5.9 AIoT Service Operation Result Aggregation

An AIoT service operation may involve many AIoT Devices. The NG-RAN may perform AIoT service operation result aggregation with a specific Correlation ID based on the aggregation assistance information received from the AIOTF for a service operation request as specified in clause 5.4.

The AIOTF determines the aggregation assistance information based on the request from the AF or local configuration, which includes:

• Time interval: the fixed time interval for which NG-RAN collects multiple AIoT Devices’ operation responses before reporting the aggregated AIoT response to the AIOTF. The reporting based on time interval may potentially happen multiple times until the NG-RAN completes the request operation.

If the AF has provided a time interval, then the AIOTF should signal a time interval to the NG-RAN that is equal or shorter than the time interval received from the AF.

NOTE: Based on local configuration, the AIOTF can reject the AF request, e.g. if the AF provided time interval is shorter than a locally configured minimum interval.

If the AIOTF does not provide aggregation assistance information, the aggregation process in the NG-RAN may be determined by implementation.

The AIOTF may also aggregate the results of a requested service operation before sending them to the NEF or trusted AF.