Edge controller, network node and methods in a wireless communucation network

Abstract

A method performed by an edge controller for managing a network slice in a wireless communication network is provided. The edge controller receives (301) one or more end-to-end, E2E, requirements for an application deployed as an edge service. The edge controller estimates (302) respective E2E characteristics associated with the one or more requirements. Based on an evaluation (303) of the estimated respective E2E characteristics, the edge controller accepts the one or more E2E requirements or performs (305) a first action.

Description

[0001] EDGE CONTROLLER, NETWORK NODE AND METHODS IN A WIRELESS COMMUNUCATION NETWORK

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] Embodiments herein relate to an edge controller, a network node and methods therein. In some aspects, they relate to managing a network slice in a wireless communication network.

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] In a typical wireless communication network, wireless devices, also known as wireless communication devices, mobile stations, stations (STA) and / or User Equipment (UE), communicate via a Wide Area Network or a Local Area Network such as a Wi-Fi network or a cellular network comprising a Radio Access Network (RAN) part and a Core Network (CN) part. The RAN covers a geographical area which is divided into service areas or cell areas, which may also be referred to as a beam or a beam group, with each service area or cell area being served by a radio network node such as a radio access node e.g., a Wi-Fi access point, a Base Station (BS) or a radio base station (RBS), which in some networks may also be denoted, for example, a Base Station (BS), a NodeB, eNodeB (eNB), or gNodeB (gNB) as denoted in Fifth Generation (5G) telecommunications. A service area or cell area is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the radio network node. The radio network node communicates over an air interface operating on a radio frequency with the wireless devices within the range of the radio network node.

[0006] 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is the standardization body for specifying the standards for the cellular system evolution, e.g., including 3G, 4G, 5G and the future evolutions. Specifications for Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E- UTRA) and Evolved Packet System (EPS) have been completed within the 3GPP. In 4G also called a Fourth Generation (4G) network, EPS is core network and E-UTRA is radio access network. In 5G, 5GC is core network, NR is radio access network. As a continued network evolution, the new release of 3GPP specifies a 5G network also referred to as 5G New Radio (NR) and 5G Core (5GC).

[0007] Frequency bands for 5G NR are being separated into two different frequency ranges, Frequency Range 1 (FR1) and Frequency Range 2 (FR2). FR1 comprises sub-6 GHz frequency bands. Some of these bands are bands traditionally used by legacy standards but have been extended to cover potential new spectrum offerings from 410 MHz to 7125 MHz. FR2 comprises frequency bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. Bands in this millimeter wave range have shorter range but higher available bandwidth than bands in the FR1.

[0008] Multi-antenna techniques may significantly increase the data rates and reliability of a wireless communication system. For a wireless connection between a single user, such as UE, and a base station (BS), the performance is in particular improved if both the transmitter and the receiver are equipped with multiple antennas, which results in a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) communication channel. This may be referred to as Single-User (SU)-MIMO. In the scenario where MIMO techniques is used for the wireless connection between multiple users and the base station, MIMO enables the users to communicate with the base station simultaneously using the same time-frequency resources by spatially separating the users, which increases further the cell capacity. This may be referred to as Multi-User (MU)-MIMO. Note that MU-MIMO may benefit when each UE only has one antenna. The cell capacity can be increased linearly with respect to the number of antennas at the BS side. Due to that, more and more antennas are employed in BS. Such systems and / or related techniques are commonly referred to as massive MIMO.

[0009] An application in the edge cloud requires reliable network connectivity with low latency, and high throughput to enhance the performance of the applications or Quality of Experience (QoE). One way to achieve this is through a network slice which is used to access the application from the end device’s, or UEs, client application. The network slice provides isolated and dedicated network resources which can be managed on-demand by the mobile network.

[0010] In current situation, energy footprint and carbon emission due to the applications running in the ITC sector need to be minimized to meet target global carbon emission. This is in fact applicable to applications running in the edge cloud which in our case is the edge applications. When it comes to energy consumption of an edge application, it can be quantified in two metrics: end-to-end energy consumption and end-to-end energy efficiency. The first one only measures total energy consumption, in Watt and / or KWh, due to the application, while the later one is applied both energy consumption and performance of the application, such as latency, or throughput, and is represented in performance by power consumption (latency / Watt). The end to end in the above two metrics includes aggregation of energy consumption and performance of the application in edge cloud, wide-area network (i.e., between mobile network to the edge cloud), and network i.e., slice being used for accessing the application.

[0011] There are many ways to optimize the energy and performance for the application: firstly, optimizing the application deployed in the edge cloud, secondly, optimizing the wide area network used by the application, and thirdly, optimizing the network slice etc. In typically, this optimization can be done by OAM of the network, edge cloud provider based on the application requirements.

[0012] Figure 1 shows a high-level diagram of the scenario where an edge application is deployed in the edge cloud. In the left, UE which could be hand-held mobile devices or VR headset which is accessing the edge applications from its client application through a dedicated network slice being assigned to each UE by the mobile network. Each network slice could have dedicated resources of the network, i.e., RAN, Transport Network or TN, Core Network or CN.

[0013] In the above scenario, the life cycle management of the edge application could be handled by the edge cloud provider. This management includes a) taking input the energy and performance of the application, b) deploying the application in the edge cloud based on the requirements, c) observing energy & performance metrics of the network slice from the mobile network, d) requesting energy and performance requirements of the network slice to the mobile network.

[0014] SUMMARY

[0015] As a part of developing embodiments herein a problem was identified by the inventors and will first be discussed.

[0016] The work in Management and orchestration; 5G performance measurements, 3GPP TS 28.552 v16.9.0 presented how a network slice may be used to improve application performance deployed in the edge cloud. The work is tested with many use cases which are run in the automated warehouse. The result is that network slicing technology may improves significantly the network performance in the automated warehouse compare to non-slicing such as normal connectivity. For example, throughput is improved by up to 33.5% compared to the network without slicing. The work in Energy-Optimal End-to-End Network Slicing in Cloud-Based Architecture, M. Masoudi, O. T. Demir, J. Zander and C. Cavdar, in IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society, vol. 3, pp. 574-592, 2022, proposed optimization solution for end-to-end energy consumption of the network slice by considering the RAN, transport network and cloud site, such as cloud-RAN. However, it does not consider optimizing end to end of an application running in the edge cloud. It also does not expose the management of the network slice to the third-party application provider such as edge cloud provider.

[0017] Another work proposes a system for UE to take decision whether a task should be offloaded to the edge cloud and in which edge server should be selected for running. In the above work, the edge application is managed by the UE based on the end-to-end energy consumption and energy efficiency of the application in the different edge servers.

[0018] From the above works, it is observed that:

[0019] • Although network slice is being used for edge applications to improve performance, there is no method to improve its energy consumption while it is used by the edge application or based on the edge application’s requirements.

[0020] • There is no method to calculate end-to-end energy consumption and performance of network slice of an edge application when network slice is used.

[0021] • There is no method to manage network slice with energy requirements of an edge application by a third party application functions.

[0022] An object of embodiments herein is to improve the performance in a wireless communication network.

[0023] According to an aspect of embodiments herein, the object is achieved by a method performed by an edge controller for managing a network slice in a wireless communication network.

[0024] The edge controller receives one or more end-to-end (E2E) requirements for an application deployed as an edge service.

[0025] The edge controller estimates respective E2E characteristics associated with the one or more requirements.

[0026] Based on an evaluation of the estimated respective E2E characteristics, the edge controller accepts the one or more E2E requirements or performs a first action. According to another aspect of embodiments herein, the object is achieved by a method performed by a network node for managing a network slice in a wireless communication network.

[0027] The network node receives, from an edge controller, a request requesting the network node to estimate respective network slice characteristics for a network slice associated with an application deployed as an edge service.

[0028] The network node estimates the respective network slice characteristics.

[0029] The network node sends the estimated respective network slice characteristics to the edge controller.

[0030] According to another aspect of embodiments herein, the object is achieved by an edge controller configured to manage a network slice in a wireless communication network.

[0031] The edge controller is configured to receive one or more E2E requirements for an application deployed as an edge service.

[0032] The edge controller is configured to estimate respective E2E characteristics associated with the one or more requirements.

[0033] The edge controller is configured to, based on an evaluation of the estimated respective E2E characteristics, accept the one or more E2E requirements or perform a first action.

[0034] According to another aspect of embodiments herein, the object is achieved by a network node configured to manage a network slice in a wireless communication network.

[0035] The network node is configured to receive, from an edge controller, a request requesting the network node to estimate respective network slice characteristics for a network slice associated with an application deployed as an edge service.

[0036] The network node is configured to estimate the respective network slice characteristics.

[0037] The network node is configured to send the estimated respective network slice characteristics to the edge controller.

[0038] BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0039] Examples of embodiments herein are described in more detail with reference to attached drawings in which:

[0040] Figure 1 illustrates an example according to prior art. Figure 2 is a schematic block diagram illustrating embodiments of a wireless communication network.

[0041] Figure 3 is a flowchart depicting embodiments of a method in an edge controller.

[0042] Figure 4 is a flowchart depicting embodiments of a method in a network node.

[0043] Figure 5 illustrates an example according to embodiments herein.

[0044] Figure 6 illustrates an example according to embodiments herein.

[0045] Figure 7 illustrates an example according to embodiments herein.

[0046] Figure 8 illustrates an example according to embodiments herein.

[0047] Figure 9 illustrates an example according to embodiments herein.

[0048] Figure 10 illustrates an example according to embodiments herein.

[0049] Figure 11 is a schematic block diagram illustrating embodiments of an edge controller.

[0050] Figure 12 is a schematic block diagram illustrating embodiments of a network node.

[0051] Figure 13 shows an example of a communication system QQ100 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0052] Figure 14 shows a UE QQ200 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0053] Figure 15 shows a network node QQ300 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0054] Figure 16 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment QQ400 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized.

[0055] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0056] Embodiments herein relate to communication in wireless communication network.

[0057] Examples of embodiments herein enables edge cloud to consume energy consumption and performance of a network slice and take certain actions such as managing the edge cloud, and network slice to meet the energy and performance requirements of an edge application.

[0058] When the edge cloud receives the application requirements in terms of end-to-end requirements, e.g., energy consumption and performance, it may first retrieve energy consumption and performance of the application in the edge cloud. Secondly, it may estimate the energy consumption and performance of the application in the wide area network. Thirdly, it may request mobile network to retrieve energy consumption and performance of the network slice used by the application. An edge manager may then aggregate the three different types of inputs to calculate the end-to-end energy consumption and performance of the application. It may then compare the application requirements with current observed metrics and take certain actions. If the observed metrics fulfils the requirements, the edge manager may then perform the above steps periodically.

[0059] According to some examples of embodiments herein, if the observed metrics is not fulfilling the requirements, the edge manager may predict a resource allocation policy of the application in edge cloud and check whether the requirements are fulfilled with the new policy. If it is fulfilled, the new resource allocation policy may be applied, and the edge manager may perform the above steps periodically.

[0060] According to some examples of embodiments herein, if the requirements are not fulfilled, the edge manager may calculate the energy and performance requirements of the network slice and send the requirements to the mobile network. Mobile network may predict a resource allocation policy of the slice based on the requirements and available network resources. Based on the prediction it checks whether the requirements may be fulfilled. If it is fulfilling, then it may apply the new resource allocation policy. Otherwise, it rejects requirements send by the edge cloud.

[0061] If the mobile network fulfils the requirements, then the above process is periodically performed to meet requirements for the application. If the mobile network does not fulfill then the edge cloud rejects the requirements.

[0062] Embodiments herein relate to wireless communication networks in general. Figure 2 is a schematic overview depicting a wireless communication network 100. The wireless communication network 100 comprises one or more RANs and one or more CNs. The wireless communication network 100 may use a number of different technologies, such as Wi-Fi, Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-Advanced, 5G, New Radio (NR), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Global System for Mobile communications / enhanced Data rate for GSM Evolution (GSM / EDGE), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), or Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB), just to mention a few possible implementations. Embodiments herein relate to recent technology trends that are of particular interest in a 5G context, however, embodiments are also applicable in further development of the existing wireless communication systems such as e.g. WCDMA and LTE, or to future technologies such as 6G.

[0063] A number of network nodes operate in the wireless communication network 100 such as e.g. a base station 101. These nodes provide radio coverage in a number of cells which may also be referred to as a beam or a beam group of beams. The base station 101 may be any of a NG-RAN node, a transmission and reception point e.g. a base station, a radio access network node such as a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point or an Access Point Station (AP STA), an access controller, a base station, e.g. a radio base station such as a NodeB, an evolved Node B (eNB, eNode B), a gNB, a base transceiver station, a radio remote unit, an Access Point Base Station, a base station router, a transmission arrangement of a radio base station, a stand-alone access point, a network controlled repeater or any other network unit capable of communicating with a wireless device within the service area served by the first base station 101 and / or the second base station 102 depending e.g. on the first radio access technology and terminology used. The first base station 101 and / or the second base station 102 may be referred to as a serving radio network node and communicates with a UE 121 with Downlink (DL) transmissions to the UE 121 and Uplink (UL) transmissions from the UE 121.

[0064] In the wireless communication network 100, one or more UEs operate, such as e.g. the UE 121. The UE 121 may also referred to as a wireless device, a device, an loT device, a mobile station, a non-access point (non-AP) STA, a STA, a user equipment and / or a wireless terminals, communicate via one or more Access Networks (AN), e.g. RAN, to one or more core networks (CN). It should be understood by the skilled in the art that “wireless device” is a non-limiting term which means any terminal, wireless communication terminal, user equipment, Machine Type Communication (MTC) device, Device to Device (D2D) terminal, or node e.g. smart phone, laptop, mobile phone, sensor, relay, mobile tablets or even a small base station communicating within a cell.

[0065] The wireless communication network 100 further comprises an edge cloud 105. The edge cloud 105 may e.g., deploy applications as edge services to be accessed by e.g., UEs such as the UE 121.

[0066] Edge nodes, such as an edge controller 130, may operate in the edge cloud 105. The edge controller may e.g., deploy and manage applications as edge services in the edge clouds 105, and manage E2E requirements for the applications.

[0067] Network nodes, such as a network node 110, may operate in the wireless communication network 100, e.g., in the CN of the wireless communication network 100. The network node 110 may e.g., deploy, operate and / or manage network slices in the wireless communication network 100.

[0068] Methods herein may be performed by the edge controller 130 and the network node 110. As an alternative, a Distributed Node (DN) and functionality, e.g. comprised in the cloud 190 as shown in Figure 2, may be used for performing or partly performing the methods herein.

[0069] The above-described problem is addressed in a number of embodiments, some of which may be seen as alternatives, while some may be used in combination.

[0070] A method according to embodiments will now be described from the view of the edge controller 130 together with Figure 3. Figure 3 shows example embodiments of a method performed by edge controller 130 for managing a network slice in the wireless communication network 100. The network slice may e.g., comprise a network slice used for data traffic associated with an application deployed as an edge service in the edge cloud 105. The method comprises the following actions, which actions may be taken in any suitable order. Actions that are optional are presented in dashed boxes in Figure 3.

[0071] Action 301

[0072] The edge controller 130 receives one or more E2E requirements for an application deployed as an edge service. The application may e.g., be deployed as an edge service in the edge cloud 105. The one or more E2E requirements may e.g., be received from a 3rd party application developer, such as an application developer responsible for the application deployed as an edge service.

[0073] The one or more E2E requirements may e.g., comprise any one or more out of an E2E performance, such as latency, requirement, and an E2E energy consumption requirement.

[0074] Action 302

[0075] The edge controller 130 estimates respective E2E characteristics associated with the one or more requirements. The E2E characteristics may e.g., comprise E2E energy consumption and / or E2E performance, such as E2E latency. Estimating the respective on or more E2E characteristics is explained further below in Actions 302a-302d.

[0076] In some embodiments, estimating the one or more E2E characteristics may e.g., comprise any one or more of the following steps:

[0077] S31 : The edge controller 130 may estimate respective edge characteristics associated with the one or more E2Erequirements. As for the E2E characteristics, the edge characteristics may comprise energy consumption and / or performance, such as latency. However, the respective one or more edge characteristics is only related to characteristics in the edge cloud 105, such as energy consumption and / or performance in the edge cloud. S32: The edge controller 130 may estimate respective wide area network characteristics associated with the one or more E2E requirements. As for the E2E characteristics, the wide area network characteristics may comprise energy consumption and / or performance, such as latency. However, the respective one or more wide area network characteristics is only related to characteristics in the wide area network, such as energy consumption and / or performance in the wide area network. The wide area network may e.g., the transport the between the edge cloud and the CN.

[0078] S33: The edge controller 130 may obtain, from the network node 110, respective network slice characteristics for a network slice associated with the application. As for the E2E characteristics, the network slice characteristics may comprise energy consumption and / or performance, such as latency. However, the respective one or more network slice characteristics is only related to characteristics in the network slice associated with the application, such as energy consumption and / or performance in the network slice.

[0079] S34: The edge controller 130 may obtain the estimated respective E2E characteristics by aggregating the respective edge characteristics, wide area network characteristics and network slice characteristics. In other words, the E2E characteristics may be defined as the sum of the edge, wide area network and network slice characteristics.

[0080] Action 303

[0081] In some embodiments, the edge controller 130 evaluates the estimated respective E2E characteristics. The evaluation may e.g., comprise comparing the estimated E2E characteristics with the received E2E requirements in order to determine whether the one or more E2E requirements are fulfilled. E.g., the edge controller 130 may compare the E2E energy consumption with an E2E energy consumption requirement and / or compare the E2E performance with an E2E performance requirement.

[0082] Action 304

[0083] In some embodiments, based on the evaluation, the edge node 130 may accept the one or more E2E requirements. E.g., the edge controller may accept the one or more E2E requirements when the one or more E2E requirements are fulfilled.

[0084] In some embodiments, accepting the one or more E2E requirements may comprise sending a message indicating that the one or more E2E requirements are fulfilled. The message may e.g., be sent to a 3rd party application developer, such as the application developer from which the E2E requirements was received. Action 305

[0085] In some embodiments, based on the evaluation, the edge controller 130 may perform a first action. E.g., the edge controller 130 may perform the first action when the one or more E2E requirements are not fulfilled, such as when at least one of the one or more E2E requirements is not fulfilled.

[0086] In some embodiments, performing the first action may e.g., comprise any one or more of the following steps:

[0087] S35: The edge controller 130 may predict a resource allocation policy. The edge controller 130 may e.g., predict the resource allocation policy based on the one or more E2E requirements. The may mean the edge controller 130 predicts the resource allocation policy in order to fulfill the one or more E2E requirements. The edge controller 130 may e.g., use an AI / ML model to predict the resource allocation policy.

[0088] S36: The edge controller 130 may evaluate the predicted resource allocation policy. The evaluation may e.g., comprise determining whether, with the predicted resource allocation policy, the one or more E2E requirements may be fulfilled.

[0089] S37: Based on the evaluation, the edge controller 130 may accept the one or more E2E requirements. E.g., the edge controller may accept the one or more E2E requirements when the one or more E2E requirements are fulfilled with the predicted resource allocation policy.

[0090] In some embodiments, accepting the one or more E2E requirements may comprise sending a message indicating that the one or more E2E requirements are fulfilled. The message may e.g., be sent to a 3rd party application developer, such as the application developer from which the E2E requirements was received. Further, accepting the one or more E2E requirements may comprise applying the predicted resource application policy.

[0091] S38: Based on the evaluation, the edge controller 130 performs a second action. E.g., the edge controller 130 may perform the second action when the one or more E2E requirements are not fulfilled, such as when at least one of the one or more E2E requirements is not fulfilled with the predicted resource allocation policy.

[0092] In some embodiments, performing the second action may e.g., comprise any one or more of the following steps: S39: The edge controller 130 may calculate one or more network slice requirements for a network slice associated with the application. The network slice requirements may e.g., comprise requirements related to energy consumption and / or performance, such as latency, for the network slice. Calculating the one or more network slice requirements may be based on the estimated one or more E2E characteristics and respective network slice characteristics obtained from the network node 110, e.g., as in Action 302. Further, the predicted resource allocation policy may be taken into account. S310: The edge controller 130 may send, to the network node 110, a request requesting the network node to configure the network slice to fulfil the one or more network slice requirements. The request may e.g., comprise the one or more network slice requirements.

[0093] S311: The edge controller 130 may receive an indication, such as a response, from the network node 110. The indicating, or response, indicates whether the one or more network slice requirements are fulfilled. In other words, the indication, or response, may indicate that the one or more network slice requirements are fulfilled or that the one more network slice requirements are not fulfilled.

[0094] S312: Based on the indication, or response, from the network node 110, the edge controller 130 may accept the one or more E2E requirements. E.g., the edge controller 130 may accept the one or more E2E requirements when the received indication, or response, indicates that one or more requirements are fulfilled.

[0095] In some embodiments, accepting the one or more E2E requirements may comprise sending a message indicating that the one or more E2E requirements are fulfilled. The message may e.g., be send to a 3rd party application developer, such as the application developer from which the E2E requirements was received. Further, accepting the one or more E2E requirements may comprise applying the predicted resource application policy.

[0096] S313: Based on the indication, or response, from the network node 110, the edge controller 130 may decline the one or more E2E requirements based on the received indication. E.g., the edge controller 130 may decline, such as reject, the one or more E2E requirements when the received indication, or response, indicates that one or more requirements are not fulfilled. In some embodiments, accepting the one or more E2E requirements may comprise sending a message indicating that the one or more E2E requirements are declined, or rejected. The message may e.g., be sent to a 3rd party application developer, such as the application developer from which the E2E requirements were received.

[0097] A method according to embodiments will now be described from the view of the network node 110 together with Figure 4. Figure 4 shows example embodiments of a method performed by the network node 110 for managing a network slice in the wireless communication network 100. The network slice may e.g., comprise a network slice used for data traffic associated with an application deployed as an edge service in the edge cloud 105. The method comprises the following actions, which actions may be taken in any suitable order. Actions that are optional are presented in dashed boxes in Figure 4.

[0098] Action 401

[0099] The network node 110 receives a request from the edge controller 130. The request requests the network node 110 to estimate respective network slice characteristics for a network slice associated with an application deployed as an edge service. The network slice characteristics may e.g., comprise characteristics related to energy consumption and / or performance, such as latency, for the network slice.

[0100] In some embodiments, the request comprises the identity of the network slice.

[0101] Action 402

[0102] The network node 110 estimates the respective network slice characteristics. Estimating the respective network slice characteristics may e.g., comprise monitoring the respective network slice characteristics, e.g., the energy consumption and / or the performance, such as latency, of the network slice. The estimating, or monitoring, may further comprise monitoring available resources.

[0103] Action 403

[0104] The network node 110 sends the estimated respective network slice characteristics to the edge controller 130. In some embodiments, sending the estimated respective network slice characteristics further comprises sending the identity of the network slice to the edge controller 130.

[0105] Action 404

[0106] In some embodiments, the network node 110 receives a request from the edge controller 130. The request requests the network node 110 to configure the network slice associated with the application deployed as an edge service to fulfil one or more network slice requirements. The request may comprise the one or more network slice requirements. The one or more network slice requirements may, as mentioned above, e.g., comprise requirements related to energy consumption and / or performance, such as latency, for the network slice.

[0107] In some embodiments, the request comprises the identity of the network slice.

[0108] Action 405

[0109] In some embodiments, the network node 110 determines whether the one or more network slice requirements can be fulfilled. That is, the network node 110 may determine whether the network may be configured such that the one or more network slice requirements are fulfilled.

[0110] In some embodiments, determining whether the one or more network slice requirements can be fulfilled comprises estimating, based on available resources, whether the one or more network slice requirements can be fulfilled. This may e.g., mean that the network node 110 estimates, or predicts, whether network slice may be configured such that the one or more network slice requirements are fulfilled. This may e.g., comprise estimating, or prediction respective network slice characteristics associated with the one or more network slice requirements. The estimations, or prediction, may e.g., comprise using an AI / ML model together with the available resources. The network node 110 may determine whether the one or more network slice requirements may be fulfilled by comparing the estimation, or prediction, with the one or more requirements. E.g., comparing the respective estimated, or predicted, network slice characteristics with the one or more network slice requirements.

[0111] Action 406

[0112] In some embodiments, based on the determination, the network node 110 rejects, or declines, the one or more network slice requirements. E.g., the network node 110 may reject, such as decline, the one or more network slice requirements when determined that the one or more network slice requirements cannot be be not fulfilled. The network node 110 may e.g., reject, or decline, the one or more network slice requirements when at least one of the one or more network slice requirements cannot be fulfilled.

[0113] In some embodiments, rejecting the one or more network slice requirements comprises sending an indication, or response, to the edge controller 130. The indication, or response, indicating that the network node 110 rejects, or declines, the one or more network slice requirements. In other words, the network node 110 indicates to the edge controller 130 that the network node 110 cannot fulfil the one or more network slice requirements. Action 407

[0114] In some embodiments, based on the determination, the network node 110 accepts the one or more network slice requirements. E.g., the network node 110 may accept the one or more network slice requirements when determined that the one or more network slice requirements are fulfilled.

[0115] In some embodiments, accepting the one or more network slice requirements comprises any one or more of the following steps:

[0116] S41 : In some embodiments, the network node 110 determines a configuration for the network slice such that the one or more network slice requirements are fulfilled. The configuration may e.g., be based on the estimation, or prediction. S42: In some embodiments, the network node 110 applies the determined configuration to the network slice.

[0117] S43: In some embodiments, the network node 110 sends an indication, such as response, to the edge controller 130. The indication, or response, indicates that the network node 110 accepts the one or more network slice requirements. The response may comprise the identity of the network slice.

[0118] Embodiments herein such as the embodiments mentioned above will now be further described and exemplified. The text below is applicable to embodiments herein and may be combined with any suitable embodiment described above.

[0119] Figure 5 shows an overview of the overall system according to embodiments herein. The system comprises four entities. In the below, a high-level functionalities of each components in those entities are described.

[0120] UE

[0121] The UE has an application which is a client part of the application deployed in the edge cloud. The communication between the client and server part is done over the mobile network using a network slice.

[0122] By default, the UE may run a default connectivity of the mobile network to connect with the edge cloud. But it is provisioned with a network slice which will be used to access the application running in the edge cloud.

[0123] Edge cloud

[0124] The edge cloud provides edge services which is used for deploying edge applications. It is also responsible for accepting the application requirements from application developer, deploying the application to its platform and managing the end-to- end requirements of the application. To meet the requirements, it also communicates with the mobile network to retrieve network slice information and sends slice requirements.

[0125] It has four components which has various functions, described below

[0126] Edge manager

[0127] Edge-OAM

[0128] Edge monitor

[0129] Edge App

[0130] The edge manager, edge OAM and edge monitor may together, or separately, be referred to as the edge controller 130. The edge manager is responsible for retrieving application requirements from the developers and deploying the application to the edge cloud. It may also request the mobile network to create a network slice which will be used for the accessing application. Then it may provision the UEs that should be accessible to the created network slice.

[0131] The edge manager may also calculate aggregate E2E energy consumption and performance of the application and estimate the energy and performance requirements of the network slice. The requirements may be sent to the mobile network.

[0132] The edge-OAM is responsible for deploying the application based on the requirements, such as performance and energy consumption, sent by the edge manager. Based on the requirements, it may allocate cloud resources to the applications. If the requirements cannot be fulfilled, e.g., for not having enough resources, it may reject the application deployment request.

[0133] The edge-monitor is responsible for monitoring performance and energy consumption of the applications deployed in the edge cloud. It may report the measurement periodically to the edge manager.

[0134] The edge-apps are the server-side part of the application deployed in the edge cloud.

[0135] Mobile network

[0136] The mobile network provides connectivity service to the UEs and network slice as a service to the cloud provider or application developer. This slice is used by the UEs for accessing the application deployed in the edge cloud. It has five components which has various functions, described below

[0137] Network manager

[0138] Network OAM

[0139] Network monitor

[0140] Network exposure Network slice

[0141] The network manager, network OAM and network monitor may together, or separately, be referred to as the network node 110. The network manager is responsible for managing the life cycle of the network slice which includes creating the network slice on behalf of a 3rd party, configuring the network slice based on the network slice requirements and configuring which UEs can access the network slice.

[0142] The network OAM is responsible for deploying the network slice based on the requirements sent by the network manager. Based on the requirements it may allocate network resources to the network slice. If the requirements cannot be fulfilled, it may reject the request of the network manager.

[0143] The network monitor has the capability to monitor energy consumption and energy efficiency of network slice. The measurements from the network monitor may periodically be reported to the network manager.

[0144] The network exposure, such as a network exposure function (NEF), may expose information and management capability of the network slice to the third-party applications. Here, it exposes the measured information of the network slice, such as performance and energy consumption, while the management capabilities are requests for creating network slice, which UEs to be provisioned in the slice, energy and performance requirements of the network slice.

[0145] Network slices (NS) are the network slices which are used by the UE for accessing the application deployed in the edge cloud.

[0146] Application developer

[0147] The application developer is providing application to the edge cloud and submits application requirements which in this case are maximum performance and minimum energy consumption. This could be for example, average end to end latency of the application, e.g., UE to edge cloud, should be not greater than 30ms and end to end energy consumption should not be greater than 5Kwh.

[0148] Figure 6 shows an implementation of examples of embodiments herein.

[0149] UE

[0150] The UE may be a mobile device, which is provisioned with application client of edge application. It also has the configuration to make HTTP requests to the Edge Manager. With the subscription to the edge service, for an edge application, it may authorize and authenticate with the edge manager, and make HTTP REST API calls. These calls are to retrieve which network slice should be used for the application client. The retrieved information may be used to select the network slice.

[0151] Edge cloud

[0152] The edge cloud may use k8s to deploy the edge application as an edge service. An edge application may e.g., comprise mobile gaming, or video processing.

[0153] The edge manager may be implanted with an http web application which may expose to get 3rd party. This may be implemented with REST API calls which may be used to communicate with mobile network, edge controller and application developer. In another case, it may be web GUI where the application developer can send application requirements.

[0154] The edge manager may also maintain a database that stores the list available resources, and E2E performance and energy consumption of the applications deployed in the edge service.

[0155] The edge monitor may be implemented with cloud monitoring tools such as Cadvisor, Kepler, Prometheus node exporter to monitor the available resource usages, performance and energy consumptions of applications.

[0156] The edge OAM may implement Kubernetes orchestrator which can deploy applications in the underlying K8s. The k8s may serve as cloud platform.

[0157] The edge OAM may also deploy Al-based energy model which determines how much resources should be allocated for each application.

[0158] Mobile network

[0159] The mobile network may be 3GPP 5G core networks which is capable of providing network slice as a service to UE and / or to a 3rd party such as edge cloud providers. The network may also manage the life cycle of the network slice, such as creating slice, onboarding UEs to the slice, and changing configuration of the slice based on the requirements.

[0160] The required configuration of a slice may be predicated with AI / ML techniques based on the required performance and available resources which can fulfill the requirements.

[0161] The network monitor may also use cloud monitoring tools such as Cadvisor, Kepler, Prometheus node exporter to monitor the available resource usages, performance and energy consumptions of the network slice.

[0162] For exposing the slice management configuration and energy and performance metrics of the slice, mobile exposure may be implemented in a 3GPP NEF. Some examples of embodiments herein will be explained below with different entities, information flows and functions performed by the entities.

[0163] An application developer may e.g., be an enterprise who has an online gaming application deployed in the edge cloud service. The gaming application may be accessed through a network slice by end-users with their mobile phones, or portable devices. A mobile operator may provide the network slice as a service, which may be utilized by the end-users to access the gaming application deployed in the edge cloud.

[0164] The application developer may ask the edge cloud to deploy the application with best effort, i.e., there is no performance, latency and / or energy requirements, by providing a list of end-users who could access the applications. The edge cloud then deploys the application to its platform and request the mobile network operators to create a network slice.

[0165] While deploying the application by the edge cloud, it may provision the application with default resource allocation policy, e.g., 2 vCPU, 2048 Gb memory, 200Gb disk space, etc. Similarly, the network slice may also be provisioned with a default resource allocation policy. This is because the application has no performance and latency requirements and is served with best effort.

[0166] It is also possible that the application developer may request additional requirements, such as the one or more E2E requirements, instead of default best effort while at the a) initial deployment of the application, or 2) application is already running. The requirements may be related to performance in terms of average E2E latency and E2E energy consumption between the end-users and application deployed in the edge cloud.

[0167] When the requirements are initiated, the edge cloud triggers periodically, e.g., 1s, 5s, monitoring the gaming application’s latency and energy consumption in the edge cloud and / or resource availability in the edge cloud. Similarly, it estimates energy consumption and performance of the application in the wide area network. It also monitors the performance and energy consumption of the network slice, which is done through an exposure from the mobile network. These monitored metrics are aggregated to estimate the E2E latency and energy consumption of the application.

[0168] The edge may also periodically verify whether the applications requirements are fulfilled by comparing with E2E latency and energy consumption of the application. If it is not fulfilled, it may allocate and / or reconfigure the edge resources to the applications from the available resources, and then determine the performance and energy requirements of the network slice. The new network slice requirement is forwarded to mobile network through the exposure. The mobile network may decide whether to allocate and / or reconfigure resources to meet the new requirements. The above process is continued periodically if the request to the mobile network is successful.

[0169] If the new requirement cannot be met, then the request is rejected. Similarly, the edge cloud also rejects the request made by the application developer.

[0170] In the above example, requirements from the application developer may comprise two metrics i.e., performance and energy consumption of the application, e.g.:

[0171] 1. ECrequired< 20kWh, where ECrequiredis the average E2E energy consumption requirement, means that the average E2E energy should be less than 20kWh.

[0172] 2. latencyrequired< 20ms, where latencyrequired< 20ms is the average E2E performance requirement, means that the average E2E performance, or latency, should not go beyond 20ms.

[0173] Below is an example of how the average E2E energy consumption and average E2E performance of an application is calculated, such as obtained, by the edge cloud.

[0174] Average E2E energy consumption estimation by the edge cloud:

[0175] ECE2EECci0Ud+ ECwide+ ECsiice, where.

[0176] ECE2Eis the E2E consumption of the application,

[0177] ECct0Udis the energy consumption of the application in the edge cloud,

[0178] ECwideis the energy consumption of the application in the wide area network, and

[0179] ECsuce is the energy consumption of the network slice used by the application.

[0180] Average E2E performance estimation by the edge cloud: latencyE2E= latencycloud+ latencywide+ latencysuCe, where: latencyE2Eis the E2E latency of the application, latencycloudis the application latency in the edge cloud, such as e.g., be the processing and / or execution time of the application, latencywideis the latency between the application in edge cloud and mobile network, and latencysiiCe is the latency the network slice used by the application.

[0181] Figure 7 shows a flowchart according to examples of embodiments herein for activating a new E2E energy consumption and performance requirements of an application. When the request is made by the application developer, e.g., the application developer submits application requirements, such as the one or more E2E requirements, the edge cloud estimates a total E2E characteristics associated with the requirements, energy consumption and performance of the application, e.g., as described below in relation to Figure 9.

[0182] The edge cloud checks whether the requirements are fulfilled. If it is fulfilled, then it sends positive response to the application developer that requirements have been activated. If the requirements are not fulfilled, then based on current E2E energy consumption and performance, and available resource, it predicts a new resource allocation policy. This may e.g., comprise migrating the application to another server to reduce energy consumption, or allocating more resource to meet performance requirements but also not exceeding energy consumption. The edge cloud applies the new resource allocation policy for the application then again verify whether the requirements are fulfilled. If it is fulfilled, then it sends positive response to the application developer that requirements have been activated. If the requirements are not fulfilled, it may calculate a new requirement for the network slice and send the requirements to the mobile network. The mobile network, based on the current network slice’s energy consumption and performance, and available resource, predicts a new resource allocation policy. It may check whether the requirements are fulfilled. Based on the check, i.e., whether the requirements are fulfilled, it sends a positive or negative response to the edge cloud. The edge cloud then sends a positive or negative response to the application developer.

[0183] Figure 8 shows an example of embodiments herein on how the application is deployed by edge cloud when the request is made by the application developer. In this case, there is no requirements sent by the application developer. The edge controller 130 may e.g., comprise the edge manager 131 and the edge OAM 132. The network node 110 may e.g., comprise the network OAM. The application developer may be referred to as application developer 140.

[0184] 5801. The application developer requests the edge manager to deploy the application. It also sends the list of UEs that should be provisioned for this application.

[0185] 5802. The edge manager requests the edge-OAM to deploy the application with the default resource allocation policy. It is assumed that the edge cloud has enough resources to fulfil the best effort. The default resource allocation policy may e.g., comprise provisioning resources: 2 vCPU, 2 GB memory, 200GB disk space, etc.

[0186] 5803. The edge-OAM responds to the edge manager that the application has been deployed. 5804. The edge manager requests a network slice to be created, e.g., via the NEF. This may comprise using the HTTP REST API of the NEF exposure for network slice creation which enables creation of the network slice to the 3rd party application provider.

[0187] 5805. The NEF forwards the request to the mobile OAM, which then creates the network slice. It is assumed that the mobile network has enough resource to fulfil the best effort. In this case, the mobile OAM may allocate a default resource allocation policy to the network slice. An UPF network function may e.g., be allocated with 1 vCPU, 1 GB memory, 30Gb disk space, etc.

[0188] 5806. The mobile OAM sends the network slice identifier to the NEF.

[0189] 5807. The NEF sends the network slice identifier to the edge manager.

[0190] 5808. The edge manager then onboards the UEs of the application to the slice. For this, it makes HTTP REST API call to the NEF exposure for UE onboarding in network slice. In this case, the call could send the network slice identifier and list of UE identifier like IMSIs or MSISDN.

[0191] 5809. The NEF forwards the request to the Mobile-OAM, which then onboard the UEs to the network slice. This may lead to updated policy and charging control, which allows the UEs to access the network slice.

[0192] 5810. The mobile-OAM acknowledges NEF that the UEs onboarding to the network slice.

[0193] 5811. The NEF acknowledges the edge manager that the UEs has been onboarded to the network slice.

[0194] 5812. The edge manager responds to the application developer that the application has been deployed successfully.

[0195] Figure 9 shows an example of embodiments herein on estimating E2E performance and energy consumption. E.g., a monitoring function may be activated by the edge cloud. This may be triggered when the application requirements, such as the one or more E2E requirements, is requested by the application developer. The monitoring function periodically retrieves energy consumption and performance of the application in edge cloud, wide area network, and mobile network. The retrieved values are then aggregated to evaluate the E2E energy consumption and performance of the application. The edge controller 130 may e.g., comprise the edge manager 131, the edge OAM 132 and the edge cloud database 133. The network node 110 may e.g., comprise the network monitor. The application developer may be referred to as application developer 140. 5901. The manager receives the requirements for the application, e.g., from the application developer. The requirements may e.g., comprise the one or more E2E requirements.

[0196] 5902. The edge manager may check whether the requirements can be fulfilled, which may comprise the following steps S903-S913.

[0197] 5903. The edge manager may request the edge monitor to start monitoring performance, e.g., application latency in edge cloud, and energy consumption of application in the edge cloud. Also, it may request how often monitoring should be reported, e.g., 1s, 5s.

[0198] 5904. The edge monitor may estimate the performance and energy consumption of the application. This may be based on monitoring tools or using tools such as Kepler, Prometheus, Cadvisor. Performance may comprise application latency in the edge cloud. The edge manager also may also monitor the available resources in the edge cloud. The monitored metrics may be written to the edge cloud’s database.

[0199] 5905. The edge monitor may return the energy and performance of the application to the edge manager.

[0200] 5906. The edge manager may e.g., use a wide area network power model and periodically estimate energy consumption and performance of the application in wide area network. The model may take the application’s network throughput to estimate the power usage, and secondly probe latency between the operator’s mobile network and the edge cloud to measure the latency in the wide area network.

[0201] 5907. The edge manager may initiate a request to the mobile network for periodical retrieval of the performance and energy consumption of the network slice. For this, the edge manager may make HTTP REST requests to the NEF. The edge manager may send the slice identifier, interval of notification and the endpoints for retrieving both the values. It is assumed that the edge manager already have the authentication and authorization of retrieving the above values.

[0202] 5908. The NEF may request the network monitor to start monitoring the performance and energy consumption of the network slice.

[0203] 5909. The network monitor may estimate the performance and energy consumption of the network with the slice identifier. In this case, it may apply the energy model of network slice, e.g., as defined in 3GPP TS 28.552 v16.9.0. The network monitor may also monitor available resources of the network infrastructures. The monitored metrics are written to the mobile network’s database. 5910. The network monitor may periodically return the performance and energy consumption of the network slice to the NEF.

[0204] 5911. The NEF may then return the performance and energy consumption of the network slice to the edge manager.

[0205] 5912. The edge manager may calculate the E2E performance and energy consumption of the application by aggregating retrieved values. This may be done by aggregating the values estimated in S904.S906 and S909.

[0206] 5913. The edge manager may check, based on the E2E performance and energy consumption calculated in S912, whether the one or more E2E requirements may be fulfilled, e.g., as described in S1003 below. If the one or more E2E requirements cannot be fulfilled, S914-S917 may be performed. In some examples, S1004-S1012 may be performed before S914-S917. If the one or more E2E requirements can be fulfilled, S903- S912 may be performed periodically.

[0207] 5913. The edge manager may send a notification to the edge monitor and NEF to stop monitoring and sending the values.

[0208] 5914. The edge manager may stop periodic estimation of the wide area network’s performance and energy consumption.

[0209] 5915. The edge manager may request the edge monitor to stop monitoring the application.

[0210] 5916. The edge manager may decline, such as reject, the application requirements request to the developer, which in return may send another request.

[0211] Figure 10 shows an example of embodiments herein on when the application requirements is requested by the application developer. This may require estimating and / or monitoring the E2E energy consumption and performance of the application, and then comparing with the application requirements to check whether the requirements are fulfilled. The edge controller 130 may e.g., comprise the edge manager 131 and the edge OAM 132. The network node 110 may e.g., comprise the network OAM. The application developer may be referred to as application developer 140.

[0212] S1001. The application developer may request the edge manager to activate new energy consumption and performance requirements, such as the one or more E2E requirements, of the application. This may be performed by making a HTTP REST GET request with an API endpoint in a user-plan or through a GUI portal of the edge manager. Example of requirements may e.g., comprise an average E2E latency of the application, such as UE to edge cloud should be not greater than 20ms, and E2E energy consumption should not be greater than 20kWh. These number are just examples for the sake of clarity, and any other numbers may be used. It is assumed that application is deployed with default best-effort energy consumption and performance.

[0213] S1002. The edge manager may estimate the E2E performance and energy consumption of the application, e.g., as described above in relation to Figure 9.

[0214] S1003. The edge manager may check whether the requirements are fulfilled, e.g., by comparing the current E2E performance and energy consumption with the requirements submitted by the application developer.

[0215] S1004. If the requirements are not fulfilled, the edge manager may predict resource an allocation policy using an AI / ML model. It may be reconfiguring the application deployment or allocate more resources to the application. This may be based on the available resources of the edge cloud and how much the edge cloud could fulfil the E2E performance and energy requirements. Reconfiguration the application deployment may comprise migrating to a more energy efficient server. Allocating more resource may comprise increasing the number of vCPUs. For example, if E2E energy consumption is 30kWh, then the application may be migrated to another server which reduces the power consumption to 20kWh.

[0216] S1005. If after S1004 the requirements are fulfilled, the resource allocation policy may be applied to the edge cloud for the application. If it the requirements are not fulfilled, the network slice requirements, such as the one or more network slice requirements, may be calculated. For example, after the S1004, if the E2E energy consumption is 22 kWh and the energy consumption of the network slice is 7kWh. The edge manager may request 5kWh energy requirements for the network slice.

[0217] S1006. The edge manager may initiate, such as send, a request to the NEF with the new requirements of the network slice. The edge manager may e.g., make an HTTP REST requests to the NEF. The request may comprise the slice identifier and network slice requirements of the network slice. It is assumed that the edge manager already have the authentication and authorization of retrieving the above values.

[0218] S1007. The NEF may send the network slice requirements of the network slice to the network OAM.

[0219] S1008. The network OAM may read the available resources from the database, such as a network database 112. It may then apply e.g., AI / ML to predict whether the requirements can be fulfilled with the available resources. If the requirements may be fulfilled, the network OAM may determine the configuration of the network slice, e.g., changing the allotted resource, redeploying the network slice into another node etc. For example, in this case, it may predict the configuration for the network slice to meet the 5kWh energy consumption requirement. This may e.g., comprise redeploying the network functions of the slice to another server which reduces power consumption.

[0220] S1009. The network OAM may return with a successful or unsuccessful response to the NEF.

[0221] S1010. The NEF may notify the success or unsuccessful response to the edge manager.

[0222] S1011. The edge manager may check the response message. If the response is successful, the edge manager may periodically perform S1002 to S1009.

[0223] S1012. If the response is unsuccessful, the edge manager may decline, such as reject, the application requirements request to the application developer, which in return may send another request.

[0224] To perform the method actions above, the edge controller 130 is configured to manage a network slice in the wireless communication network 100. The edge controller 130 may comprise an arrangement depicted in Figure 11.

[0225] The edge controller 130 may comprise an input and output interface 1100 configured to communicate with each other. The input and output interface 1100 may comprise a receiver, e.g. wired and / or wireless, (not shown) and a transmitter, e.g. wired and / or wireless, (not shown).

[0226] The embodiments herein may be implemented through a respective processor or one or more processors, such as at least one processor 1110 of a processing circuitry in the edge controller 130 depicted in Figure 11 , together with computer program code for performing the functions and actions of the embodiments herein. The program code mentioned above may also be provided as a computer program product, for instance in the form of a data carrier carrying computer program code for performing the embodiments herein when being loaded into the edge controller 130. One such carrier may be in the form of a CD ROM disc. It is however feasible with other data carriers such as a memory stick. The computer program code may furthermore be provided as pure program code on a server and downloaded to the edge controller 130.

[0227] The edge controller 130 and / or processor 1110 is configured to manage a network slice in the wireless communication network 100.

[0228] The edge controller 130 and / or processor 1110 is configured to is configured to receive one or more E2E requirements for an application deployed as an edge service. The edge controller 130 and / or processor 1110 is configured to estimate respective E2E characteristics associated with the one or more requirements.

[0229] Based on an evaluation of the estimated respective E2E characteristics, the edge controller 130 and / or processor 1110 is configured to accept the one or more E2E requirements or perform a first action.

[0230] In some embodiments, the edge controller 130 and / or processor 1110 may further be configured to estimate the respective E2E characteristics associated with the one or more requirements by further being configured to: estimate respective edge characteristics associated with the one or more E2E requirements, estimate respective wide area network characteristics associated with the one or more E2E requirements, obtain, from a network node, respective network slice characteristics for a network slice associated with the application, and obtain the estimated respective E2E characteristics by aggregating the respective edge characteristics, wide area network characteristics and network slice characteristics.

[0231] In some embodiments, the edge controller 130 and / or processor 1110 may further be configured to perform the first action by further being configured to: predict a resource allocation policy, and based on an evaluation of predicted resource allocation policy, accept the one or more E2E requirements or perform a second action.

[0232] In some embodiments, the edge controller 130 and / or processor 1110 may further be configured to accept the one or more E2E requirements by applying the predicted resource allocation policy.

[0233] In some embodiments, the edge controller 130 and / or processor 1110 may further be configured to perform the second action by further being configured to: calculate one or more network slice requirements for a network slice associated with the application, send, to a network node 110, a request requesting the network node 110 to configure the network slice to fulfil the one or more network slice requirements, receive an indication from the network node 110 indicating whether the one or more network slice requirements are fulfilled, and accept or declining the one or more E2E requirements based on the received indication. In some embodiments, the one or more E2E requirements is adapted to comprise any one or more out of:

[0234] - a latency requirement, and

[0235] - an energy consumption requirement.

[0236] The edge controller 130 may further comprise a memory 1120 comprising one or more memory units. The memory 1120 comprises instructions executable by the processor 1110 in the edge controller 130. The memory 1120 is arranged to be used to store e.g. information, indications, data, configurations, messages, intents for UL traffic, intents for DL traffic, and applications to perform the methods herein when being executed in the edge controller 130.

[0237] In some embodiments, a computer program 1130 comprises instructions, which when executed by the respective at least one processor 1110, cause the at least one processor 1110 of the edge controller 130 to perform the actions above.

[0238] In some embodiments, a respective carrier 1140 comprises the respective computer program 1130, wherein the carrier 1140 is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, an electromagnetic signal, a magnetic signal, an electric signal, a radio signal, a microwave signal, or a computer-readable storage medium.

[0239] Thus, embodiments herein may disclose the edge controller 130 configured to manage a network slice in the wireless communication network 100. The edge controller 130 comprises the processor 1110 and the memory 1120, said memory 1120 comprising instructions executable by said processor 1110 whereby said edge controller 130 is operative to perform any of the methods herein.

[0240] As will be readily understood by those familiar with communications design, that functions means or modules may be implemented using digital logic and / or one or more microcontrollers, microprocessors, or other digital hardware. In some embodiments, several or all of the various functions may be implemented together, such as in a single application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or in two or more separate devices with appropriate hardware and / or software interfaces between them. Several of the functions may be implemented on a processor shared with other functional components of a base station, for example.

[0241] Alternatively, several of the functional elements of the processing means discussed may be provided through the use of dedicated hardware, while others are provided with hardware for executing software, in association with the appropriate software or firmware. Thus, the term “processor” or “controller” as used herein does not exclusively refer to hardware capable of executing software and may implicitly include, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, read-only memory (ROM) for storing software, random-access memory for storing software and / or program or application data, and nonvolatile memory. Other hardware, conventional and / or custom, may also be included. Designers of communications receivers will appreciate the cost, performance, and maintenance trade-offs inherent in these design choices.

[0242] Any appropriate steps, methods, features, functions, or benefits disclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual apparatuses. Each virtual apparatus may comprise a number of these functional units. These functional units may be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and / or data communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause the respective functional unit to perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0243] To perform the method actions above, the network node 110 is configured to manage a network slice in the wireless communication network 100. The network node 110 may comprise an arrangement depicted in Figure 12.

[0244] The network node 110 may comprise an input and output interface 1200 configured to communicate with each other. The input and output interface 1200 may comprise a receiver, e.g. wired and / or wireless, (not shown) and a transmitter, e.g. wired and / or wireless, (not shown).

[0245] The embodiments herein may be implemented through a respective processor or one or more processors, such as at least one processor 1210 of a processing circuitry in the network node 110 depicted in Figure 12, together with computer program code for performing the functions and actions of the embodiments herein. The program code mentioned above may also be provided as a computer program product, for instance in the form of a data carrier carrying computer program code for performing the embodiments herein when being loaded into the network node 110. One such carrier may be in the form of a CD ROM disc. It is however feasible with other data carriers such as a memory stick. The computer program code may furthermore be provided as pure program code on a server and downloaded to the network node 110.

[0246] The network node 110 and / or processor 1210 is configured to manage a network slice in a wireless communication network 100

[0247] The network node 110 and / or processor 1210 is configured to receive, from an edge controller 130, a request. The request requests the network node 110 to estimate respective network slice characteristics for a network slice associated with an application deployed as an edge service.

[0248] The network node 110 and / or processor 1210 is configured to estimate the respective network slice characteristics.

[0249] The network node 110 and / or processor 1210 is configured to send the estimated respective network slice characteristics to the edge controller 130.

[0250] In some embodiments, the network node 110 and / or processor 1210 may further be configured to receive, from the edge controller 130, a request adapted to request the network node 110 to configure a network slice associated with an application deployed as an edge service to fulfill one or more network slice requirement.

[0251] In some embodiments, the network node 110 and / or processor 1210 may further be configured to determine whether the one or more network slice requirements can be fulfilled.

[0252] In some embodiments, the network node 110 and / or processor 1210 may further be configured to based on the determination, reject the one or more network slice requirements or accept the one or more network slice requirements.

[0253] In some embodiments, the network node 110 and / or processor 1210 may further be configured to determine whether the one or more network slice requirements can be fulfilled by estimating, based on available resources, whether the one or more network slice requirements can be fulfilled.

[0254] In some embodiments, the network node 110 and / or processor 1210 may further be configured to accept the one or more network slice requirements by further being configured to: determine a configuration for the network slice such that the one or more network slice requirements are fulfilled, apply the determined configuration to the network slice, and send an indication to the edge controller 130, the indication indicating that the network node 110 accepts the one or more network slice requirements. In some embodiments, the network node 110 and / or processor 1210 may further be configured to reject the one or more network slice requirements sending an indication to the edge controller 130, the indication adapted to indicate that the network node 110 rejects the one or more network slice requirements.

[0255] In some embodiments, the one or more network slice requirements is adapted to comprise any one or more out of:

[0256] - a latency requirement, and

[0257] - an energy consumption requirement.

[0258] The network node 110 may further comprise a memory 1220 comprising one or more memory units. The memory 1220 comprises instructions executable by the processor 1210 in the network node 110. The memory 1220 is arranged to be used to store e.g. information, indications, data, configurations, messages, intents for UL traffic, intents for DL traffic, and applications to perform the methods herein when being executed in the network node 110.

[0259] In some embodiments, a computer program 1230 comprises instructions, which when executed by the respective at least one processor 1210, cause the at least one processor 1210 of the network node 110 to perform the actions above.

[0260] In some embodiments, a respective carrier 1240 comprises the respective computer program 1230, wherein the carrier 1240 is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, an electromagnetic signal, a magnetic signal, an electric signal, a radio signal, a microwave signal, or a computer-readable storage medium.

[0261] Thus, embodiments herein may disclose the network node 110 configured to manage a network slice in the wireless communication network 100. The network node 110 comprises the processor 1210 and the memory 1220, said memory 1220 comprising instructions executable by said processor 1210 whereby said network node 110 is operative to perform any of the methods herein.

[0262] As will be readily understood by those familiar with communications design, that functions means or modules may be implemented using digital logic and / or one or more microcontrollers, microprocessors, or other digital hardware. In some embodiments, several or all of the various functions may be implemented together, such as in a single application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), or in two or more separate devices with appropriate hardware and / or software interfaces between them. Several of the functions may be implemented on a processor shared with other functional components of a base station, for example. Alternatively, several of the functional elements of the processing means discussed may be provided through the use of dedicated hardware, while others are provided with hardware for executing software, in association with the appropriate software or firmware. Thus, the term “processor” or “controller” as used herein does not exclusively refer to hardware capable of executing software and may implicitly include, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, read-only memory (ROM) for storing software, random-access memory for storing software and / or program or application data, and nonvolatile memory. Other hardware, conventional and / or custom, may also be included. Designers of communications receivers will appreciate the cost, performance, and maintenance trade-offs inherent in these design choices.

[0263] Any appropriate steps, methods, features, functions, or benefits disclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual apparatuses. Each virtual apparatus may comprise a number of these functional units. These functional units may be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and / or data communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause the respective functional unit to perform corresponding functions according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0264] ADDITIONAL EXPLANATION

[0265] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0266] Figure 13 shows an example of a communication system QQ100 in accordance with some embodiments.

[0267] In the example, the communication system QQ100 includes a telecommunication network QQ102 that includes an access network QQ104, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network QQ106, which includes one or more core network nodes QQ108. The access network QQ104 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes QQ110a and QQ110b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes QQ110), or any other similar 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points. Moreover, as will be appreciated by those of skill in the art, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation in which a radio portion and a baseband portion are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that network nodes include disaggregated implementations or portions thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network QQ102 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network QQ102 that supports an ORAN specification (e.g., a specification published by the O-RAN Alliance, or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any node in the telecommunication network QQ102, including one or more network nodes QQ110 and / or core network nodes QQ108.

[0268] Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (0-Rll), an open distributed unit (0-Dll), an open central unit (O-CU), including an O-CU control plane (O- CLI-CP) or an O-CU user plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN intelligent controller (near-real time or non-real time) hosting software or software plug-ins, such as a near-real time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective “open” designating support of an ORAN specification). The network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an A1 , F1 , W1, E1 , E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN access node may be a logical node in a physical node. Furthermore, an ORAN network node may be implemented in a virtualization environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualization environment may include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an 0-2 interface defined by the O-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies. The network nodes QQ110 facilitate direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UEs QQ112a, QQ112b, QQ112c, and QQ112d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs QQ112) to the core network QQ106 over one or more wireless connections.

[0269] Example wireless communications over a wireless connection include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, the communication system QQ100 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals whether via wired or wireless connections. The communication system QQ100 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0270] The UEs QQ112 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including wireless devices arranged, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network nodes QQ110 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes QQ110 are arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with the UEs QQ112 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunication network QQ102 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunication network QQ102.

[0271] In the depicted example, the core network QQ106 connects the network nodes QQ110 to one or more host computing systems, such as host QQ116. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediary networks or devices. In other examples, network nodes may be directly coupled to hosts. The core network QQ106 includes one more core network nodes (e.g., core network node QQ108) that are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and / or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node QQ108. Example core network nodes include functions of one or more of a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Home Subscriber Server (HSS), Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), Session Management Function (SMF), Authentication Server Function (AUSF), Subscription Identifier De-concealing function (SIDF), Unified Data Management (UDM), Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), Network Exposure Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0272] The host QQ116 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network QQ104 and / or the telecommunication network QQ102. The host QQ116 may host a variety of applications to provide one or more service. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data on various ambient conditions detected by a plurality of UEs, analytics functionality, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

[0273] As a whole, the communication system QQ100 of Figure 13 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards that include, but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., 6G); wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standards (WiFi); and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0274] In some examples, the telecommunication network QQ102 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Accordingly, the telecommunications network QQ102 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunication network QQ102. For example, the telecommunications network QQ102 may provide Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or Massive Machine Type Communication (mMTC) / Massive loT services to yet further UEs.

[0275] In some examples, the UEs QQ112 are configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network QQ104 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network QQ104. Additionally, a UE may be configured for operating in single- or multi- RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, a UE may operate with any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio) and LTE, i.e. being configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved-UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio - Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0276] In the example, the hub QQ114 communicates with the access network QQ104 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE QQ112c and / or QQ112d) and network nodes (e.g., network node QQ110b). In some examples, the hub QQ114 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub QQ114 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network QQ106 for the UEs. As another example, the hub QQ114 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UEs. Commands or instructions may be received from the UEs, network nodes QQ110, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub QQ114. As another example, the hub QQ114 may be a data collector that acts as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub QQ114 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR device, display, loudspeaker, or other media delivery device, the hub QQ114 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub QQ114 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub QQ114 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[0277] The hub QQ114 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node QQ110b. The hub QQ114 may also allow for a different communication scheme and / or schedule between the hub QQ114 and UEs (e.g., UE QQ112c and / or QQ112d), and between the hub QQ114 and the core network QQ106. In other examples, the hub QQ114 is connected to the core network QQ106 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub QQ114 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network QQ104 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes QQ110 while still connected via the hub QQ114 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub QQ114 may be a dedicated hub - that is, a hub whose primary function is to route communications to / from the UEs from / to the network node QQ110b. In other embodiments, the hub QQ114 may be a non-dedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node QQ110b, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and / or end point for certain data channels.

[0278] Figure 14 shows a UE QQ200 in accordance with some embodiments. The UE QQ200 presents additional details of some embodiments of the UE QQ112 of Figure 1. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, mobile phone, cell phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phone, wireless local loop phone, desktop computer, personal digital assistant (PDA), wireless cameras, gaming console or device, music storage / playback device, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), an Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR) device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle, vehiclemounted or vehicle embedded / integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-loT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0279] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for sidelink communication, Dedicated Short-Range Communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart power meter).

[0280] The UE QQ200 includes processing circuitry QQ202 that is operatively coupled via a bus QQ204 to an input / output interface QQ206, a power source QQ208, a memory QQ210, a communication interface QQ212, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 14. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0281] The processing circuitry QQ202 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory QQ210. The processing circuitry QQ202 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry QQ202 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0282] In the example, the input / output interface QQ206 may be configured to provide an interface or interfaces to an input device, output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of an output device include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE QQ200. Examples of an input device include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port may be used to provide an input device and an output device.

[0283] In some embodiments, the power source QQ208 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electricity outlet), photovoltaic device, or power cell, may be used. The power source QQ208 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source QQ208 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of the UE QQ200 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Delivering power may be, for example, for charging of the power source QQ208. Power circuitry may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from the power source QQ208 to make the power suitable for the respective components of the UE QQ200 to which power is supplied.

[0284] The memory QQ210 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, flash drives, and so forth. In one example, the memory QQ210 includes one or more application programs QQ214, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data QQ216. The memory QQ210 may store, for use by the UE QQ200, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0285] The memory QQ210 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as tamper resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and / or ISIM, other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may for example be an embedded UICC (eUlCC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory QQ210 may allow the UE QQ200 to access instructions, application programs and the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory QQ210, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0286] The processing circuitry QQ202 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface QQ212. The communication interface QQ212 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna QQ222. The communication interface QQ212 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter QQ218 and / or a receiver QQ220 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter QQ218 and receiver QQ220 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna QQ222) and may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0287] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface QQ212 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented in according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiplexing Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, transmission control protocol / internet protocol (TCP / IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0288] Regardless of the type of sensor, a UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensors, through its communication interface QQ212, via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by sensors of a UE can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another UE. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), in response to a triggering event (e.g., when moisture is detected an alert is sent), in response to a request (e.g., a user initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0289] As another example, a UE comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, the UE may comprise a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight according to the received input or to a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0290] A UE, when in the form of an Internet of Things (loT) device, may be a device for use in one or more application domains, these domains comprising, but not limited to, city wearable technology, extended industrial application and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such an loT device are a device which is or which is embedded in: a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electricity meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door / window sensor, a flood / moisture sensor, an electrical door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system like a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smartwatch, a fitness tracker, a wearable for tactile augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal- or item-tracking device, a sensor for monitoring a plant or animal, an industrial robot, an Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV), and any kind of medical device, like a heart rate monitor or a remote controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an loT device comprises circuitry and / or software in dependence of the intended application of the loT device in addition to other components as described in relation to the UE QQ200 shown in Figure 14.

[0291] As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another UE and / or a network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-loT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, a bus, a truck, a ship and an airplane, or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0292] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first UE might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller operating the drone. When the user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust the throttle on the drone (e.g. by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone’s speed. The first and / or the second UE can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, a UE might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0293] 15 shows a network node QQ300 in accordance with some embodiments. As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or with other network nodes or equipment, in a telecommunication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)), O-RAN nodes or components of an O-RAN node (e.g., O-RU, O-DU, O-CU).

[0294] Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and so, depending on the provided amount of coverage, may be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units, distributed units (e.g., in an O-RAN access node) and / or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0295] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi- cel l / multicast coordination entities (MCEs), Operation and Maintenance (O&M) nodes, Operations Support System (OSS) nodes, Self-Organizing Network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., Evolved Serving Mobile Location Centers (E-SMLCs)), and / or Minimization of Drive Tests (MDTs).

[0296] The network node QQ300 includes a processing circuitry QQ302, a memory QQ304, a communication interface QQ306, and a power source QQ308. The network node QQ300 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which the network node QQ300 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeBs. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node QQ300 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory QQ304 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna QQ310 may be shared by different RATs). The network node QQ300 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node QQ300, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node QQ300.

[0297] The processing circuitry QQ302 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and / or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node QQ300 components, such as the memory QQ304, to provide network node QQ300 functionality.

[0298] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry QQ302 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry QQ302 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry QQ312 and baseband processing circuitry QQ314. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry QQ312 and the baseband processing circuitry QQ314 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry QQ312 and baseband processing circuitry QQ314 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0299] The memory QQ304 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer- readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device- readable and / or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and / or instructions that may be used by the processing circuitry QQ302. The memory QQ304 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions capable of being executed by the processing circuitry QQ302 and utilized by the network node QQ300. The memory QQ304 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry QQ302 and / or any data received via the communication interface QQ306. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry QQ302 and memory QQ304 is integrated.

[0300] The communication interface QQ306 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between a network node, access network, and / or UE. As illustrated, the communication interface QQ306 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) QQ316 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. The communication interface QQ306 also includes radio front-end circuitry QQ318 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, the antenna QQ310. Radio front-end circuitry QQ318 comprises filters QQ320 and amplifiers QQ322. The radio front-end circuitry QQ318 may be connected to an antenna QQ310 and processing circuitry QQ302. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna QQ310 and processing circuitry QQ302. The radio front-end circuitry QQ318 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry QQ318 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters QQ320 and / or amplifiers QQ322. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna QQ310. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna QQ310 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry QQ318. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry QQ302. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0301] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node QQ300 does not include separate radio front-end circuitry QQ318, instead, the processing circuitry QQ302 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna QQ310. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry QQ312 is part of the communication interface QQ306. In still other embodiments, the communication interface QQ306 includes one or more ports or terminals QQ316, the radio front-end circuitry QQ318, and the RF transceiver circuitry QQ312, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface QQ306 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry QQ314, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0302] The antenna QQ310 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna QQ310 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry QQ318 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna QQ310 is separate from the network node QQ300 and connectable to the network node QQ300 through an interface or port.

[0303] The antenna QQ310, communication interface QQ306, and / or the processing circuitry QQ302 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and / or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna QQ310, the communication interface QQ306, and / or the processing circuitry QQ302 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node and / or any other network equipment.

[0304] The power source QQ308 provides power to the various components of network node QQ300 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source QQ308 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node QQ300 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node QQ300 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., the power grid, an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry of the power source QQ308. As a further example, the power source QQ308 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail.

[0305] Embodiments of the network node QQ300 may include additional components beyond those shown in 15 for providing certain aspects of the network node’s functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, the network node QQ300 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node QQ300 and to allow output of information from the network node QQ300. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node QQ300. In some embodiments providing a core network node, such as core network node 108 of FIG. QQ1 , some components, such as the radio front-end circuitry QQ318 and the RF transceiver circuitry QQ312 may be omitted.

[0306] Figure 16 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment QQ400 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments QQ400 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualization environment QQ400 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an 0-2 interface. Virtualization may facilitate distributed implementations of a network node, UE, core network node, or host.

[0307] Applications QQ402 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0308] Hardware QQ404 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and / or instructions executable by hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices as described herein, such as a network interface, input / output interface, and so forth. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers QQ406 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs QQ408a and QQ408b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs QQ408), and / or perform any of the functions, features and / or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer QQ406 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs QQ408.

[0309] The VMs QQ408 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer QQ406. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance QQ402 may be implemented on one or more of VMs QQ408, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

[0310] In the context of NFV, a VM QQ408 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs QQ408, and that part of hardware QQ404 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs QQ408 on top of the hardware QQ404 and corresponds to the application QQ402.

[0311] Hardware QQ404 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware QQ404 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware QQ404 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration QQ410, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications QQ402. In some embodiments, hardware QQ404 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system QQ412 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0312] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes) may include the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Determining, calculating, obtaining or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Moreover, while components are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, computing devices may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and functionality may be partitioned between separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of the components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0313] In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by processing circuitry executing instructions stored on in memory, which in certain embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuitry without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium or not, the processing circuitry can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuitry alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole, and / or by end users and a wireless network generally.

[0314] When using the word "comprise" or “comprising” it shall be interpreted as nonlimiting, i.e. meaning "consist at least of".

[0315] The embodiments herein are not limited to the preferred embodiments described above. Various alternatives, modifications and equivalents may be used.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A method performed by an edge controller (130) for managing a network slice in a wireless communication network (100), the method comprising: receiving (301) one or more end-to-end, E2E, requirements for an application deployed as an edge service, estimating (302) respective E2E characteristics associated with the one or more requirements, based on an evaluation (303) of the estimated respective E2E characteristics, accepting (304) the one or more E2E requirements or performing (305) a first action.

2. The method according to claim 1, wherein estimating (302) the respective E2E characteristics associated with the one or more requirements comprises . estimating respective edge characteristics associated with the one or more E2E requirements, estimating respective wide area network characteristics associated with the one or more E2E requirements, obtaining, from a network node (110), respective network slice characteristics for a network slice associated with the application, and obtaining the estimated respective E2E characteristics by aggregating the respective edge characteristics, wide area network characteristics and network slice characteristics.

3. The method according to any of claims 1-2, wherein performing (305) the first action comprises: predicting a resource allocation policy, and based on an evaluation of predicted resource allocation policy, accepting the one or more E2E requirements or performing a second action.

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein accepting the one or more E2E requirements comprises applying the predicted resource allocation policy.

5. The method according to claim 3, wherein performing the second action comprises:calculating one or more network slice requirements for a network slice associated with the application, sends, to a network node (110), a request requesting the network node (110) to configure the network slice to fulfill the one or more network slice requirements, receiving an indication from the network node (110) indicating whether the one or more network slice requirements are fulfilled, and accepting or declining the one or more E2E requirements based on the received indication.

6. The method according to any of claims 1-5, wherein the one or more E2E requirements comprises any one or more out of:- a latency requirement, and- an energy consumption requirement.

7. A method performed by a network node (110) for managing a network slice in a wireless communication network (100), the method comprising: receiving (401), from an edge controller (130), a request requesting the network node (110) to estimate respective network slice characteristics for a network slice associated with an application deployed as an edge service, estimating (402) the respective network slice characteristics, and sending (403) the estimated respective network slice characteristics to the edge controller (130).

8. The method according to claim 7, the method further comprising: receiving (404), from the edge controller (130), a request requesting the network node (110) to configure a network slice associated with an application deployed as an edge service to fulfill one or more network slice requirements, determining (405) whether the one or more network slice requirements can be fulfilled, and based on the determination, rejecting (406) the one or more network slice requirements or accepting (407) the one or more network slice requirements.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein determining (405) whether the one or more network slice requirements can be fulfilled comprises estimating, based on available resources, whether the one or more network slice requirements can be fulfilled.

10. The method according to any of claims claim 8-9, wherein accepting (407) the one or more network slice requirements comprises: determining a configuration for the network slice such that the one or more network slice requirements are fulfilled, applying the determined configuration to the network slice, and sending and indication to the edge controller (130), the indication indicating that the network node (110) accepts the one or more network slice requirements.

11. The method according to claim 8, wherein rejecting (406) the one or more network slice requirements comprises sending an indication to the edge controller (130), the indication indicating that the network node (110) rejects the one or more network slice requirements.

12. The method according to any of claims 7-11 , wherein the one or more network slice requirements comprises any one or more out of:- a latency requirement, and- an energy consumption requirement.

13. An edge controller (130) configured to manage a network slice in a wireless communication network (100), the edge controller (130) further being configured to: receive one or more end-to-end, E2E, requirements for an application deployed as an edge service, estimate respective E2E characteristics associated with the one or more requirements, based on an evaluation (503) of the estimated respective E2E characteristics, accept the one or more E2E requirements or perform a first action.

14. The edge controller (130) according to claim 13, wherein the edge controller (130) is configured to estimate the respective E2E characteristics associated with the one or more requirements by further being configured to: estimate respective edge characteristics associated with the one or more E2E requirements, estimate respective wide area network characteristics associated with the one or more E2E requirements,obtain, from a network node (110), respective network slice characteristics for a network slice associated with the application, and obtain the estimated respective E2E characteristics by aggregating the respective edge characteristics, wide area network characteristics and network slice characteristics.

15. The edge controller (130) according to any of claims 13-14, wherein the edge controller (130) is configured to perform the first action by further being configured to: predict a resource allocation policy, and based on an evaluation of predicted resource allocation policy, accept the one or more E2E requirements or perform a second action.

16. The edge controller (130) according to claim 15, wherein the edge controller (130) is configured to accept the one or more E2E requirements by applying the predicted resource allocation policy.

17. The edge controller (130) according to claim 15, wherein the edge controller (130) is configured to perform the second action by further being configured to: calculate one or more network slice requirements for a network slice associated with the application, send, to a network node (110), a request requesting the network node (110) to configure the network slice to fulfill the one or more network slice requirements, receive an indication from the network node (110) indicating whether the one or more network slice requirements are fulfilled, and accept or declining the one or more E2E requirements based on the received indication.

18. The edge controller (130) according to any of claims 13-17, wherein the one or more E2E requirements is adapted to comprise any one or more out of:- a latency requirement, and- an energy consumption requirement.

19. A network node (110) configured to manage a network slice in a wireless communication network (100), the method comprising:receive, from an edge controller (130), a request requesting the network node (110) to estimate respective network slice characteristics for a network slice associated with an application deployed as an edge service, estimate the respective network slice characteristics, and send the estimated respective network slice characteristics to the edge controller (130).

20. The network node (110) according to claim 19, the network node (110) being configured to: receive, from the edge controller (130), a request adapted to request the network node (110) to configure a network slice associated with an application deployed as an edge service to fulfill one or more network slice requirements, determine whether the one or more network slice requirements can be fulfilled, and based on the determination, reject the one or more network slice requirements or accept the one or more network slice requirements.

21. The network node (110) according to claim 20, wherein the network node (110) is configured to determine whether the one or more network slice requirements can be fulfilled by estimating, based on available resources, whether the one or more network slice requirements can be fulfilled.

22. The network node (110) according to any of claims claim 20-21, wherein the network node (110) is configured to accept the one or more network slice requirements by further being configured to: determine a configuration for the network slice such that the one or more network slice requirements are fulfilled, apply the determined configuration to the network slice, and send an indication to the edge controller (130), the indication indicating that the network node (110) accepts the one or more network slice requirements.

23. The network node (110) according to claim 20, wherein the network node (110) is configured to reject the one or more network slice requirements sending an indication to the edge controller (130), the indication adapted to indicate that the network node (110) rejects the one or more network slice requirements.

24. The network node (110) according to any of claims 19-23, wherein the one or more network slice requirements is adapted to comprise any one or more out of:- a latency requirement, and - an energy consumption requirement.

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