Devices and methods for per-flow energy efficiency exposure in a mobile network

Abstract

A user plane entity (130a-n), in particular a user plane function, for supporting a flow session (105) of a user equipment, UE, (110) in a mobile network (100) is disclosed. The user plane entity (130a-n) is configured to monitor one or more selected events of a plurality of events related to the energy consumption, EC, and / or the energy efficiency, EE, of the flow session (105). Moreover, the user plane entity (130a-n) is configured to provide information associated with the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session (105) to a control plane entity (140a-n) of the mobile network (110) for reporting the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session (105) to an external entity (150).

Description

[0001] DEVICES AND METHODS FOR PER-FLOW ENERGY EFFICIENCY EXPOSURE IN A MOBILE NETWORK

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The present disclosure relates to wireless communications. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to devices and methods forper-flow energy efficiency or energy consumption exposure to an external party in a mobile network, in particular a 3 GPP network.

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] The increasing concern on climate change has resulted in an unprecedented focus on reducing energy consumption (EC) and improving energy efficiency (EE) in virtually all industry areas. As a nationwide infrastructure, with a stringent requirement on reliability and availability, a short time outage of a telecommunication network will cause enormous economic losses of various business areas (e.g., e-commerce, finance and the like). However, guaranteeing such a high level of availability and reliability consumes large amounts of energy to power, for instance, thousands of base stations (BS) covering entire cities, core network (CN) entities at premise and / or in telecommunication clouds, numbers of edge clouds, and energy -hungry datacenters for application services at the backend.

[0006] It is foreseeable that EC will still be increasing because of the on-going massive deployment of the 5th-generation (5G) mobile network. This will be even more severe for the next mobile network generation (e.g., 6G) where the scale of the network infrastructure will become even larger. The key reasons for the further EC increase are that much denser radio access networks (RANs) will emerge (as a higher frequency spectrum will be used, such as Terahertz) and that much more powerful computational capabilities will be equipped for energy -hungry applications such as artificial intelligence (Al) and immersive XR services (AR / VR).

[0007] To reduce EC and thereby improve energy efficiency (EE), operators, ICT vendors and service providers have already started to explore possible solutions approaching a green and sustainable transformation for mobile networks. In a 3 GPP technical specification (TS) 22.261, a new requirement is agreed for enabling EE as service criteria in the next release (Release 19) where a clear consolidated requirement on providing information exposure on systematic EC or level of EE to vertical customers is defined. To fulfill such a requirement, a telecom network shall be able to precisely monitor the EC of a specific running service of an external party over the provisioning network elements, typically user plane functions (UPFs) on a finegrained basis. However, this capability so far has not yet been provided in mobile networks.

[0008] SUMMARY

[0009] It is an objective of the present disclosure to provide improved devices and methods per-flow energy efficiency or energy consumption exposure to an external party in a mobile network, in particular a 3 GPP network.

[0010] The foregoing and other objectives are achieved by the subject matter of the independent claims. Further implementation forms are apparent from the dependent claims, the description and the figures.

[0011] According to a first aspect a user plane entity for supporting a flow session of a user equipment, UE, in a mobile network is provided. The mobile network may be a 3GPP mobile network, in particular a 5G or 6G network. The user plane entity according to the first aspect is configured to monitor one or more selected events of a plurality of events related to the energy consumption, EC, and / or the energy efficiency, EE, of the flow session supported by the user plane entity. Moreover, the user plane entity according to the first aspect is configured to provide information associated with the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session to a control plane entity of the mobile network for reporting the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session to an external entity, i.e. an entity outside of the domain of the operator of the mobile network. The external entity may be, for instance, an application service provider. Thus, the user plane entity according to the first aspect allows per-flow reporting of EC and / or EE -related events to the external entity, which may adjust its service based on the reported data.

[0012] In a further possible implementation form, the user plane entity is configured to provide the information associated with the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session to a network exposure function, NEF, of the control plane of the mobile network. This allows efficiently providing the EC and / or EE- related event data to the external entity.

[0013] In a further possible implementation form, the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session are defined for an uplink flow session direction, a downlink flow session direction and / or a bidirectional flow session direction. This allows the user plane entity according to the first aspect to define the EC and / or EE -related events with a fine granularity.

[0014] In a further possible implementation form, the user plane entity is configured to determine the information associated with the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session based on a data volume and / or based on a duration, i.e. a time period of the flow session, i.e. the traffic associated with the flow session. This allows the user plane entity according to the first aspect to define the EC and / or EE -related events with a fine granularity.

[0015] In a further possible implementation form, the user plane entity is configured to determine the information associated with the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session as a peak value, an average value, and / or a variance of the flow session, i.e. the traffic associated with the flow session. This allows the user plane entity according to the first aspect to define the EC and / or EE-related events with a fine granularity.

[0016] In a further possible implementation form, the user plane entity is configured to send a registration request to a control plane entity, in particular a network repository function, NRF of the mobile network, wherein the registration request is indicative of the capability of the user plane entity to monitor the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of a flow session. This allows the user plane entity according to the first aspect to be easily discovered in the mobile network.

[0017] In a further possible implementation form, the user plane entity is configured to determine the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session, in response to a request from a control plane entity, in particular a session management function, SMF of the mobile network, wherein the request from the control plane entity is based on an event exposure request from the external entity. This allows to seamlessly integrate the user plane entity according to the first aspect into a conventional mobile network architecture.

[0018] In a further possible implementation form, the request comprises one or more identifiers of the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session. This allows the user plane entity according to the first aspect to efficiently select one or more EC and / or EE events of interest to the external entity from a larger set of available EC and / or EE events, which may be monitored by the user plane entity according to the first aspect.

[0019] In a further possible implementation form, the request is indicative of a reporting frequency, wherein the user plane entity is configured to provide the information associated with the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session to the control plane entity of the mobile network with the indicated reporting frequency. This allows the user plane entity according to the first aspect to report the EE and / or EC related events with a reporting frequency desired by the external entity.

[0020] According to a second aspect a method is provided for operating a user plane entity for supporting a flow session of a user equipment, UE, in a mobile network, in particular a 3 GPP mobile network. The method according to the second aspect comprises: monitoring one or more selected events of a plurality of events related to the energy consumption, EC, and / or the energy efficiency, EE, of the flow session; and providing information associated with the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session to a control plane entity of the mobile network for reporting the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session to an external entity. Thus, the method according to the second aspect allows per-flow reporting of EC and / or EE-related events to the external entity, which may adjust its service based on the reported data.

[0021] The method according to the second aspect can be performed by the user plane entity according to the first aspect. Thus, further features of the method according to the second aspect result directly from the functionality of the user plane entity according to the first aspect as well as its different implementation forms described above and below.

[0022] According to a third aspect a control plane entity for monitoring a flow session of a user equipment, UE, in a mobile network, in particular a 3 GPP mobile network, is provided. The control plane entity according to the third aspect is configured to receive information associated with one or more selected events of a plurality of events related to the energy consumption, EC, and / or the energy efficiency, EE, of the flow session from one or more user plane entities supporting the flow session of the UE in the mobile network. Moreover, the control plane entity according to the third aspect is configured to report the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session to an external entity, e.g. an application service provider. Thus, the control plane entity according to the third aspect supports per-flow reporting of EC and / or EE-related events to the external entity, which may adjust its service based on the reported data.

[0023] In a further possible implementation form, the control plane entity is a network exposure function, NEF, of the mobile network. This allows to seamlessly integrate the control plane entity according to the third aspect into a conventional mobile network architecture.

[0024] In a further possible implementation form, the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session are defined for an uplink flow session direction, a downlink flow session direction and / or a bidirectional flow session direction. This allows reporting the EC and / or EE-related events with a fine granularity.

[0025] In a further possible implementation form, the information associated with the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session is determined based on a data volume and / or based on a duration, i.e. a time period of the flow session, in particular the flow session traffic. This allows reporting the EC and / or EE -related events with a fine granularity.

[0026] In a further possible implementation form, the information associated with the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session is determined as a peak value, an average value, and / or a variance of the flow session, in particular the flow session traffic. This allows reporting the EC and / or EE -related events with a fine granularity. In a further possible implementation form, the control plane entity is configured to receive an event exposure request from the external entity and to forward the request to the one or more user plane entities, in particular via the SMF, for allowing the one or more user plane entities to determine the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session. This allows to seamlessly integrate the control plane entity according to the third aspect into a conventional mobile network architecture.

[0027] In a further possible implementation form, the request comprises one or more identifiers of the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session. This allows efficiently selecting one or more EC and / or EE events of interest to the external entity from a larger set of available EC and / or EE events, which may be monitored by the user plane entity according to the first aspect.

[0028] In a further possible implementation form, the request is indicative of a reporting frequency and wherein the one or more user plane entities are configured to provide the information associated with the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session to the control plane entity of the mobile network with the indicated reporting frequency. This allows reporting the EE and / or EC related invents with a reporting frequency desired by the external entity.

[0029] In a further possible implementation form, the control plane entity is configured to aggregate the information associated with the one or more selected events of a plurality of events related to the EC and / or EE of the flow session received from the one or more user plane entities supporting the flow session of the UE in the mobile network and to report the aggregated information associated with the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session to the external entity. This allows the control plane entity according to the third aspect to pre-process the EC and / or EE event data and, thus, reduce the computational load of the external entity.

[0030] According to a fourth aspect a method is provided for operating a control plane entity for monitoring a flow session of a user equipment, UE, in a mobile network, in particular a 3 GPP mobile network. The method according to the fourth aspect comprises the following steps: receiving information associated with one or more selected events of a plurality of events related to the energy consumption, EC, and / or the energy efficiency, EE, of the flow session from one or more user plane entities supporting the flow session of the UE in the mobile network; and reporting the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session to an external entity, for instance, an application service provider. Thus, the method according to the fourth aspect supports perflow reporting of EC and / or EE-related events to the external entity, which may adjust its service based on the reported data.

[0031] The method according to the fourth aspect can be performed by the control plane entity according to the third aspect. Thus, further features of the method according to the fourth aspect result directly from the functionality of the control plane entity according to the third aspect as well as its different implementation forms described above and below.

[0032] According to a fifth aspect, a computer program product is provided, comprising a computer-readable storage medium for storing program code which causes a computer or a processor to perform the method according to the second aspect, or the method according to the fourth aspect, when the program code is executed by the computer or the processor.

[0033] Details of one or more embodiments are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages will be apparent from the description, drawings, and claims. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] In the following, embodiments of the present disclosure are described in more detail with reference to the attached figures and drawings, in which:

[0035] Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a mobile network including one or more user plane entities according to an embodiment and one or more control plane entities according to an embodiment for energy efficiency or energy consumption exposure of a flow session between an UE and an application service provider;

[0036] Fig. 2 shows a table illustrating a plurality of exemplary per-flow energy efficiency or energy consumption monitoring event types supported by a user plane entity according to an embodiment;

[0037] Fig. 3 shows a signalling diagram illustrating the interaction between a user plane entity according to an embodiment and a control plane entity in the form of a network repository function, NRF, according to an embodiment for registering the user plane entity with the NRF;

[0038] Fig. 4 shows a signalling diagram illustrating the interaction between several user plane entities according to an embodiment and several control plane entities according to an embodiment for energy efficiency or energy consumption exposure of a flow session to an application function;

[0039] Fig. 5 shows a flow diagram illustrating a method of operating user plane entity according to an embodiment in a mobile network; and

[0040] Fig. 6 shows a flow diagram illustrating a method of operating a control plane entity according to an embodiment in a mobile network.

[0041] In the following, identical reference signs refer to identical or at least functionally equivalent features.

[0042] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0043] In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying figures, which form part of the disclosure, and which show, by way of illustration, specific aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure or specific aspects in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be used. It is understood that embodiments of the present disclosure may be used in other aspects and comprise structural or logical changes not depicted in the figures. The following detailed description, therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims.

[0044] For instance, it is to be understood that a disclosure in connection with a described method may also hold true for a corresponding device or system configured to perform the method and vice versa. For example, if one or a plurality of specific method steps are described, a corresponding device may include one or a plurality of units, e.g. functional units, to perform the described one or plurality of method steps (e.g. one unit performing the one or plurality of steps, or a plurality of units each performing one or more of the plurality of steps), even if such one or more units are not explicitly described or illustrated in the figures. On the other hand, for example, if a specific apparatus is described based on one or a plurality of units, e.g. functional units, a corresponding method may include one step to perform the functionality of the one or plurality of units (e.g. one step performing the functionality of the one or plurality of units, or a plurality of steps each performing the functionality of one or more of the plurality of units), even if such one or plurality of steps are not explicitly described or illustrated in the figures. Further, it is understood that the features of the various exemplary embodiments and / or aspects described herein may be combined with each other, unless specifically noted otherwise.

[0045] Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a mobile network 100 providing communication services between a user equipment, UE, 110 and an external party entity 150, for instance, an application service provider, ASP, 150. The ASP 150 may communicate with the UE 110 via the mobile network 100 using a flow session 105 involving the exchange of flow session data between the UE 110 and the ASP 140 via a plurality of components of the mobile network 100. In an embodiment, the mobile network 100 is a 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) mobile network 100, for instance, a 5G or a 6G network.

[0046] In the embodiment shown in figure 1, the flow session 105 between the UE 110 and the ASP 150 outside of the domain of the operator of the mobile network 100 goes over a radio access network, RAN, 120, one or multiple user plane entities 130a- n, in particular user plane functions, UPFs, 130a-n, and accesses to the ASP 150. The one or more user plane entities 130a-n, in particulars UPFs 130a-n are configured to interact, for instance, via a N4 interface with one or more control plane entities 140a-n, in particular control plane functions 140a-n of the mobile network 100, such as a session management function, SMF, a network exposure function, NEF, a policy control function, PCRF, and the like. The one or more user plane entities 130a-n, in particulars UPFs 130a-n, and the one or more control plane entities 140a-n, in particular control plane functions 140a-n, may be implemented in a core network, CN, of the mobile network 100. The one or more user plane entities 130a-n, in particulars UPFs 130a-n, may be further configured to interact with one or more further mobile network functions, MnFs, 160.

[0047] Embodiments disclosed herein address the per-flow energy consumption, EC, and / or energy efficiency, EE, associated with the core network components, i.e. the one or more user plane entities 130a-n, in particulars UPFs 130a-n, supporting the respective flow session (e.g. a PDU session) between the UE 110 and the ASP 150 so that the collected EC and / or EE data from the one or more user plane entities 130a-n, in particulars UPFs 130a-n, may be shared with the ASP 150 so that the ASP 150 may, for instance, adjust its service policy based on the collected EC and / or EE data, if necessary. As illustrated in figure 1, embodiment described in more detail in the context of figures 2, 3 and 4 address the subscription of the ASP 150 to the per-flow EC and / or EE data reporting service implemented by the one or more user plane entities 130a-n, in particulars UPFs 130a-n, and the one or more control plane entities 140a-n, in particular control plane functions 140a-n, as well as the actual notification of these EC and / or EE events.

[0048] More specifically, the one or more user plane entities 130a-n, in particular UPFs 130a-n, illustrated in figure 1 are configured to monitor one or more selected events of a plurality of events related to an energy consumption, EC, and / or an energy efficiency, EE, of the flow session 105. Moreover, the one or more user plane entities 130a-n, in particular UPFs 130a-n, illustrated in figure 1 are configured to provide information associated with the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session 105 to one or more of the control plane entities 140a-n, in particular control plane functions 140a-n, of the mobile network 110 for reporting the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session 105 to the external entity 150, e.g. the ASP 150.

[0049] Thus, the one or more control plane entities 140a-n, in particular control plane functions 140-n, such as SMF, NEF, PCRF, are configured to receive information associated with one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or EE of the flow session 105 from the one or more user plane entities 130a-n, in particular UPFs 130a-n, supporting the flow session 105 of the UE 110 in the mobile network 100. Moreover, the one or more control plane entities 140a-n, in particular control plane functions 140-n, such as SMF, NEF, PCRF, are configured to report the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session 105 to the external entity 150, e.g. the ASP 150. Thus, embodiments disclosed herein allow enhancing the control plane of a mobile network 100 to expose EC and / or EE events with information data to external parties, e.g. the ASP 150. A typical scenario is that a PDU session 105 is deployed over the mobile network 100 and the EC of this PDU session 105 is measured and exposed to its service provider 150, which may be a 3rd-party player outside of the 3GPP mobile network 100. In an embodiment, based on this exposure of the perflow EC and / or EE information, the one or more external party entities 150 receiving this per-flow EC and / or EE information may intervene and adjust the service policy. This adjustment may, for instance, involve releasing some network resources, rescheduling the flow deployment and / or even shutting down the service if needed.

[0050] Figure 2 shows a table illustrating a plurality of exemplary per-flow energy efficiency or energy consumption monitoring event types supported by the one or more user plane entities 130a-n, in particular UPFs 130a-n. As will be appreciated, an exemplary set of events extends the event list of a conventional UPF and defines the monitoring objectives achievable by the one or more user plane entities 130a-n, in particular UPFs 130a-n, according to an embodiment.

[0051] In the table shown in figure 2, the set of events supported by the one or more user plane entities 130a-n, in particular UPFs 130a-n, according to an embodiment are divided into three categories in terms of the flow direction, namely (a) UpLink (UL) for measuring the EC and / or EE of the uplink flow session; (b) DownLink (DL) for measuring the EC and / or EE of the downlink flow session; and (c) Bidirectional (BI) for measuring the EC and / or EE of both uplink and downlink flow sessions. Given these three different flow directions, the per-flow EC and / or EE measurement may be done, for instance, in the two different ways indicated in the table, namely: (a) based on Data Volume (DV), i.e. measuring the EC and / or EE of consumed data volume of the flow session; and (b) based on Time (TM) Period, i.e. measuring the EC and / or EE of the flow session no matter if there is data traffic transmitted during the time period. Moreover, as indicated in the fourth column of the table shown in figure 2 different statistical methods may be implemented by the one or more user plane entities 130a-n, in particular UPFs 130a-n, for determining the ES and / or EE data, namely: (a) PeaK (PK) for measuring the peak EC and / or EE of a flow session; (b) AVeraGe (AVG) for measuring the average EC and / or EE of a flow session; and (c) VARiance (VAR) for measuring the variance of the EC and / or EE of a flow session. A combination of the three subclasses, i.e. columns 2, 3 and 4 of the table shown in figure 2, may define an identifier of an interested event, i.e., providing an EVENT_ID. Clearly, this list may be further extended if other EC and / or EE -related events are added to the UPF 130a-n according to an embodiment.

[0052] Figure 3 shows a signalling diagram illustrating the interaction between a user plane entity 130a, in particular UPF 130a, according to an embodiment and a further control plane entity 170 in the form of a network repository function, NRF, 170 according to an embodiment for registering the UPF 130a supporting the enhanced EC and / or EE events described above with the NRF 170. More specifically, once the UPF 130a is deployed and registers to the NRF 170, the registration request of the UPF 130a may include the extended EC and / or EE event list described above. This registration allows later other NF consumers to know that per-flow EC information may be monitored by this UPF 130 when doing NF discovery and selection.

[0053] More specifically, in step 1 of figure 3 the UPF 130a sends the NRF 170 a registration request with supported event types. In this request, the UPF 130a calls the service interface of the NRF 170 (e.g., Nnrf_NFMgmt_NFRegister_request).

[0054] In step 2 of figure 3, the NRF 170 creates an NF profile for the UPF 130a. With the attributes provided in the NF registration request, an NF profile will be created by the NRF 170. In addition to the conventional fields required, the event list may contain the per-flow EC and / or EE-related event(s) supported by the UPF 130a.

[0055] In step 3 of figure 3, the NRF 170 sends a response to the UPF 130a with the registration result about whether or not the NF profile was successfully created. If failed, an error code will be provided. Figure 4 shows a signalling diagram illustrating the interaction between the one or more user plane entities 130a-n, in particular UPFs 130a-n, according to an embodiment and several control plane entities 140a-n, in particular control plane functions 140a-n, including a NEF 140a and a SMF 140b, according to an embodiment for EC or EE exposure of the flow session 140 to an application function 180, which may be associated with the external entity 150, e.g. the ASP 150. As already mentioned above, an interested external entity, e.g. the ASP 150 may subscribe one or multiple per-flow EC and / or EE-related events for a flow session (e.g., picking an event combining the categories from the table shown in figure 2). Once the event(s) are occurring, the external entity 150, e.g. ASP 150 is notified with the event including the information data collected with the event. The subscription and notification procedure is described in more detail in the following in the context of figure 4.

[0056] In step 1 of figure 4, the external entity 150, e.g. the ASP 150 sends an event exposure request (via the AF 180) to the NEF 140a. Specifically, the external entity 150, e.g. ASP 1515 calls the SBI of the NEF 140a (i.e., Nnef_EventExposure_Sub) with an EC_EVENT_P ARAMS object. The EC_EVENT_P ARAMS object may include at least the following fields:

[0057] • EVENT_TYPE: One or multiple EVENT_IDs may be specified to indicate the events that interest the external entity. The EVENT_ID composition may follow the categories listed in the table shown in figure 2 (as will be appreciated, this does not exclude any existing event that can be supported by the UPF 130a-n in the conventional system).

[0058] • MONI_INFO: The external entity 150, e.g. ASP 150 may specify the target of event report. For example, in the considered scenario, this target can be a (PDU) session flow identifier (FLOW_ID); in addition, the external entity 150 may specify a notification target address. For example, the notification target address (NOTIFY_TARGET_ADDR) may be the address of the NEF 140a (represented by an NEF_ID) where the original subscription request was sent.

[0059] • MONI_FREQ: The external entity 150, e.g. ASP 150 may specify the frequency of per-flow EC and / or EE-related event(s) that should be monitored, measured, and / or collected.

[0060] • EXPIRY_TIME: The external entity 150, e.g. ASP 150 may specify the expiry time of the requested subscription. In other words, how long the subscription / notification will last.

[0061] In step 2 of figure 4, the NEF 140a sends an event exposure request to the SMF 140b. The NEF 140a may identify the relevant SMF 140b and forward the subscription request from the external entity 150, e.g. ASP 150 (together with the EC_EVENT_P ARAMS object) to the identified SMF 140b.

[0062] In steps 3.1 and 3.2 of figure 4, the SMF 140b sends an event exposure request to all UPFs 130a-n involved in transmitting a flow traffic 105. According to the FLOW_ID attribute specified in the MONI_INFO field in the EC_EVENT_P ARAMS object, the SMF 140b identifies the specific UPFs 130a, b transporting the session flow 105. Afterthat, the SMF 140b individually sends the event subscription request to each UPF 130a, b.

[0063] In steps 4.1 and 4.2 of figure 4, each UPF 130a, b notifies the subscribed events. If a subscribed event occurs on the UPF 130a, b, or the monitoring action is done (according to the MONI_FREQ parameter), the respective UPF 130a, b sends a notification message back to the NEF 140a specified by NOTIFY_TARGET_ADDR. In this notification message, an UPF_EC_EVENT_DATA may be attached, which provides the monitoring results of the subscribed event. The UPF_EC_EVENT_DATA may contain at least the following fields:

[0064] • EVENT_TYPE: This field specifies the exactly event identifiers) of the event(s) occurrence on the UPF 130a, b. This may be a single event or a list of events, depending on the monitoring results triggering the notification. • NOTIFY TARGET ADDR: This field specifies the consumer of the notification result(s). This could be either a single target (address) or a list of targets (with different addresses).

[0065] • MONI_DATA: The field gives the set of monitored per-flow EC-related data corresponding to the event identifier(s).

[0066] In step 5 of figure 4 (which may be optional), the NEF 140a summarizes, i.e. aggregates the collected EC and / or EE -related information data based on the specified statistical method(s). This step pre-processes the collected monitoring data from the subscribed UPFs 130a, b where statistical results may be aggregated by the NEF 140a first and then further exposed to the external entity 150 (via the AF 180). The concrete statistic operation may depend on the notified event type, which may be a combination of average / peak value and data volume / time period, as already described above in the context of figure 2.

[0067] In step 6 of figure 4, the NEF 140a exposes the summarized EC and / or EE-related information data to the subscriber (i.e., the external entity 150 interested in the event).

[0068] Figure 5 shows a flow diagram illustrating a method 500 of operating a user plane entity 130a-n, in particular a user plane function 130a-n, for supporting a flow session of the UE 110 in the mobile network 100. The method 500 comprises a step 501 of monitoring one or more selected events of a plurality of events related to an energy consumption, EC, and / or an energy efficiency, EE, of the flow session. Moreover, the method 500 comprises a step 503 of providing information associated with the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session to a control plane entity 140a-c of the mobile network 100 for reporting the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session to an external entity 150.

[0069] The method 500 can be performed by the network plane entities, in particular network plane functions 130a-n. Thus, further features of the method 700 result directly from the functionality of the base station 110a as well as the different embodiments thereof described above and below.

[0070] Figure 6 shows a flow diagram illustrating a method 600 of operating a control plane entity 140a-n, in particular a control plane function 140a-n for monitoring a flow session of the UE 110 in the mobile network 100.

[0071] The method 600 illustrated in figure 6 comprises a step 601 of receiving information associated with one or more selected events of a plurality of events related to an energy consumption, EC, and / or an energy efficiency, EE, of the flow session from one or more user plane entities 130a-n, in particular user plane functions 130a-n, supporting the flow session of the UE 110 in the mobile network 100. Moreover, the method 600 comprises a step 603 of reporting the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session to an external entity 150.

[0072] The method 600 can be performed by any one of the control plane entities 140a-n, in particular control plane functions 140a- n, for instance, the NEF 140a. Thus, further features of the method 600 result directly from the functionality of the control plane entities 140a-n, in particular control plane functions 140a-n, for instance, the NEF 140a as well as the different embodiments thereof described above and below.

[0073] The person skilled in the art will understand that the "blocks" ("units") of the various figures (method and apparatus) represent or describe functionalities of embodiments of the present disclosure (rather than necessarily individual "units" in hardware or software) and thus describe equally functions or features of apparatus embodiments as well as method embodiments (unit = step). In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus, and method may be implemented in other manners. For example, the described embodiment of an apparatus is merely exemplary. For example, the unit division is merely a logical function division and may be another division in an actual implementation. For example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not performed. In addition, the displayed or discussed mutual couplings or direct couplings or communication connections may be implemented by using some interfaces. The indirect couplings or communication connections between the apparatuses or units may be implemented in electronic, mechanical, or other forms.

[0074] The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one position, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the objectives of the solutions of the embodiments.

[0075] In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the disclosure may be integrated into one processing unit, or each of the units may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A user plane entity (130a-n) for supporting a flow session (105) of a user equipment, UE, (110) in a mobile network (100), wherein the user plane entity (130a-n) is configured to: monitor one or more selected events of a plurality of events related to an energy consumption, EC, and / or an energy efficiency, EE, of the flow session (105); and provide information associated with the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session (105) to a control plane entity (140a-n) of the mobile network (110) for reporting the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / orthe EE of the flow session (105) to an external entity (150).

2. The user plane entity (130a-n) of claim 1, wherein the user plane entity (130a-n) is configured to provide the information associated with the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session (105) to a network exposure function, NEF, (140a) of the mobile network (100).

3. The user plane entity (130a-n) of claim 1 or 2, wherein the plurality of events related to the EC and / orthe EE of the flow session (105) are defined for an uplink flow session direction, a downlink flow session direction and / or a bidirectional flow session direction.

4. The user plane entity (130a-n) of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the user plane entity (130a-n) is configured to determine the information associated with the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session (105) based on a data volume and / or based on a duration of the flow session (105).

5. The user plane entity (130a-n) of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the user plane entity (130a-n) is configured to determine the information associated with the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session (105) as a peak value, an average value, and / or a variance of the flow session (105).

6. The user plane entity (130a-n) of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the user plane entity (130a-n) is configured to send a registration request to a control plane entity (170) of the mobile network (100), wherein the registration request is indicative of the capability of the user plane entity (130a-n) to monitor the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of a flow session (105).

7. The user plane entity (130a-n) of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the user plane entity (130a-n) is configured to determine the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session (105), in response to a request from a control plane entity (140b) of the mobile network (100), wherein the request from the control plane entity (140b) is based on an event exposure request from the external entity (150).

8. The user plane entity (130a-n) of claim 7, wherein the request comprises one or more identifiers of the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / orthe EE of the flow session (105).

9. The user plane entity (130a-n) of claim 7 or 8, wherein the request is indicative of a reporting frequency and wherein the user plane entity (130a-n) is configured to provide the information associated with the one or more selectedevents of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session (105) to the control plane entity (140b) of the mobile network (100) with the indicated reporting frequency.

10. A method (500) of operating a user plane entity (130a-n) for supporting a flow session (105) of a user equipment, UE, (110) in a mobile network (100), wherein the method (500) comprises: monitoring (501) one or more selected events of a plurality of events related to an energy consumption, EC, and / or an energy efficiency, EE, of the flow session (105); and providing (503) information associated with the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session (105) to a control plane entity (140a-n) of the mobile network (100) for reporting the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / orthe EE of the flow session (105) to an external entity (150).

11. A control plane entity (140a-n) for monitoring a flow session (105) of a user equipment, UE, (110) in a mobile network (100), wherein the control plane entity (140a-n) is configured to: receive information associated with one or more selected events of a plurality of events related to an energy consumption, EC, and / or an energy efficiency, EE, of the flow session (105) from one or more user plane entities (130a-n) supporting the flow session (105) of the UE (110) in the mobile network (100); and report the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session (105) to an external entity (150).

12. The control plane entity (140a-n) of claim 11, wherein the control plane entity (140a-n) is a network exposure function, NEF, (140a) of the mobile network (100).

13. The control plane entity (140a-n) of claim 11 or 12, wherein the plurality of events related to the EC and / orthe EE of the flow session (105) are defined for an uplink flow session direction, a downlink flow session direction and / or a bidirectional flow session direction.

14. The control plane entity (140a-n) of any one of claims 11 to 13, wherein the information associated with the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / orthe EE of the flow session (105) is determined based on a data volume and / or based on a duration of the flow session (105).

15. The control plane entity (140a-n) of any one of claims 11 to 14, wherein the information associated with the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / orthe EE of the flow session (105) is determined as a peak value, an average value, and / or a variance of the flow session (105).

16. The control plane entity (140a-n) of any one of claim 11 to 15, wherein the control plane entity (140a-n) is configured to receive an event exposure request from the external entity (150) and to forward the request to the one or more user plane entities (130a-n) for allowing the one or more user plane entities (130a-n) to determine the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session (105).

17. The control plane entity (140a-n) of claim 16, wherein the request comprises one or more identifiers of the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session (105).

18. The control plane entity (140a-n) of claim 16 or 17, wherein the request is indicative of a reporting frequency and wherein the one or more user plane entities (130a-n) are configured to provide the information associated with the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session (105) to the control plane entity (140a-n) of the mobile network (100) with the indicated reporting frequency.

19. The control plane entity (140a-n) of any one of claims 11 to 18, wherein the control plane entity (140a-n) is configured to aggregate the information associated with the one or more selected events of a plurality of events related to the EC and / or EE of the flow session (105) received from the one or more user plane entities (130a-n) supporting the flow session (105) of the UE (110) in the mobile network (100) and to report the aggregated information associated with the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session (105) to the external entity (150).

20. A method (600) of operating a control plane entity (140a-n) for monitoring a flow session (105) of a user equipment, UE, (110) in a mobile network (100), wherein the method (600) comprises: receiving (601) information associated with one or more selected events of a plurality of events related to an energy consumption, EC, and / or an energy efficiency, EE, of the flow session (105) from one or more user plane entities (130a-n) supporting the flow session (105) of the UE (110) in the mobile network (100); and reporting (603) the one or more selected events of the plurality of events related to the EC and / or the EE of the flow session (105) to an external entity (150).

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