CN119487815A

CN119487815A - Application level payload data processing at the user plane

Info

Publication number: CN119487815A
Application number: CN202280097579.0A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 苏珊娜·施瓦茨曼; 里卡多·特里维松诺
Original assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Current assignee: Huawei Technologies Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-08-04
Filing date: 2022-08-04
Publication date: 2025-02-18
Also published as: WO2024027917A1; EP4559168A1

Abstract

The present invention relates to providing an application over a network, for example, from an application server to a User Equipment (UE). The invention relates to the processing of application-level payload data included in data packets of a stream associated with said application. The present invention provides various entities that facilitate the processing of the application level payload data in the network by one or more user plane entities. The controller may configure the one or more user plane entities to be capable of processing the application level payload data. The UE may indicate that the packets of the flow are intended for application level processing by one or more user entities, and the application server may determine whether the packets of the flow have been processed in the network in this manner.

Description

Application level payload data processing at user plane

Technical Field

The present invention relates to an application provided through a network, for example, an application provided from an application server to a User Equipment (UE) through a mobile communication network. The present invention relates to the processing of application-level payload data included in data packets of an application-related flow. The present invention provides various entities that facilitate the processing of application level payload data in the user plane of a network by one or more user plane entities.

Background

Communication network flows ensure connectivity between endpoints and allow data, typically in the form of packets, to be sent between endpoints. The concept of quality of service (QoS) flows (quality of service flow) used in fifth generation (5 ^th generation, 5G) networks may take into account the different demands of different applications in terms of latency, reliability and capacity.

Within a QoS flow, packet loss and delay that an application can tolerate, as well as the amount of bandwidth that the application needs, can be defined, for example, by QoS templates associated with QoS flows. A User Plane (UP) entity (e.g., a gNB and user plane function (user plane function, UPF) in a 5G network) then processes the packets belonging to a given QoS flow as defined by the corresponding QoS template. For example, the data packets may be buffered, prioritized, scheduled, etc. in different ways.

However, any processing of these packets involves only communication (pure communication flow). The data packets are not modified in the network during transmission and therefore the data sent by the source in the form of data packets corresponds to the data received by the destination (assuming no packet loss occurs).

Disclosure of Invention

The present invention is also based on the following considerations of the inventors.

The concept of network computing (In-network Computing, INC) means that the data packets are computed In the network device while they are traversing the network device (e.g., in a router, switch, or Network Function (NF)). In this case, the data sent by the source may be intentionally modified in a well-defined manner during transmission. Thus, the data sent by the source is different from the data received by the destination. For example, INC may be used for traffic aggregation, data caching, or in-network responses to Domain Name Service (DNS) requests. INC may also provide advantages for various use cases, particularly in meeting the challenging needs of future applications, such as augmented reality (augmented reality, AR) applications.

AR devices, especially in mobile environments, have some requirements (design goals) that tend to conflict with each other. In particular, it is a continuing challenge to design wearable AR devices that are powerful, comfortable and do not cause overheating. The AR device should be wireless available without an external wired power source. In order to still achieve a longer battery life, a large battery would be required, which conflicts with the design goals of lightweight devices. In addition, applications running on AR devices require partially complex calculations, which also consume battery power and may result in heating.

Fig. 1 shows an example of AR application tasks performed in an AR device. The first gray box on the left represents the AR device (UE) and the applications running thereon. The gray box shows the haptic glove, racket and ball, and AR glasses with integrated headphones. The tactile glove performs intelligent filtering on the sensory information and the racket can detect whether the ball is hit or miss. AR glasses act as a designated device for synchronizing streams belonging to different modalities of the user (tactile feedback through gloves and rackets, audio and video). This may be accomplished, for example, by network sharing (tethering), where AR glasses act as a hotspot to which gloves and rackets are connected. AN Access Network (AN) connects devices with a core network. The data pre-processed at the AR device is sent to the application server and vice versa via the data network. The battery power consumption of the AR device is fast due to the computation of the AR application tasks performed on the AR device.

Thus, the AR device needs to be as simple as possible and the calculations performed on the AR device must be minimized. For example, AR applications hosted on a server on the service provider side can perform complex tasks, but this approach also has two main drawbacks:

● The load on the network increases-the data generated by the AR application is immersive and all data sent to the remote server for processing can easily overload the network

● Not meeting the (near) real-time requirements of an application-sending large amounts of immersive data to a remote server may result in delays exceeding the delay tolerable by the application.

In view of the above, it is not feasible to perform application tasks at the UE side and at the service provider side, and it is therefore an object of the present invention to enable execution of application tasks, such as AR application tasks, in a network device.

This and other objects are achieved by the solution according to the invention as described in the appended independent claims. Advantageous implementations are further defined in the dependent claims.

A first aspect of the present invention provides a user plane entity for a mobile communication network, the user plane entity being arranged to receive one or more data packets of a flow from a User Equipment (UE) connected to the mobile communication network and/or to receive one or more data packets of the flow from another user plane entity or data network entity or an application server, wherein the flow is application dependent, to perform at least one calculation on application level payload data in the one or more data packets of the flow, to forward the one or more data packets of the flow to another user plane entity or data network entity or application server, and/or to forward the one or more data packets of the flow to the UE, wherein one or more forwarded data packets comprise processed application level payload data.

The execution of one or more calculations may be performed on the uplink (on application level payload data transmitted from the UE to the data network/application server) or on the downlink (on application level payload data transmitted from the application server/data network to the UE).

Since the user plane entity of the first aspect is capable of handling application level payload data in data packets of an application related flow, application tasks may be performed in a network device of a mobile communication network by performing at least one calculation on said application level payload data. Thus, at least one calculation need not be performed by the UE nor by the application server.

For example, the application may be an AR application, and the application task may be an AR application task. The application level payload data may include data required to execute an application.

In an implementation form of the first aspect, the user plane entity is further configured to not perform computation on the application level payload data in the one or more data packets of the flow if the one or more data packets are not intended to be processed by the user plane entity.

For example, there may be a "default" flow in which no computation is performed (e.g., if no computation is specified, in which case the computation to be performed is invalid).

In an implementation form of the first aspect, the user plane entity is further configured to access payloads of the one or more data packets of the flow to obtain the application level payload data, perform the at least one calculation on the obtained application level payload data, and include the processed application level payload data into the one or more data packets of the flow before forwarding the one or more data packets.

Under normal conditions, the user plane entity does not access the payload of the data packet associated with the application. In the present invention, the user plane entity may be provided with access rights to the payload to take over processing tasks related to the application.

In an implementation manner of the first aspect, the user plane entity is configured to replace the application level payload data in the one or more data packets of the flow with the processed application level payload data before forwarding the one or more data packets.

In most cases, application level payload data may be replaced. In some cases, however, the processed application level payload data may also be added to the unprocessed application level payload data prior to forwarding the data packet.

In one implementation of the first aspect, the flow is associated with a flow template indicating one or more computations for the one or more data packets of the flow, and the user plane entity is configured to perform the at least one computation according to the flow template.

The flow in the present invention may be referred to as Com ² P flow (described in detail below), which is a network flow on which calculations can be made (in addition to providing communication connectivity). In this case, the flow template may be a Com ² P template, which may be a set of descriptions and/or a data structure containing information (e.g., calculations to be performed, necessary attributes, etc.) for specifying Com ² P flow behavior.

In an implementation manner of the first aspect, the user plane entity is configured to store the flow template.

In one implementation of the first aspect, the flow template includes at least one of one or more identifiers, each identifier for one of the one or more computations, one or more attributes of the flow for supporting execution of the one or more computations on the application level payload data of the one or more data packets of the flow.

In one implementation of the first aspect, the flow is further associated with at least one flow rule, and the user plane entity is configured to perform the at least one calculation according to the flow template and based on the at least one flow rule.

The flow rules may be referred to as Com ² P rules, which specify one or more rules on how to apply Com ² P templates to Com ² P flows.

In one implementation of the first aspect, the flow is further associated with a QoS template and one or more QoS rules, and the user plane entity is configured to perform the at least one calculation and/or forwarding the one or more data packets of the flow according to the QoS template and the one or more QoS rules.

Thus, qoS requirements can be met and controlled.

In one implementation of the first aspect, the user plane entity comprises at least one logic component for performing the at least one calculation.

For example, the user plane entity may comprise a processor, which may be used to perform at least one calculation, and may comprise a memory storing, for example, code or instructions for performing the at least one calculation.

In one implementation of the first aspect, the user plane entity is further configured to buffer two or more data packets of the flow and to jointly perform the at least one calculation on the application level payload data in the two or more data packets of the flow.

This may be beneficial for performing tasks related to applications that require the application level payload data of two or more data packets to be present at the same time.

In an implementation form of the first aspect, the user plane entity is configured to perform the at least one calculation on a dedicated layer of a user plane protocol stack, wherein the dedicated layer is placed on top of or between a plurality of layers of the user plane protocol stack dedicated to communication and a protocol data unit layer of the user plane protocol stack.

This may allow integration of the inventive scheme with a user plane protocol stack of e.g. a 5G network and efficient processing of application level payload data in the network.

In an implementation form of the first aspect, the user plane entity is further configured to receive configuration information from a controller, the configuration information indicating the at least one calculation.

Thus, the user plane entity may be configurable. The user plane entity may not need to determine itself whether to perform application level payload data processing for a particular data packet stream, but may be configured or reconfigured accordingly by the controller.

In an implementation manner of the first aspect, the configuration information includes the flow template and the at least one flow rule.

In one implementation of the first aspect, the configuration information includes a plurality of flow templates and a plurality of sets of flow rules, each flow template and each set of flow rules being associated with a particular one of the plurality of flows.

For example, the user plane entity may be used to perform different calculations on application level payload data of data packets belonging to different streams.

In one implementation of the first aspect, the flow template is configured to instruct the one or more computation of the one or more data packets of the flow as a micro-service, the user plane entity is configured to store code for running the one or more computation of the micro-service, and to apply the micro-service on the flow by using the code.

For example, code may include code fragments and/or execution scripts. In this way, the user plane entity can quickly and efficiently perform one or more computations on the application level payload data.

In one implementation of the first aspect, the configuration information includes the code of the micro-service.

In AN implementation manner of the first aspect, the user plane entity is AN entity, or a Core Network (CN) entity, and/or the controller is AN AF, or at least one Control Plane (CP) entity.

For example, the controller may be a policy control function (policy control function, PCF) or any other CP function. The AN entity may be a gNB or a base station, etc.

A second aspect of the present invention provides a controller for configuring one or more user plane entities of a mobile communications network, the controller being arranged to send configuration information to the one or more user plane entities, the configuration information being indicative of one or more calculations performed on application level payload data included in one or more data packets of a flow, the flow being application dependent.

INC of application-related data may be implemented by configuring one or more user plane entities to enable them to process application-level payload data. Thus, for example, the UE and the application server may be protected from such processing. This gives rise to the advantages mentioned above.

In one implementation of the second aspect, the configuration information indicates at least one calculation to be performed by the one or more user plane entities.

Notably, not every user plane entity need necessarily perform the calculations. There may be cases where several user plane entities are involved along the path between the UE and the data network entity or application server, but in practice only one or more of the user plane entities are performing at least one calculation.

In one implementation of the second aspect, the configuration information includes at least one of a flow template of the flow indicating one or more calculations for the one or more data packets of the flow and at least one flow rule indicating how to perform the one or more calculations on the application level payload data of the one or more data packets of the flow.

In an implementation manner of the second aspect, the controller is an application function or at least one control plane entity.

For example, the controller may be a PCF.

In one implementation of the second aspect, the configuration information includes an association of one or more micro services with the application, the micro services including the one or more computations.

A third aspect of the present invention provides a UE for connection to a mobile communications network, the user equipment being arranged to send one or more data packets of a flow to a user plane entity of the mobile communications network, wherein the flow is application dependent, the one or more data packets indicating the flow being intended for use by the one or more user plane entities in processing application level payload data in the one or more data packets.

By providing the indication, the UE is able to support the handling of application level payload data in the network, in particular by one or more user plane entities.

In one implementation of the second aspect, the UE is configured to include an indication in a header of the one or more data packets of the flow to indicate that the one or more data packets of the flow are intended for the processing of the application-level payload data in the one or more data packets by the one or more user plane entities.

A fourth aspect of the present invention provides an application server for providing an application to a UE over a mobile communications network, the application server being operable to receive one or more data packets of a flow, the flow being associated with the application, and to determine that application level payload data in the one or more data packets of the flow has been processed by one or more user plane entities of the mobile communications network.

Thus, the application server can identify whether application level payload data processing in the user plane is activated. The application server may also send packets of the flow itself to the UE over the network and may indicate that one or more of the sent packets of the flow are intended for use in the processing of application level payload data by one or more user plane entities.

In an implementation manner of the fourth aspect, the application server is configured to determine that the application level payload data has been processed by the one or more user plane entities based on an indication in a header of the one or more data packets of the flow.

A fifth aspect of the present invention provides a method for a user plane entity of a mobile communication network, the method comprising receiving one or more data packets of a flow from a UE connected to the mobile communication network and/or receiving one or more data packets from another user plane entity or data network entity or application server, wherein the flow is application dependent, performing at least one calculation on application level payload data in the one or more data packets of the flow, forwarding the one or more data packets of the flow to another user plane entity or data network entity or application server, and/or forwarding the one or more data packets of the flow to the UE, wherein the one or more forwarded data packets comprise processed application level payload data.

The method of the fifth aspect may be extended to an implementation of the user plane entity according to the first aspect. The fifth aspect and the methods of its implementation provide the same advantages as described above for the user plane entities of the first aspect and its corresponding implementation.

A sixth aspect of the present invention provides a method for configuring one or more user plane entities of a mobile communications network, the method comprising sending configuration information to the one or more user plane entities, the configuration information indicating one or more calculations performed on application level payload data included in one or more data packets of a flow, the flow being application dependent.

The method of the sixth aspect may be extended to an implementation of the controller according to the second aspect. The sixth aspect and the methods of its implementation provide the same advantages as described above for the controller of the second aspect and its corresponding implementation.

A seventh aspect of the present invention provides a method for a UE connected to a mobile communication network, the method comprising sending one or more data packets of a flow to a user plane entity of the mobile communication network, wherein the flow is application dependent, the one or more data packets indicating the flow are intended for processing of application level payload data in the one or more data packets by one or more user plane entities.

The method of the seventh aspect may be extended to an implementation of the UE according to the third aspect. The seventh aspect and the methods of its implementation provide the same advantages as described above for the UE of the third aspect and its corresponding implementation.

An eighth aspect of the present invention provides a method for an application server providing an application to a User Equipment (UE) over a mobile communication network, the method comprising receiving one or more data packets of a flow, the flow being related to the application, determining that application level payload data in the one or more data packets of the flow has been processed by one or more user plane entities of the mobile communication network.

The method of the eighth aspect may be extended to an implementation of the application server according to the fourth aspect. The method of the eighth aspect and its implementation provides the same advantages as described above for the application server of the fourth aspect and its corresponding implementation.

A sixth aspect of the invention provides a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method according to one of the fifth, sixth, seventh or eighth aspects.

The inventive solution allows application-dependent calculations to be performed in the UP. This may solve the problem that, for example, application level data is not intended to be processed at the AR device due to its simple design and battery-saving requirements, and is not intended to be processed at a remote (e.g., multi-ACCESS EDGE computing (MEC)) application server due to the increased network load and real-time requirements of the application. According to the invention, application tasks may be offloaded from the AR device or the application server to the user plane entity.

The scheme of the invention can be based on the following steps:

● Existing protocols between the mobile network operator (mobile network operator, MNO) and the application provider (application provider, AP) of the network allow the MNO to operate on application level payload data.

● A user plane entity having access to application level payload data. This indicates that the traffic is not encrypted or that all credentials for decryption are available or that advanced techniques, such as homomorphic encryption, are used that still allow the application level payload data to be manipulated.

While the motivation of the present invention is the presented AR use-case (keeping the device simple and implementing the delay requirements of the application), it has a high potential for several other use-cases as well. For example:

● Vehicle network-similar to AR, there is a very stringent delay requirement and potentially massive generation of data (e.g., from cameras mounted on the vehicle). By the proposed solution, data flows from the vehicle can be processed at the AN and other user plane entities to achieve early data processing, thereby reducing network traffic load and delay.

● Vertical networks-if the network is fully owned by the vertical industry, it can provide sufficient flexibility in terms of computing the flow proceeds. For example, the scheme may be used for uncontrolled sensor detection in an industrial environment.

● Online bidding (e.g., advertising on a web page). For example, a bidding action may be initiated before a user's request for a web page reaches a server hosting the web page. Similar to the in-network DNS approach, the user plane entity identifies DNS/HTTP requests for web servers/pages based on traffic flows. This will automatically trigger the online bidding process that initiates the placement of advertisements to the requested web page before the user's request reaches the web server.

● In general, the scheme can be applied to anything that uses edge computation today.

The scheme may also be used to enforce data privacy by taking MNO as a third party participation. For example, autopilot cars continue to screen the environment through several integrated cameras. To ensure that such sensitive information is not processed on the server (and possibly for other purposes than automated driving), the MNO may be responsible for object detection and masking processing (e.g., pedestrian's face). For example, rather than just offloading tasks related to applications to the network, responsibilities related to privacy are offloaded to another party.

In general, the applicability of this scheme is not limited to UP of mobile networks. The scheme may be used in a similar manner in home networks (on personal WiFi routers) and other data networks.

It should be noted that all the devices, elements, units and means described in the present application may be implemented in software or hardware elements or any kind of combination thereof. All steps performed by the various entities described in this application and the functions described to be performed by the various entities are intended to indicate that the respective entities are suitable for or for performing the respective steps and functions. Although in the following description of specific embodiments, specific functions or steps performed by external entities are not reflected in the description of specific detailed elements of the entity performing the specific steps or functions, it should be clear to a skilled person that these methods and functions may be implemented in corresponding software or hardware elements or any type of combination thereof.

Drawings

The various aspects and implementations described above will be described in the following description of specific embodiments with reference to the drawings, in which

Fig. 1 shows AR application tasks performed in AR devices (glove, racket, earphone, AR glasses) resulting in faster battery power consumption of the AR devices.

Fig. 2 illustrates the concept of offloading application tasks to user plane entities, which can reduce the complexity and power consumption of AR devices.

Fig. 3 illustrates various entities of the present invention, as well as their potential interactions.

Fig. 4 shows an example of communication and computation flows between various entities of the present invention.

Fig. 5 illustrates an exemplary enhancement of a user plane entity of the present invention with additional computing resources and computing logic.

Fig. 6 illustrates the UP programmability implemented by the controller of the present invention to define the UP path and Com ² P flow behavior.

Fig. 7 illustrates an exemplary system architecture of the present invention.

Figure 8 shows the controller and user plane entities of the present invention, and the interfaces between them.

Fig. 9 shows an exemplary enhancement of the user plane entity of the present invention, in particular its protocol stack, with layers dedicated to computing application level payload data.

Fig. 10 shows an overview of the UP programmability implemented by the controller of the present invention.

Fig. 11 shows the definition of Com ² P flow behavior by predefined microservices.

Fig. 12 illustrates the deployment of the present invention through code for defining new, customized micro-services, with the UP programmed by the controller.

Fig. 13 illustrates the enhancement of UPF and AN by adding a computational layer (layer C) to the protocol stack.

Fig. 14 shows the introduction of a new direct interface for direct communication between AF and UPF.

Figure 15 illustrates the use of a series of existing 5G NF and interfaces.

Fig. 16 shows the UPF being connected to the SBI through a new interface.

Figure 17 shows the introduction of a new NF connecting AF and UPF through a new interface.

Figure 18 shows the programming and use of the Com ² P flow for a 5G/B5G network.

Fig. 19 shows an authentication AF-PCF implemented by NEF.

Fig. 20 shows Com ² P flow setup.

Fig. 21 shows a method of the invention for a user plane entity.

Fig. 22 illustrates a method of the present invention for a controller.

Fig. 23 shows a method for a UE of the present invention.

Fig. 24 illustrates a method of the present invention for an application server.

Detailed Description

Fig. 2 shows the differences of the present invention compared to fig. 1. According to the present invention, a network entity may be used and programmed to perform one or more calculations on application level payload data of application related data packets. In this way, the network entity may perform application tasks, which in the examples of fig. 1 and 2 are AR application tasks.

In fig. 2, the first gray box shows a UE 320 of the present invention, here an AR device similar to fig. 1. However, in contrast to fig. 1, rather than performing one or more calculations of application-level payload data at UE 320, by programming UP, one or more user plane entities 300 (e.g., AN device 201 or UPF 202 in the CN) may perform one or more calculations to perform AR application tasks such as information filtering, pattern detection, and flow synchronization while forwarding packets. The processed data packets may then be sent over a data network to the application server 330 of the present invention. The user plane entity 300 and the UE 320 may be programmed with configuration information 302 by the controller 310 of the present invention, as indicated by the dashed line.

Fig. 3 more generally illustrates various entities that may participate in enabling application-level data processing in an UP. These entities may be applied to the scenario of fig. 2, but are not limited to this scenario. Specifically, fig. 3 shows a user plane entity 300 of the present invention, a UE 320 of the present invention, a controller 310 of the present invention and an application server 330 of the present invention.

The user plane entity 300 may be located in a mobile communication network and is arranged to receive one or more data packets 301 of a flow from a UE 320 connected to the mobile communication network. Additionally or alternatively, the user plane entity 300 is arranged to receive one or more data packets 301 of a flow from another user plane entity 300, or from a data network entity, or from an application server 330 (indicated by a dash-dot line in the arrow). The application server 330 is thus used to provide the application 303 to the UE 320 via the mobile communication network. The flow of data packets 301 is associated with an application 303.

Accordingly, UE 320 is configured to send one or more data packets 301 of the flow to user plane entity 300. The UE 320 is also configured to instruct the one or more data packets 301 of the flow to be used for processing of application level payload data included in the one or more data packets 301 by one or more user plane entities 300 of the network.

The user plane entity 300 is also shown for performing at least one calculation of application level payload data in one or more data packets 301 of a stream. The user plane entity 300 is then used to forward one or more data packets 301 of the flow, e.g. to another user plane entity 300, or to a data network entity, or to an application server 330.

Accordingly, the application server 330 is configured to receive one or more data packets 301 of a stream. The application server 330 is further adapted to determine that application level payload data in one or more data packets 301 of the flow has been processed by one or more user plane entities 300 of the mobile communication network, e.g. has been processed by the user plane entity 300 as shown. The application server 330 may also send data packets 301 of the flow to the mobile communication network, wherein the control plane entity 300 may receive these data packets 301. Thus, as with UE 320, application server 330 may instruct one or more data packets 301 of a flow to be intended for use by one or more user plane entities 300 of the network in processing application-level payload data included in the one or more data packets 301.

The control plane entity 300 may be configured to perform at least one calculation on application level payload data in one or more data packets 301 of a flow from an application server 330 and forward the one or more data packets 301 of the flow to a UE 320, wherein the one or more forwarded data packets 301 comprise the processed application level payload data.

The controller 310 is configured to configure one or more user plane entities 300 of the mobile communication network, such as the user plane entity 300 shown. To this end, the controller 310 is configured to send configuration information 302 to one or more user plane entities 300. Configuration information 302 indicates one or more calculations performed on application-level payload data included in one or more data packets 301 of a flow associated with application 303.

Each entity 300, 310, 320, 330 may include a processor or processing circuit (not shown) for performing, executing, or initiating various operations of the corresponding entity 300, 310, 320, 330, respectively, as described herein. The processing circuitry may comprise hardware and/or the processing circuitry may be controlled by software. The hardware may include analog circuits or digital circuits, or both analog and digital circuits. The digital circuitry may include components such as an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable array (FPGA), a digital signal processor (DIGITAL SIGNAL processor, DSP), or a multi-purpose processor. Each entity 300, 310, 320, 330 may also include a memory circuit, respectively, that stores one or more instructions that may be executed by a processor or processing circuit, particularly under the control of software. For example, the memory circuit may include a non-transitory storage medium storing executable software code that, when executed by a processor or processing circuit, causes the entities 300, 310, 320, 330 to perform various operations. In one embodiment, a processing circuit includes one or more processors and a non-transitory memory coupled to the one or more processors. The non-transitory memory may carry executable program code that, when executed by one or more processors, causes the respective entity 300, 310, 320, 330 to perform, conduct, or initiate the operations or methods described herein.

In accordance with the foregoing, it is achieved that one or more calculations, such as AR application tasks, are performed on application level payload data of data packet 301 within the network (i.e., by one or more user plane entities 300).

Thus, in addition to ensuring connectivity and data transfer between two endpoints (e.g., UE 320 and application server 330), application level payload data may also be processed along user plane entity 300. This indicates that the application level payload data sent from one endpoint (e.g., UE 320) of the connection is different from the (processed) application level payload data received by the other endpoint (e.g., application server 330).

The flow of the present invention may be referred to as a communication and computation flow (Com ² P flow) which may be defined and may allow computation of application level payload data of packets 301 as they traverse the user plane entity 300. Each flow may be associated with a flow template, e.g., a Com ² P flow may be associated with a Com ² P template. The flow template may specify a treatment of the flow with respect to at least one calculation to be performed.

If no calculation is specified to be performed in the flow template, the default handling of the associated flow may be to not perform any calculation (e.g., calculation invalidation) on the data packets 301 flowing in the one or more user plane entities 300.

Fig. 4 shows the concept of the Com ² P flow of the present invention. UE 320 (acting here as a source of the flow) sends a data packet 301 to the AN, e.g., to AN entity, which may be a first user plane entity 300 along the connection/path. In this case, the data packets 301 traverse one or more further user plane entities 300, wherein these data packets may be processed before leaving the mobile communication network and entering the DN 402. The application server 330 (here the destination of the stream) further receives the processed data packets 301 of the stream. The Com ² P flow spans the connection from the UE 320 until leaving the mobile CN and entering DN 402. The Com ² P stream is associated with a Com ² P template 401, which Com ² P template specifies the computations to be performed on the data packet 301 to which it belongs.

Similarly, UE 320 may also act as a destination for the Com ² P stream such that one or more calculations are performed en route from application server 330 to UE 320. Although the Com ² P flow spans the connection between UEs 320 until DN 402 is reached, both connection endpoints, UE 320 and application server 330 (located within DN 402) may advantageously be aware of the use of the Com ² P flow. For example, UE 320 and application server 330 may know which one or more of a set of computations to do themselves, and at least which one of the set of computations to offload to user plane entity 300.

Depending on whether a Com ² P stream is used, different processing of the application data packet 301 within the UE 320 of the application server 330 may be required. Some adaptations may be made to the application 303 to conform to the Com ² P stream. For example, signaling at the application level between the UE 302 and the application server 330 (i.e. in this case two application endpoints), or including additional information available to the network entity, for example in the form of new header information.

The Com ² P template 401 can be used to uniquely describe the processing of its associated Com ² P stream. Each Com ² P stream may be associated with a single Com ² P template 401 containing the necessary information to specify the Com ² P stream processing for that stream. The stream template 401 may include:

● One or more identifiers that refer to the computation to be performed on the Com ² P stream. These calculations are described as micro-services (MS), identified by micro-service ID (micro-SERVICE ID, MS-ID).

● The required attributes of the Com ² P stream are also described. That is, the specific values required for computation to be performed correctly, as well as any other information/metadata related to Com ² P stream processing, such as preemption capability or priority, in addition to micro-services.

As described above, UP may be enhanced by the ability to perform one or more computations on the application level payload data of packet 301. To this end, for example, the user plane entity 300 (e.g., UPF and/or gNB in 5G terminology) may be enhanced by:

● Logic components for performing at least one calculation specified for Com ² P stream packets 301.

● The (virtual) resources required for enabling at least one calculation include storage means, memory, CPU. For example, the user plane entity 300 may perform one or more application level computations, e.g., need to buffer a greater number of network level data packets 301, reassemble the data packets 301, and ultimately operate on the retrieved application level payload data.

Fig. 5 shows an incoming and unmodified data packet 301 entering a specific user plane entity 300. The enhanced computing resources may allow the logic component to process a large number of data packets 301 of an incoming packet 301 or flow over its communication-related processing (e.g., scheduling and/or prioritizing). The modified data packet 301 is then forwarded and leaves the user plane entity 300.

The user plane entities 300 in the present invention may be programmed by the controller 310 (e.g., the controller may be an AF in 5G terminology) to specify the behavior of Com ² P flows, such as which user plane entities 300 and which flows to make which calculations.

By way of example, fig. 6 shows three UP entities 300, as well as a controller 310. The controller 310 may define and/or program (shown as a dashed line) the behavior of the Com ² P stream and the UP path, as well as one or more calculations to be performed in the logical components of the user plane entity 300.

Not all relevant user plane entities 300 that are used or defined to connect to the UE 320 and the application server 330 (two in the example of fig. 6) have to calculate the streamed data packets 301. It may be the case that, although several user plane entities 300 are involved along the path, only one or a few user plane entities 300 actually modify the application level payload data.

Programming an UP may involve several aspects, as described in detail below. (1) Definition and deployment of micro-services at the user plane entity 300, for example, provision of the user plane entity with logic to be applied to Com ² P flows. In this case, the controller 310 programs the user plane entity 300 in the network to prepare for the use of the Com ² P flow. (2) A mapping between the application 303 and the micro-service to be used on it is defined. In the case of mapping, only the CP of the mobile network is affected. That is, the user plane entity 300 itself does not know the mapping between the application 303 and the micro-service to be used. (3) Com ² P flows are established in the network according to the specifications given by the Com ² P template. For this part of the programmability, UE 320 may also be included. That is, the UE 320Com ² P flow usage may be notified.

Fig. 7 shows a system architecture to which the concepts of Com ² flow described above are applicable. UE 320 connects to the mobile CN through the AN, wherein the UE's traffic (data packets 301) traverses one or more additional user plane entities 300. Application traffic may be modified at one or more of the involved user plane entities 300, including the AN entity. The application traffic may then be further routed to application server 330 through DN 402. The controller 310 may program the user plane entity 300 through the dedicated interface 7 to define the processing of the Com ² P stream along the UP path.

As shown in fig. 8, implementing the inventive solution may involve the following products. (1) A controller 310 that programs the user plane entity 300 and defines the processing of Com ² P flows (e.g., AF in 5G terminology). (2) The capability to perform calculations is enhanced by the user plane entity 300 (e.g., gNB and UPF in 5G terminology). (3) The interface between the controller 310 and the user plane entity 310 through which programming (sending) of the configuration information 302 can take place.

Hereinafter, general embodiments of the present invention are described that can be used with sixth generation (6 ^th generation, 6G) mobile networks. This embodiment includes an evolution from a pure communication stream to a Com ² P stream. Definition enhancement of Com ² P flows may be similar to the definition of 5G QoS flows.

Com ² P flows can be identified by Com ² P flow ID (C ² FI). UP traffic with the same C ² FI may be treated the same in terms of communication and computation. C ² FI can be transferred from controller 310 to UP in Com ² P flow setup.

For example, a Com ² P stream may have the following characteristics:

● QoS template

● One or more QoS rules and optional QoS flow level QoS parameters

● One or more UL and DL PHY data rates (PHY DATA RATE, PDR)

● Com ² P template specifying the computation to be performed on the stream (by indicating the micro-service ID and additional Com ² P parameters)

● One or more Com ² P rules

The first three points also exist in QoS flows in 5G. In addition to existing features, the Com ² P stream may also be associated with a Com ² P template containing the necessary information to specify the processing of the Com ² P stream, such as:

● Identifiers to be used by one or more Micro services (Micro-SERVICE IDENTIFIER, MS-ID)

■ The MS-ID may refer to either a pre-configured MS or a system/dynamic MS

■ The MS-ID may specify all relevant attributes required for definition calculations or additional attributes in the Com ² P flow

● Further description of attributes of Com ² P stream processing

■ According to micro-services, in addition to MS-ID, a lot of additional information (e.g. compared to specific GBR settings of QoS flows) can be specified. This includes, but is not limited to, the following:

Dedicated threshold for application of perceived packet discard (e.g. for filtering haptic information from sensory data)

Codec to be used (e.g. speech or video compression)

Patterns to be identified on the Com ² P stream (e.g., sensor signals or movements from AR devices)

■ Any further information/metadata related to Com ² P stream processing. This includes, but is not limited to:

Priority level

Preemption capability

Report specification

Traffic decryption key

The Com ² P rules may specify one or more rules on how to apply the Com ² P template. This may include, but is not limited to, the following:

● Using the same Com ² P template on uplink or downlink (corresponding reflected QoS in QoS flows)

● In the case of defining at least two alternative Com ² P templates for Com ² P flows, the Com ² P rules may define dynamic switching between at least two Com ² P templates. This may depend on factors such as the current computational load of the UP entity 300 or the available end-to-end bandwidth.

As described above, the present invention also provides enhancements to the user plane entity 300 by introducing logic components for performing one or more calculations specified for Com ² P stream packets 301. The logic component may be implemented as a new layer 901 in the UP protocol stack 902, as shown in fig. 9.

The user plane entity 300 may implement an UP protocol stack 902 with a number of layers (n) dedicated to communication (four in the case of a 5G UP protocol stack 902). Above the layer dedicated to communication, a new layer 901 (L n +1) dedicated to performing one or more calculations is placed. The new layer corresponds to a logical unit dedicated to the computation of the data packets/streams.

For user plane entities 300 connected to DNs (e.g., UPF session anchor in 5G terminology), a new calculation layer 901 may be placed between the layer 902 dedicated to communications and the PDU layer 903.

With respect to UP programmability, three phases can work. A schematic diagram is given in fig. 10. The controller 310 refers to the controller 310 in fig. 7. The programmability in fig. 10 refers to programmability implemented through the dedicated interface in fig. 7.

The three phases of programmability are described in more detail below. FIG. 10 shows a controller 310, wherein different instances of the controller 310 (CI-1, CI-2, CI-3) or the controller 310 may be responsible for performing different programming tasks. Thus, the controller 310 or a dedicated controller instance can perform one of the stages of programmability (i.e., (a), (b), (c)), or all stages or any possible combination.

On a larger time scale, the controller 310 may define a new micro-service by deploying code fragments or executing code such as scripts at the user plane entity 300. Which micro-services to use on which flows is defined/programmed by a mapping that defines which services or applications (flows) the Com ² template is to use for. The mapping may be available in the control plane entity but not in the user plane entity 300. This mapping may be used by the control plane entity during Com ² P flow setup in UP. Programming to establish the Com ² P stream may occur on a short time scale, for example, each time the UE 320 uses the Com ² P stream. Com ² P flow setup includes UP path selection depending on the ability of the user plane entity 300 to support the corresponding Com ² P template. The Com ² P flow setup also includes implementing a Com ² P template along the UP path.

For any of these three programming purposes, the controller 310 (or controller instance) connects (either through a direct interface or through a control plane using a series of interfaces) to the UP. The control commands and information exchanged between the controller 310 and the user plane entity 300 are explicitly defined by both ends (e.g. via a dedicated protocol). Programming may involve several procedures, such as authentication or user plane entity 300 selection.

Controller 310 may define and implement Com ² P flow behavior. This may involve:

● An appropriate UP path, user plane entity 300, is determined that connects UE 320 to DN 402. The determination may include factors such as the location of UE 320 and DN 402, the capabilities and current load of user plane entity 300, and the parameters entered by UE 320.

● Establishment of Com ² P flows by appropriate Com ² P templates (including micro-services to be used on Com ² P flows)

The controller 310 specifies which stream template 401 (e.g., com ² P template) to use for which application stream. This may depend on various factors such as (but not limited to):

● Applications/services used (e.g., AR video stream using micro service a and AR haptic information stream using micro service B)

● Location of connection endpoint (e.g., if server is located in X, micro-service a is used or micro-service B is used for all UEs in region Y)

● Capabilities of UE 320

● QoS parameters (e.g., available bandwidth along a path)

Regarding the availability of micro services, there are two options:

(1) A set of predefined/standardized micro-services may be available by default on all or a set of dedicated UP entities.

As shown in fig. 11, user plane entities 300 may be equipped with a set of micro services that they are capable of performing. Each micro service is identified by a micro-service identifier (micro-SERVICE IDENTIFIER, MS-ID) that specifies the calculation to be performed. Optional attributes allow further specification of the computation. The attribute value may be standardized and/or predefined, e.g. it has the same value for all calculations using the MS-ID. Or specific attribute values may be specifically defined in the flow template 401 so that the MS-ID may be flexibly used in combination with the attribute values. When the controller 310 programs the Com ² P epidemic, it can send the following information to the involved user plane entities 300:

● Stream ID, e.g., C ² FI, for identifying streams on which micro-services should be applied

● Stream templates 401, e.g. Com ² P templates, containing MS-ID and optional attributes

For this option (1), a set of micro-services may be standardized.

(2) A second option for micro-service availability is custom/additional micro-services, which are defined by the controller and may be deployed only at a set of user plane entities 300. The deployment of customized micro-services will be described in the next subsection. Logic regarding which micro-services and Com ² P templates to use for which applications 303 may reside in the CP of the mobile network. For example, the user plane entity 300 does not know the mapping, but when performing Com ² P flow setup, the use of micro services is delegated by the CP to the user plane entity 300.

The deployment of new dynamic micro services is shown in fig. 12. To this end, the user plane entity 300 may store and deploy (in addition to the set of predefined/standardized micro services) newly received code, such as code fragments or execution scripts, to deploy dynamic micro services. The controller 310 may describe the expected behavior of the micro-service through the new execution script or code fragment and deploy these logics at the user-plane entity 300. The new micro-service is provided with an ID and then the user plane entity 300 can operate on the data packets/streams according to the new dynamic micro-service.

An embodiment of 5G, particularly a B5G/5G network, is described below.

The definition of Com ² P flow is the same as described above for the embodiment of 6G.

As shown in fig. 13, if the UPF acts as a PDU session anchor (PDU session anchor, PSU), i.e., the UPF interfaces to DN 402 through N6, a compute layer (C layer) 1301 in the 5G UP protocol stack 1302 may be placed between the GTP-U and PDU layers. For all other UPFs and ANs, C layer 1301 is placed on top of the GTP-U layer.

Four possible sub-embodiments of the communication between the controller 310 and the UP are provided below (a) establishing a Com ² P flow, (b) defining a mapping of which Com ² P template to use for which flow, and (c) defining a new micro-service. This corresponds in part to the programmability described above with respect to fig. 10, i.e., the 6G embodiment. To achieve the programmability of aspects (a), (b) and (c), any combination of four presentation options for controller-UPF-communication may be used. For example, the programming of Com ² P stream setup (i.e., programming phase (c)) may utilize a first option (option 1), while the programming/deployment of a new micro-service (i.e., programming phase (a)) may utilize a second option (option 2).

Option 1 is based on a new dedicated interface between AF (controller 310) and UPF (user plane entity 300), as shown in fig. 14. The AF may communicate directly with the UPF through the new interface. The new interface is denoted as N-UPF. The AF has all the credentials needed to program the UPF, and all the information needed to establish the Com ² P flow in the UP. I.e. the complete network topology, the ability of the UPF to support micro-services, their load on CPU/RAM, etc.

Option 2 uses a series of existing interfaces as shown in fig. 15. The AF (controller 310) cannot communicate directly with the UPF (user plane entity 300). All information required for programming is sent from the AF to the PCF via the SBI. The PCF forwards the information to the SMF using the existing interface. The SMF programs the UPF correspondingly through an N4 interface.

The third option (option 3) may connect the UPF to the SBI as shown in fig. 16. The UPF (user plane entity 300) is connected to the SBI through a new interface Nupf. In this way, the AF (controller 310) may communicate directly with the UPF through the SBI, or may use a new communication sequence between NFs (e.g., AF > PCF > UPF).

The fourth option (option 4) may be based on proxy UPF (proxy-UPF, P-UPF) between AF (controller 310) and UPF (user plane entity 300), as shown in fig. 17. This option introduces a new NF called Proxy UPF (Proxy-UPF, P-UPF). The P-UPF is connected to the AF through a new interface and to the UPF through another new interface. All programming information and commands are sent to the P-UPF. The P-UPF holds all credentials and information (e.g., UPF capabilities or network topology) for programming. From the AF's perspective, the AF may have full access to programming UP. There is still no need to expose UPF capability, load, or network topology information to the AF.

The programmability in establishing a Com ² P stream (i.e., programming phase (a)) when using option 2 above is described below. For example, a series of signaling is used between the existing 5G NF and the interface, thus involving minimal changes compared to today's 5G systems. This procedure is similar to the procedure of establishing QoS flows, and is described using fig. 18.

■ Com ² P flow map has been delivered to PCF at an early stage (i.e., through programming stage (b)). The AF (also controller 310) may request for its application 303 to use the Com ² P flow.

■ The PCF knows the Com ² P flow map and selects the appropriate Com ² P template for the Com ² P flow to be established. In addition, the PCF maintains any other rules related to Com ² P flow setup, such as billing or reporting related information.

■ The PCF instructs the SMF to set up a Com ² P flow using the appropriate Com ² P template.

■ The SMF has all information about all controlled AN/UPFs. This information is used to select the appropriate UP entity that supports QoS features/Com ² P features (SMF obtains these features via OAM). A state such as a load of the UPF (the SMF acquires the state through the NRF).

The SMF then determines the appropriate UP path and programs the concerned UPF through its N4 interface.

■ The AMF configures AN 201 and UE 320 for Com ² P flow use with a specified Com ² P template. At this point, a connection for communication and computation is established between UE 320 and DN 402.

Fig. 19 shows the first step of fig. 18, com ² P flow use request, in more detail. This step may include:

(1) AF sends requests to NEF to use Com ² P flows or micro services

(2) Authorization of NEF to perform Com ² P flow usage

(3) NEF invokes PCF services to create Com ² P templates

(4) The PCF informs the NEF to accept the creation request of the Com ² P flow using the specified Com ² P template

(5) NEF informs AF to accept Com ² P flow creation request and its associated Com ² P template

The overall process for establishing a Com ² P flow is shown in fig. 20.

(1) The AF indicates to the 5GC (PCF) the AF session that the Com ² P flow should apply and the micro-operation that the Com ² P flow should use.

(2) The 5GC (PCF) creates Com ² P rules to apply to the PDU session indicated by AF.

(3) Upon PDU session establishment/modification of the AF-indicated PDU session, the SMF retrieves the Com ² P rules from the PCF and programs UPF, AN and UE accordingly to establish a Com ² P flow

(4) UP data of Com ² P flow receives communication and computes flow according to AF indication

Fig. 21 shows a method 2100 of the present invention for a user plane entity 300 of a mobile communication network. Method 2100 includes a step 2101 of receiving one or more data packets 301 of a flow from a UE 320 connected to a mobile communication network and/or a step 2101 of receiving one or more data packets 301 from another user plane entity 300 or a data network entity 402 or an application server 330, wherein the flow is associated with an application 302. Method 2100 further includes a step 2102 of performing at least one calculation on application level payload data in one or more data packets 301 of the stream. In addition, the method 2100 includes a step 2103 of forwarding one or more data packets 301 of the flow to another user plane entity 300 or data network entity 402 or application server 330 and/or a step 2103 of forwarding one or more data packets 301 of the flow to the UE 320, wherein the one or more forwarded data packets 301 include the processed application level payload data.

Fig. 22 illustrates a method 2200 of the present invention for configuring one or more user plane entities 300 of a mobile communication network. Method 2200 includes a step 2201 of sending configuration information 302 to one or more user plane entities 300, the configuration information 302 indicating one or more calculations performed on application level payload data included in one or more data packets 301 of a flow, the flow being associated with an application 303.

Fig. 23 shows a method 2300 of the present invention for a UE 320 connected to a mobile communication network. Method 2300 includes a step 2301 of transmitting one or more data packets 301 of a flow to a user plane entity 300 of a mobile communication network, wherein the flow is associated with an application 303. The method 2300 further comprises a step 2302 of indicating that the one or more data packets 301 of the flow are intended for the processing of application-level payload data in the one or more data packets 301 by the one or more user plane entities 300.

Fig. 24 shows a method 2400 for an application server 330 to provide an application 303 to a UE 320 through a mobile communication network according to the present invention. Method 2400 includes a step 2401 of receiving one or more data packets 301 of a stream, the stream being associated with an application 303. The method 2400 further comprises a step 2402 of determining that application level payload data in one or more data packets 301 of the flow has been processed by one or more user plane entities 300 of the mobile communication network.

The invention has been described in connection with various embodiments as examples and implementations. However, other variations to the claimed subject matter can be understood and effected by those skilled in the art in practicing the claimed subject matter, from a study of the drawings, the invention, and the independent claims. In the claims and in the description, the word "comprising" does not exclude other elements or steps, and the indefinite article "a" or "an" does not exclude a plurality. A single element or other unit may fulfill the functions of several entities or items recited in the claims. The mere fact that certain measures are recited in mutually different dependent claims does not indicate that a combination of these measures cannot be used to advantage.

Claims

1. A user plane entity (300) for a mobile communication network, the user plane entity (300) being configured to:

-receiving one or more data packets (301) of a flow from a User Equipment (UE) (320) connected to the mobile communication network and/or-receiving one or more data packets (301) of the flow from another user plane entity (300) or a data network entity (402) or an application server (330), wherein the flow is related to an application (303);

performing at least one calculation on application level payload data in the one or more data packets (301) of the flow;

Forwarding the one or more data packets (301) of the flow to another user plane entity (300) or data network entity (402) or application server (330), and/or forwarding the one or more data packets (301) of the flow to the UE (320), wherein the one or more forwarded data packets (301) comprise processed application level payload data.

2. The user plane entity (300) of claim 1, further configured to:

if the one or more data packets (301) are not intended to be processed by a user plane entity (300), no calculation is performed on the application level payload data in the one or more data packets (301) of the flow.

3. The user plane entity (300) of claim 1 or 2, being configured to:

Accessing a payload of the one or more data packets (301) of the stream to obtain the application level payload data;

performing the at least one calculation on the acquired application level payload data;

-including the processed application level payload data into the one or more data packets (301) of the flow before forwarding the one or more data packets (301).

4. A user plane entity (300) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, characterized by:

-replacing said application level payload data in said one or more data packets (301) of said flow with said processed application level payload data before forwarding said one or more data packets (301).

5. The user plane entity (300) of any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein:

The flow is associated with a flow template (401), the flow template (401) indicating one or more computations for the one or more data packets (301) of the flow;

the user plane entity (300) is configured to perform the at least one calculation according to the flow template (401).

6. The user plane entity (300) of claim 5, configured to store the flow template (401).

7. The user plane entity (300) of claim 5 or 6, wherein the flow template (401) comprises at least one of:

One or more identifiers, each identifier for one of the one or more computations;

one or more attributes of the flow for supporting performing the one or more computations on the application level payload data of the one or more data packets (301) of the flow.

8. The user plane entity (300) of any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein:

The flow is also associated with at least one flow rule;

The user plane entity (300) is configured to perform the at least one calculation according to the flow template (401) and based on the at least one flow rule.

9. The user plane entity (300) of any one of claims 5 to 8, wherein:

The flow is also associated with a quality of service (quality of service, qoS) template and one or more QoS rules;

the user plane entity (300) is configured to perform the at least one calculation and/or forwarding the one or more data packets (301) of the flow according to the QoS template and the one or more QoS rules.

10. The user plane entity (300) of any one of claims 1 to 9, comprising at least one logic component for performing the at least one calculation.

11. The user plane entity (300) of any one of claims 1 to 10, further being configured to:

buffering two or more data packets (301) of the stream;

The at least one calculation is performed jointly on the application level payload data in the two or more data packets (301) of the flow.

12. The user plane entity (300) of any one of claims 1 to 11, configured to:

the at least one calculation is performed on a dedicated layer (901) of a user plane protocol stack (902),

Wherein the dedicated layer (901) is placed on top of the layers of the user plane protocol stack (902) dedicated for communication or between the layers of the user plane protocol stack dedicated for communication and a protocol data unit layer (903) of the user plane protocol stack (902).

13. The user plane entity (300) of any one of claims 1 to 12, further being configured to:

Configuration information (302) is received from a controller (310), the configuration information (302) indicating the at least one calculation.

14. The user plane entity (300) of any one of claims 5 to 13, wherein the configuration information (302) comprises the flow template (401) and the at least one flow rule.

15. The user plane entity (300) of claim 13 or 14, wherein the configuration information comprises a plurality of flow templates (401) and a plurality of sets of flow rules, each flow template (401) and each set of flow rules being associated with a particular one of the plurality of flows.

16. The user plane entity (300) of any one of claims 5 to 15, wherein

-The flow template (501) computes the one or more indicated by the one or more data packets (301) of the flow as micro-services;

The user plane entity (300) is configured to:

storing code (1201) for running the one or more computations of the micro service;

the micro-service is applied on the stream by using the code (1201).

17. The user plane entity (300) of claim 15 or 16, wherein the configuration information (302) comprises the code of the micro service.

18. The user plane entity (300) of any one of claims 1 to 16, wherein:

the user plane entity (300) is an access network entity or a core network entity, and/or

The controller (310) is an application function or at least one control plane entity.

19. A controller (310) for configuring one or more user plane entities (300) of a mobile communication network, characterized in that the controller (310) is configured to:

-sending configuration information (302) to the one or more user plane entities (300), the configuration information (302) indicating one or more calculations performed on application level payload data comprised in one or more data packets (301) of a flow, the flow being associated with an application (303).

20. The controller (310) of claim 19, wherein the configuration information (302) indicates at least one calculation to be performed by the one or more user plane entities (300).

21. The controller (310) according to claim 19 or 20, wherein:

The configuration information (302) comprises at least one of a flow template (401) and at least one flow rule for the flow,

The flow template (401) indicates one or more computations for the one or more data packets (301) of the flow,

The flow rules indicate how to perform the one or more calculations on the application level payload data of the one or more data packets (301) of the flow.

22. The controller (310) according to any of claims 19 to 21, wherein the controller (310) is an application function or is at least one control plane entity (300).

23. The controller (310) of any of claims 19 to 22, wherein the configuration information (302) comprises an association of one or more micro services with the application (303), the micro services comprising the one or more computations.

24. A User Equipment (UE) (320) for connecting to a mobile communication network, characterized in that the user equipment (320) is configured to:

-transmitting one or more data packets (301) of a flow to a user plane entity (300) of the mobile communication network, wherein the flow is associated with an application (303);

The one or more data packets (301) indicating the flow are intended for processing of application level payload data in the one or more data packets (301) by one or more user plane entities (300).

25. The UE (320) of claim 24, wherein an indication is included in a header of the one or more data packets (301) of the flow to indicate that the one or more data packets (301) of the flow are intended for the processing of the application-level payload data in the one or more data packets (301) by the one or more user plane entities (300).

26. An application server (330) for providing an application (303) to a User Equipment (UE) (320) over a mobile communication network, characterized in that the application server (330) is adapted to:

receiving one or more data packets (301) of a stream, the stream being associated with the application;

it is determined that application level payload data in the one or more data packets (301) of the flow has been processed by one or more user plane entities (300) of the mobile communication network.

27. The application server (303) according to claim 25, for determining that the application level payload data has been processed by the one or more user plane entities (300) based on an indication in a header of the one or more data packets (301) of the flow.

28. A method (2100) for a user plane entity (300) of a mobile communication network, the method (2100) comprising:

-receiving (2101) one or more data packets (301) of a flow from a User Equipment (UE) (320) connected to the mobile communication network and/or-receiving (2101) one or more data packets (301) from another user plane entity (300) or a data network entity (402) or an application server (330), wherein the flow is related to an application (300);

-performing (2102) at least one calculation on application level payload data in said one or more data packets (301) of said stream;

-forwarding (2103) the one or more data packets (301) of the flow to another user plane entity (300) or a data network entity (402) or an application server (330), and/or-forwarding (2103) the one or more data packets (301) of the flow to the UE (320), wherein the one or more forwarded data packets (301) comprise processed application level payload data.

29. A method (2200) for configuring one or more user plane entities (300) of a mobile communication network, the method (2200) comprising:

-sending (2201) configuration information (302) to the one or more user plane entities (300), the configuration information (302) indicating one or more calculations performed on application level payload data comprised in one or more data packets (301) of a flow, the flow being related to an application (303).

30. A method (2300) for a User Equipment (UE) (320) connected to a mobile communication network, the method (2300) comprising:

-transmitting (2301) one or more data packets (301) of a flow to a user plane entity (300) of the mobile communication network, wherein the flow is related to an application (303);

-indicating (2302) that the one or more data packets (301) of the flow are intended for processing of application level payload data in the one or more data packets (301) by one or more user plane entities (300).

31. A method (2400) for an application server (330) providing an application (303) to a User Equipment (UE) (320) over a mobile communication network, the method (2400) comprising:

-receiving (2401) one or more data packets (301) of a stream, the stream being associated with the application (303);

-determining (2402) that application level payload data in the one or more data packets (301) of the flow has been processed by one or more user plane entities (300) of the mobile communication network.

32. A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by a computer, cause the computer to perform the method (2100, 2200, 2300, 2400) of any one of claims 28 to 31.