Wireless communications devices, a network node and methods for determining an application-specific energy-related resource usage

Abstract

A method, performed by a wireless communications device in a wireless communications network, for determining an application-specific energy-related resource usage. The method comprises obtaining (501) information indicative of used radio communication resources for communicating a data stream between the wireless communications device and the wireless communications network. The method further comprises obtaining (502) information indicative of an application-specific portion of the data stream. The method further comprises determining (503) the application-specific energy-related resource usage based on the obtained information indicative of the used radio communication resources for communicating the data stream and the information indicative of the application-specific portion of the data stream.

Description

[0001] WIRELESS COMMUNICATIONS DEVICES, A NETWORK NODE AND METHODS FOR DETERMINING AN APPLICATION-SPECIFIC ENERGY-RELATED RESOURCE USAGE

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD

[0003] The embodiments disclosed herein relate to wireless communications devices, a network node and methods for determining an application-specific energy-related resource usage. A corresponding computer program and a computer program carrier are also disclosed.

[0004] BACKGROUND

[0005] In a typical wireless communication network, wireless devices, also known as wireless communication devices, mobile stations, stations (STA) and / or User Equipments (UE), communicate via a Local Area Network such as a Wi-Fi network or a Radio Access Network (RAN) to one or more core networks (CN). 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 access node such as a radio access node e.g., a Wi-Fi access point or a radio base station (RBS), which in some networks may also be denoted, for example, a NodeB, eNodeB (eNB), or gNB as denoted in 5G. A service area or cell area is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the radio access node. The radio access node communicates over an air interface operating on radio frequencies with the wireless device within range of the radio access node.

[0006] Specifications for the Evolved Packet System (EPS), also called a Fourth Generation (4G) network, have been completed within the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and this work continues in the coming 3GPP releases. A Fifth Generation (5G) network also referred to as 5G New Radio (NR) has also been specified and work is now directed to further specifications of the 5G network. This work will continue in the coming 3GPP releases. The EPS comprises the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), also known as the Long Term Evolution (LTE) radio access network, and the Evolved Packet Core (EPC), also known as System Architecture Evolution (SAE) core network. E-UTRAN / LTE is a variant of a 3GPP radio access network wherein the radio access nodes are directly connected to the EPC core network rather than to Radio Network Controllers (RNCs) used in 3G networks. In general, in E- UTRAN / LTE the functions of a 3G RNC are distributed between the radio access nodes, e.g. eNodeBs in LTE, and the core network. As such, the RAN of an EPS has an essentially “flat” architecture comprising radio access nodes connected directly to one or more core networks, i.e. they are not connected to RNCs. To compensate for that, the E-LITRAN specification defines a direct interface between the radio access nodes, this interface being denoted the X2 interface.

[0007] Wireless communication systems in 3GPP

[0008] Figure 1 illustrates a simplified wireless communication system. Consider the simplified wireless communication system in Figure 1, with a UE 12, which communicates with one or multiple access nodes 103-104, which in turn is connected to a network node 106. The access nodes 103-104 are part of the radio access network 10.

[0009] For wireless communication systems pursuant to 3GPP Evolved Packet System, (EPS), also referred to as Long Term Evolution, LTE, or 4G, standard specifications, such as specified in 3GPP TS 36.300 and related specifications, the access nodes 103-104 correspond typically to Evolved NodeBs (eNBs) and the network node 106 corresponds typically to either a Mobility Management Entity (MME) and / or a Serving Gateway (SGW). The eNB is part of the radio access network 10, which in this case is the E-UTRAN (Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network), while the MME and SGW are both part of the EPC (Evolved Packet Core network). The eNBs are inter-connected via the X2 interface, and connected to EPC via the S1 interface, more specifically via S1-C to the MME and S1-U to the SGW.

[0010] For wireless communication systems pursuant to 3GPP 5G System, 5GS (also referred to as New Radio, NR, or 5G) standard specifications, such as specified in 3GPP TS 38.300 and related specifications, on the other hand, the access nodes 103-104 correspond typically to an 5G NodeB (gNB) and the network node 106 corresponds typically to either a Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) and / or a User Plane Function (UPF). The gNB is part of the radio access network 10, which in this case is the NG-RAN (Next Generation Radio Access Network), while the AMF and UPF are both part of the 5G Core Network (5GC). The gNBs are inter-connected via the Xn interface, and connected to 5GC via the NG interface, more specifically via NG-C to the AMF and NG-U to the UPF.

[0011] To support fast mobility between NR and LTE and avoid change of core network, LTE eNBs may also be connected to the 5G-CN via NG-U / NG-C and support the Xn interface. An eNB connected to 5GC is called a next generation eNB (ng-eNB) and is considered part of the NG-RAN. LTE connected to 5GC will not be discussed further in this document; however, it should be noted that most of the solutions / features described for LTE and NR in this document also apply to LTE connected to 5GC. In this document, when the term LTE is used without further specification it refers to LTE-EPC.

[0012] In 3GPP SA1 work on Energy Efficiency as Service Criteria has been run. The work has among others included a work item and a technical report 22.882. The work is targeting to identify requirements on future 3GPP networks to be able to offer energy efficiency as a service criteria. Extract from the work item description follows below:

[0013] “There are number of existing studies related to Energy Efficiency in 3GPP as well as other standard groups. Apart from enhancing network capability on satisfying user experience while achieving energy efficiency from network aspect, it is worth considering how to deliver services with energy efficiency as service criteria, associated with applications’ preferences, and how to support the policy of handling energy as part of a subscription.

[0014] This work item aims at specifying 5G service requirements to support energy efficiency as service criteria”.

[0015] SUMMARY

[0016] A technical specification group within 3GPP called TSG SA WG2, or SA2 for short, is currently studying the topic with a scope as described in a study item SP-231192. As one part in the study presented in the study item a liaison statement S2-2403733 has been sent to 3GPP RAN groups specifically asking about possibilities for UE specific energy consumption information collection. No detailed solutions are available yet. The work of this study item will be captured in a TR 23.700-66.

[0017] In smartphone operating systems such as Android, there may be battery drain data available from underlying interfaces. However, they are typically only available per component or subsystem level, e.g. based on output rails of a power management unit. An example for Android is that there may be power consumption data available per Central Processing Unit (CPU) core, display, memory, WiFi chipset and cellular data chipset. A smartphone operating system may also collect the smartphone energy consumption associated to a specific application which is a combination of energy consumption on both its application system and modem and / or WiFi system. Tracking energy efficiency per service as well as considering policy handling mechanisms of energy consumption as being caused by a specific service running in a UE is also becoming more and more challenging e.g. due to the use of compute power via external servers, e.g. for machine learning / artificial intelligence technologies. An application running in a wireless device may need communication with a network node and thereby consume energy in multiple RAN and core network nodes. But it may also trigger one or more edge and / or cloud network services, which may have a significant energy consumption coupled to the specific application in the device.

[0018] In 3GPP the network cannot be aware of which applications are being run in a UE. There are however a few indications for specific applications or application types, including but not limiting to voice call, where e.g. functionalities in the network determine that a voice over IP service is used, and also the recent inclusions of extended Reality (XR)-aware network functionalities, where e.g. a UE may indicate data sets which are used in the same context which is typically within the XR application types. In 3GPP TS 23.501 the concept of Packet Data Unit (PDU) sets is used e.g. in section 5.37.5 where a PDU set is defined as “one or more PDUs carrying the payload of one unit of information generated at the application level (e.g. frame(s) or video slice(s) etc. for extended Reality (XR) Services). All the PDUs of a PDU set are transmitted within the same QoS Flow.”

[0019] For an uplink direction, the UE may identify PDU Sets, and how this is done is left up to UE implementation. Since the network may receive PDU set information, it may be made aware that a service benefiting such concept is being run in the device.

[0020] The work so far in 3GPP on energy awareness outlines possible use cases and requirements for how a network may use energy efficiency as service criteria, e.g. for application monitoring, carbon-footprint aware communication services etc. However, on this level there are no or few technical solutions for how this information is to be captured on service specific level.

[0021] Understanding the service specific-energy consumption within e.g. the RAN and / or core network is important for providing energy efficiency as a service criteria. The network may be capable of determining the required energy to serve one or more UEs, but the network cannot know how much energy is consumed per UE specific service. This may e.g. result in challenges to determine how much energy a certain service or set of services are consuming in the network and by use of remote compute services coupled to the services. As an example it may be a challenge to determine energy consumption in the network resulting from private usage versus corporate usage among various services running in a corporate-owned wireless device.

[0022] Also, from a UE perspective there is a lack of energy awareness from the servicespecific radio communication. The UE may be able to track energy consumed from one or more power rails in the power management unit, such as the energy consumed by one or more modem hardware blocks. However, for the available power drain data in typical operating systems for smartphones, there is a lack of data for characterizing energy consumption per application within the wireless communication chain.

[0023] In other words, there are solutions needed for application-specific information capturing within wireless devices.

[0024] An object of embodiments herein may be to obviate some of the problems related to tracking energy efficiency per service.

[0025] According to a first aspect, the object is achieved by a method, performed by wireless communications device in a wireless communications network, for determining an application-specific energy-related resource usage.

[0026] The method comprises obtaining information indicative of used radio communication resources for communicating a data stream between the wireless communications device and the wireless communications network. The method further comprises obtaining information indicative of an application-specific portion of the data stream. The method further comprises determining the application-specific energy-related resource usage based on the obtained information indicative of the used radio communication resources for communicating the data stream and the information indicative of the applicationspecific portion of the data stream.

[0027] According to a second aspect, the object is achieved by a wireless communications device configured to perform the method according to the first aspect.

[0028] According to a third aspect, the object is achieved by a method, performed by a wireless communications node. The method comprises receiving an indication of an application-specific energy-related resource usage for a wireless communications device.

[0029] The method further comprises calculating network energy consumption due to the application based on the received indication of the application-specific energy-related resource usage for the wireless communications device. According to a fourth aspect, the object is achieved by a wireless communications node configured to perform the method according to the third aspect.

[0030] According to a further aspect, the object is achieved by a computer program comprising instructions, which when executed by a processor of the wireless communications device, causes the wireless communications device to perform actions according to the first aspect above.

[0031] According to a further aspect, the object is achieved by a computer program comprising instructions, which when executed by a processor of the wireless communications node, causes the wireless communications node to perform actions according to the third aspect above.

[0032] According to a further aspect, the object is achieved by a carrier comprising the computer program of the aspects above, wherein the carrier 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.

[0033] Since the wireless communications device obtains the information indicative of the used radio communication resources for communicating the data stream and the information indicative of the application-specific portion of the data stream the wireless communications device is able to determine the application-specific energy-related resource usage based on the obtained information. The application-specific energy-related resource usage comprises radio communication resources for a specific application.

[0034] Embodiments herein enable capturing and reporting of information that may be used to determine an energy usage per application within a communication chain. In other words, the benefit is twofold: First this functionality enables new types of information to be captured within the device, e.g. how much of a modem energy consumption is coupled to a specific application. Secondly, by transmitting the radio resource usage information to another wireless communications node such as a network node (e.g. a gNB) the information on application-specific resource usage may be further traced into the communications network, capturing for example specifically how much of network energy consumption has been allocated to individual applications. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0035] In the figures, features that appear in some embodiments are indicated by dashed lines.

[0036] The various aspects of embodiments disclosed herein, including particular features and advantages thereof, will be readily understood from the following detailed description and the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0037] Figure 1 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a simplified wireless communication system according to prior art,

[0038] Figure 2 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a wireless communications network in which embodiments disclosed herein may be implemented, Figure 3 is a block diagram schematically illustrating embodiments disclosed herein, Figure 4a is a combined signalling diagram and flow chart illustrating a method according to some embodiments herein,

[0039] Figure 4b is a combined signalling diagram and flow chart illustrating a method according to some further embodiments herein,

[0040] Figure 4c is a combined signalling diagram and flow chart illustrating a method according to some further embodiments herein,

[0041] Figure 5a is a flow chart illustrating a method performed by a wireless communications device according to some embodiments disclosed herein, Figure 5b is a flow chart illustrating a method performed by a wireless communications device according to some further embodiments disclosed herein,

[0042] Figure 5c is a flow chart illustrating a method performed by a wireless communications device according to some further embodiments disclosed herein,

[0043] Figure 6 is a flow chart illustrating a method performed by a wireless communications node according to some embodiments disclosed herein, Figure 7 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a wireless communications device,

[0044] Figure 8 is a block diagram schematically illustrating a network node,

[0045] DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0046] Embodiments herein relate to wireless communication networks in general. Figure 2 is a schematic overview depicting a wireless communications network 100 wherein embodiments herein may be implemented. The wireless communications network 100 comprises one or more RANs and one or more CNs. The wireless communications 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.

[0047] 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 and to future 6G wireless communication systems.

[0048] Network nodes operate in the wireless communications network 100. The network nodes may for example be access nodes such as a first radio access node 111. The first radio access node 111 provides radio coverage over a geographical area, a service area referred to as a cell 115, which may also be referred to as a beam or a beam group of a first radio access technology (RAT), such as 5G, LTE, Wi-Fi or similar. There may also be further cells, such as a second cell 116.

[0049] The first radio access node 111 may be a NR-RAN node, transmission and reception point e.g. a base station, a radio access 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 or any other network unit capable of communicating with a wireless device within the service area depending e.g. on the radio access technology and terminology used. The first radio access node 111 may be referred to as a serving radio access node and communicates with a UE with Downlink (DL) transmissions to the UE and Uplink (UL) transmissions from the UE.

[0050] A number of wireless communications devices operate in the wireless communication network 100, such as a wireless communications device 121 and a second wireless communications device 122. The wireless communications devices 121 , 122 may each be a UE. The wireless communications devices 121 , 122 may further each be an FWA node, or nodes with similar functionality. The wireless communications devices 121 , 122 may further each be a mobile station, a non-access point (non-AP) STA, a STA, a user equipment and / or a wireless terminals, that communicate via one or more Access Networks (AN), e.g. RAN, e.g. via the first radio access node 111 to one or more core networks (CN) e.g. comprising a CN node 130, for example comprising an Access Management Function (AMF). It should be understood by the skilled in the art that “UE” 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.

[0051] Methods herein may in a first aspect be performed by the wireless communications device 121 and in in a second aspect by a wireless communications node, such as the first radio access node 111 or the second wireless communications device 122. As an alternative, a Distributed Node (DN) and functionality, e.g. comprised in a cloud 140 as shown in Figure 2, may be used for performing or partly performing the methods.

[0052] Embodiments herein will now be described in more detail. Embodiments herein disclose solutions, such as UE implementations, for enabling reporting of applicationspecific energy-related resource usage associated to the wireless communications device 121 , such as a UE. The reporting may be performed to the wireless communication network 100 or to any other server, device or node.

[0053] Figure 3 illustrates some embodiments disclosed herein for which the wireless communications device 121 may comprise of:

[0054] - A modem entity 315 capturing (e.g. collecting) information indicative of used radio communication resources for communicating a data stream between the wireless communications device 121 and the wireless communications network 100;

[0055] - An application entity 320 processing payload data communication related to one or more applications within the wireless communications device 121. The application entity 320 captures information indicative of an application-specific portion of the data stream.

[0056] - A functionality residing either in the modem entity 315 or the application entity 320 identifying application-specific resource usage based on the captured information. Further, the wireless communications device 121 may transmit the information on application-specific resource usage to at least one other device or node, such as a network node, a server or the second wireless communications device 122.

[0057] The wireless communications device 121 may also collect energy consumption information from one or more energy measurement interfaces in the wireless communications device 121 , estimate and transmit an application-specific consumption of the measured energy consumption to the at least one other device or node. Additionally, in some examples the wireless communications device 121 may also indicate the current workload of the wireless communications device 121 , such as a CPU load, related to the application. By sharing the current workload the receiver of the information may correlate the application-specific radio resource usage with the power consumption of commonly shared units (e.g., application processor sub-system).

[0058] The used radio communication resources may comprise of one or more of time and frequency portion information, e.g. amount of resource elements in a time & frequency grid during data downlink and uplink communication. It may also comprise information on used output transmit power. It may also indicate re-transmissions undertaken to help correlate with influence of link radio conditions on the used additional resources.

[0059] As illustrated in Figure 3, embodiments disclosed herein are based on one or more intra-device information exchanges, for the purpose of mapping usage of communication resources, e.g. radio resources, by the modem entity 315 to application information.

[0060] The modem entity 315 may comprise at least one wireless connectivity modem, transmitting and receiving RF signals for wireless communication of payload data and control signals using one or more control signalling protocols. Such protocols may be a 3GPP protocol such as 3G WCDMA, 4G LTE, 5G NR or similar. It may also support other communication protocols such as local communication via IEEE 802.11 based Wi-Fi or Bluetooth. The application entity 320 comprises functionality for running one or more operating systems and one or more applications. The operating system may support input and output control and interfaces towards e.g. sensor subsystems, displays, keyboard, touch board etc and it may include functions for controlling CPU and Graphic Processing Unit (GPU) functionalities and configurations for processing of compute needs according to the application(s) running on the device. The applications generate, identify or receive payload data communicated via the modem entity 315, e.g. for transmitting or receiving data with another wireless device, such as the second wireless communications device 122, or with an external server on Internet. When the modem entity 315 is communicating with a network node, e.g. using a 5G protocol for communication via a mobile network base station (gNB), Radio-Frequency (RF) signals are transmitted using time and frequency resources. In other words, the protocol is using a subset of the total amount of RF frequencies available to the system for the communication (uplink and / or downlink transmissions) and the transmissions are transmitted over limited time periods. This use of the subset of the system resources may in some cases be referred to as usage of resource elements, resource blocks or similar in a time-and-frequency resource grid, where each resource element or resource block comprises a defined frequency subset and a given period of time. As one example for an Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing (OFDM)-based communication protocol a resource element may represent the frequency bandwidth used by a single OFDM subcarrier in the frequency domain of the time-and-frequency resource grid and the time duration of an OFDM symbol in the time domain of the grid. As an example, this may represent 180 kHz in frequency domain, and e.g. one OFDM symbol in a 15 kHz subcarrier system such as 5G NR corresponding to 67 microseconds, but other examples may also be used. Here usage of one or more resource elements may be referred to as usage of radio resources.

[0061] Further, when the modem entity 315 is communicating with a network node, the payload data to be communicated may be applied to a dedicated data stream. Such data stream may for example be or comprise a Protocol data session, such as a PDU session, where data traffic, such as video, for one or more applications are communicated between the wireless communications device 121 and the wireless communications network 100. Other examples of a data stream may be but is not limited to a data radio bearer or an Evolved Packet System (EPS) bearer. Multiple data streams may be used at the same time, for example to separate quality of service needs for different data streams. The modem entity 315 may be aware of the data streams being used, but it may not be aware of which applications are using the data streams.

[0062] In embodiments disclosed herein information is exchanged within the wireless communications device 121 for coupling information about the used radio resources with the one or more applications or other application-related identifier which is causing the data communication in a data stream. By performing this coupling of information, it is thereby possible to relate a portion of the used radio resources to an application or an application-related identifier. In embodiments disclosed herein, the information collection within the wireless communications device 121 for coupling information about the used radio resources with the one or more applications or application-related identifier may be performed by transmitting information pertaining to a stream usage from the application entity 320 to the modem entity 315. The modem entity 315 may via such information transfer be aware of which applications, application categories or type of application-related identifiers are using one or more data streams.

[0063] In other examples, the information collection within the wireless communications device 121 for coupling information about the used radio resources with the one or more applications or application-related identifier may be performed by the modem entity 315 being capable to determine information pertaining to application-specific usage of data streams, e.g. by means of mapping a data stream to an application usage. Such mapping may in some examples be performed by identifying quality of service level configurations of a data stream, such as a PDU session and mapping levels to application usage within the wireless communications device 121. In some examples a User Equipment Routing Selection Policy (URSP) may be signalled by the network to the wireless communications device 121, and the wireless communications device 121 may determine an application usage coupled to one or more available URSP configurations, which in some cases will be then mapped to separate data streams, such as PDU sessions. In examples as these, the modem entity 315 may be determining information indicative of application usage of one or more data streams.

[0064] The modem entity 315 may transmit such control signal information indicative of application usage of one or more data streams to a network node. In some examples such communication may be performed as control signalling within the wireless communication protocol used for communication between the modem and the network node. In some examples such control signalling may be performed in a radio protocol such as a radio resource control (RRC) protocol, while in other examples a higher layer protocol such as on IP layer, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) protocol layer or similar. In this manner, a node or function in the wireless network may receive information about the usage of the resource usage of the wireless communications device 121 coupled to an application or an application type.

[0065] According to some other example implementations - illustrated in Figure 3 - it is proposed that the modem entity 315 of the wireless communications device 121 transmits information to the application entity 320 of the wireless communications device 121. The information may be indicative of the absolute or relative value of radio resources being used for a used data stream. As shown in the example in the Figure 3, the modem entity 315 may communicate with an application-to-modem interface, referred to as a modem controlling interface 321 in Figure 3, wherein PDU sessions are managed for the data communication. In the example shown, the modem entity may provide modem information to the application entity 320 via this interface. In legacy implementations this may include many types of modem information such as connection information, connection status or modem status including but not limited to modem state, radio protocol used, cell identities of connected network cells, signal strength, signal quality, QoS information etc. Here it is assumed that the modem entity 315 further may provide the application entity with the radio resource usage per active data stream.

[0066] For example, this may mean that the modem entity 315 reports the radio resource usage upon on-demand requests from the application entity 320, or that the modem entity 315 reports repeated radio resource usage reports per data stream upon activating such repeated reporting request from the application entity 320. The bottom of Figure 3 also shows an example of time / frequency resource grid and a resource usage by two data streams.

[0067] In some examples, the information indicating used radio communication resources may comprise resources (time / frequency portions) allocated to more than one radio access technology (RATs) during the data communication session. Such a feature may be useful e.g. in a dual-connectivity mode where the wireless communications network 100 may allocate a UE with radio resources on two or mode RAT connections, such as on LTE and NR.

[0068] While reporting the radio resource usage, the wireless communications device 121 may also include energy information related to corresponding transmit and receive data processing chains of the wireless communications device 121 , including RF front end components.

[0069] Additionally and as mentioned above, in some examples the wireless communications device 121 may also indicate a current workload of a processor (e.g. CPU / GPU) of the wireless communications device 121 which performs tasks for the applications. This may support functionalities in the receiving node, such as the first radio access node 111 or the second wireless communications device 122, to relate the measurement for this application-specific consumption with the power consumption of commonly shared units, such as e.g., application-processor sub-systems. An example signalling diagram is shown in Figure 4a. In the example, a very high-level illustration of the communication principles between the application entity 320 and the modem entity 315 is shown, and the illustration is simplified. In practice, e.g. data and control signalling may be separated into different protocols and further signalling messages may be transmitted over the different interfaces used for the communication.

[0070] In Figure 4a two different PDU sessions are setup for data communication, and for illustrative purposes a coupling to different applications is shown in Figure 4a as well. The signalling flow of Figure 4a switches between using on-demand signalling and repeated signalling from the modem entity 315, to exemplify the different possible options.

[0071] Action 401:

[0072] The wireless communications device 121 may initiate a first application (e.g. by socket creation) by signalling between the first application and OS functions of the wireless communications device 121, e.g. including the application to modem interface.

[0073] Action 402:

[0074] Then the wireless communications device 121 may initiate a data stream, e.g. by creating a first PDU session. This may be done by signalling between the OS functions of the wireless communications device 121 and the modem entity 315.

[0075] One example of control signalling between the modem entity 315 and the application entity 320 is by use of so-called attention (AT) commands, but many other types of signalling protocols may be used.

[0076] Action 403:

[0077] Then the modem entity 315 of the wireless communications device 121 may perform various signalling towards the wireless communications network 100, for example to perform initial access and connection setup. The signalling towards the wireless communications network 100 may be standardized, for example according to 3gpp.

[0078] Action 404:

[0079] The wireless communications device 121 and the network node may establish a first data stream, such as a first PDU session.

[0080] The establishment of the first data stream may apply to both UL and DL.

[0081] Action 405: The wireless communications device 121 may initiate a second application. The wireless communications device 121 may reuse the first PDU session also for the second application.

[0082] Action 406:

[0083] The wireless communications device 121 may initiate a third application.

[0084] Action 407:

[0085] Then the wireless communications device 121 may initiate a second data stream, such as a second PDU session, for the third application.

[0086] Action 408:

[0087] The wireless communications device 121 and the network node may establish the second data stream. The establishment of the second data stream may apply to both UL and DL.

[0088] Action 409:

[0089] Then the wireless communications device 121 may perform data communication between the applications and the OS functions.

[0090] Action 410:

[0091] Data communication of the first data stream and of the second data stream may be performed between the OS functions and the modem entity 315.

[0092] Action 411:

[0093] Then the modem entity 315 may communicate data and control signalling with the network node using the standardized wireless communications protocol that was used above to set up the communication with the wireless communications network 100. The communication may be both uplink and downlink. This communication may carry data of the first and second data streams. The data of the first and second data streams between the wireless communications device 121 and the wireless communications network 100 may comprise the data of the first data stream and of the second data stream between the OS functions and the modem entity 315. However, the data of the first and second data streams between the wireless communications device 121 and wireless communications network 100 may also comprise DL data. For example, when an application wants to communicate with an internet server (or an internet server function has initiated a communication towards an application) the application in the wireless communications device 121 will communicate end to end with the internet server. This data communication may consist of multiple control signaling and payload data packets in both uplink and downlink direction. As an example, an application may initiate a communication request to watch a video. One may for simplicity see such video content request as an UL data communication and the data communication may then continue with a large amount of DL data (the video content).

[0094] Action 412:

[0095] The OS function may send a request for a resource usage of the first PDU session to the modem entity 315. The request may be a onetime request.

[0096] Action 413:

[0097] The modem entity 315 may send a resource usage for the first PDU session to the OS function in response to the request.

[0098] From this resource usage the wireless communications device 121 may calculate individual resource usage, such as radio resources or radio resources and energy consumption, for the first and second applications.

[0099] Action 414:

[0100] The OS function may send a request for a resource usage of the second PDU session to the modem entity 315. The request may be a repeat request meaning that the modem entity 315 should continue to send estimations of resource usage related to the second PDU session.

[0101] Action 415:

[0102] The modem entity 315 may send a resource usage for the second PDU session to the OS function in response to the repeat request.

[0103] From this resource usage the wireless communications device 121 may calculate individual resource usage for the third application.

[0104] Figure 4b may be considered as an alternative signalling diagram to Figure 4a. Figure 4b includes a network server 410 for energy monitoring. In Figure 4b the actions of the OS of the wireless communications device 121 and the modem entity 315 have been merged.

[0105] Apart from actions already in Figure 4a, Figure 4b also illustrates an interaction between the network server and the wireless communications network 100. E.g. a network node of the wireless communications network 100 may request energy-related information from the wireless communications device 121 due to getting a request for such information from the network server for energy monitoring.

[0106] Action 431 :

[0107] The network server may send a request for energy monitoring to the wireless communications device 121 via the network node. The request may be a one-time request.

[0108] Action 432:

[0109] The network node may forward the request to the wireless communications device 121.

[0110] Action 433:

[0111] The wireless communications device 121 may send a response to the network server via the network node.

[0112] Action 434:

[0113] The network node may forward the response to the network server.

[0114] Action 435:

[0115] The network server may send a request for repeated energy monitoring to the wireless communications device 121 via the network node.

[0116] Actions 432-434 may also be applied for the repeated request. Actions 433 and 434 may be repeated.

[0117] Figure 4c illustrates one method for how the wireless communications device 121 may find a correct IP address of a network server, such as a web server, for energy monitoring. The method may be referred to as Domain Name System (DNS) lookup via a DNS server 450. In action 451 the wireless communications device 121 may send a request for the IP address of the web server for energy monitoring to the DNS server. The DNS server may respond with the IP address of the web server in action 452.

[0118] Figure 4c also describes a very high-level method for how the wireless communications device 121 may contact the energy monitoring web server for initiating a connection with the web server. The wireless communications device 121 may send a connection setup message to the web server in action 453 and receive a connection response from the web server in action 454.

[0119] And then in action 455 the web server may request energy-related information from the wireless communications device 121 which may send a response in action 456 according to the methods described above and below.

[0120] Further, the application entity 320 may use the captured radio resource usage to extract application-specific energy consumption information pertaining to the usage of the modem entity 315. In other words, if the application entity 320 is able to track and store the aggregated energy consumption of the modem entity 315, the information received from the modem entity 315 about relative or absolute radio resource usage per data stream may be used to determine a fraction of the energy consumed by each application which generated the data over the specific data stream.

[0121] Moreover, the application entity 320 may request and report the application-specific energy consumption for selected time windows which leads to less signalling. This feature may be, once initiated, explicitly turned off by signalling from the wireless communications device 121 or a network node or automatically terminated based on timeouts.

[0122] Also, additional energy consumption information per application may be captured by the wireless communications device 121 , e.g. as captured by a power management unit (PMIC) 322. Captured information may be related to application-specific consumption of CPU and / or GPU resources, display, sensors and similar.

[0123] The wireless communications device 121 may then further transmit one or more of the captured information on application-specific energy consumption to the network (a.k.a a network Application Protocol Interface (API)-based solution) or to a network node on the Internet according to any specified information sharing protocol (a.k.a. a UE exposure based solution). As an example of a network API-based solution, the information sharing principles from the UE to the network may follow a standardized communication protocol such as defined by a standardization organization such as 3GPP, IEEE or similar. The node receiving the application-specific resource usage from the wireless communications device 121 may use the received information on application-specific resource usage to e.g. determine the energy consumption per service in one or more network functions. As one example, if a gNB in a network is spending a certain amount of energy, it may be reasonable to estimate a service-specific energy consumption by considering a fraction of service-specific resource usage in relation to the total gNB resources. Similarly, the network may use such relationship between a service-specific resource usage and a total capability in estimations of other computation-related energy consumption levels for one or more services or types of services in the network such as core network node consumptions or other compute services within or external to the network.

[0124] In some examples, the network server for energy monitoring may provide information to the wireless communications device 121 about the network-related energy consumption coupled to the specific wireless communications device 121. This may provide feedback to the wireless communications device 121 and an end user of the wireless communications device 121 about the network “energy cost” from a service usage of the wireless communications device 121.

[0125] Figure 5a is a flowchart of method actions performed by the wireless communications device 121 and illustrates some embodiments, wherein the applicationspecific energy consumption is reported for a set duration. In this illustration, the embodiment may be interpreted as being implemented as an Operative System (OS) function of the wireless communications device 121.

[0126] For the embodiments illustrated in Figure 5a the wireless communications device 121 awaits until there is at least one request to calculate the application-specific resource usage. Thereafter any new requests are then either polled or triggered by an interrupt.

[0127] Action 520:

[0128] The wireless communications device 121 may check whether or not calculation of application-specific radio resource usage is enabled. If not, the wireless communications device 121 may go back to its initial state.

[0129] Action 521: If calculation of application-specific radio resource usage is enabled then the wireless communications device 121 may obtain identities of applications for which the application-specific radio resource usage is enabled.

[0130] Actions 522-524 below are instantiated per application. For example, for each application for which there is a request to calculate the application-specific energy-related resource usage.

[0131] Action 522:

[0132] For a specific application ID, set up monitoring of resource usage. For the embodiments illustrated in Figure 5a monitoring of the usage of resources includes at least radio resources & may additionally target transmit power, a number of retransmissions etc. Thus, this action may include configuring hardware and software in more than one integrated circuit.

[0133] Action 523:

[0134] The wireless communications device 121 may check whether or not a monitoring time period has expired.

[0135] Action 524:

[0136] The wireless communications device 121 may collect results from individual power consuming hardware components (e.g. radio resource monitor, transmit power, etc). This action may also include readouts over hardware interfaces such as System Power Management Interface (SPMI), Peripheral Component Interconnect Express (PCIe) etc.

[0137] Action 525:

[0138] The wireless communications device 121 may correlate the collected radio resource data with a total application workload on the wireless communications device 121.

[0139] This action may be omitted in some devices that are running only one application or devices that need simpler architecture.

[0140] Action 526:

[0141] The wireless communications device 121 may send the results for the specific application to a wireless communications node. The wireless communications device 121 may then reset all enabled instances of monitoring components for this application. For example, a data storage related to the monitoring components may be reset to clear all values for the next round of monitoring. Thus, the wireless communications device 121 may reset the components of the method that are implemented to monitor the used resources, such as the used radio communication resources for communicating the data stream between the wireless communications device 121 and the wireless communications network 100.

[0142] The receiving wireless communications node (e.g. network node, API) may be set up during an initial request for power consumption monitoring as described above.

[0143] Action 527:

[0144] The wireless communications device 121 may check whether or not there is any pending application under monitoring.

[0145] Figure 5b is a flowchart and illustrates example methods, performed by the wireless communications device 121 , for determining an application-specific energy-related resource usage.

[0146] The methods comprise one or more of the following actions, which actions may be taken in any suitable order.

[0147] In Action 501, the wireless communications device 121 obtains information indicative of used radio communication resources for communicating a data stream between the wireless communications device 121 and the wireless communications network 100. The radio communication resources may comprise time or frequency resources or both for the communicated data stream.

[0148] In some embodiments disclosed herein the radio communication resources comprise retransmission-related radio resources.

[0149] The obtained information indicative of the used radio communication resources for communicating the data stream may be obtained by the modem 315 of the wireless communications device 121.

[0150] In some embodiments disclosed herein the data stream between the wireless communications device 121 and the wireless communications network 100 comprises one or more of a PDU session, a data radio bearer and an Evolved Packet System, EPS, bearer. For example, in action 501 any function or entity within the wireless communications device 121 may obtain information about a data stream such as a wireless data communication connection to a network or a specific part of a data communication connection such as a PDU session within a communication connection being used while communicating between the wireless communications device 121 and the wireless communications network 100. The radio communication resources may in some examples be explicitly or indirectly indicated by referring to the resources used by the data stream communication. In some examples a set of resources are explicitly identified such as a subset of time and / or frequency ranges.

[0151] In some embodiments disclosed herein the used resources for communicating the data stream are allocated to two or more radio access technologies. For example, for a wireless device equipped with 4G and 5G modems, the data stream may be divided between 4G and 5G RATs. For example, download using 5G while upload using 4G.

[0152] In Action 502, the wireless communications device 121 obtains information indicative of an application-specific portion of the data stream, e.g. a portion of the data stream that comprises data caused by a specific application.

[0153] The information indicative of an application-specific portion of the data stream may be obtained by the application entity 320 processing payload data communication related to one or more applications within the wireless communications device 121.

[0154] For example, in action 502 any function or entity in the wireless communications device 121 may obtain information indicative of an application-specific portion of the data stream by identifying an application or an application type or category using the data stream while communicating between the wireless communications device 121 and the wireless communications network 100. The application-specific portion may in some examples indicate if an application or application type or application category is using all or parts of the data stream.

[0155] In Action 503, the wireless communications device 121 determines the applicationspecific energy-related resource usage based on the obtained information indicative of the used radio communication resources for communicating the data stream and the information indicative of the application-specific portion of the data stream. The application-specific energy-related resource usage may comprise radio communication resource usage of the wireless communications device 121. That is, it may comprise application-specific radio communication resource usage.

[0156] Determining may for example comprise identifying the application usage of a data stream or a part of a data stream. Determining may for example comprise identifying a portion of a data stream such as a percentage or fraction of a data stream utilization. In other words, the determining may provide information for the wireless communications device 121 to enable it to refer to a data stream and indicate if all or which relative fraction of the data stream a specific application or application type or application category is using. For example, that an application or an application type or an application category is using all or half or one fourth of the communication resources within a specific data stream. Determining may in some examples also comprise estimating a total specific value of the resource usage such as by multiplying the used radio communication resources for communicating the data stream with the application-specific portion of the data stream. For example, 100 RB*0,5 = 50 RB.

[0157] In some embodiments disclosed herein the application-specific energy-related resource usage comprises information indicative of energy consumption of the wireless device.

[0158] In some embodiments disclosed herein determining the application-specific energy-related resource usage comprises determining a radio communication resource usage and then the information indicative of the application-specific energy consumption of the wireless device may be based on the radio communication resource usage and optionally an energy consumption of the wireless communications device 121.

[0159] In Action 504, the wireless communications device 121 transmits an indication of the determined application-specific energy-related resource usage to the network node 111 of the wireless communications network 100 or to another wireless communications device 122.

[0160] Figure 5c is a flowchart and illustrates some optional method actions, performed by the wireless communications device 121, for determining the application-specific energy-related resource usage.

[0161] The methods comprise one or more of the following actions, which actions may be taken in any suitable order.

[0162] In Action 505, the wireless communications device 121 may obtain an indication of an energy consumption of the wireless communications device 121. For example, as measured in one or more hardware energy measurement interfaces, e.g. by PMIC.

[0163] In some embodiments disclosed herein the obtained indication of the energy consumption of the wireless communications device 121 comprises at least one of the following: an indication of an energy consumption of transmit and / or receive data processing chains of the wireless communications device 121 used for the data stream; and an indication of an energy consumption of a processor, such as Digital Signalling Processor DSP and / or other communication processing circuits, of the wireless communications device 121 used for applications transmitting data in the data stream.

[0164] The transmit and / or receive data processing chains of the wireless communications device 121 may e.g. comprise a power amplifier, or an integrated circuit that handles the RF operations of the modem or both.

[0165] In Action 506, the wireless communications device 121 may obtain information indicative of an application-specific portion of the energy consumption of the wireless communications device 121.

[0166] In some embodiments disclosed herein determining the application-specific energy-related resource usage comprises determining a radio communication resource usage and then the information indicative of the application-specific energy consumption of the wireless device may be based on the radio communication resource usage and an energy consumption of the wireless communications device 121.

[0167] The obtained information indicative of the application-specific portion of the energy consumption of the wireless communications device 121 may indicate one or more of the following: the application-specific portion of the data stream, and a workload of a processor caused by an application.

[0168] In Action 507, the wireless communications device 121 may determine the application-specific energy consumption of the wireless communications device 121 based on the obtained indication of the energy consumption of the wireless communications device 121 and based on the obtained information indicative of the application-specific portion of the energy consumption of the wireless communications device 121.

[0169] Figure 6 illustrates example methods performed by a wireless communications node, such as the first radio access node 111 , the CN node 130, or the second wireless communications device 122.

[0170] The methods comprises one or more of the following actions, which actions may be taken in any suitable order.

[0171] In Action 601 the wireless communications node receives the indication of the application-specific energy-related resource usage for the wireless communications device 121. The indication may be for determining a network energy consumption due to the application based on the received indication.

[0172] In Action 602 the wireless communications node calculates network energy consumption due to the application based on the received indication of the applicationspecific energy-related resource usage for the wireless communications device 121.

[0173] In embodiments herein calculating network energy consumption due to the application comprises calculating an aggregated network energy consumption of a group of wireless communications devices comprising the wireless communications device 121.

[0174] The method may further comprise calculating a remaining energy consumption for the group of wireless communications devices based on the aggregated network energy consumption of the group of wireless communications devices.

[0175] For example, if the wireless communications node is the second wireless communications device 122 and a group of wireless communications devices comprises the wireless communications device 121 and the second wireless communications device 122 then the method may further comprise calculating a remaining energy consumption for the group of wireless communications devices based on the received applicationspecific energy-related resource usage.

[0176] In embodiments wherein the wireless communications node is the network node 111 of the wireless communications network 100 the method may further comprise in action 603 to transmit the calculated network energy consumption due to the application to the wireless communications device 121 or to a further network node 112, 130. The further network node may comprise an application server.

[0177] In embodiments herein the wireless communications node receives the indication of the application-specific energy consumption of the wireless communications device 121.

[0178] Figure 7 shows an example of the wireless communications device 121. Figure 8 shows an example of a wireless communications node 800.

[0179] The wireless communications device 121 is adapted to communicate in the wireless communications network 100.

[0180] The wireless communications device 121 is further adapted to obtain information indicative of used radio communication resources for communicating the data stream between the wireless communications device 121 and the wireless communications network 100.

[0181] The wireless communications device 121 is further adapted to obtain information indicative of an application-specific portion of the data stream.

[0182] The wireless communications device 121 is further adapted to determine the application-specific energy-related resource usage based on the obtained information indicative of the used radio communication resources for communicating the data stream and the information indicative of the application-specific portion of the data stream.

[0183] In some embodiments herein the wireless communications device 121 is further adapted to determine the application-specific energy-related resource usage by being adapted to determine the radio communication resource usage and then the information indicative of the application-specific energy consumption of the wireless device is based on the radio communication resource usage and an energy consumption of the wireless communications device 121.

[0184] The wireless communications device 121 may be adapted to transmit the indication of the determined application-specific energy-related resource usage to the network node 111 of the wireless communications network 100 or to another wireless communications device 122.

[0185] In some embodiments herein the wireless communications device 121 is adapted to obtain an indication of an energy consumption of the wireless communications device 121. Then the wireless communications device 121 may be further adapted to:

[0186] obtain information indicative of an application-specific portion of the energy consumption of the wireless communications device 121 ; and

[0187] determine the application-specific energy consumption of the wireless communications device 121 based on the obtained indication of the energy consumption of the wireless communications device 121 and based on the obtained information indicative of the application-specific portion of the energy consumption of the wireless communications device 121.

[0188] The wireless communications node 800 is adapted to communicate in the wireless communications network 100. The wireless communications node 800 is further adapted to receive an indication of an application-specific energy-related resource usage for the wireless communications device 121 and calculate network energy consumption due to the application based on the received indication of the application-specific energy-related resource usage for the wireless communications device 121.

[0189] In some embodiments herein the wireless communications node 800 is further adapted to calculate network energy consumption due to the application by being adapted to calculate an aggregated network energy consumption of the group of wireless communications devices comprising the wireless communications device 121.

[0190] Then the wireless communications node 800 may be further adapted to calculate the remaining energy consumption for the group of wireless communications devices based on the aggregated network energy consumption of the group of wireless communications devices.

[0191] In some embodiments herein the wireless communications node 800 is further adapted to transmit the calculated network energy consumption due to the application to the wireless communications device 121 or to the further network node 112, 130.

[0192] The wireless communications node 800 may be adapted to receive an indication of an application-specific energy consumption of the wireless communications device 121.

[0193] The wireless communications device 121 and the wireless communications node 800 may comprise a respective input and output interface, IF, 706, 806 configured to communicate with each other, see Figures 7-8. The input and output interface may comprise a receiver (not shown) and a transmitter (not shown).

[0194] The embodiments herein may be implemented through a respective processor or one or more processors, such as the respective processor 704 and 804, of a processing circuitry in the wireless communications device 121 and the wireless communications node 800 and depicted in Figures 7-8 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 respective wireless communications device 121 and the wireless communications node 800. 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 respective wireless communications device 121 and wireless communications node 800.

[0195] The wireless communications device 121 and the wireless communications node 800 may further comprise a respective memory 702 and 802 comprising one or more memory units. The memory comprises instructions executable by the processor in the wireless communications device 121 and the wireless communications node 800.

[0196] Each respective memory 702 and 802 is arranged to be used to store e.g. information, data, configurations, and applications to perform the methods herein when being executed in the respective wireless communications device 121 and the wireless communications node 800.

[0197] In some embodiments, a respective computer program 703 and 803 comprises instructions, which when executed by the respective processor 704, 804, cause the respective wireless communications device 121 and network node 111 to perform the actions above.

[0198] In some embodiments, a respective carrier 705 and 805 comprises the respective computer program, wherein the carrier 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.

[0199] Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the units in the units described above may refer to a combination of analog and digital circuits, and / or one or more processors configured with software and / or firmware, e.g. stored in the respective wireless communications device 121 and network node 111 described above. One or more of these processors, as well as the other digital hardware, may be included in a single Application-Specific Integrated Circuitry (ASIC), or several processors and various digital hardware may be distributed among several separate components, whether individually packaged or assembled into a system-on-a-chip (SoC). When using the word "comprise" or “comprising” it shall be interpreted as nonlimiting, i.e. meaning "consist at least of".

[0200] The embodiments herein are not limited to the above described preferred embodiments. Various alternatives, modifications and equivalents may be used.

Claims

CLAIMS1 . A method, performed by a wireless communications device (121) in a wireless communications network (100), for determining an application-specific energy-related resource usage, the method comprises:obtaining (501) information indicative of used radio communication resources for communicating a data stream between the wireless communications device (121) and the wireless communications network (100);obtaining (502) information indicative of an application-specific portion of the data stream; anddetermining (503) the application-specific energy-related resource usage based on the obtained information indicative of the used radio communication resources for communicating the data stream and the information indicative of the application-specific portion of the data stream.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising: transmitting (504) an indication of the determined application-specific energy-related resource usage to a network node (111 ) of the wireless communications network (100) or to another wireless communications device (122).

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the application-specific energy-related resource usage comprises radio communication resource usage of the wireless communications device (121).

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the radio communication resources comprise time or frequency resources or both for the communicated data stream.

5. The method of claim 3 or 4, wherein the application-specific energy-related resource usage comprises information indicative of energy consumption of the wireless device.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein determining (503) the application-specific energy- related resource usage comprises determining a radio communication resource usage and wherein the information indicative of the application-specific energy consumption of the wireless device is based on the radio communication resource usage and an energy consumption of the wireless communications device (121).

7. The method of claim 5, further comprising:obtaining (505) an indication of an energy consumption of the wireless communications device (121);obtaining (506) information indicative of an application-specific portion of the energy consumption of the wireless communications device (121); and determining (507) the application-specific energy consumption of the wireless communications device (121) based on the obtained indication of the energy consumption of the wireless communications device (121) and based on the obtained information indicative of the application-specific portion of the energy consumption of the wireless communications device (121).

8. The method of claim 6, wherein the obtained indication of the energy consumption of the wireless communications device (121) comprises at least one of the following: an indication of an energy consumption of transmit and / or receive data processing chains of the wireless communications device (121) used for the data stream; and an indication of an energy consumption of a processor (801) of the wireless communications device (121) used for applications transmitting data in the data stream.

9. The method of any of the claims 6-8, wherein the obtained information indicative of the application-specific portion of the energy consumption of the wireless communications device (121) indicates one or more of the following: the applicationspecific portion of the data stream, and a workload of a processor caused by an application.

10. The method of any of the claims 1-9, wherein the radio communication resources comprise retransmission-related radio resources.

11. The method of any of the claims 1-10, wherein the obtained information indicative of the used radio communication resources for communicating the data stream is obtained by a modem (315) of the wireless communications device (121).

12. The method of any of the claims 1-11 , wherein the information indicative of an application-specific portion of the data stream is obtained by an application entity (320) processing payload data communication related to one or more applications within the wireless communications device (121).

13. The method of any of the claims 1-12, wherein the data stream between the wireless communications device (121) and the wireless communications network (100) comprises one or more of a Packet Data Unit, PDU, session, a data radio bearer and an Evolved Packet System, EPS, bearer.

14. The method of any of the claims 1-13, wherein the used resources for communicating the data stream are allocated to two or more radio access technologies.

15. A method, performed by a wireless communications node (111, 130, 122), the method comprises:receiving (601) an indication of an application-specific energy-related resource usage for a wireless communications device (121); andcalculating (602) network energy consumption due to the application based on the received indication of the application-specific energy-related resource usage for the wireless communications device (121).

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the wireless communications node is a network node (111) of a wireless communications network (100) and wherein the method further comprises: transmitting (603) the calculated network energy consumption due to the application to the wireless communications device (121) or to a further network node (112, 130).

17. The method of any of the claims 15-16, further comprising: receiving (604) an indication of an application-specific energy consumption of the wireless communications device (121).

18. The method of any of the claims 15-17, wherein calculating (602) network energy consumption due to the application comprises calculating an aggregated network energy consumption of a group of wireless communications devices comprising the wireless communications device (121).

19. The method of claim 18, further comprising calculating a remaining energy consumption for the group of wireless communications devices based on the aggregated network energy consumption of the group of wireless communications devices.

20. The method of any of the claims 15-19, wherein the application-specific energy- related resource usage comprises radio communication resource usage of the wireless communications device (121).

21. A wireless communications device (121) adapted to communicate in a wireless communications network (100) and further adapted to:obtain information indicative of used radio communication resources for communicating a data stream between the wireless communications device (121) and the wireless communications network (100);obtain information indicative of an application-specific portion of the data stream; anddetermine the application-specific energy-related resource usage based on the obtained information indicative of the used radio communication resources for communicating the data stream and the information indicative of the applicationspecific portion of the data stream.

22. The wireless communications device (121) of claim 19, wherein the wireless communications device (121) is further configured to perform the method of any of the claims 2-14.

23. A wireless communications node (111 , 130, 122) adapted to communicate in a wireless communications network (100) and further adapted to:receive an indication of an application-specific energy-related resource usage for a wireless communications device (121); andcalculate network energy consumption due to the application based on the received indication of the application-specific energy-related resource usage for the wireless communications device (121).

24. The wireless communications node (111, 130, 122) of claim 23, further configured to perform the method of any of the claims 16-20.

25. A computer program (703), comprising computer readable code units which when executed on a processor of a wireless communications device (121) causes the wireless communications device (121) to perform the method according to any one of claims 1-14.

26. A computer program (803), comprising computer readable code units which when executed on a wireless communications node (111, 130, 122) causes the wireless communications node (111, 130, 122) to perform the method according to any of the claims 15-20.

27. A carrier (705, 805) comprising the computer program (703, 803) according to claim 25 or 26, wherein the carrier (705, 805) is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal and a computer readable medium.

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