Differentiating the foreground and background data traffic over a network slice

A method of operating a user equipment (UE), comprising:

• determining whether an application running in a foreground state transitions to running in a background state, wherein traffic corresponding to the application running in the foreground state is routed over a dedicated network slice;
• in response to a determination that the application running in the foreground state transitions to running in the background state, starting a first timer and continuing to route background traffic corresponding to the application over the dedicated network slice;
• in response to a determination that the first timer has expired and a determination that the application continues to run in the background state, starting a second timer and starting to route the background traffic corresponding to the application over a default network slice;
• and
• in response to a determination that the second timer has expired and that the application continues to run in the background state, continuing to route the background traffic corresponding to the application over the default network slice and releasing resources corresponding to the dedicated network slice.

A non-transitory computer-readable medium (CRM) having instructions stored thereon that, when executed by a processor of a user equipment (UE), causes the UE to perform operations comprising:

• determining whether an application running in a foreground state transitions to running in a background state, wherein traffic corresponding to the application running in the foreground state is routed over a dedicated network slice;
• in response to a determination that the application running in the foreground state transitions to running in the background state, starting a first timer and routing background traffic corresponding to the application over the dedicated network slice;
• in response to a determination that the first timer has expired and a determination that the application continues to run in the background state, starting a second timer and starting to route the background traffic corresponding to the application over a default network slice;
• and
• in response to a determination that the second timer has expired and that the application continues to run in the background state, continuing to route the background traffic corresponding to the application over the default network slice and releasing resources corresponding to the dedicated network slice.