In general, the present disclosure relates to communication networks. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to devices and methods for implementing an application-based quality of service notification scheme, for example, for URLLC services in a 5G communication network.
The 5G system architecture specified in 3GPP TS 23.501 v15.1.0 does not consider URLLC (ultra-reliable low-latency communication) capabilities. Some background information about URLLC use cases and scenarios is provided in 3GPP TR 22.804 “Study on Communication for Automation in Vertical Domains” and 3GPP TS 22.261 “Service requirements for the 5G system”. Current industrial automation technologies are considering different wired/wireless communication technologies such as field bus systems, industrial Ethernet systems or wireless communication systems to connect distributed automation functions. 3GPP TR 22.804 summarizes a variety of technologies currently used in the industry and explains the special challenges/requirements for 5G systems supporting URLLC services.
Thus, there is a need for improved devices and methods for implementing an application-based quality of service notification scheme, in particular for URLLC services in a 5G communication network.
It is an object of the disclosure to provide improved devices and methods for implementing an application-based quality of service notification scheme, in particular for URLLC services in a 5G communication network.
The foregoing and other objects are achieved by the subject matter of the independent claims. Further implementation forms are apparent from the dependent claims, the description and the figures.
More specifically, according to a first aspect the disclosure relates to a network application entity for providing a communication service, in particular a URLLC service in a communication network, in particular a 5G communication network. The network application entity is configured to provide communication service quality information, in particular a communication service quality measure value, to a network management and/or control entity of the communication network. The URLLC service can include, for instance, industrial communication services, time sensitive network (TSN) communication services, automotive (i.e. V2X or eV2X) communication services and the like. The communication service quality information can be provided in form of a notification message. Furthermore, the communication service quality information can be exchanged in form of a request/response messaging and/or subscribe/notify messaging (e.g., similar to the messaging techniques used in service based architecture (SBA) defined in 5G system architecture specified by 3GPP TS 23.501 v15.1.0).
In a further possible implementation form of the first aspect, the network application entity is further configured to extract timing information, in particular one or more timestamps from an application layer uplink message, received from a user equipment as part of the communication service, to determine the communication service quality information on the basis of the timing information, and to provide the communication service quality information to the network management and/or control entity. The timing information, in particular the timestamp, can indicate, for instance, the generation time of the application layer downlink message and/or an offset value showing the execution time of the application layer downlink message, i.e. the corresponding data packet at the receiving node.
The network application entity can be implemented as an application server, wherein the application server is configured to receive the application layer message from the user equipment. The application server can be located in the core network of the communication network and/or in a cloud network (e.g., 3rd party network) in communication with the communication network.
Alternatively, the network application entity can be an application function implemented in the communication network, wherein the application function is configured to extract the timing information from the application layer message exchanged between the user equipment and an application server providing the communication service.
In a further possible implementation form of the first aspect, the network application entity is configured to extract further timing information from a further application layer message received from the user equipment via a further communication path of the communication network and to determine the communication service quality information on the basis of the timing information and the further timing information.
In a further possible implementation form of the first aspect, the network application entity is configured to receive the communication service quality information from a user equipment of the communication network, wherein timing information has been extracted by the user equipment from an application layer message received from the network application entity as part of the communication service and the communication service quality information has been determined by the user equipment on the basis of the timing information.
In a further possible implementation form of the first aspect, the network application entity is configured to receive timing information from a user equipment of the communication network, wherein the timing information has been extracted by the user equipment from an application layer message received from the network application entity as part of the communication service, and to determine the communication service quality information on the basis of the timing information.
In a further possible implementation form of the first aspect, the communication service quality information comprises a communication service quality measure value, wherein the network application entity is configured to provide the communication service quality information to the network management and/or control entity, in case the communication service quality measure value is larger or equal or smaller than a threshold value, wherein the threshold value can be configured in advance by the network application entity.
In a further possible implementation form of the first aspect, the network application entity is configured to periodically or aperiodically provide the communication service quality information to the network management and/or control entity.
In a further possible implementation form of the first aspect, the communication service quality information comprises an end-to-end delay and/or a jitter of the communication service and/or wherein the network application entity is configured to further provide a quality of service (QoS) class identifier, a session identifier and/or a flow identifier associated with the communications service quality information to the network management and/or control entity.
According to a second aspect the disclosure relates to a network management and/or control entity for QoS monitoring of a communication service in a communication network. The network management and/or control entity is configured to receive communication service quality information from a user equipment and/or a network application entity of the communication network and to adjust the communication network for improving the QoS of the communication service on the basis of the communication service quality information.
The network management and/or control entity can be a management plane entity and/or a control plane entity, e.g. implemented as a distributed entity or function having some functionality in the core network and some functionality in the management plane of the communication network. For instance, the network management and/or control entity can be implemented as an access and mobility management function (AMF), a policy and control function (PCF), a session management function (SMF) or as another type of function implemented in the core network and/or management plane of the communication network.
In a further possible implementation form of the second aspect, the network management and/or control entity is configured to adjust the communication network by one or more of the following operations: re-selecting a user plane function (UPF) and/or radio access network (RAN) (e.g., distributed unit (DU) change, cell re-selection, handover to another cell, and beam re-selection) for an on-going communication session; selecting a new user plane function (UPF) and/or RAN for a new communication session; re-orchestrating one or more network functions; and/or re-configuration of the semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) configuration in RAN. A re-selection process can also imply a configuration update or change, e.g., to meet QoS requirements.
According to a third aspect the disclosure relates to a user equipment configured to use a communication service provided by a network application entity in a communication network. The user equipment is configured to provide communication service quality information, in particular a communication service quality measure value, to the network application entity of the communication network and/or to a network management and/or control entity of the communication network. The user equipment can comprise a firmware, wherein the firmware is configured to provide the communication service quality information to the network application entity and/or to the network management and/or control entity. The URLLC service can include, for instance, industrial communication services, time sensitive network (TSN) communication services, automotive (i.e. V2X or eV2X) communication services and the like. The communication service quality information can be provided in form of a notification message. Furthermore, the communication service quality information can be exchanged in form of a request/response messaging and/or subscribe/notify messaging (e.g., similar to the messaging techniques used in service based architecture (SBA) defined in 5G system architecture specified by 3GPP TS 23.501 v15.1.0).
In a further possible implementation form of the third aspect, the user equipment is configured to extract timing information, in particular one or more timestamps, from an application layer message received from the network application entity of the communication network and to determine the communication service quality information on the basis of the timing information.
In a further possible implementation form of the third aspect, the user equipment is configured to extract further timing information, in particular one or more further timestamps, from a further application layer message received from the network application entity via a further communication path of the communication network and to determine the communication service quality information on the basis of the timing information and the further timing information.
In a further possible implementation form of the third aspect, the user equipment is configured to provide the communication service quality information to the network application entity for forwarding the communication service quality information to the network management and/or control entity of the communication network.
In a further possible implementation form of the third aspect, the communication service quality information comprises a communication service quality measure value, wherein the user equipment is configured to provide the communication service quality information to the network application entity and/or to the network management and/or control entity, in case the communication service quality measure value is larger, or equal or smaller than a threshold value, wherein the threshold value can be configured in advance by the network application entity.
Alternatively or additionally, the user equipment can be configured to periodically or aperiodically provide the communication service quality information to the network application entity of the communication network and/or to the network management and/or control entity of the communication network. The periodically or aperiodically reported communication service quality information can contain an average measured delay/jitter, a maximum delay/jitter and/or a delay/jitter measurement time series.
The communication service quality information can comprise an end-to-end delay and/or a jitter of the communication service and/or wherein the user equipment is configured to further provide a QoS class identifier, a session identifier and/or a flow identifier associated with the communications service quality information to the network application entity and/or to the network management and/or control entity.
Thus, embodiments of the disclosure are based on the idea of using timing information, in particular one or more timestamps, at the application layer in the receiving node while measuring communication service quality measure values, such as end-to-end delay and/or jitter values for each received packet. Once the measurement is performed at the receiving node, the receiving node can generate a notification message and transmit the notification message to the transmitting node. According to embodiments of the disclosure this notification message (received by the transmitting node) can be used by the network for one or more of the following purposes.
According to embodiments of the disclosure, the notification message allows to better understand long term transmission characteristics/statistics of each transmission path between one or more user plane functions (UPFs) and a radio access network (RAN) of the communication network and, based on this information, to perform UPF and/or RAN re-selection for on-going protocol data units (PDU) sessions or UPF and/or RAN selection for new PDU sessions. A re-selection process can also imply a configuration update or change, e.g., to meet QoS requirements.
According to embodiments of the disclosure, the notification message allows making predictions about the transmission quality of each transmission path between UPF and RAN. Based on such prediction, UPF and/or RAN re-selection can be performed. A re-selection process can also imply a configuration update or change, e.g., to meet QoS requirements.
According to embodiments of the disclosure, the notification message allows understanding short term transmission characteristics/statistics of each transmission path between UPF and RAN. In this case, if consecutive packets experience delay/jitter problems, a faster reaction from the core network (CN) side or radio access network (RAN) side can be expected.
Thus, embodiments of the disclosure provide an advantageous application layer delay/jitter notification mechanism for URLLC services in a 5G communication network. By using this advantageous notification mechanism, 5G System, 5GS (including 5G Core (5GC), 5G-RAN) can provide better end-to-end QoS control of URLLC service flows. Furthermore, no extra timestamp overhead at the lower layers is required, because the currently available timestamp information at the application layer is used. The mechanism provided by embodiments of the disclosure can be either used complementary to other QoS monitoring mechanisms (e.g. to increase the monitoring accuracy, to adjust the monitoring results of other monitoring solutions considering cross layer aspects, to be used in case the other monitoring mechanism is not available) or be used independently on per application basis.
Embodiments of the disclosure allow to extend the signaling procedures in a 5G communication network so as to improve the network monitoring capabilities, in particular for URLLC type services. It is foreseeable that 5G communication networks will accommodate various 3rd party applications and verticals use cases. Embodiments of the disclosure provide the enhanced procedures for QoS related information exchange between 3rd party applications/verticals, which facilitate the QoS assurance of the application/verticals.
Details of one or more embodiments are set forth in the accompanying drawings and the description below. Other features, objects, and advantages will be apparent from the description, drawings, and claims.
In the following embodiments of the disclosure are described in more detail with reference to the attached figures and drawings, in which:
In the following identical reference signs refer to identical or at least functionally equivalent features.
In the following description, reference is made to the accompanying figures, which form part of the disclosure, and which show, by way of illustration, specific aspects of embodiments of the disclosure or specific aspects in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be used. It is understood that embodiments of the disclosure may be used in other aspects and comprise structural or logical changes not depicted in the figures. The following detailed description, therefore, is not to be taken in a limiting sense, and the scope of the present disclosure is defined by the appended claims.
For instance, it is understood that a disclosure in connection with a described method may also hold true for a corresponding device or system configured to perform the method and vice versa. For example, if one or a plurality of specific method steps are described, a corresponding device may include one or a plurality of units, e.g. functional units, to perform the described one or plurality of method steps (e.g. one unit performing the one or plurality of steps, or a plurality of units each performing one or more of the plurality of steps), even if such one or more units are not explicitly described or illustrated in the figures. On the other hand, for example, if a specific apparatus is described based on one or a plurality of units, e.g. functional units, a corresponding method may include one step to perform the functionality of the one or plurality of units (e.g. one step performing the functionality of the one or plurality of units, or a plurality of steps each performing the functionality of one or more of the plurality of units), even if such one or plurality of steps are not explicitly described or illustrated in the figures. Further, it is understood that the features of the various exemplary embodiments and/or aspects described herein may be combined with each other, unless specifically noted otherwise.
As illustrated in
As will be described in more detail below, the network application entity, in particular application server 107 is configured to provide communication service quality information, in particular a communication service quality measure value, to a network management and/or control entity of the communication network 100 for QoS monitoring of the communication service in the communication network 100. The network management and/or control entity is configured to receive the communication service quality information from the network application entity, in particular the application server 107 and/or from the user equipment 101 and to adjust the communication network 100 for improving the QoS of the communication service on the basis of the communication service quality information. Thus, the user equipment 101 is configured to provide the communication service quality information to the network application entity, in particular the application server 107 of the communication network 100 and/or to a network management and/or control entity of the communication network 100.
The network management and/or control entity can be a management plane entity and/or a control plane entity, e.g. implemented as a distributed entity or function having some functionality in the core network 105 and some functionality in the management plane of the communication network 100. For instance, as illustrated in
The communication service quality information can be provided in form of a notification message, as illustrated in
According to a further embodiment, the network application entity, in particular application server 107 is further configured to extract timing information, in particular one or more timestamps, from an application layer uplink message received from the user equipment 101 as part of the communication service and to determine the communication service quality information on the basis of the timing information. The timing information, in particular the timestamp can indicate, for instance, the generation time of the application layer downlink message and/or an offset value showing the execution time of the application layer downlink message, i.e. the corresponding data packet at the receiving node.
According to a further embodiment, the user equipment 101 is configured to extract this timing information, in particular the one or more timestamps, from an application layer message received from the network application entity, in particular the application server 107 as part of the communication service and to determine the communication service quality information on the basis of the timing information. Furthermore, the user equipment 101 can be configured to extract this timing information, in particular the one or more timestamps, from an application layer message received from the network application entity, in particular the application server 107, and transmit back the extracted timing information to the network application entity, in particular the application server 107, as part of the communication service, wherein the timing information can be used to determine the communication service quality information by the application server 107.
Thus, embodiments of the disclosure can relate to notification message (e.g., including the form of a request/response messaging and/or subscribe/notify messaging) inside core network CN 105, and/or management plane 109, and/or RAN 103 including, e.g., interactions with application layer as a first option, and/or RRC layer, and/or NAS layer as a second option. Embodiments of the disclosure can be based on the assumption that only application layers at the UE and at the application server are synchronized. Thus, embodiments of the disclosure may not require any additional synchronization between the UE 101 and RAN 103 or the UE 101 and CN 105 or RAN 103 and CN 105. According to embodiments of the disclosure application layer information may include timing information in the form of a timestamp showing the generation time of a corresponding packet and/or an offset value showing the execution time of the packet at the receiving node, or a timestamp showing the execution time of the packet at the receiving node. As will be appreciated, on the basis of one or more of such timestamps communication service quality measure values, such as packet jitter or end-to-end delay, can be determined. If such application layer information is used in the 5G network 100, then there may not be a need for user plane QoS monitoring mechanism at the network layer. As will be described in more detail below, embodiments of the disclosure can also relate to communication between the network application entity, in particular the application server 107, and the core network 105 of the communication network 100 and/or between the network application entity, in particular the application server 107, and the management plane 109 of the communication network 100. Such communication can be performed via currently being specified interfaces for the 5G system or possibly new interfaces that may be specified later.
As already described,
The threshold values (e.g., end-to-end delay per packet, jitter per packet, average end-to-end delay, average jitter, etc.) can be delivered to the UE(s) 101 beforehand by the application server 107 for each service type. The notification message can also be sent without considering any kind of threshold value and the UE 101 reports depending on the configuration by the application server 107. For example, the application server 107 may request the UE 101 to start reporting at a certain time and for certain duration.
Thus, according to an embodiment, the AS 107 or the AF 105a is configured to transmit a notification message including the communication service quality information to the network management and/or control entity 105b, 109a implemented in the core network 105 and/or management plane 109 of the communication network 100. Moreover, according to an embodiment, the AS 107 or the AF 105a is configured to extract timing information, in particular one or more timestamps, from an application layer uplink message received from the user equipment 101 as part of the communication service and to determine the communication service quality information on the basis of the timing information.
According to a further embodiment, the AS 107 or the AF 105a is configured to receive the timing information, e.g. the one or more timestamps from the UE 101 and to determine the communication service quality information on the basis of the timing information. In this case the timing information has been extracted by the UE 101 from an application layer message received from the AS 107 or the AF 105a as part of the communication service. In a further embodiment, the AS 107 or the AF 105a is configured to receive the communication service quality information directly from the UE 101. In this case, the UE 101 has extracted the timing information, e.g. the one or more timestamps from an application layer message received from the AS 107 or the AF 105a as part of the communication service and determines the communication service quality information on the basis of the extracted timing information.
An embodiment similar to the embodiment shown in
Further embodiments of the disclosure make use of multipath transmission scenarios in the communication network 100. In these multipath transmission scenarios URLLC data can be transmitted over two different communication paths (this could be also two different mobile network operator (PLMN)). Thus, according to an embodiment relating to such a multipath transmission scenario, the UE 101 can send different notification messages for each transmission path to the AS 107 or AF 105a or RAN 103. In case, both paths belong to the same session (i.e., multi-home session), then an extra identifier can be provided in addition to the session ID (e.g. path ID, UPF ID, PLMN ID).
Thus, in an embodiment, the user equipment 101 is configured to transmit at least two notification messages including the communication service quality measure information to the network application entity 107, 105a of the communication network 100 via different communication paths.
According to a further embodiment, the user equipment 101 is configured to extract further timing information, in particular a further timestamp, from a further application layer downlink message received from the network application entity 107, 105a via a further communication path and to determine the communication service quality information on the basis of the timing information and the further timing information.
Likewise, according to a further embodiment, the network application entity 107, 105a is configured to extract further timing information, in particular a further timestamp, from a further application layer uplink message received from the user equipment 101 via a further communication path and to determine the communication service quality information on the basis of the timing information and the further timing information.
According to embodiments of the disclosure, the application server 107 or application function 105a may configure the UE 101 about a certain notification type as illustrated in
According to further embodiments of the disclosure, as already described above, a management and orchestration layer (M&O) can be considered. The Core Network (CN) 105 controls the short-term actions, such as UE-associated session management, while the M&O handles long-term actions. Accordingly, the notification message content can also be utilized to collect long-term statistics. That is, the notification message content can be used, e.g., for short-term actions by the network layer (i.e., CN, transport network (TN), or RAN) or can be used for long-term actions by the M&O layer 109. For example, if the delay requirements cannot be met for a time period, the M&O layer 109 may initiate a re-orchestration of the network functions (NFs) 109a. The re-orchestration may imply, e.g., instantiating a user plane function (UPF) closer to the RAN 103 such as at the edge cloud or radio cloud, instead of at the central cloud. An M&O layer decision can be providing different requirements to the transport network (TN), e.g., in terms of delay budget. Another M&O decision could be slice re-configuration such that different delay budgets are distributed to the domains of the network layer (such as CN, TN, RAN). The access network (AN) can comprise 3GPP-based RAN or non-3GPP based AN, such as Wi-Fi network or private LAN.
As already described above in the context of
The notification message content may be also directly shared with the M&O 109 via, e.g., Application APIs through network exposure function or monitoring in the application (e.g., tenant, customer, or enterprise) or in the life-cycle management (LCM) function in the application. The level of actions considering the analytics or notification message content can be also mid-term, such as re-configuration of the semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) configuration.
While a particular feature or aspect of the disclosure may have been disclosed with respect to only one of several implementations, such feature or aspect may be combined with one or more other features or aspects of the other implementations as may be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application. Furthermore, to the extent that the terms “include”, “have”, “with”, or other variants thereof are used in either the detailed description or the claims, such terms are intended to be inclusive in a manner similar to the term “comprise”. Also, the terms “exemplary”, “for example” and “e.g.” are merely meant as an example, rather than the best or optimal. The terms “coupled” and “connected”, along with derivatives may have been used. It should be understood that these terms may have been used to indicate that two elements cooperate or interact with each other regardless whether they are in direct physical or electrical contact, or they are not in direct contact with each other.
Although specific aspects have been illustrated and described herein, it will be appreciated by those of ordinary skill in the art that a variety of alternate and/or equivalent implementations may be substituted for the specific aspects shown and described without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. This application is intended to cover any adaptations or variations of the specific aspects discussed herein.
Although the elements in the following claims are recited in a particular sequence with corresponding labeling, unless the claim recitations otherwise imply a particular sequence for implementing some or all of those elements, those elements are not necessarily intended to be limited to being implemented in that particular sequence.
Many alternatives, modifications, and variations will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the above teachings. Of course, those skilled in the art readily recognize that there are numerous applications of the disclosure beyond those described herein. While the present disclosure has been described with reference to one or more particular embodiments, those skilled in the art recognize that many changes may be made thereto without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. It is therefore to be understood that within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents, the disclosure may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described herein.
This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/EP2018/081944, filed on Nov. 20, 2018, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | PCT/EP2018/081944 | Nov 2018 | US |
Child | 17324573 | US |