Patent Application
20230379905
Embodiments herein relate to a User Equipment (UE) and methods therein. In some aspects, they relate to controlling an indication of user data in a buffer of the UE. The user data in the buffer is for Small Data Transmission (SDT) in a wireless communications network when the UE is in inactive mode.
In a typical wireless communication network, wireless devices, also known as wireless communication devices, mobile stations, stations (STA) and/or User Equipment (UE), communicate via a Local Area Network such as a W-Fi network or a Radio Access Network (RAN) to one or more core networks (CN). The RAN covers a geographical area which is divided into service areas or cell areas, which may also be referred to as a beam or a beam group, with each service area or cell area being served by a radio network node such as a radio access node e.g., a W-Fi access point or a radio base station (RBS), which in some networks may also be denoted, for example, a NodeB, eNodeB (eNB), or gNB as denoted in 5G. A service area or cell area is a geographical area where radio coverage is provided by the radio network node. The radio network node communicates over an air interface operating on radio frequencies with the wireless device within range of the radio network node.
Specifications for the Evolved Packet System (EPS), also called a Fourth Generation (4G) network, have been completed within the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) and this work continues in the coming 3GPP releases, for example to specify a Fifth Generation (5G) network also referred to as 5G New Radio (NR). The EPS comprises the Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), also known as the Long Term Evolution (LTE) radio access network, and the Evolved Packet Core (EPC), also known as System Architecture Evolution (SAE) core network. E-UTRAN/LTE is a variant of a 3GPP radio access network wherein the radio network nodes are directly connected to the EPC core network rather than to RNCs used in 3G networks. In general, in E-UTRAN/LTE the functions of a 3G RNC are distributed between the radio network nodes, e.g. eNodeBs in LTE, and the core network. As such, the RAN of an EPS has an essentially “flat” architecture comprising radio network nodes connected directly to one or more core networks, i.e. they are not connected to RNCs. To compensate for that, the E-UTRAN specification defines a direct interface between the radio network nodes, this interface being denoted the X2 interface.
Multi-antenna techniques may significantly increase the data rates and reliability of a wireless communication system. The performance is in particular improved if both the transmitter and the receiver are equipped with multiple antennas, which results in a Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) communication channel. Such systems and/or related techniques are commonly referred to as MIMO.
3GPP Status
A Work Item (WI) RP-200954 “New Work Item on NR small data transmissions in INACTIVE state” has been approved by 3GPP wherein the focus of the WI is to focus on optimizing the transmission for small data payloads by reducing the signaling overhead. The WI RP-200954 contains the following relevant objectives for enabling SDT in an inactive Radio Resource Control (RRC), RRC_INACTIVE, state:
For Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and LTE including enhanced Machine Type Communication (eMTC), also denoted LTE-M, related signaling optimizations for small data have been introduced in 3GPP Release 15, Early Data Transmission (EDT), and 3GPP Release 16, Preconfigured Uplink Resources (PUR). Further related solutions may be expected for NR with the difference that 3GPP Release 17, NR Small Data, is only to be supported for the RRC INACTIVE state, which includes a 2-step RACH based small data. Further it should include regular complexity mobile broadband (MBB) UEs. Both cases support Mobile Originated (MO) traffic only.
Within the context of SDT, the possibility of transmitting subsequent data has been discussed. In this context, transmitting subsequent data means the transmission of further segments of data that cannot fit in an Msg3 Transport Block. Such further segments of data can be transmitted either in a connected RRC state, RRC_CONNECTED, as in legacy after a 4-step RACH procedure has been completed, or they can be transmitted in RRC_INACTIVE before the UE transitions to RRC_CONNECTED. In the former case the transmission will be more efficient as the NR base station, i.e. gNB, and UE are appropriately configured based on the current UE channel conditions. In the latter case, several optimization are not in place yet, especially if the UE has moved while not being connected, furthermore, the transmission may collide with the transmission from other UEs as contention has not been resolved yet.
The Work Item has already started in 3GPP meeting RAN2 #111-e, wherein the following relevant agreements have already been made:
RRC States
From the RRC layer point of view, a UE can be camping in a cell in either one of three different states, RRC_IDLE, RRC_INACTIVE and RRC_CONNECTED.
In RRC_IDLE the UE is not connected to a CN, instead, a series of mechanisms allow the UE to monitor the paging channel while saving energy. In RRC_CONNECTED the UE is connected to the CN and the UE can perform unicast data transfer. Usually in this state, the UE monitors more frequently the downlink control channel in order to react quickly to DL transmissions. The RRC_CONNECTED state however consumes more energy that the RRC_IDLE state. RRC_INACTIVE is a new state introduced in NR which combines aspects from the other two states. In RRC_INACTIVE, the UE is connected to the CN, but also configured to save energy by employing a behavior similar to the one in RRC_IDLE.
The transition from a state to another state is controlled by the RRC layer, and specifically by a gNB which sends appropriate messages to confirm the state transition. This is illustrated in In
Some transitions illustrated in
Random Access Procedures
The 4-step RACH procedure may be triggered by the UE in order to acquire radio resources from the network in order to transmit or receive data. In legacy, the scope of this procedure, beyond synchronizing with a gNB, is to transition to RRC_CONNECTED.
The 4-step Random Access procedure is illustrated in
Msg3 is transmitted by the UE, which contains the first RRC message with which the UE requests a state transition to the gNB, e.g. in this context, msg3 message is an RRCResumeRequest. Msg3 also comprises a UE identifier, used by the gNB to retrieve the UE context to further act appropriately as the UE have configurations to be considered. In the context of EDT and/or SDT, Msg3 may also comprise user data.
Finally, in Msg4 the gNB sends a Contention Resolution ID, which comprises a copy of the previous transmission used by the UE to determine whether or not a possible collision has been resolved. Colliding UEs will send different Msg3s, hence, only one UE will have a matching Contention Resolution ID.
Msg4 also comprises the last RRC message which determines the state transition. Typically, in legacy, this message is an RRCResume message, meaning that the UE can transition to RRC_CONNECTED and start a data transfer. However, in the context of EDT and/or SDT, the RRC message can also be an RRCRelease message, which terminates the transition if user data has been transmitted in Msg3.
2-Step RACH
With the 2-step procedure the random access is completed in only two steps as illustrated in
The msgB is a response to msgA, which may contain contention resolution message(s), fallback indication(s) to schedule Msg3 transmission, and backoff indication.
The msgB is a response to msgA, which may contain responses to multiple UEs and with different kinds of information for different UEs depending on the outcome of the msgA transmission/reception and the load on the access resources.
Upon a successful msgA reception, the gNB includes a successRAR Medium Access Control (MAC), sub Packet Data Unit (subPDU) as a response for the concerned UE, where the successRAR MAC subPDU includes a contention resolution identity, a timing advance and a Cell Radio Network Temporary Identifier (C-RNTI) allocation. If the gNB successfully received the RACH preamble, but failed to receive msgA PUSCH, the gNB can respond to the concerned UE with a fallbackRAR MAC subPDU in the msgB. The fallbackRAR essentially turns the 2-step RA into a 4-step RA and consequently the fallbackRAR MAC subPDU contains an UL grant, a timing advance and a temporary C-RNTI (TC-RNTI) allocation, but no contention resolution identity. The UE uses the UL grant to retransmit msgA PUSCH in the form of Msg3.
Buffer Status Report
The general scope of Buffer Status Report (BSR) is to inform the gNB of the status of the Logical Channel buffers, specifically of the amount of data that is currently pending for UL transmission. Several formats are specified depending on the amount of data that is pending and how many logical channels are active. BSR is specified in MAC specification of 3GPP TS 38.321. v16.2.1. As described in the 3GPP TS 38.321 v16.2.1. clause 5.4.5, the Buffer Status reporting procedure is used to provide the serving gNB with information about UL data volume in the MAC entity.
For any BSR other than a Pre-emptive BSR, RRC configures the following parameters to control the BSR:
Each logical channel may be allocated to a Logical Channel Group (LCG) using the logicalChannelGroup. The maximum number of LCGs is eight. The MAC entity determines the amount of UL data available for a logical channel according to the data volume calculation procedure.
A BSR other than a Pre-emptive BSR shall be triggered if any of the following events occur:
NOTE 1: When a Regular BSR triggering events occur for multiple logical channels simultaneously, each logical channel triggers one separate Regular BSR.
For a Regular BSR, the MAC entity shall:
For Regular and Periodic BSR, the MAC entity shall:
For a Padding BSR, the MAC entity shall:
MAC PDU
A MAC PDU consists of one or more MAC subPDUs. Each MAC subPDU consists of one of the following:
The MAC SDUs are of variable sizes.
Each MAC subheader corresponds to either a MAC SDU, a MAC CE, or padding.
A MAC subheader except for fixed sized MAC CE, padding, and a MAC SDU containing UL CCCH consists of the four header fields R/F/LCID/L. A MAC subheader for fixed sized MAC CE, padding, and a MAC SDU containing UL CCCH consists of the two header fields R/LCID.
This is illustrated in
This is further illustrated in
This is further illustrated in
The bits lengths of the 8-bits long octets in
MAC CEs are placed together. DL MAC subPDU(s) with MAC CE(s) is placed before any MAC subPDU with MAC SDU and MAC subPDU with padding as depicted in
Buffer Status Report MAC CEs
The BSR MAC CEs consist of either:
The BSR formats are identified by MAC subheaders with LCIDs as exemplified in
The fields in the BSR MAC CE are defined as follows:
NOTE 1: For the Pre-emptive BSR, if configured, the LCGs to be reported, the expected data volume calculation, the exact time to report Pre-emptive BSR and the associated LCH are left to implementation.
NOTE 2: The mapping of LCGs between the ingress and egress links of an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node for purposes of determining expected change in occupancy of IAB-MT buffers, e.g. to be reported as Pre-emptive BSR, is left to implementation.
NOTE 3: The number of the Buffer Size fields in the Long BSR and Long Truncated BSR format can be zero.
The bits lengths of the 8-bits long octets in
In case of transmitting a BSR in Msg3 or MsgA together with CCCH (RRC message) and data, the MAC PDU would consist of the following sub headers and SDUs:
This is illustrated in
As a part of developing embodiments herein the inventors identified a problem which first will be discussed.
The BSR triggering conditions for SDT have not been agreed in 3gpp and the legacy conditions may not be efficient given the small size of grants envisioned.
A second aspect of transmitting a BSR multiplexed with CCCH and user data on a relatively small grant is that the overhead can be considerable.
An object of embodiments is to improve the performance of wireless communications network using SDT.
According to an aspect of embodiments herein, the object is achieved by a method performed by a User Equipment, UE, for controlling an indication of user data in a buffer of the UE. The user data in the buffer is for Small Data Transmission, SDT, in a wireless communications network when the UE is in inactive mode.
The UE obtains pending user data for SDT into the buffer of the UE.
Based on a threshold value related to an amount of user data for SDT, determining whether or not to include an indication into a first uplink grant allocation transmission for the SDT to be transmitted to a network node. The indication would indicate that user data is in the buffer.
According to another aspect of embodiments herein, the object is achieved by a User Equipment, UE, configured to control an indication of user data in a buffer of the UE for Small Data Transmission, SDT, in a wireless communications network when the UE is in inactive mode. The UE further is configured to:
It is furthermore provided herein a computer program product comprising instructions, which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out any of the methods above, as performed by the apparatus. It is additionally provided herein a computer-readable storage medium, having stored there on a computer program product comprising instructions which, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to carry out the method according to any of the methods above, as performed by the apparatus.
Examples of embodiments herein are described in more detail with reference to attached drawings in which:
a and b are schematic block diagrams illustrating embodiments of a UE.
Example of embodiments herein relate to Rules of inclusion of an indication of user data in a buffer such as e.g. an BSR in SDT.
Example of embodiments herein provide details on how and in which cases an indication of user data in a buffer of a UE, referred to as a UE buffer, such as e.g. an BSR should be included in a first uplink grant allocation transmission for the SDT to be transmitted to a network node such as e.g. Msg3 and/or MsgA in the context of Small Data Enhancement for NR.
It may be assumed that the UE is camping in a cell in inactive mode such as RRC_INACTIVE and may move to connected mode such as RRC_CONNECTED to perform some of the data transfers required.
Embodiments herein comprises at least some of the following advantages:
They define an indication of user data in a buffer such as e.g. an BSR to e.g. indicate the number of transmissions needed to empty the buffer using a same grant size e.g. to allow for more efficient BSR encoding. An indication of user data in a buffer may e.g. be an indication of user data in the UE buffer such as e.g. the existing and/or anticipated user data in the UE buffer.
They allow configuring a data volume threshold under which no indication of user data in a buffer such as no BSR is transmitted, this allows more data to be transmitted and a network node such as a gNB still has knowledge of what size grant it needs to give for the UE to fit all remaining data in the next transmission.
They allow transmitting an indication of user data in a buffer such as a BSR only when the amount of data in the buffer is larger than a configured “normal” value.
They allow transmitting an indication of user data in a buffer such as a BSR also for lower priority LCGs or LCGs different from the LCGs configured for SDT.
They may remove the MAC subheader before an indication of user data in a buffer such as a BSR to reduce the overhead leading to more efficient transmissions.
Network nodes such as a network node 110 operate in the wireless communications network 100, by means of antenna beams, referred to as beams herein. The RAN node 110 e.g. provides a number of cells referred to as cell1 and cell2, and may use these cells for communicating with e.g. a UE 120. The network node 110 may be a transmission and reception point e.g. a radio access network node such as a base station, e.g. a radio base station such as a NodeB, an evolved Node B (eNB, eNode B), an NR Node B (gNB), a base transceiver station, a radio remote unit, an Access Point Base Station, a base station router, a transmission arrangement of a radio base station, a stand-alone access point, a Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) access point, an Access Point Station (AP STA), an access controller, a UE acting as an access point or a peer in a Device to Device (D2D) communication, or any other network unit capable of communicating with a UE within any of cell1 and cell2 served by the network node 110 depending e.g. on the radio access technology and terminology used.
User Equipments operate in the wireless communications network 100, such as a UE 120. The UE 120 may provide radio coverage by means of a number of antenna beams, also referred to as beams herein.
The UE 120 may e.g. be an NR device, a mobile station, a wireless terminal, an NB-IoT device, an eMTC device, an NR RedCap device, a CAT-M device, a WiFi device, an LTE device and an a non-access point (non-AP) STA, a STA, that communicates via a base station such as e.g. the network node 110, one or more Access Networks (AN), e.g. RAN, to one or more CNs. It should be understood by the skilled in the art that the UE relates to a non-limiting term which means any UE, terminal, wireless communication terminal, user equipment, (D2D) terminal, or node e.g. smart phone, laptop, mobile phone, sensor, relay, mobile tablets or even a small base station communicating within a cell.
CN nodes operates in the wireless communications network 100. The CN node may e.g. be an Access and Mobility management Function (AMF) node or a Session Management Function (SMF) node.
Methods herein may in one aspect be performed by the be performed by the UE 120. As an alternative, a Distributed Node (DN) and functionality, e.g. comprised in a cloud 140, as shown in
Action 1301
The UE 120 obtains pending user data for SDT into a buffer of the UE 120.
This means that the UE 120 may receive data in its buffer when the UE 120 is in inactive mode, which data is to be transmitted as SDT.
Action 1302
In some embodiments, the UE 120 determines an amount of user data configured for SDT that goes into a first uplink grant allocation based on, also referred to as derived from, any one out of:
Action 1303
Based on a threshold value related to the amount of user data for SDT, the UE 120 determines whether or not to include an indication into a first uplink grant allocation transmission for the SDT to be transmitted to the network node 110. The indication indicates user data in the buffer. This may mean that the indication in the first uplink grant allocation transmission indicates that there is user data for SDT in the UE buffer to be transmitted to the network node 110.
In some embodiments, the indication of user data in the buffer is represented by a BSR. That is the indication of user data in the buffer may in some embodiments be a BSR.
In some embodiments, the indication of the user data in the buffer in the first uplink grant allocation transmission further indicates data available on a logical channel or logical channel group not part of the SDT DRB configuration.
Action 1304
In these embodiments, when determined that all the pending data goes into in the first uplink grant allocation transmission, the UE 120 transmits to the network node 110, all the pending data in the first uplink grant allocation transmission and omits the indication of the user data in the buffer in the first uplink grant allocation transmission.
In some embodiments, the threshold value related to an amount of user data for SDT is represented by a threshold value relating to all the pending data that goes into the first uplink grant allocation transmission.
Action 1305
In these embodiments, when determined that not all the pending data goes into in the first uplink grant allocation transmission, the UE 120 transmits to the network node 110, a part of all pending data in the buffer that goes into in the first uplink grant allocation transmission and the indication of the user data in the buffer in the first uplink grant allocation transmission. The indication of the user data in the buffer indicates to the network node 110 how many further transmissions that are needed for transmitting the rest of the pending data to emptying the buffer.
In some embodiments, the threshold value related to an amount of user data for SDT is represented by a threshold value relating to all the pending data that goes into the first uplink grant allocation transmission.
The method will now be further explained and exemplified in below embodiments. These below embodiments may be combined with any suitable embodiment as described above.
In an example of some first embodiments the UE 120 determines the amount of user data configured for SDT that can fit in the first uplink grant allocation. This may e.g. be derived from an UL Grant in Msg2 in case of 4-step RACH, or from System Information in case of 2-step RACH. This relates to Action 1302 described above.
The UE 120 then determines if all the pending data can fit in this transmission. This relates to Action 1303 described above. In this example the amount of pending data can fit in is the threshold value.
In case it cannot fit, the UE 120 will include the indication of user data in a buffer such as the BSR to inform the network node 110 e.g. about how many further transmissions are needed to empty the buffer. This relates to Action 1305 described above. This may be performed by e.g. using the current allocation as reference, or towards the threshold value such as a configured threshold value. The information conveyed to the network node 110 may include an adjustment due to the payload size(s) needed to include an indication of user data in a buffer such as a BSR.
In case the complete UE 120 buffer for data configured for SDT can be sent in the first allocation, an indication of user data in a buffer such as a BSR is not included, also referred to as the indication is omitted. This relates to Action 1304 described above. The network node 110 such as a gNB may then assume that the first transmission is sufficient, e.g. all data from the UE 120 uplink buffer have been transmitted in the first transmission.
As an example of the first embodiments, the number of transmissions needed to empty the buffer given the current grant size, e.g. the grant size for msg3 or MsgA, may be coded using R-bits in the MAC subheader of the R/LCID preceding the CCCH and in the R/F/LCID subheader preceding the MAC SDU. For example, setting one of the R-bits to one indicates that one transmission will be sufficient to empty the buffer while setting both R-bits to one indicates that two transmissions are needed to empty the buffer.
Example of some second embodiments. In a further embodiment, the threshold value related to an amount of user data for SDT comprises two independent thresholds, a first threshold value and a second threshold value. They may e.g. be configured through System Information (SI) or during any previous interaction between the UE 120 and the network node 110 such as a gNB. E.g. through direct UE-specific configuration. In some embodiments, the first threshold value, Data Volume Threshold 1 (DVT1) determines if the UE 120 is allowed to initiate SDT, whereas the second threshold, Data Volume Threshold 2 (DVT2), if configured, determines if the UE 120 may include BSR in the first uplink grant allocation transmission such as Msg3 or MsgA. In other words, if Payload (PL) is the amount of pending data in the UE 120 buffer after the first uplink grant allocation transmission such as the Msg3 or MsgA transmission, and if DVT1>DVT2, the following three cases arises:
1. PL<DVT2<DVT1-> the UE 120 may initiate SDT and does not include BSR.
2. DVT2<PL<DVT1-> the UE 120 may initiate SDT, if SDT is initiated a BSR is included in the first uplink grant allocation transmission such as Msg3 or MsgA.
3. DVT2<DVT1<PL-> the UE 120 is not allowed to initiate SDT and performs a legacy access instead.
The above second embodiment may also include a variant when a rule for where an indication of user data in a buffer such as the BSR is not included, or when a triggered indication of user data in a buffer such as the BSR is cancelled, for example as a result from when all data for SDT transmission can be accommodated in the UL transmission although DVT2<PL<DVT1.
Example of some third embodiments. In a further embodiment, the UE 120 informs the network node 110 about a typical packet size, e.g.: a sensor with a repetitive traffic pattern. In the following example accesses, if the UE 120 sends a message corresponding to this typical packet size, regardless of its size, it does not include a BSR. The network node 110 such as a gNB then assumes the typical packet size is correct and schedules the appropriate number of uplink and possible downlink transmissions in RRC_INACTIVE, or the appropriate procedure, to deliver that amount of data. The UE 120 includes BSR in Msg3 or MsgA only if the pending packet has a different size than the configured typical one. In one example the typical packet size is used as threshold DVT2 in the second embodiments.
Example of some fourth embodiments. In a further embodiment, the network node 110 such as a gNB receives information about typical packet size that a particular UE sends during small data transmission procedure from a node other than the UE 120. The information is e.g. received, in a subscription information or another information stored in core network nodes or otherwise deduced by core network nodes. See e.g. the third embodiments where the UE 120 signals this information to the network node 110 such as a gNB. In one example the network node 110 such as a gNB deduces the typical packet size based on the observed traffic patterns. This data size is indicated to the UE 120 either as part of existing RRC signaling or other type of dedicated signaling. The UE 120 uses this indication as the threshold when considering whether to initiate small data transmission and whether to include a BSR. In one example the threshold determined in this way is used as DVT2 in the second embodiments.
Example of some fifth embodiments. In another further embodiment, the triggering of the indication of user data in a buffer such as the BSR is e.g. done only for data available on a logical channel or logical channel group not part of the SDT DRB configuration, where the triggering also may be specified to occur for logical channels with lower or equal priority compared to the existing data for SDT.
In this case, either by specification or by configuration, the UE 120 may be allowed to include an indication of user data in a buffer such as the BSR, e.g. if there is room in the MAC PDU for SDT transmission after SDT data has been multiplexed there. Alternatively, it is always allowed multiplexing a BSR allowing for segmentation and subsequent transmissions.
Or in this case, if the UE 120 must trigger another request for UL resources using a legacy procedure for LCHs not configured for SDT. The reporting, triggering or multiplexing may be subject to a volume or datagram size threshold.
Example of some sixth embodiments. In another alternative embodiment, the sixth embodiment, the indication of user data in a buffer such as the BSR triggered either by configuration or specification, may only be due to new logical channel data, or remaining data in the buffer for the logical channels configured for SDT, and for where the buffer information in the BSR then may contain information only on data available of logical channel groups configured for SDT. In one example, even though several LCGs contain data, only a short BSR for the LCG configured for SDT is reported. Alternatively, the indication of user data in a buffer such as the BSR may contain information of all logical channels, or only for logical channels for which BSR triggering and/or reporting has been configured. In one example, when several LCGs have data, a short BSR is reported aggregating all data across all LCGs. The reporting, triggering or multiplexing may be subject to a volume or datagram size threshold.
Example of some seventh embodiments. In a separate embodiment relating to the format of the indication of user data in a buffer such as in this example the BSR, then the R/LCID MAC subheader preceding the short BSR is removed, thereby removing some overhead and making the transmission more efficient. This may be done if the short BSR is the only possible MAC CE that may be included, making the LCID unnecessary. Instead it may be deduced from the size of the grant how much of this is already occupied by the R/LCID subheader, the CCCH, the R/F/LCID subheader and the MAC SDU of user data. If the sum of these leave one byte of room in the grant, then the last byte may be the short BSR MAC CE. This is illustrated in
In a variant of the seventh embodiments, one or more of the of the R bits in the R/LCID subheader of the CCCH and the R/F/LCID subheader for the MAC SDU may be used to indicate the presence of a short BSR MAC CE without subheader. For example, if the R-bit in the R/LCID subheader is set to 1, then the last byte in the MAC PDU is a short BSR MAC CE. In another example, if both R-bits are set to 1, then the last byte in the MAC PDU is a short BSR MAC CE.
The UE 120 may comprise an input and output interface configured to communicate with each other. The input and output interface may comprise a wireless receiver (not shown) and a wireless transmitter (not shown).
The UE 120 may comprise an obtaining unit, a determining unit, and a transmitting unit to perform the method actions as described herein.
The embodiments herein may be implemented through a respective processor or one or more processors, such as the processor of a processing circuitry in the UE 120 depicted in
The UE 120 may further comprise respective a memory comprising one or more memory units. The memory comprises instructions executable by the processor in the UE 120.
The memory is arranged to be used to store instructions, data, configurations, and applications to perform the methods herein when being executed in the UE 120.
In some embodiments, a computer program comprises instructions, which when executed by the at least one processor, cause the at least one processor of the UE 120 to perform the actions above.
In some embodiments, a respective carrier comprises the respective computer program, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, an electromagnetic signal, a magnetic signal, an electric signal, a radio signal, a microwave signal, or a computer-readable storage medium.
Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that the functional modules in the UE 120, described below may refer to a combination of analog and digital circuits, and/or one or more processors configured with software and/or firmware, e.g. stored in the UE 120, that when executed by the respective one or more processors such as the processors described above cause the respective at least one processor to perform actions according to any of the actions above. One or more of these processors, as well as the other digital hardware, may be included in a single Application-Specific Integrated Circuitry (ASIC), or several processors and various digital hardware may be distributed among several separate components, whether individually packaged or assembled into a system-on-a-chip (SoC).
When using the word “comprise” or “comprising” it shall be interpreted as non-limiting, i.e. meaning “consist at least of”.
The embodiments herein are not limited to the above described preferred embodiments. Various alternatives, modifications and equivalents may be used.
Below, some example embodiments 1-12 are shortly described. See e.g.
It should be noted that the below numbering of the embodiments is not correlated to the numbering of the embodiments as described above.
Embodiment 1. A method performed by a User Equipment, UE, 120, e.g. for controlling an indication of user data in a buffer of the UE 120 for Small Data Transmission, SDT, in a wireless communications network 100 when the UE 120 is in inactive mode, the method comprising any one or more out of:
Embodiment 2. The method according to embodiment 1, wherein the indication of user data in the buffer is represented by a Buffer Status Report, BSR.
Embodiment 3. The method according to any of the embodiments 1-2, wherein the threshold value related to an amount of user data for SDT is represented by a threshold value relating to all the pending data that goes into the first uplink grant allocation transmission, and
Embodiment 4. The method according to according to any of the embodiments 1-3, wherein:
Embodiment 5. The method according to according to any of the embodiments 1-4, further comprising:
Embodiment 6. A computer program comprising instructions, which when executed by a processor, causes the processor to perform actions according to any of the embodiments 1-5.
Embodiment 7. A carrier comprising the computer program of embodiment 6, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, an electromagnetic signal, a magnetic signal, an electric signal, a radio signal, a microwave signal, or a computer-readable storage medium.
Embodiment 8. A User Equipment, UE, 120, e.g. configured to control an indication of user data in a buffer of the UE 120 for SDT in a wireless communications network 100 when the UE 120 is in inactive mode, wherein the UE 120 further is configured to any one or more out of:
Embodiment 9. The UE 120 according to embodiment 8, wherein the indication of user data in the buffer is adapted to be represented by a Buffer Status Report, BSR.
Embodiment 10. The UE 120 according to any of the embodiments 8-9 wherein the threshold value related to an amount of user data for SDT is adapted to be represented by a threshold value relating to all the pending data that goes into the first uplink grant allocation transmission, the UE 120 is further being configured to
Embodiment 11. The UE 120 according to any of the embodiments 8-11, wherein:
Embodiment 12. The UE 120 according to any of the embodiments 8-11, further being configured to:
Further Extensions and Variations
With reference to
The telecommunication network 3210 is itself connected to a host computer 3230, 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 3230 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. The connections 3221, 3222 between the telecommunication network 3210 and the host computer 3230 may extend directly from the core network 3214 to the host computer 3230 or may go via an optional intermediate network 3220. The intermediate network 3220 may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private or hosted network; the intermediate network 3220, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, the intermediate network 3220 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 3300 further includes a base station 3320 provided in a telecommunication system and comprising hardware 3325 enabling it to communicate with the host computer 3310 and with the UE 3330. The hardware 3325 may include a communication interface 3326 for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of the communication system 3300, as well as a radio interface 3327 for setting up and maintaining at least a wireless connection 3370 with a UE 3330 located in a coverage area (not shown) served by the base station 3320. The communication interface 3326 may be configured to facilitate a connection 3360 to the host computer 3310. The connection 3360 may be direct or it may pass through a core network (not shown in
The communication system 3300 further includes the UE 3330 already referred to. Its hardware 3335 may include a radio interface 3337 configured to set up and maintain a wireless connection 3370 with a base station serving a coverage area in which the UE 3330 is currently located. The hardware 3335 of the UE 3330 further includes processing circuitry 3338, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. The UE 3330 further comprises software 3331, which is stored in or accessible by the UE 3330 and executable by the processing circuitry 3338. The software 3331 includes a client application 3332. The client application 3332 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via the UE 3330, with the support of the host computer 3310. In the host computer 3310, an executing host application 3312 may communicate with the executing client application 3332 via the OTT connection 3350 terminating at the UE 3330 and the host computer 3310. In providing the service to the user, the client application 3332 may receive request data from the host application 3312 and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 3350 may transfer both the request data and the user data. The client application 3332 may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.
It is noted that the host computer 3310, base station 3320 and UE 3330 illustrated in
In
The wireless connection 3370 between the UE 3330 and the base station 3320 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 3330 using the OTT connection 3350, in which the wireless connection 3370 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve the applicable RAN effect: data rate, latency, power consumption, and thereby provide benefits such as corresponding effect on the OTT service: e.g. reduced user waiting time, relaxed restriction on file size, better responsiveness, 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 3350 between the host computer 3310 and UE 3330, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 3350 may be implemented in the software 3311 of the host computer 3310 or in the software 3331 of the UE 3330, or both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which the OTT connection 3350 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 software 3311, 3331 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The reconfiguring of the OTT connection 3350 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc.; the reconfiguring need not affect the base station 3320, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to the base station 3320. 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's 3310 measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like. The measurements may be implemented in that the software 3311, 3331 causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or ‘dummy’ messages, using the OTT connection 3350 while it monitors propagation times, errors etc.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/SE2021/051039 | 10/20/2021 | WO |
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63094929 | Oct 2020 | US |
