BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of the present embodiments, and the attendant advantages and features thereof, will be more readily understood by reference to the following detailed description when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates a conventional combined FWA and MBB access configuration;

FIG. 2 illustrates overlapping resources for FWA and MBB traffic as a function of time of day;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of an example network architecture illustrating a communication system according to principles disclosed herein;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a network node in communication with a wireless device over a wireless connection according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 is a block diagram of a network node in communication with FWA and MBB users;

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an example process in a network node for intent based automation for partitioned radio systems according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of another example process in a network node for intent based automation for partitioned radio systems according to some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of yet another example process in a network node for intent based automation for partitioned radio systems according to some embodiments of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Before describing in detail example embodiments, it is noted that the embodiments reside primarily in combinations of apparatus components and processing steps related to intent based automation for partitioned radio systems.

Accordingly, components have been represented where appropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only those specific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments so as not to obscure the disclosure with details that will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art having the benefit of the description herein.

As used herein, relational terms, such as “first” and “second,” “top” and “bottom,” and the like, may be used solely to distinguish one entity or element from another entity or element without necessarily requiring or implying any physical or logical relationship or order between such entities or elements. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the concepts described herein. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes” and/or “including” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

In embodiments described herein, the joining term, “in communication with” and the like, may be used to indicate electrical or data communication, which may be accomplished by physical contact, induction, electromagnetic radiation, radio signaling, infrared signaling or optical signaling, for example. One having ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that multiple components may interoperate and modifications and variations are possible of achieving the electrical and data communication.

In some embodiments described herein, the term “coupled,” “connected,” and the like, may be used herein to indicate a connection, although not necessarily directly, and may include wired and/or wireless connections.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the concepts described herein. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes” and/or “including” when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof.

The term “network node” used herein can be any kind of network node comprised in a radio network which may further comprise any of base station (BS), radio base station, base transceiver station (BTS), base station controller (BSC), radio network controller (RNC), g Node B (gNB), evolved Node B (eNB or eNodeB), Node B, multi-standard radio (MSR) radio node such as MSR BS, multi-cell/multicast coordination entity (MCE), relay node, donor node controlling relay, radio access point (AP), transmission points, transmission nodes, Remote Radio Unit (RRU) Remote Radio Head (RRH), a core network node (e.g., mobile management entity (MME), self-organizing network (SON) node, a coordinating node, positioning node, MDT node, etc.), an external node (e.g., 3rd party node, a node external to the current network), nodes in distributed antenna system (DAS), a spectrum access system (SAS) node, an element management system (EMS), etc. The network node may also comprise test equipment. The term “radio node” used herein may be used to also denote a wireless device (WD) such as a wireless device (WD) or a radio network node.

In some embodiments, the non-limiting terms wireless device (WD) or a user equipment (UE) are used interchangeably. The WD herein can be any type of wireless device capable of communicating with a network node or another WD over radio signals, such as wireless device (WD). The WD may also be a radio communication device, target device, device to device (D2D) WD, machine type WD or WD capable of machine to machine communication (M2M), low-cost and/or low-complexity WD, a sensor equipped with WD, Tablet, mobile terminals, smart phone, laptop embedded equipped (LEE), laptop mounted equipment (LME), USB dongles, Customer Premises Equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, or a Narrowband IoT (NB-IOT) device etc. Thus, the WD can be a mobile broadband (MBB) device, a fixed wireless access (FWA) device or an IoT device.

Also, in some embodiments the generic term “radio network node” is used. It can be any kind of a radio network node which may comprise any of base station, radio base station, base transceiver station, base station controller, network controller, RNC, evolved Node B (eNB), Node B, gNB, Multi-cell/multicast Coordination Entity (MCE), relay node, access point, radio access point, Remote Radio Unit (RRU) Remote Radio Head (RRH). A network node may be a radio base station in a single location or the functions of the network node may be distributed among a radio base station serving one or more geographical areas or cells and one or more remote nodes. A network node may have functionality to communicate with one or more other network nodes, a terrestrial network, and/or one or more satellites.

Note that although terminology from one particular wireless system, such as, for example, 3GPP LTE and/or New Radio (NR), may be used in this disclosure, this should not be seen as limiting the scope of the disclosure to only the aforementioned system. Other wireless systems, including without limitation Wide Band Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), Wi-Fi, Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Ultra Mobile Broadband (UMB) and Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), may also benefit from exploiting the ideas covered within this disclosure.

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

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

Embodiments described herein solve one or more of the problems described above while reducing the cost for a mobile network operator when offering two different wireless services such as an MBB service and an FWA service, for example, over the same frequency carrier in same geographical area. Some embodiments eliminate the need for costly per-cell configuration parameter tuning. Cost is also reduced by not having to manually re-configure the radio resource control configuration parameters over time. A second advantage to the mobile network operator is that the service levels of the wireless services are predictable, easily provided and automatically maintained by the system. Yet another advantage is that the time to market for a FWA service in a new area is reduced as no pre-analysis is required to configure the system. Further, the risk for bad performance due to unforeseen conflicts between pre-designed and rule-based radio resource control functions is reduced.

Some embodiments solve one or more the problems above as follows:

- 1. Difficulty to configure the system to get the right service performance. Rather than configure the system parameters, the mobile network operator sets the desired service levels such as minimum average throughput directly and the system tunes its performance to these intent values.
- 2. A costly process of context-dependent and manual per-cell configuration. In some embodiments disclosed herein the same intent-values may be used for all cells.
- 3. The system needs to be re-configured when new subscribers are added and when traffic patterns change. In some embodiments, once the intents are given to the system, the intent handler may automatically adjust the RRP parameter to meet the intents. Also, when circumstances such as number of subscribers change, an intent handler may adjust the RRP to meet the intents.
- 4. System performance degradation due to conflicts between radio resource control functions. In some embodiments, an intent handler employs artificial intelligence (AI) (also referred to as machine learning (ML) to learn about conflicts between different resource control functions and to mitigate or avoid these conflicts. In the case of unavoidable conflicts, the intent handler may resolve the conflicts based on priorities provided by the intent owner module.

Referring again to the drawing figures, in which like elements are referred to by like reference numerals, there is shown in FIG. 3 a schematic diagram of a communication system 10, according to an embodiment, such as a 3GPP-type cellular network that may support standards such as LTE and/or NR (5G), which comprises an access network 12, such as a radio access network, and a core network 14. The access network 12 comprises a plurality of network nodes 16a, 16b, 16c (referred to collectively as network nodes 16), such as NBs, eNBs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each defining a corresponding coverage area 18a, 18b, 18c (referred to collectively as coverage areas 18). Each network node 16a, 16b, 16c is connectable to the core network 14 over a wired or wireless connection 20. A first wireless device (WD) 22a located in coverage area 18a is configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding network node 16a. A second WD 22b in coverage area 18b is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding network node 16b. While a plurality of WDs 22a, 22b (collectively referred to as wireless devices 22) are illustrated in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to a situation where a sole WD is in the coverage area or where a sole WD is connecting to the corresponding network node 16. Note that although only two WDs 22 and three network nodes 16 are shown for convenience, the communication system may include many more WDs 22 and network nodes 16. Note further that in some embodiments WDs 22 may be FWA devices and/or MBB devices. Further, FWA devices may be in the same or different cells as MBB devices. An example of an FWA device is a consumer premises equipment (CPE) and an example of a MBB device is a smartphone.

Also, it is contemplated that a WD 22 can be in simultaneous communication and/or configured to separately communicate with more than one network node 16 and more than one type of network node 16. For example, a WD 22 can have dual connectivity with a network node 16 that supports LTE and the same or a different network node 16 that supports NR. As an example, WD 22 can be in communication with an eNB for LTE/E-UTRAN and a gNB for NR/NG-RAN.

A network node 16 (eNB or gNB) may be configured to include an intent handler 24 which is configured to adjust or cause adjustment of a partition of radio resources between a first access group of WDs and a second access group of WDs based on whether a monitored intent metric exceeds or falls below a corresponding target value. The network node 16 may be configured to include an intent owner module 26 which is configured to receive target values for a first intent metric and a second intent metric from a network operator, the first intent metric being indicative of a quality of experience of the first communication network users and the second intent metric being indicative of a quality of experience of the second communication network users; and determine a first service level intent associated with the first intent metric and a second service level intent associated with the second intent metric based at least in part on the target values, a service level intent being indicative of a minimum level of service. In some embodiments, a mobile network operator (MNO) returns target values for the intent metric that reflect the service level objectives for the MBB and FWA services (or other wireless services), respectively.

Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the WD 22 and network node 16 discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to FIG. 4.

The communication system 10 includes a network node 16 provided in a communication system 10 and including hardware 28 enabling it to communicate with the WD 22. The hardware 28 may include a radio interface 30 for setting up and maintaining at least a wireless connection 32 with a WD 22 located in a coverage area 18 served by the network node 16. The radio interface 30 may be formed as or may include, for example, one or more RF transmitters, one or more RF receivers, and/or one or more RF transceivers. The radio interface 30 includes an array of antennas 34 to radiate and receive signal(s) carrying electromagnetic waves.

In the embodiment shown, the hardware 28 of the network node 16 further includes processing circuitry 36. The processing circuitry 36 may include a processor 38 and a memory 40. In particular, in addition to or instead of a processor, such as a central processing unit, and memory, the processing circuitry 36 may comprise integrated circuitry for processing and/or control, e.g., one or more processors and/or processor cores and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) and/or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 38 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and/or read from) the memory 40, which may comprise any kind of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory, e.g., cache and/or buffer memory and/or RAM (Random Access Memory) and/or ROM (Read-Only Memory) and/or optical memory and/or EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory).

Thus, the network node 16 further has software 42 stored internally in, for example, memory 40, or stored in external memory (e.g., database, storage array, network storage device, etc.) accessible by the network node 16 via an external connection. The software 42 may be executable by the processing circuitry 36. The processing circuitry 36 may be configured to control any of the methods and/or processes described herein and/or to cause such methods, and/or processes to be performed, e.g., by network node 16. Processor 38 corresponds to one or more processors 38 for performing network node 16 functions described herein. The memory 40 is configured to store data, programmatic software code and/or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software 42 may include instructions that, when executed by the processor 38 and/or processing circuitry 36, causes the processor 38 and/or processing circuitry 36 to perform the processes described herein with respect to network node 16. For example, processing circuitry 36 of the network node 16 may include the intent handler 24 which is configured to adjust or cause to be adjusted a partition of radio resources between a first access group of WDs and a second access group of WDs based on whether a monitored intent metric exceeds or falls below a corresponding target value. The processing circuitry 36 of the network node 16 may include the intent owner module 26 which is configured to receive target values for a first intent metric and a second intent metric from a network operator, the first intent metric being indicative of a quality of experience of the first communication network users and the second intent metric being indicative of a quality of experience of the second communication network users; and determine a first service level intent associated with the first intent metric and a second service level intent associated with the second intent metric based at least in part on the target values, a service level intent being indicative of a minimum level of service.

The network node 16 may be in communication with a mobile network operator (MNO) 25. The MNO 25 may in some embodiments included within or at the network node 16. The MNO 25 returns target values for an intent metric that reflect the service level objectives for the MBB and FWA services (or other wireless services), respectively. The communication system 10 further includes the WD 22 already referred to. The WD 22 may have hardware 44 that may include a radio interface 46 configured to set up and maintain a wireless connection 32 with a network node 16 serving a coverage area 18 in which the WD 22 is currently located. The radio interface 46 may be formed as or may include, for example, one or more RF transmitters, one or more RF receivers, and/or one or more RF transceivers. The radio interface 46 includes an array of antennas 48 to radiate and receive signal(s) carrying electromagnetic waves.

The hardware 44 of the WD 22 further includes processing circuitry 50. The processing circuitry 50 may include a processor 52 and memory 54. In particular, in addition to or instead of a processor, such as a central processing unit, and memory, the processing circuitry 50 may comprise integrated circuitry for processing and/or control, e.g., one or more processors and/or processor cores and/or FPGAs (Field Programmable Gate Array) and/or ASICs (Application Specific Integrated Circuitry) adapted to execute instructions. The processor 52 may be configured to access (e.g., write to and/or read from) memory 54, which may comprise any kind of volatile and/or nonvolatile memory, e.g., cache and/or buffer memory and/or RAM (Random Access Memory) and/or ROM (Read-Only Memory) and/or optical memory and/or EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read-Only Memory).

Thus, the WD 22 may further comprise software 56, which is stored in, for example, memory 54 at the WD 22, or stored in external memory (e.g., database, storage array, network storage device, etc.) accessible by the WD 22. The software 56 may be executable by the processing circuitry 50. The software 56 may include a client application 58. The client application 58 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via the WD 22.

The processing circuitry 50 may be configured to control any of the methods and/or processes described herein and/or to cause such methods, and/or processes to be performed, e.g., by WD 22. The processor 52 corresponds to one or more processors 52 for performing WD 22 functions described herein. The WD 22 includes memory 54 that is configured to store data, programmatic software code and/or other information described herein. In some embodiments, the software 56 and/or the client application 58 may include instructions that, when executed by the processor 52 and/or processing circuitry 50, causes the processor 52 and/or processing circuitry 50 to perform the processes described herein with respect to WD 22.

In some embodiments, the inner workings of the network node 16 and WD 22 may be as shown in FIG. 4 and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that of FIG. 3.

The wireless connection 32 between the WD 22 and the network node 16 is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. More precisely, the teachings of some of these embodiments may improve the data rate, latency, and/or power consumption and thereby provide benefits such as reduced user waiting time, relaxed restriction on file size, better responsiveness, extended battery lifetime, etc. In some embodiments, a measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve.

Although FIGS. 3 and 4 show various “units” such as the intent handler 24 and intent owner module 26 as being within the processor 38, it is contemplated that these units may be implemented such that a portion of the unit is stored in a corresponding memory 40 within the processing circuitry 36. In other words, the units may be implemented in hardware or in a combination of hardware and software within the processing circuitry 36.

FIG. 5 is a more detailed block diagram of the network node 16 showing intent handling. Connectivity between the Internet 60 and FWA WDs 22-1 and MBB WDs 22-2 is provided via the network node 16 and any intermediate systems 62. The network node 16 includes the radio interface 30 which provides radio communications between the WDs 22-1 and 22-2 and the network node 16. The network node also includes the processing circuitry 36 which may include the intent handler 24, intent owner module 26, an RRP module 64 and an RAN scheduling module 66. Note that in some embodiments, the functionality attributed to RRP module 64 and RAN scheduling module 66 may be implemented in whole or in part in hardware. The functionality of the modules 24, 64 and 66, as well as the functionality of the intent owner module 26, is described below.

FIG. 6 is a flowchart of an example process in a network node 16 for intent based automation for partitioned radio systems. One or more blocks described herein may be performed by one or more elements of network node 16 such as by one or more of processing circuitry 36 (including the intent handler 24 and/or intent owner 26 modules), processor 38, and/or radio interface 30. Network node 16 such as via processing circuitry 36 and/or processor 38 and/or radio interface 30 is configured to receive target values for at least one intent metric (Block S10). The process also includes monitoring the at least one intent metric for which target values are received (Block S12). The process also includes adjusting a partition of radio resources between a first access group of WDs and a second access group of WDs based on whether a monitored intent metric exceeds or falls below a corresponding target value (Block S14).

FIG. 7 is a flowchart of an example process in a network node 16 for intent based automation for partitioned radio systems. One or more blocks described herein may be performed by one or more elements of network node 16 such as by one or more of processing circuitry 36 (including the intent handler 24), processor 38, and/or radio interface 30. Network node 16 such as via processing circuitry 36 and/or processor 38 and/or radio interface 30 is configured to determine at least a first intent metric and a second intent metric based at least in part on performance measurements, the first intent metric being indicative of a quality of experience of users of the first communication network and the second intent metric being indicative of a quality of experience of users of the second communication network (Block S16). The process also includes comparing the first intent metric and the second intent metric to respective ones of a first service level intent for communications of the first communication network and a second service level intent for communications of the second communication network, a service level intent including an indication of a minimum service level (Block S18). The process also includes determining a radio resource partition, RRP, between the communications of the first communication network and the communications of the second communication network based at least in part on the comparison (Block S20).

In some embodiments, the first intent metric and the second intent metric are based at least in part on a data transfer rate. In some embodiments, the performance measurements are performed by a scheduler. In some embodiments, the first and second service level intents are based at least in part on target values from a network operator. In some embodiments, the process also includes transmitting an indication of available intent metrics to an intent owner module and receiving the first and second service level intents. In some embodiments, the quality of experience of users of the first communication network and the quality of experience of users of the second communication network are based at least in part on a downlink throughput for the first communication network users and the second communication network users, respectively. In some embodiments, the RRP is determined base in part on a priority intent received from an intent owner module. In some embodiments, the process also includes sending a reconfiguration signal to an RRP unit configured to change a partition between resources for communications of the first communication network and resources for communications of the second communication network. In some embodiments, a service level intent includes at least one of a throughput target, an energy consumption limit and packet latency bounds. In some embodiments, at least one of the intent metrics includes at least one of an average downlink throughput, an uplink throughput, a worst user downlink throughput and a packet latency. In some embodiments, the first communication network is a mobile broadband, MBB, communication network and the second communication network is one of a fixed wireless access, FWA, communication network and an Internet of Things, IoT, communication network.

FIG. 8 is a flowchart of an example process in a network node 16 for intent based automation for partitioned radio systems. One or more blocks described herein may be performed by one or more elements of network node 16 such as by one or more of processing circuitry 36 (including the intent handler 24), processor 38, and/or radio interface 30. Network node 16 such as via processing circuitry 36 and/or processor 38 and/or radio interface 30 is configured to store a radio resource partition, RRP, parameter indicating an allocation of radio resources between communications of the first communication network users and communications of second communication network users (Block S22). The process also includes receiving target values for a first intent metric and a second intent metric from a network operator, the first intent metric being indicative of a quality of experience of first communication network users and the second intent metric being indicative of a quality of experience of second communication network users (Block S24). The process also includes determining a first service level intent associated with the first intent metric and a second service level intent associated with the second intent metric, a service level intent being indicative of a minimum level of service (Block S26). The process further includes determining the first intent metric and the second intent metric based at least in part on performance measurements (Block S28); and determining the RRP parameter based at least in part on a comparison between the first and second intent metrics and respective first and second service level intents (Block S30).

In some embodiments, obtaining the performance measurements from a scheduler based at least in part on at least one of a data transfer rate, a distribution of packet latencies and a packet loss rate. In some embodiments, the process also includes adapting the RRP parameter to drive a difference between the first intent metric and the first service level intent toward zero. In some embodiments, the process also includes sending the first and second intent metrics to a network operator and receive corresponding target values from the network operator, translating the target values to corresponding first and second service level intents. In some embodiments, the process also includes receiving a priority intent from the network operator, the priority intent indicating a higher priority for one of the first communication network and the second communication network, determining the RRP parameter that results in an intent metric that satisfies a service level intent for communications of the one of the first communication network and the second communication network having the higher priority. In some embodiments, the first communication network is a mobile broadband, MBB, communication network and the second communication network is one of a fixed wireless access, FWA, communication network and an Internet of Things, IoT, communication network.

Having described the general process flow of arrangements of the disclosure and having provided examples of hardware and software arrangements for implementing the processes and functions of the disclosure, the sections below provide details and examples of arrangements for intent based automation for partitioned radio systems.

In some embodiments, the system includes a cellular radio network—e.g., a 4G, 5G or 6G 3GPP-based cellular network—providing radio coverage over a geographic area (i.e., a coverage area 18). The cellular radio network includes a radio interface 30 including radio unit and a plurality of antenna systems. The cellular radio network may include radio-access network hardware and software which may be implemented by the RAN system 65. In the geographic area 18 there may be a plurality of at least two types of users, here called FWA users 22-1 and MBB users 22-2. But the methods and network nodes 16 disclosed herein are not limited to these two types of wireless services. For example, the two types of wireless services may be MBB and IoT services. The mobile broadband users 22-2 may have a radio communication device and a subscription suitable for a cellular mobile broadband service, e.g., a 3GPP User Equipment Smartphone with a subscriber identification module (SIM) card representing a traditional mobile data plan subscription. The FWA users 22-1 may have a radio communication device and a subscription suitable for a stationary broadband access service, e.g., a 3GPP Customer Premise Equipment (CPE) with a SIM card associated with a stationary broadband access service that can include, for example, Internet access and a television service.

In some embodiments, the cellular radio network may be configured into cells where each cell may be assigned at least one radio carrier which may be used for radio communication between the radio devices (the smartphones 22-2 and the CPEs 22-1 in FIG. 5) in the cell and the cellular network infrastructure (radio units and antenna systems as implemented by the radio interface 30, and RAN hardware (HW) and software (SW)) as implemented by processing circuitry 36, the SW being stored in the memory 40. Note that modules or components named herein as SW entities, such as intent handler 24, RRP 64 and RAN scheduler 66, could be implemented in hardware, in whole or in part.

The processing circuitry 36 includes a SW entity called an intent owner module 26 which may be located outside the RAN system that includes the network node 16, but with a communication channel to the RAN system. Note that a RAN system may include a plurality of network nodes 16. Accordingly, some of the functions herein attributed to a single network node 16 may actually be distributed among a plurality of network nodes 16. The intent handler 24 in some embodiments, may be part of the RAN SW stored in the memory 40 and executed by the processor 38. The RRP module 64 and the RAN scheduling module 66, may both be part of the RAN SW stored in the memory 40 and executed by the processor 38. Also, although the radio interface 30 is shown in FIG. 5 as being part of the same network node 16 as the network node that performs the RAN/RRP SW functions of modules 24, 64 and 66, it is noted that the radio interface 30 and the modules 24, 64 and 66 may be implemented in separate network nodes 16.

In some embodiments, one or more of the following steps may be performed in which the specific values discussed are provided only as non-limiting examples for ease of understanding and not as the sole values:

- 1. The RAN scheduling module 66 may consistently measure a set of performance indicators such as bytes transferred per wireless device 22 per unit of time for both the uplink and the downlink. Performance indicators may include a distribution of packet latencies through the RAN system, the number of lost packets per time period per device, and any other performance indicator that can be extracted from the knowledge about which packet data unit (PDU) was successfully transferred to each device and at what time.
- 2. The measurements of the performance indicators may then be communicated from the RAN scheduling module 66 to the intent handler 24. The intent handler 24 then uses the measurements to form a set of intent metrics, of which at least one reflects the quality of experience (QoE) of the MBB users 22-2, and at least one reflects the QoE of the FWA users 22-1. In some embodiments, the intent metric for the MBB users 22-2 can be the downlink throughput for each MBB user 22-2. The downlink throughput may be defined as a ratio of data transferred to a relevant transfer time measure, the ratio being averaged over all MBB users 22-2. A similar intent metric can be formed for the FWA users 22-1.
- 3. The intent handler 24 may then signal to the intent owner module 26 which intent metric the intent handler 24 supports and can measure. In this example, the two intent metrics “MBB user downlink throughput” and “FWA user downlink throughput,” or any other intent metric that the intent handler 24 may be designed to calculate based on measurements from the RAN scheduling module 66, may be indicated as being supported.
- 4. The intent owner module 26 may then indicate the intent metric to the mobile network operator (MNO) 25 (e.g., to the MNOs business support systems, or to the MNO's staff). The MNO 25 may typically be located in a location that is different from a location of a network node 16, but may be collocated with a network node 16 in some embodiments. The MNO 25 may be configured to return target values for the intent metric that reflect the service level objectives for the MBB and FWA services. For example, an intent may be “MBB user downlink throughput no less than 2 Mbps” and “FWA user downlink throughput no less than 10 Mbps”. In addition, the MNO 25 may input to the intent owner module 26, a “Priority Intent” which describes which of the two intents “MBB user downlink throughput no less than 2 Mbps” and “FWA user downlink throughput no less than 10 Mbps” has priority in case both intents cannot be reached at a time and/or place.
- 5. The intent owner module 26 may now have three Intents: the service level intent for MBB (no less than 2 Mbps), the service level intent for FWA (no less than 10 Mbps) and the priority intent (e.g., FWA service level intent has priority over the MBB service level intent).
- 6. The intent owner module 26 may signal the three intents (metric and values) to the intent handler 24. The intent handler 24 stores the intents and continues to measure the actual values of the associated service level intents based on the real-time measurements communicated to the intent handler 24 from the RAN scheduling module 66. As long as both the service level intents are fulfilled, (i.e., the measured intent values are above the target intent levels of 2 Mbps and 10 Mbps, respectively), the intent handler 24 may take no action.
- 7. If and when the intent handler 24 measures a value of any of the service level intents and detects that the value is below the target values, the intent handler 24 may take actions that are expected to restore the measured service level intent values to be within the desired range as given by the intents targets as communicated in step (6).
- 8. If the intent handler 24 concludes that a shift in the RRP ratio—e.g., in a situation where the MBB intent value is well above the target 2 Mbps but the FWA Intent value is slightly below the target 10 Mbps—the intent handler 24 may provide more bandwidth to one service at the expense of decreasing the bandwidth to the second service. Thus, the intent handler 24 may send a re-configuration signal to the RRP module 64. The re-configuration signal may contain the new configuration value for the RRP ratio, e.g., changing that ratio from 60% to 70%.
- 9. The RRP module 64 may receive the re-configuration signal from the intent handler 24 and store the new ratio value as its present configuration and start operating according to the new RRP ratio. In particular, this means that the RRP module 64 signals the new RRP ratio to the RAN scheduling module 66, thereby triggering the RAN scheduling module 66 to adjust the radio resource scheduling to be consistent with the new RRP ratio.
- 10. In situations where the intent handler concludes that any adjustment of the RRP ratio would lead to one of the two service intent metrics being fulfilled but not both simultaneously, the intent handler may use the priority intent signaled from the intent owner module 26 in step (4) to choose the adjustment of the RRP ratio that leads to fulfillment of the prioritized service intent.

Thus, in some embodiments, the MNO 25 uses intents to steer behavior of the system (steps 1 to 4) rather than as in existing technologies to tune the RAN configuration parameters. Also, the intent owner module 26 may read the available intent metrics from the intent handler 24 and communicate the target values for said intent metrics. The intent handler 24 may define and monitor the intent metrics, store the target values of intent metrics and steer the RAN system to fulfil the target intent metric values. The intent handler 24 may be configured in such a way that it can use control signals and parameter configuration signals from or to other parts of the RAN control elements, 64 and 66, for example. In some embodiments, the intent handler 24 may implement a traditional rule-based arrangement that may be configured to adjust the RRP ratio up and down depending on the measured values of the intent metrics for FWA and MBB. In some embodiments, the intent handler 24 may contain an artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) model that has been trained to adjust the RRP ratio based not only on intent metric values, but also contextual information such as number of subscribers of each type, radio-link quality and more.

Thus, some embodiments provide application of the principles of intent-based automation to the problem of providing simultaneous wireless services (e.g., MBB and FWA) on the same radio carrier, which may reduce the cost to the MNO for providing an FWA service over an existing MBB network. Some embodiments automatically and dynamically adjust the system behavior in such a way that service levels for both MBB and FWA users are maintained and a predictable prioritization of these access methods is provided when there is overload or congestion.

Intents may be based on throughput metrics derived from measurements in the RAN scheduling module 66, which measurements may be made on the radio link control (RLC)/medium access control (MAC) protocol level.

Some embodiments may include one or more of the following features:

- The intent-based automation may be combined with a plurality of RAN features in addition to RRP, e.g., quality of service, inter-carrier load balancing, and quality of service/bearer prioritization features.
- The intent handler 24 may be realized as an O-RAN rAPP SW module.
- The intent metric may be other than average DL throughput, e.g., UL throughput, worst-user DL throughput, packet latency and more;
- Support for the MBB and FWA services, e.g., a third service such as Cloud Gaming or connected cars.
- Application to a wireless communication system that conforms to a standard promulgated by the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) such as Wi-Fi.

According to one aspect, network node 16 is configured to communicate with a wireless device (WD) 22. The network node 16 includes a radio interface 30 and/or comprising processing circuitry 36 configured to: receive target values for at least one intent metric, monitor the at least one intent metric for which target values are received, and adjust a partition of radio resources between a first access group of WDs and a second access group of WDs based on whether a monitored intent metric exceeds or falls below a corresponding target value.

According to this aspect, in some embodiments, a target value includes a target throughput value for each of the first and second access groups that is not to be exceeded by a monitored throughput for each of the first and second access groups. In some embodiments, the first access group consist of fixed wireless access, FWA, devices and the second group consists of mobile broadband, MBB, devices. In some embodiments, artificial intelligence circuitry and/or software is included that is trained to adjust the partition based on intent metric values and on at least one of a number of subscribers in each of the first and second access groups, and radio link quality. In some embodiments, an indication of available metrics and wherein the received target values correspond to the indicated available metrics is transmitted to an intent owner. In some embodiments, scheduling of packets to WDs in each of the first and second access groups is adjusted based on the adjusted partition. In some embodiments, the target values of intent metrics includes a priority between the first and second access groups. In some embodiments, the monitored intent metrics are indicative of a quality of experience, QoE, of WDs in at least one of the first and second access groups.

According to another aspect, a method implemented in a network node that is configured to communicate with a wireless device is provided. The method includes receiving target values for at least one intent metric and monitoring the at least one intent metric for which target values are received. The method also includes adjusting a partition of radio resources between a first access group of WDs and a second access group of WDs based on whether a monitored intent metric exceeds or falls below a corresponding target value.

According to this aspect, in some embodiments, a target value includes a target throughput value for each of the first and second access groups that is not to be exceeded by a monitored throughput for each of the first and second access groups. In some embodiments, the first access group consist of fixed wireless access, FWA, devices and the second group consists of mobile broadband, MBB, devices. In some embodiments, the method also includes performing artificial intelligence using circuitry trained to adjust the partition based on intent metric values and on at least one of a number of subscribers in each of the first and second access groups, and radio link quality. In some embodiments, the method also includes transmitting to an intent owner an indication of available metrics and wherein the received target values correspond to the indicated available metrics. In some embodiments, the method also includes adjusting scheduling of packets to WDs in each of the first and second access groups based on the adjusted partition. In some embodiments, the target values of intent metrics includes a priority between the first and second access groups. In some embodiments, the monitored intent metrics are indicative of a quality of experience, QoE, of WDs in at least one of the first and second access groups.