Patent Application
20240275561
The present invention relates to transfer of ACK/NACK in a wireless communications network and more precisely to a method of transferring Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request, HARQ-ACK/NACK in a wireless communication system.
In modern communications system, capacity and reliability of communication is of great importance. Several methods for increased reliability are available and one such method is to use an automatic repeat request, ARQ, scheme. The ARQ scheme allows errors in received information bits to be corrected by retransmission of data. Generally, this may comprise one or several schemes of how and if a retransmission is to be performed, exemplary schemes are stop and wait, SAW, go-back-N, GBN, selective repeat, SR, etc.
In order to further increase reliability of communications, the ARQ scheme may be combined with a Forward Error Correction, FEC, scheme forming, what is commonly known as a Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request, HARQ, scheme. The FEC scheme allows incorrectly received information bits to be corrected by an added error correction code.
Generally, in an HARQ scheme, the receiving entity tries to perform error correction by means of the error correction code, and if error correction fails, a retransmission is requested by a negative acknowledge, NACK, is transmitted by the receiving entity to a transmitting entity. Upon reception of the NACK, the transmitting entity retransmits data in accordance with a HARQ mode and the receiving entity combines the retransmitted data with the previously, erroneously, received data, effectively improving the reliability of the communication. Analogously, if the reception of the information bits was successful, the receiving entity transmits a positive acknowledgement, ACK, to the transmitting entity and no retransmission is required.
In a HARQ scheme, information bits transmitted by the transmitting entity will require downlink DL capacity in the communications system for transfer, and each ACK/NACK transmitted by the receiving entities will require uplink UL capacity in the communications system. The number of UL resources for reporting ACK/NACK are limited and it may very well be that a UL link budget is worse than a corresponding DL link budget.
It is in view of the above considerations and others that the various embodiments of this disclosure have been made. The present disclosure therefor recognizes the fact that there is a need for improvement of the existing art described above.
It is a general object of the embodiments described herein to provide a new type of method for transferring Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request, HARQ, positive Acknowledgement, ACK, or Negative Acknowledgement, NACK, in a wireless communication system which is improved over the prior art and which eliminates or at least mitigates one or more of the drawbacks discussed above. More specifically, an object of the embodiments discussed in this disclosure is to provide a method that enables L1 relaying.
In a first aspect, a method of transferring Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request, HARQ, positive Acknowledgement, ACK, or Negative Acknowledgement, NACK, in a wireless communication system is presented. The wireless communication system comprises a first wireless device, a second wireless device and a network node. The method comprises the network node transmitting a first transmission to the first wireless device. The first wireless device transmits, in response thereto, a first HARQ-ACK/NACK associated with the first transmission. Responsive to control information provided to the second wireless device indicating that the first HARQ-ACK/NACK is to be forwarded to the network node, the second wireless device relays the first HARQ-ACK/NACK to the network node.
In one variant, the first transmission is transmitted directly to the first wireless device. This is beneficial as it enables the relaying to be implemented selectively in the UL without affecting DL.
In one variant, the first wireless device determines if the first HARQ-ACK/NACK should be relayed by the second wireless device based on at least one of an uplink, UL, channel quality of the first wireless device, an UL channel resource availability of the first wireless device, an UL channel capacity of the first wireless device, and/or an urgency associated with the first HARQ-ACK/NACK. This is beneficial as the first wireless device may itself decide if the first HARQ-ACK/NACK should be relayed or not.
In one variant, the network node determines if the first HARQ-ACK/NACK should be relayed by the second wireless device based on at least one of an uplink, UL, channel quality of the first wireless device and/or the second wireless device, an UL channel resource availability of the first wireless device and/or the second wireless device, an UL channel capacity of the first wireless device and/or the second wireless device, and/or an urgency associated with the first HARQ-ACK/NACK. This is beneficial as the network node may itself decide if the first HARQ-ACK/NACK should be relayed or not.
In one variant, the first HARQ-ACK/NACK is transmitted across a sidelink responsive to that the first HARQ-ACK/NACK is to be relayed by the second wireless device. This is beneficial as the sidelink communication will not load the main UL/DL links and is extra beneficial if UL resources are scarce.
In one variant, the sidelink is one or more of a Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel, PSFCH, a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel, PSSCH, a Physical Sidelink Control Channel, PSCCH, a non-cellular communications link, a channel enabling physical layer decoding of HARQ-ACK/NACK, and/or a channel enabling higher-layer decoding of HARQ-ACK/NACK. This is beneficial as the sidelink communication will not load the main UL/DL links and is extra beneficial if UL resources are scarce.
In one variant the sidelink is selected by the first wireless device based on allocated resources provided by the network node. This is beneficial as the sidelink communication will not load the main UL/DL links and is extra beneficial if UL resources are scarce.
In one variant the sidelink is assigned by the network node (150). This is beneficial as the sidelink communication will not load the main UL/DL links and is extra beneficial if UL resources are scarce.
In one variant, the control information is provided to the first wireless device at least by the network node. This is beneficial as the network node possesses knowledge of network parameters that may be pertinent to the decision of relaying or not.
In one variant, the control information is provided to the second wireless device at least as an indication comprised in the first HARQ-ACK/NACK associated with first transmission. This is beneficial as it allows the decision to relay to be taken per HARQ-ACK/NACK.
In one variant, the wireless communication system further comprises one or more additional wireless devices. The method further comprises the network node transmitting an additional transmission to one of the one or more additional wireless devices. In response thereto, said one of the one or more additional wireless devices transmits an additional HARQ-ACK/NACK associated with the additional transmission. Responsive to control information provided to the second wireless device indicating that the additional HARQ-ACK/NACK and the first HARQ-ACK/NACK is to be forwarded to the network node, the second wireless device relays the first HARQ-ACK/NACK together with the additional HARQ-ACK/NACK to the network node. This is beneficial as several relayed HARQ-ACK/NACKs may be transmitted at the same time.
In one variant, the method further comprises the network node transmitting a second transmission to the second wireless device. The step of relaying further comprises relaying, by the second wireless device, a second HARQ-ACK/NACK associated with second transmission together with any other HARQ-ACK/NACK that are to be relayed to the network node (150). This is beneficial as the combination of several HARQ-ACK/NACK will reduce the signaling overhead and network load.
In one variant, the step of relaying comprises combining the first HARQ-ACK/NACK with any other HARQ-ACK/NACK that are to be relayed to the network node to provide a combined HARQ-ACK/NACK. The second wireless device relays the combined HARQ-ACK/NACK to the network node. This is beneficial as the combination of several HARQ-ACK/NACK will reduce the signaling overhead and network load.
In one variant, wherein at least one of the first transmission, the second transmission and/or the additional transmission are sent at different timeslots of a codebook. The HARQ-ACKs/NACKs associated with the transmissions that are sent at different timeslots and relayed by the second wireless device, are coded in one single line of the codebook. This is beneficial as the codebook size is reduced and thereby signaling overhead.
In one variant, wherein at least one of the first transmission, the second transmission and/or the additional transmission are sent at overlapping timeslots of the codebook, the HARQ-ACKs/NACKs associated with the transmissions sent at overlapping timeslots and relayed by the second wireless device, are coded on separate lines of the codebook, wherein each separate line is associated with a respective wireless device. This is beneficial as it allows a clear and straight forward association between a common codebook and the associated wireless devices.
In one variant only a HARQ-ACK is relayed. This is beneficial as it reduces network and signaling load.
In a second aspect, a first wireless device comprising one or more controllers is presented. Said one or more controllers are configured to, when the first wireless device is operable in a wireless communication system, perform the steps associated with first wireless device of the method according to the first aspect.
In a third aspect, a second wireless device comprising one or more controllers is presented. Said one or more controller are configured to, when the second wireless device is operable in a wireless communication system, perform the steps associated with second wireless device of the method according to the first aspect.
In a fourth aspect, an additional wireless device comprising one or more controllers is presented. Said one or more controllers are configured to, when the additional wireless device is operable in a wireless communication system, perform the steps associated with the additional wireless device of the method according to the first aspect.
In a fifth aspect, a network node comprising one or more controllers is presented. Said one or more controllers are configured to, when the network node is operable in a wireless communication system, perform the steps associated with network node of the method according to the first aspect.
In a sixth aspect, a wireless communication system comprising a first wireless device according to the second aspect, a second wireless device according to the third aspect and a network node according the fifth aspect.
In one variant, the wireless communication system further comprises an additional wireless device according to the fifth aspect.
Embodiments of the invention will be described in the following; references being made to the appended diagrammatical drawings which illustrate non-limiting examples of how the inventive concept can be reduced into practice.
Hereinafter, certain embodiments will be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. The invention may, however, be embodied in many different forms and should not be construed as limited to the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example so that this disclosure will be thorough and complete, and will fully convey the scope of the invention, such as it is defined in the appended claims, to those skilled in the art.
The term “coupled” is defined as connected, although not necessarily directly, and not necessarily mechanically. Two or more items that are “coupled” may be integral with each other. The terms “a” and “an” are defined as one or more unless this disclosure explicitly requires otherwise. The terms “substantially,” “approximately,” and “about” are defined as largely, but not necessarily wholly what is specified, as understood by a person of ordinary skill in the art. The terms “comprise” (and any form of comprise, such as “comprises” and “comprising”), “have” (and any form of have, such as “has” and “having”), “include” (and any form of include, such as “includes” and “including”) and “contain” (and any form of contain, such as “contains” and “containing”) are open-ended linking verbs. As a result, a method that “comprises,” “has,” “includes” or “contains” one or more steps possesses those one or more steps, but is not limited to possessing only those one or more steps.
Regarding scenarios and embodiments presented throughout this disclosure, albeit presented in specific terms, it should be understood that any specific terms may, unless otherwise is clearly stated, very well be replaced by more general, generic terms even if not explicitly specified. For example, the mentioning of specific signaling and control channel relating to e.g. specific cellular standards should be considered examples and this disclosure is, as the skilled person will appreciate after digesting the teachings herein, applicable to any suitable communication system, wireless or wired.
As mentioned earlier, the number of UL resources for reporting positive acknowledgement, ACK or negative acknowledgement, NACK, are limited and it may very well be that an uplink, UL, link budget is worse than a corresponding downlink, DL, link budget. This means that scenarios exist, wherein a wireless device, such as a User Equipment, UE, is unable to transmit an ACK/NACK to a network node. It may be that the capacity of a channel for transmitting ACK/NACK is limited or that frequency selective fading causes imbalance in the link budgets. Based on these findings, the inventors behind this disclosure have devised a method for improving the transmission of hybrid automatic repeat request, HARQ, in a wireless communication system. As will be clear to the person skilled in the art after digestion of the teachings of the present disclosure, the presented embodiments will e.g. reduce the risk of interferences between wireless devices, when e.g. one wireless device is at a location with poor signaling conditions, no additional latency is introduced as the case with e.g. Physical Uplink Control Channel, PUCCH, repetition, the required PUCCH resources are reduced increasing capacity of the wireless communication system and reduced and reduce the risk of HARQ ACK/NACK transmission errors.
With reference to
The following sections provide a brief introduction to the concept and configuration of silenlink communication. The sidelink 15 may, in e.g. New Radio, NR devices be scheduled either by the network node 150, gNB, referred to as Mode 1, or autonomously by the wireless device 110, 120, 130, Mode 2. In Mode 2, the wireless device 110, 120, 130 selects sidelink resources from a (pre-)configured sidelink resource pool(s) based on a channel sensing mechanism. For the wireless devices 110, 120, 130 within coverage of a network node 150, the network node 150 may be configured to adopt Mode 1 or Mode 2. For wireless devices out-of-coverage, only Mode 2 can be adopted. For NR sidelink transmissions, at most one sidelink bandwidth part, BWP, may be configured on a carrier, and the minimum unit for resource scheduling in the frequency domain is a subchannel. Wherein a subchannel is composed of 10, 15, 20, 25, 50, 75, or 100 consecutive resource bocks, RBs, depending on practical configuration.
The sidelink 15 may be utilized as a layer 2 resource, which allows one wireless device 110, 120, 130 to relay data, generally a Protocol Data Unit, PDU, received from another wireless device 110, 120, 130 across the sidelink 15. The methodology of using the sidelink 15 for relaying a PDU is described in e.g. 3GPP TR 23.733 V15.1.0.
For a NR wireless device, the sidelink 15 comprises a number of physical channels, a Physical Sidelink Control Channel, PSCCH, carrying control information in the sidelink; a Physical Sidelink Shared Channel, PSSCH, carrying a data payload, PDU, in the sidelink and additional control information; a Physical Sidelink Broadcast Channel, PSBCH, carrying information for supporting synchronization in the sidelink 15; and a Physical Sidelink Feedback Channel, PSFCH, carrying feedback related to the successful or failed reception of a sidelink transmission. The PSFCH is transmitted by a sidelink receiving wireless device 110, 120, 130 for unicast and groupcast, which conveys 1-bit information over 1 RB for the HARQ-ACK and the HARQ-NACK. In addition, channel state information, CSI, is carried in the medium access control, MAC, control element, CE, over the PSSCH instead of the PSFCH. In the time domain, a time gap between the PSSCH and the PSFCH is configured. However, when a receiving wireless device 110, 120, 130 sends the HARQ ACK/NACK on the PSFCH, only the transmitting wireless device 110, 120, 130 has the capability to receive such ACK/NACK messages, and a network node 150 cannot receive this feedback transmission. Consequently, a network node 150 may not know whether to further allocate resources for a transmitting wireless device 110, 120, 130 to retransmit a transport block, TB, or not. To obtain resources of the PSSCH for subsequent retransmissions, a transmitting wireless device needs to forward the sidelink HARQ ACK/NACK message to a network node when a feedback message is received on the PSFCH. To further obtain resources for a transmitting wireless device to send the sidelink HARQ ACK/NACK to a network node 150, the network node 150 may allocate one physical uplink control channel, PUCCH, occurring after the last resource in the PSSCH set for initial sidelink transmissions. When a NACK is received by a network node 150, the network node 150 further allocates PSCCH and PSSCH resources for sidelink retransmissions, and this resource allocation is indicated in a Downlink Control Information, DCI, field in the case of dynamic grant. Alternatively, a transmitting wireless device 110, 120, 130 may launch the TB retransmission through the reserved PSCCH and the PSSCH in a case of a configured grant. In the Mode 2 resource allocation, when traffic arrives at a transmitting wireless device 110, 120, 130, this transmitting wireless device 110, 120, 130 is configured to autonomously select resources for the PSCCH and the PSSCH. To further minimize the latency of the feedback HARQ ACK/NACK transmissions and subsequently retransmissions, a transmitting wireless device 110, 120, 130 may also reserve resources for PSCCH/PSSCH for retransmissions.
The following sections provide a brief introduction to the concept and configuration of cellular transmissions, typically for NR devices. In NR, there are three types of HARQ-ACK code construction in NR, semi-static code construction, Type 1, dynamic code construction, Type 2, and one-shot feedback, Type 3. The latter was introduced in 3GPP Rel-16 for NR-U, in Rel-17 for NR. The general procedure for receiving downlink, DL, transmission is that the wireless device 110, 120, 130 monitors and decodes a Physical Downlink Control Channel, PDCCH, in slot n which points to a DL data scheduled in slot n+K0, wherein K0 is larger than or equal to zero. The wireless device 110, 120, 130 then decodes the data in the corresponding Physical Downlink Shared Channel, PDSCH. Finally, based on the outcome of the decoding the wireless device 110, 120, 130 sends an ACK of a correct decoding or a NACK of an incorrect decoding to the network node 150 at time slot n+k0+k1, in case of slot aggregation, n+K0 would be replaced by the slot where the associated PDSCH ends. Both of K0 and k1 are indicated in the DCI. The resources for sending the acknowledgement are indicated by a Physical Uplink Control Channel, PUCCH, resource indicator, PRI, field in the DCI which points to one of PUCCH resources that are configured by higher layers.
Depending on e.g. a DL/UL slot configurations, or whether carrier aggregation or per code-block group, CBG, transmission is used in the DL, the feedback for several PDSCHs may need to be multiplexed in one single feedback. Generally, this is done by constructing HARQ-ACK codebooks. In NR, the wireless device 110, 120, 130 may be configured to multiplex the ACK/NACK bits using a semi-static codebook or a dynamic codebook.
Semi-static HARQ codebook, or Type 1 codebook, comprises a bit sequence where each element contains an ACK/NACK bit from a possible allocation in a certain slot, carrier, or TB. When the wireless device 110, 120, 130 is configured with a CBG and/or a time-domain resource allocation, TDRA, table with multiple entries; multiple bits are generated per slot and TB. It should be mentioned that the codebook is generally derived regardless of the actual PDSCH scheduling. The size and format of the semi-static codebook is generally preconfigured based on the mentioned parameters. The drawback of semi-static HARQ ACK codebook is that the size is fixed, and regardless of whether there is a transmission or not, a bit is reserved in the feedback matrix. In scenarios where the wireless device 110, 120, 130 has a TDRA table with multiple time-domain resource allocation entries configured; the table is pruned, i.e. entries are removed based on a specified algorithm in order to derive a TDRA table that only contains non-overlapping time-domain allocations. One bit is then reserved in the HARQ CB for each non-overlapping entry, that is assuming the wireless device 110, 120, 130 is capable of supporting reception of multiple PDSCH in a slot.
In the dynamic HARQ codebook, or type 2 codebook, an ACK/NACK bit is present in a codebook only if there is a corresponding transmission scheduled. To avoid any confusion between the network node 150 and the wireless device 110, 120, 130 on the number of PDSCHs that the wireless device 110, 120, 130 is expected to send a feedback for, a counter downlink assignment indicator, DAI, field is available in the DL assignment. The DAI field denotes accumulative number of serving cell-PDCCH occasion pairs in which a PDSCH is scheduled to a wireless device 110, 120, 130 up to the current PDCCH. In addition to this, a total DAI field is available which, when present, shows the total number of serving cell-PDCCH occasions up to, and including, all PDCCHs of a current PDCCH monitoring occasion. The timing for sending HARQ feedback is determined based on both PDSCH transmission slot with reference to PDCCH slot k0 and the PUCCH slot that contains HARQ feedback k1.
Assuming there are no errors in the downlink control signaling, a dynamic codebook would be straightforward. However, in the presence of an error in the downlink control signaling, the wireless device 110, 120, 130 and the network node 150 may have different understanding on the number of scheduled carriers, which would lead to an incorrect codebook size and possibly corrupt the feedback report for all carriers—and not only for the ones for which the downlink controls signaling was missed. If, by means of example, a wireless device 110, 120, 130 was scheduled for downlink transmission in two subsequent slots but missed the PDCCH and thereby the scheduling assignment for the first slot. As a result, the wireless device 110, 120, 130 will only transmit an acknowledgment for the second slot. The network node 150 on the other hand, tries to receive acknowledgments for both slots. This leads to mismatch. In NR, one way of mitigating this mismatch is by utilization of the downlink assignment index which is included in the DCI comprising the downlink assignment. The DAI field is further split into two parts, a counter DAI, cDAI, and, in the case of e.g. carrier aggregation, a total DAI, tDAI. The cDAI included in the DCI indicates the number of scheduled downlink transmissions up to the point the DCI was received in a carrier. The tDAI included in the DCI indicates the total number of downlink transmissions across all carriers up to this point in time, that is, the highest cDAI at the current point in time.
As present cellular wireless networks are defined, a wireless device 110, 120, 130 may be unable to reliably send a HARQ ACK/NACK to the network node 150 due to poor UL channel condition. As previously indicated, this may occur in frequency division duplex, FDD, systems in case of frequency selective fading where DL channels are good, but UL channels are poor. Similarly, valid also for time division duplex, TDD, an output power of a wireless device 110, 120, 130 may be reduced due to e.g. antenna loading causing mismatch affecting a gain of a transmitter power amplifier of the wireless device 110, 120, 130 more than a corresponding gain of a receiver low noise amplifier, LNA, of the wireless device 110, 120, 130. Also, the wireless device 110, 120, 13 may have limited power for uplink transmission, e.g., it is a permanently low power device or its power may have been temporarily reduced.
There are situations where PUCCH resources for reporting a HARQ-ACK/NACK and other signaling may be limited. This may be exemplified by a scenario wherein there are heavy downlink data-consumers and a TDD pattern is devised such that higher downlink transmissions are provided in a TDD pattern. Assume a TDD pattern is of 8 DL+1 UL slots wherein each DL slot is dedicated to one wireless device 110, 120, 130. The wireless device 110, 120, 130 receiving data in the first DL slot, slot 0, can report in timeslot 8, while a wireless device 110, 120, 130 receiving its data in a second DL slot, slot 1, will have to wait for a next available uplink slot.
In order to enhance PUCCH coverage, a wireless device 110, 120, 130 may apply repetitions for a PUCCH transmission up to a configurable number of times, e.g., 2, 4 or 8. One drawback with PUCCH repetition is that a wireless device 110, 120, 130 experiencing poor UL coverage may create interference to the other wireless device 110, 120, 130 with good coverage. In addition to this, additional latency, e.g., with 8 times of PUCCH repetitions, may be introduced. There may also be situations where there is an obstacle between a wireless device 110, 120, 130 and its network node 150. In such situations, increasing the PUCCH transmitted power or applying PUCCH repetition may not help in improving PUCCH coverage.
An alternative approach is to let a wireless device 110, 120, 130 with poor UL coverage connect to the network node via a relay wireless device 110, 120, 130. As network relay is currently being developed, e.g. 3GPP Rel-17. Relay architectures are only feasible to enable a relaying wireless device to relay data and control signaling above L2 of a remote wireless device to the network node 150. In other words, with current or planned relay architectures, it is not feasible to relay L1 signaling of a wireless device 110, 120, 130 by another wireless device 110, 120, 130 to the network node 150.
The inventors behind this disclosure have realized that it would be beneficial to, in the light of the above issues, develop mechanisms to enable a relay wireless device 110, 120, 130 to relay L1 signaling of a remote wireless device 110, 120, 130 to a network node 150. By configuring a wireless communications network 10 such that a first wireless device 110 receives HARQ-ACK feedbacks from a second wireless device 120 and optionally from one or more additional wireless devices 130, the first wireless device may combine the feedback(s) of the wireless devices 120, 130 with its own HARQ-ACK feedback and transmits the feedbacks to the network node 150. This may be accomplished by configuring the first wireless device 110 such that it utilizes the PUCCH to sends HARQ-ACK information. However, historically, all HARQ-ACKs sent on a PUCCH by the first wireless device 110 would belong to the first wireless device 110 only. In the present disclosure, changes in PUCCH are allowed making it possible for the first wireless device to send HARQ-ACK information belonging to multiple wireless devices, including itself.
Turning now to the simplified signaling diagram of
In signaling scenario A of
In signaling scenario B of
In signaling scenario C of
Analogously, in signaling scenario D of
From
The second wireless device 120 is preferably configured to relay HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 535 from the other wireless devices 110, 130, and as illustrated in
In order to relay HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 535 from the other wireless devices 110, 130, the second wireless device 120 preferably receives the HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 535 from the other wireless devices 110, 130 prior to the relaying. The channel, medium or communication path across which the second wireless device 120 received the HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 535 from the other wireless devices 110, 130 will be exemplified in the following, it should be emphasized that these are exemplary embodiments, and several others being within the scope of this disclosure may come to the mind of the skilled person after reading the following.
The HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 535 to be relayed may be received by the second wireless device 120 on the PSFCH of the SL from the first wireless device 110. A modified channel over which HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 535 information of the first wireless device 110 is transmitted to the second wireless device 120 may be formed e.g. by adding bit(s) in the transmitted information over PSFCH indicating that the HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 535 feedback is related to the first wireless device 110 transmitted over sidelink channel.
The HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 535 to be relayed may be received by the second wireless device 120 PSSCH on the SL from the first wireless device 110. The HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 525 information of the first wireless device 110 may be multiplexed with data from first wireless device 110 sent over PSSCH to the second wireless device.
In some embodiments, the HARQ-ACK/NACK 515 information of the first wireless device 110 may be carried by PC5-RRC, the HARQ-ACK/NACK 515 information of the first wireless device 110 may be carried by MAC CE, or the HARQ-ACK/NACK 515 information of the first wireless device 110 may be carried by control a PDU of a protocol layer such as SDAP, PDCP, RLC, or an adaption protocol layer designed for Sidelink relay.
In one embodiment, the HARQ-ACK/NACK 515 of the first wireless device 110 may be sent over PSCCH using an existing SCI format, e.g. repurpose existing fields in the SCI format, or by using a new SCI format defined for relaying HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 535 information of neighbor UEs.
In some embodiments, other licensed or unlicensed radio access technologies, RAT, are used e.g. Bluetooth, Zigbee, LoRa, WIFI, are used for communicating the HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 535 to be relayed to the second wireless device 120. Any suitable protocol such as TCP/IP, proprietary protocols etc. may be utilized.
In some embodiments, a new channel may be introduced which enables physical layer decoding of HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 535 transmission sent from other transmitting wireless devices 110, 130 by the receiving wireless device 120, e.g. the second wireless device 120. Subsequent to decoding, the receiving wireless device 120 may retransmit that information by optionally including its own information to the network node 150.
In some embodiments, a new channel which enables higher-layer decoding of HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 535 transmission which are sent from other transmitting wireless devices 110, 130 by the receiving wireless device 120, e.g. the second wireless device 120. Subsequent to decoding, the receiving wireless device 120 may retransmit that information by optionally including its own information to the network node 150.
In some embodiments, for autonomous resource selection, the preferred scenario is where the network node 150 allocates a certain spectrum pool, carriers or resource for HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 535 transmission from the first wireless device 110 to the second wireless device 120. For example, if the first wireless device 110 receives PDSCH from the network node 150 and it want sends to HARQ-ACK/NACK 515 to the network node 150 via relaying over the second wireless device 120, then the first wireless device may autonomously select resources, i.e. PRBs from given spectrum pool, to transmit HARQ-ACK/NACK 515 codebook to the second wireless device 120.
As disclosed above with some exemplifying embodiments, the second wireless device 120 may be provided with information regarding e.g. medium and resource allocation for relaying of HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 535 from other wireless devices 110, 130. It should be mentioned that there may be further embodiments to this, in one embodiment, the network node 150 informs the first wireless device 110 to send its HARQ-ACK/NACK 515 information via the second wireless device 120 and accordingly the network node 150 may be configured to assign sidelink resources for transmitting HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 535 feedbacks of other wireless devices 110, 130 to the second wireless device. In another embodiment, the resources are awarded to the first wireless device 110, but the decision of HARQ-ACK/NACK 515 information transmission is left to the first wireless device 110, that is to say, resources are allocated by the network node 150, but the transmission decision is autonomously made by the first wireless device 110. For instance, the first wireless device may be configured such that when it is able to transmit via UL, i.e. directly to the network node 150, it does so, otherwise the first wireless device 110 may relay the HARQ-ACK/NACK 515 information to the second wireless device 120, e.g. if UL channel is bad. In one embodiment, the first wireless device 110 may be configured to transmit HARQ-ACK/NACK 515 on both UL and via the second wireless device 120 for increased reliability. This option may be useful in situations where the UL for the first wireless device 110 is not reliable due to e.g. rapid fluctuations, fading etc. As an additional embodiment, the first wireless device may decide to forward its HARQ-ACK/NACK 515 information to the second wireless device in situations when there is no available PUCCH resource or PUSCH resource to transmit the HARQ-ACK/NACK 515 information in the closing time while the HARQ-ACK information is delay critical e.g., for URLLC. In this situation, the HARQ-ACK/NACK 515 information may be relayed to the network node 140 via the second wireless device 120 in order to reduce latency.
The control information 505 may comprise information indicating what resources to utilize when relaying HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 535 from the other wireless devices 110, 130. In embodiments wherein the network node 150 allocate resources, the resources for relaying HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 535 may comprise, but are not limited to, HARQ-ACK/NACK resources in specific cells/carriers, HARQ-ACK/NACK resources in specific BWPs of the same serving cell where the PDSCH receptions associated with the HARQ ACK occur, HARQ-ACK/NACK resources transmission using specific Transmission Reception Points, TRPs, DCI allocated HARQ-ACK/NACK resources indicated in a specific CORESET, and/or DCI allocated HARQ-ACK/NACK resources indicated by using specific DCI format. In the exemplified embodiment, the second wireless device 120 may relay HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 535 from the other wireless devices 110, 130 utilizing e.g. MAC CE in PUSCH using a configured grant or a dynamic grant, RRC signaling in PUSCH using a configured grant or a dynamic grant etc.
The relaying functionality may, as exemplified above, be under control of the network, e.g. the network node 150 or in the case of NR, a scheduler in a gNB. This allows the network node 150 to schedule the second wireless device to perform, or not to perform relaying based on RRC parameter or DCI parameter. In other embodiments, the network node 150 may permit the second wireless device 120 to relay only the HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 535 information of a permitted list of wireless devices 110, 130. That is to say, the second wireless device 120 only acts as relay for the wireless devices 110, 130 that are specified in a list provided by the network node 150. The list of wireless devices 110, 130 where relaying is permitted may be provided to the second wireless device by RRC parameter or DCI parameter. The list of wireless devices 110, 130 where relaying is permitted may be comprised in the control information 505. In another embodiment, the network node 150 may permit the second wireless device to relay HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 535 information for specific services. For example, the relaying of only HARQ-ACK information of URLLC services is allowed but not eMBB or CMTC services. As the skilled person appreciates, the above listed embodiments are in no way strict alternatives but may be freely combined and the network node 150 may be configured to permit the second wireless device 120 to relay any combination of the above examples. For example, the relying of URLLC services of a permitted list of wireless devices 110, 130 is one workable embodiment.
In some embodiments, a wireless device 110, 120, 130, i.e. the first wireless device 110 or the additional wireless device 130 from the non-limiting examples of this disclosure, may under some conditions be configured to send HARQ-ACK/NNACK 515, 535 feedback on the UL and in under other conditions via relaying. UL transmission may be utilized when e.g. when a UL radio quality is above a UL quality threshold and relaying, relaying via the second wireless device 120, over SL when the UL radio quality is below the UL quality threshold. One advantage of this is that the delay is reduced if the direct HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 535 feedback over UL is successful, compared to if only the relayed feedback is successful as there is generally an added delay when relaying. In this case one further embodiment, the first wireless device 110 is configured with two k1 values in DCI, e.g., the first k1 value is used to indicate the offset from PDSCH transmission to the direct HARQ feedback transmission over UL resource. The second k1 value is the offset from the PDSCH transmission to the relayed HARQ feedback transmitted/relayed to the second wireless device 120 over SL resource. In alternative embodiment, there is one k1 value in DCI, either it is used to transmit e.g. feedback in UL or transmit feedback over SL to the second wireless device 120.
In one embodiment, the relay selection/reselection may occur independent of the first wireless device 110 needs to transmit/relay its HARQ-ACK/NACK 515 information. Due to e.g. the first wireless device 110 being mobile or varying channel conditions, a new coordinator wireless device 120, 130 for relaying may be selected based on parameters such as signal strength, path loss, etc. for the first wireless device's L1 HARQ-ACK/NACK 515 information relaying capabilities. When a new coordinator wireless device is selected, and if there is a need to transmit HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 525, 535 information, then first wireless device may be configured to send it via the new coordinator wireless device instead of via the old coordinator wireless device 120, the second wireless device. In other words, the second wireless device 120 is replaced by new coordinator wireless device for relaying the first wireless device's L1 HARQ-ACK information. This means that the first wireless device 110 continually/semi-persistently e.g. after every N slots/time units, scan the received signal strength from the neighboring wireless devices 120, 130 and the network node 150 to determine/select the best node to receive its UL transmission directly, which may be a wireless device, acting as a coordinator wireless device, or the network node 150. Alternatively, the first wireless device may be configured to trigger a relay selection/reselection when a current sidelink 15 between the first wireless device 110 and the second wireless device 120 has channel quality below a configured sideling quality threshold e.g. for a configured time period.
In one embodiment, a group of wireless devices 110, 130 is determined. The group of wireless devices 110, 130 is configured to transmit their HARQ-ACK 515, 535 information via the coordinator wireless device 120. The network node 150 may be configured to group wireless devices 110, 120, 130 based on one or more conditions where one condition may relate to a path loss between wireless devices e.g., the path loss between a wireless device 110, 120, 130, and the coordinator wireless device 120. If this path loss is below a path loss threshold, the wireless device 110, 120, 130 may be added to the group of wireless devices 110, 120, 130. Another condition may relate to a channel quality, e.g. if UL channel, over which HARQ-ACK CB is supposed to be transmitted is poor, then a nearby wireless device is chosen as coordinator wireless device so that the coordinator wireless device may relay the HARQ-ACK/NACK information of the wireless device suffering from poor UL. The channel quality may be measured and analyzed using indicators such UL signal strength and quality, RSRP, RSRQ, CSI report, etc. Another condition may relate to applications, services and/or traffic types. Wireless devices 110, 120, 130 may be grouped in case they have similar/same application, service, or traffic type as these may imply that they have similar traffic pattern and/or QoS requirements.
In one embodiment, the coordinator wireless device 120 combines HARQ-ACK/NACK of itself and at least one other wireless device 110, 130 based on a priority of the HARQ-ACK/NACK. Combination of feedback may, in this embodiment be considered if the HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 525 of both wireless devices 110, 120 belongs to same priority, if the HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 525 of both wireless devices 110, 120 belongs to mix of priority. The mix of priority may be exemplified by the coordinator wireless device having high priority HARQ-ACK/NACK 525, and the first wireless device 110 has low priority HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, or if both the coordinator wireless device 120 and the first wireless device 110 has a mix of high and low priority HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 525.
Albeit this disclosure mainly focuses on relaying of HARQ-ACK and HARQ-NACK, it should be emphasized that in embodiments, it is possible that either the coordinator wireless device 120 or any of the wireless devices 110, 130 whose information is to be forwarded, may be configured to only relay a HARQ-ACK or a HARQ-NACK. For the wireless devices 110, 130 whose information is to be forwarded, this will reduce the signaling required between the coordinator wireless device 120 and the wireless devices 110, 130 whose information is to be forwarded, thereby saving power and reducing spectrum load. Where coordinator wireless device 120 is configured to only forward HARQ-ACK, this also reduces power consumption and spectrum load and is further beneficial as the network node 150 may be configured to retransmit a PDSCH if an associated HARQ-ACK is not received within a predetermined time period from the initial transmission of the PDSCH.
It should be mentioned that in some embodiments, whether HARQ-ACK information of e.g. the first wireless device 110 can be relayed via a neighboring wireless device, e.g. the second wireless device 120, may be configurable per service, traffic type, LCH or LCG. This means that the first wireless device 110 would only forward the HARQ-ACK associated with specific services, traffic types, LCHs or LCGs, which may be associated with specific Quality of Service, QOS, requirements. As a further embodiment, a first capability bit is defined. The first capability bit indicate whether an associated wireless device 110, 120, 130 supports to forward its HARQ-ACK information to the coordinator wireless device. As a further embodiment, a second capability bit is defined, indicating whether the associated wireless device 110, 120, 130 may be configured to work as coordinator wireless device for other wireless devices.
In one embodiment, DL DCI, e.g. DCI format 1_1, received by a wireless device 110, 120, 130 includes a field indicating whether the HARQ ACK timing indicator K1 in the DCI refers to the wireless device 110, 120, 130 from which the DL DCI was received, or to another wireless device 110, 120, 130. In case K1 refers to another wireless device 110, 120, 130, an ID of the wireless device 110, 120, 130 referred to may also be carried in the DCI.
In the following sections, exemplifying embodiments of how a coordinator wireless device 120 may configure a transmission of HARQ-ACK/NACK when relaying HARQ-ACK/NACK from other wireless devices 110, 120.
With reference to
As illustrated in
In one embodiment, illustrated in
As further embodiments to the CB 300 embodiments above, there may be scenarios, as illustrated in
Additionally or alternatively, the codebook 300 may be constructed based on HARQ-ACK/NACK priority.
In embodiments wherein a type 2 codebook 300 is utilized, the coordinator wireless device may be configured to construct a type 2 CB which contains HARQ-ACK/NACK information of itself any additional wireless device 110, 120, 130 from which a HARQ-ACK/NACK is to be relayed. For type 2 CB construction, the coordinator wireless device 120 preferably has knowledge of the number of transmissions 510, 520, 530 itself and the additional wireless devices 110, 120, 130 are allocated with. This may be accomplished by the coordinator wireless device having knowledge related to the tDAI of the additional wireless devices 110, 120, 130.
For simplified explanation, CDAI,UE1 indicates the number of scheduled transmissions for the coordinator wireless device 120 up to a time at which the DCI to the coordinator wireless device is received; tDAI,UE1 indicates the total number of transmissions for all carriers of the coordinator wireless device 120 up to this point in time, and tDAI,UE2 indicates the total number of transmissions for all carriers of the first wireless device 110 up to this point in time. As mention, in order to construct Type 2 CB 300, the coordinator wireless device 120 preferably knows about the total number of transmission in the first wireless device 110.
In one embodiment of type 2 codebook 300, in DCI, DAI counters are set by the network node 150 as {CDAI,UE1, tDAI,UE1+tDAI,UE} which are sent to the coordinator wireless device 120 and as {CDAI,UE2, tDAI,UE2} which are sent to the first wireless device 110. The counters tDAI,UE1+tDAI,UE2 indicate the total number of allocated transmissions across all carriers of the first wireless device 110 and the coordinator wireless device 120 up to this point in time. Next, if the first wireless device 110 transmits its HARQ-ACK information, Type 2 CB 300 of the first wireless device 110, to the coordinator wireless device 120 over SL, and in addition, the coordinator wireless device 120 has knowledge of the total DAI, i.e. tDAI,UE1+tDAI,UE2, e.g. as indicated in the PDSCH allocation's DCI of the coordinator wireless device 120 or sent in some DCI. Consequently, the coordinator wireless device 120 can transmit NACK for non-reported transmissions by the first wireless device or the coordinator wireless device 120. In another embodiment, similar to the one above, instead of total DAI as tDAI,UE1+tDAI,UE2, the network node 150 may be configured to indicate total DAIs separately, where the DAI counters are set as {CDAI,UE1, tDAI,UE1, tDAI,UE2} which are sent to the coordinator wireless device 110 and as {CDAI,UE2, tDAI,UE2} which is sent to the first wireless device 110.
In another embodiment, the first wireless device 110 sends its CB 300, which may be Type-1, Type-2 or one-shot to the coordinator wireless device 120. The coordinator wireless device 120 attaches/concatenates its Type 2 CB 300 to the received CB 300 of the first wireless device 110 and transmits this bigger sized CB 300 to the network node 150. If the network node 150 possesses knowledge of how these two codebooks 300 are attached, then there is no need to add the IDs of the wireless devices 110, 120 as key to the bigger sized CB 300. Otherwise, the coordinator wireless device 120 preferably adds the IDs of the wireless devices 110, 120 at relevant places of the CB 300, e.g. at the starting of each wireless device's codebook 300.
The teachings herein are workable also when one-shot codebook is utilized. In one such embodiment, an enhancement of a one-shot codebook 300 s transmitted by the coordinator wireless device 120 to the network node 150 wherein the codebook 300 contains the HARQ-ACK information of both the coordinator wireless device 120 and the first wireless device 110 for all HARQ processes. This may be exemplified in two embodiments.
In one embodiment, the HARQ process IDs, PIDs, are not shared. For example, per carrier, each UE may be allocated maximum 16 HARQ processes, then the coordinator wireless device 120 comprises HARQ-ACK information for all 16 HARQ processes of the coordinator wireless device 120 and the first wireless device in the CB 300. Consequently, the first wireless device 110 is preferably configured to provide the coordinator wireless device 120 with HARQ-ACK information of all its 16 or active HARQ processes. The coordinator wireless device 120 may be configured to assume NACK for any HARQ processes which the first wireless device did not provide. The codebook may be formed as [{UE #1-ID} {PID0-A/N, . . . , PID16-A/N}, {UE #2-ID} {PID0-A/N, . . . , PID16-A/N}].
In another embodiment, the HARQ processes are shared between the coordinator wireless device 120 and the first wireless device. In this embodiment, the coordinator wireless device 120 is preferably configured to transmit HARQ-ACK information of only 16 HARQ processes. For example, out of 16 per CB 300, the first 4 HARQ processes may be allocated to the coordinator wireless device 120 and the last 12 HARQ processes may be allocated to the first wireless device, then the CB 300 may be formed as [{PID0-A/N, . . . , PID16-A/N}].
Based the teachings of the present disclosure, a method of transferring HARQ-ACK/NACK 800 will be presented with reference to
The control information 505 may be provided to the second wireless device 120 by any means available, and preferably by the means presented in this disclosure. The first HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, the HARQ-ACK/NACK 515 associated with the first transmission 510, may be sent to the second wireless device 120 by any means available, and preferably by the means presented in this disclosure.
The first transmission 510 may be transmitted 810 in a relayed signal path from the network node 150 to the first wireless device 110. In a preferred embodiment of the method 800, the first transmission 510 is transmitted 810 directly from the network node 150 to the first wireless device 110.
The final decision to actually relay 830 the first HARQ-ACK/NACK 515 by the second wireless device 120 may, as detailed elsewhere in this disclosure, be taken by e.g. the network node 150, the first wireless device 110, or the second wireless device 120. If, for instance, the first wireless device takes the decision to relay 830 the first HARQ-ACK/NACK, or any HARQ-ACK/NACK for that matter, may be based on e.g. an UL channel quality of the first wireless device 110, an UL channel resource availability of the first wireless device 110, an UL channel capacity of the first wireless device 110, and/or an urgency associated with the first HARQ-ACK/NACK 515 etc. Similarly, if the decision lies with the network node 150, the criteria may comprise the same basis as those listed above, but preferably with the addition of the corresponding basis relating to the second wireless device 120.
As explained, the teachings of this disclosure are workable also for relaying 830 HARQ-ACK/NACK information from more than one wireless device 110, 130. This means that the method 800 may further comprise the network node 150 transmitting 813 an additional transmission 530 to one of the one or more additional wireless devices 130 of the wireless communication network 10. These additional wireless devices 130 are preferably configured to transmit 823 an additional HARQ-ACK/NACK 535 associated with the additional transmission 530. As previously explained, based on the control information 505, the second wireless device 120 relays 830 the first HARQ-ACK/NACK 515 together with the additional HARQ-ACK/NACK 535 to the network node 150.
The method 800 may further comprise a second transmission 520 being transmitted 812 by the network node 150 to the second wireless device 120. The second wireless device 120 may be configured to combine its own HARQ-ACK/NACK 525 associated with the second transmission 520 in the relaying 830 of other HARQ-ACK/NACK 515, 525.
In
In
In
In
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 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, as previously explained, improve spectrum efficiency, reliability etc. and thereby provide benefits such as e.g. reduced user waiting time etc.
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.
The following are a selection of numbered embodiments relating to the present disclosure.
1. A base station configured to communicate with a user equipment (UE), the base station comprising a radio interface and processing circuitry configured to perform the functions relating to the network node 150 of the method 800.
5. A communication system including a host computer comprising:
6. The communication system of embodiment 5, further including the base station.
7. The communication system of embodiment 6, further including the UE, wherein the UE is configured to communicate with the base station.
8. The communication system of embodiment 7, wherein:
11. A method implemented in a base station, comprising the steps relating to the network node 150 of the method 800.
15. A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:
16. The method of embodiment 15, further comprising:
17. The method of embodiment 16, wherein the user data is provided at the host computer by executing a host application, the method further comprising:
21. A user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a base station, the UE comprising a radio interface and processing circuitry configured to perform the functions relating to the second wireless device 120 of the method 800.
25. A communication system including a host computer comprising:
26. The communication system of embodiment 25, further including the UE.
27. The communication system of embodiment 26, wherein the cellular network further includes a base station configured to communicate with the UE.
28. The communication system of embodiment 26 or 27, wherein:
31. A method implemented in a user equipment (UE), comprising performing the steps relating to the second wireless device 120 of the method 800.
35. A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:
36. The method of embodiment 35, further comprising:
41. A user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a base station, the UE comprising a radio interface and processing circuitry configured to perform the functions relating to the second wireless device 120 of the method 800.
45. A communication system including a host computer comprising:
46. The communication system of embodiment 45, further including the UE.
47. The communication system of embodiment 46, 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.
48. The communication system of embodiment 46 or 47, wherein:
49. The communication system of embodiment 46 or 47, wherein:
51. A method implemented in a user equipment (UE), comprising the steps relating to the second wireless device 120 of the method 800.
52. The method of embodiment 51, further comprising:
55. A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:
56. The method of embodiment 55, further comprising:
57. The method of embodiment 56, further comprising:
58. The method of embodiment 56, further comprising:
61. A base station configured to communicate with a user equipment (UE), the base station comprising a radio interface and processing circuitry configured to perform the functions relating to the network node 150 of the method 800.
65. 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 the functions relating to the network node 150 of the method 800.
66. The communication system of embodiment 65, further including the base station.
67. The communication system of embodiment 66, further including the UE, wherein the UE is configured to communicate with the base station.
68. The communication system of embodiment 67, wherein:
71. A method implemented in a base station, comprising the steps relating to the network node 150 of the method 800.
75. 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 is configured to perform the steps relating to the second wireless device 120 of the method 800.
76. The method of embodiment 75, further comprising:
77. The method of embodiment 76, further comprising:
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/EP2021/065408 | 6/9/2021 | WO |
