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CN-121986467-A - Enhancement of slice requirement validation and alignment capability

CN121986467ACN 121986467 ACN121986467 ACN 121986467ACN-121986467-A

Abstract

Methods and network nodes for enhanced validation and alignment capabilities for slice requirements are disclosed. According to one aspect, a method in a network node operating as a network slice capability enabling NSCE server configured to communicate with a vertical application layer, VAL, server includes receiving a request message from the VAL server requesting a slice requirement validation and an alignment subscription, the request message including a slice identifier identifying the network slice, a slice requirement of the network slice, and a mode for auto-alignment to instruct the NSCE server whether to automatically implement the generated optimal slice requirement for the network slice to align with the slice requirement included in the request message, and generating, by the NSCE server, the optimal slice requirement for the network slice, and determining whether to implement the optimal slice requirement according to the mode for auto-alignment.

Inventors

  • A.S. Sharma
  • XU WENLIANG
  • ZHU WENZHENG
  • R. Alfredson

Assignees

  • 瑞典爱立信有限公司

Dates

Publication Date
20260505
Application Date
20240930
Priority Date
20231003

Claims (20)

  1. 1. A network node operating as a network slice capability enabling NSCE server configured to communicate with a vertical application layer VAL server, the network node configured to: -receiving a request message from the VAL server requesting a slice requirement validation and an alignment subscription, the request message comprising a slice identifier identifying a network slice, a slice requirement for the network slice, and a mode for automatic alignment to instruct the NSCE server whether to automatically implement the generated optimal slice requirement for the network slice to align with the slice requirement included in the request message, and -Generating an optimal slice requirement for the network slice, and determining whether to implement the optimal slice requirement according to the mode for automatic alignment.
  2. 2. The network node of claim 1, wherein the request message includes reporting information to indicate reporting conditions of alignment between the generated best slice requirement and the slice requirement included in the request message.
  3. 3. The network node of claim 2, wherein the network node is further configured to send an alignment notification based on the reporting information.
  4. 4. The network node of claim 1, wherein the reporting information comprises time information for reporting the alignment notification.
  5. 5. The network node of claim 1, wherein the reporting information comprises location information for reporting the alignment notification.
  6. 6. The network node of claim 1, wherein the reporting information indicates that the alignment notification is reported based on a minimum number of UEs being present in the network slice.
  7. 7. The network node of claim 1, wherein the request message includes a report margin to request notification when the generated best slice requirement is below the margin.
  8. 8. The network node of claim 7, wherein the reporting margin corresponds to a quality of service, qoS, margin.
  9. 9. The network node of claim 1, wherein when the mode for auto-alignment indicates off, the request message instructs the NSCE server not to automatically implement the generated optimal slice requirement for the network slice to align with the slice requirement included in the request message.
  10. 10. The network node of claim 1, wherein when the mode for auto-alignment indicates on, the request message instructs the NSCE server to automatically implement the generated optimal slice requirement for the network slice to align with the slice requirement included in the request message.
  11. 11. The network node of claim 1, further configured to send a notification to the VAL server indicating updated slice requirement information and an indication of whether updated slice requirements have been implemented.
  12. 12. A method performed by a network slice capability enabling NSCE server configured to communicate with a vertical application layer VAL server, the method comprising: -receiving a request message from the VAL server requesting a slice requirement validation and an alignment subscription, the request message comprising a slice identifier identifying a network slice, a slice requirement for the network slice, and a mode for automatic alignment to instruct the NSCE server whether to automatically implement the generated optimal slice requirement for the network slice to align with the slice requirement included in the request message, and -Generating an optimal slice requirement for the network slice, and determining whether to implement the optimal slice requirement according to the mode for automatic alignment.
  13. 13. The method of claim 12, wherein the request message includes reporting information to indicate reporting conditions of alignment between the generated optimal slice requirements and the slice requirements included in the request message.
  14. 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the method further comprises sending an alignment notification based on the reporting information.
  15. 15. The method of claim 13, wherein the reporting information includes time information for reporting the alignment notification.
  16. 16. The method of claim 13, wherein the reporting information comprises location information for reporting the alignment notification.
  17. 17. The method of claim 13, wherein the reporting information indicates that the alignment notification is reported based on a minimum number of UEs being present in the network slice.
  18. 18. The method of claim 12, wherein the request message includes a report margin to request notification when the generated best slice requirement is below the margin.
  19. 19. The method of claim 12, wherein the reporting margin corresponds to a quality of service, qoS, margin.
  20. 20. The method of claim 12, wherein when the mode for auto-alignment indicates off, the request message instructs the NSCE server not to automatically implement the generated optimal slice requirement for the network slice to align with the slice requirement included in the request message.

Description

Enhancement of slice requirement validation and alignment capability RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application claims the benefit of provisional patent application serial No. PCT/CN2023/123075 filed on month 3 10 of 2023, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. Technical Field The present disclosure relates to wireless communications, and in particular, to enhancement of slice requirement verification and alignment capabilities. Background The third generation partnership project (3 GPP) has established and is developing standards for fourth generation (4G) (also known as Long Term Evolution (LTE)) and fifth generation (5G) (also known as New Radio (NR)) wireless communication systems. Such a system provides, among other features, broadband communication between network nodes (e.g., base stations) and mobile Wireless Devices (WDs), as well as communication between network nodes and between WDs. The 3GPP is also making standards for sixth generation (6G) wireless communication networks. The 3GPP Technical Standard (TS) 23.435 is a service enabler layer for open network slicing capability for third party or vertical industries. 3GPP TS 23.435, clause 9.16, is discussed herein, i.e., slicing requires authentication and alignment capability to be open. Vertical industries such as vehicle-to-everything (V2X) may compare quality of service (QoS) implemented by a provider to QoS/slicing requirements and its own QoS experience to verify whether the QoS/slicing requirements are reasonably configured. In order to order slices with specific slice requirement parameters and values of these parameters, the vertical industry will make best efforts for slice requirement conversion. They do not guarantee that all potential factors will be considered to generate the optimal slice requirement parameters at the first attempt. In some cases, there may be some unforeseen anomalies (e.g., unexpected traffic changes), and the currently configured slice requirement parameters cannot meet vertical industry requirements (e.g., more resources are needed to cope with the anomalies), vertical Application Layer (VAL) clients may also experience unsatisfactory experiences. Or in some other cases, when a service is executed on a desired slice, the slice may not exactly match the real-time operating conditions of the service. For example, only 60% of the slice resources may be used to support the service, and the remaining slice resources are always idle, or insufficient slice resources due to insufficient supply. Thus, the Network Slicing Capability Enable (NSCE) can provide the ability to compare QoS implementation status and operation, administration, and management (OAM) QoS data with the actual customer QoS data (e.g., mean opinion score) collected from the VAL client to check if the existing QoS/slicing related data can satisfy the VAL client. An alignment notification for the slice requirement to the VAL server is sent periodically. The current procedure defined in 3gpp TS 23.435, 9.16.2.1, may provide an opening to the VAL server for the slice requirement verification and alignment capability. It validates the slice requirements based on the configured requirements and network slice performance statistics to generate optimal slice requirements. The VAL server is notified of the best slice requirement. This causes the following problems: WD-network conditions are dynamic and this may result in temporary misalignments of slice requirements, resulting in an unnecessarily large notification to the VAL server. A large number of notifications will result in a waste of network resources. A slice alignment notification is sent to the VAL server, the notification containing updated slice requirements, but the updated slice requirements are not implemented into the system. This affects the QoS of VAL clients because slicing requires misalignment. Use cases such as ultra-reliable and low-latency communications (URLLC), which are affected by latency, misalignment notification without any alignment enforcement actions, result in increased latency and reduced QoS for the user. It also increases the round trip delay required to supply the correct slice in a 5G system. Disclosure of Invention Certain aspects of the present disclosure and embodiments thereof are capable of providing solutions to the above or other challenges. Some embodiments advantageously provide an enhanced method and network node for requiring verification and alignment capabilities for slices. Some embodiments add enhancements to the existing solutions described in 3gpp TS 23.435, 9.16.2.1 th slice requirement verification and alignment capability. The solution allows the VAL server to limit the sending of slice alignment notifications from the NSCE server based on QoS margin and alignment notification information. This solution enables the VAL server to instruct the auto-align mode to implement updated or optimal slicing requirements, t