Method and apparatus for small data transmission

Abstract

The embodiment of the invention relates to small data transmission. The terminal device determines that any one of the following conditions is satisfied: transmitting a message 3 (Msg3) in a random access (RA) procedure, transmitting a message A (MsgA) in the RA procedure, or receiving a first response to a configuration grant transmission for a configuration grant-small data transmission (CG-SDT) procedure from the network device; and restarting the timer when the timer for a small data transfer (SDT) process has run. According to the solution for SDT provided by the invention, the synchronization of the timers between the terminal equipment and the network equipment can be kept.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunications, and more particularly, to methods, devices, apparatuses, and computer-readable storage media for small data transmission (SDT). Background Art

[0002] For a terminal device in a radio resource control (RRC) idle mode or an RRC inactive mode, when there is a small amount of data (small data) to be sent, the signaling for transitioning to and maintaining the RRC connected mode may cause large overhead (e.g., power consumption and delay).

[0003] With the development of communication systems, SDT technology has been proposed to reduce signaling overhead and delay by avoiding transition to RRC connected mode. The new radio (NR) system supports SDT based on random access channel (RACH) (i.e. RA-SDT) and SDT based on configuration grant (CG) (i.e. CG-SDT). In the RA-SDT process, the terminal device is enabled to send small data in RRC inactive mode using the uplink grant received via the random access (RA) process for SDT. In the CG-SDT process, the terminal device is enabled to send small data in RRC inactive mode using pre-configured uplink resources. Summary of the invention

[0004] Generally speaking, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution for small data transmission.

[0005] In a first aspect, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device includes one or more transceivers; and one or more processors, the one or more processors are communicatively coupled to the one or more transceivers and are configured to enable the terminal device to: determine that any one of the following conditions is met: transmission of message 3 (Msg3) in a random access (RA) process, transmission of message A (MsgA) in a RA process, or receiving a first response to a configuration grant transmission for a configuration grant-small data transmission (CG-SDT) process from a network device; and restart the timer for the small data transmission (SDT) process when the timer is already running.

[0006] In a second aspect, a method implemented at a terminal device is provided. The method includes determining that any one of the following conditions is met: determining that any one of the following conditions is met: transmission of message 3 (Msg3) in a random access (RA) process, transmission of message A (MsgA) in a RA process, or receiving a first response to a configuration grant transmission for a configuration grant-small data transfer (CG-SDT) process from a network device; and when a timer for a small data transfer (SDT) process is already running, restarting the timer.

[0007] In a third aspect, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device includes one or more processors; and one or more memories including computer program code; wherein the one or more memories and the computer program code are configured to use the one or more processors to enable the terminal device to: determine that any one of the following conditions is met: transmission of message 3 (Msg3) during a random access (RA) process, transmission of message A (MsgA) during an RA process, or receiving a first response to a configuration grant transmission for a configuration grant-small data transmission (CG-SDT) process from a network device; and restart the timer when the timer for the small data transmission (SDT) process is already running.

[0008] In a fourth aspect, a device is provided, comprising a component for determining that any one of the following conditions is met: transmission of message 3 (Msg3) during a random access (RA) process, transmission of message A (MsgA) during a RA process, or receiving a first response to a configuration authorization transmission for a configuration grant-small data transfer (CG-SDT) process from a network device; and a component for restarting a timer when a timer for a small data transfer (SDT) process is already running.

[0009] In a fifth aspect, a non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising program instructions is provided, wherein the program instructions are used for a device to at least execute the method according to the above second aspect.

[0010] It should be understood that the invention summary is not intended to identify the key or essential features of the embodiments of the present disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the present disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become readily understood through the following description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0011] Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0012] Figure 1 shows an example communication network in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

[0013] Figure 2 shows a signaling diagram illustrating a process for small data transmission according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0014] Figure 3 shows a signaling diagram illustrating a process for small data transmission according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0015] Figure 4 shows a signaling diagram illustrating a process for small data transmission according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0016] Figure 5shows a signaling diagram illustrating a process for small data transmission according to some embodiments of the present disclosure;

[0017] Figure 6 A flowchart of a method for STD implemented at a terminal device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure is shown;

[0018] Figure 7 shows a simplified block diagram of an apparatus suitable for implementing an embodiment of the present disclosure; and

[0019] Figure 8 A block diagram of an example computer-readable medium is shown in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0020] Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] The principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are described for illustrative purposes only and to help those skilled in the art understand and implement the present disclosure without implying any limitation on the scope of the present disclosure. The disclosure described herein can be implemented in various ways different from the ways described below.

[0022] In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

[0023] References in this disclosure to "one embodiment," "an embodiment," "an example embodiment," etc., indicate that the described embodiment may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but not every embodiment necessarily includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Furthermore, these phrases do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in conjunction with an embodiment, it is considered to be within the knowledge of a person skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in conjunction with other embodiments (whether or not explicitly described).

[0024] It should be understood that although the terms "first" and "second" and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another element. For example, a first element may be referred to as a second element, and similarly, a second element may be referred to as a first element without departing from the scope of the exemplary embodiments. As used herein, the term "and / or" includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

[0025] The terms used herein are for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and are not intended to limit the example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will also be understood that the terms "include", "comprise", "have", "have", "include" and / or "comprising" when used herein specify the presence of features, elements and / or components, etc., but do not exclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and / or combinations thereof.

[0026] As used in this application, the term "circuitry" may refer to one, more than one, or all of the following:

[0027] (a) only hardware circuit implementation (e.g., only implementation in analog and / or digital circuits) and

[0028] (b) a combination of hardware circuitry and software, such as (where applicable):

[0029] (i) a combination of analog and / or digital hardware circuitry and software / firmware, and

[0030] (ii) a hardware processor (including a digital signal processor) with software, software and any portion of memory that work together to enable a device such as a mobile phone or server to perform various functions) and

[0031] (c) Hardware circuits and / or processors (e.g., a microprocessor or a portion of a microprocessor) that require software (e.g., firmware) to operate, but where software is not required to operate, the software may not be present.

[0032] This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of the term in this application, including in any claims. As another example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also encompasses an implementation of only a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or its) accompanying software and / or firmware. The term circuitry also encompasses (for example and if applicable to a particular claim element) a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in a server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

[0033] As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that complies with any suitable communication standard, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), Advanced LTE (LTE-A), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), High Speed ​​Packet Access (HSPA), Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT), etc. In addition, the communication between the terminal equipment and the network equipment in the communication network can be performed according to any suitable generation of communication protocols, including but not limited to the third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, future fifth generation (5G) communication protocols and / or more. The embodiments of the present disclosure can be applied to various communication systems. In view of the rapid development of communication, there are of course future types of communication technologies and systems, which can be used to implement the present disclosure. It should not be regarded as limiting the scope of the present invention to the above-mentioned systems.

[0034] As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services from it. Depending on the terminology and technology applied, a network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP) or a transmission and reception point (TRP), such as a Node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved Node B (eNodeB or eNB), a NR NB (also known as a gNB), a remote radio unit (RRU), a radio head (RH), a remote radio head (RRH), an integrated access and backhaul (IAB) node, a relay, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, etc.

[0035] The term "terminal device" refers to any terminal device capable of wireless communication. As an example and not limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE), subscriber station (SS), portable subscriber station, mobile station (MS) or access terminal (AT). The terminal device may include, but is not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, a voice over IP (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a tablet computer, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a portable computer, a desktop computer, an image capture terminal device such as a digital camera, a game terminal device, a music storage and playback device, a vehicle-mounted wireless terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, a laptop embedded device (LEE), a laptop mounted device (LME), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless client equipment (CPE), an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a watch or other wearable device, a head mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a target, medical equipment and applications (e.g., remote surgery), industrial equipment and applications (e.g., robots and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or automated process chain environment, consumer electronic devices, devices operating on a commercial and / or industrial wireless network, etc. In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communication device", "terminal", "user equipment" and "UE" may be used interchangeably.

[0036] As used herein, the terms "resource", "transmission resource", "resource block", "physical resource block" (PRB), "uplink (UL) resource" or "downlink (DL) resource" may refer to any resource used to perform communication (e.g., communication between a terminal device and a network device), such as a resource in the time domain, a resource in the frequency domain, a resource in the space domain, a resource in the code domain, a resource in a combination of more than one domain, or any other resource capable of communication. In the following, resources in the time domain (e.g., subframes) will be used as an example of transmission resources for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. Note that the example embodiments of the present disclosure are also applicable to other resources in other domains.

[0037] As mentioned above, SDT technology has been proposed to reduce signaling overhead and delay, avoid transition to RRC connected mode, and the current NR system supports RACH-based SDT (ie RA-SDT) and CG-based SDT (ie CG-SDT). The term "SDT process" refers to the entire process of RA-SDT or CG-SDT.

[0038] In the CG-SDT process, the terminal device can send a common control channel (CCCH) message (or CCCH payload, or SDU (Service Data Unit)) for the CG-SDT process through CG resources at the initial stage of the CG-SDT process. For the RA-SDT process, the terminal device can first transmit a CCCH message together with a random access (RA) process via message 3 (Msg3) of a 4-step RA process or message A (MsgA) of a 2-step RA process during the RA-SDT process.

[0039] In Rel.17, a timer named T319a is also introduced for the SDT process. Timer T319a can indicate the maximum time that the terminal device can attempt or perform the SDT process, so as to enable failure recovery when there is no response from the network device to the terminal device or when the network device loses the terminal device during the SDT process for some reason (e.g., beam interruption), and define the maximum time that the SDT process can last.

[0040] In order to maintain synchronization of timer T319a between the terminal device and the network device, the protocol in Radio Access Network Working Group 2 (RAN2) stipulates that the starting position of timer T319a is synchronized when the terminal device first sends a CG-SDT or RA-SDT message with an included CCCH message (i.e., the first SDT transmission with CCCH payload). In other words, the terminal device will start timer T319a at the first transmission of the CCCH message, and the network device will start the corresponding timer when the first transmission is received.

[0041] A potential problem with the above protocol in RAN2 is that the network device may not receive the first SDT transmission of the terminal device with the CCCH message. In this case, the terminal device has already started the timer and can retransmit the CCCH message via CG in the CG-SDT process or via Msg3 / MsgA in the RA-SDT process. However, the network device will not start the corresponding timer before receiving the CCCH message. Therefore, as long as there is at least one retransmission of the CCCH message, the terminal device and the network device will be out of sync with respect to the timer operation.

[0042] To this end, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a solution is provided for maintaining timer synchronization between terminal devices and network devices during an SDT process.

[0043] In an embodiment of the present disclosure, it is recommended to restart the timer T319a at an appropriate location to achieve synchronization. Specifically, the timer T319a can be restarted when any of the following is met: the transmission of message 3 (Msg3) during the random access (RA) process, the transmission of message A (MsgA) during the RA process, or the first response to the configuration authorization transmission received from the network device for the configuration authorization-small data transmission (CG-SDT) process.

[0044] In the RA-SDT process, the RA process is used to start the STD process. In the 4-step RA process, a message 1 (Msg1) including a preamble is sent to the network device for a random access attempt; then a message 2 (Msg2) containing a RAR to Msg1 is sent from the network device to the terminal device; using the resources indicated in Msg2, Msg3 will be sent to the network device. If Msg4 (a response to Msg3) is not received from the network device, the terminal device can start another round of random access attempts and can send another Msg3 in the attempt. Such Msg3 is a new Msg3. In addition, in the event that the new Msg3 transmission is unsuccessful, that is, Msg3 is received but not successfully received by the network device, the terminal device can perform a hybrid automatic repeat request HARQ retransmission of Msg3. This retransmitted Msg3 can be referred to as a HARQ retransmitted Msg3. Msg3 may include a new Msg3 and a retransmitted Msg3. New Msg3 transmissions refer to those scheduled by random access response (RAR) in the 4-step RA process or by fallback RAR in the 2-step RA process. In the 2-step RA process, message A (MsgA) including the preamble and CCCH message is sent to the network device. If MsgA is not received, MsgA can be retransmitted again; if MsgA is received but the CCCH message is not successfully received, fallback RAR is sent to the terminal device, and 4-step RAR will be performed, that is, Msg3 including CCCH message will be further sent.

[0045] The CG-SDT process may have an "initial CG-SDT transmission" and a "subsequent CG-SDT transmission". The "initial CG-SDT transmission" refers to the initial stage in the CG-SDT process, which may also be referred to as a CG transmission. In the initial CG-SDT transmission, the terminal device sends a common control channel (CCCH) message (or CCCH payload) for the CG-SDT process through CG resources. If no response is received from the network device, the terminal device may perform a retransmission of the CCCH message in the initial CG-SCG transmission. Therefore, the initial CG-SCG transmission may include one or more transmissions of the CCCH message, wherein the first of these transmissions may be referred to as the "first transmission" or the first CG transmission hereinafter. In the event that the network device receives a CCCH message but fails to successfully receive the message, the terminal device may also perform scheduled HARQ retransmissions through dynamic grants in the initial CG-STD transmission. After successfully transmitting the CCCH message, the terminal device may perform a "subsequent CG-STD transmission", which refers to a subsequent STD stage after the initial stage in the SDT process.

[0046] For the CG-SDT process, the first SDT transmission with the CCCH message may refer to the first transmission in the initial CG-SDT transmission; for the RA-SDT transmission, it may refer to the first Msg3 or MsgA transmission in the RA process.

[0047] In some embodiments, for the RA-SDT procedure, after starting timer T319a by the first SDT transmission including a CCCH message in the RA procedure of RA-SDT (the first MsgA in a 2-step RA or the first Msg3 in a 4-step RA procedure), the UE may restart the running timer T319a after each new Msg3 or MsgA transmission within the same RA procedure. The new Msg3 transmission may be scheduled by RAR (Random Access Response) in a 4-step RA procedure or by fallback RAR in a 2-step RA procedure. Alternatively, timer T319a may be restarted after each HARQ retransmission of Msg3 transmission (even in this case the network device knows the first time when Msg3 was transmitted).

[0048] In some embodiments, for the CG-SDT process, after starting timer T319a by the first SDT transmission including a CCCH message, when no response is received from the network device, the terminal device can keep the timer running for any terminal device-initiated retransmission of the initial CG-SDT transmission including the CCCH message. When the first response to the transmission including the CCCH message is received from the network device, the terminal device can restart the timer. For example, the timer can be restarted at the CG timing at which the network device provides a response to the terminal device. In this case, the terminal device can restart the timer at the previously sent CG timing after the network device confirms receipt of the first CG-SDT transmission, or it is considered that the timer is restarted at the previously sent CG timing after the network device confirms receipt of the first CG-SDT transmission, for example, by adjusting the appropriate start value, the timer period of the timer. In addition, the timer can also be restarted after each dynamically granted scheduled HARQ retransmission of the first CG-SDT transmission (even if in this case the network device knows the first time when the CG is transmitted).

[0049] Although the functions described herein can be performed in fixed and / or wireless network nodes in various example embodiments, in other example embodiments, functions can be implemented in user equipment (such as a cellular phone or a tablet computer or a laptop computer or a desktop computer or a mobile IOT device or a fixed IOT device). The user equipment, for example, can be appropriately equipped with the corresponding capabilities described in conjunction with fixed and / or wireless network nodes. The user equipment can be a user equipment and / or a control device, such as a chipset or a processor, which is configured to control the user equipment when installed in the user equipment. Examples of such functions include bootstrap server functions and / or home user servers, which can be implemented in a user equipment device by providing a user equipment device with software configured to cause the user equipment device to execute from the perspective of these functions / nodes.

[0050] The principles and embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be noted that these embodiments are given for illustrative purposes only and do not imply any limitation of the present disclosure in any way.

[0051] First reference Figure 1 , Figure 1 An example communication system 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented is shown. As shown, the system 100 includes a network device, such as a network device 111. The system 100 also includes a terminal device, such as a terminal device 101. The terminal device 101 is capable of connecting (e.g., wirelessly) and communicating with the network device 111 in UL and DL to perform, for example, an SDT process. In a communication system, UL refers to a communication link in a direction from a terminal device to a network device, and DL refers to a communication link in a direction from a network device to a terminal device.

[0052] It should be understood that the number of network devices and terminal devices is for illustration purposes only and does not imply any limitation. System 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices suitable for implementing the embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0053] The communication in the communication system 100 can be implemented according to any appropriate communication protocol, including but not limited to third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G) and fifth generation (5G) or above cellular communication protocols, wireless local area network communication protocols such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, and / or any other protocol currently known or to be developed in the future. In addition, the communication can utilize any appropriate wireless communication technology, including but not limited to: code division multiple access (CDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division duplex (FDD), time division duplex (TDD), multiple input multiple output (MIMO), orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM), discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and / or any other technology currently known or to be developed in the future.

[0054] Reference now Figure 2 , which illustrates a process 200 for small data transmission according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, particularly in the RA-SDT process. For the purpose of discussion, reference will be made to Figure 1 Process 200 is described. Process 200 may include the following: Figure 1 The terminal device 101 and the network device 111 are shown. It should be understood that although Figure 1 The process 200 is described in the communication system 100 of FIG. 1 , but the process can also be applied to other communication scenarios supporting SDT transmission. It should also be understood that although the small data transmission of the terminal device 101 is discussed, a similar process can be applied to any other terminal device.

[0055] In process 200, the terminal device 101 initiates a RA-SDT process with a 4-step RA process. The terminal device 101 sends 201 a message 1 (Msg1) including a RA preamble to the network device 111. The network device 111 sends 202 a message 2 (Msg2) to the terminal device 101 as a RAR response. Upon receiving Msg2, the terminal device 101 sends 203 a Msg3 to the network device 111. In the RA-SDT process, Msg3 has a CCCH message for the SDT process. When sending Msg3, the terminal device 101 may start 204 a timer T319a. Since no response to Msg3 is received from the network device 111 (e.g., Msg3 is not received by the network device 111), the terminal device 101 sends 205 another Msg1 to the network device 111. The network device 111 sends 206 another message 2 (Msg2) to the terminal device 101 as a RAR response. Upon receiving Msg2, the terminal device 101 uses the resources indicated in Msg2 to send 207 another Msg3 to the network device 111. The new Msg3 also includes a CCCH message. When sending the Msg3, the terminal device 101 may restart 208 the timer T319a.

[0056] If the network receives Msg3 but fails to decode it, the network device sends 209 a HARQ message (eg, NACK) to the terminal device 101 to indicate that the terminal device should retransmit Msg3. The terminal device then retransmits 210 Msg3 to the network device 111 in a HARQ process.

[0057] In some embodiments, as an option, the terminal device may also restart the timer again 211. When the network device 111 successfully receives the retransmitted Msg3, it sends 212 a message 4 (Msg4).

[0058] In some embodiments, the terminal device 101 may optionally not restart 205 the timer T319a for the above-mentioned HARQ retransmission of Msg3 transmission; instead, it may restart the timer only when sending each new Msg3.

[0059] Further references Figure 3 , which illustrates a process 300 for small data transmission according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, particularly in the RA-SDT process. For the purpose of discussion, reference will be made to Figure 1 Process 300 is described. Process 300 may include the following: Figure 1 The terminal device 101 and the network device 111 are shown. It should be understood that although Figure 1The process 300 is described in the communication system 100 of FIG. 1 , but the process can also be applied to other communication scenarios. It should also be understood that although the small data transmission of the terminal device 101 is discussed, a similar process can be applied to any other terminal device.

[0060] like Figure 3 As shown, in process 300, terminal device 101 starts RA-SDT process with 2-step RA process. Terminal device 101 sends 301 MsgA to network device 111. MsgA has CCCH message. Then, terminal device 101 starts 302 T319a timer. Since there is no response from network device 111 (for example, MsgA is not received by network device 111), terminal device 101 sends 303 another MsgA to network device 111. When sending the MsgA, the terminal device restarts 304 the timer. When receiving MsgA, network device 111 starts the corresponding timer and sends 305 message B (MsgB) to terminal device 101.

[0061] Then refer to Figure 4 , Figure 4 FIG. 4 is a diagram showing a process 400 for small data transmission according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, particularly in a RA-SDT process. For the purpose of discussion, reference will be made to Figure 1 Process 400 is described. Process 400 may include the following: Figure 1 The terminal device 101 and the network device 111 are shown. It should be understood that although Figure 1 The process 400 is described in the communication system 100 of FIG. 1 , but the process can also be applied to other communication scenarios. It should also be understood that although the small data transmission of the terminal device 101 is discussed, a similar process can be applied to any other terminal device.

[0062] In process 400, terminal device 101 initiates the RA-SDT process with a 2-step RA process, but reverts to a 4-step RA process. Figure 4 As shown, the terminal device 101 sends 401 MsgA to the network device 111. MsgA includes a CCCH message. The terminal device 101 then starts 402 a timer T319a. If the network device receives MsgA but fails to successfully receive the CCCH message, the network device 111 sends 403 a fallback RAR to the terminal device 101. Upon receiving the fallback RAR, the terminal device 101 will fall back to the 4-step RA process. In this case, the terminal device performs a similar Figure 24. For example, the terminal device sends 404 Msg3 to the network device 111. Msg3 has a CCCH message. Then, the terminal device 101 may restart 405 the timer T319a. Similarly, if the network device 111 does not receive Msg3, the terminal device may send Msg3 again and restart the timer T319a accordingly.

[0063] Furthermore, if the network device 111 does not successfully receive Msg3, it sends a HARQ message (NACK) to the terminal device 101. The terminal device 101 can then resend Msg3 in the HARQ process and restart 408 the timer T319a again. Upon successful reception of Msg3, the network device 111 sends 409 Msg4 to the terminal device 101.

[0064] Further references Figure 5 , which illustrates a process 500 for small data transmission according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, particularly in a CG-SDT process. For the purpose of discussion, reference will be made to Figure 1 Process 500 is described. Process 500 may include the following: Figure 1 The terminal device 101 and the network device 111 are shown. It should be understood that although Figure 1 The process 500 is described in the communication system 100 of FIG. 1 , but the process can also be applied to other communication scenarios. It should also be understood that although the small data transmission of the terminal device 101 is discussed, a similar process can be applied to any other terminal device.

[0065] In process 500, the terminal device 101 initiates a CG-SDT process using CG resources. In particular, the terminal device 101 sends 501 a first transmission including a CCCH message to the network device 111. The terminal device 101 then starts 502 a timer T319a. Since there is no response from the network device 111 (e.g., the network device 111 did not receive the first transmission), the terminal device 101 performs 503 another transmission of the CCCH message in Msg3 to the network device 111. The transmission also has a CCCH message. Upon receiving a retransmission, the network device 111 may start a corresponding timer and send 504 a response to the terminal device 101, i.e., the first response of the CG transmission. Upon receiving the first response, the terminal device 101 restarts 505 the timer. In this case, the terminal device may restart the timer at a previously sent CG opportunity after the network device confirms receipt of the first CG-SDT transmission, or consider that the timer is restarted at a previously sent CG opportunity after the network device confirms receipt of the first CG-SDT transmission, for example, by adjusting an appropriate start value, the timer period of the timer. If there is more than one CCCH message between the first CCCH message and the receipt of the first response, the timer will not be restarted in response to these CCCH messages, but will instead keep the timer running until the first response is received.

[0066] Furthermore, the terminal device may also restart 507 the timer T319a after each dynamically granted scheduled HARQ retransmission 506 of the first CG-SDT transmission (even though in this case the NW knows the first opportunity to send Msg3).

[0067] Figure 6 FIG. 6 is a flow chart showing an example method 600 implemented at a terminal device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, reference will be made to Figure 1 The method 600 is described from the perspective of the terminal device 101 .

[0068] At box 610, the terminal device 101 can determine that any one of the following conditions is met: transmission of message 3 (Msg3) during a random access (RA) process, transmission of message A (MsgA) during the RA process, or receiving a first response to a configuration authorization transmission for a configuration grant-small data transfer (CG-SDT) process from a network device.

[0069] In block 620 , the terminal device 101 may restart the timer when the timer for the small data transmission SDT procedure has been running.

[0070] In some embodiments, Msg3 may be scheduled by any of the following: a random access response (RAR) in a 4-step RA procedure; a fallback RAR in a 2-step RA procedure; or a hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) retransmission of Msg3 transmission.

[0071] In some embodiments, Msg3 or MsgA may include a CCCH message.

[0072] In some embodiments, the method may further include starting a timer upon the first transmission of a CCCH message included in the CG-SDT process.

[0073] In some embodiments, the method may further include keeping a timer running before receiving a first response from the network device.

[0074] In some embodiments, the CG opportunity for providing a first response from the network device to the terminal device restarts the timer.

[0075] In some embodiments, the restart condition may also include dynamic grant scheduling HARQ retransmission of CG transmission.

[0076] In some embodiments, the RA procedure may be part of a random access SDT (RA-SDT) procedure.

[0077] In some embodiments, the timer may be stopped upon receipt of any of the following: an RRCResume message, an RRCSetup message, an RRCRelease message, an RRCReject, or an RRC connection recovery failure for an SDT.

[0078] In some embodiments, the terminal device is also caused to perform an action to go to the RRC_IDLE state when the timer expires.

[0079] In some embodiments, the terminal device may be one or more processors; and one or more memories including computer program code. The one or more memories and the computer program code are configured to, together with the one or more processors, cause the terminal device to perform any one of the methods 600 (e.g., terminal device 101). For example, the terminal device may be caused to determine that any one of the following conditions is satisfied: transmission of message 3 (Msg3) during a random access (RA) process, transmission of message A (MsgA) during an RA process, or receiving a first response to a configuration authorization transmission for a configuration authorization-small data transmission (CG-SDT) process from a network device; and restarting a timer for a small data transmission (SDT) process when the timer is already running.

[0080] In some embodiments, a device capable of executing any method 600 (eg, terminal device 101) may include components for executing the various steps of method 600. The components may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the components may be implemented in a circuit or a software module.

[0081] In some embodiments, the device includes a component for determining that any one of the following conditions is met: transmission of message 3 (Msg3) during a random access (RA) process, transmission of message A (MsgA) during a RA process, or receiving a first response to a configuration authorization transmission for a configuration grant-small data transfer (CG-SDT) process from a network device; and a component for restarting a timer when a timer for a small data transfer (SDT) process is already running.

[0082] In some embodiments, the apparatus further comprises means for performing other steps in some embodiments of method 600. In some embodiments, the means comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory comprising computer program code, the at least one memory and the computer program code being configured to enable the performance of the apparatus together with the at least one processor.

[0083] Figure 7 700 is a simplified block diagram of a device 700 suitable for implementing an embodiment of the present disclosure. The device 700 may be provided to implement a communication device, such as Figure 1 The terminal device 101 and the network device 111 are shown. As shown in the figure, the device 700 includes one or more processors 710, one or more memories 740 coupled to the processor 710, and one or more transmitters and / or receivers (TX / RX) 740 coupled to the processor 710.

[0084] TX / RX 740 is used for bidirectional communication. TX / RX 740 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication. The communication interface may represent any interface required to communicate with other network elements.

[0085] Processor 710 may be of any type suitable for the local technology network and may include one or more of the following: a general purpose computer, a special purpose computer, a microprocessor, a digital signal processor (DSP), and a processor based on a multi-core processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. Device 700 may have multiple processors, such as application specific integrated circuit chips that are time slaved to a clock that synchronizes a main processor.

[0086] The memory 720 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM) 724, electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, hard disk, compact disc (CD), digital video disc (DVD), and other magnetic storage devices and / or optical storage devices. Examples of volatile memories include, but are not limited to, random access memory (RAM) 722 and other volatile memories that do not persist over the duration of a power outage.

[0087] Computer program 730 includes computer executable instructions executed by associated processor 710. Program 730 may be stored in ROM 720. Processor 710 may perform any suitable actions and processes by loading program 730 into RAM 722.

[0088] The embodiment of the present invention can be implemented with the help of program 730, so that the device 700 can execute the following steps: Figures 2 to 6 Any process of the present invention discussed. The embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or a combination of software and hardware.

[0089] In some embodiments, the program 730 may be tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium, which may be included in the device 700 (such as in the memory 720) or in other storage devices accessible by the device 700. The device 700 may load the program 730 from the computer-readable medium to the RAM 722 for execution. The computer-readable medium may include any type of tangible non-volatile memory, such as ROM, EPROM, flash memory, hard disk, CD, DVD, etc. Figure 8 An example of a computer readable medium 800 in the form of a CD or DVD is shown. The computer readable medium has a program 730 stored thereon.

[0090] Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or dedicated circuits, software, logic, or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software, which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor, or other computing device. Although various aspects of the embodiments of the present disclosure are shown and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other graphical representations, it should be understood that the blocks, devices, systems, techniques, or methods described herein may be implemented in hardware, software, firmware, dedicated circuits or logic, general hardware or controllers, or other computing devices, or some combination thereof, as non-limiting examples.

[0091] The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer executable instructions such as those included in a program module that are executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor to perform the above-referenced Figures 2 to 6 The processes 200, 300, 400 and 500 and the method 600 are described. In general, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform specific tasks or implement specific abstract data types. The functions of program modules can be combined or separated between program modules as needed in various embodiments. The machine executable instructions of program modules can be executed in local or distributed devices. In distributed devices, program modules can be located in local and remote storage media.

[0092] The program code for executing the method of the present disclosure can be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. These program codes can be provided to a processor or controller of a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer or other programmable data processing device so that the program code enables the function / operation specified in the flow chart and / or block diagram to be realized when the processor or controller executes the program code. The program code can be executed completely on the machine, partially on the machine, as an independent software package, partially on the machine, partially on a remote machine, or completely on a remote machine or server.

[0093] In the context of the present disclosure, computer program codes or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable a device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of carriers include signals, computer readable media, etc.

[0094] The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. The computer readable medium may include, but is not limited to, an electrical, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared or semiconductor system, device or apparatus, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of computer readable storage media will include an electrical connection with one or more wires, a portable computer disk, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM), a read-only memory (ROM), an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or flash memory), an optical fiber, a portable compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

[0095] In addition, although operations are described in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring the specific order shown or to perform these operations in sequence, or to perform all the operations shown, to achieve the desired result. In some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Similarly, although several specific implementation details are included in the above discussion, these details should not be interpreted as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but should be interpreted as descriptions of features peculiar to a particular embodiment. Certain features described in the context of a separate embodiment may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. On the contrary, the various features described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in multiple embodiments individually or in any suitable sub-combination.

[0096] Although the disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and / or methodological actions, it should be understood that the disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or actions described above. Instead, the specific features and actions described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

1. A terminal device, comprising: one or more transceivers; as well as one or more processors, the one or more processors being communicatively coupled to the one or more transceivers and configured to cause the terminal device to: Make sure any of the following conditions are met: - Transmission of Message 3 (Msg3) during the Random Access (RA) procedure, - the transmission of message A (MsgA) during the RA process, or - receiving a first response to a configuration authorization transmission for a configuration authorization-small data transmission (CG-SDT) procedure from a network device; as well as When a timer for a small data transfer (SDT) procedure is already running, the timer is restarted.

2. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein: The Msg3 is dispatched by any of the following: Random Access Response (RAR) in the 4-step RA process; Fallback RAR during the 2-step RA process; or Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) retransmission of Msg3 transmission.

3. The terminal device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the Msg3 or MsgA comprises a common control channel (CCCH) message.

4. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the terminal device is further configured to: The timer is started when the CG-SDT process includes the first transmission of a CCCH message.

5. The terminal device according to claim 4, wherein the terminal device is further configured to: The timer is kept running until the first response is received from the network.

6. The terminal device according to claim 4 or 5, wherein the terminal device is caused to restart the timer for the CG-SDT procedure by: Restart the timer at the CG timing when the first response is provided from the network device to the terminal device.

7. The terminal device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the restart condition further comprises: The configuration grants transmission dynamically and schedules HARQ retransmission.

8. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the RA procedure is a part of a random access SDT (RA-SDT) procedure.

9. The terminal device according to claim 1, wherein the timer is stopped upon receiving any one of the following: Radio Resource Control (RRC) Resume message, RRC establishment message, RRC release message, RRC reject message, or Failure to restore the SDT RRC connection; and / or The terminal device is further caused to perform an action to go to RRC_IDLE when the timer expires.

10. A method at a terminal device, comprising: Make sure any of the following conditions are met: - Transmission of Message 3 (Msg3) during the Random Access (RA) procedure, - the transmission of message A (MsgA) during the RA process, or - receiving a first response to a configuration authorization transmission for a configuration authorization-small data transmission (CG-SDT) procedure from a network device; as well as When a timer for a small data transfer (SDT) procedure is already running, the timer is restarted.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the Msg3 is scheduled by any one of the following: Random Access Response (RAR) in the 4-step RA process; Fallback RAR during the 2-step RA process; or Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) retransmission of Msg3 transmission.

12. The method according to claim 10 or 11, wherein the Msg3 or MsgA comprises a common control channel (CCCH) message.

13. The method according to claim 10, further comprising: The timer is started when the CG-SDT process includes the first transmission of a CCCH message.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising: The timer is kept running until the first response is received from the network device.

15. The method according to claim 13 or 14, further comprising: Restart the timer at the CG timing when the first response is provided from the network device to the terminal device.

16. The method according to claim 10, wherein the restart condition further comprises: The configuration grants transmission dynamically and schedules HARQ retransmission.

17. The method of claim 10, wherein the RA procedure is a part of a random access SDT (RA-SDT) procedure.

18. The method of claim 10, wherein the timer is stopped upon receiving any of the following: Radio Resource Control (RRC) Resume message, RRC establishment message, RRC release message, RRC reject message, or Failure to restore the SDT RRC connection; and / or The terminal device is further caused to perform an action to go to RRC_IDLE when the timer expires.

19. A terminal device, comprising: one or more processors; as well as one or more memories including computer program code; The one or more memories and the computer program code are configured to utilize the one or more processors so that the terminal device: Make sure any of the following conditions are met: - Transmission of Message 3 (Msg3) during the Random Access (RA) procedure, - the transmission of message A (MsgA) during the RA process, or - receiving a first response to a configuration authorization transmission for a configuration authorization-small data transmission (CG-SDT) procedure from a network device; as well as When a timer for a small data transfer (SDT) procedure is already running, the timer is restarted.

20. A terminal device, comprising: Used to identify components that meet any of the following conditions: - Transmission of Message 3 (Msg3) during the Random Access (RA) procedure, - the transmission of message A (MsgA) during the RA process, or - receiving a first response to a configuration authorization transmission for a configuration authorization-small data transmission (CG-SDT) procedure from a network device; as well as Means for restarting a timer for a small data transfer (SDT) procedure when the timer is already running.

21. A non-transitory computer-readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to at least perform the method according to any one of claims 10 to 18.

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