Monitoring QoS parameters of a data connection

An apparatus comprising a session management function (“SMF”), the apparatus comprising:

• at least one memory;
• and at least one processor coupled with the at least one memory and configured to cause the SMF to:
• transmit to a user plane function (“UPF”) a first request to monitor a quality of service (“QoS”) parameter for a data connection of a user equipment (“UE”), wherein the first request indicates a frequency or a pattern for modifying a downlink packet;
• transmit to an access network node a second request to monitor the QoS parameter for the data connection based on a reception of the downlink packet, wherein the UPF and the access network node are part of a user plane path of the data connection;
• and
• receive a determined value of the QoS parameter from the UPF, wherein the determined value of the QoS parameter is based on an amount of time expired between a transmission of the downlink packet and a reception of a packet delivery result associated with the downlink packet, and a subtraction of one half of a delay between the access network node and the UPF.

A base station for wireless communication, comprising:

• receive a request to monitor a quality of service (“QoS”) parameter for a data connection of a user equipment (“UE”);
• receive a marked downlink packet for the UE from a user plane function (“UPF”), wherein the marked downlink packet comprises an indication for a packet delivery report;
• transmit downlink user data to the UE based on the marked downlink packet;
• receive an acknowledgement of the downlink user data from the UE;
• measure an access network transmission delay for the downlink user data in response to the marked downlink packet;
• and
• transmit the packet delivery report to the UPF in response to the acknowledgement, the packet delivery report indicating the measured access network transmission delay.

A system comprising:

• a session management function node (“SMF”) that:
• sends to a user plane function node (“UPF”) a first request to monitor a quality of service (“QoS”) parameter for a data connection of a user equipment (“UE”), and
• sends to an access network node a second request to monitor the QoS parameter for the data connection, the UPF and access network node being part of a user plane path of the data connection;
• wherein the UPF modifies a downlink packet to include an indication for a QoS monitoring report;
• wherein the access network node measures an access network transmission delay and sends a QoS monitoring result to the UPF in response to the modified downlink packet, the QoS monitoring result indicating the measured access network transmission delay;
• and
• wherein the UPF determines a value of the QoS parameter based on delivery information of the downlink packet and sends the determined value of the QoS parameter to the SMF, wherein the value of the QoS parameter is further based on an amount of time expired between a transmission of the modified downlink packet and a reception of the QoS monitoring result, and a subtraction of one half of a delay between the access network node and the UPF.