Devices and methods for energy consumption information exposure in a mobile network

Abstract

A control plane entity (140) is disclosed for providing Energy Consumption, EC, and / or Energy Efficiency, EE, information in a mobile network (100), in particular a 3GPP mobile network (100). The control plane entity (140) is configured to send a request for EC and / or EE information to one or more radio access network, RAN, entities (120; 120a,b) and / or to one or more core network, CN, entities (130) of the mobile network (100), wherein the request comprises one or more instructions and / or configurations for the one or more RAN entities (120; 120a,b) and / or the one or more CN entities (130) for obtaining, e.g. measuring the EC and / or EE information. Moreover, the control plane entity (140) is configured to receive the EC and / or EE information from the one or more RAN entities (120; 120a,b) and / or the one or more CN entities (130) and further process the received EC and / or EE information e.g., aggregate EC and / or EE information from a specific group of entities, to produce the desired EC and / or EE information.

Description

[0001] DEVICES AND METHODS FOR ENERGY CONSUMPTION INFORMATION EXPOSURE IN A MOBILE NETWORK

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The present disclosure relates to wireless communications. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to devices and methods for per flow end-to-end energy consumption information exposure in a mobile network, in particular a 3GPP network.

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] Technological advancements and digitization have transformed the landscape of the modem society with widespread ubiquitous connectivity. This has resulted in the underlying networks assuming the role of the backbone of the modem society. Telecommunication networks play a key role in today’s economy as they not only provide the necessary infrastructure which equips their customers with a reliable means to establish communication, especially during emergency, but they also shoulder the responsibility of ensuring their customers can conduct business reliably over the network. Naturally, scale of the telecommunication infrastructure and maintaining a reliable operational network round the clock has resulted in increased energy consumption and associated OPEX for Mobile Network Operators (MNOs). Moreover, advanced applications and services like Al, AR / VR, autonomous vehicles, digital twin, and the like, that mobile communication technologies like 5G and 6G are expected to support, could result in an exponential increase in the network energy consumption and ergo, the carbon- footprint of mobile networks. According to a report from GSMA, 25% of MNO’s costs are due to OPEX and 90% of the costs are due to energy consumption. Most of this energy expenditure comes from the Radio Access Networks (RAN) while the data centers hosting the Core Network (CN) and the physical transport via fiber optic cables account for a smaller share.

[0006] Even though, mobile technologies from the past have constituted efforts towards reducing radio power consumption, and newer technologies (like 5G, 6G) are developed to be more energy efficient radio technologies, the ongoing digitization of the society means that it will increasingly rely on the use of telecommunication networks. Hence, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) services will consume more energy which consequently will result in increased CO2 emission. Therefore, network energy savings has become an important topic in the ongoing standardization efforts of 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) due to the pervasive deployment of 5G networks and the expected surge in the use of ICT services. However, ICT services are only one of the many stakeholders in an End-to-End (E2E) session. Ensuring EE in the mobile network does not imply that E2E sessions are energy efficient. It is important for the mobile networks to produce and expose the EC of a session to all the stakeholders at various respective granularities so that necessary measures can be enforced by the stakeholders at their respective ends in order to keep the overall EC of the E2E session to a minimum.

[0007] SUMMARY

[0008] It is an objective of the present disclosure to provide improved devices and methods for per flow end-to-end energy consumption information exposure in a mobile network, in particular a 3GPP network.

[0009] The foregoing and other objectives are achieved by the subject matter of the independent claims. Further implementation forms are apparent from the dependent claims, the description and the figures.

[0010] According to a first aspect a control plane entity, in particular an Energy Management Function, is provided for providing Energy Consumption, EC, and / or Energy Efficiency, EE, information in a mobile network. The control plane entity according to the first aspect is configured to create and send a request for EC and / or EE information to one or more radio access network, RAN, entities and / or to one or more core network, CN, entities of the mobile network to satisfy the request for EC and / or EE information from other network entities and externals. The request comprises one or more instructions and / or configurations for the one or more RAN entities and / or the one or more CN entities for obtaining the desired EC and / or EE information. Moreover, the control plane entity according to the first aspect is configured to receive the EC and / or EE information from the one or more RAN entities and / or the one or more CN entities. In an implementation form, the control plane entity according to the first aspect may be implemented as a network function (herein also referred to as Energy Management Function, EMF) or as a component of existing network functions in a mobile network. The control plane entity according to the first aspect allows monitoring measurement, collection, processing and providing the EC and / or EE information in a mobile network at a wide range of granularities that satisfies the various different types of requests for EC and / or EE information.

[0011] In a further possible implementation form, the control plane entity according to the first aspect is configured to provide the EC and / or EE information received from the one or more RAN entities and / or the one or more CN entities to a further control plane entity, for instance, an application function, and / or to an external third party entity, for instance, an application service provider, ASP, entity associated with a third party, such as an ASP server entity. Thus, the control plane entity according to the first aspect allows providing the desired EC and / or EE information to an external third-party entity.

[0012] In a further possible implementation form, the control plane entity according to the first aspect is configured to receive the various different types of EC and / or EE information from various RAN and CN entities and further process the EC and / or EE information received from the one or more RAN entities and / or the one or more CN entities to produce the desired and / or requested EC and / or EE information and to provide the further produced EC and / or EE information to the further control plane entity, e.g., the application function, and / or the third party entity, e.g., the ASP entity. Thus, the control plane entity according to the first aspect allows to obtain and further process various different types of EC and EE information or data collected by various different types of RAN and CN entities to satisfy different types of request for EC and EE information.

[0013] In a further possible implementation form, the control plane entity according to the first aspect is configured to create and send the request for EC and / or EE information to the one or more RAN entities and / or to the one or more CN entities, in response to receiving a monitoring request, which may be in the form of a subscription request, from a further control plane entity, e.g., an application function associated with an external third party, and / or an external third party entity, e.g., an ASP entity, such as an ASP server entity. Thus, the control plane entity according to the first aspect allows providing EC and / or EE information in a mobile network in response to a request.

[0014] In a further possible implementation form, the monitoring request comprises an indication of one or more EC and / or EE related events for which the EC and / or EE information is requested. This allows the control plane network entity according to the first aspect to efficiently determine the type of EC and / or EE information requested.

[0015] In a further possible implementation form, the monitoring request further comprises a monitoring frequency for monitoring the EC and / or EE information and / or an expiry time of the monitoring request. This allows the control plane network entity according to the first aspect to provide the requested EC and / or EE information with a desired monitoring frequency and / or for a desired monitoring period ending with the expiry time.

[0016] In a further possible implementation form, based on the monitoring request, the control plane entity according to the first aspect is configured to determine the one or more RAN entities and / or to one or more CN entities of the mobile network for obtaining the desired and / or requested EC and / or EE information. Thus, based on the monitoring request the control plane entity according to the first aspect may efficiently determine the one or more RAN entities and / or to one or more CN entities of the mobile network for obtaining the desired and / or requested EC and / or EE information. In a further possible implementation form, the one or more instructions and / or configurations for the one or more RAN entities and / or the one or more CN entities for obtaining the EC and / or EE information comprises one or more instructions and / or one or more configurations to be used by the one or more RAN entities and / or the one or more CN entities for measuring EC and / or EE data and generating the EC and / or EE information based on the EC and / or EE data. Thus, the one or more instructions and / or configurations for the one or more RAN entities and / or the one or more CN entities may comprise detailed instructions, such as one or more values of measuring parameters, for measuring EC and / or EE data used for generating the EC and / or EE information. This allows the control plane entity according to the first aspect to control with a fine granularity how the EC and / or EE data is measured and how the EC and / or EE information is obtained based on the measured EC and / or EE data.

[0017] In a further possible implementation form, the one or more instructions and / or configurations for the one or more RAN entities and / or the one or more CN entities for obtaining the EC and / or EE information comprises one or more of the following: UE context information, an AMF ID, a RAN ID, a PDU session ID, a QOS Flow ID, information about a granularity of the EC and / or EE data to be measured, information about a type of traffic / traffic class the EC and / or EE data is measured for, a reporting frequency of the EC and / or the EE information, and how the measurements are to be performed , e.g., directly or indirectly via estimations. This allows the control plane entity according to the first aspect to control with a fine granularity how the EC and / or EE data is measured and how the EC and / or EE information is obtained based on the measured EC and / or EE data.

[0018] In a further possible implementation form, the one or more CN entities comprise one or more User Plane Functions, UPFs, of the mobile network. This allows the control plane entity according to the first aspect to provide per flow end-to-end EC and / or EE information about one or more UPFs of the mobile network.

[0019] In a further possible implementation form, the control plane entity according to the first aspect is configured to send a registration request to a Network Repository Function, NRF, of the mobile network for registering the control plane entity according to the first aspect with the NRF. This allows the control plane entity according to the first aspect to be visible to other entities and functions of the mobile network.

[0020] In a further possible implementation form, the registration request comprises an indication of one or more EC and / or EE related events, wherein the EC and / or EE information received from the one or more RAN entities and / or the one or more CN entities is associated with the one or more EC and / or EE related events. This allows the control plane network entity according to the first aspect to efficiently determine the type of EC and / or EE information requested.

[0021] In a further possible implementation form, the one or more EC and / or EE related events are associated with uplink traffic, downlink traffic and / or a bidirectional traffic. This allows the control plane network entity according to the first aspect to provide the requested EC and / or EE information with a desired granularity concerning the traffic flow direction.

[0022] In a further possible implementation form, the one or more EC and / or EE related events are associated with a traffic data volume, a traffic data rate, and / or a traffic time period. This allows the control plane network entity according to the first aspect to provide the requested EC and / or EE information with a desired granularity concerning different metrics of the traffic flow.

[0023] In a further possible implementation form, the mobile network is a 5G or 6G mobile network, wherein the control plane entity is a standalone network function, a component of a Network Exposure Function, NEF, of the mobile network or a component of a further control plane function of the mobile network. Thus, the control plane entity according to the first aspect may be seamlessly integrated into current or future 3GPP mobile networks. According to a second aspect a method is provided of operating a control plane entity, in particular Energy Management Function, for providing Energy Consumption, EC, and / or Energy Efficiency, EE, information in a mobile network. The method according to the second aspect comprises the following steps: sending a request for EC and / or EE information to one or more radio access network, RAN, entities and / or to one or more core network, CN, entities of the mobile network, wherein the request comprises one or more instructions and / or configurations for the one or more RAN entities and / or the one or more CN entities for obtaining the EC and / or EE information; and receiving the EC and / or EE information from the one or more RAN entities and / or the one or more CN entities.

[0024] The method according to the second aspect allows providing EC and / or EE information in a mobile network. The method according to the second aspect can be performed by the control plane entity according to the first aspect. Thus, further features of the method according to the second aspect result directly from the functionality of the control plane entity according to the first aspect as well as its different implementation forms described above and below.

[0025] According to a third aspect, a computer program product is provided, comprising a computer-readable storage medium for storing program code which causes a computer or a processor to perform the method according to the second aspect, when the program code is executed by the computer or the processor.

[0026] Details of one or more embodiments are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages will be apparent from the description, drawings, and claims.

[0027] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0028] In the following, embodiments of the present disclosure are described in more detail with reference to the attached figures and drawings, in which:

[0029] Fig. 1 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a mobile network including a control plane entity according to an example in the form of an Energy Management Function for providing EC and / or EE information in the mobile network;

[0030] Fig. 2 shows a table listing a plurality of EC monitoring events implemented by a control plane entity according to an example for providing EC and / or EE information in a mobile network;

[0031] Fig. 3 shows a table listing a plurality of EE monitoring events implemented by a control plane entity according to an example for providing EC and / or EE information in a mobile network;

[0032] Fig. 4 shows a signalling diagram illustrating a registration process of a control plane entity according to an example in the form of an Energy Management Function with a Network Repository Function;

[0033] Fig. 5 shows a signalling diagram illustrating interactions between a control plane entity according to an example in the form of an Energy Management Function and further entities of the mobile network for providing EC information in the mobile network;

[0034] Fig. 6 shows a signalling diagram illustrating interactions between a control plane entity according to an example in the form of an Energy Management Function and further entities of the mobile network for providing EE information in the mobile network; Fig. 7 shows a schematic diagram illustrating the architecture of a 3GPP mobile network, including a control plane entity according to an example implemented as a component of a Network Exposure Function for providing EC and / or EE information in the mobile network;

[0035] Fig. 8 shows a schematic diagram illustrating the architecture of a 3GPP mobile network, including a control plane entity according to an example implemented as a standalone network function for providing EC and / or EE information in the mobile network; and

[0036] Fig. 9 shows a flow diagram illustrating a method of operating a control plane entity according to an example for providing EC and / or EE information in a mobile network.

[0037] In the following, identical reference signs refer to identical or at least functionally equivalent features.

[0038] DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS

[0039] In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying figures, which form part of the disclosure, and which show, by way of illustration, specific aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure or specific aspects in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be used. It is understood that embodiments of the present disclosure may be used in other aspects and comprise structural or logical changes not depicted in the figures. The following detailed description, therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims.

[0040] For instance, it is to be understood that a disclosure in connection with a described method may also hold true for a corresponding device or system configured to perform the method and vice versa. For example, if one or a plurality of specific method steps are described, a corresponding device may include one or a plurality of units, e.g. functional units, to perform the described one or plurality of method steps (e.g. one unit performing the one or plurality of steps, or a plurality of units each performing one or more of the plurality of steps), even if such one or more units are not explicitly described or illustrated in the figures. On the other hand, for example, if a specific apparatus is described based on one or a plurality of units, e.g. functional units, a corresponding method may include one step to perform the functionality of the one or plurality of units (e.g. one step performing the functionality of the one or plurality of units, or a plurality of steps each performing the functionality of one or more of the plurality of units), even if such one or plurality of steps are not explicitly described or illustrated in the figures. Further, it is understood that the features of the various exemplary embodiments and / or aspects described herein may be combined with each other, unless specifically noted otherwise.

[0041] Figure 1 shows a schematic diagram illustrating a mobile network 100 configured to provide mobile communication services. In an embodiment, the mobile network 100 may be a current or future 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) mobile network 100, for instance, a 5G or a 6G network. As illustrated in figure 1 and will be described in more detail in the following, a control plane entity 140 according to an embodiment in the form of an Energy Management Function, EMF, 140 is provided for providing Energy Consumption, EC, and / or Energy Efficiency, EE, information in the mobile network 100, for instance, for a communication service between a user equipment, UE, 110 and an application service provider, ASP, 150a. The control plane entity 140, in particular EMF 140, is configured to send a request for EC and / or EE information to one or more radio access network, RAN, entities, i.e. nodes 120; 120a, b and / or to one or more core network, CN, entities, i.e. nodes 130 of the mobile network 100 involved in the communication service between the UE 110 and the ASP 150a. As will be appreciated, in a 3GPP mobile network 100 the Radio Access Network (RAN) is composed of a set of Radio Access Technology (RAT) nodes 120 like eNB, gNB, and the like. The 3GPP RAN architecture defined in the technical specification TS 38.401 is composed of Control Units (CUs) 120a and Data Units (Dus) 120b. In 5G for example, the RAN nodes 120 are gNBs and a gNB may consist of a gNB-CU 120a and one or more gNB-DUs 120b. The gNB-DUs 120b are connected to gNB-CU via the Fl interface. It should be noted that one gNB-DU 120b is generally connected to exactly one gNB-CU 120a. Moreover, the RAN nodes 120 like gNBs 120 are connected with an interface, namely NG to the 5GC, more specifically to the Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) with the NG-C interface and to the User Plane Function with the NG-U interface, as described in the technical specification TS 23.501. As defined in the technical specification 3GPP TS 38.401 , the gNBs 120 are connected with each other through Xn interface and the protocols over the Uu and NG interface are divided into user plane protocols and control plane protocols. The user plane protocols implement the PDU session service over the access stratum while the control plane protocols control the PDU session and the connectivity between the UE 110 and the network. As will be described in more detail below, the request sent from the control plane entity 140, in particular EMF 140, to the one or more RAN entities 120; 120a, b and / or the one or more CN entities 130 comprises one or more instructions and / or configurations for the one or more RAN entities 120 and / or the one or more CN entities 130 for obtaining the EC and / or EE information. In response to the request, the control plane entity 140, in particular EMF 140, is configured to receive the EC and / or EE information from the one or more RAN entities 120 and / or the one or more CN entities 130 obtained based on the one or more instructions and / or configurations indicated by the request.

[0042] More specifically, in a first stage illustrated in figure 1 the ASP 150a (or a different internal or external entity) may request from the control plane entity 140, in particular EMF 140, a desired EC and / or EE information e.g. E2E EC information. In an embodiment, the request from the ASP 150a may be a subscription request defining a reporting frequency and / or a reporting period. In a second stage illustrated by 2.1 and 2.2 in figure 1, the control plane entity 140, in particular EMF 140, based on the request received from an interested party, identifies the one or more RAN entities 120;120a,b and one or more CN entities 130 and creates the instructions and configurations for measuring the desired EC and / or EE information and sends them to the one or more RAN entities 120; 120a, b and the one or more CN entities 130, wherein, as already mentioned above, the request comprises one or more instructions and / or configurations for the one or more RAN entities 120 and / or the one or more CN entities 130 for obtaining the EC and / or EE information. In a third stage illustrated by 3.1 and 3.2 in figure 1, the control plane entity 140, in particular EMF 140, receives the requested EC and / or EE information from the one or more RAN entities 120; 120a, b and the one or more CN entities 130. In a fourth stage in figure 1 this EC and / or EE information is further processed, for instance, averaged or aggregated by the control plane entity 140, in particular EMF 140, before providing the further processed EC and / or EE information to the ASP 150a in stage 5 of figure 1.

[0043] Thus, as will be appreciated, the control plane entity 140, in particular EMF 140, according to an embodiment is configured to instruct the RAN 120 and Core 130 domains of the mobile network 100 to measure the desired EC and / or EE data and information, provide indication on how to produce the requested EC data and information, and process the multitude of collected EC and / or EE data and information to produce the EC and / or EE information that fulfills the diverse EC and / or EE requests from third party entities or other network functions. Figure 1 shows an exemplary scenario, where the external service provider 150a may want to monitor the energy consumption associated with an application provided by the ASP 150a. The request from the ASP 150a for the E2E EC and / or EE information (i.e. including the RAN and Core Network) may be, for instance, with respect to a single UE 110, a group of UEs, a network slice, a geographical location, at a time ‘t’, periodically, when an event occurs, and the like. Moreover, the ASP 150a may inform the network about what kind of EC measurements the ASP is interested in e.g., EC to be measured directly in the network entities participating in the service session, the EC measurements with respect to data volume, or data rate, or other statistically derived information. In other words, according to embodiments disclosed herein, the control plane entity 140, in particular EMF 140, is configured to implement one or more of the following functionalities: receive various different types of requests for EC information i.e., granularities and direct EC data or estimated EC information; identify the necessary network entities; generate instructions for the respective network entities based on the EC request to measure and produce the corresponding desired EC data and information; generate and provide the required EC measurement configurations to the respective network entities; and / or process the collected EC data and information from various network entities and respond accordingly to the received EC requests.

[0044] As alreadv described above, the control plane entity 140, in particular EMF 140, may be implemented as a standalone network function or as a component of a suitable Control Plane Network Function of a mobile communication system like 3GPP. As already described above, the control plane entity 140, in particular EMF 140, may receive a request for EC and / or EE information from interested parties like NFs, MP, and even external third-party entities, like UE 110, ASP 150a, and the like. Based on the received request for EC and / or EE information, the control plane entity 140, in particular EMF 140, is configured to identify the responsible network entities in the RAN 120 and / or Core 130 Network and generate the required Instructions and corresponding Configurations for the entities to produce and deliver the requested EC and / or EE data and information. Once the network entities produce and deliver the requested information, the control plane entity 140, in particular EMF 140, may further process the collected data in order to produce the requested EC information. Since a wide range of EC and / or EE data can be collected from various participating network entities in the RAN and Core Networks which may belong to either the same or multiple different technologies, and based on the request, the final EC and EE exposure results may need additional processing in the control plane entity 140, in particular EMF 140. Moreover, in order to allow the interested parties to subscribe and receive notification when EC and / or EE information of their interest is available, also a wide range of EC and EE exposure events may be defined by the control plane entity 140, in particular EMF 140, as will be described in more detail in the following in the context of the tables shown in figures 2 and 3. In an embodiment, these events may be exposed through one or more interfaces reached via the path of one or more NFs and the events can be subscribed, notified and triggered with service procedures through SBI between the NFs, and network and external parties.

[0045] According to embodiments disclosed herein the request with the one or more instructions and / or configurations for the one or more RAN entities 120; 120a, b for obtaining the EC and / or EE information may comprise one of more of the following: UE context information, AMF UE ID, RAN UE ID, PDU session ID, QOS Flow ID, granularity of measurement (UE, PDU session, QoS Flow, Service, for an Application (APP IP), for a type of traffic / traffic class (IP traffic, non-IP traffic, Up Link, Down Link, Signaling traffic, Data traffic, loT traffic, ISAC traffic, MP traffic, signaling traffic, Administration-related traffic, GBR traffic, non-GBR traffic, etc.), Slice, NF / vNF / gNB / BS, RAN site level, RAN network, etc.), reporting frequency (Total EC, periodic, at a specific time, for a duration like between tl and t2, threshold, current, etc.), How the measurement should be performed (Direct, Indirect, based on DV, based on Data Rate, based on DV and Data Rate, average EC, Statistical, based on modelling, AI / ML based EC measurement, etc.), etc.

[0046] According to embodiments disclosed herein the request with the one or more instructions and / or configurations for the one or more CN entities 130 for obtaining the EC and / or EE information may comprise one of more of the following: PDU session ID, QOS Flow ID, granularity of measurement (UE, PDU session, QoS Flow, Service, for an Application (APP IP), for a type of traffic / traffic class (IP traffic, non-IP traffic, Up Link, Down Link, Signaling traffic, Data traffic, loT traffic, ISAC traffic, MP traffic, signaling traffic, Administration-related traffic, GBR traffic, non-GBR traffic, etc.), Slice, NF / vNF, etc.), reporting frequency (Total EC, periodic, at a specific time, for a duration like between tl and t2, threshold, current, etc.), How the measurement should be performed (Direct, Indirect, based on DV, based on Data Rate, based on DV and Data Rate, average EC, Statistical, based on modelling, AI / ML based EC measurement, etc.), etc.

[0047] As already mentioned above, in an embodiment, the control plane entity 140, in particular EMF 140, is configured to implement, i.e. define a plurality of EC and / or EE related monitoring events for which the EC and / or EE information may be requested, for instance, by external third parties. Exemplary lists of EC and EE monitoring events, which may be implemented by the control plane entity 140, in particular EMF 140, are provided in the tables shown in figures 2 and 3. The EC and / or EE event types may be broadly classified into the following three categories: UP Link (UL), i.e. EC and EE measurements of the uplink traffic; Down Link (DL), i.e. EC and EE measurements of the downlink traffic; and Bidirectional (BI), i.e. EC and EE measurements of the both uplink and downlink traffic. Based on the above mentioned flow directions, the following measurements may be performed: Data Volume (DV), i.e. measure the data volume and derive the EC and EE information based on the data volume using, for instance, one suitable statistical method mentioned in the fourth column of the tables shown in figures 2 and 3; Time (TM), i.e. measure the EC and EE at a specific time period ‘t’ or for a duration ‘tl to t2’; Direct, i.e. Measure the actual EC and EE from the actual EC data; and other, i.e. measure based on some other parameter or criteria like, for instance, the data rate.

[0048] A combination of the flow direction, measurement type and optionally statistical methods leads to an event definition which can be identified with a corresponding EVENT_ID. As will be appreciated, however, the lists provided in the tables shown in figures 2 and 3 may be further extended as other EC and / or EE related events are identified and added to the EMF 140.

[0049] In an embodiment, the EC and / or EE related monitoring events provided by the EMF 140 may be included by the EMF 140 in an EMF Profile, when registering with a Network Repository Function 160, as illustrated in the embodiment shown in figure 4. More specifically, when the EMF 140 is instantiated in the mobile network 100, it may be configured to register with the NRF 160 and the registration request of the EMF 140 may include the list of EC and / or EE events (i.e. the EMF Profile) that are supported by the EMF 140. The registration with the list of monitored events helps the NF consumers in identifying the specific instance of the EMF 140 they should subscribe to for monitoring an event of interest. A supporting EMF reference point Nemf and associated services are hence required to enable the consumer NFs to subscribe to the events and get notified and request and obtain energy related information from EMF. In step 1 of figure 4, the EMF 140 sends a registration request to the NRF 160 with the list of supported event types by this EMF instance. An example EMF registration with NRF 160 may look like Nnrf_NFMgmt_NFRegister_request {NF_Profile {NF_Type, IP, ... , MONI_IDs, Event_IDs} ). In step 2 of figure 4, the NRF 160 creates a NF profile for the EMF 140 with the attributes provided in the NF registration request. In step 3 of figure 4, the NRF 160 sends the NF profile created response to the EMF 140 which indicates if the NF profile for the EMF 140 was successfully created or not.

[0050] Figure 5 and 6 show signalling diagrams illustrating interactions between the control plane entity 140, in particular EMF 140, according to an embodiment and further entities of the mobile network 100 for providing EC information (embodiment of figure 5) or EE information (embodiment of figure 6) in the 3GPP mobile network 100.

[0051] In step 0 of figure 5, a PDU session is established for the UE 110. In an embodiment, this PDU session establishment may be in accordance with the standardized PDU session establishment defined in 3GPP TS 23.502.

[0052] In step 1 of figure 5, an external third party entity, for instance, the ASP 150a, sends an event subscription request either directly or via an Application Function (AF) 150 as in 5G for receiving E2E EC information and the necessary supporting parameters like UL, DL, BI, direct measurements, and the like. The AF 150 calls the Nnef_Event_Exposure_Sub through NEF SBI with the EC_EVENT_P ARAMs object which includes the event type (EVENT_TYPE), monitoring information (MONI_INFO), monitoring frequency (MONI_FREQ) and expiry time (EXPIRY_TIME) details where: a. EVENT_TYPE: indicates one or more EVENT_IDs such as EVENT _IDs described in the table shown in figure 2; b. MONI_INFO: indicates the target of the event reporting, e.g., in the above message flow sequence it is the service ID of the ASP 150a. In addition, the subscriber also specifies the notification target address to receive the notifications e.g., the notification target address can be the AF 150 that sent the subscription request on behalf of the ASP 150a; c. MONI_FREQ: indicates the frequency of monitoring / measurement / reporting of the subscribed event; d. EXPIRY_TIME: indicates when the subscription expires.

[0053] In step 2 of figure 5, the NEF 162 sends the event subscription request to the EMF 140.

[0054] In steps 3 of figure 5, the EMF 140 generates the Instructions for EC measurement, identifies the participating network entities and creates the corresponding configurations for EC measurements and sends the instructions and configurations for EC measurements to the participating networking entities 120a, 130.

[0055] In steps 4 of figure 5, the UE(s) 110 transmit uplink data.

[0056] In steps 5 of figure 5, the RAN entities 120a receive the UE uplink data. The RAN entities 120a perform the EC measurement and transmit to the Core Network User Plane for forwarding towards the Data Network where User Plane entities measure the EC and forward the UEs traffic towards the ASP 150a.

[0057] In steps 6 and 7 of figure 5, the RAN entities 120a deliver the measured EC data / information to the EMF 140.

[0058] In steps 8 and 9 of figure 5, the CN User Plane entities 130 deliver the measured EC data / information to the EMF 140.

[0059] In step 10 of figure 5, the EMF 140 processes the collected EC data / information from the various entities and various monitoring requests and identifies the necessary events and prepares the outputs for notifying subscribers.

[0060] In step 11 of figure 5, the EMF 140 notifies the NEF 162 and sends the requested EC data and information.

[0061] In step 12 of figure 5, the NEF 162 forwards the received notification and EC data and information to the AF 150 which is received by the ASP 150a.

[0062] In step 0 of figure 6, a PDU session is established for the UE 110. In an embodiment, this PDU session establishment may be in accordance with the standardized PDU session establishment defined in 3GPP TS 23.502.

[0063] In step 1 of figure 6, an external third-party entity, for instance, the ASP 150a, sends an event subscription request via an Application Function (AF) 150 for receiving E2E EE information and the necessary supporting parameters like UL, DL, BI, direct measurements, and the like. The AF 150 calls the Nnef_Event_Exposure_Sub through NEF SBI with the EE_EVENT_P ARAMs object which includes the event type (EVENT_TYPE), monitoring information (MONI_INFO), monitoring frequency (MONI_FREQ) and expiry time (EXPIRY_TIME) details where: a. EVENT_TYPE: indicates one or more EVENTJDs such as EVENT _IDs described in the table shown in figure 3: b. MONI_INFO: indicates the target of the event reporting, e.g., in the above message flow sequence it is the service ID of the ASP 150a. In addition, the subscriber also specifies the notification target address to receive the notifications e.g., the notification target address can be the AF 150 that sent the subscription request on behalf of the ASP 150a; c. MONI_FREQ: indicates the frequency of monitoring / measurement / reporting of the subscribed event; d. EXPIRY_TIME: indicates when the subscription expires.

[0064] In step 2 of figure 6, the NEF 162 sends the event subscription request to the EMF 140. In steps 3 of figure 6, the EMF 140 generates the instructions for EE measurement, identifies the participating network entities and creates the corresponding configurations for EE measurements and sends the instructions and configurations for EE measurements to the participating networking entities 120a, 130.

[0065] In steps 4 of figure 6, the UE(s) 110 transmit uplink data.

[0066] In steps 5 of figure 6, the RAN entities 120a receive the UE uplink data. The RAN entities 120a perform the EE measurement and transmit to the Core Network User Plane for forwarding towards the Data Network where User Plane entities measure the EE and forward the UEs traffic towards the ASP 150a.

[0067] In steps 6 and 7 of figure 6, the RAN entities 120a deliver the measured EE data / information to the EMF 140.

[0068] In steps 8 and 9 of figure 6, the CN User Plane entities 130 deliver the measured EE data / information to the EMF 140.

[0069] In step 10 of figure 6, the EMF 140 processes the collected EE data / information from the various entities and various monitoring requests and identifies the necessary events and prepares the outputs for notifying subscribers.

[0070] In step 11 of figure 6, the EMF 140 notifies the NEF 162 and sends the requested EE data and information.

[0071] In step 12 of figure 6, the NEF 162 forwards the received notification and EE data and information to the AF 150 which is received by the ASP 150a.

[0072] Figure 7 shows a schematic diagram illustrating the architecture of a 3GPP mobile network 100, including the control plane entity 140, in particular EMF 140, according to an embodiment implemented as a component of a Network Exposure Function 162 for providing EC and / or EE information in the mobile network 100. As already described above, in an embodiment, the main functionalities of the EMF 140 are the following: the EMF 140 provides instructions to participating entities on what EC and / or EE information should be measured and when and how to measure it; interested parties may subscribe to one or more events and receive notification when data is available; the EMF 140 processes the collected EC and / or EE data and information and produces the result for a wide range of EC and / or EE related requests; and / or the EMF 140 notifies the results to Subscribers. In addition to the EMF 140 implemented as a component of the NEF 162 the mobile network 100 illustrated in figure 7 may further comprise the NRF 160, a PCF 163, a NWDAF 164, the AF 150, an AMF 165, a SME 161, and a UDM 167 and further network functions.

[0073] Figure 8 shows a schematic diagram illustrating the architecture of a 3GPP mobile network 100, including the control plane entity 140, in particular EMF 140, according to an embodiment implemented as a standalone network function 140 for providing EC and / or EE information in the mobile network 100. As already described above, in an embodiment, the main functionalities of the EMF 140 are the following: the EMF 140 provides instructions to participating network entities in RAN and Core on what EC and / or EE information should be measured and when and how to measure, and to whom to send the obtained EC and / or EE data and information e.g. either directly to Core CP or via the MP 170; interested parties may subscribe to EC and / or EE monitoring events implemented by the EMF 140 and receive notification when data is available; the EMF 140 processes the collected EC and / or EE data from the respective network entities in RAN and Core or from the MP 170 and processes the result for a wide range of EC and / or EE related requests; and / or the EMF 140 notifies the results to Subscribers. In addition to the EMF 140 implemented as a standalone NF 140 in communication with one or more MP entities 170 the mobile network 100 illustrated in figure 8 may further comprise the NRF 160, the PCF 163, the NWDAF 164, the AF 150, the AMF 165, the SMF 161, the NEF 162, and the UDM 167 and further network functions. Figure 9 shows a flow diagram illustrating a method 900 of operating the control plane entity 140 for providing Energy Consumption, EC, and / or Energy Efficiency, EE, information in a mobile network 100. The method 900 comprises a step 901 of sending a request for EC and / or EE information to one or more radio access network, RAN, entities 120; 120a, b and / or to one or more core network, CN, entities 130 of the mobile network 100. As already described above, the request comprises one or more instructions and / or configurations for the one or more RAN entities 120; 120a, b and / or the one or more CN entities 130 for obtaining the desired EC and / or EE information. Moreover, the method 900 comprises a step 903 of receiving the EC and / or EE information from the one or more RAN entities 120; 120a, b and / or the one or more CN entities 130. As illustrated in figure 9, in an embodiment, the method 900 may further comprise a step 905 of further processing the received EC and / or EE information from the various different RAN and CN entities to produce the desired or requested EC and / or EE information and a step 907 of providing the produced EC and / EE information to interested further control plane entities, as already described above.

[0074] The method 900 can be performed by the control plane entity 140. Thus, further features of the method 900 result directly from the functionality of the control plane entity 140 as well as the different embodiments thereof described above and below.

[0075] As will be appreciated, the control plane entity 140, in particular EMF 140, according to embodiments disclosed herein allows reporting the desired EC and / or EE of a mobile network 100 at various granularities, which is a very important factor for reducing the overall energy consumption, especially of an E2E session. In conventional MP based approaches, the energy consumption information of the network is mainly reported in the form of EE of the Network to verticals through the management layer. Moreover, the reporting is done at a large scale like Base Station (BS) / RAN site level, per slice level, per customer level and not reported in real-time, as the MP does not participate in ongoing sessions in the Control Plane (CP) and User Plane (UP). Hence, for the conventional approaches there is no way for Core CP to retrieve dynamic or current EC information for e.g., an ongoing session in RAN and Core via MP. Thus, in contrast to conventional approaches, based on the EC and / or EE information provided by the control plane entity 140, in particular EMF 140, according to embodiments disclosed herein, more informed corrective measures may be taken by the Core CP and service consumers to control the energy consumption in the mobile network.

[0076] The person skilled in the art will understand that the "blocks" ("units") of the various figures (method and apparatus) represent or describe functionalities of embodiments of the present disclosure (rather than necessarily individual "units" in hardware or software) and thus describe equally functions or features of apparatus embodiments as well as method embodiments (unit = step).

[0077] In the several embodiments provided in the present application, it should be understood that the disclosed system, apparatus, and method may be implemented in other manners. For example, the described embodiment of an apparatus is merely exemplary. For example, the unit division is merely a logical function division and may be another division in an actual implementation. For example, a plurality of units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some features may be ignored or not performed. In addition, the displayed or discussed mutual couplings or direct couplings or communication connections may be implemented by using some interfaces. The indirect couplings or communication connections between the apparatuses or units may be implemented in electronic, mechanical, or other forms.

[0078] The units described as separate parts may or may not be physically separate, and parts displayed as units may or may not be physical units, may be located in one position, or may be distributed on a plurality of network units. Some or all of the units may be selected according to actual needs to achieve the objectives of the solutions of the embodiments. In addition, functional units in the embodiments of the disclosure may be integrated into one processing unit, or each of the units may exist alone physically, or two or more units may be integrated into one unit.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A control plane entity (140) for providing Energy Consumption, EC, and / or Energy Efficiency, EE, information in a mobile network (100), wherein the control plane entity (140) is configured to: send a request for EC and / or EE information to one or more radio access network, RAN, entities l' 120: 120a, b) and / or to one or more core network, CN, entities (130) of the mobile network (100), wherein the request comprises one or more instructions and / or configurations for the one or more RAN entities l' 120: 120a, b) and / or the one or more CN entities (130) for obtaining the EC and / or EE information; and receive the EC and / or EE information from the one or more RAN entities (120; 120a, b) and / or the one or more CN entities (130).

2. The control plane entity (140) of claim 1, wherein the control plane entity (140) is configured to provide the EC and / or EE information received from the one or more RAN entities (120; 120a, b) and / or the one or more CN entities (130) to a further control plane entity (150) and / or a third party entity (150a).

3. The control plane entity (140) of claim 2, wherein the control plane entity (140) is configured to receive the various different types of EC and / or EE information from various RAN and CN entities and further process the EC and / or EE information received from the one or more RAN entities (120) and / or the one or more CN entities (130) to produce the desired and / or requested EC and / or EE information and to provide the further produced EC and / or EE information to the further control plane entity (150) and / or the third party entity (150a).

4. The control plane entity (140) of any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the control plane entity (140) is configured to send the request for EC and / or EE information to the one or more RAN entities (120; 120a, b) and / or to the one or more CN entities (130), in response to receiving a monitoring request from a further control plane entity (150) and / or a third party entity (150a).

5. The control plane entity (140) of claim 4, wherein the monitoring request comprises an indication of one or more EC and / or EE related events for which the EC and / or EE information is requested.

6. The control plane entity (140) of claims 4 or 5, wherein the monitoring request further comprises a monitoring frequency for monitoring the EC and / or EE information and / or an expiry time of the monitoring request.

7. The control plane entity (140) of any one of claims 4 to 6, wherein, based on the monitoring request, the control plane entity (140) is configured to determine the one or more RAN entities (120; 120a, b) and / or to one or more CN entities (130) of the mobile network (100) for obtaining the EC and / or EE information.

8. The control plane entity (140) of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the one or more instructions and / or configurations for the one or more RAN entities (120; 120a, b) and / or the one or more CN entities (130) for obtaining the EC and / or EE information comprises one or more instructions and / or one or more configurations to be used by the one or more RAN entities (120; 120a, b) and / or the one or more CN entities (130) for measuring EC and / or EE data and generating the EC and / or EE information based on the EC and / or EE data.

9. The control plane entity (140) of claim 8, wherein the one or more instructions and / or configurations for the one or more RAN entities (120; 120a, b) and / or the one or more CN entities (130) for obtaining the EC and / or EE informationcomprises one or more of the following: UE context information, an AMF ID, a RAN ID, a PDU session ID, a QOS Flow ID, information about a granularity of the EC and / or EE data to be measured, information about a type of traffic / traffic class the EC and / or EE data is measured for, a reporting frequency of the EC and / or the EE information, and how the measurements are to be performed.

10. The control plane entity (140) of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the one or more CN entities (130) comprise one or more User Plane Functions, UPFs, (130) of the mobile network (100).

11. The control plane entity (140) of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the control plane entity (140) is configured to send a registration request to a Network Repository Function, NRF, of the mobile network (100) for registering with the NRF.

12. The control plane entity (140) of claim 11, wherein the registration request comprises an indication of one or more EC and / or EE related events and wherein the EC and / or EE information received from the one or more RAN entities (120) and / or the one or more CN entities (130) is associated with the one or more EC and / or EE related events.

13. The control plane entity (140) of claim 12, wherein the one or more EC and / or EE related events are associated with uplink traffic, downlink traffic and / or a bidirectional traffic.

14. The control plane entity (140) of claims 12 or 13, wherein the one or more EC and / or EE related events are associated with a traffic data volume, a traffic data rate, and / or a traffic time period.

15. The control plane entity (140) of any one of the preceding claims, wherein the mobile network (100) is a 5G or 6G mobile network (100) and wherein the control plane entity (140) is a standalone network function (140), a component of a Network Exposure Function, NEF, of the mobile network (100) or a component of a further control plane function.

16. A method (900) of operating a control plane entity (140) for providing Energy Consumption, EC, and / or Energy Efficiency, EE, information in a mobile network (100), wherein the method (900) comprises: sending (901) a request for EC and / or EE information to one or more radio access network, RAN, entities (120; 120a, b) and / or to one or more core network, CN, entities (130) of the mobile network (100), wherein the request comprises one or more instructions and / or configurations for the one or more RAN entities (120; 120a, b) and / or the one or more CN entities (130) for obtaining the EC and / or EE information; and receiving (903) the EC and / or EE information from the one or more RAN entities (120; 120a, b) and / or the one or more CN entities (130).

17. A computer program product comprising a computer-readable storage medium for storing program code which causes a computer or a processor to perform the method (900) of claim 16 when the program code is executed by the computer or the processor.

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