PATENT DOCUMENT

Publication Number: US-12156079-B2
Application Number: US-202017593667-A
Country: US
Kind Code: B2

Title: Methods and apparatus for enabling service continuity in an Edge computing environment

Abstract:
Devices, systems and methods for transitioning a UE to a new application server in response to a mobility event comprising, at a source application server handler: receiving an application ID (AC-ID) associated with an application client for a user equipment (UE); receiving a mobility event notification including a UE ID of the UE and a target data network access identifier (DNAI) to indicate a target edge data network to which a transition of a data connection for the application client is to be performed; encoding an outgoing transition request for transmission to a source application server to indicate the transition of the data connection from the source application server; and encoding an incoming transition request for transmission to a target application server handler (ASH) of the target edge data network to indicate the transition of the data connection to the target edge data network.

Claims:
The invention claimed is: 
     
       1. A method, comprising:
 at a user equipment (UE): 
 receiving an application client ID (AC-ID) associated with an application client for the UE; 
 receiving a mobility event notification including a UE ID of the UE and a target data network access identifier (DNAI) to indicate a target edge data network to which a transition of a data connection for the application client is to be performed; 
 encoding an outgoing transition request for transmission to indicate the transition of the data connection from the source application server, wherein the outgoing transition request includes the AC-ID; and 
 encoding an outgoing transition request for transmission to a target application server handler (ASH) of the target edge data network to indicate the transition of the data connection to the target edge data network, wherein the incoming transition request includes an application server ID (AS-ID) for the source application server and the UE-ID. 
 
     
     
       2. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the mobility event notification is received from a 5G core network. 
     
     
       3. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the AC-ID is received from a client handler of the UE. 
     
     
       4. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving a notification that the transition has started. 
 
     
     
       5. The method of  claim 4 , wherein the notification is received from the source application server. 
     
     
       6. The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 encoding for transmission to a 5G core network an acknowledgement of the mobility event notification responsive to receipt of the notification that the transition has started. 
 
     
     
       7. The method of  claim 4 , further comprising:
 encoding for transmission to a client handler of the UE an indication of a target application server handler (ASH) of the target edge data network. 
 
     
     
       8. The method of  claim 1 , further comprising:
 receiving an indication from the target application server handler that the transition has been completed. 
 
     
     
       9. The method of  claim 8 , further comprising:
 encoding for transmission to the 5G core network an indication that the transition is completed. 
 
     
     
       10. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the AC-ID is included in an application usage notification that further includes an application server ID of the source application server. 
     
     
       11. The method of  claim 1 , wherein the method is performed by a source application server handler associated with the source Edge data network, or a portion thereof. 
     
     
       12. Processing circuitry configured to:
 receive an application client ID (AC-ID) associated with an application client for a user equipment (UE); 
 receive a mobility event notification including a UE ID of the UE and a target data network access identifier (DNAI) to indicate a target edge data network to which a transition of a data connection for the application client is to be performed; 
 encode an outgoing transition request for transmission to indicate the transition of the data connection from the source application server, wherein the outgoing transition request includes the AC-ID; and 
 encode an outgoing transition request for transmission to a target application server handler (ASH) of the target edge data network to indicate the transition of the data connection to the target edge data network, wherein the incoming transition request includes an application server ID (AS-ID) for the source application server and the UE-ID. 
 
     
     
       13. The processing circuitry of  claim 12 , wherein the mobility event notification is received from a 5G core network. 
     
     
       14. The processing circuitry of  claim 12 , wherein the AC-ID is received from a client handler of the UE. 
     
     
       15. The processing circuitry of  claim 12 , further configured to:
 receive a notification that the transition has started. 
 
     
     
       16. The processing circuitry of  claim 15 , wherein the notification is received from the source application server. 
     
     
       17. The processing circuitry of  claim 15 , further configured to:
 encode for transmission to a 5G core network an acknowledgement of the mobility event notification responsive to receipt of the notification that the transition has started. 
 
     
     
       18. The processing circuitry of  claim 15 , further configured to:
 encode for transmission to a client handler of the UE an indication of a target application server handler (ASH) of the target edge data network. 
 
     
     
       19. The processing circuitry of  claim 12 , further configured to:
 receive an indication from the target application server handler that the transition has been completed. 
 
     
     
       20. The processing circuitry of  claim 19 , further configured to:
 encode for transmission to the 5G core network an indication that the transition is completed.

Description:
PRIORITY CLAIM 
     The present disclosure claims priority to U.S. Prov. Appln. Ser. No. 62/840,299 filed Apr. 29, 2019 and entitled “METHODS AND APPARATUS FOR ENABLING SERVICE CONTINUITY IN AN EDGE COMPUTING ENVIRONMENT,” the disclosure of which is incorporated herewith by reference. 
    
    
     BACKGROUND 
     3 rd  Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) infrastructure has various means to maintain service and session continuity for user equipment (UE) during and after a mobility event. However, these means do not cover cases in which application clients hosted on a UE connect to application servers that are deployed in Edge data networks. When application servers are deployed in Edge data networks rather than the cloud, a mobility event may influence the selection of the optimal Edge data network. That is, when the UE moves, it might be more optimal for the application client to re-connect to an application server on a different Edge data network rather than to stay connected to the old application server. 
     To access a data network (DN) via a 5G new radio (NR), the UE needs to establish a protocol data unit (PDU) Session with the network. The ordinary PDU Session can be thought of as a “layer-2” tunnel that stretches between the UE and a PDU session anchor (PSA) in the network. 
     The 5G NR defined by 3GPP also introduces the notion of PDU Session with uplink classifier (UL CL), the latter being a functionality located in an intermediate user plane function (UPF) of the PDU session that is aimed at diverting (locally) a portion of the overall traffic that matches configured traffic filters. The insertion and removal of the UL CL, as well as the UPF configuration with traffic filters, is performed by a session management function (SMF). 
     As part of Rel-16, 3GPP has specified a solution for session continuity when the UL CL functionality needs to be relocated due to UE mobility. This scenario is illustrated in  FIG.  1   . 
     As illustrated in  FIG.  1   , the UE is initially connected to the source radio access network (S-RAN) and has a PDU Session established with a remote PDU session anchor (PSA-1). The network has inserted an uplink classifier (S-ULCL) that directs selected traffic to a local PDU session anchor (PSA-2). The traffic flows exchanged via PSA-2 are terminated in a source application server (S-AS), which is a user plane entity (e.g., content distribution server) that is controlled by an application function (AF) via an interface that is outside of the scope of 3GPP. 
     At some point, the UE is handed over to the target RAN (T-RAN) upon which a target uplink classifier (T-ULCL) is instantiated and an N9 forwarding tunnel is created between the source uplink classifier (S-ULCL) and the T-ULCL. 
     According to TS 23.501 clause 5.6.4.2, the N9 forwarding tunnel is maintained until all active traffic flowing on it ceases to exist for a configurable period of time or until the AF informs the SMF that it can release the source PSA providing access to the source local DN. 
     During the existence of the N9 forwarding tunnel, the user plane function (UPF) acting as target UL CL is configured with packet filters that (1) force uplink traffic from existing data sessions between the UE and the application in the source local DN into the N9 forwarding tunnel towards the source UL CL; and (2) force any traffic related to the application in the target local DN to go to the new local DN via the target PSA. 
     The SMF may send a late notification to the AF to inform the AF about the data network access identifier (DNAI) change, as described in TS 23.502 clause 4.3.6.3. This notification can be used by the AF, for example, to trigger mechanisms in the source local DN to redirect the ongoing traffic sessions towards an application in the target local DN. The SMF can also send a late notification to the target AF instance if associated with this target local DN. 
     According to TS 23.502 clause 4.3.6.3, the specific mechanisms for traffic redirection are considered out of scope of that specification. When session continuity upon UL CL relocation is used, the AF can also trigger mechanisms such as, for example, IP-level or HTTP-level redirection, by which the traffic is redirected towards the application in the target local DN. Based on this redirection the UE starts using a new destination IP address which leads the target UL CL to force the traffic towards PSA3. 
     SUMMARY 
     Some exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a source application server handler for transitioning a UE to a new application server in response to a mobility event. The method includes receiving an application ID (AC-ID) associated with an application client for a user equipment (UE); receiving a mobility event notification including a UE ID of the UE and a target data network access identifier (DNAI) to indicate a target edge data network to which a transition of a data connection for the application client is to be performed; encoding an outgoing transition request for transmission to a source application server to indicate the transition of the data connection from the source application server; and encoding an incoming transition request for transmission to a target application server handler (ASH) of the target edge data network to indicate the transition of the data connection to the target edge data network. 
     In some exemplary embodiments, the method described above is performed by an apparatus that is implemented in or employed by a server. 
     Other exemplary embodiments relate to a method performed by a source application server for transitioning a UE to a new application server in response to a mobility event. The method includes receiving an outgoing transition request from a source application server handler (ASH) of a source Edge data network to indicate a transition of a data connection for an application run by a UE from the source Edge data network to a target Edge data network, wherein the outgoing transition request includes an application ID (AC-ID) of the application; and performing, based on the outgoing transition request, context mirroring with a target application server of the target application network to provide the UE context information associated with the application to the target application network. 
     In some exemplary embodiments, the method described above is performed by an apparatus that is implemented in or employed by a server. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG.  1    illustrates an example of architecture with N9 forwarding tunnel between source and target UL CL according to various exemplary embodiments. 
         FIG.  2    illustrates an example architecture of a system of a network according to various exemplary embodiments. 
         FIG.  3    illustrates an example architecture of a system including a first core network (CN) according to various exemplary embodiments. 
         FIG.  4    an architecture of a system including a second CN according to various exemplary embodiments. 
         FIG.  5    illustrates an example of infrastructure equipment according to various exemplary embodiments. 
         FIG.  6    illustrates an example of a platform according to various exemplary embodiments. 
         FIG.  7    illustrates example components of baseband circuitry and radio front end modules (RFEM) according to various exemplary embodiments. 
         FIG.  8    illustrates components of a core network according to various exemplary embodiments. 
         FIG.  9    is a block diagram illustrating components of a system to support network function virtualization (NFV) according to various exemplary embodiments. 
         FIG.  10    is a block diagram illustrating components 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. 
         FIG.  11    illustrates various protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device according to various exemplary embodiments. 
         FIG.  12    is a signaling diagram illustrating the flow of information for enabling application clients to experience service continuity while switching application servers when a change in Edge Data Network is performed according to various exemplary embodiments. 
     
    
    
     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 phrase “A or B” means (A), (B), or (A and B). 
     The exemplary embodiments may be further understood with reference to the following description and the related appended drawings, wherein like elements are provided with the same reference numerals. The exemplary embodiments describe a device, system and method for enabling service continuity in an edge computing environment. 
     In this disclosure, the following definitions are used:
         Edge Computing: A concept, as described in 3GPP TS 23.501 [2], that enables operator and 3rd party services to be hosted close to the UE&#39;s access point of attachment, to achieve an efficient service delivery through the reduced end-to-end latency and load on the transport network.   Edge Data Network: A data network, which includes a set of functions to support Edge Computing.   DN Access Identifier (DNAI): Identifier of a user plane access to one or more DN(s) where applications are deployed.       

     The current 3GPP specifications focus on the “lower layer” aspects of session continuity upon relocation of the Uplink Classifier functionality from one Edge data network to another. The “upper layer” mechanism for traffic redirection is currently missing from 3GPP specifications. 
     Without a mechanism for traffic redirection, application clients connected to application servers in the source Edge data network, will continue to be connected to these servers after a mobility event. This may introduce inefficiencies of traffic routing, when the new location of the UE is topologically far from the old location of the application servers, and there are mirrors of these servers in the target Edge data network that is topologically closer to the UE. 
     This disclosure describes exemplary mechanisms for the AF to notify the UE about the mobility event and provide identification information (e.g. fully qualified domain name (FQDN), IP address, URL, or any other identification) of the preferred Application Server. It further provides exemplary mechanisms to trigger specific Application clients so they can act on this information and modify their connection to the new preferred servers. 
     The exemplary embodiments provide a handler that is installed on UEs that wish to provide this service to application clients. This handler connects to a corresponding server handler in the network that provides mobility-related information upon UE mobility. The handler in the UE exposes application programming interfaces (APIs) that are used by application clients for registering for mobility-related triggering and information. 
     In the following disclosure, it may be considered that:
         an Application Server Handler is deployed in the Edge Data Network hosting one or more Application Servers.   an Application Client Handler is deployed in the UE hosting one or more Application Clients   5GC Core Network is as indicated in TS 23.501/23.502/23.503.   The change for the user plane path from source Edge Data Network to target Edge Data Network will result in the change from an old Application Server to a new Application server. The UE has established a PDU session with an appropriate Edge Data Network. The appropriate Edge Data Network may be selected based on any suitable criteria.   The Initial address information for the Application Server Handler and the Application Server in the Edge Data Network are assumed as known to the Application Client Handler, (e.g. based on configuration). The serving Application Server of the application in the Edge Data Network may be selected and provided to the Application Client Handler by any suitable means.   The Application function (AF) is interfacing with the 5G NR network and the Application Server Handler can obtain information from the 5G NR network via the AF. The Application Server Handler may interact with AF or act as an AF.   The Application Server Handler has subscribed to notification service via AF to the network functions in 5G Core Network for the Mobility event with a condition of a change of DNAI, or out of its serving geographic area. When the mobility event occurs, a notification is generated and sent to the Application Server Handler.
 
Systems and Implementations
       

       FIG.  2    illustrates an example architecture of a system  200  of a network in accordance with various exemplary embodiments. The following description is provided for an example system  200  that operates in conjunction with the 5G NR system standards as provided by 3GPP technical specifications. However, the exemplary 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 legacy (e.g. LTE) 3GPP systems, future 3GPP systems (e.g., Sixth Generation (6G) systems), IEEE 802.16 protocols (e.g., WMAN, WiMAX, etc.), or the like. 
     As shown by  FIG.  2   , the system  200  includes UE  201   a  and UE  201   b  (collectively referred to as “UEs  201 ” or “UE  201 ”). In this example, UEs  201  are illustrated as smartphones (e.g., handheld touchscreen mobile computing devices connectable to one or more cellular networks), but may also comprise any mobile or non-mobile computing device, such as consumer electronics devices, cellular phones, smartphones, feature phones, tablet computers, wearable computer devices, personal digital assistants (PDAs), pagers, wireless handsets, desktop computers, laptop computers, in-vehicle infotainment (IVI), in-car entertainment (ICE) devices, an Instrument Cluster (IC), head-up display (HUD) devices, onboard diagnostic (OBD) devices, dashtop mobile equipment (DME), mobile data terminals (MDTs), Electronic Engine Management System (EEMS), electronic/engine control units (ECUs), electronic/engine control modules (ECMs), embedded systems, microcontrollers, control modules, engine management systems (EMS), networked or “smart” appliances, MTC devices, M2M, IoT devices, and/or the like. 
     In some embodiments, any of the UEs  201  may be IoT UEs, which may comprise a network access layer designed for low-power IoT applications utilizing short-lived UE connections. An IoT UE can utilize technologies such as M2M or MTC for exchanging data with an MTC server or device via a PLMN, ProSe or D2D communication, sensor networks, or IoT networks. The M2M or MTC exchange of data may be a machine-initiated exchange of data. An IoT network describes interconnecting IoT UEs, which may include uniquely identifiable embedded computing devices (within the Internet infrastructure), with short-lived connections. The IoT UEs may execute background applications (e.g., keep-alive messages, status updates, etc.) to facilitate the connections of the IoT network. 
     The UEs  201  may be configured to connect, for example, communicatively couple, with an or RAN  210 . In some embodiments, the RAN  210  may be a 5G NR RAN, while in other embodiments the RAN  210  may be an E-UTRAN, or a legacy RAN, such as a UTRAN or GERAN. As used herein, the term “5G NR RAN” or the like may refer to a RAN  210  that operates in an NR or 5G system  200 , and the term “E-UTRAN” or the like may refer to a RAN  210  that operates in an LTE or 4G system  200 . The UEs  201  utilize connections (or channels)  203  and  204 , respectively, each of which comprises a physical communications interface or layer (discussed in further detail below). 
     In this example, the connections  203  and  204  are illustrated as an air interface to enable communicative coupling, and can be consistent with cellular communications protocols, such as a GSM protocol, a CDMA network protocol, a PTT protocol, a POC protocol, a UMTS protocol, a 3GPP LTE protocol, a 5G protocol, a NR protocol, and/or any of the other communications protocols discussed herein. In some embodiments, the UEs  201  may directly exchange communication data via a ProSe interface  205 . The ProSe interface  205  may alternatively be referred to as a SL interface  205  and may comprise one or more logical channels, including but not limited to a PSCCH, a PSSCH, a PSDCH, and a PSBCH. 
     The UE  201   b  is shown to be configured to access an AP  206  (also referred to as “WLAN node  206 ,” “WLAN  206 ,” “WLAN Termination  206 ,” “WT  206 ” or the like) via connection  207 . The connection  207  can comprise a local wireless connection, such as a connection consistent with any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein the AP  206  would comprise a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi®) router. In this example, the AP  206  is shown to be connected to the Internet without connecting to the core network of the wireless system (described in further detail below). In various embodiments, the UE  201   b , RAN  210 , and AP  206  may be configured to utilize LWA operation and/or LWIP operation. The LWA operation may involve the UE  201   b  in RRC_CONNECTED being configured by a RAN node  211   a - b  to utilize radio resources of LTE and WLAN. LWIP operation may involve the UE  201   b  using WLAN radio resources (e.g., connection  207 ) via IPsec protocol tunneling to authenticate and encrypt packets (e.g., IP packets) sent over the connection  207 . IPsec tunneling may include encapsulating the entirety of original IP packets and adding a new packet header, thereby protecting the original header of the IP packets. 
     The RAN  210  can include one or more AN nodes or RAN nodes  211   a  and  211   b  (collectively referred to as “RAN nodes  211 ” or “RAN node  211 ”) that enable the connections  203  and  204 . As used herein, the terms “access node,” “access point,” or the like may describe equipment that provides the radio baseband functions for data and/or voice connectivity between a network and one or more users. These access nodes can be referred to as BS, gNBs, RAN nodes, eNB s, NodeB s, RSUs, TRxPs or TRPs, and so forth, and can comprise ground stations (e.g., terrestrial access points) or satellite stations providing coverage within a geographic area (e.g., a cell). As used herein, the term “5G NR RAN node” or the like may refer to a RAN node  211  that operates in an NR or 5G system  200  (for example, a gNB), and the term “E-UTRAN node” or the like may refer to a RAN node  211  that operates in an LTE or 4G system  200  (e.g., an eNB). According to various embodiments, the RAN nodes  211  may be implemented as one or more of a dedicated physical device such as a macrocell base station, and/or a low power (LP) base station for providing femtocells, picocells or other like cells having smaller coverage areas, smaller user capacity, or higher bandwidth compared to macrocells. 
     In some embodiments, all or parts of the RAN nodes  211  may be implemented as one or more software entities running on server computers as part of a virtual network, which may be referred to as a CRAN and/or a virtual baseband unit pool (vBBUP). In these embodiments, the CRAN or vBBUP may implement a RAN function split, such as a PDCP split wherein RRC and PDCP layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and other L2 protocol entities are operated by individual RAN nodes  211 ; a MAC/PHY split wherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, and MAC layers are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and the PHY layer is operated by individual RAN nodes  211 ; or a “lower PHY” split wherein RRC, PDCP, RLC, MAC layers and upper portions of the PHY layer are operated by the CRAN/vBBUP and lower portions of the PHY layer are operated by individual RAN nodes  211 . This virtualized framework allows the freed-up processor cores of the RAN nodes  211  to perform other virtualized applications. In some implementations, an individual RAN node  211  may represent individual gNB-DUs that are connected to a gNB-CU via individual F1 interfaces (not shown by  FIG.  2   ). In these implementations, the gNB-DUs may include one or more remote radio heads or RFEMs (see, e.g.,  FIG.  5   ), and the gNB-CU may be operated by a server that is located in the RAN  210  (not shown) or by a server pool in a similar manner as the CRAN/vBBUP. Additionally or alternatively, one or more of the RAN nodes  211  may be next generation eNBs (ng-eNBs), which are RAN nodes that provide E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminations toward the UEs  201 , and are connected to a 5GC (e.g., CN  420  of  FIG.  4   ) via an NG interface (discussed infra). 
     In V2X scenarios one or more of the RAN nodes  211  may be or act as RSUs. The term “Road Side Unit” or “RSU” may refer to any transportation infrastructure entity used for V2X communications. An RSU may be implemented in or by a suitable RAN node or a stationary (or relatively stationary) UE, where an RSU implemented in or by a UE may be referred to as a “UE-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by an eNB may be referred to as an “eNB-type RSU,” an RSU implemented in or by 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  201  (vUEs  201 ). 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 operate on the 5.9 GHz Direct Short Range Communications (DSRC) band to 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 operate on the cellular V2X band to provide the aforementioned low latency communications, as well as other cellular communications services. Additionally or alternatively, the RSU may operate as a Wi-Fi hotspot (2.4 GHz band) and/or provide connectivity to one or more cellular networks to provide uplink and downlink communications. The computing device(s) and some or all of the radiofrequency circuitry 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 and/or a backhaul network. 
     Any of the RAN nodes  211  can terminate the air interface protocol and can be the first point of contact for the UEs  201 . In some embodiments, any of the RAN nodes  211  can fulfill various logical functions for the RAN  210  including, but not limited to, radio network controller (RNC) functions such as radio bearer management, uplink and downlink dynamic radio resource management and data packet scheduling, and mobility management. 
     In some embodiments, the UEs  201  can be configured to communicate using OFDM communication signals with each other or with any of the RAN nodes  211  over a multicarrier communication channel in accordance with various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, an OFDMA communication technique (e.g., for downlink communications) or a SC-FDMA communication technique (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communications), although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. The OFDM signals can comprise a plurality of orthogonal subcarriers. 
     In some embodiments, a downlink resource grid can be used for downlink transmissions from any of the RAN nodes  211  to the UEs  201 , while uplink transmissions can utilize similar techniques. The grid can be a time-frequency grid, called a resource grid or time-frequency resource grid, which is the physical resource in the downlink in each slot. Such a time-frequency plane representation is a common practice for OFDM systems, which makes it intuitive for radio resource allocation. Each column and each row of the resource grid corresponds to one OFDM symbol and one OFDM subcarrier, respectively. The duration of the resource grid in the time domain corresponds to one slot in a radio frame. The smallest time-frequency unit in a resource grid is denoted as a resource element. Each resource grid comprises a number of resource blocks, which describe the mapping of certain physical channels to resource elements. Each resource block comprises a collection of resource elements; in the frequency domain, this may represent the smallest quantity of resources that currently can be allocated. There are several different physical downlink channels that are conveyed using such resource blocks. 
     According to various embodiments, the UEs  201  and the RAN nodes  211  communicate data (for example, transmit and receive) data over a licensed medium (also referred to as the “licensed spectrum” and/or the “licensed band”) and an unlicensed shared medium (also referred to as the “unlicensed spectrum” and/or the “unlicensed band”). The licensed spectrum may include channels that operate in the frequency range of approximately 400 MHz to approximately 3.8 GHz, whereas the unlicensed spectrum may include the 5 GHz band. 
     To operate in the unlicensed spectrum, the UEs  201  and the RAN nodes  211  may operate using LAA, eLAA, and/or feLAA mechanisms. In these implementations, the UEs  201  and the RAN nodes  211  may perform one or more known medium-sensing operations and/or carrier-sensing operations in order to determine whether one or more channels in the unlicensed spectrum is unavailable or otherwise occupied prior to transmitting in the unlicensed spectrum. The medium/carrier sensing operations may be performed according to a listen-before-talk (LBT) protocol. 
     LBT is a mechanism whereby equipment (for example, UEs  201  RAN nodes  211 , etc.) senses a medium (for example, a channel or carrier frequency) and transmits when the medium is sensed to be idle (or when a specific channel in the medium is sensed to be unoccupied). The medium sensing operation may include CCA, which utilizes at least ED to determine the presence or absence of other signals on a channel in order to determine if a channel is occupied or clear. This LBT mechanism allows cellular/LAA networks to coexist with incumbent systems in the unlicensed spectrum and with other LAA networks. ED may include sensing RF energy across an intended transmission band for a period of time and comparing the sensed RF energy to a predefined or configured threshold. 
     Typically, the incumbent systems in the 5 GHz band are WLANs based on IEEE 802.11 technologies. WLAN employs a contention-based channel access mechanism, called CSMA/CA. Here, when a WLAN node (e.g., a mobile station (MS) such as UE  201 , AP  206 , or the like) intends to transmit, the WLAN node may first perform CCA before transmission. Additionally, a backoff mechanism is used to avoid collisions in situations where more than one WLAN node senses the channel as idle and transmits at the same time. The backoff mechanism may be a counter that is drawn randomly within the CWS, which is increased exponentially upon the occurrence of collision and reset to a minimum value when the transmission succeeds. The LBT mechanism designed for LAA is somewhat similar to the CSMA/CA of WLAN. In some implementations, the LBT procedure for DL or UL transmission bursts including PDSCH or PUSCH transmissions, respectively, may have an LAA contention window that is variable in length between X and Y ECCA slots, where X and Y are minimum and maximum values for the CWSs for LAA. In one example, the minimum CWS for an LAA transmission may be 9 microseconds (μs); however, the size of the CWS and a MCOT (for example, a transmission burst) may be based on governmental regulatory requirements. 
     The LAA mechanisms are built upon CA technologies of LTE-Advanced systems. In CA, each aggregated carrier is referred to as a CC. A CC may have a bandwidth of 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 or 20 MHz and a maximum of five CCs can be aggregated, and therefore, a maximum aggregated bandwidth is 100 MHz. In FDD systems, the number of aggregated carriers can be different for DL and UL, where the number of UL CCs is equal to or lower than the number of DL component carriers. In some cases, individual CCs can have a different bandwidth than other CCs. In TDD systems, the number of CCs as well as the bandwidths of each CC is usually the same for DL and UL. 
     CA also comprises individual serving cells to provide individual CCs. The coverage of the serving cells may differ, for example, because CCs on different frequency bands will experience different pathloss. A primary service cell or PCell may provide a PCC for both UL and DL, and may handle RRC and NAS related activities. The other serving cells are referred to as SCells, and each SCell may provide an individual SCC for both UL and DL. The SCCs may be added and removed as required, while changing the PCC may require the UE  201  to undergo a handover. In LAA, eLAA, and feLAA, some or all of the SCells may operate in the unlicensed spectrum (referred to as “LAA SCells”), and the LAA SCells are assisted by a PCell operating in the licensed spectrum. When a UE is configured with more than one LAA SCell, the UE may receive UL grants on the configured LAA SCells indicating different PUSCH starting positions within a same subframe. 
     The PDSCH carries user data and higher-layer signaling to the UEs  201 . The PDCCH carries information about the transport format and resource allocations related to the PDSCH channel, among other things. It may also inform the UEs  201  about the transport format, resource allocation, and HARQ information related to the uplink shared channel. Typically, downlink scheduling (assigning control and shared channel resource blocks to the UE  201   b  within a cell) may be performed at any of the RAN nodes  211  based on channel quality information fed back from any of the UEs  201 . The downlink resource assignment information may be sent on the PDCCH used for (e.g., assigned to) each of the UEs  201 . 
     The PDCCH uses CCEs to convey the control information. Before being mapped to resource elements, the PDCCH complex-valued symbols may first be organized into quadruplets, which may then be permuted using a sub-block interleaver for rate matching. Each PDCCH may be transmitted using one or more of these CCEs, where each CCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as REGs. Four Quadrature Phase Shift Keying (QPSK) symbols may be mapped to each REG. The PDCCH can be transmitted using one or more CCEs, depending on the size of the DCI and the channel condition. There can be four or more different PDCCH formats defined in LTE with different numbers of CCEs (e.g., aggregation level, L=1, 2, 4, or 8). 
     Some embodiments may use concepts for resource allocation for control channel information that are an extension of the above-described concepts. For example, some embodiments may utilize an EPDCCH that uses PDSCH resources for control information transmission. The EPDCCH may be transmitted using one or more ECCEs. Similar to above, each ECCE may correspond to nine sets of four physical resource elements known as an EREGs. An ECCE may have other numbers of EREGs in some situations. 
     The RAN nodes  211  may be configured to communicate with one another via interface  212 . In some embodiments where the system  200  is an LTE system (e.g., when CN  220  is an EPC  320  as in  FIG.  3   ), the interface  212  may be an X2 interface  212 . The X2 interface may be defined between two or more RAN nodes  211  (e.g., two or more eNBs and the like) that connect to EPC  220 , and/or between two eNBs connecting to EPC  220 . In some implementations, the X2 interface may include an X2 user plane interface (X2-U) and an X2 control plane interface (X2-C). The X2-U may provide flow control mechanisms for user data packets transferred over the X2 interface, and may be used to communicate information about the delivery of user data between eNBs. For example, the X2-U may provide specific sequence number information for user data transferred from a MeNB to an SeNB; information about successful in sequence delivery of PDCP PDUs to a UE  201  from an SeNB for user data; information of PDCP PDUs that were not delivered to a UE  201 ; information about a current minimum desired buffer size at the SeNB for transmitting to the UE user data; and the like. The X2-C may provide intra-LTE access mobility functionality, including context transfers from source to target eNBs, user plane transport control, etc.; load management functionality; as well as inter-cell interference coordination functionality. 
     In some embodiments where the system  200  is a 5G or NR system (e.g., when CN  220  is an 5GC  420  as in  FIG.  4   ), the interface  212  may be an Xn interface  212 . The Xn interface is defined between two or more RAN nodes  211  (e.g., two or more gNBs and the like) that connect to 5GC  220 , between a RAN node  211  (e.g., a gNB) connecting to 5GC  220  and an eNB, and/or between two eNBs connecting to 5GC  220 . In some implementations, the Xn interface may include an Xn user plane (Xn-U) interface and an Xn control plane (Xn-C) interface. The Xn-U may provide non-guaranteed delivery of user plane PDUs and support/provide data forwarding and flow control functionality. The Xn-C may provide management and error handling functionality, functionality to manage the Xn-C interface; mobility support for UE  201  in a connected mode (e.g., CM-CONNECTED) including functionality to manage the UE mobility for connected mode between one or more RAN nodes  211 . The mobility support may include context transfer from an old (source) serving RAN node  211  to new (target) serving RAN node  211 ; and control of user plane tunnels between old (source) serving RAN node  211  to new (target) serving RAN node  211 . A protocol stack of the Xn-U may include a transport network layer built on Internet Protocol (IP) transport layer, and a GTP-U layer on top of a UDP and/or IP layer(s) to carry user plane PDUs. The Xn-C protocol stack may include an application layer signaling protocol (referred to as Xn Application Protocol (Xn-AP)) and a transport network layer that is built on SCTP. The SCTP may be on top of an IP layer, and may provide the guaranteed delivery of application layer messages. In the transport IP layer, point-to-point transmission is used to deliver the signaling PDUs. In other implementations, the Xn-U protocol stack and/or the Xn-C protocol stack may be same or similar to the user plane and/or control plane protocol stack(s) shown and described herein. 
     The RAN  210  is shown to be communicatively coupled to a core network—in this embodiment, core network (CN)  220 . The CN  220  may comprise a plurality of network elements  222 , which are configured to offer various data and telecommunications services to customers/subscribers (e.g., users of UEs  201 ) who are connected to the CN  220  via the RAN  210 . The components of the CN  220  may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes including components to read and execute instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, NFV may be utilized to virtualize any or all of the above-described network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage mediums (described in further detail below). A logical instantiation of the CN  220  may be referred to as a network slice, and a logical instantiation of a portion of the CN  220  may be referred to as a network sub-slice. NFV architectures and infrastructures may be used to virtualize one or more network functions, alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches. In other words, NFV systems can be used to execute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPC components/functions. 
     Generally, the application server  230  may be an element offering applications that use IP bearer resources with the core network (e.g., UMTS PS domain, LTE PS data services, etc.). The application server  230  can also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., VoIP sessions, PTT sessions, group communication sessions, social networking services, etc.) for the UEs  201  via the EPC  220 . 
     In some embodiments, the CN  220  may be a 5GC (referred to as “5GC  220 ” or the like), and the RAN  210  may be connected with the CN  220  via an NG interface  213 . In some embodiments, the NG interface  213  may be split into two parts, an NG user plane (NG-U) interface  214 , which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes  211  and a UPF, and the S1 control plane (NG-C) interface  215 , which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes  211  and AMFs. Embodiments where the CN  220  is a 5GC  220  are discussed in more detail with regard to  FIG.  4   . 
     In some embodiments, the CN  220  may be a 5G CN (referred to as “5GC  220 ” or the like), while in other embodiments, the CN  220  may be an EPC). Where CN  220  is an EPC (referred to as “EPC  220 ” or the like), the RAN  210  may be connected with the CN  220  via an S1 interface  213 . In some embodiments, the S1 interface  213  may be split into two parts, an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface  214 , which carries traffic data between the RAN nodes  211  and the S-GW, and the S1-MME interface  215 , which is a signaling interface between the RAN nodes  211  and MMEs. 
       FIG.  3    illustrates an example architecture of a system  300  including a first CN  320 , in accordance with various embodiments. In this example, system  300  may implement the LTE standard wherein the CN  320  is an EPC  320  that corresponds with CN  220  of  FIG.  2   . Additionally, the UE  301  may be the same or similar as the UEs  201  of  FIG.  2   , and the E-UTRAN  310  may be a RAN that is the same or similar to the RAN  210  of  FIG.  2   , and which may include RAN nodes  211  discussed previously. The CN  320  may comprise MMEs  321 , an S-GW  322 , a P-GW  323 , a HSS  324 , and a SGSN  325 . 
     The MMEs  321  may be similar in function to the control plane of legacy SGSN, and may implement MM functions to keep track of the current location of a UE  301 . The MMEs  321  may perform various MM procedures to manage mobility aspects in access such as gateway selection and tracking area list management. MM (also referred to as “EPS MM” or “EMM” in E-UTRAN systems) may refer to all applicable procedures, methods, data storage, etc. that are used to maintain knowledge about a present location of the UE  301 , provide user identity confidentiality, and/or perform other like services to users/subscribers. Each UE  301  and the MME  321  may include an MM or EMM sublayer, and an MM context may be established in the UE  301  and the MME  321  when an attach procedure is successfully completed. The MM context may be a data structure or database object that stores MM-related information of the UE  301 . The MMEs  321  may be coupled with the HSS  324  via an S6a reference point, coupled with the SGSN  325  via an S3 reference point, and coupled with the S-GW  322  via an S11 reference point. 
     The SGSN  325  may be a node that serves the UE  301  by tracking the location of an individual UE  301  and performing security functions. In addition, the SGSN  325  may perform Inter-EPC node signaling for mobility between 2G/3G and E-UTRAN 3GPP access networks; PDN and S-GW selection as specified by the MMEs  321 ; handling of UE  301  time zone functions as specified by the MMEs  321 ; and MME selection for handovers to E-UTRAN 3GPP access network. The S3 reference point between the MMEs  321  and the SGSN  325  may enable user and bearer information exchange for inter-3GPP access network mobility in idle and/or active states. 
     The HSS  324  may comprise a database for network users, including subscription-related information to support the network entities&#39; handling of communication sessions. The EPC  320  may comprise one or several HSSs  324 , depending on the number of mobile subscribers, on the capacity of the equipment, on the organization of the network, etc. For example, the HSS  324  can provide support for routing/roaming, authentication, authorization, naming/addressing resolution, location dependencies, etc. An S6a reference point between the HSS  324  and the MMEs  321  may enable transfer of subscription and authentication data for authenticating/authorizing user access to the EPC  320  between HSS  324  and the MMEs  321 . 
     The S-GW  322  may terminate the S1 interface  213  (“S1-U” in  FIG.  3   ) toward the RAN  310 , and routes data packets between the RAN  310  and the EPC  320 . In addition, the S-GW  322  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 S11 reference point between the S-GW  322  and the MMEs  321  may provide a control plane between the MMEs  321  and the S-GW  322 . The S-GW  322  may be coupled with the P-GW  323  via an S5 reference point. 
     The P-GW  323  may terminate an SGi interface toward a PDN  330 . The P-GW  323  may route data packets between the EPC  320  and external networks such as a network including the application server  230  (alternatively referred to as an “AF”) via an IP interface  225  (see e.g.,  FIG.  2   ). In some embodiments, the P-GW  323  may be communicatively coupled to an application server (application server  230  of  FIG.  2    or PDN  330  in  FIG.  3   ) via an IP communications interface  225  (see, e.g.,  FIG.  2   ). The S5 reference point between the P-GW  323  and the S-GW  322  may provide user plane tunneling and tunnel management between the P-GW  323  and the S-GW  322 . The S5 reference point may also be used for S-GW  322  relocation due to UE  301  mobility and if the S-GW  322  needs to connect to a non-collocated P-GW  323  for the required PDN connectivity. The P-GW  323  may further include a node for policy enforcement and charging data collection (e.g., PCEF (not shown)). Additionally, the SGi reference point between the P-GW  323  and the packet data network (PDN)  330  may be an operator external public, a private PDN, or an intra operator packet data network, for example, for provision of IMS services. The P-GW  323  may be coupled with a PCRF  326  via a Gx reference point. 
     PCRF  326  is the policy and charging control element of the EPC  320 . In a non-roaming scenario, there may be a single PCRF  326  in the Home Public Land Mobile Network (HPLMN) associated with a UE  301 &#39;s Internet Protocol Connectivity Access Network (IP-CAN) session. In a roaming scenario with local breakout of traffic, there may be two PCRFs associated with a UE  301 &#39;s IP-CAN session, a Home PCRF (H-PCRF) within an HPLMN and a Visited PCRF (V-PCRF) within a Visited Public Land Mobile Network (VPLMN). The PCRF  326  may be communicatively coupled to the application server  330  via the P-GW  323 . The application server  330  may signal the PCRF  326  to indicate a new service flow and select the appropriate QoS and charging parameters. The PCRF  326  may provision this rule into a PCEF (not shown) with the appropriate TFT and QCI, which commences the QoS and charging as specified by the application server  330 . The Gx reference point between the PCRF  326  and the P-GW  323  may allow for the transfer of QoS policy and charging rules from the PCRF  326  to PCEF in the P-GW  323 . An Rx reference point may reside between the PDN  330  (or “AF  330 ”) and the PCRF  326 . 
       FIG.  4    illustrates an architecture of a system  400  including a second CN  420  in accordance with various embodiments. The system  400  is shown to include a UE  401 , which may be the same or similar to the UEs  201  and UE  301  discussed previously; a (R)AN  410 , which may be the same or similar to the RAN  210  and RAN  310  discussed previously, and which may include RAN nodes  211  discussed previously; and a DN  403 , which may be, for example, operator services, Internet access or 3rd party services; and a 5GC  420 . The 5GC  420  may include an AUSF  422 ; an AMF  421 ; a SMF  424 ; a NEF  423 ; a PCF  426 ; a NRF  425 ; a UDM  427 ; an AF  428 ; a UPF  402 ; and a NSSF  429 . 
     The UPF  402  may act as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point of interconnect to DN  403 , and a branching point to support multi-homed PDU session. The UPF  402  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  402  may include an uplink classifier to support routing traffic flows to a data network. The DN  403  may represent various network operator services, Internet access, or third party services. DN  403  may include, or be similar to, application server  230  discussed previously. The UPF  402  may interact with the SMF  424  via an N4 reference point between the SMF  424  and the UPF  402 . 
     The AUSF  422  may store data for authentication of UE  401  and handle authentication-related functionality. The AUSF  422  may facilitate a common authentication framework for various access types. The AUSF  422  may communicate with the AMF  421  via an N12 reference point between the AMF  421  and the AUSF  422 ; and may communicate with the UDM  427  via an N13 reference point between the UDM  427  and the AUSF  422 . Additionally, the AUSF  422  may exhibit an Nausf service-based interface. 
     The AMF  421  may be responsible for registration management (e.g., for registering UE  401 , etc.), connection management, reachability management, mobility management, and lawful interception of AMF-related events, and access authentication and authorization. The AMF  421  may be a termination point for the an N11 reference point between the AMF  421  and the SMF  424 . The AMF  421  may provide transport for SM messages between the UE  401  and the SMF  424 , and act as a transparent proxy for routing SM messages. AMF  421  may also provide transport for SMS messages between UE  401  and an SMSF (not shown by  FIG.  4   ). AMF  421  may act as SEAF, which may include interaction with the AUSF  422  and the UE  401 , receipt of an intermediate key that was established as a result of the UE  401  authentication process. Where USIM based authentication is used, the AMF  421  may retrieve the security material from the AUSF  422 . AMF  421  may also include a SCM function, which receives a key from the SEA that it uses to derive access-network specific keys. Furthermore, AMF  421  may be a termination point of a RAN CP interface, which may include or be an N2 reference point between the (R)AN  410  and the AMF  421 ; and the AMF  421  may be a termination point of NAS (N1) signalling, and perform NAS ciphering and integrity protection. 
     AMF  421  may also support NAS signalling with a UE  401  over an N3 IWF interface. The N3IWF may be used to provide access to untrusted entities. N3IWF may be a termination point for the N2 interface between the (R)AN  410  and the AMF  421  for the control plane, and may be a termination point for the N3 reference point between the (R)AN  410  and the UPF  402  for the user plane. As such, the AMF  421  may handle N2 signalling from the SMF  424  and the AMF  421  for PDU sessions and QoS, encapsulate/de-encapsulate packets for IPSec and N3 tunneling, mark N3 user-plane packets in the uplink, and enforce QoS corresponding to N3 packet marking taking into account QoS requirements associated with such marking received over N2. N3IWF may also relay uplink and downlink control-plane NAS signalling between the UE  401  and AMF  421  via an N1 reference point between the UE  401  and the AMF  421 , and relay uplink and downlink user-plane packets between the UE  401  and UPF  402 . The N3IWF also provides mechanisms for IPsec tunnel establishment with the UE  401 . The AMF  421  may exhibit a Namf service-based interface, and may be a termination point for an N14 reference point between two AMFs  421  and an N17 reference point between the AMF  421  and a 5G-EIR (not shown by  FIG.  4   ). 
     The UE  401  may need to register with the AMF  421  in order to receive network services. RM is used to register or deregister the UE  401  with the network (e.g., AMF  421 ), and establish a UE context in the network (e.g., AMF  421 ). The UE  401  may operate in an RM-REGISTERED state or an RM-DEREGISTERED state. In the RM-DEREGISTERED state, the UE  401  is not registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF  421  holds no valid location or routing information for the UE  401  so the UE  401  is not reachable by the AMF  421 . In the RM-REGISTERED state, the UE  401  is registered with the network, and the UE context in AMF  421  may hold a valid location or routing information for the UE  401  so the UE  401  is reachable by the AMF  421 . In the RM-REGISTERED state, the UE  401  may perform mobility Registration Update procedures, perform periodic Registration Update procedures triggered by expiration of the periodic update timer (e.g., to notify the network that the UE  401  is still active), and perform a Registration Update procedure to update UE capability information or to re-negotiate protocol parameters with the network, among others. 
     The AMF  421  may store one or more RM contexts for the UE  401 , where each RM context is associated with a specific access to the network. The RM context may be a data structure, database object, etc. that indicates or stores, inter alia, a registration state per access type and the periodic update timer. The AMF  421  may also store a 5GC MM context that may be the same or similar to the (E)MM context discussed previously. In various embodiments, the AMF  421  may store a CE mode B Restriction parameter of the UE  401  in an associated MM context or RM context. The AMF  421  may also derive the value, when needed, from the UE&#39;s usage setting parameter already stored in the UE context (and/or MM/RM context). 
     CM may be used to establish and release a signaling connection between the UE  401  and the AMF  421  over the N1 interface. The signaling connection is used to enable NAS signaling exchange between the UE  401  and the CN  420 , and comprises both the signaling connection between the UE and the AN (e.g., RRC connection or UE-N3IWF connection for non-3GPP access) and the N2 connection for the UE  401  between the AN (e.g., RAN  410 ) and the AMF  421 . The UE  401  may operate in one of two CM states, CM-IDLE mode or CM-CONNECTED mode. When the UE  401  is operating in the CM-IDLE state/mode, the UE  401  may have no NAS signaling connection established with the AMF  421  over the N1 interface, and there may be (R)AN  410  signaling connection (e.g., N2 and/or N3 connections) for the UE  401 . When the UE  401  is operating in the CM-CONNECTED state/mode, the UE  401  may have an established NAS signaling connection with the AMF  421  over the N1 interface, and there may be a (R)AN  410  signaling connection (e.g., N2 and/or N3 connections) for the UE  401 . Establishment of an N2 connection between the (R)AN  410  and the AMF  421  may cause the UE  401  to transition from CM-IDLE mode to CM-CONNECTED mode, and the UE  401  may transition from the CM-CONNECTED mode to the CM-IDLE mode when N2 signaling between the (R)AN  410  and the AMF  421  is released. 
     The SMF  424  may be responsible for SM (e.g., session establishment, modify and release, including tunnel maintain between UPF and AN node); UE IP address allocation and management (including optional authorization); selection and control of UP function; configuring traffic steering at UPF to route traffic to proper destination; termination of interfaces toward policy control functions; controlling part of policy enforcement 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 over N2 to AN; 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 a UE  401  and a data network (DN)  403  identified by a Data Network Name (DNN). PDU sessions may be established upon UE  401  request, modified upon UE  401  and 5GC  420  request, and released upon UE  401  and 5GC  420  request using NAS SM signaling exchanged over the N1 reference point between the UE  401  and the SMF  424 . Upon request from an application server, the 5GC  420  may trigger a specific application in the UE  401 . In response to receipt of the trigger message, the UE  401  may pass the trigger message (or relevant parts/information of the trigger message) to one or more identified applications in the UE  401 . The identified application(s) in the UE  401  may establish a PDU session to a specific DNN. The SMF  424  may check whether the UE  401  requests are compliant with user subscription information associated with the UE  401 . In this regard, the SMF  424  may retrieve and/or request to receive update notifications on SMF  424  level subscription data from the UDM  427 . 
     The SMF  424  may include the following roaming functionality: handling local enforcement to apply QoS SLAs (VPLMN); charging data collection and charging interface (VPLMN); lawful intercept (in VPLMN for SM events and interface to LI system); and support for interaction with external DN for transport of signalling for PDU session authorization/authentication by external DN. An N16 reference point between two SMFs  424  may be included in the system  400 , which may be between another SMF  424  in a visited network and the SMF  424  in the home network in roaming scenarios. Additionally, the SMF  424  may exhibit the Nsmf service-based interface. 
     The NEF  423  may provide means for securely exposing the services and capabilities provided by 3GPP network functions for third party, internal exposure/re-exposure, Application Functions (e.g., AF  428 ), edge computing or fog computing systems, etc. In such embodiments, the NEF  423  may authenticate, authorize, and/or throttle the AFs. NEF  423  may also translate information exchanged with the AF  428  and information exchanged with internal network functions. For example, the NEF  423  may translate between an AF-Service-Identifier and an internal 5GC information. NEF  423  may also receive information from other network functions (NFs) based on exposed capabilities of other network functions. This information may be stored at the NEF  423  as structured data, or at a data storage NF using standardized interfaces. The stored information can then be re-exposed by the NEF  423  to other NFs and AFs, and/or used for other purposes such as analytics. Additionally, the NEF  423  may exhibit an Nnef service-based interface. 
     The NRF  425  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  425  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  425  may exhibit the Nnrf service-based interface. 
     The PCF  426  may provide policy rules to control plane function(s) to enforce them, and may also support unified policy framework to govern network behaviour. The PCF  426  may also implement an FE to access subscription information relevant for policy decisions in a UDR of the UDM  427 . The PCF  426  may communicate with the AMF  421  via an N15 reference point between the PCF  426  and the AMF  421 , which may include a PCF  426  in a visited network and the AMF  421  in case of roaming scenarios. The PCF  426  may communicate with the AF  428  via an N5 reference point between the PCF  426  and the AF  428 ; and with the SMF  424  via an N7 reference point between the PCF  426  and the SMF  424 . The system  400  and/or CN  420  may also include an N24 reference point between the PCF  426  (in the home network) and a PCF  426  in a visited network. Additionally, the PCF  426  may exhibit an Npcf service-based interface. 
     The UDM  427  may handle subscription-related information to support the network entities&#39; handling of communication sessions, and may store subscription data of UE  401 . For example, subscription data may be communicated between the UDM  427  and the AMF  421  via an N8 reference point between the UDM  427  and the AMF. The UDM  427  may include two parts, an application FE and a UDR (the FE and UDR are not shown by  FIG.  4   ). The UDR may store subscription data and policy data for the UDM  427  and the PCF  426 , and/or structured data for exposure and application data (including PFDs for application detection, application request information for multiple UEs  401 ) for the NEF  423 . The Nudr service-based interface may be exhibited by the UDR  221  to allow the UDM  427 , PCF  426 , and NEF  423  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 UDR may interact with the SMF  424  via an N10 reference point between the UDM  427  and the SMF  424 . UDM  427  may also support SMS management, wherein an SMS-FE implements the similar application logic as discussed previously. Additionally, the UDM  427  may exhibit the Nudm service-based interface. 
     The AF  428  may provide application influence on traffic routing, provide access to the NCE, and interact with the policy framework for policy control. The NCE may be a mechanism that allows the 5GC  420  and AF  428  to provide information to each other via NEF  423 , which may be used for edge computing implementations. In such implementations, the network operator and third party services may be hosted close to the UE  401  access point of attachment to achieve an efficient service delivery through the reduced end-to-end latency and load on the transport network. For edge computing implementations, the 5GC may select a UPF  402  close to the UE  401  and execute traffic steering from the UPF  402  to DN  403  via the N6 interface. This may be based on the UE subscription data, UE location, and information provided by the AF  428 . In this way, the AF  428  may influence UPF (re)selection and traffic routing. Based on operator deployment, when AF  428  is considered to be a trusted entity, the network operator may permit AF  428  to interact directly with relevant NFs. Additionally, the AF  428  may exhibit an Naf service-based interface. 
     The NSSF  429  may select a set of network slice instances serving the UE  401 . The NSSF  429  may also determine allowed NSSAI and the mapping to the subscribed S-NSSAIs, if needed. The NSSF  429  may also determine the AMF set to be used to serve the UE  401 , or a list of candidate AMF(s)  421  based on a suitable configuration and possibly by querying the NRF  425 . The selection of a set of network slice instances for the UE  401  may be triggered by the AMF  421  with which the UE  401  is registered by interacting with the NSSF  429 , which may lead to a change of AMF  421 . The NSSF  429  may interact with the AMF  421  via an N22 reference point between AMF  421  and NSSF  429 ; and may communicate with another NSSF  429  in a visited network via an N31 reference point (not shown by  FIG.  4   ). Additionally, the NSSF  429  may exhibit an Nnssf service-based interface. 
     As discussed previously, the CN  420  may include an SMSF, which may be responsible for SMS subscription checking and verification, and relaying SM messages to/from the UE  401  to/from other entities, such as an SMS-GMSC/IWMSC/SMS-router. The SMS may also interact with AMF  421  and UDM  427  for a notification procedure that the UE  401  is available for SMS transfer (e.g., set a UE not reachable flag, and notifying UDM  427  when UE  401  is available for SMS). 
     The CN  120  may also include other elements that are not shown by  FIG.  4   , such as a Data Storage system/architecture, a 5G-EIR, a SEPP, and the like. The Data Storage system may include a SDSF, an UDSF, and/or the like. Any NF may store and retrieve unstructured data into/from the UDSF (e.g., UE contexts), via N18 reference point between any NF and the UDSF (not shown by  FIG.  4   ). Individual NFs may share a UDSF for storing their respective unstructured data or individual NFs may each have their own UDSF located at or near the individual NFs. Additionally, the UDSF may exhibit an Nudsf service-based interface (not shown by  FIG.  4   ). The 5G-EIR may be an NF that checks the status of PEI for determining whether particular equipment/entities are blacklisted from the network; and the SEPP may be a non-transparent proxy that performs topology hiding, message filtering, and policing on inter-PLMN control plane interfaces. 
     Additionally, there may be many more reference points and/or service-based interfaces between the NF services in the NFs; however, these interfaces and reference points have been omitted from  FIG.  4    for clarity. In one example, the CN  420  may include an Nx interface, which is an inter-CN interface between the MME (e.g., MME  321 ) and the AMF  421  in order to enable interworking between CN  420  and CN  320 . Other example interfaces/reference points may include an N5g-EIR service-based interface exhibited by a 5G-EIR, an N27 reference point between the NRF in the visited network and the NRF in the home network; and an N31 reference point between the NSSF in the visited network and the NSSF in the home network. 
       FIG.  5    illustrates an example of infrastructure equipment  500  in accordance with various embodiments. The infrastructure equipment  500  (or “system  500 ”) may be implemented as a base station, radio head, RAN node such as the RAN nodes  211  and/or AP  206  shown and described previously, application server(s)  230 , and/or any other element/device discussed herein. In other examples, the system  500  could be implemented in or by a UE. 
     The system  500  includes application circuitry  505 , baseband circuitry  510 , one or more radio front end modules (RFEMs)  515 , memory circuitry  520 , power management integrated circuitry (PMIC)  525 , power tee circuitry  530 , network controller circuitry  535 , network interface connector  540 , satellite positioning circuitry  545 , and user interface circuitry  550 . In some embodiments, the device  500  may include additional elements such as, for example, memory/storage, display, camera, sensor, or input/output (I/O) interface. In other embodiments, the components described below may be included in more than one device. For example, said circuitries may be separately included in more than one device for CRAN, vBBU, or other like implementations. 
     Application circuitry  505  includes circuitry such as, but not limited to one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of low drop-out voltage regulators (LDOs), interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I 2 C or universal programmable serial interface module, real time clock (RTC), timer-counters including interval and watchdog timers, general purpose input/output (I/O or IO), memory card controllers such as Secure Digital (SD) MultiMediaCard (MMC) or similar, Universal Serial Bus (USB) interfaces, Mobile Industry Processor Interface (MIPI) interfaces and Joint Test Access Group (JTAG) test access ports. The processors (or cores) of the application circuitry  505  may be coupled with or may include memory/storage elements and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system  500 . In some implementations, the memory/storage elements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may include any suitable volatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein. 
     The processor(s) of application circuitry  505  may include, for example, one or more processor cores (CPUs), one or more application processors, one or more graphics processing units (GPUs), one or more reduced instruction set computing (RISC) processors, one or more Acorn RISC Machine (ARM) processors, one or more complex instruction set computing (CISC) processors, one or more digital signal processors (DSP), one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuitry  505  may comprise, or may be, a special-purpose processor/controller to operate according to the various embodiments herein. As examples, the processor(s) of application circuitry  505  may include one or more Intel Pentium®, Core®, or Xeon® processor(s); Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen® processor(s), Accelerated Processing Units (APUs), or Epyc® processors; ARM-based processor(s) licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd. such as the ARM Cortex-A family of processors and the ThunderX2® provided by Cavium™, Inc.; a MIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc. such as MIPS Warrior P-class processors; and/or the like. In some embodiments, the system  500  may not utilize application circuitry  505 , and instead may include a special-purpose processor/controller to process IP data received from an EPC or 5GC, for example. 
     In some implementations, the application circuitry  505  may include one or 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. As examples, the programmable processing devices may be one or more a field-programmable devices (FPDs) such as field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and the like; programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), and the like; ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); and the like. In such implementations, the circuitry of application circuitry  505  may comprise logic blocks or logic fabric, and other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions, such as the procedures, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuitry of application circuitry  505  may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuses, etc.)) used to store logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc. in look-up-tables (LUTs) and the like. 
     The baseband circuitry  510  may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. The various hardware electronic elements of baseband circuitry  510  are discussed infra with regard to  FIG.  7   . 
     User interface circuitry  550  may include one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the system  500  or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interaction with the system  500 . User interfaces may include, but are not limited to, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), one or more indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)), a physical keyboard or keypad, a mouse, a touchpad, a touchscreen, speakers or other audio emitting devices, microphones, a printer, a scanner, a headset, a display screen or display device, etc. Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a nonvolatile memory port, a universal serial bus (USB) port, an audio jack, a power supply interface, etc. 
     The radio front end modules (RFEMs)  515  may comprise a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFICs may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see e.g., antenna array  711  of  FIG.  7    infra), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both mmWave and sub-mmWave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical RFEM  515 , which incorporates both mmWave antennas and sub-mmWave. 
     The memory circuitry  520  may include one or more of volatile memory including dynamic random access memory (DRAM) and/or synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM) including high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flash memory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc., and may incorporate the three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memories from Intel® and Micron®. Memory circuitry  520  may be implemented as one or more of solder down packaged integrated circuits, socketed memory modules and plug-in memory cards. 
     The PMIC  525  may include voltage regulators, surge protectors, power alarm detection circuitry, and one or more backup power sources such as a battery or capacitor. The power alarm detection circuitry may detect one or more of brown out (under-voltage) and surge (over-voltage) conditions. The power tee circuitry  530  may provide for electrical power drawn from a network cable to provide both power supply and data connectivity to the infrastructure equipment  500  using a single cable. 
     The network controller circuitry  535  may provide connectivity to a network using a standard network interface protocol such as Ethernet, Ethernet over GRE Tunnels, Ethernet over Multiprotocol Label Switching (MPLS), or some other suitable protocol. Network connectivity may be provided to/from the infrastructure equipment  500  via network interface connector  540  using a physical connection, which may be electrical (commonly referred to as a “copper interconnect”), optical, or wireless. The network controller circuitry  535  may include one or more dedicated processors and/or FPGAs to communicate using one or more of the aforementioned protocols. In some implementations, the network controller circuitry  535  may include multiple controllers to provide connectivity to other networks using the same or different protocols. 
     The positioning circuitry  545  includes circuitry to receive and decode signals transmitted/broadcasted by a positioning network of a global navigation satellite system (GNSS). Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include United States&#39; Global Positioning System (GPS), Russia&#39;s Global Navigation System (GLONASS), the European Union&#39;s Galileo system, China&#39;s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, a regional navigation system or GNSS augmentation system (e.g., Navigation with Indian Constellation (NAVIC), Japan&#39;s Quasi-Zenith Satellite System (QZSS), France&#39;s Doppler Orbitography and Radio-positioning Integrated by Satellite (DORIS), etc.), or the like. The positioning circuitry  545  comprises various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like to facilitate OTA communications) to communicate with components of a positioning network, such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments, the positioning circuitry  545  may include a Micro-Technology for Positioning, Navigation, and Timing (Micro-PNT) IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking/estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuitry  545  may also be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuitry  510  and/or RFEMs  515  to communicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuitry  545  may also provide position data and/or time data to the application circuitry  505 , which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., RAN nodes  211 , etc.), or the like. 
     The components shown by  FIG.  5    may communicate with one another using interface circuitry, which may include any number of bus and/or interconnect (IX) technologies such as industry standard architecture (ISA), extended ISA (EISA), peripheral component interconnect (PCI), peripheral component interconnect extended (PCIx), PCI express (PCIe), or any number of other technologies. The bus/IX may be a proprietary bus, for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus/IX systems may be included, such as an I 2 C interface, an SPI interface, point to point interfaces, and a power bus, among others. 
       FIG.  6    illustrates an example of a platform  600  (or “device  600 ”) in accordance with various embodiments. In some embodiments, the computer platform  600  may be suitable for use as UEs  201 ,  301 ,  401 , application servers  230 , and/or any other element/device discussed herein. The platform  600  may include any combinations of the components shown in the example. The components of platform  600  may be implemented as integrated circuits (ICs), portions thereof, discrete electronic devices, or other modules, logic, hardware, software, firmware, or a combination thereof adapted in the computer platform  600 , or as components otherwise incorporated within a chassis of a larger system. The block diagram of  FIG.  6    is intended to show a high level view of components of the computer platform  600 . However, some of the components shown may be omitted, additional components may be present, and different arrangement of the components shown may occur in other implementations. 
     Application circuitry  605  includes circuitry such as, but not limited to one or more processors (or processor cores), cache memory, and one or more of LDOs, interrupt controllers, serial interfaces such as SPI, I 2 C or universal programmable serial interface module, RTC, timer-counters including interval and watchdog timers, general purpose I/O, memory card controllers such as SD MMC or similar, USB interfaces, MIPI interfaces, and JTAG test access ports. The processors (or cores) of the application circuitry  605  may be coupled with or may include memory/storage elements and may be configured to execute instructions stored in the memory/storage to enable various applications or operating systems to run on the system  600 . In some implementations, the memory/storage elements may be on-chip memory circuitry, which may include any suitable volatile and/or non-volatile memory, such as DRAM, SRAM, EPROM, EEPROM, Flash memory, solid-state memory, and/or any other type of memory device technology, such as those discussed herein. 
     The processor(s) of application circuitry  505  may include, for example, one or more processor cores, one or more application processors, one or more GPUs, one or more RISC processors, one or more ARM processors, one or more CISC processors, one or more DSP, one or more FPGAs, one or more PLDs, one or more ASICs, one or more microprocessors or controllers, a multithreaded processor, an ultra-low voltage processor, an embedded processor, some other known processing element, or any suitable combination thereof. In some embodiments, the application circuitry  505  may comprise, or may be, a special-purpose processor/controller to operate according to the various embodiments herein. 
     As examples, the processor(s) of application circuitry  605  may include an Intel® Architecture Core™ based processor, such as a Quark™, an Atom™, an i3, an i5, an i7, or an MCU-class processor, or another such processor available from Intel® Corporation, Santa Clara, CA The processors of the application circuitry  605  may also be one or more of Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) Ryzen® processor(s) or Accelerated Processing Units (APUs); A5-A9 processor(s) from Apple® Inc., Snapdragon™ processor(s) from Qualcomm® Technologies, Inc., Texas Instruments, Inc.® Open Multimedia Applications Platform (OMAP)™ processor(s); a MIPS-based design from MIPS Technologies, Inc. such as MIPS Warrior M-class, Warrior I-class, and Warrior P-class processors; an ARM-based design licensed from ARM Holdings, Ltd., such as the ARM Cortex-A, Cortex-R, and Cortex-M family of processors; or the like. In some implementations, the application circuitry  605  may be a part of a system on a chip (SoC) in which the application circuitry  605  and other components are formed into a single integrated circuit, or a single package, such as the Edison™ or Galileo™ SoC boards from Intel® Corporation. 
     Additionally or alternatively, application circuitry  605  may include circuitry such as, but not limited to, one or more a field-programmable devices (FPDs) such as FPGAs and the like; programmable logic devices (PLDs) such as complex PLDs (CPLDs), high-capacity PLDs (HCPLDs), and the like; ASICs such as structured ASICs and the like; programmable SoCs (PSoCs); and the like. In such embodiments, the circuitry of application circuitry  605  may comprise logic blocks or logic fabric, and other interconnected resources that may be programmed to perform various functions, such as the procedures, methods, functions, etc. of the various embodiments discussed herein. In such embodiments, the circuitry of application circuitry  605  may include memory cells (e.g., erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory, static memory (e.g., static random access memory (SRAM), anti-fuses, etc.)) used to store logic blocks, logic fabric, data, etc. in look-up tables (LUTs) and the like. 
     The baseband circuitry  610  may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits, a single packaged integrated circuit soldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip module containing two or more integrated circuits. The various hardware electronic elements of baseband circuitry  610  are discussed infra with regard to  FIG.  7   . 
     The RFEMs  615  may comprise a millimeter wave (mmWave) RFEM and one or more sub-mmWave radio frequency integrated circuits (RFICs). In some implementations, the one or more sub-mmWave RFICs may be physically separated from the mmWave RFEM. The RFICs may include connections to one or more antennas or antenna arrays (see e.g., antenna array  711  of  FIG.  7    infra), and the RFEM may be connected to multiple antennas. In alternative implementations, both mmWave and sub-mmWave radio functions may be implemented in the same physical RFEM  615 , which incorporates both mmWave antennas and sub-mmWave. 
     The memory circuitry  620  may include any number and type of memory devices used to provide for a given amount of system memory. As examples, the memory circuitry  620  may include one or more of volatile memory including random access memory (RAM), dynamic RAM (DRAM) and/or synchronous dynamic RAM (SDRAM), and nonvolatile memory (NVM) including high-speed electrically erasable memory (commonly referred to as Flash memory), phase change random access memory (PRAM), magnetoresistive random access memory (MRAM), etc. The memory circuitry  620  may be developed in accordance with a Joint Electron Devices Engineering Council (JEDEC) low power double data rate (LPDDR)-based design, such as LPDDR2, LPDDR3, LPDDR4, or the like. Memory circuitry  620  may be implemented as one or more of solder down packaged integrated circuits, single die package (SDP), dual die package (DDP) or quad die package (Q17P), socketed memory modules, dual inline memory modules (DIMMs) including microDIMMs or MiniDIMMs, and/or soldered onto a motherboard via a ball grid array (BGA). In low power implementations, the memory circuitry  620  may be on-die memory or registers associated with the application circuitry  605 . To provide for persistent storage of information such as data, applications, operating systems and so forth, memory circuitry  620  may include one or more mass storage devices, which may include, inter alia, a solid state disk drive (SSDD), hard disk drive (HDD), a micro HDD, resistance change memories, phase change memories, holographic memories, or chemical memories, among others. For example, the computer platform  600  may incorporate the three-dimensional (3D) cross-point (XPOINT) memories from Intel® and Micron®. 
     Removable memory circuitry  623  may include devices, circuitry, enclosures/housings, ports or receptacles, etc. used to couple portable data storage devices with the platform  600 . These portable data storage devices may be used for mass storage purposes, and may include, for example, flash memory cards (e.g., Secure Digital (SD) cards, microSD cards, xD picture cards, and the like), and USB flash drives, optical discs, external HDDs, and the like. 
     The platform  600  may also include interface circuitry (not shown) that is used to connect external devices with the platform  600 . The external devices connected to the platform  600  via the interface circuitry include sensor circuitry  621  and electro-mechanical components (EMCs)  622 , as well as removable memory devices coupled to removable memory circuitry  623 . 
     The sensor circuitry  621  include devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is to detect events or changes in its environment and send the information (sensor data) about the detected events to some other a device, module, subsystem, etc. Examples of such sensors include, inter alia, inertia measurement units (IMUs) comprising accelerometers, gyroscopes, and/or magnetometers; microelectromechanical systems (MEMS) or nanoelectromechanical systems (NEMS) comprising 3-axis accelerometers, 3-axis gyroscopes, and/or magnetometers; level sensors; flow sensors; temperature sensors (e.g., thermistors); pressure sensors; barometric pressure sensors; gravimeters; altimeters; image capture devices (e.g., cameras or lensless apertures); light detection and ranging (LiDAR) sensors; proximity sensors (e.g., infrared radiation detector and the like), depth sensors, ambient light sensors, ultrasonic transceivers; microphones or other like audio capture devices; etc. 
     EMCs  622  include devices, modules, or subsystems whose purpose is to enable platform  600  to change its state, position, and/or orientation, or move or control a mechanism or (sub)system. Additionally, EMCs  622  may be configured to generate and send messages/signalling to other components of the platform  600  to indicate a current state of the EMCs  622 . Examples of the EMCs  622  include one or more power switches, relays including electromechanical relays (EMRs) and/or solid state relays (SSRs), actuators (e.g., valve actuators, etc.), an audible sound generator, a visual warning device, motors (e.g., DC motors, stepper motors, etc.), wheels, thrusters, propellers, claws, clamps, hooks, and/or other like electro-mechanical components. In some embodiments, platform  600  is configured to operate one or more EMCs  622  based on one or more captured events and/or instructions or control signals received from a service provider and/or various clients. 
     In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect the platform  600  with positioning circuitry  645 . The positioning circuitry  645  includes circuitry to receive and decode signals transmitted/broadcasted by a positioning network of a GNSS. Examples of navigation satellite constellations (or GNSS) include United States&#39; GPS, Russia&#39;s GLONASS, the European Union&#39;s Galileo system, China&#39;s BeiDou Navigation Satellite System, a regional navigation system or GNSS augmentation system (e.g., NAVIC), Japan&#39;s QZSS, France&#39;s DORIS, etc.), or the like. The positioning circuitry  645  comprises various hardware elements (e.g., including hardware devices such as switches, filters, amplifiers, antenna elements, and the like to facilitate OTA communications) to communicate with components of a positioning network, such as navigation satellite constellation nodes. In some embodiments, the positioning circuitry  645  may include a Micro-PNT IC that uses a master timing clock to perform position tracking/estimation without GNSS assistance. The positioning circuitry  645  may also be part of, or interact with, the baseband circuitry  510  and/or RFEMs  615  to communicate with the nodes and components of the positioning network. The positioning circuitry  645  may also provide position data and/or time data to the application circuitry  605 , which may use the data to synchronize operations with various infrastructure (e.g., radio base stations), for turn-by-turn navigation applications, or the like. 
     In some implementations, the interface circuitry may connect the platform  600  with Near-Field Communication (NFC) circuitry  640 . NFC circuitry  640  is configured to provide contactless, short-range communications based on radio frequency identification (RFID) standards, wherein magnetic field induction is used to enable communication between NFC circuitry  640  and NFC-enabled devices external to the platform  600  (e.g., an “NFC touchpoint”). NFC circuitry  640  comprises an NFC controller coupled with an antenna element and a processor coupled with the NFC controller. The NFC controller may be a chip/IC providing NFC functionalities to the NFC circuitry  640  by executing NFC controller firmware and an NFC stack. The NFC stack may be executed by the processor to control the NFC controller, and the NFC controller firmware may be executed by the NFC controller to control the antenna element to emit short-range RF signals. The RF signals may power a passive NFC tag (e.g., a microchip embedded in a sticker or wristband) to transmit stored data to the NFC circuitry  640 , or initiate data transfer between the NFC circuitry  640  and another active NFC device (e.g., a smartphone or an NFC-enabled POS terminal) that is proximate to the platform  600 . 
     The driver circuitry  646  may include software and hardware elements that operate to control particular devices that are embedded in the platform  600 , attached to the platform  600 , or otherwise communicatively coupled with the platform  600 . The driver circuitry  646  may include individual drivers allowing other components of the platform  600  to interact with or control various input/output (I/O) devices that may be present within, or connected to, the platform  600 . For example, driver circuitry  646  may include a display driver to control and allow access to a display device, a touchscreen driver to control and allow access to a touchscreen interface of the platform  600 , sensor drivers to obtain sensor readings of sensor circuitry  621  and control and allow access to sensor circuitry  621 , EMC drivers to obtain actuator positions of the EMCs  622  and/or control and allow access to the EMCs  622 , a camera driver to control and allow access to an embedded image capture device, audio drivers to control and allow access to one or more audio devices. 
     The power management integrated circuitry (PMIC)  625  (also referred to as “power management circuitry  625 ”) may manage power provided to various components of the platform  600 . In particular, with respect to the baseband circuitry  610 , the PMIC  625  may control power-source selection, voltage scaling, battery charging, or DC-to-DC conversion. The PMIC  625  may often be included when the platform  600  is capable of being powered by a battery  630 , for example, when the device is included in a UE  201 ,  301 ,  401 . 
     In some embodiments, the PMIC  625  may control, or otherwise be part of, various power saving mechanisms of the platform  600 . For example, if the platform  600  is in an RRC_Connected state, where it is still connected to the RAN node as it expects to receive traffic shortly, then it may enter a state known as Discontinuous Reception Mode (DRX) after a period of inactivity. During this state, the platform  600  may power down for brief intervals of time and thus save power. If there is no data traffic activity for an extended period of time, then the platform  600  may transition off to an RRC_Idle state, where it disconnects from the network and does not perform operations such as channel quality feedback, handover, etc. The platform  600  goes into a very low power state and it performs paging where again it periodically wakes up to listen to the network and then powers down again. The platform  600  may not receive data in this state; in order to receive data, it must transition back to RRC_Connected state. An additional power saving mode may allow a device to be unavailable to the network for periods longer than a paging interval (ranging from seconds to a few hours). During this time, the device is totally unreachable to the network and may power down completely. Any data sent during this time incurs a large delay and it is assumed the delay is acceptable. 
     A battery  630  may power the platform  600 , although in some examples the platform  600  may be mounted deployed in a fixed location and may have a power supply coupled to an electrical grid. The battery  630  may be a lithium ion battery, a metal-air battery, such as a zinc-air battery, an aluminum-air battery, a lithium-air battery, and the like. In some implementations, such as in V2X applications, the battery  630  may be a typical lead-acid automotive battery. 
     In some implementations, the battery  630  may be a “smart battery,” which includes or is coupled with a Battery Management System (BMS) or battery monitoring integrated circuitry. The BMS may be included in the platform  600  to track the state of charge (SoCh) of the battery  630 . The BMS may be used to monitor other parameters of the battery  630  to provide failure predictions, such as the state of health (SoH) and the state of function (SoF) of the battery  630 . The BMS may communicate the information of the battery  630  to the application circuitry  605  or other components of the platform  600 . The BMS may also include an analog-to-digital (ADC) convertor that allows the application circuitry  605  to directly monitor the voltage of the battery  630  or the current flow from the battery  630 . The battery parameters may be used to determine actions that the platform  600  may perform, such as transmission frequency, network operation, sensing frequency, and the like. 
     A power block, or other power supply coupled to an electrical grid may be coupled with the BMS to charge the battery  630 . In some examples, the power block XS30 may be replaced with a wireless power receiver to obtain the power wirelessly, for example, through a loop antenna in the computer platform  600 . In these examples, a wireless battery charging circuit may be included in the BMS. The specific charging circuits chosen may depend on the size of the battery  630 , and thus, the current required. The charging may be performed using the Airfuel standard promulgated by the Airfuel Alliance, the Qi wireless charging standard promulgated by the Wireless Power Consortium, or the Rezence charging standard promulgated by the Alliance for Wireless Power, among others. 
     User interface circuitry  650  includes various input/output (I/O) devices present within, or connected to, the platform  600 , and includes one or more user interfaces designed to enable user interaction with the platform  600  and/or peripheral component interfaces designed to enable peripheral component interaction with the platform  600 . The user interface circuitry  650  includes input device circuitry and output device circuitry. Input device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for accepting an input including, inter alia, one or more physical or virtual buttons (e.g., a reset button), a physical keyboard, keypad, mouse, touchpad, touchscreen, microphones, scanner, headset, and/or the like. The output device circuitry includes any physical or virtual means for showing information or otherwise conveying information, such as sensor readings, actuator position(s), or other like information. Output device circuitry may include any number and/or combinations of audio or visual display, including, inter alia, one or more simple visual outputs/indicators (e.g., binary status indicators (e.g., light emitting diodes (LEDs)) and multi-character visual outputs, or more complex outputs such as display devices or touchscreens (e.g., Liquid Chrystal Displays (LCD), LED displays, quantum dot displays, projectors, etc.), with the output of characters, graphics, multimedia objects, and the like being generated or produced from the operation of the platform  600 . The output device circuitry may also include speakers or other audio emitting devices, printer(s), and/or the like. In some embodiments, the sensor circuitry  621  may be used as the input device circuitry (e.g., an image capture device, motion capture device, or the like) and one or more EMCs may be used as the output device circuitry (e.g., an actuator to provide haptic feedback or the like). In another example, NFC circuitry comprising an NFC controller coupled with an antenna element and a processing device may be included to read electronic tags and/or connect with another NFC-enabled device. Peripheral component interfaces may include, but are not limited to, a non-volatile memory port, a USB port, an audio jack, a power supply interface, etc. 
     Although not shown, the components of platform  600  may communicate with one another using a suitable bus or interconnect (IX) technology, which may include any number of technologies, including ISA, EISA, PCI, PCIx, PCIe, a Time-Trigger Protocol (TTP) system, a FlexRay system, or any number of other technologies. The bus/IX may be a proprietary bus/IX, for example, used in a SoC based system. Other bus/IX systems may be included, such as an I 2 C interface, an SPI interface, point-to-point interfaces, and a power bus, among others. 
       FIG.  7    illustrates example components of baseband circuitry  710  and radio front end modules (RFEM)  715  in accordance with various embodiments. The baseband circuitry  710  corresponds to the baseband circuitry  510  and  610  of  FIGS.  5  and  6   , respectively. The RFEM  715  corresponds to the RFEM  515  and  615  of  FIGS.  5  and  6   , respectively. As shown, the RFEMs  715  may include Radio Frequency (RF) circuitry  706 , front-end module (FEM) circuitry  708 , antenna array  711  coupled together at least as shown. 
     The baseband circuitry  710  includes circuitry and/or control logic configured to carry out various radio/network protocol and radio control functions that enable communication with one or more radio networks via the RF circuitry  706 . The radio control functions may include, but are not limited to, signal modulation/demodulation, encoding/decoding, radio frequency shifting, etc. In some embodiments, modulation/demodulation circuitry of the baseband circuitry  710  may include Fast-Fourier Transform (FFT), preceding, or constellation mapping/demapping functionality. In some embodiments, encoding/decoding circuitry of the baseband circuitry  710  may include convolution, tail-biting convolution, turbo, Viterbi, or Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) encoder/decoder functionality. Embodiments of modulation/demodulation and encoder/decoder functionality are not limited to these examples and may include other suitable functionality in other embodiments. The baseband circuitry  710  is configured to process baseband signals received from a receive signal path of the RF circuitry  706  and to generate baseband signals for a transmit signal path of the RF circuitry  706 . The baseband circuitry  710  is configured to interface with application circuitry  505 / 605  (see  FIGS.  5  and  6   ) for generation and processing of the baseband signals and for controlling operations of the RF circuitry  706 . The baseband circuitry  710  may handle various radio control functions. 
     The aforementioned circuitry and/or control logic of the baseband circuitry  710  may include one or more single or multi-core processors. For example, the one or more processors may include a 3G baseband processor  704 A, a 4G/LTE baseband processor  704 B, a 5G/NR baseband processor  704 C, or some other baseband processor(s)  704 D for other existing generations, generations in development or to be developed in the future (e.g., sixth generation (6G), etc.). In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of baseband processors  704 A-D may be included in modules stored in the memory  704 G and executed via a Central Processing Unit (CPU)  704 E. In other embodiments, some or all of the functionality of baseband processors  704 A-D may be provided as hardware accelerators (e.g., FPGAs, ASICs, etc.) loaded with the appropriate bit streams or logic blocks stored in respective memory cells. In various embodiments, the memory  704 G may store program code of a real-time OS (RTOS), which when executed by the CPU  704 E (or other baseband processor), is to cause the CPU  704 E (or other baseband processor) to manage resources of the baseband circuitry  710 , schedule tasks, etc. Examples of the RTOS may include Operating System Embedded (OSE)™ provided by Enea®, Nucleus RTOS™ provided by Mentor Graphics®, Versatile Real-Time Executive (VRTX) provided by Mentor Graphics®, ThreadX™ provided by Express Logic®, FreeRTOS, REX OS provided by Qualcomm®, OKL4 provided by Open Kernel (OK) Labs®, or any other suitable RTOS, such as those discussed herein. In addition, the baseband circuitry  710  includes one or more audio digital signal processor(s) (DSP)  704 F. The audio DSP(s)  704 F include elements for compression/decompression and echo cancellation and may include other suitable processing elements in other embodiments. 
     In some embodiments, each of the processors  704 A- 704 D include respective memory interfaces to send/receive data to/from the memory  704 G. The baseband circuitry  710  may further include one or more interfaces to communicatively couple to other circuitries/devices, such as an interface to send/receive data to/from memory external to the baseband circuitry  710 ; an application circuitry interface to send/receive data to/from the application circuitry  505 / 605  of  FIGS.  5 - 7   ); an RF circuitry interface to send/receive data to/from RF circuitry  706  of  FIG.  7   ; a wireless hardware connectivity interface to send/receive data to/from one or more wireless hardware elements (e.g., Near Field Communication (NFC) components, Bluetooth®/Bluetooth® Low Energy components, Wi-Fi® components, and/or the like); and a power management interface to send/receive power or control signals to/from the PMIC  625 . 
     In alternate embodiments (which may be combined with the above described embodiments), baseband circuitry  710  comprises one or more digital baseband systems, which are coupled with one another via an interconnect subsystem and to a CPU subsystem, an audio subsystem, and an interface subsystem. The digital baseband subsystems may also be coupled to a digital baseband interface and a mixed-signal baseband subsystem via another interconnect subsystem. Each of the interconnect subsystems may include a bus system, point-to-point connections, network-on-chip (NOC) structures, and/or some other suitable bus or interconnect technology, such as those discussed herein. The audio subsystem may include DSP circuitry, buffer memory, program memory, speech processing accelerator circuitry, data converter circuitry such as analog-to-digital and digital-to-analog converter circuitry, analog circuitry including one or more of amplifiers and filters, and/or other like components. In an aspect of the present disclosure, baseband circuitry  710  may include protocol processing circuitry with one or more instances of control circuitry (not shown) to provide control functions for the digital baseband circuitry and/or radio frequency circuitry (e.g., the radio front end modules  715 ). 
     Although not shown by  FIG.  7   , in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry  710  includes individual processing device(s) to operate one or more wireless communication protocols (e.g., a “multi-protocol baseband processor” or “protocol processing circuitry”) and individual processing device(s) to implement PHY layer functions. In these embodiments, the PHY layer functions include the aforementioned radio control functions. In these embodiments, the protocol processing circuitry operates or implements various protocol layers/entities of one or more wireless communication protocols. In a first example, the protocol processing circuitry may operate LTE protocol entities and/or 5G/NR protocol entities when the baseband circuitry  710  and/or RF circuitry  706  are part of mmWave communication circuitry or some other suitable cellular communication circuitry. In the first example, the protocol processing circuitry would operate MAC, RLC, PDCP, SDAP, RRC, and NAS functions. In a second example, the protocol processing circuitry may operate one or more IEEE-based protocols when the baseband circuitry  710  and/or RF circuitry  706  are part of a Wi-Fi communication system. In the second example, the protocol processing circuitry would operate Wi-Fi MAC and logical link control (LLC) functions. The protocol processing circuitry may include one or more memory structures (e.g.,  704 G) to store program code and data for operating the protocol functions, as well as one or more processing cores to execute the program code and perform various operations using the data. The baseband circuitry  710  may also support radio communications for more than one wireless protocol. 
     The various hardware elements of the baseband circuitry  710  discussed herein may be implemented, for example, as a solder-down substrate including one or more integrated circuits (ICs), a single packaged IC soldered to a main circuit board or a multi-chip module containing two or more ICs. In one example, the components of the baseband circuitry  710  may be suitably combined in a single chip or chipset or disposed on a same circuit board. In another example, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry  710  and RF circuitry  706  may be implemented together such as, for example, a system on a chip (SoC) or System-in-Package (SiP). In another example, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry  710  may be implemented as a separate SoC that is communicatively coupled with and RF circuitry  706  (or multiple instances of RF circuitry  706 ). In yet another example, some or all of the constituent components of the baseband circuitry  710  and the application circuitry  505 / 605  may be implemented together as individual SoCs mounted to a same circuit board (e.g., a “multi-chip package”). 
     In some embodiments, the baseband circuitry  710  may provide for communication compatible with one or more radio technologies. For example, in some embodiments, the baseband circuitry  710  may support communication with an E-UTRAN or other WMAN, a WLAN, a WPAN. Embodiments in which the baseband circuitry  710  is configured to support radio communications of more than one wireless protocol may be referred to as multi-mode baseband circuitry. 
     RF circuitry  706  may enable communication with wireless networks using modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. In various embodiments, the RF circuitry  706  may include switches, filters, amplifiers, etc. to facilitate the communication with the wireless network. RF circuitry  706  may include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry  708  and provide baseband signals to the baseband circuitry  710 . RF circuitry  706  may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry to up-convert baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry  710  and provide RF output signals to the FEM circuitry  708  for transmission. 
     In some embodiments, the receive signal path of the RF circuitry  706  may include mixer circuitry  706   a , amplifier circuitry  706   b  and filter circuitry  706   c . In some embodiments, the transmit signal path of the RF circuitry  706  may include filter circuitry  706   c  and mixer circuitry  706   a . RF circuitry  706  may also include synthesizer circuitry  706   d  for synthesizing a frequency for use by the mixer circuitry  706   a  of the receive signal path and the transmit signal path. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  706   a  of the receive signal path may be configured to down-convert RF signals received from the FEM circuitry  708  based on the synthesized frequency provided by synthesizer circuitry  706   d . The amplifier circuitry  706   b  may be configured to amplify the down-converted signals and the filter circuitry  706   c  may be a low-pass filter (LPF) or band-pass filter (BPF) configured to remove unwanted signals from the down-converted signals to generate output baseband signals. Output baseband signals may be provided to the baseband circuitry  710  for further processing. In some embodiments, the output baseband signals may be zero-frequency baseband signals, although this is not a requirement. In some embodiments, mixer circuitry  706   a  of the receive signal path may comprise passive mixers, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. 
     In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  706   a  of the transmit signal path may be configured to up-convert input baseband signals based on the synthesized frequency provided by the synthesizer circuitry  706   d  to generate RF output signals for the FEM circuitry  708 . The baseband signals may be provided by the baseband circuitry  710  and may be filtered by filter circuitry  706   c.    
     In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  706   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  706   a  of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for quadrature downconversion and upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  706   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  706   a  of the transmit signal path may include two or more mixers and may be arranged for image rejection (e.g., Hartley image rejection). In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  706   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  706   a  of the transmit signal path may be arranged for direct downconversion and direct upconversion, respectively. In some embodiments, the mixer circuitry  706   a  of the receive signal path and the mixer circuitry  706   a  of the transmit signal path may be configured for super-heterodyne operation. 
     In some embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be analog baseband signals, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. In some alternate embodiments, the output baseband signals and the input baseband signals may be digital baseband signals. In these alternate embodiments, the RF circuitry  706  may include analog-to-digital converter (ADC) and digital-to-analog converter (DAC) circuitry and the baseband circuitry  710  may include a digital baseband interface to communicate with the RF circuitry  706 . 
     In some dual-mode embodiments, a separate radio IC circuitry may be provided for processing signals for each spectrum, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect. 
     In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry  706   d  may be a fractional-N synthesizer or a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer, although the scope of the embodiments is not limited in this respect as other types of frequency synthesizers may be suitable. For example, synthesizer circuitry  706   d  may be a delta-sigma synthesizer, a frequency multiplier, or a synthesizer comprising a phase-locked loop with a frequency divider. 
     The synthesizer circuitry  706   d  may be configured to synthesize an output frequency for use by the mixer circuitry  706   a  of the RF circuitry  706  based on a frequency input and a divider control input. In some embodiments, the synthesizer circuitry  706   d  may be a fractional N/N+1 synthesizer. 
     In some embodiments, frequency input may be provided by a voltage controlled oscillator (VCO), although that is not a requirement. Divider control input may be provided by either the baseband circuitry  710  or the application circuitry  505 / 605  depending on the desired output frequency. In some embodiments, a divider control input (e.g., N) may be determined from a look-up table based on a channel indicated by the application circuitry  505 / 605 . 
     Synthesizer circuitry  706   d  of the RF circuitry  706  may include a divider, a delay-locked loop (DLL), a multiplexer and a phase accumulator. In some embodiments, the divider may be a dual modulus divider (DMD) and the phase accumulator may be a digital phase accumulator (DPA). In some embodiments, the DMD may be configured to divide the input signal by either N or N+1 (e.g., based on a carry out) to provide a fractional division ratio. In some example embodiments, the DLL may include a set of cascaded, tunable, delay elements, a phase detector, a charge pump and a D-type flip-flop. In these embodiments, the delay elements may be configured to break a VCO period up into Nd equal packets of phase, where Nd is the number of delay elements in the delay line. In this way, the DLL provides negative feedback to help ensure that the total delay through the delay line is one VCO cycle. 
     In some embodiments, synthesizer circuitry  706   d  may be configured to generate a carrier frequency as the output frequency, while in other embodiments, the output frequency may be a multiple of the carrier frequency (e.g., twice the carrier frequency, four times the carrier frequency) and used in conjunction with quadrature generator and divider circuitry to generate multiple signals at the carrier frequency with multiple different phases with respect to each other. In some embodiments, the output frequency may be a LO frequency (fLO). In some embodiments, the RF circuitry  706  may include an IQ/polar converter. 
     FEM circuitry  708  may include a receive signal path, which may include circuitry configured to operate on RF signals received from antenna array  711 , amplify the received signals and provide the amplified versions of the received signals to the RF circuitry  706  for further processing. FEM circuitry  708  may also include a transmit signal path, which may include circuitry configured to amplify signals for transmission provided by the RF circuitry  706  for transmission by one or more of antenna elements of antenna array  711 . In various embodiments, the amplification through the transmit or receive signal paths may be done solely in the RF circuitry  706 , solely in the FEM circuitry  708 , or in both the RF circuitry  706  and the FEM circuitry  708 . 
     In some embodiments, the FEM circuitry  708  may include a TX/RX switch to switch between transmit mode and receive mode operation. The FEM circuitry  708  may include a receive signal path and a transmit signal path. The receive signal path of the FEM circuitry  708  may include an LNA to amplify received RF signals and provide the amplified received RF signals as an output (e.g., to the RF circuitry  706 ). The transmit signal path of the FEM circuitry  708  may include a power amplifier (PA) to amplify input RF signals (e.g., provided by RF circuitry  706 ), and one or more filters to generate RF signals for subsequent transmission by one or more antenna elements of the antenna array  711 . 
     The antenna array  711  comprises one or more antenna elements, each of which is configured convert electrical signals into radio waves to travel through the air and to convert received radio waves into electrical signals. For example, digital baseband signals provided by the baseband circuitry  710  is converted into analog RF signals (e.g., modulated waveform) that will be amplified and transmitted via the antenna elements of the antenna array  711  including one or more antenna elements (not shown). The antenna elements may be omnidirectional, direction, or a combination thereof. The antenna elements may be formed in a multitude of arranges as are known and/or discussed herein. The antenna array  711  may comprise microstrip antennas or printed antennas that are fabricated on the surface of one or more printed circuit boards. The antenna array  711  may be formed in as a patch of metal foil (e.g., a patch antenna) in a variety of shapes, and may be coupled with the RF circuitry  706  and/or FEM circuitry  708  using metal transmission lines or the like. 
     Processors of the application circuitry  505 / 605  and processors of the baseband circuitry  710  may be used to execute elements of one or more instances of a protocol stack. For example, processors of the baseband circuitry  710 , alone or in combination, may be used execute Layer 3, Layer 2, or Layer 1 functionality, while processors of the application circuitry  505 / 605  may utilize data (e.g., packet data) received from these layers and further execute Layer 4 functionality (e.g., TCP and UDP layers). As referred to herein, Layer 3 may comprise a RRC layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 2 may comprise a MAC layer, an RLC layer, and a PDCP layer, described in further detail below. As referred to herein, Layer 1 may comprise a PHY layer of a UE/RAN node, described in further detail below. 
       FIG.  8    illustrates components of a core network (e.g., CN  320 ) in accordance with various embodiments. The components of the CN  320  may be implemented in one physical node or separate physical nodes including components to read and execute instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium). In some embodiments, the components of CN  420  may be implemented in a same or similar manner as discussed herein with regard to the components of CN  320 . In some embodiments, NFV is utilized to virtualize any or all of the above-described network node functions via executable instructions stored in one or more computer-readable storage mediums (described in further detail below). A logical instantiation of the CN  320  may be referred to as a network slice  801 , and individual logical instantiations of the CN  320  may provide specific network capabilities and network characteristics. A logical instantiation of a portion of the CN  320  may be referred to as a network sub-slice  802  (e.g., the network sub-slice  802  is shown to include the P-GW  323  and the PCRF  326 ). 
     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. A network instance may refer to information identifying a domain, which may be used for traffic detection and routing in case of different IP domains or overlapping IP addresses. A network slice instance may refer to a set of network functions (NFs) instances and the resources (e.g., compute, storage, and networking resources) required to deploy the network slice. 
     With respect to 5G systems (see, e.g.,  FIG.  4   ), a network slice comprises a RAN part and a CN part. The support of network slicing relies on the principle that traffic for different slices is handled by different PDU sessions. The network can realize the different network slices by scheduling and also by providing different L1/L2 configurations. The UE  401  provides assistance information for network slice selection in an appropriate RRC message, if it has been provided by NAS. While the network can support large number of slices, the UE need not support more than 8 slices simultaneously. 
     A network slice may include the CN  420  control plane and user plane NFs, NG-RANs  410  in a serving PLMN, and a N3IWF functions in the serving PLMN. Individual network slices may have different S-NSSAI and/or may have different SSTs. NSSAI includes one or more S-NSSAIs, and each network slice is uniquely identified by an S-NSSAI. Network slices may differ for supported features and network functions optimizations, and/or multiple network slice instances may deliver the same service/features but for different groups of UEs  401  (e.g., enterprise users). For example, individual network slices may deliver different committed service(s) and/or may be dedicated to a particular customer or enterprise. In this example, each network slice may have different S-NSSAIs with the same SST but with different slice differentiators. Additionally, a single UE may be served with one or more network slice instances simultaneously via a 5G AN and associated with eight different S-NSSAIs. Moreover, an AMF  421  instance serving an individual UE  401  may belong to each of the network slice instances serving that UE. 
     Network Slicing in the NG-RAN  410  involves RAN slice awareness. RAN slice awareness includes differentiated handling of traffic for different network slices, which have been pre-configured. Slice awareness in the NG-RAN  410  is introduced at the PDU session level by indicating the S-NSSAI corresponding to a PDU session in all signaling that includes PDU session resource information. How the NG-RAN  410  supports the slice enabling in terms of NG-RAN functions (e.g., the set of network functions that comprise each slice) is implementation dependent. The NG-RAN  410  selects the RAN part of the network slice using assistance information provided by the UE  401  or the 5GC  420 , which unambiguously identifies one or more of the pre-configured network slices in the PLMN. The NG-RAN  410  also supports resource management and policy enforcement between slices as per SLAs. A single NG-RAN node may support multiple slices, and the NG-RAN  410  may also apply an appropriate RRM policy for the SLA in place to each supported slice. The NG-RAN  410  may also support QoS differentiation within a slice. 
     The NG-RAN  410  may also use the UE assistance information for the selection of an AMF  421  during an initial attach, if available. The NG-RAN  410  uses the assistance information for routing the initial NAS to an AMF  421 . If the NG-RAN  410  is unable to select an AMF  421  using the assistance information, or the UE  401  does not provide any such information, the NG-RAN  410  sends the NAS signaling to a default AMF  421 , which may be among a pool of AMFs  421 . For subsequent accesses, the UE  401  provides a temp ID, which is assigned to the UE  401  by the 5GC  420 , to enable the NG-RAN  410  to route the NAS message to the appropriate AMF  421  as long as the temp ID is valid. The NG-RAN  410  is aware of, and can reach, the AMF  421  that is associated with the temp ID. Otherwise, the method for initial attach applies. 
     The NG-RAN  410  supports resource isolation between slices. NG-RAN  410  resource isolation may be achieved by means of RRM policies and protection mechanisms that should avoid that shortage of shared resources if one slice breaks the service level agreement for another slice. In some implementations, it is possible to fully dedicate NG-RAN  410  resources to a certain slice. How NG-RAN  410  supports resource isolation is implementation dependent. 
     Some slices may be available only in part of the network. Awareness in the NG-RAN  410  of the slices supported in the cells of its neighbors may be beneficial for inter-frequency mobility in connected mode. The slice availability may not change within the UE&#39;s registration area. The NG-RAN  410  and the 5GC  420  are responsible to handle a service request for a slice that may or may not be available in a given area. Admission or rejection of access to a slice may depend on factors such as support for the slice, availability of resources, support of the requested service by NG-RAN  410 . 
     The UE  401  may be associated with multiple network slices simultaneously. In case the UE  401  is associated with multiple slices simultaneously, only one signaling connection is maintained, and for intra-frequency cell reselection, the UE  401  tries to camp on the best cell. For inter-frequency cell reselection, dedicated priorities can be used to control the frequency on which the UE  401  camps. The 5GC  420  is to validate that the UE  401  has the rights to access a network slice. Prior to receiving an Initial Context Setup Request message, the NG-RAN  410  may be allowed to apply some provisional/local policies, based on awareness of a particular slice that the UE  401  is requesting to access. During the initial context setup, the NG-RAN  410  is informed of the slice for which resources are being requested. 
     NFV architectures and infrastructures may be used to virtualize one or more NFs, alternatively performed by proprietary hardware, onto physical resources comprising a combination of industry-standard server hardware, storage hardware, or switches. In other words, NFV systems can be used to execute virtual or reconfigurable implementations of one or more EPC components/functions. 
       FIG.  9    is a block diagram illustrating components, according to some example embodiments, of a system  900  to support NFV. The system  900  is illustrated as including a VIM  902 , an NFVI  904 , an VNFM  906 , VNFs  908 , an EM  910 , an NFVO  912 , and a NM  914 . 
     The VIM  902  manages the resources of the NFVI  904 . The NFVI  904  can include physical or virtual resources and applications (including hypervisors) used to execute the system  900 . The VIM  902  may manage the life cycle of virtual resources with the NFVI  904  (e.g., creation, maintenance, and tear down of VMs associated with one or more physical resources), track VM instances, track performance, fault and security of VM instances and associated physical resources, and expose VM instances and associated physical resources to other management systems. 
     The VNFM  906  may manage the VNFs  908 . The VNFs  908  may be used to execute EPC components/functions. The VNFM  906  may manage the life cycle of the VNFs  908  and track performance, fault and security of the virtual aspects of VNFs  908 . The EM  910  may track the performance, fault and security of the functional aspects of VNFs  908 . The tracking data from the VNFM  906  and the EM  910  may comprise, for example, PM data used by the VIM  902  or the NFVI  904 . Both the VNFM  906  and the EM  910  can scale up/down the quantity of VNFs of the system  900 . 
     The NFVO  912  may coordinate, authorize, release and engage resources of the NFVI  904  in order to provide the requested service (e.g., to execute an EPC function, component, or slice). The NM  914  may provide a package of end-user functions with the responsibility for the management of a network, which may include network elements with VNFs, non-virtualized network functions, or both (management of the VNFs may occur via the EM  910 ). 
       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. Specifically,  FIG.  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 . 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 processor(s)  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 or nonvolatile 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 components or other suitable devices to communicate with one or more peripheral devices  1004  or one or more databases  1006  via a network  1008 . For example, the communication resources  1030  may include wired communication components (e.g., for coupling via USB), 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&#39;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. 
       FIG.  11    illustrates various protocol functions that may be implemented in a wireless communication device according to various embodiments. In particular,  FIG.  11    includes an arrangement  1100  showing interconnections between various protocol layers/entities. The following description of  FIG.  11    is provided for various protocol layers/entities that operate in conjunction with the 5G/NR system standards and LTE system standards, but some or all of the aspects of  FIG.  11    may be applicable to other wireless communication network systems as well. 
     The protocol layers of arrangement  1100  may include one or more of PHY  1110 , MAC  1120 , RLC  1130 , PDCP  1140 , SDAP  1147 , RRC  1155 , and NAS layer  1157 , in addition to other higher layer functions not illustrated. The protocol layers may include one or more service access points (e.g., items  1159 ,  1156 ,  1150 ,  1149 ,  1145 ,  1135 ,  1125 , and  1115  in  FIG.  11   ) that may provide communication between two or more protocol layers. 
     The PHY  1110  may transmit and receive physical layer signals  1105  that may be received from or transmitted to one or more other communication devices. The physical layer signals  1105  may comprise one or more physical channels, such as those discussed herein. The PHY  1110  may further perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and handover purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers, such as the RRC  1155 . The PHY  1110  may still further perform error detection on the transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) coding/decoding of the transport channels, modulation/demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, and MIMO antenna processing. In some embodiments, an instance of PHY  1110  may process requests from and provide indications to an instance of MAC  1120  via one or more PHY-SAP  1115 . According to some embodiments, requests and indications communicated via PHY-SAP  1115  may comprise one or more transport channels. 
     Instance(s) of MAC  1120  may process requests from, and provide indications to, an instance of RLC  1130  via one or more MAC-SAPs  1125 . These requests and indications communicated via the MAC-SAP  1125  may comprise one or more logical channels. The MAC  1120  may perform mapping between the logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs from one or more logical channels onto TBs to be delivered to PHY  1110  via the transport channels, de-multiplexing MAC SDUs to one or more logical channels from TBs delivered from the PHY  1110  via transport channels, multiplexing MAC SDUs onto TBs, scheduling information reporting, error correction through HARQ, and logical channel prioritization. 
     Instance(s) of RLC  1130  may process requests from and provide indications to an instance of PDCP  1140  via one or more radio link control service access points (RLC-SAP)  1135 . These requests and indications communicated via RLC-SAP  1135  may comprise one or more RLC channels. The RLC  1130  may operate in a plurality of modes of operation, including: Transparent Mode™, Unacknowledged Mode (UM), and Acknowledged Mode (AM). The RLC  1130  may execute transfer of upper layer protocol data units (PDUs), error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ) for AM data transfers, and concatenation, segmentation and reassembly of RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers. The RLC  1130  may also execute re-segmentation of RLC data PDUs for AM data transfers, reorder RLC data PDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect duplicate data for UM and AM data transfers, discard RLC SDUs for UM and AM data transfers, detect protocol errors for AM data transfers, and perform RLC re-establishment. 
     Instance(s) of PDCP  1140  may process requests from and provide indications to instance(s) of RRC  1155  and/or instance(s) of SDAP  1147  via one or more packet data convergence protocol service access points (PDCP-SAP)  1145 . These requests and indications communicated via PDCP-SAP  1145  may comprise one or more radio bearers. The PDCP  1140  may execute header compression and decompression of IP data, maintain PDCP Sequence Numbers (SNs), perform in-sequence delivery of upper layer PDUs at re-establishment of lower layers, eliminate duplicates of lower layer SDUs at re-establishment of lower layers for radio bearers mapped on RLC AM, cipher and decipher control plane data, perform integrity protection and integrity verification of control plane data, control timer-based discard of data, and perform security operations (e.g., ciphering, deciphering, integrity protection, integrity verification, etc.). 
     Instance(s) of SDAP  1147  may process requests from and provide indications to one or more higher layer protocol entities via one or more SDAP-SAP  1149 . These requests and indications communicated via SDAP-SAP  1149  may comprise one or more QoS flows. The SDAP  1147  may map QoS flows to DRBs, and vice versa, and may also mark QFIs in DL and UL packets. A single SDAP entity  1147  may be configured for an individual PDU session. In the UL direction, the NG-RAN  210  may control the mapping of QoS Flows to DRB(s) in two different ways, reflective mapping or explicit mapping. For reflective mapping, the SDAP  1147  of a UE  201  may monitor the QFIs of the DL packets for each DRB, and may apply the same mapping for packets flowing in the UL direction. For a DRB, the SDAP  1147  of the UE  201  may map the UL packets belonging to the QoS flows(s) corresponding to the QoS flow ID(s) and PDU session observed in the DL packets for that DRB. To enable reflective mapping, the NG-RAN  410  may mark DL packets over the Uu interface with a QoS flow ID. The explicit mapping may involve the RRC  1155  configuring the SDAP  1147  with an explicit QoS flow to DRB mapping rule, which may be stored and followed by the SDAP  1147 . In some embodiments, the SDAP  1147  may only be used in NR implementations and may not be used in LTE implementations. 
     The RRC  1155  may configure, via one or more management service access points (M-SAP), aspects of one or more protocol layers, which may include one or more instances of PHY  1110 , MAC  1120 , RLC  1130 , PDCP  1140  and SDAP  1147 . In some embodiments, an instance of RRC  1155  may process requests from and provide indications to one or more NAS entities  1157  via one or more RRC-SAPs  1156 . The main services and functions of the RRC  1155  may include broadcast of system information (e.g., included in MIBs or SIBs related to the NAS), broadcast of system information related to the access stratum (AS), paging, establishment, maintenance and release of an RRC connection between the UE  201  and RAN  210  (e.g., RRC connection paging, RRC connection establishment, RRC connection modification, and RRC connection release), establishment, configuration, maintenance and release of point to point Radio Bearers, security functions including key management, inter-RAT mobility, and measurement configuration for UE measurement reporting. The MIBs and SIBs may comprise one or more IEs, which may each comprise individual data fields or data structures. 
     The NAS  1157  may form the highest stratum of the control plane between the UE  201  and the AMF  421 . The NAS  1157  may support the mobility of the UEs  201  and the session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE  201  and a P-GW in LTE systems. 
     According to various embodiments, one or more protocol entities of arrangement  1100  may be implemented in UEs  201 , RAN nodes  211 , AMF  421  in NR implementations or MME  321  in LTE implementations, UPF  402  in NR implementations or S-GW  322  and P-GW  323  in LTE implementations, or the like to be used for control plane or user plane communications protocol stack between the aforementioned devices. In such embodiments, one or more protocol entities that may be implemented in one or more of UE  201 , gNB  211 , AMF  421 , etc. may communicate with a respective peer protocol entity that may be implemented in or on another device using the services of respective lower layer protocol entities to perform such communication. In some embodiments, a gNB-CU of the gNB  211  may host the RRC  1155 , SDAP  1147 , and PDCP  1140  of the gNB that controls the operation of one or more gNB-DUs, and the gNB-DUs of the gNB  211  may each host the RLC  1130 , MAC  1120 , and PHY  1110  of the gNB  211 . 
     In a first example, a control plane protocol stack may comprise, in order from highest layer to lowest layer, NAS  1157 , RRC  1155 , PDCP  1140 , RLC  1130 , MAC  1120 , and PHY  1110 . In this example, upper layers  1160  may be built on top of the NAS  1157 , which includes an IP layer  1161 , an SCTP  1162 , and an application layer signaling protocol (AP)  1163 . 
     In NR implementations, the AP  1163  may be an NG application protocol layer (NGAP or NG-AP)  1163  for the NG interface  213  defined between the NG-RAN node  211  and the AMF  421 , or the AP  1163  may be an Xn application protocol layer (XnAP or Xn-AP)  1163  for the Xn interface  212  that is defined between two or more RAN nodes  211 . 
     The NG-AP  1163  may support the functions of the NG interface  213  and may comprise Elementary Procedures (EPs). An NG-AP EP may be a unit of interaction between the NG-RAN node  211  and the AMF  421 . The NG-AP  1163  services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services (e.g., services related to a UE  201 ) and non-UE-associated services (e.g., services related to the whole NG interface instance between the NG-RAN node  211  and AMF  421 ). These services may include functions including, but not limited to: a paging function for the sending of paging requests to NG-RAN nodes  211  involved in a particular paging area; a UE context management function for allowing the AMF  421  to establish, modify, and/or release a UE context in the AMF  421  and the NG-RAN node  211 ; a mobility function for UEs  201  in ECM-CONNECTED mode for intra-system HOs to support mobility within NG-RAN and inter-system HOs to support mobility from/to EPS systems; a NAS Signaling Transport function for transporting or rerouting NAS messages between UE  201  and AMF  421 ; a NAS node selection function for determining an association between the AMF  421  and the UE  201 ; NG interface management function(s) for setting up the NG interface and monitoring for errors over the NG interface; a warning message transmission function for providing means to transfer warning messages via NG interface or cancel ongoing broadcast of warning messages; a Configuration Transfer function for requesting and transferring of RAN configuration information (e.g., SON information, performance measurement (PM) data, etc.) between two RAN nodes  211  via CN  220 ; and/or other like functions. 
     The XnAP  1163  may support the functions of the Xn interface  212  and may comprise XnAP basic mobility procedures and XnAP global procedures. The XnAP basic mobility procedures may comprise procedures used to handle UE mobility within the 5G NR RAN  211  (or E-UTRAN  310 ), such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN Status Transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, dual connectivity related procedures, and the like. The XnAP global procedures may comprise procedures that are not related to a specific UE  201 , such as Xn interface setup and reset procedures, NG-RAN update procedures, cell activation procedures, and the like. 
     In LTE implementations, the AP  1163  may be an S1 Application Protocol layer (S1-AP)  1163  for the S1 interface  213  defined between an E-UTRAN node  211  and an MME, or the AP  1163  may be an X2 application protocol layer (X2AP or X2-AP)  1163  for the X2 interface  212  that is defined between two or more E-UTRAN nodes  211 . 
     The S1 Application Protocol layer (S1-AP)  1163  may support the functions of the S1 interface, and similar to the NG-AP discussed previously, the S1-AP may comprise S1-AP EPs. An S1-AP EP may be a unit of interaction between the E-UTRAN node  211  and an MME  321  within an LTE CN  220 . The S1-AP  1163  services may comprise two groups: UE-associated services and non UE-associated services. These services perform functions including, but not limited to: E-UTRAN Radio Access Bearer (E-RAB) management, UE capability indication, mobility, NAS signaling transport, RAN Information Management (RIM), and configuration transfer. 
     The X2AP  1163  may support the functions of the X2 interface  212  and may comprise X2AP basic mobility procedures and X2AP global procedures. The X2AP basic mobility procedures may comprise procedures used to handle UE mobility within the E-UTRAN  220 , such as handover preparation and cancellation procedures, SN Status Transfer procedures, UE context retrieval and UE context release procedures, RAN paging procedures, dual connectivity related procedures, and the like. The X2AP global procedures may comprise procedures that are not related to a specific UE  201 , such as X2 interface setup and reset procedures, load indication procedures, error indication procedures, cell activation procedures, and the like. 
     The SCTP layer (alternatively referred to as the SCTP/IP layer)  1162  may provide guaranteed delivery of application layer messages (e.g., NGAP or XnAP messages in NR implementations, or S1-AP or X2AP messages in LTE implementations). The SCTP  1162  may ensure reliable delivery of signaling messages between the RAN node  211  and the AMF  421 /MME  321  based, in part, on the IP protocol, supported by the IP  1161 . The Internet Protocol layer (IP)  1161  may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functionality. In some implementations the IP layer  1161  may use point-to-point transmission to deliver and convey PDUs. In this regard, the RAN node  211  may comprise L2 and L1 layer communication links (e.g., wired or wireless) with the MME/AMF to exchange information. 
     In a second example, a user plane protocol stack may comprise, in order from highest layer to lowest layer, SDAP  1147 , PDCP  1140 , RLC  1130 , MAC  1120 , and PHY  1110 . The user plane protocol stack may be used for communication between the UE  201 , the RAN node  211 , and UPF  402  in NR implementations or an S-GW  322  and P-GW  323  in LTE implementations. In this example, upper layers  1151  may be built on top of the SDAP  1147 , and may include a user datagram protocol (UDP) and IP security layer (UDP/IP)  1152 , a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunneling Protocol for the user plane layer (GTP-U)  1153 , and a User Plane PDU layer (UP PDU)  1163 . 
     The transport network layer  1154  (also referred to as a “transport layer”) may be built on IP transport, and the GTP-U  1153  may be used on top of the UDP/IP layer  1152  (comprising a UDP layer and IP layer) to carry user plane PDUs (UP-PDUs). The IP layer (also referred to as the “Internet layer”) may be used to perform packet addressing and routing functionality. The IP layer may assign IP addresses to user data packets in any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats, for example. 
     The GTP-U  1153  may be used for carrying user data within the GPRS core network and between the radio access network and the core network. The user data transported can be packets in any of IPv4, IPv6, or PPP formats, for example. The UDP/IP  1152  may provide checksums for data integrity, port numbers for addressing different functions at the source and destination, and encryption and authentication on the selected data flows. The RAN node  211  and the S-GW  322  may utilize an S1-U interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising an L1 layer (e.g., PHY  1110 ), an L2 layer (e.g., MAC  1120 , RLC  1130 , PDCP  1140 , and/or SDAP  1147 ), the UDP/IP layer  1152 , and the GTP-U  1153 . The S-GW  322  and the P-GW  323  may utilize an S5/S8a interface to exchange user plane data via a protocol stack comprising an L1 layer, an L2 layer, the UDP/IP layer  1152 , and the GTP-U  1153 . As discussed previously, NAS protocols may support the mobility of the UE  201  and the session management procedures to establish and maintain IP connectivity between the UE  201  and the P-GW  323 . 
     Moreover, although not shown by  FIG.  11   , an application layer may be present above the AP  1163  and/or the transport network layer  1154 . The application layer may be a layer in which a user of the UE  201 , RAN node  211 , or other network element interacts with software applications being executed, for example, by application circuitry  505  or application circuitry  605 , respectively. The application layer may also provide one or more interfaces for software applications to interact with communications systems of the UE  201  or RAN node  211 , such as the baseband circuitry  710 . In some implementations the IP layer and/or the application layer may provide the same or similar functionality as layers 5-7, or portions thereof, of the Open Systems Interconnection (OSI) model (e.g., OSI Layer 7—the application layer, OSI Layer 6—the presentation layer, and OSI Layer 5—the session layer). 
       FIG.  12    is a signaling diagram illustrating the flow of information for enabling application clients to experience service continuity while switching application servers when a change in Edge Data Network is performed according to various exemplary embodiments. In some embodiments, the Application Client (AC)  1250  and the Application Client Handler (ACH)  1252  reside on the UE (e.g., UEs  201 ,  301 ,  401 ) and the remainder of the components are located within the network. The AC  1250  and the ACH  1252  may, for example, be a set of instructions on the memory circuitry  620  whose functions are performed by the application circuitry  602  of the UE. In some embodiments, the application server handlers may be a set of instructions stored on the memory circuitry  520  of an application server  230  and performed by the application circuitry  505 . For example, in the following description, the original ASH  1256  may be a set of instructions store on and performed by the original AS  1258 . Similarly, the new ASH  1260  may be a set of instructions stored on and performed by the new AS  1262 . In some embodiments, the application server handlers may alternatively be stored remotely, such as, for example, on one or more of the plurality of network elements  222  of the CN  220  and performed by the application servers  230  (e.g., AS  1258 ,  1262  in the following description). 
     At  1201 , the ACH  1252  of the UE connects to the corresponding Application Server Handler (ASH)  1256  in the designated Edge Data Network (DN). The UE-ID is provided to enable the ASH  1256  to associate future AC-IDs with the UE-ID (see  1203 ). This operation may occur a single time, during the attachment of the UE to the network. At  1202 , the AC  1250  that requires Edge Mobility service, registers with the ACH  1252  to receive future mobility event triggers. The AC  1250  provides the ID of the Application Server (AS) with which it will interact. This allows for future detection of which Application Servers may perform context mirroring as a result of a mobility event. In this exemplary message flow, one AC  1250  registration is described, but there may be several ACs that register at different times. 
     At  1203 , the ACH  1252  updates the ASH  1256  of the new registration, providing the AC-ID of the new client. This is to identify the AC&#39;s  1250  context to be mirrored when a mobility event occurs. At  1204 , the ACH  1252  acknowledges the successful registration. At  1205 , the AC  1250  connects to the serving Application Server (AS)  1258  which is deployed in designated Edge DN. At  1206 , a Mobility Event Occurs. As a result of the UE moving to a different point of attachment which is better served by a different Edge DN, the new Edge DN identified by a target DNAI is assigned. An Early (or Late) notification (as specified in 3GPP TS 23.501) may be generated by the 5G Core Network  1254  and sent to the original ASH  1256  with the DNAI of the new ASH  1260  to trigger the transition. At  1207 , the original ASH  1256  collects the AS-IDs of all Application Servers (e.g., AS  1258 ) that serve Application Clients (e.g.,  1250 ) in the moving UE (provided in  1202 ) and issues a transition request to each of those servers. The original ASH  1256  provides the AC-ID so that the original AS  1258  knows which context to transfer. 
     At  1208 , the original ASH  1256  sends a Transition Request to the new ASH  1260  in the new Edge DN and provides the UE-ID along with the AS-IDs of all participating Application Servers (e.g., AS  1258 ) to trigger the mirroring process. Each original AS (e.g., AS  1258 ) will issue the AC-ID of the client whose context is mirrored to the corresponding new AS  1262 . At  1209 , the new ASH  1260  issues transition requests to all new Application Servers (e.g., AS  1262 ) that should perform mirroring. The old AS-ID (oAS-ID) is provided to each new AS (e.g., AS  1262 ), along with the UE-ID, to enable the new AS  1262  to connect to its counterpart (e.g., AS  1258 ) in the old Edge DN. At  1210 , the new Application Servers (e.g., new AS  1262 ) start mirroring. At  1211 , the original Application Servers (e.g., AS  1258 ) indicate to the original ASH  1256  that mirroring has begun. At  1212 , since all mirroring processes have begun, the original ASH  1256  sends an acknowledgement of the mobility event to the 5G Core Network  1254 . At  1213 , the original ASH  1256  sends a Mobility Event notification to the ACH  1252  and provides the new ASH-ID and the list of new AS-IDs. At  1214 , the ACH  1252  connects to the new ASH  1260  and provides the list of AS-IDs and AC-IDs corresponding to the servers, to enable future mobility support. This is a repeat of  1201  and multiple  1203   s.    
     At  1215 , the Application Clients  1250  are notified of the mobility event and each receives the IP address of the AS (e.g., new AS  1262 ) to which it should connect. At  1216 , each AC  1250  disconnects from the original AS  1258  and connects to the new AS  1262  (this is implementation-specific). In some UE implementations  1215  and  1216  may be skipped, provided that the ACH  1252  is able to hide the mobility event from the application client. At  1217 , each new AS (e.g., new AS  1262 ) informs the new ASH  1260  of the completion of the mirroring process. The process with the corresponding original AS  1258  is also terminated. At  1218 , the new ASH  1260  informs the original ASH  1256  of the transition completion. At  1219 , the original ASH  1256  informs the 5G Core Network  1254  that the transition has completed. 
     EXAMPLES 
     Example 1 may include the Application Client Enabler registers to the AS Handler for the Mobility Event notification by including the UE ID. 
     Example 2 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, when receiving the notification message (e.g. from the 5G System) including target DNAI and User Identifier, the old AS Handler determines the new AS Handler based on the target DNAI and sends a Transition Request to the new AS Handler by including the old AS ID and UE ID. 
     Example 3 may include the method of example 2 or some other example herein, wherein the new AS Handler further sends a Transition Request to the new AS by including the UE ID and the old AS-ID. 
     Example 4 may include the method of example 3 or some other example herein, wherein after receiving the Transition Response, the old AS Handler notifies the Application Client Handler about the identifier of the new Application Server(s) and the identifier of the new AS Handler. 
     Example 5 may include the method of example 4 or some other example herein, wherein the Application Client Handler further notifies the Application Client about the identifier of the new AS and the UE ID. 
     Example 6 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, wherein the UE ID is a GPSI. 
     Example 7 may include the method of example 1 or some other example herein, the UE ID is an external identifier. 
     Example 8 may include the method of example 2 or some other example herein, wherein the identifier of the old AS is a FQDN. 
     Example 9 may include the method of example 2 or some other example herein, wherein the identifier of the old AS is an IP Address. 
     Example 10 may include the method of example 2 or some other example herein, wherein the identifier of the old AS is other format of identifier. 
     Example 11 may include the method of example 4 or some other example herein, wherein the identifier of the new Application Server and the new AS Handler is a FQDN. 
     Example 12 may include the method of example 4 or some other example herein, wherein the identifier of the new Application Server and the new AS Handler is an IP address. 
     Example 13 may include the method of example 4 or some other example herein, wherein the identifier of the new Application Server and the new AS Handler is other format of identifier. 
     Example 14 may include the method of example 4 or some other example herein, wherein the Client Handler registers to the new AS Handler by including UE ID. 
     Example 15 may include the method of example 14 or some other example herein, wherein the new AS Handler sends a Transition Complete to the old AS Handler by including UE ID. 
     Example 16 may include the method of example 15 or some other example herein, wherein the old AS Handler triggers release the Session Context in the old AS. 
     Example 17 may include a method comprising: receiving an application ID (AC-ID) associated with an application client for a UE; receiving a mobility event notification including a UE ID of the UE and a target DNAI to indicate a target Edge data network to which a transition of a data connection for the application client is to be performed; encoding an outgoing transition request for transmission to a source application server to indicate the transition of the data connection from the source application server; and encoding an incoming transition request for transmission to a target application server handler (ASH) of the target Edge data network to indicate the transition of the data connection to the target Edge data network. 
     Example 18 may include the method of example 17 or another example herein, wherein the outgoing transition request includes the AC-ID. 
     Example 19 may include the method of example 17-18 or another example herein, wherein the incoming transition request includes an application server ID (AS-ID) of the source application server and the UE-ID. 
     Example 20 may include the method of example 17-19 or another example herein, wherein the mobility event notification is received from a 5G core network. 
     Example 21 may include the method of example 17-20 or another example herein, wherein the AC-ID is received from a client handler of the UE. 
     Example 22 may include the method of example 17-21 or another example herein, further comprising receiving a notification that the transition has been started. 
     Example 23 may include the method of example 22 or another example herein, wherein the notification is received from the source application server. 
     Example 24 may include the method of example 22-23 or another example herein, further comprising encoding for transmission to a 5G core network an acknowledgement of the mobility event notification responsive to receive of the notification that the transition has been started. 
     Example 25 may include the method of example 17-24 or another example herein, further comprising encoding for transmission to a client handler of the UE an indication of a target application server handler (ASH) of the target Edge data network. 
     Example 26 may include the method of example 17-25 or another example herein, further comprising receiving an indication from the target application server handler that the transition has been completed. 
     Example 27 may include the method of example 26 or another example herein, further comprising encoding for transmission to the 5G core network an indication that the transition is completed. 
     Example 28 may include the method of example 17-27 or another example herein, wherein the AC-ID is included in an app usage notification that further includes an application server ID of the source application server. 
     Example 29 may include the method of example 17-28 or another example herein, wherein the method is performed by a source application server handler associated with the source Edge data network, or a portion thereof. 
     Example 30 may include a method comprising: receiving an outgoing transition request from a source application server handler (ASH) of a source Edge data network to indicate a transition of a data connection for an application run by a UE from the source Edge data network to a target Edge data network, wherein the outgoing transition request includes an application ID (AC-ID) of the application; and performing, based on the outgoing transition request, context mirroring with a target application server of the target application network to provide UE context information associated with the application to the target application network. 
     Example 31 may include the method of example 30 or another example herein, further comprising encoding for transmission to the source ASH, a notification to indicate that the transition has started. 
     Example 32 may include the method of example 31 or another example herein, wherein the notification is transmitted after performance of the context mirroring. 
     Example 33 may include the method of example 30-32 or another example herein, wherein the method is performed by a source application server of the source Edge data network, or a portion thereof. 
     Example 34 may include an apparatus comprising means to perform one or more elements of a method described in or related to any of examples 1-33, or any other method or process described herein. 
     Example 35 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 1-33, or any other method or process described herein. 
     Example 36 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 1-33, or any other method or process described herein. 
     Example 37 may include a method, technique, or process as described in or related to any of examples 1-33, or portions or parts thereof. 
     Example 38 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 1-33, or portions thereof. 
     Example 39 may include a signal as described in or related to any of examples 1-33, or portions or parts thereof. 
     Example 40 may include a datagram, packet, frame, segment, protocol data unit (PDU), or message as described in or related to any of examples 1-33, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure. 
     Example 41 may include a signal encoded with data as described in or related to any of examples 1-33, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure. 
     Example 42 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 1-33, or portions or parts thereof, or otherwise described in the present disclosure. 
     Example 43 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 1-33, or portions thereof. 
     Example 44 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 1-33, or portions thereof. 
     Example 45 may include a signal in a wireless network as shown and described herein. 
     Example 46 may include a method of communicating in a wireless network as shown and described herein. 
     Example 47 may include a system for providing wireless communication as shown and described herein. 
     Example 48 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. 
     Those skilled in the art will understand that the above-described exemplary embodiments may be implemented in any suitable software or hardware configuration or combination thereof. An exemplary hardware platform for implementing the exemplary embodiments may include, for example, an Intel x86 based platform with compatible operating system, a Windows OS, a Mac platform and MAC OS, a mobile device having an operating system such as iOS, Android, etc. In a further example, the exemplary embodiments of the above described method may be embodied as a program containing lines of code stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium that, when compiled, may be executed on a processor or microprocessor. 
     It is well understood that the use of personally identifiable information should follow privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized as meeting or exceeding industry or governmental requirements for maintaining the privacy of users. In particular, personally identifiable information data should be managed and handled so as to minimize risks of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of authorized use should be clearly indicated to users. 
     It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made in the present disclosure, without departing from the spirit or the scope of the disclosure. Thus, it is intended that the present disclosure cover modifications and variations of this disclosure provided they come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalent.

Metadata:
Filing Date: 20200429
Publication Date: 20241126
Grant Date: 20241126
Priority Date: 20190429
Inventors: SHAN, CHANGHONG
STOJANOVSKI, Alexandre Saso
Liao, Ching-Yu
MOSES, DANNY
Assignee: APPLE INC
CPC Classifications: [{"code": "H04W4/50", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W36/0016", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W36/0033", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W36/0055", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W36/0016", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W4/50", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W36/32", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W4/50", "inventive": true, "first": false, "tree": "[]"}, {"code": "H04W36/0016", "inventive": true, "first": true, "tree": "[]"}]
Family ID: 70740806