Method and apparatus for processing PDU group in XR traffic

Abstract

A protocol data unit (PDU) group is processed by determining whether buffered data for transmission by a wireless device corresponds to a first PDU group type or a second PDU group type. A packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entity of the wireless device selects one or more of a plurality of radio link control (RLC) entities of the wireless device based on whether the buffered data corresponds to the first PDU group type or the second PDU group type. The wireless device submits one or more packets corresponding to the PDU group of the buffered data to the one or more of the plurality of RLC entities selected by the PDCP entity.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present application generally relates to wireless communication systems, including wireless communication systems with extended reality (XR) downlink and uplink communications. Background Art

[0002] Wireless mobile communication technology uses various standards and protocols to transmit data between base stations and wireless communication devices. Wireless communication system standards and protocols may include, for example, the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Long Term Evolution (LTE) (e.g., 4G), 3GPP New Radio (NR) (e.g., 5G), and the IEEE 802.11 standard for wireless local area networks (WLANs) (commonly referred to within industry organizations as WLANs). ).

[0003] As envisioned by 3GPP, different wireless communication system standards and protocols may use various radio access networks (RANs) to communicate between base stations of the RAN (which may also sometimes be referred to as RAN nodes, network nodes, or simply nodes) and wireless communication devices referred to as user equipment (UE). 3GPP RANs may include, for example, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) RAN (GERAN), Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (UTRAN), Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN), and / or Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN).

[0004] Each RAN may use one or more radio access technologies (RATs) to perform communications between base stations and UEs. For example, GERAN implements GSM and / or EDGE RAT, UTRAN implements Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) RAT or other 3GPP RAT, E-UTRAN implements LTE RAT (sometimes referred to as LTE), and NG-RAN implements NR RAT (sometimes referred to herein as 5G RAT, 5G NR RAT, or NR). In some deployments, E-UTRAN may also implement NR RAT. In some deployments, NG-RAN may also implement LTE RAT.

[0005] The base stations used by the RAN may correspond to the RAN. An example of an E-UTRAN base station is an Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network (E-UTRAN) Node B (also commonly denoted as an evolved Node B, enhanced Node B, eNodeB, or eNB). An example of an NG-RAN base station is a Next Generation Node B (sometimes also referred to as a gNodeB or gNB).

[0006] The RAN provides communication services together with external entities through its connection with the Core Network (CN). For example, E-UTRAN may utilize the Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and NG-RAN may utilize the 5G Core Network (5GC). BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] To easily identify the discussion of any particular element or action, the most significant digit(s) in a reference number refers to the drawing number that first introduces the element.

[0008] Figure 1 Example PDU groups that may be used in XR communications in certain embodiments are illustrated.

[0009] Figure 2 Example groups of PDUs indicated as important and not important are illustrated in accordance with certain embodiments.

[0010] Figure 3 is a flow chart of a method for wireless communication by a UE according to one embodiment.

[0011] Figure 4 is a flow chart of a method for wireless communications by a base station according to one embodiment.

[0012] Figure 5 is a flowchart of a method for a wireless device according to certain embodiments.

[0013] Figure 6 An example architecture of a wireless communication system according to embodiments disclosed herein is illustrated.

[0014] Figure 7 A system for performing signaling between a wireless device and a network device according to embodiments disclosed herein is illustrated.

[0015] Figure 8 An example service-based architecture according to certain embodiments is illustrated.

[0016] Fig. 9A An example of a user plane protocol stack according to one embodiment is illustrated.

[0017] Fig. 9B An example of a control plane protocol stack according to one embodiment is illustrated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0018] Various embodiments are described with respect to UE. However, reference to UE is provided for illustrative purposes only. The example embodiments may be used with any electronic component that can establish a connection with a network and is configured with hardware, software, and / or firmware for exchanging information and data with the network. Therefore, UE as described herein is used to represent any suitable electronic component.

[0019] Extended reality (XR) applications may include, for example, virtual reality (VR), mixed reality (MR), and / or augmented reality (AR) downlink and uplink communications. XR services may operate on protocol data unit (PDU) groups, which include multiple Internet Protocol (IP) packets or PDUs. For example, Figure 1 Example PDU groups that may be used in XR communications in certain embodiments are illustrated. A first PDU group 102 includes a plurality of IP packets (shown as packet #1, packet #2, packet #3, packet #4, and packet #5). A second PDU group 104 includes a plurality of IP packets (shown as packet #6 and packet #7). Those skilled in the art will recognize from the disclosure herein that the first PDU group 102 and / or the second PDU group 104 may include more or fewer IP packets (or PDUs), and that XR traffic may use any number of PDU groups.

[0020] User plane function (UPF) (e.g. Figure 8 The UPF 802 shown may identify a PDU group based on a PDU group sequence number (SN), a start / end PDU of a PDU group, a PDU SN within a PDU group, or the number of PDUs within a PDU group. The UPF also provides information related to the PDU group to the RAN. Such information may include, for example, quality of service (QoS) flow information.

[0021] PDU groups can be mapped to different QoS flows. A QoS flow identifier (ID) can be used to identify a QoS flow, and a PDU group SN can be used to identify each PDU group within a QoS flow. Each QoS flow can be used to deliver one or more PDU groups. New QoS parameters for PDU group-based QoS processing can be defined in the 5G system (5GS), such as PDU group delay budget (PSDB), PDU group error rate (PSER), a parameter for indicating whether to discard a PDU group if the PSDB is exceeded, a parameter for indicating whether all PDUs within a PDU group are required for use of the PDU group by the application layer, and / or a PDU group priority.

[0022] The UPF may also identify information related to each PDU group, such as PDU group importance and PDU group dependency. The "PDU group importance" parameter indicates how important a PDU group (e.g., a video frame) is to an application. For example, an important PDU group for a video frame may be an intra-coded frame (I frame), while a less important PDU group may be a predicted frame (P frame) or a bidirectional frame (B frame). Video decoding typically includes three frame types: I frames, P frames, and B frames. H.264 allows other types of encoding, such as switching I (SI) and switching P (SP) in an extended profile (EP). I frames are typically more important to a video codec than P frames, and P frames are typically more important to a video codec than B frames. B frames depend on previous I frames and P frames. A group of pictures (GOP) may include each of an I frame (i.e., one I frame per GOP in MPEG2), a P frame, and a B frame. An I frame may include a complete image (e.g., a complete image may be reconstructed during decoding by using only the data of an I frame).

[0023] In some communication systems, the RAN may obtain importance information for each PDU group (e.g., from the core network or from an application). Figure 2 Example PDU groups indicated as important and unimportant according to certain embodiments are illustrated. Those skilled in the art will recognize from the disclosure herein that other embodiments may use more than two levels (i.e., important or unimportant), and may also use multiple levels or degrees of priority. Figure 2 In the example shown, the first PDU group 202 is indicated as important and includes a plurality of IP packets (shown as packet #1, packet #2, packet #3, packet #4, and packet #5). The second PDU group 204 is indicated as unimportant and includes a plurality of IP packets (shown as packet #6, packet #7, and packet #8). Those skilled in the art will recognize from the disclosure herein that the first PDU group 202 and / or the second PDU group 204 may include more or fewer IP packets (or PDUs), and any number of PDU groups may be used.

[0024] Important PDU groups can be treated with better reliability, while unimportant PDU groups can be treated in a more relaxed manner. For example, the RAN can allocate more radio resources to the UE for transmitting the first PDU group 202, and allocate less resources to the UE for transmitting the second PDU group 204. Therefore, by having PDU group importance information, the RAN can allocate or use radio resources more efficiently.

[0025] Important PDU groups and non-important PDU groups can be mapped to different QoS flows and handled by different data radio bearers (DRBs). However, from a UE specific implementation perspective, it may be less desirable to utilize multiple DRBs to handle one traffic flow because this consumes more resources and / or battery. In addition, due to UE capability constraints, there may be an upper limit on the maximum number of DRBs that can be established for a UE at the same time. Therefore, if the UE needs to serve multiple applications simultaneously, it may be inappropriate to use too many DRBs for a single service.

[0026] On the other hand, a single QoS flow may include both important PDU groups and non-important PDU groups. Therefore, important PDU groups and non-important PDU groups may be mapped to the same DRB. Therefore, it is useful to determine how a transmitter in the RAN can distinguish between the processing for important PDU groups and non-important PDU groups in the same DRB. For the downlink (DL), such processing may be determined by the specific implementation of the base station (e.g., gNB). However, for the uplink (UL), it may not be as straightforward as the base station may not be able to predict when the important PDU groups will arrive.

[0027] Therefore, certain embodiments disclosed herein provide methods and apparatus for a RAN to use PDU group importance information to improve UL radio resource allocation.

[0028] Buffer status reporting enhancements .

[0029] When traffic has reached the UE's transmission buffer, the UE may send a buffer status report (BSR) to the base station (e.g., gNB) so that the base station knows how much data is pending at the UE (and for which radio bearer). This allows the base station to schedule dynamic grants more appropriately.

[0030] In certain embodiments disclosed herein, the UE indicates in the BSR whether there is any data belonging to an important PDU group buffered at a logical channel. Upon receiving the BSR, the base station knows whether there is any buffered data corresponding to an important PDU group. Therefore, the base station can determine whether a dynamically granted physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) parameter with a higher reliability target should be issued. For example, the base station can use the important PDU group information in the BSR from the UE to configure the UE (e.g., in the downlink control information (DCI)) with a more reliable modulation and coding scheme (MCS) and / or repetition number.

[0031] In one embodiment, a new field is added to the existing BSR format. The new field indicates that there is an important PDU group in at least one logical channel group (LCG).

[0032] In another embodiment, the UE indicates important PDU group information by using a different logical channel identifier (LCID) or extended LCID (eLCID) for the BSR medium access control (MAC) control element (CE). Therefore, based on the LCID / eLCID of the BSR MACCE, the base station knows whether the buffered data indicated by the BSR corresponds to an important PDU group. With this method, no additional fields in the existing BSR format are required. For example, when there is at least one important PDU group in the transmission buffer of the UE, one of the currently reserved code points or index values ​​in Table 6.2.1-2 of 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.321 can be associated with the BSR MAC CE.

[0033] Scheduling Request Enhancements .

[0034] In the current Scheduling Request (SR) framework, a logical channel (LCH) can be mapped to zero or one SR configuration. An SR configuration includes a set of physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources for SR across different bandwidth parts (BWP) and cells. Based on which PUCCH the base station has sensed with SR, the base station knows which LCH(s) have triggered SR.

[0035] In certain embodiments disclosed herein, for the case where the LCH of a DRB transmits data of both an important PDU group and a non-important PDU group, the LCH is mapped to two SR configurations. The first SR configuration is used for SR triggered by an important PDU group. The second SR configuration is used for SR triggered by a non-important PDU group. Depending on whether the important PDU group has arrived in the buffer of the LCH, the UE triggers the SR with either SR configuration. In other words, when the important PDU group has arrived in the buffer, the UE triggers the SR with the first SR configuration, or when no important PDU group has arrived in the buffer, the UE triggers the SR with the second SR configuration.

[0036] Therefore, by monitoring in which PUCCH resource the SR is received, the base station becomes aware of the importance of the PDU group that has arrived at the UE buffer. When the SR is received, the base station knows whether the packet arrival that triggered the SR corresponds to an important PDU group based on the corresponding SR configuration. The base station can then determine whether the PUSCH parameters (e.g., MCS and / or number of repetitions) of the dynamic grant with a higher reliability target should be issued. In some embodiments, the UE may include a BSR MAC CE in the issued grant, and the BSR MAC CE may include buffer status information of the LCH associated with both the important PDU group and the non-important PDU group.

[0037] Figure 3 and Figure 4Example implementations are provided that may be used for BSR enhancement and SR enhancement, as discussed above.

[0038] Figure 3 is a flow chart of a method 300 for wireless communication by a user equipment (UE) according to one embodiment. In block 302, the method 300 includes determining that buffered uplink data at a logical channel (LCH) of the UE corresponds to a first protocol data unit (PDU) group type. In block 304, the method 300 includes indicating from the UE to a base station that the buffered uplink data at the LCH of the UE corresponds to the first PDU group type. In block 306, the method 300 includes processing, at the UE, a dynamic grant from the base station corresponding to the first PDU group type.

[0039] In certain embodiments of method 300, indicating that buffered uplink data at the LCH of the UE corresponds to a first PDU group type includes changing one or more fields in a buffer status report (BSR) to indicate the presence of the first PDU group type in at least one logical channel group (LCG).

[0040] In certain embodiments of method 300, indicating that buffered uplink data at the LCH of the UE corresponds to a first PDU group type includes: using a first logical channel identifier (LCID) or a first extended LCID (eLCID) for a buffer status report (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) to indicate that the buffered uplink data corresponds to the first PDU group type; and using a second LCID or a second eLCID for the BSR MAC CE to indicate that the buffered uplink data corresponds to a second PDU group type.

[0041] In certain embodiments, the method 300 further includes receiving, at the UE, from the base station, a first scheduling request (SR) configuration and a second SR configuration for a LCH, wherein the LCH corresponds to a data radio bearer (DRB) configured to carry data of both a first PDU group type and a second PDU group type, wherein a first SR triggered by first uplink data of the first PDU group type from the LCH is sent based on the first SR configuration, and wherein a second SR triggered by second uplink data of the second PDU type from the LCH is sent based on the second SR configuration. In one embodiment, indicating that the buffered uplink data at the LCH of the UE corresponds to the first PDU group type includes: when a first PDU group of the first PDU group type arrives at a transmission buffer of the UE, triggering the SR with the first SR configuration; and when a second PDU group of the second PDU group type arrives at a transmission buffer of the UE, triggering the SR with the second SR configuration. In addition to this, or in another embodiment, the method 300 includes generating a buffer status report (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) to be sent from the UE to the base station, wherein the BSR MAC CE includes buffer status information corresponding to both the first PDU group type and the second PDU group type.

[0042] In certain embodiments of the method 300 , the first PDU group type comprises an important PDU group for an extended reality (XR) traffic flow, and the second PDU group type comprises a non-important PDU group for the XR traffic flow.

[0043] Figure 4 is a flow chart of a method 400 for wireless communication by a base station according to one embodiment. In block 402, the method 400 includes processing, at a base station, an indication from a user equipment (UE) that buffered uplink data at a logical channel (LCH) of the UE corresponds to a first protocol data unit (PDU) group type. In block 404, based on the indication corresponding to the first PDU group type, the method 400 includes determining a target reliability of one or more physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) parameters. In block 406, the method 400 includes allocating, at the base station, a dynamic grant including one or more PUSCH parameters to be sent to the UE for transmission of buffered uplink data.

[0044] In certain embodiments of the method 400, the one or more PUSCH parameters include at least one of a modulation and coding scheme (MCS) and a repetition number for UE transmission of buffered uplink data.

[0045] In certain embodiments of method 400, an indication from the UE that buffered uplink data at the UE's LCH corresponds to a first PDU group type includes a change to one or more fields in a buffer status report (BSR) indicating the presence of the first PDU group type in at least one logical channel group (LCG).

[0046] In certain embodiments of method 400, the indication from the UE includes: a first logical channel identifier (LCID) or a first extended LCID (eLCID) in a buffer status report (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) to indicate when buffered uplink data corresponds to a first PDU group type; and a second LCID or a second eLCID in the BSR MAC CE to indicate when the buffered uplink data corresponds to a second PDU group type.

[0047] In certain embodiments, the method 400 further includes configuring the UE with a first scheduling request (SR) configuration and a second SR configuration for an LCH, wherein the LCH corresponds to a data radio bearer (DRB) configured to carry data of both a first PDU group type and a second PDU group type, wherein a first SR triggered by first uplink data of the first PDU group type from the LCH is sent based on the first SR configuration, and wherein a second SR triggered by second uplink data of the second PDU type from the LCH is sent based on the second SR configuration. In certain such embodiments, the method 400 further includes monitoring in which physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) the SR is received at the base station to determine whether the first SR configuration is used to indicate the first PDU group type or the second SR configuration is used to indicate the second PDU group type. In other embodiments, the method 400 further includes processing at the base station a buffer status report (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) from the UE including buffer status information corresponding to both the first PDU group type and the second PDU group type.

[0048] In certain embodiments of the method 400 , the first PDU group type comprises an important PDU group for an extended reality (XR) traffic flow, and the second PDU group type comprises a non-important PDU group for the XR traffic flow.

[0049] Conditional Group Replication .

[0050] In certain embodiments, the UE's Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) entity (see Fig. 9A and Fig. 9B) is configured to perform conditional packet duplication based on PDU group importance (e.g., where the DRB has been configured to have more than one radio link control (RLC) entity for packet duplication). For each important PDU group, the PDCP entity submits packets within the important PDU group to multiple RLC entities for packet duplication. In one such embodiment, the PDCP entity submits all packets of the important PDU group to all RLC entities configured for the DRB. In another embodiment, the PDCP entity submits all packets of the important PDU group to a selected group of multiple RLC entities configured for the DRB, wherein the group is determined based on a previous instruction from the base station (e.g., RRC configuration or MAC CE).

[0051] For each non-important PDU group, even if packet duplication is configured and / or activated (which may be determined by UE specific implementation), the PDCP entity does not duplicate packets within the non-important PDU group. In one such embodiment, the PDCP entity submits all packets of the non-important PDU group only to the primary RLC entity (i.e., no packet duplication). In another embodiment, the PDCP entity submits only some packets of the non-important PDU group to multiple RLC entities configured for DRBs (i.e., only some packets are duplicated).

[0052] In another embodiment, when the network sends explicit signaling to activate or deactivate PDCP duplication of DRBs (e.g., by sending a Packet Duplication Activation / Deactivation MAC CE), the network may further indicate whether the activation / deactivation command applies only to important PDU groups, only to non-important PDU groups, or to both types of PDU groups.

[0053] Conditional RLC branch switching .

[0054] In certain embodiments, the PDCP entity of the UE may be configured to perform conditional RLC branch switching based on PDU group importance. The RLC entities are associated to logical channels (LCHs) with different settings, such as priority, prioritized bit rate (PBR) and / or LCH mapping restrictions (e.g., assuming that the DRB has been configured to have more than one RLC entity for such purposes). For each important PDU group, the PDCP entity submits all packets within the important PDU group to a first group of at least one RLC entity. For each non-important PDU group, the PDCP entity submits all packets within the non-important PDU group to a second group of at least one RLC entity. In certain embodiments, the first group of at least one RLC entity and the second group of at least one RLC entity may partially overlap.

[0055] Figure 5is a flow chart of a method 500 for a wireless device according to certain embodiments. Figure 5 An example is provided that may be used for conditional packet duplication and / or conditional RLC branch switching as discussed above. Specifically, in block 502, method 500 includes determining whether buffered data for transmission by a wireless device corresponds to a first protocol data unit (PDU) group type or a second PDU group type. In block 504, method 500 includes selecting, by a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) entity of the wireless device, one or more of a plurality of radio link control (RLC) entities of the wireless device based on whether the buffered data corresponds to the first PDU group type or the second PDU group type. In block 506, method 500 includes submitting one or more packets of the PDU group corresponding to the buffered data to one or more of the plurality of RLC entities selected by the PDCP entity.

[0056] In certain embodiments, the method 500 further includes performing conditional packet duplication by a PDCP entity of the wireless device, wherein when the buffered data corresponds to a first PDU group type, the PDCP entity submits a subset of one or more packets of the PDU group or each of the one or more packets of the PDU group to at least two or more of a plurality of RLC entities configured for a corresponding data radio bearer (DRB) for packet duplication. The subset may include, for example, necessary packets of an important PDU group (e.g., as specified by an application).

[0057] In certain embodiments of the method 500, for conditional packet duplication, when the buffered data corresponds to a first PDU group type, the PDCP entity submits a subset of one or more packets of a PDU group or each of one or more packets of a PDU group to each of a plurality of RLC entities configured for a corresponding DRB for packet duplication. The subset may include, for example, necessary packets of an important PDU group (e.g., as specified by an application).

[0058] In certain embodiments of the method 500, for conditional packet duplication, when the buffered data corresponds to a first PDU group type, the PDCP entity submits each of the one or more packets of the PDU group to a selected group of a plurality of RLC entities configured for the corresponding DRB for packet duplication. In certain such embodiments, the wireless device comprises a user equipment (UE), and the method 500 further comprises receiving, at the UE, an indication of the selected group from a base station.

[0059] In certain embodiments of method 500, for conditional packet duplication, when the buffered data corresponds to a second PDU group type, the PDCP entity submits at least one packet of the PDU group to only one RLC entity to avoid duplicating at least one packet of the PDU group.

[0060] In certain embodiments of method 500, for conditional packet duplication, when the buffered data corresponds to a second PDU group type, the PDCP entity submits a subset of one or more packets of the PDU group to one or more of a plurality of RLC entities configured for the corresponding DRB for packet duplication.

[0061] In certain embodiments of method 500, for conditional packet replication, method 500 also includes receiving a signal for activating or deactivating PDCP replication for the corresponding DRB, wherein the signal also indicates whether the activation or the deactivation is applicable to the first PDU group type, the second PDU group type, or both the first PDU group type and the second PDU group type.

[0062] In certain embodiments, the method 500 further includes performing, by a PDCP entity of the wireless device, a conditional RLC branch switching based on whether the buffered data corresponds to a first PDU group type or a second PDU group type, wherein the plurality of RLC entities are associated with different logical channels (LCHs). The different LCHs may be configured to have different parameters including at least one of different priorities and different LCH mapping restrictions.

[0063] In certain embodiments, for conditional RLC branch switching, the method 500 further includes: when the buffered data corresponds to a first PDU group type, the PDCP entity submits a subgroup of one or more packets of the PDU group or each of the one or more packets of the PDU group to a first group of at least one RLC entity among the plurality of RLC entities; and when the buffered data corresponds to a second PDU group type, the PDCP entity submits each of the one or more packets of the PDU group to a second group of at least one RLC entity among the plurality of RLC entities. The subgroup may include, for example, necessary packets of important PDU groups (e.g., as specified by an application). In certain such embodiments, the first group partially overlaps with the second group.

[0064] In some embodiments, the method 500 further includes determining whether buffered data for transmission by the wireless device corresponds to the first PDU group type or the second PDU group type when a first packet of the PDU group arrives at a buffer of the wireless device.

[0065] In certain embodiments of the method 500 , the first PDU group type comprises an important PDU group for an extended reality (XR) traffic flow, and wherein the second PDU group type comprises a non-important PDU group for the XR traffic flow.

[0066] Embodiments contemplated herein include an apparatus comprising means for performing one or more elements of method 300 or method 500. The apparatus may be, for example, an apparatus of a UE (such as wireless device 702 as a UE, as described herein).

[0067] Embodiments contemplated herein include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media including instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more elements of method 300 or method 500. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may be, for example, a memory of a UE (such as memory 706 of wireless device 702 as a UE, as described herein).

[0068] Embodiments contemplated herein include an apparatus comprising logical components, modules, or circuits for performing one or more elements of method 300 or method 500. The apparatus may be, for example, an apparatus of a UE (such as wireless device 702 as a UE, as described herein).

[0069] Embodiments contemplated herein include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform one or more elements of method 300 or method 500. The apparatus may be, for example, an apparatus of a UE (such as wireless device 702 as a UE, as described herein).

[0070] Embodiments contemplated herein include signals as described in or associated with one or more elements of method 300 or method 500 .

[0071] Embodiments contemplated herein include a computer program or computer program product including instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processor causes the processor to perform one or more elements of method 300 or method 500. The processor may be a processor of a UE (such as processor 704 of wireless device 702 as a UE, as described herein). These instructions may, for example, be located in a processor of a UE and / or located on a memory of a UE (such as memory 706 of wireless device 702 as a UE, as described herein).

[0072] Embodiments contemplated herein include an apparatus comprising means for performing one or more elements of method 400 or method 500. The apparatus may be, for example, an apparatus of a base station (such as network device 718 as a base station, as described herein).

[0073] Embodiments contemplated herein include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media including instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform one or more essential elements of method 400 or method 500. The non-transitory computer-readable medium may be, for example, a memory of a base station (such as memory 722 of network device 718 as a base station, as described herein).

[0074] Embodiments contemplated herein include an apparatus comprising logical components, modules, or circuits for performing one or more elements of method 400 or method 500. The apparatus may be, for example, an apparatus of a base station (such as network device 718 as a base station, as described herein).

[0075] Embodiments contemplated herein include an apparatus comprising: one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media comprising instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform one or more elements of method 400 or method 500. The apparatus may be, for example, an apparatus of a base station (such as network device 718 as a base station, as described herein).

[0076] Embodiments contemplated herein include signals as described in or associated with one or more elements of method 400 or method 500 .

[0077] Embodiments contemplated herein include a computer program or computer program product including instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processing element causes the processing element to perform one or more elements of method 400 or method 500. The processor may be a processor of a base station (such as processor 720 of network device 718 as a base station, as described herein). These instructions may be located, for example, in a processor and / or on a memory of a base station (e.g., memory 722 of network device 718 as a base station, as described herein).

[0078] Figure 6 An exemplary architecture of a wireless communication system 600 according to an embodiment disclosed herein is shown. The description provided below is for an example wireless communication system 600 operating in conjunction with LTE system standards and / or 5G or NR system standards as provided by 3GPP technical specifications.

[0079] like Figure 6As shown, wireless communication system 600 includes UE 602 and UE 604 (although any number of UEs may be used). In this example, UE 602 and UE 604 are shown as smartphones (e.g., handheld touch screen mobile computing devices capable of connecting to one or more cellular networks), but may also include any mobile or non-mobile computing device configured for wireless communication.

[0080] UE 602 and UE 604 may be configured to be communicatively coupled to RAN 606. In an embodiment, RAN 606 may be NG-RAN, E-UTRAN, etc. UE 602 and UE 604 utilize connections (or channels) (shown as connection 608 and connection 610, respectively) with RAN 606, where each connection (or channel) includes a physical communication interface. RAN 606 may include one or more base stations (such as base station 612 and base station 614) that implement connection 608 and connection 610.

[0081] In this example, connection 608 and connection 610 are air interfaces that enable such communicative coupling and may conform to the RAT used by RAN 606, such as, for example, LTE and / or NR.

[0082] In some embodiments, UE 602 and UE 604 may also directly exchange communication data via side link interface 616. UE 604 is shown as being configured to access an access point (shown as AP 618) via connection 620. By way of example, connection 620 may include a local wireless connection, such as any connection conforming to the IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein AP 618 may include In this example, AP 618 may not be connected to another network (eg, the Internet) through CN 624.

[0083] In an embodiment, UE 602 and UE 604 may be configured to communicate with each other or with base station 612 and / or base station 614 over a multi-carrier communication channel using orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) communication signals according to various communication techniques, such as, but not limited to, orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) communication techniques (e.g., for downlink communication) or single carrier frequency division multiple access (SC-FDMA) communication techniques (e.g., for uplink and ProSe or sidelink communication), although the scope of the embodiment is not limited in this respect. The OFDM signal may include multiple orthogonal subcarriers.

[0084] In some embodiments, all or part of the base station 612 or the base station 614 may be implemented as one or more software entities running on a server computer as part of a virtual network. In addition, or in other embodiments, the base station 612 or the base station 614 may be configured to communicate with each other via the interface 622. In an embodiment where the wireless communication system 600 is an LTE system (e.g., when the CN 624 is an EPC), the interface 622 may be an X2 interface. The X2 interface may be defined between two or more base stations (e.g., two or more eNBs, etc.) connected to the EPC and / or between two eNBs connected to the EPC. In an embodiment where the wireless communication system 600 is an NR system (e.g., when the CN 624 is a 5GC), the interface 622 may be an Xn interface. The Xn interface is defined between two or more base stations (e.g., two or more gNBs, etc.) connected to the 5GC, between the base station 612 (e.g., gNB) and the eNB connected to the 5GC, and / or between two eNBs connected to the 5GC (e.g., CN 624).

[0085] RAN 606 is shown communicatively coupled to CN 624. CN 624 may include one or more network elements 626 configured to provide various data and telecommunication services to customers / subscribers (e.g., UE 602 and users of UE 604) connected to CN 624 via RAN 606. Components of CN 624 may be implemented in one physical device or separate physical devices including components for reading and executing instructions from a machine-readable or computer-readable medium (e.g., a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium).

[0086] In an embodiment, CN 624 may be an EPC, and RAN 606 may be connected to CN 624 via an S1 interface 628. In an embodiment, S1 interface 628 may be divided into two parts: an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface, which carries traffic data between base station 612 or base station 614 and a serving gateway (S-GW); and an S1-MME interface, which is a signaling interface between base station 612 or base station 614 and a mobility management entity (MME).

[0087] In an embodiment, CN 624 may be a 5GC, and RAN 606 may be connected to CN 624 via an NG interface 628. In an embodiment, NG interface 628 may be divided into two parts: an NG user plane (NG-U) interface, which carries traffic data between base station 612 or base station 614 and UPF; and an S1 control plane (NG-C) interface, which is a signaling interface between base station 612 or base station 614 and access and mobility management function (AMF).

[0088] Generally speaking, the application server 630 can be an element that provides applications (e.g., packet-switched data services) using Internet Protocol (IP) bearer resources using the CN 624. The application server 630 can also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., VoIP sessions, group communication sessions, etc.) for the UE 602 and the UE 604 via the CN 624. The application server 630 can communicate with the CN 624 via the IP communication interface 632.

[0089] Figure 7 A system 700 for performing signaling 734 between a wireless device 702 and a network device 718 according to embodiments disclosed herein is shown. The system 700 may be part of a wireless communication system as described herein. The wireless device 702 may be, for example, a UE of a wireless communication system. The network device 718 may be, for example, a base station (e.g., an eNB or a gNB) of a wireless communication system.

[0090] The wireless device 702 may include one or more processors 704. The processor 704 may execute instructions to perform various operations as described herein for the wireless device 702. The processor 704 may include one or more baseband processors implemented using, for example, a central processing unit (CPU), a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a controller, a field programmable gate array (FPGA) device, another hardware device, a firmware device, or any combination thereof configured to perform the operations described herein.

[0091] The wireless device 702 may include a memory 706. The memory 706 may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions 708 (which may include, for example, instructions executed by the processor 704). The instructions 708 may also be referred to as program code or a computer program. The memory 706 may also store data used by the processor 704 and results calculated by the processor. In some embodiments, the memory 706 includes a buffer for storing buffered uplink data.

[0092] The wireless device 702 may include one or more transceivers 710, which may include radio frequency (RF) transmitter and / or receiver circuitry that uses an antenna 712 of the wireless device 702 to facilitate signaling (e.g., signaling 734) to and / or from the wireless device 702 with other devices (e.g., network device 718) in accordance with a corresponding RAT.

[0093] The wireless device 702 may include one or more antennas 712 (e.g., one, two, four, or more). For implementations with multiple antennas 712, the wireless device 702 may utilize the spatial diversity of such multiple antennas 712 to transmit and / or receive multiple different data streams on the same time-frequency resources. This behavior may be referred to as, for example, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) behavior (referring to multiple antennas used at each of the transmitting device and the receiving device to implement this aspect). MIMO transmissions by the wireless device 702 may be implemented based on precoding (or digital beamforming) applied to the wireless device 702, which multiplexes data streams between the antennas 712 based on known or assumed channel characteristics, so that each data stream is received at an appropriate signal strength relative to the other streams and at a desired location in the spatial domain (e.g., the location of a receiver associated with the data stream). Certain embodiments may use a single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO) approach (where data streams are all directed to a single receiver) and / or a multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO) approach (where separate data streams may be directed to separate (different) receivers in different locations in the spatial domain).

[0094] In certain embodiments with multiple antennas, the wireless device 702 may implement analog beamforming techniques whereby the phases of signals transmitted by antennas 712 are relatively adjusted so that the (joint) transmissions of antennas 712 can be directed (this is sometimes referred to as beam steering).

[0095] The wireless device 702 may include one or more interfaces 714. The interfaces 714 may be used to provide input to or output from the wireless device 702. For example, a wireless device 702 that is a UE may include an interface 714, such as a microphone, a speaker, a touch screen, buttons, etc., to allow a user of the UE to provide input and / or output to the UE. Other interfaces of such a UE may be composed of transmitters, receivers, and other circuits (e.g., in addition to the transceiver 710 / antenna 712 described above) that allow the UE to communicate with other devices, and may be based on known protocols (e.g., etc.) to perform the operation.

[0096] The wireless device 702 may include an XR device, which may include an augmented reality (AR) / virtual reality (VR) / mixed reality (MR) device and may be implemented in the form of a head mounted device (HMD), a head up display (HUD) installed in a vehicle, a television, a smart phone, a computer, a wearable device, a home appliance device, a digital signage, a vehicle, a robot, etc. The handheld device may include a smart phone, a smart tablet, a wearable device (e.g., a smart watch or smart glasses), and a computer (e.g., a notebook).

[0097] The wireless device 702 may include a PDU group module 716. The PDU group module 716 may be implemented via hardware, software, or a combination thereof. For example, the PDU group module 716 may be implemented as a processor, circuit, and / or instructions 708 stored in the memory 706 and executed by the processor 704. In some examples, the PDU group module 716 may be integrated within the processor 704 and / or the transceiver 710. For example, the PDU group module 716 may be implemented by a combination of software components (e.g., executed by a DSP or a general purpose processor) and hardware components (e.g., logic gates and circuits) within the processor 704 or the transceiver 710.

[0098] The PDU group module 716 may be used in various aspects of the present disclosure, for example, Figure 3 and Figure 5 all aspects.

[0099] The network device 718 may include one or more processors 720. The processor 720 may execute instructions to perform various operations as described herein for the network device 718. The processor 720 may include one or more baseband processors implemented using, for example, a CPU, a DSP, an ASIC, a controller, an FPGA device, another hardware device, a firmware device, or any combination thereof configured to perform the operations described herein.

[0100] The network device 718 may include a memory 722. The memory 722 may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions 724 (which may include, for example, instructions executed by the processor 720). The instructions 724 may also be referred to as program code or a computer program. The memory 722 may also store data used by the processor 720 and results calculated by the processor.

[0101] The network device 718 may include one or more transceivers 726, which may include RF transmitter and / or receiver circuits that use an antenna 728 of the network device 718 to facilitate signaling (e.g., signaling 734) to and / or from the network device 718 with other devices (e.g., wireless device 702) in accordance with a corresponding RAT.

[0102] The network device 718 may include one or more antennas 728 (e.g., one, two, four, or more). In embodiments with multiple antennas 728, the network device 718 may perform MIMO, digital beamforming, analog beamforming, beamsteering, etc. as described.

[0103] The network device 718 may include one or more interfaces 730. The interface 730 may be used to provide input to or output from the network device 718. For example, the network device 718 as a base station may include an interface 730 composed of a transmitter, a receiver and other circuits (e.g., in addition to the transceiver 726 / antenna 728 described above), which enables the base station to communicate with other equipment in the core network and / or enables the base station to communicate with external networks, computers, databases, etc., to achieve the purpose of operating, managing and maintaining the base station or other equipment operably connected to the base station.

[0104] The network device 718 may include a PDU group module 732. The PDU group module 732 may be implemented via hardware, software, or a combination thereof. For example, the PDU group module 732 may be implemented as a processor, circuit, and / or instructions 724 stored in the memory 722 and executed by the processor 720. In some examples, the PDU group module 732 may be integrated within the processor 720 and / or the transceiver 726. For example, the PDU group module 732 may be implemented by a combination of software components (e.g., executed by a DSP or a general purpose processor) and hardware components (e.g., logic gates and circuits) within the processor 720 or the transceiver 726.

[0105] The PDU group module 732 may be used in various aspects of the present disclosure, for example, Figure 4 and Figure 5 all aspects.

[0106] Exemplary System Architecture

[0107] In certain embodiments, the 5G system (5GS) architecture supports data connectivity and services, enabling deployment to use technologies such as network function virtualization and software-defined networking. The 5G system architecture can utilize service-based interactions between control plane network functions. Separating user plane functions from control plane functions allows independent scalability, evolution, and flexible deployment (e.g., centralized locations or distributed (remote) locations). Modular function design allows functional reuse, and flexible and effective network slicing can be achieved. A network function (NF) and its network function services can interact with another NF and its network function services directly or indirectly via a service communication agent. Another intermediate function can help route control plane messages. The architecture minimizes the dependency between an access network (AN) and a core network (CN). The architecture may include an aggregated core network with a public AN-CN interface that integrates different access types (e.g., 3GPP access and non-3GPP access). The architecture may also support a unified authentication framework, stateless NFs with decoupling of computing resources from storage resources, capability exposure, concurrent access to local and centralized services (to support low-latency services and access to local data networks, user plane functions may be deployed near the AN), and / or roaming in a visited public land mobile network (PLMN) with both home-routed traffic as well as local breakout traffic.

[0108] The 5G architecture may be defined as service-based, and the interactions between network functions may include a service-based representation, where a network function within the control plane (e.g., access and mobility management function (AMF)) enables other authorized network functions to access its services. The service-based representation may also include a point-to-point reference point. The reference point representation may also be used to show the interactions between NF services in a network function described by a point-to-point reference point (e.g., N11) between any two network functions (e.g., AMF and session management function (SMF)).

[0109] Figure 8 An example service-based architecture 800 in 5GS according to one embodiment is illustrated. The service-based architecture 800 includes NFs for communicating with UE 816, (R) AN 806, user plane functions (shown as UPF 802), and data networks (shown as DN 804), such as network slice selection function (shown as NSSF 808), network exposure function (shown as NEF 810), network repository function (shown as NRF 814), policy control function (shown as PCF 812), unified data management function (shown as UDM 826), authentication server function (shown as AUSF 818), AMF 820, SMF 822. NFs and NF services can communicate directly (referred to as direct communication) or indirectly (referred to as indirect communication) via a service communication agent (shown as SCP 824). Figure 8Also shown are corresponding service-based interfaces including Nutm, Naf, Nudm, Npcf, Nsmf, Nnrf, Namf, Nnef, Nnssf and Nausf and reference points N1, N2, N3, N4 and N6. Figure 8 Some exemplary functions provided by the NF shown.

[0110] The UPF 802 may serve as an anchor point for intra-RAT and inter-RAT mobility, an external PDU session point interconnected with the DN 804, and a branch point to support multi-homed PDU sessions. The UPF 802 may also perform packet routing and forwarding, perform packet inspection, enforce the user plane portion of policy rules, lawfully intercept packets, perform traffic usage reporting, perform QoS processing on the user plane (e.g., packet filtering, gating, uplink / downlink rate enforcement), perform uplink traffic validation (e.g., service data flow (SDF) to QoS flow mapping), perform transport level packet marking in uplink and downlink, and perform downlink packet buffering and downlink data notification triggering. The UPF 802 may include an uplink classifier to support routing of traffic flows to a data network.

[0111] Fig. 9A and Fig. 9B An example of a protocol stack in a 3GPP-based wireless communication system is illustrated. As used herein, a protocol stack layer may also be referred to as an entity (or simply the name of the layer). For example, a physical (PHY) layer may be referred to as a PHY entity (or simply PHY), a medium access control (MAC) layer may be referred to as a MAC entity (or simply MAC), a radio link control (RLC) layer may be referred to as an RLC entity (or simply RLC), a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer may be referred to as a PDCP entity (or simply PDCP), a service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer may be referred to as an SDAP entity (or simply SDAP), and a radio resource control (RRC) layer may be referred to as an RRC entity (or simply RRC).

[0112] Fig. 9A An example of a user plane protocol stack 900a for communication between a UE 902 and a base station 904 according to one embodiment is illustrated. The user plane refers to a path through which data generated in an application layer (e.g., voice data, video data, or Internet packet data) is transmitted. The user plane protocol stack 900a can be divided into a layer 1 (L1) protocol and a layer 2 (L2) protocol. In the NR system, the L1 protocol includes PHY, and the L2 protocol includes MAC, RLC, PDCP, and SDAP.

[0113] The PHY may transmit or receive information used by the MAC over one or more air interfaces (i.e., physical channels and signals). The PHY provides to the MAC transport channels, the MAC provides to the RLC logical channels, the RLC provides to the PDCP RLC channels, the PDCP provides to the SDAP radio bearers, and the SDAP provides to the 5GC QoS flows.

[0114] In NR systems, example services and functions of SDAP include mapping between QoS flows and data radio bearers and marking QoS flow IDs (QFIs) in both DL and UL packets. A single SDAP entity can be configured for each separate protocol data unit (PDU) session.

[0115] In the NR system, example services and functions of PDCP for the user plane include sequence numbering, header compression and decompression, transmission of user data, reordering and duplicate detection, in-sequence delivery, PDCP PDU routing (in case of split bearers), retransmission of PDCP Service Data Unit (SDU), ciphering / deciphering and integrity protection, PDCP SDU discard, PDCP re-establishment and data recovery for RLC AM, PDCP status reporting for RLC Acknowledged Mode (AM), duplication of PDCP PDUs, and duplicate discard indication to lower layers.

[0116] In NR systems, RLC supports three transmission modes: transparent mode (TM); unacknowledged mode (UM); and acknowledged mode (AM). RLC configuration is for each logical channel and does not depend on parameter sets and / or transmission duration. Example services and functions of RLC depend on the transmission mode and include transmission of upper layer PDUs, sequence numbering independent of sequence numbering in PDCP (UM and AM), error correction through automatic repeat request (ARQ) (AM only), segmentation (AM and UM) and re-segmentation (AM only) of RLC SDUs, reassembly of SDUs (AM and UM), duplicate detection (AM only), RLC SDU discard (AM and UM), RLC reconstruction, and protocol error detection (AM only).

[0117] In the NR system, example services and functions of the MAC include mapping between logical channels and transport channels, multiplexing of MAC SDUs belonging to one or different logical channels into / demultiplexing a transport block (TB) delivered to / from the physical layer on the transport channel, scheduling information reporting, error correction through hybrid ARQ (HARQ) (one HARQ entity per cell in the case of carrier aggregation (CA)), priority handling between UEs through dynamic scheduling, priority handling between logical channels of one UE through logical channel prioritization, and padding. A single MAC entity can support multiple parameter sets, transmission timings, and cells. Mapping restrictions in logical channel prioritization control which of the parameter sets, cells, and transmission timings can be used by logical channels. In order to accommodate different types of data transmission services provided by the MAC, multiple types of logical channels are defined. Each logical channel type is defined by the type of information transmitted. The MAC PDU arrives at the PHY layer in the form of a transport block.

[0118] Fig. 9B An example of a control plane protocol stack 900b for communication between a UE 902, a base station 904, and a core network 906 (i.e., a mobility management entity (MME) in LTE or an access and mobility management function (AMF) in NR) is illustrated. The control plane refers to a path through which control messages used by the UE and the network for management calls are transmitted.

[0119] The control plane protocol stack 900b includes PHY, MAC, RLC, PDCP and RRC layers in the access layer (AS). The control plane protocol stack 900b also includes a non-access layer (NAS), which includes a set of protocols for conveying non-radio signaling between the UE 902 and the core network 906. NAS performs functions such as authentication, mobility management and security control.

[0120] As discussed above, the PHY may transmit or receive information used by the MAC over one or more air interfaces. The PHY layer may also perform link adaptation or adaptive modulation and coding (AMC), power control, cell search (e.g., for initial synchronization and handover purposes), and other measurements used by higher layers (such as RRC). The PHY may further perform: error detection on transport channels, forward error correction (FEC) encoding / decoding of transport channels, modulation / demodulation of physical channels, interleaving, rate matching, mapping onto physical channels, and multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) antenna processing.

[0121] In an NR system, example services and functions of RRC include broadcast of system information related to AS and NAS, paging initiated by 5GC or RAN, establishment and maintenance or release of RRC connection between UE and RAN, security functions including key management, establishment / configuration / maintenance / release of signaling radio bearers (SRBs) and data radio bearers (DRBs), mobility functions (including handover and context transfer, UE cell selection and reselection, and inter-RAT mobility), QoS management functions, UE measurement reporting and control of reporting, detection of and recovery from radio link failure, and NAS message delivery.

[0122] Example services and functions of PDCP for the control plane include sequence numbering, ciphering / deciphering and integrity protection, transmission of control plane data, reordering and duplicate detection, in-sequence delivery, duplication of PDCP PDUs, and duplicate discard indication to lower layers.

[0123] For one or more embodiments, at least one of the components set forth in one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to perform one or more operations, techniques, processes, and / or methods as described herein. For example, a baseband processor as described herein in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples set forth herein. For another example, circuits associated with a UE, a base station, a network element, etc., as described above in conjunction with one or more of the foregoing figures may be configured to operate according to one or more of the examples set forth herein.

[0124] Unless otherwise expressly stated, any of the above embodiments may be combined with any other embodiment (or combination of embodiments). The foregoing description of one or more specific implementations provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise form disclosed. In view of the above teachings, modifications and variations are possible or can be obtained from the practice of various embodiments.

[0125] Embodiments and implementations of the systems and methods described herein may include various operations that may be embodied in machine executable instructions to be executed by a computer system. A computer system may include one or more general or special purpose computers (or other electronic devices). A computer system may include hardware components that include specific logic components for performing operations; or may include a combination of hardware, software, and / or firmware.

[0126] It should be appreciated that the systems described herein include descriptions of specific embodiments. These embodiments may be combined into a single system, partially combined into other systems, separated into multiple systems, or otherwise divided or combined. In addition, it is contemplated that parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. of another embodiment may be used in one embodiment. For clarity, these parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. are described only in one or more embodiments, and it should be appreciated that these parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. may be combined with or substituted for parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. of another embodiment unless expressly stated herein.

[0127] It is understood that the use of personally identifiable information should be subject to privacy policies and practices that are generally recognized to meet or exceed industry or government requirements for maintaining user privacy. Specifically, personally identifiable information data should be managed and processed to minimize the risk of unintentional or unauthorized access or use, and the nature of the authorized use should be clearly stated to users.

[0128] Although the foregoing has been described in considerable detail for the sake of clarity, it will be apparent that certain changes and modifications may be made without departing from the principles of the invention. It should be noted that there are many alternative ways to implement both the processes and the apparatus described herein. Therefore, the embodiments of the present invention should be regarded as illustrative rather than restrictive, and the specification is not limited to the details given herein, but may be modified within the scope and equivalents of the appended claims.

Claims

1. A wireless device, comprising: A memory, the memory being used to store buffered data for transmission; and One or more processors configured to: determining whether buffered data for transmission by the wireless device corresponds to a first protocol data unit (PDU) group type or a second PDU group type; selecting, by a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) entity of the wireless device, one or more of a plurality of Radio Link Control (RLC) entities of the wireless device based on whether the buffered data corresponds to the first PDU group type or the second PDU group type; and Submitting one or more packets of the PDU group corresponding to the buffered data to one or more of the plurality of RLC entities selected by the PDCP entity.

2. A wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the instructions further configure the apparatus to perform conditional packet duplication by the PDCP entity of the wireless device, wherein when the buffered data corresponds to the first PDU group type, the PDCP entity submits each of the one or more packets of the PDU group to at least two or more of the multiple RLC entities configured for corresponding data radio bearers (DRBs) for packet duplication.

3. A wireless device according to claim 2, wherein for the conditional packet copy, when the buffered data corresponds to the first PDU group type, the PDCP entity submits a subset of the one or more packets of the PDU group or each of the one or more packets of the PDU group to each of the multiple RLC entities configured for the corresponding DRB for packet copy.

4. A wireless device according to claim 2, wherein for the conditional packet replication, when the buffered data corresponds to the first PDU group type, the PDCP entity submits a subset of the one or more packets of the PDU group or each of the one or more packets of the PDU group to a selected group of the multiple RLC entities configured for the corresponding DRB for packet replication.

5. The wireless device of claim 4, wherein the wireless device comprises a user equipment (UE), and wherein the one or more processors are further configured to receive, at the UE, an indication of the selected group from a base station.

6. The wireless device of claim 2, wherein for the conditional packet duplication, when the buffered data corresponds to the second PDU group type, the PDCP entity submits at least one packet of the PDU group to only one RLC entity to avoid duplicating the at least one packet of the PDU group.

7. A wireless device according to claim 2, wherein for the conditional packet replication, when the buffered data corresponds to the second PDU group type, the PDCP entity submits a subset of the one or more packets of the PDU group to the one or more of the multiple RLC entities configured for the corresponding DRB for packet replication.

8. A wireless device according to claim 2, wherein the instruction also configures the device to receive a signal for activating or deactivating PDCP replication for the corresponding DRB, wherein the signal also indicates whether the activation or the deactivation applies to the first PDU group type, the second PDU group type, or both the first PDU group type and the second PDU group type.

9. A wireless device according to claim 1, wherein the instruction further configures the apparatus to perform conditional RLC branch switching by the PDCP entity of the wireless device based on whether the buffered data corresponds to the first PDU group type or the second PDU group type, wherein the multiple RLC entities are associated with different logical channels (LCHs).

10. The wireless device of claim 9, wherein the different LCHs are configured to have different parameters including at least one of different priorities and different LCH mapping restrictions.

11. The wireless device of claim 9, wherein the instructions further configure the apparatus to: when the buffered data corresponds to the first PDU group type, the PDCP entity submits a subset of the one or more packets of the PDU group or each of the one or more packets of the PDU group to a first group of at least one RLC entity of the plurality of RLC entities; and When the buffered data corresponds to the second PDU group type, the PDCP entity submits each of the one or more packets of the PDU group to a second group of at least one RLC entity among the plurality of RLC entities. The wireless device of claim 11 , wherein the first group partially overlaps with the second group.

13. The wireless device of claim 1, wherein: The one or more processors are configured to determine whether the buffered data for transmission by the wireless device corresponds to the first PDU group type or the second PDU group type when a first packet of the PDU group arrives at a buffer of the wireless device.

14. The wireless device of any one of claims 1 to 13, wherein the first PDU group type comprises an important PDU group of an extended reality (XR) traffic flow, and wherein the second PDU group type comprises a non-important PDU group of the XR traffic flow.

15. A method for a wireless device, the method comprising: determining whether buffered data for transmission by the wireless device corresponds to a first protocol data unit (PDU) group type or a second PDU group type; selecting, by a Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) entity of the wireless device, one or more of a plurality of Radio Link Control (RLC) entities of the wireless device based on whether the buffered data corresponds to the first PDU group type or the second PDU group type; and Submitting one or more packets of the PDU group corresponding to the buffered data to the one or more of the plurality of RLC entities selected by the PDCP entity.

16. The method according to claim 15 also includes performing conditional packet duplication by the PDCP entity of the wireless device, wherein when the buffered data corresponds to the first PDU group type, the PDCP entity submits a subset of the one or more packets of the PDU group or each of the one or more packets of the PDU group to at least two or more of the multiple RLC entities configured for corresponding data radio bearers (DRBs) for packet duplication.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein, for the conditional packet copy, when the buffered data corresponds to the first PDU group type, the PDCP entity submits a subset of the one or more packets of the PDU group or each of the one or more packets of the PDU group to each of the multiple RLC entities configured for the corresponding DRB for packet copy.

18. The method of claim 16, wherein, for the conditional packet copy, when the buffered data corresponds to the first PDU group type, the PDCP entity submits each of the one or more packets of the PDU group to a selected group of the plurality of RLC entities configured for the corresponding DRB for packet copy.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein the wireless device comprises a user equipment (UE), and wherein the method further comprises receiving, at the UE, an indication of the selected group from a base station.

20. The method of claim 16, wherein for the conditional packet duplication, when the buffered data corresponds to the second PDU group type, the PDCP entity submits at least one packet of the PDU group to only one RLC entity to avoid duplicating the at least one packet of the PDU group.

21. The method of claim 16, wherein, for the conditional packet replication, when the buffered data corresponds to the second PDU group type, the PDCP entity submits a subset of the one or more packets of the PDU group to the one or more of the multiple RLC entities configured for the corresponding DRB for packet replication.

22. The method according to claim 16 further includes receiving a signal for activating or deactivating PDCP replication for the corresponding DRB, wherein the signal also indicates whether the activation or the deactivation applies to the first PDU group type, the second PDU group type, or both the first PDU group type and the second PDU group type.

23. The method of claim 15, further comprising performing, by the PDCP entity of the wireless device, conditional RLC branch switching based on whether the buffered data corresponds to the first PDU group type or the second PDU group type, wherein the multiple RLC entities are associated with different logical channels (LCHs).

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the different LCHs are configured to have different parameters including at least one of different priorities and different LCH mapping restrictions.

25. The method according to claim 23, further comprising: when the buffered data corresponds to the first PDU group type, the PDCP entity submitting a subset of the one or more packets of the PDU group or each of the one or more packets of the PDU group to a first group of at least one RLC entity of the plurality of RLC entities; as well as When the buffered data corresponds to the second PDU group type, the PDCP entity submits each of the one or more packets of the PDU group to a second group of at least one RLC entity among the plurality of RLC entities.

26. The method of claim 25, wherein the first group partially overlaps with the second group.

27. The method of claim 15, further comprising determining whether the buffered data for transmission by the wireless device corresponds to the first PDU group type or the second PDU group type when a first packet of the PDU group arrives at a buffer of the wireless device.

28. The method of any one of claims 15 to 27, wherein the first PDU group type comprises an important PDU group of an extended reality (XR) traffic flow, and wherein the second PDU group type comprises a non-important PDU group of the XR traffic flow.

29. An apparatus comprising means for performing the method according to any one of claims 15 to 27.

30. A computer-readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform the method of any one of claims 15 to 27.

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