IP Library Granted Patent US 12684321
Granted Patent B2
US 12684321 · App. 18/561,552 · Granted Jul 14, 2026

Multi-access edge computing

Inventors: Debashish Purkayastha (Collegeville, PA); Shalini Choudhury (Highland Park, NJ); Robert Gazda (Spring City, PA); Alain Mourad (Ascot, GB); Carlos Jesus Bernardos (Madrid, ES); Antonio de la Oliva (Madrid, ES)
Assignee: InterDigital Patent Holdings, Inc.
H04W4/50G06F9/546
View Patent ↗
Loading inventors, assignments & file history…
Monitor This Case
Get email alerts when status or documents change.
Order Certified Copies
Most orders are placed with the USPTO same day — all within 24 business hours.
Order via The Patent Place →
Pre-filled with this patent's details
Quick Facts
Patent No.
US 12684321
App. No.
18/561,552
Granted
Jul 14, 2026
Kind
B2
Abstract

Systems, methods, and instrumentalities are provided for enabling a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU) to participate in multi-access edge computing (MEC) services. The WTRU may be a constrained WTRU, for example, in terms of computation, storage, and/or networking resources available to the WTRU. A function may be implemented on the WTRU to expose an interface to a MEC application on the WTRU, through which the MEC application may register with a network device such as an MEC host located at the edge of a mobile communication network and join an MEC service provided by the MEC host. A transport may be established between the WTRU and the MEC host to facilitate provision of the MEC service, and the transport may be modified and/or deleted, for example, based on mobility events at the WTRU and/or load conditions of the WTRU.

Claims (42)

1 . A wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), comprising:

a processor configured to:

receive a request from an application to join a multi-access edge computing (MEC) service, wherein the application is associated with the WTRU;

send a message to a network device associated with the MEC service, wherein the message indicates the request by the application to join the MEC service;

receive an acknowledgment from the network device, wherein the acknowledgment includes an identifier to be used by the application for the MEC service; and

send a message to the application, wherein the message to the application comprises the identifier to be used by the application for the MEC service and indicates that the application is to use the MEC service via an interface of the WTRU.

2 . The WTRU of claim 1 , wherein the identifier to be used for the MEC service includes a transport identifier (ID) associated with the MEC service.

3 . The WTRU of claim 1 , wherein the request from the application is a first request from the application, wherein the message to the application is a first message to the application, and wherein the processor is further configured to:

receive, via the interface, a second request from the application to discover a set of applications using the MEC service;

send, via the interface, the second request from the application to the network device;

receive, via the interface, an indication of the set of applications using the MEC service; and

send, via the interface, a second message to the application, wherein the second message to the application comprises the set of applications using the MEC service.

4 . The WTRU of claim 1 , wherein the message sent to the network device indicates at least one of an identifier of the WTRU, an identifier of the application, or a location of the WTRU.

5 . The WTRU of claim 1 , wherein the acknowledgment received from the network device further includes a uniform resource identifier (URI) associated with the MEC service, and wherein the processor is further configured to associate the URI with the application.

6 . The WTRU of claim 5 , wherein the processor is further configured to receive an application programming interface (API) call from the application and send the API call to the network device based on the URI.

7 . The WTRU of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to receive an indication from the application to stop participating in the MEC service and send a de-registration request associated with the application to the network device.

8 . The WTRU of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to send a modification request to the network device regarding the MEC service.

9 . The WTRU of claim 8 , wherein the processor is configured to send the modification request to the network device based on a mobility event at the WTRU or a load condition of the WTRU.

10 . A method implemented by a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), the method comprising:

receiving a request from an application to join a multi-access edge computing (MEC) service, wherein the application is associated with the WTRU;

sending a message to a network device associated with the MEC service, wherein the message indicates the request by the application to join the MEC service;

receiving an acknowledgment from the network device, wherein the acknowledgment includes an identifier to be used by the application for the MEC service; and

sending a message to the application, wherein the message to the application comprises the identifier to be used by the application for the MEC service and indicates that the application is to use the MEC service via an interface of the WTRU.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the identifier to be used for the MEC service includes a transport identifier (ID) associated with the MEC service.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the request from the application is a first request from the application, wherein the message to the application is a first message to the application, and wherein the method further comprises:

receiving, via the interface, a second request from the application to discover a set of applications using the MEC service;

sending, via the interface, the second request from the application to the network device;

receiving, via the interface, an indication of the set of applications using the MEC service; and

sending, via the interface, a second message to the application, wherein the second message to the application comprises the set of applications using the MEC service.

13 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the message sent to the network device indicates at least one of an identifier of the WTRU, an identifier of the application, or a location of the WTRU.

14 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the acknowledgment received from the network device further includes a uniform resource identifier (URI) associated with the MEC service, and wherein the method further comprises associating the URI with the application.

15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising receiving an application programming interface (API) call from the application and sending the API call to the network device based on the URI.

16 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising receiving an indication from the application to stop participating in the MEC service and sending a de-registration request associated with the application to the network device.

17 . The method of claim 10 , further comprising sending a modification request to the network device regarding the MEC service.

18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the modification request is sent to the network device based on a mobility event at the WTRU or a load condition of the WTRU.

19 . A network device, comprising:

a processor configured to:

receive a first message from a wireless transmit/receive unit (WTRU), wherein the first message from the WTRU indicates a request by an application to join a multi-access edge computing (MEC) service, wherein the application is associated with the WTRU;

register the application for the MEC service;

send a response to the WTRU, wherein the response to the WTRU includes an identifier to be used by the application for the MEC service; and

receive a second message from the WTRU, wherein the second message from the WTRU is associated with the MEC service and indicates the identifier.

20 . The network device of claim 19 , wherein the response sent to the WTRU further includes a uniform resource identifier (URI) associated with the MEC service and an indication that the WTRU is to use the URI for the second message.