WO2023117044A1

WO2023117044A1 - Opposite reflective qos

Info

Publication number: WO2023117044A1
Application number: PCT/EP2021/086883
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jan Backman; Jari Vikberg
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)
Priority date: 2021-12-20
Filing date: 2021-12-20
Publication date: 2023-06-29

Abstract

Systems and methods are disclosed that provide an opposite reflective Quality of Service (QoS) framework for a wireless communication device in a cellular communications system. In one embodiment, a method comprises, at a first network node, sending, to a wireless communication device, an uplink mapping table that maps application related information to QoS flows. The method further comprises, at the wireless communication device, receiving the uplink mapping table, receiving application related information for an application flow of an application on the wireless communication device, and mapping the application flow to a QoS flow based on the uplink mapping table. The method further comprises, at a second network node, receiving, from the wireless communication device, an uplink packet associated to a QoS flow and updating a downlink mapping table that maps information about downlink packets to QoS service flows, based on information about the received uplink packet and associated QoS flow.

Description

OPPOSITE REFLECTIVE QoS

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to Quality of Service (QoS) in a cellular communications system (e.g., a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) system).

BACKGROUND

The present disclosure is related to providing new functionality in existing (2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, etc.) and future Radio Access Networks (6G, etc.). The area of functionality is about enabling wider usage of Quality of Service (QoS) in a cellular communications system such as, e.g., a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) defined mobile network.

This background is structured as following:

• Section 1 describes the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) architectures within the Evolved Packet System (EPS).

• Section 2 gives on background to 3GPP Fifth Generation (5G).

• Section 3 describes QoS principles in 3GPP Fourth Generation (4G) and 5G

• Section 4 describes existing reflective QoS

• Section 5 describes existing Radio Access Network (RAN) scheduler behavior

• Section 6 describes the current industry, and the relation to net neutrality

• Section 7 describes existing QoS mechanisms and problems/challenges with these existing QoS mechanisms.

1 EPC and E-UTRAN Architectures

Figures 1-2

Evolved Packet System (EPS) is the Evolved 3GPP Packet Switched Domain and consists of Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN). Figure 1 shows an overview of the EPC architecture. This architecture is defined in 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 23.401 (see, e.g., V17.2.0). As illustrated in Figure 1, the EPC includes various core network nodes including, e.g., a Packet Data Network (PDN) Gateway (PGW), a Serving Gateway (SGW), a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF), a Mobility Management Entity (MME), and a Home Subscriber Station (HSS). Wireless communication devices (referred to as User Equipments (UEs)) connect to the EPC via the E-UTRAN. The E-UTRAN, which is also referred to as a Long Term Evolution (LTE) radio access network, consists of one more evolved Node Bs (eNBs). The operation of the various nodes in the EPS are defined in the 3GPP specifications and are well-known by those of skill in the art. Figure 2 shows the overall E-UTRAN architecture, which is further defined in, for example, 3GPP TS 36.300 (see, e.g., V16.6.0). The E-UTRAN consists of eNBs, providing the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) user plane (e.g., the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) / Radio Link Control (RLC) I Medium Access Control (MAC) I Physical (PHY) layers) and control plane (RRC) protocol terminations towards the UE.

2 5G Background

Figures 3-4

Standardization work is ongoing on the Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN) and Fifth Generation Core (5GC) for the Fifth Generation System (5GS) as new radio access and new packet core network (see 3GPP TS 23.501 and 23.502 for stage-2 descriptions). Figure 3 shows the 5GS architecture using a service-based representation (from 3GPP TS 23.501 V15.0.0).

Figure 4 shows the internal architecture for a New Radio (NR) base station (gNB), i.e. a base station supporting the NR Radio Access Technology (RAT) in the NG-RAN, or (R)AN of Figure 3. See 3GPP TS 38.401 for stage-2 description of NG-RAN). Figure 4 assumes that both Higher Layer Split (HLS) and Control Plane and User Plane split (CP-UP split) have been adopted within the gNB. As such, the gNB includes a Central Unit (CU) having a CU Control Plane (CU-CP) part and one or more CU User Plane (CU- UP) parts and one or more Distributed Units (DUs). Note that the MAC scheduler in the MAC protocol layer is implemented in the DU(s).

3 QoS principles in EPS (4G) and 5GS (5G)

QoS principles have been developing in the different mobile network generations in 3GPP. The following two sections give the main principles related to QoS in EPS and 5GS.

3.1 QoS in EPS

Figures 5-6

In EPS, QoS is managed on a per bearer level from the Core Network (CN). The eNB is responsible for setting up the radio bearers, radio resource management, and enforcing QoS according to the bearer QoS Profile - over the radio (e.g., LTE-Uu) interface in the downlink and over the transport network in the uplink. Figure 5 gives an overview of the QoS framework in EPS. Bearers including a QoS Profile are set up from the PDN GW in the CN, and QoS is enforced in the PDN GW and in the eNB for the downlink and in the UE and the eNB for the uplink.

Many services and subscribers share the same radio and network resources. Real-time services (e.g., voice, video etc.) share the same resources as non-real-time services (e.g., Internet browsing, file download etc.). One challenge in this area is how to ensure QoS (e. g. , bit rates, packet delays, packet loss) for Real Time Services. 3GPP EPS (i.e., both E-UTRAN and EPC) provides efficient QoS mechanisms to ensure that the user experience of different services sharing the same resources is acceptable. Examples of such mechanisms provided in 3GPP are:

1 . Traffic Separation: Different traffic types receive different treatment (queuing, etc.) in network.

2. 3GPP provides for both relative QoS and absolute QoS (using Guaranteed Bit Rates (GBRs).

3. GBR based admission control is used to reserve resources before traffic is admitted into the network or rejected otherwise.

4. Policy (e.g., Policy and Charging Control (PCC)) may determine what treatment to apply to the traffic streams

Figure 6 shows how the EPS bearer is realized with radio bearer, S1 bearer, and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol (GTP) based S5/S8 bearer, and the different main identifiers used in the mappings related to these bearers.

3GPP defines the concept of a Packet Data Network (PDN). A PDN is in most cases an Internet Protocol (IP) network, e.g. Internet or an operator IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS) service network. A PDN has one or more names, where each name is defined in a string referred to as an Access Point Name (APN). The PGW is a gateway towards one or more PDNs. A UE may have one or more PDN connections. A PDN connection is a logical IP tunnel between UE and PGW, providing the UE access to a PDN. The setup of a PDN connection is initiated from the UE.

Every PDN connection consists of one or more bearers. See 3GPP TS 23.401 section 4.7.2 for a description of the bearer concept. A bearer uniquely identifies traffic flows that receive a common QoS treatment between a UE and a PGW. Each bearer on a particular access has a unique bearer identity (ID). On the 3GPP access, the bearer is end-to-end between UE and PGW. Every PDN connection has at least one bearer and this bearer is called the default bearer. All additional bearers on the PDN connection are called dedicated bearers.

A bearer carries traffic in the form of IP packets or non-IP packets. The traffic that is carried on a bearer is defined by filters. A filter is an n-tuple where each element in the tuple contains a value, a range, or a wildcard. An n-tuple is also known as an IP flow. An example of a 5-tuple is (dst IP=83.50.20.110, src I P=145.45.68.201 , dst port=80, src port=*, prot=TCP). This 5-tuple defines a source and destination IP address, a source and destination port, and a protocol. The source port is a wildcard. Traffic matching this 5-tuple filter would be all Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) traffic from IP=145.45.68.201 to I P=83.50.20.110 and port=80. A traffic flow template (TFT) contains one or more filters. Every bearer has a TFT. One bearer within a PDN connection and access may lack an explicit TFT. This bearer is typically the default bearer. Implicitly such bearer has a TFT with a single filter matching all packets. There are two types of bearers: GBR and non-GBR bearers. Every EPS bearer is associated with the following QoS parameters: QoS Class Identifier (QCI) and Allocation and Retention Priority (ARP). GBR bearers are in addition associated with bit rate parameters for Guaranteed Bit Rate (GBR) and Maximum Bit Rate (MBR). Non-GBR bearers do not have bearer-level bit rate parameters. Instead, there is aggregate enforcement of all non-GBR bearers using Aggregate Maximum Bit Rates (AMBR) (APN- AMBR: defined per subscriber and Access Point Name, and UE-AMBR: defined per subscriber).

The QCI is signalled from the CN to the eNB and defines specific characteristics to be applied for all traffic on this bearer. These characteristics may include: resource type (GBR or Non-GBR), priority, Packet Delay Budget (PDB), Packet Error Loss Rate, Maximum Burst Size (for some GBR QCIs ,) and Data rate Averaging Window (for some GBR QCIs).

3.2 QoS in 5GS

Figures 7-8

In 5GS, QoS is managed on a per QoS Flow level from the CN. The NG-RAN (i.e., gNB or next generation eNB (ng-eNB), which is an LTE connected to the 5GC) is responsible for setting up the radio bearers for QoS Flows, radio resource management, and enforcing QoS according to the QoS Flow Profile - over the radio interface in the downlink and over the transport network in the uplink. QoS Flows are identified by a QoS Flow ID (QFI). Figure 7 gives an overview of the QoS framework in 5GS. QoS Flows including a QoS Profile are set up between the User Plane Function (UPF) in the 5GC and the UE.

5GS has defined a new term called a Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session that is very similar to a PDN connection (see previous section). One difference is that there is normally only a single N3/NG-U tunnel (a GTP-U tunnel) for each PDU session between the UPF and NG-RAN. This means that the mapping of different traffic/QoS flows to radio bearers is performed in the NG-RAN. For example, a radio bearer can carry one or more QoS Flows. A QoS Flow is the finest granularity of QoS differentiation in a PDU session. Each QoS Flow is associated with QoS parameters that are used to enforce the correct traffic forwarding treatment. Each packet belongs to a QoS Flow and one PDU session can carry one or several QoS Flows.

The QoS Flow level QoS Parameters can be either non-dynamic or dynamic. The non-dynamic case is very similar to the QCI concept in EPS but is referred to as 5G QoS Identifier (5QI). This means that the 5QI is signaled from 5GC to NG-RAN and defines the main characteristics for the QoS Flow. The dynamic case is somewhat different as in this case additional characteristics are also signaled from 5GC to NG-RAN. These signaled characteristics may include Priority Level, Packet Delay Budget, Packet Error Rate, Delay Critical, Averaging Window and Maximum Data Burst Volume. Figure 8 shows the principle for classification and User Plane marking for QoS Flows and mapping to NG-RAN Resources.

4 Existing Reflective QoS

Reflective QoS exists on two different levels in the 5GS as standardized today. Both levels are based on the UE side reflecting the actions taken by the network.

1 . Non-Access Stratum (NAS) Level: Map uplink (UL) user plane traffic flows to QoS Flows without packet core network provided QoS rules (5-tuple D QFI)

• The solution is based on that the network first performs mapping from application traffic flows to QoS Flows. The UE derives QoS rules for the UL based on received downlink (DL) traffic. The DL traffic is received associated with a QFI. The QoS rules created contain one UL Packet filter and the QFI. The solution applies both for IP and Ethernet based PDU sessions. For the IP PDU sessions, the UL QoS rules derivation is defined for IP, TCP, User Datagram Protocol (UDP), and Encapsulating Security Payload (ESP) based protocols and 5-tuple kind of logic. UE stores the derived QoS rule containing UL Packet Filter and QFI and applies the derived QoS rule later for UL traffic (in case there is match in the UL Packet Filter). For the Ethernet PDU Sessions, the UL QoS rules derivation may be based on source and destination MAC addresses and Ethertype on received DL packets. In addition, the QoS rules derivation may also be based on received 802.1Q headers, especially the VLAN Identifier (VID) and Priority code point (PCP) in IEEE 802.1Q header(s) of the received DL packets. The usage of the above Ethernet based identifiers may also be included in the term 5-tuple kind of logic.

2. Access Stratum (AS) Level: Map UL QoS Flows to Radio bearers without RAN provided mapping rules (QFI 0 RB)

• RAN performs mapping of QoS Flows to Radio Bearers in the downlink. This is based on information received in the control plane from the Session Management Function (SMF) in the 5GC (e.g., 5QI, ARP, etc.), information configured in the RAN, and the QFI received from the UPF for each user plane packet. RAN may signal the mapping of QoS Flows to Radio Bearers for the UE for usage in the UL. In addition to the signaled mapping, an alternative has been standardized as the UE reflecting the RAN provided DL mapping in the UL. In this case, the UE monitors the QFIs received on each Radio Bearer in the downlink, stores the mapping and then applies it for uplink traffic. 5 RAN Scheduler Behavior

The scheduler feature distributes radio interface and Radio Base Station (RBS) resources between various user and control data flows requesting transmission in the cell. The scheduler gives priority to robust system control signaling and retransmissions over user data. It enables users to be multiplexed and scheduled in time and frequency, efficiently using spectral and hardware resources to optimize user throughput and cell capacity.

Scheduling, also referred to as Dynamic Resource Allocation, is done dynamically for every Transmission Time Interval (TTI) of 1 millisecond (ms) in a standard LTE system. For every upcoming TTI, the Scheduler determines the users that are assigned radio interface and RBS resources. For a more evolved LTE system or a system involving NR technology, the TTIs in question may be of varying size and shorter than 1 ms.

The scheduler takes into account inputs like, Channel Quality Indicator (CQI) reported by the UEs, Acknowledgments (ACK) I Negative ACKs (NACKs), amount of data each UE wants to transfer, available UL/DL bandwidth, bearer priority/QCI, etc., when determining for the upcoming TTI which UEs to schedule, the amount of resources to allocate per UE, and what Transport Block Size (TBS) and transport format to use per UE.

The main responsibility of the scheduler is to maximize the number of users that fulfill the QoS requirements and to maximize spectrum/resource efficiency. A set of scheduling algorithms are used to achieve this responsibility. Some scheduling algorithms that can be used are:

• Round-Robin scheduling algorithm: This scheduler algorithm distributes the same number of resource blocks to all users. It is simple but it can lead to very unfair resource allocation, where users at the cell edge get the same number of resources than central users, resulting in massive difference in terms of throughput.

• Proportional fair scheduling algorithm: This scheduler addresses the main weakness of the Round- Robin scheduler, i.e., the fairness. This scheduler allocates resources to users according to priority mechanism. The priority of a user is inversely proportional to the amount of data the user could transmit in previous communication phases. That way the scheduler algorithm makes sure that all users are treated fairly in terms of throughput and not allocated resources.

• Delay based scheduler: This scheduling algorithm is mainly designed for Voice over IP (VoIP) or Conversational Video services. Such services have a characteristic that the QoS will be degraded dramatically when the packet exceeds its packet delay budget (PDB), but no improvement from an even faster arrival time than PDB. The delay-based scheduler utilizes the characteristics to enhance the spectrum efficiency in a mixed scenario with both best effort and VoIP services. The scheduler allocates the resources to the best effort services before the VoIP users reaches it PDB and allocates the resources to the VoIP users when their PDB is in danger of being violated. With this way the scheduler is able maximize the throughput for the best effort service while securing the PDB for the VoIP services at the same time.

6 Current Industry, and the Relation to Net Neutrality

In relation to the use of QoS as well as network slicing, there is a concern that operator controlled QoS potentially breaks the Net Neutrality regulations in Europe, the United States (mainly California regulations, but they will be considered as the limitation regarding what to do on the US market), and many other countries (e.g., India, Brazil, Canada, Singapore, etc.).

UE Operating System (OS) vendors will not assist in breaking Net Neutrality laws. This means that any development on the UE OS side that is risky in terms of Net Neutrality is something that UE OS vendors are not likely to do. Based on this, UE OS vendors may not support several operator-controlled traffic classification solutions for QoS and network slicing that may be used to achieve differentiated QoS.

7 Existing QoS Mechanisms and Problems/Challenges with These

As indicated in the section, the existing QoS mechanism is typically operator controlled and initiated from the network side. This also means that the network needs to understand how to map different types of traffic to different QoS-classes. This is however troublesome because of the following:

• As more and more traffic is encrypted, it is hard to know the contents of the flow without knowing the service running at the specific IP address.

• Public Cloud deployments often mean that IP addresses in advance cannot be bound to a specific application.

• This leads to the conclusion that the only way to identify services from the network side is by having the application (e.g., the Application Function (AF), see section 2 and Figure 3) signal the used 5- tuples in real-time to the network (e.g., the Network Exposure Function (NEF) or the Policy Control Function (PCF), see section 2 and Figure 3). This scales poorly.

• Using network Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) makes it hard for new small scale applications to get the same treatment as existing largely deployed applications (that typically uses an AF). In the end, this may be seen as operators discriminating small and niche applications and that can be seen as breaking Net Neutrality.

Add to this that there are several hundred operators (and their NEFs and PCFs) in the world that an application provider would need to have their traffic identification rules deployed at, and that there are many thousand (or hundreds of thousands) of applications that the operators need to have all information about to control the treatment from their side (utilizing their NEFs and PCFs). This is simply just not scaling at any level.

SUMMARY

Systems and methods are disclosed that provide an opposite reflective Quality of Service (QoS) framework for a wireless communication device in a cellular communications system. In one embodiment, a method comprises, at a first network node, sending, to a wireless communication device, an uplink mapping table that maps application related information to QoS flows. The method further comprises, at the wireless communication device, receiving the uplink mapping table from the first network node, receiving application related information for an application flow of an application on the wireless communication device, and mapping the application flow to a QoS flow based on the uplink mapping table. The method further comprises, at a second network node, receiving, from the wireless communication device, an uplink packet associated to a QoS flow and updating a downlink mapping table that maps information about downlink packets to QoS service flows, based on information about the received uplink packet and the associated QoS flow. In this manner, increased usage of QoS mechanisms is enabled while also providing QoS mechanisms that fulfill net neutrality related regulations and are simple, dynamic, and scalable. The service provider is also enabled to remain in full control of how and if QoS is activated for different wireless communication devices and application flows.

Embodiments of a method performed by a wireless communication device are also disclosed. In one embodiment, a method performed by a wireless communication device comprises receiving, from a network node, an uplink mapping table that maps application related information to QoS flows, receiving application related information for an application flow of an application on the wireless communication device, and mapping the application flow to a QoS flow based on the uplink mapping table.

In one embodiment, the application related information comprises an application type of the application, and the uplink mapping table maps application types to QoS flows. In another embodiment, the application related information comprises a set of application characteristics of the application, and the uplink mapping table maps sets of application characteristics to QoS flows. In another embodiment, the application related information comprises an application type of the application and a set of application characteristics of the application, and the uplink mapping table maps different combinations of application types and sets of application characteristics to QoS flows.

In one embodiment, the method further comprises receiving an uplink packet for the application flow and sending the uplink packet on the QoS flow mapped to the application flow.

In one embodiment, the method is performed by a modem of the wireless communication device. In one embodiment, the modem is a modem for wireless communication with a radio access network of a cellular communications system. In one embodiment, the cellular communications system is a 3GPP- defined cellular communications system. In one embodiment, the cellular communications system is a 5G system.

Corresponding embodiments of a wireless communication device are also disclosed. In one embodiment, a wireless communication device is adapted to receive, from a network node, an uplink mapping table that maps application related information to QoS flows, receive application related information for an application flow of an application on the wireless communication device, and map the application flow to a QoS flow based on the uplink mapping table.

In another embodiment, a wireless communication device comprises one or more transmitters, one or more receivers, and processing circuitry associated with the one or more transmitters and the one or more receivers. The processing circuitry is configured to cause the wireless communication device to receive, from a network node, an uplink mapping table that maps application related information to QoS flows, receive application related information for an application flow of an application on the wireless communication device, and map the application flow to a QoS flow based on the uplink mapping table.

Embodiments of a method performed by a network node of a cellular communications system are also disclosed. In one embodiment, a method performed by a network node of a cellular communications system comprises sending, to a wireless communication device, an uplink mapping table that maps application related information to QoS flows.

In one embodiment, the application related information comprises an application type, and the uplink mapping table maps application types to QoS flows. In another embodiment, the application related information comprises a set of application characteristics, and the uplink mapping table maps sets of application characteristics to QoS flows. In another embodiment, the application related information comprises an application type and a set of application characteristics, and the uplink mapping table maps different combinations of application types and sets of application characteristics to QoS flows.

In one embodiment, the cellular communications system is a 3GPP-defined cellular communications system. In one embodiment, the cellular communications system is a 5G system.

Corresponding embodiments of a network node for a cellular communications system are also disclosed. In one embodiment, a network node for a cellular communications system is adapted to send, to a wireless communication device, an uplink mapping table that maps application related information to QoS flows.

In one embodiment, a network node for a cellular communications system comprises processing circuitry configured to cause the network node to send, to a wireless communication device, an uplink mapping table that maps application related information to QoS flows. In another embodiment, a method performed by a network node of a cellular communications system comprises receiving, from a wireless communication device, an uplink packet associated to a QoS flow and updating a downlink mapping table that maps information about downlink packets to QoS service flows, based on information about the received uplink packet and the associated QoS flow.

In one embodiment, the information about the received uplink packet comprises: (a) a source Internet Protocol, IP, address, address of the received uplink packet, (b) destination IP address of the received uplink packet, (c) source port of the received uplink packet, (d) destination port of the received uplink packet, (e) protocol of the received uplink packet, or (f) any combination of two or more of (a) - (e). In one embodiment, updating the downlink mapping table comprises updating the downlink mapping table to include a mapping between the QoS flow associated to the received packet and the information about the received uplink packet. In one embodiment, the information about downlink packets comprises: (i) source IP address, (ii) destination IP address, (iii) source port, (iv) destination port, (v) protocol, or (vi) any combination of two or more of (i) - (v).

In one embodiment, the method further comprises receiving a downlink packet and mapping the downlink packet to a QoS flow based on information about the received downlink packet and the downlink mapping table.

Corresponding embodiments of a network node are also disclosed. In one embodiment, a network node for a cellular communications system is adapted to receive, from a wireless communication device, an uplink packet associated to a QoS flow and update a downlink mapping table that maps information about downlink packets to QoS service flows, based on information about the received uplink packet and the associated QoS flow.

In another embodiment, a network node for a cellular communications system comprises processing circuitry configured to cause the network node to receive, from a wireless communication device, an uplink packet associated to a QoS flow and update a downlink mapping table that maps information about downlink packets to QoS service flows, based on information about the received uplink packet and the associated QoS flow.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

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. Figure 1 shows an overview of the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) architecture defined by the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP);

Figure 2 shows the overall Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) architecture defined by 3GPP;

Figure 3 shows 3GPP Fifth Generation System (5GS) architecture using a service-based representation;

Figure 4 shows the internal architecture for a New Radio (NR) base station (g NB), i.e. a base station supporting the NR Radio Access Technology (RAT) in the Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN), or (R)AN, of Figure 3;

Figure 5 gives an overview of the Quality of Service (QoS) framework in the Evolved Packet System (EPS);

Figure 6 shows how the EPS bearer is realized with radio bearer, S1 bearer, and General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol (GTP) based S5/S8 bearer, and the different main identifiers used in the mappings related to these bearers;

Figure 7 gives an overview of the QoS framework in 5GS;

Figure 8 shows the principle for classification and User Plane marking for QoS Flows and mapping to NG-RAN Resources;

Figure 9 illustrates one example of a cellular communications system in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

Figures 10 and 11 illustrate example embodiments in which the cellular communication system of Figure 9 is a 5GS;

Figure 12 illustrates the operation of a wireless communication device (WCD), a base station 902, and a User Plane Function (UPF) to provide a QoS mechanism in accordance with one embodiment

Figures 13A and 13B illustrates a procedure for providing a QoS framework in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure;

Figure 14 is a schematic block diagram of a network node according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Figure 15 is a schematic block diagram that illustrates a virtualized embodiment of the network node of Figure 14 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

Figure 16 is a schematic block diagram of the network node of Figure 14 according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure;

Figure 17 is a schematic block diagram of a wireless communication device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure; and Figure 18 is a schematic block diagram of a wireless communication device according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

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.

Radio Node: As used herein, a “radio node” is either a radio access node or a wireless communication device.

Radio Access Node: As used herein, a “radio access node” or “radio network node” or “radio access network node” is any node in a Radio Access Network (RAN) of a cellular communications network that operates to wirelessly transmit and/or receive signals. Some examples of a radio access node include, but are not limited to, a base station (e.g., a New Radio (NR) base station (gNB) in a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Fifth Generation (5G) NR network or an enhanced or evolved Node B (eNB) in a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) network), a high-power or macro base station, a low-power base station (e.g., a micro base station, a pico base station, a home eNB, or the like), a relay node, a network node that implements part of the functionality of a base station or a network node that implements a gNB Distributed Unit (gNB-DU)) or a network node that implements part of the functionality of some other type of radio access node.

Core Network Node: As used herein, a “core network node” is any type of node in a core network or any node that implements a core network function. Some examples of a core network node include, e.g., a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Packet Data Network Gateway (P-GW), a Service Capability Exposure Function (SCEF), a Home Subscriber Server (HSS), or the like. Some other examples of a core network node include a node implementing an Access and Mobility Function (AMF), a User Plane Function (UPF), a Session Management Function (SMF), an Authentication Server Function (AUSF), a Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF), a Network Exposure Function (NEF), a Network Function (NF) Repository Function (NRF), a Policy Control Function (PCF), a Unified Data Management (UDM), or the like.

Communication Device: As used herein, a “communication device” is any type of device that has access to an access network. Some examples of a communication device include, but are not limited to: mobile phone, smart phone, sensor device, meter, vehicle, household appliance, medical appliance, media player, camera, or any type of consumer electronic, for instance, but not limited to, a television, radio, lighting arrangement, tablet computer, laptop, or Personal Computer (PC). The communication device may be a portable, hand-held, computer-comprised, or vehicle-mounted mobile device, enabled to communicate voice and/or data via a wireless or wireline connection.

Wireless Communication Device: One type of communication device is a wireless communication device, which may be any type of wireless device that has access to (i.e., is served by) a wireless network (e.g., a cellular network). Some examples of a wireless communication device include, but are not limited to: a User Equipment device (UE) in a 3GPP network, a Machine Type Communication (MTC) device, and an Internet of Things (loT) device. Such wireless communication devices may be, or may be integrated into, a mobile phone, smart phone, sensor device, meter, vehicle, household appliance, medical appliance, media player, camera, or any type of consumer electronic, for instance, but not limited to, a television, radio, lighting arrangement, tablet computer, laptop, or PC. The wireless communication device may be a portable, hand-held, computer-comprised, or vehicle-mounted mobile device, enabled to communicate voice and/or data via a wireless connection.

Network Node: As used herein, a “network node” is any node that is either part of the RAN or the core network of a cellular communications network/system.

Note that the description given herein focuses on a 3GPP cellular communications system and, as such, 3GPP terminology or terminology similar to 3GPP terminology is oftentimes used. However, the concepts disclosed herein are not limited to a 3GPP system.

Note that, in the description herein, reference may be made to the term “cell”; however, particularly with respect to 5G NR concepts, beams may be used instead of cells and, as such, it is important to note that the concepts described herein are equally applicable to both cells and beams.

As discussed above, UE Operating System (OS) vendors will not assist in breaking Net Neutrality laws. This means that any development on the UE OS side that is risky in terms of Net Neutrality is something that UE OS vendors are not likely to do. Based on this, UE OS vendors may not support several operator-controlled traffic classification solutions for Quality of Service (QoS) and network slicing that may be used to achieve differentiated QoS.

Instead, UE OS vendors have proposed that different traffic categories are to be used to classify the traffic communicated over a 3GPP system. The idea is that an application states what kind of traffic that is carried for a specific traffic flow and that this may be used to classify the traffic to different Protocol Data Unit (PDU) sessions, which may have different QoSs. By doing this, QoS is under application control and, as such, there is no discrimination of traffic from the same type of applications.

However, it may still be hard to avoid discrimination for some traffic flows compared to others if they are on different PDU sessions. By having the traffic on different PDU sessions it may also end up on different UPFs and that means that fairness cannot be achieved as scheduling on the UPF cannot be done in such a way that it becomes fair. Even if the UE Aggregate Maximum Bit Rate (AMBR) may solve part of the problem in RAN, it is still hard to make scheduling fair. A solution where all the different QoS classes and all scheduling is done in one UPF is preferable and that requires that all the traffic on the Internet connectivity runs on the same PDU session (as one PDU session is mapped to one PDU Session Anchor (PSA) UPF (PSA-UPF)).

There currently exist certain problems associated with Quality of Service (QoS) mechanisms in cellular communications systems such as, e.g., 3GPP EPS and 5GS. QoS has been supported in different cellular communication system generations for a long time. So far, QoS has mainly been used for network integrated applications, such as Voice over LTE (VoLTE) / Internet Protocol (IP) Multimedia Subsystem (IMS). The likelihood for existing QoS mechanisms to be used for anything other than Communication Service Provider (CSP) network integrated applications is decreasing.

The existing QoS solutions are based on the network identifying different application flows and activating QoS based on network configuration. Also, the existing reflective QoS is based on these same principles. The main challenges with this are:

• Increased usage of End-to-End (E2E) encryption makes it more difficult for the network to identify specific application flows.

• It is becoming very challenging to use static 5-tuples for application flow identification. One example of this is load balancers used in cloud platforms that hide the actual application servers i.e., multiple applications behind such load balancer cannot be uniquely identified. Another example is multiple applications flows transferred in a single E2E secure tunnel.

• One possible way to solve this is that the CSPs and third party application providers create agreements for how the third party applications should become more network integrated. These agreements are challenging and complex to achieve. One hurdle is that the application providers are interested in multi-CSP solutions, meaning that the agreements should exist between an application provider and all needed CSPs.

• Net-neutrality is still an important aspect to consider. The solutions shall not allow prioritization of specific application providers and priority for a specific consumer accessing internet should not have a negative impact on other consumers accessing internet.

Systems and methods are disclosed herein for UE-controlled QoS in a cellular communications system such as, e.g., an EPS or 5GS. In one embodiment, an application in a UE indicates a traffic type and/or one or more desired traffic characteristics for a specific application flow to an Operating System (OS) in the UE. The OS provides this information to a modem in the UE. At the modem in the UE, the modem receives a new uplink (UL) mapping table from a network node of the cellular communications system (e.g., a PCF or SMF). The new UL mapping table defines how the application flows are mapped to QoS flows in the cellular communications system. The QoS flows are, in one embodiment, identified by respective QoS Flow IDs (QFIs). Based on the new UL mapping table, the modem at the UE maps the specific application flow of the application to a QoS flow (e.g., to a QFI). Once the specific application flow is mapped to the respective QoS flow in accordance with the new UL mapping table, in one embodiment, existing mechanisms are used to transmit uplink packets received at the modem for the specific application flow via the mapped QoS flow of the cellular communications system.

In one embodiment, a new reflective QoS mechanism is utilized in the network. More specifically, upon receiving an UL packet on a QoS flow (where, at the UE modem, a specific application flow is mapped to the QoS flow based on the new UL mapping table), a network node (e.g., a UPF) in the cellular communications system creates an association between the included QFI and information identifying the specific application flow (e.g., a 5-tuple, or part(s) of a 5-tuple). This association is stored in a new DL mapping table in the network node. When a downlink packet is received for the UE, the network node (e.g., UPF) uses the created association(s) in the DL mapping table to set the QFI in the DL. Existing mechanisms may then be used for rest of the actions in the downlink.

The above enables a new reflective QoS, which is opposite to the existing reflective QoS in the sense that the UE does the identification of the needed traffic characteristics for a specific application flow, and the network follows this identification. It is also important to highlight that the network is still in full control on how and if QoS is enabled for the different application traffic flows (e.g., via configuration of the new UL mapping table).

While not being limited to or by any particular advantage, embodiments of the QoS mechanisms described herein enables increased usage of QoS mechanisms on the network side. Embodiments of the QoS mechanisms disclosed herein are simple, dynamic, and scalable and fulfill net neutrality related regulations. The CSPs still remain in full control of how and if QoS is activated for different UEs and application flows.

Embodiments of the reflective QoS mechanisms described herein utilize monitoring of 5-tuples to be able to reflect the QoS mapping in the uplink also in the downlink. In the network node (e.g., UPF), there is often an implementation of a firewall and/or a Network Address Translation (NAT) to be able to track flows by their 5-tuples to permit/deny/translate traffic between the Internet and the UE. UE-initiated traffic is typically tracked, and only traffic matching these flows would be allowed in the other direction. This provides a possibility for an optimization in the network node (e.g., UPF) as it may have a single flow table that can be used for opposite reflective QoS as described herein as well as for firewalling and for NATing. As it happens, Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) also uses a flow table to track the packet flows for inspection. A flow table may also be used to do load balancing over available resources in a multi-core processing environment (and it is in some cases done as well). So, flow tables are already existing and may be reused also for opposite reflective QoS as described herein. This makes opposite reflective QoS relatively “cheap” to implement.

Figure 9

Figure 9 illustrates one example of a cellular communications system 900 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. In the embodiments described herein, the cellular communications system 900 is a 5GS including a Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) and a 5G Core (5GC) or an EPS including an Evolved Universal Terrestrial RAN (E-UTRAN) and an Evolved Packet Core (EPC). In this example, the RAN includes base stations 902-1 and 902-2, which in the 5GS include NR base stations (gNBs) and optionally next generation eNBs (ng-eNBs) (e.g., LTE RAN nodes connected to the 5GC) and in the EPS include eNBs, controlling corresponding (macro) cells 904-1 and 904-2. The base stations 902-1 and 902-2 are generally referred to herein collectively as base stations 902 and individually as base station 902. Likewise, the (macro) cells 904-1 and 904-2 are generally referred to herein collectively as (macro) cells 904 and individually as (macro) cell 904. The RAN may also include a number of low power nodes 906-1 through 906-4 controlling corresponding small cells 908-1 through 908-4. The low power nodes 906- 1 through 906-4 can be small base stations (such as pico or femto base stations) or RRHs, or the like. Notably, while not illustrated, one or more of the small cells 908-1 through 908-4 may alternatively be provided by the base stations 902. The low power nodes 906-1 through 906-4 are generally referred to herein collectively as low power nodes 906 and individually as low power node 906. Likewise, the small cells 908-1 through 908-4 are generally referred to herein collectively as small cells 908 and individually as small cell 908. The cellular communications system 900 also includes a core network 910, which in the 5G System (5GS) is referred to as the 5GC. The base stations 902 (and optionally the low power nodes 906) are connected to the core network 910.

The base stations 902 and the low power nodes 906 provide service to wireless communication devices 912-1 through 912-5 in the corresponding cells 904 and 908. The wireless communication devices 912-1 through 912-5 are generally referred to herein collectively as wireless communication devices 912 and individually as wireless communication device 912. In the following description, the wireless communication devices 912 are oftentimes UEs and as such sometimes referred to herein as UEs 912, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

As illustrated, the core network 910 includes a number of core network nodes 914. The types of core network nodes 914 included in the core network 910 depend on the type of system. Figures 10 and 11 described below give examples of the types of core network nodes 914 that are included in the 5GC. For EPC, the core network nodes 914 include nodes such as, e.g., MMEs, SGWs, PGWs, etc. (see, e.g., Figures 1 and 2).

Figure 10 Figure 10 illustrates a wireless communication system represented as a 5G network architecture composed of core Network Functions (NFs), where interaction between any two NFs is represented by a point-to-point reference point/interface. Figure 10 can be viewed as one particular implementation of the system 900 of Figure 9.

Seen from the access side the 5G network architecture shown in Figure 10 comprises a plurality of UEs 912 connected to either a RAN 902 or an Access Network (AN) as well as an AMF 1000. Typically, the R(AN) 902 comprises base stations, e.g. such as eNBs or gNBs or similar. Seen from the core network side, the 5GC NFs shown in Figure 10 include a NSSF 1002, an AUSF 1004, a UDM 1006, the AMF 1000, a SMF 1008, a PCF 1010, and an Application Function (AF) 1012.

Reference point representations of the 5G network architecture are used to develop detailed call flows in the normative standardization. The N1 reference point is defined to carry signaling between the UE 912 and AMF 1000. The reference points for connecting between the AN 902 and AMF 1000 and between the AN 902 and UPF 1014 are defined as N2 and N3, respectively. There is a reference point, N11 , between the AMF 1000 and SMF 1008, which implies that the SMF 1008 is at least partly controlled by the AMF 1000. N4 is used by the SMF 1008 and UPF 1014 so that the UPF 1014 can be set using the control signal generated by the SMF 1008, and the UPF 1014 can report its state to the SMF 1008. N9 is the reference point for the connection between different UPFs 1014, and N14 is the reference point connecting between different AMFs 1000, respectively. N15 and N7 are defined since the PCF 1010 applies policy to the AMF 1000 and SMF 1008, respectively. N12 is required for the AMF 1000 to perform authentication of the UE 912. N8 and N10 are defined because the subscription data of the UE 912 is required for the AMF 1000 and SMF 1008.

The 5GC network aims at separating UP and CP. The UP carries user traffic while the CP carries signaling in the network. In Figure 10, the UPF 1014 is in the UP and all other NFs, i.e., the AMF 1000, SMF 1008, PCF 1010, AF 1012, NSSF 1002, AUSF 1004, and UDM 1006, are in the CP. Separating the UP and CP guarantees each plane resource to be scaled independently. It also allows UPFs to be deployed separately from CP functions in a distributed fashion. In this architecture, UPFs may be deployed very close to UEs to shorten the Round Trip Time (RTT) between UEs and data network for some applications requiring low latency.

The core 5G network architecture is composed of modularized functions. For example, the AMF 1000 and SMF 1008 are independent functions in the CP. Separated AMF 1000 and SMF 1008 allow independent evolution and scaling. Other CP functions like the PCF 1010 and AUSF 1004 can be separated as shown in Figure 10. Modularized function design enables the 5GC network to support various services flexibly. Each NF interacts with another NF directly. It is possible to use intermediate functions to route messages from one NF to another NF. In the CP, a set of interactions between two NFs is defined as service so that its reuse is possible. This service enables support for modularity. The UP supports interactions such as forwarding operations between different UPFs.

Figure 11

Figure 11 illustrates a 5G network architecture using service-based interfaces between the NFs in the CP, instead of the point-to-point reference points/interfaces used in the 5G network architecture of Figure 10. However, the NFs described above with reference to Figure 10 correspond to the NFs shown in Figure 11. The service(s) etc. that a NF provides to other authorized NFs can be exposed to the authorized NFs through the service-based interface. In Figure 11 the service based interfaces are indicated by the letter “N” followed by the name of the NF, e.g. Namf for the service based interface of the AMF 1000 and Nsmf for the service based interface of the SMF 1008, etc. The NEF 1100 and the NRF 1102 in Figure 11 are not shown in Figure 10 discussed above. However, it should be clarified that all NFs depicted in Figure 10 can interact with the NEF 1100 and the NRF 1102 of Figure 11 as necessary, though not explicitly indicated in Figure 10.

Some properties of the NFs shown in Figures 10 and 11 may be described in the following manner. The AMF 1000 provides UE-based authentication, authorization, mobility management, etc. A UE 912 even using multiple access technologies is basically connected to a single AMF 1000 because the AMF 1000 is independent of the access technologies. The SMF 1008 is responsible for session management and allocates Internet Protocol (IP) addresses to UEs. It also selects and controls the UPF 1014 for data transfer. If a UE 912 has multiple sessions, different SMFs 1008 may be allocated to each session to manage them individually and possibly provide different functionalities per session. The AF 1012 provides information on the packet flow to the PCF 1010 responsible for policy control in order to support QoS. Based on the information, the PCF 1010 determines policies about mobility and session management to make the AMF 1000 and SMF 1008 operate properly. The AUSF 1004 supports authentication function for UEs or similar and thus stores data for authentication of UEs or similar while the UDM 1006 stores subscription data of the UE 912. The Data Network (DN), not part of the 5GC network, provides Internet access or operator services and similar.

An NF may be implemented either as a network element on a dedicated hardware, as a software instance running on a dedicated hardware, or as a virtualized function instantiated on an appropriate platform, e.g., a cloud infrastructure.

Figure 12

Figure 12 illustrates the operation of a wireless communication device (WCD) 912, a base station 902, and a UPF 1014 to provide a QoS mechanism in accordance with one embodiment of the present disclosure. As illustrated, the WCD 912 includes an application(s) 1200, an Operating System (OS) 1202, and a modem 1204. In operation, the WCD 912 and preferably the modem 1204 obtains a new UL mapping table 1206 from the network (e.g., from a core network node 914 in the core network 910). In one embodiment, the new UL mapping table 1206 is obtained from a core network node 914 (e.g., from the PCF 1010 or SMF 1008) via Non-Access Stratum (NAS) signaling. The new UL mapping table 1206 indicate how the WCD 912, and preferably how the modem 1204 within the WCD 912, is to map different application flows of the application(s) 120 to different QoS flows of the cellular communications system 900 in the uplink direction. The application flows can be identified for example with an application type, that can be, for example, a numerical Application ID or textual Application Name. The application flows may additionally or alternatively also be associated with information identifying application characteristics (e.g., respective sets of application characteristics). In one embodiment, QoS flows are identified by respective QFIs. In addition, in one embodiment, each application flow is identifiable with a 5-tuple type of information (e.g., source IP address, destination IP address, source port, destination port, and protocol), included in all the uplink (and downlink) packets for the application flow.

The exact way the new UL mapping table 1206 defines the mappings may vary depending on the particular implementation. In one embodiment, the new UL mapping table 1206 maps different defined application types, different sets of application characteristics, and/or different combinations of defined application types and sets of application characteristics to different QoS flows (e.g., QFIs). In one example embodiment, the new UL mapping table 1206 includes mappings of different defined application types to different QoS flows (e.g., different QFIs). As another example embodiment, the new UL mapping table 1206 includes mappings of different sets of application characteristics to different QoS flows (e.g., different QFIs). In yet another example embodiment, the new UL mapping table 1206 includes mappings of different combinations of defined application types and sets of application characteristics to different QoS flows (e.g., different QFIs). For example, the combination of a first application type and a first set of application characteristics may be mapped to a first QoS flow, a combination of the first application type and a second set of application characteristics may be mapped to a second QoS flow, a combination of a second application type and the first set of application characteristics may be mapped to a third QoS flow, or the like.

The WCD 912, and preferably the modem 1204, also obtains a UL mapping table 1208 that maps QoS flows (e.g., QFIs) to radio bearers, e.g., in the conventional manner.

For the downlink direction, the UPF 1014 uses an opposite reflective QoS mechanism to obtain a new DL mapping table 1210. More specifically, the UPF 1014 creates and updates the new DL mapping table 1210 based on received uplink packets related to a specific QoS Flow, e.g., identified by a QFI, as mapped by the WCD 912 in the uplink. The UPF 1014 stores associations between QoS flows (e.g., QFIs) and 5-tuple type of information in the received uplink packets as the new DL mapping table 1210. When the UPF 1014 receives downlink packets for a specific application flow, the new DL mapping table 1210 is used to retrieve the stored QFI based on the 5-tuple type of information in the received downlink packet. The received downlink packets are then passed to the respective QoS flows accordingly.

The following steps are illustrated in Figure 12 and describe the operation of the system:

• Step 0: Prerequisites: o A Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session between the WCD 912, preferably the modem 1204 of the WCD 912, and the UPF 1014 has been established. o In this example, three different QoS Flows a, b and c have been established between the WCD 912, preferably the modem 1204 of the WCD 912, and the UPF 1014. o In this example, two different Radio Bearers have been established for the PDU session between the WCD 912, preferably the modem 1204 of the WCD 912, and the base station 912. As part of this, the DL mapping table 1212 at the base station 902 for QFI D RB (i.e., for QFI to RB mapping in the DL at the base station 902) and the UL mapping table 1208 at the WCD 912 for QFI 0 RB (i.e., for QFI to RB mapping in the UL at the WCD 912) have been established.

• Step 1 : The application 1200 (e.g., an application client) indicates an application type of the application 1200 and/or a set of application characteristics of the application 1200 towards the OS 1202 for each of one or more application flows. The OS 1202 forwards this information to the modem 1206.

• Step 2: For each application flow, the modem 1206 maps every packet in the application flow to a certain QoS flow (e.g., a certain QFI) based on the new UL mapping table 1206. While not illustrated, several conventional steps take place when the uplink packet is forwarded from the modem 1206 to the UPF 1014. These steps include the modem 1206 mapping of the QoS flow (e.g., the QFI) to the respective radio bearer, the modem 1206 sending the packet over that radio bearer to the base station 912 associated with the QoS flow (e.g., QFI), and the base station 912 forwarding the uplink packet together with the QFI to the UPF 1014.

• Step 3: The UPF 1014 receives the uplink packet associated with a QoS flow (e.g., a QFI). The UPF 1014 updates the new DL mapping table 1210 with an association between that QoS flow (e.g., that QFI) and 5-tuple type of information in the received uplink packet. For example, the UPF 1014 updates the new DL mapping table 1210 to include an association, or mapping, between the QoS flow (e.g., the QFI) associated with the received uplink packet and information about the uplink packet such as, e.g., a source IP address of the received uplink packet, a destination IP address of the received uplink packet, a source port of the received uplink packet, a destination port of the received uplink packet, and/or a protocol of the received uplink packet. For Ethernet PDU Sessions, the new DL mapping table 1210 is preferably updated also using 5-tuple kind of logic based on for example source and destination MAC addresses, Ethertype and 802.1 Q headers. After this the UPF 1014 forwards the uplink packet towards the destination, e.g. an Application Server.

• Step 4: The Application Server responds to the uplink packet with a downlink packet using the same 5-tuple type of information. When the UPF 1014 receives the downlink packet, the UPF 1014 uses the new DL mapping table 1210 to determine the appropriate QoS flow (e.g., QFI) based on the 5-tuple type of information in the received downlink packet (e.g., a source IP address of the received downlink packet, a destination IP address of the received downlink packet, a source port of the received downlink packet, a destination port of the received downlink packet, and/or a protocol of the received downlink packet). In other words, the UPF 1014 retrieve the stored QFI based on the 5-tuple type of information in the received downlink packet. Step 4 is referred to herein as an opposite reflective QoS mechanism. Several conventional steps then take place when the downlink packet is forwarded from the UPF 1014 to the WCD 902 and to the application 1200 (e.g., the application client).

Figures 13A-13B

Figures 13A and 13B illustrate the procedure of Figure 12 in further detail. Dashed lines/boxes indicate optional steps. Note that while Figures 13A and 13B show actions performed by the WCD 912 as being preferably performed by the application 1200, the OS 1202, and the modem 1204; however, these actions are performed more generally by the WCD 912 and the breakdown of these the actions as being performed by the application 1200, the OS 1202, and the modem 1204 as shown in Figures 13A and 13B is only an example. Again, in this example, a PDU session between the WCD 912, preferably the modem 1204 of the WCD 912, and the UPF 1014 has already been established. In addition, one or more, but preferably two or more QoS flows, have already been established between the WCD 912, preferably the modem 1204 of the WCD 912, and the UPF 1014. Each of these QoS flows is associated to a radio bearer, but different QoS flows may be associated to different radio bearers or the same radio bearer. Further, the DL mapping table 1212 at the base station 902 for QFI D RB (i.e., for QFI to RB mapping in the DL at the base station 902) and the UL mapping table 1208 at the WCD 912 for QFI D RB (i.e., for QFI to RB mapping in the UL at the WCD 912) have been established.

As illustrated, the WCD 912, and preferably the modem 1206, receives the new UL mapping table 1206 from a network node, which in the illustrated example is the PCF 1010, but is not limited thereto (step 1300). As described above, the new UL mapping table 1206 stores mappings between different application related information and respective QoS flows (e.g., QFIs). As discussed above, the different application related information may be, e.g., different application types (as indicated by different application type IDs), different sets of application characteristics, or different application type + application characteristic set combinations. The new UL mapping table 1206 maps each different application related information to a respective QoS flow (e.g., QFI). In one embodiment, each different application related information is mapped to a different QoS flow (e.g., a different QFI). However, in another embodiment, some of the different application related information may be mapped to the same QoS flow (e.g., the same QFI) (e.g., two different application types may be mapped to different QoS flows or the same QoS flow).

The WCD 912 obtains application related information for at least one application flow of an application, e.g. based on the application flow(s) e.g. using Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) or similar, or in that the WCD 912 is preconfigured with the application related information in questions (e.g. has received the currently relevant application related information sent by a network node (e.g. sent by the PCF or the UPF) and/or sent by the Application Server or similar), or in that the application 1200 (e.g., application client) sends application related information to the OS 1202 for each of one or more application flows (step 1302). The application 1200 may in turn have received the application related information sent by a network node (e.g. sent by the PCF or the UPF) and/or sent by the Application Server or similar. The application related information includes information that indicates an application type of the application 1200 and/or a set of application characteristics of the application 1200. The application type of the application 1200 is, in one embodiment, one of a defined set of possible application types such as, e.g., video streaming, gaming, web-browsing, etc.. The set of application characteristics may include, e.g., any one or more of the following: low-latency, low-jitter, high-bandwidth, high reliability, etc. For each application flow, the OS 1202 provides the application related information for that application flow to the WCD 912, preferably the modem 1204 (step 1304).

At the WCD 912 and preferably at the modem 1204, for each application flow, the application flow is mapped to a QoS flow (e.g., to a QFI) using the new UL mapping table 1206 (step 1306). Thereafter, the application 1200 sends one or more uplink packets for a particular application flow to the OS 1202 (step 1308), and the OS 1202 sends the one or more uplink packets for the particular application flow to the WCD 912, preferably to the modem 1204 (step 1310). Note that steps 1302 and 1308 are described and illustrated in this example as two separate steps. However, these steps may be combined into a single step, e.g. in single step 1302 or in a single step 1308 (the other step is preferably omitted). Thus, in some embodiments the information and/or content of steps 1302 and 1308 may be forwarded together in one single step. The WCD 912 (preferably the modem 1204) sends, to the UPF 1014 via uplink transmission to the base station 912, each of the uplink packets received for the particular application flow on the respective QoS flow to which the particular application flow is mapped (step 1312). At the UPF 1014, the UPF 1014 receives each of the uplink packets for the particular application flow and updates the new DL mapping table 1210 to include an association, or mapping, between the QoS flow (e.g., QFI) associated with the received uplink packet(s) and information about the received uplink packet(s) (e.g., 5-tuple information or part(s) of the 5-type information such as, e.g., source IP address, destination IP address, source port, destination port, and/or protocol) (step 1314). The UPF 1014 also sends the received uplink packets to the indicated destination (e.g., Application Server) (step 1316).

Thereafter, the UPF 1014 receives a downlink packet (step 1318) and maps the downlink packet to a QoS flow (e.g., to a QFI) using the new DL mapping table 1210 (step 13208). In this example, the downlink packet is mapped to the QFI to the application flow associated to the application 1200 at the WCD 912. The UPF 1014 then sends the downlink packet to the WCD 912, via the base station 902, on the mapped QoS flow (step 1322).

Figure 14

Figure 1 is a schematic block diagram of a network node 1400 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Optional features are represented by dashed boxes. The network node 1400 may be, for example, a base station 902 or a network node that implements all or part of the functionality of the base station 902 described herein. Alternatively, the network node 1400 may be a network node that implements a core network function 914 such as, e.g., the UPF 1014, PCF 1010, or SMF 1008, which operates as described herein. As illustrated, the network node 1400 includes a control system 1402 that includes one or more processors 1404 (e.g., Central Processing Units (CPUs), Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), and/or the like), memory 1406, and a network interface 1408. The one or more processors 1404 are also referred to herein as processing circuitry. In addition, if the network node 1400 is a radio access node (e.g., a base station 902, gNB, or network node that implements at least some of the functionality of the base station 902 or gNB), the network node 1400 may include one or more radio units 1410 that each includes one or more transmitters 1412 and one or more receivers 1414 coupled to one or more antennas 1416. The radio units 1410 may be referred to or be part of radio interface circuitry. In some embodiments, the radio unit(s) 1410 is external to the control system 1402 and connected to the control system 1402 via, e.g., a wired connection (e.g., an optical cable). However, in some other embodiments, the radio unit(s) 1410 and potentially the antenna(s) 1416 are integrated together with the control system 1402. The one or more processors 1404 operate to provide one or more functions of the network node 1400 as described herein (e.g., one or more functions of a base station 902, core network function 914, UPF 1014, PCF 1010, or SMF 1008 described herein). In some embodiments, the function(s) are implemented in software that is stored, e.g., in the memory 1406 and executed by the one or more processors 1404.

Figure 15 Figure 15 is a schematic block diagram that illustrates a virtualized embodiment of the network node 1400 according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. Again, optional features are represented by dashed boxes. As used herein, a “virtualized” network node is an implementation of the network node 1400 in which at least a portion of the functionality of the network node 1400 is implemented as a virtual component(s) (e.g., via a virtual machine(s) executing on a physical processing node(s) in a network(s)). As illustrated, in this example, if the network node 1400 is a radio access node, the network node 1400 may include the control system 1402 and/or the one or more radio units 1410, as described above. The control system 1402 may be connected to the radio unit(s) 1410 via, for example, an optical cable or the like. The network node 1400 includes one or more processing nodes 1500 coupled to or included as part of a network(s) 1502. If present, the control system 1402 or the radio unit(s) are connected to the processing node(s) 1500 via the network 1502. Each processing node 1500 includes one or more processors 1504 (e.g., CPUs, ASICs, FPGAs, and/or the like), memory 1506, and a network interface 1508.

In this example, functions 1510 of the network node 1400 described herein (e.g., one or more functions of a base station 902, core network function 914, UPF 1014, PCF 1010, or SMF 1008 described herein) are implemented at the one or more processing nodes 1500 or distributed across the one or more processing nodes 1500 and the control system 1402 and/or the radio unit(s) 1410 in any desired manner. In some particular embodiments, some or all of the functions 1510 of the network node 1400 described herein are implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines implemented in a virtual environment(s) hosted by the processing node(s) 1500. As will be appreciated by one of ordinary skill in the art, additional signaling or communication between the processing node(s) 1500 and the control system 1402 is used in order to carry out at least some of the desired functions 1510. Notably, in some embodiments, the control system 1402 may not be included, in which case the radio unit(s) 1410 communicate directly with the processing node(s) 1500 via an appropriate network interface(s).

In some embodiments, a computer program including instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to carry out the functionality of the network node 1400 or a node (e.g., a processing node 1500) implementing one or more of the functions 1510 of the network node 1400 in a virtual environment according to any of the embodiments described herein is provided. In some embodiments, a carrier comprising the aforementioned computer program product is provided. The carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal, or a computer readable storage medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer readable medium such as memory).

Figure 16

Figure 16 is a schematic block diagram of the network node 1400 according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure. The network node 1400 includes one or more modules 1600, each of which is implemented in software. The module(s) 1600 provide the functionality of the network node 1400 described herein. This discussion is equally applicable to the processing node 1500 of Figure 15 where the modules 1600 may be implemented at one of the processing nodes 1500 or distributed across multiple processing nodes 1500 and/or distributed across the processing node(s) 1500 and the control system 1402.

Figure 17

Figure 17 is a schematic block diagram of a wireless communication device 912 (e.g . , a UE) according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. As illustrated, the wireless communication device 912 includes one or more processors 1702 (e.g., CPUs, ASICs, FPGAs, and/or the like), memory 1704, one or more input/output (I/O) devices 1706 (e.g., an input/output interface including a display, buttons, a touch screen, a microphone, a speaker(s), and/or the like and/or any other components for allowing input of information into the wireless communication device 912 and/or allowing output of information from the wireless communication device 912), and the modem 1204 connected via a bus 1708 or similar interconnect mechanism. The modem 1204 includes one or more processors 1710 (e.g., CPUs, ASICs, FPGAs, and/or the like), memory 1712, and one or more transceivers 1714 each including one or more transmitters 1716 and one or more receivers 1718 coupled to one or more antennas 1720. The transceiver(s) 1714 includes radio-front end circuitry connected to the antenna(s) 1720 that is configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna(s) 1720 and the processor(s) 1710, as will be appreciated by on of ordinary skill in the art. The processors 1702 and 1710 are also referred to herein as processing circuitry. The transceivers 1714 are also referred to herein as radio circuitry. In some embodiments, the functionality of the wireless communication device 912 (or UE) described above may be fully or partially implemented in software that is, e.g., stored in the memory 1704 and executed by the processor(s) 1702. In some embodiments, the functionality of the WCD 912 and the modem 1204 described above may be fully or partially implemented in software that is, e.g., stored in the memory 1712 and executed by the processor(s) 1710. Note that the wireless communication device 912 may include additional components not illustrated in Figure 17 such as, e.g., a power supply (e.g., a battery and associated power circuitry), etc.

In some embodiments, a computer program including instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to carry out the functionality of the wireless communication device 912 according to any of the embodiments described herein is provided. In some embodiments, a carrier comprising the aforementioned computer program product is provided. The carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal, or a computer readable storage medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer readable medium such as memory).

Figure 18 Figure 18 is a schematic block diagram of the wireless communication device 912 according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure. The wireless communication device 912 includes one or more modules 1800, each of which is implemented in software. The module(s) 1800 provide the functionality of the wireless communication device 912 (or UE) described herein.

Some of the embodiments described above may be summarized in the following manner:

1. A method comprising:

• at a first network node (1010): o sending (1300), to a wireless communication device (912), an uplink mapping table (1206) that maps application related information to Quality of Service, QoS, flows;

• at the wireless communication device (912): o receiving (1300) the uplink mapping table (1206) from the first network node (1010); o obtaining (1304) application related information for an application flow of an application (1200) on the wireless communication device (912); and o mapping (1306) the application flow to a QoS flow based on the uplink mapping table (1206); and

• at a second network node (1014): o receiving (1312), from the wireless communication device (912), an uplink packet associated to a QoS flow; and o updating (1314) a downlink mapping table that maps information about downlink packets to QoS service flows, based on information about the received uplink packet and the associated QoS flow.

2. A method performed by a wireless communication device (912), comprising: receiving (1300), from a network node (1010), an uplink mapping table (1206) that maps application related information to Quality of Service, QoS, flows; obtaining (1304) application related information for an application flow of an application (1200) on the wireless communication device (912); and mapping (1306) the application flow to a QoS flow based on the uplink mapping table (1206).

3. The method of embodiment 2 wherein the application related information comprises an application type of the application (1200), and the uplink mapping table (1206) maps application types to QoS flows. J

4. The method of embodiment 2 wherein the application related information comprises a set of application characteristics of the application (1200), and the uplink mapping table (1206) maps sets of application characteristics to QoS flows.

5. The method of embodiment 2 wherein the application related information comprises an application type of the application (1200) and a set of application characteristics of the application (1200), and the uplink mapping table (1206) maps different combinations of application types and sets of application characteristics to QoS flows.

6. The method of any one of embodiment 2 to 5 further comprising: receiving (1310) an uplink packet for the application flow; and sending (1312) the uplink packet on the QoS flow mapped to the application flow.

7. The method of any one of embodiment 2 to 6 wherein the method is performed by a modem (1204) of the wireless communication device (912).

8. The method of embodiment 7 wherein the modem (1204) is a modem for wireless communication with a radio access network of a cellular communications system.

9. The method of embodiment 8 wherein the cellular communications system is a 3GPP-defined cellular communications system.

10. The method of embodiment 9 wherein the cellular communications system is a 5G system.

11. A wireless communication device (912) adapted to: receive (1300), from a network node (1010), an uplink mapping table (1206) that maps application related information to Quality of Service, QoS, flows; obtain(1304) application related information for an application flow of an application (1200) on the wireless communication device (912); and map (1306) the application flow to a QoS flow based on the uplink mapping table (1206).

12. The wireless communication device (912) of embodiment 11 wherein the wireless communication device (912) is further adapted to perform the method of any one of embodiment 3 to 10. 13. A wireless communication device (912) comprising: one or more transmitters (1716); one or more receivers (1718); and processing circuitry (1710) associated with the one or more transmitters (1716) and the one or more receiver (1718), the processing circuitry (1710) configured to cause the wireless communication device (912) to: receive (1300), from a network node (1010), an uplink mapping table (1206) that maps application related information to Quality of Service, QoS, flows; obtain (1304) application related information for an application flow of an application (1200) on the wireless communication device (912); and map (1306) the application flow to a QoS flow based on the uplink mapping table (1206).

14. The wireless communication device (912) of embodiment 13 wherein the processing circuitry (1710) is further configured to cause the wireless communication device (912) to perform the method of any one of embodiment 3 to 10.

15. A method performed by a network node (1010) of cellular communications system (910), comprising: sending (1300), to a wireless communication device (912), an uplink mapping table (1206) that maps application related information to Quality of Service, QoS, flows.

16. The method of embodiment 15 wherein the application related information comprises an application type, and the uplink mapping table (1206) maps application types to QoS flows.

17. The method of embodiment 15 wherein the application related information comprises a set of application characteristics, and the uplink mapping table (1206) maps sets of application characteristics to QoS flows.

18. The method of embodiment 15 wherein the application related information comprises an application type and a set of application characteristics, and the uplink mapping table (1206) maps different combinations of application types and sets of application characteristics to QoS flows.

19. The method of any one of embodiment 15 to 18 wherein the cellular communications system is a 3GPP-defined cellular communications system. 20. The method of embodiment 19 wherein the cellular communications system is a 5G system.

21. A network node (1010) for a cellular communications system (910), the network node (1010) adapted to: send (1300), to a wireless communication device (912), an uplink mapping table (1206) that maps application related information to Quality of Service, QoS, flows.

22. The network node (1010) of embodiment 21 wherein the network node (1010) is further adapted to perform the method of any one of embodiment 16 to 20.

23. A network node (1400; 1010) for a cellular communications system (910), the network node (1010) comprising processing circuitry (1404; 1504) configured to cause the network node (1400; 1010) to: send (1300), to a wireless communication device (912), an uplink mapping table (1206) that maps application related information to Quality of Service, QoS, flows.

24. The network node (1400; 1010) of embodiment 23 wherein the processing circuitry (1404; 1504) is further configured to cause the network node (1400; 1010) to perform the method of any one of embodiments 16 to 20.

25. A method performed by a network node (1014) for a cellular communications system (900), the method comprising: receiving (1312), from a wireless communication device (912), an uplink packet associated to a Quality of Service, QoS, flow; and updating (1314) a downlink mapping table that maps information about downlink packets to QoS service flows, based on information about the received uplink packet and the associated QoS flow.

26. The method of embodiment 25 wherein: the information about the received uplink packet comprises: (a) a source Internet Protocol, IP, address, address of the received uplink packet, (b) destination IP address of the received uplink packet, (c) source port of the received uplink packet, (d) destination port of the received uplink packet, (e) protocol of the received uplink packet, or (f) any combination of two or more of (a) - (e); and updating (1314) the downlink mapping table comprises updating (1314) the downlink mapping table to include a mapping between the QoS flow associated to the received packet and the information about the received uplink packet.

27. The method of embodiment 26 wherein the information about downlink packets comprises: (i) source IP address, (ii) destination IP address, (iii) source port, (iv) destination port, (v) protocol, or (vi) any combination of two or more of (i) - (v).

27a. The method of embodiment 25 wherein: the information about the received uplink packet comprises: (a) a source MAC address, address of the received uplink packet, (b) destination MAC address of the received uplink packet, (c) Ethertype of the received uplink packet, (d) VLAN Identifier of the received uplink packet, (e) Priority code point of the received uplink packet, or (f) any combination of two or more of (a) - (e); and updating (1314) the downlink mapping table comprises updating (1314) the downlink mapping table to include a mapping between the QoS flow associated to the received packet and the information about the received uplink packet.

27b. The method of embodiment 27a wherein the information about downlink packets comprises: (i) source MAC address, (ii) destination MAC address, (iii) Ethertype, (iv) VLAN Identifier, (v) Priority code point, or (vi) any combination of two or more of (i) - (v).

28. The method of any one of embodiment 25 to 27 further comprising: receiving (1318) a downlink packet; and mapping (1320) the downlink packet to a QoS flow based on information about the received downlink packet and the downlink mapping table.

29. The method of any one of embodiment 25 to 28 wherein the cellular communications system is a 3GPP-defined cellular communications system.

30. The method of embodiment 29 wherein the cellular communications system is a 5G system.

31. A network node (1014) for a cellular communications system (900), the network node (1014) adapted to: receive (1312), from a wireless communication device (912), an uplink packet associated to a Quality of Service, QoS, flow; and update (1314) a downlink mapping table that maps information about downlink packets to QoS service flows, based on information about the received uplink packet and the associated QoS flow.

32. The network node (1014) of embodiment 31 wherein the network node (1014) is further adapted to perform the method of any one of claims 26 to 30.

33. A network node (1400; 1014) for a cellular communications system (900), the network node (1400; 1014) comprising processing circuitry (1404; 1504) configured to cause the network node (1400; 1014) to: receive (1312), from a wireless communication device (912), an uplink packet associated to a Quality of Service, QoS, flow; and update (1314) a downlink mapping table that maps information about downlink packets to QoS service flows, based on information about the received uplink packet and the associated QoS flow.

34. The network node (1400; 1014) of embodiment 33 wherein the processing circuitry (1404; 1504) is further configured to cause the network node (1400; 1014) to perform the method of any one of embodiment 26 to 30.

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

While processes in the figures may show a particular order of operations performed by certain embodiments of the present disclosure, it should be understood that such order is exemplary (e.g., alternative embodiments may perform the operations in a different order, combine certain operations, overlap certain operations, etc.).

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.

Claims

33 CLAIMS

1. A method comprising:

3. The method of claim 2 wherein the application related information comprises an application type of the application (1200), and the uplink mapping table (1206) maps application types to QoS flows.

4. The method of claim 2 wherein the application related information comprises a set of application characteristics of the application (1200), and the uplink mapping table (1206) maps sets of application characteristics to QoS flows. 34

5. The method of claim 2 wherein the application related information comprises an application type of the application (1200) and a set of application characteristics of the application (1200), and the uplink mapping table (1206) maps different combinations of application types and sets of application characteristics to QoS flows.

6. The method of any one of claims 2 to 5 further comprising: receiving (1310) an uplink packet for the application flow; and sending (1312) the uplink packet on the QoS flow mapped to the application flow.

7. The method of any one of claims 2 to 6 wherein the method is performed by a modem (1204) of the wireless communication device (912).

8. The method of claim 7 wherein the modem (1204) is a modem for wireless communication with a radio access network of a cellular communications system.

9. The method of claim 8 wherein the cellular communications system is a 3GPP-defined cellular communications system.

10. The method of claim 9 wherein the cellular communications system is a 5G system.

11. A wireless communication device (912) adapted to: receive (1300), from a network node (1010), an uplink mapping table (1206) that maps application related information to Quality of Service, QoS, flows; obtain (1304) application related information for an application flow of an application (1200) on the wireless communication device (912); and map (1306) the application flow to a QoS flow based on the uplink mapping table (1206).

12. The wireless communication device (912) of claim 11 wherein the wireless communication device (912) is further adapted to perform the method of any one of claims 3 to 10.

13. A wireless communication device (912) comprising: one or more transmitters (1716); one or more receivers (1718); and processing circuitry (1710) associated with the one or more transmitters (1716) and the one or more receiver (1718), the processing circuitry (1710) configured to cause the wireless communication device (912) to: receive (1300), from a network node (1010), an uplink mapping table (1206) that maps application related information to Quality of Service, QoS, flows; obtain (1304) application related information for an application flow of an application (1200) on the wireless communication device (912); and map (1306) the application flow to a QoS flow based on the uplink mapping table (1206).

14. The wireless communication device (912) of claim 13 wherein the processing circuitry (1710) is further configured to cause the wireless communication device (912) to perform the method of any one of claims 3 to 10.

16. The method of claim 15 wherein the application related information comprises an application type, and the uplink mapping table (1206) maps application types to QoS flows.

17. The method of claim 15 wherein the application related information comprises a set of application characteristics, and the uplink mapping table (1206) maps sets of application characteristics to QoS flows.

18. The method of claim 15 wherein the application related information comprises an application type and a set of application characteristics, and the uplink mapping table (1206) maps different combinations of application types and sets of application characteristics to QoS flows.

19. The method of any one of claims 15 to 18 wherein the cellular communications system is a 3GPP- defined cellular communications system.

20. The method of claim 19 wherein the cellular communications system is a 5G system.

22. The network node (1010) of claim 21 wherein the network node (1010) is further adapted to perform the method of any one of claims 16 to 20.

24. The network node (1400; 1010) of claim 23 wherein the processing circuitry (1404; 1504) is further configured to cause the network node (1400; 1010) to perform the method of any one of claims 16 to 20.

26. The method of claim 25 wherein: the information about the received uplink packet comprises: (a) a source Internet Protocol, IP, address, address of the received uplink packet, (b) destination IP address of the received uplink packet, (c) source port of the received uplink packet, (d) destination port of the received uplink packet, (e) protocol of the received uplink packet, or (f) any combination of two or more of (a) - (e); and updating (1314) the downlink mapping table comprises updating (1314) the downlink mapping table to include a mapping between the QoS flow associated to the received packet and the information about the received uplink packet. 37

27. The method of claim 26 wherein the information about downlink packets comprises: (i) source IP address, (ii) destination IP address, (iii) source port, (iv) destination port, (v) protocol, or (vi) any combination of two or more of (i) - (v).

28. The method of any one of claims 25 to 27 further comprising: receiving (1318) a downlink packet; and mapping (1320) the downlink packet to a QoS flow based on information about the received downlink packet and the downlink mapping table.

29. The method of any one of claims 25 to 28 wherein the cellular communications system is a 3GPP- defined cellular communications system.

30. The method of claim 29 wherein the cellular communications system is a 5G system.

32. The network node (1014) of claim 31 wherein the network node (1014) is further adapted to perform the method of any one of claims 26 to 30.

33. A network node (1400; 1014) for a cellular communications system (900), the network node (1400; 1014) comprising processing circuitry (1404; 1504) configured to cause the network node (1400; 1014) to: receive (1312), from a wireless communication device (912), an uplink packet associated to a

Quality of Service, QoS, flow; and update (1314) a downlink mapping table that maps information about downlink packets to QoS service flows, based on information about the received uplink packet and the associated QoS flow.

34. The network node (1400; 1014) of claim 33 wherein the processing circuitry (1404; 1504) is further configured to cause the network node (1400; 1014) to perform the method of any one of claims 26 to 30.