Methods to determine a configuration for a user equipment in MR-DC for energy saving

1 . A method performed by one or more network nodes for determining a radio configuration for a user equipment (UE) in multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC) operation, the method comprising:

obtaining information relating to energy for one or both of (i) the UE in MR-DC operation and (ii) one or more network nodes involved in the MR-DC operation of the UE;

determining an optimal radio configuration for the UE in MR-DC operation based at least in part on the information relating to energy; and

determining a final radio configuration for the UE in MR-DC operation based on the optimal radio configuration.

2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein information relating to energy comprises information related to one or more of: energy, power, energy efficiency, energy savings, power efficiency, power savings, energy consumption, power consumption, and a variation of any of these.

3 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising: a network node receiving a respective radio configuration from one or more network nodes involved in the MR-DC operation of the UE, wherein determining a final radio configuration for the UE in MR-DC operation is further based at least in part on the respective radio configurations from the one or more network nodes involved in the MR-DC operation of the UE.

4 . The method according to claim 3 , wherein determining a final radio configuration for the UE in MR-DC operation comprises evaluating each of the optimal radio configuration and respective radio configurations from the one or more network nodes involved in the MR-DC operation of the UE and selecting the final radio configuration based on the evaluation.

5 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the final radio configuration is selected from one of the determined optimal radio configuration and the respective radio configurations from the one or more network nodes involved in the MR-DC operation of the UE.

6 . The method according to claim 4 , wherein the final radio configuration comprises parts of more than one of the determined optimal radio configuration and the respective radio configurations from the one or more network nodes involved in the MR-DC operation of the UE.

7 . The method according to claim 1 , further comprising configuring the UE in MR-DC operation with the final radio configuration.

8 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method is executed by at least one of the network nodes involved in the MR-DC operation of the UE.

9 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the method is executed in connection with a reconfiguration of the UE from single connectivity to Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity.

10 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method is executed in connection with a reconfiguration of the UE from Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity to single connectivity.

11 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the method is executed in connection with a reconfiguration of the UE from a first form of Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity to a second form of Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity.

12 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein information relating to energy for one or both of (i) the UE in MR-DC operation and (ii) one or more network nodes involved in the MR-DC operation of the UE comprises one or more of:

information reported by the UE associated with a radio configuration;

information related to UE associated Energy State Assistance Information (UE-ESAI); and

information derived at a network node indicating energy consumption and/or energy savings and/or power consumption and/or power savings or indicating a variation in energy consumption and/or energy savings and/or power consumption and/or power savings.

13 . The method according to claim 12 , wherein information related to UE-ESAI comprises one or more of:

a time stamp or time interval associated to the time of creation of the UE-ESAI and/or the time of storing the UE-ESAI;

UE specific information related to energy; and

indications pertaining to operational conditions and/or configurations under which UE-ESAI is stored.

14 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein obtaining information relating to energy for one or both of (i) the UE in MR-DC operation and (ii) one or more network nodes involved in the MR-DC operation of the UE comprises one or more of:

receiving the information from a source node where the information has been collected and

requesting the information from the UE and/or the one or more network nodes involved in the MR-DC operation of the UE.

15 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein determining an optimal radio configuration for the UE in MR-DC operation is further based on one or more of:

UE capabilities related to one or more of supported bandwidths, band combinations, feature sets, carrier aggregation parameters, MIMO parameters per band, MR-DC parameters, and modulations in UL and DL;

fulfillment of QoS requirements for the UE;

end-user preferences impacting energy savings;

MR-DC procedures; and

properties of at least one of the network nodes involved in the MR-DC operation of the UE.

16 . The method according to claim 15 , wherein the properties of at least one of the network nodes involved in the MR-DC operation of the UE include one or more of:

whether the at least one of the network nodes is a Master Node or a Secondary Node;

node capabilities related to one or more of supported bandwidths, band combinations, feature sets, carrier aggregation parameters, MIMO parameters per band, MR-DC parameters, UL modulations, DL modulations;

node QoS parameters setting and/or QoS fulfillment;

node performance indicators and/or thresholds for node performance indicators; and

configuration parameters that can impact network resources dedicated to one or more UEs.

17 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein determining an optimal radio configuration for the UE in MR-DC operation based at least in part on the information relating to energy comprises using an artificial intelligence (AI) or machine-learning (ML) based model, the method further comprising creating or updating the AI or ML based model or algorithm based on the obtained information.

18 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the information relating to energy relates to energy for one or more network nodes involved in the MR-DC operation of the UE.

19 . A network node, the network node comprising:

processing circuitry; and

a memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry, whereby the network node is configured to:

obtain information relating to energy for one or both of (i) the UE in MR-DC operation and (ii) one or more network nodes involved in the MR-DC operation of the UE;

determine an optimal radio configuration for the UE in MR-DC operation based at least in part on the information relating to energy; and

determine a final radio configuration for the UE in MR-DC operation based on the optimal radio configuration.

20 . The network node of claim 19 , wherein information relating to energy comprises information related to one or more of: energy, power, energy efficiency, energy savings, power efficiency, power savings, energy consumption, power consumption, and a variation of any of these.

21 . The network node of claim 19 , wherein the network node is further configured to receive a respective radio configuration from one or more network nodes involved in the MR-DC operation of the UE, wherein determining a final radio configuration for the UE in MR-DC operation is further based at least in part on the respective radio configurations from the one or more network nodes involved in the MR-DC operation of the UE.