WO2022081063A1

WO2022081063A1 - Methods for lightweight quality-of-experience (qoe) measurement and reporting in a wireless network

Info

Publication number: WO2022081063A1
Application number: PCT/SE2021/050926
Authority: WO
Inventors: Ali PARICHEHREHTEROUJENI; Luca LUNARDI; Cecilia EKLÖF; Filip BARAC; Johan Rune
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)
Priority date: 2020-10-16
Filing date: 2021-09-23
Publication date: 2022-04-21

Abstract

Embodiments include methods for a UE to perform QoE measurements in a RAN. Such methods include receiving, from a RAN node, a lightweight QoE measurement configuration for one or more applications, including indication(s) of: whether the UE should perform QoE measurements in a lightweight manner; whether the UE should log performed QoE measurements in a lightweight format; whether the UE should report logged QoE measurements as lightweight QoE metrics; lightweight QoE metrics to be reported by the UE; and/or conditions for reporting lightweight QoE metrics and/or performing QoE measurements. Such methods include performing/logging QoE measurements for the one or more applications based on the lightweight QoE measurement configuration; and sending, to the RAN node, at least one lightweight QoE metric that is based on the logged QoE measurements and is related to at least one of the applications. Other embodiments include complementary methods for a RAN node.Figure 10 is selected for publication.

Description

METHODS FOR LIGHTWEIGHT QUALITY-OF-EXPERIENCE (QOE) MEASUREMENT AND REPORTING IN A WIRELESS NETWORK

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communication networks and more specifically to efficient techniques for configuring, performing, and reporting quality-of- experience (QoE) measurements by user equipment (UE) in a wireless network.

BACKGROUND

Long-Term Evolution (LTE) is an umbrella term for so-called fourth-generation (4G) radio access technologies developed within the Third-Generation Partnership Project (3 GPP) and initially standardized in Release 8 (Rel-8) and Release 9 (Rel-9), also known as Evolved UMTS Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN). LTE is targeted at various licensed frequency bands and is accompanied by improvements to non-radio aspects commonly referred to as System Architecture Evolution (SAE), which includes Evolved Packet Core (EPC) network. LTE continues to evolve through subsequent releases.

Currently the fifth generation (“5G”) of cellular systems, also referred to as New Radio (NR), is being standardized within the Third-Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). NR is developed for maximum flexibility to support multiple and substantially different use cases. These include enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), machine type communications (MTC), ultra-reliable low latency communications (URLLC), side-link device-to-device (D2D), and several other use cases.

5G/NR technology shares many similarities with LTE. For example, NR uses CP-OFDM (Cyclic Prefix Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing) in the downlink (DL, i.e., from the network) and both CP-OFDM and DFT-spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM) in the uplink (UL, i.e., to the network). As another example, in the time domain, NR DL and UL physical resources are organized into equal-sized 1-ms subframes. A subframe is further divided into multiple slots of equal duration, with each slot including multiple OFDM-based symbols. However, timefrequency resources can be configured much more flexibly for an NR cell than for an LTE cell. In addition to providing coverage via cells as in LTE, NR networks also provide coverage via “beams.” In general, a DL “beam” is a coverage area of a network-transmitted reference signal (RS) that may be measured or monitored by a user equipment (UE, e.g., wireless device).

Quality of Experience (QoE) measurements have been specified for UEs operating in LTE networks and in earlier-generation UMTS networks. Measurements in both networks operate according to the same high-level principles. Their purpose is to measure the experience of end users when using certain applications over a network. For example, QoE measurements for streaming services and for MTSI (Mobility Telephony Service for IMS) are supported in LTE. QoE measurements will also be needed for UEs operating in NR networks.

Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling is used to configure application layer measurements in UEs and to collect QoE measurement result files from the configured UEs. In particular, an application-layer measurement configuration from a core network or a network operations/administration/maintenance (0AM) function (also referred to as “network management system” or “NMS”) is encapsulated in a transparent container and sent to a UE’s serving RAN node, which forwards it to the UE in an RRC message. Application layer measurements made by the UE are encapsulated in a transparent container and sent in an RRC message to the serving RAN node, which forwards the container to a Trace Collector Entity (TCE) or a Measurement Collection Entity (MCE) associated with the core network.

A new study item for “Study on NR QoE management and optimizations for diverse services” has been approved for NR Rel-17. The purpose is to study solutions for QoE measurements in NR, not only for streaming services as in LTE but also for other services such as augmented or virtual reality (AR/VR), URLLC, etc. Based on requirements of the various services, the NR study will also include more adaptive QoE management schemes that enable intelligent network optimization to satisfy user experience for diverse services.

SUMMARY

In general, the serving RAN node has no knowledge of the application-layer QoE measurements in a transparent container received from a UE. However, it has been agreed for 3GPP Rel-17 to provide RAN nodes visibility into QoE reports so that RAN nodes can adapt various aspects of their performance based on UE QoE measurements. This can be particularly beneficial for URLLC services. However, there are various problems, issues, and/or difficulties in adapting conventional QoE measurements for use by RAN nodes in this manner.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide specific improvements to QoE measurements in a wireless network, such as by facilitating solutions to overcome exemplary problems summarized above and described in more detail below.

Some embodiments of the present disclosure include exemplary methods (e.g., procedures) for performing QoE measurements in a RAN. These exemplary methods can be performed by a UE (e.g., wireless device, loT device, modem, etc.) in communication with a RAN node (e.g., base station, eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, en-gNB, etc.). These exemplary methods can include receiving, from a RAN node, a lightweight QoE measurement configuration for one or more applications. The lightweight QoE measurement configuration can include at least one of the following:

• a first indication of whether the UE should perform QoE measurements in a lightweight manner;

• a second indication of whether the UE should log performed QoE measurements in a lightweight format;

• a third indication of whether the UE should report logged QoE measurements as lightweight QoE metrics;

• a fourth indication of one or more lightweight QoE metrics to be reported by the UE; and

• a fifth indication of one or more conditions for reporting lightweight QoE metrics and/or performing QoE measurements on which lightweight QoE metrics are based.

These exemplary methods can also include performing and logging QoE measurements for the one or more applications based on the lightweight QoE measurement configuration. These exemplary methods can also include sending, to the RAN node, at least one lightweight QoE metric that is based on the logged QoE measurements and is related to at least one of the applications. For example, each lightweight QoE metric can have or indicate a plurality of different values, and the UE sends a particular one of the values (or an indication of the particular value) that is based on the logged QoE measurements.

In some embodiments, performing and logging QoE measurements can include one or more of the following:

• based on the second indication, converting one or more first QoE measurements performed in a conventional manner into the lightweight format for logging; and

• based on at least one of the third, fourth, and fifth indications, converting one or more second QoE measurements logged in a conventional format into one or more lightweight QoE metrics.

In some of these embodiments, the at least one lightweight QoE metric can include one of more of the following:

• one or more first lightweight QoE metrics based on the first QoE measurements logged in the lightweight format; and

• one or more second lightweight QoE metrics based on the second QoE measurements logged in the conventional format.

In some embodiments, these exemplary methods can also include discarding the logged QoE measurements, on which the at least one lightweight QoE metric is based, after receiving no request for conventional QoE metrics based on the logged QoE measurements. In some embodiments, these exemplary methods can also include sending, to the RAN node, at least one conventional QoE metric related to the least one application. This can be done in various ways, summarized below.

In some variants, at least one lightweight QoE metric can be sent in a QoE measurement report together with at least one conventional QoE metric. These can be sent in the same measurement container or in different measurement containers. In some sub-variants, the at least one conventional QoE metric can be related to the same one or more applications as the at least one lightweight QoE metric. In other sub-variants, the at least one conventional QoE metric can be related to at least one different application than the at least one lightweight QoE metric.

In some embodiments, the at least one lightweight QoE measurement can be sent as one of the following:

• in a radio resource control (RRC) MeasurementReport message;

• in a minimization of drive testing (MDT) report;

• in a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE); and

• together with radio resource management (RRM) related measurements.

In some embodiments, each lightweight QoE metric can be a representation of one of the following:

• a conventional QoE metric;

• a plurality of different conventional QoE metrics for one application;

• a plurality of different lightweight QoE metrics for one application;

• respective values of a conventional QoE metric for a plurality of applications, and

• respective values of a lightweight QoE metric for a plurality of applications.

In some of these embodiments, each representation used by a lightweight QoE metric can be one of the following: a concatenation, an index, a score, a rating based on enumerated values, or a binary relation to a threshold. In some of these embodiments, each conventional QoE metric represented by a lightweight QoE metric can be related to one of the following: throughput, latency, round-trip time, uplink delay, downlink delay, initial play out delay, jitter, buffer level, and consecutive packet losses

Other embodiments include exemplary methods (e.g., procedures) for configuring a UE to perform QoE measurements in a RAN. These exemplary methods can be performed a RAN node (e.g., base station, eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc., or component thereof such as a gNB-DU).

These exemplary methods can include sending, to a UE, a lightweight QoE measurement configuration for one or more applications. The lightweight QoE measurement configuration can include any of the first through fifth indications summarized above in relation to UE embodiments. These exemplary methods can also include receiving, from the UE, at least one lightweight QoE metric that is based on QoE measurements performed and logged according to the lightweight QoE measurement configuration and is related to at least one of the applications. The at least one lightweight QoE metric can have any of the characteristics and/or properties (including representation of conventional QoE metrics) summarized above in relation to UE embodiments.

In some embodiments, these exemplary methods can also include receiving, from the UE, at least one conventional QoE metric related to the least one application.

In some variants, the at least one lightweight QoE metric can be received in a QoE measurement report together with at least one conventional QoE metric, either in the same measurement container or in different measurement containers. In some sub-variants, the at least one conventional QoE metric can be related to the same one or more applications as the at least one lightweight QoE metric. In other sub-variants, the at least one conventional QoE metric can be related to at least one different application than the at least one lightweight QoE metric.

In some embodiments, these exemplary methods can also include receiving the lightweight QoE measurement configuration from a network node or function coupled to the RAN and forwarding the at least one lightweight QoE metric to the network node or function coupled to the RAN. As non-limiting examples, the network node or function coupled to the RAN can be an access and mobility management function (AMF) in a core network (CN) or a network management system (NMS, e.g., 0AM).

Other embodiments include exemplary methods (e.g., procedures) for a network node or function coupled to a RAN. As non-limiting examples, such methods can be performed by a network management system (NMS, e.g., 0AM system or similar) or a core network node or function (e.g., AMF).

These exemplary methods can include sending, to a RAN node, a lightweight QoE measurement configuration for one or more applications associated with a user equipment (UE). The lightweight QoE measurement configuration can include any of the first through fifth indications discussed above in relation to UE embodiments. The exemplary method can include receiving, from the RAN node, at least one lightweight QoE metric that is related to at least one of the applications and is based on QoE measurements performed and logged by the UE according to the lightweight QoE measurement configuration. The at least one lightweight QoE metric can have any of the characteristics and/or properties (including representation of conventional QoE metrics) discussed above in relation to UE embodiments.

In some embodiments, the at least one lightweight QoE metric can be received based on the UE determining that logged QoE measurements meet one or more predetermined criteria.

Other embodiments include UEs (e.g., wireless devices, loT devices, etc. or component s) thereof), RAN nodes (e.g., base stations, eNBs, gNBs, ng-eNBs, en-gNBs, etc., or components thereof such as gNB-DUs), and network nodes or functions coupled to the RAN (e.g., 0AM, AMF, etc.) that are configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the exemplary methods described herein. Other embodiments include non-transitory, computer-readable media storing program instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry, configure such UEs, RAN nodes, or network nodes or functions coupled to the RAN to perform operations corresponding to any of the exemplary methods described herein.

These and other embodiments described herein can facilitate reduced signaling and processing load in the RAN and network management system (NMS, e.g., 0AM), only activating conventional QoE measurements and/or reporting when necessary. For example, a RAN may not need to know a precise QoE measurement value; a lightweight QoE metric such as a flag indicating whether the QoE measurement value meets certain criteria is sufficient. As another example, an NMS may trigger the performing and/or reporting of lightweight QoE measurement(s) to verify, in a simplified way, whether the QoE requirements are met at the UE side. Based on lightweight QoE metric(s), the NMS may decide to activate a more extensive investigation via conventional QoE measurements and/or reporting.

These and other objects, features, and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure will become apparent upon reading the following Detailed Description in view of the Drawings briefly described below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure l is a high-level block diagram of an exemplary LTE network architecture.

Figures 2-3 illustrate two high-level views of an exemplary 5G/NR network architecture.

Figure 4 shows an exemplary configuration of NR user plane (UP) and control plane (CP) protocol stacks.

Figures 5A-D show various procedures between a UTRAN and a UE for quality-of- experience (QoE) measurements in a legacy UMTS network.

Figures 6A-C illustrate various aspects of QoE measurement configuration for a UE in an LTE network.

Figures 7A-C illustrate various aspects of QoE measurement collection for a UE in an LTE network.

Figures 8A-C show various exemplary ASN. l data structures by which a UE can report lightweight QoE metrics, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Figure 9, which includes Figures 9A-B, shows an exemplary ASN. l data structure for an RRC MeasResults message by which a UE can report lightweight QoE metrics, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. Figure 10 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method (e.g., procedure) for a UE (e.g., wireless device, loT device, etc. or component(s) thereof), according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Figure 11 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method (e.g., procedure) for a RAN node (e.g., eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc. or component(s) thereof), according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Figure 12 is a flow diagram of an exemplary method (e.g., procedure) for a network node or function (e.g., 0AM, AMF, etc.) coupled to a RAN, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Figure 13 is a block diagram of an exemplary wireless device or UE according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Figure 14 is a block diagram of an exemplary network node according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Figure 15 is a block diagram of an exemplary network configured to provide over-the-top (OTT) data services between a host computer and a UE, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure.

Figure 16 is a block diagram of a virtualization environment in which various embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented and/or hosted.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Other embodiments, however, are contained within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein, the disclosed subject matter should not be construed as limited to only the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

Generally, all terms used herein are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the relevant technical field, unless a different meaning is clearly given and/or is implied from the context in which it is used. All references to a/an/the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc. are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc., unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any methods disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless a step is explicitly described as following or preceding another step and/or where it is implicit that a step must follow or precede another step. Any feature of any of the embodiments disclosed herein may be applied to any other embodiment, wherever appropriate. Likewise, any advantage of any of the embodiments may apply to any other embodiments, and vice versa. Other objectives, features, and advantages of the enclosed embodiments will be apparent from the following description.

Furthermore, the following terms are used throughout the description given below:

• Radio Node: As used herein, a “radio node” can be either a “radio access node” or a “wireless device.”

• Radio Access Node: As used herein, a “radio access node” (or equivalently “radio network node,” “radio access network node,” or “RAN node”) can be any node in a radio access network (RAN) of a cellular communications network that operates to wirelessly transmit and/or receive signals. Some examples of a radio access node include, but are not limited to, a base station (e.g, a New Radio (NR) base station (gNB/en-gNB) in a 3GPP Fifth Generation (5G) NR network or an enhanced or evolved Node B (eNB/ng-eNB) in a 3GPP LTE network), base station distributed components (e.g., CU and DU), base station control- and/or user-plane components (e.g., CU-CP, CU-UP), a high-power or macro base station, a low-power base station (e.g, micro, pico, femto, or home base station, or the like), an integrated access backhaul (IAB) node, a transmission point, a remote radio unit (RRU or RRH), and a relay node.

• Core Network Node: As used herein, a “core network node” is any type of node in a core network. Some examples of a core network node include, e.g., a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a serving gateway (SGW), a Packet Data Network Gateway (P-GW), an access and mobility management function (AMF), a session management function (AMF), a user plane function (UPF), a Service Capability Exposure Function (SCEF), or the like.

• Wireless Device: As used herein, a “wireless device” (or “WD” for short) is any type of device that has access to (i.e., is served by) a cellular communications network by communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other wireless devices. Communicating wirelessly can involve transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information through air. Some examples of a wireless device include, but are not limited to, smart phones, mobile phones, cell phones, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, desktop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless cameras, gaming consoles or devices, music storage devices, playback appliances, wearable devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, tablets, laptops, laptop- embedded equipment (LEE), laptop-mounted equipment (LME), smart devices, wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), mobile-type communication (MTC) devices, Internet-of-Things (loT) devices, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, etc. Unless otherwise noted, the term “wireless device” is used interchangeably herein with the term “user equipment” (or “UE” for short).

• Network Node: As used herein, a “network node” is any node that is either part of the radio access network (e.g., a radio access node or equivalent name discussed above) or of the core network (e.g., a core network node discussed above) of a cellular communications network. Functionally, a network node is equipment capable, configured, arranged, and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a wireless device and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the cellular communications network, to enable and/or provide wireless access to the wireless device, and/or to perform other functions (e.g., administration) in the cellular communications network.

Note that the description herein focuses on a 3 GPP cellular communications system and, as such, 3GPP terminology or terminology similar to 3GPP terminology is oftentimes used. However, the concepts disclosed herein are not limited to a 3 GPP system. Furthermore, although the term “cell” is used herein, it should be understood that (particularly with respect to 5G NR) beams may be used instead of cells and, as such, concepts described herein apply equally to both cells and beams.

As briefly summarized above, it has been agreed for 3GPP Rel-17 to provide RAN nodes visibility into QoE reports so that RAN nodes can adapt various aspects of their performance based on UE QoE measurements. However, there are various problems, issues, and/or difficulties in adapting conventional QoE measurements for use by RAN nodes in this manner. This is discussed in more detail below, after the following description of LTE and NR network architectures.

An overall exemplary architecture of a network comprising LTE and SAE is shown in Figure 1. E-UTRAN 100 includes one or more evolved Node B’s (eNB), such as eNBs 105, 110, and 115, and one or more user equipment (UE), such as UE 120. As used within the 3 GPP standards, “user equipment” or “UE” means any wireless communication device (e.g., smartphone or computing device) that is capable of communicating with 3 GPP-standard-compliant network equipment, including E-UTRAN as well as UTRAN and/or GERAN, as the third-generation (“3G”) and second-generation (“2G”) 3GPP RANs are commonly known.

As specified by 3GPP, E-UTRAN 100 is responsible for all radio-related functions in the network, including radio bearer control, radio admission control, radio mobility control, scheduling, and dynamic allocation of resources to UEs in uplink and downlink, as well as security of the communications with the UE. These functions reside in the eNBs, such as eNBs 105, 110, and 115. Each of the eNBs can serve a geographic coverage area including one more cells, including cells 106, 111, and 116 served by eNBs 105, 110, and 115, respectively. The eNBs in the E-UTRAN communicate with each other via the X2 interface, as shown in Figure 1. The eNBs also are responsible for the E-UTRAN interface to the EPC 130, specifically the SI interface to the Mobility Management Entity (MME) and the Serving Gateway (SGW), shown collectively as MME/S-GWs 134 and 138 in Figure 1. In general, the MME/S- GW handles both the overall control of the UE and data flow between the UE and the rest of the EPC. More specifically, the MME processes the signaling (e.g., control plane) protocols between the UE and the EPC, which are known as the Non-Access Stratum (NAS) protocols. The S-GW handles all Internet Protocol (IP) data packets (e.g., data or user plane) between the UE and the EPC and serves as the local mobility anchor for the data bearers when the UE moves between eNBs, such as eNBs 105, 110, and 115.

EPC 130 can also include a Home Subscriber Server (HSS) 131, which manages user- and subscriber-related information. HSS 131 can also provide support functions in mobility management, call and session setup, user authentication and access authorization. The functions of HSS 131 can be related to the functions of legacy Home Location Register (HLR) and Authentication Centre (AuC) functions or operations. HSS 131 can also communicate with MMEs 134 and 138 via respective S6a interfaces.

In some embodiments, HSS 131 can communicate with a user data repository (UDR) - labelled EPC-UDR 135 in Figure 1 - via a Ud interface. EPC-UDR 135 can store user credentials after they have been encrypted by AuC algorithms. These algorithms are not standardized (z.e., vendor-specific), such that encrypted credentials stored in EPC-UDR 135 are inaccessible by any other vendor than the vendor of HSS 131.

The multiple access scheme for the LTE PHY is based on Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM) with a cyclic prefix (CP) in the downlink, and on Single-Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA) with a cyclic prefix in the uplink. To support transmission in paired and unpaired spectrum, the LTE PHY supports both Frequency Division Duplexing (FDD) (including both full- and half-duplex operation) and Time Division Duplexing (TDD). The LTE FDD downlink (DL) radio frame has a fixed duration of 10 ms and consists of 20 slots, numbered 0 through 19, each with a fixed duration of 0.5 ms. A 1-ms subframe comprises two consecutive slots where subframe z consists of slots 2z and 2z+l.

3 GPP LTE Rel-10 supports bandwidths larger than 20 MHz. One important Rel-10 requirement is backward compatibility with LTE Rel-8, including spectrum compatibility. As such, a wideband LTE Rel-10 carrier (c.g, wider than 20 MHz) should appear as a plurality of carriers (“component carriers” or CCs) to an LTE Rel-8 (“legacy”) terminal. Legacy terminals can be scheduled in all parts of the wideband LTE Rel-10 carrier. One way to achieve this is by Carrier Aggregation (CA), whereby a Rel-10 terminal can receive multiple CCs, each preferably having the same structure as a Rel-8 carrier. Additionally, LTE Rel-12 introduced dual connectivity (DC) whereby a UE can be connected to two network nodes simultaneously, thereby improving connection robustness and/or capacity.

In LTE DC, a UE is configured with a Master Cell Group (MCG) associated with a master eNB (MeNB) and a Secondary Cell Group (SCG) associated with a Secondary eNB (SeNB). Each of the CGs includes a primary cell (PCell) and optionally one or more secondary cells (SCells). The term “Special Cell” (or “SpCell” for short) refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell of the SCG depending on whether the UE’s medium access control (MAC) entity is associated with the MCG or the SCG, respectively. In non-DC operation (e.g., CA), SpCell refers to the PCell. An SpCell is always activated and supports physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) transmission and contention-based random access by UEs.

Figure 2 illustrates a high-level view of the 5G network architecture, consisting of a Next Generation RAN (NG-RAN) 299 and a 5G Core (5GC) 298. NG-RAN 299 can include a set of gNodeB’s (gNBs) connected to the 5GC via one or more NG interfaces, such as gNBs 200, 250 connected via interfaces 202, 252, respectively. In addition, the gNBs can be connected to each other via one or more Xn interfaces, such as Xn interface 240 between gNBs 200 and 250. With respect the NR interface to UEs, each of the gNBs can support frequency division duplexing (FDD), time division duplexing (TDD), or a combination thereof.

NG-RAN 299 is layered into a Radio Network Layer (RNL) and a Transport Network Layer (TNL). The NG-RAN architecture, i.e., the NG-RAN logical nodes and interfaces between them, is defined as part of the RNL. For each NG-RAN interface (NG, Xn, Fl) the related TNL protocol and the functionality are specified. The TNL provides services for user plane transport and signaling transport. In some exemplary configurations, each gNB is connected to all 5GC nodes within an “AMF Region,” with AMFs being described below.

The NG RAN logical nodes shown in Figure 2 include a central (or centralized) unit (CU or gNB-CU) and one or more distributed (or decentralized) units (DU or gNB-DU). For example, gNB 200 includes gNB-CU 210 and gNB-DUs 220 and 230. CUs (e.g., gNB-CU 210) are logical nodes that host higher-layer protocols and perform various gNB functions such controlling the operation of DUs. Each DU is a logical node that hosts lower-layer protocols and can include, depending on the functional split, various subsets of the gNB functions. As such, each of the CUs and DUs can include various circuitry needed to perform their respective functions, including processing circuitry, transceiver circuitry (e.g., for communication), and power supply circuitry. Moreover, the terms “central unit” and “centralized unit” are used interchangeably herein, as are the terms “distributed unit” and “decentralized unit.” A gNB-CU connects to gNB-DUs over respective Fl logical interfaces, such as interfaces 222 and 232 shown in Figure 2. The gNB-CU and connected gNB-DUs are only visible to other gNBs and the 5GC as a gNB. In other words, the Fl interface is not visible beyond gNB-CU. In the gNB split CU-DU architecture illustrated by Figure 5, DC can be achieved by allowing a UE to connect to multiple DUs served by the same CU or by allowing a UE to connect to multiple DUs served by different CUs.

Figure 3 shows another high-level view of an exemplary 5G network architecture, including a Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN) 399 and a 5G Core (5GC) 398. As shown in the figure, NG-RAN 399 can include gNBs 310 (e.g., 310a, b) and ng-eNBs 320 (e.g., 320a, b) that are interconnected with each other via respective Xn interfaces. The gNBs and ng- eNBs are also connected via the NG interfaces to 5GC 398, more specifically to the AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function) 330 (e.g., AMFs 330a, b) via respective NG-C interfaces and to the UPF (User Plane Function) 340 (e.g., UPFs 340a, b) via respective NG-U interfaces. Moreover, the AMFs 330a,b can communicate with one or more policy control functions (PCFs, e.g., PCFs 350a, b) and network exposure functions (NEFs, e.g., NEFs 360a, b).

Each of the gNBs 310 can support the NR radio interface including frequency division duplexing (FDD), time division duplexing (TDD), or a combination thereof. Each of ng-eNBs 320 can support the LTE radio interface. Unlike conventional LTE eNBs, however, ng-eNBs 320 connect to the 5GC via the NG interface. Each of the gNBs and ng-eNBs can serve a geographic coverage area including one more cells, such as cells 311a-b and 321a-b shown in Figure 3. Depending on the particular cell in which it is located, a UE 305 can communicate with the gNB or ng-eNB serving that particular cell via the NR or LTE radio interface, respectively. Although Figure 3 shows gNBs and ng-eNBs separately, it is also possible that a single NG-RAN node provides both types of functionality.

Figure 4 shows an exemplary configuration of NR user plane (UP) and control plane (CP) protocol stacks between a UE, a gNB, and an AMF, such as those shown in Figures 2-3. The Physical (PHY), Medium Access Control (MAC), Radio Link Control (RLC), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layers between the UE and the gNB are common to UP and CP. The PDCP layer provides ciphering/deciphering, integrity protection, sequence numbering, reordering, and duplicate detection for both CP and UP. In addition, PDCP provides header compression and retransmission for UP data.

On the UP side, Internet protocol (IP) packets arrive to the PDCP layer as service data units (SDUs), and PDCP creates protocol data units (PDUs) to deliver to RLC. When each IP packet arrives, PDCP starts a discard timer. When this timer expires, PDCP discards the associated SDU and the corresponding PDU. If the PDU was delivered to RLC, PDCP also indicates the discard to RLC.

The RLC layer transfers PDCP PDUs to the MAC through logical channels (LCH). RLC provides error detection/correction, concatenation, segmentation/reassembly, sequence numbering, reordering of data transferred to/from the upper layers. If RLC receives a discard indication from associated with a PDCP PDU, it will discard the corresponding RLC SDU (or any segment thereof) if it has not been sent to lower layers.

The MAC layer provides mapping between LCHs and PHY transport channels, LCH prioritization, multiplexing into or demultiplexing from transport blocks (TBs), hybrid ARQ (HARQ) error correction, and dynamic scheduling (on gNB side). The PHY layer provides transport channel services to the MAC layer and handles transfer over the NR radio interface, e.g., via modulation, coding, antenna mapping, and beam forming.

On UP side, the Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer handles quality-of-service (QoS). This includes mapping between QoS flows and Data Radio Bearers (DRBs) and marking QoS flow identifiers (QFI) in UL and DL packets. On CP side, the non-access stratum (NAS) layer is between UE and AMF and handles UE/gNB authentication, mobility management, and security control.

The RRC layer sits below NAS in the UE but terminates in the gNB rather than the AMF. RRC controls communications between UE and gNB at the radio interface as well as the mobility of a UE between cells in the NG-RAN. RRC also broadcasts system information (SI) and performs establishment, configuration, maintenance, and release of DRBs and Signaling Radio Bearers (SRBs) and used by UEs. Additionally, RRC controls addition, modification, and release of carrier aggregation (CA) and dual -connectivity (DC) configurations for UEs. RRC also performs various security functions such as key management.

After a UE is powered ON it will be in the RRC__IDLE state until an RRC connection is established with the network, at which time the UE will transition to RRC CONNECTED state (e.g., where data transfer can occur). The UE returns to RRC IDLE after the connection with the network is released. In RRC IDLE state, the UE’s radio is active on a discontinuous reception (DRX) schedule configured by upper layers. During DRX active periods (also referred to as “DRX On durations”), an RRC IDLE UE receives SI broadcast in the cell where the UE is camping, performs measurements of neighbor cells to support cell reselection, and monitors a paging channel on PDCCH for pages from 5GC via gNB. An NR UE in RRC IDLE state is not known to the gNB serving the cell where the UE is camping. However, NR RRC includes an RRC_INACTIVE state in which a UE is known (e.g., via UE context) by the serving gNB. RRC INACTIVE has some properties similar to a “suspended” condition used in LTE. As briefly mentioned above, QoE measurements have been specified for UEs operating in LTE networks and in earlier-generation UMTS networks. Measurements in both networks operate according to the same high-level principles. Their purpose is to measure the experience of end users when using certain applications over a network. For example, QoE measurements for streaming services and for MTSI (Mobility Telephony Service for IMS) are supported in LTE.

QoE measurements may be initiated towards the RAN from an 0AM node generically for a group of UEs (e.g., all UEs meeting one or more criteria). QoE measurements may also be initiated from the CN to the RAN for a specific UE. The configuration of the measurement includes the measurement details, which is encapsulated in a container that is transparent to RAN.

A "TRACE START" S1AP message is used by the LTE EPC for initiating QoE measurements by a specific UE. This message carries details about the measurement configuration the application should collect in the “Container for application layer measurement configuration” IE, which transparent to the RAN. This message also includes details needed to reach the TCE to which the measurements should be sent.

Figures 5A-D show various procedures between a UMTS RAN (UTRAN) and a UE for QoE measurements in a legacy UMTS network. As shown in Figure 5A, the UTRAN can send a UE Capability Inquiry message to request the UE to report its application layer measurement capabilities. As shown in Figure 5B, the UE can provide its application layer measurement capabilities to the UTRAN via a UE Capability Information message, particularly in a “Measurement Capability” IE that includes information related to UE capability to perform the QoE measurement collection for streaming services and/or MTSI services. Table 1 below shows exemplary contents of this IE:

Table 1.

The UTRAN can respond with a UE Capability Information Confirm message. Figure 5C shows that the UTRAN can send a Measurement Control message containing “Application layer measurement configuration” IE in order to configure QoE measurement in the UE. Table 2 below shows exemplary contents of this IE:

Table 2.

Figure 5D shows that the UE can send QoE measurement results via UTRAN to the TCE using a Measurement Report message that includes an “Application layer measurement reporting” IE. Table 3 below shows exemplary contents of this IE:

Table 3.

Figures 6A-C illustrate a procedure between an E-UTRAN and a UE for configuring QoE measurements in an LTE network. Figure 6A shows an exemplary UE capability transfer procedure used to transfer UE radio access capability information from the UE to E-UTRAN. Initially, the E-UTRAN can send a UECapabilitylnquiry message, similar to the arrangement shown in Figure 5A. The UE can respond with a UECapabilitylnformation message, to which the E-UTRAN responds with a UECapabilitylnformationConfirm message.

A UE-EUTRA-Capability IE may be included in the UECapabilitylnformation message. This IE may further include a UE-EUTRA-Capability-vl530 IE, which can be used to indicate whether the UE supports QoE Measurement Collection for streaming services and/or MTSI services. In particular, the UE-EUTRA-Capability-vl530 IE can include a measParameters- v!530 IE containing the information about the UE’s measurement support. In some cases, the UE-EUTRA-Capability IE can also include a UE-EUTRA-Capability-vl6xy-IE”, which can include a qoe-Extensions-r!6 field. Figure 6B shows an exemplary ASN. l data structure for these various IES, with the various fields defined in Table 4 below. Figure 6C shows an exemplary ASN. l data structure for the qoe-Reference parameter defined in Table 4.

Table 4.

Figures 7A-C illustrate various aspects of QoE measurement collection for a UE in an LTE network. In particular, Figure 7A shows an exemplary signal flow diagram of a QoE measurement collection process for LTE. To initiate QoE measurements, the serving eNB sends to a UE in RRC CONNECTED state an RRCConnectionReconfiguration message that includes a QoE configuration file, e.g., a measConfigAppLayer IE within an OtherConfig IE. As discussed above, the QoE configuration file is an application-layer measurement configuration received by the eNB (e.g., from EPC) encapsulated in a transparent container, which is forwarded to UE in the RRC message. The UE responds with an RRCConnectionReconfigurationComplete message. Subsequently, the UE performs the configured QoE measurements and sends a MeasReportAppLayer RRC message to the eNB, including a QoE measurement result file. Although not shown, the eNB can forward this result file transparently (e.g., to EPC).

Figure 7B shows an exemplary ASN.l data structure for a measConfigAppLayer IE. The setup includes the transparent container measConfigAppLayerContainer which specifies the QoE measurement configuration for the Application of interest. In the serviceType field, a value of “qoe” indicates Quality of Experience Measurement Collection for streaming services and a value of “qoemtsi” indicates Enhanced Quality of Experience Measurement Collection for MTSI. This field also includes various spare values.

Figure 7C shows an exemplary ASN.l data structure for a measReportAppLayer IE, by which a UE can send to the E-UTRAN (e.g., via SRB4) the QoE measurement results of an application (or service). The service for which the report is being sent is indicated in the serviceType IE.

As specified in 3GPP TS 28.405 (vl6.0.0), LTE RAN nodes (e.g., eNBs) are allowed to temporarily stop and restart QoE measurement reporting when an overload situation is observed. This behavior can be summarized as follows. In case of overload in RAN, an eNB may temporarily stop UE reporting by sending to relevant UEs an RRCConnectionReconfiguration message with a measConfigAppLayer IE (in otherConfig set to temporarily stop application layer measurement reporting. The application stops the reporting and may stop recording further information. When the overload situation in RAN is ended, an eNB may restart UE reporting by sending to relevant UEs an RRCConnectionReconfiguration message with a measConfigAppLayer IE (in otherConfig') set to to restart application layer measurement reporting. The application restarts the reporting and recording if it was stopped.

In general, the RAN (e.g., E-UTRAN or NG-RAN) is not aware of an ongoing streaming session for a UE and nor of when QoE measurements are being performed by the UE. Even so, it is important for the client or management function analyzing the measurements that the entire streaming session is measured. It is beneficial, then, that the UE maintains QoE measurements for the entire session, even during handover situation. However, it is an implementation decision when RAN stops the QoE measurements. For example, it could be done when the UE has moved outside the measured area, e.g., due to a handover.

In addition to QoE measurements, a UE can be configured to perform and report measurements to support minimization of drive tests (MDT), which is intended to reduce and/or minimize the requirements for manual testing of actual network performance (i.e., by driving around the geographic coverage of the network). The MDT feature was first studied in LTE Rel- 9 (e.g., 3GPP TR 36.805 v9.0.0) and first standardized in Rel-10. MDT can address various network performance improvements such as coverage optimization, capacity optimization, mobility optimization, quality-of-service (QoS) verification, and parameterization for common channels (e.g., PDSCH).

A UE can be configured to perform logged and/or immediate MDT measurements. For example, a UE can be configured (e.g., via a LoggedMeasurementConfiguration RRC message from the network) to perform periodical MDT measurement logging while in RRC IDLE state. A received MDT configuration can include logginginterval and loggingduration. The UE starts a timer (T330) set to loggingduration (e.g., 10-120 min) upon receiving the configuration, and perform periodical MDT logging every logginginterval (1.28-61.44 s) within the loggingduration while the UE is in RRC IDLE state. In particular, the UE collects DL reference signal received strength and quality (i.e., RSRP, RSRQ) based on existing measurements required for cell reselection purposes. The UE reports the collected/logged information to the network when the UE returns to RRC CONNECTED state.

In contrast, a UE can be configured to perform and report immediate MDT measurements while in RRC CONNECTED state. Similar to logged MDT, immediate MDT measurements are based on existing UE and/or network measurements performed while a UE is in RRC CONNECTED, and can include any of the following measurement quantities: • Ml : RSRP and RSRQ measurement by UE.

• M2: Power Headroom measurement by UE.

• M3: Received Interference Power measurement by eNB.

• M4: Data Volume measurement separately for DL and UL, per QoS class indicator (QCI) per UE, by eNB.

• M5: Scheduled IP layer Throughput for MDT measurement separately for DL and UL, per RAB per UE and per UE for the DL, per UE for the UL, by eNB.

• M6: Packet Delay measurement, separately for DL and UL, per QCI per UE, see UL PDCP Delay, by the UE, and Packet Delay in the DL per QCI, by the eNB.

• M7: Packet Loss rate measurement, separately for DL and UL per QCI per UE, by the eNB.

• M8: received signal strength (RS SI) measurement by UE.

• M9: round trip time (RTT) measurement by UE.

For example, the reporting of Ml measurements can be event-triggered according to existing RRM configuration for any of events A1-A6 or B1-B2. In addition, Ml reporting can be periodic, A2 event-triggered, or A2 event-triggered periodic according to an MDT-specific measurement configuration. As another example, the reporting of M2 measurements can be based on reception of Power Headroom Report (PHR), while reporting for M3-M9 can be triggered by the expiration of a measurement collection period.

A new study item for “Study on NR QoE management and optimizations for diverse services” has been approved for NR Rel-16. The purpose is to study solutions for QoE measurements in NR, not only for streaming services as in LTE but also for other services such as augmented or virtual reality (AR/VR), URLLC, etc. Based on requirements of the various services, the NR study will also include more adaptive QoE management schemes that enable intelligent network optimization to satisfy user experience for diverse services.

Similar to LTE, UE QoE measurements made in NG-RAN may be initiated by a management function (e.g., 0AM) in a generic way for a group of UEs, or they may be initiated by the core network (e.g., 5GC) towards a specific UE based on signaling with the NG-RAN. As mentioned above, the configuration of the measurement includes the measurement details, which is encapsulated in a container that is transparent to the NG-RAN.

The existing solution for QoE measurements in LTE networks is designed to collect an extensive set of measurements for different services which can result in a large amount of measurement data to be reported to the requesting entity, e.g., CN or 0AM. It has been agreed for 3GPP Rel-17 to provide RAN nodes visibility into QoE reports so that RAN nodes can adapt various aspects of their performance based on UE QoE measurements. This can be particularly beneficial for URLLC services, since QoE reporting is likely to be fast and frequent such that a RAN node can quickly adapt performance to meet URLLC service requirements.

However, the legacy arrangement with a large amount of QoE measurement data is unsuitable for fast and frequent reporting from which a RAN node can quickly adapt performance in this manner. Another issue with the legacy arrangement is that all currently reported QoE measurement data are not suitable for, or even understood by, RAN nodes. This is because legacy QoE metrics are intended to be interpreted by the MCE rather than the RAN. For example, MPD (media presentation description) information as defined in 3GPP TS 26.118 is neither relevant to nor understood by the RAN.

As such, the current QoE measurement reporting arrangement can create extra load for a RAN node without providing (at least) comparable benefit. For example, a RAN node would need to receive, process, and interpret frequent QoE measurements that contain information that is irrelevant to meeting strict URLLC service requirements.

Accordingly, embodiments of the present disclosure provide techniques that facilitate configuring a UE to perform application layer measurements (e.g., QoE measurements of a target application) according to one of multiple types of QoE measurement and/or reporting, including so-called “lightweight” QoE measurement and/or reporting. In some cases, the UE can be provided an indication of lightweight QoE measurements that are at least partially different from legacy or conventional QoE measurements (also referred to as “non-lightweight measurements”). In some embodiments, a lightweight QoE measurement may be an abstraction of a corresponding legacy QoE measurement. For example, instead of legacy QoE measurement of throughput or latency, a lightweight QoE score indicating the quality of the conventional QoE measurement can be reported by the UE.

As used herein, the term “lightweight QoE measurement” (or “lightweight QoE metric”) refers to any measurement that is different from any of the conventional QoE measurements specified in 3GPP TS 26.247 (vl6.4.1), 26.114 (vl6.7.0), 26.118 (vl6.0.2), and 26.346 (vl6.6.0), at least in a manner that requires fewer information bits to transmit than a corresponding conventional QoE measurement.

The terms “condensed”, “compact”, “simplified”, and “more abstract” may be used synonymously with “lightweight” in the context of a format or representation for QoE measurements, metrics, or data. For example, a lightweight QoE measurement can be an encoded and/or compressed version of a legacy QoE measurement, such that the lightweight QoE measurement may not convey the same granularity of information as the legacy QoE measurement. As a more specific example, a lightweight QoE measurement can be an integer or a binary flag that represents a corresponding legacy QoE measurement that is a larger integer, a real value, an array of values, etc.

In some cases, the “encoding” mentioned above can be a mapping between actual measurements and binary, integer, or enumerated values. In other cases, a legacy QoE measurement can be input to an artificial intelligence (AI)/machine learning (ML) system, a neural network-based model, or other algorithm to produce a simplified metric (e.g., single-value quality rating/score/index) of QoE for a user for running a certain service. In some cases, a plurality of legacy QoE measurements (e.g., data throughput, latency, jitter, etc.) can be input to such an algorithm to produce a single metric representative of all QoE aspects covered by the multiple legacy QoE measurements. In other cases, however, the single metric may only represent a subset of all QoE aspects covered by the legacy QoE measurements, such as those deemed most relevant based on some predetermined criteria.

Embodiments disclosed herein can provide various benefits and/or advantages. For example, embodiments can facilitate reduced signaling and processing load in the RAN and network management system (NMS, e.g., 0AM), only activating conventional QoE measurements and/or reporting when necessary. For example, a RAN may not need to know a precise QoE measurement value; a lightweight QoE metric such as a flag indicating whether the QoE measurement value meets certain criteria is sufficient. As another example, an NMS may trigger the performing and/or reporting of lightweight QoE measurement(s) to verify, in a simplified way, whether the QoE requirements are met at the UE side. Based on lightweight QoE metric(s), the NMS may decide to activate a more extensive investigation via conventional QoE measurements and/or reporting.

In the following description of exemplary embodiments, the following groups of terms and/or abbreviations have the same or substantially similar meanings and, as such, are used interchangeably and/or synonymously unless specifically noted or unless a different meaning is clear from a specific context of use:

• “application layer” and “UE application layer” (RAN nodes generally do not have an application layer);

• “application layer measurement”, "application measurement”, and “QoE measurement”;

• “modem”, “radio layer”, “radio network layer”, and “access stratum”;

• “conventional”, “legacy”, and “non-lightweight”;

• “MDT measurement”, “radio layer measurement”, “radio measurement”, and “radiorelated measurement”;

• “linked”, “synched”, “synchronized”, “associated”, and “coupled” with respect to application layer measurements and radio layer measurements; • “service” and “application”;

• “measurement collection entity”, “MCE”, “trace collection entity”, and “TCE”.

In general, embodiments disclosed herein are applicable to both signaling- and management-based QoE measurements. In addition, embodiments disclosed herein are applicable to UEs and RANs used in UMTS, LTE, and NR.

Various embodiments can be summarized as follows. In some embodiments, a UE can receive an indication (e.g., from a RAN node or NMS) that it should report lightweight QoE measurements to the RAN node and the NMS. The indication can also indicate that the UE should report the lightweight QoE measurements in a certain way, including those described below.

In some embodiments, the indication can indicate that the UE should report the lightweight QoE measurements in a QoE report similar to the reporting of the legacy/existing QoE measurements. In some variants, the UE can include the lightweight QoE measurements outside of the legacy QoE measurements container but in the same QoE report that is sent to the RAN node. In this case, the RAN node can decode the lightweight QoE measurement report without needing to open the transparent container and decode the legacy QoE measurements. In other words, the lightweight QoE measurement report is visible to the RAN node. However, if the lightweight QoE measurements indicate that application does not have an acceptable QoE, the RAN node can open the transparent container and decode the legacy QoE measurements for further analysis.

In other embodiments, the indication can indicate that the UE should report the lightweight QoE measurements together with MDT data in an MDT report. For example, this can be reported in an RRC UEInformationResponse message when the UE is configured with MDT measurements. In this case, the UE radio layer may request the UE application layer (or a set of applications) to provide the lightweight QoE measurements upon receiving the MDT configuration, logging the QoE measurements, or compiling the MDT measurement report. Some variants can include a list of lightweight QoE measurements per application.

In other embodiments, the indication can indicate that the UE should report the lightweight QoE measurements in an RRC UEInformationResponse message as one or more IES separate from the IEs used to report logged MDT measurements and other measurements in RRC IDLE state. In some variants, the UE can indicate availability of lightweight QoE measurements by a new parameter in UE-MeasurementsAvailable-rl6 IE, e.g., in an NR RRCSetupComplete or RRCResumeComplete message. In other variants, the UE can indicate availability of lightweight QoE measurements by new value(s) of an existing parameter indicating availability of QoE measurement data. For example, this parameter can have values indicating availability of legacy QoE measurements, lightweight QoE measurements, or both. In other embodiments, the indication can indicate that the UE should report the lightweight QoE measurements in a report of radio resource management related (RRM) measurements, e.g., in a MeasurementReport RRC message. In other embodiments, the indication can indicate that the UE should report the lightweight QoE measurements in a MAC control element (CE).

In some embodiments, the indication can be part of a QoE measurement configuration. Upon receiving a QoE measurement configuration including indication(s) to perform and/or report lightweight QoE measurements, the UE sends the QoE measurement configuration including such indication(s) to the application layer and/or the targeted application. The targeted application initiates the configured QoE measurements, including any configured lightweight QoE measurements, and logs the measurement results in memory. Upon finalizing the configured QoE measurements, the application layer sends the logged QoE measurements, including any logged lightweight QoE measurements, to the radio layer. For example, the lightweight QoE measurements can be conveyed by the application layer to the radio layer in a separate container than other QoE measurements. The UE radio layer reports the QoE measurements, including the lightweight QoE measurements, to the RAN node and/or NMS in any of the ways discussed above (e.g., as configured by the RAN node or NMS).

Upon receiving the reported QoE measurements from the UE, the RAN node and/or NMS can analyze the lightweight QoE report first and only open the transparent container and/or decode the legacy QoE measurements if the lightweight QoE measurements indicate a need for further analysis. In some embodiments, the RAN node can forward the lightweight QoE measurements to the NMS, e.g., together with any legacy QoE measurements.

In general, QoE measurements involve the following three aspects:

• Performing the QoE measurements, i.e., UE collection of measurement samples of various quantities or parameters that are relevant to QoE;

• Logging of QoE measurement data in UE memory for later reporting to the network, e.g., on request from the network; and

• Reporting of logged QoE measurement data to the network.

The representation (or format) of the QoE measurement data is most relevant to the second and third aspects above. According to embodiments of the present disclosure, QoE measurement data can be represented by one or both of the following:

• legacy QoE metrics in existing and/or conventional formats, as measured, logged, and reported by the application layer; or

• lightweight QoE metrics in condensed representation or format (e.g., value, score, rating, index, binary flag, etc.), which can be used to mitigate various problems described above. As an example, a lightweight QoE metric may consist of a single number QoE score, as discussed below. A UE can derive a lightweight QoE metric from one or more conventional QoE metrics, e.g., by condensing the conventional QoE metric(s) into a compact representation.

There are various ways to create lightweight QoE metrics, and one significant distinction in this context is whether a lightweight QoE metric is derived from a single conventional QoE metric or from multiple (e.g., all) conventional QoE metrics for an application. An example of the former is one lightweight representation of the average throughput (AvgThroughpuf) conventional QoE metric and one lightweight representation of the initial playout delay (InitialPlayoutDelay) conventional QoE metric for Progressive Download and DASH. An example of the latter is on lightweight QoE metric that represents both of these conventional QoE metrics. As another example, different subsets of conventional QoE metrics for an application can be represented by respective lightweight QoE metrics. Each subset can include one or more conventional QoE metrics.

The performing, logging, and reporting aspects described above are all amenable to lightweight adaptations, in accordance with various embodiments described herein. Furthermore, the lightweight adaptations may be combined in different ways in different embodiments. Below are some examples:

1. The UE/application performs lightweight QoE measurements (e.g., simplified measurements, less frequent sampling, fewer measurement quantities, etc.), logs the measurement data in lightweight format, and reports lightweight QoE metrics to the network when requested.

2. The UE/application performs conventional QoE measurements, logs the measurement data in lightweight format, and reports lightweight QoE metrics to the network when requested.

3. The UE/application performs conventional QoE measurements, logs the measurement data in conventional format, and reports lightweight QoE metrics to the network if configured or requested by the network. Optionally, the UE can report the QoE measurements in conventional format and lightweight format together in the same message, e.g., in the same container or different containers.

Embodiments exemplified by the third example above enables a RAN node or NMS (referred to collectively as “the network”) to determine that it wants to have more detailed QoE data or perform a deeper analysis based on received lightweight QoE metrics (and possibly other circumstances, such as the current load in the cell or the nature of other types reported measurement results, e.g., RRM or MDT measurements). The network may then request the UE to report the logged conventional QoE metrics that correspond to the previously reported lightweight QoE metrics (e.g., the conventional QoE data from which the lightweight QoE data was derived).

To enable this, the UE should not discard the logged conventional QoE data when its lightweight representation is reported. Instead, the UE should retain the logged conventional QoE data to allow some time for the network to determine that it wants the logged conventional QoE data and to request it. The time period during which the UE retains the logged conventional QoE data after having reported lightweight QoE data can, in one embodiment, be configurable, e.g., configured as a part of the QoE measurement configuration, or a separate parameter in the message that conveys the QoE measurement configuration to the UE. In another embodiment, the time the UE retains the logged conventional QoE data after having reported lightweight QoE data is specified in a standard specification and hence hardcoded in the UE. In other embodiments, the UE retains the logged conventional QoE data after having reported lightweight QoE data until the UE is switched from RRC CONNECTED state to RRC INACTIVE or RRC IDLE state. In other embodiments, the network can choose to configure a timer governing the time UE retains the logged conventional QoE data after having reported lightweight QoE data, or (in absence of the configured timer) let the UE retain the concerned data until the UE is switched from RRC CONNECTED state to RRC INACTIVE or RRC IDLE state.

In other embodiments exemplified by the third example above, the UE or client application logs the QoE measurement results in both conventional and lightweight formats. This may facilitate the interaction between the application layer and the radio layer in the UE. For instance, the QoE data to be reported may be delivered from the application layer in a data container that the radio layer cannot interpret but that that the end receiver, such as the NMS, can understand. Then the application layer could deliver two data containers to the radio layer, one containing lightweight QoE data and one containing conventional QoE data. The radio layer can send the container with the lightweight QoE data to the network and retain the container with the conventional QoE data. If the network subsequently requests the conventional QoE data, the radio layer can deliver the retained container with the conventional QoE data to the network.

In other embodiments, a new RRC message can be introduced by which the network can explicitly request retained/logged conventional QoE data from the UE.

In the first two examples mentioned above, the network is not able to retrieve the conventional QoE data as needed, but will instead have to instruct the UE to perform new conventional QoE measurements and log and report conventional QoE data. This may require a new QoE measurement configuration to be sent to the UE, or the network may indicate to the UE that it should reuse its current QoE measurement configuration with the difference that it should now perform, log, and report conventional QoE data. This will require additional measurements, which will take more time and will not map directly to the previously retrieved lightweight QoE data. A further disadvantage is that the application session may have ended by the time the network retrieves the lightweight QoE data.

In some embodiments, the UE can be initially configured with both a lightweight QoE measurement configuration and a conventional QoE measurement configuration.

If more than one of the three approaches exemplified by the above examples are specified and/or implemented, then the network may indicate in the QoE measurement configuration which of the approaches that should be used, or if conventional QoE measurement and reporting should be used. For example, the network may indicate in the QoE measurement configuration at least one of the following options:

• Whether the UE should perform conventional or lightweight QoE measurements;

• Whether the UE should log the obtained QoE measurement data in conventional or lightweight format; and

• Whether the UE should report logged QoE data in conventional and/or lightweight format.

In other embodiments, the RAN node can indicate in the request for QoE data (e.g., in an RRC UEInformationRe quest message) whether it wants conventional QoE data and/or lightweight QoE data to be reported by the UE. In some embodiments, the configuration may include a list of indications, e.g., one per service or application.

In other embodiments, the UE can be configured to determine whether to report conventional or lightweight QoE data. For example, the UE can be configured to report lightweight QoE data when the QoE is good or acceptable but report conventional (or both conventional and lightweight) QoE data when the QoE is poor or unacceptable. This determination can be made in various ways. For example, the UE can compare a lightweight QoE score with a configured or specified threshold. When the QoE score is equal to or above the threshold, the QoE is classified as good/acceptable and the UE reports only the lightweight QoE data. On the other hand, when the QoE score is below the threshold, the QoE is classified as poor and the UE reports conventional (or both conventional and lightweight) QoE data. Other ways of classifying QoE for reporting type determination may involve comparing various QoE metrics, such as average throughput, with one or more other configurable/ specified thresholds.

In other embodiments, the network can perform fast reconfiguration of the UE’s QoE measurement configuration to change the configuration from “report conventional QoE data” to “report lightweight QoE data” or vice versa. Such a fast reconfiguration could involve sending a MAC CE or an RRC message with the change indication. In case of an RRC message, the network can include the change indication in the message or forward a container (with the change indication) received from the core network or the NMS. When the UE radio layer receives such a container, it would pass it to the application layer.

One way to facilitate a fast reconfiguration of the UE from performing lightweight QoE measurements to performing conventional QoE measurements is by the network providing the UE an initial QoE measurement configuration with instructions for conventional QoE measurements along with an indication that the UE should perform lightweight QoE measurements until receiving an indication for the change. The UE may know itself (e.g., from specification or implementation) how to convert the conventional QoE measurements into simplified lightweight QoE measurements, or the initial QoE measurement configuration may contain configurations for both conventional and lightweight QoE measurements.

Lightweight QoE metrics logged and/or reported by the UE can be determined in various ways, including those discussed below. In some embodiments, a lightweight QoE metric may be a simplified representation (or abstraction) of a conventional QoE metric. For example, instead of the conventional throughput or latency QoE metric, a QoE score indicating the quality of the metric can be reported to the network. Simplification and/or abstraction may be applied to some or all of the QoE metrics included in a QoE measurement report. The interpretation of a simplified (lightweight) representation of a QoE metric can be preconfigured at the UE or signaled to the UE by the network.

Furthermore, a simplified representation of one or more metrics can take different forms. For example, it may be binary (“0” = bad, “1” = good), integer (quantifying “goodness” of the metric on a scale from 0 to x), or a set of enumerated values (e.g., “good”, “moderate”, “bad”). In some cases (e.g., pertaining to both binary and integer lightweight QoE score), a special value can be used to indicate when the QoE could not be evaluated, e.g., due to no incoming traffic during the measurement period. This special value can be interpreted as “no traffic received”, “no measurements made”, etc. as appropriate to the particular QoE metric and/or context.

An example configuration is used in the following description to illustrate various embodiments. In this exemplary configuration, a UE is running two applications, A and B, each of which may have multiple QoE metrics. In particular, QoE metrics for application A are denoted Al, A2, etc. while QoE metrics for application B are denoted Bl, B2, etc.

In some embodiments, a lightweight QoE metric may be a value or an index providing a compact representation of one or more of the conventional QoE metrics defined for an application. The order used to concatenate the compact representation of the QoE metrics can be preconfigured at the UE or signaled by the network or 0AM In one variant, a lightweight QoE metric can be constructed by an explicit mapping of the conventional QoE metrics defined for an application. For example, Al has a range of possible values (1...100), with values < 50 classified as “good” (e.g., binary “1”) and values > 50 classified as “bad” (e.g., binary “0”). A2 has a range of possible values (0...5), with values (0,1) classified as “poor” (e.g., binary “00”), values (2,3) classified as medium (e.g., binary “01”), and values (4,5) classified as good (e.g., binary “11”). A possible lightweight QoE metric can constructed so that “111” indicates that Al and A2 are good, “101” indicates that Al is good and A2 is medium, etc.

In another variant, a lightweight QoE metric can be constructed by an implicit mapping and/or abstraction of the conventional QoE metrics defined for an application. Using the above example of two metrics 1 and 2, a possible lightweight QoE metric can constructed so that“l” indicates that Al and A2 are good and “0” indicates that Al and/or A2 is not satisfactory

In other embodiments, a lightweight QoE metric can be a value or an index providing a compact representation of one or more of the conventional or lightweight QoE metrics defined for a list of applications. The order used to concatenate the compact representation of the applications and their respective QoE metrics can be preconfigured at the UE or signaled by the network.

In one variant, a lightweight QoE metric can be constructed by concatenating explicit mappings of lightweight QoE metrics for each application. Lightweight Al comprises three bits, with “111” indicating that “Application A is good”. Lightweight B 1 comprises two bits, with “11” indicating that “Application B is good”. A possible lightweight QoE metric reported by the UE when both A and B are good can be “ 11111”.

In another variant, a lightweight QoE metric can be constructed by concatenating lightweight QoE metrics for each application. For example, lightweight Al and Bl can indicate whether (“1”) or not (“0”) not all QoE metrics associated with A and B, respectively, are good. Al and Bl can be concatenated into a combined lightweight QoE metric. For example, a value of “10” can indicate that A is good (i.e., all its underlining QoE metrics are good) and B is not good (i.e., at least one of the underlining QoE metric is not good).

In another variant, the lightweight QoE management can be optimized so that the QoE reporting reduces possible overlap of QoE metrics to be reported by different applications. For example, Al and Bl are respective round trip time latency metrics to be reported for A and B. In lightweight QoE reporting, only the latency of the most critical application will be reported, and the value retrieved for that application will be used by the receiving entity to determine if the (unreported) latency of the other application can be considered satisfactory. In some embodiments, the UE can be provided a configuration of QoE measurement and/or reporting (e.g., by a RAN node, NMS, or CN node/function) that indicates one or more of the following:

• UE/application shall report only the lightweight QoE measurement

• UE/application shall report both lightweight and the legacy/existing QoE measurements

• UE/application shall report certain lightweight QoE metrics and certain conventional QoE metrics for the same application, e.g., a “hybrid” report. In one variant, the metrics that cannot be represented in a lightweight format (e.g., different timestamps) can be represented in a conventional format, while the remaining metrics are represented in a lightweight format. In another variant, the UE/application should report in a lightweight form only the metrics whose measured values satisfy a certain criterion (e.g., throughput threshold, while the other metrics are reported in a conventional format.

• UE/application shall produce a lightweight report including a subset of metrics that are present in a conventional report. For example, the network may poll the UE for certain metric values and instruct the UE to report these metric values in a lightweight format.

• UE/application shall report a lightweight QoE measurement encompassing a compact (explicit or implicit) representation of the QoE metrics for a particular application.

• UE shall report a combined lightweight representation (explicit or implicit) of QoE metrics for more than one application

In some embodiments, the configuration can also indicate under which condition(s) one or more of the above-listed reporting options should be used (e.g., event-based criteria).

In some cases, information about the timing aspects of lightweight QoE measurements can be provided to facilitate proper interpretation. In various embodiments, the timing information can be either configured by the network and/or indicated by the UE/application.

In some embodiments, the network can provide the UE a time reference with respect to a lightweight QoE value. As a specific example, the UE/application can be instructed to provide a lightweight QoE score for a time period of x seconds, starting from a certain time. This time reference can be provided at initial configuration or can be provided each time the network polls the UE/application for a QoE measurement report.

In some embodiments, the UE/application can provide a timing reference for the QoE measurements. In one variant, the UE/application can provide a timestamp pertaining to the entire lightweight QoE report or to the lightweight part of a hybrid conventional/lightweight QoE report. In another variant, the time reference provided in the lightweight QoE report is the length of the measurement period pertaining to the lightweight QoE report. In some embodiments, the UE/application can the fraction of time during the measurement period when the QoE was good and/or bad. For example, the UE can indicate that a binary QoE score was 0 (bad) for 70% of the measurement period and 1 (good) for the remaining 30%. The UE can also indicate more than two percentages or fractions for a non-binary QoE score.

In various embodiments, lightweight QoE metrics can be derived from and/or mapped to any of the following conventional QoE metrics

• throughput per TCP socket or per access bearer, (e.g., average, max/min, standard deviation, etc.);

• end to end latency (e.g., average, max/min, standard deviation, etc.);

• round trip time (e.g., average, max/min, standard deviation, instant value, etc.);

• uplink delay (e.g., average, max/min, standard deviation, instant value, etc.);

• downlink delay (e.g., average, max/min, standard deviation, instant value, etc.);

• jitter of arriving packets (e.g., average, max/min, standard deviation, instant value, etc.);

• number of consecutive failures in receiving the packets (e.g., average, max/min, standard deviation, instant value, etc.);

• timeliness of the packets (e.g., average, max/min, standard deviation, instant value, etc.);

• Application level buffer (e.g., average, max/min, standard deviation, instant value, etc.). Additionally, in certain embodiments, lightweight QoE metrics can be derived from and/or mapped to QoE metrics for industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) or massive loT (MIoT) applications.

In any case, lightweight QoE metrics can provide a compact representation of all or a subset of QoE metrics associated with an application. As an example, for any of the above- mentioned QoE metrics, a corresponding lightweight QoE metric can be a binary flag indicating whether the conventional QoE metric meets one or more requirements, criteria, and/or thresholds.

In various embodiments, the UE can be configured to report lightweight QoE metrics in various ways including any of the following:

• In a QoE report in a similar manner as conventional QoE measurements. In this approach, an application may include the lightweight QoE metric(s) in a file with a predefined/configurable format such as XML, JSON, or a plain text file. The application may translate conventional QoE measurements (e.g., throughput, latencyjitter, etc.) into lightweight QoE metrics such as a binary flag indicating whether or not the corresponding conventional QoE metric(s) meet the QoE or service level agreement (SLA) requirements. The QoE or SLA requirements can be configured and sent to the UE/application from the network or can be based on UE or application implementation. • As part of an MDT report, when UE is configured with MDT measurements. In this approach the access stratum of the UE may request the application (or a set of applications) to provide the lightweight QoE measurements upon receiving the MDT configuration or upon logging the QoE measurements or compiling the MDT measurement report. The measurement report can be a list of the QoE metrics where each item in the list indicates the lightweight QoE metric for one application

• In the same way as for Immediate MDT, e.g., continuously in an RRC message like MeasurementReport. Immediate MDT measurements are not logged but reported periodically or when certain events are fulfilled. Lightweight QoE measurements could be handled in the same manner. An example could be that the UE reports a quick indication of the current QoE status (e.g., good, medium, or poor). It the QoE starts to deteriorate, the network could ask the UE for extended measurements. These extended measurements could have been pre-configured to the UE and activated upon a short command (e.g., RRC message, MAC CE, DCI) to avoid sending large messages to the UE when the conditions are not optimal.

• In radio resource management (RRM) related measurements. For example, the network may configure lightweight QoE measurement as part of normal RRM measurement, such as requested by the network for mobility (e.g., handover) purposes. Upon performing the RRM measurement, the UE may request at least one application to provide a set of related lightweight QoE metric(s). The UE logs the RRM measurement together with the lightweight QoE metric(s) and sends the combination when certain triggering conditions are met. The network can use the lightweight QoE metric in various ways to configure UE radio-layer mobility and provide seamless connectivity at application layer. For example, if the lightweight QoE metric indicates that an application buffer level of the application is above a threshold, it can configure the UE for a legacy handover. On the other hand, if the lightweight QoE metric indicates that the application buffer level is low, the network can do one of the following: o Allocate more radio resources and push more data to the UE before the handover, so the UE can use the data in case of temporary service interruption during handover; or o Configure a more robust handover (e.g., DAPS, conditional, or a combination) such that the UE can receive data during handover.

• In a MAC CE. In this approach management system or network may ask the UE to send the lightweight QoE measurements for at least one application periodically or aperiodically. Periodicity of periodic reporting should be included in the application. For example, the UE sends a request to an application for periodic QoE metrics and the application layer provides lightweight QoE metrics periodically to the radio layer (e.g., RRC sub-layer), which transmits the measurements via the MAC sub-layer. Alternately, certain thresholds may be configured by the network to trigger aperiodic reporting of lightweight QoE measurements via MAC CE.

In some embodiments, lightweight QoE metrics can be defined in 3GPP specifications for various services and in each service for various new or conventional metrics. Figure 8A shows an exemplary ASN.1 data structure that defines lightweight QoE metrics for DASH streaming service. In particular, Figure 8A defines a DASH-Lightweight-QoE-Metric of Boolean values related to any of Throughput, Buffer Level, and Initial Playout Delay. A DASH streaming application performing the lightweight QoE measurement shall set each metric according to whether the associated measurement meets a corresponding requirement, condition, or threshold.

Figure 8B shows an exemplary ASN.l data structure that defines lightweight QoE metrics for MSTI. In particular, Figure 8B defines a MTSI-Lightweight-QoE-Metric of Boolean values related to any of Successive loss of RTP packets, Jitter, and RTP packets round-trip time. An MTSI application performing the lightweight QoE measurement shall set each metric according to whether the associated measurement meets a corresponding requirement, condition, or threshold.

Figure 8C shows an exemplary ASN. l data structure for a MeasReportAppLayer IE by which a UE can report the exemplary lightweight QoE metrics defined in Figures 8A-B. In particular, Figure 8C is based on the exemplary LTE MeasReportAppLayer IE shown in Figure 7C but modified to include a measReportAppLayerContainerLight-rl7 container that includes either (“choice”) of the exemplary ASN. l data structures defined in Figures 8A-B.

Figure 9, which includes Figures 9A-B, shows an exemplary ASN. l data structure for an RRC MeasResults message by which a UE can send lightweight QoE measurements. In particular, Figure 9B includes a measResultQoE-r 17 IE that includes a qoe-FastFeedback field indicating one of the values “good”, “medium”, or “poor” (e.g., with respect to one or more applications).

The embodiments described above can be further illustrated with reference to Figures 10- 12, which show exemplary methods (e.g., procedures) for a UE, a RAN node, and a network node or function coupled to the RAN, respectively. Put differently, various features of the operations described below correspond to various embodiments described above. The exemplary methods shown in Figures 10-12 can be used cooperatively to provide various exemplary benefits and/or advantages. Although Figures 10-12 show specific blocks in particular orders, the operations of the exemplary methods can be performed in different orders than shown and can be combined and/or divided into blocks having different functionality than shown. Optional blocks or operations are indicated by dashed lines.

In particular, Figure 10 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary method (e.g., procedure) for performing QoE measurements in a RAN, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The exemplary method can be performed by a UE (e.g., wireless device, loT device, modem, etc. or component thereof) in communication with a RAN node (e.g., base station, eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, en-gNB, etc., or component thereof), such as UEs described elsewhere herein.

The exemplary method can include operations of block 1010, where the UE can receive, from a RAN node, a lightweight QoE measurement configuration for one or more applications. The lightweight QoE measurement configuration can include at least one of the following:

• a fifth indication of one or more conditions (e.g., thresholds, triggering conditions, etc.) for reporting lightweight QoE metrics and/or performing QoE measurements on which lightweight QoE metrics are based.

The exemplary method can also include operations of block 1020, where the UE can perform and log QoE measurements for the one or more applications based on the lightweight QoE measurement configuration. The exemplary method can also include operations of block 1040, where the UE can send, to the RAN node, at least one lightweight QoE metric that is based on the logged QoE measurements and is related to at least one of the applications. For example, each lightweight QoE metric can have or indicate a plurality of different values, and the UE sends a particular one of the values (or an indication of the particular value) that is based on the logged QoE measurements.

In some embodiments, performing and logging QoE measurements in block 1020 can include the operations of sub-blocks 1021 and/or 1022. In sub-block 1021, the UE can, based on the second indication, convert one or more first QoE measurements performed in a conventional manner into the lightweight format for logging. In sub-block 1022, the UE can, based on at least one of the third, fourth, and fifth indications, convert one or more second QoE measurements logged in a conventional format into one or more lightweight QoE metrics. In some of these embodiments, the at least one lightweight QoE metric (e.g., sent in block 1040) can include one of more of the following:

In some embodiments, the exemplary method can also include operations of block 1050, where the UE can discard the logged QoE measurements, on which the at least one lightweight QoE metric is based, after receiving no request for conventional QoE metrics based on the logged QoE measurements. For example, the UE can discard the logged QoE measurements after receiving no request for them over a predetermined duration.

In some embodiments, the exemplary method can also include operations of block 1080, where the UE can send, to the RAN node, at least one conventional QoE metric related to the least one application. This can be done in various ways, discussed below.

In some of these embodiments, the exemplary method can also include operations of block 1060, where the UE can receive, from the RAN node, a request for at least one conventional QoE metric related to the at least one application. This request can be received after sending the at least one lightweight QoE metric (e.g., in block 1040), and the at least one conventional QoE metric can be sent (e.g., in block 1080) in response to this request.

In some variants, the at least one lightweight QoE metric and the at least one conventional QoE metric can be based on the QoE measurements logged in the conventional format.

In other variants, the at least one lightweight QoE metric can be based on the QoE measurements logged in the lightweight format. In such variants, the exemplary method can also include operations of block 1070, where the UE can, in response to the request (e.g., in block 1060), perform and log additional QoE measurements in the conventional format. The at least one conventional QoE metric can be based on the additional QoE measurements logged in the conventional format. Furthermore, in a sub-variant, the additional QoE measurements can be performed and logged according to a configuration included in the lightweight QoE measurement configuration (e.g., block 1010) or in the request (e.g., block 1060).

In other variants, the at least one lightweight QoE metric can be sent (e.g., in block 1040) in a QoE measurement report together with at least one conventional QoE metric. These can be sent in the same measurement container or in different measurement containers. In some subvariants, the at least one conventional QoE metric can be related to the same one or more applications as the at least one lightweight QoE metric. In other sub-variants, the at least one conventional QoE metric can be related to at least one different application than the at least one lightweight QoE metric.

In other variants, the exemplary method can also include operations of block 1030, where the UE can determine whether the logged QoE measurements meet one or more predetermined criteria. In such variants, sending the at least one lightweight QoE metric (e.g., in block 1040) can be sent based on determining (e.g., in block 1030) that the logged QoE measurements meet the one or more predetermined criteria, while the sending at least one conventional QoE metric (e.g., in block 1080) can be based on determining that the logged QoE measurements do not meet the one or more predetermined criteria. An opposite arrangement is also possible, depending on the criteria.

In other variants, the at least one lightweight QoE metric can be sent (e.g., in block 1040) as one of the following:

• in an RRC MeasurementReport message, e.g., measReportAppLayer,

• in an MDT report;

• in a MAC CE; and

• together with RRM-related measurements.

• a conventional QoE metric;

• a plurality of different conventional QoE metrics for one application;

• a plurality of different lightweight QoE metrics for one application;

• respective values of a conventional QoE metric for a plurality of applications; or

In some of these embodiments, each representation used by a lightweight QoE metric can be one of the following: a concatenation, an index, a score, a rating based on enumerated values, or a binary relation to a threshold. Various examples of such representations were discussed above. In some of these embodiments, each conventional QoE metric represented by a lightweight QoE metric can be related to one of the following: throughput, latency, round-trip time, uplink delay, downlink delay, initial playout delay, jitter, buffer level, or consecutive packet losses.

In addition, Figure 11 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary method (e.g., procedure) for configuring a UE to perform QoE measurements in a RAN, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. The exemplary method can be performed by a RAN node (e.g., base station, eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc., or components thereof such as a gNB-DU) such as those described elsewhere herein. The exemplary method can include the operations of block 1120, where the RAN node can send, to the UE, a lightweight QoE measurement configuration for one or more applications. The lightweight QoE measurement configuration can include at least one of the following:

The exemplary method can also include the operations of block 1130, where the RAN node can receive, from the UE, at least one lightweight QoE metric that is based on QoE measurements performed and logged according to the lightweight QoE measurement configuration. The at least one lightweight QoE metric is also related to at least one of the applications.

In some of these embodiments, the at least one lightweight QoE metric (e.g., received in block 1130) can include one of more of the following:

• one or more first lightweight QoE metrics based on first QoE measurements logged in the lightweight format; and

• one or more second lightweight QoE metrics based on second QoE measurements logged in a conventional format.

In some embodiments, the exemplary method can also include the operations of block 1160, where the RAN node can receive, from the UE, at least one conventional QoE metric related to the least one application. This can be done in various ways, discussed below.

In some variants, the exemplary method can also include the operations of block 1150, where the RAN node can send, to the UE, a request for the at least one conventional QoE metric. This request can be based on the at least one lightweight QoE metric (e.g., received in block 1130), and can cause the UE to send the at least one conventional QoE metric (e.g., received in block 1160).

In some sub-variants, the at least one lightweight QoE metric and the at least one conventional QoE metric can be based on QoE measurements logged in a conventional format. In other sub-variants, the at least one lightweight QoE metric can be based on QoE measurements logged in the lightweight format and the at least one conventional QoE metric can be based on additional QoE measurements that are responsive to the request and are logged in the conventional format. For example, the additional QoE measurements can be based on a configuration included in the lightweight QoE measurement configuration (e.g., sent in block 1120) or in the request (e.g., sent in block 1150).

In other variants, the at least one lightweight QoE metric can be received in a QoE measurement report together with at least one conventional QoE metric, either in the same measurement container or in different measurement containers. In some sub-variants, the at least one conventional QoE metric can be related to the same one or more applications as the at least one lightweight QoE metric. In other sub-variants, the at least one conventional QoE metric can be related to at least one different application than the at least one lightweight QoE metric.

In other variants, the at least one lightweight QoE metric can be received (e.g., in block 1130) based on the UE determining that logged QoE measurements meet one or more predetermined criteria while the at least one conventional QoE metric can be received (e.g., in block 1160) based on the UE determining that logged QoE measurements do not meet the one or more predetermined criteria.

In various embodiments, the at least one lightweight QoE metric can be received (e.g., in block 1130) as one of the following:

• in an RRC MeasurementReport message, e.g., measReportAppLayep

• in an MDT report;

• in a MAC CE; and

• together with RRM-related measurements.

• a conventional QoE metric;

• a plurality of different conventional QoE metrics for one application;

• a plurality of different lightweight QoE metrics for one application;

• respective values of a conventional QoE metric for a plurality of applications, or

In some of these embodiments, each representation used by a lightweight QoE metric can be one of the following: a concatenation, an index, a score, a rating based on enumerated values, or a binary relation to a threshold. Various examples of such representations were discussed above. In various embodiments, each conventional QoE metric represented by a lightweight QoE metric can be related to one of the following: throughput, latency, round-trip time, uplink delay, downlink delay, initial playout delay, jitter, buffer level, or consecutive packet losses. In some embodiments, the exemplary method can also include the operations of blocks 1110 and 1140. In block 1110, the RAN node can receive the lightweight QoE measurement configuration from a network node or function coupled to the RAN. In block 1140, the RAN node can forward the at least one lightweight QoE metric to the network node or function coupled to the RAN. For example, the network node or function coupled to the RAN can be an AMF (e.g., in 5GC) or a network management system (NMS, e.g., 0AM). These examples are not exclusive, as explained below.

In addition, Figure 12 shows a flow diagram of an exemplary method (e.g., procedure) for a network node or function coupled to a RAN, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, this exemplary method can be performed by a network management system (NMS, e.g., 0AM system or similar) or a core network node or function (e.g., AMF). As another example, the network node can be within the RAN (e.g., a gNB-CU) and coupled to the RAN (e.g., other nodes of the RAN, such as gNB-DUs and other gNBs) via one or more interfaces.

In general, the exemplary method shown in Figure 12 can be performed by a network node or function that includes, or is associated with, communication interface circuitry (e.g., radio or optical transceivers, network interface cards, etc.) configured to communicate with the RAN and with UEs served by the RAN. The communication interface circuitry can be operatively coupled to processing circuitry, e.g., processors and memories storing instructions executable by the processors. The processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are configured to cooperatively perform operations corresponding to the exemplary method shown in Figure 12. However, the processing circuitry and the communication circuitry are not necessarily dedicated to this functionality and, in some cases, can be shared with similar or different functionality (e.g., in a cloud infrastructure arrangement).

The exemplary method can include the operations of block 1210, where the network node or function can send, to a RAN node, a lightweight QoE measurement configuration for one or more applications associated with a UE. The lightweight QoE measurement configuration can include at least one of the following:

• a fourth indication of one or more lightweight QoE metrics to be reported by the UE; and • a fifth indication of one or more conditions (e.g., thresholds, triggering conditions, etc.) for reporting lightweight QoE metrics and/or performing QoE measurements on which lightweight QoE metrics are based.

The exemplary method can include the operations of block 1220, where the network node or function can receive, from the RAN node, at least one lightweight QoE metric that is related to at least one of the applications and is based on QoE measurements performed and logged by the UE according to the lightweight QoE measurement configuration.

In some of these embodiments, the at least one lightweight QoE metric (e.g., received in block 1220) can include one of more of the following:

In some embodiments, the at least one lightweight QoE metric can be received in a QoE measurement report together with at least one conventional QoE metric, either in the same measurement container or in different measurement containers. In some variants, the at least one conventional QoE metric can be related to the same one or more applications as the at least one lightweight QoE metric. In other variants, the at least one conventional QoE metric can be related to at least one different application than the at least one lightweight QoE metric.

In other embodiments, the at least one lightweight QoE metric can be received based on the UE determining that logged QoE measurements meet one or more predetermined criteria.

• a conventional QoE metric;

• a plurality of different conventional QoE metrics for one application;

• a plurality of different lightweight QoE metrics for one application;

In some of these embodiments, each representation used by a lightweight QoE metric can be one of the following: a concatenation, an index, a score, a rating based on enumerated values, or a binary relation to a threshold. Various examples of such representations were discussed above. In various embodiments, each conventional QoE metric represented by a lightweight QoE metric can be related to one of the following: throughput, latency, round-trip time, uplink delay, downlink delay, initial playout delay, jitter, buffer level, or consecutive packet losses. Although various embodiments are described above in terms of methods, techniques, and/or procedures, the person of ordinary skill will readily comprehend that such methods, techniques, and/or procedures can be embodied by various combinations of hardware and software in various systems, communication devices, computing devices, control devices, apparatuses, non-transitory computer-readable media, computer program products, etc.

Figure 13 shows a block diagram of an exemplary wireless device or user equipment (UE) 1300 (hereinafter referred to as “UE 1300”) according to various embodiments of the present disclosure, including those described above with reference to other figures. For example, UE 1300 can be configured by execution of instructions, stored on a computer-readable medium, to perform operations corresponding to one or more of the exemplary methods described herein.

UE 1300 can include a processor 1310 (also referred to as “processing circuitry”) that can be operably connected to a program memory 1320 and/or a data memory 1330 via a bus 1370 that can comprise parallel address and data buses, serial ports, or other methods and/or structures known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Program memory 1320 can store software code, programs, and/or instructions (collectively shown as computer program product 1321 in Figure 13) that, when executed by processor 1310, can configure and/or facilitate UE 1300 to perform various operations, including operations corresponding to various exemplary methods described herein. As part of or in addition to such operations, execution of such instructions can configure and/or facilitate UE 1300 to communicate using one or more wired or wireless communication protocols, including one or more wireless communication protocols standardized by 3GPP, 3GPP2, or IEEE, such as those commonly known as 5G/NR, LTE, LTE-A, UMTS, HSPA, GSM, GPRS, EDGE, IxRTT, CDMA2000, 802.11 WiFi, HDMI, USB, Firewire, etc., or any other current or future protocols that can be utilized in conjunction with radio transceiver 1340, user interface 1350, and/or control interface 1360.

As another example, processor 1310 can execute program code stored in program memory 1320 that corresponds to MAC, RLC, PDCP, and RRC layer protocols standardized by 3GPP (e.g., for NR and/or LTE). As a further example, processor 1310 can execute program code stored in program memory 1320 that, together with radio transceiver 1340, implements corresponding PHY layer protocols, such as Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access (OFDMA), and Single-Carrier Frequency Division Multiple Access (SC-FDMA). As another example, processor 1310 can execute program code stored in program memory 1320 that, together with radio transceiver 1340, implements device-to-device (D2D) communications with other compatible devices and/or UEs.

Program memory 1320 can also include software code executed by processor 1310 to control the functions of UE 1300, including configuring and controlling various components such as radio transceiver 1340, user interface 1350, and/or control interface 1360. Program memory 1320 can also comprise one or more application programs and/or modules comprising computerexecutable instructions embodying any of the exemplary methods described herein. Such software code can be specified or written using any known or future developed programming language, such as e.g., Java, C++, C, Objective C, HTML, XHTML, machine code, and Assembler, as long as the desired functionality, e.g., as defined by the implemented method steps, is preserved. In addition, or as an alternative, program memory 1320 can comprise an external storage arrangement (not shown) remote from UE 1300, from which the instructions can be downloaded into program memory 1320 located within or removably coupled to UE 1300, so as to enable execution of such instructions.

Data memory 1330 can include memory area for processor 1310 to store variables used in protocols, configuration, control, and other functions of UE 1300, including operations corresponding to, or comprising, any of the exemplary methods described herein. Moreover, program memory 1320 and/or data memory 1330 can include non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory), volatile memory (e.g., static or dynamic RAM), or a combination thereof. Furthermore, data memory 1330 can comprise a memory slot by which removable memory cards in one or more formats (e.g., SD Card, Memory Stick, Compact Flash, etc.) can be inserted and removed.

Persons of ordinary skill will recognize that processor 1310 can include multiple individual processors (including, e.g., multi-core processors), each of which implements a portion of the functionality described above. In such cases, multiple individual processors can be commonly connected to program memory 1320 and data memory 1330 or individually connected to multiple individual program memories and or data memories. More generally, persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that various protocols and other functions of UE 1300 can be implemented in many different computer arrangements comprising different combinations of hardware and software including, but not limited to, application processors, signal processors, general-purpose processors, multi-core processors, ASICs, fixed and/or programmable digital circuitry, analog baseband circuitry, radio-frequency circuitry, software, firmware, and middleware.

Radio transceiver 1340 can include radio-frequency transmitter and/or receiver functionality that facilitates the UE 1300 to communicate with other equipment supporting like wireless communication standards and/or protocols. In some exemplary embodiments, the radio transceiver 1340 includes one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that enable UE 1300 to communicate according to various protocols and/or methods proposed for standardization by 3GPP and/or other standards-setting organizations (SSOs). For example, such functionality can operate cooperatively with processor 1310 to implement a PHY layer based on OFDM, OFDMA, and/or SC-FDMA technologies, such as described herein with respect to other figures. In some exemplary embodiments, radio transceiver 1340 includes one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that can facilitate the UE 1300 to communicate with various LTE, LTE- Advanced (LTE- A), and/or NR networks according to standards promulgated by 3 GPP. In some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the radio transceiver 1340 includes circuitry, firmware, etc. necessary for the UE 1300 to communicate with various NR, NR-U, LTE, LTE- A, LTE-LAA, UMTS, and/or GSM/EDGE networks, also according to 3GPP standards. In some embodiments, radio transceiver 1340 can include circuitry supporting D2D communications between UE 1300 and other compatible devices.

In some embodiments, radio transceiver 1340 includes circuitry, firmware, etc. necessary for the UE 1300 to communicate with various CDMA2000 networks, according to 3GPP2 standards. In some embodiments, the radio transceiver 1340 can be capable of communicating using radio technologies that operate in unlicensed frequency bands, such as IEEE 802.11 WiFi that operates using frequencies in the regions of 2.4, 5.6, and/or 60 GHz. In some embodiments, radio transceiver 1340 can include a transceiver that is capable of wired communication, such as by using IEEE 802.3 Ethernet technology. The functionality particular to each of these embodiments can be coupled with and/or controlled by other circuitry in the UE 1300, such as the processor 1310 executing program code stored in program memory 1320 in conjunction with, and/or supported by, data memory 1330.

User interface 1350 can take various forms depending on the particular embodiment of UE 1300, or can be absent from UE 1300 entirely. In some embodiments, user interface 1350 can comprise a microphone, a loudspeaker, slidable buttons, depressible buttons, a display, a touchscreen display, a mechanical or virtual keypad, a mechanical or virtual keyboard, and/or any other user-interface features commonly found on mobile phones. In other embodiments, the UE 1300 can comprise a tablet computing device including a larger touchscreen display. In such embodiments, one or more of the mechanical features of the user interface 1350 can be replaced by comparable or functionally equivalent virtual user interface features (e.g., virtual keypad, virtual buttons, etc. implemented using the touchscreen display, as familiar to persons of ordinary skill in the art. In other embodiments, the UE 1300 can be a digital computing device, such as a laptop computer, desktop computer, workstation, etc. that comprises a mechanical keyboard that can be integrated, detached, or detachable depending on the particular embodiment. Such a digital computing device can also comprise a touch screen display. Many exemplary embodiments of the UE 1300 having a touch screen display are capable of receiving user inputs, such as inputs related to exemplary methods described herein or otherwise known to persons of ordinary skill.

In some embodiments, UE 1300 can include an orientation sensor, which can be used in various ways by features and functions of UE 1300. For example, the UE 1300 can use outputs of the orientation sensor to determine when a user has changed the physical orientation of the UE 1300’s touch screen display. An indication signal from the orientation sensor can be available to any application program executing on the UE 1300, such that an application program can change the orientation of a screen display (e.g., from portrait to landscape) automatically when the indication signal indicates an approximate 90-degree change in physical orientation of the device. In this exemplary manner, the application program can maintain the screen display in a manner that is readable by the user, regardless of the physical orientation of the device. In addition, the output of the orientation sensor can be used in conjunction with various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure.

A control interface 1360 of the UE 1300 can take various forms depending on the particular exemplary embodiment of UE 1300 and of the particular interface requirements of other devices that the UE 1300 is intended to communicate with and/or control. For example, the control interface 1360 can comprise an RS-232 interface, a USB interface, an HDMI interface, a Bluetooth interface, an IEEE (“Firewire”) interface, an I²C interface, a PCMCIA interface, or the like. In some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, control interface 1360 can comprise an IEEE 802.3 Ethernet interface such as described above. In some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the control interface 1360 can comprise analog interface circuitry including, for example, one or more digital-to-analog converters (DACs) and/or analog-to-digital converters (ADCs).

Persons of ordinary skill in the art can recognize the above list of features, interfaces, and radio-frequency communication standards is merely exemplary, and not limiting to the scope of the present disclosure. In other words, the UE 1300 can comprise more functionality than is shown in Figure 13 including, for example, a video and/or still-image camera, microphone, media player and/or recorder, etc. Moreover, radio transceiver 1340 can include circuitry necessary to communicate using additional radio-frequency communication standards including Bluetooth, GPS, and/or others. Moreover, the processor 1310 can execute software code stored in the program memory 1320 to control such additional functionality. For example, directional velocity and/or position estimates output from a GPS receiver can be available to any application program executing on the UE 1300, including any program code corresponding to and/or embodying any exemplary embodiments (e.g., of methods) described herein.

Figure 14 shows a block diagram of an exemplary network node 1400 according to various embodiments of the present disclosure, including those described above with reference to other figures. For example, exemplary network node 1400 can be configured by execution of instructions, stored on a computer-readable medium, to perform operations corresponding to one or more of the exemplary methods described herein. In some exemplary embodiments, network node 1400 can comprise a base station, eNB, gNB, or one or more components thereof. For example, network node 1400 can be configured as a central unit (CU) and one or more distributed units (DUs) according to NR gNB architectures specified by 3GPP. More generally, the functionally of network node 1400 can be distributed across various physical devices and/or functional units, modules, etc.

Network node 1400 can include processor 1410 (also referred to as “processing circuitry”) that is operably connected to program memory 1420 and data memory 1430 via bus 1470, which can include parallel address and data buses, serial ports, or other methods and/or structures known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

Program memory 1420 can store software code, programs, and/or instructions (collectively shown as computer program product 1421 in Figure 14) that, when executed by processor 1410, can configure and/or facilitate network node 1400 to perform various operations, including operations corresponding to various exemplary methods described herein. As part of and/or in addition to such operations, program memory 1420 can also include software code executed by processor 1410 that can configure and/or facilitate network node 1400 to communicate with one or more other UEs or network nodes using other protocols or protocol layers, such as one or more of the PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP, and RRC layer protocols standardized by 3GPP for LTE, LTE-A, and/or NR, or any other higher-layer (e.g., NAS) protocols utilized in conjunction with radio network interface 1440 and/or core network interface 1450. By way of example, core network interface 1450 can comprise the SI or NG interface and radio network interface 1440 can comprise the Uu interface, as standardized by 3GPP. Program memory 1420 can also comprise software code executed by processor 1410 to control the functions of network node 1400, including configuring and controlling various components such as radio network interface 1440 and core network interface 1450.

Data memory 1430 can comprise memory area for processor 1410 to store variables used in protocols, configuration, control, and other functions of network node 1400. As such, program memory 1420 and data memory 1430 can comprise non-volatile memory (e.g., flash memory, hard disk, etc.), volatile memory (e.g., static or dynamic RAM), network-based (e.g., “cloud”) storage, or a combination thereof. Persons of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that processor 1410 can include multiple individual processors (not shown), each of which implements a portion of the functionality described above. In such case, multiple individual processors may be commonly connected to program memory 1420 and data memory 1430 or individually connected to multiple individual program memories and/or data memories. More generally, persons of ordinary skill will recognize that various protocols and other functions of network node 1400 may be implemented in many different combinations of hardware and software including, but not limited to, application processors, signal processors, general-purpose processors, multi-core processors, ASICs, fixed digital circuitry, programmable digital circuitry, analog baseband circuitry, radio-frequency circuitry, software, firmware, and middleware.

Radio network interface 1440 can comprise transmitters, receivers, signal processors, ASICs, antennas, beamforming units, and other circuitry that enables network node 1400 to communicate with other equipment such as, in some embodiments, a plurality of compatible user equipment (UE). In some embodiments, interface 1440 can also enable network node 1400 to communicate with compatible satellites of a satellite communication network. In some exemplary embodiments, radio network interface 1440 can comprise various protocols or protocol layers, such as the PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP, and/or RRC layer protocols standardized by 3GPP for LTE, LTE-A, LTE-LAA, NR, NR-U, etc. improvements thereto such as described herein above; or any other higher-layer protocols utilized in conjunction with radio network interface 1440. According to further exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure, the radio network interface 1440 can comprise a PHY layer based on OFDM, OFDMA, and/or SC-FDMA technologies. In some embodiments, the functionality of such a PHY layer can be provided cooperatively by radio network interface 1440 and processor 1410 (including program code in memory 1420).

Core network interface 1450 can comprise transmitters, receivers, and other circuitry that enables network node 1400 to communicate with other equipment in a core network such as, in some embodiments, circuit-switched (CS) and/or packet-switched Core (PS) networks. In some embodiments, core network interface 1450 can comprise the SI interface standardized by 3GPP. In some embodiments, core network interface 1450 can comprise the NG interface standardized by 3GPP. In some exemplary embodiments, core network interface 1450 can comprise one or more interfaces to one or more AMFs, SMFs, SGWs, MMEs, SGSNs, GGSNs, and other physical devices that comprise functionality found in GERAN, UTRAN, EPC, 5GC, and CDMA2000 core networks that are known to persons of ordinary skill in the art. In some embodiments, these one or more interfaces may be multiplexed together on a single physical interface. In some embodiments, lower layers of core network interface 1450 can comprise one or more of asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), Internet Protocol (IP)-over-Ethemet, SDH over optical fiber, T1/E1/PDH over a copper wire, microwave radio, or other wired or wireless transmission technologies known to those of ordinary skill in the art.

In some embodiments, network node 1400 can include hardware and/or software that configures and/or facilitates network node 1400 to communicate with other network nodes in a RAN (also referred to as a “wireless network”), such as with other eNBs, gNBs, ng-eNBs, en- gNBs, IAB nodes, etc. Such hardware and/or software can be part of radio network interface 1440 and/or core network interface 1450, or it can be a separate functional unit (not shown). For example, such hardware and/or software can configure and/or facilitate network node 1400 to communicate with other RAN nodes via the X2 or Xn interfaces, as standardized by 3GPP.

OA&M interface 1460 can comprise transmitters, receivers, and other circuitry that enables network node 1400 to communicate with external networks, computers, databases, and the like for purposes of operations, administration, and maintenance of network node 1400 or other network equipment operably connected thereto. Lower layers of OA&M interface 1460 can comprise one or more of asynchronous transfer mode (ATM), Internet Protocol (IP)-over- Ethemet, SDH over optical fiber, T1ZE1/PDH over a copper wire, micro wave radio, or other wired or wireless transmission technologies known to those of ordinary skill in the art. Moreover, in some embodiments, one or more of radio network interface 1440, core network interface 1450, and OA&M interface 1460 may be multiplexed together on a single physical interface, such as the examples listed above.

Figure 15 is a block diagram of an exemplary communication network configured to provide over-the-top (OTT) data services between a host computer and a user equipment (UE), according to various exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure. UE 1510 can communicate with radio access network (RAN, also referred to as “wireless network”) 1530 over radio interface 1520, which can be based on protocols described above including, e.g., LTE, LTE- A, and 5G/NR. For example, UE 1510 can be configured and/or arranged as shown in other figures discussed above.

RAN 1530 can include one or more terrestrial network nodes (e.g., base stations, eNBs, gNBs, controllers, etc.) operable in licensed spectrum bands, as well one or more network nodes operable in unlicensed spectrum (using, e.g., LAA or NR-U technology), such as a 2.4-GHz band and/or a 5-GHz band. In such cases, the network nodes comprising RAN 1530 can cooperatively operate using licensed and unlicensed spectrum. In some embodiments, RAN 1530 can include, or be capable of communication with, one or more satellites comprising a satellite access network.

RAN 1530 can communicate with core network 1540 according to various protocols and interfaces described above. For example, one or more apparatus (e.g., base stations, eNBs, gNBs, etc.) comprising RAN 1530 can communicate to core network 1540 via core network interface 1550 described above. In some exemplary embodiments, RAN 1530 and core network 1540 can be configured and/or arranged as shown in other figures discussed above. For example, eNBs comprising an E-UTRAN 1530 can communicate with an EPC core network 1540 via an SI interface. As another example, gNBs and ng-eNBs comprising an NG-RAN 1530 can communicate with a 5GC core network 1530 via an NG interface.

Core network 1540 can further communicate with an external packet data network, illustrated in Figure 15 as Internet 1550, according to various protocols and interfaces known to persons of ordinary skill in the art. Many other devices and/or networks can also connect to and communicate via Internet 1550, such as exemplary host computer 1560. In some exemplary embodiments, host computer 1560 can communicate with UE 1510 using Internet 1550, core network 1540, and RAN 1530 as intermediaries. Host computer 1560 can be a server (e.g, an application server) under ownership and/or control of a service provider. Host computer 1560 can be operated by the OTT service provider or by another entity on the service provider’s behalf.

For example, host computer 1560 can provide an over-the-top (OTT) packet data service to UE 1510 using facilities of core network 1540 and RAN 1530, which can be unaware of the routing of an outgoing/incoming communication to/from host computer 1560. Similarly, host computer 1560 can be unaware of routing of a transmission from the host computer to the UE, e.g, the routing of the transmission through RAN 1530. Various OTT services can be provided using the exemplary configuration shown in Figure 15 including, e.g., streaming (unidirectional) audio and/or video from host computer to UE, interactive (bidirectional) audio and/or video between host computer and UE, interactive messaging or social communication, interactive virtual or augmented reality, etc.

The exemplary network shown in Figure 15 can also include measurement procedures and/or sensors that monitor network performance metrics including data rate, latency and other factors that are improved by exemplary embodiments disclosed herein. The exemplary network can also include functionality for reconfiguring the link between the endpoints (e.g. , host computer and UE) in response to variations in the measurement results. Such procedures and functionalities are known and practiced; if the network hides or abstracts the radio interface from the OTT service provider, measurements can be facilitated by proprietary signaling between the UE and the host computer.

The embodiments described herein provide novel techniques for configuring, performing, and reporting lightweight QoE metrics by UEs. Such techniques can facilitate better analysis and optimization decisions in the RAN, while avoiding unnecessary network traffic caused by conventional measurement reports that include large amounts of information, such as conventional QoE metrics. When used in NR UEs (e.g., UE 1510) and gNBs (e.g., gNBs comprising RAN 1530), embodiments described herein can provide various improvements, benefits, and/or advantages that can improve QoE determination and network optimization for OTT applications and/or services. As a consequence, this improves the performance of these services as experienced by OTT service providers and end-users, including more precise delivery of services with lower latency without excessive UE energy consumption or other reductions in user experience. Figure 16 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1600 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. For example, certain features and/or functionality of RAN nodes discussed above can be implemented in and/or hosted by virtualization environment 1600. Alternately or additionally, network functions coupled to a RAN (e.g., AMF, UPF, etc.) can be implemented in and/or hosted by virtualization environment 1600. Alternately or additionally, virtualization environment 1600 can also host and/or implement a network management system (NMS) such as discussed above. It should be understood, however, that RAN nodes, network functions, and NMS may be hosted and/or implemented by the same or different virtualization environments.

In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 1600 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes, such as a hardware computing device that operates as a network node, UE, core network node, or host. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require radio connectivity (e.g., a core network node or host), then the node may be entirely virtualized.

Applications 1602 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) are run in the virtualization environment Q400 to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

Hardware 1604 includes processing circuitry (1604a), which can include one or more hardware processors, CPUs, hardware accelerators, graphics processors, etc. Hardware 1604 can also include one or more memories (1604b) that store software and/or instructions executable by the processing circuitry. The software and/or instructions can comprise a computer program product (1604c). Hardware 1604 can also include other hardware devices such as a communication interface (1604d) by which VMs 1608 and/or applications 1602 can communicate with nodes or functions outside of virtualization environment 1600.

Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 1606 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 1608a and 1608b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 1608), and/or perform any of the functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 1606 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to the VMs 1608.

The VMs 1608 comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 1606. Different embodiments of the instance of a virtual appliance 1602 may be implemented on one or more of VMs 1608, and the implementations may be made in different ways. Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

In the context of NFV, a VM 1608 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 1608, and that part of hardware 1604 that executes that VM, be it hardware dedicated to that VM and/or hardware shared by that VM with others of the VMs, forms separate virtual network elements. Still in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more VMs 1608 on top of the hardware 1604 and corresponds to the application 1602.

Hardware 1604 may be implemented in a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 1604 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 1604 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g., such as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 1610, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 1602. In some embodiments, hardware 1604 is coupled to one or more radio units that each include one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. Radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signaling can be provided with the use of a control system 1612 which may alternatively be used for communication between hardware nodes and radio units.

The foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the disclosure. Various modifications and alterations to the described embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art in view of the teachings herein. It will thus be appreciated that those skilled in the art will be able to devise numerous systems, arrangements, and procedures that, although not explicitly shown or described herein, embody the principles of the disclosure and can be thus within the spirit and scope of the disclosure. Various exemplary embodiments can be used together with one another, as well as interchangeably therewith, as should be understood by those having ordinary skill in the art.

As described herein, device and/or apparatus can be represented by a semiconductor chip, a chipset, or a (hardware) module comprising such chip or chipset; this, however, does not exclude the possibility that a functionality of a device or apparatus, instead of being hardware implemented, be implemented as a software module such as a computer program or a computer program product comprising executable software code portions for execution or being run on a processor. Furthermore, functionality of a device or apparatus can be implemented by any combination of hardware and software. A device or apparatus can also be regarded as an assembly of multiple devices and/or apparatuses, whether functionally in cooperation with or independently of each other. Moreover, devices and apparatuses can be implemented in a distributed fashion throughout a system, so long as the functionality of the device or apparatus is preserved. Such and similar principles are considered as known to a skilled person.

Any appropriate steps, methods, features, functions, or benefits disclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual apparatuses. Each virtual apparatus may comprise a number of these functional units. These functional units may be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include Digital Signal Processor (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory such as Read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or data communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause the respective functional unit to perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

Furthermore, functions described herein as being performed by a wireless device or a network node may be distributed over a plurality of wireless devices and/or network nodes. In other words, it is contemplated that the functions of the network node and wireless device described herein are not limited to performance by a single physical device and, in fact, can be distributed among several physical devices.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. It will be further understood that terms used herein should be interpreted as having a meaning that is consistent with their meaning in the context of this specification and the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

In addition, certain terms used in the present disclosure, including the specification, drawings and exemplary embodiments thereof, can be used synonymously in certain instances, including, but not limited to, e.g., data and information. It should be understood that, although these words and/or other words that can be synonymous to one another, can be used synonymously herein, that there can be instances when such words can be intended to not be used synonymously. Further, to the extent that the prior art knowledge has not been explicitly incorporated by reference herein above, it is explicitly incorporated herein in its entirety. All publications referenced are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.

As used herein unless expressly stated to the contrary, the phrases “at least one of’ and “one or more of,” followed by a conjunctive list of enumerated items (e.g., “A and B”, “A, B, and C”), are intended to mean “at least one item, with each item selected from the list consisting of’ the enumerated items. For example, “at least one of A and B” is intended to mean any of the following: A; B; A and B. Likewise, “one or more of A, B, and C” is intended to mean any of the following: A; B; C; A and B; B and C; A and C; A, B, and C.

As used herein unless expressly stated to the contrary, the phrase “a plurality of’ followed by a conjunctive list of enumerated items (e.g., “A and B”, “A, B, and C”) is intended to mean “multiple items, with each item selected from the list consisting of’ the enumerated items. For example, “a plurality of A and B” is intended to mean any of the following: more than one A; more than one B; or at least one A and at least one B.

Embodiments of the techniques and apparatus described herein also include, but are not limited to, the following enumerated examples:

Al . A method for a user equipment (UE) to perform quality-of-experience (QoE) measurements in a radio access network (RAN), the method comprising: receiving, from a RAN node, a QoE measurement configuration for one or more applications, wherein the QoE measurement configuration includes at least one of the following: a first indication of whether the UE should perform QoE measurements in a lightweight or a conventional manner; a second indication of whether the UE should log performed QoE measurements in a lightweight and/or a conventional format; a third indication of whether the UE should report logged QoE measurements as lightweight QoE metrics and/or as conventional QoE metrics; a fourth indication of one or more lightweight QoE metrics to be reported by the UE; and a fifth indication of one or more conditions for reporting lightweight QoE metrics; performing and logging QoE measurements for the one or more applications based on the QoE measurement configuration; and sending, to the RAN node, at least one lightweight QoE metric that is based on the logged QoE measurements and is related to at least one of the applications.

A2. The method of embodiment Al, wherein performing and logging QoE measurements further comprises one or more of the following: based on the second indication, converting one or more first QoE measurements performed in a conventional manner into the lightweight format for logging; and based on at least one of the third, fourth, and fifth indications, converting one or more second QoE measurements logged in the conventional format into one or more lightweight QoE metrics.

A3. The method of embodiment A2, wherein the at least one lightweight QoE metric includes one of more of the following: one or more first lightweight QoE metrics based on the first QoE measurements logged in the lightweight format; and one or more second lightweight QoE metrics based on the second QoE measurements logged in the conventional format.

A4. The method of any of embodiments A1-A3, further comprising discarding the logged QoE measurements, on which the at least one lightweight QoE metric is based, after a duration of receiving no request for conventional QoE metrics based on the logged QoE measurements.

A5. The method of any of embodiments A1-A4, further comprising sending, to the RAN node, at least one conventional QoE metric related to the least one application.

A5a. The method of embodiment A5, further comprising, after sending the at least one lightweight QoE metric, receiving, from the RAN node, a request for the at least one conventional QoE metric, wherein the at least one conventional QoE metric is sent in response to the request. A6. The method of any of embodiments A5-A5a, wherein the at least one lightweight QoE metric and the at least one conventional QoE metric are based on the QoE measurements logged in the conventional format.

A7. The method of any of embodiments A5-A5a, wherein: the at least one lightweight QoE metric is based on the QoE measurements logged in the lightweight format; the method further comprises, in response to the request, performing and logging additional QoE measurements in the conventional format; and the at least one conventional QoE metric is based on the additional QoE measurements logged in the conventional format.

A8. The method of embodiment A7, wherein the additional QoE measurements are performed and logged according to a configuration included in the QoE measurement configuration or in the request.

A9. The method of embodiment A5, wherein the at least one lightweight QoE metric is sent in a QoE measurement report together with at least one conventional QoE metric, according to one of the following: in the same measurement container; or in different measurement containers.

A10. The method of embodiment A9, wherein the at least one conventional QoE metric is related to: the same one or more applications as the at least one lightweight QoE metric; or at least one different application than the at least one lightweight QoE metric.

Al 1. The method of any of embodiment A5, wherein: the method further comprises determining whether the logged QoE measurements meet one or more predetermined criteria; the at least one lightweight QoE metric is sent based on determining that the logged QoE measurements meet one or more predetermined criteria; and the at least one conventional QoE metric is sent based on determining that the logged QoE measurements do not meet the one or more predetermined criteria. A12. The method of embodiments A1-A5, wherein the at least one lightweight QoE measurement is sent as one of the following: in a radio resource control (RRC) MeasurementReport message; in a minimization of drive testing (MDT) report; in a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE); and together with radio resource management (RRM) related measurements.

A13. The method of any of embodiments A1-A12, wherein each lightweight QoE metric is a representation of one of the following: a conventional QoE metric; a plurality of different conventional QoE metrics for one application; a plurality of different lightweight QoE metrics for one application; respective values of a conventional QoE metric for a plurality of applications, and respective values of a lightweight QoE metric for a plurality of applications.

A14. The method of embodiment A13, wherein each representation used by a lightweight QoE metric is one of the following: a concatenation, an index, a score, a rating based on enumerated values, a binary relation to a threshold.

A15. The method of any of embodiments A13-A14, wherein each conventional QoE metric represented by a lightweight QoE metric is related to one of the following: throughput, latency, round-trip time, uplink delay, downlink delay, initial play out delay, jitter, buffer level, and consecutive packet losses.

Bl. A method, for a node in a radio access network (RAN), to configure a user equipment (UE) to perform quality-of-experience (QoE) measurements, the method comprising: sending, to the UE, a QoE measurement configuration for one or more applications, wherein the QoE measurement configuration includes at least one of the following: a first indication of whether the UE should perform QoE measurements in a lightweight or a conventional manner; a second indication of whether the UE should log performed QoE measurements in a lightweight format and/or a conventional format; a third indication of whether the UE should report logged QoE measurements as lightweight QoE metrics and/or as conventional QoE metrics; a fourth indication of one or more lightweight QoE metrics to be reported by the UE; and a fifth indication of one or more conditions for reporting lightweight QoE metrics; receiving, from the UE, at least one lightweight QoE metric that is based on QoE measurements performed and logged according to the QoE measurement configuration and is related to at least one of the applications.

B2. The method of embodiment Bl, wherein the at least one lightweight QoE metric includes one of more of the following: one or more first lightweight QoE metrics based on first QoE measurements logged in the lightweight format; and one or more second lightweight QoE metrics based on second QoE measurements logged in the conventional format.

B3. The method of any of embodiments B1-B2, further comprising receiving, from the UE, at least one conventional QoE metric related to the least one application.

B3a. The method of embodiment B3, further comprising, based on the at least one lightweight QoE metric, sending, to the UE, a request for the at least one conventional QoE metric, wherein the at least one conventional QoE metric is received in response to the request.

B4. The method of any of embodiments B3-B3a, wherein the at least one lightweight QoE metric and the at least one conventional QoE metric are based on QoE measurements logged in the conventional format.

B5. The method of any of embodiments B3-B3a, wherein: the at least one lightweight QoE metric is based on QoE measurements logged in the lightweight format; and the at least one conventional QoE metric is based on additional QoE measurements that are responsive to the request and logged in the conventional format. B6. The method of embodiment B5, wherein the additional QoE measurements are based on a configuration included in the QoE measurement configuration or in the request.

B7. The method of any of embodiments B1-B3, wherein the at least one lightweight QoE metric is received in a QoE measurement report together with at least one conventional QoE metric, according to one of the following: in the same measurement container; or in different measurement containers.

B8. The method of embodiment B7, wherein the at least one conventional QoE metric is related to: the same one or more applications as the at least one lightweight QoE metric; or at least one different application than the at least one lightweight QoE metric.

B9. The method of embodiment B3, wherein: the at least one lightweight QoE metric is received based on the UE determining that logged QoE measurements meet one or more predetermined criteria; and the at least one conventional QoE metric is received based on the UE determining that logged QoE measurements do not meet the one or more predetermined criteria.

BIO. The method of any of embodiments B1-B3, wherein the at least one lightweight QoE measurement is received as one of the following: in a radio resource control (RRC) MeasurementReport message; in a minimization of drive testing (MDT) report; in a medium access control (MAC) control element (CE); and together with radio resource management (RRM) related measurements.

Bl 1. The method of any of embodiments Bl -BIO, wherein each lightweight QoE metric is a representation of one of the following: a conventional QoE metric; a plurality of different conventional QoE metrics for one application; a plurality of different lightweight QoE metrics for one application; respective values of a conventional QoE metric for a plurality of applications, and respective values of a lightweight QoE metric for a plurality of applications. B12. The method of embodiment Bl 1, wherein each representation used by a lightweight QoE metric is one of the following: a concatenation, an index, a score, a rating based on enumerated values, a binary relation to a threshold.

B13. The method of any of embodiments Bl 1-B12, wherein each conventional QoE metric represented by a lightweight QoE metric is related to one of the following: throughput, latency, round-trip time, uplink delay, downlink delay, initial play out delay, jitter, buffer level, and consecutive packet losses.

B14. The method of any of embodiments B1-B13, further comprising: receiving the QoE measurement configuration from a network node or function outside the RAN; and forwarding the at least one lightweight QoE metric to the network node or function outside of the RAN.

Bl 5. The method of embodiment Bl 4, wherein the network node or function outside the RAN is one of the following: an access and mobility management function (AMF) in a core network (CN), or a network management system (NMS).

Cl . A method for network node or function coupled to a radio access network (RAN), the method comprising: sending, to a RAN node, a QoE measurement configuration for one or more applications associated with a user equipment (UE), wherein the QoE measurement configuration includes at least one of the following: a first indication of whether the UE should perform QoE measurements in a lightweight or a conventional manner; a second indication of whether the UE should log performed QoE measurements in a lightweight format and/or a conventional format; a third indication of whether the UE should report logged QoE measurements as lightweight QoE metrics and/or as conventional QoE metrics; a fourth indication of one or more lightweight QoE metrics to be reported by the UE; and a fifth indication of one or more conditions for reporting lightweight QoE metrics; and receiving, from the RAN node, at least one lightweight QoE metric that is related to at least one of the applications and is based on QoE measurements performed and logged by the UE according to the QoE measurement configuration.

C2. The method of embodiment Cl, wherein the at least one lightweight QoE metric includes one of more of the following: one or more first lightweight QoE metrics based on first QoE measurements logged in the lightweight format; and one or more second lightweight QoE metrics based on second QoE measurements logged in the conventional format.

C3. The method of any of embodiments C1-C2, wherein the at least one lightweight QoE metric is received in a QoE measurement report together with at least one conventional QoE metric, according to one of the following: in the same measurement container; or in different measurement containers.

C4. The method of embodiment C3, wherein the at least one conventional QoE metric is related to: the same one or more applications as the at least one lightweight QoE metric; or at least one different application than the at least one lightweight QoE metric.

C5. The method of any of embodiments C1-C2, wherein the at least one lightweight QoE measurement is received based on the UE determining that logged QoE measurements meet one or more predetermined criteria.

C6. The method of any of embodiments C1-C5, wherein each lightweight QoE metric is a representation of one of the following: a conventional QoE metric; a plurality of different conventional QoE metrics for one application; a plurality of different lightweight QoE metrics for one application; respective values of a conventional QoE metric for a plurality of applications, and respective values of a lightweight QoE metric for a plurality of applications. C7. The method of embodiment C6, wherein each representation used by a lightweight QoE metric is one of the following: a concatenation, an index, a score, a rating based on enumerated values, a binary relation to a threshold.

C8. The method of any of embodiments C6-C7, wherein each conventional QoE metric represented by a lightweight QoE metric is related to one of the following: throughput, latency, round-trip time, uplink delay, downlink delay, initial play out delay, jitter, buffer level, and consecutive packet losses.

C9. The method of any of embodiments C1-C8, wherein the network node or function is one of the following: an access and mobility management function (AMF) in a core network (CN), or a network management system (NMS).

DI . A user equipment (UE) configured to perform quality-of-experience (QoE) measurements in a radio access network (RAN), the UE comprising: radio transceiver circuitry configured to communicate with at least one RAN node; and processing circuitry operatively coupled to the radio transceiver circuitry, whereby the processing circuitry and the radio transceiver circuitry are configured to perform operations corresponding to the methods of any of embodiments Al -Al 5.

D2. A user equipment (UE) configured to perform quality-of-experience (QoE) measurements in a radio access network (RAN), the UE being further arranged to perform operations corresponding to the methods of any of embodiments Al -Al 5.

D3. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a user equipment (UE) configured to perform quality-of-experience (QoE) measurements in a radio access network (RAN), configure the UE to perform operations corresponding to the methods of any of embodiments Al -Al 5.

D4. A computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a user equipment (UE) configured to perform quality-of- experience (QoE) measurements in a radio access network (RAN), configure the UE to perform operations corresponding to the methods of any of embodiments Al -Al 5. El . A radio access network (RAN) node arranged to configure a user equipment (UE) to perform quality-of-experience (QoE) measurements, the RAN node comprising: communication interface circuitry configured to communicate with UEs and with a network node or function outside the RAN; and processing circuitry operatively coupled to the communication interface circuitry, whereby the processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are configured to perform operations corresponding to the methods of any of embodiments B 1 -B 15.

E2. A radio access network (RAN) node arranged to configure user equipment (UEs) to perform quality-of-experience (QoE) measurements, the RAN node being further arranged to perform operations corresponding to the methods of any of embodiments B1-B15.

E3. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a radio access network (RAN) node arranged to configure user equipment (UEs) to perform quality-of-experience (QoE) measurements, configure the RAN node to perform operations corresponding to the methods of any of embodiments B 1 -B 15.

E4. A computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a radio access network (RAN) node arranged to configure user equipment (UEs) to perform quality-of-experience (QoE) measurements, configure the RAN node to perform operations corresponding to the methods of any of embodiments B1-B15.

Fl. A network node or function, coupled to a radio access network (RAN) and arranged to configure quality-of-experience (QoE) measurements in the RAN, the network node or function comprising: communication interface circuitry configured to communicate with the RAN and with UEs served by the RAN; and processing circuitry operatively coupled to the communication interface circuitry, whereby the processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are configured to perform operations corresponding to the methods of any of embodiments C1-C9.

F2. A network node or function, coupled to a radio access network (RAN) and arranged to configure quality-of-experience (QoE) measurements in the RAN, the network node or function being further arranged to perform operations corresponding to the methods of any of embodiments C1-C9. F3. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a network node or function coupled to a radio access network (RAN) and arranged to configure quality-of-experience (QoE) measurements in the RAN, configure the network node or function to perform operations corresponding to the methods of any of embodiments C1-C9.

F4. A computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a network node or function coupled to a radio access network (RAN) and arranged to configure quality-of-experience (QoE) measurements in the RAN, configure the network node or function to perform operations corresponding to the methods of any of embodiments C1-C9.

Claims

1. A method for a user equipment, UE, to perform quality-of-experience, QoE, measurements in a radio access network, RAN, the method comprising: receiving (1010), from a RAN node, a lightweight QoE measurement configuration for one or more applications, wherein the lightweight QoE measurement configuration includes at least one of the following: a first indication of whether the UE should perform QoE measurements in a lightweight manner; a second indication of whether the UE should log performed QoE measurements in a lightweight format; a third indication of whether the UE should report logged QoE measurements as lightweight QoE metrics; a fourth indication of one or more lightweight QoE metrics to be reported by the UE; and a fifth indication of one or more conditions for reporting lightweight QoE metrics and/or performing QoE measurements on which lightweight QoE metrics are based; performing and logging (1020) QoE measurements for the one or more applications based on the lightweight QoE measurement configuration; and sending (1030), to the RAN node, at least one lightweight QoE metric that is based on the logged QoE measurements and is related to at least one of the applications.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein performing and logging (1020) QoE measurements further comprises one or more of the following: based on the second indication, converting (1021) one or more first QoE measurements performed in a conventional manner into the lightweight format for logging; and based on at least one of the third, fourth, and fifth indications, converting (1022) one or more second QoE measurements logged in a conventional format into one or more lightweight QoE metrics.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the at least one lightweight QoE metric sent to the RAN node includes one of more of the following: one or more first lightweight QoE metrics based on the first QoE measurements logged in the lightweight format; and one or more second lightweight QoE metrics based on the second QoE measurements logged in the conventional format.

4. The method of any of claims 1-3, further comprising discarding (1050) the logged QoE measurements, on which the at least one lightweight QoE metric is based, after receiving no request for conventional QoE metrics based on the logged QoE measurements.

5. The method of any of claims 1-4, further comprising sending (1080), to the RAN node, at least one conventional QoE metric related to the least one application.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein the at least one lightweight QoE metric is sent in a QoE measurement report together with at least one conventional QoE metric, according to one of the following: in the same measurement container; or in different measurement containers.

7. The method of claim 6, wherein the at least one conventional QoE metric is related to: the same one or more applications as the at least one lightweight QoE metric; or at least one different application than the at least one lightweight QoE metric.

8. The method of claims 1-5, wherein the at least one lightweight QoE measurement is sent as one of the following: in a radio resource control, RRC, MeasurementReport message; in a minimization of drive testing, MDT, report; in a medium access control, MAC, control element, CE; and together with radio resource management, RRM, related measurements.

9. The method of any of claims 1-8, wherein each lightweight QoE metric is a representation of one of the following: a conventional QoE metric; a plurality of different conventional QoE metrics for one application; a plurality of different lightweight QoE metrics for one application; respective values of a conventional QoE metric for a plurality of applications; or respective values of a lightweight QoE metric for a plurality of applications.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein each representation used by a lightweight QoE metric is one of the following: a concatenation, an index, a score, a rating based on enumerated values, or a binary relation to a threshold.

11. The method of any of claims 9-10, wherein each conventional QoE metric represented by a lightweight QoE metric is related to one of the following: throughput, latency, round-trip time, uplink delay, downlink delay, initial play out delay, jitter, buffer level, or consecutive packet losses.

12. A method, for a node in a radio access network, RAN, to configure a user equipment, UE, to perform quality-of-experience, QoE, measurements, the method comprising: sending (1120), to the UE, a lightweight QoE measurement configuration for one or more applications, wherein the lightweight QoE measurement configuration includes at least one of the following: a first indication of whether the UE should perform QoE measurements in a lightweight manner; a second indication of whether the UE should log performed QoE measurements in a lightweight format; a third indication of whether the UE should report logged QoE measurements as lightweight QoE metrics; a fourth indication of one or more lightweight QoE metrics to be reported by the UE; and a fifth indication of one or more conditions for reporting lightweight QoE metrics and/or performing QoE measurements on which lightweight QoE metrics are based; and receiving (1130), from the UE, at least one lightweight QoE metric that is based on QoE measurements performed and logged according to the lightweight QoE measurement configuration and is related to at least one of the applications.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the at least one lightweight QoE metric includes one of more of the following: one or more first lightweight QoE metrics based on first QoE measurements logged in the lightweight format; and one or more second lightweight QoE metrics based on second QoE measurements logged in a conventional format.

14. The method of any of claims 12-13, further comprising receiving (1160), from the UE, at least one conventional QoE metric related to the least one application.

15. The method of any of claims 12-14, wherein the at least one lightweight QoE metric is received in a QoE measurement report together with at least one conventional QoE metric, according to one of the following: in the same measurement container; or in different measurement containers.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the at least one conventional QoE metric is related to: the same one or more applications as the at least one lightweight QoE metric; or at least one different application than the at least one lightweight QoE metric.

17. The method of any of claims 12-14, wherein the at least one lightweight QoE measurement is received as one of the following: in a radio resource control, RRC, MeasurementReport message; in a minimization of drive testing, MDT, report; in a medium access control, MAC, control element, CE; and together with radio resource management, RRM, related measurements.

18. The method of any of claims 12-17, wherein each lightweight QoE metric is a representation of one of the following: a conventional QoE metric; a plurality of different conventional QoE metrics for one application; a plurality of different lightweight QoE metrics for one application; respective values of a conventional QoE metric for a plurality of applications, and respective values of a lightweight QoE metric for a plurality of applications.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein each conventional QoE metric represented by a lightweight QoE metric is related to one of the following: throughput, latency, round-trip time, uplink delay, downlink delay, initial play out delay, jitter, buffer level, and consecutive packet losses.

20. The method of any of claims 12-19, further comprising: receiving (1110) the lightweight QoE measurement configuration from a network node or function coupled to the RAN; and forwarding (1140) the at least one lightweight QoE metric to the network node or function coupled to the RAN.

21. The method of claim 20, wherein the network node or function coupled to the RAN is one of the following: an access and mobility management function, AMF, in a core network, CN; or a network management system, NMS.

22. A method for network node or function coupled to a radio access network, RAN, the method comprising: sending (1210), to a RAN node, a lightweight QoE measurement configuration for one or more applications associated with a user equipment, UE, wherein the lightweight QoE measurement configuration includes at least one of the following: a first indication of whether the UE should perform QoE measurements in a lightweight manner; a second indication of whether the UE should log performed QoE measurements in a lightweight format; a third indication of whether the UE should report logged QoE measurements as lightweight QoE metrics; a fourth indication of one or more lightweight QoE metrics to be reported by the UE; and a fifth indication of one or more conditions for reporting lightweight QoE metrics and/or performing QoE measurements on which lightweight QoE metrics are based; and receiving (1220), from the RAN node, at least one lightweight QoE metric that is related to at least one of the applications and is based on QoE measurements performed and logged by the UE according to the lightweight QoE measurement configuration.

23. The method of claim 22, wherein the at least one lightweight QoE metric includes one of more of the following: one or more first lightweight QoE metrics based on first QoE measurements logged in the lightweight format; and one or more second lightweight QoE metrics based on second QoE measurements logged in a conventional format.

24. The method of any of claims 22-23, wherein the at least one lightweight QoE metric is received in a QoE measurement report together with at least one conventional QoE metric, according to one of the following: in the same measurement container; or in different measurement containers.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein the at least one conventional QoE metric is related to: the same one or more applications as the at least one lightweight QoE metric; or at least one different application than the at least one lightweight QoE metric.

26. The method of any of claims 22-23, wherein the at least one lightweight QoE measurement is received based on the UE determining that logged QoE measurements meet one or more predetermined criteria.

27. The method of any of claims 22-26, wherein each lightweight QoE metric is a representation of one of the following: a conventional QoE metric; a plurality of different conventional QoE metrics for one application; a plurality of different lightweight QoE metrics for one application; respective values of a conventional QoE metric for a plurality of applications, and respective values of a lightweight QoE metric for a plurality of applications.

28. The method of claim 27, wherein each representation used by a lightweight QoE metric is one of the following: a concatenation, an index, a score, a rating based on enumerated values, a binary relation to a threshold.

29. The method of any of claims 27-28, wherein each conventional QoE metric represented by a lightweight QoE metric is related to one of the following: throughput, latency, round-trip time, uplink delay, downlink delay, initial play out delay, jitter, buffer level, and consecutive packet losses.

30. The method of any of claims 22-27, wherein the network node or function is one of the following: an access and mobility management function, AMF, in a core network, CN; or a network management system, NMS.

31. A user equipment, UE (120, 305, 1300, 1510) configured to perform quality-of- experience, QoE, measurements in a radio access network, RAN (100, 299, 399, 1530), the UE comprising: radio transceiver circuitry (1340) configured to communicate with at least one RAN node; and processing circuitry (1310) operatively coupled to the radio transceiver circuitry, whereby the processing circuitry and the radio transceiver circuitry are configured to: receive, from a RAN node, a lightweight QoE measurement configuration for one or more applications, wherein the lightweight QoE measurement configuration includes at least one of the following: a first indication of whether the UE should perform QoE measurements in a lightweight manner; a second indication of whether the UE should log performed QoE measurements in a lightweight format; a third indication of whether the UE should report logged QoE measurements as lightweight QoE metrics; a fourth indication of one or more lightweight QoE metrics to be reported by the UE; and a fifth indication of one or more conditions for reporting lightweight QoE metrics and/or performing QoE measurements on which lightweight QoE metrics are based; perform and log QoE measurements for the one or more applications based on the lightweight QoE measurement configuration; and send, to the RAN node, at least one lightweight QoE metric that is based on the logged QoE measurements and is related to at least one of the applications.

32. The UE of claim 31, wherein the processing circuitry and the radio transceiver circuitry are further configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 2- 11.

33. A user equipment, UE (120, 305, 1300, 1510) configured to perform quality-of- experience, QoE, measurements in a radio access network, RAN (100, 299, 399, 1530), the UE being further configured to: receive, from a RAN node, a lightweight QoE measurement configuration for one or more applications, wherein the lightweight QoE measurement configuration includes at least one of the following: a first indication of whether the UE should perform QoE measurements in a lightweight manner; a second indication of whether the UE should log performed QoE measurements in a lightweight format; a third indication of whether the UE should report logged QoE measurements as lightweight QoE metrics; a fourth indication of one or more lightweight QoE metrics to be reported by the UE; and a fifth indication of one or more conditions for reporting lightweight QoE metrics and/or performing QoE measurements on which lightweight QoE metrics are based; perform and log QoE measurements for the one or more applications based on the lightweight QoE measurement configuration; and send, to the RAN node, at least one lightweight QoE metric that is based on the logged QoE measurements and is related to at least one of the applications.

34. The UE of claim 33, being further configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 2-11.

35. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium (1320) storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry (1310) of a user equipment, UE (120, 305, 1300, 1510) configured to perform quality-of-experience, QoE, measurements in a radio access network, RAN (100, 299, 399, 1530), configure the UE to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 1-12.

36. A computer program product (1321) comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry (1310) of a user equipment, UE (120, 305, 1300, 1510) configured to perform quality-of-experience, QoE, measurements in a radio access network, RAN (100, 299, 399, 1530), configure the UE to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 1-12.

37. A radio access network, RAN, node (105, 110, 115, 200, 250, 310, 320, 1400) arranged to configure a user equipment, UE (120, 305, 1300, 1510) to perform quality-of-experience, QoE, measurements, the RAN node comprising: communication interface circuitry (1440, 1450, 1460) configured to communicate with UEs and with a network node or function (330, 1602) coupled to the RAN; and processing circuitry (1410) operatively coupled to the communication interface circuitry, whereby the processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are configured to: send, to the UE, a lightweight QoE measurement configuration for one or more applications, wherein the lightweight QoE measurement configuration includes at least one of the following: a first indication of whether the UE should perform QoE measurements in a lightweight manner; a second indication of whether the UE should log performed QoE measurements in a lightweight format; a third indication of whether the UE should report logged QoE measurements as lightweight QoE metrics; a fourth indication of one or more lightweight QoE metrics to be reported by the UE; and a fifth indication of one or more conditions for reporting lightweight QoE metrics and/or performing QoE measurements on which lightweight QoE metrics are based; and receive, from the UE, at least one lightweight QoE metric that is based on QoE measurements performed and logged according to the lightweight QoE measurement configuration and is related to at least one of the applications.

38. The RAN node of claim 37, wherein the processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are further configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 13-21.

39. A radio access network, RAN, node (105, 110, 115, 200, 250, 310, 320, 1400) arranged to configure a user equipment, UE (120, 305, 1300, 1510) to perform quality-of-experience, QoE, measurements, the RAN node being further arranged to: send, to the UE, a lightweight QoE measurement configuration for one or more applications, wherein the lightweight QoE measurement configuration includes at least one of the following: a first indication of whether the UE should perform QoE measurements in a lightweight manner; a second indication of whether the UE should log performed QoE measurements in a lightweight format; a third indication of whether the UE should report logged QoE measurements as lightweight QoE metrics; a fourth indication of one or more lightweight QoE metrics to be reported by the UE; and a fifth indication of one or more conditions for reporting lightweight QoE metrics and/or performing QoE measurements on which lightweight QoE metrics are based; and receive, from the UE, at least one lightweight QoE metric that is based on QoE measurements performed and logged according to the lightweight QoE measurement configuration and is related to at least one of the applications.

40. The RAN node of claim 50, being further arranged to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 13-21.

41. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium (1420) storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry (1410) of a radio access network, RAN, node (105, 110, 115, 200, 250, 310, 320, 1400) arranged to configure a user equipment, UE (120, 305, 1300, 1510) to perform quality-of-experience, QoE, measurements, configure the RAN node to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 12-21.

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42. A computer program product (1421) comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry (1410) of a radio access network, RAN, node (105, 110, 115, 200, 250, 310, 320, 1400) arranged to configure a user equipment, UE (120, 305, 1300, 1510) to perform quality-of-experience, QoE, measurements, configure the RAN node to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 12-21.

43. A network node or function (330, 1602), coupled to a radio access network, RAN (100, 299, 399, 1530) and arranged to configure quality-of-experience, QoE, measurements in the RAN, the network node or function comprising: communication interface circuitry (1604c) configured to communicate with RAN nodes (105, 110, 115, 200, 250, 310, 320, 1400) and with user equipment, UEs (120, 305, 1300, 1510) served by the RAN nodes; and processing circuitry (1604a) operatively coupled to the communication interface circuitry, whereby the processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are configured to: send, to a RAN node, a lightweight QoE measurement configuration for one or more applications associated with a user equipment, UE, wherein the lightweight QoE measurement configuration includes at least one of the following: a first indication of whether the UE should perform QoE measurements in a lightweight manner; a second indication of whether the UE should log performed QoE measurements in a lightweight format; a third indication of whether the UE should report logged QoE measurements as lightweight QoE metrics; a fourth indication of one or more lightweight QoE metrics to be reported by the UE; and a fifth indication of one or more conditions for reporting lightweight QoE metrics and/or performing QoE measurements on which lightweight QoE metrics are based; and receive, from the RAN node, at least one lightweight QoE metric that is related to at least one of the applications and is based on QoE measurements performed and logged by the UE according to the lightweight QoE measurement configuration.

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44. The network node or function of claim 43, wherein the processing circuitry and the communication interface circuitry are further configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 23-30.

45. A network node or function (330, 1602), coupled to a radio access network, RAN (100, 299, 399, 1530) and arranged to configure quality-of-experience, QoE, measurements in the RAN, the network node or function being further arranged to: send, to a RAN node, a lightweight QoE measurement configuration for one or more applications associated with a user equipment, UE, wherein the lightweight QoE measurement configuration includes at least one of the following: a first indication of whether the UE should perform QoE measurements in a lightweight manner; a second indication of whether the UE should log performed QoE measurements in a lightweight format; a third indication of whether the UE should report logged QoE measurements as lightweight QoE metrics; a fourth indication of one or more lightweight QoE metrics to be reported by the UE; and a fifth indication of one or more conditions for reporting lightweight QoE metrics and/or performing QoE measurements on which lightweight QoE metrics are based; and receive, from the RAN node, at least one lightweight QoE metric that is related to at least one of the applications and is based on QoE measurements performed and logged by the UE according to the lightweight QoE measurement configuration.

46. The network node or function of claim 45, being further arranged to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 23-30.

47. A non-transitory, computer-readable medium (1604b) storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry (1604a) of a network node or function (330, 1602) coupled to a radio access network, RAN (100, 299, 399, 1530) and arranged to configure quality-of-experience, QoE, measurements in the RAN, configure the network node or function to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 22-30.

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48. A computer program product (1604c) comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry (1604a) of a network node or function (330, 1602) coupled to a radio access network, RAN (100, 299, 399, 1530) and arranged to configure quality-of-experience, QoE, measurements in the RAN, configure the network node or function to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 22-30.

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