Identifying energy consumption in a wireless communications network

Abstract

According to an example, a method performed by a first network node for sending information is provided. The method comprises sending, to a second network node, information identifying energy consumption of one or more groups of hardware resources associated with one or more cells and / or carriers.

Description

[0001] IDENTIFYING ENERGY CONSUMPTION IN A WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK

[0002] Technical Field

[0003] Examples of this disclosure relate to sending and receiving information, for example sending and receiving information identifying energy consumption of one or more groups of hardware resources.

[0004] Background

[0005] The current 5th Generation Radio Access Network (5G RAN), also referred to as NG-RAN, architecture is illustrated in Figure 1 and described in the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Technical Specification (TS) 38.401 v17.2.0 as follows. The NG-RAN consists of a set of gNodeBs (gNBs) connected to the 5th Generation Core (5GC) through the NG interface. As specified in 3GPP TS 38.300, the NG-RAN could also consist of a set of ng- eNodeBs (ng-eNBs). An ng-eNB may consist of an ng-eNB-Centralized Unit (CU) and one or more ng-eNB-Distributed Units (DUs). An ng-eNB-CU and an ng-eNB-DU are connected via W1 interface. The general principle described here also applies to ng-eNB and W1 interface, if not explicitly specified otherwise.

[0006] A gNB can support Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) mode, Time Division Duplex (TDD) mode or dual mode operation. gNBs can be interconnected through the Xn interface. A gNB may consist of a gNB-CU and one or more gNB-DU(s). A gNB-CU and a gNB-DU are connected via the F1 interface. One gNB-DU is connected to only one gNB-CU. NG, Xn, and F1 are logical interfaces.

[0007] For NG-RAN, the NG and Xn-C interfaces for a gNB consisting of a gNB-CU and gNB-DUs, terminate in the gNB-CU. For Evolved Non-standalone Dual Connectivity (EN-DC), the S1-U and X2-C interfaces for a gNB consisting of a gNB-CU and gNB-DUs, terminate in the gNB-CU. The gNB-CU and connected gNB-DUs are only visible to other gNBs and the 5GC as a gNB.

[0008] The overall architecture for separation of gNB-CU-Control Plane (CP) and gNB-CU-User Plane (UP) is depicted in Figure 2. A gNB may consist of a gNB-CU-CP, multiple gNB-CU- UPs, and multiple gNB-DUs. The gNB-CU-CP is connected to the gNB-DU through the F1- C interface. The gNB-CU-UP is connected to the gNB-DU through the F1-U interface. The gNB-CU-UP is connected to the gNB-CU-CP through the E1 interface. One gNB-DU is connected to only one gNB-CU-CP. One gNB-CU-UP is connected to only one gNB-CU-CP. The architecture shown in Figures 1 and 2 is what 3GPP has defined for 5G. Other standardization groups, such as the O-RAN Alliance, have further extended the architecture above and have, for example, split the gNB-Dll into two further nodes connected by a fronthaul interface. Figure 3 illustrates the O-RAN architecture. The lower node of the split gNB-Dll would contain the PHY protocol and the RF parts, the upper node of the split gNB- Dll would host Radio Link Control (RLC) and Medium Access Control (MAC). In the O-RAN architecture, the upper node is called 0-Dll, while the lower node is called 0-Rll.

[0009] The O-RAN architecture further adds a new node in the RAN, the near Real Time (RT) RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC), which is responsible for controlling and optimizing RAN functions. The near-RT RIC interacts with E2 nodes, e.g., 0-Dll, O-CU-CP, and O-CU-UP, through the E2 interface.

[0010] The 3GPP RAN3 Study Item (SI) “Study on enhancement for data collection for NR and EN-DC” studied general high-level principles, a functional framework, and potential use cases for Artificial Intelligence (Al)-enabled RAN. The accomplishments of the study are documented in 3GPP TR 37.817 v17.0.0. The normative work based on the conclusion of the Rel-17 SI is currently undertaken in Rel-18; the related Work Item (Wl) “Artificial Intelligence (Al) / Machine Learning (ML) for NG-RAN” is described in RP-213602. The main objective of the Wl is:

[0011] Specify data collection enhancements and signaling support within existing NG-RAN interfaces and architecture (including non-split architecture and split architecture) for AI / ML-based Network Energy Saving, Load Balancing and Mobility Optimization.

[0012] In the RAN3#119 meeting, the following agreements related to the AI / ML-based Network Energy Saving use case were noted:

[0013] • Introduce the metric of Energy Cost (EC) as the AI / ML metric to be shared over the Xn interface among gNBs.

[0014] • Adopt the below Option-3a and exchange Energy Cost (EC) upon request over the Xn interface.

[0015] • The metric of Energy Cost (EC) exchanged between NG-RAN nodes can be an inferred energy consumption related to an additional load or an actual energy consumption value from a neighboring node for either additional load or current load (The details to be further discussed). EC is a value at gNB level.

[0016] Furthermore, the following agreement was noted in the RAN3#119-bis meeting: • It is agreed that the Energy Cost is a node level parameter. Further EC granularities are out of scope of Rel18.

[0017] As these agreements note, the energy cost (EC) value transmitted from the neighboring NG-RAN node is a measure of the energy consumption at the NG-RAN node, which is either related to an additional load, both in the case of an inferred (predicted) EC or an actual measurement of EC, or is related to the actual (measured) EC of the current load. In this agreement, the term “additional load” refers to an offloading action where a certain number of User Equipments (UEs) served by the local NG-RAN node are handed over to the neighboring NG-RAN node so they can be served there. An inferred EC related to an additional load is simply a predicted EC assuming the offloading action will happen, i.e. , the certain number of UEs will be transferred from the first NG-RAN node to the neighboring NG-RAN node.

[0018] The objective of the exchange of EC values is to allow an NG-RAN node to assess the energy impact of proposed actions, e.g., offloading UEs, in all affected NG-RAN nodes and not just locally, both as an estimate before taking an action and as a measurement after the action is complete. In this way, AI / ML algorithms can be trained and employed such that the overall energy consumption of the network can be decreased.

[0019] The agreement on EC values being a node-level parameter was reached because, depending on the hardware implementation of NG-RAN nodes, it may be impossible to measure or predict energy consumption on a cell-level granularity. It is not uncommon that hardware is shared between multiple cells, and it is not clear how to distribute energy consumption among them. For example, the energy consumed by an NG-RAN node with two identical, fully loaded cells may be much less than the double of the energy consumed by the same NG-RAN node with only one fully loaded cell while the other is inactive; this is due to the shared hardware that cannot be turned off even if one cell is inactive.

[0020] 3GPP RAN3 has already agreed to introduce a new class 1 procedure for subscribing to AI / ML-related assistance information, called Data Collection Reporting Initiation, which comprises the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST, DATA COLLECTION RESPONSE, and DATA COLLECTION FAILURE messages, and a class 2 procedure for reporting the said AI / ML-related assistance information, called Data Collection Reporting, using the DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message. There currently exist certain challenges. For example, the energy cost (EC) metric defined in 3GPP is a node-level parameter; this means that a single value related to the energy consumption of the whole NG-RAN node is reported by the NG-RAN node. The main disadvantage of this approach is that it is difficult to assess the energy impact of, for example, proposed energy saving actions due to the coarse-grained nature of the metric.

[0021] For example, assume that NG-RAN node 1 deactivates one of its cells and offloads several UEs to one cell of NG-RAN node 2. NG-RAN node 1 may wish to assess the impact on energy consumption due to the offloaded traffic using the measured EC reported by NG- RAN node 2. However, NG-RAN node 2 may manage multiple (likely many) cells, and the reported EC reflects not only the variation in traffic due to the offloaded UEs, but also the variation in traffic from all the other cells which were not involved in the energy saving action. The influence from other cells in the reported EC may be understood as a noise that hinders the observability of the effects of the energy saving action. Moreover, the contribution from the affected cell to the reported EC may be smaller than the contribution from all the other cells, complicating matters further.

[0022] From an AI / ML perspective, it is harder to train an AI / ML model to predict the energy saving gain of a potential energy saving action or to propose optimal energy saving actions if only such noisy and polluted data is available. At the same time, the performance of the resulting AI / ML model is worse compared to when cleaner data (e.g., more direct EC feedback) is used.

[0023] Summary

[0024] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. For example, embodiments of this disclosure provide a method to report energy consumption or energy cost (EC) between NG-RAN nodes with a finer granularity than node-level, but which is still measurable (on a measurable level).

[0025] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantages. For example, examples of this disclosure provide a simpler solution than attempting to associate a node-level energy cost to a single cell or carrier that is finer granular than node-level. Examples of this disclosure may avoid double counting of energy consumption when the physical hardware (HW), with energy metering capability (and thus where the energy consumption is measured) is shared between network nodes reporting the energy cost. One aspect of the present disclosure provides a method performed by a first network node for sending information. The method comprises sending, to a second network node, information identifying energy consumption of one or more groups of hardware resources associated with one or more cells and / or carriers.

[0026] Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a method performed by a second network node for receiving information. The method comprises receiving, from a first network node, information identifying energy consumption of one or more groups of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers.

[0027] Brief Description of the Drawings

[0028] For a better understanding of examples of the present disclosure, and to show more clearly how the examples may be carried into effect, reference will now be made, by way of example only, to the following drawings in which:

[0029] Figure 1 illustrates the current 5G RAN architecture;

[0030] Figure 2 illustrates the overall architecture for separation of gNB-CU-CP and gNB-Cll- UP;

[0031] Figure 3 illustrates the O-RAN architecture;

[0032] Figure 4 illustrates an example of network nodes including ECGs according to an example of this disclosure;

[0033] Figure 5 shows a method performed by a network node according to embodiments of the disclosure;

[0034] Figure 6 shows a method performed by a network node according to embodiments of the disclosure;

[0035] Figure 7 shows a method performed by a network node according to embodiments of the disclosure;

[0036] Figure 8 shows a method performed by a network node according to embodiments of the disclosure;

[0037] Figure 9 illustrates an example of a method according to embodiments of this disclosure;

[0038] Figure 10 shows an example of a communication system in accordance with some embodiments;

[0039] Figure 11 shows a UE in accordance with some embodiments;

[0040] Figure 12 shows a network node in accordance with some embodiments; Figure 13 is a block diagram of a host in accordance with various aspects described herein;

[0041] Figure 14 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized;

[0042] Figure 15 shows a communication diagram of a host communicating via a network node with a UE over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments; and

[0043] Figure 16 shows a network node in accordance with further embodiments.

[0044] Detailed Description

[0045] The following sets forth specific details, such as particular embodiments or examples for purposes of explanation and not limitation. It will be appreciated by one skilled in the art that other examples may be employed apart from these specific details.

[0046] As indicated above, embodiments of this disclosure provide methods to report energy consumption or energy cost (EC) between network nodes, such as NG-RAN nodes, with a finer granularity than node-level. The energy consumption (referred to herein interchangeably with EC) is signaled for one or more hardware resources used when each of one or more cells and / or carriers is operational, e.g., per Energy Consumers Group (ECG), which consists of all cells or carriers that jointly consume a certain amount of energy or use one or more certain hardware resources. An ECG may for example represent a hardware unit (such as a radio unit), or a component part of hardware unit (such as a transceiver, TRX, chain of a radio unit), or multiple units and / or components. Each ECG may provide one or more energy consumption or energy cost measurements or statistics thereof in some examples.

[0047] Figure 4 illustrates an example of network nodes including Energy Consumer Groups (ECGs) according to an example of this disclosure. An ECG may be an example of a group of hardware resources described below. In the example of Figure 4, there is only one ECG per remote radio unit (Rll). Moreover, in this example, Rlls are shown as external to gNB- Dlls. This example and other examples described herein are described in terms of NG-RAN and 5G, though these examples may be applied to other communications technologies and the nodes associated therewith.

[0048] The first NG-RAN node is composed of gNB-CU1 402, gNB-DU1 404, gNB-DU2 406, and connected Rlls, RU1 408, RU2 410 and RU3412. RU1 408 reports its energy consumption to gNB-DU1 404, while RU2 410 and RU3 412 report their energy consumption to gNB-DU2 406. In turn, both gNB-DU1 404 and gNB-DU2 406 report these measurements to gNB-CU1 402, which computes the total energy consumption or EC of the first NG-RAN node. It is possible in some examples that a gNB-Dll or gNB-Cll reports its own energy consumption, in which case it may be part of one or more ECGs, but this is not considered in this particular example.

[0049] A second NG-RAN node is composed of gNB-CU2 414, gNB-DU3 416, gNB-DU4418, and the connected Rlls, RU3412 and RU4420. The energy consumption of the connected Rlls is reported similarly as for the first NG-RAN node, from the Rlls 412 and 420 to the gNB- Dlls 416 and 418, respectively, and from the Dlls 416 and 418 to gNB-CU2 414.

[0050] In the example shown in Figure 4, ECG1 422 comprises RU1 408, Celli 424 and Cell2 426. Celli 424 and Cell2 426 are served by RU1 408. That is, for example, Celli 424 and Cell2 426, when operational, may use hardware resources in or associated with RU1 408. ECG2 comprises RU2 410, Cell3430 and Cell4432. ECG3 434 comprises RU3412, Cell4432 and Cell5 436. ECG4438 comprises RU4420 and Cell6440.

[0051] In this example, the first NG-RAN node is aware of the energy consumption of ECG1 422, ECG2 428, and ECG3 434, while the second NG-RAN node is aware of the energy consumption of ECG3 434 and ECG4 438. Both NG-RAN nodes could in some examples exchange the EC related to their ECGs, e.g., using the Data Collection Reporting procedure.

[0052] In a first example, if the first NG-RAN node performs an energy saving action and obtains the EC from the second NG-RAN node per ECG, it can realize that ECG3 434 is also reported internally, and thus avoid counting it twice to obtain the total EC for both NG-RAN nodes.

[0053] In a second example, if the first NG-RAN node deactivates Cell2 426 and offloads its traffic to Cell6440, the first NG-RAN node (or generally any network node) can compare the EC of ECG1 422 and ECG4438 before and after the deactivation to assess the EC gain (or loss) of this action. By excluding the energy consumption related to the non-affected ECG2 428 and ECG3 434, this comparison may be more accurate.

[0054] Thus, examples of this disclosure allow reporting between nodes, such as NG-RAN nodes over existing NG-RAN interfaces, integrated within existing procedures and messages, a measurable energy consumption or energy cost that is on a finer granularity than node-level, using hardware resource(s) that are common and shared between (and logically consumed by) a group of one or more cells or carriers comprised in an ECG.

[0055] In examples of this disclosure, ECG may be referred to interchangeably with group of one or more hardware resources, or one or more hardware resources associated with a cell or carrier, e.g. used when a cell and / or carrier is operational. Thus, for example, in Figure 4, ECG1 422 may include hardware resources comprising RU1 408, and the associated cells may be Celli 424 and Cell2 426. An ECG may be for example one or more hardware resources used when a cell and / or carrier (or multiple cells and / or carriers) is operational. Alternatively, for example, an ECG may be a logical entity representing or associated with one or more hardware resources used when a cell and / or carrier (or multiple cells and / or carriers) is operational. In other examples, an ECG may represent or be associated with cells / carriers sharing one or more hardware components when operational. Thus, in some examples, an ECG is a logical entity that represents (or is associated to) certain physical hardware and exposing or expressing the connection or dependence of other logical entities, such as the cells and / or carriers, to the physical hardware resource(s). In some examples, the recipient of the ECG information (the entity using the ECG information) does not need to know the specific physical hardware associated to the ECG.

[0056] In this disclosure, a hardware resource may be, for example, one or more physical hardware components but may, additionally or alternatively, in some examples, include one or more logical energy consumers, e.g., network nodes or other logical hardware units / components.

[0057] Examples of this disclosure may avoid double counting of energy consumption when the physical hardware (HW), with energy metering capability (and thus where the energy consumption is measured) is shared between network nodes reporting the energy cost.

[0058] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0059] Figure 5 depicts a method 500 in accordance with particular embodiments, such as for example a method performed by a first network node for sending information. The method 500 may be performed by a first network node (e.g., the network node QQ110 or network node QQ300 as described later with reference to Figures 10 and 12, respectively). The method 500 begins at step 502 with sending, to a second network node, information identifying energy consumption of one or more groups of hardware resources associated with one or more cells and / or carriers.

[0060] In some examples, the information identifying the energy consumption of one or more groups of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers comprises information identifying, for each of the one or more cells and / or carriers, energy consumption of the one or more groups of hardware resources used when the cell and / or carrier is operational. That is, for example, step 502 may in some examples comprise sending, to a second network node, information identifying, for each of one or more cells and / or carriers, energy consumption of one or more hardware resources used when the cell and / or carrier is operational.

[0061] In some examples, each group of hardware resources contains one or more hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers. Additionally or alternatively, each of the hardware resources may be included in one or more of the groups. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the groups is included in one or more other groups.

[0062] Additionally or alternatively, the information identifies an identifier for each of the one or more groups.

[0063] The method 500 may in some examples comprise sending the information to the second network node in response to a request from the second network node. The request may in some examples include an indication that indicates that the request is for information identifying the energy consumption of the one or more groups of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers. The indication may in some examples indicate that the request is for information identifying the energy consumption of the one or more groups of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers instead of or in addition to information identifying network node-level energy consumption.

[0064] In some examples, the request identifies the one or more cells and / or carriers and / or the one or more groups of hardware resources. The method 500 may in some examples comprise determining the one or more groups of hardware resources based on the one or more cells and / or carriers. The request may in some examples identify one or more criteria, and wherein the one or more groups of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers meets the one or more criteria. In some examples, the one or more criteria may comprise, for the one or more groups of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers, one or more capabilities of the one or more groups of hardware resources, and / or one or more types of the one or more groups of hardware resources.

[0065] The one or more capabilities of the one or more groups of hardware resources may comprise, for example, a capability of at least one of the one or more groups of hardware resources to measure the energy consumption of the at least one of the one or more groups of hardware resources, and / or a capability of at least one of the one or more groups of hardware resources to report the energy consumption of the at least one of the one or more groups of hardware resources. The one or more types of the one or more groups of hardware resources may comprise, for example, one or more of the following examples:

[0066] • one or more hardware component types;

[0067] • one or more network node types;

[0068] • one or more network function types;

[0069] • one or more antenna types;

[0070] • one or more antenna array types;

[0071] • one or more antenna segment types;

[0072] • one or more data processor types;

[0073] • one or more baseband processor types;

[0074] • one or more digital signal processor (DSP) types;

[0075] • one or more radio unit types;

[0076] • one or more distributed unit (DU) types;

[0077] • one or more central unit (CU) types;

[0078] • one or more circuit types;

[0079] • one or more power amplifier types;

[0080] • one or more receiver types;

[0081] • one or more transmitter types;

[0082] • one or more transceiver types.

[0083] The request may in some examples identify a periodicity for sending, to the second network node, the information identifying the energy consumption of the one or more groups of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers. Thus, in some examples, the information (updated accordingly) may be sent periodically to the second network node. In some examples, the method may further comprise determining the energy consumption of the one or more groups of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers based on measurements of energy consumption of the one or more groups of hardware resources. The method may also in some examples comprise measuring the energy consumption of one or more of the one or more groups of hardware resources to obtain one or more of the measurements, and / or receiving energy consumption information identifying one or more measurements of the energy consumption of one or more of the one or more groups of hardware resources.

[0084] The request referred to above may in some examples identify a length of a time period for performing measurement of the energy consumption of one or more of the one or more groups of hardware resources to obtain one or more of the measurements.

[0085] Figure 6 depicts a method 600 in accordance with particular embodiments, such as for example a method performed by a second network node for receiving information. The method 600 may be performed by a network node (e.g., the network node QQ110 or network node QQ300 as described later with reference to Figures 10 and 12, respectively). The method 600 begins at step 602 with receiving, from a first network node, information identifying energy consumption of one or more groups of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers.

[0086] In some examples, the information identifying the energy consumption of one or more groups of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers comprises information identifying, for each of the one or more cells and / or carriers, energy consumption of the one or more groups of hardware resources used when the cell and / or carrier is operational. Thus, in some examples, step 602 may comprise receiving, from a first network node, information identifying, for each of one or more cells and / or carriers, energy consumption of one or more hardware resources used when the cell and / or carrier is operational.

[0087] In some examples, each group of hardware resources contains one or more hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers. Additionally or alternatively, each of the hardware resources may be included in one or more of the groups. Additionally or alternatively, each of one or more of the groups is included in one or more other groups. Additionally or alternatively, the information identifies an identifier for each of the one or more groups. The method 600 may in some examples comprise sending a request to the first network node, wherein the information is received in response to the request. The request may include for example an indication that indicates that the request is for information identifying the energy consumption of the one or more groups of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers. The indication may in some examples indicate that the request is for information identifying the energy consumption of the one or more groups of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers instead of or in addition to information identifying network node-level energy consumption.

[0088] In some examples, the request identifies the one or more cells and / or carriers. The method 600 may in some examples comprise determining the one or more groups of hardware resources based on the one or more cells and / or carriers.

[0089] In some examples, the request identifies one or more criteria, and wherein the one or more groups of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers meets the one or more criteria. The one or more criteria may in some examples comprise, for the one or more groups of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers, one or more capabilities of the one or more groups of hardware resources, and / or one or more types of the one or more groups of hardware resources. The one or more capabilities of the one or more groups of hardware resources may comprise for example a capability of at least one of the one or more groups of hardware resources to measure the energy consumption of the at least one of the one or more groups of hardware resources, and / or a capability of at least one of the one or more groups of hardware resources to report the energy consumption of the at least one of the one or more groups of hardware resources. In some examples, the one or more types of the one or more groups of hardware resources may comprise one or more of the following examples:

[0090] • one or more hardware component types;

[0091] • one or more network node types;

[0092] • one or more network function types;

[0093] • one or more antenna types;

[0094] • one or more antenna array types;

[0095] • one or more antenna segment types;

[0096] • one or more data processor types;

[0097] • one or more baseband processor types;

[0098] • one or more digital signal processor (DSP) types; • one or more radio unit types;

[0099] • one or more distributed unit (DU) types;

[0100] • one or more central unit (CU) types;

[0101] • one or more circuit types;

[0102] • one or more power amplifier types;

[0103] • one or more receiver types;

[0104] • one or more transmitter types;

[0105] • one or more transceiver types.

[0106] In the above example methods, the energy consumption of the one or more groups of hardware resources may comprise predicted and / or measured energy consumption. In some examples, each of one or more of the groups of hardware resources comprises one or more of the following example hardware resources:

[0107] • one or more hardware components;

[0108] • one or more network nodes;

[0109] • one or more network functions;

[0110] • one or more antennas;

[0111] • one or more antenna arrays;

[0112] • one or more antenna segments;

[0113] • one or more data processors;

[0114] • one or more baseband processors;

[0115] • one or more digital signal processors (DSPs);

[0116] • one or more radio units;

[0117] • one or more distributed units (DUs);

[0118] • one or more central units (CUs);

[0119] • one or more circuits;

[0120] • one or more power amplifiers;

[0121] • one or more receivers;

[0122] • one or more transmitters;

[0123] • one or more transceivers.

[0124] Each of the first network node and / or the second network node may comprise one or more of the following examples:

[0125] • a base station; • an eNodeB;

[0126] • a gNodeB;

[0127] • O-DU;

[0128] • O-CU;

[0129] • O-CU-CP;

[0130] • O-CU-UP;

[0131] • O-eNB;

[0132] • gNB-CU;

[0133] • gNB-CU-CP;

[0134] • gNB-DU;

[0135] • near-RT RIC;

[0136] • non-RT RIC;

[0137] • SMO node;

[0138] • CAM node;

[0139] • core network node.

[0140] A network node as referred to in this disclosure can alternatively be one or more of the following examples: a RAN node, en-gNB, ng-eNB, gNB-CU-UP, eNB-Cll, eNB-Dll, eNB- CU-CP, eNB-CU-UP, lAB-node, lAB-donor-DU, lAB-donor-CU, IAB-DU, IAB-MT, a RU.

[0141] The one or more groups of hardware resources may comprise, for example:

[0142] • the one or more groups of hardware resources used when a cell and / or carrier is available, enabled, active, provided, functional and / or useable (e.g., by one or more UEs);

[0143] • the one or more groups of hardware resources used to support, enable, activate, provide, maintain and / or sustain a cell and / or carrier;

[0144] • the one or more groups of hardware resources used to transmit and / or receive signals associated with the cell and / or carrier (e.g., to / from one or more UEs); and / or

[0145] • the one or more groups of hardware resources used to transmit and / or receive user data (e.g., to / from one or more UEs).

[0146] The first network node or the second network node may for example control, operate and / or serve the one or more cells and / or carriers and / or the one or more groups of hardware resources. Figure 7 depicts a method 700 in accordance with particular embodiments, such as for example a method performed by a first network node for sending information. The method 700 may be performed by a network node (e.g., the network node QQ110 or network node QQ300 as described later with reference to Figures 10 and 12, respectively). The method begins at step 700 with sending, to a second network node, information identifying, for each of one or more cells and / or carriers, energy consumption of one or more hardware resources used when the cell and / or carrier is operational.

[0147] Figure 8 depicts a method 800 in accordance with particular embodiments, such as for example a method performed by a second network node for receiving information. The method 800 may be performed by a network node (e.g., the network node QQ110 or network node QQ300 as described later with reference to Figures 10 and 12, respectively). The method begins at step 802 with receiving, from a first network node, information identifying, for each of one or more cells and / or carriers, energy consumption of one or more hardware resources used when the cell and / or carrier is operational.

[0148] Particular example embodiments are now provided for illustrative purposes.

[0149] Figure 9 illustrates an example of a method according to embodiments of this disclosure, where a first network node reports, to a second network node, the energy consumption or energy cost of one or more of the Energy Consumers Groups (ECGs) to which the first network node is associated or related, the method comprising:

[0150] • (Optional step 100) Receiving a first message from the second network node, the first message requesting the first network node to report the energy consumption / cost of its associated ECGs.

[0151] ■ Responsive to receiving the first message, the first network node may request to one or more other network nodes to report the energy consumption / cost of their associated ECGs.

[0152] • (Optional step 110) Transmitting a second message to the second network node, the second message indicating an acceptance or failure of the previous request.

[0153] • (Step 120) Transmitting a third message to the second network node, the third message indicating the energy consumption / cost of the (requested) ECGs.

[0154] In one example, the first network node is a Rll (or 0-Rll), and the second network node is a gNB-DU (or O-DU). In another example, the first network node is a gNB-Dll (or 0-Dll), and the second network node is a gNB-CU (or gNB-CU-CP or O-CU-CP).

[0155] In another example, the first network node is a first gNB-CU (or gNB-CU-CP or O-CU-CP), and the second network node is a second gNB-CU (or gNB-CU-CP or O-CU-CP).

[0156] In another example, the first network node is a E2 node (e.g., O-CU-CP or O-DU), and the second network node is a near-RT RIC.

[0157] In another example, the first network node is a E2 node (e.g., O-CU-CP or O-DU), and the second network node is an SMO, or a non-real time RAN intelligent controller (non-RT RIC) hosted therein.

[0158] Some examples of this disclosure provide a method executed by a second network node to request from a first network node the energy consumption or energy cost of one or more of the Energy Consumers Groups (ECGs) to which the first network node is associated or related, the method comprising one or more steps of:

[0159] • (Optional step 100) Transmitting a first message to the first network node, the first message requesting the first network node to report the energy consumption / cost of its associated ECGs.

[0160] • (Optional step 110) Receiving a second message from the first network node, the second message indicating an acceptance or failure of the previous request.

[0161] • (Step 120) Receiving a third message from the first network node, the third message indicating the energy consumption / cost of the (requested) ECGs.

[0162] In one example embodiment, the first message contains a request for one or more values (such as measurements and / or predictions) of energy consumption or energy cost related to one or more Energy Consumers Groups (ECGs) to which the first network node is associated or related.

[0163] In one example embodiment, the first message is a newly introduced message or an enhanced existing message over network interfaces, e.g., Xn, X2, F1 , etc. The first message may be an enhanced version of the existing DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message sent over the Xn interface. Likewise, the first message may be an enhanced version of the existing RESOURCE STATUS REQUEST message sent over the F1 interface. In one example embodiment, the first message can comprise one or more simple indications, e.g., bit fields / flags, to request one or more values of energy consumption or energy cost on ECG level.

[0164] In one related example embodiment, one or more of such simple indications can be new dedicated indications to request ECG-level energy consumption or energy cost values. For example, an enhanced version of an existing message like the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message may additionally comprise a new dedicated bit for “Energy Cost per ECG”.

[0165] In another related example embodiment, one or more of such simple indications can reuse existing indications to request energy consumption or energy cost values. For example, an existing dedicated bit for “Energy Cost” in an existing message like the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message may be used to request node-level and / or ECG-level energy consumption or energy cost values.

[0166] In an example embodiment related thereto, in such case, it can be defined in 3GPP (or other) specifications whether such reused existing indication(s) are meant to request either node-level or ECG-level values, e.g., depending on the availability of such values at the first network node (i.e. , the reporting network node) and / or the first network nodes preference to provide such values, or whether such reused existing indication(s) are meant to request both node-level and ECG-level energy consumption or energy cost values.

[0167] In one example, where the existing “Energy Cost” bit in the report characteristics of the existing DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is (re-)used to request node-level and / or ECG-level energy consumption or energy cost values, the reporting network node (i.e., the first network node) can decide whether to include node-level or ECG-level energy consumption or energy cost values, or both.

[0168] In another example, where the existing “Energy Cost” bit in the report characteristics of the existing DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is (re-)used to request node-level and / or ECG-level energy consumption or energy cost values, the reporting network node (i.e., the first network node) is requested to include both node-level and ECG-level energy consumption or energy cost values.

[0169] Such a simple indication (by itself) may be used in some examples to request ECG-level energy consumption or energy cost values for all available ECGs at the first network node. Alternatively or additionally, in one example, the first message can comprise one or more indications to request one or more values of energy consumption or energy cost on ECG level for one or more specific ECGs. The first message can contain an indication of the desired / requested ECGs in terms of one or more of the following examples:

[0170] • One or more ECG identifiers,

[0171] • One or more cell or carrier identifiers,

[0172] • One or more ECG types / descriptions, such as e.g.:

[0173] ■ “Radio unit”, “radio component”, “power amplifier”, “TRX chain”, “antenna segment”, “baseband unit”, “baseband compute module”, “any” / “all”, etc.

[0174] • One or more capabilities supported by the ECG, or the underlying physical HW, for example, the capability to report energy / power consumption / cost.

[0175] • One or more characteristics of an ECG, or the underlying physical HW, for example, an ECG with load-dependent energy / power consumption / cost, or an ECG with average or zero load or base energy / power consumption / cost above a certain threshold / level.

[0176] In some examples, the first message can contain only one type of indication of the desired / requested ECGs, e.g., one or more ECG identifiers. In other cases, the first message can contain multiple types of indications of the desired / requested ECGs that can be combined in a non-ambiguous and non-contradictory way, e.g., an ECG type / description like “radio unit” and a characteristic of an ECG like “average power consumption above 100 W”.

[0177] If in some examples the first message is (realized as) an enhanced version of an existing message like the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message, the indication of the desired / requested ECGs could for example be included in an (additional) separate information element, IE. The definition of the first message, e.g., in 3GPP (or other) specifications, may stipulate what type(s) of indication(s) of the desired / requested ECGs can be contained in the first message. It may stipulate a choice between a list of one or more ECG identifiers, or a list of one or more ECG types / descriptions, a list of one or more capabilities supported by the ECG, and a list of one or more characteristics of an ECG.

[0178] By comprising a request for ECG-level energy consumption or energy cost values, in some examples, the first message may implicitly indicate that only those ECGs, whose underlying physical HW has energy / power consumption / cost reporting capability, are desired / requested.

[0179] If in some examples the first message comprises one or more cell or carrier identifiers as indication for the desired ECGs, the first network node can directly deduce for which ECGs it is requested to report energy consumption or energy cost values.

[0180] In some embodiments, the first message can comprise both one or more simple indications to request energy consumption or energy cost values in general and one or more indications related to specific ECGs for which the energy consumption or energy cost values are requested, e.g., one or more ECG, cell, or carrier identifiers, as stated above. In another embodiment, the presence or absence of one or more indications related to specific ECGs in the first message may define that either ECG-level or node-level energy consumption or energy cost values is requested.

[0181] For example, if the existing “Energy Cost” bit in the report characteristics of the existing DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message is (re-)used to request node-level and / or ECG- level energy consumption or energy cost values, the presence or absence of one or more ECG identifiers, ECG types / descriptions, etc. in the DATA COLLECTION REQUEST message may determine whether ECG-level energy consumption or energy cost values are requested to be included in the corresponding DATA COLLECTION UPDATE messages (or not). If not, it may be that only ECG-level energy consumption or energy cost values are requested to be included. Such behavior can be defined in 3GPP (or other) specifications.

[0182] Additionally or alternatively, in some examples, the first message can comprise an indication of requested granularity level(s) on which the information is to be reported (e.g., node-level, ECG-level, cell-level, etc.). Such an indication can for example be included as a separate (new or existing) information element (IE), e.g., as a bitmap, where each position in the bitmap indicates a certain granularity level that the first network node is requested to report on. For example, one bit indicates on node-level, another bit indicates on ECG-level, a third bit indicates on cell-level. There could be any combination of the bits to request information on one or more granularity levels. This allows separation of the information to be reported (e.g., Energy Cost) from the level on which it shall be reported (e.g., node-level, ECG-level or both). This would apply to one or more of the information that exists (is already defined in the message) or may be added in the future. Alternatively, in some examples, the same indication may be implemented as an enumeration (e.g., “All-levels”, “ECG-level”, “Nodelevel”, etc.) In some examples, the first message can further comprise a first interval / periodicity at which the energy consumption or energy cost values are requested to be reported. Additionally or alternatively, the first message can further comprise a second interval / periodicity at which the energy consumption or energy cost values are requested to be measured or derived. In one example, energy consumption may be measured over 1 -minute intervals but reported only once per 15 minutes, i.e. , 15 values are reported each time. First and second interval / periodicity may be equal and not indicated separately. However, if both first and second interval / periodicity are indicated separately, the first interval should typically be equal to or larger than the second interval. Moreover, if the values are predictions, the first message may comprise yet another time indication, e.g., a requested prediction time, indicating a specific interval or point in time to which the predictions should apply, e.g., a prediction of energy cost in, or during, the next 1 minute.

[0183] In some example embodiments, the second message contains an indication of acceptance or failure in response to (hence, with respect to) the request in the first message. In case of failure, the second message may optionally comprise an appropriate cause value, e.g., a new cause value, such as “ECG not available”, “ECG measurements not supported”, “ECG predictions not supported”, “ECG measurements temporarily not available”, “ECG predictions temporarily not available”, or similar, or an existing cause value. This may apply to a request that is strictly for ECG-level information.

[0184] In some examples, the second message is a newly introduced message or an enhanced existing message over network interfaces, e.g., Xn, X2, F1 , etc. The second message may be an enhanced version of the existing DATA COLLECTION RESPONSE message sent over the Xn interface. Likewise, the second message may be an enhanced version of the existing RESOURCE STATUS RESPONSE message sent over the F1 interface.

[0185] In some examples, the third message contains an indication of one or more values (such as measurements and / or predictions) of energy consumption or energy cost related to one or more Energy Consumers Groups (ECGs) to which the first network node is associated or related.

[0186] In some examples, the third message is a newly introduced message or an enhanced existing message over network interfaces, e.g., Xn, X2, F1 , etc. The third message may be an enhanced version of the existing DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message sent over the Xn interface. Likewise, the third message may be an enhanced version of the existing RESOURCE STATUS UPDATE message sent over the F1 interface. In some examples, the first network node transmits to the second network node at least one third message comprising ECG-level energy consumption or energy cost values responsive to receiving from the second network node a first message comprising a request specifically for ECG-level energy consumption or energy cost values, e.g., a dedicated “Energy Cost per ECG” bit / flag is set and / or one or more ECG identifiers, ECG types / descriptions, etc. are included.

[0187] In some examples, the first network node transmits to the second network node at least one third message comprising node-level and / or ECG-level energy consumption or energy cost values responsive to receiving from the second network node a first message comprising a (general) request for energy consumption or energy cost values, e.g., an “Energy Cost” bit / flag is set but no ECG identifiers, ECG types / descriptions, or similar are included.

[0188] In related examples, the first network node may be able to choose to include either nodelevel or ECG-level energy consumption or energy cost values, or may be able to include both node-level and ECG-level energy consumption or energy cost values. The intended behavior can be defined for example in 3GPP (or other) specifications.

[0189] In some examples, the third message contains one or more lists. Each item in a list represents an ECG, and for each item, one or more of the following example pieces of information may be present:

[0190] • An ECG identifier

[0191] • Identifiers for one or more cells, beams, or carriers.

[0192] • One or more values of energy consumption or energy cost.

[0193] In a related example, the third message contains one or more nested lists. Each item in a list represents an ECG and, in addition to the pieces of information previously described, each item may contain a list of ECGs. For example, an ECG representing a radio unit (Rll) may contain a list of ECGs, each describing a different RF / TRX chain in the Rll.

[0194] In some examples, the third message contains one or more lists. Each item in a list represents a cell or carrier, and for each item, one or more of the pieces of information previously described may be present. In addition, the following example pieces of information may be present:

[0195] • Identifiers for one or more related ECGs.

[0196] • One or more values of energy consumption or energy cost per related ECG Signaling between network nodes, such as for example F1 signaling between gNB-Dll and gNB-Cll network nodes, in some examples may apply to cloud deployment of either or both the first and second network nodes, e.g., gNB-Dll to vCU, vDU to gNB-Cll, or vDU to vCU. Xn signaling between 2 gNB-Cll network nodes may in some examples apply to cloud deployment of either or both the first and second network nodes, e.g., gNB-Cll to vCU or vCU to vCU.

[0197] The following two examples show a possible implementation of the request (first message) and report (third message) as an enhancement of the Data Collection Reporting Initiation and Data Collection Reporting procedures’ messages DATA COLLECTION REQUEST and DATA COLLECTION UPDATE, respectively, as defined in the 3GPP XnAP specification. In these examples, the energy cost is requested and reported per ECG with an optional indication of the cells per ECG in the report. The additions to the existing specifications are underlined.

[0198] 9.1.3.CC DATA COLLECTION REQUEST This message is sent by NG-RAN nodei to NG-RAN node2 to initiate the requested information reporting according to the parameters given in the message.

[0199] Direction: NG-RAN nodei -> NG-RAN node2.

[0200]

[0201] 9.1.3.FF DATA COLLECTION UPDATE This message is sent by NG-RAN node2 to NG-RAN nodei to report the requested information.

[0202] Direction: NG-RAN node2 -> NG-RAN nodei.

[0203]

[0204] In the following example, the energy cost is requested per cell, and it is reported per ECG per cell. Only the enhancements to the Data Collection Reporting procedure’s message DATA COLLECTION UPDATE are shown. The additions to the existing specifications are underlined.

[0205] 9.1.3.FF DATA COLLECTION UPDATE

[0206] This message is sent by NG-RAN node2 to NG-RAN nodei to report the requested information.

[0207] Direction: NG-RAN node2 -> NG-RAN nodei.

[0208]

[0209] The following example shows a possible implementation of the request (first message) and report (third message) as an enhancement of the Resource Status Reporting Initiation and Resource Status Reporting procedures’ messages RESOURCE STATUS REQUEST and RESOURCE STATUS UPDATE, respectively, as defined in the 3GPP F1AP specification. In this example, the energy cost is requested and reported per ECG. The additions to the existing specifications for RESOURCE STATUS REQUEST are underlined. The additions to the existing specifications for RESOURCE STATUS UPDATE may in some examples be the same as or similar to those for the DATA COLLECTION UPDATE message described above.

[0210] 9.2.1.20 RESOURCE STATUS REQUEST

[0211] This message is sent by gNB-CU to gNB-DU to initiate the requested measurement according to the parameters given in the message.

[0212] Direction: gNB-CU -> gNB-DU.

[0213] In the following example, the energy cost is requested per cell, and it is reported per ECG per cell. Only the enhancements to the Resource Status Reporting procedure’s message RESOURCE STATUS UPDATE are shown. The additions to the existing specifications are underlined.

[0214] 9.2.1.23 RESOURCE STATUS UPDATE

[0215] This message is sent by gNB-DU to gNB-CU to report the results of the requested measurements.

[0216] Direction: gNB-DU -> gNB-CU.

[0217] Figure 10 shows an example of a communication system QQ100 in accordance with some embodiments. In the example, the communication system QQ100 includes a telecommunication network QQ102 that includes an access network QQ104, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network QQ106, which includes one or more core network nodes QQ108. The access network QQ104 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes QQ110a and QQ110b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes QQ1 10), or any other similar 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points. Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network QQ102 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network QQ102 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 QQ102, including one or more network nodes QQ110 and / or core network nodes QQ108.

[0218] Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (0-Rll), 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 0-2 interface defined by the O-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes QQ110 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs QQ112a, QQ112b, QQ112c, and QQ112d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs QQ112) to the core network QQ106 over one or more wireless connections.

[0219] Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system QQ100 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system QQ100 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0220] The UEs QQ112 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes QQ110 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes QQ110 are arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs QQ112 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network QQ102 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network QQ102.

[0221] In the depicted example, the core network QQ106 connects the network nodes QQ110 to one or more hosts, such as host QQ116. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network QQ106 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node QQ108) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and / or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node QQ108. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), Policy Control Function (PCF) and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0222] The host QQ116 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network QQ104 and / or the telecommunication network QQ102, and may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host QQ116 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more services.

[0223] Examples of such applications include the provision of live and / or pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services, for example, retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

[0224] As a whole, the communication system QQ100 of Figure 10 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0225] In some examples, the telecommunication network QQ102 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network QQ102 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network QQ102. For example, the telecommunications network QQ102 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) / Massive loT services to yet further UEs.

[0226] In some examples, the UEs QQ112 are configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network QQ104 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network QQ104. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved- UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0227] In the example illustrated in Figure 10, the hub QQ114 communicates with the access network QQ104 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE QQ112c and / or QQ112d) and network nodes (e.g., network node QQ110b). In some examples, the hub QQ114 may be a controller, router, a content source and analytics node, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub QQ114 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network QQ106 for the UEs. As another example, the hub QQ114 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes QQ110, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub QQ114. As another example, the hub QQ114 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub QQ114 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub QQ114 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub QQ114 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub QQ114 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[0228] The hub QQ114 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node QQ110b. The hub QQ114 may also allow for a different communication scheme and / or schedule between the hub QQ114 and UEs (e.g., UE QQ112c and / or QQ112d) , and between the hub QQ114 and the core network QQ106. In other examples, the hub QQ114 is connected to the core network QQ106 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub QQ114 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network QQ104 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes QQ110 while still connected via the hub QQ114 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub QQ114 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to / from the UEs from / to the network node QQ110b. In other embodiments, the hub QQ114 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node QQ110b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and / or end point for certain data channels.

[0229] Figure 11 shows a UE QQ200 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless camera, gaming console or device, music storage device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle, vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded / integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-loT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0230] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

[0231] The UE QQ200 includes processing circuitry QQ202 that is operatively coupled via a bus QQ204 to an input / output interface QQ206, a power source QQ208, a memory QQ210, a communication interface QQ212, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 11. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0232] The processing circuitry QQ202 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory QQ210. The processing circuitry QQ202 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry QQ202 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs). The processing circuitry QQ202 may be operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other UE QQ200 components, such as the memory QQ210, UE QQ200 functionality.

[0233] In the example, the input / output interface QQ206 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE QQ200. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

[0234] In some embodiments, the power source QQ208 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source QQ208 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source QQ208 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE QQ200 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source QQ208. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source QQ208 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE QQ200 to which power is supplied.

[0235] The memory QQ210 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory QQ210 includes one or more application programs QQ214, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data QQ216. The memory QQ210 may store, for use by the UE QQ200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems. The memory QQ210 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and / or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUlCC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory QQ210 may allow the UE QQ200 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory QQ210, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0236] The processing circuitry QQ202 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface QQ212. The communication interface QQ212 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna QQ222. The communication interface QQ212 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter QQ218 and / or a receiver QQ220 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter QQ218 and receiver QQ220 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna QQ222) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0237] In some embodiments, communication functions of the communication interface QQ212 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol / internet protocol (TCP / IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0238] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface QQ212, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0239] As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or controls a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0240] A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (loT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are devices which are or which are embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door / window sensor, a flood / moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smartwatch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR), a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and / or software in dependence on the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE QQ200 shown in Figure 11.

[0241] As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another UE and / or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-loT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0242] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and / or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0243] Figure 12 shows a network node QQ300 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)), O-RAN nodes or components of an O-RAN node (e.g., O-RU, O-DU, O-CU).

[0244] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in an O- RAN access node) and / or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0245] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell / multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0246] The network node QQ300 includes processing circuitry QQ302, a memory QQ304, a communication interface QQ306, and a power source QQ308, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. The network node QQ300 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node QQ300 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node QQ300 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory QQ304 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna QQ310 may be shared by different RATs). The network node QQ300 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node QQ300, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z- wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node QQ300.

[0247] The processing circuitry QQ302 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and / or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node QQ300 components, such as the memory QQ304, network node QQ300 functionality. For example, the processing circuitry QQ302 may be configured to cause the network node to perform the methods as described with reference to any of Figures 5 to 8.

[0248] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry QQ302 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry QQ302 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry QQ312 and baseband processing circuitry QQ314. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry QQ312 and the baseband processing circuitry QQ314 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry QQ312 and baseband processing circuitry QQ314 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0249] The memory QQ304 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry QQ302. The memory QQ304 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry QQ302 and utilized by the network node QQ300. The memory QQ304 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry QQ302 and / or any data received via the communication interface QQ306. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry QQ302 and memory QQ304 is integrated.

[0250] The communication interface QQ306 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between a network node, access network, and / or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface QQ306 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) QQ316 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface QQ306 also includes radio front-end circuitry QQ318 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna QQ310. Radio front-end circuitry QQ318 comprises filters QQ320 and amplifiers QQ322. The radio front-end circuitry QQ318 may be connected to an antenna QQ310 and processing circuitry QQ302. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna QQ310 and processing circuitry QQ302. The radio front-end circuitry QQ318 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry QQ318 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters QQ320 and / or amplifiers QQ322. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna QQ310.

[0251] Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna QQ310 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry QQ318. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry QQ302. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0252] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node QQ300 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry QQ318, instead, the processing circuitry QQ302 includes radio frontend circuitry and is connected to the antenna QQ310. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry QQ312 is part of the communication interface QQ306. In still other embodiments, the communication interface QQ306 includes one or more ports or terminals QQ316, the radio front-end circuitry QQ318, and the RF transceiver circuitry QQ312, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface QQ306 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry QQ314, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0253] The antenna QQ310 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna QQ310 may be coupled to the radio frontend circuitry QQ318 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna QQ310 is separate from the network node QQ300 and connectable to the network node QQ300 through an interface or port.

[0254] The antenna QQ310, communication interface QQ306, and / or the processing circuitry QQ302 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and / or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna QQ310, the communication interface QQ306, and / or the processing circuitry QQ302 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment. The power source QQ308 provides power to the various components of network node QQ300 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source QQ308 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node QQ300 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node QQ300 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source QQ308. As a further example, the power source QQ308 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

[0255] Embodiments of the network node QQ300 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 12 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node QQ300 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node QQ300 and to allow output of information from the network node QQ300. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node QQ300.

[0256] Figure 13 is a block diagram of a host QQ400, which may be an embodiment of the host QQ116 of Figure 10, in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, the host QQ400 may be or comprise various combinations hardware and / or software, including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, container, or processing resources in a server farm. The host QQ400 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

[0257] The host QQ400 includes processing circuitry QQ402 that is operatively coupled via a bus QQ404 to an input / output interface QQ406, a network interface QQ408, a power source QQ410, and a memory QQ412. Other components may be included in other embodiments. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices of previous figures, such as Figures 11 and 12, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of host QQ400.

[0258] The memory QQ412 may include one or more computer programs including one or more host application programs QQ414 and data QQ416, which may include user data, e.g., data generated by a UE for the host QQ400 or data generated by the host QQ400 for a UE. Embodiments of the host QQ400 may utilize only a subset or all of the components shown. The host application programs QQ414 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., FLAG, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UEs (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, heads-up display systems). The host application programs QQ414 may also provide for user authentication and licensing checks and may periodically report health, routes, and content availability to a central node, such as a device in or on the edge of a core network. Accordingly, the host QQ400 may select and / or indicate a different host for over-the-top services for a UE. The host application programs QQ414 may support various protocols, such as the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), etc.

[0259] Figure 14 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment QQ500 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments QQ500 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualization environment QQ500 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an 0-2 interface.

[0260] Applications QQ502 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein. Hardware QQ504 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and / or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input / output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers QQ506 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs QQ508a and QQ508b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs QQ508), and / or perform any of the functions, features and / or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer QQ506 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs QQ508.

[0261] The VMs QQ508 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer QQ506. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance QQ502 may be implemented on one or more of VMs QQ508, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

[0262] In the context of NFV, a VM QQ508 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs QQ508, and that part of hardware QQ504 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs QQ508 on top of the hardware QQ504 and corresponds to the application QQ502.

[0263] Hardware QQ504 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware QQ504 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware QQ504 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration QQ510, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications QQ502. In some embodiments, hardware QQ504 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system QQ512 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0264] Figure 15 shows a communication diagram of a host QQ602 communicating via a network node QQ604 with a UE QQ606 over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments. Example implementations, in accordance with various embodiments, of the UE (such as a UE QQ112a of Figure 10 and / or UE QQ200 of Figure 11), network node (such as network node QQ110a of Figure 10 and / or network node QQ300 of Figure 12), and host (such as host QQ116 of Figure 10 and / or host QQ400 of Figure 13) discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to Figure 15.

[0265] Like host QQ400, embodiments of host QQ602 include hardware, such as a communication interface, processing circuitry, and memory. The host QQ602 also includes software, which is stored in or accessible by the host QQ602 and executable by the processing circuitry. The software includes a host application that may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as the UE QQ606 connecting via an over-the-top (OTT) connection QQ650 extending between the UE QQ606 and host QQ602. In providing the service to the remote user, a host application may provide user data which is transmitted using the OTT connection QQ650.

[0266] The network node QQ604 includes hardware enabling it to communicate with the host QQ602 and UE QQ606. The connection QQ660 may be direct or pass through a core network (like core network QQ106 of Figure 10) and / or one or more other intermediate networks, such as one or more public, private, or hosted networks. For example, an intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.

[0267] The UE QQ606 includes hardware and software, which is stored in or accessible by UE QQ606 and executable by the UE’s processing circuitry. The software includes a client application, such as a web browser or operator-specific “app” that may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via UE QQ606 with the support of the host QQ602. In the host QQ602, an executing host application may communicate with the executing client application via the OTT connection QQ650 terminating at the UE QQ606 and host QQ602. In providing the service to the user, the UE's client application may receive request data from the host's host application and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection QQ650 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The UE's client application may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides to the host application through the OTT connection QQ650.

[0268] The OTT connection QQ650 may extend via a connection QQ660 between the host QQ602 and the network node QQ604 and via a wireless connection QQ670 between the network node QQ604 and the UE QQ606 to provide the connection between the host QQ602 and the UE QQ606. The connection QQ660 and wireless connection QQ670, over which the OTT connection QQ650 may be provided, have been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between the host QQ602 and the UE QQ606 via the network node QQ604, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices.

[0269] As an example of transmitting data via the OTT connection QQ650, in step QQ608, the host QQ602 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE QQ606. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with a UE QQ606 that shares data with the host QQ602 without explicit human interaction. In step QQ610, the host QQ602 initiates a transmission carrying the user data towards the UE QQ606. The host QQ602 may initiate the transmission responsive to a request transmitted by the UE QQ606. The request may be caused by human interaction with the UE QQ606 or by operation of the client application executing on the UE QQ606. The transmission may pass via the network node QQ604, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Accordingly, in step QQ612, the network node QQ604 transmits to the UE QQ606 the user data that was carried in the transmission that the host QQ602 initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step QQ614, the UE QQ606 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application executed on the UE QQ606 associated with the host application executed by the host QQ602.

[0270] In some examples, the UE QQ606 executes a client application which provides user data to the host QQ602. The user data may be provided in reaction or response to the data received from the host QQ602. Accordingly, in step QQ616, the UE QQ606 may provide user data, which may be performed by executing the client application. In providing the user data, the client application may further consider user input received from the user via an input / output interface of the UE QQ606. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE QQ606 initiates, in step QQ618, transmission of the user data towards the host QQ602 via the network node QQ604. In step QQ620, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the network node QQ604 receives user data from the UE QQ606 and initiates transmission of the received user data towards the host QQ602. In step QQ622, the host QQ602 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the UE QQ606.

[0271] One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE QQ606 using the OTT connection QQ650, in which the wireless connection QQ670 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve information sharing and thereby provide benefits such as improved energy saving decisions in a network.

[0272] In an example scenario, factory status information may be collected and analyzed by the host QQ602. As another example, the host QQ602 may process audio and video data which may have been retrieved from a UE for use in creating maps. As another example, the host QQ602 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion (e.g., controlling traffic lights). As another example, the host QQ602 may store surveillance video uploaded by a UE. As another example, the host QQ602 may store or control access to media content such as video, audio, VR or AR which it can broadcast, multicast or unicast to UEs. As other examples, the host QQ602 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time critical electrical load to balance power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as compiling diagrams etc. from data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing and / or transmitting data.

[0273] In some examples, 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 QQ650 between the host QQ602 and UE QQ606, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and / or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection may be implemented in software and hardware of the host QQ602 and / or UE QQ606. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with other devices through which the OTT connection QQ650 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 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection QQ650 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not directly alter the operation of the network node QQ604. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like, by the host QQ602. The measurements may be implemented in that software causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection QQ650 while monitoring propagation times, errors, etc.

[0274] Figure 16 shows a network node QQ700 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. The network node QQ700 may be operable as a core network node, a core network function or, more generally, a core network entity, such as the core network node QQ108 described above with respect to Figure 10). Examples of network nodes in this context include core network entities such as one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), Policy Control Function (PCF) and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0275] The network node QQ700 includes processing circuitry QQ702, a memory QQ704, a communication interface QQ706, and a power source QQ708, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. The network node QQ700 may be composed of multiple physically separate components, which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node QQ700 comprises multiple separate components, one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes.

[0276] The processing circuitry QQ702 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and / or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node QQ700 components, such as the memory QQ704, network node QQ700 functionality. For example, the processing circuitry QQ702 may be configured to cause the network node to perform the methods as described with reference to any of Figures 5 to 8. The memory QQ704 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry QQ702. The memory QQ704 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry QQ702 and utilized by the network node QQ700. The memory QQ704 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry QQ702 and / or any data received via the communication interface QQ706. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry QQ702 and memory QQ704 is integrated.

[0277] The communication interface QQ706 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between a network node, access network, and / or UE.

[0278] The power source QQ708 provides power to the various components of network node QQ700 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source QQ708 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node QQ700 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node QQ700 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source QQ708. As a further example, the power source QQ708 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

[0279] Embodiments of the network node QQ700 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 16 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node QQ700 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node QQ700 and to allow output of information from the network node QQ700. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node QQ700.

[0280] This disclosure includes the following enumerated embodiments:

[0281] Group B Embodiments

[0282] 1. A method performed by a first network node for sending information, the method comprising: sending, to a second network node, information identifying, for each of one or more cells and / or carriers, energy consumption of one or more hardware resources used when the cell and / or carrier is operational.

[0283] 2. The method of embodiment 1 , wherein the information identifying, for each of the one or more cells and / or carriers, energy consumption of one or more hardware resources used when the cell and / or carrier is operational identifies energy consumption of one or more groups of hardware resources, wherein each group contains one or more of the hardware resources used.

[0284] 3. The method of embodiment 2, wherein each group of hardware resources contains the one or more hardware resources used when one or more of the cells and / or carriers is operational.

[0285] 4. The method of embodiment 2 or 3, wherein each of the hardware resources may be included in one or more of the groups.

[0286] 5. The method of any of embodiments 2 to 4, wherein one or more of the groups is included in one or more other groups.

[0287] 6. The method of any of embodiments 2 to 5, wherein the information identifies an identifier for each of the one or more groups.

[0288] 7. The method of any of embodiments 1 to 6, comprising sending the information to the second network node in response to a request from the second network node.

[0289] 8. The method of embodiment 7, wherein the request includes an indication that indicates that the request is for information identifying, for each of one or more cells and / or carriers, energy consumption of one or more hardware resources used when the cell and / or carrier is operational.

[0290] 9. The method of embodiment 8, wherein the indication comprises one or more bits and / or flags.

[0291] 10. The method of embodiment 8 or 9, wherein the indication indicates that the request is for information identifying, for each of one or more cells and / or carriers, energy consumption of one or more hardware resources used when the cell and / or carrier is operational instead of information identifying network node-level energy consumption.

[0292] 11. The method of embodiment 8 or 9, wherein the indication indicates that the request is for information identifying, for each of one or more cells and / or carriers, energy consumption of one or more hardware resources used when the cell and / or carrier is operational in addition to information identifying network node-level energy consumption.

[0293] 12. The method of any of embodiments 7 to 11 , wherein the request identifies the one or more cells and / or carriers.

[0294] 13. The method of embodiment 12, comprising determining the one or more hardware resources based on the one or more cells and / or carriers.

[0295] 14. The method of any of embodiments 7 to 13, wherein the request identifies the one or more hardware resources.

[0296] 15. The method of any of embodiments 7 to 14 when dependent on any of embodiments 2 to 5, wherein the request identifies the one or more groups of hardware resources.

[0297] 16. The method of any of embodiments 7 to 15, wherein the request identifies one or more criteria, and wherein the one or more hardware resources used when each of one or more cells and / or carriers is operational meets the one or more criteria.

[0298] 17. The method of embodiment 16, wherein the one or more criteria comprises, for the one or more hardware resources used when each of the one or more cells and / or carriers is operational comprises one or more of: one or more capabilities of the one or more hardware resources; one or more types of the one or more hardware resources. 18. The method of embodiment 17, wherein one or more capabilities of the one or more hardware resources comprises one or more of: a capability of at least one of the one or more hardware resources to measure the energy consumption of the at least one of the one or more hardware resources; a capability of at least one of the one or more hardware resources to report the energy consumption of the at least one of the one or more hardware resources.

[0299] 19. The method of embodiment 17 or 18, wherein the one or more types of the one or more hardware resources comprises one or more of: one or more hardware component types; one or more network node types; one or more network function types; one or more antenna types; one or more antenna array types; one or more antenna segment types; one or more data processor types; one or more baseband processor types; one or more digital signal processor (DSP) types; one or more radio unit types; one or more distributed unit (DU) types; one or more central unit (CU) types; one or more circuit types; one or more power amplifier types; one or more receiver types; one or more transmitter types; one or more transceiver types.

[0300] 20. The method of any of embodiments 7 to 19, wherein the request identifies a periodicity for sending, to the second network node, the information identifying, for each of the one or more cells and / or carriers, energy consumption of the one or more hardware resources used when the cell and / or carrier is operational.

[0301] 21. The method of embodiment 20, comprising periodically sending, to the second network node, the information identifying, for each of the one or more cells and / or carriers, energy consumption of the one or more hardware resources used when the cell and / or carrier is operational according to the periodicity.

[0302] 22. The method of any of embodiments 1 to 21 , comprising determining the energy consumption of the one or more hardware resources used when each cell and / or carrier is operational based on measurements of energy consumption of the one or more hardware resources.

[0303] 23. The method of embodiment 22, comprising: measuring the energy consumption of one or more of the one or more hardware resources to obtain one or more of the measurements; and / or receiving energy consumption information identifying one or more measurements of the energy consumption of one or more of the one or more hardware resources.

[0304] 24. The method of embodiment 23, comprising receiving at least part of the energy consumption information from one or more of: one or more of the one or more hardware resources; one or more network nodes.

[0305] 25. The method of any of embodiments 22 to 24 when dependent on any of embodiments 7 to 18, wherein the request identifies a length of a time period for performing measurement of the energy consumption of one or more of the one or more hardware resources to obtain one or more of the measurements.

[0306] 26. The method of any of embodiments 1 to 25, comprising forwarding the information to a third network node.

[0307] 27. The method of any of embodiments 1 to 26, wherein each of one or more of the hardware resources comprises one or more of: one or more hardware components; one or more network nodes; one or more network functions; one or more antennas; one or more antenna arrays; one or more antenna segments; one or more data processors; one or more baseband processors; one or more digital signal processors (DSPs); one or more radio units; one or more distributed units (Dlls); one or more central units (CUs); one or more circuits; one or more power amplifiers; one or more receivers; one or more transmitters; one or more transceivers.

[0308] 28. The method of any of embodiments 1 to 27, wherein each of the first network node and / or the second network node comprises one or more of: a base station; an eNodeB; a gNodeB;

[0309] O-DU;

[0310] O-CU;

[0311] O-CU-CP;

[0312] O-CU-UP;

[0313] O-eNB; gNB-CU; gNB-CU-CP; gNB-DU; near-RT RIC; non-RT RIC;

[0314] SMO node;

[0315] CAM node; core network node.

[0316] 29. The method of any of embodiments 1 to 28, wherein the one or more hardware resources used when a cell and / or carrier is operational comprises: the one or more hardware resources used when a cell and / or carrier is available, enabled, active, provided, functional and / or useable; the one or more hardware resources used to support, enable, activate, provide, maintain and / or sustain a cell and / or carrier; the one or more hardware resources used to transmit and / or receive signals associated with the cell and / or carrier; and / or the one or more hardware resources used to transmit and / or receive user data.

[0317] 30. The method of any of embodiments 1 to 29, wherein the first network node or the second network node controls, operates and / or serves the one or more cells and / or carriers and / or the one or more hardware resources.

[0318] 31. A method performed by a second network node for receiving information, the method comprising: receiving, from a first network node, information identifying, for each of one or more cells and / or carriers, energy consumption of one or more hardware resources used when the cell and / or carrier is operational.

[0319] 32. The method of embodiment 31 , wherein the information identifying, for each of the one or more cells and / or carriers, energy consumption of one or more hardware resources used when the cell and / or carrier is operational identifies energy consumption of one or more groups of hardware resources, wherein each group contains one or more of the hardware resources used.

[0320] 33. The method of embodiment 32, wherein each group of hardware resources contains the one or more hardware resources used when one or more of the cells and / or carriers is operational.

[0321] 34. The method of embodiment 32 or 33, wherein each of the hardware resources may be included in one or more of the groups.

[0322] 35. The method of any of embodiments 32 to 34, wherein each of one or more of the groups is included in one or more other groups.

[0323] 36. The method of any of embodiments 32 to 35, wherein the information identifies an identifier for each of the one or more groups. 37. The method of any of embodiments 31 to 36, comprising sending a request to the first network node, wherein the information is received in response to the request.

[0324] 38. The method of embodiment 37, wherein the request includes an indication that indicates that the request is for information identifying, for each of one or more cells and / or carriers, energy consumption of one or more hardware resources used when the cell and / or carrier is operational.

[0325] 39. The method of embodiment 38, wherein the indication comprises one or more bits and / or flags.

[0326] 40. The method of embodiment 38 or 39, wherein the indication indicates that the request is for information identifying, for each of one or more cells and / or carriers, energy consumption of one or more hardware resources used when the cell and / or carrier is operational instead of information identifying network node-level energy consumption.

[0327] 41. The method of embodiment 38 or 39, wherein the indication indicates that the request is for information identifying, for each of one or more cells and / or carriers, energy consumption of one or more hardware resources used when the cell and / or carrier is operational in addition to information identifying network node-level energy consumption.

[0328] 42. The method of any of embodiments 37 to 41 , wherein the request identifies the one or more cells and / or carriers.

[0329] 43. The method of embodiment 42, comprising determining the one or more hardware resources based on the one or more cells and / or carriers.

[0330] 44. The method of any of embodiments 37 to 43, wherein the request identifies the one or more hardware resources.

[0331] 45. The method of any of embodiments 37 to 44 when dependent on any of embodiments 2 to 5, wherein the request identifies the one or more groups of hardware resources.

[0332] 46. The method of any of embodiments 37 to 45, wherein the request identifies one or more criteria, and wherein the one or more hardware resources used when each of one or more cells and / or carriers is operational meets the one or more criteria. 47. The method of embodiment 46, wherein the one or more criteria comprises, for the one or more hardware resources used when each of the one or more cells and / or carriers is operational comprises one or more of: one or more capabilities of the one or more hardware resources; one or more types of the one or more hardware resources.

[0333] 48. The method of embodiment 47, wherein one or more capabilities of the one or more hardware resources comprises one or more of: a capability of at least one of the one or more hardware resources to measure the energy consumption of the at least one of the one or more hardware resources; a capability of at least one of the one or more hardware resources to report the energy consumption of the at least one of the one or more hardware resources.

[0334] 49. The method of embodiment 47 or 48, wherein the one or more types of the one or more hardware resources comprises one or more of: one or more hardware component types; one or more network node types; one or more network function types; one or more antenna types; one or more antenna array types; one or more antenna segment types; one or more data processor types; one or more baseband processor types; one or more digital signal processor (DSP) types; one or more radio unit types; one or more distributed unit (DU) types; one or more central unit (CU) types; one or more circuit types; one or more power amplifier types; one or more receiver types; one or more transmitter types; one or more transceiver types.

[0335] 50. The method of any of embodiments 37 to 49, wherein the request identifies a periodicity for receiving, from the first network node, the information identifying, for each of the one or more cells and / or carriers, energy consumption of the one or more hardware resources used when the cell and / or carrier is operational.

[0336] 51. The method of embodiment 50, comprising periodically receiving, from the first network node, the information identifying, for each of the one or more cells and / or carriers, energy consumption of the one or more hardware resources used when the cell and / or carrier is operational according to the periodicity.

[0337] 52. The method of any of embodiments 31 to 51, comprising forwarding the information to a third network node.

[0338] 53. The method of any of embodiments 31 to 52, wherein each of one or more of the hardware resources comprises one or more of: one or more hardware components; one or more network nodes; one or more network functions; one or more antennas; one or more antenna arrays; one or more antenna segments; one or more data processors; one or more baseband processors; one or more digital signal processors (DSPs); one or more radio units; one or more distributed units (Dlls); one or more central units (CUs); one or more circuits; one or more power amplifiers; one or more receivers; one or more transmitters; one or more transceivers.

[0339] 54. The method of any of embodiments 31 to 53, wherein each of the first network node and / or the second network node comprises one or more of: a base station; an eNodeB; a gNodeB; O-DU;

[0340] O-CU;

[0341] O-CU-CP;

[0342] O-CU-UP;

[0343] O-eNB; gNB-CU; gNB-CU-CP; gNB-DU; near-RT RIC; non-RT RIC;

[0344] SMO node;

[0345] CAM node; core network node.

[0346] 55. The method of any of embodiments 31 to 54, wherein the one or more hardware resources used when a cell and / or carrier is operational comprises: the one or more hardware resources used when a cell and / or carrier is available, enabled, active, provided, functional and / or useable; the one or more hardware resources used to support, enable, activate, provide, maintain and / or sustain a cell and / or carrier; the one or more hardware resources used to transmit and / or receive signals associated with the cell and / or carrier; and / or the one or more hardware resources used to transmit and / or receive user data.

[0347] 56. The method of any of embodiments 31 to 55, wherein the first network node or the second network node controls, operates and / or serves the one or more cells and / or carriers and / or the one or more hardware resources.

[0348] 57. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: obtaining user data; and forwarding the user data to a host or a user equipment.

[0349] Group D Embodiments

[0350] 58. A network node comprising: processing circuitry configured to cause the network node to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments; power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the processing circuitry.

[0351] 59. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data to a network node in a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

[0352] 60. The host of the previous embodiment, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application that provides the user data; and the UE comprises processing circuitry configured to execute a client application associated with the host application to receive the transmission of user data from the host.

[0353] 61. A method implemented in a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: providing user data for the UE; and initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the network node, wherein the network node performs any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

[0354] 62. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising, at the network node, transmitting the user data provided by the host for the UE.

[0355] 63. The method of any of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein the user data is provided at the host by executing a host application that interacts with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

[0356] 64. A communication system configured to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the communication system comprising: a host comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data for a user equipment (UE), the user data being associated with the over-the-top service; and a network interface configured to initiate transmission of the user data toward a cellular network node for transmission to the UE, the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to transmit the user data from the host to the UE.

[0357] 65. The communication system of the previous embodiment, further comprising: the network node; and / or the UE.

[0358] 66. A host configured to operate in a communication system to provide an over-the-top (OTT) service, the host comprising: processing circuitry configured to initiate receipt of user data; and a network interface configured to receive the user data from a network node in a cellular network, the network node having a communication interface and processing circuitry, the processing circuitry of the network node configured to perform any of the operations of any of the Group B embodiments to receive the user data from a user equipment (UE) for the host.

[0359] 67. The host of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application that receives the user data; and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

[0360] 68. The host of the any of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein the initiating receipt of the user data comprises requesting the user data.

[0361] 69. A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system that further includes a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: at the host, initiating receipt of user data from the UE, the user data originating from a transmission which the network node has received from the UE, wherein the network node performs any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments to receive the user data from the UE for the host.

[0362] 70. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising at the network node, transmitting the received user data to the host.

[0363] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0364] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer- readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and / or by end users and a wireless network generally.

Claims

Claims1. A method (500) performed by a first network node for sending information, the method comprising: sending (502), to a second network node, information identifying energy consumption of one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources associated with one or more cells and / or carriers.

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the information identifying the energy consumption of one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers comprises information identifying, for each of the one or more cells and / or carriers, energy consumption of the one or more groups of hardware resources used when the cell and / or carrier is operational.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein: each group (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources contains one or more hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers; each of the hardware resources may be included in one or more of the groups; one or more of the groups is included in one or more other groups; and / or the information identifies an identifier for each of the one or more groups.

4. The method of any of claims 1 to 3, comprising sending the information to the second network node in response to a request from the second network node.

5. The method of claim 4, wherein the request includes an indication that indicates that the request is for information identifying the energy consumption of the one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the indication indicates that the request is for information identifying the energy consumption of the one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers instead of or in addition to information identifying network node-level energy consumption.

7. The method of any of claims 4 to 6, wherein the request identifies the one or more cells and / or carriers and / or the one or more groups of hardware resources.

8. The method of claim 7, comprising determining the one or more groups of hardware resources based on the one or more cells and / or carriers.

9. The method of any of claims 4 to 8, wherein the request identifies one or more criteria, and wherein the one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers meets the one or more criteria.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more criteria comprises, for the one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers, one or more of: one or more capabilities of the one or more groups of hardware resources; one or more types of the one or more groups of hardware resources.

11. The method of claim 10, wherein: the one or more capabilities of the one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources comprises one or more of: a capability of at least one of the one or more groups of hardware resources to measure the energy consumption of the at least one of the one or more groups of hardware resources; and a capability of at least one of the one or more groups of hardware resources to report the energy consumption of the at least one of the one or more groups of hardware resources; and / or the one or more types of the one or more groups of hardware resources comprises one or more of: one or more hardware component types; one or more network node types; one or more network function types; one or more antenna types; one or more antenna array types; one or more antenna segment types; one or more data processor types; one or more baseband processor types; one or more digital signal processor (DSP) types; one or more radio unit types; one or more distributed unit (DU) types;one or more central unit (CU) types; one or more circuit types; one or more power amplifier types; one or more receiver types; one or more transmitter types; one or more transceiver types.

12. The method of any of claims 4 to 11 , wherein the request identifies a periodicity for sending, to the second network node, the information identifying the energy consumption of the one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers.

13. The method of any of claims 1 to 12, comprising determining the energy consumption of the one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers based on measurements of energy consumption of the one or more groups of hardware resources.

14. The method of claim 13, comprising: measuring the energy consumption of one or more of the one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources to obtain one or more of the measurements; and / or receiving energy consumption information identifying one or more measurements of the energy consumption of one or more of the one or more groups of hardware resources.

15. The method of claim 13 or 14 when dependent on any of claims 3 to 11 , wherein the request identifies a length of a time period for performing measurement of the energy consumption of one or more of the one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources to obtain one or more of the measurements.

16. A method (600) performed by a second network node for receiving information, the method comprising: receiving (602), from a first network node, information identifying energy consumption of one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the information identifying the energy consumption of one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources associated with the oneor more cells and / or carriers comprises information identifying, for each of the one or more cells and / or carriers, energy consumption of the one or more groups of hardware resources used when the cell and / or carrier is operational.

18. The method of claim 16 or 17, wherein: each group (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources contains one or more hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers; each of the hardware resources may be included in one or more of the groups; each of one or more of the groups is included in one or more other groups; and / or the information identifies an identifier for each of the one or more groups.

19. The method of any of claims 16 to 18, comprising sending a request to the first network node, wherein the information is received in response to the request.

20. The method of claim 19, wherein the request includes an indication that indicates that the request is for information identifying the energy consumption of the one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the indication indicates that the request is for information identifying the energy consumption of the one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers instead of or in addition to information identifying network node-level energy consumption.

22. The method of any of claims 19 to 21, wherein the request identifies the one or more cells and / or carriers.

23. The method of claim 22, comprising determining the one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources based on the one or more cells and / or carriers.

24. The method of any of claims 19 to 23, wherein the request identifies one or more criteria, and wherein the one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers meets the one or more criteria.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the one or more criteria comprises, for the one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers, one or more of:one or more capabilities of the one or more groups of hardware resources; one or more types of the one or more groups of hardware resources.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein: one or more capabilities of the one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources comprises one or more of: a capability of at least one of the one or more groups of hardware resources to measure the energy consumption of the at least one of the one or more groups of hardware resources; and a capability of at least one of the one or more groups of hardware resources to report the energy consumption of the at least one of the one or more groups of hardware resources; and / or the one or more types of the one or more groups of hardware resources comprises one or more of: one or more hardware component types; one or more network node types; one or more network function types; one or more antenna types; one or more antenna array types; one or more antenna segment types; one or more data processor types; one or more baseband processor types; one or more digital signal processor (DSP) types; one or more radio unit types; one or more distributed unit (DU) types; one or more central unit (CU) types; one or more circuit types; one or more power amplifier types; one or more receiver types; one or more transmitter types; one or more transceiver types.

27. The method of any of claims 19 to 26, wherein the request identifies a periodicity for receiving, from the first network node, the information identifying the energy consumption of the one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources associated with the one or more cells and / or carriers.

28. The method of any of claims 1 to 27, wherein the energy consumption of the one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources comprises predicted and / or measured energy consumption29. The method of any of claims 1 to 28, wherein each of one or more of the groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources comprises one or more of: one or more hardware components; one or more network nodes; one or more network functions; one or more antennas; one or more antenna arrays; one or more antenna segments; one or more data processors; one or more baseband processors; one or more digital signal processors (DSPs); one or more radio units; one or more distributed units (Dlls); one or more central units (CUs); one or more circuits; one or more power amplifiers; one or more receivers; one or more transmitters; one or more transceivers.

30. The method of any of claims 1 to 29, wherein each of the first network node and / or the second network node comprises one or more of: a base station; an eNodeB; a gNodeB;O-DU;O-CU;O-CU-CP;O-CU-UP;O-eNB;gNB-CU; gNB-CU-CP; gNB-DU; near-RT RIC; non-RT RIC;SMO node;CAM node; core network node.

31. The method of any of claims 1 to 30, wherein the one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources comprises: the one or more groups of hardware resources used when a cell and / or carrier is available, enabled, active, provided, functional and / or useable; the one or more groups of hardware resources used to support, enable, activate, provide, maintain and / or sustain a cell and / or carrier; the one or more groups of hardware resources used to transmit and / or receive signals associated with the cell and / or carrier; and / or the one or more groups of hardware resources used to transmit and / or receive user data.

32. The method of any of claims 1 to 31 , wherein the first network node or the second network node controls, operates and / or serves the one or more cells and / or carriers and / or the one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources.

33. A tangible, non-transient computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to perform operations comprising: sending (502), to a second network node, information identifying energy consumption of one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources associated with one or more cells and / or carriers.

34. The computer-readable medium of claim 33, comprising instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to perform the method (500) of any of claims 2 to 15 and 28 to 32.

35. A tangible, non-transient computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to perform operations comprising: receiving (602), from a first network node, information identifying energy consumption of one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources associated with one or more cells and / or carriers.

36. The computer-readable medium of claim 35, comprising instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to perform the method (600) of any of claims 17 to 32.

37. A computer program, comprising instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to carry out the method (500, 600) according to any of claims 1 to 32.

38. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry, cause the processing circuitry to carry out the method (500, 600) according to any of claims 1 to 32.

39. A carrier containing the computer program of claim 38, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or computer-readable medium.

40. An apparatus for sending information, the apparatus comprising processing circuitry and a memory, the apparatus configured to: send (502), to a second network node, information identifying energy consumption of one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources associated with one or more cells and / or carriers.

41. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the apparatus is configured to perform the method (500) of any of claims 2 to 15 and 28 to 32.

42. An apparatus for receiving information, the apparatus comprising processing circuitry and a memory, the apparatus configured to:receive (600), from a first network node, information identifying energy consumption of one or more groups (422, 428, 434, 438) of hardware resources associated with one or more cells and / or carriers.

43. The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the apparatus is configured to perform the method (600) of any of claims 28 to 32.

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