Methods, apparatuses and systems for service mobility-enabled computing aware traffic steering

Abstract

In an embodiment, a method, implemented in a first router comprising receiving, from a first service site, a first message comprising first information indicating unavailability of a service connectivity from the first service site; transmitting, to other service sites, a first request message for the service connectivity; receiving, from at least a subset of the other service sites, a first response message of the first request message; selecting a second service site of the at least subset of the other service sites, for the service connectivity; transmitting, to the selected second service site, a second request message for establishing a traffic steering session with the selected second service site; receiving from the selected second service site an acknowledgment message for establishing the traffic steering session with the selected second service site; and establishing the service connectivity through the traffic steering session with the selected second service site.

Description

METHODS, APPARATUSES AND SYSTEMS FOR SERVICE MOBILITY-ENABLED COMPUTING AWARE TRAFFIC STEERINGCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] The present application claims the benefit of EP Patent Application No. 24160585.6 filed February 29th, 2024, which is incorporated herein by reference.FIELD OF THE INVENTION

[0002] The present disclosure is generally directed to methods and procedures for service mobility- enabled computing aware traffic steering.BACKGROUND

[0003] A network infrastructure may steer traffic between clients of a service and sites offering the service, considering both network metrics (such as bandwidth and latency), and compute metrics (such as processing, storage capabilities, and capacity).

[0004] This might be particularly useful for use cases such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR) and extended reality (XR) where not only delay is relevant, but also the computing resources required for running the AR / VR / XR service / application.

[0005] Networking systems do not have service mobility mechanisms which can adapt the traffic steering to meet dynamically changing connectivity and computing conditions.

[0006] There is a need to improve the networking systems.SUMMARY

[0007] In an embodiment, a method, implemented in a first router providing services to a WTRU from a service site of a plurality of service sites of a network infrastructure, may comprise a step of receiving, from a first service site of the network infrastructure, a first message comprising first information indicating unavailability of a service connectivity from the first service site. Based on receiving the first message, the method may further comprise a step of transmitting, to other service sites of the plurality of the service sites, a first request message for the service connectivity. The method may further comprise a step of receiving, from at least a subset of the other service sites, a first response message of the first request message, wherein the first response message comprising second information indicating availability of the service connectivity. The method may further comprise a step of selecting a second service site from at least the subset of the other service sites, for the service connectivity, based on the first response message. The method may further comprise a stepof transmitting, to the selected second service site, a second request message for establishing a traffic steering session with the selected second service site. The method may further comprise a step of receiving from the selected second service site an acknowledgment response message for establishing the traffic steering session with the selected second service site; and a step of establishing the service connectivity through the traffic steering session with the selected second service site.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0008] A more detailed understanding may be had from the detailed description below, given by way of example in conjunction with drawings appended hereto. Figures in such drawings, like the detailed description, are examples. As such, the Figures (FIGs.) and the detailed description are not to be considered limiting, and other equally effective examples are possible and likely. Furthermore, like reference numerals ("ref") in the FIGs. indicate like elements, and wherein:

[0009] FIG. 1A is a system diagram illustrating an example communications system;

[0010] FIG. IB is a system diagram illustrating an example wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A;

[0011] FIG. 1C is a system diagram illustrating an example radio access network (RAN) and an example core network (CN) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A;

[0012] FIG. ID is a system diagram illustrating a further example RAN and a further example CN that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A;

[0013] FIG. 2 is an example of a system diagram illustrating service connectivity with a terminal according to an embodiment;

[0014] FIG. 3 is an example of a system diagram illustrating service connectivity with a terminal including computing aware traffic steering (CATS) service mobility according to another embodiment;

[0015] FIG. 4 is an example of a signaling diagram of IP anchor mobility for CATS, initiated by a CATS-aware terminal according to an embodiment;

[0016] FIG. 5 is an example of a signaling diagram of IP anchor mobility for CATS, initiated by the egress CATS router according to an embodiment;

[0017] FIG. 6 is an example of a signaling diagram of IP anchor mobility for CATS, initiated by a CATS controller according to an embodiment;

[0018] FIG. 7 is an example of a diagram of an egress CATS router mobility option protocol format; and

[0019] FIG. 8 is a flow chart diagram illustrating an example of a method, implemented in a first router providing services to a WTRU from a service site of a plurality of service sites of a network infrastructure.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0020] In the following detailed description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments and / or examples disclosed herein. However, it will be understood that such embodiments and examples may be practiced without some or all of the specific details set forth herein. In other instances, well-known methods, procedures, components and circuits have not been described in detail, so as not to obscure the following description. Further, embodiments and examples not specifically described herein may be practiced in lieu of, or in combination with, the embodiments and other examples described, disclosed or otherwise provided explicitly, implicitly and / or inherently (collectively "provided") herein. Although various embodiments are described and / or claimed herein in which an apparatus, system, device, etc. and / or any element thereof carries out an operation, process, algorithm, function, etc. and / or any portion thereof, it is to be understood that any embodiments described and / or claimed herein assume that any apparatus, system, device, etc. and / or any element thereof is configured to carry out any operation, process, algorithm, function, etc. and / or any portion thereof.

[0021] Hereinafter, ‘a’ and ‘an’ and similar phrases are to be interpreted as ‘one or more’ and ‘at least one’. Similarly, any term which ends with the suffix ‘(s)’ is to be interpreted as ‘one or more’ and ‘at least one’. The term ‘may’ is to be interpreted as ‘may, for example’.

[0022] A sign, symbol, or mark of forward slash 7’ is to be interpreted as ‘and / or’ unless particularly mentioned otherwise, where for example, ‘A / B’ may imply ‘A and / or B’.

[0023] The methods, apparatuses and systems provided herein are well-suited for communications involving both wired and wireless networks. An overview of various types of wireless devices and infrastructure is provided with respect to FIGs. 1A-1D, where various elements of the network may utilize, perform, be arranged in accordance with and / or be adapted and / or configured for the methods, apparatuses and systems provided herein.

[0024] FIG. 1A is a system diagram illustrating an example communications system 100 in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented. The communications system 100 may be a multiple access system that provides content, such as voice, data, video, messaging, broadcast, etc., to multiple wireless users. The communications system 100 may enable multiple wireless users to access such content through the sharing of system resources, including wireless bandwidth. Forexample, the communications systems 100 may employ one or more channel access methods, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), zero-tail (ZT) unique-word (UW) discreet Fourier transform (DFT) spread OFDM (ZT UW DTS-s OFDM), unique word OFDM (UW-OFDM), resource block-filtered OFDM, filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), and the like.

[0025] As shown in FIG. 1 A, the communications system 100 may include wireless transmit / receive units (WTRUs) 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, a radio access network (RAN) 104 / 113, a core network (CN) 106 / 115, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 108, the Internet 110, and other networks 112, though it will be appreciated that the disclosed embodiments contemplate any number of WTRUs, base stations, networks, and / or network elements. Each of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may be any type of device configured to operate and / or communicate in a wireless environment. By way of example, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, any of which may be referred to as a "station" and / or a "STA", may be configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals and may include (or be) a user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a fixed or mobile subscriber unit, a subscription-based unit, a pager, a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smartphone, a laptop, a netbook, a personal computer, a wireless sensor, a hotspot or Mi-Fi device, an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, and the like. Any of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and 102d may be interchangeably referred to as a UE.

[0026] The communications systems 100 may also include a base station 114a and / or a base station 114b. Each of the base stations 114a, 114b may be any type of device configured to wirelessly interface with at least one of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, e.g., to facilitate access to one or more communication networks, such as the CN 106 / 115, the Internet 110, and / or the networks 112. By way of example, the base stations 114a, 114b may be any of a base transceiver station (BTS), a Node-B (NB), an eNode-B (eNB), a Home Node-B (HNB), a Home eNode-B (HeNB), a gNode-B (gNB), a NR Node-B (NR NB), a site controller, an access point (AP), a wireless router, and the like. While the base stations 114a, 114b are each depicted as a single element, it will be appreciated that the base stations 114a, 114b may include any number of interconnected base stations and / or network elements.

[0027] The base station 114a may be part of the RAN 104 / 113, which may also include other base stations and / or network elements (not shown), such as a base station controller (BSC), a radio network controller (RNC), relay nodes, etc. The base station 114a and / or the base station 114b may be configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals on one or more carrier frequencies, which may be referred to as a cell (not shown). These frequencies may be in licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or a combination of licensed and unlicensed spectrum. A cell may provide coverage for a wireless service to a specific geographical area that may be relatively fixed or that may change over time. The cell may further be divided into cell sectors. For example, the cell associated with the base station 114a may be divided into three sectors. Thus, in an embodiment, the base station 114a may include three transceivers, i.e., one for each sector of the cell. In an embodiment, the base station 1 14a may employ multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) technology and may utilize multiple transceivers for each or any sector of the cell. For example, beamforming may be used to transmit and / or receive signals in desired spatial directions.

[0028] The base stations 114a, 114b may communicate with one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d over an air interface 116, which may be any suitable wireless communication link (e.g., radio frequency (RF), microwave, centimeter wave, micrometer wave, infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), visible light, etc.). The air interface 116 may be established using any suitable radio access technology (RAT).

[0029] More specifically, as noted above, the communications system 100 may be a multiple access system and may employ one or more channel access schemes, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, and the like. For example, the base station 114a in the RAN 104 / 113 and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), which may establish the air interface 116 using wideband CDMA (WCDMA). WCDMA may include communication protocols such as High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and / or Evolved HSPA (HSPA+). HSPA may include High-Speed Downlink Packet Access (HSDPA) and / or High-Speed Uplink Packet Access (HSUPA).

[0030] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), which may establish the air interface 116 using Long Term Evolution (LTE) and / or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) and / or LTE- Advanced Pro (LTE-A Pro).

[0031] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as NR Radio Access, which may establish the air interface 116 using New Radio (NR).

[0032] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement multiple radio access technologies. For example, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement LTE radio access and NR radio access together, for instance using dual connectivity (DC) principles. Thus, the air interface utilized by WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be characterized by multiple types of radio access technologies and / or transmissions sent to / from multiple types of base stations (e.g., an eNB and a gNB).

[0033] In an embodiment, the base station 1 14a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement radio technologies such as IEEE 802.11 (i.e., Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (i.e., Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), CDMA2000, CDMA2000 IX, CDMA2000 EV- DO, Interim Standard 2000 (IS-2000), Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), Interim Standard 856 (IS-856), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), and the like.

[0034] The base station 114b in FIG. 1 A may be a wireless router, Home Node-B, Home eNode-B, or access point, for example, and may utilize any suitable RAT for facilitating wireless connectivity in a localized area, such as a place of business, a home, a vehicle, a campus, an industrial facility, an air corridor (e.g., for use by drones), a roadway, and the like. In an embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.11 to establish a wireless local area network (WLAN). In an embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.15 to establish a wireless personal area network (WPAN). In an embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may utilize a cellular-based RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR, etc.) to establish any of a small cell, picocell or femtocell. As shown in FIG. 1A, the base station 114b may have a direct connection to the Internet 110. Thus, the base station 114b may not be required to access the Internet 110 via the CN 106 / 115.

[0035] The RAN 104 / 113 may be in communication with the CN 106 / 115, which may be any type of network configured to provide voice, data, applications, and / or voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services to one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d. The data may have varying quality of service (QoS) requirements, such as differing throughput requirements, latency requirements, error tolerance requirements, reliability requirements, data throughput requirements, mobility requirements,and the like. The CN 106 / 115 may provide call control, billing services, mobile location-based services, pre-paid calling, Internet connectivity, video distribution, etc., and / or perform high-level security functions, such as user authentication. Although not shown in FIG. 1 A, it will be appreciated that the RAN 104 / 113 and / or the CN 106 / 115 may be in direct or indirect communication with other RANs that employ the same RAT as the RAN 104 / 113 or a different RAT. For example, in addition to being connected to the RAN 104 / 113, which may be utilizing an NR radio technology, the CN 106 / 115 may also be in communication with another RAN (not shown) employing any of a GSM, UMTS, CDMA 2000, WiMAX, E-UTRA, or Wi-Fi radio technology.

[0036] The CN 106 / 115 may also serve as a gateway for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to access the PSTN 108, the Internet 1 10, and / or other networks 112. The PSTN 108 may include circuit- switched telephone networks that provide plain old telephone service (POTS). The Internet 110 may include a global system of interconnected computer networks and devices that use common communication protocols, such as the transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP) and / or the internet protocol (IP) in the TCP / IP internet protocol suite. The networks 112 may include wired and / or wireless communications networks owned and / or operated by other service providers. For example, the networks 112 may include another CN connected to one or more RANs, which may employ the same RAT as the RAN 104 / 114 or a different RAT.

[0037] Some or all of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d in the communications system 100 may include multi-mode capabilities (e.g., the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may include multiple transceivers for communicating with different wireless networks over different wireless links). For example, the WTRU 102c shown in FIG. 1 A may be configured to communicate with the base station 114a, which may employ a cellular-based radio technology, and with the base station 114b, which may employ an IEEE 802 radio technology.

[0038] FIG. IB is a system diagram illustrating an example WTRU 102. As shown in FIG. IB, the WTRU 102 may include a processor 118, a transceiver 120, a transmit / receive element 122, a speaker / microphone 124, a keypad 126, a display / touchpad 128, non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132, a power source 134, a global positioning system (GPS) chipset 136, and / or other elements / peripherals 138, among others. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may include any sub-combination of the foregoing elements while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0039] The processor 118 may be a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application SpecificIntegrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) circuits, any other type of integrated circuit (IC), a state machine, and the like. The processor 118 may perform signal coding, data processing, power control, input / output processing, and / or any other functionality that enables the WTRU 102 to operate in a wireless environment. The processor 118 may be coupled to the transceiver 120, which may be coupled to the transmit / receive element 122. While FIG. IB depicts the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 as separate components, it will be appreciated that the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 may be integrated together, e.g., in an electronic package or chip.

[0040] The transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit signals to, or receive signals from, a base station (e.g., the base station 114a) over the air interface 116. For example, in an embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be an antenna configured to transmit and / or receive RF signals. In an embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be an emitter / detector configured to transmit and / or receive IR, UV, or visible light signals, for example. In an embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive both RF and light signals. It will be appreciated that the transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive any combination of wireless signals.

[0041] Although the transmit / receive element 122 is depicted in FIG. IB as a single element, the WTRU 102 may include any number of transmit / receive elements 122. For example, the WTRU 102 may employ MIMO technology. Thus, in an embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include two or more transmit / receive elements 122 (e.g., multiple antennas) for transmitting and receiving wireless signals over the air interface 116.

[0042] The transceiver 120 may be configured to modulate the signals that are to be transmitted by the transmit / receive element 122 and to demodulate the signals that are received by the transmit / receive element 122. As noted above, the WTRU 102 may have multi-mode capabilities. Thus, the transceiver 120 may include multiple transceivers for enabling the WTRU 102 to communicate via multiple RATs, such as NR and IEEE 802.11, for example.

[0043] The processor 118 of the WTRU 102 may be coupled to, and may receive user input data from, the speaker / microphone 124, the keypad 126, and / or the display / touchpad 128 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) display unit or organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display unit). The processor 118 may also output user data to the speaker / microphone 124, the keypad 126, and / or the display / touchpad 128. In addition, the processor 118 may access information from, and store data in, any type of suitable memory, such as the non-removable memory 130 and / or the removable memory132. The non-removable memory 130 may include random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory storage device. The removable memory 132 may include a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, a memory stick, a secure digital (SD) memory card, and the like. In other embodiments, the processor 118 may access information from, and store data in, memory that is not physically located on the WTRU 102, such as on a server or a home computer (not shown).

[0044] The processor 118 may receive power from the power source 134, and may be configured to distribute and / or control the power to the other components in the WTRU 102. The power source 134 may be any suitable device for powering the WTRU 102. For example, the power source 134 may include one or more dry cell batteries (e.g., nickel -cadmium (NiCd), nickel-zinc (NiZn), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium-ion (Li-ion), etc.), solar cells, fuel cells, and the like.

[0045] The processor 118 may also be coupled to the GPS chipset 136, which may be configured to provide location information (e.g., longitude and latitude) regarding the current location of the WTRU 102. In addition to, or in lieu of, the information from the GPS chipset 136, the WTRU 102 may receive location information over the air interface 116 from a base station (e.g., base stations 114a, 114b) and / or determine its location based on the timing of the signals being received from two or more nearby base stations. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may acquire location information by way of any suitable location-determination method while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0046] The processor 118 may further be coupled to other elements / peripherals 138, which may include one or more software and / or hardware modules / units that provide additional features, functionality and / or wired or wireless connectivity. For example, the elements / peripherals 138 may include an accelerometer, an e-compass, a satellite transceiver, a digital camera (e.g., for photographs and / or video), a universal serial bus (USB) port, a vibration device, a television transceiver, a hands free headset, a Bluetooth® module, a frequency modulated (FM) radio unit, a digital music player, a media player, a video game player module, an Internet browser, a virtual reality and / or augmented reality (VR / AR) device, an activity tracker, and the like. The elements / peripherals 138 may include one or more sensors, the sensors may be one or more of a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a hall effect sensor, a magnetometer, an orientation sensor, a proximity sensor, a temperature sensor, a time sensor; a geolocation sensor; an altimeter, a light sensor, a touch sensor, a magnetometer, a barometer, a gesture sensor, a biometric sensor, and / or a humidity sensor.

[0047] The WTRU 102 may include a full duplex radio for which transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with particular subframes for both the uplink (e.g., for transmission) and downlink (e.g., for reception) may be concurrent and / or simultaneous. The full duplex radio may include an interference management unit to reduce and or substantially eliminate self-interference via either hardware (e.g., a choke) or signal processing via a processor (e.g., a separate processor (not shown) or via processor 118). In an embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include a half-duplex radio for which transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with particular subframes for either the uplink (e.g., for transmission) or the downlink (e.g., for reception)).

[0048] FIG. 1C is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 104 and the CN 106 according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 104 may employ an E-UTRA radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, and 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may also be in communication with the CN 106.

[0049] The RAN 104 may include eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c, though it will be appreciated that the RAN 104 may include any number of eNode-Bs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In an embodiment, the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may implement MIMO technology. Thus, the eNode-B 160a, for example, may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to, and receive wireless signals from, the WTRU 102a.

[0050] Each of the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, and 160c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in the uplink (UL) and / or downlink (DL), and the like. As shown in FIG. 1C, the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may communicate with one another over an X2 interface.

[0051] The CN 106 shown in FIG. 1C may include a mobility management entity (MME) 162, a serving gateway (SGW) 164, and a packet data network (PDN) gateway (PGW) 166. While each of the foregoing elements are depicted as part of the CN 106, it will be appreciated that any one of these elements may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0052] The MME 162 may be connected to each of the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, and 160c in the RAN 104 via an SI interface and may serve as a control node. For example, the MME 162 may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, bearer activation / deactivation, selecting a particular serving gateway during an initial attach of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, andthe like. The MME 162 may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as GSM and / or WCDMA.

[0053] The SGW 164 may be connected to each of the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c in the RAN 104 via the SI interface. The SGW 164 may generally route and forward user data packets to / from the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. The SGW 164 may perform other functions, such as anchoring user planes during inter-eNode-B handovers, triggering paging when DL data is available for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, managing and storing contexts of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and the like.

[0054] The SGW 164 may be connected to the PGW 166, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices.

[0055] The CN 106 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to circuit-switched networks, such as the PSTN 108, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and traditional land-line communications devices. For example, the CN 106 may include, or may communicate with, an IP gateway (e.g., an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 106 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to the other networks 112, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks that are owned and / or operated by other service providers.

[0056] Although the WTRU is described in FIGs. 1A-1D as a wireless terminal, it is contemplated that in certain representative embodiments that such a terminal may use (e.g., temporarily or permanently) wired communication interfaces with the communication network.

[0057] In representative embodiments, the other network 112 may be a WLAN.

[0058] A WLAN in infrastructure basic service set (BSS) mode may have an access point (AP) for the BSS and one or more stations (STAs) associated with the AP. The AP may have an access or an interface to a distribution system (DS) or another type of wired / wireless network that carries traffic into and / or out of the BSS. Traffic to STAs that originates from outside the BSS may arrive through the AP and may be delivered to the STAs. Traffic originating from STAs to destinations outside the BSS may be sent to the AP to be delivered to respective destinations. Traffic between STAs within the BSS may be sent through the AP, for example, where the source STA may send traffic to the AP and the AP may deliver the traffic to the destination STA. The traffic between STAs within a BSS may be considered and / or referred to as peer-to-peer traffic. The peer-to-peer traffic may be sent between (e.g., directly between) the source and destination STAs with a direct link setup (DLS). Incertain representative embodiments, the DLS may use an 802.1 le DLS or an 802.1 Iz tunneled DLS (TDLS). A WLAN using an Independent BSS (IBSS) mode may not have an AP, and the STAs (e.g., all of the STAs) within or using the IBSS may communicate directly with each other. The IBSS mode of communication may sometimes be referred to herein as an "ad-hoc" mode of communication.

[0059] When using the 802.1 lac infrastructure mode of operation or a similar mode of operations, the AP may transmit a beacon on a fixed channel, such as a primary channel. The primary channel may be a fixed width (e.g., 20 MHz wide bandwidth) or a dynamically set width via signalling. The primary channel may be the operating channel of the BSS and may be used by the STAs to establish a connection with the AP. In certain representative embodiments, Carrier sense multiple access with collision avoidance (CSMA / CA) may be implemented, for example in in 802.11 systems. For CSMA / CA, the STAs (e.g., every STA), including the AP, may sense the primary channel. If the primary channel is sensed / detected and / or determined to be busy by a particular STA, the particular STA may back off. One STA (e.g., only one station) may transmit at any given time in a given BSS.

[0060] High throughput (HT) STAs may use a 40 MHz wide channel for communication, for example, via a combination of the primary 20 MHz channel with an adjacent or nonadj acent 20 MHz channel to form a 40 MHz wide channel.

[0061] Very high throughput (VHT) STAs may support 20 MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and / or 160 MHz wide channels. The 40 MHz, and / or 80 MHz, channels may be formed by combining contiguous 20 MHz channels. A 160 MHz channel may be formed by combining 8 contiguous 20 MHz channels, or by combining two non-contiguous 80 MHz channels, which may be referred to as an 80+80 configuration. For the 80+80 configuration, the data, after channel encoding, may be passed through a segment parser that may divide the data into two streams. Inverse fast fourier transform (IFFT) processing, and time domain processing, may be done on each stream separately. The streams may be mapped on to the two 80 MHz channels, and the data may be transmitted by a transmitting STA. At the receiver of the receiving STA, the above-described operation for the 80+80 configuration may be reversed, and the combined data may be sent to a medium access control (MAC) layer, entity, etc.

[0062] Sub 1 GHz modes of operation are supported by 802.11af and 802.11 ah. The channel operating bandwidths, and carriers, are reduced in 802.1 laf and 802.1 l ah relative to those used in 802.1 In, and 802.1 lac. 802.1 laf supports 5 MHz, 10 MHz and 20 MHz bandwidths in the TV white space (TVWS) spectrum, and 802. Hah supports 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, and 16 MHz bandwidths using non-TVWS spectrum. According to a representative embodiment, 802.1 lah maysupport meter type control / machine-type communications (MTC), such as MTC devices in a macro coverage area. MTC devices may have certain capabilities, for example, limited capabilities including support for (e.g., only support for) certain and / or limited bandwidths. The MTC devices may include a battery with a battery life above a threshold (e.g., to maintain a very long battery life).

[0063] WLAN systems, which may support multiple channels, and channel bandwidths, such as 802.1 In, 802.1 lac, 802.1 laf, and 802.1 lah, include a channel which may be designated as the primary channel. The primary channel may have a bandwidth equal to the largest common operating bandwidth supported by all STAs in the BSS. The bandwidth of the primary channel may be set and / or limited by a STA, from among all STAs in operating in a BSS, which supports the smallest bandwidth operating mode. In the example of 802.11 ah, the primary channel may be 1 MHz wide for ST As (e.g., MTC type devices) that support (e.g., only support) a 1 MHz mode, even if the AP, and other STAs in the BSS support 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, 16 MHz, and / or other channel bandwidth operating modes. Carrier sensing and / or network allocation vector (NAV) settings may depend on the status of the primary channel. If the primary channel is busy, for example, due to a STA (which supports only a 1 MHz operating mode), transmitting to the AP, the entire available frequency bands may be considered busy even though a majority of the frequency bands remains idle and may be available.

[0064] In the United States, the available frequency bands, which may be used by 802. Hah, are from 902 MHz to 928 MHz. In Korea, the available frequency bands are from 917.5 MHz to 923.5 MHz. In Japan, the available frequency bands are from 916.5 MHz to 927.5 MHz. The total bandwidth available for 802.1 lah is 6 MHz to 26 MHz depending on the country code.

[0065] FIG. ID is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 113 and the CN 115 according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 113 may employ an NR radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 113 may also be in communication with the CN 115.

[0066] The RAN 113 may include gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c, though it will be appreciated that the RAN 113 may include any number of gNBs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement MIMO technology. For example, gNBs 180a, 180b may utilize beamforming to transmit signals to and / or receive signals from the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. Thus, the gNB 180a, for example, may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to, and / or receive wireless signals from, the WTRU 102a. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement carrieraggregation technology. For example, the gNB 180a may transmit multiple component carriers to the WTRU 102a (not shown). A subset of these component carriers may be on unlicensed spectrum while the remaining component carriers may be on licensed spectrum. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) technology. For example, WTRU 102a may receive coordinated transmissions from gNB 180a and gNB 180b (and / or gNB 180c).

[0067] The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using transmissions associated with a scalable numerology. For example, OFDM symbol spacing and / or OFDM subcarrier spacing may vary for different transmissions, different cells, and / or different portions of the wireless transmission spectrum. The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using subframe or transmission time intervals (TTIs) of various or scalable lengths (e g., including a varying number of OFDM symbols and / or lasting varying lengths of absolute time).

[0068] The gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be configured to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c in a standalone configuration and / or a non- standalone configuration. In the standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c without also accessing other RANs (e.g., such as eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c). In the standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may utilize one or more of gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c as a mobility anchor point. In the standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using signals in an unlicensed band. In a non- standalone configuration WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with / connect to gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c while also communicating with / connecting to another RAN such as eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c. For example, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement DC principles to communicate with one or more gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c and one or more eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c substantially simultaneously. In the non- standalone configuration, eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may serve as a mobility anchor for WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may provide additional coverage and / or throughput for servicing WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c.

[0069] Each of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in the UL and / or DL, support of network slicing, dual connectivity, interworking between NR and E-UTRA, routing of user plane data towards user plane functions (UPFs) 184a, 184b, routing of control plane information towards access and mobility management functions (AMFs) 182a, 182b,and the like. As shown in FIG. ID, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may communicate with one another over an Xn interface.

[0070] The CN 115 shown in FIG. ID may include at least one AMF 182a, 182b, at least one UPF 184a, 184b, at least one session management function (SMF) 183a, 183b, and at least one Data Network (DN) 185a, 185b. While each of the foregoing elements are depicted as part of the CN 115, it will be appreciated that any of these elements may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0071] The AMF 182a, 182b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 113 via an N2 interface and may serve as a control node. For example, the AMF 182a, 182b may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, support for network slicing (e.g., handling of different protocol data unit (PDU) sessions with different requirements), selecting a particular SMF 183a, 183b, management of the registration area, termination of NAS signalling, mobility management, and the like. Network slicing may be used by the AMF 182a, 182b, e.g., to customize CN support for WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c based on the types of services being utilized WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. For example, different network slices may be established for different use cases such as services relying on ultra-reliable low latency (URLLC) access, services relying on enhanced massive mobile broadband (eMBB) access, services for MTC access, and / or the like. The AMF 162 may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 113 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, and / or non-3GPP access technologies such as Wi-Fi.

[0072] The SMF 183a, 183b may be connected to an AMF 182a, 182b in the CN 115 via an Ni l interface. The SMF 183a, 183b may also be connected to a UPF 184a, 184b in the CN 115 via an N4 interface. The SMF 183a, 183b may select and control the UPF 184a, 184b and configure the routing of traffic through the UPF 184a, 184b. The SMF 183a, 183b may perform other functions, such as managing and allocating UE IP address, managing PDU sessions, controlling policy enforcement and QoS, providing downlink data notifications, and the like. A PDU session type may be IP-based, nonIP based, Ethernet-based, and the like.

[0073] The UPF 184a, 184b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 113 via an N3 interface, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet- switched networks, such as the Internet 110, e.g., to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices. The UPF 184, 184b may perform other functions, such asrouting and forwarding packets, enforcing user plane policies, supporting multi-homed PDU sessions, handling user plane QoS, buffering downlink packets, providing mobility anchoring, and the like.

[0074] The CN 115 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 115 may include, or may communicate with, an IP gateway (e.g., an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 115 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 115 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to the other networks 112, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks that are owned and / or operated by other service providers. In an embodiment, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be connected to a local Data Network (DN) 185a, 185b through the UPF 184a, 184b via the N3 interface to the UPF 184a, 184b and an N6 interface between the UPF 184a, 184b and the DN 185a, 185b.

[0075] In view of FIGs. 1A-1D, and the corresponding description of FIGs. 1A-1D, one or more, or all, of the functions described herein with regard to any of: WTRUs 102a-d, base stations 114a-b, eNode-Bs 160a-c, MME 162, SGW 164, PGW 166, gNBs 180a-c, AMFs 182a-b, UPFs 184a-b, SMFs 183a-b, DNs 185a-b, and / or any other element(s) / device(s) described herein, may be performed by one or more emulation elements / devices (not shown). The emulation devices may be one or more devices configured to emulate one or more, or all, of the functions described herein. For example, the emulation devices may be used to test other devices and / or to simulate network and / or WTRU functions.

[0076] The emulation devices may be designed to implement one or more tests of other devices in a lab environment and / or in an operator network environment. For example, the one or more emulation devices may perform the one or more, or all, functions while being fully or partially implemented and / or deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network in order to test other devices within the communication network. The one or more emulation devices may perform the one or more, or all, functions while being temporarily implemented / deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network. The emulation device (e.g., a network node) may be directly coupled to another device for purposes of testing and / or may performing testing using over-the-air wireless communications.

[0077] The one or more emulation devices may perform the one or more, including all, functions while not being implemented / deployed as part of a network node (e.g., wired and / or wireless communication network). For example, the emulation devices may be utilized in a testing scenario in a testing laboratory and / or a non-deployed (e.g., testing) wired and / or wireless communication network in order to implement testing of one or more components. The one or more emulation devicesmay be test equipment. Direct RF coupling and / or wireless communications via RF circuitry (e.g., which may include one or more antennas) may be used by the emulation devices to transmit and / or receive data.

[0078] A terminal may be running an AR / VR / XR application (note that this is just an example, other services would also benefit from compute and connectivity traffic steering). Part of this service may be executed in the network infrastructure, posing some requirements on the connectivity (e g., delay between the terminal and the node where the service is executed on the network infrastructure) and computing resources (e.g., capabilities to render the XR video within a certain latency budget). Within the network domain, where the terminal may be connected to, there may be multiple sites capable of hosting the service, each with potentially different connectivity and computing characteristics. Fig. 2 shows an exemplary scenario. Considering the connectivity and computing latencies (just as an example of metrics), the best service site is #n-l in the example used in the FIG. 2.

[0079] As shown through the example of FIG. 2, current networking systems do not have service mobility mechanisms which can adapt the traffic steering to meet dynamically changing connectivity and computing conditions. Current mobility solutions networking systems mainly take into consideration connectivity characteristics when taking mobility decisions. Service mobility solutions jointly considering computing and networking solutions are missing.

[0080] The various embodiments below describe solutions to enable the network to react and adapt to the change in connectivity and computing conditions, triggering optimal service migration based on service-specific IP anchor mobility.

[0081] Accordingly, the various embodiments below may address the following questions: What mechanisms does the network need to implement to facilitate the migration of a service so its requirements in terms of computing and networking are maintained? How to steer traffic to a new service instance location after moving the service, in a transparent manner to the terminal, by using IP anchor mobility?

[0082] The various embodiments below may define procedures for a terminal connected to a network infrastructure, to benefit from transparent service migration adapting to specific connectivity and computing requirements, so traffic may be (e.g., always) steered to the best instance meeting both requirements. Both computing aware traffic steering (CATS)-aware and -unaware terminals are considered. Exemplary signaling control messages and operation extending the proxy mobile IPv6 protocol may be also defined.

[0083] In an embodiment enabling service mobility for computing aware traffic steering, a terminal (e.g., a wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU)) may consume a service with associated connectivity and computing requirements. A site may have been selected to host the service instance and the terminal may have been allocated an IP prefix for use with the service, steering the traffic as needed to meet the connectivity and computing requirements. At a given point in time, the computing characteristics may change at the site where the service instance is running, resulting in a higher computing latency. This may trigger the need to move the service instance and update the traffic steering to continue meeting the computing and connectivity requirements. The terminal (e.g., WTRU) might be CATS aware or CATS unaware.

[0084] Accordingly, in a first step, a terminal may be attached to a network consuming a service that is running at a given site. Within the network domain there may be other sites capable of running instances of the same service.

[0085] In a second step, the conditions at the site where the used service instance is running may change. The conditions might be monitored by different entities, such as a CATS-aware terminal, a CATS agent at the site serving the service, or a CATS controller. The change on the monitored conditions may trigger the need to migrate the service to another site and update the traffic steering accordingly. Different options may be defined depending on the entity initiating the whole service migration procedure, including the possibility of having a CATS-aware terminal.

[0086] In a third step, an ingress CATS router (ICR) may receive the service mobility / migration request (e.g., from a CATS-aware terminal, from a CATS agent at the current site or from a CATS controller) and may decide where to move the service.

[0087] In a fourth strep, an egress CATS router (ECR) close or at the site where the service is to be instantiated, may receive the IP address / prefix currently in use by the terminal consuming the service and may provide anchoring services to that address prefix, establishing a tunnel with the ICR where the terminal is attached to.

[0088] In a fifth step, the service may be migrated to the new site.

[0089] In a sixth step, the traffic may be steered between the terminal and the new service instance, meeting the computing and connectivity requirements of the service.

[0090] In more details, the following three various embodiments enabling service continuity with IP anchor mobility for CATS, describe examples of operation and signaling for the network to perform service mobility. The following three different embodiments are described next, for variations (options) of the procedures: terminal initiated, ECR-initiated and CATS-controller initiated.

[0091] The service mobility functionality may deal with the procedures required to (i) detect or predict a change of the current conditions, jointly considering computing and networking, requiring of a service mobility operation; (ii) selecting the best target service instance location, and (iii) triggering the service mobility by orchestrating the service anchor mobility and requesting service migration to a new site. For example, a terminal or ECR might use this functionality to perform active monitoring of a service with CATS agents running at the current ICR, ECR and or service site. It may be also used to perform the actual service anchor mobility.

[0092] Fig. 3 shows a high-level picture of the architecture, wherein the CATS controller and the CATS agent at the terminal may be optional, and might not be necessary, depending on the specific deployment / solution scenario.

[0093] In a first embodiment, wherein a service anchor mobility procedure for CATS may be initiated by a CATS-aware terminal, service mobility may be triggered by a CATS-aware terminal. By having a CATS agent running on the terminal, it may perform different monitoring actions to predict or detect the need to migrate a service from one site to another. This CATS agent might, for example, interact with other CATS agents deployed on ICRs, ECRs and service sites.

[0094] Following the terminal initiation, the network infrastructure may be capable to select a target service instance meeting the connectivity and computing requirements of the service, with signaling procedures defined to perform a transparent anchor migration to a new site, facilitating the service migration in a transparent way for the terminal.

[0095] Fig. 4, shows an example of a message sequence chart of the IP anchor mobility for CATS, initiated by a CATS-aware terminal (option A).

[0096] At step 0, a service / app has been already instantiated on a service site. In this embodiment, the site where the service / app consumed by the terminal is currently instantiated may be site #n-l. The terminal may be connected to ICR #1 and there may be a service tunnel between ICR#1 and ECR#N-1. This service / app may require some functionality to be run on the network infrastructure (e.g., an AR / VR / XR service). This service may have specific requirements in terms of both connectivity and computing (CATS requirements).

[0097] At step 1, an internal or external trigger is generated regarding a change in the computing or networking conditions, making the current selected service site unavailable (e.g., not optimal) for continuing to run the service (e.g., CATS requirements may not be met any longer).

[0098] At step la, the terminal may be CATS-aware, and so it may detect the change in the conditions and may send a trigger to the ICR. The detection of the change in conditions may includecomprise mechanisms including monitoring at service / app level, in-situ monitoring by the terminal, etc.

[0099] At step 2a, the ICR may send a query to each (but currently used) ECRs of the domain, or a subset selected based on the location of the ICR. This query may include any of the following parameters: (i) service ID: an identifier of the service requested by the terminal. This allows to check if the service can be instantiated or it is already instantiated; (ii) terminal (e.g., WTRU) ID: an identifier of the terminal requesting the service. This may be useful for example for affinity purposes. It might not include information that can be used to identify the user; (iii) ICR ID: identifier of the requesting ICR; and (iv) CATS requirements: list of requirements, e.g., connectivity and computing requirements.

[0100] At step 3a, each ECR, possibly after checking with the CATS agent of the site(s) providing connectivity, may respond back to the ICR, including any of the following information: (i) service ID; (ii) terminal ID; (iii) ECR ID: identifier of the ECR sending the response; (iv) CATS conditions: how the site meets each of the requirements included in the request; and (v) uniform resource identifier (URI) to get to the service instance.

[0101] A CATS agent at a site might be collocated with the ECR. Examples of a CATS agent at a site may be network controllers or orchestrators at the site.

[0102] At step 4a, based on the received responses, and considering both networking and computing metrics and policies, the ICR may selects an ECR (#n).

[0103] At step 5a, the ICR may request the proposed / selected ECR to establish a traffic steering session with it, sending a CATS request. This request may include the same information that was included in the CATS query (to facilitate stateless operation of the ECRs while being queried). This request may additionally include the following parameters: (i) selected ECR prefix: currently in use IP prefix IP to the terminal to reach the service instance; and lifetime: requested duration for the association between the ICR and the selected ECR (e.g., the selected service site).

[0104] A step 6a, the selected ECR may respond back with an acknowledgement message, including the any of following information: (i) service ID; (ii) terminal ID; (iii) ECR ID: identifier of the ECR sending the response; (iv) CATS conditions: how the site meets each of the requirements included in the request; (v) IP prefix assigned for the terminal to use to reach the service instance. It should match the one included in the request; and (vi) lifetime: granted duration of the association between the ICR and the ECR (e.g., the selected service site).

[0105] At step 7a, an IP tunnel may be established between the ICR and the selected ECR. Optionally (not shown in the figure), the ICR might send a CATS request with zero lifetime to the old ECR to remove the old tunnel.

[0106] An IP tunnel may be established between the ICR and the selected ECR. Forwarding may be also setup, so traffic going from / to the allocated IP prefix may be sent through the tunnel at the ICR / ECR.

[0107] At step 8, the previous acknowledgement message may trigger the service migration (from site #n to site #n-l). Some preparation / migration steps might be conducted in parallel (e.g., after messages #1 and #3) to accelerate the process, making this step just the final trigger for the service migration.

[0108] At site #n, the prefix used by the terminal for accessing the service may be configured to be used by migrated instance. This might require routing updates to be performed in the site, potentially controlled by a CATS agent running in the site.

[0109] At step 9, traffic of the service for this terminal may be steered using the new IP tunnel.

[0110] In a second embodiment, a service anchor mobility procedure for CATS is initiated by the ECR currently serving the terminal. Following this trigger, and following similar procedures as in the first embodiment, the network infrastructure may be capable to select a target service instance meeting the connectivity and computing requirements of the service, with signaling procedures defined to perform a transparent anchor migration to a new site, facilitating the service migration in a transparent way for the terminal.[OHl] Fig. 5 shows a message sequence chart of the IP anchor mobility for CATS, initiated by the ECR (option B).

[0112] At step 0, a service / app may have been already instantiated on a service site. In this second embodiment, the site where the service / app consumed by the terminal is currently instantiated, may be site #n-l. The terminal may be connected to ICR #1 and there may be a service tunnel between ICR 1 and ECR#N-1. This service / app may require some functionality to be run on the network infrastructure (e.g., an AR / VR / XR service). This service may have specific requirements in terms of both connectivity and computing (CATS requirements).

[0113] At step 1, an internal or external trigger may be generated regarding a change in the computing of networking conditions, making the current selected service site not feasible / unavailable (e.g. not optimal) for the running service (e.g., CATS requirements cannot be met).

[0114] At step lb, the CATS agent, at the current serving site or ECR, may detect the change in the conditions and may send a trigger to the ICR. The detection of the change in the conditions may comprise mechanisms including mechanisms including monitoring at transport level, orchestration level, in-situ monitoring by the ECR, etc...

[0115] At step 2b, the ECR may send an unsolicited CATS response mechanism to the ICR, indicating that the conditions have changed. This might be done for example by including current CATS conditions (and potentially also the originally requested ones) in the message, this is a nonlimiting possible way to convey this information and other alternatives might be used.

[0116] At step 3b, the ICR may send a query to each (but currently used) ECR of the domain, or a subset selected based on the location of the ICR. This query may include any of the following parameters: (i) service ID: an identifier of the service requested by the terminal. This allows to check if the service can be instantiated or it is already instantiated; (ii) terminal ID: an identifier of the terminal requesting the service. This may be useful for example for affinity purposes. It might not include information that can be used to identify the user; (iii) ICR ID: identifier of the requesting ICR.; and (iv) CATS requirements: list of requirements, e.g., connectivity and computing requirements.

[0117] At step 4b, each ECR, possibly after checking with the CATS agent of the site(s) it provides connectivity, may respond, including any of the following information: (i) service ID; (ii) terminal ID; (iii) ECR ID: identifier of the ECR sending the response; (iv) CATS conditions: how the site meets each of the requirements included in the request; and (v) URI to get to the service instance.

[0118] A CATS agent at a site might be collocated with the ECR. Examples of a CATS agent at a site may be network controllers or orchestrators at the site.

[0119] At step 5b, based on the received responses, and considering both networking and computing metrics and policies, the ICR may select an ECR (#n).

[0120] At step 6b, the ICR may request the proposed / selected ECR to establish a traffic steering session with it, sending a CATS request. This request may include the same information that was included in the CATS query (to facilitate stateless operation of the ECRs while being queried). This request may additionally include the following parameters: (i) selected ECR prefix: currently in use IP prefix IP to the terminal to reach the service instance; and (ii) lifetime: requested duration for the association between the ICR and the selected ECR (e.g., the selected service site).

[0121] At step 7b, the selected ECR may respond back with an acknowledgement message, including any of the following information: (i) service ID; (ii) terminal ID; (iii) ECR ID: identifier of the selected ECR sending the response; (iv) CATS conditions: how the site meets each of therequirements included in the request; (v) IP prefix assigned for the terminal to use to reach the service instance. It should match the one included in the request; and (vi) lifetime: granted duration of the association between the ICR and the selected ECR (e.g., the selected service site).

[0122] At step 8b, an IP tunnel may be established between the ICR and the selected ECR. Optionally (not shown in the figure), the ICR might send a CATS request with zero lifetime to the old ECR to remove the old tunnel.

[0123] An IP tunnel may be established between the ICR and the selected ECR. Forwarding is also setup so traffic going from / to the allocated IP prefix may be sent through the tunnel at the ICR / ECR.

[0124] At step 9, the previous acknowledgment message may trigger the service migration (from site #n to site #n-l). Note that some preparation / migration steps might be conducted in parallel (e g., after messages #1 and #3) to accelerate the process, making this step just the final trigger for the service migration.

[0125] At site #n, the prefix used by the terminal for accessing the service may be configured to be used by migrated instance. This might require routing updates to be performed in the site, potentially controlled by a CATS agent running in the site.

[0126] At step 10, traffic of the service for this terminal is steered using the IP tunnel.

[0127] In a third embodiment, a service anchor mobility procedure for CATS is initiated by a CATS controller. Following this trigger, a target service instance meeting the connectivity and computing requirements of the service may be selected, and a transparent anchor migration to a new site may be performed, facilitating the service migration in a transparent way for the terminal.

[0128] Fig. 6 shows a message sequence chart of the IP anchor mobility for CATS, initiated by a CATS controller (option C).

[0129] At step 0, a service / app may have been already instantiated on a service site. In this example, the site, where the service / app consumed by the terminal is currently instantiated, may be site #n-l. The terminal may be connected to ICR #1 and there may be a service tunnel between ICR#1 and ECR#N-1. This service / app may require some functionality to be run on the network infrastructure (e.g., an AR / VR / XR service). This service may have specific requirements in terms of both connectivity and computing (CATS requirements).

[0130] At step 1, an internal or external trigger may be generated regarding a change in the computing of networking conditions, making the current selected service site not feasible / unavailable (e.g., not optimal) for the running service (e.g., CATS requirements cannot be met).

[0131] At step 1c, a CATS controller may detect the change in the conditions. The detection of the change in the conditions may comprise mechanisms including the controller to use information at network and infrastructure orchestration levels, etc.. . .

[0132] At step 2c, the CATS controller, which may have the overall view of all the sites and ECRs of the domain, considering both networking and computing metrics and policies, may select site #n and may send an unsolicited CATS response to the ICR, including any of the following information: (i) service ID; (ii) terminal ID; (iii) CATS conditions: how the site meets the service requirements. Optionally, this might be conveyed back to the terminal, so adaptations can be also made at service / app level; and (iv) new ECR: IP address of the new ECR, selected for service migration.

[0133] At step 3c, the ICR may request the selected ECR to establish a traffic steering session with it, sending a CATS request, for an ongoing service that has to be migrated. This request may include any of: (i) service ID: an identifier of the service being consumed by the terminal. This allows checking if the service can be instantiated or it is already instantiated and is necessary also for the service migration; (ii) terminal ID: an identifier of the terminal requesting the service; (iii) ICR ID: identifier of the requesting ICR; (iv) CATS requirements: list of requirements, e.g., connectivity and computing requirements; (v) selected ECR prefix: currently in use IP prefix IP to the terminal to reach the service instance; and (vi) lifetime: requested duration for the association between the ICR and the selected ECR (e.g., the selected service site).

[0134] At step 4c, the selected ECR may respond back with an acknowledgement message, including any of the following information: (i) service ID; (ii) terminal ID; (iii) ECR ID: identifier of the selected ECR sending the response; (iv) CATS conditions: how the site meets each of the requirements included in the request; (v) IP prefix assigned for the terminal to use to reach the service instance. It should match the one included in the request; and (vi) lifetime: granted duration of the association between the ICR and the selected ECR (e.g., the selected service site).

[0135] At step 5c, an IP tunnel may be established between the ICR and the selected ECR. Optionally (not shown in the figure), the ICR might send a CATS request with zero lifetime to the old ECR to remove the old tunnel.

[0136] An IP tunnel may be established between the ICR and the selected ECR. Forwarding may be also setup so traffic going from / to the allocated IP prefix may be sent through the tunnel at the ICR / ECR.

[0137] At step 6, the previous acknowledgment message may trigger the service migration (from site #n to site #n-l). Note that some preparation / migration steps might be conducted in parallel (e.g.,after messages #1 and #3) to accelerate the process, making this step just the final trigger for the service migration.

[0138] At site #n, the prefix used by the terminal for accessing the service may be configured to be used by migrated instance. This might require routing updates to be performed in the site, potentially controlled by a CATS agent running in the site.

[0139] At step 7, traffic of the service for this terminal may be steered using the IP tunnel.

[0140] About Proxy Mobile IPv6 signaling extensions to enable service mobility with IP address service-specific anchoring for CATS,

[0141] The control plane extensions introduced in above may be implemented over different protocols. As a non-limiting example, a new ECR mobility option may be part of an extension of the Proxy Mobile IPv6.

[0142] The new ECR mobility option may have the format as shown in Fig. 7. The ‘Type’ field may be an 8-bit field. The ‘Type’ field may have to be defined by the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA). The ‘Length’ field may be an 8-bit unsigned integer. The ‘Length’ field may define the length of the new ECR mobility option excluding the ‘Type’ field and the ‘Length’ field. The ‘address length’ field may be an 8-bit unsigned integer. This may define the length of the new ECR IP address in octets. The ‘New ECR IP address’ field may be a variable length field that may include IP address of the new ECR.

[0143] Referring to Fig. 8, in an embodiment, a method 800, implemented in a first router providing services to a WTRU from a service site of a plurality of service sites of a network infrastructure, may comprise a step of receiving 810, from a first service site of the network infrastructure, a first message comprising first information indicating unavailability of a service connectivity from the first service site. Based on receiving the first message, the method 800 may further comprise a step of transmitting 820, to other service sites of the plurality of the service sites, a first request message for the service connectivity. The method 800 may further comprise a step of receiving 830, from at least a subset of the other service sites, a first response message of the first request message, wherein the first response message comprising second information indicating availability of the service connectivity. The method 800 may further comprise a step of selecting 840 a second service site from at least the subset of the other service sites, for the service connectivity, based on the first response message. The method 800 may further comprise a step of establishing 870 the service connectivity through a traffic steering session with the selected second service site.

[0144] Referring to FIG. 8, prior to the step of establishing 870 the service connectivity, the method 800 may further comprise a step of transmitting 850, to the selected second service site, a second request message for establishing the traffic steering session with the selected second service site, and a step of receiving 860 from the selected second service site an acknowledgment response message for establishing the traffic steering session with the selected second service site.

[0145] Conclusion

[0146] Although features and elements are provided above in particular combinations, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that each feature or element can be used alone or in any combination with the other features and elements. The present disclosure is not to be limited in terms of the particular embodiments described in this application, which are intended as illustrations of various aspects. Many modifications and variations may be made without departing from its spirit and scope, as will be apparent to those skilled in the art. No element, act, or instruction used in the description of the present application should be construed as critical or essential to the invention unless explicitly provided as such. Functionally equivalent methods and apparatuses within the scope of the disclosure, in addition to those enumerated herein, will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the foregoing descriptions. Such modifications and variations are intended to fall within the scope of the appended claims. The present disclosure is to be limited only by the terms of the appended claims, along with the full scope of equivalents to which such claims are entitled. It is to be understood that this disclosure is not limited to particular methods or systems.

[0147] The foregoing embodiments are discussed, for simplicity, with regard to the terminology and structure of infrared capable devices, i.e., infrared emitters and receivers. However, the embodiments discussed are not limited to these systems but may be applied to other systems that use other forms of electromagnetic waves or non-electromagnetic waves such as acoustic waves.

[0148] It is also to be understood that the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting. As used herein, the term "video" or the term "imagery" may mean any of a snapshot, single image and / or multiple images displayed over a time basis. As another example, when referred to herein, the terms "user equipment" and its abbreviation "UE", the term "remote" and / or the terms "head mounted display" or its abbreviation "HMD" may mean or include (i) a wireless transmit and / or receive unit (WTRU); (ii) any of a number of embodiments of a WTRU; (iii) a wireless-capable and / or wired-capable (e.g., tetherable) device configured with, inter alia, some or all structures and functionality of a WTRU; (iii) a wireless-capable and / or wired-capable device configured with less than all structures and functionality of a WTRU; or(iv) the like. Details of an example WTRU, which may be representative of any WTRU recited herein, are provided herein with respect to FIGs. 1 A-1D. As another example, various disclosed embodiments herein supra and infra are described as utilizing a head mounted display. Those skilled in the art will recognize that a device other than the head mounted display may be utilized and some or all of the disclosure and various disclosed embodiments can be modified accordingly without undue experimentation. Examples of such other device may include a drone or other device configured to stream information for providing the adapted reality experience.

[0149] In addition, the methods provided herein may be implemented in a computer program, software, or firmware incorporated in a computer-readable medium for execution by a computer or processor. Examples of computer-readable media include electronic signals (transmitted over wired or wireless connections) and computer-readable storage media. Examples of computer-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a register, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic media such as internal hard disks and removable disks, magneto-optical media, and optical media such as CD-ROM disks, and digital versatile disks (DVDs). A processor in association with software may be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for use in a WTRU, UE, terminal, base station, RNC, or any host computer.

[0150] Variations of the method, apparatus and system provided above are possible without departing from the scope of the invention. In view of the wide variety of embodiments that can be applied, it should be understood that the illustrated embodiments are examples only, and should not be taken as limiting the scope of the following claims. For instance, the embodiments provided herein include handheld devices, which may include or be utilized with any appropriate voltage source, such as a battery and the like, providing any appropriate voltage.

[0151] Moreover, in the embodiments provided above, processing platforms, computing systems, controllers, and other devices that include processors are noted. These devices may include at least one Central Processing Unit ("CPU") and memory. In accordance with the practices of persons skilled in the art of computer programming, reference to acts and symbolic representations of operations or instructions may be performed by the various CPUs and memories. Such acts and operations or instructions may be referred to as being "executed," "computer executed" or "CPU executed."

[0152] One of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that the acts and symbolically represented operations or instructions include the manipulation of electrical signals by the CPU. An electrical system represents data bits that can cause a resulting transformation or reduction of the electricalsignals and the maintenance of data bits at memory locations in a memory system to thereby reconfigure or otherwise alter the CPU's operation, as well as other processing of signals. The memory locations where data bits are maintained are physical locations that have particular electrical, magnetic, optical, or organic properties corresponding to or representative of the data bits. It should be understood that the embodiments are not limited to the above-mentioned platforms or CPUs and that other platforms and CPUs may support the provided methods.

[0153] The data bits may also be maintained on a computer readable medium including magnetic disks, optical disks, and any other volatile (e.g., Random Access Memory (RAM)) or non-volatile (e.g., Read-Only Memory (ROM)) mass storage system readable by the CPU. The computer readable medium may include cooperating or interconnected computer readable medium, which exist exclusively on the processing system or are distributed among multiple interconnected processing systems that may be local or remote to the processing system. It should be understood that the embodiments are not limited to the above-mentioned memories and that other platforms and memories may support the provided methods.

[0154] In an illustrative embodiment, any of the operations, processes, etc. described herein may be implemented as computer-readable instructions stored on a computer-readable medium. The computer-readable instructions may be executed by a processor of a mobile unit, a network element, and / or any other computing device.

[0155] There is little distinction left between hardware and software implementations of aspects of systems. The use of hardware or software is generally (but not always, in that in certain contexts the choice between hardware and software may become significant) a design choice representing cost versus efficiency tradeoffs. There may be various vehicles by which processes and / or systems and / or other technologies described herein may be effected (e.g., hardware, software, and / or firmware), and the preferred vehicle may vary with the context in which the processes and / or systems and / or other technologies are deployed. For example, if an implementer determines that speed and accuracy are paramount, the implementer may opt for a mainly hardware and / or firmware vehicle. If flexibility is paramount, the implementer may opt for a mainly software implementation. Alternatively, the implementer may opt for some combination of hardware, software, and / or firmware.

[0156] The foregoing detailed description has set forth various embodiments of the devices and / or processes via the use of block diagrams, flowcharts, and / or examples. Insofar as such block diagrams, flowcharts, and / or examples include one or more functions and / or operations, it will be understood by those within the art that each function and / or operation within such block diagrams, flowcharts, orexamples may be implemented, individually and / or collectively, by a wide range of hardware, software, firmware, or virtually any combination thereof. In an embodiment, several portions of the subject matter described herein may be implemented via Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), digital signal processors (DSPs), and / or other integrated formats. However, those skilled in the art will recognize that some aspects of the embodiments disclosed herein, in whole or in part, may be equivalently implemented in integrated circuits, as one or more computer programs running on one or more computers (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more computer systems), as one or more programs running on one or more processors (e.g., as one or more programs running on one or more microprocessors), as firmware, or as virtually any combination thereof, and that designing the circuitry and / or writing the code for the software and or firmware would be well within the skill of one of skill in the art in light of this disclosure. In addition, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the mechanisms of the subject matter described herein may be distributed as a program product in a variety of forms, and that an illustrative embodiment of the subject matter described herein applies regardless of the particular type of signal bearing medium used to actually carry out the distribution. Examples of a signal bearing medium include, but are not limited to, the following: a recordable type medium such as a floppy disk, a hard disk drive, a CD, a DVD, a digital tape, a computer memory, etc., and a transmission type medium such as a digital and / or an analog communication medium (e.g., a fiber optic cable, a waveguide, a wired communications link, a wireless communication link, etc.).

[0157] Those skilled in the art will recognize that it is common within the art to describe devices and / or processes in the fashion set forth herein, and thereafter use engineering practices to integrate such described devices and / or processes into data processing systems. That is, at least a portion of the devices and / or processes described herein may be integrated into a data processing system via a reasonable amount of experimentation. Those having skill in the art will recognize that a typical data processing system may generally include one or more of a system unit housing, a video display device, a memory such as volatile and non-volatile memory, processors such as microprocessors and digital signal processors, computational entities such as operating systems, drivers, graphical user interfaces, and applications programs, one or more interaction devices, such as a touch pad or screen, and / or control systems including feedback loops and control motors (e.g., feedback for sensing position and / or velocity, control motors for moving and / or adjusting components and / or quantities). A typical data processing system may be implemented utilizing any suitable commercially availablecomponents, such as those typically found in data computing / communication and / or network computing / communication systems.

[0158] The herein described subject matter sometimes illustrates different components included within, or connected with, different other components. It is to be understood that such depicted architectures are merely examples, and that in fact many other architectures may be implemented which achieve the same functionality. In a conceptual sense, any arrangement of components to achieve the same functionality is effectively "associated" such that the desired functionality may be achieved. Hence, any two components herein combined to achieve a particular functionality may be seen as "associated with" each other such that the desired functionality is achieved, irrespective of architectures or intermedia! components. Likewise, any two components so associated may also be viewed as being "operably connected", or "operably coupled", to each other to achieve the desired functionality, and any two components capable of being so associated may also be viewed as being "operably couplable" to each other to achieve the desired functionality. Specific examples of operably couplable include but are not limited to physically mateable and / or physically interacting components and / or wirelessly interactable and / or wirelessly interacting components and / or logically interacting and / or logically interactable components.

[0159] With respect to the use of substantially any plural and / or singular terms herein, those having skill in the art can translate from the plural to the singular and / or from the singular to the plural as is appropriate to the context and / or application. The various singular / plural permutations may be expressly set forth herein for sake of clarity.

[0160] It will be understood by those within the art that, in general, terms used herein, and especially in the appended claims (e g., bodies of the appended claims) are generally intended as "open" terms (e.g., the term "including" should be interpreted as "including but not limited to," the term "having" should be interpreted as "having at least," the term "includes" should be interpreted as "includes but is not limited to," etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is intended, such an intent will be explicitly recited in the claim, and in the absence of such recitation no such intent is present. For example, where only one item is intended, the term "single" or similar language may be used. As an aid to understanding, the following appended claims and / or the descriptions herein may include usage of the introductory phrases "at least one" and "one or more" to introduce claim recitations. However, the use of such phrases should not be construed to imply that the introduction of a claim recitation by the indefinite articles "a" or "an" limits any particular claim including such introduced claim recitation to embodiments including onlyone such recitation, even when the same claim includes the introductory phrases "one or more" or "at least one" and indefinite articles such as "a" or "an" (e.g., "a" and / or "an" should be interpreted to mean "at least one" or "one or more"). The same holds true for the use of definite articles used to introduce claim recitations. In addition, even if a specific number of an introduced claim recitation is explicitly recited, those skilled in the art will recognize that such recitation should be interpreted to mean at least the recited number (e.g., the bare recitation of "two recitations," without other modifiers, means at least two recitations, or two or more recitations). Furthermore, in those instances where a convention analogous to "at least one of A, B, and C, etc." is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., "a system having at least one of A, B, and C" would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and / or A, B, and C together, etc.). In those instances where a convention analogous to "at least one of A, B, or C, etc." is used, in general such a construction is intended in the sense one having skill in the art would understand the convention (e.g., "a system having at least one of A, B, or C" would include but not be limited to systems that have A alone, B alone, C alone, A and B together, A and C together, B and C together, and / or A, B, and C together, etc.). It will be further understood by those within the art that virtually any disjunctive word and / or phrase presenting two or more alternative terms, whether in the description, claims, or drawings, should be understood to contemplate the possibilities of including one of the terms, either of the terms, or both terms. For example, the phrase "A or B" will be understood to include the possibilities of "A" or "B" or "A and B." Further, the terms "any of followed by a listing of a plurality of items and / or a plurality of categories of items, as used herein, are intended to include "any of," "any combination of," "any multiple of," and / or "any combination of multiples of the items and / or the categories of items, individually or in conjunction with other items and / or other categories of items. Moreover, as used herein, the term "set" is intended to include any number of items, including zero. Additionally, as used herein, the term "number" is intended to include any number, including zero. And the term "multiple", as used herein, is intended to be synonymous with "a plurality".

[0161] In addition, where features or aspects of the disclosure are described in terms of Markush groups, those skilled in the art will recognize that the disclosure is also thereby described in terms of any individual member or subgroup of members of the Markush group.

[0162] As will be understood by one skilled in the art, for any and all purposes, such as in terms of providing a written description, all ranges disclosed herein also encompass any and all possiblesubranges and combinations of subranges thereof. Any listed range can be easily recognized as sufficiently describing and enabling the same range being broken down into at least equal halves, thirds, quarters, fifths, tenths, etc. As a non-limiting example, each range discussed herein may be readily broken down into a lower third, middle third and upper third, etc. As will also be understood by one skilled in the art all language such as "up to," "at least," "greater than," "less than," and the like includes the number recited and refers to ranges which can be subsequently broken down into subranges as discussed above. Finally, as will be understood by one skilled in the art, a range includes each individual member. Thus, for example, a group having 1-3 cells refers to groups having 1, 2, or 3 cells. Similarly, a group having 1-5 cells refers to groups having 1, 2, 3, 4, or 5 cells, and so forth.

[0163] Moreover, the claims should not be read as limited to the provided order or elements unless stated to that effect. In addition, use of the terms "means for" in any claim is intended to invoke 35 U.S.C. §112, U 6 or means-plus-function claim format, and any claim without the terms "means for" is not so intended.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method implemented in a router comprising: receiving, from a first service site of a plurality of service sites of a network infrastructure, a first message comprising first information indicating unavailability of a service connectivity from the first service site; based on a reception of the first message, transmitting, to other service sites of the plurality of the service sites, a first request message for the service connectivity; receiving, from at least a subset of the other service sites, a first response message of the first request message, wherein the first response message comprising second information indicating availability of the service connectivity; selecting a second service site from at least the subset of the other service sites, for the service connectivity, based on the first response message; and establishing the service connectivity through a traffic steering session with the selected second service site.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the router is an ingress compute aware traffic steering router.

3. The method of any of the claims 1 and 2, wherein the first information indicates current computing aware traffic steering conditions at the first service site.

4. The method of any of claim 1 to claim 3 comprising, prior to establishing the service connectivity: transmitting, to the selected second service site, a second request message for establishing the traffic steering session with the selected second service site; and receiving from the selected second service site an acknowledgment response message for establishing the traffic steering session with the selected second service site.

5. The method of claim 4 comprising providing services to a wireless transmit / receive unit, WTRU, from the selected second service site.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the first request message for the service connectivity comprises third information including any of a service identifier, an identifier of the WTRU, another identifier of the router, and a list of computing aware traffic steering requirements, andwherein the second information further indicates any of the service identifier, the identifier of the WTRU, and computing aware traffic steering conditions at the subset of the other service sites.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the second information further indicates an identifier of an egress compute aware traffic steering router.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein the second request message comprises fourth information including any of the service identifier, the identifier of the WTRU, the other identifier of the router, the list of computing aware traffic steering requirements, the identifier of the egress compute aware traffic steering router, and a requested duration for association between the router and the selected second service site; and wherein the acknowledgment response message comprises fifth information including any of the service identifier, the identifier of the WTRU, the identifier of the egress compute aware traffic steering router, computing aware traffic steering conditions at the selected second service site, and granted duration for association between the router and the selected second service site.

9. A router comprising a processor, a transceiver unit and a storage unit, and configured to: receive, from a first service site of a plurality of service sites of a network infrastructure, a first message comprising first information indicating unavailability of a service connectivity from the first service site, based on a reception of the first message, transmit, to other service sites of the plurality of the service sites, a first request message for the service connectivity, receive, from at least a subset of the other service sites, a first response message of the first request message, wherein the first response message comprising second information indicating availability of the service connectivity, select a second service site from at least the subset of the other service sites, for the service connectivity, based on the first response message, and establish the service connectivity through a traffic steering session with the selected second service site.

10. The router of claim 9, wherein the router is an ingress compute aware traffic steering router.

11. The router of any of the claims 9 and 10, wherein the first information indicates current computing aware traffic steering conditions at the first service site.

12. The router of any of the claims 9 and 11 configured to, prior to establishing the service connectivity: transmit, to the selected second service site, a second request message for establishing the traffic steering session with the selected second service site, and receive from the selected second service site an acknowledgment response message for establishing the traffic steering session with the selected second service site.

13. The router of claims 12, configured to provide services to a wireless transmit / receive unit, WTRU, from the selected second service site.

14. The router of claim 13, wherein the first request message for the service connectivity comprises third information including any of a service identifier, an identifier of the WTRU, another identifier of the router, and a list of computing aware traffic steering requirements, and wherein the second information further indicates any of the service identifier, the identifier of the WTRU, and computing aware traffic steering conditions at the subset of the other service sites.

15. The router of claim 14, wherein the second information further indicates an identifier of an egress compute aware traffic steering router.

16. The router of claim 15, wherein the second request message comprises fourth information including any of the service identifier, the identifier of the WTRU, the other identifier of the router, the list of computing aware traffic steering requirements, the identifier of the egress compute aware traffic steering router, and a requested duration for association between the router and the selected second service site, and wherein the acknowledgment response message comprises fifth information including any of the service identifier, the identifier of the WTRU, the identifier of the egress compute aware traffic steering router, computing aware traffic steering conditions at the selected second service site, and granted duration for association between the router and the selected second service site.

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