Architecture and communication method for service management and orchestration service

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed that relate to Service Management Orchestration (SMO) for an Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) implementation of a Radio Access Network (RAN) of a cellular communications system. In one embodiment, an SMO system for an O-RAN implementation of a RAN of a cellular communications system comprises a plurality of SMO Functions (SMOFs), each comprising one or more SMO Services (SMOSs). The plurality of SMOFs, including the SMOs comprised within the SMOFs, are communicatively coupled via an SMOF-centric Service Based Architecture (SBA). In this manner, an efficient product design is provided due to a lower granularity of addressable architectural elements (i.e., SMOF vs. SMOS).

Description

ARCHITECTURE AND COMMUNICATION METHOD FOR SERVICE MANAGEMENT AND ORCHESTRATION SERVICERELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application No.63 / 747,693, filed January 21, 2025, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.TECHNICAL FIELD

[0002] The present disclosure relates to Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) of an Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) system.BACKGROUND

[0003] The Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) Architecture Description (OAD) is specified in Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) Technical Specification (TS) O-RAN.WG1.OAD-R003-vl2.00. The Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) is part of the current O-RAN architecture. In the recent version of the OAD, a new concept referred to as “Decoupled SMO” has been introduced. The Decoupled SMO connects various SMO Services (SMOSs) through a Service Based Architecture (SBA). The Non-Real-Time Radio Access Network (RAN) Intelligent Controller (Non-RT RIC), a SMO Function (SMOF), is also part of the Decoupled SMO architecture. Figure 1 shows an SMO with its SMOSs leveraging the SBA. The “SMOS Communication” connects the SMOSs using the principle of SBA. The Non-RT RIC is shown as an example SMOF.

[0004] Although not shown in Figure 1, any combination of SMOSs can be combined as an SMOF. The SMOSs which are selected to create an SMOF is left up to the implementor.SUMMARY

[0005] Systems and methods are disclosed that relate to Service Management Orchestration (SMO) for an Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) implementation of a Radio Access Network (RAN) of a cellular communications system. In one embodiment, an SMO system for an O-RAN implementation of a RAN of a cellular communications system comprises a plurality of SMO Functions (SMOFs), each comprising one or more SMO Services (SMOSs). The plurality of SMOFs, including the SMOs comprised within the SMOFs, are communicatively coupled via an SMOF-centric Service Based Architecture (SBA). In this manner, an efficient product design is provided due to a lower granularity of addressable architectural elements (i.e., SMOF vs. SMOS).

[0006] In one embodiment, the SMO system further comprises one or more non-anchored SMOSs configured to enable SMOS-SMOS communication. In one embodiment, the one or more non-anchored SMOSs configured to enable SMOS-SMOS communication comprise a Service Management and Exposure (SME) SMOS and a Data Management and Exposure (DME) SMOS. In one embodiment, the SME SMOS is implemented as an SME SMOS mesh comprising different SME instances within or associated with different SMOFs. In one embodiment, each SME instance is configured to perform discovery and registration such that the different SME instances are enabled to discover one another. In one embodiment, the DME SMOS is implemented as an DME SMOS mesh comprising different DME instances within or associated with different SMOFs. In one embodiment, each DME instance is configured to perform discovery and registration such that the different DME instances are enabled to discover one another. In one embodiment, the SME SMOS and DME SMOS further enable SMOS to rAPP and rAPP to SMOS communication within the SMO system. In one embodiment, the SME SMOS and DME SMOS further enable rApp to rAPP communication. In one embodiment, the SME SMOS and DME SMOS further enable communication between SMOSs comprised in the SMOFs and one or more services external to the SMO system.

[0007] In one embodiment, the plurality of SMOFs comprise a service and subnet slice management SMOF comprising a service and subnet slice orchestration SMOS and a service and subnet slice assurance SMOS, a cloud resource management SMOF comprising a network function orchestrator SMOS and a federated O-Cloud orchestration and management SMOS, a RAN Network Function (NF) Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (0AM) SMOS comprising a RAN NR 0AM SMOS, a non-real-time RAN Intelligent Controller (Non-RT RIC) SMOS comprising one or more rApps and one or more related SMOSs.

[0008] In one embodiment, the plurality of SMOFs comprise a service and subnet slice management SMOF comprising a service and subnet slice orchestration SMOS and a service and subnet slice assurance SMOS, a cloud resource management SMOF comprising a network function orchestrator SMOS and a federated O-Cloud orchestration and management SMOS, a RAN NF 0AM SMOS comprising a RAN NR 0AM SMOS, a Non-RT RIC SMOS comprising one or more rApps and one or more related SMOSs, a Topology Exposure and Inventory Management (TE&IV) SMOF comprising a TE&IV SMOS, and a ML Operations SMOF comprising an AI / ML workflow SMOS.

[0009] In one embodiment, the plurality of SMOFs comprise a service and subnet slice management SMOF comprising a service and subnet slice orchestration SMOS and a service and subnet slice assurance SMOS, a cloud resource management SMOF comprising a networkfunction orchestrator SMOS and a federated O-Cloud orchestration and management SMOS, a RAN NF 0AM SMOS comprising a RAN NR 0AM SMOS, a Non-RT RIC SMOS comprising one or more rApps and one or more related SMOSs including an rApp Topology Exposure SMOS, a TE&IV SMOF comprising a TE&IV SMOS, and a ML Operations SMOF comprising an AI / ML workflow SMOS.

[0010] In one embodiment, the plurality of SMOFs comprise a Non-RT RIC SMOS comprising one or more rApps enabled to produce one or more SMOSs.

[0011] In one embodiment, each of the plurality of SMOFs produce a corresponding set of capabilities for the SMOF-centric SB A.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0012] The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part of this specification illustrate several aspects of the disclosure, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.

[0013] Figure 1 shows a Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) with its SMO Services (SMOSs) leveraging a Service Based Architecture (SBA) defined in the Open Radio Access Network (0-RAN) Architecture Description (OAD) as specified in Open Radio Access Network (0-RAN) Technical Specification (TS) 0-RAN.WG1.0AD-R003-vl2.00.

[0014] Figure 2 illustrates one example of an SMO (also referred to herein as an SMO architecture or SMO system) having an SMO Function (SMOF)-centric SMO SBA, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure.

[0015] Figures 3, 4, and 5 illustrate additional example embodiments of the SMO system of Figure 2.

[0016] Figure 6 illustrates another example embodiment of the SMO system of Figure 2 in which rApps product SMOSs.

[0017] Figure 7 is an example of an embodiment of the SMO without a Non-Real Time (Non-RT) Radio Access Network (RAN) Intelligent Controller (RIC) SMOF and Service & Subnet Slice Management SMOF, in accordance with another example embodiment.

[0018] Figure 8 shows a deployment view of the Service Management and Exposure (SME) and Data Management and Exposure (DME) of Figures 2 to 7, in accordance with one example embodiment.

[0019] Figure 9 shows an example of a communication system in accordance with some embodiments.

[0020] Figure 10 is another example of a communication system according to some embodiments.

[0021] Figure 11 shows a wireless device, which may be configured to operate in communication system of Figure 9 or in communication system of Figure 10.

[0022] Figure 12 shows a network node in accordance with some embodiments.

[0023] Figure 13 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0024] The embodiments set forth below represent information to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments and illustrate the best mode of practicing the embodiments. Upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawing figures, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the disclosure and will recognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressed herein. It should be understood that these concepts and applications fall within the scope of the disclosure.

[0025] 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.

[0026] There currently exist certain challenge(s). Some problems with the current Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) technology as specified in the current Open Radio Access Network (O-RAN) specifications are as follows:• Lack of clarity on the definitions of SMO Functions (SMOFs) within an SMO;• The communication method between the SMOSs is not clearly specified;• The role of Service Management and Exposure (SME) and Data Management and Exposure (DME) for communicating between SMOSs is not described;• A method of communication between the SMO and its external interfaces is absent;• The relationship between R1 interface (i.e., a service-based interface between the rApps (i.e., modular applications that consume and / or produce non-real-time management and automation services) and the Non-Real-Time Radio Access Network (RAN) Intelligent Controller (Non-RT RIC)) and R1 services is not clear; and• Whether an rApp can produce any of the SMOSs, shown in Figure 1, has not been considered.

[0027] Certain aspects of the disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other challenges. Embodiments of the solution described herein provide an SMOF-centricService Based Architecture (SBA) approach as opposed to the current SMO Service (SMOS)-centric SBA approach (i.e., with a more fine-grained decoupled architecture). The SMOF-centric SBA approach provides a coarse-grained architecture enabling better product management and increased operational efficiency.

[0028] In addition, embodiments of the present disclosure define communications between SMOSs within the SMOF-centric approach, clarify the role of Non-RT RIC, and render an option to the rApps for producing SMOS to be consumed by other SMOSs within the SMO.

[0029] Finally, embodiments or the present disclosure provide clarity to the SMO (thereby to all its SMOSs) for communicating through its external interfaces.

[0030] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an SMOF-centric SBA for the SMO with any one or more of the following aspects:1. Define the SMOFs within the SMO with clear delineation.2. Assign an SMOF to all SMOSs within the SMO.3. Specify the communication method between the SMOFs as well as between the SMOSs when each SMOS is assigned to an SMOF.4. Affords an option to the rApps for producing services to be consumed by one or many SMOSs within the SMO.5. Define the R1 interface of an SMO consisting of SBA based SMOSs.6. State a method for the SMOSs to communicate with services and / or functions that are external to the SMO.

[0031] Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). Embodiments of the present disclosure make for an efficient product design due to a lower granularity of addressable architectural elements (i.e., SMOF vs. SMOS). Embodiments of the present disclosure may reduce the cost of integration to deploy an SMO sourced by multiple vendors. Due to the lower granularity of SMOF (vs. SMOS), embodiments of the present disclosure may help to reduce the operational cost. If desired, embodiments of the present disclosure may enable an rApp to produce one or more SMOSs.

[0032] In this regard, Figure 2 illustrates one example of an SMO 200 (also referred to herein as an SMO architecture or SMO system) having an SMOF-centric SMO SBA, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in Figure 2, the SMO 200 includes multiple SMOFs which are clearly defined. The SMOFs are, in this example:• Service & Subnet Slice Management SMOF 202 including two SMOSs, namely, a Service and Subnet Slice Orchestration SMOS 204 and a Service and Subnet Slice Assurance SMOS 206. The Service and Subnet Slice Orchestration SMOS includes, for example,capabilities to perform the orchestration of a RAN service and / or slice subnet. This includes both the orchestration of the fulfilment of the RAN service or the RAN slice subnet, and orchestration support for the actuation of an assurance process. The Service and Subnet Slice Assurance SMOS includes, for example, capabilities to ensure the required assurance for the RAN services and slice subnets. The behavior of the Service and Subnet Slice Assurance SMOS is dependent upon the related artifacts to support the request. It consumes the services provided by other SMOS Producers and can delegate responsibilities to rApps according to its configuration.• Cloud Resources Management SMOF 208 including two SMOSs, namely, a Network Function Orchestrator SMOS 210 and a Federated O-Cloud Orchestration and Management SMOS 212. The Network Function Orchestrator SMOS includes, for example, capabilities for the orchestration of the NF Deployments that constitute the Cloudified NFs. This includes the initial deployment of the software and any subsequent lifecycle management actions necessary on the respective NF Deployments instances, such as healing, updates, scaling, software upgrades, termination, etc. The Federated O-Cloud Orchestration and Management (FOCOM) SMOS includes, for example, capabilities for orchestration of cluster and infrastructure resources in one or several O-Clouds.• RAN Network Function (NF) Operations, Administration, and Maintenance (0AM) SMOF 214 including one SMOS, namely, a RAN NF 0AM SMOS 216, e.g., Change Management (CM), Fault Management (FM), Performance Management (PM), Tracing, Logging, etc.).• Non-RT RIC SMOF 218 including four SMOSs, namely, an rApp Topology Exposure SMOS 220, rApp Management SMOS 222, Artificial Intelligence (AI) / Machine Learning (ML) Workflow SMOS 224, Al related SMOS 226, and rApps 228. Note that “Al” is an interface between the Non-RT RIC and Near-RT RIC.o The rApp Topology Exposure and Inventory (TE&IV) SMOS includes, but is not limited to, the following capabilities:■ Creating, updating and deleting information about TE&IV resources and the relationships between them;■ Querying to obtain information about the TE&IV resources and the relationships between them, using filter criteria such as TE&IV resource types and / or geo-location data;■ Subscribing for notifications of changes to TE&IV resource information o The Al Related SMOS includes, but is not limited to, the following capabilities:■ Support for management of Al policies, including discovery of Al policies and Al policy types available in Near-RT RICs, as well as creation, querying, updating, and deletion of Al policies, querying the enforcement status of Al policies, and subscribing for event notifications related to Al policies and Al policy types;■ Support for Al Enrichment Information (El), including registration and deregistration of El types;■ Support for discovering AI / ML model training capabilities exposed by Near-RT RICs, and requesting AI / ML model training and status of training jobs.o An rApp is a modular application that consumes and / or produces non real time management and automation services.o The AI / ML Workflow SMOS is a specialized service within the Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) framework for Open Radio Access Networks (0-RAN). Its main purpose is to manage the full lifecycle of artificial intelligence and machine learning models used in telecom networks. This includes training, registering, discovering, storing, monitoring, and running inference on AI / ML models. The workflow enables secure, standardized, and automated interactions between different network applications (rApps) and the SMO, ensuring that AI / ML models can be efficiently deployed, managed, and utilized across the network.o The rApp management SMOS is a service within the Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) framework that provides comprehensive management for rApps (radio network applications) throughout their lifecycle.

[0033] The SMO 200 of Figure 2 has an increased emphasis on the SMOFs, aiming to refocus decoupling at level of typical commercial SMO products. Southbound SMO interfaces are terminated at SMOF boundaries rather than by SMOSs.

[0034] As illustrated in Figure 2, non-anchored SME and DME SMOSs 230 and 232 are used for SMOS-SMOS, SMOS-rApp, and rApp-rApp communication (e.g., both https and event-based communication). The SME 230 and DME 232 can be part of each SMOF shown in Figure 2. In addition, the SME 230 and DME 232 enable communication between any SMOS and services external to the SMO (i.e., external SMO consumers). Alternatively, the SME 230 and the DME 232 can be delivered as part of one SMOF. For example, the Non-RT RIC SMOF 218 can act as a lead and other SME, DME can acts as a slave. The lead SME and DME can act in form of afederated way to handle the service requests, for example like service invocations, service discovery or data requests or data subscriptions.

[0035] Figure 3 and Figure 4 illustrate two additional example embodiments of the SMO 200.

[0036] In the present disclosure, the onboarding service has not been shown as a separate SMOS. The onboarding SMOS will typically be part of an SMOF. If, however, the onboarding SMOS is part of the pipeline or software repo, then the application descriptor points to the Manifest.ymal file that has association of the image name and artifact names. The Artifacts and images are stored individually in the OCI registries.

[0037] The embodiment of the SMO 200 shown in Figure 3 is similar to that of Figure 2 but introduces two additional SMOFs, namely:• TE&IV (Topology Exposure and Inventory Management) SMOF 300 including one SMOS, namely, a TE&IV SMOS 302.• MLOps (Machine Learning Operations) SMOF 304 including one SMOS, namely, an AI / ML workflow SMOS 306.

[0038] Figure 4, on the other hand, adds a read only TE&IV SMOS 400 inside the Near-RT RIC SMOF 218.

[0039] Figure 5 shows an example embodiment of the SMO with various SMOFs where each SMOF has a list of SMO services. In other words, Figure 5 illustrates another embodiment of the SMO 200 with an SMOF-centric SMO SBA. The following are the key features of the embodiment of Figure 5:• Service and Subnet Slice Orchestration SMOF 500 produces a set of capabilities with a notation with Rll (SO related services), R12(SA related services), R6(Data management and exposure) and R7 (Service management and exposure).• Non-RT RIC SMOF 502 produces a set of capabilities such as R1 (rApp related services), R2(rApp management services), R3 (topology related services), R4 (AI / ML related services), R5 (Al related services), R6 (Data management and exposure) and R7 (Service management and exposure).• RAN 0AM SMOF 504 produces a set of capabilities such as R8 (RAN 0AM related services), R6 (Data management and exposure) and R7 (Service management and exposure).• Cloud management SMOF 506 produces a set of capabilities such as R9 (NFO related services), R10 (FOCOM related services), R6 (Data management and exposure) and R7 (Service management and exposure).

[0040] Flexibility and openness are a couple of key benefits of the rApps 226. In order to continue with that spirit, in one embodiment, an rApp 228 is enabled to produce any SMOS that can be consumed by an SMOS within the SMO 200. Figure 6 illustrates one example of an embodiment in which rApps 228 produce SMOS. As shown in Figure 6, in this example, rAppl produces Service and Subnet Slice Orchestration SMOS 600 and rApp2 produces Service and Subnet Slice Assurance SMOS 602. These rApp-produced SMOSs may be consumed by any SMOS (e.g., RAN NF 0AM SMOS 216, Network Function Orchestrator 210, Federated O-Cloud Orchestration and Management 212) within the SMO 200.

[0041] Each SMOF has services and data that it exposes to other SMOFs via the SME 230 and the DME 232. Hence, the SME 230 and the DME 232 are non-anchored SMOSs, whose implementations are spread across all SMOFs. Figure 7 is an example of an embodiment of the SMO 200 without a Non-RT RIC SMOF 218 and Service & Subnet Slice Management SMOF 202. The SME 230 and the DME 232, while illustrated separately, are as an example deployed in both SMOFs 208 and 214 to allow inter-SMOF and SMOF to external system communications.

[0042] One SMOF can act as the common access point for all SMOS consumers (e.g. the RAN-OAM could expose a single entry-point for all SMOS Application Programming Interfaces (APIs)), or consumers could access SMOSs exposed directly by a SMOF.

[0043] Figure 8 shows a deployment view of the SME 230 and the DME 232, in accordance with one example embodiment. In Figure 8, the RAN NF 0AM 214 exposes a ‘master’ or ‘lead’ SME instance 800 and a ‘master’ or ‘lead’ DME instance 802 through which external systems interact with the SMO 200. The Cloud Resources Management SMOF 208 includes a DME instance 804 and an SME instance 806. For DME and SME, a mesh architecture is used.

[0044] For DME, implementation aspects can for example include federation of Kafka buses and data catalog federation. An SME deployed in a given SMOF can both expose services published by SMOSs within that SMOF and discover services from other SMOSs.

[0045] The following definitions are applicable to the description provided herein.• R1 Interface: The set of standardized interfaces exposed via Non-RT RIC framework which are produced or consumed by rApps and / or SMOF's.• R1 Service Producer: An entity (i.e. SMOF or rApp) producing an SMO service capability (defined as part of Rl) that can be consumed by other entities.• Rl Service Consumer: An entity (i.e. SMOF or rApp) consuming an SMO service capability (defined as part of Rl) that can be produced by other entities.• SMO Service: Standardized cohesive set of management, orchestration and automation capabilities offered by an SMO Function.• SMO Function: Internal SMO entities which provide one or more SMO Services.

[0046] The following statements will give more clarifications on the above definitions.

[0047] SMOS refers to a set of capabilities (SMO capabilities) provided by functional entities (SMOFs or rApps) in the SMO for consumption by internal consumers (functional entities inside the SMO) or by external consumers (through service exposure authorized via SME).

[0048] The SMO service capabilities are offered via SMOS interfaces (service APIs) produced by a service API producer and consumed by a service API consumer. The functional entity producing the service APIs is referred to as SMOS Producer. A SMOS Producer may consume service APIs produced by other SMOS Producers. A SMOF contains one or more SMOS Producers.

[0049] rApps consume and produce service APIs related to SMO capabilities and to rApp capabilities. SMO capabilities are standardized while rApp capabilities can be non-standardized.

[0050] The R1 Interface provides a service API based communication between service API consumers and service API producers.

[0051] The R1 interface enables SMOS Producers and the rApps to exchange messages, assuming that the service APIs are registered with the service management and exposure functions.

[0052] The R1 interface enables SMOS Producers and rApps to exchange data, assuming that the data type production capability are registered with the data management and exposure

[0053] In one example implementation, embodiments of the present disclosure may be utilized for cloud implementations of OSS (Operations Support Systems) components of an O-RAN ALLIANCE specified network.

[0054] Figure 9 shows an example of a communication system 900 in accordance with some embodiments. Embodiments of the SMO 200 described above may be implemented in the telecommunications network 902, e.g., as part of a cloud implementation of an OSS components of an O-RAN implementation of the access network 904.

[0055] In the example, the communication system 900 includes a telecommunications network 902 that includes an access network 904, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 906, which includes one or more core network nodes 908. The access network 904 includes one or more access network nodes or base stations of various types, access network nodes 910A and 910B are depicted (which may be collectively referred to as network nodes 910), or any other similar 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points (APs). Some embodiments of the access network 904 may include more than one access network technology. The network nodes 910 of access network 904 facilitate direct or indirect connection of wireless devices, also referred to as user equipments (UEs), such as by connecting UEs 912A,912B, 912C, and 912D (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 912) to the core network 906 over one or more wireless connections.

[0056] Moreover, 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 telecommunications network 902 includes one or more Open-RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a network node in the telecommunications network 902 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 network nodes to implement one or more functionalities of any network node in the telecommunications network 902, including one or more access network nodes 910 and / or core network nodes 908.

[0057] Examples of an ORAN network node include an open radio unit (O-RU), an open distributed unit (O-DU), an open central unit (O-CU), including an O-CU control plane (O-CU-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). An ORAN network node may support a specification by, for example, supporting an interface defined by the ORAN specification, such as an Al, Fl, Wl, El, E2, X2, Xn interface, an open fronthaul user plane interface, or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Moreover, an ORAN network 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 O-2 interface defined by the O-RAN Alliance or comparable technologies.

[0058] The network nodes 910 facilitate direct or indirect connection of one or more UEs 912 to the core network 906 over one or more wireless connections. 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 900 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 wirelessconnections. The communication system 900 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar type of system.

[0059] The UEs 912 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 910 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network nodes 908, 910 are arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly (e.g., via other devices of telecommunications network 902) with the UEs 912 and / or with other network nodes or equipment in the telecommunications network 902 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as administration in the telecommunications network 902. More specifically, UEs 912 may send messages, data, and / or other signals to network nodes 908, 910 or other elements of the telecommunications network 902 by transmitting such signals to the relevant device directly without the signals passing through any intervening devices or by transmitting such signals to the relevant device indirectly through an intervening device (or multiple intervening devices) that then transmit the signal to the relevant device. Similarly, network nodes 908, 910 may send messages, data, and other signals to UEs 9122, other network nodes 908, 910, and other devices in telecommunications network 902 directly or indirectly. As one specific example, a core network node 108 may transmit a particular message to a UE 912 by transmitting the message to an access network node 910 that will then transmit the message to the intended UE 912. Similarly, a core network node 108 may receive a particular message from a UE 912 by receiving the message from an access network node 910 that itself received the message from the UE 912.

[0060] In the depicted example, the core network 906 connects elements of the access network 904 (e.g., one or more of the network nodes 910) to one or more host computing systems, such as host 916. 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 906 includes one or more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 908) of various types, one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 908. Network nodes 908 are structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, access network nodes, and / or hosts, such that the descriptions thereof are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 908. Example core network nodes provide 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).

[0061] The host 916 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than an operator or provider of the access network 904 and / or the telecommunications network 902. The host 916 may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. The host 916 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.

[0062] As a whole, the communication system 900 of Figure 9 enables connectivity between the UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system 900 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 (Wi-Fi); and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (Wi-Max), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC) ZigBee, Li-Fi, and / or any low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox. Moreover, the communication system 900 may be configured to support multiple different standards, protocols, or other rule sets, with individual components supporting all of the relevant rule sets or with different components or sub-systems within the communication system 900 supporting different standards, protocols, or rule sets.

[0063] As one example, in certain embodiments, access network 904 may contain some access network nodes 910 that support 3 GPP radio access technologies (RAT), such as LTE or NR, while other access network nodes 910 support (or the same access network nodes 910 additionally support) non-3GPP RATs, such as Wi-Fi or a proprietary RAT. As another example, telecommunications network 902 may support multiple generations of related communication standards (e.g., 4G and 5G 3GPP communication standards) and, as a result, may include an access network 104 and / or a core network 106 that supports multiple different standard generations ormay include multiple access networks 104 and / or multiple core networks 106 with individual networks 104, 106 supporting different standard generations.

[0064] Telecommunications network 902 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices that are connected to the telecommunications network 902. For example, the telecommunications network 902 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.

[0065] In some examples, one or more of the UEs 912 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 904 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the access network 904. 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).

[0066] In the example, the hub 914 communicates with the access network 904 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UE 912C and / or 912D) and network nodes (e.g., network node 910B). In some examples, the hub 914 may be a controller, router, content source and analytics, or any of the other communication devices described herein regarding UEs. For example, the hub 914 may be a broadband router enabling access to the core network 906 for the UEs. As another example, the hub 914 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 910, or by executable code, script, process, or other instructions in the hub 914.

[0067] As another example, the hub 914 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 914 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker or other media delivery device, the hub 914 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 914 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In still another example, the hub 914 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, in particular if one or more of the UEs are low energy loT devices.

[0068] The hub 914 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 910B. The hub 914 may also allow for a different communication scheme and / or schedulebetween the hub 914 and UEs (e.g., UE 912C and / or 912D), and between the hub 914 and the core network 906. In other examples, the hub 914 is connected to the core network 906 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Moreover, the hub 914 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider over the access network 904 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, UEs may establish a wireless connection with the network nodes 910 while still connected via the hub 914 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 914 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 910B. In other embodiments, the hub 914 may be a nondedicated hub - that is, a device which is capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and network node 910B, but which is additionally capable of operating as a communication start and / or end point for certain data channels.

[0069] Figure 10 is another example of a communication system 1000 according to some embodiments. As used herein, the communication system 1000 includes multiple access points (APs) 1010 (with four exemplary APs 1010A, 1010B, 1010C, and 1010D being depicted) and multiple wireless devices, referred to in the context of communication system 1000 as stations (ST As) 1012 (referred to individually as ST A 1012A, ST A 1012B, ST A 1012C, STA 1012D, and STA 1012E). STA 1012A is served by AP 1010A in a first basic service set (BSS) 1020A. STA 1010B and STA 1010C are served by AP 1010B in a second BSS, BSS 1020B. STA 1012D is served by AP 1010C in a third BSS, BSS 1020C. STA 1012E is served by AP 1010D in a fourth BSS, BSS 1020D. Stations 1012 may be non-AP STAs and correspond to various kinds of wireless devices, for example, user terminals, such as mobile or stationary computing devices like smartphones, laptop computers, desktop computers, tablet computers, gaming devices, headmounted displays (HMDs) for Augmented Reality (AR) or Virtual Reality (VR), or the like. Further, stations 1012 could, for example, correspond to other kinds of equipment like smart home devices, printers, multimedia devices, data storage devices, or the like.

[0070] Each of STAs 1012 may connect through a radio link to one of APs 1010. For example, depending on location or channel conditions experienced by a given STA 1012, the STA may select an appropriate AP and BSS for establishing the radio link. The radio link may be based on one or more orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM) carriers from a frequency spectrum that is shared on the basis of a contention-based mechanism, e.g., an unlicensed or license exempt band like 2.4 GHz Industrial, Scientific, and Medical (ISM) band, the 5 GHz band, the 6 GHz band, or the 60 GHz band.

[0071] Each AP 1010 may provide data connectivity to STAs 1012 connected to a particular AP 1010. As illustrated, APs 1010 may be connected to a data network 1030. In this way, APs1010 may also provide data connectivity between STAs 1012 and other entities, e.g., to one or more servers, service providers, data sources, data sinks, user terminals, or the like. Accordingly, the radio link established between a given STA 1012 and its serving AP 1010 may be used for providing various kinds of services to STA 1012, e.g., a voice service, a multimedia service, or other data service. Such services may be based on applications that are executed on STA 1012 and / or on a device linked to STA 1012. By way of example, Figure 10 illustrates an application service platform 1032 provided in data network 1030. The application(s) executed on STA 1012 and / or on one or more other devices linked to STA 1012 may use the radio link for data communication with one or more other STA 1012 and / or the application service platform 1032, thereby enabling utilization of the corresponding service(s) at STA 1012.

[0072] Figure 11 shows a wireless device 1100, which may be configured to operate in communication system 900 of Figure 9 or in communication system 1000 of Figure 10. The wireless device 1100 may be alternatively referred to as a UE 1100, like a UE 912 within the context of communication system 900, or as a station (STA) 1100 or as a non-access-point station (non-AP STA) 1100, like a STA 1012 within the context of the communication system 1000, in accordance with respective embodiments. As used herein, a wireless device refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other wireless devices. Examples of a wireless device 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 device, playback appliance, wearable terminal device, wireless endpoint, mobile station, tablet, laptop, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart device, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), vehicle, vehicle-mounted or vehicle embedded / integrated wireless device, and wireless terminal. Other examples include any type of UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including a narrow band internet of things (NB-IoT) UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0073] A wireless device 1100 may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3 GPP 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, wireless device 1100 may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the relevant device. Instead, wireless device 1100 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 sprinklercontroller). Alternatively, wireless device 1100 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).

[0074] In particular embodiments, wireless device 1100 includes processing circuitry 1102 that is operatively coupled via a bus 1104 to an input / output interface 1106, a power source 1108, a memory 1110, a communication interface 1112, and / or any other component, or any combination thereof. Certain embodiments of wireless device 1100 may include all or a subset of the components shown in Figure 11. The level of integration between the components may vary from one embodiment of wireless device 1100 to another. In general, in a particular embodiment of wireless device 1100, processing circuitry 1102, input / output interface 1106, power source 1108, memory 1110, and communication interface 1112 may, in whole or in part, represent or include physical components common to or shared by one or more of the other elements of wireless device 1100. Further, certain embodiments of wireless devices 1100 may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0075] The processing circuitry 1102 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 1110. The processing circuitry 1102 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 1102 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0076] In the example, the input / output interface 1106 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 wireless device 1100. 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 outputdevice 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.

[0077] In some embodiments, the power source 1108 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 to supply power to circuitry or to charge an associated battery. The power source 1108 may further include power circuitry for delivering power from the power source 1108 itself, and / or an external power source, to the various parts of wireless device 1100 via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Power source 1108 may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to make accessible power suitable for the respective components of the wireless device 1100 to which power is supplied.

[0078] The memory 1110 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 1110 includes one or more programs 1114, such as an operating system, web browser application, a widget, gadget engine, or other application, and corresponding data 1116. The memory 1110 may store, for use by wireless device 1100, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0079] The memory 1110 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 (eUICC), integrated UICC (iUICC) or a removable UICC commonly known as ‘SIM card.’ The memory 1110 may allow wireless device 1100 to access instructions, 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 1110, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0080] The processing circuitry 1102 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network via or using the communication interface 1112. The communication interface 1112 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 1122. The communication interface 1112 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 wireless device or a network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 1118 and / or a receiver 1120 appropriate to provide network communications (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocations, and so forth). Moreover, the transmitter 1118 and receiver 1120 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 1122) and may share circuit components, software, or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0081] In the illustrated embodiment, communication functions of the communication interface 1112 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication (e.g., according to an IEEE 802.11 family standard), 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 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 / intemet protocol (TCP / IP), synchronous optical networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so forth.

[0082] In particular embodiments, wireless device 1100 may provide an output of data captured via a sensor, through its communication interface 1112, via a wireless connection to a network node, and / or in any appropriate manner. Data captured by sensors of a wireless device 1100 can be communicated through a wireless connection to a network node via another wireless device 1100. In particular embodiments, such 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).

[0083] As another example, wireless device 1100 comprises an actuator, a motor, or a switch, related to a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node viaa wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input the states of the actuator, the motor, or the switch may change. For example, wireless device 1100 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.

[0084] Wireless device 1100, 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, 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 smart watch, 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. In particular embodiments, wireless device 1100 represents an loT device that 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 example embodiment of wireless device 1100 shown in Figure 11.

[0085] As yet another specific example, in an loT scenario, wireless device 1100 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 wireless device and / or a network node. Wireless device 1100 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, wireless device 1100 may implement the 3 GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, wireless device 1100 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.

[0086] In practice, any number of wireless devices 1100 may be used together with respect to a single use case. For example, a first wireless device 1100 might be or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone’s speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second wireless device 1100 that is a remote controller operating the drone. When a user makes changes from the remote controller, the first wireless device 1100 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 secondwireless device 1100 can also include more than one of the functionalities described above. For example, wireless device 1100 might comprise the sensor and the actuator, and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuators.

[0087] Figure 12 shows a network node 1200 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 telecommunications network. In accordance with respective embodiments, network node 1200 may be configured to operate in communication system 900 of Figure 9, like network nodes 908 or 910, or in communication system 1000 of Figure 10, like an AP 1010 or a station 1012. 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).

[0088] Network nodes 1200 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. Network node 1200 may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. Network nodes 1200 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).

[0089] Other examples of network nodes 1200 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-cell / 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).

[0090] In particular embodiments, network node 1200 includes a processing circuitry 1202, a memory 1204, a communication interface 1206, and a power source 1208. In general, in a particular embodiment of network node 1200, processing circuitry 1202, memory 1204, communication interface 1206, and power source 1208 may, in whole or in part, represent orinclude physical components common to or shared by one or more of the other elements of network node 1200.

[0091] The network node 1200 may be composed of multiple distinct network entities (e.g., a NodeB entity and a RNC entity, or a BTS entity and a BSC entity, etc.), which may each have or utilize their own respective physical components. In certain scenarios in which the network node 1200 comprises multiple such entities (e.g., BTS and BSC), one or more of the separate entities 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 1200 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memories 1204 or portions of memory 1204 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., a same antenna 1210 may be shared by different RATs). The network node 1200 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 1200, for example GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, Wi-Fi (e.g., according to an IEEE 802.11 family standard), 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 1200.

[0092] The processing circuitry 1202 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 components, such as the memory 1204, to provide network node 1200 functionality.

[0093] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1202 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1202 includes one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1212 and baseband processing circuitry 1214. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuitry 1212 and the baseband processing circuitry 1214 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 1212 and baseband processing circuitry 1214 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0094] The memory 1204 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-onlymemory (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 1202. The memory 1204 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 1202 and utilized by the network node 1200. The memory 1204 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 1202 and / or any data received via the communication interface 1206. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 1202 and memory 1204 is integrated.

[0095] The communication interface 1206 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data with UEs, other network nodes, and / or any other network equipment. In the illustrated embodiment, communication interface 1206 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 1216 to send and receive data, for example to and from a network over a wired connection. In particular embodiments, network node 1100 may be capable of wireless communication and communication interface 1206 may also include radio front-end circuitry 1218 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, an antenna 1210. Particular embodiments of radio front-end circuitry 1218 include filter(s) 1220 and amplifier(s) 1222. The radio front-end circuitry 1218 may be connected to an antenna 1210 and processing circuitry 1202. The radio front-end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 1210 and processing circuitry 1202. The radio front-end circuitry 1218 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 1218 may convert the digital data into a radio signal(s) having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1220 and / or amplifiers 1222. The radio signal(s) may then be transmitted via the antenna 1210. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 1210 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 1218. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 1202. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0096] In certain alternative embodiments, network node 1200 may be capable of wireless communication but does not include separate radio front-end circuitry 1218, instead, the processing circuitry 1202 includes radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 1210. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of the RF transceiver circuitry 1212 is part of the communication interface 1206. In still other embodiments, the communication interface 1206 includes one or more ports or terminals 1216, the radio front-end circuitry 1218, and the RFtransceiver circuitry 1212, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 1206 communicates with the baseband processing circuitry 1214, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0097] The antenna 1210 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 1210 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 1218 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and / or signals wirelessly. In certain embodiments, the antenna 1210 is separate from the network node 1200 and connectable to the network node 1200 through one or more interfaces or ports.

[0098] The antenna 1210, communication interface 1206, and / or the processing circuitry 1202 may be configured to perform some or all of the receiving operations and / or obtaining operations described herein as being performed by the network node 1200. Any information, data, and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 1210, the communication interface 1206, and / or the processing circuitry 1202 may be configured to perform some or all of the transmitting or sending operations described herein as being performed by the network node 1200. Any information, data and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment.

[0099] The power source 1208 provides power to the various components of network node 1200 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g., at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). The power source 1208 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry to supply the components of the network node 1200 with power for performing the functionality described herein. For example, the network node 1200 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 1208. As a further example, the power source 1208 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.

[0100] Embodiments of the network node 1200 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 12 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 1200 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into the network node 1200 and to allow output of information from the network node 1200. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for the network node 1200.

[0101] Figure 13 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1300 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 1300 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as an access network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which a 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 1300 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration Framework via an O-2 interface.

[0102] Applications 1302 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment 1200 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0103] Hardware 1304 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 1306 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VM 1308A and VM 1308B (which may be collectively referred to as VMs 1308), and / or perform any of the functions, features and / or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 1306 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to one or more of the VMs 1308.

[0104] The VMs 1308 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by virtualization layer 1306. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 1302 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 1308, 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, physicalswitches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

[0105] In the context of NFV, each of the VMs 1308 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 1308, and that part of hardware 1304 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 of the VMs 1308 on top of the hardware 1304 and corresponds to an application 1302.

[0106] Hardware 1304 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 1304 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 1304 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 1310, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 1302. In some embodiments, hardware 1304 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 1312 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

[0107] Although the computing devices described herein (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) 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 maybe 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.

[0108] 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.

[0109] Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the embodiments of the present disclosure. All such improvements and modifications are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein.

[0110] Some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are as follows:[OHl] Embodiment 1: A Service and Management Orchestration, SMO, system (200) (e.g., for a cloud implementation of one or more Operational Support System, OSS, for an Open Radio Access Network, 0-RAN, implantation of a Radio Access Network, RAN, of a cellular communications system), comprising: a plurality of SMO Functions, SMOFs, (202, 208, 214, and / or 218), each comprising one or more SMO Services, SMOSs; wherein the plurality of SMOFs, including the SMOs comprised within the SMOFs, are arranged (e.g., are communicatively coupled) via an SMOF-centric Service Based Architecture, SBA.

[0112] Embodiment 2: The SMO system (200) of embodiment 1, further comprising one or more non-anchored SMOSs (e.g., a Service Management and Exposure, SME, SMOS (230) and a Data Management and Exposure, DME, SMOS (232)) configured to enable SMOS-SMOS communication.

[0113] Embodiment 3 : The SMO system (200) of embodiment 2, wherein the one or more non-anchored SMOSs further enable SMOS to rAPP and rAPP to SMOS communication within the SMO system (200).

[0114] Embodiment 4: The SMO system (200) of embodiment 2 or 3, wherein the one or more non-anchored SMOSs further enable communication between the SMOS(s) comprised in at least one of the SMOFs and one or more services external to the SMO system (200).

[0115] Embodiment 5: The method of any of embodiments 2 to 4, wherein the SME SMOS comprises a first component (e.g., master or lead SME instance) implemented at one of the plurality of SMOFs, and a second component (e.g., non-master or non-lead SME instance) implemented at each of at least some of the other SMOFs.

[0116] Embodiment 6: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 5, wherein the plurality of SMOFs comprise any one or more of the following SMOFs: a service and subnet slice management SMOF (202) comprising one or more related SMOSs (e.g., a service and subnet slice orchestration SMOS (204) and / or a service and subnet slice assurance SMOS (206)); a cloud resource management SMOF (208) comprising one or more related SMOSs (e.g., a network function orchestrator SMOS (210) and / or a federated O-Cloud orchestration and management SMOS (212)); a RAN Network Function, NF, Operations, Administration, and Maintenance, 0AM, SMOS (214) comprising one or more SMOSs (e.g., a RAN NR 0AM related SMOS); a non-real-time RAN Intelligent Controller, Non-RT RIC, SMOS (218) comprising one or more rApps (228) and one or more related SMOSs (e.g., rApp topology exposure SMOS (220), rApp management SMOS (222), AI / ML workflow SMOS (224), and / or Al related SMOS (226)); a Topology Exposure and Inventory Management, TE&IV, SMOF (300) comprising one or more related SMOSs (e.g., TE&IV SMOS (302)); a ML Operations SMOF (304) comprising one or more related SMOSs (e.g., an AI / ML workflow SMOS (306)).

[0117] Embodiment 7: The method of embodiment 6, wherein the plurality of SMOFs comprise the non-RT RIC SMOF (218), and the non-RT RIC SMOF (218) comprises one or more rAPPs (228) enabled to produce one or more SMOSs (600, 602) (e.g., to produce services to be consumed by one or more SMOs within the SMO system (200)).

[0118] Embodiment 8: The method of any of embodiments 1 to 7, wherein each of the plurality of SMOFs produce a corresponding set of capabilities for the SMOF-centric SB A.

Claims

CLAIMS1. A Service and Management Orchestration, SMO, system (200) for an Open Radio Access Network, O-RAN, implementation of a Radio Access Network, RAN, of a cellular communications system, the SMO system (200) comprising:a plurality of SMO Functions, SMOFs, (202, 208, 214, and / or 218), each comprising one or more SMO Services, SMOSs;wherein the plurality of SMOFs, including the SMOs comprised within the SMOFs, are communicatively coupled via an SMOF-centric Service Based Architecture, SB A.

2. The SMO system (200) of claim 1, further comprising one or more non-anchored SMOSs configured to enable SMOS-SMOS communication.

3. The SMO system (200) of claim 2, wherein the one or more non-anchored SMOSs configured to enable SMOS-SMOS communication comprise:a Service Management and Exposure, SME, SMOS (230); anda Data Management and Exposure, DME, SMOS (232).

4. The method of claim 3, wherein the SME SMOS (230) is implemented as an SME SMOS mesh comprising different SME instances (800, 806) within or associated with different SMOFs (208, 214).

5. The method of claim 4, wherein each SME instance is configured to perform discovery and registration such that the different SME instances are enabled to discover one another.

6. The method of any of claims 3 to 5, wherein the DME SMOS (232) is implemented as an DME SMOS mesh comprising different DME instances (802, 804) within or associated with different SMOFs (208, 214).

7. The method of claim 6, wherein each DME instance is configured to perform discovery and registration such that the different DME instances are enabled to discover one another.

8. The method of any of claims 3 to 7, wherein the SME SMOS and DME SMOS further enable SMOS to rAPP and rAPP to SMOS communication within the SMO system (200).

9. The method of any of claims 3 to 8, wherein the SME SMOS and DME SMOS further enable rApp to rAPP communication.

10. The method of any of claims 3 to 9, wherein the SME SMOS and DME SMOS further enable communication between SMOSs comprised in the SMOFs and one or more services external to the SMO system (202).

11. The method of any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the plurality of SMOFs comprise:a service and subnet slice management SMOF (202) comprising a service and subnet slice orchestration SMOS (204) and a service and subnet slice assurance SMOS (206);a cloud resource management SMOF (208) comprising a network function orchestrator SMOS (210) and a federated O-Cloud orchestration and management SMOS (212);a RAN Network Function, NF, Operations, Administration, and Maintenance, 0AM, SMOS (214) comprising a RAN NR 0AM SMOS (216);a non-real-time RAN Intelligent Controller, Non-RT RIC, SMOS (218) comprising one or more rApps (228) and one or more related SMOSs (220, 222, 224, 226).

12. The method of any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the plurality of SMOFs comprise:a service and subnet slice management SMOF (202) comprising a service and subnet slice orchestration SMOS (204) and a service and subnet slice assurance SMOS (206);a cloud resource management SMOF (208) comprising a network function orchestrator SMOS (210) and a federated O-Cloud orchestration and management SMOS (212);a RAN Network Function, NF, Operations, Administration, and Maintenance, 0AM, SMOS (214) comprising a RAN NR 0AM SMOS (216);a non-real-time RAN Intelligent Controller, Non-RT RIC, SMOS (218) comprising one or more rApps (228) and one or more related SMOSs (222, 226);a Topology Exposure and Inventory Management, TE&IV, SMOF (300) comprising a TE&IV SMOS (302); anda ML Operations SMOF (304) comprising an AI / ML workflow SMOS (306).

13. The method of any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the plurality of SMOFs comprise:a service and subnet slice management SMOF (202) comprising a service and subnet slice orchestration SMOS (204) and a service and subnet slice assurance SMOS (206);a cloud resource management SMOF (208) comprising a network function orchestratorSMOS (210) and a federated O-Cloud orchestration and management SMOS (212); a RAN Network Function, NF, Operations, Administration, and Maintenance, 0AM, SMOS (214) comprising a RAN NR 0AM SMOS (216);a non-real-time RAN Intelligent Controller, Non-RT RIC, SMOS (218) comprising one or more rApps (228) and one or more related SMOSs including an rApp Topology Exposure SMOS (400);a Topology Exposure and Inventory Management, TE&IV, SMOF (300) comprising a TE&IV SMOS (302); anda ML Operations SMOF (304) comprising an AI / ML workflow SMOS (306).

14. The method of any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the plurality of SMOFs comprise a non-real-time RAN Intelligent Controller, Non-RT RIC, SMOS (218) comprising one or more rApps (228) enabled to produce one or more SMOSs (600, 602).

15. The method of any of claims 1 to 14, wherein each of the plurality of SMOFs produce a corresponding set of capabilities for the SMOF-centric SBA.

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