RAN congestion management and service continuity with user consent option
Methods and apparatus, including computer program products, are provided for congestion management and service continuity. In some example embodiment, there may be provided a method comprising sending, by a user equipment, an indication of whether the user equipment supports an automatic re-mapping of a network slice to a fallback network slice; and receiving, by the user equipment, an acknowledgment from a network in response to the sent indication. Related systems, methods, and articles of manufacture are also disclosed.
1 . An apparatus comprised in a radio access network node, the apparatus comprising:
at least one processor; and
at least one memory including computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the apparatus to at least:
receive a first indication regarding a user equipment support of a network re-mapping from a network slice to a fallback network slice, the first indication indicating a mode of operation, from among a plurality of different modes of operation, for the user equipment with respect to the network re-mapping from the network slice, wherein the mode of operation indicated by the first indication is an automatic without notification mode of operation in which the apparatus is not required to notify the user equipment of a network re-mapping from the network slice;
store the received first indication in a context associated with the user equipment;
identify a need to perform the network re-mapping from the network slice by identifying the network slice being temporarily not available;
apply, automatically and without notifying the user equipment, the network re-mapping from the network slice to a fallback network slice having an upgraded level of service or a downgraded level of service;
configure a fee surcharge or a fee discount for the upgraded level of service or the downgraded level of service, respectively;
revert the user equipment from the fallback network slice to the network slice based on the network slice being available;
receive a second indication regarding the user equipment support of the network re-mapping from a network slice, the second indication indicating a mode of operation, from among the plurality of different modes of operation, for the user equipment with respect to the network re-mapping from the network slice, wherein the mode of operation indicated by the second indication is an automatic with notification mode of operation;
store the received second indication in the context associated with the user equipment;
identify a need to perform the network re-mapping from the network slice by identifying the network slice being temporarily not available;
apply, automatically, the network re-mapping from the network slice to a fallback network slice having an upgraded level of service or a downgraded level of service;
start a notification timer;
in case the user equipment is re-mapped from the fallback network slice back to the network slice before expiry of the notification timer, stop the notification timer and not provide any notification to the user equipment;
in case the user equipment is not re-mapped from the fallback network slice back to the network slice and the notification timer expires:
notify the user equipment about the network re-mapping from the network slice to the fallback network slice; and
configure a fee surcharge or a fee discount for the upgraded level of service or the downgraded level of service, respectively;
revert the user equipment from the fallback network slice to the network slice based on the network slice being available;
receive a third indication regarding the user equipment support of the network re-mapping from a network slice, the third indication indicating a mode of operation, from among the plurality of different modes of operation, for the user equipment with respect to the network re-mapping from the network slice, wherein the mode of operation indicated by the third indication is an upon request mode of operation in which the user equipment requires consent before allowing the network re-mapping of the network slice to the fallback network slice;
store the received third indication in a context associated with the user equipment;
identify a need to perform the network re-mapping from the network slice by identifying the network slice being temporarily not available;
requesting consent from the user equipment to allow the network re-mapping of the network slice to the fallback network slice;
starting a grace timer;
in response to receiving the consent of the user equipment before expiry of the grace timer:
modify a context to allow the network re-mapping of the network slice to the fallback network slice;
apply the network re-mapping from the network slice to a fallback network slice having an upgraded level of service or a downgraded level of service; and
configure a fee surcharge or a fee discount for the upgraded level of service or the downgraded level of service, respectively; and
in response to a denial of the request or not receiving the consent of the user equipment before expiry of the grace timer, inhibit application of the network re-mapping to the fallback network slice.