI type allocation code, IMEI-TAC associated with one or more data collection devices, a hashed IMEI associated with one or more data collection devices, an identifier of a chipset hardware model associated with one or more data collection devices, and / or a type identifier of a data collection associated with one or more data collection devices.

[0164] In some examples, the at least one user equipment identifier is related to a semipermanent identifier that is based on a firmware and / or a firmware version associated with a data collection device.

[0165] In some examples, the at least one user equipment identifier has an identifier type of a temporary identifier that is assigned by a vendor server based on one or more of hardware models associated with a data collection device; one or more chipset hardwaremodels associated with a data collection device; a requirement of data collection associated with a data collection device, and / or a machine learning-based data collection and is provided by an entity owning a data collection process based on an identifier of a machine learning model and / or machine learning capability.

[0166] In some examples, the apparatus comprises means for carrying out other operations in some examples of the method 700 or the AMF 130. In some examples, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the apparatus.

[0167] In some examples, an apparatus capable of carrying out any of the method 800 (for example, the UE 140 in FIG. 1) may comprise means for carrying out the respective operations of the method 800. The means may be carried out in any suitable form. For example, the means may be carried out in a circuitry or software module. The apparatus may be carried out as or included in the fourth device 140 in FIG. 1.

[0168] In some examples, the apparatus comprises means for receiving, by a user equipment from a network node, at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection; and means for carrying out the data collection according to the at least one vendor specific configuration.

[0169] In some examples, the apparatus comprises means for carrying out other operations in some examples of the method 800 or the fourth device 140. In some examples, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the performance of the apparatus.

[0170] FIG. 9 is a simplified block diagram of a device 900 that is suitable for carrying out examples of the present disclosure. The device 900 may be provided to carry out a communication device, for example, the network node 110 or the management entity 120, the AMF 130 or a UE 140 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 900 includes one or more processors 910, one or more memories 920 coupled to the processor 910, and one or more communication modules 940 coupled to the processor 910.

[0171] The communication module 940 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 940 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfacesmay represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some examples, the communication module 940 may include at least one antenna.

[0172] The processor 910 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 900 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

[0173] The memory 920 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 924, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM), a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD), a digital video disk (DVD), an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and / or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) 922 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

[0174] A computer program 930 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 910. The instructions of the program 930 may include instructions for carrying out operations / acts of some examples of the present disclosure. The program 930 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 924. The processor 910 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 930 into the RAM 922.

[0175] The examples of the present disclosure may be carried out by means of the program 930 so that the device 900 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 8. The examples of the present disclosure may also be carried out by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

[0176] In some examples, the program 930 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 900 (such as in the memory 920) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 900. The device 900 may load the program 930 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 922 for execution. In some examples, the computer readable medium may include any types of non-transitorystorage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term “non-transitory,” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM).

[0177] FIG. 10 shows an example of the computer readable medium 1000 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 1000 has the program 930 stored thereon.

[0178] Generally, various examples of the present disclosure may be carried out in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be carried out in hardware, and other aspects may be carried out in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. Although various aspects of examples of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be carried out in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

[0179] Some examples of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer readable medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor, to carry out any of the methods as described above. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or carry out particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various examples. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

[0180] Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purposecomputer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions / operations specified in the flowcharts and / or block diagrams to be carried out. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

[0181] In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

[0182] The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0183] Additionally, although operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be carried out in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be carried out, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, although several specific implementation details are contained in the above description, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular examples. Unless explicitly stated, certain features that are described in the context of separate examples may also be carried out in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, unless explicitly stated, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be carried out in a plurality of examples separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

[0184] Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific tostructural features and / or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of carrying out the claims.

Claims

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:

1. An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receive, by a network node from an access and mobility management function, during an initial context setup procedure, at least one user equipment identifier for associating a user equipment with data collection; receive, from a management entity, at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection and at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one configuration for data collection; determine whether the at least one received user equipment identifier is associated with the at least one data collection device identifier; in accordance with a determination that the at least one received user equipment identifier is associated with the at least one data collection device identifier, select the user equipment for the data collection; and transmit, to the at least one user equipment, the at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection.

2. The network node of claim 1, wherein the network node is caused to: receive the at least one data collection device identifier associated with at least one identifier type comprising a permanent identifier, a semi-permanent identifier, and / or a temporary identifier.

3. The network node of claim 2, wherein the at least one data collection device identifier comprises a plurality of data collection device identifiers associated with one or more identifier types, and wherein the network node is caused to:in accordance with a determination that a received user equipment identifier maps to the plurality of data collection device identifiers of at least one of the one or more identifier types, select at least one user equipment associated with the received user equipment identifier for the data collection.

4. The network node of claim 2, wherein the at least one data collection device identifier comprises a data collection device identifier of an identifier type, and wherein the network node is caused to: in accordance with a determination that a received user equipment identifier maps to the data collection device identifier of the identifier type, select at least one user equipment associated with the received user equipment identifier for the data collection.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the permanent identifier comprises: international mobile equipment identities, IMEIs, associated with one or more data collection devices, an IMEI type allocation code, IMEI-TAC, associated with one or more data collection devices, a hashed IMEI associated with one or more data collection devices, an identifier of a chipset hardware model associated with one or more data collection devices, and / or a type identifier of a data collection associated with one or more data collection devices.

6. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the semi-permanent identifier that is based on a firmware and / or a firmware version associated with a data collection device.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the temporary identifier that is assigned by a vendor server based on: one or more of hardware models associated with a data collection device;one or more chipset hardware models associated with a data collection device; a requirement of data collection associated with a data collection device, and / or a machine learning-based data collection and is provided by an entity owning a data collection process based on an identifier of a machine learning model and / or machine learning capability.

8. An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: configure, by a management entity for a network node, at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection from a data collection device and at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendor specific configuration; and transmit, to the network node, information on the at least one vendor specific configuration for the data collection and the at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendor specific configuration.

9. An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: transmit, by an access and mobility management function to a network node, during an initial context setup procedure, at least one user equipment identifier for associating a user equipment with data collection.

10. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one user equipment identifier has an identifier type of a permanent identifier which comprises: international mobile equipment identity, IMEIs, associated with one or more datacollection devices, an IMEI type allocation code, IMEI-TAC, associated with one or more data collection devices, a hashed IMEI associated with one or more data collection devices, an identifier of a chipset hardware model associated with one or more data collection devices, and / or a type identifier of a data collection associated with one or more data collection devices.

11. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one user equipment identifier is related to a semi-permanent identifier that is based on a firmware and / or a firmware version associated with a data collection device.

12. The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the at least one user equipment identifier has an identifier type of a temporary identifier that is assigned by a vendor server: one or more of hardware models associated with a data collection device; one or more chipset hardware models associated with a data collection device; a requirement of data collection associated with a data collection device, and / or a machine learning-based data collection and is provided by an entity owning a data collection process based on an identifier of a machine learning model and / or machine learning capability.

13. An apparatus comprising: at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receive, by a user equipment from a network node, at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection; and carry out the data collection according to the at least one vendor specificconfiguration.

14. A method comprising: receiving, by a network node from an access and mobility management function, during an initial context setup procedure, at least one user equipment identifier for associating a user equipment with data collection; receiving, from a management entity, at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection and at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one configuration for data collection; determining whether the at least one received user equipment identifier is associated with the at least one data collection device identifier; in accordance with a determination that the at least one received user equipment identifier is associated with the at least one data collection device identifier, selecting the user equipment for the data collection; and transmitting, to the at least one user equipment, the at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection.

15. A method comprising: configuring, by a management entity for a network node, at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection from a data collection device and at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendor specific configuration; and transmitting, to the network node, information on the at least one vendor specific configuration for the data collection and the at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendor specific configuration.

16. A method comprising: transmitting, by an access and mobility management function to a network node, during an initial context setup procedure, at least one user equipment identifier forassociating a user equipment with data collection.

17. A method comprising: receiving, by a user equipment from a network node, at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection; and carrying out the data collection according to the at least one vendor specific configuration.

18. An apparatus comprising: means for receiving, by a network node from an access and mobility management function, during an initial context setup procedure, at least one user equipment identifier for associating a user equipment with data collection; means for receiving, from a management entity, at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection and at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one configuration for data collection; means for determining whether the at least one received user equipment identifier is associated with the at least one data collection device identifier; means for in accordance with a determination that the at least one received user equipment identifier is associated with the at least one data collection device identifier, selecting the user equipment for the data collection; and means for transmitting, to the at least one user equipment, the at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection.

19. An apparatus comprising: means for configuring, by a management entity for a network node, at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection from a data collection device and at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendor specific configuration; and means for transmitting, to the network node, information on the at least one vendorspecific configuration for the data collection and the at least one data collection device identifier in association with the at least one vendor specific configuration.

20. An apparatus comprising: means for transmitting, by an access and mobility management function to a network node, during an initial context setup procedure, at least one user equipment identifier for associating a user equipment with data collection.

21. An apparatus comprising: means for receiving, by a user equipment from a network node, at least one vendor specific configuration for data collection; and means for carrying out the data collection according to the at least one vendor specific configuration.

22. A computer readable medium comprising instructions stored thereon for causing an apparatus at least to perform the method of claim 14 or the method of claim 15 or the method of claim 16 or the method of claim 17.

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