Scheduling request (SR) enhancements for 5G real-time augmented reality (XR) services

Abstract

A user equipment (UE) includes a transceiver and a processor configured to identify a plurality of streams corresponding to data to be transmitted in an uplink (UL) direction. The processor is also configured to map a subset of the plurality of streams to a logical channel (LCH) of a plurality of LCHs. The processor is further configured to multiplex two or more scheduling requests (SRs) into an integrated SR for requesting one or more physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources for each of the subset of the plurality of streams corresponding to at least one of the plurality of LCHs. Each SR included in the integrated SR corresponds to an SR of the data associated with at least one stream in the subset of the plurality of streams.

Description

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This Patent Cooperation Treaty patent application claims priority to U.S. non-provisional patent application No. 17 / 882,449, filed on August 5, 2022, and entitled “Scheduling Request (SR) Enhancements for 5G Real-Time Extended Reality (XR) Services,” the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety. Technical Field

[0003] The present application relates generally to wireless communication systems, including various enhanced methods and systems for scheduling requests (SR) for extended reality (XR) services such as 5G real-time XR services. Background Art

[0004] Wireless mobile communication technologies use various standards and protocols to send 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). ).

[0005] 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).

[0006] 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 as 5G RAT, 5G NR RAT, or NR in this document). In some deployments, E-UTRAN may also implement NR RAT. In some deployments, NG-RAN may also implement LTE RAT.

[0007] 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).

[0008] 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

[0009] 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.

[0010] Figure 1 An example wireless communication system is shown in accordance with embodiments described herein.

[0011] Figure 2 Example SR multiplexing according to embodiments described herein is illustrated.

[0012] Figure 3 A first example mapping of quality of service (QoS) flows of individual sub-flows of each individual SR based on an integrated SR to logical channels (LCHs) and corresponding integrated SRs according to embodiments described herein is illustrated.

[0013] Figure 4 A second example mapping of QoS flows of individual sub-flows of each individual SR based on an integrated SR to an LCH and a corresponding integrated SR according to embodiments described herein is illustrated.

[0014] Figure 5A third example mapping of QoS flows of individual sub-flows of each individual SR based on an integrated SR to an LCH and a corresponding integrated SR according to embodiments described herein is illustrated.

[0015] Figure 6 A fourth example mapping of QoS flows of individual sub-flows based on each individual SR of an integrated SR to LCHs and corresponding integrated SRs according to embodiments described herein is illustrated.

[0016] Figure 7 A fifth example mapping of QoS flows of individual sub-flows based on each individual SR of an integrated SR to LCHs and corresponding integrated SRs according to embodiments described herein is illustrated.

[0017] Figure 8 An example flow diagram illustrating operations that may be performed by user equipment according to the embodiments described herein.

[0018] Fig. 9 An example flow diagram illustrating operations that may be performed by a base station according to embodiments described herein.

[0019] Fig.10 An example architecture of a wireless communication system according to the embodiments described herein is illustrated.

[0020] Fig.11 A system for performing signaling between a wireless device and a network device according to embodiments described herein is illustrated. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0021] In the present disclosure, various embodiments relate to systems and methods for SR enhancement for XR services (referred to herein as "XR") or other special services (e.g., 5G real-time XR services). Specifically, various embodiments of SR enhancement for XR services as described herein may be related to XR-specific capacity improvements, including but not limited to providing efficient resource allocation and scheduling for XR service characteristics. As an example, XR service characteristics may be related to periodicity, various flows (e.g., call flows, quality of service (QoS) flows, etc.), jitter, latency, reliability, etc. Mechanisms such as semi-persistent scheduling (SPS), configuration grant (CG), dynamic scheduling, dynamic grant, etc. may be used to provide efficient resource allocation and scheduling. Various embodiments as described herein may also provide improvements to XR service-specific power saving techniques to adapt to XR service characteristics. In some embodiments, XR service-specific power saving techniques may be related to physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring enhancements and / or connected mode discontinuous reception (C-DRX) enhancements.

[0022] In recent studies in 3GPP, with the goal of XR awareness in the Radio Access Network (RAN), uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) XR service traffic characteristics, QoS metrics and / or application layer attributes are identified as beneficial to the base station, which can be used for XR service specific traffic handling.

[0023] In some embodiments, an example of XR service specific traffic handling may include a buffer status report (BSR) procedure used by a user equipment (UE) to provide information about the amount of data the UE wants to transmit to the base station in the UL direction. Based on the amount of data pending at the UE for transmission in the UL direction via a physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH), the base station may allocate a minimum amount of UL grants based on the availability of PUSCH resources in terms of resource blocks (RBs).

[0024] In some embodiments, the BSR process may use a 5-bit or 8-bit buffer size field to inform the base station of the amount of data from which the UE is requesting an UL grant from the base station. A 5-bit buffer size field may be used as described in Table 6.1.3.1-1 of 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.321, and an 8-bit buffer size field may be used as described in Table 6.1.3.1-2 of 3GPP TS 38.321. The buffer size field may identify the total amount of data for PUSCH transmission as calculated based on the data amount calculation process described in 3GPP TS 38.322 and 3GPP TS 38.323. After the medium access controller (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU) is established, the total amount of data may correspond to data across all logical channels (LCHs) of the LCH group. As a non-limiting example, after the LCH prioritization process, the value of the buffer size field may be zero. In some embodiments, the amount of data may be indicated in terms of the number of bytes. The 5-bit buffer size field may correspond to a short BSR format or a short truncated BSR format, and the 8-bit buffer size field may correspond to a long BSR format or a long truncated BSR format.

[0025] In some embodiments, for the long BSR format and / or the long truncated BSR format, the buffer size field may be included in ascending order based on the logical channel group (LCG) index. As a non-limiting example, for the long truncated BSR format, the number of buffer size fields included in the SR may be maximized without exceeding the number of padding bits.

[0026] In some embodiments, in a preemptive BSR procedure, the buffer size field may identify the total amount of data expected to arrive at the integrated access and backhaul mobile termination (IAB-MT) where the preemptive BSR procedure is triggered. The total amount of data expected to arrive at the IAB-MT may not include the amount of data currently available in the IAB-MT. In some embodiments, the preemptive BSR format may be identical to the long BSR format using an 8-bit buffer field.

[0027] Thus, various embodiments described herein may provide solutions for SR indication, SR indication optimization using, for example, SR multiplexing, payload concatenation, etc. In some embodiments, a single SR (or an integrated SR) may be generated from multiple SRs corresponding to one or more LCHs and / or one or more flows (e.g., call flows or QoS flows).

[0028] Reference will now be made specifically to the representative embodiments / aspects shown in the accompanying drawings. The following description is not intended to limit the embodiments to a preferred embodiment. On the contrary, it is intended to cover alternatives, combinations, modifications and equivalents that may be included within the spirit and scope of the embodiments defined by the appended claims.

[0029] Figure 1 An example wireless communication system according to the embodiments described herein is shown. Figure 1 As shown, the wireless communication system 100 may include base stations 102 and 104 and a UE 106. In some embodiments, the base stations 102 and / or 104 may be eNBs, eNodeBs, gNodeBs, or access points (APs) in a RAN, and may support one or more radio access technologies, such as 4G, 5G, 5G New Radio (5G NR), etc. The UE 106 may be a phone, a smartphone, a tablet, a smart watch, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, a vehicle, etc.

[0030] In some embodiments, the UE 106 may have data associated with a stream related to an XR service to be transmitted in the UL direction using the PUSCH. Thus, the UE may transmit an SR for an LCH or LCG to allocate one or more RBs corresponding to the amount of data associated with the stream related to the XR service to be transmitted in the UL direction. One or more bits may be used to indicate the amount of data to be transmitted in the UL direction for which RBs are requested to the base station 102 or 104. As a non-limiting example, a 5-bit or 8-bit buffer size field as described herein may be used for SR indication in some XR service scenarios.

[0031] As a non-limiting example, the UE 106 may have data associated with an XR service traffic corresponding to an audio stream and / or a data stream at a constant bit rate. Thus, the UE 106 may use the unit SR buffer size field for an SR indication. Similarly, for an XR service traffic corresponding to a pause / control stream (which may be a constant bit rate), the UE 106 may use the unit SR buffer size field for an SR indication. Upon receiving a unit SR indication, the base station may allocate RBs corresponding to a predetermined number of bytes of data to be transmitted in the UL direction. The predetermined number of bytes of data may be determined based on a constant bit rate consistent with the type of XR service traffic, such as an audio stream, a data stream, a pause / control stream, and / or other constant bit rate streams or scenarios.

[0032] However, the XR service traffic associated with the video stream may have a variable bit rate, and thus the UE 106 may use more than one bit, such as 5 bits or 8 bits, in the SR indication. In addition, the XR service traffic associated with the video stream may follow a distribution of data, such as according to a truncated Gaussian distribution format, and the SR indication may be optimized by indicating the buffer data size as a quantized buffer data size. The buffer data size may be quantized using a uniform quantizer and / or a non-uniform quantizer.

[0033] In some embodiments, the uniform quantizer can be based on the buffer data size associated with the SR configuration. For example, in an SR indication that uses 2 bits to convey the buffer data size, the value "00" can be used for buffer data sizes between [μ-σ / 2, μ+σ / 2], the value "01" can be used for buffer data sizes between [1, μ-σ / 2], the value "10" can be used for buffer data sizes between [μ+σ / 2, 1], and so on. Here, μ and σ can be configured in the SR configuration.

[0034] In some embodiments, the non-uniform quantizer can be based on a quantization step size specified by the base station 102 or 104 to the UE 106 in radio resource control (RRC) signaling and / or a medium access controller (MAC) control element (MAC CE). Therefore, as described herein, according to some embodiments, the SR indication can be optimized. Figure 2 The description corresponds to further improvements or enhancements to SR indications with respect to multiple SR indications associated with various call flows and / or data associated with different priorities.

[0035] Figure 2Example SR multiplexing according to embodiments described herein is illustrated. In some embodiments, a physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resource set or a PUCCH resource list may be used for the SR. As described herein, different flows may be associated with different SRs. Each of the different SRs may therefore be associated with a different amount of data or payload size. In addition, the UE may have data to be transmitted in the UL direction associated with one or more different flows (e.g., data flows, call flows, and / or QoS flows).

[0036] In some embodiments, the UE 106 may transmit an SR based on an SR configuration associated with an XR service scenario and / or a flow (such as a data flow, a call flow, and / or a QoS flow). The SR configuration may be associated with a PUCCH resource list including one or more PUCCH resources. The PUCCH resource from the PUCCH resource list may be selected based on the payload size. For example, as shown in diagram 200, SR configurations SR Config-1 202 and SR-Config-2 204 may be configured at the UE 106 by the base station 102 or 104. As a non-limiting example, SR Config-1 202 may include a PUCCH resource list including PUCCH resources PUCCH-1 202a and PUCCH-2 202b. Similarly, SR Configuration-2 may include a PUCCH resource list including PUCCH resources PUCCH-3 204a and PUCCH-4 204b. The UE may select PUCCH resources according to the payload size from an SR Config corresponding to a stream or an XR service scenario corresponding to data to be transmitted in the UL direction.

[0037] As described herein, data to be transmitted in the UL direction may be associated with different XR service scenarios. Thus, data to be transmitted in the UL direction may have different priorities; some data may have a higher priority than other data. In some embodiments, the UE may transmit SRs only for higher priority data and discard SRs for lower priority data.

[0038] In some embodiments, when the UE 106 has data associated with different priorities or flows to be transmitted in the UL direction, or in other words, in the event of a conflict between SRs associated with data of different priorities or flows to be transmitted to the base station 102 or 104, the SR may be selected based on the priority associated with the corresponding SR configuration. Additionally or alternatively, the priority associated with the PUCCH resources of the PUCCH resource list of the SR configuration may be used to select the PUCCH resources for the SR. As a non-limiting example, the priority may be determined based on the schedulingRequestID.

[0039] In some embodiments, multiple SRs may be multiplexed, and an integrated SR (or a single SR) may be generated by the UE 106 and sent to the base station 102 or 104. For example, based on the stream and / or payload size, the UE may have two SRs, SR-1 218 and SR-2 220, where the UE may select PUCCH resources, PUCCH-1 202a and PUCCH-3 204a, respectively. The UE may generate the integrated SR 208, where the UE 106 may select the PUCCH resource PUCCH-2 202b for the integrated SR 208. Thus, the UE may transmit the integrated SR 208 instead of two separate SRs 218 and 220. Even though the present disclosure describes multiplexing two SRs into the integrated SR, more than two SRs may be multiplexed into the integrated SR.

[0040] In some embodiments, when multiple SRs are multiplexed into an integrated SR, the payload or data corresponding to each of the multiple SRs integrated into the integrated SR may be concatenated based on, for example, an ascending or descending order of the schedulingRequestId of the SR or the schedulingRequestId of the master SR. As described herein, SRs 218 and 220 are integrated into an integrated SR 208 including a PUCCH resource PUCCH-2 202b, and SR-1 218 is the master SR of the integrated SR.

[0041] In some embodiments, when payloads from multiple SRs are cascaded as described herein, the payload size may be different for the same PUCCH resource, depending on whether positive SR-1, positive SR-2, and / or positive integrated SR is generated. However, in order to avoid the base station having to take additional steps to determine the payload size for the same PUCCH resource, a base station blind detection technique may be used. In one example, the base station blind detection technique may use a base station configuration. Additionally or alternatively, an SR (e.g., an integrated SR) may be split into two parts. As a non-limiting example, splitting the SR into two parts may be performed in a manner similar to splitting the channel state information (CSI) into two parts.

[0042] In some embodiments, the first portion of the split-into-two-part SR may include a bitmap indicating the presence or absence of the SR, and the second portion of the split-into-two-part SR may include the concatenated payloads of each SR associated with the integrated SR. For example, a bitmap value of "10" may indicate the presence of SR-1 alone, a bitmap value of "11" may indicate the presence of both SR-1 and SR-2, and so on.

[0043] In diagram 200, SR Config-3 206 including a PUCCH resource list of PUCCH resources PUCCH-5 206a, PUCCH-6 206b, and PUCCH-7 206c is also shown. Based on the flow and / or XR service scenario and the payload size, the UE 106 may select PUCCH resource PUCCH-5 206a for SR SR-3 210 (which has a host SR of SR-3 as described herein) as the PUCCH resource for the SR of SR Config-3 206 belonging to SR-3 210.

[0044] Thus, in some embodiments, when the UE 106 multiplexes multiple SRs, the UE may multiplex the SRs in multiple stages. For example, in a first stage, SR-1 218 and SR-2 220 may be multiplexed into the integrated SR 208, and subsequently SR-3 210 may also be multiplexed into the integrated SR with SR-1 218 and SR-2 220. Thus, a bitmap for two-part SRs may be used to present the order of multiplexing (e.g., a multiplexing history of SRs). For example, the multiplexing history of SRs may be presented in a bitmap using the priority of the host-SRs. For example, the first part of the two-part SR 212 may be represented in the bitmap as [11b2] 214 when the priority associated with SR-3 210 is higher than the priority associated with the host SR SR-1 218, or as [1b21] 216 when the priority associated with the host SR SR-1 218 is higher than the priority associated with the host SR SR-3 210.

[0045] Therefore, as described herein according to some embodiments, in addition to a 1-bit SR, the SR may use multiple bits (e.g., 2 or more bits) to report finer granularity or additional information corresponding to the LCH or LCG associated with the SR. Using multiple bits for the SR may require additional changes at the physical (PHY) layer.

[0046] Additionally or alternatively, multiple SRs may be mapped as a group to construct a composite SR (e.g., a single SR or an integrated SR). Each SR mapped to the integrated SR may be a 1-bit SR, and the integrated SR may convey more information by extending the number of bits from each 1-bit SR.

[0047] In some embodiments, and as a non-limiting example, a group of 1-bit SRs (e.g., an integrated SR) can be associated with the same LCH or LCG, and different SRs in the group of 1-bit SRs can be associated with different priorities, different XR service traffic flows, and / or different QoS flows, thereby allowing for more fine-grained prioritization and / or identification / association of XR service traffic flows, and improved resource allocation. For example, a group of SRs can be linked to an LCH associated with multiple QoS flows, and each QoS flow can use its own SR. In addition, the SR priority of each LCH or LCG can be assigned by the network in such a way that an LCH or LCG with sub-flows that need further prioritization can utilize separate SR resources for each sub-flow. In some embodiments, a table describing the mapping of QoS flows to SRs can be used, as configured by the network and / or base station. Figures 3 to 7 Such mapping of QoS flows of individual sub-flows of each individual SR based on the integrated SR to the LCH and the corresponding integrated SR is described.

[0048] Figure 3A first example mapping of QoS flows to LCHs and corresponding integrated SRs based on individual sub-flows of each individual SR of an integrated SR according to some embodiments is illustrated. As shown in diagram 300, various QoS flows (such as QoS flow 1 302, QoS flow 2 304, QoS flow 3 306, QoS flow 4 308, QoS flow 5 310, QoS flow 6 312, QoS flow 7 314, QoS flow 8 316, and QoS flow 9 318) can be mapped to different LCHs. For example, QoS flow 1 302, QoS flow 2 304, and QoS flow 3 306 can be mapped to LCHLCH1 320. Similarly, QoS flow 4 308 and QoS flow 5 310 can be mapped to LCH LCH2 322, and QoS flow 6 312 and QoS flow 7 314 can be mapped to LCH LCH3 324. Here, QoS flows 1 to 7 are sub-flows of their respective LCHs. QoS Flow 8 316 and QoS Flow 9 318 are mapped to LCH LCH4 326 and LCH LCH5 328 as separate flows rather than as sub-flows in the SR.

[0049] As shown in diagram 300, multiple SRs may be present based on the data to be transmitted in the UL direction. Thus, an SR scheduling request 330 may be generated by a UE associated with LCH1 320 and LCH2 322.

[0050] The scheduling request 330 may be based on a plurality of SRs corresponding to various sub-flows, such as QoS flow 1 302, QoS flow 2 304, and QoS flow 3 306 associated with LCH LCH1 320, and QoS flow 4 308 and QoS flow 5 310 associated with LCH LCH2 322. The scheduling request 330 may be identified based on an ID of SchedulingRequestConfig identifying a scheduling request configuration associated with one or more of the plurality of LCHs. In addition, one or more PUCCH resources included in the integrated SR 330 as SR group 1 338 may be identified by an identification of a scheduling resource on the PUCCH configured in the PUCCH-Config, such as schedulingRequestResourceId 1 338a, schedulingRequestResourceId 2 338b, and schedulingRequestResourceId3 338c.

[0051] The scheduling request 332 may be identified based on multiple SRs corresponding to various sub-flows, such as QoS flow 6 312 and QoS flow 7 314 associated with LCH LCH3 324, and based on an ID of SchedulingRequestConfig identifying a scheduling request configuration associated with one or more of the multiple LCHs. In addition, one or more PUCCH resources included in the integrated SR 332 as SR group 2 340 may be identified by an identification of a scheduling resource on the PUCCH configured in the PUCCH-Config, such as schedulingRequestResourceId 4 340a and schedulingRequestResourceId 5 340b.

[0052] SR 334 and SR 336 may each correspond to LCH LCH3 326 and 328, respectively, but are not integrated with other SRs corresponding to other flows, but are transmitted as separate SRs 342 and 344, respectively, including a single PUCCH resource identified as schedulingRequestResourceld 6 342a and schedulingRequestResourceld 7 344a.

[0053] In some embodiments, each QoS flow mapped to the LCH may have the same or different priority, and their corresponding SRs in the integrated SR may be ordered based on the priority associated with the QoS flows.

[0054] Figure 4 A second example mapping of QoS flows to LCHs and corresponding integrated SRs based on individual sub-flows of each individual SR of an integrated SR according to some embodiments is illustrated. As shown in diagram 400, various QoS flows (such as QoS flow 1 402, QoS flow 2 404, QoS flow 3 406, QoS flow 4 408, QoS flow 5 410, QoS flow 6 412, QoS flow 7 414, QoS flow 8 416, and QoS flow 9 418) can be mapped to different LCHs. For example, QoS flow 1 402, QoS flow 2 404, and QoS flow 3 406 can be mapped to LCHLCH1 420. Similarly, QoS flow 4 408 and QoS flow 5 410 can be mapped to LCH LCH2 422, and QoS flow 6 412 and QoS flow 7 414 can be mapped to LCH LCH3 424. Here, QoS flows 1 to 7 are sub-flows of their respective LCHs. QoS Flow 8 416 and QoS Flow 9 418 are mapped to LCH LCH4 426 and LCH LCH5 428, respectively, as separate flows rather than as sub-flows in the SR.

[0055] As shown in diagram 400, multiple SRs may be present based on the data to be transmitted in the UL direction. Thus, an SR scheduling request 430 may be generated by a UE associated with LCH1 420 and LCH2 422.

[0056] The scheduling request 430 may be based on a plurality of SRs corresponding to various sub-flows, such as QoS flow 1 402, QoS flow 2 404, and QoS flow 3 406 associated with LCH LCH1 420, and QoS flow 4 408 and QoS flow 5 410 associated with LCH LCH2 422. The scheduling request 430 may be identified based on SchedulingRequestConfig, which identifies dedicated SR resources configured via MAC-CellGroupConfig associated with one or more of the plurality of LCHs. In addition, one or more PUCCH resources included in the integrated SR 430 as SR group 1 438 may be identified by an identification of the SR configuration to which the logical channel is mapped, such as schedulingRequestId1 438a, schedulingRequestId 2 438b, and schedulingRequestId 3 438c.

[0057] The scheduling request 432 may be based on multiple SRs corresponding to respective sub-flows (such as QoS flow 6 412 and QoS flow 7 414 associated with LCH LCH3 424) and may be identified based on an ID of a SchedulingRequestConfig that identifies a dedicated SR resource configured via a MAC-CellGroupConfig associated with one or more of the multiple LCHs. In addition, one or more PUCCH resources included in the integrated SR 432 as SR group 2 440 may be identified by an identification of the SR configuration to which the logical channel is mapped (such as schedulingRequestId4 440a and schedulingRequestId 5 440b).

[0058] SR 434 and SR 436 may each correspond to LCH LCH3 426 and 428, respectively, but are not integrated with other SRs corresponding to other flows, but are transmitted as separate SRs 442 and 444, respectively, including a single PUCCH resource identified as RequestId 6 442a and schedulingRequestId 7 444a.

[0059] In some embodiments, each QoS flow mapped to the LCH may have the same or different priority, and their corresponding SRs in the integrated SR may be ordered based on the priority associated with the QoS flows.

[0060] Figure 5 A third example mapping of QoS flows to LCHs and corresponding integrated SRs based on individual sub-flows of each individual SR of an integrated SR according to some embodiments is illustrated. As shown in diagram 500, various QoS flows (such as QoS flow 1 502, QoS flow 2 504, QoS flow 3 506, QoS flow 4 508, QoS flow 5 510, QoS flow 6 512, QoS flow 7 514, QoS flow 8 516, and QoS flow 9 518) can be mapped to different LCHs. For example, QoS flow 1 502, QoS flow 2 504, and QoS flow 3 506 can be mapped to LCHLCH1 520. Similarly, QoS flow 4 508 and QoS flow 5 510 can be mapped to LCH LCH2 522, and QoS flow 6 512 and QoS flow 7 514 can be mapped to LCH LCH3 524. Here, QoS flows 1 to 7 are sub-flows of their respective LCHs. QoS Flow 8 516 and QoS Flow 9 518 are mapped to LCH LCH4 526 and LCH LCH5 528, respectively, as separate flows rather than as sub-flows in the SR.

[0061] As shown in diagram 500 , multiple SRs may be present based on the data to be transmitted in the UL direction. Thus, an SR scheduling request 530 (or a set of SRs 530 ) may be generated by a UE associated with LCH1 520 and LCH2 522 .

[0062] The scheduling request 530 may be based on multiple SRs corresponding to various sub-flows, such as QoS flow 1 502 , QoS flow 2 504 , and QoS flow 3 506 associated with LCH LCH1 520 , and QoS flow 4 508 and QoS flow 5 510 associated with LCH LCH2 522 . One or more PUCCH resources included in SR 530 may be identified by a scheduling request configuration applicable to a logical channel described in LogicalChannelConfig (such as SchedulingRequestId 1 530a, SchedulingRequestId 2 530b, and SchedulingRequestId 3 530c), which scheduling request configurations have corresponding mappings (e.g., 1:1 mapping) with identifiers of scheduling resources on the PUCCH configured in PUCCH-Config (such as SchedulingRequestResourceId 1 530d, SchedulingRequestResourceId 2 530e, and SchedulingRequestResouceId 3 530f), respectively.

[0063] The scheduling request 532 may be based on multiple SRs corresponding to various sub-flows, such as QoS flow 6 512 and QoS flow 7 514 associated with LCH LCH3 524. One or more PUCCH resources included in the SR 532 may be identified by a scheduling request configuration applicable to a logical channel described in LogicalChannelConfig, such as SchedulingRequestId4 532a and SchedulingRequestId 5 532b, which have corresponding mappings (e.g., 1:1 mapping) with identifications of scheduling resources on the PUCCH configured in PUCCH-Config, such as SchedulingRequestResourceId 4 532c and SchedulingRequestResourceId 5 532d, respectively.

[0064] SR 534 and SR 536 may each correspond to LCH LCH3 526 and 528, respectively, but are not integrated with other SRs corresponding to other streams, but are transmitted as separate SRs 534 and 536, respectively, including a single PUCCH resource identified by a scheduling request configuration applicable to the logical channel described in LogicalChannelConfig (such as SchedulingRequestId6 534a and SchedulingRequestId 7 536a), and have corresponding mappings (e.g., 1:1 mapping) with the identifiers of the scheduling resources on the PUCCH configured in PUCCH-Config (such as SchedulingRequestResourceId 6 534b and SchedulingRequestResourceId7 536b), respectively.

[0065] In some embodiments, each QoS flow mapped to the LCH may have the same or different priority, and their corresponding SRs in the integrated SR may be ordered based on the priority associated with the QoS flow. In addition, a 1:1 mapping of the PUCCH resources identified by the Scheduling Request Configuration Application to the logical channels described in LogicalChannelConfig and the identification of the scheduled resources on the PUCCH configured in PUCCHConfig is based on their respective priorities at the PHY level.

[0066] Figure 6 A fourth example mapping of QoS flows to LCHs and corresponding integrated SRs based on individual sub-flows of each individual SR of an integrated SR according to some embodiments is illustrated. As shown in diagram 600, various QoS flows (such as QoS flow 1 602, QoS flow 2 604, QoS flow 3 606, QoS flow 4 608, QoS flow 5 610, QoS flow 6 612, QoS flow 7 614, QoS flow 8 616, and QoS flow 9 618) can be mapped to different LCHs. For example, QoS flow 1 602, QoS flow 2 604, and QoS flow 3 606 can be mapped to LCHLCH1 620. Similarly, QoS flow 4 608 and QoS flow 5 610 can be mapped to LCH LCH2 622, and QoS flow 6 612 and QoS flow 7 614 can be mapped to LCH LCH3 624. Here, QoS flows 1 to 7 are sub-flows of their respective LCHs. QoS Flow 8 616 and QoS Flow 9 618 are mapped to LCH LCH4 626 and LCH LCH5 628, respectively, as separate flows rather than as sub-flows in the SR.

[0067] As shown in diagram 600 , multiple SRs may be present based on the data to be transmitted in the UL direction. Thus, an SR scheduling request 630 (or a set of SRs 630 ) may be generated by a UE associated with LCH1 620 and LCH2 622 .

[0068] The scheduling request 630 may be based on multiple SRs corresponding to various sub-flows, such as QoS Flow 1 602 , QoS Flow 2 604 , and QoS Flow 3 606 associated with LCH LCH1 620 , and QoS Flow 4 608 and QoS Flow 5 610 associated with LCH LCH2 622 . One or more PUCCH resources included in SR 630 may be identified by a scheduling request configuration applicable to a logical channel described in LogicalChannelConfig (such as SchedulingRequestId 1 630a, SchedulingRequestId 2 630b, and SchedulingRequestId 3 630c), which scheduling request configurations respectively have corresponding mappings (e.g., M:1 mappings) with identifiers of scheduling resources on the PUCCH configured in PUCCH-Config (such as SchedulingRequestResourceId 1 630d, SchedulingRequestResourceId 2 630e, and SchedulingRequestResouceId 3 630f).

[0069] The scheduling request 632 may be based on multiple SRs corresponding to various sub-flows, such as QoS flow 6 612 and QoS flow 7 614 associated with LCH LCH3 624. One or more PUCCH resources included in the SR 632 may be identified by a scheduling request configuration applicable to a logical channel described in LogicalChannelConfig, such as SchedulingRequestId4 632a and SchedulingRequestId 5 632b, which have corresponding mappings (e.g., M:1 mappings) with identifications of scheduling resources on the PUCCH configured in PUCCH-Config, such as SchedulingRequestResourceId 4 632c and SchedulingRequestResourceId 5 632d, respectively.

[0070] SR 634 and SR 636 may each correspond to LCH LCH3 626 and 628, respectively, but are not integrated with other SRs corresponding to other streams, but are transmitted as separate SRs 634 and 636, respectively, including a single PUCCH resource identified by a scheduling request configuration applicable to the logical channel described in LogicalChannelConfig (such as SchedulingRequestId6 634a and SchedulingRequestId 7 636a), and have corresponding mappings (e.g., M:1 mappings) with the identifiers of the scheduling resources on the PUCCH configured in PUCCH-Config (such as SchedulingRequestResourceId 6 634b and SchedulingRequestResourceId7 636b), respectively.

[0071] In some embodiments, each QoS flow mapped to the LCH may have the same or different priority, and their corresponding SRs in the integrated SR may be ordered based on the priority associated with the QoS flow. In addition, the M:1 mapping of the PUCCH resources identified by the Scheduling Request Configuration Application to the logical channels described in LogicalChannelConfig and the scheduling resources on the PUCCH configured in PUCCHConfig is based on their corresponding priorities at the PHY level.

[0072] Figure 7 A fifth example mapping of QoS flows to LCHs and corresponding integrated SRs based on individual sub-flows of each individual SR of an integrated SR according to some embodiments is illustrated. As shown in diagram 700, various QoS flows (such as QoS flow 1 702, QoS flow 2 704, QoS flow 3 706, QoS flow 4 708, QoS flow 5 710, QoS flow 6 712, QoS flow 7 714, QoS flow 8 716, and QoS flow 9 718) can be mapped to different LCHs. For example, QoS flow 1 702, QoS flow 2 704, and QoS flow 3 706 can be mapped to LCHLCH1 720. Similarly, QoS flow 4 708 and QoS flow 5 710 can be mapped to LCH LCH2 722, and QoS flow 6 712 and QoS flow 7 714 can be mapped to LCH LCH3 724. Here, QoS flows 1 to 7 are sub-flows of their respective LCHs. QoS Flow 8 716 and QoS Flow 9 718 are mapped to LCH LCH4 726 and LCH LCH5 728, respectively, as separate flows rather than as sub-flows in the SR.

[0073] As shown in diagram 700 , multiple SRs may be present based on the data to be transmitted in the UL direction. Thus, an SR scheduling request 730 (or a set of SRs 730 ) may be generated by a UE associated with LCH1 720 and LCH2 722 .

[0074] The scheduling request 730 may be based on multiple SRs corresponding to various sub-flows, such as QoS flow 1 702 , QoS flow 2 704 , and QoS flow 3 706 associated with LCH LCH1 720 , and QoS flow 4 708 and QoS flow 5 710 associated with LCH LCH2 722 . One or more PUCCH resources included in SR 730 may be identified by a scheduling request configuration applicable to a logical channel described in LogicalChannelConfig (such as SchedulingRequestId 1 730a, SchedulingRequestId 2 730b, and SchedulingRequestId 3 730c), which scheduling request configurations have corresponding mappings (e.g., 1:1 or M:1 mappings) with identifiers of scheduling resources on the PUCCH configured in PUCCH-Config (such as SchedulingRequestResourceId 1 730d, SchedulingRequestResourceId 2 730e, and SchedulingRequestResouceId 3 730f), respectively.

[0075] The scheduling request 732 may be based on multiple SRs corresponding to various sub-flows, such as QoS flow 6 712 and QoS flow 7 714 associated with LCH LCH3 724. One or more PUCCH resources included in the SR 732 may be identified by a scheduling request configuration applicable to a logical channel described in LogicalChannelConfig, such as SchedulingRequestId4 732a and SchedulingRequestId 5 732b, which have corresponding mappings (e.g., 1:1 or M:1 mappings) with identifications of scheduling resources on the PUCCH configured in PUCCH-Config, such as SchedulingRequestResourceId 4 732c and SchedulingRequestResourceId 5 732d, respectively.

[0076] SR 734 and SR 736 may each correspond to LCH LCH3 726 and 728, respectively, but are not integrated with other SRs corresponding to other streams, but are transmitted as separate SRs 734 and 736, respectively, including a single PUCCH resource identified by a scheduling request configuration applicable to the logical channel described in LogicalChannelConfig (such as SchedulingRequestId6 734a and SchedulingRequestId 7 736a), and have corresponding mappings (e.g., 1:1 or M:1 mappings) with the identifiers of the scheduling resources on the PUCCH configured in PUCCH-Config (such as SchedulingRequestResourceId 6 734b and SchedulingRequestResourceId 7736b), respectively.

[0077] In some embodiments, each QoS flow mapped to the LCH may have the same or different priority, and their corresponding SRs in the integrated SR may be ordered based on the priority associated with the QoS flow. In addition, the 1:1 or M:1 mapping of the PUCCH resources identified by the Scheduling Request Configuration Application to the logical channels described by the LogicalChannelConfig and the identification of the scheduled resources on the PUCCH configured in the PUCCHConfig may not be based on priority linkage at the PHY level.

[0078] Figure 8 An example flow chart illustrating operations that may be performed by a user equipment according to an embodiment described herein is illustrated. As shown in flowchart 800, at 802, the UE may identify multiple streams corresponding to data to be transmitted in an uplink (UL) direction. As described herein, the data to be transmitted in the UL direction may be associated with various streams, such as various XR service traffic flows and / or QoS flows. Thus, the data to be transmitted in the UL direction may have different priorities corresponding to their respective XR service traffic flows and / or QoS flows. As a non-limiting example, the term XR service in the present disclosure may relate to virtual reality and / or augmented reality, etc.

[0079] At 804, the UE may map a subset of the plurality of streams to a logical channel of the plurality of logical channels. Figures 3 to 7 As shown, a subset of flows (eg, QoS flow 1, QoS flow 2, and QoS flow 3) among the plurality of flows (QoS flows 1 to 9) may be mapped to LCH LCH1.

[0080] At 806, the UE may multiplex two or more scheduling requests (SRs) into an integrated SR (or composite SR) to form a set of SRs for requesting one or more physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources for each stream in a subset of a plurality of streams corresponding to at least one of the plurality of logical channels. Each SR included in the integrated SR may correspond to a scheduling request for data associated with at least one stream in the subset of the plurality of streams. Although reference is made to the use of Figures 3 to 7 The various embodiments described in detail describe multiplexing two or more SRs into an integrated SR, but for the sake of brevity, the multiplexing of SRs will not be described again.

[0081] Fig. 9 An example flow chart illustrating operations that may be performed by a base station according to embodiments described herein. As shown in flow chart 900, at 902, a base station may send a configuration describing a scheduling request (SR) priority associated with at least one logical channel of a plurality of logical channels to a user equipment (UE). The at least one logical channel may be associated with a plurality of streams or one or more streams mapped thereto.

[0082] At 904, the base station may receive a single scheduling request (SR) (or a composite SR or an integrated SR) from the UE for requesting one or more physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources corresponding to multiple streams or one or more streams of at least one logical channel. As described herein, according to some embodiments, the integrated SR may include multiple SRs, and each SR included in the integrated SR may correspond to an SR for UL transmission of data associated with each of the multiple streams. Therefore, the first SR and the second SR included in the integrated SR may have different priorities based on their respective streams.

[0083] Therefore, the various embodiments described herein may provide improvements or enhancements to SR in various XR service scenarios.

[0084] Embodiments contemplated herein include one or more non-transitory computer-readable media storing 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 800 or 900. In the context of method 800, the non-transitory computer-readable medium may be, for example, a memory of a UE (such as memory 1106 of wireless device 1102 as a UE, as described herein). In the context of method 900, the non-transitory computer-readable medium may be, for example, a memory of a base station (such as memory 1124 of network device 1120 as a base station, as described herein).

[0085] Embodiments contemplated herein include an apparatus having logical components, modules, or circuits for performing one or more elements of method 800 or 900. In the context of method 800, the apparatus may be, for example, an apparatus of a UE (such as wireless device 1102 as a UE, as described herein). In the context of method 900, the apparatus may be, for example, an apparatus of a base station (such as network device 1120 as a base station, as described herein).

[0086] Embodiments contemplated herein include an apparatus having one or more processors and one or more computer-readable media that use or store instructions that, when executed by the one or more processors, cause the one or more processors to perform one or more elements of method 800 or 900. In the context of method 800, the apparatus may be, for example, an apparatus of a UE (such as wireless device 1102 as a UE, as described herein). In the context of method 900, the apparatus may be, for example, an apparatus of a base station (such as network device 1120 as a base station, as described herein).

[0087] Embodiments contemplated herein include signals as described in or associated with one or more elements of method 800 or 900 .

[0088] Embodiments contemplated herein include a computer program or computer program product having instructions, wherein execution of the program by a processor causes the processor to perform one or more elements of method 800 or 900. In the context of method 800, the processor may be a processor of a UE (such as processor 1104 of wireless device 1102 as a UE, as described herein), and the instructions may be located, for example, in the processor and / or on a memory of the UE (such as memory 1106 of wireless device 1102 as a UE, as described herein). In the context of method 900, the processor may be a processor of a base station (such as processor 1122 of network device 1120 as a base station, as described herein), and the instructions may be located, for example, in the processor and / or on a memory of the base station (such as memory 1124 of network device 1120 as a base station, as described herein).

[0089] Fig.10 An example architecture of a wireless communication system according to the embodiments described herein is illustrated. The description provided below is for an example wireless communication system 1000 operating in conjunction with the LTE system standard and / or the 5G or NR system standard provided in the 3GPP technical specifications.

[0090] like Fig.10As shown, the wireless communication system 1000 includes UE 1002 and UE 1004 (although any number of UEs may be used). In this example, UE 1002 and UE 1004 are illustrated 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.

[0091] UE 1002 and UE 1004 may be configured to be communicatively coupled with RAN 1006. In an embodiment, RAN 1006 may be NG-RAN, E-UTRAN, etc. UE 1002 and UE 1004 utilize connections (or channels) (shown as connection 1008 and connection 1010, respectively) with RAN 1006, where each connection (or channel) includes a physical communication interface. RAN 1006 may include one or more base stations, such as base station 1012 and base station 1014, to implement connection 1008 and connection 1010.

[0092] In this example, connection 1008 and connection 1010 are air interfaces that enable such communicative coupling and may conform to the RAT used by RAN 1006, such as, for example, LTE and / or NR.

[0093] In some embodiments, UE 1002 and UE 1004 may also directly exchange communication data via side link interface 1016. UE 1004 is shown as being configured to access an access point (shown as AP 1018) via connection 1020. By way of example, connection 1020 may include a local wireless connection, such as a connection conforming to any IEEE 802.11 protocol, wherein AP 1018 may include In this example, AP 1018 may not be connected to another network (eg, the Internet) through CN 1024.

[0094] In an embodiment, UE 1002 and UE 1004 may be configured to communicate with each other or with base station 1012 and / or base station 1014 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.

[0095] In some embodiments, all or part of base station 1012 or base station 1014 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, base station 1012 or base station 1014 may be configured to communicate with each other via interface 1022. In an embodiment where wireless communication system 1000 is an LTE system (e.g., when CN 1024 is EPC), interface 1022 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 EPC and / or between two eNBs connected to EPC. In an embodiment where wireless communication system 1000 is an NR system (e.g., when CN 1024 is 5GC), interface 1022 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 5GC, between base station 1012 (e.g., gNB) and eNB connected to 5GC, and / or between two eNBs connected to 5GC (e.g., CN 1024).

[0096] The RAN 1006 is shown as being communicatively coupled to the CN 1024. The CN 1024 may include one or more network elements 1026 configured to provide various data and telecommunication services to customers / subscribers (e.g., UE 1002 and users of UE 1004) connected to the CN 1024 via the RAN 1006. The components of the CN 1024 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).

[0097] In an embodiment, CN 1024 may be an EPC, and RAN 1006 may be connected to CN 1024 via an S1 interface 1028. In an embodiment, S1 interface 1028 may be divided into two parts: an S1 user plane (S1-U) interface, which carries traffic data between base station 1012 or base station 1014 and a serving gateway (S-GW); and an S1-MME interface, which is a signaling interface between base station 1012 or base station 1014 and a mobility management entity (MME).

[0098] In an embodiment, CN 1024 may be a 5GC, and RAN 1006 may be connected to CN 1024 via an NG interface 1028. In an embodiment, NG interface 1028 may be divided into two parts: an NG user plane (NG-U) interface, which carries traffic data between base station 1012 or base station 1014 and a user plane function (UPF); and an S1 control plane (NG-C) interface, which is a signaling interface between base station 1012 or base station 1014 and an access and mobility management function (AMF).

[0099] In general, the application server 1030 may be an element that provides applications that use Internet Protocol (IP) bearer resources with the CN 1024 (e.g., packet-switched data services). The application server 1030 may also be configured to support one or more communication services (e.g., VoIP sessions, group communication sessions, etc.) for the UE 1002 and UE 1004 via the CN 1024. The application server 1030 may communicate with the CN 1024 via the IP communication interface 1032.

[0100] Fig.11 A system 1100 for performing signaling 1138 between a wireless device 1102 and a network device 1120 according to embodiments described herein is illustrated. The system 1100 may be part of a wireless communication system as described herein. The wireless device 1102 may be, for example, a UE of a wireless communication system. The network device 1120 may be, for example, a base station (e.g., an eNB or a gNB) of a wireless communication system.

[0101] The wireless device 1102 may include one or more processors 1104. The processor 1104 may execute instructions to cause various operations of the wireless device 1102 to be performed, as described herein. The processor 1104 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 for performing the operations described herein.

[0102] The wireless device 1102 may include a memory 1106. The memory 1106 may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium storing instructions 1108 (which may include, for example, instructions executed by the processor 1104). The instructions 1108 may also be referred to as program code or a computer program. The memory 1106 may also store data used by the processor 1104 and results calculated by the processor.

[0103] The wireless device 1102 may include one or more transceivers 1110, which may include radio frequency (RF) transmitters and / or receiver circuits that use an antenna 1112 of the wireless device 1102 to facilitate signaling (e.g., signaling 1138) to and / or from the wireless device 1102 with other devices (e.g., network device 1120) in accordance with a corresponding RAT.

[0104] The wireless device 1102 may include one or more antennas 1112 (e.g., one, two, four, or more). For implementations with multiple antennas 1112, the wireless device 1102 may take advantage of the spatial diversity of these multiple antennas 1112 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). The MIMO transmission by the wireless device 1102 may be implemented based on precoding (or digital beamforming) applied to the wireless device 1102, which multiplexes the data streams between the antennas 1112 based on known or assumed channel characteristics, so that each data stream is received with appropriate signal strength relative to the other streams and at a desired position in the spatial domain (e.g., the position of the receiver associated with the data stream). Some 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).

[0105] In some embodiments with multiple antennas, the wireless device 1102 may implement analog beamforming techniques whereby the phases of signals transmitted by antennas 1112 are relatively adjusted so that the (joint) transmissions of antennas 1112 may be directional (this is sometimes referred to as beam steering).

[0106] The wireless device 1102 may include one or more interfaces 1114. The interface 1114 may be used to provide input or output to the wireless device 1102. For example, a wireless device 1102 as a UE may include an interface 1114, such as a microphone, a speaker, a touch screen, buttons, etc., to allow a user of the UE to input and / or output to the UE. Other interfaces of such a UE may be composed of transmitters, receivers, and other circuits (for example, in addition to the transceiver 1110 / antenna 1112 described above), which allow the UE to communicate with other devices and may communicate according to known protocols (for example, etc.) to perform the operation.

[0107] The wireless device 1102 may include an SR module 1116. The SR module 1116 may be implemented via hardware, software, or a combination thereof. For example, the SR module 1116 may be implemented as a processor, circuit, and / or instructions 1108 stored in the memory 1106 and executed by the processor 1104. In some examples, the SR module 1116 may be integrated within the processor 1104 and / or the transceiver 1110. For example, the SR module 1116 may be implemented by a combination of software components (e.g., executed by a DSP or general purpose processor) and hardware components (e.g., logic gates and circuit systems) within the processor 1104 or the transceiver 1110.

[0108] From the perspective of the UE, the SR module 1116 may be used in various aspects of the present disclosure, for example, Figures 1 to 9 all aspects.

[0109] The network device 1120 may include one or more processors 1122. The processor 1122 may execute instructions to cause various operations of the network device 1120 to be performed, as described herein. The processor 1122 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.

[0110] The network device 1120 may include a memory 1124. The memory 1124 may be a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium that stores instructions 1126 (which may include, for example, instructions executed by the processor 1122). The instructions 1126 may also be referred to as program code or a computer program. The memory 1124 may also store data used by the processor 1122 and results calculated by the processor.

[0111] The network device 1120 may include one or more transceivers 1128, which may include RF transmitter and / or receiver circuits that use an antenna 1130 of the network device 1120 to facilitate signaling (e.g., signaling 1138) to and / or from the network device 1120 with other devices (e.g., wireless device 1102) in accordance with a corresponding RAT.

[0112] The network device 1120 may include one or more antennas 1130 (e.g., one, two, four, or more). In embodiments with multiple antennas 1130, the network device 1120 may perform MIMO, digital beamforming, analog beamforming, beam steering, etc. as described.

[0113] The network device 1120 may include one or more interfaces 1132. The interface 1132 may be used to provide input to or output from the network device 1120. For example, the network device 1120 as a base station may include an interface 1132 composed of a transmitter, a receiver, and other circuits (e.g., in addition to the transceiver 1128 / antenna 1130 described above), which enables the base station to communicate with other equipment in the network and / or enables the base station to communicate with an external network, computer, database, etc., in order to achieve the purpose of performing operations, management, and maintenance of the base station or other equipment operably connected to the base station.

[0114] The network device 1120 may include an SR module 1134. The SR module 1134 may be implemented via hardware, software, or a combination thereof. For example, the SR module 1134 may be implemented as a processor, circuit, and / or instructions 1126 stored in the memory 1124 and executed by the processor 1122. In some examples, the SR module 1134 may be integrated within the processor 1122 and / or the transceiver 1128. For example, the SR module 1134 may be implemented by a combination of software components (e.g., executed by a DSP or general purpose processor) and hardware components (e.g., logic gates and circuits) within the processor 1122 or the transceiver 1128.

[0115] From the perspective of the base station, the SR module 1134 may be used in various aspects of the present disclosure, for example, Figures 1 to 9 all aspects.

[0116] 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.

[0117] 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 limit the scope of the embodiments to the precise form described. In view of the above teachings, modifications and variations are possible, or modifications and variations can be obtained from the practice of various embodiments.

[0118] 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.

[0119] The systems described herein relate to specific embodiments, but are provided as examples. These embodiments may be combined into a single system, partially combined into other systems, divided 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 recognized that unless explicitly stated herein, these parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. may be combined with or substituted for parameters, attributes, aspects, etc. of another embodiment.

[0120] 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.

[0121] Although the foregoing has been described in considerable detail for the sake of clarity, it will be apparent that 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 user equipment (UE), the user equipment (UE) comprising: Transceiver; and A processor, the processor being configured to: identifying a plurality of streams corresponding to data to be transmitted in an uplink (UL) direction; mapping a subset of the plurality of streams to a logical channel of a plurality of logical channels; as well as Two or more scheduling requests (SRs) are multiplexed into an integrated SR for requesting one or more physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources for each stream in the subset of the multiple streams corresponding to at least one of the multiple logical channels, wherein each SR included in the integrated SR corresponds to a scheduling request for the data associated with at least one stream in the subset of the multiple streams.

2. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the SR included in the integrated SR carries 1 bit of information corresponding to a payload size of the data associated with a stream in the subset of the multiple streams, the stream in the subset of the multiple streams corresponding to a stream of a constant bit rate. 3 . The UE of claim 1 , wherein a first SR included in the integrated SR has a priority different from that of a second SR included in the integrated SR.

4. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the processor is configured to select the one or more PUCCH resources for the SR included in the integrated SR according to each stream in the subset of the multiple streams based on a payload size of the data associated with each stream in the subset of the multiple streams. 5 . The UE of claim 4 , wherein the processor is configured to concatenate the data associated with more than one stream in the subset of the plurality of streams according to a particular criterion.

6. The UE of claim 5, wherein the specific criterion is an ascending order of SR identification (SR ID) of each SR configuration associated with each stream in the subset of the plurality of streams.

7. The UE of claim 1 , wherein the SR included in the integrated SR carries more than one bit of information corresponding to a payload size of the data associated with a stream in the subset of the multiple streams, the stream in the subset of the multiple streams corresponding to a variable bit rate stream.

8. The UE of claim 1, wherein the SR included in the integrated SR is related to a stream in the subset of the plurality of streams, and the stream in the subset of the plurality of streams is related to virtual reality or augmented reality.

9. The UE according to claim 1, wherein: The one or more PUCCH resources included in the integrated SR are identified by an identifier of a scheduled resource on a PUCCH configured in PUCCH-Config; and The integrated SR corresponds to one or more logical channels among the multiple logical channels mapped and identified based on an ID of SchedulingRequestConfig, where the ID of SchedulingRequestConfig identifies the scheduling request configuration associated with the one or more logical channels among the multiple logical channels.

10. The UE according to claim 1, wherein: The one or more PUCCH resources included in the integrated SR are identified by an identifier of the SR configuration to which the logical channel is mapped, as described in SchedulingRequestConfig configured in MAC-CellGroupConfig; and The integrated SR corresponds to one or more logical channels of the plurality of logical channels mapped and identified based on the SchedulingRequestConfig, wherein the SchedulingRequestConfig identifies dedicated SR resources configured via the MAC-CellGroupConfig.

11. The UE according to claim 1, wherein: The one or more PUCCH resources included in the integrated SR are identified by a scheduling request configuration applicable to a logical channel described in LogicalChannelConfig, the scheduling request configuration having a corresponding mapping with an identification of a scheduling resource on the PUCCH configured in PUCCH-Config.

12. The UE according to claim 11, wherein: The identifier of the scheduling resource on the PUCCH configured in the PUCCH-Config is mapped to one or more identifiers applicable to the scheduling request configuration of the logical channel described in the LogicalChannelConfig.

13. A UE according to claim 12, wherein the identifier of the scheduling resources on the PUCCH configured in the PUCCH-Config and the one or more identifiers of the scheduling request configuration applicable to the logical channel described in the LogicalChannelConfig are mapped based on the priority of the identifier of the scheduling resources on the PUCCH configured in the PUCCH-Config and the one or more identifiers of the scheduling request configuration applicable to the logical channel described in the LogicalChannelConfig at the physical (PHY) layer.

14. A UE according to claim 12, wherein the identifier of the scheduling resources on the PUCCH configured in the PUCCH-Config and the one or more identifiers of the scheduling request configuration applicable to the logical channel described in the LogicalChannelConfig are mapped regardless of the priority of the identifier of the scheduling resources on the PUCCH configured in the PUCCH-Config and the one or more identifiers of the scheduling request configuration applicable to the logical channel described in the LogicalChannelConfig at the physical (PHY) layer.

15. A method comprising: identifying a plurality of streams corresponding to data to be transmitted in an uplink (UL) direction; mapping a subset of the plurality of streams to a logical channel of a plurality of logical channels; as well as Two or more scheduling requests (SRs) are multiplexed into an integrated SR for requesting one or more physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources for each stream in the subset of the multiple streams corresponding to at least one of the multiple logical channels into a group of SRs, each SR in the group of SRs corresponding to a scheduling request for the data associated with each stream in the subset of the multiple streams.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein multiplexing the two or more SRs into the integrated SR comprises multiplexing the two or more SRs into the integrated SR based on a respective priority corresponding to each flow in the subset of the plurality of flows.

17. The method of claim 15, wherein the one or more PUCCH resources using the integrated SR request are selected based on a payload size of the data associated with each stream in the subset of the plurality of streams.

18. A base station, comprising: Transceiver; and A processor, the processor being configured to: transmitting, via the transceiver, to a user equipment (UE), a configuration describing a scheduling request (SR) priority associated with at least one logical channel of a plurality of logical channels, the at least one logical channel having a plurality of streams mapped to the at least one logical channel; as well as An integrated scheduling request (SR) for requesting one or more physical uplink control channel (PUCCH) resources corresponding to the multiple streams of the at least one logical channel is received from the UE via the transceiver, the integrated SR comprising multiple SRs, each SR included in the integrated SR corresponding to an SR for uplink transmission of data associated with each of the multiple streams. 19 . The base station of claim 18 , wherein a first SR included in the integrated SR has a priority different from that of a second SR included in the integrated SR.

20. The base station of claim 18, wherein the SR included in the integrated SR carries 1 bit of information corresponding to a payload size of the data associated with a stream in the subset of the plurality of streams, the stream in the subset of the plurality of streams corresponding to a constant bit rate stream.

Images