TECHNICAL FIELD

Some embodiments relate to a method of increasing the number of connected user equipments on an apparatus of a radio access network, e.g. a fifth generation new radio (5G NR) base station.

BACKGROUND

The number of users/devices that needs to be supported by the 5G system will increase at a rapid pace. The bare metal resources used for a DU of a radio access network (RAN) cannot scale at the same pace as the requirement for increase in "connected users". Operators would want to increase the number of users supported just by increasing cloud resources. Operators will not be interested to replace the bare-metal hardware used for DU quite often as it involves huge cost over-heads, given the large number of DU deployments all over.

SUMMARY

Hitherto, baseband processing in a radio access network (RAN) used to happen closer to cell site on custom bare-metal hardware. The resources (e.g. memory resources and processing resources) allocated/reserved were for the peak capacity and most of the times the resources were under utilized.

To overcome this inefficient usage of resources and for various other benefits, cloudification and virtualization of RAN functions are proposed. However, not all RAN functions can be cloudified.3GPP architecture for 5G RAN leans towards hosting real-time RAN functions on custom hardware closer to cell site (distributed unit (DU)) and non-real-time RAN functions on cloud (central unit (CU)). F1 interface is introduced in standards to facilitate the communication between CU and DU.

An important requirement on 5G is to support services like ultra-reliable low latency (URLLC), internet of things (loT) and mobile broadband (MBB) with diverse service attributes (e.g. latency, throughput, etc.). There are user equipments (UEs) and loT devices that are in 'active' state but not being currently scheduled. These still occupy or hold resources at DU limiting the number of users supported because of limited resources (e.g. memory resources and processing resources). With the ever-increasing number of mobile users and loT devices, the 5G RAN has to support large number of connected users and loT devices.

To achieve this, some optimizations are required for the functions hosted on the DU, preferably without replacing the hardware. Some embodiments introduce such optimization for a RAN packet scheduler. These optimizations can be extended to other functions of the DU. This disclosure can be used in 5G and long term evolution (LTE) implementations.

Some embodiments provide for apparatuses, methods and computer program products as defined in the appended claims.

In the following some embodiments will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Fig.1 shows a schematic block diagram illustrating an arrangement of a central unit and a distributed unit according to an embodiment.

Fig.2 shows a flowchart illustrating a method of optimizing usage of cloud resources according to an embodiment. Figs.3A and 3B show flowcharts respectively illustrating processes of optimizing usage of cloud resources according to an embodiment.

Fig.4 shows a schematic block diagram illustrating a configuration of control units in which examples of embodiments are implementable.

DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODI MENTS

It is to be noted that the terms "UE", "User" and "loT device" are used synonymously in this disclosure.

Further, UE context, referred to in this disclosure has at least the following types of information:

1. Channel quality

2. Bearers

3. Quality of Service (QoS)

4. Metrics/ Scheduling

5. Buffer status

6. Throughput

"Basic context" information referred to in this disclosure is UE information required to perform signaling when the UE is in active state but not currently being scheduled by a distributed unit (DU) for data transfer.

"Real-time" processing referred to in this disclosure is processing that needs to be completed within a specified time (deadline) in each transmission time interval (TTI). "Non-real-time processing referred to in this disclosure is scheduler related processing performed on a central unit (CU) for user equipments that are not being scheduled on DU.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic block diagram illustrating an arrangement of a central unit (CU) 10 and a distributed unit (DU) 20 according to an embodiment. According to an example implementation, the CU 10 is part of a cloud com puting network. According to an exam ple im plem entation, the CU 10 comprises a virtual processing unit.

The DU 20 is for baseband processing on the physical layer and L2 layer comprising packet scheduling ( PS) and real tim e radio link control ( RLC- RT) in an apparatus such as a base station (e.g. eNB, gNB) of a radio access network ( RAN) . According to an exam ple im plem entation, the apparatus com prises hardware closer to cell site, configured to perform real-time radio access network functions, while the central unit is configured to perform non- real-time radio access network functions.

Let "N" be a total num ber of connected users (which are also referred to here as "first set of user equipments") and "M" be the m axim um num ber of users that can be supported on the DU 20 (which are also referred to here as "second set of user equipments") , where M and N are positive integers. The DU 20 can store context information and process a maxim um number M of users.

According to an embodim ent, when UEs are attached to the RAN via the DU 20, their basic context information is stored both at the CU 10 and the DU 20.

Referring to Fig. 2 showing a flowchart of a m ethod according to an embodim ent, in step S31 the CU 10 creates and keeps context information of a UE when the UE attaches to the radio access network via the DU 20.

I n step S32 it is checked whether N< = M. If YES in S32, the process proceeds to S33 in which the CU 10 does not m odify a user list. All of the processing (i.e. real-time and non-real-tim e processing) (e.g. PS processing) for these N users is done on DU 20. The context inform ation of the N UEs is kept on DU 20, and context information is updated back to CU 10. Otherwise, if NO in step S32, the process proceeds to step S34. In step S34, the non-real-time processing of UEs in excess of M (i.e. N-M) is performed by the CU 10, such as monitoring for buffer status, channel quality information (CQI), etc. The DU performs real-time processing for the M UEs. Minimum context information of the N-M UEs is kept on DU 20 for signaling. The N-M UEs are also referred to here as "third set of user equipments". The second set of M user equipments is contained within the first set, and the third set of N-M user equipments is contained within the first set but not contained within the second set.

In step S35, when any of these N-M UEs needs to be scheduled in S37, its context information is sent to DU 20 and is added to a list of M users which are handled by the DU 20. According to an example implementation, the list is processed by the CU 10. When any of these M UEs on the DU 20 does not have data to send or receive, the same are removed from the M user list and their current context information is updated back into CU 10.

According to an example embodiment, the DU 20 receives from the CU 10 information indicating the M UEs to be handled by the DU 20. This information may indicate at least one of the following: all the UEs of the list of M users (e.g. the UEs of the second set), the UEs newly added to the list of M users (e.g. the UEs newly added to the second set), the UEs removed from the list of M users (e.g. the UEs removed from the second set). The UEs may be indicated using their context information.

Swapping of users across CU 10 and DU 20 in S35 is described in more detail below.

All the N UEs (i.e. M users on DU 20 and N-M users on CU 10) are constantly monitored and their proportionally fair (PF) or delay-based metrics are calculated and stored in CU 10 and DU 20, respectively. Periodically and/or on request by the DU 20, CU 10 gets the PF m etric of UEs on DU 20 and sorts into a combined list to select a set of M users which are to be processed by the DU 20. Periodicity is set as sm all as possible but not to cause any performance impact on CU 1 0 or DU 20. Latency between CU 10 and DU 20 should be taken into consideration while determ ining the periodicity.

I f the newly selected set of M users is sam e as the previous list of M users (previous M user list, e.g. the list of M users still existing on the DU 20) ( NO in S35) , the process of Fig. 2 returns to S31 .

Otherwise, if YES in S35, the process proceeds to step S36 in which for those UEs that are newly added to the M user list, their context inform ation is sent from CU 10 to DU 20 over an interface F1 connecting CU 10 and DU 20, as shown in Fig. 1 . According to an exam ple implem entation, the F1 interface is used to com m unicate from the DU 20 to the CU 10 CQI report, PHY m easurements and buffer status for UEs that are not part of the M user list, and to com m unicate from the CU 10 to the DU 20 a list of UEs along with their context information to be added or deleted from the M user list existing at the DU 20.

For those UEs from the DU 20 which could not be sorted into the new list of M users, in S36 their context inform ation is updated back into CU 10 and their context inform ation on DU 20 is deleted. According to an im plem entation exam ple, the basic (e.g. m inim um) context inform ation of these UEs is kept on the DU 20. For example, for these UEs, the DU 20 deletes all context inform ation except the basic context information.

I n step S37 following steps S36 and S33, processing (e.g. packet scheduling for the new list of M users) is performed by the DU 20 for the UEs processed by the DU 20. From S37, the process returns to S31 . According to the process described above, it is ensured that the UE context information is transferred to DU 20 before it needs to be scheduled, and it is not necessary that it is stored on DU 20 all the time. This disclosure overcomes the lim itation of resources on DU 20 and supports m ore number of users using the same available resources on the DU 20.

According to an em bodim ent, it is not necessary to store complete UE context inform ation for all UEs at DU 20 all the tim e. The information is transferred over F1 interface into DU 20 from CU 1 0 when necessary and differing inform ation is updated back to CU if not necessary. I n LTE im plementations, UE context information can be exchanged between DU and CU over proprietary interfaces, thus benefiting existing LTE deployments.

According to an em bodiment, the num ber of users supported can be increased j ust by increasing the cloud resources, e.g. by allocating additional resources on dem and.

According to an em bodim ent, m ore UEs and l oT devices can be supported without replacing the DU hardware.

According to an embodim ent, the CU decides on which UEs to be on CU or DU based on the inform ation it receives from the DU for all UEs over F1 interface.

According to an embodiment, non-real-time processing (CQI handling, buffer status, etc.) for UEs that are not on DU 20 are processed on CU 10 (e.g. cloud) . DU 20 forwards these m essages to edge-cloud/ CU via F1 interface.

According to an em bodiment, data for users that are not being scheduled on DU 20 is buffered at the CU 10 and sent to DU 20 j ust before considering for scheduling in DU 20. According to an embodim ent, in addition to M users, the DU 20 keeps m inimal and essential context information (basic context inform ation) of those UEs in excess of N-M UEs to facilitate control channel scheduling.

There may be a rare scenario where all of M users are active on DU 20 but CU 10 has to push some UEs onto DU for scheduling. I n this scenario, according to an em bodiment, som e UEs from the M user list that have least priority/m etrics are moved to CU 10 making way for UEs from CU 10 that need to be considered for scheduling.

According to an em bodim ent, up to a m axim um of M UEs context inform ation is always m aintained at DU 20. Only when a total num ber N of UEs exceeds M, context inform ation of some of those N-M UEs that need to be scheduled are transferred from CU 10 to DU 20 over F1 .

Now reference is m ade to Figs. 3A and 3B showing flowcharts illustrating processes 1 and 2 according to an embodim ent.

According to an exam ple im plem entation, process 1 illustrated in Fig. 3A is performed by the DU 20, and process 2 illustrated in Fig. 3B is perform ed by the CU 10.

I n step S41 of process 1 , an apparatus (e.g. a base station) of a radio access network performs real-tim e and non-real-time processing for a first set of N user equipm ents attached to the radio access network via the apparatus, in case N does not exceed a maxim um num ber M. M and N are positive integers.

I n step S42 it is checked whether N exceeds M. If YES in S42, process 1 advances to S43, in which real-time and non-real-tim e processing is performed for a second set of M user equipments contained within the first set, and non-real-tim e processing of a third set of N-M user equipm ents contained within the first set but not contained within the second set is forwarded to a central unit (e.g. the CU 10) . From S43 and if NO in S42, process 1 ends.

According to an example im plem entation, the apparatus comprises at least one processor and at least one m em ory including com puter program code, the at least one m em ory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to perform the steps of process 1 .

I n step S51 of process 2, a central unit stores context inform ation of a first set of N user equipments which are attached to a radio access network via an apparatus of the radio access network. N is a positive integer.

I n step S52 it is checked whether N exceeds M. M is a positive integer. If YES in S52, process 2 advances to S53, in which non-real-time processing is performed for a third set of N-M user equipm ents of the N user

equipm ents. Real-tim e and non-real-tim e processing for a second set of M user equipm ents is perform ed by the apparatus of the radio access network. From S53 and if NO in S52, process 2 ends.

According to an exam ple im plem entation, the central unit comprising at least one processor and at least one m em ory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the com puter program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the central unit at least to perform the steps of process 2.

Now reference is m ade to Fig. 4 for illustrating a sim plified block diagram of various electronic devices that are suitable for use in practicing at least some of the above-described em bodiments.

Fig. 4 shows a control unit 100 comprising processing resources (processing circuitry) 101 , m em ory resources (memory circuitry) 102 and interfaces (interface circuitry) 103, coupled via connection 104. According to an example im plem entation, the control unit 1 00 is part of and/or is used by the central unit for perform ing process 2. According to an example implementation, the control unit 100 is part of and/or is used by the CU 10.

Fig. 4 also shows a control unit 200 com prising processing resources (processing circuitry) 201 , memory resources (m em ory circuitry) 202 and interfaces (interface circuitry) 203, coupled via connection 204. According to an exam ple im plem entation, the control unit 200 is part of and/or is used by the apparatus for perform ing process 1 . According to an exam ple implem entation, the control unit 200 is part of and/or is used by the DU 20.

The control unit 1 00 is coupled to the control unit 200 using a connection 120. According to an exam ple implementation, the connection 120 is the F1 interface.

The terms "connected," "coupled," or any variant thereof, mean any connection or coupling, either direct or indirect, between two or more elements, and may encom pass the presence of one or more intermediate elem ents between two elements that are "connected" or "coupled" together. The coupling or connection between the elem ents can be physical, logical, or a com bination thereof. As em ployed herein two elements may be considered to be "connected" or "coupled" together by the use of one or m ore wires, cables and printed electrical connections, as well as by the use of electromagnetic energy, such as electrom agnetic energy having wavelengths in the radio frequency region, the m icrowave region and the optical (both visible and invisible) region, as non-lim iting examples.

An exam ple em bodim ent is implemented by computer software stored in the m em ory resources (mem ory circuitry) 102 and executable by the processing resources (processing circuitry) 101 of the control unit 100 and sim ilar for the other m em ory resources (m emory circuitry) 202 and the processing resources (processing circuitry) 201 of the control unit 200, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and/or firmware and hardware in any or all of the devices shown.

The memory resources (memory circuitry) 102, 202 may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory. The processing resources (processing circuitry) 101, 201 may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment, and may include one or more of general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on a multi core processor architecture, as non-limiting examples.

Further, as used in this application, the term "circuitry" refers to all of the following:

(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) and

(b) to combinations of circuits and software (and/or firmware), such as (as applicable): (i) to a combination of processor(s) or (ii) to portions of processor(s)/software (including digital signal processor(s)) , software, and memory(ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and

(c) to circuits, such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor(s), that require software or firmware for operation, even if the software or firmware is not physically present.

This definition of "circuitry" applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term "circuitry" would also cover an implementation of merely a processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term "circuitry" would also cover, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or applications processor integrated circuit for a mobile phone or a sim ilar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other network device.

According to an aspect of the disclosure, an apparatus of a radio access network is provided. According to an exam ple em bodiment, the apparatus perform s process 1 of Fig. 3A. According to an example em bodiment, the apparatus com prises control unit 200 of Fig. 4.

The apparatus com prises m eans for, in case a first set of N user equipm ents attached to the radio access network via the apparatus does not exceed a m axim um num ber M, perform ing real-time and non-real-tim e processing for the N user equipments, M and N being positive integers, m eans for, in case N exceeds M, perform ing real-tim e and non-real-tim e processing for a second set of M user equipments contained within the first set and forwarding non-real-time processing of a third set of N-M user equipm ents contained within the first set but not contained within the second set to a central unit.

According to an exam ple im plem entation, the apparatus further comprises means for receiving, from the central unit, information indicating the M user equipm ents of the second set.

According to an exam ple im plem entation, the apparatus further comprises means for, for the user equipments excluded from the second set, deleting all context information except basic context information, and m eans for updating back to the central unit context information of the user

equipm ents excluded from the second set.

According to an exam ple im plem entation, the apparatus further comprises means for receiving, from the central unit, context inform ation of user equipm ents newly included to the second set, and m eans for storing the context information. According to an exam ple im plem entation, the apparatus further com prises means for com m unicating, to the central unit, for the N- M user equipm ents of the third set, at least one of a channel quality inform ation report, physical layer measurements, and buffer status.

According to an exam ple im plementation, the apparatus further com prises m eans for com m unicating to the central unit context inform ation of user equipments that are excluded from the second set, the context inform ation including at least one of UE buffer status, throughput and scheduling m etric information.

According to an exam ple im plementation, the apparatus further com prises m eans for sending proportionally fair metric information of the user equipments of the second set to the central unit periodically and/or when requested by the central unit.

According to an exam ple im plementation,

the apparatus com prises hardware closer to cell site, configured to perform real-time and non-real-tim e radio access network functions; and/or the central unit is configured to perform non-real-tim e radio access network functions; and/or

the m eans for forwarding the non-real-tim e processing for the N-M user equipm ents of the third set to the central unit uses an F1 interface between the apparatus and the central unit ; and/or

the means for com m unicating uses the F1 interface; and/or the means for updating uses the F1 interface between the apparatus and the central unit; and/or

the means for sending uses the F1 interface between the apparatus and the central unit.

According to another aspect of the disclosure, a central unit is provided. According to an exam ple embodiment, the central unit performs process 2 of Fig. 3B. According to an exam ple embodim ent, the apparatus com prises control unit 100 of Fig. 4.

The central unit com prises m eans for storing context information of a first set of N user equipments which are attached to a radio access network via an apparatus of the radio access network, N being a positive integer, and m eans for, in case the N user equipments exceed a m axim um number M, M being a positive integer, perform ing non-real-time processing for a third set of N-M user equipments contained within the first set, whereas both real tim e and non-real-tim e processing for a second set of M user equipm ents contained within the first set but not contained within the third set is perform ed by the apparatus.

According to an exam ple im plementation, the central unit com prises m eans for sending, to the apparatus, information indicating the M user equipm ents of the second set. According to an example im plem entation, this

information is inform ation indicating newly included user equipments to the second set.

According to an exam ple im plementation, the central unit com prises m eans for selecting, for the third set, user equipm ents from the N user equipm ents based on at least one of priority and m etrics of the N user equipments.

According to an exam ple im plementation, the central unit com prises m eans for monitoring the N-M user equipments of the third set, means for acquiring inform ation on the M user equipm ents of the second set processed by the apparatus, m eans for assigning each of the N user equipments of the first set to one of the third set and the second set based on the inform ation, m eans for, in case the M user equipm ents assigned to the second set do not correspond to the M user equipm ents of the second set processed by the apparatus before the assigning, sending, to the apparatus, context information of user equipments of the second set that do not correspond to user equipments of the second set before the assigning, which exists at the apparatus, m eans for inform ing the apparatus about user equipm ents to be excluded from the second set existing at the apparatus, and means for updating context information of the user equipm ents to be excluded from the second set existing at the apparatus, which are assigned to the third set and do not correspond to user equipments of the third set before the assigning.

According to an exam ple im plementation, the m eans for assigning

com prises at least one of perform ing the assigning periodically and/or when requested by the apparatus, and assigning each of the N user equipm ents to one of the third set and the second set based on at least one of priority and m etrics of the N user equipm ents.

According to an exam ple im plem entation, the central unit com prises means for receiving, from the apparatus, for the N-M user equipm ents of the third set, at least one of a channel quality inform ation report, physical layer measurem ents, and buffer status.

According to an exam ple im plem entation, the central unit comprises means for com m unicating to the apparatus context inform ation of user equipments newly included to the second set, the context information including at least one of bearer information, channel quality inform ation and quality of service requirements at user equipm ent and bearer level.

According to an exam ple im plementation,

the central unit is configured to perform non-real-tim e radio access network functions; and/or

the apparatus com prises hardware closer to cell site, configured to perform real-time and non-real-tim e radio access network functions; and/or the m eans for acquiring uses an F1 interface between the apparatus and the central unit; and/or

the m eans for sending uses the F1 interface; and/or

the m eans for inform ing uses the F1 interface; and/or the means for receiving uses the F1 interface.

It is to be understood that the above description is illustrative of the disclosure and is not to be construed as lim iting the disclosure. Various modifications and applications may occur to those skilled in the art without departing from the true spirit and scope of the disclosure as defined by the appended claim s.