Buffer status reporting method, and buffer status reporting configuration method and device

Abstract

A method for buffer status reporting, a method for configuring buffer status reporting, and an apparatus thereof. The method is applicable to an IAB-node and comprises the steps of: generating a buffer status reporting MAC CE (BSR MAC CE)—the buffer status reporting MAC CE includes information about all logical channel groups having data to be transmitted and information about at least one buffer size, and the maximum possible number of logical channel groups is greater than 8—; and transmitting the buffer status reporting MAC CE.

Description

Technology Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the field of communication technologies. Background Technology

[0002] Integrated access and backhaul (IAB) technology enables 5G RANs to support radio relay. An IAB node (integrated access and backhaul node) supports access and backhaul via New Radio (NR). The endpoint of NR backhaul on the network side is referred to as an IAB donor, which represents a network device (such as a gNB) with the functionality to support IAB. Backhaul can occur via a single or multiple hops.

[0003] Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall architecture of the IAB. As shown in Figure 1, the overall architecture of the IAB is in duplex (SA) mode. Figure 2 is another schematic diagram of the overall architecture of the IAB. As shown in Figure 2, the overall architecture of the IAB is in dual-connectivity (EN-DC) mode. In dual-connectivity mode, the IAB-node is connected to the MeNB via E-UTRA, and the IAB-donor terminates X2-C as an SgNB.

[0004] The IAB-node supports the functions of the gNB-DU (distributed unit), referred to as the IAB-DU. The IAB-DU is the endpoint of the NR access (New Radio access) interface for the terminal equipment (UE) and the next hop of the IAB-node, and is also the endpoint of the F1 protocol for the gNB-CU (central unit) on the IAB-node.

[0005] In addition to gNB DU functions, the IAB-node also supports some UE functions referred to as IAB-MT. The IAB-MT includes functions of, for example, the physical layer, Layer 2, RRC, and NAS to connect to the gNB-DU of another IAB-node or IAB-donor, to connect to the gNB CU on the IAB-donor, and to connect to the core network.

[0006] The IAB-node supports the functions of the gNB-DU (distributed unit), i.e., the IAB-DU. The IAB-DU terminates the NR access interface for the terminal equipment and the next hop of the IAB-node, and terminates the F1 protocol for the gNB-CU functions on the IAB-donor. Additionally, the IAB-node also supports a subset of terminal equipment functions (UE functions), i.e., the IAB-MT, which includes, for example, the functions of the gNB-DU connected to another IAB-node or IAB-donor, the gNB-CU (centralized unit) connected to the IAB-donor, and the physical layer, Layer 2 (L2), RRC (radio resource control), and NAS (non-access stratum) connected to the core network.

[0007] An IAB-node is connected to an IAB-donor through one or more hops. In the topology, the IAB-donor is the root node, neighbor nodes on the IAB-DU interface of the IAB-node are referred to as child IAB-nodes, i.e., child IAB-nodes, and neighbor nodes on the IAB-MT interface are referred to as parent nodes, i.e., parent IAB-nodes.

[0008] It should be noted that the above description of the background art is provided merely for the sake of a clear and complete explanation of the present disclosure and for easy understanding by those skilled in the art. Furthermore, the above technical solution should not be understood as being known to those skilled in the art simply because it is described in the background art of the present disclosure.

[0009] In NR Release 15 and Release 16 (including Release 16 IAB), the buffer status report (BSR) procedure is described in subsection 5.4.5 of TS 38.321. The BSR procedure is used to provide information about the uplink data volume in a MAC entity to the serving gNB. Each logical channel can be assigned to a logical channel group (LCG), and in Release 15 and Release 16, the maximum number of LCGs is 8.

[0010] Under specific conditions, the UE's MAC entity can trigger a regular BSR, a padded BSR, or a periodic BSR.

[0011] Regarding different types of BSRs, different BSRs are reported under different conditions, such as Long BSR, Short BSR, Short Truncated BSR, and Long Truncated BSR.

[0012] For example, for the reporting of BSRs, Subsection 5.4.5 of TS 38.321 stipulates as follows:

[0013]

[0014] In addition, BSRs are generally reported via buffer status reporting MAC CEs. For example, subsection 6.1.3.1 of TS 38.321 further specifies the formats for buffer status reporting MAC CEs.

[0015] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the existing short BSR MAC CE and truncated BSR MAC CE formats, and FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram of the existing long BSR MAC CE, long truncated BSR MAC CE and preempted BSR MAC CE formats.

[0016] As shown in FIG. 3, the lengths of the short BSR MAC CE and the short truncated BSR MAC CE are 1 byte and consist of an LCG ID field and a Buffer Size field. The LCG ID field is used to identify the logical channel group being reported by the buffer status report, and the length of the LCG ID field is 3 bits. The Buffer Size field represents the total data volume to be transmitted across all logical channels of the logical channel group. The data volume is indicated by the number of bytes, and the length of the Buffer Size field is 5 bits.

[0017] As shown in FIG. 4, the maximum number of logical channel groups reported by the buffer status report is 8, the 8 LCGi fields form 1 byte, the length of the LCGi fields is 1 bit, and i is 0 to 7.

[0018] For long BSR format and preemptive BSR format, the LCGi field indicates whether a buffer size field exists for logical channel group i. Setting the LCGi field to 1 indicates that a buffer size field for logical channel group i is reported; setting the LCGi field to 0 indicates that a buffer size field for logical channel group i is not reported.

[0019] For the long truncated BSR format, the LCGi field indicates whether logical channel group i has data to be transmitted (available data). Setting the LCGi field to 1 indicates that logical channel group i has data to be transmitted; setting the LCGi field to 0 indicates that logical channel group i does not have data to be transmitted.

[0020] The buffer size field is used to identify the total data volume to be transmitted across all logical channels of a logical channel group after the MAC PDU is constructed, and this data volume is indicated by the number of bytes. For the short BSR format and the truncated BSR format, the length of the buffer size field is 5 bits. For the long BSR format and the long truncated BSR format, the length of the buffer size field is 8 bits.

[0021] In R17 IAB, the inventors discovered that in order to reduce latency, it is possible to increase the number of LCGs for IAB-MT—that is, more than 8 LCGs—so that logical channels with different latency requirements can correspond to different logical channel groups. However, the determination of BSR reporting formats and MAC CE formats in existing technologies only supports at most 8 LCGs, and it is impossible to support a larger maximum number of LCGs. Therefore, existing technologies do not have a reporting mechanism for BSRs for a maximum number of LCGs greater than 8.

[0022] To solve one or more of the above problems, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method for reporting a buffer status, a method for configuring a buffer status report, and an apparatus thereof.

[0023] According to a first aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, an apparatus for buffer status reporting applicable to an IAB-node is provided, the apparatus comprises: a first generating unit configured to generate a buffer status report (BSR) MAC CE—the buffer status report MAC CE includes information about all logical channel groups having data to be transmitted and information about at least one buffer size, and the maximum possible number of logical channel groups is greater than 8—; and a first transmitting unit configured to transmit the buffer status report MAC CE.

[0024] According to a second aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, an apparatus for buffer status reporting applicable to an IAB-node is provided, the apparatus comprising: a second generating unit configured to generate a short buffer status reporting MAC CE when the number of logical channel groups having data to be transmitted is 1 or less—the buffer status reporting MAC CE includes information about the logical channel groups and information about the buffer size, and the length of the short buffer status reporting MAC CE is 2 bytes—; and a second transmitting unit configured to transmit the short buffer status reporting MAC CE.

[0025] According to a third aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, an apparatus for buffer status reporting applicable to an IAB-node is provided, the apparatus comprising: a third generating unit configured to generate a buffer status report (BSR) MAC CE when the number of logical channel groups having data to be transmitted is N or less—the buffer status report MAC CE includes information about N logical channel groups and information about at least one buffer size, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2—; and a third transmitting unit configured to transmit the buffer status report MAC CE.

[0026] According to a fourth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, an apparatus for configuring a buffer status report applicable to an IAB-donor is provided, the apparatus comprises a transmitting unit configured to transmit configuration information used for the buffer status report to an IAB-node, wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of the following: a configured logical channel group identity, a number of configured logical channels, a configured BH LCH ID, configuring whether an extended LCG range is adopted, and configuring whether a new buffer status report MAC CE format is adopted.

[0027] According to a fifth embodiment of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a network device is provided that includes a device as described in any of the first to fourth embodiments.

[0028] According to a sixth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a communication system comprising a first network device, a second network device, and terminal equipment is provided, wherein the first network device comprises a device as described in any of the first to third aspects, and the second network device comprises a device as described in the fourth aspect.

[0029] According to a seventh aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a method for buffer status reporting applicable to an IAB-node is provided, the method comprising the steps of: generating a buffer status report (BSR) MAC CE—the buffer status report MAC CE includes information about all logical channel groups having data to be transmitted and information about at least one buffer size, and the maximum possible number of logical channel groups is greater than 8—; and transmitting the buffer status report MAC CE.

[0030] According to the eighth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a method for buffer status reporting applicable to an IAB-node is provided, the method comprising the steps of: generating a short buffer status reporting MAC CE when the number of logical channel groups having data to be transmitted is 1 or less—the buffer status reporting MAC CE includes information about the logical channel groups and information about the buffer size, and the length of the short buffer status reporting MAC CE is 2 bytes—; and transmitting the short buffer status reporting MAC CE.

[0031] According to a ninth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a method for buffer status reporting applicable to an IAB-node is provided, the method comprising the steps of: generating a buffer status report (BSR) MAC CE when the number of logical channel groups having data to be transmitted is N or less—the buffer status report MAC CE includes information about N logical channel groups and information about at least one buffer size, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2—; and transmitting the buffer status report MAC CE.

[0032] According to a tenth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a method for configuring a buffer status report applicable to an IAB-donor is provided, the method comprising the step of transmitting configuration information used for buffer status reporting to an IAB-node, wherein the configuration information comprises at least one of the following: a configured logical channel group identity, a number of configured logical channels, a configured BH LCH ID, configuring whether an extended LCG range is adopted, and configuring whether a new buffer status reporting MAC CE format is adopted.

[0033] According to the first aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, computer-readable program code is provided that, when executed in a device or network device for buffer status reporting, causes the device or network device for buffer status reporting to perform a method for buffer status reporting as described in the seventh, eighth, ninth, or tenth aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0034] According to a 12th aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure, a computer-readable medium is provided that includes computer-readable program code to enable a device or network device for buffer status reporting to perform a method for buffer status reporting as described in the 7th, 8th, 9th, or 10th aspect of the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0035] The advantage of the embodiments of the present disclosure lies in the fact that a BSR MAC CE containing information on all logical channel groups having data to be transmitted and at least one buffer size information is generated and transmitted without performing a decision on a long BSR report or a short BSR report, or when the number of logical channel groups having data to be transmitted is 1 or less, a short BSR MAC CE of 2 bytes in length containing information on logical channel groups and one buffer size information is generated and transmitted, or when the number of logical channel groups having data to be transmitted is N or less, a short BSR MAC CE containing information on N logical channel groups and at least one buffer size information is generated and transmitted—N is an integer greater than or equal to 2. In this way, an effective BSR reporting mechanism can be provided for the case where the maximum number of logical channel groups is greater than 8.

[0036] With reference to the following description and drawings, specific embodiments of the present disclosure are disclosed in detail, and principles and modes of use of the present disclosure are indicated. It should be understood that the scope of the embodiments of the present disclosure is not limited thereto. The embodiments of the present disclosure include many substitutions, modifications, and equivalents within the scope of the terms of the appended claims.

[0037] The features described and / or illustrated for one embodiment may be used in the same or similar manner as one or more other embodiments and / or in combination with or instead of features of other embodiments.

[0038] It should be emphasized that the term “comprises / comprising,” as used herein, is taken to indicate the presence of the mentioned features, integers, steps, or components, but does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, components, or groups thereof. Brief explanation of the drawing

[0039] The elements and features described in one drawing or embodiment of the present disclosure may be combined with the elements and features described in one or more additional drawings or embodiments. Additionally, in the drawings, similar reference numbers may be used to designate corresponding parts throughout some drawings and to designate similar or analogous parts in more than one embodiment. Drawings used to form part of this specification, to illustrate preferred embodiments of the disclosure, and to present the principles of the disclosure together with the description are incorporated to provide further understanding of the disclosure. The accompanying drawings in the following description are some embodiments of the disclosure, and it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that other accompanying drawings can be obtained from these accompanying drawings without creative effort. In these drawings: Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the overall architecture of the IAB. Figure 2 is another schematic diagram of the overall architecture of the IAB. Figure 3 is a schematic diagram of the formats of the existing short BSR MAC CE and the truncated BSR MAC CE. Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the formats of the existing long BSR MAC CE, long truncated BSR MAC CE, and preempted BSR MAC CE. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a method for reporting buffer status of Example 1 of the present disclosure. FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of the buffer status reporting MAC CE of Example 1 of the present disclosure. FIG. 7 is another schematic diagram of the buffer status reporting MAC CE of Example 1 of the present disclosure. FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a method for reporting buffer status according to Example 2 of the present disclosure. FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of the buffer status reporting MAC CE of Example 2 of the present disclosure. FIG. 10 is another schematic diagram of the buffer status reporting MAC CE of Example 2 of the present disclosure. FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of the addition of the buffer status reporting MAC CE of Example 2 of the present disclosure. FIG. 12 is another schematic diagram of the buffer status reporting MAC CE of Example 2 of the present disclosure. FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a method for reporting buffer status of Example 3 of the present disclosure. FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of the buffer status reporting MAC CE of Example 3 of the present disclosure. FIG. 15 is another schematic diagram of the buffer status reporting MAC CE of Example 3 of the present disclosure. FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of the addition of the buffer status reporting MAC CE of Example 3 of the present disclosure. FIG. 17 is another schematic diagram of the buffer status reporting MAC CE of Example 3 of the present disclosure. FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram of a method for configuring a buffer status report of Example 5 of the present disclosure. FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram of a method for reporting buffer status of Example 5 of the present disclosure. FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram of a method for reporting buffer status of Example 5 of the present disclosure. FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram of a method for reporting buffer status of Example 5 of the present disclosure. FIG. 22 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus for reporting buffer status of Example 6 of the present disclosure. FIG. 23 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus for reporting buffer status of Example 7 of the present disclosure. FIG. 24 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus for reporting buffer status of Example 8 of the present disclosure. FIG. 25 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus for configuring a buffer status report of Example 9 of the present disclosure. FIG. 26 is a block diagram of the system structure of a network device of Example 10 of the present disclosure. FIG. 27 is a block diagram of the system structure of a network device of Example 11 of the present disclosure. FIG. 28 is a schematic diagram of a communication system of Example 12 of the present disclosure. Specific details for implementing the invention

[0040] These and additional aspects and features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the following description and the accompanying drawings. In this description and drawings, specific embodiments of the present disclosure are disclosed in detail to indicate some of the ways in which the principles of the present disclosure may be utilized, but it is understood that the scope of the present disclosure is not limited accordingly. Rather, the present disclosure includes all variations, modifications, and equivalents that fall within the terms of the appended claims.

[0041] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, terms such as “first,” “second,” etc. are used to distinguish different elements in relation to names and do not indicate a spatial arrangement or temporal order of such elements, and such elements should not be limited by such terms. The terms “and / or” include any one or more of the related terms and all combinations thereof. The terms “contain, include,” and “have” refer to the presence of the mentioned features, elements, components, or assemblies, but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components, or assemblies.

[0042] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, single forms “a” and “the,” etc. include plural forms and should be understood in a broad sense as “a kind of” or “a type of” but not defined as having the meaning of “one”; and the term “the” should be understood to include both single and plural forms, except otherwise specified. Also, except otherwise specified, the term “according to” should be understood as “at least partially according to”, and the term “based on” should be understood as “at least partially based on”.

[0043] In embodiments of the present disclosure, the term “communication network” or “wireless communication network” may refer to a network that meets any one of the following communication standards: LTE (long term evolution), LTE-A (long term evolution-advanced), WCDMA (wideband code division multiple access), and HSPA (high-speed packet access).

[0044] And communication between devices in a communication system may be performed at any stage according to communication protocols, which may include, for example, but not limited to, the following communication protocols: 1G (generation), 2G, 2.5G, 2.75G, 3G, 4G, 4.5G, and 5G and future NR (New Radio), etc., and / or other communication protocols currently known or to be developed in the future.

[0045] In embodiments of the present disclosure, the term “network device” refers to a device in a communication system that, for example, accesses user equipment to a communication network and provides services to user equipment. Such network devices may include, but are not limited to, the following devices: nodes and / or donors in an IAB architecture, a base station (BS), an access point (AP), a transmission reception point (TRP), a broadcast transmitter, a mobile management entity (MME), a gateway, a server, a radio network controller (RNC), a base station controller (BSC), etc.

[0046] In embodiments of the present disclosure, base stations may include, but are not limited to, Node B or NB (node ​​B), eNode B or eNB (evolved node B), and 5G base stations (gNB), etc. Additionally, it may include RRH (remote radio head), RRU (remote radio unit), relays, or low-power nodes (such as femto, and pico, etc.). The term “base station” may include some or all of these functions, and each base station may provide communication coverage for a specific geographical area. And the term “cell” may refer to a base station and / or its coverage area, depending on the context of these terms.

[0047] In embodiments of the present disclosure, the term “UE (user equipment)" refers to equipment that accesses a communication network and receives network services through a network device, for example, and may also be referred to as “TE (terminal equipment)”, such as terminal equipment in an IAB architecture served by an IAB node or an IAB donor.

[0048] The terminal equipment may be fixed or mobile, and may also be referred to as an MS (mobile station), terminal, SS (subscriber station), AT (access terminal), or station, etc.

[0049] Terminal equipment may include, but is not limited to, the following devices: cellular phones, PDAs (personal digital assistants), wireless modems, wireless communication devices, handheld devices, machine-type communication devices, laptops, cordless phones, smart cell phones, smart watches, and digital cameras.

[0050] As another example, in scenarios such as the Internet of Things (IoT), user equipment may also be a machine or device that performs monitoring or measurement. For example, this may include, but is not limited to, machine-type communication (MTC) terminals, vehicle-mounted communication terminals, device-to-device (D2D) terminals, and machine-to-machine (M2M) terminals.

[0051] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, "when...", "in a case where...", "for a case where...", and "if..." all represent one or some conditions or states, and all of these expressions are interchangeable.

[0052] Various implementations of the embodiments of the present disclosure are described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. These implementations are merely illustrative and are not intended to limit the present disclosure.

[0053] Example 1

[0054] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method for reporting buffer status applicable to an IAB node.

[0055] FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a method for reporting a buffer status of Example 1 of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 5, this method comprises the following:

[0056] Step 501: Generate a buffer status report (BSR) MAC CE - the buffer status report MAC CE includes information on all logical channel groups containing data to be transmitted and information on at least one buffer size, and the maximum possible number of logical channel groups is greater than 8 -; and

[0057] Step 502: Send buffer status report MAC CE.

[0058] Therefore, an effective BSR reporting mechanism can be provided for cases where the maximum number of logical channel groups exceeds 8. Additionally, as the determination of long or short BSR reporting by IAB-MT in existing standards is eliminated, the operations of IAB-MT are simplified, and product implementations are simpler. Furthermore, because the number of newly introduced MAC CEs is relatively small, the occupation of related identities can be reduced, and the complexity of system design can be lowered.

[0059] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, since an IAB-node needs to serve multiple UEs and / or IAB descendant nodes, it was agreed by 3GPP in R16 that the maximum number of LCHs (logical channels) supported by an IAB-MT is 2^16 = 65536 (excluding MAC CEs), which is much higher than a conventional UE (supporting 32 logical channels and 8 LCGs). Assuming that the number of logical channel priorities that can be configured for an IAB-MT in R17 is still 16 (values ​​1 to 16), it is estimated that the number of hops in an IAB network is generally 4 or less, and the number of LCGs supported in R17 can be 16*4 = 64. However, the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and the number of LCGs can also be 16, 32, 128, and 256, etc., as integer powers of 2. An embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated by taking 64 LCGs as examples.

[0060] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the buffer status report MAC CE generated and transmitted in the method of an embodiment of the present disclosure may also be referred to as a new buffer status report MAC CE (New BSR MAC CE), an IAB buffer status report MAC CE (IAB BSR MAC CE), or an extended buffer status report MAC CE (Extended BSR MAC CE), etc.

[0061] In step 502, for example,

[0062] For regular BSR and periodic BSR, a buffer status report MAC CE is generated that includes information about all logical channel groups having data to be transmitted and information about the buffer sizes corresponding to the logical channel groups, and the buffer status report MAC CE may additionally include information about all logical channel groups configured for the IAB-MT or information about all logical channel groups supported by the IAB-MT;

[0063] For a padded BSR, when the number of padding bits is greater than or equal to the size of the buffer status report MAC CE plus its subheader, the buffer status report MAC CE includes information about all logical channel groups having data to be transmitted and information about the buffer sizes corresponding to the logical channel groups, and may also include information about all logical channel groups configured for the IAB-MT or information about all logical channel groups supported by the IAB-MT; when the number of padding bits is less than the size of the buffer status report MAC CE plus its subheader, the generated buffer status report is a truncated buffer status report (Truncated BSR), and the truncated buffer status report MAC CE includes information about logical channel groups having a number of data to be transmitted that does not exceed the number of padding bits and information about the buffer size corresponding to at least one logical channel group, and may also include information about all logical channel groups configured for the IAB-MT or information about all logical channel groups supported by the IAB-MT; When the number of padding bits is smaller than the sum of the size of the information in the logical channel groups of the buffer status report MAC CE and the size of the subheader of the buffer status report MAC CE, a buffer status report MAC CE or a truncated buffer status report MAC CE is not generated.

[0064] In step 502, the generated buffer status report MAC CE is sent to the IAB-donor or parent node of the IAB-node.

[0065] The descriptions in the corresponding standards are, for example, as follows:

[0066]

[0067] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a buffer status reporting MAC CE may include a first buffer status reporting MAC CE, and the first buffer status reporting MAC CE indicates whether a logical channel group has information about a corresponding buffer size reported or whether the logical channel group has data to be transmitted via a bitmap.

[0068] For example, the length of the bitmap is 2 bytes, 4 bytes, 8 bytes, 16 bytes, or 32 bytes.

[0069] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, for the case where the maximum number of logical channel groups is K, the bitmap comprises K LCGi fields, the number of bytes in the bitmap may be rounded to K / 8, and the lengths of the LCGi fields are 1 bit; wherein K is an integer greater than 8, such as 32, 64, 128, or 256, and i is an integer in the range of 0 to K-1. Additionally, the LCGi may be arranged in ascending or descending order of their indices i.

[0070] For example, in the case where the maximum number of logical channel groups is 64, the number of bytes in the bitmap is 8.

[0071] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the buffer status report MAC CE comprises a bitmap, i.e., K LCGi fields and m buffer size fields; where m is the number of LCGi fields having a value of 1 in the K LCGi fields.

[0072] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the size of the buffer status report MAC CE is ceil (K / 8)+m bytes.

[0073] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, for a buffer status reporting MAC CE or a new buffer status reporting MAC CE, the LCGi field indicates the presence of a buffer size field for logical channel group i. Setting the LCGi field to 1 indicates that a buffer size field for logical channel group i is reported, and setting the LCGi field to 0 indicates that a buffer size field for logical channel group i is not reported;

[0074] For a truncated buffer status report MAC CE or a new truncated buffer status report MAC CE, the LCGi field indicates whether logical channel group i has data to be transmitted (available data). Setting the LCGi field to 1 indicates that logical channel group i has data to be transmitted, and setting the LCGi field to 0 indicates that logical channel group i does not have data to be transmitted.

[0075] FIG. 6 is a schematic diagram of a buffer status reporting MAC CE of Example 1 of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 6, an 8-byte bitmap is used to indicate whether buffer size information corresponding to a logical channel group is reported or whether the logical channel group has data to be transmitted, and the maximum number of logical channel groups supported by this is 64, that is, the bitmap includes 64 LCGi fields from LCG0 to LCG63. Additionally, the buffer status reporting MAC CE further includes m buffer size fields; where m is the number of LCGi fields having a value of 1 in the 64 LCGi fields, and the size of the MAC CE is m+8 bytes.

[0076] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, two LCIDs (logical channel identities) or a 1-byte eLCID (extended logical channel identity) may be used to identify whether the first buffer status reporting MAC CE is a buffer status reporting MAC CE or a truncated buffer status reporting MAC CE, and the buffer status reporting MAC CE is also referred to as a new buffer status reporting MAC CE (New BSR MAC CE) or an IAB buffer status reporting MAC CE (IAB BSR MAC CE) or an extended buffer status reporting MAC CE (Extended BSR MAC CE), etc., and the truncated buffer status reporting MAC CE is also referred to as a new truncated BSR MAC CE (New Truncated BSR MAC CE) or an IAB truncated BSR MAC CE or an extended truncated BSR MAC CE (Extended Truncated BSR MAC CE), etc.

[0077] For example, when two LCIDs are used for identification, the values ​​of the code points and indices are in the range of 35 to 44, such as 35 and 36, or 43 and 44.

[0078] For example, when one eLCID is used for identification, the code point values ​​are in the range of 0 to 249, such as 248 and 249, and the index values ​​are in the range of 64 to 313, such as 312 and 313.

[0079] In the above example, the buffer status is reported by the first buffer status reporting MAC CE. In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the buffer status reporting MAC CE further includes at least two second buffer status reporting MAC CEs.

[0080] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, at least two second buffer status reporting MAC CEs collectively include information about all logical channel groups having data to be transmitted, or information about all configured logical channel groups, or information about all supported logical channel groups. That is, at least two second buffer status reporting MAC CEs jointly report buffer size information of all logical channel groups having data to be transmitted.

[0081] In this way, when a group of logical channels containing data to be transmitted is within a specific range, the overhead of buffer status reporting MAC CEs can be reduced and wireless resources can be saved.

[0082] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the second buffer status reporting MAC CE may be identified by a logical channel identity (LCID). Additionally, different second buffer status reporting MAC CEs may be identified by different logical channel identities.

[0083] For example, buffer status reporting can be performed using two second buffer status reporting MAC CEs, the first of the second buffer status reporting MAC CEs reports buffer size information corresponding to LCG0 to LCG31, and the second of the second buffer status reporting MAC CEs reports buffer size information corresponding to LCG32 to LCG63;

[0084] As another example, buffer status reporting can be performed using four second buffer status reporting MAC CEs, the first of the second buffer status reporting MAC CEs reports buffer size information corresponding to LCG0 to LCG15, the second of the second buffer status reporting MAC CEs reports buffer size information corresponding to LCG16 to LCG31, the third of the second buffer status reporting MAC CEs reports buffer size information corresponding to LCG32 to LCG47, and the fourth of the second buffer status reporting MAC CEs reports buffer size information corresponding to LCG48 to LCG63.

[0085] FIG. 7 is another schematic diagram of a buffer status reporting MAC CE of Example 1 of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 7, buffer status reporting can be performed using two second buffer status reporting MAC CEs, the first of the second buffer status reporting MAC CEs reports buffer size information corresponding to LCG0 to LCG31, and the second of the second buffer status reporting MAC CEs reports buffer size information corresponding to LCG32 to LCG63. For example, if LCG0, LCG8, and LCG10 of the IAB-MT have data to be transmitted, the IAB-MT may only report the first of the second buffer status reporting MAC CEs, the bits corresponding to LCG0, LCG8, and LCG10 are set to 1, and buffer size fields corresponding to LCG0, LCG8, and LCG10 exist, which can save signaling overhead of the MAC CEs; If LCG0, LCG8, and LCG32 of the IAB-MT contain data to be transmitted, the IAB-MT needs to report both the first and second of the second buffer status reporting MAC CEs, and there exist buffer size fields corresponding to LCG0 and LCG8 in the first buffer status reporting MAC CE, and there exist buffer size fields corresponding to LCG32 in the second buffer status reporting MAC CE.

[0086] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the IAB-node may determine the format of a buffer status reporting MAC CE generated according to specific circumstances, such as determining whether to use the format of the buffer status reporting MAC CE described in Embodiment 1 of the present disclosure, i.e., the format of the new buffer status reporting MAC CE (New BSR MAC CE) and the method for reporting, or the format and method for reporting of the legacy buffer status reporting MAC CE (legacy BSR MAC CE), such as the format and method for reporting of the buffer status reporting MAC CE in Release 15 or Release 16. The new buffer status reporting MAC CE includes the new truncated buffer status reporting MAC CE.

[0087] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, as illustrated in FIG. 5, this method may further include the following:

[0088] Step 503: Determine the format of the generated buffer status report MAC CE based on the configuration information received from the donor CU and / or the capabilities of the IAB-MT.

[0089] For example, a buffer status report MAC CE is generated in the method described in Example 1 of the present disclosure when at least one of the following conditions is satisfied:

[0090] The maximum value of the configured logical channel group identity is greater than the first threshold;

[0091] The number of configured LCHs (logical channels) is greater than or equal to the second threshold;

[0092] The configured BH LCH ID adopts the extended LCH ID;

[0093] The use of the extended LCG range is configured;

[0094] The use of the new format of the buffer status reporting MAC CE is configured; and

[0095] IAB-MT supports more than 8 LCGs.

[0096] For example, when the maximum value of the configured LCG ID is less than or equal to the first threshold, the legacy BSR MAC CE format may be applied, or, if the maximum value of the configured LCG ID is greater than the first threshold, the new BSR MAC CE format and reporting method may be applied. For example, the first threshold may be an integer, such as 8 or 16;

[0097] For example, when the number of configured BH LCHs is below a second threshold, the legacy BSR MAC CE format is applied, or, if the number of configured LCHs is above the second threshold, the new BSR MAC CE format and reporting method are applied;

[0098] For example, when the BH LCH ID (BH LogicalChannelIdentity) uses a legacy LCH ID (e.g., a value range of 1 to 32), the legacy BSR MAC CE format will be applied, or, when the configured BH LCH ID uses an extended LCH ID (e.g., a value range of 320 to 65855), the new BSR MAC CE format and reporting method will be applied;

[0099] For example, when a network configuration adopts an extended LCG range, the new BSR MAC CE format will be applied; or, if a configuration adopts the new BSR MAC CE format, the new BSR MAC CE format and reporting method will be applied;

[0100] For example, the decision is made based on the capabilities of the IAB-MT, and when the IAB-MT does not support a number of LCGs greater than the third threshold, the legacy BSR reporting and BSR MAC CE format will be used; when the IAB-MT supports a number of LCGs greater than the third threshold, the new BSR MAC CE format and reporting method will be applied; for example, the third threshold can be integers such as 8, or 16, or 64, etc.

[0101] For example, IAB-MT always applies the new BSR MAC CE format and reporting method.

[0102] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, configuration information may be transmitted via RRC signaling, such as an RRC configuration message or an RRC resumption message.

[0103] Additionally, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the BSR MAC CE format and reporting method may be determined individually or in combination depending on the configuration information and the capabilities of the IAB-MT.

[0104] Additionally, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the UE served by the IAB-node may or may not apply the new BSR MAC CE format.

[0105] In addition, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the preemptive BSR may also apply the new BSR MAC CE format.

[0106] From the above embodiment, it can be seen that a BSR MAC CE containing information on all logical channel groups having a maximum number of data to be transmitted greater than 8 and information on at least one buffer size is generated and transmitted without performing a decision on a long BSR report or a short BSR report. Therefore, an effective BSR reporting mechanism can be provided for cases where the maximum number of logical channel groups exceeds 8. Furthermore, as the decision on a long or short BSR report by IAB-MT in existing standards is eliminated, the operations of IAB-MT are simplified, and the implementation of products is simpler. In addition, because the number of newly introduced MAC CEs is relatively small, the occupation of related identities can be reduced, and the complexity of system design can be lowered.

[0107] Example 2

[0108] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method for reporting buffer status applicable to an IAB node.

[0109] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, whether a long buffer state report or a short buffer state report is reported is determined by the number of logical channel groups having data to be transmitted.

[0110] For example, when the number of logical channel groups having data to be transmitted is greater than 1, a long buffer status report (long BSR), also referred to as a New long BSR, or an IAB long BSR, or an Extended long BSR, is reported; for a padded BSR, this reports a New long truncated buffer status report, or an IAB long truncated buffer status report, or an Extended long truncated buffer status report, etc.; for a long buffer status report or a long truncated buffer status report, the structure of the MAC CE may be the same as that of the buffer status report MAC CE or the truncated buffer status report MAC CE in Example 1;

[0111] When the number of logical channel groups having data to be transmitted is 1 or less, a short buffer status report (short BSR), also referred to as a new short BSR, an IAB short BSR, or an extended short BSR, is reported; for a padded BSR, this reports a new short truncated buffer status report (New short Truncated BSR), an IAB short truncated buffer status report (IAB short Truncated BSR), or an extended short truncated buffer status report (Extended short Truncated BSR), etc.

[0112] That is, for example, for regular BSR and periodic BSR, a long buffer status report MAC CE or a short buffer status report MAC CE may be generated and transmitted; for padded BSR, a long buffer status report MAC CE or a long truncated buffer status report MAC CE or a short truncated buffer status report or a short buffer status report may be generated and transmitted.

[0113] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the short buffer state report MAC CE (or new short buffer state report MAC CE), the short truncated buffer state report MAC CE (or new short truncated buffer state report MAC CE), the long buffer state report MAC CE (or new long buffer state report MAC CE), and the long truncated buffer state report MAC CE (or new long truncated buffer state report MAC CE) are identified by four LCIDs (logical channel identities) or four 1-byte eLCIDs (extended logical channel identities).

[0114] For example, in the case where four LCIDs are used for identification, the values ​​of the code points and indices are in the range of 35 to 44, such as 41 to 44 or 35 to 38.

[0115] For example, in the case where four 1-byte eLCIDs are used for identification, the code point values ​​are in the range of 0 to 249, such as 246 to 249, and the index values ​​are in the range of 64 to 313, such as 310 to 313.

[0116] A short buffer status report will be explained below.

[0117] FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of a method for reporting a buffer status of Example 2 of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 8, this method comprises the following:

[0118] Step 801: When the number of logical channel groups containing data to be transmitted is 1 or less, generate a short buffer status report MAC CE - the buffer status report MAC CE contains information about the logical channel groups and information about the buffer size, and the length of the short buffer status report MAC CE is 2 bytes -; and

[0119] Step 802: Send short buffer status report MAC CE.

[0120] Therefore, an effective BSR reporting mechanism can be provided for cases where the maximum number of logical channel groups exceeds 8.

[0121] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the length of the information for the logical channel group is 4 to 8 bits, that is, the length of the LCG ID field is 4 to 8 bits. The buffer size information, that is, the length of the buffer size field, is 1 byte, that is, 8 bits.

[0122] In this way, the length of the buffer size field is increased so that the value (index) of the buffer size field can represent a smaller range of buffer values, thereby improving the accuracy of the buffer size field and facilitating more accurate uplink resource allocation by the IAB parent node or IAB-donor.

[0123] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, information about a logical channel group, i.e., an LCG ID field, may be combined with a spare bit to form a byte, and the number of spare bits may be at least 1.

[0124] For example, information regarding a logical channel group, i.e., the LCG ID field, may be before or after the reserve bit, and embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited thereto.

[0125] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, information regarding a logical channel group may be adjacent to buffer size information.

[0126] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the length of the subheader of the short buffer state report MAC CE is 1 byte, that is, the length of the MAC sub-PDU containing the short buffer state report MAC CE is 3 bytes. In this way, the total bytes of the MAC sub-PDU containing the short buffer state report MAC CE are relatively small, and the signaling overhead is relatively low.

[0127] FIG. 9 is a schematic diagram of a buffer status report MAC CE of Example 2 of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 9, the length of the buffer status report MAC CE is 2 bytes, the length of the LCG ID field is 4 bits, which is combined with 4 spare bits R to form a byte, and the length of the buffer size field is 1 byte, i.e., 8 bits. Additionally, the spare bits R may also be prior to the LCG ID field.

[0128] FIG. 10 is another schematic diagram of a buffer status reporting MAC CE of Example 2 of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 10, the length of the buffer status reporting MAC CE is 2 bytes, the length of the LCG ID field is 6 bits, which is combined with 2 spare bits R to form a byte, and the length of the buffer size field is 1 byte, i.e., 8 bits. Additionally, the spare bits R may also be prior to the LCG ID field.

[0129] FIG. 11 is a schematic diagram of the addition of a buffer status report MAC CE of Example 2 of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 11, the length of the buffer status report MAC CE is 2 bytes, the length of the LCG ID field is 1 byte, i.e., 8 bits, and the length of the buffer size field is 1 byte, i.e., 8 bits.

[0130] FIG. 12 is another schematic diagram of a short buffer status report MAC CE of Example 2 of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 12, the length of the buffer status report MAC CE is 2 bytes, the length of the LCG ID field is 6 bytes adjacent to the buffer size field, the other buffer size field and 2 spare bits form a byte, and the total length of the buffer size field is 1 byte.

[0131] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, similar to Example 1, the IAB-node may also determine the format of the generated buffer status report MAC CE based on configuration information received from the donor CU and / or the capabilities of the IAB-MT. For specific details, reference may be made to the description in Example 1, which will not be described further herein.

[0132] Additionally, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the UE served by the IAB-node may or may not apply the new BSR MAC CE format.

[0133] In addition, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the preemptive BSR may also apply the new BSR MAC CE format.

[0134] From the above example, it can be seen that when the number of logical channel groups containing data to be transmitted is 1 or less, a short BSR MAC CE of length 2 bytes containing information about the logical channel groups and one buffer size information is generated and transmitted. In this way, an effective BSR reporting mechanism can be provided for cases where the maximum number of logical channel groups is greater than 8. The total bytes of the MAC sub-PDU containing the short buffer status reporting MAC CE are relatively small, and the signaling overhead is relatively low. Furthermore, the length of the buffer size field is increased so that the value (index) of the buffer size field can indicate a smaller range of buffer values, thereby improving the accuracy of the buffer size field and facilitating more accurate uplink resource allocation by the IAB parent node or IAB-donor.

[0135] Example 3

[0136] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method for reporting buffer status applicable to an IAB node.

[0137] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, whether a long buffer state report or a short buffer state report is reported is determined by the number of logical channel groups having data to be transmitted.

[0138] For example, when the number of logical channel groups having data to be transmitted is greater than N, a long buffer status report (long BSR), also referred to as a new long BSR, or an IAB long BSR, or an extended long BSR, is reported; for a padded BSR, this reports a new long truncated buffer status report (New long truncated BSR), or an IAB long truncated buffer status report (IAB long truncated BSR), or an extended long truncated buffer status report (Extended long truncated BSR), etc.; for a long buffer status report or a long truncated buffer status report, the structure of the MAC CE may be the same as that of the buffer status report MAC CE or the truncated buffer status report MAC CE in Example 1;

[0139] When the number of logical channel groups containing data to be transmitted is N or less, a short buffer status report (short BSR), also referred to as a new short BSR, or an IAB short BSR, or an extended short BSR, is reported; for a padded BSR, this reports a new short truncated buffer status report (new short truncated BSR), an IAB short truncated buffer status report (IAB short truncated BSR), or an extended short truncated buffer status report (Extended short truncated BSR), etc.

[0140] That is, for example, for regular BSR and periodic BSR, a long buffer status report MAC CE or a short buffer status report MAC CE may be generated and transmitted; for padded BSR, a long buffer status report MAC CE or a long truncated buffer status report MAC CE or a short truncated buffer status report or a short buffer status report may be generated and transmitted.

[0141] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the short buffer state report MAC CE (or new short buffer state report MAC CE), the short truncated buffer state report MAC CE (or new short truncated buffer state report MAC CE), the long buffer state report MAC CE (or new long buffer state report MAC CE), and the long truncated buffer state report MAC CE (or new long truncated buffer state report MAC CE) are identified by four LCIDs (logical channel identities) or four 1-byte eLCIDs (extended logical channel identities).

[0142] For example, in the case where four LCIDs are used for identification, the values ​​of the code points and indices are in the range of 35 to 44, such as 41 to 44 or 35 to 38.

[0143] For example, in the case where four 1-byte eLCIDs are used for identification, the code point values ​​are in the range of 0 to 249, such as 246 to 249, and the index values ​​are in the range of 64 to 313, such as 310 to 313.

[0144] A short buffer status report will be explained below.

[0145] FIG. 13 is a schematic diagram of a method for reporting a buffer status of Example 3 of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 13, this method comprises the following:

[0146] Step 1301: When the number of logical channel groups containing data to be transmitted is N or less, generate a short buffer status report MAC CE (BSR MAC CE) - the short buffer status report MAC CE includes information about N logical channel groups and information about at least one buffer size, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2 -; and

[0147] Step 1302: Send short buffer status report MAC CE.

[0148] Therefore, an effective BSR reporting mechanism can be provided for cases where the maximum number of logical channel groups exceeds 8.

[0149] Additionally, when taken as a repeater node in a network, the IAB-node generally serves a relatively larger number of UEs and / or IAB descendant nodes. Thus, the IAB-MT generally has more than one logical channel group with data to be transmitted, but sometimes has only a small number of logical channel groups with data to be transmitted; in such cases, a short buffered status report MAC CE format may be adopted in this embodiment, thereby reducing signaling overhead and saving radio resources compared to transmitting a long buffered status report MAC CE.

[0150] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the length of information for logical channel groups is 4 to 8 bits.

[0151] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, information for at least N logical channel groups, i.e., the LCGi field, is located in the same byte or different bytes, and i is in the range of 0 to N-1, or may also be referred to as an LCG ID field represented as LCG ID a, LCG ID b, ...

[0152] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, in the short buffer state report MAC CE or the new short buffer state report MAC CE or the short truncated buffer state report MAC CE or the new short truncated buffer state report MAC CE, the information for at least one logical channel group in the information for at least N logical channel groups is adjacent to the corresponding buffer size information, and / or the information for at least two logical channel groups in the information for at least N logical channel groups is adjacent to each other, and / or at least two buffer size information, i.e., buffer size fields are adjacent to each other.

[0153] In embodiments of the present disclosure, all LCG ID fields may be placed prior to bytes or adjacent to corresponding buffer sizes. If all LCG ID fields are placed at the beginning, the order of the LCGs corresponding to buffer sizes in the buffer size field is the same as the order of the LCGs in the LCG ID field.

[0154] For example, for the case where N is 2, the description in the corresponding standards might be as follows:

[0155]

[0156] The format of the short buffer state report MAC CE for N=2 is exemplified below. Cases where N is greater than 2 may be similar to the case where N is 2.

[0157] FIG. 14 is a schematic diagram of a buffer status reporting MAC CE of Example 3 of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 14, the length of the buffer status reporting MAC CE is 3 bytes, and it includes information for two logical channel groups, namely LCG ID fields, and two buffer size information, namely buffer size fields. The two LCG ID fields are each LCG ID a and LCG ID b, and their lengths are 4 bits, LCG ID a and LCG ID b form a byte, and the buffer size 1 field includes buffer size information corresponding to LCG ID a, and the buffer size 2 field includes buffer size information corresponding to LCG ID b.

[0158] FIG. 15 is another schematic diagram of a buffer status reporting MAC CE of Example 3 of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 15, the length of the buffer status reporting MAC CE is 3 bytes, and it includes information for two logical channel groups, namely LCG ID fields, and two buffer size information, namely buffer size fields. The two LCG ID fields are each LCG ID a and LCG ID b, and their lengths are 6 bits, LCG ID a and one part of the first buffer size field form a first byte, the other part of the first buffer size field and one part of LCG ID b form a second byte, the other part of LCG ID b and the second buffer size field form a third byte, the buffer size 1 field contains buffer size information corresponding to LCG ID a, and the buffer size 2 field contains buffer size information corresponding to LCG ID b.

[0159] FIG. 16 is a schematic diagram of the additional buffer status reporting MAC CE of Example 3 of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 16, the length of the buffer status reporting MAC CE is 3 bytes, and it includes information for two logical channel groups, namely LCG ID fields, and two buffer size information, namely buffer size fields. The two LCG ID fields are LCG ID a and LCG ID b, respectively, and their lengths are 1 byte, i.e., 8 bits, and the lengths of the two buffer size fields are also 1 byte, i.e., 8 bits, and the buffer size 1 field includes buffer size information corresponding to LCG ID a, and the buffer size 2 field includes buffer size information corresponding to LCG ID b.

[0160] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, for the case where N is 8, information about the 8 logical channel groups included in the short buffer state report MAC CE forms a byte. That is, the short buffer state report MAC CE can adopt the format of the existing long buffer state report MAC CE.

[0161] FIG. 17 is another schematic diagram of a buffer status reporting MAC CE of Example 3 of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 17, the maximum number of logical channel groups reporting a buffer report is 8, the 8 LCGi fields form 1 byte, the lengths of the LCGi fields are 1 bit, and i is 0 to 7.

[0162] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, similar to Example 1, the IAB-node may also determine the format of the generated buffer status report MAC CE based on configuration information received from the donor CU and / or the capabilities of the IAB-MT. For specific details, reference may be made to the description in Example 1, which will not be described further herein.

[0163] Additionally, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the UE served by the IAB-node may or may not apply the new BSR MAC CE format.

[0164] In addition, in the embodiments of the present disclosure, the preemptive BSR may also apply the new BSR MAC CE format.

[0165] From the above examples, it can be seen that an effective BSR reporting mechanism can be provided for cases where the maximum number of logical channel groups is greater than 8. Additionally, when taken as a repeater node in a network, an IAB-node generally serves a relatively larger number of UEs and / or IAB descendant nodes. Thus, an IAB-MT generally has more than one logical channel group with data to be transmitted, but sometimes has only a small number of logical channel groups with data to be transmitted; in such cases, a short buffered status reporting MAC CE format may be adopted in this example, thereby reducing signaling overhead and saving radio resources compared to transmitting a long buffered status reporting MAC CE.

[0166] Example 4

[0167] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method for configuring a buffer status report applicable to an IAB-donor. Such a method corresponds to Examples 1 through 3, and for the same content, reference may be made to the descriptions in Examples 1 through 3.

[0168] FIG. 18 is a schematic diagram of a method for configuring a buffer status report of Example 5 of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 18, this method comprises the following:

[0169] Step 1801: Send configuration information used for buffer status reporting to the IAB-node,

[0170] This configuration information includes at least one of the following:

[0171] Configured logical channel group identity,

[0172] Number of configured LCHs (logical channels),

[0173] Configured BH LCH ID,

[0174] Configuring whether an extended LCG range is adopted, and

[0175] Configures whether the new buffer status reporting MAC CE format is adopted.

[0176] In this way, the IAB-node can determine the format of the generated buffer status report MAC CE based on configuration information and / or the capabilities of the IAB-MT.

[0177] For example, the configured BH LCH ID is configured to adopt an extended LCH ID and / or an extended LCG range and / or a new buffer status reporting MAC CE format. In this case, the IAB-node generates the BSR MAC CE by applying the new BSR MAC CE format, that is, using the method described in any one of Examples 1 to 3.

[0178] For example, configuration information is transmitted via RRC signaling.

[0179] From the above example, it can be seen that by transmitting configuration information for buffer status reporting to the IAB-node, the IAB-node can determine the format of the buffer status reporting MAC CE generated according to the configuration information and / or the capabilities of the IAB-MT. Thus, an effective BSR reporting mechanism can be provided for cases where the maximum number of logical channel groups exceeds 8.

[0180] Example 5

[0181] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a method for reporting buffer status applicable to an IAB-node and an IAB-donor. Such a method corresponds to Examples 1 through 4, and reference may be made to the descriptions in Examples 1 through 4 for the same details.

[0182] FIG. 19 is a schematic diagram of a method for reporting a buffer status of Example 5 of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 19, this method comprises the following:

[0183] Step 1901: Send configuration information to the IAB-node for buffer status reporting by the IAB-donor;

[0184] Step 1902: Determine the format of the buffer status report MAC CE generated by the IAB-node based on the configuration information received from the donor CU and / or the capabilities of the IAB-MT;

[0185] Step 1903: If it is determined that a new format of the buffer status report MAC CE is adopted, a buffer status report MAC CE (BSR MAC CE) is generated - the BSR MAC CE includes information on all logical channel groups having data to be transmitted and at least one buffer size information, and the maximum possible number of logical channel groups is greater than 8 -; and

[0186] Step 1904: Send buffer status report MAC CE.

[0187] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, step 1901 is optional. For example, when an IAB-node determines the format of a buffer status report MAC CE generated according to the capabilities of an IAB-MT, network configuration may not be required, that is, the IAB-donor does not need to transmit configuration information for buffer status reporting.

[0188] Additionally, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, it is also possible to receive configuration information directly from an IAB-donor and not transmit a buffer status report MAC CE to the IAB-donor. For example, the configuration information may be received from the parent node of the IAB-node, and the buffer status report MAC CE may be transmitted to the parent node; that is, the parent node of the IAB-node may be taken as a relay for the configuration information and the buffer status report MAC CE.

[0189] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, specific implementations of steps 1901 through 1904 may be referred to as described in Example 1, which will not be repeated further herein.

[0190] FIG. 20 is a schematic diagram of a method for reporting a buffer status of Example 5 of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 20, this method comprises the following.

[0191] Step 2001: Send configuration information to the IAB-node for buffer status reporting by the IAB-donor;

[0192] Step 2002: Determine the format of the buffer status report MAC CE generated by the IAB-node based on the configuration information received from the donor CU and / or the capabilities of the IAB-MT;

[0193] Step 2003: If it is determined that a new format for the buffer status report MAC CE is adopted, a buffer status report MAC CE is generated when the number of logical channel groups containing data to be transmitted is 1 or less - the BSR MAC CE contains information about the logical channel groups and one buffer size, and the length of the buffer status report MAC CE is 2 bytes -; and

[0194] Step 2004: Send buffer status report MAC CE.

[0195] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, step 2001 is optional. For example, when an IAB-node determines the format of a buffer status report MAC CE generated according to the capabilities of an IAB-MT, network configuration may not be required, that is, the IAB-donor does not need to transmit configuration information for buffer status reporting.

[0196] Additionally, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, it is also possible to receive configuration information directly from an IAB-donor and not transmit a buffer status report MAC CE to the IAB-donor. For example, the configuration information may be received from the parent node of the IAB-node, and the buffer status report MAC CE may be transmitted to the parent node; that is, the parent node of the IAB-node may be taken as a relay for the configuration information and the buffer status report MAC CE.

[0197] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, specific implementations of steps 2001-2004 may be referred to as described in Example 2, which will not be repeated further herein.

[0198] FIG. 21 is a schematic diagram of a method for reporting a buffer status of Example 5 of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 21, this method comprises the following:

[0199] Step 2101: Send configuration information to the IAB-node for buffer status reporting by the IAB-donor;

[0200] Step 2102: Determine the format of the buffer status report MAC CE generated by the IAB-node based on the configuration information received from the donor CU and / or the capabilities of the IAB-MT;

[0201] Step 2103: If it is determined that a new format for the buffer status report MAC CE is adopted, a buffer status report MAC CE is generated when the number of logical channel groups containing data to be transmitted is N or less—the BSR MAC CE includes information on N logical channel groups and at least one buffer size information, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2—; and

[0202] Step 2104: Send buffer status report MAC CE.

[0203] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, step 2101 is optional. For example, when an IAB-node determines the format of a buffer status report MAC CE generated according to the capabilities of an IAB-MT, network configuration may not be required, that is, the IAB-donor does not need to transmit configuration information for buffer status reporting.

[0204] Additionally, in an embodiment of the present disclosure, it is also possible to receive configuration information directly from an IAB-donor and not transmit a buffer status report MAC CE to the IAB-donor. For example, the configuration information may be received from the parent node of the IAB-node, and the buffer status report MAC CE may be transmitted to the parent node; that is, the parent node of the IAB-node may be taken as a relay for the configuration information and the buffer status report MAC CE.

[0205] In the embodiments of the present disclosure, specific implementations of steps 2101 through 2104 may be referred to as described in Example 1, which will not be repeated further herein.

[0206] From the above example, it can be seen that an effective BSR reporting mechanism can be provided for cases where the maximum number of logical channel groups is greater than 8.

[0207] Example 6

[0208] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for reporting buffer status applicable to an IAB-node. Since the principle of such an apparatus for solving problems is similar to that of the method in Example 1, the implementation of such an apparatus may be referenced to the implementation of the method in Example 1, and such details will not be repeated further herein.

[0209] FIG. 22 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus for reporting buffer status of Example 6 of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 22, the apparatus (2200) comprises the following:

[0210] A first generating unit (2201) configured to generate a buffer status report (BSR) MAC CE—the buffer status report MAC CE includes information about all logical channel groups having data to be transmitted and information about at least one buffer size, and the maximum possible number of logical channel groups is greater than 8—; and

[0211] A first transmitting unit (2202) configured to transmit a buffer status report MAC CE.

[0212] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, when the number of padding bits is greater than or equal to the size of the buffer status report MAC CE and its subheader, the buffer status report MAC CE comprises information about all logical channel groups having data to be transmitted and information about the buffer sizes corresponding to the logical channel groups.

[0213] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the buffer status report may be a truncated buffer status report, and

[0214] When the number of padding bits is smaller than the sum of the size of the buffer status report MAC CE and its subheader, the buffer status report MAC CE includes information about logical channel groups having data to be transmitted that is less than or equal to the number of padding bits, and information about the buffer size corresponding to at least one logical channel group.

[0215] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a buffer status reporting MAC CE may include a first buffer status reporting MAC CE, and the first buffer status reporting MAC CE indicates whether a logical channel group has information about a corresponding buffer size reported or whether the logical channel group has data to be transmitted via a bitmap.

[0216] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a 1-byte eLCID (extended logical channel identity) or two LCIDs (logical channel identities) are used to identify whether the first buffer status report MAC CE is a buffer status report MAC CE or a truncated buffer status report MAC CE.

[0217] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, a buffer status reporting MAC CE may include at least two second buffer status reporting MAC CEs, and the at least two second buffer status reporting MAC CEs jointly include information about all logical channel groups having data to be transmitted.

[0218] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the second buffer status reporting MAC CE is identified by the logical channel identity.

[0219] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, different second buffer status reporting MAC CEs are identified by different logical channel identities.

[0220] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, as illustrated in FIG. 22, such a device (2200) may further include the following:

[0221] A determination unit (2203) configured to determine the format of a generated buffer status report MAC CE according to configuration information received from the donor CU and / or the capabilities of the IAB-MT.

[0222] From the above embodiment, it can be seen that a BSR MAC CE containing information on all logical channel groups having a maximum number of data to be transmitted greater than 8 and information on at least one buffer size is generated and transmitted without performing a decision on a long BSR report or a short BSR report. Therefore, an effective BSR reporting mechanism can be provided for cases where the maximum number of logical channel groups exceeds 8. Furthermore, as the decision on a long or short BSR report by IAB-MT in existing standards is eliminated, the operations of IAB-MT are simplified, and the implementation of products is simpler. In addition, because the number of newly introduced MAC CEs is relatively small, the occupation of related identities can be reduced, and the complexity of system design can be lowered.

[0223] 7th embodiment

[0224] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for reporting buffer status applicable to an IAB-node. Since the principle of such an apparatus for solving problems is similar to that of the method in Example 2, the implementation of such an apparatus may be referenced to the implementation of the method in Example 2, and such details will not be repeated further herein.

[0225] FIG. 23 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus for reporting buffer status of Example 7 of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 23, the apparatus (2300) comprises the following:

[0226] A second generating unit (2301) configured to generate a short buffer status report MAC CE when the number of logical channel groups having data to be transmitted is 1 or less—the buffer status report MAC CE includes information about the logical channel groups and information about the buffer size, and the length of the short buffer status report MAC CE is 2 bytes—; and

[0227] A second transmission unit (2302) configured to transmit a short buffer status report MAC CE.

[0228] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the length of information on a logical channel group may be 4 to 8 bits.

[0229] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, information about a logical channel group and a spare bit constitute a byte.

[0230] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, information regarding a logical channel group may be prior to or after a reserve bit.

[0231] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, information regarding a logical channel group may be adjacent to information regarding a buffer size.

[0232] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the length of the subheader of the short buffer status report MAC CE may be 1 byte, and the length of the MAC sub-PDU containing the short buffer status report MAC CE is 3 bytes. And in an embodiment of the present disclosure, the device (2300) may additionally include units having the same functions as the functions of the determination unit (2203).

[0233] From the above example, it can be seen that when the number of logical channel groups containing data to be transmitted is 1 or less, a short BSR MAC CE of length 2 bytes containing information about the logical channel groups and one buffer size information is generated and transmitted. In this way, an effective BSR reporting mechanism can be provided for cases where the maximum number of logical channel groups is greater than 8. The total bytes of the MAC sub-PDU containing the short buffer status reporting MAC CE are relatively small, and the signaling overhead is relatively low. Furthermore, the length of the buffer size field is increased so that the value (index) of the buffer size field can indicate a smaller range of buffer values, thereby improving the accuracy of the buffer size field and facilitating more accurate uplink resource allocation by the IAB parent node or IAB-donor.

[0234] 8th embodiment

[0235] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for reporting buffer status applicable to an IAB-node. Since the principle of such an apparatus for solving problems is similar to that of the method in Example 3, the implementation of such an apparatus may be referenced to the implementation of the method in Example 3, and such details will not be repeated further herein.

[0236] FIG. 24 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus for reporting buffer status of Example 8 of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 24, the apparatus (2400) comprises the following:

[0237] A third generating unit (2401) configured to generate a buffer status report (BSR) MAC CE when the number of logical channel groups having data to be transmitted is N or less—the buffer status report MAC CE includes information about N logical channel groups and information about at least one buffer size, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2—; and

[0238] A third transmitting unit (2402) configured to transmit a short buffer status report MAC CE.

[0239] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the length of information for a logical channel group may be 4 to 8 bytes.

[0240] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, information regarding N logical channel groups may be located in the same byte or in different bytes.

[0241] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, in the short buffer state report MAC CE or the new short buffer state report MAC CE or the short truncated buffer state report MAC CE or the new short truncated buffer state report MAC CE, the information for at least one logical channel group in the information for at least N logical channel groups is adjacent to the corresponding buffer size information, and / or the information for at least two logical channel groups in the information for at least N logical channel groups is adjacent to each other, and / or at least two buffer size information, i.e., buffer size fields are adjacent to each other.

[0242] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, for example, N is 8, and information about 8 logical channel groups included in a short buffer state report MAC CE constitutes a byte.

[0243] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, the device (2400) may additionally include units having the same functions as the determination unit (2203).

[0244] From the above examples, it can be seen that an effective BSR reporting mechanism can be provided for cases where the maximum number of logical channel groups is greater than 8. Additionally, when taken as a repeater node in a network, an IAB-node generally serves a relatively larger number of UEs and / or IAB descendant nodes. Thus, an IAB-MT generally has more than one logical channel group with data to be transmitted, but sometimes has only a small number of logical channel groups with data to be transmitted; in such cases, a short buffered status reporting MAC CE format may be adopted in this example, thereby reducing signaling overhead and saving radio resources compared to transmitting a long buffered status reporting MAC CE.

[0245] Example 9

[0246] Embodiments of the present disclosure provide an apparatus for configuring buffer status reporting applicable to an IAB-donor. Since the principle of such an apparatus for solving problems is similar to that of the method in Example 4, the implementation of such an apparatus may be referenced to the implementation of the method in Example 4, and such details will not be repeated further herein.

[0247] FIG. 25 is a schematic diagram of an apparatus for configuring a buffer status report of Example 9 of the present disclosure. As illustrated in FIG. 25, the apparatus (2500) comprises the following:

[0248] A transmission unit (2501) configured to transmit configuration information used for buffer status reporting to an IAB-node,

[0249] This configuration information includes at least one of the following:

[0250] Configured logical channel group identity,

[0251] Number of configured LCHs (logical channels),

[0252] Configured BH LCH ID,

[0253] Configuring whether an extended LCG range is adopted, and

[0254] Configures whether the new buffer status reporting MAC CE format is adopted.

[0255] For example, the configured BH LCH ID is configured to adopt an extended LCH ID, and / or an extended LCG range, and / or a new buffer status reporting MAC CE format.

[0256] For example, configuration information is transmitted via RRC signaling.

[0257] From the above example, it can be seen that by transmitting configuration information for buffer status reporting to the IAB-node, the IAB-node can determine the format of the buffer status reporting MAC CE generated according to the configuration information and / or the capabilities of the IAB-MT. Thus, an effective BSR reporting mechanism can be provided for cases where the maximum number of logical channel groups exceeds 8.

[0258] Example 10

[0259] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a network device comprising a device for reporting buffer status, such as that described in Example 6, Example 7, or Example 8.

[0260] FIG. 26 is a block diagram of the system structure of a network device of Example 10 of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 26, the network device (2600) may include a processor (2610) and a memory (2620), and the memory (2620) is connected to the processor (2610). It should be noted that this drawing is merely illustrative and that other types of structures may also be used to supplement or replace this structure and to achieve communication functions or other functions.

[0261] In one implementation, the functions of the device for reporting buffer status can be integrated into the processor (2610).

[0262] A processor (2610) may be configured to generate a buffer status report MAC CE (BSR MAC CE)—the buffer status report MAC CE includes information about all logical channel groups having data to be transmitted and information about at least one buffer size, and the maximum possible number of logical channel groups is greater than 8—and transmit the buffer status report MAC CE.

[0263] Alternatively, the processor (2610) may be configured to generate a short buffer status report MAC CE when the number of logical channel groups having data to be transmitted is 1 or less—the buffer status report MAC CE includes information about the logical channel groups and information about the buffer size, and the length of the short buffer status report MAC CE is 2 bytes—and transmit the short buffer status report MAC CE.

[0264] Alternatively, the processor (2610) may be configured to generate a buffer status report (BSR) MAC CE when the number of logical channel groups having data to be transmitted is N or less—the buffer status report MAC CE includes information about N logical channel groups and information about at least one buffer size, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2—and transmit the buffer status report MAC CE.

[0265] In another implementation, the device for buffer status reporting and the processor (2610) may be configured separately; for example, the device for buffer status reporting may be configured as a chip connected to the processor (2610), and the functions of the device for buffer status reporting are executed under the control of the processor (2610).

[0266] Additionally, as illustrated in FIG. 26, the network device (2600) may include a transceiver (2640) and an antenna (2650), etc. The functions of the above components are similar to those in the relevant art and will not be described further here. It should be noted that the network device (2600) does not necessarily include all parts illustrated in FIG. 26. Additionally, the network device (2600) may include parts not illustrated in FIG. 26, and the relevant art may be referenced.

[0267] From the above examples, it can be seen that a BSR MAC CE containing information on all logical channel groups with a maximum possible number of data to be transmitted greater than 8 and at least one buffer size information is generated and transmitted without performing a decision on a long BSR report or a short BSR report; or, when the number of logical channel groups with data to be transmitted is 1 or less, a short BSR MAC CE of length of 2 bytes containing information on logical channel groups and one buffer size information is generated and transmitted; or, when the number of logical channel groups with data to be transmitted is N or less, a buffer status report MAC CE containing information on N logical channel groups and at least one buffer size information is generated and transmitted—where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2. Thus, an effective BSR reporting mechanism can be provided for cases where the maximum number of logical channel groups exceeds 8.

[0268] Example 11

[0269] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a network device comprising an apparatus for configuring a buffer status report as described in Example 9.

[0270] FIG. 27 is a block diagram of the system structure of a network device of Example 11 of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 27, the network device (2700) may include a processor (2710) and a memory (2720), and the memory (2720) is connected to the processor (2710). Here, the memory (2720) may store various data and may also store a program (2730) for information processing, and may execute the program (2730) under the control of the processor (2710) to receive various information transmitted by a terminal device and transmit various information to the terminal device.

[0271] In one implementation, the functions of the device for configuring buffer status reporting may be integrated into a processor (2710). The processor (2710) may be configured to transmit configuration information used for buffer status reporting to an IAB-node.

[0272] This configuration information includes at least one of the following:

[0273] Configured logical channel group identity,

[0274] Number of configured LCHs (logical channels),

[0275] Configured BH LCH ID,

[0276] Configuring whether an extended LCG range is adopted, and

[0277] Configures whether the new buffer status reporting MAC CE format is adopted.

[0278] In another implementation, the device and processor (2710) for configuring the buffer status report may be configured separately; for example, the device for configuring the buffer status report may be configured as a chip connected to the processor (2710), and the functions of the device for configuring the buffer status report are executed under the control of the processor (2710).

[0279] Additionally, as illustrated in FIG. 27, the network device (2700) may include a transceiver (2740) and an antenna (2750), etc. The functions of the above components are similar to those in the relevant art and will not be described further here. It should be noted that the network device (2700) does not necessarily include all parts illustrated in FIG. 27. Additionally, the network device (2700) may include parts not illustrated in FIG. 27, and the relevant art may be referenced.

[0280] From the above example, it can be seen that by transmitting configuration information for buffer status reporting to the IAB-node, the IAB-node can determine the format of the buffer status reporting MAC CE generated according to the configuration information and / or the capabilities of the IAB-MT. Thus, an effective BSR reporting mechanism can be provided for cases where the maximum number of logical channel groups exceeds 8.

[0281] Example 12:

[0282] An embodiment of the present disclosure provides a communication system.

[0283] For example, such a communication system includes a first network device, a second network device, and terminal equipment. The first network device is a network device according to Example 10, and the second network device is a network device according to Example 11.

[0284] FIG. 28 is a schematic diagram of a communication system of Example 12 of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 28, the communication system (2800) includes a first network device (2801), a second network device (2802), and a terminal device (2803), wherein the first network device (2801) is an IAB-node, the second network device (2802) is an IAB-donor, and the terminal device (2803) is a terminal device served by the IAB-node.

[0285] Additionally, the first network device (2801), i.e., the IAB-node, may additionally include a descendant node, and the descendant node may also serve terminal equipment.

[0286] Additionally, the first network device (2801), i.e., the IAB-node, may additionally include a parent node, and the first network device (2801) may exchange information with the IAB-donor through the parent node.

[0287] The above devices and methods of the present disclosure may be implemented by hardware or by hardware in combination with software. The present disclosure relates to such computer-readable programs such that when a program is executed by a logic device, such logic device becomes capable of performing the devices or components described above, or the methods or steps described above. The present disclosure also relates to storage media for storing said programs, such as hard disks, floppy disks, CDs, DVDs, and flash memory.

[0288] The methods / devices described with reference to the embodiments of the present disclosure may be directly implemented as hardware, software modules executed by a processor, or a combination thereof. For example, one or more functional block diagrams shown in FIG. 22 and / or one or more combinations of such functional block diagrams may correspond to software modules of procedures of a computer program or to hardware modules. These software modules may each correspond to the steps shown in FIG. 5. And, for example, a hardware module may be implemented by firmwareizing a software module using a field programmable gate array (FPGA).

[0289] Soft modules may be located on any memory medium of RAM, flash memory, ROM, EPROM and EEPROM, registers, hard disks, floppy disks, CD-ROMs, or other forms known in the art. The memory medium may be connected to a processor so that the processor can read information from the memory medium and write information to the memory medium; or the memory medium may be a component of the processor. The processor and the memory medium may be located on an ASIC. Soft modules may be stored in the memory of a mobile terminal and may also be stored on a memory card of a pluggable mobile terminal. For example, if the equipment (such as a mobile terminal) uses a relatively large capacity MEGA-SIM card or a large capacity flash memory device, the soft modules may be stored on the large capacity MEGA-SIM card or flash memory device.

[0290] One or more functional blocks in FIG. 22 and / or one or more combinations of such functional blocks may be realized as a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or other programmable logic devices, discrete gate or transistor logic devices, discrete hardware components, or any suitable combination thereof performing the functions described in this application. And one or more functional blocks in FIG. 22 and / or one or more combinations of such functional blocks may also be realized as a combination of computing equipment, such as a combination of a DSP and a microprocessor, a plurality of processors, one or more microprocessors combined with a DSP for communication, or any other such configuration.

[0291] The present disclosure is described above with reference to specific embodiments. However, it will be understood by those skilled in the art that such description is merely illustrative and is not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present disclosure. Various variations and modifications may be made by those skilled in the art in accordance with the principles of the present disclosure, and such variations and modifications fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0292] According to the embodiments disclosed in the embodiments, the following supplements are further disclosed.

[0293] 1. As a device for buffer status reporting applicable to an IAB-node, such a device,

[0294] A first generating unit configured to generate a buffer status report (BSR) MAC CE—the buffer status report MAC CE includes information on all logical channel groups having data to be transmitted and information on at least one buffer size, and the maximum possible number of logical channel groups is greater than 8—; and

[0295] It includes a first transmitting unit configured to transmit a buffer status report MAC CE.

[0296] 2. As a device according to Supplement 1,

[0297] When the number of padding bits is greater than or equal to the sum of the size of the buffer status report MAC CE and its subheader, the buffer status report MAC CE includes information about all logical channel groups containing data to be transmitted and information about the buffer sizes corresponding to the logical channel groups.

[0298] 3. As a device according to Supplement 2,

[0299] The buffer status report is a truncated buffer status report (Truncated BSR), and

[0300] When the number of padding bits is smaller than the sum of the size of the buffer status report MAC CE and its subheader, the buffer status report MAC CE includes information about logical channel groups having data to be transmitted that is less than or equal to the number of padding bits, and information about the buffer size corresponding to at least one logical channel group.

[0301] 4. A device according to any one of Supplements 1 to 3,

[0302] The buffer status reporting MAC CE includes a first buffer status reporting MAC CE, and

[0303] The first buffer status report MAC CE indicates whether the logical channel group reports information about the corresponding buffer size or whether the logical channel group has data to be transmitted via a bitmap.

[0304] 5. As a device according to Supplement 4,

[0305] To identify whether the first buffer status report MAC CE is a buffer status report MAC CE or a truncated buffer status report MAC CE, a 1-byte eLCID (extended logical channel identity) or two LCIDs (logical channel identities) are used.

[0306] 6. A device according to any one of Supplements 1 to 3,

[0307] The buffer status reporting MAC CE includes at least two second buffer status reporting MAC CEs, and

[0308] At least two second buffer status reporting MAC CEs jointly include information about all logical channel groups having data to be transmitted.

[0309] 7. As a device according to Supplement 6,

[0310] The second buffer status report MAC CE is identified by the logical channel identity.

[0311] 8. As a device according to Supplement 6 or Supplement 7,

[0312] Different second buffer status reporting MAC CEs are identified by different logical channel identities.

[0313] 9. As a device for buffer status reporting applicable to an IAB-node, such device,

[0314] A second generating unit configured to generate a short buffer status report MAC CE when the number of logical channel groups having data to be transmitted is 1 or less—the buffer status report MAC CE includes information about the logical channel groups and information about the buffer size, and the length of the short buffer status report MAC CE is 2 bytes—; and

[0315] It includes a second transmitting unit configured to transmit a short buffer status report MAC CE.

[0316] 10. As a device according to Supplement 9,

[0317] The length of the information for the logical channel group is 4 to 8 bits.

[0318] 11. As a device according to Supplement 9,

[0319] Information about the logical channel group and spare bits constitute a byte.

[0320] 12. As a device according to Supplement 11,

[0321] The information on the logical channel group is before or after the reserve bit.

[0322] 13. As a device according to Supplement 9,

[0323] Information about logical channel groups is adjacent to buffer size information.

[0324] 14. As a device according to Supplement 9,

[0325] The length of the subheader of the short buffer status report MAC CE is 1 byte, and

[0326] The length of the MAC sub-PDU containing the short buffer status report MAC CE is 3 bytes.

[0327] 15. As a device for buffer status reporting applicable to an IAB-node, such device,

[0328] A third generating unit configured to generate a buffer status report (BSR) MAC CE when the number of logical channel groups having data to be transmitted is N or less—the buffer status report MAC CE includes information about N logical channel groups and information about at least one buffer size, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2—; and

[0329] It includes a third transmitting unit configured to transmit a short buffer status report MAC CE.

[0330] 16. As a device according to Supplement 15,

[0331] The length of the information for the logical channel group is 4 to 8 bytes.

[0332] 17. As a device according to Supplement 15 or Supplement 16,

[0333] Information for at least N logical channel groups is located in the same byte or different bytes.

[0334] 18. As a device according to Supplement 15,

[0335] The information regarding at least one logical channel group in the information regarding N logical channel groups is adjacent to the information regarding the corresponding buffer size, and / or

[0336] In the information regarding at least N logical channel groups, the information regarding at least two logical channel groups is adjacent to each other, and / or

[0337] Information regarding at least two buffer sizes is adjacent to each other.

[0338] 19. As a device according to Supplement 15,

[0339] N is 8, and information about the 8 logical channel groups included in the short buffer state report MAC CE constitutes the bytes.

[0340] 20. A device according to any one of Supplements 9 to 14, wherein such a device additionally,

[0341] It includes generating a long buffer state report MAC CE when the number of logical channel groups having data to be transmitted exceeds 1.

[0342] 21. A device according to any one of Supplements 15 to 19, wherein the device additionally,

[0343] It includes generating a long buffer state report MAC CE when the number of logical channel groups containing data to be transmitted exceeds N.

[0344] 22. A device according to any one of Supplements 9 to 21,

[0345] Short buffer status reporting MAC CE includes short buffer status reporting MAC CE and short truncated buffer status reporting MAC CE,

[0346] Long buffer state reporting MAC CE includes long buffer state reporting MAC CE and long truncated buffer state reporting MAC CE.

[0347] 23. As a device according to Supplement 22,

[0348] Short buffer state report MAC CE, short truncated buffer state report MAC CE, long buffer state report MAC CE, and long truncated buffer state report MAC CE are identified by four 1-byte eLCIDs (expanded logical channel identities) or four LCIDs (logical channel identities).

[0349] 24. A device according to any one of Supplements 1 to 23, wherein such a device additionally,

[0350] It includes a determination unit configured to determine the format of the generated buffer status report MAC CE according to configuration information received from the donor CU and / or the capabilities of the IAB-MT.

[0351] 25. As a device according to Supplement 24,

[0352] A buffer status report MAC CE is generated according to a device as claimed in any one of Supplements 1 to 23 when at least one of the following conditions is satisfied:

[0353] The maximum value of the configured logical channel group identity is greater than the first threshold;

[0354] The number of configured LCHs (logical channels) is greater than or equal to the second threshold;

[0355] The configured BH LCH ID adopts the extended LCH ID;

[0356] The use of the extended LCG range is configured;

[0357] The use of the new format of the buffer status reporting MAC CE is configured; and

[0358] IAB-MT supports more than 8 LCGs.

[0359] 26. As a device according to Supplement 25,

[0360] Configuration information is transmitted via RRC signaling.

[0361] 27. A device for configuring buffer status reporting applicable to an IAB-donor, wherein the device comprises:

[0362] It includes a transmission unit configured to transmit configuration information used for buffer status reporting to an IAB-node, and

[0363] This configuration information includes at least one of the following:

[0364] Configured logical channel group identity,

[0365] Number of configured LCHs (logical channels),

[0366] Configured BH LCH ID,

[0367] Configuring whether an extended LCG range is adopted, and

[0368] Configures whether the new buffer status reporting MAC CE format is adopted.

[0369] 28. As a device according to Supplement 27,

[0370] The configured BH LCH ID adopts an extended LCH ID, and / or,

[0371] It is configured to adopt an extended LCG range, and / or

[0372] It is configured to adopt the new buffer status reporting MAC CE format.

[0373] 29. As a device according to Supplement 27 or 28,

[0374] Configuration information is transmitted via RRC signaling.

[0375] 30. As a network device, it includes a device as described in any one of Supplements 1 to 29.

[0376] 31. A communication system comprising a first network device, a second network device and terminal equipment, and

[0377] The first network device includes a device as described in any one of Supplements 1 to 26, and

[0378] The first network device includes a device as described in any one of Supplements 27 to 29.

[0379] 32. As a method for buffer status reporting applicable to IAB-nodes, this method,

[0380] A step of generating a buffer status report MAC CE (BSR MAC CE)—the buffer status report MAC CE includes information about all logical channel groups having data to be transmitted and information about at least one buffer size, and the maximum possible number of logical channel groups is greater than 8—; and

[0381] Includes the step of transmitting a buffer status report MAC CE.

[0382] 33. As a method according to Supplement 32,

[0383] When the number of padding bits is greater than or equal to the sum of the size of the buffer status report MAC CE and its subheader, the buffer status report MAC CE includes information about all logical channel groups containing data to be transmitted and information about the buffer sizes corresponding to the logical channel groups.

[0384] 34. As a method according to Supplement 33,

[0385] The buffer status report is a truncated buffer status report, and

[0386] When the number of padding bits is smaller than the sum of the size of the buffer status report MAC CE and its subheader, the buffer status report MAC CE includes information about logical channel groups having data to be transmitted that is less than or equal to the number of padding bits, and information about the buffer size corresponding to at least one logical channel group.

[0387] 35. A method according to any one of Supplements 32 to 34,

[0388] The buffer status reporting MAC CE includes a first buffer status reporting MAC CE, and

[0389] The first buffer status report MAC CE indicates whether the logical channel group reports information about the corresponding buffer size or whether the logical channel group has data to be transmitted via a bitmap.

[0390] 36. As a method according to Supplement 35,

[0391] To identify whether the first buffer status report MAC CE is a buffer status report MAC CE or a truncated buffer status report MAC CE, a 1-byte eLCID (extended logical channel identity) or two LCIDs (logical channel identities) are used.

[0392] 37. A method according to any one of Supplements 32 to 35,

[0393] The buffer status reporting MAC CE includes at least two second buffer status reporting MAC CEs, and

[0394] At least two second buffer status reporting MAC CEs jointly include information about all logical channel groups having data to be transmitted.

[0395] 38. As a method according to Supplement 37,

[0396] The second buffer status report MAC CE is identified by the logical channel identity.

[0397] 39. As a method according to Supplement 37 or 38,

[0398] Different second buffer status reporting MAC CEs are identified by different logical channel identities.

[0399] 40. As a method for buffer status reporting applicable to IAB-nodes, this method,

[0400] A step of generating a short buffer status report MAC CE when the number of logical channel groups containing data to be transmitted is 1 or less—the buffer status report MAC CE includes information about the logical channel groups and information about the buffer size, and the length of the short buffer status report MAC CE is 2 bytes—; and

[0401] It includes the step of transmitting a short buffer status report MAC CE.

[0402] 41. As a method according to Supplement 40,

[0403] The length of the information for the logical channel group is 4 to 8 bits.

[0404] 42. As a method according to Supplement 40,

[0405] Information about the logical channel group and spare bits constitute a byte.

[0406] 43. As a method according to Supplement 42,

[0407] The information on the logical channel group is before or after the reserve bit.

[0408] 44. As a method according to Supplement 40,

[0409] Information about logical channel groups is adjacent to buffer size information.

[0410] 45. As a method according to Supplement 40,

[0411] The length of the subheader of the short buffer status report MAC CE is 1 byte, and

[0412] The length of the MAC sub-PDU containing the short buffer status report MAC CE is 3 bytes.

[0413] 46. ​​As a method for buffer status reporting applicable to IAB-nodes, this method,

[0414] A step of generating a short buffer status report MAC CE (BSR MAC CE) when the number of logical channel groups having data to be transmitted is N or less—the short buffer status report MAC CE includes information about N logical channel groups and information about at least one buffer size, where N is an integer greater than or equal to 2—; and

[0415] It includes the step of transmitting a short buffer status report MAC CE.

[0416] 47. As a method according to Supplement 46,

[0417] The length of the information for the logical channel group is 4 to 8 bytes.

[0418] 48. As a method according to Supplement 46 or 47,

[0419] Information for at least N logical channel groups is located in the same byte or different bytes.

[0420] 49. As a method according to Supplement 46,

[0421] The information regarding at least one logical channel group in the information regarding N logical channel groups is adjacent to the information regarding the corresponding buffer size, and / or

[0422] In the information regarding at least N logical channel groups, the information regarding at least two logical channel groups is adjacent to each other, and / or

[0423] Information regarding at least two buffer sizes is adjacent to each other.

[0424] 50. As a method according to Supplement 46,

[0425] N is 8, and information about the 8 logical channel groups included in the short buffer state report MAC CE constitutes the bytes.

[0426] 51. A method according to any one of Supplements 40 to 45, wherein the method additionally,

[0427] It includes the step of generating a long buffer state report MAC CE when the number of logical channel groups having data to be transmitted exceeds 1.

[0428] 52. A method according to any one of Supplements 46 to 50, wherein such a method additionally,

[0429] It includes the step of generating a long buffer state report MAC CE when the number of logical channel groups having data to be transmitted exceeds N.

[0430] 53. A method according to any one of Supplements 40 to 52,

[0431] Short buffer status reporting MAC CE includes short buffer status reporting MAC CE and short truncated buffer status reporting MAC CE,

[0432] Long buffer state reporting MAC CE includes long buffer state reporting MAC CE and long truncated buffer state reporting MAC CE.

[0433] 54. As a method according to Supplement 53,

[0434] Short buffer state report MAC CE, short truncated buffer state report MAC CE, long buffer state report MAC CE, and long truncated buffer state report MAC CE are identified by four 1-byte eLCIDs (expanded logical channel identities) or four LCIDs (logical channel identities).

[0435] 55. A method according to any one of Supplements 32 to 54, wherein such a method additionally,

[0436] It includes a step of determining the format of the generated buffer status report MAC CE according to configuration information received from the donor CU and / or according to the capabilities of the IAB-MT.

[0437] 56. As a method according to Supplement 55,

[0438] A buffer status report MAC CE is generated in accordance with the method claimed in any one of Supplements 32 to 54 when at least one of the following conditions is satisfied:

[0439] The maximum value of the configured logical channel group identity is greater than the first threshold;

[0440] The number of configured LCHs (logical channels) is greater than or equal to the second threshold;

[0441] The configured BH LCH ID adopts the extended LCH ID;

[0442] The use of the extended LCG range is configured;

[0443] The use of the new format of the buffer status reporting MAC CE is configured; and

[0444] IAB-MT supports more than 8 LCGs.

[0445] 57. As a method according to Supplement 56,

[0446] Configuration information is transmitted via RRC signaling.

[0447] 58. A method for configuring buffer status reporting applicable to an IAB-donor, wherein the method comprises:

[0448] It includes the step of transmitting configuration information used for buffer status reporting to the IAB-node, and

[0449] This configuration information includes at least one of the following:

[0450] Configured logical channel group identity,

[0451] Number of configured LCHs (logical channels),

[0452] Configured BH LCH ID,

[0453] Configuring whether an extended LCG range is adopted, and

[0454] Configures whether the new buffer status reporting MAC CE format is adopted.

[0455] 59. As a method according to Supplement 58,

[0456] The configured BH LCH ID adopts an extended LCH ID, and / or,

[0457] It is configured to adopt an extended LCG range, and / or

[0458] It is configured to adopt the new buffer status reporting MAC CE format.

[0459] 60. As a method according to Supplement 58 or 59,

[0460] Configuration information is transmitted via RRC signaling.

Claims

Claim 1 A device for buffer status reporting applicable to an IAB node, the device comprising: a processor configured to generate a buffer status report (BSR) MAC CE—the buffer status report MAC CE includes information on all logical channel groups having data to be transmitted and information on at least one buffer size, the maximum number of logical channel groups is greater than 8, the processor is further configured to determine the format of the generated buffer status report MAC CE according to configuration information received from a donor CU, the processor generates the buffer status report MAC CE when the maximum value of the logical channel group identifier configured in the configuration information is greater than a first threshold, and the processor generates a legacy buffer status report MAC CE when the maximum value of the logical channel group identifier configured in the configuration information is less than or equal to the first threshold—; and a transmitter configured to transmit the buffer status report MAC CE. Claim 2 A device according to claim 1, wherein the maximum number of the logical channel groups is 256. Claim 3 In claim 1, the buffer status reporting MAC CE includes a first buffer status reporting MAC CE, and the first buffer status reporting MAC CE is a device that indicates whether information regarding the corresponding buffer size of a logical channel group is reported or whether the logical channel group has data to be transmitted through a bitmap. Claim 4 A device according to paragraph 3 in which a 1-byte eLCID (expanded logical channel identifier) ​​is used to identify whether the first buffer status report MAC CE is a buffer status report MAC CE or a truncated buffer status report MAC CE. Claim 5 In paragraph 3, a device in which the length of the bitmap is 32 bytes. Claim 6 In paragraph 3, the bitmap comprises 256 LCG fields, and the LCG fields are sorted in ascending order according to their indices. Claim 7 In claim 1, the processor is a device that generates the buffer status report MAC CE for a preemptive BSR. Claim 8 A device for buffer status reporting applicable to an IAB node, the device comprising: a processor configured to generate a short buffer status reporting MAC CE when the number of logical channel groups having data to be transmitted is 1 or less—the short buffer status reporting MAC CE includes an LCG ID field and a buffer size field, the length of the short buffer status reporting MAC CE is 2 bytes, the length of the LCG ID field is 1 byte, and the length of the buffer size field is 1 byte—; and a transmitter configured to transmit the short buffer status reporting MAC CE, wherein the extended short buffer status reporting MAC CE, the extended short truncated buffer status reporting MAC CE, the extended long buffer status reporting MAC CE, and the extended long truncated buffer status reporting MAC CE are identified by four eLCIDs (expanded logical channel identifiers). Claim 9 In claim 8, the device in which the length of the LCG ID field is 8 bits. Claim 10 A device according to claim 9, wherein the value of the code point of the extended short buffer state report MAC CE, the extended short truncated buffer state report MAC CE, the extended long buffer state report MAC CE, or the extended long truncated buffer state report MAC CE is any of 0 to 249. Claim 11 delete Claim 12 delete Claim 13 delete Claim 14 delete Claim 15 delete Claim 16 delete Claim 17 delete Claim 18 delete Claim 19 delete Claim 20 delete

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