Patent Application
20220045803
The present disclosure relates to Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) procedures in a cellular communications system and, in particular, to HARQ procedures in relation to a non-terrestrial Radio Access Network (RAN) (e.g., a satellite-based RAN).
There is an ongoing resurgence of satellite communications. Several plans for satellite networks have been announced in the past few years. The target services vary, from backhaul and fixed wireless, to transportation, to outdoor mobile, to Internet of Things (IoT). Satellite networks could complement mobile networks on the ground by providing connectivity to underserved areas and multicast/broadcast services.
To benefit from the strong mobile ecosystem and economy of scale, adapting the terrestrial wireless access technologies including Long Term Evolution (LTE) and New Radio (NR) for satellite networks is drawing significant interest. For example, Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) completed an initial study in Release 15 on adapting NR to support non-terrestrial networks (mainly satellite networks) [1]. This initial study focused on the channel model for the non-terrestrial networks, defining deployment scenarios, and identifying the key potential impacts. 3GPP is conducting a follow-up study item in Release 16 on solutions evaluation for NR to support non-terrestrial networks [2].
A satellite Radio Access Network (RAN) usually includes the following components:
The link from a gateway to a terminal is often called a forward link, and the link from the terminal to the gateway is often called a return link. Depending on the functionality of the satellite in the system, we can consider two transponder options:
Depending on the orbit altitude, a satellite may be categorized as a Low Earth Orbiting (LEO), a Medium Earth Orbiting (MEO), or Geostationary Orbit (GEO) satellite.
A communication satellite typically generates several beams over a given area. The footprint of a beam is usually in an elliptic shape, which has been traditionally considered as a cell. The footprint of a beam is also often referred to as a spotbeam. The footprint of a beam may move over the earth's surface with the satellite movement or may be earth fixed with some beam pointing mechanism used by the satellite to compensate for its motion. The size of a spotbeam depends on the system design, which may range from tens of kilometers to a few thousands of kilometers.
The two main physical phenomena that affect satellite communications system design are the long propagation delay and Doppler effects. The Doppler effects are especially pronounced for LEO satellites.
Propagation delay is a main physical phenomenon in a satellite communication system that makes the design different from that of a terrestrial mobile system. For a bent pipe satellite network, the following delays are relevant:
Note that there may be additional delay between the ground base station antenna and the base station, which may or may not be collocated. This delay depends on deployment. If the delay cannot be ignored, it should be taken into account in the communications system design.
The propagation delay depends on the length of the signal path, which further depends on the elevation angles of the satellite seen by the base station and UE on the ground. The minimum elevation angle is typically more than 10° for the UE and more than 5° for the base station on the ground. These values will be assumed in the delay analysis below.
The following Tables 1 and 2 are taken from 3GPP Technical Report (TR) 38.811 [1]. We can see that the round trip delay is much larger in satellite systems. For example, it is about 545 milliseconds (ms) for a GEO satellite system. In contrast, the Round Trip Time (RTT) is normally no more than 1 ms for typical terrestrial cellular networks.
Generally, within a spotbeam covering one cell, the delay can be divided into a common delay component and a differential delay component. The common delay is the same for all UEs in the cell and is determined with respect to a reference point in the spotbeam. In contrast, the differential delay is different for different UEs which depends on the propagation delay between the reference point and the point at which a given UE is positioned within the spotbeam.
The differential delay is mainly due to the different path lengths of the service links, since the feeder link is normally the same for terminals in the same spotbeam. Further, the differential delay is mainly determined by the size of the spotbeam. It may range from sub-millisecond (for spotbeam on the order of tens of kilometers) to tens of milliseconds (for a spotbeam on the order of thousands of kilometers).
Doppler is another major physical phenomenon that shall be properly taken into account in a satellite communication system. The following Doppler effects are particularly relevant:
Doppler effects depend on the relative speed of the satellites and the UE and the carrier frequency.
For GEO satellites, they are fixed in principle and thus do not induce Doppler shift. In reality, however, they move around their nominal orbital positions due to, for example, perturbations. A GEO satellite is typically maintained inside a box [1]:
The trajectory of the GEO satellite typically follows a figure “8” pattern, as illustrated in
Table 3 gives example Doppler shifts of GEO satellites. For a GEO satellite maintained inside the box and moving according to the figure “8” pattern, we can see that the Doppler shifts due to the GEO satellite movement are negligible.
If a GEO satellite is not maintained inside the box, the motion could be near GEO orbit with inclination up to 6°. The Doppler shifts due to the GEO satellite movement may not be negligible.
The Doppler effects become remarkable for MEO and LEO satellites. Table 4 gives example Doppler shifts and rates of Non-GEO (NGSO) satellites. We can see that the Doppler shifts and rates due to the NGSO satellite movement should be properly considered in the communications system design.
In RAN #80, a new 3GPP Study Item (SI) “Solutions for NR to support Non-Terrestrial Networks” was agreed [1]. It is a continuation of a preceding SI “NR to support Non-Terrestrial Networks” (RP-171450), where the objective was to study the non-terrestrial network channel model, to define deployment scenarios and parameters, and to identify the key potential impacts on NR. The results are reflected in TR 38.811.
The objectives of the current SI are to evaluate solutions for the identified key impacts from the preceding SI and to study impacts on RAN protocols/architecture.
Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) protocol is one of the most important features in NR/LTE. Together with link adaptation through Channel State Information (CSI) feedback and HARQ Acknowledgement (ACK)/Negative Acknowledgement (NACK), HARQ enables efficient, reliable, and low delay data transmission in NR/LTE.
Existing HARQ procedures at the Physical (PHY)/Medium Access Control (MAC) layer have been designed for terrestrial networks where the RTT propagation delay is restricted to within 1 ms. With HARQ protocol, a transmitter needs to wait for the feedback from the receiver before sending new data. In the case of a NACK, the transmitter may need to resend the data packet. Otherwise, it may send new data. This Stop-and-Wait (SAW) procedure introduces inherent latency to the communication protocol, which may reduce the link throughput. To alleviate this issue, the existing HARQ procedure allows activating multiple HARQ processes at the transmitter. That is, the transmitter may initiate multiple transmissions in parallel without having to wait for a HARQ completion. For example, with 16 (8) HARQ processes in NR (LTE) downlink, the NR base station (gNB) (enhanced or evolved Node B (eNB)) may initiate up to 16 (8) new data transmissions without waiting for an ACK for the first packet transmission. Note that there are a sufficient number of HARQ processes for terrestrial networks where the propagation delay is typically less than 1 ms.
There currently exist certain challenge(s). Existing HARQ procedures in LTE/NR have largely been designed for terrestrial networks where the propagation delay is typically limited to 1 ms. Thus, existing HARQ procedures in LTE/NR are not well suited for satellite-based networks.
Systems and methods are disclosed herein for selectively deactivating (partially or fully) Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) mechanisms in a cellular communications system. Embodiments disclosed herein are particularly well-suited for adapting HARQ mechanisms for non-terrestrial radio access networks (e.g., satellite-based radio access networks). Embodiments of a method performed by a wireless device and corresponding embodiments of a wireless device are disclosed. In some embodiments, a method performed by a wireless device for deactivating HARQ mechanisms comprises receiving, from a base station, an explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for an uplink or downlink transmission. The method further comprises determining that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the transmission based on the indication and transmitting/receiving the transmission with HARQ mechanisms at least partially deactivated.
In some embodiments, the explicit or implicit indication is a HARQ process Identity (ID) associated with the transmission, where the HARQ process ID is predefined or preconfigured as a HARQ process ID for which HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated. Further, in some embodiments, receiving the explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission comprises receiving downlink control information that schedules the uplink or downlink transmission, where the downlink control information comprises the HARQ process ID for which HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated.
In some embodiments, receiving the explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission comprises receiving downlink control information that schedules the uplink or downlink transmission, the downlink control information comprising the indication. Further, in some embodiments, the indication is an explicit indication comprised in the downlink control information.
In some embodiments, HARQ mechanisms are partially deactivated, and the method further comprises sending, to the base station, a quantized version of Block Error Rate (BLER) statistics maintained by the wireless device.
In some embodiments, receiving the explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission comprises receiving downlink control information that schedules the uplink or downlink transmission, where the downlink control information is scrambled with a particular radio network temporary identifier that serves as the indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission.
In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving, via Medium Access Control (MAC) signaling, an indication of one or more HARQ processes for which HARQ mechanisms are at least partially disabled. Further, receiving the explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission comprises receiving downlink control information that schedules the uplink or downlink transmission, the downlink control information comprising a HARQ ID that corresponds to one of the one or more HARQ processes for which HARQ mechanisms are at least partially disabled such that the HARQ ID serves as the indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission. Further, in some embodiments, receiving the indication of one or more HARQ processes for which HARQ mechanisms are at least partially disabled comprises receiving a MAC Control Element (CE) comprising, for each HARQ process of a plurality of HARQ processes, an indication of whether or not HARQ mechanisms are deactivated for the HARQ process. Further, in some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving, via MAC signaling, an indication to toggle the indications comprised in the MAC CE.
In some embodiments, receiving the explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission comprises receiving an indication that the wireless device should not have a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) resource for HARQ feedback, which serves as the indication that HARQ mechanisms for the uplink or downlink transmission are at least partially deactivated.
In some embodiments, receiving the explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission comprises receiving downlink control information that schedules the uplink or downlink transmission, the downlink control information comprising a HARQ feedback timing indicator that is set to a value that serves as the indication that HARQ mechanisms for the uplink or downlink transmission are at least partially deactivated.
In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving, from the base station, an indication of one or more HARQ processes for which HARQ mechanisms are activated. Further, receiving the explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission comprises receiving downlink control information that schedules the uplink or downlink transmission, the downlink control information comprising a HARQ ID of a HARQ process other than the one or more HARQ processes for which HARQ mechanisms are activated that serves as the indication to at least partially disable HARQ mechanisms for the uplink or downlink transmission.
In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving, from the base station, an indication to ignore a New Data Indicator (NDI) field of downlink control information for a specified set of HARQ processes. Further, receiving the explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission comprises receiving downlink control information that schedules the uplink or downlink transmission, where the downlink control information comprises a HARQ ID that corresponds to one of the one or more HARQ processes in the specified set of HARQ processes and a NDI field. Still further, transmitting/receiving the transmission with HARQ mechanisms at least partially deactivated comprises transmitting/receiving the transmission while ignoring the NDI field of the downlink control information.
In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving, from the base station, an indication to interpret a NDI field of downlink control information for a specified set of HARQ processes as an indication of whether or not HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated. Further, receiving the explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission comprises receiving downlink control information that schedules the uplink or downlink transmission, where the downlink control information comprises a HARQ ID that corresponds to one of the one or more HARQ processes in the specified set of HARQ processes and a NDI field that is set to a value that, when the NDI field is interpreted as an indication of whether or not HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated, serves as the indication that HARQ mechanisms for the uplink or downlink transmission are at least partially deactivated.
In some embodiments, the base station is a base station of a satellite-based radio access network.
In some embodiments, transmitting/receiving the transmission with HARQ mechanisms at least partially deactivated comprises transmitting/receiving the transmission via a satellite link.
In some embodiments, a wireless device for deactivating HARQ mechanisms comprises one or more transmitters, one or more receivers, and processing circuitry associated with the one or more transmitters and the one or more receivers. The processing circuitry is configured to cause the wireless device to receive, from a base station, an explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for an uplink or downlink transmission. The processing circuitry is further configured to cause the wireless device to determine that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the transmission based on the indication and transmit/receive the transmission with HARQ mechanisms at least partially deactivated.
In some embodiments, a method performed by a wireless device for deactivating HARQ mechanisms comprises transmitting/receiving a data or control transmission to/from a base station on a logical channel that bypasses HARQ mechanisms. In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving, from the base station, a configuration to use the logical channel that bypasses HARQ mechanisms. In some embodiments, the base station is a base station of a satellite-based radio access network. In some embodiments, transmitting/receiving the data or control transmission comprises transmitting/receiving the data or control transmission via a satellite link.
In some embodiments, a wireless device for deactivating HARQ mechanisms comprises one or more transmitters, one or more receivers, and processing circuitry associated with the one or more transmitters and the one or more receivers. The processing circuitry is configured to cause the wireless device to transmit/receive a data or control transmission to/from a base station on a logical channel that bypasses HARQ mechanisms.
Embodiments of a method performed by a base station and corresponding embodiments of a base station are also disclosed. In some embodiments, a method performed by a base station for deactivating HARQ mechanisms comprises transmitting, to a wireless device, an explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for an uplink or downlink transmission. The method further comprises transmitting/receiving the transmission with HARQ mechanisms at least partially deactivated.
In some embodiments, the explicit or implicit indication is a HARQ process ID associated with the transmission, where the HARQ process ID is predefined or preconfigured as a HARQ process ID for which HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated. Further, in some embodiments, transmitting the explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission comprises transmitting downlink control information that schedules the uplink or downlink transmission, where the downlink control information comprises the HARQ process ID for which HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated.
In some embodiments, transmitting the explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission comprises transmitting downlink control information that schedules the uplink or downlink transmission, where the downlink control information comprises the indication. In some embodiments, the indication is an explicit indication comprised in the downlink control information.
In some embodiments, HARQ mechanisms are partially deactivated, and the method further comprises receiving, from the wireless device, a quantized version of BLER statistics maintained by the wireless device.
In some embodiments, transmitting the explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission comprises transmitting downlink control information that schedules the uplink or downlink transmission, where the downlink control information is scrambled with a particular radio network temporary identifier that serves as the indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission.
In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting, to the wireless device via MAC signaling, an indication of one or more HARQ processes for which HARQ mechanisms are at least partially disabled. Further, transmitting the explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission comprises transmitting downlink control information that schedules the uplink or downlink transmission, where the downlink control information comprises a HARQ ID that corresponds to one of the one or more HARQ processes for which HARQ mechanisms are at least partially disabled such that the HARQ ID serves as the indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission. In some embodiments, transmitting the indication of one or more HARQ processes for which HARQ mechanisms are at least partially disabled comprises transmitting a MAC CE comprising, for each HARQ process of a plurality of HARQ processes, an indication of whether or not HARQ mechanisms are deactivated for the HARQ process. Further, in some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting, via MAC signaling, an indication to toggle the indications comprised in the MAC CE.
In some embodiments, transmitting the explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission comprises transmitting an indication that the wireless device should not have a PUCCH resource for HARQ feedback, which serves as the indication that HARQ mechanisms for the uplink or downlink transmission are at least partially deactivated.
In some embodiments, transmitting the explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission comprises transmitting downlink control information that schedules the uplink or downlink transmission, where the downlink control information comprises a HARQ feedback timing indicator that is set to a value that serves as the indication that HARQ mechanisms for the uplink or downlink transmission are at least partially deactivated.
In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting, to the wireless device, an indication of one or more HARQ processes for which HARQ mechanisms are activated. Further, transmitting the explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission comprises transmitting downlink control information that schedules the uplink or downlink transmission, where the downlink control information comprises a HARQ ID of a HARQ process other than the one or more HARQ processes for which HARQ mechanisms are activated that serves as the indication to at least partially disable HARQ mechanisms for the uplink or downlink transmission.
In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting, to the wireless device, an indication to ignore a NDI field of downlink control information for a specified set of HARQ processes. Further, transmitting the explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission comprises transmitting downlink control information that schedules the uplink or downlink transmission, where the downlink control information comprises a HARQ ID that corresponds to one of the one or more HARQ processes in the specified set of HARQ processes and a NDI field. Still further, transmitting/receiving the transmission with HARQ mechanisms at least partially deactivated comprises transmitting/receiving the transmission in a manner in which the NDI field of the downlink control information is ignored by the wireless device.
In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting, to the wireless device, an indication to interpret a NDI field of downlink control information for a specified set of HARQ processes as an indication of whether or not HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated. Further, transmitting the explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission comprises transmitting downlink control information that schedules the uplink or downlink transmission, where the downlink control information comprises a HARQ ID that corresponds to one of the one or more HARQ processes in the specified set of HARQ processes and a NDI field that is set to a value that, when the NDI field is interpreted as an indication of whether or not HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated, serves as the indication that HARQ mechanisms for the uplink or downlink transmission are at least partially deactivated.
In some embodiments, the base station is a base station of a satellite-based radio access network.
In some embodiments, transmitting/receiving the transmission with HARQ mechanisms at least partially deactivated comprises transmitting/receiving the transmission via a satellite link.
In some embodiments, a base station for deactivating HARQ mechanisms comprises processing circuitry configured to cause the base station to transmit, to a wireless device, an explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for an uplink or downlink transmission. The processing circuitry is further configured to cause the base station to transmit/receive the transmission with HARQ mechanisms at least partially deactivated.
In some embodiments, a method performed by a base station for deactivating HARQ mechanisms comprises transmitting/receiving a data or control transmission to/from a wireless device on a logical channel that bypasses HARQ mechanisms. In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting, to the wireless device, a configuration to use the logical channel that bypasses HARQ mechanisms. In some embodiments, the method further comprises determining that the logical channel that bypasses HARQ mechanisms should be used for the data or control transmission to/from the wireless device. In some embodiments, the base station is a base station of a satellite-based radio access network. In some embodiments, transmitting/receiving the data or control transmission comprises transmitting/receiving the data or control transmission via a satellite link.
In some embodiments, a base station for deactivating HARQ mechanisms comprises processing circuitry configured to cause the base station to transmit/receive a data or control transmission to/from a wireless device on a logical channel that bypasses HARQ mechanisms.
The accompanying drawing figures incorporated in and forming a part of this specification illustrate several aspects of the disclosure, and together with the description serve to explain the principles of the disclosure.
The embodiments set forth below represent information to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments and illustrate the best mode of practicing the embodiments. Upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawing figures, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the disclosure and will recognize applications of these concepts not particularly addressed herein. It should be understood that these concepts and applications fall within the scope of the disclosure.
Radio Node: As used herein, a “radio node” is either a radio access node or a wireless device.
Radio Access Node: As used herein, a “radio access node” or “radio network node” is any node in a Radio Access Network (RAN) of a cellular communications network that operates to wirelessly transmit and/or receive signals. Some examples of a radio access node include, but are not limited to, a base station (e.g., a New Radio (NR) base station (gNB) in a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Fifth Generation (5G) NR network or an enhanced or evolved Node B (eNB) in a 3GPP Long Term Evolution (LTE) network), a high-power or macro base station, a low-power base station (e.g., a micro base station, a pico base station, a home eNB, or the like), and a relay node.
Core Network Node: As used herein, a “core network node” is any type of node in a core network. Some examples of a core network node include, e.g., a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Packet Data Network Gateway (P-GW), a Service Capability Exposure Function (SCEF), or the like.
Wireless Device: As used herein, a “wireless device” is any type of device that has access to (i.e., is served by) a cellular communications network by wirelessly transmitting and/or receiving signals to a radio access node(s). Some examples of a wireless device include, but are not limited to, a User Equipment device (UE) in a 3GPP network and a Machine Type Communication (MTC) device.
Network Node: As used herein, a “network node” is any node that is either part of the RAN or the core network of a cellular communications network/system.
Note that the description given herein focuses on a 3GPP cellular communications system and, as such, 3GPP terminology or terminology similar to 3GPP terminology is oftentimes used. However, the concepts disclosed herein are not limited to a 3GPP system.
Note that, in the description herein, reference may be made to the term “cell;” however, particularly with respect to 5G NR concepts, beams may be used instead of cells and, as such, it is important to note that the concepts described herein are equally applicable to both cells and beams.
In the following discussion, Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) protocol refers to the HARQ procedure at the Physical (PHY)/Medium Access Control (MAC) layer.
Existing HARQ procedures in LTE/NR have largely been designed for terrestrial networks where the propagation delay is typically limited to 1 millisecond (ms). The main issues with existing HARQ protocol amid large propagation delays will now be highlighted.
In short, the existing (PHY/MAC) HARQ mechanism is ill-suited to non-terrestrial networks with large propagation delays. Moreover, there is no existing signaling mechanism for disabling HARQ at the PHY/MAC layers. Therefore, new procedures are needed for adapting HARQ to non-terrestrial networks.
Certain aspects of the present disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to the aforementioned or other challenges. In this disclosure, systems and methods for dynamically configuring a HARQ procedure to account for large propagation delays are disclosed. In some embodiments, a node (e.g., eNB/gNB/UE) may configure transmissions with or without HARQ retransmissions or feedback in the connected mode.
In some embodiments, various signaling methodologies are utilized to support the functionality of dynamically deactivating HARQ mechanism at the PHY/MAC layer in the wake of large propagation delays.
Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). Embodiments of the proposed solution introduce methods for dynamically enabling or disabling HARQ at the PHY/MAC layer in wake of large propagation delays. For example, in non-terrestrial networks where the propagation delay is large, activating the HARQ feedback loop may considerably reduce the throughput due to the inherent Stop-and-Wait (SAW) property of the HARQ protocol. With the ability to deactivate HARQ, the eNB/gNB/UE need not wait for the HARQ feedback or retransmissions before transmitting new data. Moreover, it helps save time, frequency, energy, and computational resources required for HARQ feedback transmission. With HARQ disabled, reliability will be provided by higher layers such as the Radio Link Control (RLC) layer.
In certain scenarios such as in poor channel conditions, it may also be desirable to operate with HARQ enabled in order to avoid aggressive retransmissions and increased latency at the higher layers. The proposed solution is dynamic in that it also includes this possibility.
In this regard,
As illustrated, the satellite-based radio access network 400 includes, in this example, a base station 402 that connects the satellite-based radio access network 400 to a core network (not shown). In this example, the base station 402 is connected to a ground-based base station antenna 404 that is, in this example, remote from (i.e., not collocated with) the base station 402. The satellite-based radio access network 400 also includes a satellite 406, which is a space-borne platform, that provides a satellite-based access link to a UE 408 located in a respective spotbeam, or cell, 410.
The term “feeder link” refers to the link between the base station 402 (i.e., the ground-based base station antenna 404 in this example in which the base station 402 and the ground-based base station antenna 404 are not collocated) and the satellite 406. The term “service link” refers to the link between the satellite 406 and the UE 408. The link from the base station 402 to the UE 408 is often called the “forward link,” and the link from the UE 408 to the base station 402 is often called the “return link” or “access link.” Depending on the functionality of the satellite 406 in the satellite-based radio access network 400, two transponder options can be considered:
Several embodiments of a method for dynamically deactivating the HARQ mechanism at the PHY/MAC layer in wake of large propagation delays will now be described.
In one embodiment, HARQ process IDs are used for signaling to the receiver that the HARQ mechanism is deactivated. That is, certain HARQ process IDs are defined which do not use any HARQ feedback or HARQ retransmissions. From the HARQ process ID, the receiver will implicitly know whether to transmit HARQ feedback, and/or to expect HARQ retransmission, and/or to store the received packet in HARQ buffer, and/or to perform other tasks related to HARQ feedback loop. There will be no HARQ retransmissions either.
Example: HARQ process number 0 is defined not to use any HARQ feedback or HARQ retransmission. As a result, the eNB/gNB/UE may use this HARQ process for sending data without any HARQ feedback and without any HARQ retransmissions. In case the transmitter desires to use HARQ feedback, the transmitter may transmit using other HARQ process IDs.
Example: In another example, a subset of HARQ processes can be defined not to use any HARQ feedback or HARQ retransmissions. As a result, the eNB/gNB/UE may use those HARQ processes for sending data without any HARQ feedback and without any HARQ retransmissions. For instance, multiple HARQ processes may be desirable considering the UE processing delay for processing an uplink grant and preparing data for uplink transmission. With a single HARQ process, the gNB/eNB may not send the uplink grant for that HARQ process continuously, thus reducing the resource utilization. Similar to the previous example, in case the transmitter desires to use HARQ feedback, the transmitter may transmit using other HARQ process IDs, if any.
In one embodiment, a new DCI field or an existing DCI field is repurposed for signaling an indication (e.g., 1-bit information or 1 code-point in DCI encoding) to the receiver that indicates whether the HARQ mechanism is deactivated, e.g., for an associated transmission. By reading this DCI information, the UE will implicitly know whether to transmit HARQ feedback, and/or to expect HARQ retransmission, and/or to store the received packet in HARQ buffer, and/or to perform other tasks related to HARQ feedback loop. There will be no HARQ retransmissions either.
With this approach, all HARQ processes are available for use with or without the HARQ mechanism deactivated. This contrasts with the Embodiment 1, where the available number of HARQ processes is reduced due to association with HARQ and no HARQ mode.
Example: For delay-tolerant applications or when transmission reliability is the chief concern or in poor channel conditions, an eNB/gNB may leverage (new/repurposed) DCI fields to schedule a Physical Downlink Shared Channel (PDSCH)/Physical Uplink Shared Channel (PUSCH) transmission with HARQ enabled.
Example: When transmission latency or throughput is the chief concern or in good channel conditions, an eNB/gNB may leverage (new/repurposed) DCI fields to schedule a PDSCH/PUSCH transmission with HARQ disabled. The receiver will not send any feedback.
In another embodiment, the UE may only partially disable the HARQ feedback mechanism where it keeps track of the Block Error Rate (BLER) statistics for the HARQ processes and feeds back a quantized version of the BLER statistics instead. For example, the process of
Example: Instead of feeding back Acknowledgement (ACK)/Negative Acknowledgement (NACK), the UE may simply feedback whether or not its BLER has exceeded the target BLER. Alternatively, the UE may feedback a block error count or a quantized BLER using a Physical Uplink Control Channel (PUCCH) format carrying an Uplink Control Channel (UCI) payload having multiple bits. Such a feedback can be requested either periodically or dynamically through DCI.
When HARQ feedback is disabled, the eNB/gNB will have no knowledge of whether the allocated Modulation and Coding Scheme (MCS) is adequate. Such knowledge could help the eNB/gNB adjust its MCS allocation to achieve a certain desired error rate, e.g. BLER=10−3. Thus, in some scenarios, the eNB/gNB may turn off HARQ retransmission for a HARQ process but may enable HARQ ACK/NACK feedback dynamically from time to time so that it can adjust its MCS allocation based on the feedback information, i.e., perform outer loop link adaptation.
In another embodiment, a new Radio Network Temporary Identifier (RNTI) is devised or an existing RNTI is repurposed for indicating to the UE whether HARQ feedback is disabled or not. For example, the process of
Example: Use an existing RNTI such as “MCS-C-RNTI” for indicating the HARQ feedback mode. If the downlink assignment/uplink grant is scrambled with MCS-C-RNTI, it is likely used for a reliable transmission, suggesting that it relies less on HARQ feedback.
In some embodiments, a MAC Control Element (CE) is used to indicate to the UE which HARQ processes have HARQ feedback enabled or disabled.
In some embodiments, the MAC CE (e.g., the MAC CE of Embodiment 3a) has a fixed payload size of zero bits and the MAC CE is identified by a specific header. It indicates to the UE a toggle of the configuration for the HARQ feedback for all HARQ processes, i.e., if the HARQ feedback is disabled, then this MAC CE indicates that the HARQ feedback shall be enabled and, if the HARQ feedback is enabled, then this MAC CE indicates that the HARQ feedback shall be disabled.
In one embodiment, Radio Resource Control (RRC) signaling is used to indicate that a UE should not have a PUCCH resource for HARQ feedback. This serves as an implicit indication to the UE that HARQ mechanisms are deactivated.
Example: Similar to Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 2, the UE will know that the HARQ mechanism is disabled as there is no PUCCH resource configured for it.
In some embodiments, RRC signaling is enabled to devise a null resource in the DCI field HARQ-feedback timing indicator. If this null resource is configured in the DCI, then UE shall not reply with HARQ feedback. Alternatively, the dedicated RRC signaling can be used to configure the UE with the HARQ processes for which HARQ feedback is enabled. This UE-specific configuration would be applicable for UEs in RRC_CONNECTED mode and could be modified or terminated via RRC reconfiguration.
Example: RRC signaling may declare the HARQ-feedback timing indicator value 0 as the null-resource. This means that if UE receives this value, HARQ feedback is disabled.
In one embodiment, a new logical channel is used to bypass the PHY/MAC HARQ loop in RRC_CONNECTED mode. With this approach, higher layers will indicate to lower layers that the HARQ mechanism is disabled.
When the UE is configured with the mentioned logical channel, the HARQ mechanism can be avoided altogether.
Example:
In some embodiments, a new RRC signaling is introduced to inform the UE to ignore the New Data Indicator (NDI) field in DCI for a specified set of HARQ process IDs. This is because the NDI field may be redundant when HARQ is disabled on a HARQ process as there are no HARQ retransmissions. In this case, regardless of the HARQ feedback value which might be sent or not, no retransmission will occur.
Example: In the NR fallback mode, the DCI fields are static and cannot be changed dynamically. By introducing the suggested RRC signaling, the NDI bit may be repurposed.
In some embodiments, new RRC signaling is introduced to inform the UE to interpret the NDI field in DCI for a specified set of HARQ process IDs in a different way. With this interpretation, the NDI bit indicates whether or not the UE shall transmit HARQ feedback for the associated block. In this case, regardless of HARQ feedback value which might be sent or not, no retransmission will occur.
In some embodiments, the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer can be configured to provide integrity protection of the data layer to detect bit modifications introduced on the physical layer. In one embodiment, this detection mechanism is used to detect bit and block errors not captured by lower layers (e.g., HARQ and RLC). The PDCP functionality can be enhanced to request retransmissions of erroneously received blocks to improve the link robustness. The PDPC Message Authentication code (MAC-I) is a four byte word calculated based on the PDCP PDU at the transmitting node, and is appended to the end of the PDCP PDU. It is similar in its function to the CRC appended to a transport block, with the important difference that a secret key is used in the calculations meaning that only the intended receiver can verify the MAC-I (while any receiver including interceptors can calculate the PHY CRC). The receiving node verifies the correctness of the received PDCP PDU by the calculation of the MAC-X four byte word, and verifies that the MAC-X corresponds to the MAC-I. If a bit in the transmitted PDU has been changed during the transmission, then MAC-X and MAC-I will not correspond and the receiving node can be said to have detected a bit error.
In some embodiments, the lack of HARQ feedback is compensated for through increased redundancy. The idea of HARQ retransmissions is to lower the residual error probability without the cost of operating at high initial BLER (expensive in terms of output power, caused interference, etc.). Removing the possibility of HARQ retransmissions will result in even more time consuming RLC, or even Transmission Control Protocol (TCP) retransmissions. The large RTT propagation delay (˜500 ms) for non-terrestrial communications allows for increased redundancy to compensate for this. That is, the transmitter is likely already operating at maximum output power but Transmit Time Interval (TTI) bundling or time repetition, reduced code rate, etc. could be applied to lower the initial BLER. Such techniques can be used in, e.g., step 506 of
As used herein, a “virtualized” radio access node is an implementation of the radio access node 1800 in which at least a portion of the functionality of the radio access node 1800 is implemented as a virtual component(s) (e.g., via a virtual machine(s) executing on a physical processing node(s) in a network(s)). As illustrated, in this example, the radio access node 1800 includes one or more processing nodes 1900 coupled to or included as part of a network(s) 1902 via the network interface 1808. Each processing node 1900 includes one or more processors 1904 (e.g., CPUs, ASICs, FPGAs, and/or the like), memory 1906, and a network interface 1908. Optionally, the radio access node 1800 includes the control system 1802 and/or the radio unit(s) 1810, depending on the particular implementation.
In this example, functions 1910 of the radio access node 1800 described herein (e.g., functions of the base station, eNB, or gNB described herein) are implemented at the one or more processing nodes 1900 or distributed across the control system 1802 and the one or more processing nodes 1900 in any desired manner. In some particular embodiments, some or all of the functions 1910 of the radio access node 1800 described herein are implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines implemented in a virtual environment(s) hosted by the processing node(s) 1900. Notably, in some embodiments, the control system 1802 may not be included, in which case the radio unit(s) 1810 can communicate directly with the processing node(s) 1900 via an appropriate network interface(s).
In some embodiments, a computer program including instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to carry out the functionality of radio access node 1800 or a node (e.g., a processing node 1900) implementing one or more of the functions 1910 of the radio access node 1800 in a virtual environment according to any of the embodiments described herein is provided. In some embodiments, a carrier comprising the aforementioned computer program product is provided. The carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal, or a computer readable storage medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer readable medium such as memory).
In some embodiments, a computer program including instructions which, when executed by at least one processor, causes the at least one processor to carry out the functionality of the UE 2100 according to any of the embodiments described herein is provided. In some embodiments, a carrier comprising the aforementioned computer program product is provided. The carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal, or a computer readable storage medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer readable medium such as memory).
With reference to
The telecommunication network 2300 is itself connected to a host computer 2316, which may be embodied in the hardware and/or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, or as processing resources in a server farm. The host computer 2316 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider, or may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. Connections 2318 and 2320 between the telecommunication network 2300 and the host computer 2316 may extend directly from the core network 2304 to the host computer 2316 or may go via an optional intermediate network 2322. The intermediate network 2322 may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private, or hosted network; the intermediate network 2322, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, the intermediate network 2322 may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown).
The communication system of
Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the UE, base station, and host computer discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to
The communication system 2400 further includes a base station 2418 provided in a telecommunication system and comprising hardware 2420 enabling it to communicate with the host computer 2402 and with the UE 2414. The hardware 2420 may include a communication interface 2422 for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the communication system 2400, as well as a radio interface 2424 for setting up and maintaining at least a wireless connection 2426 with the UE 2414 located in a coverage area (not shown in
The communication system 2400 further includes the UE 2414 already referred to. The UE's 2414 hardware 2434 may include a radio interface 2436 configured to set up and maintain a wireless connection 2426 with a base station serving a coverage area in which the UE 2414 is currently located. The hardware 2434 of the UE 2414 further includes processing circuitry 2438, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, ASICs, FPGAs, or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The UE 2414 further comprises software 2440, which is stored in or accessible by the UE 2414 and executable by the processing circuitry 2438. The software 2440 includes a client application 2442. The client application 2442 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via the UE 2414, with the support of the host computer 2402. In the host computer 2402, the executing host application 2412 may communicate with the executing client application 2442 via the OTT connection 2416 terminating at the UE 2414 and the host computer 2402. In providing the service to the user, the client application 2442 may receive request data from the host application 2412 and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 2416 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The client application 2442 may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.
It is noted that the host computer 2402, the base station 2418, and the UE 2414 illustrated in
In
The wireless connection 2426 between the UE 2414 and the base station 2418 is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 2414 using the OTT connection 2416, in which the wireless connection 2426 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve e.g., data rate, latency, and/or power consumption and thereby provide benefits such as e.g., reduced user waiting time, relaxed restriction on file size, better responsiveness, and/or extended battery lifetime.
A measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency, and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 2416 between the host computer 2402 and the UE 2414, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 2416 may be implemented in the software 2410 and the hardware 2404 of the host computer 2402 or in the software 2440 and the hardware 2434 of the UE 2414, or both. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which the OTT connection 2416 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which the software 2410, 2440 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection 2416 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing, etc.; the reconfiguring need not affect the base station 2418, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to the base station 2418. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling facilitating the host computer 2402's measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency, and the like. The measurements may be implemented in that the software 2410 and 2440 causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection 2416 while it monitors propagation times, errors, etc.
Any appropriate steps, methods, features, functions, or benefits disclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual apparatuses. Each virtual apparatus may comprise a number of these functional units. These functional units may be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include Digital Signal Processor (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory such as Read Only Memory (ROM), Random Access Memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or data communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause the respective functional unit to perform corresponding functions according one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.
While processes in the figures may show a particular order of operations performed by certain embodiments of the present disclosure, it should be understood that such order is exemplary (e.g., alternative embodiments may perform the operations in a different order, combine certain operations, overlap certain operations, etc.).
Some example embodiments of the present disclosure are as follows:
Embodiment 1: A method performed by a wireless device for deactivating HARQ mechanisms, the method comprising at least one of: receiving, from a base station, an explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for an uplink or downlink transmission; determining that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the transmission based on the indication; and transmitting/receiving the transmission with HARQ mechanisms at least partially deactivated.
Embodiment 2: The method of embodiment 1 wherein the explicit or implicit indication is a HARQ process ID associated with the transmission, the HARQ process ID being predefined or preconfigured as a HARQ process ID for which HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated.
Embodiment 3: The method of embodiment 1 wherein receiving the explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission comprises receiving downlink control information that schedules the uplink or downlink transmission, the downlink control information comprising the indication.
Embodiment 4: The method of embodiment 3 wherein the indication is an explicit indication comprised in the downlink control information.
Embodiment 5: The method of embodiment 1 wherein receiving the explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission comprises receiving an indication that the wireless device should not have a physical uplink control channel resource for HARQ feedback, which serves as an implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms for the transmission are at least partially deactivated.
Embodiment 6: The method of any one of the embodiments 1 to 5 wherein the base station is a base station of a satellite-based radio access network.
Embodiment 7: The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 6 wherein transmitting/receiving the transmission with HARQ mechanisms at least partially deactivated comprises transmitting/receiving the transmission via a satellite link.
Embodiment 8: A method performed by a wireless device for deactivating HARQ mechanisms, the method comprising: transmitting/receiving a data or control transmission to/from a base station on a logical channel that bypasses HARQ mechanisms.
Embodiment 9: The method of embodiment 8 further comprising receiving, from a base station, a configuration to use the logical channel that bypasses HARQ mechanisms.
Embodiment 10: The method of embodiment 8 or 9 wherein the base station is a base station of a satellite-based radio access network.
Embodiment 11: The method of any one of embodiments 8 to 10 wherein transmitting/receiving the data or control transmission comprises transmitting/receiving the data or control transmission via a satellite link.
Embodiment 12: The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: providing user data; and forwarding the user data to a host computer via the transmission to the base station.
Embodiment 13: A method performed by a base station for deactivating HARQ mechanisms, the method comprising at least one of: transmitting, to a wireless device, an explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for an uplink or downlink transmission; and transmitting/receiving the transmission with HARQ mechanisms at least partially deactivated.
Embodiment 14: The method of embodiment 13 wherein the explicit or implicit indication is a HARQ process ID associated with the transmission, the HARQ process ID being predefined or preconfigured as a HARQ process ID for which HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated.
Embodiment 15: The method of embodiment 13 wherein transmitting the explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission comprises transmitting downlink control information that schedules the uplink or downlink transmission, the downlink control information comprising the indication.
Embodiment 16: The method of embodiment 15 wherein the indication is an explicit indication comprised in the downlink control information.
Embodiment 17: The method of embodiment 13 wherein transmitting the explicit or implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms are at least partially deactivated for the uplink or downlink transmission comprises transmitting an indication that the wireless device should not have a physical uplink control channel resource for HARQ feedback, which serves as an implicit indication that HARQ mechanisms for the transmission are at least partially deactivated.
Embodiment 18: The method of any one of the embodiments 13 to 17 wherein the base station is a base station of a satellite-based radio access network.
Embodiment 19: The method of any one of embodiments 13 to 18 wherein transmitting/receiving the transmission with HARQ mechanisms at least partially deactivated comprises transmitting/receiving the transmission via a satellite link.
Embodiment 20: A method performed by a base station for deactivating HARQ mechanisms, the method comprising: transmitting/receiving a data or control transmission to/from a wireless device on a logical channel that bypasses HARQ mechanisms.
Embodiment 21: The method of embodiment 20 further comprising transmitting, to the wireless device, a configuration to use the logical channel that bypasses HARQ mechanisms.
Embodiment 22: The method of embodiment 20 or 21 further comprising determining that the logical channel that bypasses HARQ mechanisms should be used for the data or control transmission to/from the wireless device.
Embodiment 23: The method of any one of embodiments 20 to 22 wherein the base station is a base station of a satellite-based radio access network.
Embodiment 24: The method of any one of embodiments 20 to 23 wherein transmitting/receiving the data or control transmission comprises transmitting/receiving the data or control transmission via a satellite link.
Embodiment 25: The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising: obtaining user data; and forwarding the user data to a host computer or a wireless device.
Embodiment 26: A wireless device for deactivating HARQ mechanisms, the wireless device comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the wireless device.
Embodiment 27: A base station for deactivating HARQ mechanisms, the base station comprising: processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments; and power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the base station.
Embodiment 28: A User Equipment, UE, for deactivating HARQ mechanisms, the UE comprising: an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals; radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry; the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments; an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.
Embodiment 29: A communication system including a host computer comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a communication interface configured to forward the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a User Equipment, UE; wherein the cellular network comprises a base station having a radio interface and processing circuitry, the base station's processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments.
Embodiment 30: The communication system of the previous embodiment further including the base station.
Embodiment 31: The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, further including the UE, wherein the UE is configured to communicate with the base station.
Embodiment 32: The communication system of the previous 3 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the UE comprises processing circuitry configured to execute a client application associated with the host application.
Embodiment 33: A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a User Equipment, UE, the method comprising: at the host computer, providing user data; and at the host computer, initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the base station, wherein the base station performs any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments.
Embodiment 34: The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising, at the base station, transmitting the user data.
Embodiment 35: The method of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein the user data is provided at the host computer by executing a host application, the method further comprising, at the UE, executing a client application associated with the host application.
Embodiment 36: A User Equipment, UE, configured to communicate with a base station, the UE comprising a radio interface and processing circuitry configured to perform the method of the previous 3 embodiments.
Embodiment 37: A communication system including a host computer comprising: processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and a communication interface configured to forward user data to a cellular network for transmission to a User Equipment, UE; wherein the UE comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the UE's components configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.
Embodiment 38: The communication system of the previous embodiment, wherein the cellular network further includes a base station configured to communicate with the UE.
Embodiment 39: The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and the UE's processing circuitry is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application.
Embodiment 40: A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a User Equipment, UE, the method comprising: at the host computer, providing user data; and at the host computer, initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the base station, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.
Embodiment 41: The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising at the UE, receiving the user data from the base station.
Embodiment 42: A communication system including a host computer comprising: communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a User Equipment, UE, to a base station; wherein the UE comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the UE's processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.
Embodiment 43: The communication system of the previous embodiment, further including the UE.
Embodiment 44: The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, further including the base station, wherein the base station comprises a radio interface configured to communicate with the UE and a communication interface configured to forward to the host computer the user data carried by a transmission from the UE to the base station.
Embodiment 45: The communication system of the previous 3 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application; and the UE's processing circuitry is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data.
Embodiment 46: The communication system of the previous 4 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing request data; and the UE's processing circuitry is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data in response to the request data.
Embodiment 47: A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a User Equipment, UE, the method comprising: at the host computer, receiving user data transmitted to the base station from the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.
Embodiment 48: The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising, at the UE, providing the user data to the base station.
Embodiment 49: The method of the previous 2 embodiments, further comprising: at the UE, executing a client application, thereby providing the user data to be transmitted; and at the host computer, executing a host application associated with the client application.
Embodiment 50: The method of the previous 3 embodiments, further comprising: at the UE, executing a client application; and at the UE, receiving input data to the client application, the input data being provided at the host computer by executing a host application associated with the client application; wherein the user data to be transmitted is provided by the client application in response to the input data.
Embodiment 51: A communication system including a host computer comprising a communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a User Equipment, UE, to a base station, wherein the base station comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the base station's processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments.
Embodiment 52: The communication system of the previous embodiment further including the base station.
Embodiment 53: The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, further including the UE, wherein the UE is configured to communicate with the base station.
Embodiment 54: The communication system of the previous 3 embodiments, wherein: the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application; and the UE is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data to be received by the host computer.
Embodiment 55: A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station, and a User Equipment, UE, the method comprising: at the host computer, receiving, from the base station, user data originating from a transmission which the base station has received from the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.
Embodiment 56: The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising at the base station, receiving the user data from the UE.
Embodiment 57: The method of the previous 2 embodiments, further comprising at the base station, initiating a transmission of the received user data to the host computer.
At least some of the following abbreviations may be used in this disclosure. If there is an inconsistency between abbreviations, preference should be given to how it is used above. If listed multiple times below, the first listing should be preferred over any subsequent listing(s).
Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the embodiments of the present disclosure. All such improvements and modifications are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein.
This application claims the benefit of provisional patent application Ser. No. 62/737,630, filed Sep. 27, 2018, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB2019/058094 | 9/24/2019 | WO | 00 |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 62737630 | Sep 2018 | US |
