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WO2022106019A1 - Support de mobilité pour applications de réalité étendue dans des réseaux de communication mobile - Google Patents

Support de mobilité pour applications de réalité étendue dans des réseaux de communication mobile Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2022106019A1
WO2022106019A1 PCT/EP2020/082831 EP2020082831W WO2022106019A1 WO 2022106019 A1 WO2022106019 A1 WO 2022106019A1 EP 2020082831 W EP2020082831 W EP 2020082831W WO 2022106019 A1 WO2022106019 A1 WO 2022106019A1
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
application
target
eas
base station
source
Prior art date
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English (en)
Inventor
Panagiotis SPAPIS
Stefano PARIS
Devaki Chandramouli
Rastin PRIES
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Nokia Technologies Oy
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Nokia Technologies Oy
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Priority to PCT/EP2020/082831 priority Critical patent/WO2022106019A1/fr
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Anticipated expiration legal-status Critical
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    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W36/00—Hand-off or reselection arrangements
    • H04W36/0005—Control or signalling for completing the hand-off
    • H04W36/0011—Control or signalling for completing the hand-off for data sessions of end-to-end connection
    • H04W36/0033—Control or signalling for completing the hand-off for data sessions of end-to-end connection with transfer of context information
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W36/00—Hand-off or reselection arrangements
    • H04W36/12—Reselecting a serving backbone network switching or routing node
    • H—ELECTRICITY
    • H04—ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04W—WIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W84/00—Network topologies
    • H04W84/02—Hierarchically pre-organised networks, e.g. paging networks, cellular networks, WLAN [Wireless Local Area Network] or WLL [Wireless Local Loop]
    • H04W84/04—Large scale networks; Deep hierarchical networks
    • H04W84/042—Public Land Mobile systems, e.g. cellular systems

Definitions

  • This disclosure generally relates to mobile communication networks such as a 5G communication network, and more particularly to handover procedures.
  • Mobile telecommunication services rely on a continuous connection to a network to work properly and take advantage of the full service.
  • a mobile device operating consuming a service of the network monitors the connection quality and regularly transmits measurement reports to the current base station indicating the current state of the radio quality.
  • the network supports a handover to another base station to maintain radio quality.
  • XR extended Reality
  • Cloud Gaming are some of the most important 5G media applications under consideration in the industry.
  • XR is an umbrella term for different types of realities and refers to all real-and-virtual combined environments and human-machine interactions generated by computer technology and wearables.
  • Different application domains of XR Applications include entertainment, healthcare, education, etc.
  • Edge networks are logically located between the Radio Access Network (RAN) which provides network access to the mobile stations and the core portion (core network) of the communication network.
  • RAN Radio Access Network
  • FIG. 1 depicts, the Edge Data Network (EDN) contains Edge Application Server(s) (EAS) and the Edge Enabler Server (EES); the operation of the latter is supported by the Edge Configuration Server (ECS).
  • EAS Edge Application Server
  • EES Edge Enabler Server
  • ECS Edge Configuration Server
  • the Edge Data Network (EDN) contains Edge Application Server(s)
  • SUBSTITUTE SHEET (RULE 26) (EAS) and the Edge Enabler Server (EES) and EDGE-X interfaces to communicate with the servers of the network.
  • the UE contains an application client, which has the task for the proper execution of an MR/AR/XR application, and the Edge Enabler Client as interface to communicate with the other EDN network servers.
  • the EAS is the application server resident in the Edge Data Network, performing the server functions and is connected to the 3GPP core via Radio Access Network (RAN).
  • the EES facilitates context transfer between EES(s) and EAS(s) and interacts with the 3 GPP core either directly (e.g. via PCF) or indirectly (e.g. via SCEF/NEF/SCEF+NEF).
  • the EES provides configuration information to Edge Enabler Client enabling exchange of application data traffic with the EAS.
  • the ECS provides supporting functions needed for the Edge Enabler Client to connect with an EES.
  • the ECS supports the EES in identifying other EESs (and EASs) in case of application relocations.
  • EDGE-9 symbolizes the connection to another EDN. In case of a relocation from one EAS to another, EDGE-9 is the connection from a source EES to a target EES.
  • a method to perform a handover in a communication network comprising a plurality of base stations including a source base station and a target base station, wherein the method is for handing over a user equipment (UE) executing an extended reality (XR) application over a connection with the source base station, the method comprising in response to deciding to handover the UE, sending, by the source base station, a handover request to the target base station, the handover request comprising an XR context specifying a current state of the XR application.
  • UE user equipment
  • XR extended reality
  • a system to perform a handover in a communication network comprises a plurality of base stations including a source base station and a target base station.
  • the system is for handing over a user equipment (UE) executing an extended reality (XR) application over a connection with the source base station.
  • the source base station is arranged to in response to deciding to handover the UE, send a handover request to the target base station.
  • the handover request comprises an XR context specifying a current state of the XR application.
  • a computer program which comprises computer program code which, when executed by a computer, causes at least one computer to perform the method aspect mentioned above.
  • a method to perform a handover in a communication network comprises an Edge Configuration Server (ECS) and a source Edge Data Network (EDN) comprising a source Edge Enabler Server (EES) and a source Edge Application Server (EAS).
  • ECS Edge Configuration Server
  • EDN source Edge Data Network
  • EAS Edge Enabler Server
  • EAS source Edge Application Server
  • the method is for handing over a user equipment (UE) executing an extended reality (XR) application over a connection with the source EDN.
  • the method comprises an EAS relocation procedure comprising sending, by the source EES, UE and XR application information to the ECS, and receiving, by the source EES, a list with a number of Edge Application Servers suitable to support the XR application, the list including at least one target EAS of at least one target EDN.
  • a system to perform a handover in a communication network comprises an Edge Configuration Server (ECS) and a source Edge Data Network (EDN) comprising a source Edge Enabler Server (EES) and a source Edge Application Server (EAS).
  • ECS Edge Configuration Server
  • ESN source Edge Data Network
  • EAS Edge Enabler Server
  • EAS source Edge Application Server
  • the system is for handing over a user equipment (UE) executing an extended reality (XR) application over a connection with the source EDN.
  • the source EES is arranged to perform an EAS relocation procedure by being arranged to send UE and XR application information to the ECS, and receive a list with a number of Edge Application Servers suitable to support the XR application, the list including at least one target EAS of at least one target EDN.
  • a computer program which comprises computer program code which, when executed by a computer, causes at least one computer to perform the aforementioned method aspect.
  • an apparatus for handing over a user equipment (UE) executing an extended reality (XR) application is provided.
  • the apparatus is arranged to receive a handover request from a source base station, wherein the handover request comprises an XR context specifying a current state of the XR application.
  • FIG. 1 shows an architecture for enabling edge applications.
  • FIG. 2 visualizes a handover procedure over time involving edge data networks.
  • FIG. 3 depicts a handover preparation procedure to support XR applications as described herein.
  • FIG. 4 relates to an EAS relocation procedure and context supporting the handover procedure of FIG. 3 at the level of the edge data networks.
  • FIG. 5 shows an admission control flowchart.
  • FIG. 6 shows an admission control flowchart based on conditional QoS requirements of the UE.
  • FIG. 7 depicts an internal structure of a base station and further network nodes.
  • 3GPP TR 26.928 defines the terms Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR), and extended Reality (XR) are defined as follows:
  • VR Virtual reality
  • HMD head mounted display
  • Some form of head and motion tracking of the user in VR is usually employed to allow the simulated visual and audio components to be updated in order to ensure that, from the user's perspective, items and sound sources remain consistent with the user's movements. Additional means to interact with the virtual reality simulation may be provided.
  • AR Augmented reality
  • additional information or content will usually be visual and/or audible and their observation of their current environment may be direct, with no intermediate sensing, processing and rendering, or indirect, where their perception of their environment is relayed via sensors and may be enhanced or processed.
  • MR Mixed reality
  • Extended reality refers to all real-and-virtual combined environments and human-machine interactions generated by computer technology and wearables.
  • XR includes representative forms such as AR, MR and VR and the areas interpolated among them.
  • the levels of virtuality range from partially sensory inputs to fully immersive VR.
  • a key aspect of XR is the extension of human experiences especially relating to the senses of existence (represented by VR) and the acquisition of cognition (represented by AR).
  • XR is used herein as a superordinate category covering AR, MR and VR including purely virtual applications.
  • the target gNB should be prepared and have adequate radio resources to accommodate the UE executing the XR application.
  • the new UPF may not be able to offer the XR service.
  • the target EAS may not be properly prepared to take over the EAS functionalities from the previous EAS to avoid long delays.
  • the present disclosure addresses these challenges and generally relates to a handover in a communication network such as a mobile communication network, e.g. a 5G network.
  • a communication network such as a mobile communication network, e.g. a 5G network.
  • RATs radio access technologies
  • UMTS associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces
  • LTE Long Term Evolution
  • LTE-A LTE-Advanced
  • 5GNR 5G new radio
  • 3GPP2 CDMA2000 e.g, IxRTT, IxEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD
  • the communication network is equipped with a plurality of base stations including a source base station and a target base station.
  • the handing concerns a UE executing an XR application over a connection with the source base station.
  • the term "user equipment” may refer to any of various types of computer systems devices which are mobile or portable and which perform wireless communications. Examples of UEs include mobile telephones or smart phones, portable gaming devices, laptops, wearable devices (e.g, smart watch, smart glasses), Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), portable Internet devices, music players, data storage devices, or other handheld devices, etc.
  • PDAs Personal Digital Assistants
  • portable Internet devices music players, data storage devices, or other handheld devices, etc.
  • the term “UE” can be broadly defined to encompass any electronic, computing, and/or telecommunications device (or combination of devices) which is easily transported by a user and capable of wireless communication.
  • the present disclosure is particularly directed to enable the target base station (target gNodeB or gNB in 5G terminology) to support an XR application of the UE in terms of radio capabilities and regarding the resources at the Edge Data Network (EDN), as already introduced above.
  • the target base station and the target EDN(s) are properly prepared to undertake the UE XR capabilities and the proper User Plane Function (UPF) is selected considering the XR capabilities of the Application Function (AF) regarding XR application aspects.
  • UPF User Plane Function
  • AF Application Function
  • a proper UPF may be re-selected considering the XR capabilities of the target AF, also if the application were to be relocated during handover.
  • FIG. 2 visualizes an exemplary handover procedure described herein at a general level in a 5G use case.
  • the communication network includes a plurality of base stations (gNBl, gNB2, gNB3), respectively forming a radio cell, i.e. a communication area (or coverage area) of the base station (Celli, Cell2, Cell3).
  • base station has the full breadth of its ordinary meaning, and at least includes a wireless communication station installed at a fixed location and used to communicate as part of a wireless telephone system or radio system.
  • Base station gNBl operates as the source base station for the UE 12, while base station gNB2 operates as the target base station.
  • the base stations are respectively linked to an EDN, i.e. the source base station to XR-EDN1 and the target base station to XR-EDN2.
  • the EDNs comprise a respective Edge Application Server (EAS), namely the source EDN XR-EDN1 comprises a source EAS linked to the source base station gNBl and the target EDN XR-EDN2 comprises a target EAS linked to the target base station gNB2.
  • the source EAS serves the XR application to the UE over the connection 14 with the source base station.
  • a UE 12 executes a virtual reality application such as an XR, an MR, an VR, or an AR application and is first connected 14 to a source gNBl linked to a source XR-EDN1.
  • the time axis at the bottom of FIG. 2 schematically shows the points of time of the events occurring during the handover procedure.
  • the UE 12 is connected to the source base station and is able to connect to the target base station gNB2, but the connection to gNBl is still stronger and preferred over gNB2.
  • the target gNB2 with the target XR-EDN2 is set up to receive a handover request at a time tl when the radio conditions of the UE 12 deteriorate (e.g.
  • the UE 12 moving out of the coverage of the source gNBl, represented by cell 1).
  • the UE 12 might be connected to both base stations, the source base station gNBl and the target base station gNB2.
  • the UE 12 is connected 16 to the target gNB2 linked to the target XR-EDN2 and is ready to release the connection 15 to the source gNBl, marked by the dashed line.
  • the UE 12 is able to continue usage of the connection 15 to the source gNBl and e.g. a handover attempt to still another base station such as gNB3 may be undertaken.
  • the source gNBl transmits a handover request to the target gNB2 to enable the target gNB2 to reserve radio resources for the connection with the UE 12.
  • the source base station sends the handover request to the target base station in response to deciding to handover the UE 12, and the handover request includes an XR context specifying a current state of the XR application.
  • the current state of the virtual reality application i.e. the XR context
  • the XR context is included in the HO request from the source base station gNBl to the target base station gNB2.
  • the target base station gNB2 takes into consideration the received XR context of the XR application and determines whether or not a sufficient quality of service level to continue execution of the XR application at the UE 12 with the corresponding traffic of the UE 12 can be provided. To this end, the target base station gNB2 performs an admission control procedure, which will be described further below.
  • FIG. 3 depicts the enhancements for the handover preparation in order to facilitate the admission of the UE in the target gNB by way of a message sequence chart, exemplarily for a 5G mobile communication network being based on 3GPP Release 16 specifications.
  • the source gNB has configured UE measurement procedures and the UE reports according to the measurement configuration. Accordingly, the UE reports current channel and radio environment conditions to the source gNB and the source gNB evaluates the measurement reports from the UE in order to assess whether or not and when a handover might be due. Basics of measurements and handover criteria are known to the skilled person.
  • the source gNB decides to handover the UE in response to determining, based on the measurement reports, that a handover criterion is present.
  • the source gNB issues a Handover Request message to the target gNB, e.g. by passing a transparent Radio Resource Control (RRC) container with information to prepare the handover at the target base station.
  • the information of the handover request includes e.g. a target cell ID with information (e.g., the current Quality of Service (QoS) flow to Dedicated Radio Bearer (DRB) mapping rules applied to the UE), the SIB 1 (System Information Block 1) from source gNB, the UE capabilities for different Radio Access Technologies (RATs), Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session related information- slice information and QoS flow level QoS profile(s), etc.).
  • QoS Quality of Service
  • DRB Dedicated Radio Bearer
  • SIB 1 System Information Block 1
  • RATs Radio Access Technologies
  • PDU Protocol Data Unit session related information- slice information
  • QoS flow level QoS profile(s) etc.
  • the handover request also contains the XR context as explained above to enable the target gNB to perform admission control for the UE also with respect to the XR application currently executed between the UE and the source EDN, such as Degrees of Freedom (DoF) (i.e., 3DoF, 3DoF+, 6DoF, Constrained 6DoF); position of the UE; viewport of the MR application; position and an orientation of user within the XR application; latency and/or persistence of the XR application, and a split compute and/or rendering state of the XR application, and potentially others (in FIG. 3 denoted as "XR Characteristics").
  • DoF Degrees of Freedom
  • 3DoF, 3DoF+, 6DoF, Constrained 6DoF i.e., 3DoF, 3DoF+, 6DoF, Constrained 6DoF
  • position of the UE viewport of the MR application
  • position and an orientation of user within the XR application position and an orientation of user within the XR application
  • an admission control procedure may be performed by the target gNB based on the XR context in order to accept or reject the handover request.
  • the admission control procedure may comprise determining, by the target base station based on the XR context, whether radio resources of the target base station are sufficient to support traffic of the XR application with at least a similar quality of service as the connection with the source base station.
  • the target base station evaluates the XR characteristics specified by the XR context to determine the resource demand of the XR application's radio traffic and then evaluates whether or not sufficient radio resources are available to handle the traffic of the XR application of the UE. If the XR characteristics are not adequately supported, the target gNB may reject the handover request. If the radio resources of the target base station are sufficient to support the XR characteristics, the target base station accepts the handover request.
  • inputs from the target EDN are additionally considered in the admission control procedure 34 performed by the target base station, if available. Inputs from the target EDN may be available either upon request from the target gNB or pushed from the target EDN.
  • An exemplary implementation of a mechanism to provide EDN input is given further below with respect of FIG. 4.
  • the target gNB prepares the handover with given Layer 1/ Layer 2 procedures and sends, in activity 35, a Handover Request Acknowledge to the source gNB.
  • the source gNB triggers the UE handover e.g. by sending an RRC Reconfiguration message to the UE, containing information to access the target cell, as e.g. per Release 16. This concludes the handover preparation phase 37 and UE and network enter the handover execution and completion phase.
  • the XR context includes information specifying the current state of the XR application executed at the UE, referred to as XR characteristics.
  • the XR characteristics may include the degrees of freedom of the XR application (DoF).
  • the DoF information of the XR context may include, depending on the particular XR application executed by the UE: - 3DoF : Three rotational and un-limited movements around the X, Y and Z axes (respectively pitch, yaw and roll).
  • a typical use case is a user sitting in a chair looking at 3D 360 VR content on an HMD.
  • 3DoF+ 3DoF with additional limited translational movements (typically, head movements) along X, Y and Z axes.
  • a typical use case is a user sitting in a chair looking at 3D 360 VR content on an HMD with the capability to slightly move his head up/down, left/right and forward/backward.
  • 3DoF 3DoF with full translational movements along X, Y and Z axes. Beyond the 3DoF experience, it adds (i) moving up and down (elevating/heaving); (ii) moving left and right (strafing/swaying); and (iii) moving forward and backward (walking/surg- ing).
  • a typical use case is a user freely walking through 3D 360 VR content (physically or via dedicated user input means) displayed on an HMD.
  • 6DoF 6DoF with constrained translational movements along X, Y and Z axes (typically, a couple of steps walking distance).
  • a typical use case is a user freely walking through VR content (physically or via dedicated user input means) displayed on an HMD but within a constrained walking area.
  • the DoF information included in the XR context depends on the current mechanical movement of the UE.
  • the XR context may also include current physical attributes of the UE such as the UE's geographic position and viewport direction of the XR application, as well as position and orientation of the user within the XR application to maintain the state of the XR application.
  • the position and an orientation of the user within the XR application in the request are used to prevent unexpected movements within the XR application, e.g. a sitting person in the application cannot stand up when the user is already standing.
  • the XR context may further include information about latency and/or persistence of the XR application, as well as the split compute and/or rendering state of the XR application. These attributes are utilized to ensure the continuously operating XR application without abrupt lagging.
  • the handover procedure of FIGS. 2 and 3 is performed using Dual Connectivity (DC) functions to promote connection continuity in source and target cell during handover execution.
  • DC Dual Connectivity
  • the DC functionality is activated at the source server EDN1 exchanging XR application PDUs with the UE in uplink and downlink direction, while the target server EDN2 activates an XR application session for the UE triggered by EDN1.
  • the source EDN1 keeps the current XR application state synchronized with the target server EDN2 by transferring UE context to the target EDN2, e.g. periodically updating the changes of the current state of the XR application by periodically transferring XR context updates to the target EDN2.
  • the target EDN2 becomes the new serving EDN, i.e. the XR application PDU flow in downlink now passes through gNB2 from EDN2.
  • the DC functions remain active, so that the serving EDN2 keeps the state of previous source EDN1 synchronized by transferring the XR context to the previous source EDN1 in the same manner as the aforementioned XR context synchronization.
  • the synchronization between the two EDNs takes place and causes XR application information captured by UE (DoF information, view, position, angles, etc., as set out above) to be shared with both spatial computing servers (EAS) - using an uplink connection and the rendered 3D content to be transmitted only by the new serving EDN2 (and the EAS of the EDN2) - using a downlink connection.
  • XR application information captured by UE DoF information, view, position, angles, etc., as set out above
  • EAS spatial computing servers
  • the source and target EASs are enabled to coordinate the timely transfer of the XR context information.
  • EASs are able to obtain the location information (exact or rough) of a UE from the EESs.
  • the EESs may have this information from the Network Exposure Function (NEF) or other network entities with such information, such as the base stations or gNBs.
  • the information provided by the EAS is used to proceed in the respective actions to enable the XR application context transfer of the UE to the EASs which are candidate to execute XR application at the server side and support the XR application for the UE.
  • NEF Network Exposure Function
  • the XR application context may be transferred to multiple EASs that are associated with multiple potential target gNBs.
  • the handover procedure type where multiple candidate target gNBs are prepared for a handover is referred to as Conditional Handover (CHO). These gNBs are also provided as candidate target gNBs to the UE as elaborated in 3GPP TS 38.300.
  • the XR application context will be released from the candidate gNBs and their respective EASs that will not eventually serve the UE, i.e. which have not become new serving gNBs / EASs.
  • the UE receives a list of potential gNBs, in order to promote that the handover will be successful and to increase reliability.
  • the same gNBs that are sent to the UE in the CHO list (list containing the candidate gNBs) will be the gNBs associated with the EAS to serve the UE after the handover.
  • FIG. 4 visualizes a proactive EAS relocation procedure and context release in the EDN.
  • the source EDN comprises a source Edge Enabler Server (EES1) and a source Edge Application Server (EAS1).
  • the target EDN comprises a source Edge Enabler Server (EES2) and a source Edge Application Server (EAS2).
  • Further candidate EDNs may be considered, such as a third EDN with a third Edge Enabler Server (EES3) and a third Edge Application Server (EAS3).
  • the Edge environment also includes the Edge Configuration Server (ECS).
  • the serving EAS subscribes to the EES1 for receiving UE location events.
  • the EES1 subscribes to the 5G system for receiving UE location events.
  • the EES relocation procedure may be executed in response to a mobility event indicating a potential future handover related to the UE executing the XR application.
  • the EES1 informs the serving EAS about a mobility event for UE based on notification from the 5G system.
  • the EAS1 requests from the ECS to discover alternative EASs that can serve the UE exiting the coverage/serving area of EAS 1.
  • the source EES sends UE and XR application information to the ECS, and receives a list with a number of Edge Application Servers suitable to support the XR application, the list including the target EAS. This is shown by activities 44 and 45.
  • Activity 44 retrieves information to prepare the potential target EASs for the relocation.
  • the EES requests from the ECS the EAS list that can accommodate the UE.
  • the request contains UE information and application information, potentially including the UE location, the UE accessed service, the UE accessed service characteristics, including, stateful/stateless service, interactive, supported DoF, view port, etc. and the UE capabilities, including, processing capabilities, memory, battery level.
  • the ECS provides to the EES1 the list of the EAS that can serve the UE as a response to the EES request. This first iteration provides the EASs that have the minimum conditions met to ensure that the UE is supported in the new location.
  • the EES1 sends a discovery request to the EESs supporting the EASs that can serve the UE.
  • the target EAS receives the discovery request from the source EES and performs an application admission control procedure.
  • the EES2 and EES3 evaluate if they can accommodate the UE, meaning that they can provide the resources needed for the UE.
  • the target EAS(s) indicate ⁇ ), to the target base station by the target EAS based on the discovery request, an ability of the target EAS to support the XR application.
  • the EES2 and EES3 inform the associated target base stations (gNBs) directly or indirectly (e.g., though other network functions responsible for network exposure) about their ability to accommodate the UE service request.
  • this information can also be used by the gNB for the admission control during handover.
  • the activity 48 may be triggered by a message from the associated target base stations (gNBs) in order to perform the admission control procedure 34, described further below (FIG. 5).
  • the procedure of FIG. 4 forms a logical part of the admission control procedure 34 of the target gNB.
  • EES2 and EES3 respond to the request from the EES1 if they can accommodate the UE.
  • EES1 informs EAS1 about the list of the EASs that can serve the UE after they responded whether their resources are sufficient or not.
  • EAS2 and EAS3 are provided by the EAS list that can serve the UE in case of a handover.
  • the target EAS receives XR application information from the source EAS and reserves resources for the XR application to prepare the handover. Accordingly, in activity 51, the EAS1 transfers the XR application context to the EAS2 and EAS3 so as to be ready to accommodate the UE if the UE will be relocated to the respective EAS.
  • EAS2 is the selected target EAS.
  • activity 52 in case a mobility cancellation event is produced e.g. by the gNBs to release the UE context in case of a CHO (if the UE does not eventually handover to these gNBs). The mobility cancellation event is provided to the EES (i.e., EES3).
  • the EES3 informs the EAS3 to release the UE context, given that the UE will not be served by the EAS3.
  • the candidate target EAS which has not been selected releases the previously reserved resources.
  • an exemplary test scenario is assumed with multiple UEs and a HO failure rate of 0.5 and a CHO failure rate of 0.2. Furthermore, it is assumed that the delay cost for a successful HO/CHO is 50 ms and the context transfer between two edge cloud servers is 0.5 s. Having used a test evaluation scenario with 1000 handover events, the table below provides the mean values of the delay in case of a handover:
  • the mean delay is in the range of 550 ms.
  • the small number of handover failures slightly increases the mean delay value.
  • the other two cases, with the proactive preparation have significantly reduced delay, since the time required for transferring the UE context from the one EDN to the other is omitted.
  • the mean delay is slightly increased; the small number HOs to gNBs with unprepared EDNs does not significantly impact to the mean delay.
  • the delay will be in the range of 550 ms, as also mentioned above.
  • the HO may end up with different delays.
  • the admission control procedure 34 performed by the target base station in response to receiving the handover request comprises determining whether the link of the target base station to the target EDN has sufficient network resources to support traffic of the XR application; and/or determining whether the target EAS has sufficient computing resources to support the execution of the XR application.
  • FIG. 5 shows a possible implementation of the admission control procedure performed for the level of the potential target EDNs in order to provide input for the admission control algorithm 34 of the target base station.
  • the mechanism of FIG. 5 determines whether at least one EAS exist that has sufficient computing resources and at least one communication link to the target base station with sufficient network resources.
  • a list of EASs that might be able to serve the UE and the XR application executed by the UE is determined.
  • the EASs on the list are checked, at activity 62, if computation resources as well as, at activity 63, the communication path composed of back- haul/core route and radio link meet the QoS requirements of the XR application executed at the UE.
  • the computation resources of the EASs it is e.g. checked if an EAS has sufficient free memory and computation power to support the XR application of the UE at the server side.
  • QoS metrics like delay, bandwidth and reliability of the communication link between the respective EAS and the target base station may be verified.
  • activity 61 is performed by the target base station, potentially with support of further network elements.
  • the evaluation of the EAS computing resources and of the respective link resources 63 in the respective activities 62 and 63 may be triggered by the target base station gNB2 by pulling the EAS capabilities to support the UE, or may be effected by pushing this information from the EAS to the target base station gNB2 (similar to activity 48 in FIG. 4).
  • the target base station gNB2 is aware from which target EAS to pull such information because each gNB may be associated to a limited (finite) number of EAS and may perform a request to the limited (finite) number of EAS.
  • the EAS may know the target gNB2 using one or more of the following: through available location information (associated to location of the target gNBs), via knowledge of the associated gNBs (and pushing this information to one or more of the associated gNBs), via mobility knowledge available in the Network Exposure Function (NEF) specified by 5G specifications (or technically similar functions of other mobile telecommunication standards).
  • NEF Network Exposure Function
  • the EAS may be added to a candidate list of EASs. After the evaluation of all available EASs on the list is completed, it is determined, at activity 64, whether the candidate list of EASs is empty or whether there is at least one EAS on the candidate list. If the candidate list is empty, the handover request is rejected by the target base station in activity 65, otherwise the handover request is accepted by the target base station in activity 66.
  • the handover may also be conditionally accepted instead of simply refused.
  • the UE and/or the network e.g. the source base station
  • the UE and/or the network may be informed of the current impossibility or uncertainty of satisfying the current QoS requirements for the XR application with the current resources.
  • the final decision of the HO is left to the network (source base station) or the UE.
  • the UE may decide to reduce the QoS requirements for the XR application and/or to continue the execution of the XR application or partial functionality of the XR application locally in order to reduce the XR application PDU traffic with the EAS to a degree so that at least one of the EASs on the list may become eligible to support the reduced QoS requirements of the XR application.
  • the handover preparation including the admission control procedure of FIG. 5 may then be executed for a second time with an updated XR context specifying the reduced QoS requirements of the XR application in order to effect acceptance of the handover.
  • executing the admission control procedure of FIG. 5 for multiple times may be spared by the UE providing multiple sets of QoS requirements, e.g. on a list of QoS requirements.
  • the list of QoS requirements may be specified by the XR context.
  • the QoS requirements on the list are classified into unconditional and conditional admission QoS requirements.
  • the optimal QoS requirements supporting execution of the XR application to a full extent (highest graphical resolution, smallest delay, i.e. highest network connection demands) may be classified as an unconditional QoS requirement.
  • conditional QoS requirements may be listed which specify reduced QoS requirements still supporting an execution of the XR application with reduced quality (e.g. reduced graphical resolution, less network traffic).
  • the QoS requirements are ranked and processed from unconditional QoS requirement set (e.g. defining the highest QoS requirements) to the least QoS requirements (e.g. minimum resources to run the XR application). This allows to check multiple sets of QoS requirements in a conditional manner within one iteration of the admission control procedure.
  • the admission control starts by the UE sending a list of QoS requirements for the XR application to the network, at activity 71. This may occur asynchronously to the handover procedure, e.g. already when establishing the connection 14 with the source base station.
  • Activity 71 may also encompass receiving, by the source base station, the list of the QoS requirements from the source base station by way of activity 33 of FIG. 3 during the handover procedure.
  • the XR characteristics of FIG. 2 may include the conditional and unconditional QoS requirements of FIG. 6.
  • the QoS requirements in the list are evaluated in sequence by the admission control algorithm, starting with activity 72, until one item in the list (i.e., a set of QoS requirements) can be provided by the network with the current available resources. Similar to FIG. 5, at activity 73, it is determined whether at least one EAS has computing resources and a network link to the target base station available which are sufficient for the QoS requirements considered in the current iteration of the process of FIG. 6. If the set of QoS requirements that can be provided with the current resources, activity 74 checks whether the currently tested QoS requirements were marked as unconditional (i.e. the resources are sufficient without any penalties), at activity 75.
  • the source base station may be notified that the handover is admitted unconditionally, at activity 76. If, on the other hand, the currently tested set of QoS requirements that can be satisfied with the current resources was marked as conditional (i.e. the resources have some penalties, but are sufficient to run the XR application with reduced quality), the source base station may be notified that the handover is admitted in a conditional manner, at activity 80 and 81.
  • activity 77 checks whether there the list still includes a further set of the (further reduced) QoS requirements to be tested. If affirmative, the sub-process of activities 72 and 73 and so on are performed again in a further iteration. In case that no EAS can be found even though the QoS requirements are set to a minimum to still support execution of the XR application, i.e. the list of QoS requirements has been unsuccessfully processed completely and there is thus no further item on the list to be processed (activities 73 and 77), then the handover is rejected, at activity 78 and the source base station is notified that admission control failed (activity 79).
  • the network may select the EAS. This selection may be based on multiple criteria like load balancing of network and EAS resources and energy efficiency. Furthermore, multiple EASs and communication links may be selected for reasons of redundancy to improve reliability.
  • the EAS relocation procedure may be performed independent from or in parallel to a handover procedure between the source base station gNBl and a target base station gNB2.
  • the EAS relocation procedure with the application admission control at the level of the Edge Data Networks is performed proactively for any potential future handover situation in order to provide seamless service continuity to the UE running an XR application and accelerate any future handover procedure.
  • the EAS relation procedure may be performed inline in the course of a handover procedure between the source base station gNBl and a target base station gNB2. The results of the application admission control procedure may be pushed to the corresponding target base station gNB2 in an asynchronous manner.
  • the proactive EAS relocation procedure may be triggered by the at least one target base station gNB2 which may pull the results of the application admission control procedure at the EDN level to form a part of the admission control procedure of the target base station gNB2.
  • the handover procedures may also facilitate selection of the new User Plane Function (UPF) of the communication network.
  • UPF User Plane Function
  • the UPF is responsible for packet routing and forwarding, packet inspection, QoS handling, and external PDU session for interconnecting Data Networks.
  • the EES may act as a trusted Application Function (AF) to the core network (e.g. 5G Core Network, 5GC) to provide capabilities of the EAS.
  • AF trusted Application Function
  • 5GC 5G Core Network
  • this may be performed considering a generic interactions framework between AFs and 5GC; such interactions aim to impact, among others, UPF selection.
  • the UPF may be selected considering the current XR state of the XR application currently executed by the UE. To this end, to select a proper UPF able to support the UE with the target AF in the course of the handover procedures described herein, an AF request is supplemented with additional XR-application-related information.
  • the AF request as currently specified by 3GPP specifications contains numerous information elements, such as a traffic description, potential locations of applications, the target UE identifiers, spatial validity conditions, AF transaction identifiers, traffic routing requirements, application relocation possibilities, the UE IP address preservation indications, the temporal validity conditions and information on AF subscriptions to corresponding session management function events. Additionally, according to the present methodologies, the AF request is supplemented with additional XR-application-related information, such as:
  • Stateful specifies if the XR application is stateful or not, e.g. a one bit flag.
  • - Multi UE specifies if the XR application supports interactions with multiple UEs.
  • the AF request may include EAS/AF load information.
  • An EAS/AF is generally able to support a limited/finite number of UEs in case of XR applications due to processing and memory limitations. This information may be provided to the session management function and may be considered by the session management function for the UPF selection.
  • FIG. 7 illustrates a simplified block diagram of a network node 411 in accordance with some embodiments.
  • Network node 411 may be a base station combined with an MME or AMF.
  • Network node 411 has an antenna 415, which transmits and receives radio signals.
  • a radio frequency (RF) transceiver module 414 coupled with the antenna, receives RF signals from antenna 415, converts them to baseband signals and sends them to processor 413.
  • RF transceiver 414 also converts received baseband signals from processor 413, converts them to RF signals, and sends out to antenna 415.
  • Processor 413 processes the received baseband signals and invokes different functional modules to perform features in network node 411.
  • Memory 412 stores program instructions and data 420 to control the operations of the network node 411.
  • network node 411 also includes protocol stack 480 and a set of control functional modules and circuit 490 implementing the mobility management functionality described above.
  • Suitable processors include, by way of example, a special purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a plurality of micro-processors, one or more micro-processor associated with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), file programmable gate array (FPGA) circuits, and other type of integrated circuits (ICs), and/or state machines.
  • DSP digital signal processor
  • ASICs application specific integrated circuits
  • FPGA file programmable gate array
  • ICs integrated circuits
  • Other nodes of the communication network such as the servers of the EDNs are equipped accordingly, i.e. with similar internal components. Instead of RF transceiver module 414 and antenna 415, these nodes may be employed wired communication technologies in order
  • routines executed to implement the embodiments may be referred to herein as "computer program code” or simply "program code”.
  • Program code typically comprises computer-readable instructions that are resident at various times in various memory and storage devices in a computer and that, when read and executed by one or more processors in a computer, cause that computer to perform the operations necessary to execute operations and/or elements embodying the various aspects of the embodiments of the invention.
  • Computer- readable program instructions for carrying out operations of the embodiments of the invention may be, for example, assembly language or either source code or object code written in any combination of one or more programming languages.
  • any of the flowcharts, sequence diagrams, and/or block diagrams may include more or fewer blocks than those illustrated consistent with embodiments of the invention.

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  • Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
  • Computer Networks & Wireless Communication (AREA)
  • Signal Processing (AREA)
  • Mobile Radio Communication Systems (AREA)

Abstract

La présente invention a trait à des procédés, à des systèmes et à des programmes informatiques qui sont destinés prendre en charge la mobilité pour des services XR. Un transfert intercellulaire d'un équipement utilisateur (UE) exécutant une application de réalité augmentée (XR) sur une connexion avec une station de base source consiste, en réponse à la décision de transfert intercellulaire de l'UE, à envoyer, par la station de base source, une requête de transfert intercellulaire à une station de base cible. La requête de transfert intercellulaire comprend un contexte XR spécifiant un état actuel de l'application XR. Des informations de contexte XR peuvent également être utilisées au niveau d'un réseau de données de bord afin de se procurer des ressources adéquates d'un serveur d'application de bord cible pour prendre en charge l'exécution de l'application XR après le transfert intercellulaire.
PCT/EP2020/082831 2020-11-20 2020-11-20 Support de mobilité pour applications de réalité étendue dans des réseaux de communication mobile Ceased WO2022106019A1 (fr)

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WO2024011575A1 (fr) * 2022-07-15 2024-01-18 Apple Inc. Systèmes et procédés de transfert conditionnel et améliorations de capacité de réalité étendue
WO2024025331A1 (fr) * 2022-07-27 2024-02-01 Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. Procédé et réseau sans fil pour la gestion d'économie d'énergie pour un service de réalité étendue (xr)
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WO2025031335A1 (fr) * 2023-08-10 2025-02-13 华为技术有限公司 Procédé de transmission de données, et appareil
EP4683386A1 (fr) * 2024-07-18 2026-01-21 Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy Transfert influencé par une application

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