WO2024167569A1 - Management data analytics (mda) capability for network function (nf) resource utilization analysis - Google Patents

Abstract

Various embodiments herein provide techniques related to data analytics of a network function (NF) in a cellular network. In embodiments, a management data analytics function (MDAF) may generate a data analytics report related to resource usage by the NF. The MDAF may provide the data analytics report to a management service (MnS) consumer. Other embodiments may be described and/or claimed.

Description

MANAGEMENT DATA ANALYTICS (MDA) CAPABILITY FOR NETWORK FUNCTION (NF) RESOURCE UTILIZATION ANALYSIS

CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/484,419, which was filed February 10, 2023.

BACKGROUND

Third generation partnership project (3GPP) systems may be considered to be resourcelimited systems, regardless of whether a network function (NF) is implemented on virtualized or physical resources. A resource shortage may negatively impact things like quality of service (QoS), a user’s quality of experience (QoE), lowered data throughput, increased latency, increased rejections for the establishment of new connections (e.g., a radio resource control (RRC) connection), sessions such as protocol data unit (PDU) sessions, resources, and increasing drops of existing connections/sessions/resources. By contrast, resource excesses may result in un-necessary capital expenditures or operational expenditures.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments will be readily understood by the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. To facilitate this description, like reference numerals designate like structural elements. Embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings.

Figure 1 illustrates an example management data analytics (MDA) functional overview and service framework

Figure 2 schematically illustrates a wireless network in accordance with various embodiments.

Figure 3 schematically illustrates components of a wireless network in accordance with various embodiments.

Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.

Figure 5 illustrates a network in accordance with various embodiments.

Figure 6 depicts an example procedure for practicing the various embodiments discussed herein.

Figure 7 depicts another example procedure for practicing the various embodiments discussed herein. Figure 8 depicts another example procedure for practicing the various embodiments discussed herein.

Figure 9 depicts another example procedure for practicing the various embodiments discussed herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth such as particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the various aspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other examples that depart from these specific details. In certain instances, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the various embodiments with unnecessary detail. For the purposes of the present document, the phrases “A or B” and “A/B” mean (A), (B), or (A and B).

The third generation partnership project (3GPP) system is may be considered to be a resource limited system. However, both resource shortages or resource overages may have a negative impact as described above. Therefore, it is may be desirable to ensure optimum and efficient resource utilization for the network functions (NFs).

The resource utilization of an NF may be heavily dependent on traffic patterns, which may vary in different areas (e.g., business area, entertainment area, and residential area) in different time periods. It is desirable that the spare resource of the low-usage areas can be allocated to the busy areas.

The resource utilization for NFs may be analyzed by management data analytics (MDA), and the analytics report may be provided to its consumer. Embodiments herein may relate to the addition of MDA capability for resource utilization analysis for NFs.

Embodiment 1. Add use case and requirements for MDA capability on NF resource utilization analysis (The below may be added, for example, to the 3GPP technical specification (TS) 28.104)

1.1 NF resource utilization analysis

1.1.1 Description

This MDA capability is for analysis of resource utilization of 3GPP NFs. 1.1.2 Use case

The 3GPP system is a resource limited system, no matter whether the NF is working on virtualized resources or physical resources.

Resource shortage would affect the QoS and potentially impact users’ quality of experience (QoE), e.g., by lowering the users’ data throughput, prolonging the users’ data delay, raising the rejections for the establishment of new connections (e.g., RRC connection), sessions (e.g., PDU session) and resources (e.g., QoS flows, DRBs, etc.) and increasing the drops of the existing connections, sessions, and resources.

Resource excess would cause wastage that leads to additional CapEx and OpEx.

Therefore, it is imperative to ensure optimum and efficient resource utilization for the NFs.

The resource utilization of an NF is heavily dependent on traffic patterns, which could vary in different areas (e.g., business area, entertainment area, and residential area) in different time periods. It is desirable that the spare resource of the low-usage areas can be allocated to the busy areas.

It is expected that MDA can perform an analysis of the resource utilization for NFs to indicate the resource usage patterns in the past and predict the resource usage trend for some time periods in the future.

It is also very useful that MDA provides recommendations to orchestrate the resources among NFs between the low usage and high usage areas for some time periods. The recommended actions could be for example to schedule the "scale in" and "scale out" (e.g., using less software nodes or more software nodes, respectively) of VNFs to optimize the allocation of the virtualized resources.

1.1.3 Requirements

Table 1.13-1

Embodiment 2. Add solution for MDA capability on NF resource utilization analysis (The below may be added, for example, to 3GPP TS 28.104)

2.1 Service framework

This solution is based on the MDA service framework described in TS 28.104 [1] (and as may be shown, for example, in Figure 1).

A management function (MDAF) may play the roles of MDA MnS producer, MDA MnS consumer, other MnS consumer, NWDAF consumer and LMF service consumer, and may also interact with other non-3GPP management systems.

The internal business logic related to MDA leverages the current and historical data related to:

Performance Measurements (PM) as per TS 28.552 [4] and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) as per TS 28.554 [5].

Trace data, including MDT/RLF/RCEF, as per TS 32.422 [6] and TS 32.423 [7] .

QoE and service experience data as per TS 28.405 [8] and TS 28.406 [9].

Analytics data offered by NWDAF as per TS 23.288 [10] including 5GC data and external web/app-based information (e.g. web crawler that provides online news) from AF.

Alarm information and notifications as per TS 28.532 [11],

CM information and notifications.

UE location information provided by LMF as per TS 23.273 [14].

MDA reports from other MDA MnS producers.

Management data from non-3GPP systems.

Analytics output from the MDA internal business logic are made available by the management functions (MDAFs) playing the role of MDA MnS producers to the authorized consumers, (including but not limited to other management functions, network functions/entities, NWDAF, SON functions, optimization tools and human operators).

2.2 Data definition for NF resource utilization analysis

2.2.1 MDA type

The MDA type for NF resource utilization analysis is:

ResourceAnalytics.ResourceUtilizationAnalysisNF. 2.2.2 Enabling data

The enabling data for ResourceAnalytics.ResourceUtilizationAnalysisNF MDA type are provided in table 2.2.2- 1.

For general information about enabling data, see clause 2.2.2.1.

Table 2.2.2-1: Enabling data for NF resource utilization analysis

2.2.3 Analytics output

The specific information elements of the analytics output for NF resource utilization analysis, in addition to the common information elements of the analytics outputs (see clause 8.3), are provided in table 2.2.3- 1.

Table 2.2.3-1: Analytics output for NF resource utilization analysis

2.2.4 ResourceUsageNF «dataType» 2.2.4.1 Definition

This data type specifies the type of resource usage for an NF. .2 Information elements

2.3.4.3 Constraints

None.

2.2.5 ResourceUsage «dataType» 2.2.5.1 Definition

This data type specifies the type of resource usage.

2.2.5.2 Information elements

2.2.5.3 Constraints None.

SYSTEMS AND IMPLEMENTATIONS

Figures 2-5 illustrate various systems, devices, and components that may implement aspects of disclosed embodiments. Figure 2 illustrates a network 200 in accordance with various embodiments. The network

200 may operate in a manner consistent with 3GPP technical specifications for LTE or 5G/NR systems. However, the example embodiments are not limited in this regard and the described embodiments may apply to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems, or the like.

The network 200 may include a UE 202, which may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device designed to communicate with a RAN 204 via an over-the-air connection. The UE 202 may be communicatively coupled with the RAN 204 by a Uu interface. The UE 202 may be, but is not limited to, a smartphone, tablet computer, wearable computer device, desktop computer, laptop computer, in-vehicle infotainment, in-car entertainment device, instrument cluster, head-up display device, onboard diagnostic device, dashtop mobile equipment, mobile data terminal, electronic engine management system, electronic/engine control unit, electronic/engine control module, embedded system, sensor, microcontroller, control module, engine management system, networked appliance, machine-type communication device, M2M or D2D device, loT device, etc.

In some embodiments, the network 200 may include a plurality of UEs coupled directly with one another via a sidelink interface. The UEs may be M2M/D2D devices that communicate using physical sidelink channels such as, but not limited to, PSBCH, PSDCH, PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH, etc.

In some embodiments, the UE 202 may additionally communicate with an AP 206 via an over-the-air connection. The AP 206 may manage a WLAN connection, which may serve to offload some/all network traffic from the RAN 204. The connection between the UE 202 and the AP 206 may be consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the AP 206 could be a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi®) router. In some embodiments, the UE 202, RAN 204, and AP 206 may utilize cellular- WLAN aggregation (for example, LWA/LWIP). Cellular- WLAN aggregation may involve the UE 202 being configured by the RAN 204 to utilize both cellular radio resources and WLAN resources.

The RAN 204 may include one or more access nodes, for example, AN 208. AN 208 may terminate air-interface protocols for the UE 202 by providing access stratum protocols including RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC, and LI protocols. In this manner, the AN 208 may enable data/voice connectivity between CN 220 and the UE 202. In some embodiments, the AN 208 may be implemented in a discrete device or as one or more software entities running on server computers as part of, for example, a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN or virtual baseband unit pool. The AN 208 be referred to as a BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, ng-eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP, TRP, etc. The AN 208 may be a macrocell base station or a low power base station for providing femtocells, picocells or other like cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells.

In embodiments in which the RAN 204 includes a plurality of ANs, they may be coupled with one another via an X2 interface (if the RAN 204 is an LTE RAN) or an Xn interface (if the RAN 204 is a 5G RAN). The X2/Xn interfaces, which may be separated into control/user plane interfaces in some embodiments, may allow the ANs to communicate information related to handovers, data/context transfers, mobility, load management, interference coordination, etc.

The ANs of the RAN 204 may each manage one or more cells, cell groups, component carriers, etc. to provide the UE 202 with an air interface for network access. The UE 202 may be simultaneously connected with a plurality of cells provided by the same or different ANs of the RAN 204. For example, the UE 202 and RAN 204 may use carrier aggregation to allow the UE 202 to connect with a plurality of component carriers, each corresponding to a Pcell or Scell. In dual connectivity scenarios, a first AN may be a master node that provides an MCG and a second AN may be secondary node that provides an SCG. The first/second ANs may be any combination of eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc.

The RAN 204 may provide the air interface over a licensed spectrum or an unlicensed spectrum. To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the nodes may use LAA, eLAA, and/or feLAA mechanisms based on CA technology with PCells/Scells. Prior to accessing the unlicensed spectrum, the nodes may perform medium/carrier-sensing operations based on, for example, a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.

In V2X scenarios the UE 202 or AN 208 may be or act as a RSU, which may refer to any transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable AN or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE. An RSU implemented in or by: a UE may be referred to as a “UE-type RSU”; an eNB may be referred to as an “eNB-type RSU”; a gNB may be referred to as a “gNB-type RSU”; and the like. In one example, an RSU is a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located on a roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs. The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry to store intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well as applications/software to sense and control ongoing vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may provide very low latency communications required for high speed events, such as crash avoidance, traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may provide other cellular/WLAN communications services. The components of the RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller or a backhaul network.

In some embodiments, the RAN 204 may be an LTE RAN 210 with eNBs, for example, eNB 212. The LTE RAN 210 may provide an LTE air interface with the following characteristics: SCS of 15 kHz; CP-OFDM waveform for DL and SC-FDMA waveform for UL; turbo codes for data and TBCC for control; etc. The LTE air interface may rely on CSI-RS for CSI acquisition and beam management; PDSCH/PDCCH DMRS for PDSCH/PDCCH demodulation; and CRS for cell search and initial acquisition, channel quality measurements, and channel estimation for coherent demodulation/detection at the UE. The LTE air interface may operating on sub-6 GHz bands.

In some embodiments, the RAN 204 may be an NG-RAN 214 with gNBs, for example, gNB 216, or ng-eNBs, for example, ng-eNB 218. The gNB 216 may connect with 5G-enabled UEs using a 5G NR interface. The gNB 216 may connect with a 5G core through an NG interface, which may include an N2 interface or an N3 interface. The ng-eNB 218 may also connect with the 5G core through an NG interface, but may connect with a UE via an LTE air interface. The gNB 216 and the ng-eNB 218 may connect with each other over an Xn interface.

In some embodiments, the NG interface may be split into two parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface, which carries traffic data between the nodes of the NG-RAN 214 and a UPF 248 (e.g., N3 interface), and an NG control plane (NG-C) interface, which is a signaling interface between the nodes of the NG-RAN214 and an AMF 244 (e.g., N2 interface).

The NG-RAN 214 may provide a 5G-NR air interface with the following characteristics: variable SCS; CP-OFDM for DL, CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM for UL; polar, repetition, simplex, and Reed-Muller codes for control and LDPC for data. The 5G-NR air interface may rely on CSI-RS, PDSCH/PDCCH DMRS similar to the LTE air interface. The 5G-NR air interface may not use a CRS, but may use PBCH DMRS for PBCH demodulation; PTRS for phase tracking for PDSCH; and tracking reference signal for time tracking. The 5G-NR air interface may operating on FR1 bands that include sub-6 GHz bands or FR2 bands that include bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. The 5G-NR air interface may include an SSB that is an area of a downlink resource grid that includes PSS/SSS/PBCH.

In some embodiments, the 5G-NR air interface may utilize BWPs for various purposes. For example, BWP can be used for dynamic adaptation of the SCS. For example, the UE 202 can be configured with multiple BWPs where each BWP configuration has a different SCS. When a BWP change is indicated to the UE 202, the SCS of the transmission is changed as well. Another use case example of BWP is related to power saving. In particular, multiple BWPs can be configured for the UE 202 with different amount of frequency resources (for example, PRBs) to support data transmission under different traffic loading scenarios. A BWP containing a smaller number of PRBs can be used for data transmission with small traffic load while allowing power saving at the UE 202 and in some cases at the gNB 216. A BWP containing a larger number of PRBs can be used for scenarios with higher traffic load.

The RAN 204 is communicatively coupled to CN 220 that includes network elements to provide various functions to support data and telecommunications services to customers/subscribers (for example, users of UE 202). The components of the CN 220 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes. In some embodiments, NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the functions provided by the network elements of the CN 220 onto physical compute/storage resources in servers, switches, etc. A logical instantiation of the CN 220 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 220 may be referred to as a network sub-slice.

In some embodiments, the CN 220 may be an LTE CN 222, which may also be referred to as an EPC. The LTE CN 222 may include MME 224, SGW 226, SGSN 228, HSS 230, PGW 232, and PCRF 234 coupled with one another over interfaces (or “reference points”) as shown. Functions of the elements of the LTE CN 222 may be briefly introduced as follows.

The MME 224 may implement mobility management functions to track a current location of the UE 202 to facilitate paging, bearer activation/deactivation, handovers, gateway selection, authentication, etc.

The SGW 226 may terminate an SI interface toward the RAN and route data packets between the RAN and the LTE CN 222. The SGW 226 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement.

The SGSN 228 may track a location of the UE 202 and perform security functions and access control. In addition, the SGSN 228 may perform inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between different RAT networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by MME 224; MME selection for handovers; etc. The S3 reference point between the MME 224 and the SGSN 228 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in idle/active states.

The HSS 230 may include a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities’ handling of communication sessions. The HSS 230 can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc. An S6a reference point between the HSS 230 and the MME 224 may enable transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating/authorizing user access to the LTE CN 220.

The PGW 232 may terminate an SGi interface toward a data network (DN) 236 that may include an application/content server 238. The PGW 232 may route data packets between the LTE CN 222 and the data network 236. The PGW 232 may be coupled with the SGW 226 by an S5 reference point to facilitate user plane tunneling and tunnel management. The PGW 232 may further include a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection (for example, PCEF). Additionally, the SGi reference point between the PGW 232 and the data network 2 36 may be an operator external public, a private PDN, or an intra-operator packet data network, for example, for provision of IMS services. The PGW 232 may be coupled with a PCRF 234 via a Gx reference point.

The PCRF 234 is the policy and charging control element of the LTE CN 222. The PCRF 234 may be communicatively coupled to the app/content server 238 to determine appropriate QoS and charging parameters for service flows. The PCRF 232 may provision associated rules into a PCEF (via Gx reference point) with appropriate TFT and QCI.

In some embodiments, the CN 220 may be a 5GC 240. The 5GC 240 may include an AUSF 242, AMF 244, SMF 246, UPF 248, NSSF 250, NEF 252, NRF 254, PCF 256, UDM 258, and AF 260 coupled with one another over interfaces (or “reference points”) as shown. Functions of the elements of the 5GC 240 may be briefly introduced as follows.

The AUSF 242 may store data for authentication of UE 202 and handle authentication- related functionality. The AUSF 242 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. In addition to communicating with other elements of the 5GC 240 over reference points as shown, the AUSF 242 may exhibit an Nausf service-based interface.

The AMF 244 may allow other functions of the 5GC 240 to communicate with the UE 202 and the RAN 204 and to subscribe to notifications about mobility events with respect to the UE 202. The AMF 244 may be responsible for registration management (for example, for registering UE 202), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF 244 may provide transport for SM messages between the UE 202 and the SMF 246, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF 244 may also provide transport for SMS messages between UE 202 and an SMSF. AMF 244 may interact with the AUSF 242 and the UE 202 to perform various security anchor and context management functions. Furthermore, AMF 244 may be a termination point of a RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the RAN 204 and the AMF 244; and the AMF 244 may be a termination point of NAS (Nl) signaling, and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection. AMF 244 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 202 over an N3 IWF interface.

The SMF 246 may be responsible for SM (for example, session establishment, tunnel management between UPF 248 and AN 208); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP function; configuring traffic steering at UPF 248 to route traffic to proper destination; termination of interfaces toward policy control functions; controlling part of policy enforcement, charging, and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events and interface to LI system); termination of SM parts of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN specific SM information, sent via AMF 244 over N2 to AN 208; and determining SSC mode of a session. SM may refer to management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or “session” may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between the UE 202 and the data network 236.

The UPF 248 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to data network 236, and a branching point to support multi-homed PDU session. The UPF 248 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, enforce the user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handling for a user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement), perform uplink traffic verification (e.g., SDF- to-QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF 248 may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to a data network.

The NSSF 250 may select a set of network slice instances serving the UE 202. The NSSF 250 may also determine allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAIs, if needed. The NSSF 250 may also determine the AMF set to be used to serve the UE 202, or a list of candidate AMFs based on a suitable configuration and possibly by querying the NRF 254. The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 202 may be triggered by the AMF 244 with which the UE 202 is registered by interacting with the NSSF 250, which may lead to a change of AMF. The NSSF 250 may interact with the AMF 244 via an N22 reference point; and may communicate with another NSSF in a visited network via an N31 reference point (not shown). Additionally, the NSSF 250 may exhibit an Nnssf service-based interface.

The NEF 252 may securely expose services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third party, internal exposure/re-exposure, AFs (e.g., AF 260), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, the NEF 252 may authenticate, authorize, or throttle the AFs. NEF 252 may also translate information exchanged with the AF 260 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF 252 may translate between an AF-Service-Identifier and an internal 5GC information. NEF 252 may also receive information from other NFs based on exposed capabilities of other NFs. This information may be stored at the NEF 252 as structured data, or at a data storage NF using standardized interfaces. The stored information can then be re-exposed by the NEF 252 to other NFs and AFs, or used for other purposes such as analytics. Additionally, the NEF 252 may exhibit an Nnef service-based interface.

The NRF 254 may support service discovery functions, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide the information of the discovered NF instances to the NF instances. NRF 254 also maintains information of available NF instances and their supported services. As used herein, the terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and an “instance” may refer to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code. Additionally, the NRF 254 may exhibit the Nnrf service-based interface.

The PCF 256 may provide policy rules to control plane functions to enforce them, and may also support unified policy framework to govern network behavior. The PCF 256 may also implement a front end to access subscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDR of the UDM 258. In addition to communicating with functions over reference points as shown, the PCF 256 exhibit an Npcf service-based interface.

The UDM 258 may handle subscription-related information to support the network entities’ handling of communication sessions, and may store subscription data of UE 202. For example, subscription data may be communicated via an N8 reference point between the UDM 258 and the AMF 244. The UDM 258 may include two parts, an application front end and a UDR. The UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM 258 and the PCF 256, and/or structured data for exposure and application data (including PFDs for application detection, application request information for multiple UEs 202) for the NEF 252. The Nudr service-based interface may be exhibited by the UDR 221 to allow the UDM 258, PCF 256, and NEF 252 to access a particular set of the stored data, as well as to read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notification of relevant data changes in the UDR. The UDM may include a UDM- FE, which is in charge of processing credentials, location management, subscription management and so on. Several different front ends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identification handling, access authorization, registration/mobility management, and subscription management. In addition to communicating with other NFs over reference points as shown, the UDM 258 may exhibit the Nudm service-based interface.

The AF 260 may provide application influence on traffic routing, provide access to NEF, and interact with the policy framework for policy control.

In some embodiments, the 5GC 240 may enable edge computing by selecting operator/3^rd party services to be geographically close to a point that the UE 202 is attached to the network. This may reduce latency and load on the network. To provide edge-computing implementations, the 5GC 240 may select a UPF 248 close to the UE 202 and execute traffic steering from the UPF 248 to data network 236 via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF 260. In this way, the AF 260 may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF 260 is considered to be a trusted entity, the network operator may permit AF 260 to interact directly with relevant NFs. Additionally, the AF 260 may exhibit an Naf service-based interface.

The data network 236 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third party services that may be provided by one or more servers including, for example, application/content server 238.

Figure 3 schematically illustrates a wireless network 300 in accordance with various embodiments. The wireless network 300 may include a UE 302 in wireless communication with an AN 304. The UE 302 and AN 304 may be similar to, and substantially interchangeable with, like-named components described elsewhere herein.

The UE 302 may be communicatively coupled with the AN 304 via connection 306. The connection 306 is illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols such as an LTE protocol or a 5G NR protocol operating at mmWave or sub-6GHz frequencies.

The UE 302 may include a host platform 308 coupled with a modem platform 310. The host platform 308 may include application processing circuitry 312, which may be coupled with protocol processing circuitry 314 of the modem platform 310. The application processing circuitry 312 may run various applications for the UE 302 that source/sink application data. The application processing circuitry 312 may further implement one or more layer operations to transmit/receive application data to/from a data network. These layer operations may include transport (for example UDP) and Internet (for example, IP) operations

The protocol processing circuitry 314 may implement one or more of layer operations to facilitate transmission or reception of data over the connection 306. The layer operations implemented by the protocol processing circuitry 314 may include, for example, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC and NAS operations.

The modem platform 310 may further include digital baseband circuitry 316 that may implement one or more layer operations that are “below” layer operations performed by the protocol processing circuitry 314 in a network protocol stack. These operations may include, for example, PHY operations including one or more of HARQ-ACK functions, scrambling/descrambling, encoding/decoding, layer mapping/de-mapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol/bit metric determination, multi-antenna port precoding/decoding, which may include one or more of space-time, space-frequency or spatial coding, reference signal generation/detection, preamble sequence generation and/or decoding, synchronization sequence generation/detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and other related functions.

The modem platform 310 may further include transmit circuitry 318, receive circuitry 320, RF circuitry 322, and RF front end (RFFE) 324, which may include or connect to one or more antenna panels 326. Briefly, the transmit circuitry 318 may include a digital-to-analog converter, mixer, intermediate frequency (IF) components, etc.; the receive circuitry 320 may include an analog-to-digital converter, mixer, IF components, etc.; the RF circuitry 322 may include a low-noise amplifier, a power amplifier, power tracking components, etc.; RFFE 324 may include filters (for example, surface/bulk acoustic wave filters), switches, antenna tuners, beamforming components (for example, phase-array antenna components), etc. The selection and arrangement of the components of the transmit circuitry 318, receive circuitry 320, RF circuitry 322, RFFE 324, and antenna panels 326 (referred generically as “transmit/receive components”) may be specific to details of a specific implementation such as, for example, whether communication is TDM or FDM, in mmWave or sub-6 gHz frequencies, etc. In some embodiments, the transmit/receive components may be arranged in multiple parallel transmit/receive chains, may be disposed in the same or different chips/modules, etc.

In some embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry 314 may include one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the transmit/receive components.

A UE reception may be established by and via the antenna panels 326, RFFE 324, RF circuitry 322, receive circuitry 320, digital baseband circuitry 316, and protocol processing circuitry 314. In some embodiments, the antenna panels 326 may receive a transmission from the AN 304 by receive-beamforming signals received by a plurality of antennas/antenna elements of the one or more antenna panels 326.

A UE transmission may be established by and via the protocol processing circuitry 314, digital baseband circuitry 316, transmit circuitry 318, RF circuitry 322, RFFE 324, and antenna panels 326. In some embodiments, the transmit components of the UE 304 may apply a spatial filter to the data to be transmitted to form a transmit beam emitted by the antenna elements of the antenna panels 326.

Similar to the UE 302, the AN 304 may include a host platform 328 coupled with a modem platform 330. The host platform 328 may include application processing circuitry 332 coupled with protocol processing circuitry 334 of the modem platform 330. The modem platform may further include digital baseband circuitry 336, transmit circuitry 338, receive circuitry 340, RF circuitry 342, RFFE circuitry 344, and antenna panels 346. The components of the AN 304 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with like-named components of the UE 302. In addition to performing data transmission/reception as described above, the components of the AN 308 may perform various logical functions that include, for example, RNC functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management, and data packet scheduling. Figure 4 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically, Figure 4 shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 400 including one or more processors (or processor cores) 410, one or more memory/storage devices 420, and one or more communication resources 430, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 440 or other interface circuitry. For embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 402 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/sub- slices to utilize the hardware resources 400.

The processors 410 may include, for example, a processor 412 and a processor 414. The processors 410 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio-frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.

The memory/storage devices 420 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices 420 may include, but are not limited to, any type of volatile, non-volatile, or semi-volatile memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.

The communication resources 430 may include interconnection or network interface controllers, components, or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 404 or one or more databases 406 or other network elements via a network 408. For example, the communication resources 430 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB, Ethernet, etc.), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® Low Energy) components, Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components.

Instructions 450 may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors 410 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 450 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors 410 (e.g., within the processor’s cache memory), the memory/storage devices 420, or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 450 may be transferred to the hardware resources 400 from any combination of the peripheral devices 404 or the databases 406. Accordingly, the memory of processors 410, the memory/storage devices 420, the peripheral devices 404, and the databases 406 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.

Figure 5 illustrates a network 500 in accordance with various embodiments. The network 500 may operate in a matter consistent with 3GPP technical specifications or technical reports for 6G systems. In some embodiments, the network 500 may operate concurrently with network 200. For example, in some embodiments, the network 500 may share one or more frequency or bandwidth resources with network 200. As one specific example, a UE (e.g., UE 502) may be configured to operate in both network 500 and network 200. Such configuration may be based on a UE including circuitry configured for communication with frequency and bandwidth resources of both networks 200 and 500. In general, several elements of network 500 may share one or more characteristics with elements of network 200. For the sake of brevity and clarity, such elements may not be repeated in the description of network 500.

The network 500 may include a UE 502, which may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device designed to communicate with a RAN 508 via an over-the-air connection. The UE 502 may be similar to, for example, UE 202. The UE 502 may be, but is not limited to, a smartphone, tablet computer, wearable computer device, desktop computer, laptop computer, in- vehicle infotainment, in-car entertainment device, instrument cluster, head-up display device, onboard diagnostic device, dashtop mobile equipment, mobile data terminal, electronic engine management system, electronic/engine control unit, electronic/engine control module, embedded system, sensor, microcontroller, control module, engine management system, networked appliance, machine-type communication device, M2M or D2D device, loT device, etc.

Although not specifically shown in Figure 5, in some embodiments the network 500 may include a plurality of UEs coupled directly with one another via a sidelink interface. The UEs may be M2M/D2D devices that communicate using physical sidelink channels such as, but not limited to, PSBCH, PSDCH, PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH, etc. Similarly, although not specifically shown in Figure 5, the UE 502 may be communicatively coupled with an AP such as AP 206 as described with respect to Figure 2. Additionally, although not specifically shown in Figure 5, in some embodiments the RAN 508 may include one or more ANss such as AN 208 as described with respect to Figure 2. The RAN 508 and/or the AN of the RAN 508 may be referred to as a base station (BS), a RAN node, or using some other term or name.

The UE 502 and the RAN 508 may be configured to communicate via an air interface that may be referred to as a sixth generation (6G) air interface. The 6G air interface may include one or more features such as communication in a terahertz (THz) or sub-THz bandwidth, or joint communication and sensing. As used herein, the term “joint communication and sensing” may refer to a system that allows for wireless communication as well as radar-based sensing via various types of multiplexing. As used herein, THz or sub-THz bandwidths may refer to communication in the 80 GHz and above frequency ranges. Such frequency ranges may additionally or alternatively be referred to as “millimeter wave” or “mmWave” frequency ranges.

The RAN 508 may allow for communication between the UE 502 and a 6G core network (CN) 510. Specifically, the RAN 508 may facilitate the transmission and reception of data between the UE 502 and the 6G CN 510. The 6G CN 510 may include various functions such as NSSF 250, NEF 252, NRF 254, PCF 256, UDM 258, AF 260, SMF 246, and AUSF 242. The 6G CN 510 may additional include UPF 248 and DN 236 as shown in Figure 5.

Additionally, the RAN 508 may include various additional functions that are in addition to, or alternative to, functions of a legacy cellular network such as a 4G or 5G network. Two such functions may include a Compute Control Function (Comp CF) 524 and a Compute Service Function (Comp SF) 536. The Comp CF 524 and the Comp SF 536 may be parts or functions of the Computing Service Plane. Comp CF 524 may be a control plane function that provides functionalities such as management of the Comp SF 536, computing task context generation and management (e.g., create, read, modify, delete), interaction with the underlying computing infrastructure for computing resource management, etc.. Comp SF 536 may be a user plane function that serves as the gateway to interface computing service users (such as UE 502) and computing nodes behind a Comp SF instance. Some functionalities of the Comp SF 536 may include: parse computing service data received from users to compute tasks executable by computing nodes; hold service mesh ingress gateway or service API gateway; service and charging policies enforcement; performance monitoring and telemetry collection, etc. In some embodiments, a Comp SF 536 instance may serve as the user plane gateway for a cluster of computing nodes. A Comp CF 524 instance may control one or more Comp SF 536 instances.

Two other such functions may include a Communication Control Function (Comm CF) 528 and a Communication Service Function (Comm SF) 538, which may be parts of the Communication Service Plane. The Comm CF 528 may be the control plane function for managing the Comm SF 538, communication sessions creation/configuration/releasing, and managing communication session context. The Comm SF 538 may be a user plane function for data transport. Comm CF 528 and Comm SF 538 may be considered as upgrades of SMF 246 and UPF 248, which were described with respect to a 5G system in Figure 2. The upgrades provided by the Comm CF 528 and the Comm SF 538 may enable service-aware transport. For legacy (e.g., 4G or 5G) data transport, SMF 246 and UPF 248 may still be used.

Two other such functions may include a Data Control Function (Data CF) 522 and Data Service Function (Data SF) 532 may be parts of the Data Service Plane. Data CF 522 may be a control plane function and provides functionalities such as Data SF 532 management, Data service creation/configuration/releasing, Data service context management, etc. Data SF 532 may be a user plane function and serve as the gateway between data service users (such as UE 502 and the various functions of the 6G CN 510) and data service endpoints behind the gateway. Specific functionalities may include include: parse data service user data and forward to corresponding data service endpoints, generate charging data, report data service status.

Another such function may be the Service Orchestration and Chaining Function (SOCF) 520, which may discover, orchestrate and chain up communication/computing/data services provided by functions in the network. Upon receiving service requests from users, SOCF 520 may interact with one or more of Comp CF 524, Comm CF 528, and Data CF 522 to identify Comp SF 536, Comm SF 538, and Data SF 532 instances, configure service resources, and generate the service chain, which could contain multiple Comp SF 536, Comm SF 538, and Data SF 532 instances and their associated computing endpoints. Workload processing and data movement may then be conducted within the generated service chain. The SOCF 520 may also responsible for maintaining, updating, and releasing a created service chain.

Another such function may be the service registration function (SRF) 514, which may act as a registry for system services provided in the user plane such as services provided by service endpoints behind Comp SF 536 and Data SF 532 gateways and services provided by the UE 502. The SRF 514 may be considered a counterpart of NRF 254, which may act as the registry for network functions.

Other such functions may include an evolved service communication proxy (eSCP) and service infrastructure control function (SICF) 526, which may provide service communication infrastructure for control plane services and user plane services. The eSCP may be related to the service communication proxy (SCP) of 5G with user plane service communication proxy capabilities being added. The eSCP is therefore expressed in two parts: eCSP-C 512 and eSCP-U 534, for control plane service communication proxy and user plane service communication proxy, respectively. The SICF 526 may control and configure eCSP instances in terms of service traffic routing policies, access rules, load balancing configurations, performance monitoring, etc.

Another such function is the AMF 544. The AMF 544 may be similar to 244, but with additional functionality. Specifically, the AMF 544 may include potential functional repartition, such as move the message forwarding functionality from the AMF 544 to the RAN 508.

Another such function is the service orchestration exposure function (SOEF) 518. The SOEF may be configured to expose service orchestration and chaining services to external users such as applications.

The UE 502 may include an additional function that is referred to as a computing client service function (comp CSF) 504. The comp CSF 504 may have both the control plane functionalities and user plane functionalities, and may interact with corresponding network side functions such as SOCF 520, Comp CF 524, Comp SF 536, Data CF 522, and/or Data SF 532 for service discovery, request/response, compute task workload exchange, etc. The Comp CSF 504 may also work with network side functions to decide on whether a computing task should be run on the UE 502, the RAN 508, and/or an element of the 6G CN 510.

The UE 502 and/or the Comp CSF 504 may include a service mesh proxy 506. The service mesh proxy 506 may act as a proxy for service-to-service communication in the user plane. Capabilities of the service mesh proxy 506 may include one or more of addressing, security, load balancing, etc.

EX MPLE PROCEDURES

In some embodiments, the electronic device(s), network(s), system(s), chip(s) or component(s), or portions or implementations thereof, of Figures 2-5, or some other figure herein, may be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques, or methods as described herein, or portions thereof. One such process is depicted in Figure 6. The process may include or relate to a method to be performed by an electronic device associated with a cellular network. In some embodiments, the method may be performed by a management data analytics function (MDAF) implemented by the electronic device. The process may include collecting, at 601, data related to resource utilization of a network function (NF) of the cellular network; generating, at 602 based on the data, an analytics output related to the resource utilization of the NF; and providing, at 603, an indication of the analytics output.

Another such process is depicted in Figure 7. The process may include or relate to a method to be performed by an electronic device associated with a cellular network. In some embodiments, the method may be performed by a management service (MnS) implemented by the electronic device. The process may include receiving, at 701, a data analytics report related to a network function (NF) of the cellular network, wherein the data analytics report includes an indication of an action to be taken with respect to the NF; and performing, at 702, the action.

Another such process is depicted in Figure 8. The process may include or relate to a method to be performed by an electronic device that implements a management data analytics function (MDAF) associated with a cellular network. The process may include collecting, at 801 by the MDAF from a management service (MnS) producer, data related to resource usage of a network function (NF) of the cellular network; generating, at 802 by the MDAF based on the data, an analytics output related to the resource usage of the NF; and providing, at 803 by the MDAF to a MnS consumer, an indication of the analytics output. Another such process is depicted in Figure 9. The process may include or relate to a method to be performed by an electronic device that implements a management service (MnS) consumer associated with a cellular network. The process may include receiving, at 901 by the MnS consumer from a management data analytics function (MDAF), a data analytics report related to a network function (NF) of the cellular network, wherein the data analytics report includes an indication of an action to be taken with respect to the NF; and performing, at 902 by the MnS consumer, the action.

For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and/or methods as set forth in the example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below in the example section.

EXAMPLES

Example 1 may include service producer for MDA supported by one or more processors, is configured to:

Collect data related to resource utilization for Network Functions,

Conduct data analytics for resource utilization analysis for Network Functions based on the collected data;

Generate the analytics output related to resource utilization analysis for Network Functions; and

Provide the analytics report(s) containing the analytics output to a service consumer.

Example 2 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein the data collected by the said service producer include at least one kind of the following:

- performance measurements;

- configuration data;

- geographical data.

Example 3 may include the method of example 3 or some other example herein, wherein the performance measurements are collected via an MnS from an MnS producer.

Example 4 may include the method of examples 2 and 3 or some other example herein, wherein the performance measurements include at least one of the following:

• VR (including Virtual CPU, Virtual Memory, and Virtual Disk) usage of NF; • Connection Point data volumes of NF;

• N3 interface data volume;

• N4 interface session establishments

• N6 interface link usage

• N9 interface data volume

• Radio resource utilization

• RRC connection number

• Mean number of PDU sessions in NR cell

• Mean number of DRBs in NR cell

• QoS flow release in NR cell

• Number of Active UEs

• PDCP Data Volume

• Number of PDU sessions

• Number of QoS flows

Example 5 may include the method of example 2 or some other example herein, wherein the geographical data are collected via an MnS from an MnS producer.

Example 6 may include the method of examples 2 and 5 or some other example herein, wherein the geographical data include at least one of the following:

• The geographical information (longitude, latitude, altitude) of the deployed RAN (NG-RAN and E-UTRAN).

Example 7 may include the method of example 2 or some other example herein, wherein the configuration data are collected via an MnS from an MnS producer.

Example 8 may include the method of examples 2 and 7 or some other example herein, wherein the configuration data include at least one of the NRMs (Network Resource Models) of the analyzed NFs.

Example 9 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein the analytics output related to resource utilization analysis contains at least one of the following information:

The NFs with low resource usage (see Note 1) in some past time periods;

The NFs with high resource usage (see Note 1) in some past time periods.;

The predicted resource usage for NFs for some future time periods;

The recommended actions to orchestrate the resource allocation for NFs.

Example 10 may include the method of example 9 or some other example herein, wherein the resource usage is the overall usage of all kinds of resources. Example 11 may include the method of example 9 or some other example herein, wherein resource usage is the usage of a specific type of resource.

Example 12 may include the method of example 9 or some other example herein, wherein recommended action is to scale in an NF.

Example 13 may include the method of example 9 or some other example herein, wherein recommended action is to scale out an NF.

Example 14 may include a method to be performed by an electronic device associated with a cellular network, wherein the method comprises: collecting data related to resource utilization of a network function (NF) of the cellular network; generating, based on the data, an analytics output related to the resource utilization of the NF; and providing an indication of the analytics output.

Example 15 may include the method of example 14, and/or some other example herein, wherein the indication of the analytics output includes respective indications of a plurality of NFs of the cellular network.

Example 16 may include the method of any of examples 14-15, and/or some other example herein, wherein the data is related to performance measurements of the NF.

Example 17 may include the method of any of examples 14-16, and/or some other example herein, wherein the data is related to configuration data of the NF.

Example 18 may include the method of any of examples 14-17, and/or some other example herein, wherein the data is related to geographical data of the NF.

Example 19 may include the method of any of examples 14-18, and/or some other example herein, wherein the method is performed by a management data analytics function (MDAF) implemented by the electronic device.

Example 20 may include the method of any of examples 14-19, and/or some other example herein, wherein the data is collected from a management service (MnS) producer.

Example 21 may include the method of any of examples 14-20, and/or some other example herein, wherein the analytics output is provided to a management service (MnS) consumer.

Example 22 may include the method of any of examples 14-21, and/or some other example herein, wherein the report includes an indication of an action to be performed with respect to the NF.

Example 23 may include a method to be performed by an electronic device associated with a cellular network, wherein the method comprises: receiving a data analytics report related to a network function (NF) of the cellular network, wherein the data analytics report includes an indication of an action to be taken with respect to the NF; and performing the action.

Example 24 may include the method of example 23, and/or some other example herein, wherein the indication of the analytics output includes respective indications of a plurality of NFs of the cellular network.

Example 25 may include the method of any of examples 23-24, and/or some other example herein, wherein the data analytics report is related to performance measurements of the NF.

Example 26 may include the method of any of examples 23-25, and/or some other example herein, wherein the data analytics report is related to configuration data of the NF.

Example 27 may include the method of any of examples 23-26, and/or some other example herein, wherein the data analytics report is related to geographical data of the NF.

Example 28 may include the method of any of examples 23-27, and/or some other example herein, wherein the data analytics report is received from a management data analytics function (MDAF).

Example 29 may include the method of any of examples 23-28, and/or some other example herein, wherein the method is performed by a management service (MnS) consumer implemented by the electronic device.

Example 30 may include the method of any of examples 23-29, and/or some other example herein, wherein the action relates to scaling in the NF.

Example 31 may include the method of any of examples 23-29, and/or some other example herein, wherein the action relates to scaling out the NF.

Example 32 includes a method to be performed by an electronic device that implements a management data analytics function (MDAF) associated with a cellular network, wherein the method comprises: collecting, by the MDAF from a management service (MnS) producer, data related to resource usage of a network function (NF) of the cellular network; generating, by the MDAF based on the data, an analytics output related to the resource usage of the NF; and providing, by the MDAF to a MnS consumer, an indication of the analytics output.

Example 33 includes the method of example 32, and/or some other example herein, wherein the indication of the analytics output includes respective indications of a plurality of NFs of the cellular network.

Example 34 includes the method of any of examples 32-33, and/or some other example herein, wherein the data is related to performance measurements of the NF.

Example 35 includes the method of any of examples 32-34, and/or some other example herein, wherein the data is related to configuration data of the NF.

Example 36 includes the method of any of examples 32-35, and/or some other example herein, wherein the data is related to geographical data of the NF.

Example 37 includes the method of any of examples 32-36, and/or some other example herein, wherein the report includes an indication that the resource usage of the NF is beyond a pre-defined threshold.

Example 38 includes the method of example 37, and/or some other example herein, wherein the pre-defined threshold is a threshold that is set by the MnS producer.

Example 39 includes the method of any of examples 32-38, and/or some other example herein, wherein the report includes a prediction of future resource usage by the NF.

Example 40 includes the method of any of examples 32-39, and/or some other example herein, wherein the report includes an indication of an action to be performed with respect to the NF.

Example 41 includes the method of example 40, and/or some other example herein, wherein the action relates to scaling in the NF.

Example 42 includes the method of example 40, and/or some other example herein, wherein the action relates to scaling out the NF.

Example 43 includes a method to be performed by an electronic device that implements a management service (MnS) consumer associated with a cellular network, wherein the method comprises: receiving, by the MnS consumer from a management data analytics function (MDAF), a data analytics report related to a network function (NF) of the cellular network, wherein the data analytics report includes an indication of an action to be taken with respect to the NF; and performing, by the MnS consumer, the action.

Example 44 includes the method of example 43, and/or some other example herein, wherein the indication of the analytics output includes respective indications of a plurality of NFs of the cellular network.

Example 45 includes the method of any of examples 43-44, and/or some other example herein, wherein the data analytics report includes an indication that the NF has a resource usage that is beyond a threshold.

Example 46 includes the method of any of examples 43-45, and/or some other example herein, wherein the data analytics report includes a prediction of future resource usage by the NF.

Example 47 includes the method of any of examples 43-46, and/or some other example herein, wherein the action relates to scaling in the NF.

Example 48 includes the method of any of examples 43-46, and/or some other example herein, wherein the action relates to scaling out the NF.

Example Z01 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-48, or any other method or process described herein.

Example Z02 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-48, or any other method or process described herein.

Example Z03 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-48, or any other method or process described herein.

Example Z04 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-48, or portions or parts thereof.

Example Z05 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-48, or portions thereof.

Example Z06 may include a signal as described in or related to any of examples 1-48, or portions or parts thereof.

Example Z07 may include a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of examples 1-48, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

Example Z08 may include a signal encoded with data as described in or related to any of examples 1-48, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

Example Z09 may include a signal encoded with a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of examples 1-48, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.

Example Z10 may include an electromagnetic signal carrying computer-readable instructions, wherein execution of the computer-readable instructions by one or more processors is to cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-48, or portions thereof.

Example Z11 may include a computer program comprising instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element is to cause the processing element to carry out the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-48, or portions thereof. Example Z12 may include a signal in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

Example Z13 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.

Example Z14 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

Example Z15 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.

Any of the above-described examples may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples), unless explicitly stated otherwise. The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments. Abbreviations

Unless used differently herein, terms, definitions, and abbreviations may be consistent with terms, definitions, and abbreviations defined in 3GPP TR 21.905 V16.0.0 (2019-06). For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviations may apply to the examples and embodiments discussed herein.

3GPP Third Network BFD Beam

Generation AnLF Analytics Failure Detection

Partnership Logical Function BLER Block Error

Project ANR Automatic Rate

4G Fourth 40 Neighbour Relation 75 BPSK Binary Phase

Generation AOA Angle of Shift Keying

5G Fifth Arrival BRAS Broadband

Generation AP Application Remote Access

5GC 5G Core Protocol, Antenna Server network 45 Port, Access Point 80 BSS Business

AC API Application Support System

Application Programming Interface BS Base Station

Client APN Access Point BSR Buffer Status

ACR Application Name Report

Context Relocation 50 ARP Allocation and 85 BW Bandwidth

ACK Retention Priority BWP Bandwidth Part

Acknowledgem ARQ Automatic C-RNTI Cell ent Repeat Request Radio Network

ACID AS Access Stratum Temporary

Application 55 ASP 90 Identity

Client Identification Application Service CA Carrier

ADRF Analytics Data Provider Aggregation,

Repository Certification

Function ASN.1 Abstract Syntax Authority

AF Application 60 Notation One 95 CAPEX CAPital

Function AUSF Authentication Expenditure

AM Acknowledged Server Function CBD Candidate

Mode AWGN Additive Beam Detection

AMBR Aggregate White Gaussian CBRA Contention

Maximum Bit Rate 65 Noise 100 Based Random

AMF Access and BAP Backhaul Access

Mobility Adaptation Protocol CC Component

Management BCH Broadcast Carrier, Country

Function Channel Code, Cryptographic

AN Access 70 BER Bit Error Ratio 105 Checksum CCA Clear Channel Mandatory Network, Cloud Assessment CMAS Commercial RAN CCE Control Mobile Alert Service CRB Common Channel Element CMD Command Resource Block CCCH Common 40 CMS Cloud 75 CRC Cyclic Control Channel Management System Redundancy Check CE Coverage CO Conditional CRI Channel-State Enhancement Optional Information CDM Content CoMP Coordinated Resource Delivery Network 45 Multi-Point 80 Indicator, CSI-RS CDMA Code- CORESET Control Resource Division Multiple Resource Set Indicator Access COTS Commercial C-RNTI Cell

CDR Charging Data Off-The-Shelf RNTI Request 50 CP Control Plane, 85 CS Circuit

CDR Charging Data Cyclic Prefix, Switched Response Connection CSCF call

CFRA Contention Free Point session control function Random Access CPD Connection CSAR Cloud Service CG Cell Group 55 Point Descriptor 90 Archive CGF Charging CPE Customer CSI Channel-State

Gateway Function Premise Information CHF Charging Equipment CSI-IM CSI

Function CPICHCommon Pilot Interference

CI Cell Identity 60 Channel 95 Measurement CID Cell-ID (e.g., CQI Channel CSI-RS CSI positioning method) Quality Indicator Reference Signal CIM Common CPU CSI processing CSI-RSRP CSI Information Model unit, Central reference signal CIR Carrier to 65 Processing Unit 100 received power Interference Ratio C/R CSI-RSRQ CSI CK Cipher Key Command/Resp reference signal CM Connection onse field bit received quality Management, CRAN Cloud Radio CSI-SINR CSI

Conditional 70 Access 105 signal-to-noise and interference Reference Signal ED Energy ratio DN Data network Detection

CSMA Carrier Sense DNN Data Network EDGE Enhanced

Multiple Access Name Datarates for GSM

CSMA/CA CSMA 40 DNAI Data Network 75 Evolution with collision Access Identifier (GSM Evolution) avoidance EAS Edge

CSS Common DRB Data Radio Application Server

Search Space, CellBearer EASID Edge specific Search 45 DRS Discovery 80 Application Server

Space Reference Signal Identification

CTF Charging DRX Discontinuous ECS Edge

Trigger Function Reception Configuration Server

CTS Clear-to-Send DSL Domain ECSP Edge

CW Codeword 50 Specific Language. 85 Computing Service

CWS Contention Digital Provider

Window Size Subscriber Line EDN Edge

D2D Device-to- DSLAM DSL Data Network

Device Access Multiplexer EEC Edge

DC Dual 55 DwPTS 90 Enabler Client

Connectivity, Direct Downlink Pilot EECID Edge Current Time Slot Enabler Client

DCI Downlink E-LAN Ethernet Identification

Control Local Area Network EES Edge

Information 60 E2E End-to-End 95 Enabler Server

DF Deployment EAS Edge EESID Edge

Flavour Application Server Enabler Server

DL Downlink ECCA extended clear Identification

DMTF Distributed channel EHE Edge

Management Task 65 assessment, 100 Hosting Environment

Force extended CCA EGMF Exposure

DPDK Data Plane ECCE Enhanced Governance

Development Kit Control Channel Management

DM-RS, DMRS Element, Function

Demodulation 70 Enhanced CCE 105 EGPRS Enhanced ETSI European Channel

GPRS Telecommunica FAUSCH Fast

EIR Equipment tions Standards Uplink Signalling Identity Register Institute Channel eLAA enhanced 40 ETWS Earthquake and 75 FB Functional Licensed Assisted Tsunami Warning Block

Access, System FBI Feedback enhanced LAA eUICC embedded Information EM Element UICC, embedded FCC Federal Manager 45 Universal 80 Communications eMBB Enhanced Integrated Circuit Commission Mobile Card FCCH Frequency

Broadband E-UTRA Evolved Correction CHannel

EMS Element UTRA FDD Frequency

Management System 50 E-UTRAN Evolved 85 Division Duplex eNB evolved NodeB, UTRAN FDM Frequency E-UTRAN Node B EV2X Enhanced V2X Division EN-DC E- F1AP Fl Application Multiplex UTRA-NR Dual Protocol FDM A Frequency

Connectivity 55 Fl-C Fl Control 90 Division Multiple EPC Evolved Packet plane interface Access Core Fl -U F 1 User plane FE Front End EPDCCH interface FEC Forward Error enhanced FACCH Fast Correction PDCCH, enhanced 60 Associated Control 95 FFS For Further

Physical CHannel Study

Downlink Control FACCH/F Fast FFT Fast Fourier

Cannel Associated Control Transformation

EPRE Energy per Channel/Full feLAA further resource element 65 rate 100 enhanced Licensed

EPS Evolved Packet FACCH/H Fast Assisted System Associated Control Access, further

EREG enhanced REG, Channel/Half enhanced LAA enhanced resource rate FN Frame Number element groups 70 FACH Forward Access 105 FPGA Field- Programmable Gate Generation HFN HyperFrame

Array NodeB Number FR Frequency distributed unit HHO Hard Handover Range GNSS Global HLR Home Location FQDN Fully 40 Navigation Satellite 75 Register Qualified Domain System HN Home Network Name GPRS General Packet HO Handover

G-RNTI GERAN Radio Service HPLMN Home

Radio Network GPS I Generic Public Land Mobile

Temporary 45 Public Subscription 80 Network

Identity Identifier HSDPA High

GERAN GSM Global System Speed Downlink

GSM EDGE for Mobile Packet Access

RAN, GSM EDGE Communication HSN Hopping

Radio Access 50 s, Groupe Special 85 Sequence Number

Network Mobile HSPA High Speed

GGSN Gateway GPRS GTP GPRS Packet Access Support Node Tunneling Protocol HSS Home GLONASS GTP-UGPRS Subscriber Server

GLObal'naya 55 Tunnelling Protocol 90 HSUPA High

NAvigatsionnay for User Plane Speed Uplink Packet a Sputnikovaya GTS Go To Sleep Access Sistema (Engl.: Signal (related HTTP Hyper Text Global Navigation to WUS) Transfer Protocol

Satellite 60 GUMMEI Globally 95 HTTPS Hyper

System) Unique MME Text Transfer Protocol gNB Next Identifier Secure (https is Generation NodeB GUTI Globally http/ 1.1 over gNB-CU gNB- Unique Temporary SSL, i.e. port 443) centralized unit, Next 65 UE Identity 100 I-Block

Generation HARQ Hybrid ARQ, Information

NodeB Hybrid Block centralized unit Automatic ICCID Integrated gNB-DU gNB- Repeat Request Circuit Card distributed unit, Next 70 HANDO Handover 105 Identification IAB Integrated , IP Multimedia IS In Sync

Access and IMC IMS IRP Integration

Backhaul Credentials Reference Point

ICIC Inter-Cell IMEI International ISDN Integrated

Interference 40 Mobile 75 Services Digital

Coordination Equipment Network

ID Identity, Identity ISIM IM Services identifier IMGI International Identity Module

IDFT Inverse Discrete mobile group identity ISO International

Fourier 45 IMPI IP Multimedia 80 Organisation for

Transform Private Identity Standardisation

IE Information IMPU IP Multimedia ISP Internet Service element PUblic identity Provider

IBE In-Band IMS IP Multimedia IWF Interworking-

Emission 50 Subsystem 85 Function

IEEE Institute of IMSI International I-WLAN

Electrical and Mobile Interworking

Electronics Subscriber WLAN

Engineers Identity Constraint

IEI Information 55 loT Internet of 90 length of the

Element Things convolutional

Identifier IP Internet code, USIM

IEIDL Information Protocol Individual key

Element Ipsec IP Security, kB Kilobyte (1000

Identifier Data 60 Internet Protocol 95 bytes)

Length Security kbps kilo-bits per

IETF Internet IP-CAN IP- second

Engineering Task Connectivity Access Kc Ciphering key

Force Network Ki Individual

IF Infrastructure 65 IP-M IP Multicast 100 subscriber

IIOT Industrial IPv4 Internet authentication

Internet of Things Protocol Version 4 key

IM Interference IPv6 Internet KPI Key

Measurement, Protocol Version 6 Performance Indicator

Intermodulation 70 IR Infrared 105 KQI Key Quality Indicator LMF Location (TSG T WG3 context)

KSI Key Set Management Function MAC-IMAC used for Identifier LOS Line of data integrity of ksps kilo-symbols Sight signalling messages per second 40 LPLMN Local 75 (TSG T WG3 context)

KVM Kernel Virtual PLMN MANO Machine LPP LTE Management

LI Layer 1 Positioning Protocol and Orchestration (physical layer) LSB Least MBMS Ll-RSRP Layer 1 45 Significant Bit 80 Multimedia reference signal LTE Long Term Broadcast and received power Evolution Multicast

L2 Layer 2 (data LWA LTE-WLAN Service link layer) aggregation MBSFN L3 Layer 3 50 LWIP LTE/WLAN 85 Multimedia

(network layer) Radio Level Broadcast LAA Licensed Integration with multicast Assisted Access IPsec Tunnel service Single LAN Local Area LTE Long Term Frequency Network 55 Evolution 90 Network

LADN Local M2M Machine-to- MCC Mobile Country Area Data Network Machine Code LBT Listen Before MAC Medium Access MCG Master Cell Talk Control Group

LCM LifeCycle 60 (protocol 95 MCOT Maximum Management layering context) Channel

LCR Low Chip Rate MAC Message Occupancy LCS Location authentication code Time Services (security/encryption MCS Modulation and

LCID Logical 65 context) 100 coding scheme Channel ID MAC-A MAC MD AF Management

LI Layer Indicator used for Data Analytics LLC Logical Link authentication Function Control, Low Layer and key MDAS Management Compatibility 70 agreement 105 Data Analytics Service Physical Downlink Terminated, Mobile

MDT Minimization of Control Termination

Drive Tests CHannel MTC Machine-Type

ME Mobile MPDSCH MTC Communication

Equipment 40 Physical Downlink 75 s

MeNB master eNB Shared MTLF Model Training

MER Message Error CHannel Logical

Ratio MPRACH MTC Functions

MGL Measurement Physical Random mMTCmassive MTC,

Gap Length 45 Access 80 massive

MGRP Measurement CHannel Machine-Type

Gap Repetition MPUSCH MTC Communication

Period Physical Uplink Shared s

MIB Master Channel MU-MIMO Multi

Information Block, 50 MPLS MultiProtocol 85 User MIMO

Management Label Switching MWUS MTC

Information Base MS Mobile Station wake-up signal, MTC

MIMO Multiple Input MSB Most WUS

Multiple Output Significant Bit NACK Negative

MLC Mobile 55 MSC Mobile 90 Acknowledgement

Location Centre Switching Centre NAI Network

MM Mobility MSI Minimum Access Identifier

Management System NAS Non-Access

MME Mobility Information, Stratum, Non- Access

Management Entity 60 MCH Scheduling 95 Stratum layer MN Master Node Information NCT Network

MNO Mobile MSID Mobile Station Connectivity

Network Operator Identifier Topology MO Measurement MSIN Mobile Station NC-JT Non¬

Object, Mobile 65 Identification 100 coherent Joint

Originated Number Transmission

MPBCH MTC MSISDN Mobile NEC Network

Physical Broadcast Subscriber ISDN Capability

CHannel Number Exposure

MPDCCH MTC 70 MT Mobile 105 NE-DC NR-E- UTRA Dual CHannel NSA Non-Standalone

Connectivity NPDCCH operation mode

NEF Network Narrowband NSD Network

Exposure Function Physical Service Descriptor

NF Network 40 Downlink 75 NSR Network

Function Control CHannel Service Record

NFP Network NPDSCH NSS Al Network Slice

Forwarding Path Narrowband Selection

NFPD Network Physical Assistance

Forwarding Path 45 Downlink 80 Information

Descriptor Shared CHannel S-NNSAI Single-

NFV Network NPRACH NSSAI

Functions Narrowband NSSF Network Slice

Virtualization Physical Random Selection Function

NFVI NFV 50 Access CHannel 85 NW Network

Infrastructure NPUSCH NWDAF Network

NFVO NFV Narrowband Data Analytics

Orchestrator Physical Uplink Function

NG Next Shared CHannel NWUS Narrowband

Generation, Next Gen 55 NPSS Narrowband 90 wake-up signal,

NGEN-DC NG- Primary Narrowband WUS

RAN E-UTRA-NR Synchronization NZP Non-Zero

Dual Connectivity Signal Power

NM Network NSSS Narrowband O&M Operation and

Manager 60 Secondary 95 Maintenance

NMS Network Synchronization ODU2 Optical channel

Management System Signal Data Unit - type 2

N-PoP Network Point NR New Radio, OFDM Orthogonal of Presence Neighbour Relation Frequency Division NMIB, N-MIB 65 NRF NF Repository 100 Multiplexing Narrowband MIB Function OFDMA NPBCH NRS Narrowband Orthogonal

Narrowband Reference Signal Frequency Division

Physical NS Network Multiple Access

Broadcast 70 Service 105 OOB Out-of-band OOS Out of and Charging Rules Measurement

Sync Function PMI Precoding

OPEX OPerating PDCP Packet Data Matrix Indicator

EXpense Convergence PNF Physical

OSI Other System 40 Protocol, Packet 75 Network Function Information Data Convergence PNFD Physical

OSS Operations Protocol layer Network Function Support System PDCCH Physical Descriptor OTA over-the-air Downlink Control PNFR Physical

PAPR Peak-to- 45 Channel 80 Network Function

A verage Power PDCP Packet Data Record

Ratio Convergence Protocol POC PTT over

PAR Peak to PDN Packet Data Cellular

Average Ratio Network, Public PP, PTP Point-to-

PBCH Physical 50 Data Network 85 Point

Broadcast Channel PDSCH Physical PPP Point-to-Point

PC Power Control, Downlink Shared Protocol

Personal Channel PRACH Physical

Computer PDU Protocol Data RACH

PCC Primary 55 Unit 90 PRB Physical

Component Carrier, PEI Permanent resource block Primary CC Equipment PRG Physical

P-CSCF Proxy Identifiers resource block

CSCF PFD Packet Flow group

PCell Primary Cell 60 Description 95 ProSe Proximity

PCI Physical Cell P-GW PDN Gateway Services, ID, Physical Cell PHICH Physical Proximity- Identity hybrid-ARQ indicator Based Service

PCEF Policy and channel PRS Positioning

Charging 65 PHY Physical layer 100 Reference Signal

Enforcement PLMN Public Land PRR Packet

Function Mobile Network Reception Radio

PCF Policy Control PIN Personal PS Packet Services Function Identification Number PSBCH Physical

PCRF Policy Control 70 PM Performance 105 Sidelink Broadcast Channel QFI QoS Flow ID, REG Resource

PSDCH Physical QoS Flow Element Group

Sidelink Downlink Identifier Rel Release

Channel QoS Quality of REQ REQuest

PSCCH Physical 40 Service 75 RF Radio

Sidelink Control QPSK Quadrature Frequency

Channel (Quaternary) Phase RI Rank Indicator

PSSCH Physical Shift Keying RIV Resource

Sidelink Shared QZSS Quasi-Zenith indicator value

Channel 45 Satellite System 80 RL Radio Link

PSFCH physical RA-RNTI Random RLC Radio Link sidelink feedback Access RNTI Control, Radio channel RAB Radio Access Link Control

PSCell Primary SCell Bearer, Random layer

PSS Primary 50 Access Burst 85 RLC AM RLC

Synchronization RACH Random Access Acknowledged Mode

Signal Channel RLC UM RLC

PSTN Public Switched RADIUS Remote Unacknowledged

Telephone Network Authentication Dial Mode

PT-RS Phase-tracking 55 In User Service 90 RLF Radio Link reference signal RAN Radio Access Failure

PTT Push-to-Talk Network RLM Radio Link

PUCCH Physical RANDRANDom Monitoring

Uplink Control number (used for RLM-RS

Channel 60 authentication) 95 Reference

PUSCH Physical RAR Random Access Signal for RLM

Uplink Shared Response RM Registration

Channel RAT Radio Access Management

QAM Quadrature Technology RMC Reference

Amplitude 65 RAU Routing Area 100 Measurement Channel

Modulation Update RMSI Remaining

QCI QoS class of RB Resource block, MSI, Remaining identifier Radio Bearer Minimum

QCL Quasi coRBG Resource block System location 70 group 105 Information RN Relay Node Time SCell Secondary Cell

RNC Radio Network Rx Reception, SCEF Service

Controller Receiving, Receiver Capability Exposure

RNL Radio Network S1AP SI Application Function

Layer 40 Protocol 75 SC-FDMA Single

RNTI Radio Network SI -MME SI for Carrier Frequency

Temporary the control plane Division

Identifier S 1 -U S 1 for the user Multiple Access

ROHC RObust Header plane SCG Secondary Cell

Compression 45 S-CSCF serving 80 Group

RRC Radio Resource CSCF SCM Security

Control, Radio S-GW Serving Context

Resource Control Gateway Management layer S-RNTI SRNC SCS Subcarrier

RRM Radio Resource 50 Radio Network 85 Spacing

Management Temporary SCTP Stream Control

RS Reference Identity Transmission

Signal S-TMSI SAE Protocol

RSRP Reference Temporary Mobile SDAP Service Data

Signal Received 55 Station 90 Adaptation

Power Identifier Protocol,

RSRQ Reference SA Standalone Service Data

Signal Received operation mode Adaptation

Quality SAE System Protocol layer

RSSI Received Signal 60 Architecture 95 SDL Supplementary

Strength Evolution Downlink

Indicator SAP Service Access SDNF Structured Data

RSU Road Side Unit Point Storage Network

RSTD Reference SAPD Service Access Function

Signal Time 65 Point Descriptor 100 SDP Session difference SAPI Service Access Description Protocol

RTP Real Time Point Identifier SDSF Structured Data

Protocol SCC Secondary Storage Function

RTS Ready-To-Send Component Carrier, SDT Small Data

RTT Round Trip 70 Secondary CC 105 Transmission SDU Service Data Agreement Identifier Unit SM Session SS/PBCH Block

SEAF Security Management SSBRI SS/PBCH Anchor Function SMF Session Block Resource

SeNB secondary eNB 40 Management Function 75 Indicator, SEPP Security Edge SMS Short Message Synchronization Protection Proxy Service Signal Block SFI Slot format SMSF SMS Function Resource indication SMTC SSB-based Indicator

SFTD Space- 45 Measurement Timing 80 SSC Session and Frequency Time Configuration Service

Diversity, SFN SN Secondary Continuity and frame timing Node, Sequence SS-RSRP difference Number Synchronization

SFN System Frame 50 SoC System on Chip 85 Signal based Number SON Self-Organizing Reference

SgNB Secondary gNB Network Signal Received SGSN Serving GPRS SpCell Special Cell Power Support Node SP-CSI-RNTISemi- SS-RSRQ S-GW Serving 55 Persistent CSI RNTI 90 Synchronization

Gateway SPS Semi-Persistent Signal based

SI System Scheduling Reference

Information SQN Sequence Signal Received

SI-RNTI System number Quality

Information RNTI 60 SR Scheduling 95 SS-SINR

SIB System Request Synchronization Information Block SRB Signalling Signal based Signal

SIM Subscriber Radio Bearer to Noise and

Identity Module SRS Sounding Interference Ratio SIP Session 65 Reference Signal 100 SSS Secondary Initiated Protocol SS Synchronization Synchronization

SiP System in Signal Signal Package SSB Synchronization SSSG Search Space

SL Sidelink Signal Block Set Group

SLA Service Level 70 SSID Service Set 105 SSSIF Search Space Set Indicator TE Terminal Radio Network

SST Slice/Service Equipment Temporary

Types TEID Tunnel End Identity

SU-MIMO Single Point Identifier UART Universal

User MIMO 40 TFT Traffic Flow 75 Asynchronous

SUL Supplementary Template Receiver and

Uplink TMSI Temporary Transmitter

TA Timing Mobile UCI Uplink Control

Advance, Tracking Subscriber Information

Area 45 Identity 80 UE User Equipment

TAC Tracking Area TNL Transport UDM Unified Data

Code Network Layer Management

TAG Timing TPC Transmit Power UDP User Datagram

Advance Group Control Protocol

TAI 50 TPMI Transmitted 85 UDSF Unstructured

Tracking Area Precoding Matrix Data Storage Network

Identity Indicator Function

TAU Tracking Area TR Technical UICC Universal

Update Report Integrated Circuit

TB Transport Block 55 TRP, TRxP 90 Card

TBS Transport Block Transmission UL Uplink

Size Reception Point UM

TBD To Be Defined TRS Tracking Unacknowledge

TCI Transmission Reference Signal d Mode

Configuration 60 TRx Transceiver 95 UML Unified

Indicator TS Technical Modelling Language

TCP Transmission Specifications, UMTS Universal

Communication Technical Mobile

Protocol Standard Telecommunica

TDD Time Division 65 TTI Transmission 100 tions System

Duplex Time Interval UP User Plane

TDM Time Division Tx Transmission, UPF User Plane

Multiplexing Transmitting, Function

TDMATime Division Transmitter URI Uniform

Multiple Access 70 U-RNTI UTRAN 105 Resource Identifier URL Uniform Network X2-U X2-User plane

Resource Locator VM Virtual XML extensible

URLLC UltraMachine Markup

Reliable and Low VNF Virtualized Language

Latency 40 Network Function 75 XRES EXpected user

USB Universal Serial VNFFG VNF RESponse

Bus Forwarding Graph XOR exclusive OR

USIM Universal VNFFGD VNF ZC Zadoff-Chu

Subscriber Identity Forwarding Graph ZP Zero Power

Module 45 Descriptor 80

USS UE- specific VNFMVNF Manager search space VoIP Voice-over- IP, UTRA UMTS Voice-over- Internet Terrestrial Radio Protocol

Access 50 VPLMN Visited

UTRAN Public Land Mobile

Universal Network

Terrestrial Radio VPN Virtual Private

Access Network

Network 55 VRB Virtual

UwPTS Uplink Resource Block

Pilot Time Slot WiMAX

V2I Vehicle-to- Worldwide

Infrastruction Interoperability

V2P Vehicle-to- 60 for Microwave

Pedestrian Access

V2V Vehicle-to- WLANWireless Local

Vehicle Area Network

V2X Vehicle-to- WMAN Wireless everything 65 Metropolitan Area

VIM Virtualized Network

Infrastructure Manager WPANWireless VL Virtual Link, Personal Area Network VLAN Virtual LAN, X2-C X2-Control Virtual Local Area 70 plane Terminology

For the purposes of the present document, the following terms and definitions are applicable to the examples and embodiments discussed herein.

The term “application” may refer to a complete and deployable package, environment to achieve a certain function in an operational environment. The term “A I/ML application” or the like may be an application that contains some AI/ML models and application-level descriptions.

The term “circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes hardware components such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high-capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC), digital signal processors (DSPs), etc., that are configured to provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality. The term “circuitry” may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system) with the program code used to carry out the functionality of that program code. In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a particular type of circuitry.

The term “processor circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry capable of sequentially and automatically carrying out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations, or recording, storing, and/or transferring digital data. Processing circuitry may include one or more processing cores to execute instructions and one or more memory structures to store program and data information. The term “processor circuitry” may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and/or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computerexecutable instructions, such as program code, software modules, and/or functional processes. Processing circuitry may include more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, or the like. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and/or deep learning (DL) accelerators. The terms “application circuitry” and/or “baseband circuitry” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, “processor circuitry.”

The term “interface circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry that enables the exchange of information between two or more components or devices. The term “interface circuitry” may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, for example, buses, I/O interfaces, peripheral component interfaces, network interface cards, and/or the like.

The term “user equipment” or “UE” as used herein refers to a device with radio communication capabilities and may describe a remote user of network resources in a communications network. The term “user equipment” or “UE” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, client, mobile, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Furthermore, the term “user equipment” or “UE” may include any type of wireless/wired device or any computing device including a wireless communications interface.

The term “network element” as used herein refers to physical or virtualized equipment and/or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless communication network services. The term “network element” may be considered synonymous to and/or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN device, RAN node, gateway, server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, and/or the like.

The term “computer system” as used herein refers to any type interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the term “computer system” and/or “system” may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled with one another. Furthermore, the term “computer system” and/or “system” may refer to multiple computer devices and/or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled with one another and configured to share computing and/or networking resources.

The term “appliance,” “computer appliance,” or the like, as used herein refers to a computer device or computer system with program code (e.g., software or firmware) that is specifically designed to provide a specific computing resource. A “virtual appliance” is a virtual machine image to be implemented by a hypervisor-equipped device that virtualizes or emulates a computer appliance or otherwise is dedicated to provide a specific computing resource.

The term “resource” as used herein refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, and/or a physical or virtual component within a particular device, such as computer devices, mechanical devices, memory space, processor/CPU time, processor/CPU usage, processor and accelerator loads, hardware time or usage, electrical power, input/output operations, ports or network sockets, channel/link allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, network, database and applications, workload units, and/or the like. A “hardware resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/or network resources provided by physical hardware element(s). A “virtualized resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/or network resources provided by virtualization infrastructure to an application, device, system, etc. The term “network resource” or “communication resource” may refer to resources that are accessible by computer devices/sy stems via a communications network. The term “system resources” may refer to any kind of shared entities to provide services, and may include computing and/or network resources. System resources may be considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or services, accessible through a server where such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable.

The term “channel” as used herein refers to any transmission medium, either tangible or intangible, which is used to communicate data or a data stream. The term “channel” may be synonymous with and/or equivalent to “communications channel,” “data communications channel,” “transmission channel,” “data transmission channel,” “access channel,” “data access channel,” “link,” “data link,” “carrier,” “radiofrequency carrier,” and/or any other like term denoting a pathway or medium through which data is communicated. Additionally, the term “link” as used herein refers to a connection between two devices through a RAT for the purpose of transmitting and receiving information.

The terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like as used herein refers to the creation of an instance. An “instance” also refers to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code.

The terms “coupled,” “communicatively coupled,” along with derivatives thereof are used herein. The term “coupled” may mean two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with one another, may mean that two or more elements indirectly contact each other but still cooperate or interact with each other, and/or may mean that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between the elements that are said to be coupled with each other. The term “directly coupled” may mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with one another. The term “communicatively coupled” may mean that two or more elements may be in contact with one another by a means of communication including through a wire or other interconnect connection, through a wireless communication channel or link, and/or the like.

The term “information element” refers to a structural element containing one or more fields. The term “field” refers to individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains content.

The term “SMTC” refers to an SSB-based measurement timing configuration configured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration.

The term “SSB” refers to an SS/PBCH block. The term “a “Primary Cell” refers to the MCG cell, operating on the primary frequency, in which the UE either performs the initial connection establishment procedure or initiates the connection re-establishment procedure.

The term “Primary SCG Cell” refers to the SCG cell in which the UE performs random access when performing the Reconfiguration with Sync procedure for DC operation.

The term “Secondary Cell” refers to a cell providing additional radio resources on top of a Special Cell for a UE configured with CA.

The term “Secondary Cell Group” refers to the subset of serving cells comprising the PSCell and zero or more secondary cells for a UE configured with DC.

The term “Serving Cell” refers to the primary cell for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED not configured with CA/DC there is only one serving cell comprising of the primary cell.

The term “serving cell” or “serving cells” refers to the set of cells comprising the Special Cell(s) and all secondary cells for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED configured with CA/.

The term “Special Cell” refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell of the SCG for DC operation; otherwise, the term “Special Cell” refers to the Pcell.

The term “machine learning” or “ML” refers to the use of computer systems implementing algorithms and/or statistical models to perform specific task(s) without using explicit instructions, but instead relying on patterns and inferences. ML algorithms build or estimate mathematical model(s) (referred to as “ML models” or the like) based on sample data (referred to as “training data,” “model training information,” or the like) in order to make predictions or decisions without being explicitly programmed to perform such tasks. Generally, an ML algorithm is a computer program that learns from experience with respect to some task and some performance measure, and an ML model may be any object or data structure created after an ML algorithm is trained with one or more training datasets. After training, an ML model may be used to make predictions on new datasets. Although the term “ML algorithm” refers to different concepts than the term “ML model,” these terms as discussed herein may be used interchangeably for the purposes of the present disclosure.

The term “machine learning model,” “ML model,” or the like may also refer to ML methods and concepts used by an ML-assisted solution. An “ML-assisted solution” is a solution that addresses a specific use case using ML algorithms during operation. ML models include supervised learning (e.g., linear regression, k-nearest neighbor (KNN), descision tree algorithms, support machine vectors, Bayesian algorithm, ensemble algorithms, etc.) unsupervised learning (e.g., K-means clustering, principle component analysis (PCA), etc.), reinforcement learning (e.g., Q-learning, multi-armed bandit learning, deep RL, etc.), neural networks, and the like. Depending on the implementation a specific ML model could have many sub-models as components and the ML model may train all sub-models together. Separately trained ML models can also be chained together in an ML pipeline during inference. An “ML pipeline” is a set of functionalities, functions, or functional entities specific for an ML-assisted solution; an ML pipeline may include one or several data sources in a data pipeline, a model training pipeline, a model evaluation pipeline, and an actor. The “actor” is an entity that hosts an ML assisted solution using the output of the ML model inference). The term “ML training host” refers to an entity, such as a network function, that hosts the training of the model. The term “ML inference host” refers to an entity, such as a network function, that hosts model during inference mode (which includes both the model execution as well as any online learning if applicable). The ML-host informs the actor about the output of the ML algorithm, and the actor takes a decision for an action (an “action” is performed by an actor as a result of the output of an ML assisted solution). The term “model inference information” refers to information used as an input to the ML model for determining inference(s); the data used to train an ML model and the data used to determine inferences may overlap, however, “training data” and “inference data” refer to different concepts.

Claims

1. One or more electronic devices comprising: one or more processors configured to implement a management data analytics function (MDAF) associated with a cellular network; and one or more memory that include instructions that, upon execution of the instructions, are to cause the MDAF to: collect, by the MDAF from a management service (MnS) producer, data related to resource usage of a network function (NF) of the cellular network; generate, by the MDAF based on the data, an analytics output related to the resource usage of the NF; and provide, by the MDAF to a MnS consumer, an indication of the analytics output.

2. The one or more electronic devices of claim 1, wherein the indication of the analytics output includes respective indications of a plurality of NFs of the cellular network.

3. The one or more electronic devices of claim 1, wherein the data is related to performance measurements of the NF.

4. The one or more electronic devices of claim 1, wherein the data is related to configuration data of the NF.

5. The one or more electronic devices of claim 1, wherein the data is related to geographical data of the NF.

6. The one or more electronic devices of any of claims 1-5, wherein the report includes an indication that the resource usage of the NF is beyond a pre-defined threshold.

7. The one or more electronic devices of claim 6, wherein the pre-defined threshold is a threshold that is set by the MnS producer.

8. The one or more electronic devices of any of claims 1-5, wherein the report includes a prediction of future resource usage by the NF.

9. The one or more electronic devices of any of claims 1-5, wherein the report includes an indication of an action to be performed with respect to the NF.

10. The one or more electronic devices of claim 9, wherein the action relates to scaling in the NF.

11. The one or more electronic devices of claim 9, wherein the action relates to scaling out the NF.

12. One or more electronic devices comprising: one or more processors configured to implement a management service (MnS) consumer associated with a cellular network; and one or more memory that include instructions that, upon execution of the instructions, are to cause the MnS consumer to: identify a data analytics report received by the MnS consumer from a management data analytics function (MDAF), wherein the data analytics report is related to a network function (NF) of the cellular network, wherein the data analytics report includes an indication of an action to be taken with respect to the NF; and perform, by the MnS consumer, the action.

13. The one or more electronic devices of claim 12, wherein the indication of the analytics output includes respective indications of a plurality of NFs of the cellular network.

14. The one or more electronic devices of claim 12, wherein the data analytics report includes an indication that the NF has a resource usage that is beyond a threshold.

15. The one or more electronic devices of claim 12, wherein the data analytics report includes a prediction of future resource usage by the NF.

16. The one or more electronic devices of any of claims 12-15, wherein the action relates to scaling in the NF.

17. The one or more electronic devices of any of claims 12-15, wherein the action relates to scaling out the NF.

18. One or more memory that include instructions that, upon execution of the instructions, are to cause a management data analytics function (MDAF) to: collect, by the MDAF from a management service (MnS) producer, data related to resource usage of a network function (NF) of the cellular network; generate, by the MDAF based on the data, an analytics output related to the resource usage of the NF; and provide, by the MDAF to a MnS consumer, an indication of the analytics output.

19. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of claim 18, wherein the report includes an indication that the resource usage of the NF is beyond a pre-defined threshold.

20. The one or more non-transitory computer-readable media of any of claims 18-19, wherein the report includes a prediction of future resource usage by the NF.