Overcoming carrier aggregation signaling overhead when firstnet qos policies are enforced

Abstract

Aspects of the subject disclosure may include, for example, initiating emergency QoS measures in a RAN cell responsive to detecting an emergency condition applicable to the RAN cell, identifying, among a plurality of wireless communication devices served by the RAN cell, a set of non-emergency devices, identifying, among the set of non-emergency devices, one or more carrier aggregation (CA)-prone devices, and applying an updated buffer threshold value for a CA-prone device among the one or more CA-prone devices, to reduce a likelihood of initiation of carrier aggregation for the CA-prone device. Other embodiments are disclosed.

What is claimed is: 
     
         1 . A device, comprising:
 a processing system for a radio access network (RAN) node, the processing system including a processor; and   a memory that stores executable instructions that, when executed by the processing system, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
 identifying a first set of one or more devices assigned to a first quality-of-service (QoS) class, the first set of one or more devices being among a plurality of wireless communication devices served by a Radio Access Network (RAN) node; 
 identifying a second set of one or more devices assigned to a second QoS class, the second set of one or more devices being among the plurality of wireless communication devices served by the RAN node; and 
 applying an updated buffer threshold value for at least one device of the first set of one or more devices to reduce a likelihood of initiation of carrier aggregation for the first set of one or more devices. 
   
     
     
         2 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the identifying the first set of one or more devices assigned to the first QoS class comprises identifying one or more carrier aggregation (CA)-prone devices communicating with the RAN node. 
     
     
         3 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the applying the updated buffer threshold value is responsive to detecting an emergency condition applicable to the RAN node, and wherein the one or more devices assigned to the first QoS class are identified as non-emergency devices. 
     
     
         4 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 identifying a set of carrier aggregation (CA)-capable devices from among the plurality of wireless communication devices served by the RAN node; and   identifying the first set of one or more devices from among the set of CA-capable devices.   
     
     
         5 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise selecting the updated buffer threshold value based on a type of traffic being conveyed to the at least one device of the first set of one or more devices. 
     
     
         6 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise selecting the updated buffer threshold value based on a burstiness associated with traffic being conveyed to the at least one device of the first set of one or more devices. 
     
     
         7 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 determining a respective buffer threshold time for each of the first set of one or more devices; and   selecting the at least one device of the first set of one or more devices from the first set of one or more devices based on the respective buffer threshold time of each of the first set of one or more devices.   
     
     
         8 . The device of  claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise determining the respective buffer threshold time for each of the first set of one or more devices based on a respective data throughput estimate of each of the first set of one or more devices. 
     
     
         9 . The device of  claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise:
 monitoring respective traffic patterns of each of the first set of one or more devices to obtain traffic monitoring data; and   determining the respective data throughput estimate of each of the first set of one or more devices based on respective traffic monitoring data for each of the first set of one or more devices, according to a queuing model.   
     
     
         10 . The device of  claim 7 , wherein the operations further comprise determining the respective buffer threshold time for each of the first set of one or more devices based on a respective data throughput variability for each of the first set of one or more devices. 
     
     
         11 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the RAN node comprises a node of a next generation RAN (NG-RAN). 
     
     
         12 . The device of  claim 1 , wherein the RAN node comprises a next generation node B (gNB). 
     
     
         13 . A non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processing system for a radio access network node, the processing system including a processor, facilitate performance of operations, the operations comprising:
 identifying a first set of one or more devices assigned to a first quality-of-service (QoS) class, the first set of one or more devices being among a plurality of wireless communication devices served by a Radio Access Network (RAN) node;   identifying a second set of one or more devices assigned to a second QoS class, the second set of one or more devices being among the plurality of wireless communication devices served by the RAN node; and   applying an updated buffer threshold value for at least one device of the first set of one or more devices to reduce a likelihood of initiation of carrier aggregation for the first set of one or more devices.   
     
     
         14 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 13 , wherein the identifying the first set of one or more devices assigned to the first QoS class comprises identifying one or more carrier aggregation (CA)-prone devices communicating with the RAN node. 
     
     
         15 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 13 , wherein the applying the updated buffer threshold value is responsive to detecting an emergency condition applicable to the RAN node, and wherein the one or more devices assigned to the first QoS class are identified as non-emergency devices. 
     
     
         16 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 13 , wherein the operations further comprise selecting the updated buffer threshold value based on a burstiness associated with traffic being conveyed to the at least one device of the first set of one or more devices. 
     
     
         17 . The non-transitory machine-readable storage medium of  claim 13 , wherein the radio access network node comprises a next generation node B (gNB). 
     
     
         18 . A method, comprising:
 identifying, by a processing system including a processor, a first set of one or more devices assigned to a first quality-of-service (QoS) class, the first set of one or more devices being among a plurality of wireless communication devices served by a Radio Access Network (RAN) node;   identifying, by the processing system, a second set of one or more devices assigned to a second QoS class, the second set of one or more devices being among the plurality of wireless communication devices served by the Radio Access Network (RAN) node; and   applying an updated buffer threshold value for at least one device of the first set of one or more devices to reduce a likelihood of initiation of carrier aggregation for the first set of one or more devices.   
     
     
         19 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the applying the updated buffer threshold value is responsive to detecting an emergency condition applicable to the RAN node., and wherein the CA-prone device is identified as a non-emergency device. 
     
     
         20 . The method of  claim 18 , wherein the RAN node comprises a node of a next generation RAN (NG-RAN).