Entities and methods for enabling control of a usage of collected data in multiple analytics phases in communication networks

1. A first entity for a communication network, the first entity comprising a processor and a memory having processor-executable instructions stored thereon, wherein the processor executes the instructions which cause the first entity to:

receive a feature mapping indication from a second entity of the communication network,

wherein the feature mapping indication comprises characteristics of a relationship between a set of data samples and properties of data in the data samples of the set of data samples for an analytics model at an analytics stage,

wherein the feature mapping indication comprises a request for a feature mapping data structure, which defines a second set of data samples based on the relationship between the set of data samples and the properties of the data in the data samples of the set of data samples for use with the analytics model at the analytics stage for an analytics consumer;

generate the feature mapping data structure for use with the analytics model at the analytics stage based on at least one of the feature mapping indication received from the second entity and a feature provisioning policy, wherein the feature provisioning policy defines a set of at least one of properties and processes to be applied to the data in the data samples of the set of data samples; and

provide at least one of an identification for the feature mapping data structure obtained in accordance with the feature mapping indication, and an identification of a storage repository of the communication network, and

wherein the storage repository comprises the feature mapping data structure.

2. The first entity as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the processor further executes the instructions which cause the first entity to:

obtain one or more feature mapping data structures for use with the analytics model at the analytics stage based on one or more further feature mapping data structures from one or more other entities of the communication network.

3. The first entity as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the analytics stage comprises one or more of an inference stage, a training stage, a testing stage, a validation stage, an offline data collection, and an online data collection.

4. The first entity as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the feature mapping indication comprises a direct request for generating a feature mapping data structure, wherein the direct request comprises at least one of an information field defining a request for creating the feature mapping data structure and a flag indicating a requirement for immediate retrieval of the feature mapping data structure.

5. The first entity as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the feature mapping indication comprises a direct request for retrieval of the feature mapping data structure according to a set of criteria comprising one or more filters enabling a selection of the data samples to be associated with the feature mapping data structure.

6. The first entity as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the feature mapping indication comprises an indirect request for the feature mapping data structure related to the request for an analytics output from the analytics model, and the first entity is further configured to generate or obtain the feature mapping data structure for supporting inference using the analytics model for the analytics output.

7. The first entity as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the feature mapping indication comprises an indirect request for the feature mapping data structure related to the request for model training, and the first entity is further configured to generate or obtain the feature mapping data structure for supporting the model training.

8. The first entity as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the request for the feature mapping data structure comprises at least one of:

data representing a flag for indicating immediate retrieval of the feature mapping data structure, and

a data collection mode.

9. The first entity as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the processor further executes the instructions which cause the first entity to:

provide the feature mapping data structure to the second entity or another entity of the communication network in response to the feature mapping indication.

10. The first entity as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the processor further executes the instructions which cause the first entity to:

access one or more data repositories, or is logically co-located with a data repository, and

wherein the data repository comprises the data samples of the set of data samples.

11. The first entity as claimed in claim 1 , wherein a direct request for creation of the feature mapping data structure comprises any one or more of the following information fields:

an analytics type identification, a data collection mode, a model type identification, a model version identification, the analytics stage, an analytics consumer identification, a type of data, a type of feature, an aggregation level per type of feature, a statistical property of a data sample, a statistical method to be applied, an area of interest, a target of analytics reporting, analytics filter information, an interval of time for sample selection, at least one of a minimum and maximum number of samples for the sample selection, a network slice identification, a network operator identification, a deadline for generating and providing the feature mapping data structure, and a data collection mechanism to be used for the retrieval of at least one of raw data and pre-processed data.

12. The first entity as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the feature mapping data structure comprises any one or more of the following information fields: a feature mapping identification, an identification of an analytics consumer related to the feature mapping data structure, an analytics type identification, a type of feature mapping, a model type for the analytics identification, a model version for each model type, a model stage, a statistical property of the set of data samples, a type of data, a feature type, a feature sample value, a reference for a feature sample identification, a reference for an entity storing a feature sample, a reference for an entity storing the set of data samples, and a timestamp of at least one of a created/updated feature and the set of data samples.

13. The first entity as claimed in claim 1 , wherein the feature provisioning policy comprises any one or more of the following information fields: an identification of the analytics consumer of a feature, a network slice identification, a network operator identification, a type of feature mapping, at least one of an allowed and restricted feature selection technique, at least one of an allowed and restricted feature type, at least one of an allowed and restricted area of interest, at least one of an allowed and restricted type of analytics models, an aggregation level per type of feature, and an anonymization rule.

14. A second entity for a communication network, the second entity comprising a processor and a memory having processor-executable instructions stored thereon, wherein the processor executes the instructions which cause the second entity to:

provide a feature mapping indication to a first entity of the communication network, wherein the feature mapping indication comprises characteristics of a relationship between a set of data samples and properties of data in the data samples of the set of data samples for an analytics model at an analytics stage;

wherein the feature mapping indication comprises a request for a feature mapping data structure which defines a second set of data samples based on the relationship between the set of data samples and the properties of the data in the data samples of the set of data samples for use with the analytics model at the analytics stage for an analytics consumer;

receive a response from the first entity, wherein the response comprises at least one of an identification for the feature mapping data structure obtained in accordance with the feature mapping indication, and an identification of a storage repository of the communication network comprising the feature mapping data structure; and

request the feature mapping data structure from the storage repository of the communication network, wherein the request includes the received identification for the feature mapping data structure; and

use the feature mapping data structure to generate analytics information for the analytics consumer.

15. The second entity as claimed in claim 14 , wherein the processor further executes the instructions which cause the second entity to receive the feature mapping data structure for use with the analytics model at the analytics stage, and use the feature mapping data structure to generate analytics information.