WO2023064144A1 - Multiple parallel services by a single ric subscription over an e2 interface in o-ran - Google Patents

Multiple parallel services by a single ric subscription over an e2 interface in o-ran Download PDF

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Publication number
WO2023064144A1
WO2023064144A1 PCT/US2022/045797 US2022045797W WO2023064144A1 WO 2023064144 A1 WO2023064144 A1 WO 2023064144A1 US 2022045797 W US2022045797 W US 2022045797W WO 2023064144 A1 WO2023064144 A1 WO 2023064144A1
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WIPO (PCT)
Prior art keywords
ric
subscription
node
ran
indication
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PCT/US2022/045797
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French (fr)
Inventor
Jaemin HAN
Dawei YING
Leifeng RUAN
Qian Li
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Intel Corporation
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Publication of WO2023064144A1 publication Critical patent/WO2023064144A1/en

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    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04WWIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W88/00Devices specially adapted for wireless communication networks, e.g. terminals, base stations or access point devices
    • H04W88/12Access point controller devices
    • HELECTRICITY
    • H04ELECTRIC COMMUNICATION TECHNIQUE
    • H04WWIRELESS COMMUNICATION NETWORKS
    • H04W24/00Supervisory, monitoring or testing arrangements
    • H04W24/02Arrangements for optimising operational condition

Definitions

  • Various embodiments generally may relate to the field of wireless communications. For example, some embodiments may relate to supporting multiple parallel services by a single radio access network (RAN) intelligence controller (RIC) subscription over an E2 interface in open-RAN (O-RAN) systems.
  • RAN radio access network
  • RIC radio access network intelligence controller
  • O-RAN has been striving to embrace artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) based intelligence into wireless communication networks as described in O-RAN WG1, “O- RAN Architecture Description.”
  • AI artificial intelligence
  • ML machine learning
  • the injection and control guided by AI/ML based intelligence into RAN networks are realized via E2 interface from Near-RT (real time) RAN intelligence controller (RIC), where Near-RT RIC subscribes various RIC services (REPORT, INSERT, CONTROL, POLICY) based on RAN functions exposed from RAN nodes.
  • RIC Near-RT
  • RIC real time RAN intelligence controller
  • E2AP the “Near-Real-time RAN Intelligent Controller; E2 Application Protocol”
  • E2AP the “Near-Real-time RAN Intelligent Controller; E2 Application Protocol”
  • E2AP the “Near-Real-time RAN Intelligent Controller; E2 Application Protocol”
  • the basic form of RIC subscription handling initiated by Near-RT RIC is in place in E2AP
  • the current form is limited in that it does not allow Near-RT RIC to subscribe multiple actions (under a single RIC subscription) to be performed in parallel.
  • the multiple actions subscribed should be performed in sequence. For example, if two actions a1 (INSERT) and a2 (POLICY) are subscribed to a E2 Node (e.g.
  • Figure 1 illustrates an example of an implementation for subscribing multiple parallel actions under the same event trigger by re-using the existing E2AP RIC subscription procedure in accordance with various embodiments.
  • Figure 2 illustrates an example of an implementation for supporting indication (from E2 Node to Near-RT RIC) of multiple actions under a single indication procedure by re-using the existing E2AP RIC Indication procedure in accordance with various embodiments.
  • Figure 3 illustrates an example of an implementation for supporting control (from Near- RT RIC to E2 Node) of multiple actions under a single control procedure by re-using the existing E2AP RIC Control procedure in accordance with various embodiments.
  • Figures 4A and 4B illustrate an example of new suspend/resume functionality initiated from Near-RT RIC in accordance with various embodiments.
  • Figures 5A and 5B illustrate an example of new suspend/resume functionality initiated from E2 Nodein accordance with various embodiments.
  • Figures 6A and 6B illustrate an example of deleting an existing subscription or service(s) for which E2 Node requested to suspend or resume in accordance with various embodiments.
  • Figures 7A and 7B illustrate an example of suspending an existing subscription or service(s) for which E2 Node requested to remove in accordance with various embodiments.
  • Figure 8 schematically illustrates a wireless network in accordance with various embodiments.
  • Figure 9 schematically illustrates components of a wireless network in accordance with various embodiments.
  • Figure 10 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.
  • Figure 11 provides a high-level view of an Open RAN (O-RAN) architecture 1100
  • Figure 12 shows the Uu interface between a UE 1201 and O-e/gNB 1210 as well as between the UE 1201 and O-RAN components.
  • Figures 13, 14, and 15 depict examples of procedures for practicing the various embodiments discussed herein. DETAILED DESCRIPTION
  • the following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements.
  • the current form of RIC subscription handling initiated by Near- RT RIC is in place in E2AP
  • the current form is limited in that it does not allow Near-RT RIC to subscribe multiple actions (under a single RIC subscription) to be performed in parallel.
  • the multiple actions subscribed should be performed in sequence. For example, if two actions a1 (INSERT) and a2 (POLICY) are subscribed to a E2 Node (e.g. RAN node) under the same event, then the RAN node, upon the event trigger, should perform the action a1 (INSERT) and wait for the control from Near-RT RIC, and after receiving the control command or an associated timer expired, then the second action a2 (POLICY) should be performed.
  • INSERT INSERT
  • POLICY the RAN node
  • E2AP is enhanced to support the subscription of multiple actions to be performed parallelly under the same event trigger.
  • a new dedicated E2AP procedures can be defined, or it can be implemented onto the existing E2AP RIC Subscription procedure, as illustrated in Figure 1.
  • One possible implementation onto the E2AP RIC SUBSCRIPTION REQUEST message that is compatible with the existing "Sequence of Actions" details can be as follows:
  • This message is sent by the Near-RT RIC to an E2 Node to create a new Subscription in the E2 Node.
  • the E2 node shall consider that this action, if accepted, should be performed together with the precedent action when the event trigger happens, instead of sequential processing after the precedent action.
  • E2AP RIC Indication procedure toward Near-RT RIC to send a report to Near-RT RIC or to wait for the subsequent commands from Near-RT RIC, respectively.
  • REPORT and INSERT services invokes E2AP RIC Indication procedure toward Near-RT RIC to send a report to Near-RT RIC or to wait for the subsequent commands from Near-RT RIC, respectively.
  • this E2AP RIC Indication procedure can be invoked per each action.
  • E2AP may need to be enhanced to support indication (from E2 Node to Near-RT RIC) of multiple actions under a single indication procedure.
  • indication from E2 Node to Near-RT RIC
  • a new dedicated E2AP procedures can be defined, or it can be implemented onto the existing E2AP RIC Indication procedure, as in Figure 2 below.
  • This message is sent by an E2 Node to transfer Report information to a Near-RT RIC.
  • E2AP RIC Control procedure is used for the standalone control services or in conjunction with INSERT services as a way to provide subsequent commands once Near-RT RIC receives indication that an E2 node invokes for an INSERT action (when event is triggered), as described in E2GAP Section 5.3.2.
  • E2AP may also need to be enhanced to support this control (from Near-RT RIC to E2 Node) of multiple actions under a single control procedure.
  • a new dedicated E2AP procedures can be defined, or it can be implemented onto the existing E2AP RIC Control procedure, as in Figure 3. Note that, for the standalone CONTROL service that does not require subscription, step 3 is directly used without steps 0-2.
  • RIC CONTROL REQUEST This message is sent by a Near-RT RIC to an E2 Node to initiate or resume a control function logic.
  • a cell may be shut off during the night for energy saving purpose, during which the subscription for reporting various measurements periodically on that cell is no longer valid.
  • Near-RT RIC needs to delete this subscription before shutting off the cell and re-create the exact same subscription after re-activating the cell to avoid the conflict. It would be much more efficient if Near-RT RIC is able to suspend a subscription and resume it whenever needed.
  • a single RIC subscription could consist of multiple services (up to 16) that a E2 node needs to perform, based on the same event trigger. Among those services subscribed together for a single RIC subscription, Near-RT RIC may want to make some services dormant for some time period while others kept in operation.
  • Various embodiments herein provide techniques for suspend and resume functionality of a RIC subscription or service(s) within E2AP. Some embodiments herein include a new functionality to suspend and resume the existing RIC subscription or specific service(s) over an E2 interface.
  • the embodiments of the present disclosure allow suspend and resume of an existing RIC Subscription or specific service(s) between Near-RT RIC and E2 Node (e.g. RAN node) over E2 interface without inefficiently removing the existing subscription or service(s) completely and newly subscribing the exact same contents, which allows additional flexibility for Near-RT RIC.
  • the processing efficiency can be increased in Near-RT RIC or E2 Node implementations.
  • E2AP can be enhanced to support the suspend and resume of an existing RIC subscription or service(s) initiated from Near-RT RIC, as in Figures 4A and 4B.
  • Figure 4A illustrates an example where a whole subscription can be suspended and resumed
  • Figure 4B illustrates an example where a specific service within a subscription can be suspended and resumed.
  • a cell may be shut off during the night for energy saving purpose, during which the subscription for reporting various measurements periodically on that cell is no longer valid.
  • Near-RT RIC may suspend the subscription or service(s) before the night and resume in the morning.
  • the step 2 for suspension may include RIC Request ID and RAN Function ID and/or RIC Action ID(s) to pinpoint to a specific subscription or service(s) within, and/or the corresponding cause value as a reason for suspending.
  • the step 4 to resume may include RIC Request ID and RAN Function ID and/or RIC Action ID(s) to pinpoint to a specific subscription or service(s) within, and/or the corresponding cause value as a reason for resume.
  • E2AP can also be enhanced to support the suspend and resume of an existing RIC subscription or specific service(s) initiated from E2 Node, as shown in Figures 5A (subscription) and 5B (service).
  • E2 Node e.g. RAN Node
  • the UE may enter INACTIVE mode, for which the subscription or service(s) is no longer valid until the UE resumes.
  • E2 Node may request suspension of the subscription or service(s) while the UE is in INACTIVE mode and then request resume only when the UE resumes the activity in RAN.
  • the step 2 to request suspension may include RIC Request ID and RAN Function ID and/or RIC Action ID(s) to pinpoint to a specific subscription or service(s) within, and/or the corresponding cause value as a reason for suspending.
  • the step 5 to request resume may include RIC Request ID and RAN Function ID and/or RIC Action ID(s) to pinpoint to a specific subscription or service(s) within, and/or the corresponding cause value as a reason for resume.
  • E2AP can be enhanced to support the removal of an existing RIC subscription or service(s) for which an E2 Node requested to suspend or resume, as shown in Figures 6A (subscription) and 6B (service).
  • E2AP can be enhanced to support the suspend of an existing RIC subscription or service(s) for which an E2 Node requested to remove, as in Figures 7A (subscription) and 7B (service).
  • FIG. 8 illustrates a network 800 in accordance with various embodiments.
  • the network 800 may operate in a manner consistent with 3GPP technical specifications for LTE or 5G/NR systems.
  • the example embodiments are not limited in this regard and the described embodiments may apply to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems, or the like.
  • the network 800 may include a UE 802, which may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device designed to communicate with a RAN 804 via an over-the-air connection.
  • the UE 802 may be communicatively coupled with the RAN 804 by a Uu interface.
  • the UE 802 may be, but is not limited to, a smartphone, tablet computer, wearable computer device, desktop computer, laptop computer, in-vehicle infotainment, in-car entertainment device, instrument cluster, head-up display device, onboard diagnostic device, dashtop mobile equipment, mobile data terminal, electronic engine management system, electronic/engine control unit, electronic/engine control module, embedded system, sensor, microcontroller, control module, engine management system, networked appliance, machine-type communication device, M2M or D2D device, IoT device, etc.
  • the network 800 may include a plurality of UEs coupled directly with one another via a sidelink interface.
  • the UEs may be M2M/D2D devices that communicate using physical sidelink channels such as, but not limited to, PSBCH, PSDCH, PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH, etc.
  • the UE 802 may additionally communicate with an AP 806 via an over-the-air connection.
  • the AP 806 may manage a WLAN connection, which may serve to offload some/all network traffic from the RAN 804.
  • the connection between the UE 802 and the AP 806 may be consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the AP 806 could be a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi®) router.
  • Wi-Fi® wireless fidelity
  • the UE 802, RAN 804, and AP 806 may utilize cellular-WLAN aggregation (for example, LWA/LWIP).
  • Cellular-WLAN aggregation may involve the UE 802 being configured by the RAN 804 to utilize both cellular radio resources and WLAN resources.
  • the RAN 804 may include one or more access nodes, for example, AN 808.
  • AN 808 may terminate air-interface protocols for the UE 802 by providing access stratum protocols including RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC, and L1 protocols. In this manner, the AN 808 may enable data/voice connectivity between CN 820 and the UE 802.
  • the AN 808 may be implemented in a discrete device or as one or more software entities running on server computers as part of, for example, a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN or virtual baseband unit pool.
  • the AN 808 be referred to as a BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, ng-eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP, TRP, etc.
  • the AN 808 may be a macrocell base station or a low power base station for providing femtocells, picocells or other like cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells.
  • the RAN 804 may be coupled with one another via an X2 interface (if the RAN 804 is an LTE RAN) or an Xn interface (if the RAN 804 is a 5G RAN).
  • the X2/Xn interfaces which may be separated into control/user plane interfaces in some embodiments, may allow the ANs to communicate information related to handovers, data/context transfers, mobility, load management, interference coordination, etc.
  • the ANs of the RAN 804 may each manage one or more cells, cell groups, component carriers, etc. to provide the UE 802 with an air interface for network access.
  • the UE 802 may be simultaneously connected with a plurality of cells provided by the same or different ANs of the RAN 804.
  • the UE 802 and RAN 804 may use carrier aggregation to allow the UE 802 to connect with a plurality of component carriers, each corresponding to a Pcell or Scell.
  • a first AN may be a master node that provides an MCG and a second AN may be secondary node that provides an SCG.
  • the first/second ANs may be any combination of eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc.
  • the RAN 804 may provide the air interface over a licensed spectrum or an unlicensed spectrum.
  • the nodes may use LAA, eLAA, and/or feLAA mechanisms based on CA technology with PCells/Scells. Prior to accessing the unlicensed spectrum, the nodes may perform medium/carrier-sensing operations based on, for example, a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol.
  • LBT listen-before-talk
  • the UE 802 or AN 808 may be or act as a RSU, which may refer to any transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communications.
  • An RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable AN or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE.
  • An RSU implemented in or by: a UE may be referred to as a “UE-type RSU”; an eNB may be referred to as an “eNB-type RSU ; a gNB may be referred to as a gNB-type RSU ; and the like.
  • an RSU is a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located on a roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs.
  • the RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry to store intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well as applications/software to sense and control ongoing vehicular and pedestrian traffic.
  • the RSU may provide very low latency communications required for high speed events, such as crash avoidance, traffic warnings, and the like.
  • the RSU may provide other cellular/WLAN communications services.
  • the components of the RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller or a backhaul network.
  • the RAN 804 may be an LTE RAN 810 with eNBs, for example, eNB 812.
  • the LTE RAN 810 may provide an LTE air interface with the following characteristics: SCS of 15 kHz; CP-OFDM waveform for DL and SC-FDMA waveform for UL; turbo codes for data and TBCC for control; etc.
  • the LTE air interface may rely on CSI-RS for CSI acquisition and beam management; PDSCH/PDCCH DMRS for PDSCH/PDCCH demodulation; and CRS for cell search and initial acquisition, channel quality measurements, and channel estimation for coherent demodulation/detection at the UE.
  • the LTE air interface may operating on sub-6 GHz bands.
  • the RAN 804 may be an NG-RAN 814 with gNBs, for example, gNB 816, or ng-eNBs, for example, ng-eNB 818.
  • the gNB 816 may connect with 5G-enabled UEs using a 5G NR interface.
  • the gNB 816 may connect with a 5G core through an NG interface, which may include an N2 interface or an N3 interface.
  • the ng-eNB 818 may also connect with the 5G core through an NG interface, but may connect with a UE via an LTE air interface.
  • the gNB 816 and the ng-eNB 818 may connect with each other over an Xn interface.
  • the NG interface may be split into two parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface, which carries traffic data between the nodes of the NG-RAN 814 and a UPF 848 (e.g., N3 interface), and an NG control plane (NG-C) interface, which is a signaling interface between the nodes of the NG-RAN814 and an AMF 844 (e.g., N2 interface).
  • NG-U NG user plane
  • N3 interface e.g., N3 interface
  • N-C NG control plane
  • the NG-RAN 814 may provide a 5G-NR air interface with the following characteristics: variable SCS; CP-OFDM for DL, CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM for UL; polar, repetition, simplex, and Reed-Muller codes for control and LDPC for data.
  • the 5G-NR air interface may rely on CSI-RS, PDSCH/PDCCH DMRS similar to the LTE air interface.
  • the 5G-NR air interface may not use a CRS, but may use PBCH DMRS for PBCH demodulation; PTRS for phase tracking for PDSCH; and tracking reference signal for time tracking.
  • the 5G-NR air interface may operating on FR1 bands that include sub-6 GHz bands or FR2 bands that include bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz.
  • the 5G-NR air interface may include an SSB that is an area of a downlink resource grid that includes PSS/SSS/PBCH. In some embodiments, the 5G-NR air interface may utilize BWPs for various purposes.
  • BWP can be used for dynamic adaptation of the SCS.
  • the UE 802 can be configured with multiple BWPs where each BWP configuration has a different SCS.
  • BWP change is indicated to the UE 802
  • the SCS of the transmission is changed as well.
  • Another use case example of BWP is related to power saving.
  • multiple BWPs can be configured for the UE 802 with different amount of frequency resources (for example, PRBs) to support data transmission under different traffic loading scenarios.
  • a BWP containing a smaller number of PRBs can be used for data transmission with small traffic load while allowing power saving at the UE 802 and in some cases at the gNB 816.
  • a BWP containing a larger number of PRBs can be used for scenarios with higher traffic load.
  • the RAN 804 is communicatively coupled to CN 820 that includes network elements to provide various functions to support data and telecommunications services to customers/subscribers (for example, users of UE 802).
  • the components of the CN 820 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes.
  • NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the functions provided by the network elements of the CN 820 onto physical compute/storage resources in servers, switches, etc.
  • a logical instantiation of the CN 820 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 820 may be referred to as a network sub-slice.
  • the CN 820 may be an LTE CN 822, which may also be referred to as an EPC.
  • the LTE CN 822 may include MME 824, SGW 826, SGSN 828, HSS 830, PGW 832, and PCRF 834 coupled with one another over interfaces (or “reference points”) as shown. Functions of the elements of the LTE CN 822 may be briefly introduced as follows.
  • the MME 824 may implement mobility management functions to track a current location of the UE 802 to facilitate paging, bearer activation/deactivation, handovers, gateway selection, authentication, etc.
  • the SGW 826 may terminate an S1 interface toward the RAN and route data packets between the RAN and the LTE CN 822.
  • the SGW 826 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement.
  • the SGSN 828 may track a location of the UE 802 and perform security functions and access control.
  • the SGSN 828 may perform inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between different RAT networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by MME 824; MME selection for handovers; etc.
  • the S3 reference point between the MME 824 and the SGSN 828 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in idle/active states.
  • the HSS 830 may include a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities’ handling of communication sessions.
  • the HSS 830 can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc.
  • An S6a reference point between the HSS 830 and the MME 824 may enable transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating/authorizing user access to the LTE CN 820.
  • the PGW 832 may terminate an SGi interface toward a data network (DN) 836 that may include an application/content server 838.
  • the PGW 832 may route data packets between the LTE CN 822 and the data network 836.
  • the PGW 832 may be coupled with the SGW 826 by an S5 reference point to facilitate user plane tunneling and tunnel management.
  • the PGW 832 may further include a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection (for example, PCEF).
  • the SGi reference point between the PGW 832 and the data network 836 may be an operator external public, a private PDN, or an intra-operator packet data network, for example, for provision of IMS services.
  • the PGW 832 may be coupled with a PCRF 834 via a Gx reference point.
  • the PCRF 834 is the policy and charging control element of the LTE CN 822.
  • the PCRF 834 may be communicatively coupled to the app/content server 838 to determine appropriate QoS and charging parameters for service flows.
  • the PCRF 832 may provision associated rules into a PCEF (via Gx reference point) with appropriate TFT and QCI.
  • the CN 820 may be a 5GC 840.
  • the 5GC 840 may include an AUSF 842, AMF 844, SMF 846, UPF 848, NSSF 850, NEF 852, NRF 854, PCF 856, UDM 858, and AF 860 coupled with one another over interfaces (or “reference points”) as shown.
  • Functions of the elements of the 5GC 840 may be briefly introduced as follows.
  • the AUSF 842 may store data for authentication of UE 802 and handle authentication- related functionality.
  • the AUSF 842 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types.
  • the AUSF 842 may exhibit an Nausf service-based interface.
  • the AMF 844 may allow other functions of the 5GC 840 to communicate with the UE 802 and the RAN 804 and to subscribe to notifications about mobility events with respect to the UE 802.
  • the AMF 844 may be responsible for registration management (for example, for registering UE 802), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization.
  • the AMF 844 may provide transport for SM messages between the UE 802 and the SMF 846, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages.
  • AMF 844 may also provide transport for SMS messages between UE 802 and an SMSF.
  • AMF 844 may interact with the AUSF 842 and the UE 802 to perform various security anchor and context management functions.
  • AMF 844 may be a termination point of a RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the RAN 804 and the AMF 844; and the AMF 844 may be a termination point of NAS (N1) signaling, and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection.
  • AMF 844 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 802 over an N3 IWF interface.
  • the SMF 846 may be responsible for SM (for example, session establishment, tunnel management between UPF 848 and AN 808); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP function; configuring traffic steering at UPF 848 to route traffic to proper destination; termination of interfaces toward policy control functions; controlling part of policy enforcement, charging, and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events and interface to LI system); termination of SM parts of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN specific SM information, sent via AMF 844 over N2 to AN 808; and determining SSC mode of a session.
  • SM for example, session establishment, tunnel management between UPF 848 and AN 808
  • UE IP address allocation and management including optional authorization
  • selection and control of UP function configuring traffic steering at UPF 848 to route traffic to proper destination
  • termination of interfaces toward policy control functions controlling part of policy enforcement, charging, and QoS
  • lawful intercept for SM events and interface to LI system
  • SM may refer to management of a PDU session
  • a PDU session or “session” may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between the UE 802 and the data network 836.
  • the UPF 848 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to data network 836, and a branching point to support multi-homed PDU session.
  • the UPF 848 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, enforce the user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handling for a user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement), perform uplink traffic verification (e.g., SDF- to-QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering.
  • UPF 848 may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to a data network.
  • the NSSF 850 may select a set of network slice instances serving the UE 802.
  • the NSSF 850 may also determine allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAIs, if needed.
  • the NSSF 850 may also determine the AMF set to be used to serve the UE 802, or a list of candidate AMFs based on a suitable configuration and possibly by querying the NRF 854.
  • the selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 802 may be triggered by the AMF 844 with which the UE 802 is registered by interacting with the NSSF 850, which may lead to a change of AMF.
  • the NSSF 850 may interact with the AMF 844 via an N22 reference point; and may communicate with another NSSF in a visited network via an N31 reference point (not shown).
  • the NSSF 850 may exhibit an Nnssf service-based interface.
  • the NEF 852 may securely expose services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third party, internal exposure/re-exposure, AFs (e.g., AF 860), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc.
  • AFs e.g., AF 860
  • the NEF 852 may authenticate, authorize, or throttle the AFs.
  • NEF 852 may also translate information exchanged with the AF 860 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF 852 may translate between an AF-Service-Identifier and an internal 5GC information. NEF 852 may also receive information from other NFs based on exposed capabilities of other NFs.
  • This information may be stored at the NEF 852 as structured data, or at a data storage NF using standardized interfaces. The stored information can then be re-exposed by the NEF 852 to other NFs and AFs, or used for other purposes such as analytics. Additionally, the NEF 852 may exhibit an Nnef service-based interface.
  • the NRF 854 may support service discovery functions, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide the information of the discovered NF instances to the NF instances. NRF 854 also maintains information of available NF instances and their supported services.
  • the terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and an “instance” may refer to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code.
  • the NRF 854 may exhibit the Nnrf service-based interface.
  • the PCF 856 may provide policy rules to control plane functions to enforce them, and may also support unified policy framework to govern network behavior.
  • the PCF 856 may also implement a front end to access subscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDR of the UDM 858. In addition to communicating with functions over reference points as shown, the PCF 856 exhibit an Npcf service-based interface.
  • the UDM 858 may handle subscription-related information to support the network entities’ handling of communication sessions, and may store subscription data of UE 802. For example, subscription data may be communicated via an N8 reference point between the UDM 858 and the AMF 844.
  • the UDM 858 may include two parts, an application front end and a UDR.
  • the UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM 858 and the PCF 856, and/or structured data for exposure and application data (including PFDs for application detection, application request information for multiple UEs 802) for the NEF 852.
  • the Nudr service-based interface may be exhibited by the UDR 221 to allow the UDM 858, PCF 856, and NEF 852 to access a particular set of the stored data, as well as to read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notification of relevant data changes in the UDR.
  • the UDM may include a UDM- FE, which is in charge of processing credentials, location management, subscription management and so on. Several different front ends may serve the same user in different transactions.
  • the UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identification handling, access authorization, registration/mobility management, and subscription management.
  • the UDM 858 may exhibit the Nudm service-based interface.
  • the AF 860 may provide application influence on traffic routing, provide access to NEF, and interact with the policy framework for policy control.
  • the 5GC 840 may enable edge computing by selecting operator/3 rd party services to be geographically close to a point that the UE 802 is attached to the network. This may reduce latency and load on the network.
  • the 5GC 840 may select a UPF 848 close to the UE 802 and execute traffic steering from the UPF 848 to data network 836 via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF 860.
  • the AF 860 may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF 860 is considered to be a trusted entity, the network operator may permit AF 860 to interact directly with relevant NFs. Additionally, the AF 860 may exhibit an Naf service-based interface.
  • the data network 836 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third party services that may be provided by one or more servers including, for example, application/content server 838.
  • Figure 9 schematically illustrates a wireless network 900 in accordance with various embodiments.
  • the wireless network 900 may include a UE 902 in wireless communication with an AN 904.
  • the UE 902 and AN 904 may be similar to, and substantially interchangeable with, like-named components described elsewhere herein.
  • the UE 902 may be communicatively coupled with the AN 904 via connection 906.
  • the connection 906 is illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols such as an LTE protocol or a 5G NR protocol operating at mmWave or sub-6GHz frequencies.
  • the UE 902 may include a host platform 908 coupled with a modem platform 910.
  • the host platform 908 may include application processing circuitry 912, which may be coupled with protocol processing circuitry 914 of the modem platform 910.
  • the application processing circuitry 912 may run various applications for the UE 902 that source/sink application data.
  • the application processing circuitry 912 may further implement one or more layer operations to transmit/receive application data to/from a data network.
  • the protocol processing circuitry 914 may implement one or more of layer operations to facilitate transmission or reception of data over the connection 906.
  • the layer operations implemented by the protocol processing circuitry 914 may include, for example, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC and NAS operations.
  • the modem platform 910 may further include digital baseband circuitry 916 that may implement one or more layer operations that are “below” layer operations performed by the protocol processing circuitry 914 in a network protocol stack.
  • These operations may include, for example, PHY operations including one or more of HARQ-ACK functions, scrambling/descrambling, encoding/decoding, layer mapping/de-mapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol/bit metric determination, multi-antenna port precoding/decoding, which may include one or more of space-time, space-frequency or spatial coding, reference signal generation/detection, preamble sequence generation and/or decoding, synchronization sequence generation/detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and other related functions.
  • the modem platform 910 may further include transmit circuitry 918, receive circuitry 920, RF circuitry 922, and RF front end (RFFE) 924, which may include or connect to one or more antenna panels 926.
  • HARQ-ACK functions including one or more of HARQ-ACK functions, scrambling/descrambling, encoding/decoding, layer mapping/de-mapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol/bit metric determination, multi-anten
  • the transmit circuitry 918 may include a digital-to-analog converter, mixer, intermediate frequency (IF) components, etc.
  • the receive circuitry 920 may include an analog-to-digital converter, mixer, IF components, etc.
  • the RF circuitry 922 may include a low-noise amplifier, a power amplifier, power tracking components, etc.
  • RFFE 924 may include filters (for example, surface/bulk acoustic wave filters), switches, antenna tuners, beamforming components (for example, phase-array antenna components), etc.
  • transmit/receive components may be specific to details of a specific implementation such as, for example, whether communication is TDM or FDM, in mmWave or sub-6 gHz frequencies, etc.
  • the transmit/receive components may be arranged in multiple parallel transmit/receive chains, may be disposed in the same or different chips/modules, etc.
  • the protocol processing circuitry 914 may include one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the transmit/receive components.
  • a UE reception may be established by and via the antenna panels 926, RFFE 924, RF circuitry 922, receive circuitry 920, digital baseband circuitry 916, and protocol processing circuitry 914.
  • the antenna panels 926 may receive a transmission from the AN 904 by receive-beamforming signals received by a plurality of antennas/antenna elements of the one or more antenna panels 926.
  • a UE transmission may be established by and via the protocol processing circuitry 914, digital baseband circuitry 916, transmit circuitry 918, RF circuitry 922, RFFE 924, and antenna panels 926.
  • the transmit components of the UE 904 may apply a spatial filter to the data to be transmitted to form a transmit beam emitted by the antenna elements of the antenna panels 926.
  • the AN 904 may include a host platform 928 coupled with a modem platform 930.
  • the host platform 928 may include application processing circuitry 932 coupled with protocol processing circuitry 934 of the modem platform 930.
  • the modem platform may further include digital baseband circuitry 936, transmit circuitry 938, receive circuitry 940, RF circuitry 942, RFFE circuitry 944, and antenna panels 946.
  • the components of the AN 904 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with like-named components of the UE 902.
  • FIG. 10 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.
  • a machine-readable or computer-readable medium e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium
  • Figure 10 shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 1000 including one or more processors (or processor cores) 1010, one or more memory/storage devices 1020, and one or more communication resources 1030, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 1040 or other interface circuitry.
  • processors or processor cores
  • memory/storage devices 1020 may be communicatively coupled via a bus 1040 or other interface circuitry.
  • a hypervisor 1002 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1000.
  • the processors 1010 may include, for example, a processor 1012 and a processor 1014.
  • the processors 1010 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio- frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof.
  • the memory/storage devices 1020 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof.
  • the memory/storage devices 1020 may include, but are not limited to, any type of volatile, non-volatile, or semi-volatile memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, solid-state storage, etc.
  • the communication resources 1030 may include interconnection or network interface controllers, components, or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 1004 or one or more databases 1006 or other network elements via a network 1008.
  • the communication resources 1030 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB, Ethernet, etc.), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® Low Energy) components, Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components.
  • Instructions 1050 may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors 1010 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein.
  • the instructions 1050 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors 1010 (e.g., within the processor’s cache memory), the memory/storage devices 1020, or any suitable combination thereof.
  • any portion of the instructions 1050 may be transferred to the hardware resources 1000 from any combination of the peripheral devices 1004 or the databases 1006.
  • the memory of processors 1010, the memory/storage devices 1020, the peripheral devices 1004, and the databases 1006 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media.
  • Figure 11 provides a high-level view of an Open RAN (O-RAN) architecture 1100.
  • the O-RAN architecture 1100 includes four O-RAN defined interfaces – namely, the A1 interface, the O1 interface, the O2 interface, and the Open Fronthaul Management (M)-plane interface – which connect the Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) framework 1102 to O-RAN network functions (NFs) 1104 and the O-Cloud 1106.
  • SMO Service Management and Orchestration
  • the SMO 1102 (described in [O13]) also connects with an external system 1110, which provides enrighment data to the SMO 1102.
  • Figure 11 also illustrates that the A1 interface terminates at an O-RAN Non-Real Time (RT) RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) 1112 in or at the SMO 1102 and at the O-RAN Near-RT RIC 1114 in or at the O-RAN NFs 1104.
  • the O-RAN NFs 1104 can be VNFs such as VMs or containers, sitting above the O-Cloud 1106 and/or Physical Network Functions (PNFs) utilizing customized hardware.
  • VNFs such as VMs or containers, sitting above the O-Cloud 1106 and/or Physical Network Functions (PNFs) utilizing customized hardware.
  • PNFs Physical Network Functions
  • All O-RAN NFs 1104 are expected to support the O1 interface when interfacing the SMO framework 1102.
  • the O-RAN NFs 1104 connect to the NG-Core 1108 via the NG interface (which is a 3GPP defined interface).
  • the Open Fronthaul M-plane interface between the SMO 1102 and the O-RAN Radio Unit (O-RU) 1116 supports the O-RU 1116 management in the O-RAN hybrid model as specified in [O16].
  • the Open Fronthaul M-plane interface is an optional interface to the SMO 1102 that is included for backward compatibility purposes as per [O16], and is intended for management of the O-RU 1116 in hybrid mode only.
  • FIG. 12 shows an O-RAN logical architecture 1200 corresponding to the O-RAN architecture 1100 of Figure 11.
  • the SMO 1202 corresponds to the SMO 1102
  • O- Cloud 1206 corresponds to the O-Cloud 1106
  • the non-RT RIC 1212 corresponds to the non-RT RIC 1112
  • the near-RT RIC 1214 corresponds to the near-RT RIC 1114
  • the O-RU 1216 corresponds to the O-RU 1116 of Figure 12, respectively.
  • the O-RAN logical architecture 1200 includes a radio portion and a management portion.
  • the management portion/side of the architectures 1200 includes the SMO Framework 1202 containing the non-RT RIC 1212, and may include the O-Cloud 1206.
  • the O-Cloud 1206 is a cloud computing platform including a collection of physical infrastructure nodes to host the relevant O-RAN functions (e.g., the near-RT RIC 1214, O-CU-CP 1221, O-CU-UP 1222, and the O-DU 1215), supporting software components (e.g., OSs, VMMs, container runtime engines, ML engines, etc.), and appropriate management and orchestration functions.
  • the radio portion/side of the logical architecture 1200 includes the near-RT RIC 1214, the O-RAN Distributed Unit (O-DU) 1215, the O-RU 1216, the O-RAN Central Unit – Control Plane (O-CU-CP) 1221, and the O-RAN Central Unit – User Plane (O-CU-UP) 1222 functions.
  • the radio portion/side of the logical architecture 1200 may also include the O-e/gNB 1210.
  • the O-DU 1215 is a logical node hosting RLC, MAC, and higher PHY layer entities/elements (High-PHY layers) based on a lower layer functional split.
  • the O-RU 1216 is a logical node hosting lower PHY layer entities/elements (Low-PHY layer) (e.g., FFT/iFFT, PRACH extraction, etc.) and RF processing elements based on a lower layer functional split. Virtualization of O-RU 1216 is FFS.
  • the O-CU-CP 1221 is a logical node hosting the RRC and the control plane (CP) part of the PDCP protocol.
  • the O O-CU-UP 1222 is a logical node hosting the user plane part of the PDCP protocol and the SDAP protocol.
  • An E2 interface terminates at a plurality of E2 nodes.
  • the E2 nodes are logical nodes/entities that terminate the E2 interface.
  • the E2 nodes include the O-CU- CP 1221, O-CU-UP 1222, O-DU 1215, or any combination of elements as defined in [O15].
  • the E2 nodes include the O-e/gNB 1210.
  • the E2 interface also connects the O-e/gNB 1210 to the Near-RT RIC 1214.
  • the protocols over E2 interface are based exclusively on Control Plane (CP) protocols.
  • the E2 functions are grouped into the following categories: (a) near-RT RIC 1214 services (REPORT, INSERT, CONTROL and POLICY, as described in [O15]); and (b) near-RT RIC 1214 support functions, which include E2 Interface Management (E2 Setup, E2 Reset, Reporting of General Error Situations, etc.) and Near- RT RIC Service Update (e.g., capability exchange related to the list of E2 Node functions exposed over E2).
  • Figure 12 shows the Uu interface between a UE 1201 and O-e/gNB 1210 as well as between the UE 1201 and O-RAN components.
  • the Uu interface is a 3GPP defined interface (see e.g., sections 5.2 and 5.3 of [O07]), which includes a complete protocol stack from L1 to L3 and terminates in the NG-RAN or E-UTRAN.
  • the O-e/gNB 1210 is an LTE eNB [O04], a 5G gNB or ng-eNB [O06] that supports the E2 interface.
  • the O-e/gNB 1210 may be the same or similar as AN 808 and/or AN 904 discussed previously.
  • the UE 1201 may correspond to UE 802 and/or UE 902 discussed with respect to Figures 8 and 9, and/or the like.
  • the O-e/gNB 1210 supports O-DU 1215 and O-RU 1216 functions with an Open Fronthaul interface between them.
  • the Open Fronthaul (OF) interface(s) is/are between O-DU 1215 and O-RU 1216 functions [O16] [O17].
  • the OF interface(s) includes the Control User Synchronization (CUS) Plane and Management (M) Plane.
  • CCS Control User Synchronization
  • M Management
  • the O-RU 1216 terminates the OF CUS-Plane interface towards the O-DU 1215 and the SMO 1202.
  • the F1-c interface connects the O-CU-CP 1221 with the O-DU 1215.
  • the F1-c interface is between the gNB-CU-CP and gNB-DU nodes [O07] [O10].
  • the F1-c interface is adopted between the O-CU-CP 1221 with the O-DU 1215 functions while reusing the principles and protocol stack defined by 3GPP and the definition of interoperability profile specifications.
  • the F1-u interface connects the O-CU-UP 1222 with the O-DU 1215.
  • the F1-u interface is between the gNB-CU-UP and gNB-DU nodes [O07] [O10].
  • the F1-u interface is adopted between the O-CU-UP 1222 with the O-DU 1215 functions while reusing the principles and protocol stack defined by 3GPP and the definition of interoperability profile specifications.
  • the NG-c interface is defined by 3GPP as an interface between the gNB-CU-CP and the AMF in the 5GC [O06].
  • the NG-c is also referred as the N2 interface (see [O06]).
  • the NG-u interface is defined by 3GPP, as an interface between the gNB-CU-UP and the UPF in the 5GC [O06].
  • the NG-u interface is referred as the N3 interface (see [O06]).
  • NG-c and NG- u protocol stacks defined by 3GPP are reused and may be adapted for O-RAN purposes.
  • the X2-c interface is defined in 3GPP for transmitting control plane information between eNBs or between eNB and en-gNB in EN-DC.
  • the X2-u interface is defined in 3GPP for transmitting user plane information between eNBs or between eNB and en-gNB in EN-DC (see e.g., [O05], [O06]).
  • X2-c and X2-u protocol stacks defined by 3GPP are reused and may be adapted for O-RAN purposes
  • the Xn-c interface is defined in 3GPP for transmitting control plane information between gNBs, ng-eNBs, or between an ng-eNB and gNB.
  • the Xn-u interface is defined in 3GPP for transmitting user plane information between gNBs, ng-eNBs, or between ng-eNB and gNB (see e.g., [O06], [O08]).
  • Xn-c and Xn-u protocol stacks defined by 3GPP are reused and may be adapted for O-RAN purposes
  • the E1 interface is defined by 3GPP as being an interface between the gNB-CU-CP (e.g., gNB-CU-CP 3728) and gNB-CU-UP (see e.g., [O07], [O09]).
  • E1 protocol stacks defined by 3GPP are reused and adapted as being an interface between the O-CU-CP 1221 and the O-CU-UP 1222 functions.
  • the O-RAN Non-Real Time (RT) RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) 1212 is a logical function within the SMO framework 1102, 1202 that enables non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources; AI/machine learning (ML) workflow(s) including model training, inferences, and updates; and policy-based guidance of applications/features in the Near-RT RIC 1214.
  • the O-RAN near-RT RIC 1214 is a logical function that enables near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via fine-grained data collection and actions over the E2 interface.
  • the near-RT RIC 1214 may include one or more AI/ML workflows including model training, inferences, and updates.
  • the non-RT RIC 1212 can be an ML training host to host the training of one or more ML models. ML training can be performed offline using data collected from the RIC, O-DU 1215 and O-RU 1216.
  • non-RT RIC 1212 is part of the SMO 1202
  • the ML training host and/or ML model host/actor can be part of the non-RT RIC 1212 and/or the near-RT RIC 1214.
  • the ML training host and ML model host/actor can be part of the non-RT RIC 1212 and/or the near-RT RIC 1214.
  • the ML training host and ML model host/actor may be co-located as part of the non-RT RIC 1212 and/or the near-RT RIC 1214.
  • the non-RT RIC 1212 may request or trigger ML model training in the training hosts regardless of where the model is deployed and executed. ML models may be trained and not currently deployed.
  • the non-RT RIC 1212 provides a query-able catalog for an ML designer/developer to publish/install trained ML models (e.g., executable software components).
  • the non-RT RIC 1212 may provide discovery mechanism if a particular ML model can be executed in a target ML inference host (MF), and what number and type of ML models can be executed in the MF.
  • MF target ML inference host
  • design-time catalog e.g., residing outside the non-RT RIC 1212 and hosted by some other ML platform(s)
  • a training/deployment-time catalog e.g., residing inside the non-RT RIC 1212
  • run-time catalog e.g., residing
  • the non-RT RIC 1212 supports necessary capabilities for ML model inference in support of ML assisted solutions running in the non-RT RIC 1212 or some other ML inference host. These capabilities enable executable software to be installed such as VMs, containers, etc.
  • the non-RT RIC 1212 may also include and/or operate one or more ML engines, which are packaged software executable libraries that provide methods, routines, data types, etc., used to run ML models.
  • the non-RT RIC 1212 may also implement policies to switch and activate ML model instances under different operating conditions.
  • the non-RT RIC 122 is be able to access feedback data (e.g., FM and PM statistics) over the O1 interface on ML model performance and perform necessary evaluations.
  • feedback data e.g., FM and PM statistics
  • the non-RT RIC 1212 can also scale ML model instances running in a target MF over the O1 interface by observing resource utilization in MF.
  • the environment where the ML model instance is running e.g., the MF
  • the runtime environment in the near-RT RIC 1214 and/or the non-RT RIC 1212 provides a scaling mechanism to add more ML instances.
  • the scaling mechanism may include a scaling factor such as an number, percentage, and/or other like data used to scale up/down the number of ML instances.
  • ML model instances running in the target ML inference hosts may be automatically scaled by observing resource utilization in the MF.
  • the Kubernetes® (K8s) runtime environment typically provides an auto-scaling feature.
  • the A1 interface is between the non-RT RIC 1212 (within or outside the SMO 1202) and the near-RT RIC 1214.
  • the A1 interface supports three types of services as defined in [O14], including a Policy Management Service, an Enrichment Information Service, and ML Model Management Service.
  • A1 policies have the following characteristics compared to persistent configuration [O14]: A1 policies are not critical to traffic; A1 policies have temporary validity; A1 policies may handle individual UE or dynamically defined groups of UEs; A1 policies act within and take precedence over the configuration; and A1 policies are non-persistent, e.g., do not survive a restart of the near-RT RIC.
  • the electronic device(s), network(s), system(s), chip(s) or component(s), or portions or implementations thereof, of Figures 8-12, or some other figure herein may be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques, or methods as described herein, or portions thereof.
  • One such process is depicted in Figure 13.
  • the process 1300 may be performed by a near-RT RIC or a portion thereof.
  • the process may include, at 1305, retrieving, from a memory, radio access network (RAN) intelligence controller (RIC) subscription information that is to indicate multiple actions to be performed in parallel under a common event trigger.
  • RAN radio access network
  • RIC radio access network intelligence controller
  • process 1400 includes, at 1405, receiving, from a near- realtime (near-RT) radio access network (RAN) intelligence controller (RIC), a RIC subscription request containing RIC subscription information for subscription of multiple actions to be performed in parallel under a common event trigger.
  • RIC near- realtime radio access network
  • the process further includes, at 1410, sending a RIC subscription request containing the RIC subscription information to an E2 node for subscription of the multiple actions to be performed in parallel under the common event trigger.
  • Figure 15 Another such process is illustrated in Figure 15.
  • process 1500 includes, at 1505, sending, to an E2 node, a suspend command associated with an RIC subscription or service.
  • the process further includes, at 1510, receiving, from the E2 node, a response that indicates the RIC subscription or service has been suspended.
  • at least one of the components set forth in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and/or methods as set forth in the example section below.
  • the baseband circuitry as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below.
  • Example 1 may include a method wherein the Near-RT RIC requests E2 Node to subscribe multiple actions to be performed in parallel under the same event trigger over E2 interface.
  • Example 2 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein once multiple parallel actions are subscribed, for REPORT or INSERT services, E2 Node invokes a single indication procedure toward Near-RT RIC, containing indication details of multiple parallel actions over E2 interface.
  • Example 3 may include a method wherein Near-RT RIC invokes a single control procedure for multiple parallel actions toward E2 Node over E2 interface.
  • Example 4 may include a method of a Near-RT RIC, the method comprising: sending a request to an E2 Node to subscribe multiple actions to be performed in parallel associated with a same event trigger; and receiving a single indication from the E2 node to trigger the multiple actions.
  • Example 5 may include the method of example 4 or some other example herein, wherein the actions include one or more REPORT or INSERT services.
  • Example 6 may include a method of an E2 node, the method comprising: receiving a request from a Near-RT RIC to subscribe multiple actions to be performed in parallel associated with a same event trigger; and sending a single indication to the Near-RT RIC to trigger the multiple actions.
  • Example 7 may include the method of example 6 or some other example herein, wherein the actions include one or more REPORT or INSERT services.
  • Example A1 may include near-RT RIC sends a suspend command of an existing RIC subscription or service(s) toward the E2 Node.
  • Example A2 may include after receiving the suspend command, E2 Node suspends the subscription or service(s) and responds back to the Near-RT RIC.
  • Example A3 may include near-RT RIC sends a resume command of the suspended RIC subscription or service(s) toward the E2 Node.
  • Example A4 may include after receiving the resume command, E2 Node resumes the suspended subscription or service(s) and responds back to the Near-RT RIC.
  • Example A5 may include E2 Node sends a suspend request of an existing RIC subscription or service(s) toward the Near-RT RIC.
  • Example A6 may include after receiving the suspend request, Near-RT RIC makes a decision and if decides to suspend, sends the suspend command to the E2 Node. If decides not to suspend, Near-RT RIC may send the suspend reject to the E2 Node.
  • Example A7 may include after receiving the suspend command, E2 Node suspends the subscription or service(s) and responds back to the Near-RT RIC.
  • Example A8 may include instead, Near-RT RIC may decide to remove the subscription or service(s) instead of suspension and sends the deletion command toward the E2 Node, for which E2 Node deletes the subscription or service(s) and responds back to the Near-RT RIC.
  • Example A9 may include E2 Node sends a resume request of the suspended RIC subscription or service(s) to the Near-RT RIC.
  • Example A10 may include after receiving the resume request, Near-RT RIC makes a decision and if decides to resume, sends the resume command to the E2 Node.
  • Near-RT RIC may send the resume reject to the E2 Node.
  • Example A11 may include after receiving the resume command, E2 Node resumes the subscription or service(s) and responds back to the Near-RT RIC.
  • Example A12 may include instead, Near-RT RIC may decide to remove the subscription or service(s) instead of resuming and sends the deletion command toward the E2 Node, for which E2 Node deletes the subscription or service(s) and responds back to the Near-RT RIC.
  • Example A13 may include E2 Node sends a deletion request of an existing RIC subscription or service(s) toward the Near-RT RIC.
  • Example A14 after receiving the deletion request, Near-RT RIC may decide to suspend (instead of removing the subscription or service(s)), and sends the suspend command to the E2 Node.
  • Example A15 may include after receiving the suspend command, E2 Node suspends the subscription or service(s) and responds back to the Near-RT RIC.
  • Example A16 may include a method of a near- real time (RT) radio intelligent controller (RIC) comprising: sending a suspend command of an existing RIC subscription or service to an E2 Node; and receiving a response from the E2 Node to indicate that the RIC subscription or service has been suspended.
  • RT near- real time
  • Example A17 may include the method of example A16 or some other example herein, further comprising sending a resume command to the E2 Node to resume the RIC subscription or service.
  • Example A18 may include the method of example A17 or some other example herein, further comprising receiving a message from the E2 Node to indicate that the RIC subscription or service has been resumed.
  • Example A19 may include the method of example A16-A18 or some other example herein, further comprising receiving a suspend request from the E2 Node to request suspension of the RIC subscription or service; and determining whether to suspend the RIC subscription or service.
  • Example A20 may include the method of example A19 or some other example herein, wherein the suspend command is sent if it is determined to suspend the RIC subscription.
  • Example A21 may include the method of example A19-A20 or some other example herein, further comprising, if it is determined not to suspend the RIC subscription, sending a suspend reject message to the E2 Node.
  • Example X1 includes an apparatus comprising: memory to store radio access network (RAN) intelligence controller (RIC) subscription information; and processing circuitry, coupled with the memory, to: retrieve the RIC subscription information from the memory, wherein the RIC subscription information is to indicate multiple actions to be performed in parallel under a common event trigger; and send an RIC subscription request containing the RIC subscription information to an E2 node for subscription of the multiple actions to be performed in parallel under the common event trigger.
  • RAN radio access network
  • RIC radio access network
  • processing circuitry coupled with the memory, to: retrieve the RIC subscription information from the memory, wherein the RIC subscription information is to indicate multiple actions to be performed in parallel under a common event trigger; and send an RIC subscription request containing the RIC subscription information to an E2 node for subscription of the multiple actions to be performed in parallel
  • Example X2 includes the apparatus of example X1 or some other example herein, wherein the RIC subscription request includes an indication of one or more of: a message type, a RIC request identifier, a RAN function identifier, and a RIC subscription detail.
  • Example X3 includes the apparatus of example X2 or some other example herein, wherein the RIC subscription detail includes: a RIC event trigger definition, a sequence of actions, a RIC action identifier, a RIC action type, a RIC action definition, a RIC subsequent action, or a parallel processing indication.
  • Example X4 includes the apparatus of example X1 or some other example herein, wherein the processing circuitry is further to receive, from the E2 node, a RIC indication message comprising a list of indication details for the multiple actions.
  • Example X5 includes the apparatus of example X4 or some other example herein, wherein the RIC indication message includes one or more of: a RIC action identifier, a RIC indication type, a RIC indication header, and a RIC indication message.
  • Example X6 includes the apparatus of example X4 or some other example herein, wherein the processing circuitry is further to send a RIC control request to the E2 node that includes a list of control details for the multiple actions.
  • Example X7 includes the apparatus of example X6 or some other example herein
  • Example X8 includes the apparatus of example X6 or some other example herein, wherein the processing circuitry is further to receive, from the E2 node, a RIC control acknowledgement to indicate the RIC control request was received, or a RIC control failure message to indicate the RIC control request failed to execute.
  • Example X9 includes the apparatus of any of examples X1-X8 or some other example herein, wherein the apparatus includes a near-realtime (RT) RIC or portion thereof.
  • RT near-realtime
  • Example X10 includes one or more computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, configure an E2 node to: receive, from a near-realtime (near-RT) radio access network (RAN) intelligence controller (RIC), a RIC subscription request containing RIC subscription information for subscription of multiple actions to be performed in parallel under a common event trigger; and in response to execution of the common event trigger, send a RIC indication message to the near-RT RIC comprising a list of indication details for the multiple actions.
  • RAN radio access network
  • Example X11 includes the one or more computer-readable medium of example X10 or some other example herein, wherein the RIC subscription request includes an indication of one or more of: a message type, a RIC request identifier, a RAN function identifier, and a RIC subscription detail.
  • Example X12 includes the one or more computer-readable medium of example X11 or some other example herein, wherein the RIC subscription detail includes: a RIC event trigger definition, a sequence of actions, a RIC action identifier, a RIC action type, a RIC action definition, a RIC subsequent action, or a parallel processing indication.
  • Example X13 includes the one or more computer-readable medium of example X10 or some other example herein, wherein the RIC indication message includes one or more of: a RIC action identifier, a RIC indication type, a RIC indication header, and a RIC indication message.
  • Example X14 includes the one or more computer-readable medium of example X10 or some other example herein, wherein the memory further stores instructions to configure the E2 node to receive, from the near-RT RIC, a RIC control request that includes a list of control details for the multiple actions.
  • Example X15 includes the one or more computer-readable medium of example X14 or some other example herein, wherein the RIC control request includes a RIC control header or a RIC control message.
  • Example X16 includes the one or more computer-readable medium of example X14 or some other example herein, wherein the memory further stores instructions to configure the E2 node to send, to the near-RT RIC: a RIC control acknowledgement to indicate the RIC control request was received, or a RIC control failure message to indicate the RIC control request failed to execute.
  • Example X17 includes one or more computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause a near-realtime (near-RT) radio access network (RAN) intelligence controller (RIC) to: send, to an E2 node, a suspend command associated with an RIC subscription or service; and receive, from the E2 node, a response that indicates the RIC subscription or service has been suspended.
  • RAN radio access network
  • Example X18 includes the one or more computer-readable medium of example X17 or some other example herein, wherein the suspend command includes one or more of: a RIC request identifier, a RAN function identifier, and a RIC action identifier.
  • Example X19 includes the one or more computer-readable medium of example X17 or some other example herein, wherein the media further stores instructions to send a resume command to the E2 node to resume the RIC subscription or service.
  • Example X20 includes the one or more computer-readable medium of example X19 or some other example herein, wherein the resume command includes one or more of: a RIC request identifier, a RAN function identifier, and a RIC action identifier.
  • Example X21 includes the one or more computer-readable medium of example X19 or some other example herein, wherein the media further stores instructions to receive, from the E2 node, a message to indicate the RIC subscription or service has resumed.
  • Example Z01 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-X21, or any other method or process described herein.
  • Example Z02 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1- X21, or any other method or process described herein.
  • Example Z03 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1- X21, or any other method or process described herein.
  • Example Z04 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1- X21, or portions or parts thereof.
  • Example Z05 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1- X21, or portions thereof.
  • Example Z06 may include a signal as described in or related to any of examples 1- X21, or portions or parts thereof.
  • Example Z07 may include a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of examples 1- X21, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.
  • Example Z08 may include a signal encoded with data as described in or related to any of examples 1- X21, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.
  • Example Z09 may include a signal encoded with a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of examples 1- X21, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure.
  • Example Z10 may include an electromagnetic signal carrying computer-readable instructions, wherein execution of the computer-readable instructions by one or more processors is to cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1- X21, or portions thereof.
  • Example Z11 may include a computer program comprising instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element is to cause the processing element to carry out the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1- X21, or portions thereof.
  • Example Z12 may include a signal in a wireless network as shown and described herein.
  • Example Z13 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein.
  • Example Z14 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein.
  • Example Z15 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. Any of the above-described examples may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples), unless explicitly stated otherwise.
  • the foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments. Abbreviations Unless used differently herein, terms, definitions, and abbreviations may be consistent with terms, definitions, and abbreviations defined in 3GPP TR 21.905 v16.0.0 (2019-06). For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviations may apply to the examples and embodiments discussed herein.
  • the term “application” may refer to a complete and deployable package, environment to achieve a certain function in an operational environment.
  • AI/ML application or the like may be an application that contains some AI/ML models and application-level descriptions.
  • machine learning or “ML” refers to the use of computer systems implementing algorithms and/or statistical models to perform specific task(s) without using explicit instructions, but instead relying on patterns and inferences.
  • ML algorithms build or estimate mathematical model(s) (referred to as “ML models” or the like) based on sample data (referred to as “training data,” “model training information,” or the like) in order to make predictions or decisions without being explicitly programmed to perform such tasks.
  • ML algorithm is a computer program that learns from experience with respect to some task and some performance measure, and an ML model may be any object or data structure created after an ML algorithm is trained with one or more training datasets. After training, an ML model may be used to make predictions on new datasets.
  • ML algorithm refers to different concepts than the term “ML model,” these terms as discussed herein may be used interchangeably for the purposes of the present disclosure.
  • machine learning model may also refer to ML methods and concepts used by an ML-assisted solution.
  • An “ML-assisted solution” is a solution that addresses a specific use case using ML algorithms during operation.
  • ML models include supervised learning (e.g., linear regression, k-nearest neighbor (KNN), descision tree algorithms, support machine vectors, Bayesian algorithm, ensemble algorithms, etc.) unsupervised learning (e.g., K-means clustering, principle component analysis (PCA), etc.), reinforcement learning (e.g., Q-learning, multi-armed bandit learning, deep RL, etc.), neural networks, and the like.
  • supervised learning e.g., linear regression, k-nearest neighbor (KNN), descision tree algorithms, support machine vectors, Bayesian algorithm, ensemble algorithms, etc.
  • unsupervised learning e.g., K-means clustering, principle component analysis (PCA), etc.
  • reinforcement learning e.g., Q-learning, multi-armed bandit learning,
  • An “ML pipeline” is a set of functionalities, functions, or functional entities specific for an ML-assisted solution; an ML pipeline may include one or several data sources in a data pipeline, a model training pipeline, a model evaluation pipeline, and an actor.
  • the “actor” is an entity that hosts an ML assisted solution using the output of the ML model inference).
  • ML training host refers to an entity, such as a network function, that hosts the training of the model.
  • ML inference host refers to an entity, such as a network function, that hosts model during inference mode (which includes both the model execution as well as any online learning if applicable).
  • the ML-host informs the actor about the output of the ML algorithm, and the actor takes a decision for an action (an “action” is performed by an actor as a result of the output of an ML assisted solution).
  • model inference information refers to information used as an input to the ML model for determining inference(s); the data used to train an ML model and the data used to determine inferences may overlap, however, “training data” and “inference data” refer to different concepts.
  • circuitry refers to, is part of, or includes hardware components such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high-capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC), digital signal processors (DSPs), etc., that are configured to provide the described functionality.
  • FPD field-programmable device
  • FPGA field-programmable gate array
  • PLD programmable logic device
  • CPLD complex PLD
  • HPLD high-capacity PLD
  • DSPs digital signal processors
  • the circuitry may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality.
  • the term “circuitry” may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system) with the program code used to carry out the functionality of that program code. In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a particular type of circuitry.
  • the term “processor circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry capable of sequentially and automatically carrying out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations, or recording, storing, and/or transferring digital data. Processing circuitry may include one or more processing cores to execute instructions and one or more memory structures to store program and data information.
  • processor circuitry may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and/or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer- executable instructions, such as program code, software modules, and/or functional processes.
  • Processing circuitry may include more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, or the like.
  • the one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and/or deep learning (DL) accelerators.
  • interface circuitry refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry that enables the exchange of information between two or more components or devices.
  • the term interface circuitry may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, for example, buses, I/O interfaces, peripheral component interfaces, network interface cards, and/or the like.
  • user equipment or “UE” as used herein refers to a device with radio communication capabilities and may describe a remote user of network resources in a communications network.
  • user equipment or “UE” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, client, mobile, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc.
  • user equipment or “UE” may include any type of wireless/wired device or any computing device including a wireless communications interface.
  • network element refers to physical or virtualized equipment and/or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless communication network services.
  • network element may be considered synonymous to and/or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN device, RAN node, gateway, server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, and/or the like.
  • computer system refers to any type interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the term “computer system” and/or “system” may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled with one another. Furthermore, the term “computer system” and/or “system” may refer to multiple computer devices and/or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled with one another and configured to share computing and/or networking resources.
  • appliance refers to a computer device or computer system with program code (e.g., software or firmware) that is specifically designed to provide a specific computing resource.
  • program code e.g., software or firmware
  • a “virtual appliance” is a virtual machine image to be implemented by a hypervisor-equipped device that virtualizes or emulates a computer appliance or otherwise is dedicated to provide a specific computing resource.
  • resource refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, and/or a physical or virtual component within a particular device, such as computer devices, mechanical devices, memory space, processor/CPU time, processor/CPU usage, processor and accelerator loads, hardware time or usage, electrical power, input/output operations, ports or network sockets, channel/link allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, network, database and applications, workload units, and/or the like.
  • a “hardware resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/or network resources provided by physical hardware element(s).
  • a “virtualized resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/or network resources provided by virtualization infrastructure to an application, device, system, etc.
  • network resource or “communication resource” may refer to resources that are accessible by computer devices/systems via a communications network.
  • system resources may refer to any kind of shared entities to provide services, and may include computing and/or network resources. System resources may be considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or services, accessible through a server where such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable.
  • channel refers to any transmission medium, either tangible or intangible, which is used to communicate data or a data stream.
  • channel may be synonymous with and/or equivalent to “communications channel,” “data communications channel,” “transmission channel,” “data transmission channel,” “access channel,” “data access channel,” “link,” “data link,” “carrier,” “radiofrequency carrier,” and/or any other like term denoting a pathway or medium through which data is communicated.
  • link refers to a connection between two devices through a RAT for the purpose of transmitting and receiving information.
  • instantiate refers to the creation of an instance.
  • An “instance” also refers to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code.
  • Coupled may mean two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with one another, may mean that two or more elements indirectly contact each other but still cooperate or interact with each other, and/or may mean that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between the elements that are said to be coupled with each other.
  • directly coupled may mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with one another.
  • communicatively coupled may mean that two or more elements may be in contact with one another by a means of communication including through a wire or other interconnect connection, through a wireless communication channel or link, and/or the like.
  • information element refers to a structural element containing one or more fields.
  • the term “field” refers to individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains content.
  • the term “SMTC” refers to an SSB-based measurement timing configuration configured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration.
  • the term “SSB” refers to an SS/PBCH block.
  • the term a Primary Cell refers to the MCG cell, operating on the primary frequency, in which the UE either performs the initial connection establishment procedure or initiates the connection re-establishment procedure.
  • Primary SCG Cell refers to the SCG cell in which the UE performs random access when performing the Reconfiguration with Sync procedure for DC operation.
  • the term “Secondary Cell” refers to a cell providing additional radio resources on top of a Special Cell for a UE configured with CA.
  • the term “Secondary Cell Group” refers to the subset of serving cells comprising the PSCell and zero or more secondary cells for a UE configured with DC.
  • the term “Serving Cell” refers to the primary cell for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED not configured with CA/DC there is only one serving cell comprising of the primary cell.
  • the term “serving cell” or “serving cells” refers to the set of cells comprising the Special Cell(s) and all secondary cells for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED configured with CA/.
  • the term “Special Cell” refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell of the SCG for DC operation; otherwise, the term “Special Cell” refers to the Pcell.

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Abstract

The invention relates to an apparatus comprising means to: retrieve RIC subscription information, wherein the RIC subscription information is to indicate multiple actions to be performed in parallel under a common event trigger; and send an RIC subscription request containing the RIC subscription information to an E2 node for subscription of multiple actions to be performed in parallel under the common event trigger.

Description

MULTIPLE PARALLEL SERVICES BY A SINGLE RIC SUBSCRIPTION OVER AN E2 INTERFACE IN O-RAN CROSS REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION The present application claims priority to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/254,443, which was filed October 11, 2021; and to U.S. Provisional Patent Application No. 63/255,785, which was filed October 14, 2021. FIELD Various embodiments generally may relate to the field of wireless communications. For example, some embodiments may relate to supporting multiple parallel services by a single radio access network (RAN) intelligence controller (RIC) subscription over an E2 interface in open-RAN (O-RAN) systems. BACKGROUND O-RAN has been striving to embrace artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) based intelligence into wireless communication networks as described in O-RAN WG1, “O- RAN Architecture Description.” The purpose of introducing AI/ML spans not only to increase performance of existing networks, but also to optimize/steer various network components to a certain KPI of interest in an efficient and elegant way. The injection and control guided by AI/ML based intelligence into RAN networks are realized via E2 interface from Near-RT (real time) RAN intelligence controller (RIC), where Near-RT RIC subscribes various RIC services (REPORT, INSERT, CONTROL, POLICY) based on RAN functions exposed from RAN nodes. For that, O-RAN WG3, the “Near-Real-time RAN Intelligent Controller; E2 Application Protocol” (hereafter “E2AP”) has been specified to support management of E2 interface and RIC service subscription between Near-RT RIC and RAN node. While the basic form of RIC subscription handling initiated by Near-RT RIC is in place in E2AP, the current form is limited in that it does not allow Near-RT RIC to subscribe multiple actions (under a single RIC subscription) to be performed in parallel. Currently, the multiple actions subscribed should be performed in sequence. For example, if two actions a1 (INSERT) and a2 (POLICY) are subscribed to a E2 Node (e.g. RAN node) under the same event, then the RAN node, upon the event trigger, should perform the action a1 (INSERT) and wait for the control from Near-RT RIC, and after receiving the control command or an associated timer expired, then the second action a2 (POLICY) should be performed. The second action cannot be performed immediately upon the event trigger. Embodiments of the present disclosure address these and other issues. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Embodiments will be readily understood by the following detailed description in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. To facilitate this description, like reference numerals designate like structural elements. Embodiments are illustrated by way of example and not by way of limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings. Figure 1 illustrates an example of an implementation for subscribing multiple parallel actions under the same event trigger by re-using the existing E2AP RIC subscription procedure in accordance with various embodiments. Figure 2 illustrates an example of an implementation for supporting indication (from E2 Node to Near-RT RIC) of multiple actions under a single indication procedure by re-using the existing E2AP RIC Indication procedure in accordance with various embodiments. Figure 3 illustrates an example of an implementation for supporting control (from Near- RT RIC to E2 Node) of multiple actions under a single control procedure by re-using the existing E2AP RIC Control procedure in accordance with various embodiments. Figures 4A and 4B illustrate an example of new suspend/resume functionality initiated from Near-RT RIC in accordance with various embodiments. Figures 5A and 5B illustrate an example of new suspend/resume functionality initiated from E2 Nodein accordance with various embodiments. Figures 6A and 6B illustrate an example of deleting an existing subscription or service(s) for which E2 Node requested to suspend or resume in accordance with various embodiments. Figures 7A and 7B illustrate an example of suspending an existing subscription or service(s) for which E2 Node requested to remove in accordance with various embodiments. Figure 8 schematically illustrates a wireless network in accordance with various embodiments. Figure 9 schematically illustrates components of a wireless network in accordance with various embodiments. Figure 10 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Figure 11 provides a high-level view of an Open RAN (O-RAN) architecture 1100 Figure 12 shows the Uu interface between a UE 1201 and O-e/gNB 1210 as well as between the UE 1201 and O-RAN components. Figures 13, 14, and 15 depict examples of procedures for practicing the various embodiments discussed herein. DETAILED DESCRIPTION The following detailed description refers to the accompanying drawings. The same reference numbers may be used in different drawings to identify the same or similar elements. In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth such as particular structures, architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various aspects of various embodiments. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art having the benefit of the present disclosure that the various aspects of the various embodiments may be practiced in other examples that depart from these specific details. In certain instances, descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the various embodiments with unnecessary detail. For the purposes of the present document, the phrases “A or B” and “A/B” mean (A), (B), or (A and B). As introduced above, while the basic form of RIC subscription handling initiated by Near- RT RIC is in place in E2AP, the current form is limited in that it does not allow Near-RT RIC to subscribe multiple actions (under a single RIC subscription) to be performed in parallel. Currently, the multiple actions subscribed should be performed in sequence. For example, if two actions a1 (INSERT) and a2 (POLICY) are subscribed to a E2 Node (e.g. RAN node) under the same event, then the RAN node, upon the event trigger, should perform the action a1 (INSERT) and wait for the control from Near-RT RIC, and after receiving the control command or an associated timer expired, then the second action a2 (POLICY) should be performed. The second action cannot be performed immediately upon the event trigger. Previous solutions have been proposed to allow multiple parallel actions by defining a new dedicated service style on E2SM-XX level, while keeping E2AP intact. However, these proposed solutions require new service style and dedicated formats in E2SM-XX specification that supports combination of multiple services, which may break the high-level principle that each service defined in the children E2SM specifications should be "independent”, “standalone”, and functionality wise does not overlap with other services defined. Various embodiments herein, by contrast, provide a new mechanism to support subscription of multiple actions to be performed in parallel under the same event trigger over E2 interface. Among other things, the embodiments of the present disclosure allow subscription of multiple parallel actions between Near-RT RIC and E2 Node (e.g. RAN node) over E2 interface and improve the AI/ML based optimization flexibility and capability from Near-RT RIC, while keeping children E2SM-XX specifications having independent services styles that functionality- wise does not overlap with each other. Embodiment 1 In one embodiment, E2AP is enhanced to support the subscription of multiple actions to be performed parallelly under the same event trigger. A new dedicated E2AP procedures can be defined, or it can be implemented onto the existing E2AP RIC Subscription procedure, as illustrated in Figure 1. One possible implementation onto the E2AP RIC SUBSCRIPTION REQUEST message that is compatible with the existing "Sequence of Actions" details can be as follows:
9.1.1.1 RIC SUBSCRIPTION REQUEST
This message is sent by the Near-RT RIC to an E2 Node to create a new Subscription in the E2 Node.
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»RIC 0 9.2.12 -
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RIC. Value is 16.
Once the Parallel Processing Indication IE is included for a specific action and set to true, the E2 node shall consider that this action, if accepted, should be performed together with the precedent action when the event trigger happens, instead of sequential processing after the precedent action.
Embodiment 2
In O-RAN, there are 4 different types of services (e.g. actions) in general - REPORT, INSERT, CONTROL, and POLICY, whose definitions and procedural descriptions are defined in E2GAP Section 5.3.2. The existing E2AP RIC Subscription procedure is used for subscribing REPORT, INSERT and POLICY only, where REPORT and INSERT services invokes E2AP RIC Indication procedure toward Near-RT RIC to send a report to Near-RT RIC or to wait for the subsequent commands from Near-RT RIC, respectively. Currently, this E2AP RIC Indication procedure can be invoked per each action. To allow multiple parallel actions to be performed, E2AP may need to be enhanced to support indication (from E2 Node to Near-RT RIC) of multiple actions under a single indication procedure. For that, a new dedicated E2AP procedures can be defined, or it can be implemented onto the existing E2AP RIC Indication procedure, as in Figure 2 below.
One possible implementation onto the existing E2AP RIC INDICATION message that is backward compatible is as follows: 9.1.1.7 RIC INDICATION
This message is sent by an E2 Node to transfer Report information to a Near-RT RIC.
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> RIC M 9.2.16 -
Figure imgf000009_0001
Embodiment 3 The E2AP RIC Control procedure is used for the standalone control services or in conjunction with INSERT services as a way to provide subsequent commands once Near-RT RIC receives indication that an E2 node invokes for an INSERT action (when event is triggered), as described in E2GAP Section 5.3.2. To allow multiple parallel actions to be performed, E2AP may also need to be enhanced to support this control (from Near-RT RIC to E2 Node) of multiple actions under a single control procedure. For that, a new dedicated E2AP procedures can be defined, or it can be implemented onto the existing E2AP RIC Control procedure, as in Figure 3. Note that, for the standalone CONTROL service that does not require subscription, step 3 is directly used without steps 0-2. One possible implementation onto the existing E2AP RIC CONTROL REQUEST, RIC CONTROL ACKNOWLEDGE and RIC CONTROL FAILURE messages that are backward compatible is as follows: 9.1.1.8 RIC CONTROL REQUEST This message is sent by a Near-RT RIC to an E2 Node to initiate or resume a control function logic. Direction: Near-RT RIC ^ E2 Node.
Figure imgf000009_0002
Figure imgf000010_0001
9.1.1.9 RIC CONTROL ACKNOWLEDGE This message is sent by the E2 Node to inform the Near-RT RIC that the RIC CONTROL REQUEST message was received and to provide information on the outcome of the request. Direction: E2 Node ^ Near-RT RIC.
Figure imgf000010_0002
Figure imgf000011_0001
9.1.1.10 RIC CONTROL FAILURE This message is sent by the E2 Node to inform the Near-RT RIC that the RIC CONTROL REQUEST message has failed to be executed. Direction: E2 Node ^ Near-RT RIC.
Figure imgf000011_0002
Figure imgf000012_0001
Suspension and Resumption of RIC Subscription or Service over E2 Interface While the basic form of RIC subscription handling initiated by Near-RT RIC is in place in E2AP, currently, a RIC subscription that was previously subscribed has to be continued indefinitely, unless it is explicitly deleted from Near-RT RIC, which may lead to inefficient handling. There could be multiple services subscribed to a E2 Node (e.g. RAN Node) that conflicts with each other at certain time. For example, a cell may be shut off during the night for energy saving purpose, during which the subscription for reporting various measurements periodically on that cell is no longer valid. In that case, Near-RT RIC needs to delete this subscription before shutting off the cell and re-create the exact same subscription after re-activating the cell to avoid the conflict. It would be much more efficient if Near-RT RIC is able to suspend a subscription and resume it whenever needed. Moreover, a single RIC subscription could consist of multiple services (up to 16) that a E2 node needs to perform, based on the same event trigger. Among those services subscribed together for a single RIC subscription, Near-RT RIC may want to make some services dormant for some time period while others kept in operation. The suspend/resume functionality could be useful without modifying the whole subscription details. Various embodiments herein provide techniques for suspend and resume functionality of a RIC subscription or service(s) within E2AP. Some embodiments herein include a new functionality to suspend and resume the existing RIC subscription or specific service(s) over an E2 interface. The embodiments of the present disclosure allow suspend and resume of an existing RIC Subscription or specific service(s) between Near-RT RIC and E2 Node (e.g. RAN node) over E2 interface without inefficiently removing the existing subscription or service(s) completely and newly subscribing the exact same contents, which allows additional flexibility for Near-RT RIC. The processing efficiency can be increased in Near-RT RIC or E2 Node implementations. The ideas described in this disclosure may be directed to the O-RAN WG3 E2AP specification. In one embodiment, E2AP can be enhanced to support the suspend and resume of an existing RIC subscription or service(s) initiated from Near-RT RIC, as in Figures 4A and 4B. In particular, Figure 4A illustrates an example where a whole subscription can be suspended and resumed, while Figure 4B illustrates an example where a specific service within a subscription can be suspended and resumed. There can be various use cases that requires Near-RT RIC to support this functionality. As mentioned before, for example, a cell may be shut off during the night for energy saving purpose, during which the subscription for reporting various measurements periodically on that cell is no longer valid. In this case, Near-RT RIC may suspend the subscription or service(s) before the night and resume in the morning. The step 2 for suspension may include RIC Request ID and RAN Function ID and/or RIC Action ID(s) to pinpoint to a specific subscription or service(s) within, and/or the corresponding cause value as a reason for suspending. The step 4 to resume may include RIC Request ID and RAN Function ID and/or RIC Action ID(s) to pinpoint to a specific subscription or service(s) within, and/or the corresponding cause value as a reason for resume. In one embodiment, E2AP can also be enhanced to support the suspend and resume of an existing RIC subscription or specific service(s) initiated from E2 Node, as shown in Figures 5A (subscription) and 5B (service). Again, there can be various use cases that require an E2 Node (e.g. RAN Node) to support this functionality. For example of a subscription or specific service(s) toward a UE, the UE may enter INACTIVE mode, for which the subscription or service(s) is no longer valid until the UE resumes. In this case, E2 Node may request suspension of the subscription or service(s) while the UE is in INACTIVE mode and then request resume only when the UE resumes the activity in RAN. The step 2 to request suspension may include RIC Request ID and RAN Function ID and/or RIC Action ID(s) to pinpoint to a specific subscription or service(s) within, and/or the corresponding cause value as a reason for suspending. The step 5 to request resume may include RIC Request ID and RAN Function ID and/or RIC Action ID(s) to pinpoint to a specific subscription or service(s) within, and/or the corresponding cause value as a reason for resume. In one embodiment, E2AP can be enhanced to support the removal of an existing RIC subscription or service(s) for which an E2 Node requested to suspend or resume, as shown in Figures 6A (subscription) and 6B (service). In one embodiment, E2AP can be enhanced to support the suspend of an existing RIC subscription or service(s) for which an E2 Node requested to remove, as in Figures 7A (subscription) and 7B (service). The suspend or resume functionality described in the above embodiments can be implemented into an existing E2AP procedure defined in E2AP Section 8.2 by having the dedicated indicator for suspend or resume for a specific RIC subscription or service(s) within, or dedicated E2AP procedures for suspend or resume can be defined. SYSTEMS AND IMPLEMENTATIONS Figures 8-10 and 11-12 illustrate various systems, devices, and components that may implement aspects of disclosed embodiments. Figure 8 illustrates a network 800 in accordance with various embodiments. The network 800 may operate in a manner consistent with 3GPP technical specifications for LTE or 5G/NR systems. However, the example embodiments are not limited in this regard and the described embodiments may apply to other networks that benefit from the principles described herein, such as future 3GPP systems, or the like. The network 800 may include a UE 802, which may include any mobile or non-mobile computing device designed to communicate with a RAN 804 via an over-the-air connection. The UE 802 may be communicatively coupled with the RAN 804 by a Uu interface. The UE 802 may be, but is not limited to, a smartphone, tablet computer, wearable computer device, desktop computer, laptop computer, in-vehicle infotainment, in-car entertainment device, instrument cluster, head-up display device, onboard diagnostic device, dashtop mobile equipment, mobile data terminal, electronic engine management system, electronic/engine control unit, electronic/engine control module, embedded system, sensor, microcontroller, control module, engine management system, networked appliance, machine-type communication device, M2M or D2D device, IoT device, etc. In some embodiments, the network 800 may include a plurality of UEs coupled directly with one another via a sidelink interface. The UEs may be M2M/D2D devices that communicate using physical sidelink channels such as, but not limited to, PSBCH, PSDCH, PSSCH, PSCCH, PSFCH, etc. In some embodiments, the UE 802 may additionally communicate with an AP 806 via an over-the-air connection. The AP 806 may manage a WLAN connection, which may serve to offload some/all network traffic from the RAN 804. The connection between the UE 802 and the AP 806 may be consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the AP 806 could be a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi®) router. In some embodiments, the UE 802, RAN 804, and AP 806 may utilize cellular-WLAN aggregation (for example, LWA/LWIP). Cellular-WLAN aggregation may involve the UE 802 being configured by the RAN 804 to utilize both cellular radio resources and WLAN resources. The RAN 804 may include one or more access nodes, for example, AN 808. AN 808 may terminate air-interface protocols for the UE 802 by providing access stratum protocols including RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC, and L1 protocols. In this manner, the AN 808 may enable data/voice connectivity between CN 820 and the UE 802. In some embodiments, the AN 808 may be implemented in a discrete device or as one or more software entities running on server computers as part of, for example, a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN or virtual baseband unit pool. The AN 808 be referred to as a BS, gNB, RAN node, eNB, ng-eNB, NodeB, RSU, TRxP, TRP, etc. The AN 808 may be a macrocell base station or a low power base station for providing femtocells, picocells or other like cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells. In embodiments in which the RAN 804 includes a plurality of ANs, they may be coupled with one another via an X2 interface (if the RAN 804 is an LTE RAN) or an Xn interface (if the RAN 804 is a 5G RAN). The X2/Xn interfaces, which may be separated into control/user plane interfaces in some embodiments, may allow the ANs to communicate information related to handovers, data/context transfers, mobility, load management, interference coordination, etc. The ANs of the RAN 804 may each manage one or more cells, cell groups, component carriers, etc. to provide the UE 802 with an air interface for network access. The UE 802 may be simultaneously connected with a plurality of cells provided by the same or different ANs of the RAN 804. For example, the UE 802 and RAN 804 may use carrier aggregation to allow the UE 802 to connect with a plurality of component carriers, each corresponding to a Pcell or Scell. In dual connectivity scenarios, a first AN may be a master node that provides an MCG and a second AN may be secondary node that provides an SCG. The first/second ANs may be any combination of eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc. The RAN 804 may provide the air interface over a licensed spectrum or an unlicensed spectrum. To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the nodes may use LAA, eLAA, and/or feLAA mechanisms based on CA technology with PCells/Scells. Prior to accessing the unlicensed spectrum, the nodes may perform medium/carrier-sensing operations based on, for example, a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol. In V2X scenarios the UE 802 or AN 808 may be or act as a RSU, which may refer to any transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable AN or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE. An RSU implemented in or by: a UE may be referred to as a “UE-type RSU”; an eNB may be referred to as an “eNB-type RSU ; a gNB may be referred to as a gNB-type RSU ; and the like. In one example, an RSU is a computing device coupled with radio frequency circuitry located on a roadside that provides connectivity support to passing vehicle UEs. The RSU may also include internal data storage circuitry to store intersection map geometry, traffic statistics, media, as well as applications/software to sense and control ongoing vehicular and pedestrian traffic. The RSU may provide very low latency communications required for high speed events, such as crash avoidance, traffic warnings, and the like. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may provide other cellular/WLAN communications services. The components of the RSU may be packaged in a weatherproof enclosure suitable for outdoor installation, and may include a network interface controller to provide a wired connection (e.g., Ethernet) to a traffic signal controller or a backhaul network. In some embodiments, the RAN 804 may be an LTE RAN 810 with eNBs, for example, eNB 812. The LTE RAN 810 may provide an LTE air interface with the following characteristics: SCS of 15 kHz; CP-OFDM waveform for DL and SC-FDMA waveform for UL; turbo codes for data and TBCC for control; etc. The LTE air interface may rely on CSI-RS for CSI acquisition and beam management; PDSCH/PDCCH DMRS for PDSCH/PDCCH demodulation; and CRS for cell search and initial acquisition, channel quality measurements, and channel estimation for coherent demodulation/detection at the UE. The LTE air interface may operating on sub-6 GHz bands. In some embodiments, the RAN 804 may be an NG-RAN 814 with gNBs, for example, gNB 816, or ng-eNBs, for example, ng-eNB 818. The gNB 816 may connect with 5G-enabled UEs using a 5G NR interface. The gNB 816 may connect with a 5G core through an NG interface, which may include an N2 interface or an N3 interface. The ng-eNB 818 may also connect with the 5G core through an NG interface, but may connect with a UE via an LTE air interface. The gNB 816 and the ng-eNB 818 may connect with each other over an Xn interface. In some embodiments, the NG interface may be split into two parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface, which carries traffic data between the nodes of the NG-RAN 814 and a UPF 848 (e.g., N3 interface), and an NG control plane (NG-C) interface, which is a signaling interface between the nodes of the NG-RAN814 and an AMF 844 (e.g., N2 interface). The NG-RAN 814 may provide a 5G-NR air interface with the following characteristics: variable SCS; CP-OFDM for DL, CP-OFDM and DFT-s-OFDM for UL; polar, repetition, simplex, and Reed-Muller codes for control and LDPC for data. The 5G-NR air interface may rely on CSI-RS, PDSCH/PDCCH DMRS similar to the LTE air interface. The 5G-NR air interface may not use a CRS, but may use PBCH DMRS for PBCH demodulation; PTRS for phase tracking for PDSCH; and tracking reference signal for time tracking. The 5G-NR air interface may operating on FR1 bands that include sub-6 GHz bands or FR2 bands that include bands from 24.25 GHz to 52.6 GHz. The 5G-NR air interface may include an SSB that is an area of a downlink resource grid that includes PSS/SSS/PBCH. In some embodiments, the 5G-NR air interface may utilize BWPs for various purposes. For example, BWP can be used for dynamic adaptation of the SCS. For example, the UE 802 can be configured with multiple BWPs where each BWP configuration has a different SCS. When a BWP change is indicated to the UE 802, the SCS of the transmission is changed as well. Another use case example of BWP is related to power saving. In particular, multiple BWPs can be configured for the UE 802 with different amount of frequency resources (for example, PRBs) to support data transmission under different traffic loading scenarios. A BWP containing a smaller number of PRBs can be used for data transmission with small traffic load while allowing power saving at the UE 802 and in some cases at the gNB 816. A BWP containing a larger number of PRBs can be used for scenarios with higher traffic load. The RAN 804 is communicatively coupled to CN 820 that includes network elements to provide various functions to support data and telecommunications services to customers/subscribers (for example, users of UE 802). The components of the CN 820 may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes. In some embodiments, NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the functions provided by the network elements of the CN 820 onto physical compute/storage resources in servers, switches, etc. A logical instantiation of the CN 820 may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN 820 may be referred to as a network sub-slice. In some embodiments, the CN 820 may be an LTE CN 822, which may also be referred to as an EPC. The LTE CN 822 may include MME 824, SGW 826, SGSN 828, HSS 830, PGW 832, and PCRF 834 coupled with one another over interfaces (or “reference points”) as shown. Functions of the elements of the LTE CN 822 may be briefly introduced as follows. The MME 824 may implement mobility management functions to track a current location of the UE 802 to facilitate paging, bearer activation/deactivation, handovers, gateway selection, authentication, etc. The SGW 826 may terminate an S1 interface toward the RAN and route data packets between the RAN and the LTE CN 822. The SGW 826 may be a local mobility anchor point for inter-RAN node handovers and also may provide an anchor for inter-3GPP mobility. Other responsibilities may include lawful intercept, charging, and some policy enforcement. The SGSN 828 may track a location of the UE 802 and perform security functions and access control. In addition, the SGSN 828 may perform inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between different RAT networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by MME 824; MME selection for handovers; etc. The S3 reference point between the MME 824 and the SGSN 828 may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in idle/active states. The HSS 830 may include a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities’ handling of communication sessions. The HSS 830 can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc. An S6a reference point between the HSS 830 and the MME 824 may enable transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating/authorizing user access to the LTE CN 820. The PGW 832 may terminate an SGi interface toward a data network (DN) 836 that may include an application/content server 838. The PGW 832 may route data packets between the LTE CN 822 and the data network 836. The PGW 832 may be coupled with the SGW 826 by an S5 reference point to facilitate user plane tunneling and tunnel management. The PGW 832 may further include a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection (for example, PCEF). Additionally, the SGi reference point between the PGW 832 and the data network 836 may be an operator external public, a private PDN, or an intra-operator packet data network, for example, for provision of IMS services. The PGW 832 may be coupled with a PCRF 834 via a Gx reference point. The PCRF 834 is the policy and charging control element of the LTE CN 822. The PCRF 834 may be communicatively coupled to the app/content server 838 to determine appropriate QoS and charging parameters for service flows. The PCRF 832 may provision associated rules into a PCEF (via Gx reference point) with appropriate TFT and QCI. In some embodiments, the CN 820 may be a 5GC 840. The 5GC 840 may include an AUSF 842, AMF 844, SMF 846, UPF 848, NSSF 850, NEF 852, NRF 854, PCF 856, UDM 858, and AF 860 coupled with one another over interfaces (or “reference points”) as shown. Functions of the elements of the 5GC 840 may be briefly introduced as follows. The AUSF 842 may store data for authentication of UE 802 and handle authentication- related functionality. The AUSF 842 may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. In addition to communicating with other elements of the 5GC 840 over reference points as shown, the AUSF 842 may exhibit an Nausf service-based interface. The AMF 844 may allow other functions of the 5GC 840 to communicate with the UE 802 and the RAN 804 and to subscribe to notifications about mobility events with respect to the UE 802. The AMF 844 may be responsible for registration management (for example, for registering UE 802), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF 844 may provide transport for SM messages between the UE 802 and the SMF 846, and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF 844 may also provide transport for SMS messages between UE 802 and an SMSF. AMF 844 may interact with the AUSF 842 and the UE 802 to perform various security anchor and context management functions. Furthermore, AMF 844 may be a termination point of a RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the RAN 804 and the AMF 844; and the AMF 844 may be a termination point of NAS (N1) signaling, and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection. AMF 844 may also support NAS signaling with the UE 802 over an N3 IWF interface. The SMF 846 may be responsible for SM (for example, session establishment, tunnel management between UPF 848 and AN 808); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP function; configuring traffic steering at UPF 848 to route traffic to proper destination; termination of interfaces toward policy control functions; controlling part of policy enforcement, charging, and QoS; lawful intercept (for SM events and interface to LI system); termination of SM parts of NAS messages; downlink data notification; initiating AN specific SM information, sent via AMF 844 over N2 to AN 808; and determining SSC mode of a session. SM may refer to management of a PDU session, and a PDU session or “session” may refer to a PDU connectivity service that provides or enables the exchange of PDUs between the UE 802 and the data network 836. The UPF 848 may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to data network 836, and a branching point to support multi-homed PDU session. The UPF 848 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, enforce the user plane part of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets (UP collection), perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS handling for a user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, UL/DL rate enforcement), perform uplink traffic verification (e.g., SDF- to-QoS flow mapping), transport level packet marking in the uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. UPF 848 may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to a data network. The NSSF 850 may select a set of network slice instances serving the UE 802. The NSSF 850 may also determine allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAIs, if needed. The NSSF 850 may also determine the AMF set to be used to serve the UE 802, or a list of candidate AMFs based on a suitable configuration and possibly by querying the NRF 854. The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE 802 may be triggered by the AMF 844 with which the UE 802 is registered by interacting with the NSSF 850, which may lead to a change of AMF. The NSSF 850 may interact with the AMF 844 via an N22 reference point; and may communicate with another NSSF in a visited network via an N31 reference point (not shown). Additionally, the NSSF 850 may exhibit an Nnssf service-based interface. The NEF 852 may securely expose services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third party, internal exposure/re-exposure, AFs (e.g., AF 860), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, the NEF 852 may authenticate, authorize, or throttle the AFs. NEF 852 may also translate information exchanged with the AF 860 and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF 852 may translate between an AF-Service-Identifier and an internal 5GC information. NEF 852 may also receive information from other NFs based on exposed capabilities of other NFs. This information may be stored at the NEF 852 as structured data, or at a data storage NF using standardized interfaces. The stored information can then be re-exposed by the NEF 852 to other NFs and AFs, or used for other purposes such as analytics. Additionally, the NEF 852 may exhibit an Nnef service-based interface. The NRF 854 may support service discovery functions, receive NF discovery requests from NF instances, and provide the information of the discovered NF instances to the NF instances. NRF 854 also maintains information of available NF instances and their supported services. As used herein, the terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like may refer to the creation of an instance, and an “instance” may refer to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code. Additionally, the NRF 854 may exhibit the Nnrf service-based interface. The PCF 856 may provide policy rules to control plane functions to enforce them, and may also support unified policy framework to govern network behavior. The PCF 856 may also implement a front end to access subscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDR of the UDM 858. In addition to communicating with functions over reference points as shown, the PCF 856 exhibit an Npcf service-based interface. The UDM 858 may handle subscription-related information to support the network entities’ handling of communication sessions, and may store subscription data of UE 802. For example, subscription data may be communicated via an N8 reference point between the UDM 858 and the AMF 844. The UDM 858 may include two parts, an application front end and a UDR. The UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM 858 and the PCF 856, and/or structured data for exposure and application data (including PFDs for application detection, application request information for multiple UEs 802) for the NEF 852. The Nudr service-based interface may be exhibited by the UDR 221 to allow the UDM 858, PCF 856, and NEF 852 to access a particular set of the stored data, as well as to read, update (e.g., add, modify), delete, and subscribe to notification of relevant data changes in the UDR. The UDM may include a UDM- FE, which is in charge of processing credentials, location management, subscription management and so on. Several different front ends may serve the same user in different transactions. The UDM-FE accesses subscription information stored in the UDR and performs authentication credential processing, user identification handling, access authorization, registration/mobility management, and subscription management. In addition to communicating with other NFs over reference points as shown, the UDM 858 may exhibit the Nudm service-based interface. The AF 860 may provide application influence on traffic routing, provide access to NEF, and interact with the policy framework for policy control. In some embodiments, the 5GC 840 may enable edge computing by selecting operator/3rd party services to be geographically close to a point that the UE 802 is attached to the network. This may reduce latency and load on the network. To provide edge-computing implementations, the 5GC 840 may select a UPF 848 close to the UE 802 and execute traffic steering from the UPF 848 to data network 836 via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF 860. In this way, the AF 860 may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF 860 is considered to be a trusted entity, the network operator may permit AF 860 to interact directly with relevant NFs. Additionally, the AF 860 may exhibit an Naf service-based interface. The data network 836 may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third party services that may be provided by one or more servers including, for example, application/content server 838. Figure 9 schematically illustrates a wireless network 900 in accordance with various embodiments. The wireless network 900 may include a UE 902 in wireless communication with an AN 904. The UE 902 and AN 904 may be similar to, and substantially interchangeable with, like-named components described elsewhere herein. The UE 902 may be communicatively coupled with the AN 904 via connection 906. The connection 906 is illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols such as an LTE protocol or a 5G NR protocol operating at mmWave or sub-6GHz frequencies. The UE 902 may include a host platform 908 coupled with a modem platform 910. The host platform 908 may include application processing circuitry 912, which may be coupled with protocol processing circuitry 914 of the modem platform 910. The application processing circuitry 912 may run various applications for the UE 902 that source/sink application data. The application processing circuitry 912 may further implement one or more layer operations to transmit/receive application data to/from a data network. These layer operations may include transport (for example UDP) and Internet (for example, IP) operations The protocol processing circuitry 914 may implement one or more of layer operations to facilitate transmission or reception of data over the connection 906. The layer operations implemented by the protocol processing circuitry 914 may include, for example, MAC, RLC, PDCP, RRC and NAS operations. The modem platform 910 may further include digital baseband circuitry 916 that may implement one or more layer operations that are “below” layer operations performed by the protocol processing circuitry 914 in a network protocol stack. These operations may include, for example, PHY operations including one or more of HARQ-ACK functions, scrambling/descrambling, encoding/decoding, layer mapping/de-mapping, modulation symbol mapping, received symbol/bit metric determination, multi-antenna port precoding/decoding, which may include one or more of space-time, space-frequency or spatial coding, reference signal generation/detection, preamble sequence generation and/or decoding, synchronization sequence generation/detection, control channel signal blind decoding, and other related functions. The modem platform 910 may further include transmit circuitry 918, receive circuitry 920, RF circuitry 922, and RF front end (RFFE) 924, which may include or connect to one or more antenna panels 926. Briefly, the transmit circuitry 918 may include a digital-to-analog converter, mixer, intermediate frequency (IF) components, etc.; the receive circuitry 920 may include an analog-to-digital converter, mixer, IF components, etc.; the RF circuitry 922 may include a low-noise amplifier, a power amplifier, power tracking components, etc.; RFFE 924 may include filters (for example, surface/bulk acoustic wave filters), switches, antenna tuners, beamforming components (for example, phase-array antenna components), etc. The selection and arrangement of the components of the transmit circuitry 918, receive circuitry 920, RF circuitry 922, RFFE 924, and antenna panels 926 (referred generically as “transmit/receive components”) may be specific to details of a specific implementation such as, for example, whether communication is TDM or FDM, in mmWave or sub-6 gHz frequencies, etc. In some embodiments, the transmit/receive components may be arranged in multiple parallel transmit/receive chains, may be disposed in the same or different chips/modules, etc. In some embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry 914 may include one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the transmit/receive components. A UE reception may be established by and via the antenna panels 926, RFFE 924, RF circuitry 922, receive circuitry 920, digital baseband circuitry 916, and protocol processing circuitry 914. In some embodiments, the antenna panels 926 may receive a transmission from the AN 904 by receive-beamforming signals received by a plurality of antennas/antenna elements of the one or more antenna panels 926. A UE transmission may be established by and via the protocol processing circuitry 914, digital baseband circuitry 916, transmit circuitry 918, RF circuitry 922, RFFE 924, and antenna panels 926. In some embodiments, the transmit components of the UE 904 may apply a spatial filter to the data to be transmitted to form a transmit beam emitted by the antenna elements of the antenna panels 926. Similar to the UE 902, the AN 904 may include a host platform 928 coupled with a modem platform 930. The host platform 928 may include application processing circuitry 932 coupled with protocol processing circuitry 934 of the modem platform 930. The modem platform may further include digital baseband circuitry 936, transmit circuitry 938, receive circuitry 940, RF circuitry 942, RFFE circuitry 944, and antenna panels 946. The components of the AN 904 may be similar to and substantially interchangeable with like-named components of the UE 902. In addition to performing data transmission/reception as described above, the components of the AN 908 may perform various logical functions that include, for example, RNC functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management, and data packet scheduling. Figure 10 is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, able to read instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium) and perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. Specifically, Figure 10 shows a diagrammatic representation of hardware resources 1000 including one or more processors (or processor cores) 1010, one or more memory/storage devices 1020, and one or more communication resources 1030, each of which may be communicatively coupled via a bus 1040 or other interface circuitry. For embodiments where node virtualization (e.g., NFV) is utilized, a hypervisor 1002 may be executed to provide an execution environment for one or more network slices/sub-slices to utilize the hardware resources 1000. The processors 1010 may include, for example, a processor 1012 and a processor 1014. The processors 1010 may be, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processor, a complex instruction set computing (CISC) processor, a graphics processing unit (GPU), a DSP such as a baseband processor, an ASIC, an FPGA, a radio- frequency integrated circuit (RFIC), another processor (including those discussed herein), or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices 1020 may include main memory, disk storage, or any suitable combination thereof. The memory/storage devices 1020 may include, but are not limited to, any type of volatile, non-volatile, or semi-volatile memory such as dynamic random access memory (DRAM), static random access memory (SRAM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), Flash memory, solid-state storage, etc. The communication resources 1030 may include interconnection or network interface controllers, components, or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices 1004 or one or more databases 1006 or other network elements via a network 1008. For example, the communication resources 1030 may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB, Ethernet, etc.), cellular communication components, NFC components, Bluetooth® (or Bluetooth® Low Energy) components, Wi-Fi® components, and other communication components. Instructions 1050 may comprise software, a program, an application, an applet, an app, or other executable code for causing at least any of the processors 1010 to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. The instructions 1050 may reside, completely or partially, within at least one of the processors 1010 (e.g., within the processor’s cache memory), the memory/storage devices 1020, or any suitable combination thereof. Furthermore, any portion of the instructions 1050 may be transferred to the hardware resources 1000 from any combination of the peripheral devices 1004 or the databases 1006. Accordingly, the memory of processors 1010, the memory/storage devices 1020, the peripheral devices 1004, and the databases 1006 are examples of computer-readable and machine-readable media. Figure 11 provides a high-level view of an Open RAN (O-RAN) architecture 1100. The O-RAN architecture 1100 includes four O-RAN defined interfaces – namely, the A1 interface, the O1 interface, the O2 interface, and the Open Fronthaul Management (M)-plane interface – which connect the Service Management and Orchestration (SMO) framework 1102 to O-RAN network functions (NFs) 1104 and the O-Cloud 1106. The SMO 1102 (described in [O13]) also connects with an external system 1110, which provides enrighment data to the SMO 1102. Figure 11 also illustrates that the A1 interface terminates at an O-RAN Non-Real Time (RT) RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) 1112 in or at the SMO 1102 and at the O-RAN Near-RT RIC 1114 in or at the O-RAN NFs 1104. The O-RAN NFs 1104 can be VNFs such as VMs or containers, sitting above the O-Cloud 1106 and/or Physical Network Functions (PNFs) utilizing customized hardware. All O-RAN NFs 1104 are expected to support the O1 interface when interfacing the SMO framework 1102.The O-RAN NFs 1104 connect to the NG-Core 1108 via the NG interface (which is a 3GPP defined interface). The Open Fronthaul M-plane interface between the SMO 1102 and the O-RAN Radio Unit (O-RU) 1116 supports the O-RU 1116 management in the O-RAN hybrid model as specified in [O16]. The Open Fronthaul M-plane interface is an optional interface to the SMO 1102 that is included for backward compatibility purposes as per [O16], and is intended for management of the O-RU 1116 in hybrid mode only. The management architecture of flat mode [O12] and its relation to the O1 interface for the O-RU 1116 is for future study. The O-RU 1116 termination of the O1 interface towards the SMO 1102 as specified in [O12]. Figure 12 shows an O-RAN logical architecture 1200 corresponding to the O-RAN architecture 1100 of Figure 11. In Figure 12, the SMO 1202 corresponds to the SMO 1102, O- Cloud 1206 corresponds to the O-Cloud 1106, the non-RT RIC 1212 corresponds to the non-RT RIC 1112, the near-RT RIC 1214 corresponds to the near-RT RIC 1114, and the O-RU 1216 corresponds to the O-RU 1116 of Figure 12, respectively. The O-RAN logical architecture 1200 includes a radio portion and a management portion. The management portion/side of the architectures 1200 includes the SMO Framework 1202 containing the non-RT RIC 1212, and may include the O-Cloud 1206. The O-Cloud 1206 is a cloud computing platform including a collection of physical infrastructure nodes to host the relevant O-RAN functions (e.g., the near-RT RIC 1214, O-CU-CP 1221, O-CU-UP 1222, and the O-DU 1215), supporting software components (e.g., OSs, VMMs, container runtime engines, ML engines, etc.), and appropriate management and orchestration functions. The radio portion/side of the logical architecture 1200 includes the near-RT RIC 1214, the O-RAN Distributed Unit (O-DU) 1215, the O-RU 1216, the O-RAN Central Unit – Control Plane (O-CU-CP) 1221, and the O-RAN Central Unit – User Plane (O-CU-UP) 1222 functions. The radio portion/side of the logical architecture 1200 may also include the O-e/gNB 1210. The O-DU 1215 is a logical node hosting RLC, MAC, and higher PHY layer entities/elements (High-PHY layers) based on a lower layer functional split. The O-RU 1216 is a logical node hosting lower PHY layer entities/elements (Low-PHY layer) (e.g., FFT/iFFT, PRACH extraction, etc.) and RF processing elements based on a lower layer functional split. Virtualization of O-RU 1216 is FFS. The O-CU-CP 1221 is a logical node hosting the RRC and the control plane (CP) part of the PDCP protocol. The O O-CU-UP 1222 is a logical node hosting the user plane part of the PDCP protocol and the SDAP protocol. An E2 interface terminates at a plurality of E2 nodes. The E2 nodes are logical nodes/entities that terminate the E2 interface. For NR/5G access, the E2 nodes include the O-CU- CP 1221, O-CU-UP 1222, O-DU 1215, or any combination of elements as defined in [O15]. For E-UTRA access the E2 nodes include the O-e/gNB 1210. As shown in Figure 12, the E2 interface also connects the O-e/gNB 1210 to the Near-RT RIC 1214. The protocols over E2 interface are based exclusively on Control Plane (CP) protocols. The E2 functions are grouped into the following categories: (a) near-RT RIC 1214 services (REPORT, INSERT, CONTROL and POLICY, as described in [O15]); and (b) near-RT RIC 1214 support functions, which include E2 Interface Management (E2 Setup, E2 Reset, Reporting of General Error Situations, etc.) and Near- RT RIC Service Update (e.g., capability exchange related to the list of E2 Node functions exposed over E2). Figure 12 shows the Uu interface between a UE 1201 and O-e/gNB 1210 as well as between the UE 1201 and O-RAN components. The Uu interface is a 3GPP defined interface (see e.g., sections 5.2 and 5.3 of [O07]), which includes a complete protocol stack from L1 to L3 and terminates in the NG-RAN or E-UTRAN. The O-e/gNB 1210 is an LTE eNB [O04], a 5G gNB or ng-eNB [O06] that supports the E2 interface. The O-e/gNB 1210 may be the same or similar as AN 808 and/or AN 904 discussed previously. The UE 1201 may correspond to UE 802 and/or UE 902 discussed with respect to Figures 8 and 9, and/or the like. There may be multiple UEs 1201 and/or multiple O-e/gNB 1210, each of which may be connected to one another the via respective Uu interfaces. Although not shown in Figure 12, the O-e/gNB 1210 supports O-DU 1215 and O-RU 1216 functions with an Open Fronthaul interface between them. The Open Fronthaul (OF) interface(s) is/are between O-DU 1215 and O-RU 1216 functions [O16] [O17]. The OF interface(s) includes the Control User Synchronization (CUS) Plane and Management (M) Plane. Figures 11 and 12 also show that the O-RU 1216 terminates the OF M-Plane interface towards the O-DU 1215 and optionally towards the SMO 1202 as specified in [O16]. The O-RU 1216 terminates the OF CUS-Plane interface towards the O-DU 1215 and the SMO 1202. The F1-c interface connects the O-CU-CP 1221 with the O-DU 1215. As defined by 3GPP, the F1-c interface is between the gNB-CU-CP and gNB-DU nodes [O07] [O10]. However, for purposes of O-RAN, the F1-c interface is adopted between the O-CU-CP 1221 with the O-DU 1215 functions while reusing the principles and protocol stack defined by 3GPP and the definition of interoperability profile specifications. The F1-u interface connects the O-CU-UP 1222 with the O-DU 1215. As defined by 3GPP, the F1-u interface is between the gNB-CU-UP and gNB-DU nodes [O07] [O10]. However, for purposes of O-RAN, the F1-u interface is adopted between the O-CU-UP 1222 with the O-DU 1215 functions while reusing the principles and protocol stack defined by 3GPP and the definition of interoperability profile specifications. The NG-c interface is defined by 3GPP as an interface between the gNB-CU-CP and the AMF in the 5GC [O06]. The NG-c is also referred as the N2 interface (see [O06]). The NG-u interface is defined by 3GPP, as an interface between the gNB-CU-UP and the UPF in the 5GC [O06]. The NG-u interface is referred as the N3 interface (see [O06]). In O-RAN, NG-c and NG- u protocol stacks defined by 3GPP are reused and may be adapted for O-RAN purposes. The X2-c interface is defined in 3GPP for transmitting control plane information between eNBs or between eNB and en-gNB in EN-DC. The X2-u interface is defined in 3GPP for transmitting user plane information between eNBs or between eNB and en-gNB in EN-DC (see e.g., [O05], [O06]). In O-RAN, X2-c and X2-u protocol stacks defined by 3GPP are reused and may be adapted for O-RAN purposes The Xn-c interface is defined in 3GPP for transmitting control plane information between gNBs, ng-eNBs, or between an ng-eNB and gNB. The Xn-u interface is defined in 3GPP for transmitting user plane information between gNBs, ng-eNBs, or between ng-eNB and gNB (see e.g., [O06], [O08]). In O-RAN, Xn-c and Xn-u protocol stacks defined by 3GPP are reused and may be adapted for O-RAN purposes The E1 interface is defined by 3GPP as being an interface between the gNB-CU-CP (e.g., gNB-CU-CP 3728) and gNB-CU-UP (see e.g., [O07], [O09]). In O-RAN, E1 protocol stacks defined by 3GPP are reused and adapted as being an interface between the O-CU-CP 1221 and the O-CU-UP 1222 functions. The O-RAN Non-Real Time (RT) RAN Intelligent Controller (RIC) 1212 is a logical function within the SMO framework 1102, 1202 that enables non-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources; AI/machine learning (ML) workflow(s) including model training, inferences, and updates; and policy-based guidance of applications/features in the Near-RT RIC 1214. The O-RAN near-RT RIC 1214 is a logical function that enables near-real-time control and optimization of RAN elements and resources via fine-grained data collection and actions over the E2 interface. The near-RT RIC 1214 may include one or more AI/ML workflows including model training, inferences, and updates. The non-RT RIC 1212 can be an ML training host to host the training of one or more ML models. ML training can be performed offline using data collected from the RIC, O-DU 1215 and O-RU 1216. For supervised learning, non-RT RIC 1212 is part of the SMO 1202, and the ML training host and/or ML model host/actor can be part of the non-RT RIC 1212 and/or the near-RT RIC 1214. For unsupervised learning, the ML training host and ML model host/actor can be part of the non-RT RIC 1212 and/or the near-RT RIC 1214. For reinforcement learning, the ML training host and ML model host/actor may be co-located as part of the non-RT RIC 1212 and/or the near-RT RIC 1214. In some implementations, the non-RT RIC 1212 may request or trigger ML model training in the training hosts regardless of where the model is deployed and executed. ML models may be trained and not currently deployed. In some implementations, the non-RT RIC 1212 provides a query-able catalog for an ML designer/developer to publish/install trained ML models (e.g., executable software components). In these implementations, the non-RT RIC 1212 may provide discovery mechanism if a particular ML model can be executed in a target ML inference host (MF), and what number and type of ML models can be executed in the MF. For example, there may be three types of ML catalogs made disoverable by the non-RT RIC 1212: a design-time catalog (e.g., residing outside the non-RT RIC 1212 and hosted by some other ML platform(s)), a training/deployment-time catalog (e.g., residing inside the non-RT RIC 1212), and a run-time catalog (e.g., residing inside the non-RT RIC 1212). The non-RT RIC 1212 supports necessary capabilities for ML model inference in support of ML assisted solutions running in the non-RT RIC 1212 or some other ML inference host. These capabilities enable executable software to be installed such as VMs, containers, etc. The non-RT RIC 1212 may also include and/or operate one or more ML engines, which are packaged software executable libraries that provide methods, routines, data types, etc., used to run ML models. The non-RT RIC 1212 may also implement policies to switch and activate ML model instances under different operating conditions. The non-RT RIC 122 is be able to access feedback data (e.g., FM and PM statistics) over the O1 interface on ML model performance and perform necessary evaluations. If the ML model fails during runtime, an alarm can be generated as feedback to the non-RT RIC 1212. How well the ML model is performing in terms of prediction accuracy or other operating statistics it produces can also be sent to the non-RT RIC 1212 over O1. The non-RT RIC 1212 can also scale ML model instances running in a target MF over the O1 interface by observing resource utilization in MF. The environment where the ML model instance is running (e.g., the MF) monitors resource utilization of the running ML model. This can be done, for example, using an ORAN-SC component called ResourceMonitor in the near-RT RIC 1214 and/or in the non-RT RIC 1212, which continuously monitors resource utilization. If resources are low or fall below a certain threshold, the runtime environment in the near-RT RIC 1214 and/or the non-RT RIC 1212 provides a scaling mechanism to add more ML instances. The scaling mechanism may include a scaling factor such as an number, percentage, and/or other like data used to scale up/down the number of ML instances. ML model instances running in the target ML inference hosts may be automatically scaled by observing resource utilization in the MF. For example, the Kubernetes® (K8s) runtime environment typically provides an auto-scaling feature. The A1 interface is between the non-RT RIC 1212 (within or outside the SMO 1202) and the near-RT RIC 1214. The A1 interface supports three types of services as defined in [O14], including a Policy Management Service, an Enrichment Information Service, and ML Model Management Service. A1 policies have the following characteristics compared to persistent configuration [O14]: A1 policies are not critical to traffic; A1 policies have temporary validity; A1 policies may handle individual UE or dynamically defined groups of UEs; A1 policies act within and take precedence over the configuration; and A1 policies are non-persistent, e.g., do not survive a restart of the near-RT RIC. EXAMPLE PROCEDURES In some embodiments, the electronic device(s), network(s), system(s), chip(s) or component(s), or portions or implementations thereof, of Figures 8-12, or some other figure herein, may be configured to perform one or more processes, techniques, or methods as described herein, or portions thereof. One such process is depicted in Figure 13. In some embodiments, the process 1300 may be performed by a near-RT RIC or a portion thereof. For example, the process may include, at 1305, retrieving, from a memory, radio access network (RAN) intelligence controller (RIC) subscription information that is to indicate multiple actions to be performed in parallel under a common event trigger. The process further includes, at 1310, sending an RIC subscription request containing the RIC subscription information to an E2 node for subscription of the multiple actions to be performed in parallel under the common event trigger. Another such process is illustrated in Figure 14, which may be performed by an E2 node in some embodiments. In this example, process 1400 includes, at 1405, receiving, from a near- realtime (near-RT) radio access network (RAN) intelligence controller (RIC), a RIC subscription request containing RIC subscription information for subscription of multiple actions to be performed in parallel under a common event trigger. The process further includes, at 1410, sending a RIC subscription request containing the RIC subscription information to an E2 node for subscription of the multiple actions to be performed in parallel under the common event trigger. Another such process is illustrated in Figure 15. In this example, process 1500 includes, at 1505, sending, to an E2 node, a suspend command associated with an RIC subscription or service. The process further includes, at 1510, receiving, from the E2 node, a response that indicates the RIC subscription or service has been suspended. For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth in one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and/or methods as set forth in the example section below. For example, the baseband circuitry as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below. For another example, circuitry associated with a UE, base station, network element, etc. as described above in connection with one or more of the preceding figures may be configured to operate in accordance with one or more of the examples set forth below in the example section. EXAMPLES Example 1 may include a method wherein the Near-RT RIC requests E2 Node to subscribe multiple actions to be performed in parallel under the same event trigger over E2 interface. Example 2 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein once multiple parallel actions are subscribed, for REPORT or INSERT services, E2 Node invokes a single indication procedure toward Near-RT RIC, containing indication details of multiple parallel actions over E2 interface. Example 3 may include a method wherein Near-RT RIC invokes a single control procedure for multiple parallel actions toward E2 Node over E2 interface. Upon received and processed, E2 Node replies the results to Near-RT RIC - either the list of successfully executed controls each with optional outcome or the list of not successfully executed controls each with an appropriate cause and optional outcome, or both. Example 4 may include a method of a Near-RT RIC, the method comprising: sending a request to an E2 Node to subscribe multiple actions to be performed in parallel associated with a same event trigger; and receiving a single indication from the E2 node to trigger the multiple actions. Example 5 may include the method of example 4 or some other example herein, wherein the actions include one or more REPORT or INSERT services. Example 6 may include a method of an E2 node, the method comprising: receiving a request from a Near-RT RIC to subscribe multiple actions to be performed in parallel associated with a same event trigger; and sending a single indication to the Near-RT RIC to trigger the multiple actions. Example 7 may include the method of example 6 or some other example herein, wherein the actions include one or more REPORT or INSERT services. Example A1 may include near-RT RIC sends a suspend command of an existing RIC subscription or service(s) toward the E2 Node. Example A2 may include after receiving the suspend command, E2 Node suspends the subscription or service(s) and responds back to the Near-RT RIC. Example A3 may include near-RT RIC sends a resume command of the suspended RIC subscription or service(s) toward the E2 Node. Example A4 may include after receiving the resume command, E2 Node resumes the suspended subscription or service(s) and responds back to the Near-RT RIC. Example A5 may include E2 Node sends a suspend request of an existing RIC subscription or service(s) toward the Near-RT RIC. Example A6 may include after receiving the suspend request, Near-RT RIC makes a decision and if decides to suspend, sends the suspend command to the E2 Node. If decides not to suspend, Near-RT RIC may send the suspend reject to the E2 Node. Example A7 may include after receiving the suspend command, E2 Node suspends the subscription or service(s) and responds back to the Near-RT RIC. Example A8 may include instead, Near-RT RIC may decide to remove the subscription or service(s) instead of suspension and sends the deletion command toward the E2 Node, for which E2 Node deletes the subscription or service(s) and responds back to the Near-RT RIC. Example A9 may include E2 Node sends a resume request of the suspended RIC subscription or service(s) to the Near-RT RIC. Example A10 may include after receiving the resume request, Near-RT RIC makes a decision and if decides to resume, sends the resume command to the E2 Node. If decides not to resume, Near-RT RIC may send the resume reject to the E2 Node. Example A11 may include after receiving the resume command, E2 Node resumes the subscription or service(s) and responds back to the Near-RT RIC. Example A12 may include instead, Near-RT RIC may decide to remove the subscription or service(s) instead of resuming and sends the deletion command toward the E2 Node, for which E2 Node deletes the subscription or service(s) and responds back to the Near-RT RIC. Example A13 may include E2 Node sends a deletion request of an existing RIC subscription or service(s) toward the Near-RT RIC. Example A14 after receiving the deletion request, Near-RT RIC may decide to suspend (instead of removing the subscription or service(s)), and sends the suspend command to the E2 Node. Example A15 may include after receiving the suspend command, E2 Node suspends the subscription or service(s) and responds back to the Near-RT RIC. Example A16 may include a method of a near- real time (RT) radio intelligent controller (RIC) comprising: sending a suspend command of an existing RIC subscription or service to an E2 Node; and receiving a response from the E2 Node to indicate that the RIC subscription or service has been suspended. Example A17 may include the method of example A16 or some other example herein, further comprising sending a resume command to the E2 Node to resume the RIC subscription or service. Example A18 may include the method of example A17 or some other example herein, further comprising receiving a message from the E2 Node to indicate that the RIC subscription or service has been resumed. Example A19 may include the method of example A16-A18 or some other example herein, further comprising receiving a suspend request from the E2 Node to request suspension of the RIC subscription or service; and determining whether to suspend the RIC subscription or service. Example A20 may include the method of example A19 or some other example herein, wherein the suspend command is sent if it is determined to suspend the RIC subscription. Example A21 may include the method of example A19-A20 or some other example herein, further comprising, if it is determined not to suspend the RIC subscription, sending a suspend reject message to the E2 Node. Example X1 includes an apparatus comprising: memory to store radio access network (RAN) intelligence controller (RIC) subscription information; and processing circuitry, coupled with the memory, to: retrieve the RIC subscription information from the memory, wherein the RIC subscription information is to indicate multiple actions to be performed in parallel under a common event trigger; and send an RIC subscription request containing the RIC subscription information to an E2 node for subscription of the multiple actions to be performed in parallel under the common event trigger. Example X2 includes the apparatus of example X1 or some other example herein, wherein the RIC subscription request includes an indication of one or more of: a message type, a RIC request identifier, a RAN function identifier, and a RIC subscription detail. Example X3 includes the apparatus of example X2 or some other example herein, wherein the RIC subscription detail includes: a RIC event trigger definition, a sequence of actions, a RIC action identifier, a RIC action type, a RIC action definition, a RIC subsequent action, or a parallel processing indication. Example X4 includes the apparatus of example X1 or some other example herein, wherein the processing circuitry is further to receive, from the E2 node, a RIC indication message comprising a list of indication details for the multiple actions. Example X5 includes the apparatus of example X4 or some other example herein, wherein the RIC indication message includes one or more of: a RIC action identifier, a RIC indication type, a RIC indication header, and a RIC indication message. Example X6 includes the apparatus of example X4 or some other example herein, wherein the processing circuitry is further to send a RIC control request to the E2 node that includes a list of control details for the multiple actions. Example X7 includes the apparatus of example X6 or some other example herein, Example X8 includes the apparatus of example X6 or some other example herein, wherein the processing circuitry is further to receive, from the E2 node, a RIC control acknowledgement to indicate the RIC control request was received, or a RIC control failure message to indicate the RIC control request failed to execute. Example X9 includes the apparatus of any of examples X1-X8 or some other example herein, wherein the apparatus includes a near-realtime (RT) RIC or portion thereof. Example X10 includes one or more computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, configure an E2 node to: receive, from a near-realtime (near-RT) radio access network (RAN) intelligence controller (RIC), a RIC subscription request containing RIC subscription information for subscription of multiple actions to be performed in parallel under a common event trigger; and in response to execution of the common event trigger, send a RIC indication message to the near-RT RIC comprising a list of indication details for the multiple actions. Example X11 includes the one or more computer-readable medium of example X10 or some other example herein, wherein the RIC subscription request includes an indication of one or more of: a message type, a RIC request identifier, a RAN function identifier, and a RIC subscription detail. Example X12 includes the one or more computer-readable medium of example X11 or some other example herein, wherein the RIC subscription detail includes: a RIC event trigger definition, a sequence of actions, a RIC action identifier, a RIC action type, a RIC action definition, a RIC subsequent action, or a parallel processing indication. Example X13 includes the one or more computer-readable medium of example X10 or some other example herein, wherein the RIC indication message includes one or more of: a RIC action identifier, a RIC indication type, a RIC indication header, and a RIC indication message. Example X14 includes the one or more computer-readable medium of example X10 or some other example herein, wherein the memory further stores instructions to configure the E2 node to receive, from the near-RT RIC, a RIC control request that includes a list of control details for the multiple actions. Example X15 includes the one or more computer-readable medium of example X14 or some other example herein, wherein the RIC control request includes a RIC control header or a RIC control message. Example X16 includes the one or more computer-readable medium of example X14 or some other example herein, wherein the memory further stores instructions to configure the E2 node to send, to the near-RT RIC: a RIC control acknowledgement to indicate the RIC control request was received, or a RIC control failure message to indicate the RIC control request failed to execute. Example X17 includes one or more computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause a near-realtime (near-RT) radio access network (RAN) intelligence controller (RIC) to: send, to an E2 node, a suspend command associated with an RIC subscription or service; and receive, from the E2 node, a response that indicates the RIC subscription or service has been suspended. Example X18 includes the one or more computer-readable medium of example X17 or some other example herein, wherein the suspend command includes one or more of: a RIC request identifier, a RAN function identifier, and a RIC action identifier. Example X19 includes the one or more computer-readable medium of example X17 or some other example herein, wherein the media further stores instructions to send a resume command to the E2 node to resume the RIC subscription or service. Example X20 includes the one or more computer-readable medium of example X19 or some other example herein, wherein the resume command includes one or more of: a RIC request identifier, a RAN function identifier, and a RIC action identifier. Example X21 includes the one or more computer-readable medium of example X19 or some other example herein, wherein the media further stores instructions to receive, from the E2 node, a message to indicate the RIC subscription or service has resumed. Example Z01 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-X21, or any other method or process described herein. Example Z02 may include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media comprising instructions to cause an electronic device, upon execution of the instructions by one or more processors of the electronic device, to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1- X21, or any other method or process described herein. Example Z03 may include an apparatus comprising logic, modules, or circuitry to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1- X21, or any other method or process described herein. Example Z04 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1- X21, or portions or parts thereof. Example Z05 may include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1- X21, or portions thereof. Example Z06 may include a signal as described in or related to any of examples 1- X21, or portions or parts thereof. Example Z07 may include a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of examples 1- X21, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure. Example Z08 may include a signal encoded with data as described in or related to any of examples 1- X21, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure. Example Z09 may include a signal encoded with a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of examples 1- X21, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure. Example Z10 may include an electromagnetic signal carrying computer-readable instructions, wherein execution of the computer-readable instructions by one or more processors is to cause the one or more processors to perform the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1- X21, or portions thereof. Example Z11 may include a computer program comprising instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element is to cause the processing element to carry out the method, techniques, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1- X21, or portions thereof. Example Z12 may include a signal in a wireless network as shown and described herein. Example Z13 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein. Example Z14 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. Example Z15 may include a device for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. Any of the above-described examples may be combined with any other example (or combination of examples), unless explicitly stated otherwise. The foregoing description of one or more implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teachings or may be acquired from practice of various embodiments. Abbreviations Unless used differently herein, terms, definitions, and abbreviations may be consistent with terms, definitions, and abbreviations defined in 3GPP TR 21.905 v16.0.0 (2019-06). For the purposes of the present document, the following abbreviations may apply to the examples and embodiments discussed herein.
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Figure imgf000050_0001
Terminology For the purposes of the present document, the following terms and definitions are applicable to the examples and embodiments discussed herein. The term “application” may refer to a complete and deployable package, environment to achieve a certain function in an operational environment. The term “AI/ML application” or the like may be an application that contains some AI/ML models and application-level descriptions. The term “machine learning” or “ML” refers to the use of computer systems implementing algorithms and/or statistical models to perform specific task(s) without using explicit instructions, but instead relying on patterns and inferences. ML algorithms build or estimate mathematical model(s) (referred to as “ML models” or the like) based on sample data (referred to as “training data,” “model training information,” or the like) in order to make predictions or decisions without being explicitly programmed to perform such tasks. Generally, an ML algorithm is a computer program that learns from experience with respect to some task and some performance measure, and an ML model may be any object or data structure created after an ML algorithm is trained with one or more training datasets. After training, an ML model may be used to make predictions on new datasets. Although the term “ML algorithm” refers to different concepts than the term “ML model,” these terms as discussed herein may be used interchangeably for the purposes of the present disclosure. The term “machine learning model,” “ML model,” or the like may also refer to ML methods and concepts used by an ML-assisted solution. An “ML-assisted solution” is a solution that addresses a specific use case using ML algorithms during operation. ML models include supervised learning (e.g., linear regression, k-nearest neighbor (KNN), descision tree algorithms, support machine vectors, Bayesian algorithm, ensemble algorithms, etc.) unsupervised learning (e.g., K-means clustering, principle component analysis (PCA), etc.), reinforcement learning (e.g., Q-learning, multi-armed bandit learning, deep RL, etc.), neural networks, and the like. Depending on the implementation a specific ML model could have many sub-models as components and the ML model may train all sub-models together. Separately trained ML models can also be chained together in an ML pipeline during inference. An “ML pipeline” is a set of functionalities, functions, or functional entities specific for an ML-assisted solution; an ML pipeline may include one or several data sources in a data pipeline, a model training pipeline, a model evaluation pipeline, and an actor. The “actor” is an entity that hosts an ML assisted solution using the output of the ML model inference). The term “ML training host” refers to an entity, such as a network function, that hosts the training of the model. The term “ML inference host” refers to an entity, such as a network function, that hosts model during inference mode (which includes both the model execution as well as any online learning if applicable). The ML-host informs the actor about the output of the ML algorithm, and the actor takes a decision for an action (an “action” is performed by an actor as a result of the output of an ML assisted solution). The term “model inference information” refers to information used as an input to the ML model for determining inference(s); the data used to train an ML model and the data used to determine inferences may overlap, however, “training data” and “inference data” refer to different concepts. The term “circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes hardware components such as an electronic circuit, a logic circuit, a processor (shared, dedicated, or group) and/or memory (shared, dedicated, or group), an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a field-programmable device (FPD) (e.g., a field-programmable gate array (FPGA), a programmable logic device (PLD), a complex PLD (CPLD), a high-capacity PLD (HCPLD), a structured ASIC, or a programmable SoC), digital signal processors (DSPs), etc., that are configured to provide the described functionality. In some embodiments, the circuitry may execute one or more software or firmware programs to provide at least some of the described functionality. The term “circuitry” may also refer to a combination of one or more hardware elements (or a combination of circuits used in an electrical or electronic system) with the program code used to carry out the functionality of that program code. In these embodiments, the combination of hardware elements and program code may be referred to as a particular type of circuitry. The term “processor circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry capable of sequentially and automatically carrying out a sequence of arithmetic or logical operations, or recording, storing, and/or transferring digital data. Processing circuitry may include one or more processing cores to execute instructions and one or more memory structures to store program and data information. The term “processor circuitry” may refer to one or more application processors, one or more baseband processors, a physical central processing unit (CPU), a single-core processor, a dual-core processor, a triple-core processor, a quad-core processor, and/or any other device capable of executing or otherwise operating computer- executable instructions, such as program code, software modules, and/or functional processes. Processing circuitry may include more hardware accelerators, which may be microprocessors, programmable processing devices, or the like. The one or more hardware accelerators may include, for example, computer vision (CV) and/or deep learning (DL) accelerators. The terms “application circuitry” and/or “baseband circuitry” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, “processor circuitry.” The term “interface circuitry” as used herein refers to, is part of, or includes circuitry that enables the exchange of information between two or more components or devices. The term interface circuitry may refer to one or more hardware interfaces, for example, buses, I/O interfaces, peripheral component interfaces, network interface cards, and/or the like. The term “user equipment” or “UE” as used herein refers to a device with radio communication capabilities and may describe a remote user of network resources in a communications network. The term “user equipment” or “UE” may be considered synonymous to, and may be referred to as, client, mobile, mobile device, mobile terminal, user terminal, mobile unit, mobile station, mobile user, subscriber, user, remote station, access agent, user agent, receiver, radio equipment, reconfigurable radio equipment, reconfigurable mobile device, etc. Furthermore, the term “user equipment” or “UE” may include any type of wireless/wired device or any computing device including a wireless communications interface. The term “network element” as used herein refers to physical or virtualized equipment and/or infrastructure used to provide wired or wireless communication network services. The term “network element” may be considered synonymous to and/or referred to as a networked computer, networking hardware, network equipment, network node, router, switch, hub, bridge, radio network controller, RAN device, RAN node, gateway, server, virtualized VNF, NFVI, and/or the like. The term “computer system” as used herein refers to any type interconnected electronic devices, computer devices, or components thereof. Additionally, the term “computer system” and/or “system” may refer to various components of a computer that are communicatively coupled with one another. Furthermore, the term “computer system” and/or “system” may refer to multiple computer devices and/or multiple computing systems that are communicatively coupled with one another and configured to share computing and/or networking resources. The term “appliance,” “computer appliance,” or the like, as used herein refers to a computer device or computer system with program code (e.g., software or firmware) that is specifically designed to provide a specific computing resource. A “virtual appliance” is a virtual machine image to be implemented by a hypervisor-equipped device that virtualizes or emulates a computer appliance or otherwise is dedicated to provide a specific computing resource. The term “resource” as used herein refers to a physical or virtual device, a physical or virtual component within a computing environment, and/or a physical or virtual component within a particular device, such as computer devices, mechanical devices, memory space, processor/CPU time, processor/CPU usage, processor and accelerator loads, hardware time or usage, electrical power, input/output operations, ports or network sockets, channel/link allocation, throughput, memory usage, storage, network, database and applications, workload units, and/or the like. A “hardware resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/or network resources provided by physical hardware element(s). A “virtualized resource” may refer to compute, storage, and/or network resources provided by virtualization infrastructure to an application, device, system, etc. The term “network resource” or “communication resource” may refer to resources that are accessible by computer devices/systems via a communications network. The term “system resources” may refer to any kind of shared entities to provide services, and may include computing and/or network resources. System resources may be considered as a set of coherent functions, network data objects or services, accessible through a server where such system resources reside on a single host or multiple hosts and are clearly identifiable. The term “channel” as used herein refers to any transmission medium, either tangible or intangible, which is used to communicate data or a data stream. The term “channel” may be synonymous with and/or equivalent to “communications channel,” “data communications channel,” “transmission channel,” “data transmission channel,” “access channel,” “data access channel,” “link,” “data link,” “carrier,” “radiofrequency carrier,” and/or any other like term denoting a pathway or medium through which data is communicated. Additionally, the term “link” as used herein refers to a connection between two devices through a RAT for the purpose of transmitting and receiving information. The terms “instantiate,” “instantiation,” and the like as used herein refers to the creation of an instance. An “instance” also refers to a concrete occurrence of an object, which may occur, for example, during execution of program code. The terms “coupled,” “communicatively coupled,” along with derivatives thereof are used herein. The term “coupled” may mean two or more elements are in direct physical or electrical contact with one another, may mean that two or more elements indirectly contact each other but still cooperate or interact with each other, and/or may mean that one or more other elements are coupled or connected between the elements that are said to be coupled with each other. The term “directly coupled” may mean that two or more elements are in direct contact with one another. The term “communicatively coupled” may mean that two or more elements may be in contact with one another by a means of communication including through a wire or other interconnect connection, through a wireless communication channel or link, and/or the like. The term “information element” refers to a structural element containing one or more fields. The term “field” refers to individual contents of an information element, or a data element that contains content. The term “SMTC” refers to an SSB-based measurement timing configuration configured by SSB-MeasurementTimingConfiguration. The term “SSB” refers to an SS/PBCH block. The term a Primary Cell refers to the MCG cell, operating on the primary frequency, in which the UE either performs the initial connection establishment procedure or initiates the connection re-establishment procedure. The term “Primary SCG Cell” refers to the SCG cell in which the UE performs random access when performing the Reconfiguration with Sync procedure for DC operation. The term “Secondary Cell” refers to a cell providing additional radio resources on top of a Special Cell for a UE configured with CA. The term “Secondary Cell Group” refers to the subset of serving cells comprising the PSCell and zero or more secondary cells for a UE configured with DC. The term “Serving Cell” refers to the primary cell for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED not configured with CA/DC there is only one serving cell comprising of the primary cell. The term “serving cell” or “serving cells” refers to the set of cells comprising the Special Cell(s) and all secondary cells for a UE in RRC_CONNECTED configured with CA/. The term “Special Cell” refers to the PCell of the MCG or the PSCell of the SCG for DC operation; otherwise, the term “Special Cell” refers to the Pcell.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is: 1. An apparatus comprising: memory to store radio access network (RAN) intelligence controller (RIC) subscription information; and processing circuitry, coupled with the memory, to: retrieve the RIC subscription information from the memory, wherein the RIC subscription information is to indicate multiple actions to be performed in parallel under a common event trigger; and send an RIC subscription request containing the RIC subscription information to an E2 node for subscription of the multiple actions to be performed in parallel under the common event trigger.
2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the RIC subscription request includes an indication of one or more of: a message type, a RIC request identifier, a RAN function identifier, and a RIC subscription detail.
3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the RIC subscription detail includes: a RIC event trigger definition, a sequence of actions, a RIC action identifier, a RIC action type, a RIC action definition, a RIC subsequent action, or a parallel processing indication.
4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing circuitry is further to receive, from the E2 node, a RIC indication message comprising a list of indication details for the multiple actions.
5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the RIC indication message includes one or more of: a RIC action identifier, a RIC indication type, a RIC indication header, and a RIC indication message.
6. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the processing circuitry is further to send a RIC control request to the E2 node that includes a list of control details for the multiple actions.
7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the RIC control request includes a RIC control header or a RIC control message.
8. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the processing circuitry is further to receive, from the E2 node, a RIC control acknowledgement to indicate the RIC control request was received, or a RIC control failure message to indicate the RIC control request failed to execute.
9. The apparatus of any of claims 1-8, wherein the apparatus includes a near-realtime (RT) RIC or portion thereof.
10. One or more computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, configure an E2 node to: receive, from a near-realtime (near-RT) radio access network (RAN) intelligence controller (RIC), a RIC subscription request containing RIC subscription information for subscription of multiple actions to be performed in parallel under a common event trigger; and in response to execution of the common event trigger, send an RIC indication message to the near-RT RIC comprising a list of indication details for the multiple actions.
11. The one or more computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the RIC subscription request includes an indication of one or more of: a message type, a RIC request identifier, a RAN function identifier, and a RIC subscription detail.
12. The one or more computer-readable medium of claim 11, wherein the RIC subscription detail includes: a RIC event trigger definition, a sequence of actions, a RIC action identifier, a RIC action type, a RIC action definition, a RIC subsequent action, or a parallel processing indication.
13. The one or more computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the RIC indication message includes one or more of: a RIC action identifier, a RIC indication type, a RIC indication header, and a RIC indication message.
14. The one or more computer-readable medium of claim 10, wherein the memory further stores instructions to configure the E2 node to receive, from the near-RT RIC, a RIC control request that includes a list of control details for the multiple actions.
15. The one or more computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the RIC control request includes a RIC control header or a RIC control message.
16. The one or more computer-readable medium of claim 14, wherein the memory further stores instructions to configure the E2 node to send, to the near-RT RIC: a RIC control acknowledgement to indicate the RIC control request was received, or a RIC control failure message to indicate the RIC control request failed to execute.
17. One or more computer-readable media storing instructions that, when executed by one or more processors, cause a near-realtime (near-RT) radio access network (RAN) intelligence controller (RIC) to: send, to an E2 node, a suspend command associated with an RIC subscription or service; and receive, from the E2 node, a response that indicates the RIC subscription or service has been suspended.
18. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein the suspend command includes one or more of: a RIC request identifier, a RAN function identifier, and a RIC action identifier.
19. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 17, wherein the media further stores instructions to send a resume command to the E2 node to resume the RIC subscription or service.
20. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 19, wherein the resume command includes one or more of: a RIC request identifier, a RAN function identifier, and a RIC action identifier.
21. The one or more computer-readable media of claim 19, wherein the media further stores instructions to receive, from the E2 node, a message to indicate the RIC subscription or service has resumed.
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