Methods and apparatuses to estimate and exchange latency and/or reliability information for dual or multi connectivity operation

An apparatus, comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• at least one memory comprising computer program code, the at least one memory and computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to:
• identify at least one user equipment requiring dual connectivity or multi connectivity support;
• configure at least one secondary network node to serve as a duplication set for the at least one user equipment, the duplication set comprising one or more secondary network nodes that are capable of transmission of a duplicated packet to the at least one user equipment;
• receive, from the at least one secondary network node, a latency/reliability matrix comprising estimates of supported latency and reliability for a set of latency target values of the at least one user equipment;
• configure the at least one user equipment to send periodic or aperiodic reports comprising an indication of a quality of links between the at least one user equipment and the at least one secondary network node and between the at least one user equipment and the apparatus;
• receive the reports from the at least one user equipment;
• and
• optionally provide the reports to the at least one secondary network node when the at least one user equipment has not sent the reports directly to the at least one secondary network node,
• wherein the configuring comprises selecting the duplication set that minimizes a probability of outage and minimizes latency of the transmission of the duplicated packet to the at least one user equipment.

An apparatus, comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• at least one memory comprising computer program code, the at least one memory and computer program code are configured, with the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to:
• identify at least one user equipment requiring dual connectivity or multi connectivity support;
• configure at least one secondary network node to serve as a duplication set for the at least one user equipment, the duplication set comprising one or more secondary network nodes that are capable of transmission of a duplicated packet to the at least one user equipment;
• receive, from the at least one secondary network node, a latency/reliability matrix comprising estimates of supported latency and reliability for a set of latency target values of the at least one user equipment;
• transmit, to the at least one secondary network node, a request for the estimates of supported latency and reliability for the at least one user equipment;
• and
• receive the estimates of supported latency and reliability in response to the request, and receive at least one of:
• a numerical value indicating a preference of the at least one secondary network node in serving the at least one user equipment, wherein the preference is based at least on the load at the at least one secondary network node;
• or
• a Boolean value indicating whether the at least one secondary network node can fulfill a required quality of service for the at least one user equipment.