Patent Description:
Fifth Generation (<NUM>) computer networks may include edge devices in the network (e.g., the cloud) that provide services to user equipment (UE) devices. Edge Application Servers (EASs) represent examples of such devices. EASs may form part of Edge Data Networks (EDNs). In order to access services provided by EASs, UE devices may communicate with Edge Configuration Servers (ECSs) and Edge Enabler Servers (EESs) of the EDNs. For example, an Edge Enabler Client (EEC) of the UE device may discover an ECS, then perform service provisioning to discover the EES. The ECS may provide information to the EEC to connect to the EES (such as a network address of the EES). The EEC may then communicate with the EES to enable exchange of application data with the EAS, such that an application client of the UE device can communicate with the EAS.

The 3GPP Technical Standard "<NPL>, provides application layer architecture and related procedures for enabling edge applications over 3GPP networks.

United States Patent Application Publication <CIT> relates to a method of a UE in a communication system supporting an edge computing service using an edge data network. The method includes a first server providing, to the UE, first configuration information for application data traffic and a second server exchanging, with the UE, the application data traffic comprises transmitting a service provisioning request to a third server providing second configuration information for a connection with the first server and receiving, from the third server, a service provisioning response including network identification information related to a list of the first server or the second server in response to transmitting the service provisioning request.

The scope of protection is defined by the scope of the appended claims. Any examples which do not fall within the scope of the claims are not presented as embodiments but as examples which are helpful for understanding the invention.

In general, this disclosure describes techniques for bundling services offered by multiple different Edge Application Servers (EASs). In some cases, multiple different EASs may be involved in a service for a user equipment (UE) device. As one example, remote gaming may include a first EAS configured as a game engine to receive user input and render graphical output in response to the user input, and a second EAS configured to receive the graphical output, encode the graphical output, and send the encoded graphical output to the UE device. The UE device may decode and display the graphical output, receive user input, and provide the user input to the first EAS. As such, the first and second EASs would need to be configured to coordinate their services to reduce latency when sending data to the UE device.

In some instances, a media communication session may relate to mixed media data, e.g., including audio, video, and/or extended reality (XR) data such as augmented reality (AR) data, mixed reality (MR) data, and/or virtual reality (VR) data. Various types of media data may originate from distinct edge application servers (EASs). This disclosure describes techniques related to bundling EASs using a bundle identifier (bundle ID), e.g., for a common media communication session including transmissions from the bundled EASs. This may allow for dependencies between EASs, such as common presentation times between various types of media data (e.g., that certain audio data, video data, and XR data should be presented at the same presentation time). This disclosure also describes techniques for provisioning bundling of EASs, registration of EAS bundles, edge enabler server (EES) registration, edge enabler client (EEC) service provisioning, EAS discovery, description, and relocation. In this manner, EASs may operate in a cooperative manner to serve an application client (AC) of a user equipment (UE) device, which may thereby improve user experience, reduce latency, reduce buffering demands, and reduce retransmission of media data for the session.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating an example system <NUM> for transferring media data using <NUM> network components and protocols. System <NUM> includes Internet <NUM>, edge clouds 104A-104N (edge clouds <NUM>), edge application servers 106A-106N (EASs <NUM>), eNodeBs 108A-108N (eNodeBs <NUM>), and user equipment devices 110A-<NUM> (UE devices <NUM>). Edge clouds <NUM> may also be referred to as edge data networks (EDNs).

Different EASs, such as the various EASs <NUM> shown in <FIG>, may be executed on the same physical host device or on separate physical host devices. Moreover, the various EASs <NUM> may be in separate edge clouds, such as edge clouds 104A, 104N as shown in <FIG>. In some cases, it may be beneficial to bundle services provided by EASs, whether in the same physical host device, different physical host devices, and/or even deployed in separate edge clouds. That is, two or more services provided by different EASs <NUM> may need to be coordinated for execution together to provide a unified, bundled service to one of UE devices <NUM>.

In some examples, various component EASs may have different key performance indicator (KPI) requirements, e.g., latency. Thus, different EASs may be deployed in different EDNs for optimal resource use. For example, a media streaming application may include three EAS components: <NUM>) a content server EAS, <NUM>) a subtext database EAS, and <NUM>) an active directory (AD) server EAS. The content server may require the least latency, while the AD server may be slightly more delay tolerant. Thus, the AD server may be deployed in a more distant EDN. The subtext server can be deployed in a relatively larger and less expensive data center. Therefore, EASs as part of one bundle may be hosted separately, and possibly in different EDNs.

Each of EASs <NUM> may be separately discoverable, controlled, and located. However, in some cases, a bundled service may require coordination between the various EASs that perform services of the bundled service. This disclosure describes techniques for bundling services provided by EASs together to overcome the conventional lack of such mechanisms in the edge enabler layer and edge management layer to achieve such bunding. This disclosure also describes techniques for provisioning an M1 interface to allow for mechanisms to provision EASs <NUM> to execute respective services in a bundle.

More particularly, this disclosure describes techniques for bundling of services provided by EASs. An EAS bundle may include a set of EASs that have dependencies among each other. The bundled EASs may need to connect to each other and exchange application data related to one application client (AC). The bundled EASs may also need to be launched together, co-located, or relocated together, in various examples.

An application service provider may have information representative of these dependencies between the EASs to be bundled together. As part of provisioning of a bundled service, there may be an indication of the bundled EASs. The bundling information may be stored as part of an EAS profile. Each EAS of a bundle may have its own respective EAS endpoint. Alternatively, there may be an EAS controller as part of the bundle that is responsible for handling application data traffic. In this case, the EASs need not have individual EAS endpoints. Instead, the bundled service may use the EAS controller endpoint for communication with UE devices <NUM>.

To bundle EASs to form an EAS bundle and a bundled service, there may be an information element as an EAS profile extension, representing bundling information. There may be an information element as an AC profile extension, representing bundling information. In particular, the EAS bundle may include data representing a unique bundle identifier. EASs with the same bundle identifier may have dependencies between each other. The bundle might have certain requirements, such as whether joint or combined application context relocation is required, whether a local private network is required, whether a common host is required, and/or whether joint or combined discoverability is enabled. Additionally, the EAS bundle information may indicate whether joint KPIs are provided. That is, the KPIs may be indicated jointly for the bundle or a subset of EASs of the bundle, instead of separately for each EAS of the bundle. Such joint KPI information may be especially beneficial where there is a requirement for a common host. The bundle identifier may be an alpha-numeric string, and in some examples, the bundle identifier may be created using identifiers of the EASs bundled together. In some examples, the bundle identifier may be referred to as bundle information.

An application service provider (ASP) may have information about dependencies between EASs of a bundled service. For media services, the ASP may use the M1 interface of <NUM> to provision its service. The ASP may describe the EAS bundle and its requirements. Table <NUM> below represents an example of provisioning operations related to a bundled service:.

Provisioning may further include information that can be used to create EAS profiles. The ASP may indicate requirements on each of the EASs of a bundle. If an EAS configuration is activated, the <NUM> media streaming application function (5GMS AF) may be configured to set up and configure the edge enabler layer and interacting with an underlying edge hosting environment. Table <NUM> represents example elements further related to provisioning:.

UE devices <NUM> may be mobile communications devices, such as cellular telephones. Therefore, certain services may need to be relocated to different sets of EASs of different edge clouds as one of UE devices <NUM> moves between geographical regions. According to the techniques of this disclosure, a bundled service may need to be relocated. When a relocation decision is made for an EAS that is part of a bundle, there may first be a determination of whether joint relocation of multiple EASs is needed. If joint relocation is needed for two or more EASs of the bundle, relocation for all EASs of the bundle deployed in the same EDN may be triggered. Relocation may be treated as an atomic transaction: either all EASs of the bundle are relocated satisfactorily (including any retry attempts for individual EASs), or the relocation fails for all. Target EASs may be required to satisfy the EAS bundle conditions. In some examples, EASs of one bundle deployed in one EDN may be relocated to different EDNs depending on KPI requirements of the individual EASs, e.g., for optimal resource utilization.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating an example system including a user equipment (UE) device <NUM> and edge cloud <NUM> (e.g., edge data network (EDN)) components. In particular, UE device <NUM> includes application client <NUM> and edge enabler client (EEC) <NUM>. Edge cloud <NUM> includes edge application servers (EASs) <NUM>, edge configuration server (ECS) <NUM>, and edge enabler server (EES) <NUM>.

In order to access services provided by one of EASs <NUM>, UE device <NUM> may communicate with ECS <NUM> and EES <NUM> of edge cloud <NUM>. For example, EEC <NUM> of the UE device may discover ECS <NUM>, then perform service provisioning to discover EES <NUM>. ECS <NUM> may provide information to EEC <NUM> to connect to EES <NUM> (such as a network address of EES <NUM>). EEC <NUM> may then communicate with EES <NUM> to enable exchange of application data traffic between one of EASs <NUM> and application client <NUM> of UE device <NUM>.

As shown in the example of <FIG>, edge cloud <NUM> includes multiple EASs <NUM>. In this example, it is assumed that each of EASs <NUM> is included in a common bundle according to the techniques of this disclosure. Although not shown in the example of <FIG>, additional EASs may also be provided in edge cloud <NUM> that do not form part of the bundle. EASs <NUM> of the same bundle may register with EES <NUM>. As part of an EAS registration request, each of EASs <NUM> may provide a bundle ID to EES <NUM>. Any or all of EASs <NUM> may also provide associated key performance indicators (KPIs) and/or bundle requirements (e.g., joint discovery, joint relocation) to EES <NUM>.

EES <NUM> may associate all of EASs <NUM> with the same bundle ID as part of the same bundle and apply bundle requirements uniformly to all of associated EASs <NUM>. In some examples, each of EASs <NUM> may have its own respective EAS endpoint, while in other examples, one of EASs <NUM> may act as an EAS endpoint for the other ones of EASs <NUM>. That is, an EAS controller may act as the endpoint for, e.g., EDGE-<NUM> and EDGE-<NUM> functionality. In such an example, the EAS controller may perform the EAS registration for all of the EASs controlled by the EAS controller. The EAS controller may provide the bundle ID, KPIs associated with one or more of the EASs of the bundle, and the bundle requirements. The EAS controller may also act as the endpoint for application data traffic to and from AC <NUM>.

In accordance with the techniques of this disclosure, EES <NUM> may provide identification and associated details, such as bundle requirements of registered bundles, to ECS <NUM> as part of the registration request. ECS <NUM> may maintain information associated with the bundles. For example, ECS <NUM> may maintain information such as:.

In some examples, the EEC may receive the bundle information from the ASP, e.g., through an AC or from a user, and provide the bundle information to the EES, e.g., via an EEC registration or EAS discovery request. The EES may store this bundle information and use the bundle information to provide services to the EASs according to the bundle requirements.

EEC <NUM>, according to the techniques of this disclosure, may issue a service provisioning request to access a bundled service of EASs <NUM>. EEC <NUM> may form the service provisioning request to contain a bundle ID to request service provisioning for all EDNs related to the bundle. The bundle ID information may come from the ASP, e.g., by application client <NUM>. In response, ECS <NUM> may provide EDN details, e.g., information of the EESs associated with the EDNs, of all EDNs containing EASs related to the bundle. This may be done implicitly by ECS <NUM>. For example, upon receiving a service provisioning request related to an EAS that is part of a bundle, ECS <NUM> may provide EDN details of all EASs associated with the bundle in a response sent to EEC <NUM>. The response may include structured information to clearly indicate the bundling. If the bundle is spread across multiple EDNs, EEC <NUM> may perform EAS discovery with all EESs of the relevant EDNs.

EEC <NUM> may perform an extended EAS discovery request for a bundled service according to the techniques of this disclosure, e.g., as follows. The EAS discovery request from EEC <NUM> to EES <NUM> may contain an explicit indication that indicates each EAS in a set of EASs of the EAS bundle. In response, EES <NUM> may provide details for each of the specified EASs associated with the bundle to EEC <NUM>.

Alternatively, EEC <NUM> may perform an implicit extended EAS discovery request. In particular, EES <NUM> may receive a request form EEC <NUM> and determine that the request is for an EAS that belongs to an EAS bundle. In response, EES <NUM> may provide details for each of the EASs associated with the bundle to EEC <NUM>. The response may include structured information that clearly indicates which EASs belong to each bundle. EES <NUM> may store the transaction data for short term future requests, e.g., from other UE devices. Thus, future requests for EASs of the same bundle and by the same EEC (i.e., EEC <NUM>) may be resolved to an EAS that is bundled (e.g., one that satisfies the bundle requirements).

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating an example system for transferring media data using <NUM> network components and protocols according to the techniques of this disclosure. The example of <FIG> represents a scenario in which each EAS in a bundle has its own respective EAS endpoint. In this example, <FIG> depicts edge cloud <NUM> including game engine <NUM> and capture server <NUM>. User equipment (UE) device <NUM> participates in a remote gaming session in which game engine <NUM> (hosted on a first EAS) receives user input data <NUM> from UE device <NUM> and generates graphics data <NUM> in response to user input data <NUM>. Capture server <NUM> (hosted on a second EAS) receives graphics data <NUM> from game engine <NUM> and encodes graphics data <NUM> as encoded video data <NUM>. Capture server <NUM> further sends encoded video data <NUM> to UE device <NUM>. Capture server <NUM> may further add additional information such as a scene description, depth stream, or other such data to the transmission to UE device <NUM>.

UE device <NUM> decodes encoded video data <NUM> and displays the decoded video data to a user (not shown in <FIG>). The user uses game controller <NUM> to generate user input, e.g., in the form of button presses, physical controller movements, analog joystick movements, or the like. UE device <NUM> receives input from game controller <NUM> and sends corresponding user input data <NUM> to game engine <NUM>.

The example of <FIG> depicts a use case in which it may be beneficial to bundle services provided by multiple EASs. In particular, in this example, the EASs include the first EAS including game engine <NUM> and the second EAS including capture server <NUM>. In this example, game engine <NUM> and capture server <NUM> are included in the same edge cloud <NUM>. In other examples, game engine <NUM> and capture server <NUM> may be included in separate edge clouds (e.g., separate EDNs). In either case, the techniques of this disclosure may be used to bundle services provided by game engine <NUM> and capture server <NUM>, or other services provided by other EASs.

The use case shown in the example of <FIG> includes a user using UE device <NUM> and game controller <NUM> to select and launch a video game from an online game catalog. The user may use game controller <NUM> to play the video game, which is in fact executed by game engine <NUM>, and for which video data is encoded by capture server <NUM>. In this use case, the user expects fast startup, comparable to if the video game were instead executed locally by UE device <NUM>. Thus, the user may expect the game to start within a few seconds of launch, at most. The user also expects the game to run smoothly with low latency. The user further expects high image quality, lighting effects, realistic graphics, and the like, e.g., comparable to locally executed video games or console games.

UE device <NUM> may correspond to a cellular phone or other such mobile device. UE device <NUM> may, therefore, not include a high performance GPU that would otherwise be included in a video game console or gaming computer. Thus, high quality, fast startup, and low latency expectations may require cloud computing and gaming. Game engine <NUM> may be executed by one or more high performance GPUs of the first EAS for realistic, high quality graphics. Moreover, in this use case, games may be ready to load immediately to reduce startup time, such that no downloads of executable software specific to each game are required.

Deployment in edge cloud <NUM> may reduce latency to a screen of UE device <NUM>, comparable to other cloud-based solutions. This disclosure recognizes that in this use case, a very short time between capturing by capture server <NUM> and rendering by capture server <NUM> is important.

<FIG> is a block diagram illustrating another example system for transferring media data using <NUM> network components and protocols according to the techniques of this disclosure. The example of <FIG> represents a scenario in which there is a single EAS endpoint for each of a variety of other EASs forming part of an EAS bundle. In this example, <FIG> depicts edge cloud <NUM> including game engine <NUM>, capture server <NUM>, and EAS controller <NUM>. User equipment (UE) device <NUM> participates in a remote gaming session in which game engine <NUM> (hosted on a first EAS) receives user input data <NUM> from UE device <NUM> via EAS controller <NUM> (hosted on a third EAS). Game engine <NUM> generates graphics data <NUM> in response to user input data <NUM>.

Capture server <NUM> (hosted on a second EAS) receives graphics data <NUM> from game engine <NUM> and encodes graphics data <NUM> as encoded video data <NUM>. Capture server <NUM> sends encoded video data <NUM> to EAS controller <NUM> via communication session <NUM>. UE device <NUM> decodes encoded video data <NUM> and displays the decoded video data to a user (not shown in <FIG>). The user uses game controller <NUM> to generate user input, e.g., in the form of button presses, physical controller movements, analog joystick movements, or the like. UE device <NUM> receives input from game controller <NUM> and sends corresponding user input data to EAS controller <NUM> via communication session <NUM>. EAS controller <NUM> then forwards user input data <NUM> to game engine <NUM>. In this manner, EAS controller <NUM> represents an example of a common EAS endpoint for the bundled EASs including game engine <NUM>, capture service <NUM>, and EAS controller <NUM>. Thus, the EASs for game engine <NUM> and capture service <NUM> need not have their own respective EAS endpoints for communicating with UE device <NUM>.

The example of <FIG> depicts the same use case as that of <FIG>, except that rather than each EAS having its own respective EAS endpoint, EAS controller <NUM> acts as a single EAS endpoint for all EASs involved in a bundled EAS/bundled service. Thus, EAS controller <NUM> may register with a corresponding EES for all EASs involved in the bundle for EAS registration. The EES may provide the contact address of EAS controller <NUM> to the EEC of UE device <NUM> for EAS selection. EAS controller <NUM> may manage interaction with all edge servers (e.g., game controller <NUM> and capture server <NUM>) that are needed for an AC type (e.g., the remote video game).

The AC of UE device <NUM>, therefore, need only initiate the bundled service with EAS controller <NUM> for edge processing associated with the bundled service. In some examples, the AC of UE device <NUM> may separately interact with game engine <NUM> and/or capture server <NUM>. That is, communications may be proxied by EAS controller <NUM> or edge server contact addresses provided to the AC of UE device <NUM> in the application plane.

When performing application context relocation, a corresponding EES (not shown in <FIG>) may interact with only EAS controller <NUM>. EAS controller <NUM> may be responsible for gathering all data about the AC of UE device <NUM> to send to a target EAS controller for application context relocation.

EAS controller <NUM> may have a role that is limited to EDGE-<NUM>, and the AC of UE device <NUM> may receive edge server contact addresses from the EES, e.g., based on the bundle ID.

<FIG> is a flowchart illustrating an example method of configuring application data traffic exchange between a user equipment (UE) device and a plurality of edge application servers (EASs) according to the techniques of this disclosure. The method of <FIG> may be performed by an edge configuration server (ECS), such as ECS <NUM> of <FIG>.

Initially, the ECS may receive data from an application service provider (ASP) representing a bundle of EASs (<NUM>). The data may include, for example, a bundle identifier (ID) representing the bundle of EASs and may indicate each of the EASs included in the bundle of EASs. The EASs of the bundle may have dependencies among each other. Likewise, the bundle may have various requirements, such as whether joint relocation is required, whether a local private network is required, whether a common host is required, and/or whether joint discoverability is enabled. Such data may be included in edge configuration data, as discussed above.

The ECS may also receive data identifying instances of each of the EASs in the bundle of EASs from one or more edge enabler servers (EESs) of one or more edge data networks (EDNs) for the EASs (<NUM>). EES <NUM> of <FIG> is one example of such an EES from which data identifying instances of the EASs may be received. That is, the EASs may register with the one or more EESs, and the EESs may associate the registered EASs with the same bundle identifier. In some examples, exactly one EES may provide the data identifying the instances of the EASs, while in other examples, multiple EESs may provide the data identifying the instances of the EASs. In some examples, the one or more EESs may further provide data representing the bundle requirements.

Subsequently, the ECS may receive a service provisioning request from a user equipment (UE) device (<NUM>). The service provisioning request may include data specifying the bundle ID. The service provisioning request may be a request for services for all EASs related to the bundle. In response, the ECS may send data representing EDNs including the EES(s) information to the UE device from which the service provisioning request was received (<NUM>).

In this manner, the method of <FIG> represents an example of a method of configuring application data traffic exchange between a user equipment (UE) device and a plurality of edge application servers (EASs), including receiving, by an edge configuration server (ECS), data from an application service provider (ASP) representing a bundle of EASs, the data including a bundle identifier (ID) representing the bundle of EASs and data representing each of the EASs included in the bundle of EASs; receiving, by the ECS, data identifying instances of each of the EASs in the bundle of EASs from one or more edge enabler servers (EESs) associated with one or more edge data networks (EDNs) for the EASs; receiving, by the ECS, a service provisioning request including the bundle ID from a user equipment (UE) device; and sending, by the ECS, in response to the service provisioning request, data representing the one or more EDNs including EESs associated with the EDNs to the UE device.

<FIG> is a flowchart illustrating an example method of accessing data from a plurality of edge application servers (EASs) according to the techniques of this disclosure. The method of <FIG> may be performed by a user equipment (UE) device, such as UE devices <NUM> of <FIG>, UE device <NUM> of <FIG>, UE device <NUM> of <FIG>, or UE device <NUM> of <FIG>. For purposes of example and explanation, the method of <FIG> is explained with respect to UE device <NUM> of <FIG>.

Initially, UE device <NUM> may receive data representing a bundle identifier (ID) for a bundle of EASs from an application service provider (<NUM>), e.g., through an Application Client or from a user. The EASs may each provide a different type of data for a common application data traffic session. For example, one of the EASs may provide encoded video data, another may provide XR data (e.g., AR, VR, or MR data), and still another may provide audio data. Multiple sets of data of the same type may originate from distinct EASs, e.g., multiple EASs may each provide different, respective sets of XR data for the application data traffic session. Each of the EASs may be included in one or more distinct edge discovery networks (EDNs).

UE device <NUM> may send a service provisioning request including the bundle ID to an edge configuration server (ECS), such as ECS <NUM> of <FIG> (<NUM>). UE device <NUM> may receive, in response to the service provisioning request, information representing each of the EASs in the bundle of EASs from ECS <NUM> (<NUM>). The information representing the EASs may include information of the EESs on which the bundled EASs are registered and associated EDN information. Using the information representing the EASs, UE device <NUM> may send one or more EAS discovery requests to one or more edge enabler servers (EESs) (<NUM>), such as EES <NUM> of <FIG>. In particular, for each EDN including at least one EAS of the bundle of EASs, UE device <NUM> may send a respective EAS discovery request to the EES in the EDN.

In response to the EAS discovery requests, UE device <NUM> may receive information for communicating with the EASs in the bundle of EASs from EES <NUM> (<NUM>). Using this information, UE device <NUM> may initiate the application data traffic session between an application client (AC) (e.g., AC <NUM>) and the EASs in the bundle (<NUM>).

In this manner, the method of <FIG> represents an example of a method of accessing data from a plurality of edge application servers (EASs), including: receiving, by an edge enabler client (EEC) of a user equipment (UE) device, data representing a bundle identifier (ID) for a bundle of EASs from an application service provider (ASP); sending, by the EEC, a service provisioning request including the bundle ID to an edge configuration server (ECS); in response to the service provisioning request, receiving, by the EEC, information representing each of the EASs in the bundle of EASs from the ECS; in response to the information representing each of the EASs, sending, by the EEC, one or more EAS discovery requests to one or more edge enabler servers (EESs); in response to the one or more EAS discovery requests, receiving, by the EEC, information for communicating with one or more of the EASs in the bundle of EASs from the one or more EESs; and initiating, by the EEC, an application data traffic session between an application client (AC) of the UE device and the one or more of the EASs in the bundle of EASs.

Accordingly, this disclosure describes techniques for bundling EASs. Various examples of these techniques include provisioning, EAS registration, EES registration, EEC service provisioning, EAS discovery, description, and relocation. These techniques may allow a set of EASs to run together to serve an application client (AC) of a UE device.

In some aspects, the role and responsibilities executed by the Edge Enabler Client as described here may be performed by an Edge Enabler Server, e.g., while executing application context relocation procedures.

Instructions may be executed by one or more processors, such as one or more digital signal processors (DSPs), general purpose microprocessors, application specific integrated circuits (ASICs), field programmable gate arrays (FPGAs), or other equivalent integrated or discrete logic circuitry. Accordingly, the terms "processor" and "processing circuitry," as used herein may refer to any of the foregoing structures or any other structure suitable for implementation of the techniques described herein.

Claim 1:
A method of accessing data from a plurality of edge application servers, EASs (106A-N, <NUM>), the method comprising:
receiving (<NUM>), by an edge enabler client, EEC (<NUM>), of a user equipment, UE, device (110A-M, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>), data representing a bundle identifier, ID, for a bundle of EASs (106A-N, <NUM>) from an application service provider, ASP;
sending (<NUM>), by the EEC (<NUM>), a service provisioning request including the bundle ID to an edge configuration server, ECS (<NUM>);
in response to the service provisioning request, receiving (<NUM>), by the EEC (<NUM>), information representing each of the EASs (106A-N, <NUM>) in the bundle of EASs (106A-N, <NUM>) from the ECS (<NUM>);
in response to the information representing each of the EASs (106A-N, <NUM>), sending (<NUM>), by the EEC, one or more EAS discovery requests to one or more edge enabler servers, EESs (<NUM>);
in response to the one or more EAS discovery requests, receiving (<NUM>), by the EEC (<NUM>), information for communicating with one or more of the EASs (106A-N, <NUM>) in the bundle of EASs (106A-N, <NUM>) from the one or more EESs (<NUM>); and
initiating (<NUM>), by the EEC (<NUM>), an application data traffic session between an application client, AC (<NUM>), of the UE device (110A-M, <NUM>, <NUM>, <NUM>) and the one or more of the EASs (106A-N, <NUM>) in the bundle of EASs (106A-N, <NUM>).