Content for  TR 22.882  Word version:  19.3.0

In this scenario, a service provider monitors events resulting from energy consumption policy triggers in the 5G system. These triggers correspond to monitoring policy in the 5G system as well as energy enforcement policies.

In Figure 5.5-1, the application server AS obtains information corresponding to the energy consequences of a UE 'A' served by the 5G network. This use case will provide a description of a scenario in which the service provider (who operates an application server) cares about energy consumption in the 5G system as a result of the service to UE A. This could be for 3 reasons:

• the service provider needs to show they are saving energy;
• the service has an associated energy cost, and the service provider wants to reduce it. This is analogous to the use of industrial or consumer electronics when energy rates are lower, and also as an incentive to operate more efficiently;
  - the service provider recognizes that there are policies that limit energy use (such as aggregate energy use of a network slice) and controls the overall use of the service to operate within those constraints.

The use case introduces five new concepts related to new energy events and energy event monitoring:

1. the ability for the network operator to create a 'maximum energy credit' policy, after which services are gated;
2. the ability for the network operator to inform an AS of the 'maximum energy credit expired' event;
3. the ability for the 5G system to calculate 'energy credit' use;
4. the ability to monitor and provide to the AS the use of 'energy credits' (or other energy 'quantum');
5. the support a new policy that establishes the energy consequence for charging control - either charging for use of energy or establishing an 'energy credit limit' for enforcement by the 5G system.

The UE "A" has a subscription that enables it to make use of 'best effort communication subject to energy constraints' policy for communication. This class of communication was introduced in clause 5.1. The application service provider of "AS" is capable monitoring service aspects of the 3GPP system, e.g. through network exposure of information as described in TS 22.261 for QoS monitoring or TS 22.115 related to credit limit policy and control.

1. The application service provider of AS has an energy policy related to the service for the subscription related to UE "A". As a result, AS requests to monitor 'Energy Use', which is a kind of usage monitoring supported by the 5G system. The monitoring policy has an established 'threshold' for the 5G system to notify the AS.
2. In addition, the AS requests to monitor 'Out of Energy Credit' events.
3. The 5G system provides service to UE A according to a 'best effort communication subject to energy constraints' policy, where the policy charges for energy use and also imposes an 'energy credit' limit, after which the UE A subscription is 'gated' (receives no further services from the 5G system until more 'energy credit' is available).
4. UE A proceeds to use services of the 5G system, especially data communication. As it does so, the charging system is triggered and generates records. The 3GPP charging system uses a means to identify how much credit is used and whether a credit limit is exceeded. The 3GPP charging system in this use case also uses a means of calculating energy credits on the basis of charging events. That is, there is a 'rating policy' used to multiply a 'charging event' by an 'energy consumption' unit.
5. When the total 'energy units' exceed the reporting threshold according to the energy monitoring policy, the 5G system exposes this energy consumption information to AS.
6. When the total 'energy units' exceed the energy credit limit, this results in the 5G system exposing this event to the AS. The AS could take some action to restore energy credit, but this is out of scope of the use case.

The UE A's energy consumption can be monitored by AS. The AS can alter their activity (e.g. communicate less intensely or less frequently) to remain within their expectation - be it to keep the charging per energy consumption to their expectation, or to avoid exhausting A's energy credit limit. The MNO is able to create and enforce policies that attach consequences to energy consumption. This can lead to energy efficient behaviour on the part of service providers which is both in their interest and the interest of the MNO.

The 5G system provides support for credit limits (clause 8.2 of TS 22.115) and for performance monitoring [15]. There are a number of other events that are exposed by the 5G system to third parties by the Policy and charging control framework by the 5G System [17]. These events and their triggers, which are not detailed in stage 1, allow for usage monitoring to be exposed to a third party in specific circumstances, e.g. sponsored connectivity. The scenario in this use case is similar to sponsored connectivity, as the application service provider is a directly concerned party that seeks to operate successfully in an efficient manner, as there are charging and even gating consequences as the UE communicates with AS. Note that the existing usage monitoring and reporting for sponsored connectivity is not sufficient to support this use case because these do not in any way take into account the energy consequence of the service. Only traffic volume and time-based monitoring are supported today. Other chargeable events (and therefore significant from an energy perspective) are not captured by usage monitoring as supported in the 5G system.

[PR.5.5.6-1] [PR.5.5.6-2] [PR.5.5.6-3] [PR.5.5.6-4]