Patent Application
20230309189
The present disclosure relates to wireless communication and in particular, methods and apparatuses for 5G Multicast Broadcast Services (5MBS) individual delivery.
Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has developed the MBMS (Multicast/Broadcast Multimedia Subsystem, see 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 23.246 version 16.1.0) for 3rd Generation (3G) networks for video multicast/broadcasting and streaming services and later introduced the eMBMS (evolved MBMS) for Evolved Packet System (EPS). In 3GPP Release 13 (Rel-13) and 3GPP Release 14 (Rel-14), the MBMS system was updated to support new services such as Public Safety, Carrier Aggregation Internet of Things (CIoT) and vehicle-to-everything (V2X).
The scope of a new 3GPP Release-17 study in the 3GPP Service and System
Aspects Working Group 2 (SA2) is to study both multicast requirements and use cases for Public Safety, Cellular-IoT, V2X, etc., and dedicated broadcasting requirements and use cases. The study targets the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) 5th Generation (5G, also called New Radio) Release 17 and the New Radio (NR) radio access. The study results so far has been documented in the 3GPP Technical Report (TR) 23.757 Version (V) 0.4.0.
Multicast/Broadcast services (MBS) are so far not supported in 5G NR. With the enhanced characteristics of the 5G NR, e.g., short delays, bandwidth, etc., it is believed Mission Critical Services i.e., Mission Critical Push To Talk (MCPTT), Mission Critical Data (MCData) and Mission Critical Video (MCVideo), as well as V2X services, will show an enhanced and much better performance in 5G NR.
In TR 23.757 V 0.4.0. Chapter 4.4 “MBS Traffic Delivery Methods”, two delivery methods from 5G Core (5GC) have been considered:
If 5GC Individual MBS traffic delivery method is supported, a same received single copy of MBS data packets by the 5G CN may be delivered via both 5GC Individual MBS traffic delivery method for some UE(s) and 5GC Shared MBS traffic delivery method for other UEs.
Two architecture options are proposed in TR 23.757 v0.4.0: architecture option #1 in Annex A.1 and architecture option #2 in Annex A.2. Related to the different architecture options, option #1 and architecture option #2, there was proposed different solutions, Solution #2 and Solution #3:
Solution #2 in chapter 6.2 of TR 23.757 v0.4.0 is the main solution for 5MBS Multicast support based on architecture option #2 (see TR 23.757 v0.4.0 Annex A.2). Within this Solution #2, the “5GC Shared MBS traffic delivery method” has been defined, while the “5GC Individual MBS traffic delivery method” (below also called “5MBS Individual Delivery”) has not been introduced.
As can be seen in
Solution #3 in chapter 6.3 of TR 23.757 v0.4.0 is the main solution for 5MBS Multicast support based on architecture option #1 (see TR 23.757 Annex A.1). Within this solution, both “5GC Shared MBS traffic delivery method” and “5GC Individual MBS traffic delivery method” have been defined.
As can be seen in
Within Solution #3, the “multicast distribution” is the implementation of “5GC Shared MBS traffic delivery method”, while the “unicast distribution via PDU session” is the implementation of the “5GC Individual MBS traffic delivery method”.
Solution #2 has drawbacks since it does not support “5GC Individual MBS traffic delivery”.
In one embodiment, an access and mobility management function, AMF, node or other core network node is configured to obtain a radio access network, RAN, capability indication; and as a result of a request from a user equipment, UE, to join a multicast/broadcast, MB, session, send a MB session response, the MB session response including one of a rejection to the request to join and an acceptance of the request to join based at least in part on at least one of the RAN capability indication, a disable individual delivery parameter related to a multicast broadcast service, MBS, and a policy.
In one embodiment, an application function, AF, node is configured to determine whether to disable individual multicast broadcast service, MBS, traffic delivery for a multicast/broadcast, MB, session to at least one user equipment, UE; and set and/or send a disable individual delivery parameter associated with the MB session based at least in part on the determination.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a method implemented in a core network node is provided. The method includes determining a radio access network, RAN, capability indication; and as a result of a request from a user equipment, UE, to join a multicast/broadcast, MB, session, sending a MB session response, the MB session response including one of a rejection to the request to join and an acceptance of the request to join based on the RAN capability indication and further based on at least one of a disable individual delivery parameter related to a multicast broadcast service, MBS, and a policy.
In some embodiments of this aspect, the determining the RAN capability indication comprises one of: obtaining the RAN capability indication from a second network node; and internally deriving the RAN capability indication. In some embodiments of this aspect, the disable individual delivery parameter indicates whether an application function, AF, node one of enabled and disabled individual MBS traffic delivery for the MB session that the UE requested to join. In some embodiments of this aspect, the request to join the MB session includes at least one of: the RAN capability indication and an identification of the requested MB session; and the identification of the requested MB session includes a Temporary Mobile Group Identity, TMGI, allocated to the MB session.
In some embodiments of this aspect, the RAN capability indication indicates whether a RAN node that the UE is associated with supports a multicast broadcast service, MBS. In some embodiments of this aspect, the RAN capability indication is determined based on the UE's request to join the MB session. In some embodiments of this aspect, the RAN capability indication is determined based on the RAN node's response to the network node requesting to check the RAN capability or as part of a set-up procedure. In some embodiments of this aspect, each of the request to join and the response is in a non-access stratum, NAS, message. In some embodiments of this aspect, the MB session response includes a cause code indicating at least one of information about the RAN capability and information about individual multicast broadcast service, MBS, traffic delivery. In some embodiments of this aspect, the core network node is a Session Management Function, SMF.
According to another aspect, a method implemented in an application function, AF, node is provided. The method includes determining whether to disable an individual multicast broadcast service, MBS, traffic delivery for a multicast/broadcast, MB, session to at least one user equipment, UE; and sending to a network node a disable individual delivery parameter associated with the MB session based at least in part on the determination.
In some embodiments of this aspect, the determining is based at least in part on a characteristic of an application associated with the MB session. In some embodiments of this aspect, the disable individual delivery parameter indicates whether the AF node one of enabled and disabled an individual traffic delivery for the MB session. In some embodiments of this aspect, the individual traffic delivery is an individual multicast broadcast service, MBS, traffic delivery for the MB session.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a network node is provided. The network node includes processing circuitry configured to cause the network node to determine a radio access network, RAN, capability indication; and as a result of a request from a user equipment, UE, (12) to join a multicast/broadcast, MB, session, send a MB session response, the MB session response including one of a rejection to the request to join and an acceptance of the request to join based on the RAN capability indication and further based on at least one of a disable individual delivery parameter related to a multicast broadcast service, MBS, and a policy.
In some embodiments of this aspect, the processing circuitry is configured to cause the network node to the determine the RAN capability indication by being configured to cause the network node to one of: obtain the RAN capability indication from a second network node; and internally derive the RAN capability indication. In some embodiments of this aspect, the disable individual delivery parameter indicates whether an application function, AF, node one of enabled and disabled individual MBS traffic delivery for the MB session that the UE requested to join. In some embodiments of this aspect, the request to join the MB session includes at least one of: the RAN capability indication and an identification of the requested MB session; and the identification of the requested MB session includes a Temporary Mobile Group Identity, TMGI, allocated to the MB session.
In some embodiments of this aspect, the RAN capability indication indicates whether a RAN node that the UE is associated with supports a multicast broadcast service, MBS. In some embodiments of this aspect, the RAN capability indication is determined based on the UE's request to join the MB session. In some embodiments of this aspect, the RAN capability indication is determined based on the RAN node's response to the network node requesting to check the RAN capability or as part of a set-up procedure. In some embodiments of this aspect, each of the request to join and the response is in a non-access stratum, NAS, message. In some embodiments of this aspect, the MB session response includes a cause code indicating at least one of information about the RAN capability and information about individual multicast broadcast service, MBS, traffic delivery. In some embodiments of this aspect, the core network node is a Session Management Function, SMF.
According to an aspect of the present disclosure, an application function, AF, node is provided. The AF node includes processing circuitry configured to cause the AF node to determine whether to disable an individual multicast broadcast service, MBS, traffic delivery for a multicast/broadcast, MB, session to at least one user equipment, UE; and send to a network node a disable individual delivery parameter associated with the MB session based at least in part on the determination.
In some embodiments of this aspect, the processing circuitry is configured to cause the network node to the determine at least in part on a characteristic of an application associated with the MB session. In some embodiments of this aspect, the disable individual delivery parameter indicates whether the AF node one of enabled and disabled an individual traffic delivery for the MB session. In some embodiments of this aspect, the individual traffic delivery is an individual multicast broadcast service, MBS, traffic delivery for the MB session.
In another aspect, a computer readable medium comprising computer instructions executable by processing circuitry to perform any one or more of the methods herein is provided.
According to yet another aspect, a system is provided. The system includes an application function, AF, node and a core network node. The AF node is configured to determine whether to disable an individual multicast broadcast service, MBS, traffic delivery for a multicast/broadcast, MB, session; and send a disable individual delivery parameter associated with the MB session based at least in part on the determination. The core network node is configured to receive the disable individual delivery parameter from the AF node; determine a radio access network, RAN, capability indication; and as a result of a request from a user equipment, UE, to join the MB session, send a MB session response, the MB session response including one of a rejection to the request to join and an acceptance of the request to join based on the RAN capability indication and further based on at least one of the disable individual delivery parameter and a policy.
A more complete understanding of the present embodiments, and the attendant advantages and features thereof, will be more readily understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:
As stated above, Solution #2 has drawbacks since it does not support “5GC Individual MBS traffic delivery”. As a result, the possible improvement of minimizing packet loss for MBS traffic at UE handover from NG-RAN supporting 5MBS to NG-RAN not supporting 5MBS or to E-UTRAN may not be possible.
In addition, the “5GC Individual MBS traffic delivery” may be beneficial in some use cases (e.g., mission critical push-to-talk, Internet Protocol Television (IPTV), etc.) when there is no homogenous 5MBS support; however, for some other use cases, e.g., smart TV, it may not be the best option, since “5GC Individual MBS traffic delivery” conveys the same content that is delivered over 5MBS bearers. The drawback with that compared to unicast delivery over normal PDU Sessions, may be e.g., that individual control of bitrate, retransmission, etc. may not be possible. In addition, the 5MBS content does sometimes have extra redundant information, sometimes referred to as Forward Error Correction (FEC) information, which may be omitted when unicast over normal PDU Sessions are used. For some applications, it may be useful to be able to disable the use of “5GC Individual MBS traffic delivery.
Some embodiments of the present disclosure enable the possibility of enabling/disabling “5GC Individual MBS traffic delivery method” or in this document also called “5MBS Individual Delivery”. When Shared Delivery of 5MBS service cannot be used in a NG-RAN node, e.g. due to that the NG-RAN node does not support 5MBS services, the 5GC can switch and instead deliver the 5MBS service and content over a normal PDU Session to that UE when camping on that NG-RAN node.
In some embodiments, the AF can decide whether to utilize “5MBS Individual Delivery” based on the characteristics of the application and the AMF or network (e.g., any core network node) can decide whether to utilize “5MBS Individual Delivery” based on network preferences and/or policies.
In some embodiments, when a UE requests to join a 5MBS Session, the proposed solution enables the AMF or other core network node to accept the join request, or initiate the “5MBS Individual Delivery” method, or reject the join request, depending on if 5MBS is supported in the NG-RAN node or not and/or depending on AF indication, network preferences and/or policies.
Furthermore, some embodiments enable the AMF or other core network node to detect a RAN's capability of 5MBS support. Based on such indication of the RAN's capability of 5MBS support, the AMF or other core network node can take different actions in different scenarios:
Some embodiments of the present disclosure implement the “5MBS Individual Delivery” in e.g., Solution #2 of TR 23.757 v0.4.0 by means of e.g., the PDU Session Anchor (PSA) UPF joining the multicast tree of MB-UPF without exchanging information between the controlling entities (i.e., SMF and MB-SMF) of the UPFs, which may be considered a simpler way as compared with the Solution #3.
Some embodiments of the present disclosure implement the “5MBS Individual Delivery” in e.g., Solution #2 of TR 23.757 v0.4.0 without requiring pre-establishment of a PDU Session when 5MBS services are used. (Solution 3 has such a prerequisite). Such a prerequisite may make the system complexity higher. Without such a prerequisite, as in this solution, the handling MB Sessions and PDU Session can be more decoupled resulting in lower system complexity.
Some embodiments of the present disclosure enable the possibility of enabling/disabling “5MBS Individual Delivery” from the AF. In some embodiments, the AF can determine whether “5MBS Individual Delivery” should be allowed or not based on e.g., the characteristics of the application associated with the AF. The AMF or other core network node may then make the final decision whether to utilize “5MBS Individual Delivery” based on e.g., one or more of NG-RAN capabilities, network preferences and policies and AF preference.
Some embodiments of the present disclosure may allow the AMF or other core network node to deliver 5MBS service to a UE camping on a NG-RAN node that does not support 5MBS. Instead of rejecting a UE 5MBS Join Request when NG-RAN does not support 5MBS, the AMF or other core network node may apply the “5MBS Individual Delivery” and accept the Join Request.
Several possibilities to allow the AMF or other core network node to discover the 5MBS capability of the NG-RAN are outlined in the present disclosure, as described in detail below.
Before describing in detail exemplary embodiments, it is noted that the embodiments reside primarily in combinations of apparatus components and processing steps related to 5G Multicast/Broadcast Multimedia Subsystem (5MBS) individual delivery. Accordingly, components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.
As used herein, relational terms, such as “first” and “second,” “top” and “bottom,” and the like, may be used solely to distinguish one entity or element from another entity or element without necessarily requiring or implying any physical or logical relationship or order between such entities or elements. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the concepts described herein. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes” and/or “including” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.
In embodiments described herein, the joining term, “in communication with” and the like, may be used to indicate electrical or data communication, which may be accomplished by physical contact, induction, electromagnetic radiation, radio signaling, infrared signaling or optical signaling, for example. One having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that multiple components may interoperate and modifications and variations are possible of achieving the electrical and data communication.
In some embodiments described herein, the term “coupled,” “connected,” and the like, may be used herein to indicate a connection, although not necessarily directly, and may include wired and/or wireless connections.
In some embodiments, the non-limiting terms wireless device (WD) or a user equipment (UE) are used interchangeably. The UE herein can be any type of wireless device capable of communicating with a network node or another UE over radio signals. In some embodiments, the UE may be or include a mobile entity (ME). The UE may also be a radio communication device, target device, device to device (D2D) UE, machine type UE or UE capable of machine to machine communication (M2M), low-cost and/or low-complexity UE, a sensor equipped with UE, Tablet, mobile terminals, smart phone, laptop embedded equipped (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, or a Narrowband IoT (NB-IOT) device, etc.
The term “network node” used herein can be any kind of network node comprised in a radio network which may further comprise any of base station (BS), radio base station, base transceiver station (BTS), base station controller (BSC), radio network controller (RNC), g Node B (gNB), evolved Node B (eNB or eNodeB), Node B, multi-standard radio (MSR) radio node such as MSR BS, multi-cell/multicast coordination entity (MCE), relay node, integrated access and backhaul (IAB), donor node controlling relay, radio access point (AP), transmission points, transmission nodes, Remote Radio Unit (RRU) Remote Radio Head (RRH), a core network node (e.g., an Access and Mobility Function (AMF), a Session Management Function (SMF) and/or an SMF dedicated for or supporting Multicast Broadcast which is referred to herein as MB-SMF), an external node (e.g., 3rd party node, a node external to the current network), nodes in distributed antenna system (DAS), a spectrum access system (SAS) node, an element management system (EMS), etc. The network node may also comprise test equipment. The term “radio node” used herein may be used to also denote a wireless device (WD) or a radio network node.
In some embodiments, the term “node” is used herein and can be any kind of network node, such as, an AMF node or other core network node, an AF node, etc.
A node may include physical components, such as processors, allocated processing elements, or other computing hardware, computer memory, communication interfaces, and other supporting computing hardware. The node may use dedicated physical components, or the node may be allocated use of the physical components of another device, such as a computing device or resources of a datacenter, in which case the node is said to be virtualized. A node may be associated with multiple physical components that may be located either in one location, or may be distributed across multiple locations.
In some embodiments, the terms “individual delivery”, “individual MBS delivery” and “individual 5MBS delivery” are used interchangeably. In some embodiments, the terms “capability indication”, “RAN capability indication” and “capability of RAM to support 5MBS” are used interchangeably.
The term “individual delivery” may be used to indicate 5GC Individual MBS traffic delivery where a 5G core network (CN) receives a single copy of MBS data packets and delivers separate copies of those MBS data packets to individual UEs via per-UE PDU sessions, hence for each such UE one PDU session is required to be associated with a multicast session.
An indication generally may explicitly and/or implicitly indicate the information it represents and/or indicates. Implicit indication may for example be based on position and/or resource used for transmission. Explicit indication may for example be based on a parametrization with one or more parameters, and/or one or more index or indices corresponding to a table, and/or one or more bit patterns representing the information.
In some embodiments, the term “obtain” or “obtaining” is used herein and may indicate obtaining in e.g., memory such as in the case where the information is predefined or pre-configured. The term “obtain” or “obtaining” as used herein may also indicate obtaining by receiving signaling/message indicating the information obtained.
Although certain terms are used in this disclosure for certain proposed elements (e.g., DisableIndividualDelivery parameter, CheckRANCapability request and response messages), it is contemplated that such elements may be given another name in, for example, a standardization document; thus, the disclosure is not limited to the particular names used.
Any two or more embodiments described in this disclosure may be combined in any way with each other.
Note also that some embodiments of the present disclosure may be supported by standard documents disclosed in Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) technical specifications. That is, some embodiments of the description can be supported by the above documents. In addition, all the terms disclosed in the present document may be described by the above standard documents.
Note that although terminology from one particular wireless system, such as, for example, 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), Long Term Evolution (LTE), 5th Generation (5G) (also known as New Radio (NR)), may be used in this disclosure, this should not be seen as limiting the scope of the disclosure to only the aforementioned system. Other wireless systems, including without limitation Wide Band Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), may also benefit from exploiting the ideas covered within this disclosure.
Note further, that functions described herein as being performed by a UE, AMF node or any other core network node and an AF node may be distributed over a plurality of UEs, a plurality of AMF nodes, a plurality of AF nodes or a plurality of core network nodes. In other words, it is contemplated that the functions of the UE, AMF node or other core network node, AF node described herein are not limited to performance by a single physical device and, in fact, can be distributed among several physical devices.
Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. It will be further understood that terms used herein should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of this specification and the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.
Referring again to the drawing figures, in which like elements are referred to by like reference numerals, there is shown in
The system 32 further includes a UE 12, a radio access network (RAN) 10 (e.g., 3GPP 5th Generation (5G) RAN also known as New Radio or NR RAN), which may provide radio access to the UE 12. The system 32 includes an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) node or one or more other core network nodes 16, 38. The system 32 includes an AF node 26. In some embodiments, the AF node 26 may be considered to support application influence on traffic routing, accessing NEF, interaction with policy framework for policy control, etc. It should be noted that, for simplicity, a single node is shown for the various entities in the system 32 depicted in
Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the UE 12, AMF node or other core network node 16, 38 and AF node 26 discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to
The UE 12 includes a communication interface 39, processing circuitry 40, and memory 42. The communication interface 39 may be formed as or may include, for example, one or more radio frequency (RF) transmitters, one or more RF receivers, and/or one or more RF transceivers, and/or may be considered a radio interface. In some embodiments, the communication interface 39 may also include a wired interface.
The processing circuitry 40 may include one or more processors 44 and memory, such as, the memory 42. In particular, in addition to a traditional processor and memory, the processing circuitry 40 may comprise integrated circuitry for processing and/or control, e.g., one or more processors and/or processor cores and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) and/or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 44 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and/or read from) the memory 42, which may comprise any kind of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory, e.g., cache and/or buffer memory and/or RAM (Random Access Memory) and/or ROM (Read-Only Memory) and/or optical memory and/or EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory).
Thus, the UE 12 may further include software stored internally in, for example, memory 42, or stored in external memory (e.g., database) accessible by the UE 12 via an external connection. The software may be executable by the processing circuitry 40. The processing circuitry 40 may be configured to control any of the methods and/or processes described herein and/or to cause such methods, and/or processes to be performed, e.g., by the UE 12. The memory 42 is configured to store data, programmatic software code and/or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software may include instructions stored in memory 42 that, when executed by the processor 44 causes the processing circuitry 40 and/or configures the UE 12 to perform the processes described herein with respect to the UE 12.
The AMF node or other core network node 16, 38 includes a communication interface 46, processing circuitry 48, and memory 50. The communication interface 46 may be formed as or may include, for example, one or more radio frequency (RF) transmitters, one or more RF receivers, and/or one or more RF transceivers, and/or may be considered a radio interface. In some embodiments, the communication interface 46 may also include a wired interface.
The processing circuitry 48 may include one or more processors 52 and memory, such as, the memory 50. In particular, in addition to a traditional processor and memory, the processing circuitry 48 may comprise integrated circuitry for processing and/or control, e.g., one or more processors and/or processor cores and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) and/or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 52 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and/or read from) the memory 50, which may comprise any kind of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory, e.g., cache and/or buffer memory and/or RAM (Random Access Memory) and/or ROM (Read-Only Memory) and/or optical memory and/or EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory).
Thus, the AMF node or other core network node 16, 38 may further include software stored internally in, for example, memory 50, or stored in external memory (e.g., database) accessible by the AMF node or other core network node 16, 38 via an external connection. The software may be executable by the processing circuitry 48. The processing circuitry 48 may be configured to control any of the methods and/or processes described herein and/or to cause such methods, and/or processes to be performed, e.g., by the AMF node or other core network node 16, 38. The memory 50 is configured to store data, programmatic software code and/or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software may include instructions stored in memory 50 that, when executed by the processor 52 and/or obtainer 34, causes the processing circuitry 48 and/or configures the AMF node or other core network node 16, 38 to perform the processes described herein with respect to the AMF node or other core network node 16, 38 (e.g., processes described with reference to
The AF node 26 includes a communication interface 54, processing circuitry 56, and memory 58. The communication interface 54 may be formed as or may include, for example, one or more radio frequency (RF) transmitters, one or more RF receivers, and/or one or more RF transceivers, and/or may be considered a radio interface. In some embodiments, the communication interface 54 may also include a wired interface.
The processing circuitry 56 may include one or more processors 60 and memory, such as, the memory 58. In particular, in addition to a traditional processor and memory, the processing circuitry 56 may comprise integrated circuitry for processing and/or control, e.g., one or more processors and/or processor cores and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) and/or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 60 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and/or read from) the memory 58, which may comprise any kind of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory, e.g., cache and/or buffer memory and/or RAM (Random Access Memory) and/or ROM (Read-Only Memory) and/or optical memory and/or EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory).
Thus, the AF node 26 may further include software stored internally in, for example, memory 58, or stored in external memory (e.g., database) accessible by the AF node 26 via an external connection. The software may be executable by the processing circuitry 56. The processing circuitry 56 may be configured to control any of the methods and/or processes described herein and/or to cause such methods, and/or processes to be performed, e.g., by the AF node 26. The memory 58 is configured to store data, programmatic software code and/or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software may include instructions stored in memory 58 that, when executed by the processor 60 and/or disabler 36, causes the processing circuitry 56 and/or configures the AF node 26 to perform the processes described herein with respect to the AF node 26 (e.g., processes described with reference to
In
Although
In some embodiments, the disable individual delivery parameter indicates whether an application function, AF, node one of enabled and disabled individual MBS traffic delivery for the MB session that the UE requested to join. In some embodiments, the request to join the MB session includes at least one of: the RAN capability indication and an identification of the requested MB session. In some embodiments, the identification of the requested MB session includes a Temporary Mobile Group Identity, TMGI, allocated to the MB session. In some embodiments, the RAN capability indication indicates whether the RAN that the UE is associated with supports a 3rd Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP, 5th Generation, 5G, multicast broadcast service, 5MBS. In some embodiments, the RAN capability indication is obtained from the UE's request to join the MB session.
In some embodiments, the RAN capability indication is obtained, such via obtainer 34, processing circuitry 48, processor 52, memory 50 and/or communication interface 46, from the RAN responsive to the AMF node or other core network node 16, 38 requesting to check the RAN capability or as part of a set-up procedure. In some embodiments, each of the request to join and the response is sent in a non-access stratum, NAS, message to the AMF node or other core network node 16, 38. In some embodiments, the MB session response includes a cause code indicating at least one of information about the RAN capability and information about individual 5MBS traffic delivery.
In some embodiments, as a result of the request to join the MB session, at least one of: selecting a protocol data unit, PDU, session for individual 5MBS traffic delivery to the UE for the MB session; when the AMF node or other core network node 16, 38 is unable to identify an existing PDU session for the UE, one of: triggering the UE to establish a PDU session for the AMF node or other core network node 16, 38 to select; and transmitting the MB session response comprising the rejection to the request to join; sending a session resource set-up request to the RAN node along with an address associated with the MB session; obtaining a session management context for the selected PDU session; and determining whether to participate in providing individual 5MBS traffic delivery associated with the MB session to the UE, based at least in part on at least one of the RAN capability indication, the disable individual delivery parameter associated with the MB session and the policy associated with the AMF node or other core network node 16, 38.
In some embodiments, determining, such as via disabler 36, processing circuitry 56, memory 58, processor 60 and/or communication interface 54, is based at least in part on a characteristic of an application associated with the MB session. In some embodiments, the disable individual delivery parameter indicates whether the AF node one of enabled and disabled the individual traffic delivery for the MB session. In some embodiments, the individual traffic delivery is an individual 3rd Generation Partnership Project, 3GPP, 5th Generation, 5G, multicast broadcast service, 5MBS, traffic delivery. In some embodiments, the method further includes transmitting, such as via disabler 36, processing circuitry 56, memory 58, processor 60 and/or communication interface 54, content associated with the MB session for the UE using one of the individual 5MBS traffic delivery and a unicast delivery to the UE, based at least in part on at least one of a radio access network, RAN, capability, the disable individual delivery parameter associated with the MB session and a policy associated with access and mobility management function, AMF, node or other core network node 16, 38.
In some embodiments, the determining the RAN capability indication comprises one of: obtaining, such as via communication interface 46, processing circuitry 48, memory 50 and/or processor 52, the RAN capability indication from a second network node; and internally deriving, such as via communication interface 46, processing circuitry 48, memory 50 and/or processor 52, the RAN capability indication. In some embodiments, the disable individual delivery parameter indicates whether an application function, AF, node 26 one of enabled and disabled individual MBS traffic delivery for the MB session that the UE 12 requested to join. In some embodiments, the request to join the MB session includes at least one of: the RAN capability indication and an identification of the requested MB session; and the identification of the requested MB session includes a Temporary Mobile Group Identity, TMGI, allocated to the MB session.
In some embodiments, the RAN capability indication indicates whether a RAN node 10 that the UE 12 is associated with supports a multicast broadcast service, MBS. In some embodiments, the RAN capability indication is determined based on the UE's 12 request to join the MB session. In some embodiments, the RAN capability indication is determined based on the RAN node's 10 response to the AMF or other core network node 16, 38 requesting to check the RAN capability or as part of a set-up procedure. In some embodiments, each of the request to join and the response is in a non-access stratum, NAS, message. In some embodiments, the MB session response includes a cause code indicating at least one of information about the RAN capability and information about individual MBS traffic delivery.
In some embodiments, the determining, such as via disabler 36, processing circuitry 56, memory 58, processor 60 and/or communication interface 54, is based at least in part on a characteristic of an application associated with the MB session. In some embodiments, the disable individual delivery parameter indicates whether the AF node 26 one of enabled and disabled an individual traffic delivery for the MB session. In some embodiments, the individual traffic delivery is an individual multicast broadcast service, MBS, traffic delivery for the MB session.
Having generally described arrangements for Multicast/Broadcast Multimedia Subsystem (MBS) individual delivery, a more detailed description of some of the embodiments are provided as follows with reference to
Additionally, although some of the examples of the solution proposed by the present disclosure may be described as enhancements to Solution #2 and Architecture Option #2 in TR 23.757 v0.4.0, the principles disclosed may be applicable and/or beneficial for other solutions or other architectures. For example, one or more functions shown as being performed by one particular core network node, such as AMF or SMF, may be performed by one or more other of the core network nodes.
Some embodiments of the present disclosure introduce a new parameter, which is referred to herein interchangeably as “DisableIndividualDelivery” or “disable individual delivery” parameter. In some embodiments, the DisableIndividualDelivery parameter may indicate whether the AF node 26 expects the 5G System (5GS) to enable the 5MBS individual delivery method. For example:
The example sequence flow in
Note: In this step, “MB Session Join Request” is merely an example. It could be called “MB Service Request”, “MBS Service Request” or the existing “Service Request” with new parameters indicating an MB session, e.g., a TMGI.
There are several embodiments to enable the AMF/core network node 16, 38 to discover the NG-RAN node's 10 5MBS capability, such as, for example:
The example sequence flow in
In NG-RAN node 10 where 5MBS shared delivery is used:
Then, in the user plane, after step S174, when the MB-UPF 20b receives content from AF node 26:
In NG-RAN node 10 (or for UEs 12) where 5MBS Individual Delivery is used (enhancements):
When the 5MBS media delivery starts in step S176, the MB-UPF 20b will deliver the 5MBS media also to the UPF 20a.
The example sequence flow in
In some embodiments, the enhancements of the Session Join Procedure may allow the AMF/core network node 16, 38 to deliver 5MBS services to a UE 12 camping on a NG-RAN node 10 that does not support 5MBS. For example, in some embodiments, instead of rejecting a UE's 12 MBS Session Join Request when a RAN node 10 does not support 5MBS, the AMF/core network node 16, 38 can apply the “5MBS Individual Delivery” and accept the Join Request.
In some embodiments, included in the enhancements of the Session Join Procedure is also how the DisableIndividualDelivery parameter provided by the AF node 26 to the 5GC (e.g., as shown in
The sequence flow for an MB session join after session start according to some embodiments may include one or more of the following, as shown in
Similar as Session Join before Session start, a 5MBS capability indicator (e.g., 5MBSSupported parameter/indicator) may be piggy backed by RAN node 10 in the NAS message “MB Session Join request” sent by UE 12 to AMF/core network node 16, 38 in step S186. Alternatively, AMF/core network node 16, 38 can check RAN's capability of 5MBS support in step S188 and S190. Alternatively, RAN node 10 can transmit the 5MBS capability indication to AMF/core network node 16, 38 in the NGAP setup, or AMF/core network node 16, 38 can have the RAN node 10 5MBS capability information pre-configured.
Similar as Session Join before session start, the AMF/core network node 16, 38 may query MB-SMF 18b via an MB Session Request, if AMF/core network node 16, 38 does not have the 5MBS session context in step S192. In step S194, MB-SMF 18b includes DisableIndividualDelivery in MB Session Response to AMF/core network node 16, 38. If step S192 and S194 are not executed (e.g., AMF/core network node 16, 38 does already have a 5MBS session context), a DisableIndividualDelivery parameter or flag may be present in the 5MBS session context in AMF/core network node 16, 38 if it was earlier provided by the AF node 26.
The MB Session Join may be rejected and the UE 12 then requests the content directly from the AF node 26 (by unicast), for example, as follows.
Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide arrangements for 5MBS Individual Delivery support for e.g., Solution #2 and Architecture Option #2 in TR 23.757 v0.4.0.
Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide arrangements for how the network (e.g., AMF/core network node 16, 38) can provide 5MBS service by switching to 5MBS Individual Delivery when a UE 12 joins a MB Session in a RAN node 10 that does not support 5MBS.
Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide arrangements for how the AF node 26 can control the use of 5MBS Individual Delivery through the DisableIndividualDelivery parameter passed from the AF node 26 via MB-SMF node 18b node to the network (e.g., AMF/core network node 16, 38).
Some embodiments of the present disclosure provide arrangements for how the network (e.g., AMF/core network node 16, 38) can find out if a RAN node 10 is supporting 5MBS or not.
Some embodiments may include one or more of the following, which may be implemented by any of the core network nodes described herein (e.g., AMF node 16, or other core network node 38, such as SMF, etc.):
One or more of the following abbreviations may be used herein:
As will be appreciated by one of skill in the art, the concepts described herein may be embodied as a method, data processing system, and/or computer program product. Accordingly, the concepts described herein may take the form of an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects all generally referred to herein as a “circuit” or “module.” Furthermore, the disclosure may take the form of a computer program product on a tangible computer usable storage medium having computer program code embodied in the medium that can be executed by a computer. Any suitable tangible computer readable medium may be utilized including hard disks, CD-ROMs, electronic storage devices, optical storage devices, or magnetic storage devices.
Some embodiments are described herein with reference to flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams of methods, systems and computer program products. It will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations and/or block diagrams, can be implemented by computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be provided to a processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which execute via the processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
These computer program instructions may also be stored in a computer readable memory or storage medium that can direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means which implement the function/act specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks.
The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable apparatus to produce a computer implemented process such that the instructions which execute on the computer or other programmable apparatus provide steps for implementing the functions/acts specified in the flowchart and/or block diagram block or blocks. It is to be understood that the functions/acts noted in the blocks may occur out of the order noted in the operational illustrations. For example, two blocks shown in succession may in fact be executed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be executed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality/acts involved. Although some of the diagrams include arrows on communication paths to show a primary direction of communication, it is to be understood that communication may occur in the opposite direction to the depicted arrows.
Computer program code for carrying out operations of the concepts described herein may be written in an object oriented programming language such as Java® or C++. However, the computer program code for carrying out operations of the disclosure may also be written in conventional procedural programming languages, such as the “C” programming language. The program code may execute entirely on the user's computer, partly on the user's computer, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the user's computer and partly on a remote computer or entirely on the remote computer. In the latter scenario, the remote computer may be connected to the user's computer through a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN), or the connection may be made to an external computer (for example, through the Internet using an Internet Service Provider).
Many different embodiments have been disclosed herein, in connection with the above description and the drawings. It will be understood that it would be unduly repetitious and obfuscating to literally describe and illustrate every combination and subcombination of these embodiments. Accordingly, all embodiments can be combined in any way and/or combination, and the present specification, including the drawings, shall be construed to constitute a complete written description of all combinations and subcombinations of the embodiments described herein, and of the manner and process of making and using them, and shall support claims to any such combination or subcombination.
It will be appreciated by persons skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein are not limited to what has been particularly shown and described herein above. In addition, unless mention was made above to the contrary, it should be noted that all of the accompanying drawings are not to scale. A variety of modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings without departing from the scope of the following claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/CN2020/107698 | Aug 2020 | WO | international |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB2021/057117 | 8/3/2021 | WO |
