Multi-slot transmission with pre-configuration allocation

Abstract

A user equipment (UE) includes communication circuitry and processing circuitry. The UE is configured such that if the UE is assigned N transmission opportunities (TOs) in a specific period and the UE transmits data to the base station using only M ones of the N assigned TOs, where Mlt; if N is greater than N, then i) the N-M skipped TOs are neither between any two TOs used to transmit data to the base station, or ii) the N-M skipped TOs are neither between any two TOs used to transmit data to the base station unless the skipped TO is or includes an invalid symbol.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] Embodiments related to multi-slot transmission are disclosed. Background Art

[0002] Extended Reality (referred to as XR) applications (such as Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR), Mixed Reality (MR) applications) and Cloud Gaming (CloudG) applications are currently among the most important fifth-generation (5G) applications being considered in the industry. The following are the service details for the uplink (UL) XR service model as stated in 3GPP TR 38.838 V17.0.0 (2021-12):

[0003] General UL Pose / Control Service

[0004] Packets for UL pose / control arrive at the UE periodically with the following parameters.

[0005] Parameter Unit Baseline value for evaluation Optional value for evaluation Periodicity ms 4 Other values can be optionally evaluated. Jitter ms No jitter Packet size Byte 100 PDB ms 10 Packet success rate X ％ 99 90,95

[0006] VR UL and CloudG UL streams follow the general UL pose and control service model. For AR UL services, four different options are provided. Given that AR has multiple streams in the UL, one model can be selected from various options depending on what / how the streams are modeled. The four options are as follows: Model 1 (single-stream model); Model 2 (two-stream model); Model 3A (three-stream model A); and Model 3B (three-stream model B).

[0007] In Model 1 (single-stream model), all AR UL streams are modeled as a single stream with the following parameters.

[0008]

[0009] In Model 2, two streams are considered: 1) Stream 1 for pose / control, and 2) Stream 2 that aggregates scenes, video, data, and audio.

[0010] In Model 3A, three streams are considered: 1) Stream 1: pose / control; 2) Stream 2: the stream that aggregates scenes and video; and 3) Stream 3: the stream that aggregates audio and data. The following table shows the statistical parameters of Stream 3 for the AR UL Model 3A (three-stream model).

[0011] Parameter Unit Value Data rate: R Mbps 0.756,1.12 Periodicity: P ms 10 Packet size byte Average packet size = R × 1e6 × P / 1000 / 8 PDB ms 30

[0012] In Model 3B, three streams are considered: 1) Stream 1: pose / control; 2) Stream 2: the I stream for video; and Stream 3: the P stream for video. The following table shows the statistical parameters of Stream 2 and Stream 3 for the AR UL Model 3B (three-stream model).

[0013]

[0014] For streams 2 and 3, the I / P stream model for DL video can be reused for UL video. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0015] There are emerging XR use cases where UL data packets arrive periodically and the packet size can be large. Multi-slot allocation is a technique for handling large UL packets. Multi-slot allocation is the allocation of resources for multiple UL HARQ processes or transport blocks TB through a single downlink control information (DCI) or during the period of a UL configured grant (CG). Therefore, 3GPP is considering supporting multi-slot allocation for pre-configured UL allocations (i.e., configured grants (CG)). At 3GPP meeting #109, a consensus was reached to "study whether / how to support candidate capacity enhancement techniques for SPS / CG transmissions based on XR services", and stakeholders were encouraged to "study enhancements related to multiple [physical uplink shared channel] CG transmission opportunities in a period". (See 3GPP technical document (Tdoc) R1-2205268).

[0016] In 3GPP Release 16 (Rel-16) for New Radio UL (NR-U), multi-slot allocation has been standardized, but only for dynamic allocation. However, in the current Release 18 (Rel-18) XR SI, in addition to dynamic grant (DG) enhancements, the focus is on CG.

[0017] The behavior of CG allocation is not like DG allocation, and therefore, the multi-slot framework for CG requires some special handling and it cannot be assumed that its behavior is similar to DG.

[0018] One issue is the "skip uplink" feature, which is enabled by default for CG (traditional scheme with single-slot allocation). This parameter is denoted as "enhancedSkipUplinkTxConfigured-r16", which is described in 3GPP technical specification (TS) 38.321 v17.1.0 ("TS 38.321") and 3GPP TS 38.331 v17.1.0 ("TS 38.331"). When the "skip uplink" feature is activated, for any CG occasion, if there is no data in the buffer, the UE can skip the UL transmission, which is different from DG where the UE may be required to send using padding bits (i.e., in DG the UE may not be allowed to skip the UL transmission). Therefore, in the traditional single-slot allocation, the options are: 1) the UE transmits or 2) the UE skips the UL (i.e., the UE does not transmit at the allocated occasion).

[0019] However, if multiple time slots are allocated to a UE in each transmission period (i.e., multi-time slot allocation) instead of only a single time slot being allocated to the UE in each transmission period, the skip uplink behavior is currently undefined. For example, the UE may transmit in all the allocated time slots, skip all the allocated time slots, or transmit in some time slots and skip other time slots. If the UE adopts the third method (i.e., transmit in some of the allocated time slots but skip other time slots), this may have a negative impact on decoding at the base station (such as a gNB), such as increasing the processing cost and the probability of incorrect reception.

[0020] Accordingly, in one aspect, a user equipment (UE) is provided. The UE includes a communication circuit and a processing circuit. The UE is configured such that, if the UE is allocated N transmission opportunities (TOs) in a specific period and the UE uses only M of the N allocated TOs to send data to the base station, where M < N, then i) none of the N - M skipped TOs are located between any two TOs used to send data to the base station, or ii) none of the N - M skipped TOs are located between any two TOs used to send data to the base station, unless the skipped TOs are or include invalid symbols.

[0021] In another aspect, a base station is provided. The base station includes a communication circuit and a processing circuit. The base station is configured to allocate N TOs in a specific period to the UE; process uplink control information (UCI) sent by the UE, where the UCI indicates that the UE will use at most M of the N TOs to send data to the base station during the specific period; and send a retransmission permission for only M - E transmissions to the UE, where E is the number of transmissions from the UE successfully decoded by the base station during the specific period.

[0022] In another aspect, a method performed by a UE is provided. The method includes obtaining information indicating that the UE is allocated N TOs in a specific period for sending data to the base station, where N > 1. The method further includes the UE using only M of the N allocated TOs to send data to the base station, where M < N, such that i) none of the N - M skipped TOs are located between any two TOs used to send data to the base station (i.e., the M TOs are consecutive), or ii) none of the N - M skipped TOs are located between any two TOs used to send data to the base station, unless the skipped TOs are or include invalid symbols.

[0023] In another aspect, a method performed by a base station is provided. The method includes allocating N TOs to a UE in a specific time period; receiving uplink control information UCI sent by the UE, where the UCI indicates that the UE will use at most M of the N TOs to send data to the base station during the specific time period; and sending a retransmission permission for only M - E transmissions to the UE, where E is the number of transmissions successfully decoded by the base station from the UE during the specific time period.

[0024] In another aspect, a computer program including instructions is provided, and the instructions, when executed by a processing circuit of a device (UE or base station), cause the device to perform any method disclosed herein. In one embodiment, a carrier containing a computer program is provided, where the carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal, and a computer-readable storage medium. In another aspect, a device configured to perform the methods disclosed herein is provided. The device may include a memory and a processing circuit coupled to the memory.

[0025] The advantages of the embodiments disclosed herein are that they facilitate reducing power consumption, processing cost, and decoding errors. The power consumption is reduced because there is no blind decoding requirement, otherwise blind decoding must be employed to know whether to skip a transmission (i.e., blind decoding is needed until the first actual transmission is detected). Since the gNB does not need to implement a detection algorithm that consumes processing resources, the processing cost is reduced. The error probability is reduced because it is less likely that the gNB concludes that an actual transmission has been skipped. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated herein and form a part of this specification, illustrate various embodiments.

[0027] Figure 1 An example of a communication system 100 according to some embodiments is shown.

[0028] Figure 2 A UE according to some embodiments is shown.

[0029] Figure 3 A network node according to some embodiments is shown.

[0030] Figure 4 A host according to some embodiments is shown.

[0031] Figure 5 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments can be virtualized.

[0032] Figure 6 A communication diagram showing a host communicating with a UE via a network node through a partial wireless connection according to some embodiments is shown.

[0033] Figure 7 An example of multi-TO allocation is illustrated.

[0034] Figure 8 It is a flowchart illustrating a process performed by a UE according to an embodiment.

[0035] Figure 9 It is a flowchart illustrating a process performed by a base station according to an embodiment. Detailed Implementation Manner

[0036] Introduction

[0037] As described above, if a UE (e.g., the UE 112A shown in Figure 1 ) is allocated multiple transmission opportunities (e.g., multiple time slots, multiple symbols, etc.) in each transmission period (i.e., multi-TO allocation), the UE may potentially transmit in all allocated TOs (e.g., time slots), skip all allocated TOs, or transmit in some TOs and skip others. If the UE adopts the third method (i.e., transmit in some allocated TOs but skip others), this may have a negative impact on decoding at the base station (e.g., gNB), such as increasing the processing cost and the probability of incorrect reception. That is, for example, if the UE is allowed to transmit randomly, then for each allocated TO, it will be tedious for the base station (e.g., the base station 110A (also referred to as "gNB") shown in Figure 1 ) to know whether the UE has skipped, because the gNB has to implement some detection rules for each TO. For example, consider the example shown in Figure 7 , where the UE transmits M = 3 transmissions through N = 8 allocated TOs in a period consisting of S TOs. If the UE is not restricted in when it can skip transmissions, the gNB has to determine for each TO whether the UE has skipped that TO.

[0038] However, if the UE is restricted in when it can skip transmissions, as described below, and the gNB does not detect the second actual transmission (TO#5) of the UE, the gNB will send a retransmission permission without implementing any energy detection or appropriate rules, etc. This will help reduce power consumption, processing cost, and decoding errors.

[0039] In a specific embodiment, the UE is restricted such that the UE must transmit continuously in a period, so there is no gap between any two actual transmissions. That is, the UE can skip uplink transmissions on all allocated TOs in the period before any continuous transmission or after any continuous transmission.

[0040] In some embodiments, when the UE transmits UL during a period with multi-TO allocation (e.g., multi-slot allocation), the UE transmits with the following behavior: The actual transmission for UL multi-TO allocation is continuous, except for cases where the actual transmission is not allowed due to symbols not being available for UL data transmission. The UE is allowed to skip transmissions before the first transmission or after the last transmission in the period. The terms first and last transmission are different from the first allocated TO and the last allocated TO. For example, in a CG period, there can be 8 configured TOs (e.g., 8 slots or 8 HARQ processes), however, the UE starts its first transmission in the second TO and ends its transmission in the fifth TO (i.e., the UE transmits 4 consecutive transmissions).

[0041] In some embodiments, during continuous transmissions, gaps or invalid symbols can be configured between the allocated TOs where the UE is not allowed to transmit.

[0042] In some embodiments, if the UE transmits uplink control information (UCI) indicating a specific transmission mode (which TO allocation from the multi-TO is used or skipped), the actual transmission must follow the indicated mode. The UE cannot violate the rule, in which case the UCI indicator gives a different status from the actual transmission. Otherwise, this may cause confusion at the gNB, where the gNB may not attempt to decode the actual transmission or attempt to decode the skipped transmission.

[0043] The term

[0044] The term UL multi-TO allocation is widely used to include not only the allocation of multiple slots, but also the allocation of multiple TBs or multiple HARQs or multiple transmissions (e.g., multi-symbols) or multiple PUSCH transmissions per period allocated through, for example, activation DCI or radio resource control (RRC) based signaling. Essentially, the scheduled resource allocation can span multiple TOs (i.e., time units), where the TO can be a slot (thus multi-slot allocation), a mini-slot, a set of one or more consecutive symbols, a transport block (TB), etc. Thus, the scheduling does not need to be purely slot-based. For example, a multi-slot UL allocation over 1.5 slots can be: symbols 0 to 5 for TO1 (e.g., TB#1), symbols 6 to 13 for TO2 (e.g., TB#2), and symbols 0 to 6 in the next slot for TO3.

[0045] Some example allocations can be modified NR UL CG type 1 or 2, where multi-slot allocations are provided in each period. It can also be an extended NR-U CG derived from or based on Release 16.

[0046] The embodiments described herein can be applied to licensed, shared, NR-U, NR, Time Division Duplex (TDD), or Frequency Division Duplex (FDD) types of spectrum.

[0047] The embodiments described herein are mainly described in the context of NR UL, but the present disclosure is not limited to the NR UL scenario. The embodiments can be used with other technologies (such as D2D, SL, IAB, Wi-Fi) where one node is a transmitter and the other node is a receiver.

[0048] Continuous actual transmissions in multi-TO allocation

[0049] In one use case, the gNB allocates N TOs (e.g., time slots / TB resources / HARQ processes) to the UE in each period of a single CG (e.g., as shown in Figure 7 , N = 8). Thus, the UE can continuously send M individual UL transmissions (TB / HARQ processes), where M = 0,..., N, and can skip the remaining P and Q allocated TOs, where P allocated TOs can be before the consecutive M transmissions and Q allocated TOs can be after the consecutive M transmissions, such that P + Q = N - M (see Figure 7 ).

[0050] Due to the late arrival of payload data, the UE can skip P transmissions, 0 <= P <= N. That is, referring to Figure 7 , it is possible that the payload data is not available for the UE to transmit until TO#4. When P = 0, no previous individual transmissions are skipped, i.e., the UE starts the multi-TO allocation as scheduled without skipping. When P = N (and M = 0, Q = 0), all individual transmissions in the multi-TO allocation are skipped, i.e., the entire multi-TO allocation is skipped without any UL transmissions.

[0051] Since there is no more data in the UE's buffer, the UE can skip Q transmissions (0 <= Q <= N). In the example shown in Figure 7 , the UE only has payload data for 3 TOs (TO#4, TO#5, TO#6), and no data is available for transmissions for TO#7 and TO#8. When Q = 0, the UE continues UL transmissions until the end of the scheduled multi-TO allocation. When Q = N (and M = 0, P = 0), this is equivalent to P = N (and M = 0, Q = 0), i.e., all individual transmissions in the multi-TO allocation are skipped (i.e., the entire multi-TO allocation is skipped without any UL transmissions).

[0052] In one embodiment, if the UE receives a retransmission permission for any skipped TO, the UE can ignore the permission.

[0053] In one embodiment, if the UE skips UL transmissions on the first P UL TOs, the UE is not allowed to transmit on any of the remaining TOs (i.e., on the remaining N - P TOs), where P = {1, … N - 1}. The network can configure the parameter P based on the blind decoding requirements of the gNB. If P is set larger, the gNB will have a higher blind decoding cost. This means that on non - transmission resources (time slots) belonging to the set P, i.e., for the first P UL allocations, the network attempts to detect transmissions, which will increase power usage and processing resources.

[0054] Uplink Control Information (UCI)

[0055] In one embodiment, when the UE sends UCI to the gNB to indicate the skipped TOs, the UE will not transmit data on those skipped TOs indicated by the sent UCI.

[0056] As an example, assume N = 8 multi - TO allocations (i.e., 8 TOs are allocated to the UE) and the UE decides to transmit in the first 6 TOs and skip the last two TOs. For this assumption, the UE will send UCI to the gNB, which indicates that the last two TOs in the CG period will be skipped. However, after sending the UCI but before the end of the CG period, more data arrives at the UE's transmit buffer. Although the UE has free resources (in the form of the last 2 assumed skipped TOs), the UE is not allowed to utilize the last TOs for the newly arrived data because the gNB will read the UCI and may thus skip the decoding of the last two transmissions.

[0057] In one embodiment, if the UE has sent UCI indicating the skipped TOs, where the UCI is multiplexed onto one or more UL transmissions in the current multi - TO allocation, then if new data arrives in the current period, the new data must be sent in the next period and thus cannot be sent on the assumed skipped transmission resources in the current period.

[0058] In one embodiment, the UCI is sent or included in the transmission to indicate Q skipped TOs (e.g., TOs after a consecutive set of one or more TOs used for data transmission), and the UE may not indicate the initial P skipped TOs (e.g., TOs after a consecutive set of one or more TOs used for data transmission) because they occur before the first actual transmission.

[0059] In one embodiment, the UCI is sent or included in the transmission to indicate the initial P skipped transmissions. The reason for indicating the initial P skipped transmissions is to prevent the gNB from sending any re - transmission requests to the UE for these initially skipped P transmissions.

[0060] In one embodiment, the UCI is sent in the first actual transmission out of M consecutive transmissions. Based on Figure 7 the example presented in

[0061] In one embodiment, the UCI is sent in all actual transmissions (out of all M consecutive transmissions). Based on Figure 7 the example presented in

[0062] In one embodiment, if the UE indicates Q skipped transmissions from a multi-TO allocation of N TOs assigned, or P and Q skipped transmissions, and the UE has sent M transmissions such that P + M + Q = N; wherein, if the network has decoded E transmissions such that E < M, and the network has decoded the values P, Q (i.e., the UCI has been successfully decoded), then the network will send a retransmission grant for only M - E transmissions.

[0063] Unavailable ("invalid") TOs

[0064] In some embodiments, out of the M TOs scheduled for the UE to send data to the gNB, K TOs (K ≤ M) can be skipped if the resources of the skipped TOs are "invalid" for UL transmission. For example, the resources are part of the predefined resources for DL transmission, are part of the idle period of the FFP for NR-U operation in FBE mode, or the resources are preempted by the network using DCI 2_1 through the preemption indicator. The gNB knows that the UE cannot send on these K transmissions, so the gNB will not attempt to decode them.

[0065] Therefore, due to the symbols being unavailable for UL transmission, the UL transmission of the scheduled multi-TO transmission may be interrupted. Such an interruption may occur regardless of whether there is any skipping of individual TOs in the UL multi-slot allocation. Symbols unavailable for UL transmission are referred to as "invalid symbols".

[0066] In one embodiment, the UE determines the (one or more) invalid symbols for the scheduled UL multi-TO transmission as follows:

[0067] (1) Symbols indicated as downlink by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated are considered invalid symbols for UL multi-TO transmission;

[0068] (2) For operations in unpaired spectrum, the symbols for receiving SS / PBCH blocks indicated by ssb-PositionsInBurst in SIB1 or ssb-PositionsInBurst in ServingCellConfigCommon are considered invalid symbols for UL multi-TO transmission;

[0069] (3) For semi-duplex UEs with reduced capabilities for UL multi-TO transmission in paired spectrum, the symbols for receiving SS / PBCH blocks indicated by ssb-PositionsInBurst in SIB1 or ssb-PositionsInBurst in ServingCellConfigCommon are considered invalid symbols for UL multi-TO transmission;

[0070] (4) For operations in unpaired spectrum, the (one or more) symbols of the CORESET for Type0-PDCCH CSS set indicated by pdcch-ConfigSIB1 in MIB are considered the (one or more) invalid symbols for UL multi-TO transmission;

[0071] (5) For operations in unpaired spectrum, if numberOfInvalidSymbolsForDL-UL-Switching is configured, the numberOfInvalidSymbolsForDL-UL-Switching symbols after the last symbol indicated as downlink in each consecutive set of all symbols indicated as downlink by tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon or tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationDedicated are considered the (one or more) invalid symbols for UL multi-TO transmission (the (one or more) symbols given by numberOfInvalidSymbolsForDL-UL-Switching are defined using the reference SCS configuration referenceSubcarrierSpacing provided in tdd-UL-DL-ConfigurationCommon);

[0072] (6) For operations using shared spectrum channel access with semi-static channel occupancy, symbols in the idle duration associated with periodic channel occupancy as described in Section 4.3.1.1 of 3GPP TS 37.213 v17.2.0 (“TS 37.213”), or symbols in the idle duration in the period associated with initiated channel occupancy as described in Section 4.3.2 of TS 37.213, are considered (one or more) invalid symbols for UL multi-TO transmission;

[0073] (7) The UE may be configured with a higher layer parameter invalidSymbolPattern, which provides a symbol-level bitmap (the higher layer parameter symbols given by invalidSymbolPattern) spanning one or two time slots; a bit value of 1 in the symbol-level bitmap symbols indicates that the corresponding symbol is an invalid symbol for UL multi-TO transmission. The UE may additionally be configured with a time domain pattern (the higher layer parameter periodicityAndPattern given by invalidSymbolPattern), where each bit of periodicityAndPattern corresponds to a unit equal to the duration of the symbol-level bitmap symbols, and a bit value of 1 indicates that the symbol-level bitmap symbols are presented in that unit. periodicityAndPattern may be of length {1, 2, 4, 5, 8, 10, 20 or 40} units, but the maximum value is 40 milliseconds. The first symbol of periodicityAndPattern every 40 ms / P periods is the first symbol in frame nf mod 4 = 0, where P is the duration of periodicityAndPattern-r16 in milliseconds. When periodicityAndPattern is not configured, for a symbol-level bitmap spanning two time slots, the bits of the first and second time slots correspond to the even and odd time slots of the radio frame respectively, and for a symbol-level bitmap spanning one time slot, the bits of that time slot correspond to each time slot of the radio frame. If invalidSymbolPattern is configured, then when the UE applies the invalid symbol pattern, it is determined as follows:

[0074]

[0075] When the actual transmission j within the UL multi-TO allocation overlaps with any symbol not available for UL data transmission (i.e., an “invalid symbol”), there can be two options to handle the actual transmission j.

[0076] Option 1: The actual transmission j is cancelled due to an unavailable UL symbol. Thus, for the intended actual UL transmission of {…, j-1, j, j+1, …}, the final actual UL transmission is: {…, j-1, <none>, j+1, …}, where <none> indicates that the actual transmission j is cancelled due to the unavailable UL symbol, and the actual transmission j+1 proceeds as scheduled without being affected.

[0077] Option 2: The actual transmission j and all subsequent transmissions (if any), i.e., {j, j+1, j+2, …}, are delayed due to an unavailable UL symbol. Thus, for the intended actual UL transmission of {…, j-1, j, j+1, …}, the final actual UL transmission is: {…, j-1, <unavailable symbol>, j, j+1, …}, where <unavailable symbol> indicates that space is made available for the symbol that is unavailable for UL transmission. The actual transmissions {j, j+1, …} are delayed without being cancelled / dropped.

[0078] Figure 8 FIG. is a flowchart of a process 800 performed by a user equipment (i.e., UE 112A) according to an embodiment for sending data from UE 112A to gNB 110A. Process 500 may begin at operation 802. Operation 802 includes obtaining information indicating that the UE is allocated N TOs in a specific period for sending data to base station 110A, where N>1. Operation 804 includes the UE sending data to the base station using only M of the N allocated TOs, where M<N, such that i) none of the N-M skipped TOs are located between any two TOs for sending data to the base station (i.e., the M TOs are consecutive), or ii) none of the N-M skipped TOs are located between any two TOs for sending data to the base station, unless the skipped TO is or includes an invalid symbol.

[0079] In some embodiments, the method further includes sending uplink control information (UCI) to the base station indicating the N-M skipped TOs.

[0080] In some embodiments, the UE sends UCI to the base station by sending UCI during at least one of the M TOs.

[0081] In some embodiments, the UCI does not indicate any TOs before the TO used for sending the UCI.

[0082] In some embodiments, the UCI indicates at least one of the N-M skipped TOs before the TO used for sending the UCI.

[0083] In some embodiments, the UCI is sent only in the first of the M TOs.

[0084] In some embodiments, the UCI is sent in each of the M TOs.

[0085] In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving a retransmission grant corresponding to one or more of the N - M skipped TOs; and ignoring the retransmission grant.

[0086] In some embodiments, each of the N allocated TOs is a time slot comprising a plurality of symbols.

[0087] Figure 9 FIG. 10 is a flowchart illustrating a process 900 performed by a base station 110A according to an embodiment. Process 900 may begin at operation 902. Operation 902 includes allocating N TOs in a specific period to a UE (i.e., UE 112A). Operation 904 includes receiving UCI sent by the UE, where the UCI indicates that the UE will use at most M of the N TOs in the specific period to send data to the base station. Operation 906 includes sending a retransmission grant for only M - E transmissions to the UE, where E is the number of transmissions successfully decoded by the base station from the UE during the specific period.

[0088] In some embodiments, each of the N allocated TOs is a time slot comprising a plurality of symbols.

[0089] Figure 1 FIG. 17 shows an example of a communication system 100 according to some embodiments.

[0090] In this example, the communication system 100 includes a telecommunication network 102 and a core network 106. The telecommunication network 102 includes an access network 104 such as a radio access network (RAN). The core network 106 includes one or more core network nodes 108. The access network 104 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 110a and 110b (one or more of which may generally be referred to as network node 110), or any other similar 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access node or non-3GPP access point. Additionally, as will be understood by those skilled in the art, a network node is not necessarily limited to an implementation where the radio part and the baseband part are supplied and integrated by a single vendor. Thus, it will be understood that a network node includes a decomposed implementation or parts thereof. For example, in some embodiments, the telecommunication network 102 includes one or more Open RAN (ORAN) network nodes. An ORAN network node is a node in the telecommunication network 102 that supports ORAN specifications (e.g., specifications published by the O-RAN Alliance or any similar organization) and may operate alone or together with other nodes to implement one or more functions of any node in the telecommunication network 102, including one or more of the network nodes 110 and / or core network nodes 108.

[0091] Examples of ORAN network nodes include an Open Radio Unit (O-RU), an Open Distributed Unit (O-DU), an Open Central Unit (O-CU) including an O-CU Control Plane (O-CU-CP) or an O-CU User Plane (O-CU-UP), a RAN Intelligent Controller (near real-time or non-real-time) hosting software or a software plugin such as a near real-time control application (e.g., xApp) or a non-real-time control application (e.g., rApp), or any combination thereof (the adjective "open" indicates support for ORAN specifications). The network nodes can support the specifications by, for example, supporting interfaces defined by the ORAN specifications such as the A1, F1, W1, E1, E2, X2, Xn interfaces, an open fronthaul user plane interface or an open fronthaul management plane interface. Additionally, an ORAN access node can be a logical node within a physical node. Further, an ORAN network node can be implemented in a virtualized environment (described further below) in which one or more network functions are virtualized. For example, the virtualized environment can include an O-Cloud computing platform orchestrated by an O-2 interface or similar technology defined by the Service Management and Orchestration framework via the O-RAN Alliance. Network node 110 facilitates a direct or indirect connection of user equipment (UE), such as by connecting UE 112a, 112b, 112c, and 112d (one or more of which can generally be referred to as UE 112) to the core network 106 via one or more wireless connections.

[0092] Example wireless communications via a wireless connection include sending and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for transmitting information without using wires, cables, or other material conductors. Additionally, in different embodiments, the communication system 100 can include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that can facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals, whether via a wired connection or a wireless connection. The communication system 100 can include any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, radio network, and / or other similar types of systems and / or interface therewith.

[0093] UE 112 can be any of a variety of communication devices, including a wireless device arranged, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network node 110 and other communication devices. Similarly, network node 110 is arranged, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with UE 112 and / or with other network nodes or devices in the telecommunication network 102 to enable and / or provide network access (such as wireless network access) and / or perform other functions (such as management in the telecommunication network 102).

[0094] In the depicted example, the core network 106 connects the network node 110 to one or more hosts, such as host 116. These connections can be direct or indirect via one or more intermediate networks or devices. In other examples, the network node can be directly coupled to the host. The core network 106 includes one or more core network nodes (e.g., core network node 108) constructed with hardware and software components. The features of these components can be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UE, network node, and / or host, such that the description generally applies to the corresponding components of the core network node 108. Example core network nodes include the functions of one or more of a mobile switching center (MSC), a mobility management entity (MME), a home subscriber server (HSS), an access and mobility management function (AMF), a session management function (SMF), an authentication server function (AUSF), a subscription identifier de-hiding function (SIDF), a unified data management (UDM), a secure edge protection proxy (SEPP), a network exposure function (NEF), and / or a user plane function (UPF).

[0095] Host 116 can be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than the operator or provider of the access network 104 and / or the telecommunications network 102, and can be operated by or on behalf of the service provider. Host 116 can host various applications to provide one or more services. Examples of such applications include real-time and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services (such as retrieving and editing data on various environmental conditions detected by multiple UEs), analysis functions, social media, functions for controlling or otherwise interacting with remote devices, functions for alarm and monitoring centers, or any other such functions performed by a server.

[0096] As a whole, Figure 1 the communication system 100 enables connections between the UE, network node, and host. In this sense, the communication system can be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as specific standards, which include but are not limited to: Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM); Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS); Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G standards, or any applicable future generation standards (e.g., 6G); Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN) standards, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard (WiFi); and / or any other appropriate wireless communication standards, such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC), ZigBee, LiFi, and / or any Low Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) standards such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0097] In some examples, the telecommunications network 102 is a cellular network implementing 3GPP standardized features. Thus, the telecommunications network 102 can support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices connected to the telecommunications network 102. For example, the telecommunications network 102 can provide ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or providing massive machine type communication (mMTC) / massive IoT services to additional UEs.

[0098] In some examples, the UE 112 is configured to send and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For example, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to a request from the access network 104, the UE can be designed to send information to the access network 104 according to a predefined schedule. Additionally, the UE can be configured to operate in a single RAT or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, the UE can operate using any one or combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio), and LTE, i.e., be configured for multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio-dual connectivity (EN-DC).

[0099] In this example, the hub 114 communicates with the access network 104 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UEs 112c and / or 112d) and a network node (e.g., network node 110b). In some examples, the hub 114 can be any one of a controller, a router, a content source and analyzer, or other communication devices described herein with respect to the UE. For example, the hub 114 can be a broadband router that enables the UE to access the core network 106. As another example, the hub 114 can be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UE. The commands or instructions can be received from the UE, the network node 110, or through executable code, scripts, procedures, or other instructions in the hub 114. As another example, the hub 114 can be a data collector that acts as a temporary storage device for UE data and, in some embodiments, can perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 114 can be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a VR headset, a display, a speaker, or other media delivery device, the hub 114 can retrieve VR assets, videos, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via the network node, and then the hub 114 can provide it directly to the UE, provide it to the UE after performing local processing and / or after adding additional local content. In yet another example, the hub 114 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UE, especially in cases where one or more of the UEs are low-energy IoT devices.

[0100] The central hub 114 may have a constant / persistent or intermittent connection to the network node 110b. The central hub 114 may also allow for different communication schemes and / or scheduling between the central hub 114 and the UEs (e.g., UEs 112c and / or 112d) and between the central hub 114 and the core network 106. In other examples, the central hub 114 is connected to the core network 106 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Additionally, the central hub 114 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider via the access network 104 and / or to another UE via a direct connection. In some scenarios, a UE may establish a wireless connection to the network node 110 while still being connected via the central hub 114 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the central hub 114 may be a dedicated central hub, that is, its main function is to route communications from the network node 110b to the UEs / to the network node 110b from the UEs. In other embodiments, the central hub 114 may be a non-dedicated central hub, that is, a device capable of operating to route communications between the UEs and the network node 110b but also capable of operating as a communication origin and / or destination for certain data channels.

[0101] Figure 2 A UE 112 is shown according to some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable of, configured to, arranged to, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other UEs. Examples of UEs include, but are not limited to, smart phones, mobile phones, cellular phones, Internet Protocol voice (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, desktop computers, personal digital assistants (PDAs), wireless cameras, gaming consoles or devices, music storage devices, playback devices, wearable terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, tablets, laptop computers, laptop embedded devices (LEEs), laptop mounted devices (LMEs), smart devices, wireless customer premise equipment (CPEs), vehicles, vehicle-mounted or vehicle-embedded / integrated wireless devices, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), including narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) UEs, machine type communication (MTC) UEs, and / or enhanced MTC (eMTC) UEs.

[0102] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, e.g., by implementing 3GPP standards for sidelink communication, dedicated short range communication (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates the associated device. Instead, a UE may represent a device intended to be sold to or operated by a human user, but the device may not be associated with a particular human user, or may not initially be associated with that particular human user (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device not intended to be sold to or operated by an end user, but the device may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g., a smart meter).

[0103] UE 112 includes processing circuitry 202 that is operably coupled via a bus 204 to an input / output interface 206, a power supply 208, a memory 210, a communication interface 212, and / or any other components, or any combination thereof. Some UEs may utilize Figure 2 all or a subset of the components shown. The level of integration between components may vary from one UE to another. Additionally, some UEs may include multiple instances of components, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0104] Processing circuitry 202 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operable to execute instructions stored as a machine-readable computer program in memory 210. Processing circuitry 202 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.); programmable logic and appropriate firmware; one or more stored computer programs, a general purpose processor such as a microprocessor or a digital signal processor (DSP), and appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, processing circuitry 202 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0105] In this example, the input / output interface 206 can be configured to provide one or more interfaces to an input device, an output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of output devices include speakers, sound cards, video cards, displays, monitors, printers, actuators, transmitters, smart cards, another output device, or any combination thereof. Input devices can allow a user to capture information into the UE 112. Examples of input devices include touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive displays, cameras (e.g., digital cameras, digital video cameras, webcams, etc.), microphones, sensors, mice, trackballs, direction pads, trackpads, rollers, smart cards, etc. A presence-sensitive display can include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. Sensors can be, for example, accelerometers, gyroscopes, tilt sensors, force sensors, magnetometers, optical sensors, proximity sensors, biometric sensors, etc., or any combination thereof. Output devices can use the same type of interface port as input devices. For example, a Universal Serial Bus (USB) port can be used to provide input and output devices.

[0106] In some embodiments, the power supply 208 is configured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power supplies can be used, such as an external power supply (e.g., an electrical outlet), a photovoltaic device, or a power cell. The power supply 208 can also include a power circuit for delivering power from the power supply 208 itself and / or an external power supply to various parts of the UE 112 via an input circuit or an interface such as a power cable. The delivered power can be used, for example, to charge the power supply 208. The power circuit can perform any formatting, conversion, or other modification of the power from the power supply 208 to make the power suitable for the various components of the UE 112 being powered.

[0107] The memory 210 can be or be configured to include a memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, hard disks, removable cartridge tapes, flash drives, etc. In one example, the memory 210 includes one or more applications 214, such as an operating system, a web browser application, widgets, a gadget engine, or other applications, and corresponding data 216. The memory 210 can store any operating system or combination of operating systems for use by the UE 112.

[0108] The memory 210 may be configured to include a plurality of physical drive units, such as Redundant Array of Independent Disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drives, external hard disk drives, thumb drives, pen drives, key drives, High Density Digital Versatile Disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drives, internal hard disk drives, Blu-ray disc drives, Holographic Digital Data Storage (HDDS) optical disc drives, external Mini Dual In-line Memory Modules (DIMMs), Synchronous Dynamic Random Access Memory (SDRAM), external micro DIMM SDRAM, smart card memory (such as a tamper-resistant module in the form of a Universal Integrated Circuit Card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as USIM and / or ISIM), other memories, or any combination thereof. The UICC may be, for example, an Embedded UICC (eUICC), an Integrated UICC (iUICC), or a removable UICC commonly referred to as a "SIM card". The memory 210 may allow the UE 112 to access instructions, applications, etc. stored on a temporary or non-temporary storage medium to offload data or upload data. A manufacture, such as a manufacture of a communication system, may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 210, and the memory 210 may be or include a device-readable storage medium.

[0109] The processing circuitry 202 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other network using the communication interface 212. The communication interface 212 may include one or more communication subsystems and may include an antenna 222 or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 222. The communication interface 212 may include one or more transceivers for communication, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or network node in an access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 218 and / or a receiver 220 adapted to provide network communication (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocation, etc.). Additionally, the transmitter 218 and the receiver 220 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 222) and may share circuit components, software, or firmware, or alternatively be implemented separately.

[0110] In the illustrated embodiment, the communication functions of the communication interface 212 can include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communication such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based communication such as using the Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine location, another similar communication function, or any combination thereof. The communication can be implemented according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP), Synchronous Optical Network (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), and so on.

[0111] Regardless of the type of sensor, the UE can provide an output of the data captured by its sensors via a wireless connection to a network node through its communication interface 212. The data captured by the sensors of the UE can be transmitted to the network node via another UE through the wireless connection. The output can be periodic (e.g., every 15 minutes if it reports the sensed temperature), random (e.g., to balance the load of reports from multiple sensors), in response to a trigger event (e.g., sending an alarm when moisture is detected), in response to a request (e.g., a user-initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a real-time video feed of a patient).

[0112] As another example, the UE includes an actuator, a motor, or a switch that is associated with a communication interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input, the state of the actuator, motor, or switch can change. For example, the UE can include a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a flying drone according to the received input, or adjusts a robotic arm performing a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0113] When in the form of an Internet of Things (IoT) device, the UE can be a device used in one or more application areas, including but not limited to urban wearable technology, extended industrial applications, and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such IoT devices are devices or devices embedded in the following: connected refrigerators or freezers, televisions, connected lighting devices, electricity meters, robotic vacuum cleaners, voice-controlled smart speakers, home security cameras, motion detectors, thermostats, smoke detectors, door / window sensors, flood / humidity sensors, electric door locks, connected doorbells, air conditioning systems (such as heat pumps), autonomous vehicles, monitoring systems, weather monitoring devices, vehicle parking monitoring devices, electric vehicle charging stations, smartwatches, fitness trackers, head-mounted displays for augmented reality (AR) or virtual reality (VR), wearable devices for tactile or sensory enhancement, sprinklers, animal or item tracking devices, sensors for monitoring plants or animals, industrial robots, unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), and any kind of medical device (such as a heart rate monitor or a remotely controlled surgical robot). In addition to other components described with respect to the UE 112 shown in Figure 2 the UE in the form of an IoT device includes circuitry and / or software that depends on the intended application of the IoT device.

[0114] As yet another specific example, in an IoT scenario, the UE can represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurement and sends the results of such monitoring and / or measurement to another UE and / or network node. In this case, the UE can be an M2M device, which can be referred to as an MTC device in the 3GPP context. As a specific example, the UE can implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, the UE can represent a vehicle, such as a car, bus, truck, ship, and airplane, or other devices capable of monitoring and / or reporting their operating status or capable of performing other functions associated with their operation.

[0115] In practice, any number of UEs can be used together for a single use case. For example, the first UE may be or integrated in a UAV and provide the UAV's speed information (obtained via a speed sensor) to the second UE that is the remote control for operating the UAV. When the user makes a change from the remote control, the first UE can adjust the throttle on the UAV (e.g., by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the UAV's speed. The first and / or second UE may also include more than one of the above functions. For example, the UE may include sensors and actuators and process the communication for the speed sensor and actuator.

[0116] Figure 3Fig. 110 shows a network node according to some embodiments. As used herein, a network node refers to a device capable of, configured to, arranged to, and / or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a UE and / or other network nodes or devices in a telecommunications network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g., radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs), and NR Node Bs (gNBs)), O-RAN nodes or components of O-RAN nodes (e.g., O-RUs, O-DUs, O-CUs).

[0117] Base stations can be classified based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, based on their transmit power levels), and thus, depending on the amount of coverage provided, a base station can be referred to as a femto base station, a pico base station, a micro base station, or a macro base station. A base station can be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node can also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station, such as a centralized digital unit, a distributed unit (e.g., in an O-RAN access node), and / or a remote radio unit (RRU), which is sometimes referred to as a remote radio head (RRH). Such remote radio units can be integrated with antennas into an antenna-integrated radio or not integrated with antennas into an antenna-integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station can also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0118] Other examples of network nodes include multi-transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) devices such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell / multicast coordination entities (MCEs), operation and maintenance (O&M) nodes, operation support system (OSS) nodes, self-organizing network (SON) nodes, positioning nodes (e.g., evolved serving mobile location center (E-SMLC)), and / or minimized drive test (MDT).

[0119] The network node 110 includes a processing circuit 302, a memory 304, a communication interface 306, and a power supply 308. The network node 110 can be composed of multiple physically separated components (e.g., NodeB components and RNC components, or BTS components and BSC components, etc.), and each component can have its own corresponding components. In some scenarios where the network node 110 includes multiple separated components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separated components can be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC can control multiple NodeBs. In such scenarios, each unique NodeB and RNC pair can be regarded as a single separated network node in some cases. In some embodiments, the network node 110 can be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components can be duplicated (e.g., separated memories 304 for different RATs), and some components can be reused (e.g., the same antenna 310 can be shared by different RATs). The network node 110 can also include multiple sets of various shown components for different wireless technologies (such as GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, radio frequency identification (RFID), or Bluetooth wireless technologies) integrated into the network node 110. These wireless technologies can be integrated into the same or different chips or chip sets and other components within the network node 110.

[0120] The processing circuit 302 can include a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, a controller, a microcontroller, a central processing unit, a digital signal processor, an application specific integrated circuit, a field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software, and / or coded logic, which is operable to provide the functions of the network node 110 either alone or in conjunction with other network node 110 components such as the memory 304.

[0121] In some embodiments, the processing circuit 302 includes a system on a chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuit 302 includes one or more of a radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuit 312 and a baseband processing circuit 314. In some embodiments, the radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuit 312 and the baseband processing circuit 314 can be on separate chips (or chip sets), boards, or units, such as a radio unit and a digital unit. In alternative embodiments, part or all of the RF transceiver circuit 312 and the baseband processing circuit 314 can be on the same chip or chip set, board, or unit.

[0122] The memory 304 may include any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory, including but not limited to persistent storage devices, solid-state memory, remotely installed memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (such as hard disks), removable storage media (such as flash drives, compact discs (CDs) or digital video discs (DVDs)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable and / or computer-executable memory device that stores information, data, and / or instructions that can be used by the processing circuitry 302. The memory 304 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including computer programs, software, applications, which include one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions that can be executed by the processing circuitry 302 and utilized by the network node 110. The memory 304 may be used to store any calculations made by the processing circuitry 302 and / or any data received via the communication interface 306. In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 302 and the memory 304 are integrated.

[0123] The communication interface 306 is used for wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between network nodes, access networks, and / or UEs. As shown, the communication interface 306 includes one or more ports / terminals 316 for sending data to and receiving data from the network, for example, via a wired connection. The communication interface 306 also includes a radio front-end circuit 318, which may be coupled to the antenna 310 or, in certain embodiments, is part of the antenna 310. The radio front-end circuit 318 includes a filter 320 and an amplifier 322. The radio front-end circuit 318 may be connected to the antenna 310 and the processing circuitry 302. The radio front-end circuit may be configured to condition the signals transmitted between the antenna 310 and the processing circuitry 302. The radio front-end circuit 318 may receive digital data to be transmitted outward via a wireless connection to other network nodes or UEs. The radio front-end circuit 318 may use a combination of the filter 320 and / or the amplifier 322 to convert the digital data into a radio signal with appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 310. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 310 may collect the radio signal, which is then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuit 318. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 302. In other embodiments, the communication interface may include different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0124] In some alternative embodiments, the network node 110 does not include a separate radio front-end circuit 318, but rather the processing circuit 302 includes the radio front-end circuit and is connected to the antenna 310. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or part of the RF transceiver circuit 312 is part of the communication interface 306. In other embodiments, the communication interface 306 includes one or more ports or terminals 316, a radio front-end circuit 318, and an RF transceiver circuit 312 as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communication interface 306 communicates with a baseband processing circuit 314 as part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0125] The antenna 310 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 310 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuit 318 and may be any type of antenna capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data and / or signals. In certain embodiments, the antenna 310 is separate from the network node 110 and may be connected to the network node 110 via an interface or port.

[0126] The antenna 310, the communication interface 306, and / or the processing circuit 302 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and / or certain acquisition operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data, and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node, and / or any other network device. Similarly, the antenna 310, the communication interface 306, and / or the processing circuit 302 may be configured to perform any sending operations described herein as being performed by the network node. Any information, data, and / or signals may be sent to a UE, another network node, and / or any other network device.

[0127] The power supply 308 supplies power to the various components of the network node 110 in a form suitable for each component (e.g., at the voltage and current levels required for each respective component). The power supply 308 may further include or be coupled to a power management circuit to supply power to the components of the network node 110 for performing the functions described herein. For example, the network node 110 may be connected to an external power source (e.g., a power grid, an electrical outlet) via an input circuit or interface such as a cable, and the external power source supplies power to the power circuit of the power supply 308. As another example, the power supply 308 may include a power source in the form of a battery or battery pack, which is connected to or integrated in the power circuit. The battery may provide backup power in the event of a failure of the external power source.

[0128] Embodiments of the network node 110 may include Figure 3Additional components beyond those shown are used to provide certain aspects of network node functionality, including any functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, network node 110 may include a user interface device to allow information to be input into network node 110 and to allow information to be output from network node 110. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions of network node 110.

[0129] Figure 4 is a block diagram of a host 400 according to various aspects described herein, and the host 400 may be Figure 1 an embodiment of host 116. As used herein, host 400 may be or include various combinations of hardware and / or software, including stand-alone servers, blade servers, cloud-implemented servers, distributed servers, virtual machines, containers, or processing resources in a server farm. Host 400 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

[0130] Host 400 includes processing circuitry 402 that is operably coupled via a bus 404 to an input / output interface 406, a network interface 408, a power supply 410, and a memory 412. Other components may be included in other embodiments. The characteristics of these components may be substantially similar to those described for the devices of the previous figures (such as Figure 2 and Figure 3 ), such that the description generally applies to the corresponding components of host 400.

[0131] The memory 412 may include one or more computer programs, which include one or more host applications 414 and data 416. The data 416 may include user data (e.g., data generated by the UE for the host 400 or data generated by the host 400 for the UE). Embodiments of the host 400 may utilize only a subset or all of the illustrated components. The host applications 414 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., FLAC, Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, and G.711), including transcoding for multiple different categories, types, or implementations for the UE (e.g., mobile phone, desktop computer, wearable display system, head-up display system). The host applications 414 may also provide user authentication and license checking and may periodically report health, routing, and content availability to a central node (such as a device in the core network or at the edge). Thus, the host 400 may select and / or indicate different hosts for over-the-top services for the UE. The host applications 414 may support various protocols, such as the HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, the Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), the Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), the HTTP-based Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH), etc.

[0132] Figure 5 is a block diagram showing a virtualized environment 500 in which functions implemented in some embodiments may be virtualized. In this context, virtualization means creating a virtual version of a device or equipment, which may include virtualizing a hardware platform, storage devices, and network resources. As used herein, virtualization may be applied to any device or its components described herein and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of a function is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functions described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs), the one or more virtual machines being implemented in one or more virtual environments 500 hosted by one or more hardware nodes (such as hardware computing devices operating as network nodes, UEs, core network nodes, or hosts). Additionally, in embodiments where a virtual node does not require a radio connection (e.g., a core network node or a host), then the node may be fully virtualized. In some embodiments, the virtualized environment 500 includes components defined by the O-RAN Alliance, such as an O-Cloud environment orchestrated by a Service Management and Orchestration framework via an O-2 interface.

[0133] An application 502 (which may alternatively be referred to as a software instance, virtual appliance, network function, virtual node, virtual network function, etc.) runs in a virtualized environment 400 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0134] Hardware 504 includes processing circuitry, a memory storing software and / or instructions executable by the hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices described herein, such as network interfaces, input / output interfaces, etc. The software can be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 506 (also referred to as a hypervisor or virtual machine monitor (VMM)), provide VMs 508a and 508b (one or more of which may generally be referred to as VM 508), and / or perform any functions, features, and / or benefits described in connection with some of the embodiments herein. The virtualization layer 506 can present a virtual operating platform to the VMs 508 that appears like network hardware.

[0135] VMs 508 include virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interfaces, and virtual storage, and can be run by the respective virtualization layers 506. Different embodiments of instances of the virtual device 502 can be implemented on one or more of the VMs 508 and can be implemented in different ways. Virtualization of hardware is referred to as network function virtualization (NFV) in some contexts. NFV can be used to consolidate many network device types onto industry-standard high-volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers and customer premise equipment.

[0136] In the context of NFV, a VM 508 can be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of the VMs 508 and that portion of the hardware 504 that executes that VM, whether the hardware dedicated to that VM and / or the hardware shared by that VM with other VMs in the VMs, forms a separate virtual network element. Still in the context of NFV, the virtual network function is responsible for handling a specific network function running in one or more of the VMs 508 over the hardware 504 and corresponds to the application 502.

[0137] Hardware 504 may be implemented in an independent network node with general or specific components. Hardware 504 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 504 may be part of a larger hardware cluster (e.g., in a data center or CPE), where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration 510, and management and orchestration 510 particularly supervises the lifecycle management of application 502. In some embodiments, hardware 504 is coupled to one or more radio units, each radio unit including one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that may be coupled to one or more antennas. The radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more suitable network interfaces and may be used in combination with virtual components to provide radio capabilities to virtual nodes such as radio access nodes or base stations. In some embodiments, a control system 512 may be used to provide some signaling, and the control system 512 may alternatively be used for communication between the hardware node and the radio unit.

[0138] Figure 6 A communication diagram is shown in which a host 602 communicates with a UE 606 via a network node 604 over a partial wireless connection according to some embodiments.

[0139] Now reference will be made to Figure 6 Describe example implementations of the UE (such as Figure 1 UE112a), network node (such as Figure 1 network node 110a), and host (such as Figure 1 host 116 and / or Figure 4 host 400) discussed in the previous paragraphs according to various embodiments.

[0140] Similar to host 400, embodiments of host 602 include hardware such as a communication interface, processing circuitry, and memory. Host 602 also includes software stored in or accessible by host 602 and executable by the processing circuitry. The software includes host applications that are operable to provide services to remote users, such as UE 606 connected via an over-the-top (OTT) connection 650 extending between UE 606 and host 602. In the process of providing services to remote users, the host applications may provide user data transmitted using OTT connection 650.

[0141] Network node 604 includes hardware that enables it to communicate with host 602 and UE 606. Connection 660 may be direct or through a core network (such as Figure 1 core network 106) and / or one or more other intermediate networks, such as one or more public, private, or managed networks. For example, the intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.

[0142] The UE 606 includes hardware and software that is stored in or accessible by the UE 606 and executable by the processing circuitry of the UE. The software includes client applications, such as a web browser or a carrier-specific “app,” that are operable to provide services to a human or non-human user via the UE 606 with the support of the host 602. In the host 602, a host application being executed can communicate with a client application being executed via an OTT connection 650 that terminates at the UE 606 and the host 602. In the process of providing services to the user, the client application of the UE can receive request data from the host application of the host and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 650 can transmit the request data and the user data. The client application of the UE can interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides to the host application via the OTT connection 650.

[0143] The OTT connection 650 can extend via a connection 660 between the host 602 and the network node 604 and via a wireless connection 670 between the network node 604 and the UE 606 to provide a connection between the host 602 and the UE 606. The connection 660 and the wireless connection 670 over which the OTT connection 650 can be provided are drawn abstractly to illustrate communication between the host 602 and the UE 606 via the network node 604 without explicitly referring to any intermediate devices and the exact routing of messages via those devices.

[0144] As an example of sending data via the OTT connection 650, in operation 608, the host 602 provides user data, which can be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE 606. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with the UE 606 that shares data with the host 602 without explicit human interaction. In operation 610, the host 602 initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE 606. The host 602 can initiate the transmission in response to a request sent by the UE 606. The request can be caused by a human interaction with the UE 606 or by an operation of a client application executing on the UE 606. According to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the transmission can pass through the network node 604. Thus, according to the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, in operation 612, the network node 604 sends the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the host 602 to the UE 606. In operation 614, the UE 606 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which can be performed by a client application executing on the UE 606 that is associated with the host application executing on the host 602.

[0145] In some examples, UE 606 executes a client application that provides user data to host 602. The user data may be provided in response to or in reaction to data received from host 602. Thus, at operation 616, UE 606 may provide user data, which may be performed by executing the client application. During the process of providing user data, the client application may further consider user input received from the user via the input / output interface of UE 606. Regardless of the particular manner of providing user data, at operation 618, UE 606 initiates the transmission of the user data to host 602 via network node 604. At operation 620, in accordance with the teachings of embodiments described throughout this disclosure, network node 604 receives the user data from UE 606 and initiates the transmission of the received user data to host 602. At operation 622, host 602 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by UE 606.

[0146] One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of the OTT services provided to UE 606 using the OTT connection 650 in which the wireless connection 670 forms the last leg. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments can reduce power consumption, processing costs, and decoding errors, and thereby provide benefits such as extended battery life and better responsiveness.

[0147] In an example scenario, host 602 may collect and analyze factory status information. As another example, host 602 may process audio and video data that may have been retrieved from the UE for use in creating a map. As another example, host 602 may collect and analyze real-time data to help control vehicle congestion (e.g., control traffic lights). As another example, host 602 may store surveillance videos uploaded by the UE. As another example, host 602 may store media content (such as video, audio, VR, or AR) that it can broadcast, multicast, or unicast to the UE, or control access to the media content. As other examples, host 602 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time-critical electrical loads to balance power generation demand, location services, rendering services (such as compiling charts based on data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing, and / or sending data.

[0148] In some examples, a measurement process may be provided for purposes of monitoring data rate, latency, and other factors for which one or more embodiments are improved. There may also be optional network functions for reconfiguring the OTT connection 650 between the host 602 and the UE 606 in response to changes in measurement results. The measurement process and / or network functions for reconfiguring the OTT connection may be implemented in the software and hardware of the host 602 and / or the UE 606. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or associated with other devices through which the OTT connection 650 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement process by providing values of the monitored quantities illustrated above or other physical quantities from which software may calculate or estimate the monitored quantities. Reconfiguration of the OTT connection 650 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing, etc.; the reconfiguration does not necessarily directly change the operation of the network node 604. Such processes and functions may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, the measurement may involve dedicated UE signaling, which facilitates measurement by the host 602 of throughput, propagation time, latency, etc. The measurement may be achieved by software causing messages, particularly empty messages or "dummy" messages, to be sent using the OTT connection 650 while monitoring propagation time, errors, etc.

[0149] Summary of various embodiments

[0150] 1. A user equipment (such as UE 112), the user equipment comprising:

[0151] Communication circuitry; and processing circuitry, wherein the UE is configured such that, if the UE is allocated N transmission opportunities TO in a particular period and the UE transmits data to a base station (such as BS110) using only M of the N allocated TO, where M < N, then i) none of the N - M skipped TO are located between any two TO for transmitting data to the base station (i.e., the M TO are consecutive), or ii) none of the N - M skipped TO are located between any two TO for transmitting data to the base station, unless the skipped TO is or includes an invalid symbol.

[0152] 2. The UE according to embodiment 1, wherein the UE is further configured to transmit uplink control information UCI indicating the N - M skipped TO to the base station.

[0153] 3. The UE according to embodiment 2, wherein the UE is configured to transmit the UCI to the base station by transmitting the UCI during at least one of the M TO.

[0154] 4. The UE as described in Embodiment 3, wherein the UE is configured such that the UCI will not indicate any TOs before the TO for transmitting the UCI.

[0155] 5. The UE as described in Embodiment 3, wherein the UE is configured such that the UCI indicates at least one of the N - M skipped TOs before the TO for transmitting the UCI.

[0156] 6. The UE as described in Embodiment 3, wherein the UE is configured such that the UCI is transmitted only in the first TO among the M TOs.

[0157] 7. The UE as described in Embodiment 3, wherein the UE is configured such that the UCI is transmitted in each of the M TOs.

[0158] 8. The UE as described in any one of Embodiments 1 - 7, wherein the UE is configured such that, if the UE receives a retransmission grant corresponding to any one or more of the N - M skipped TOs, the UE ignores the retransmission grant.

[0159] 9.1 The UE as described in any one of Embodiments 1 - 8, wherein each of the allocated N TOs is a time slot including a plurality of symbols.

[0160] 9.1 The UE as described in any one of Embodiments 1 - 8, wherein the UE is an extended reality device.

[0161] 10. A base station (such as BS110), the base station comprising: a communication circuit; and a processing circuit, wherein the base station is configured to: allocate N transmission opportunities TOs in a specific period to a UE 112; process uplink control information UCI transmitted by the UE, wherein the UCI indicates that the UE will use at most M of the N TOs to transmit data to the base station during the specific period; and send a retransmission grant for only M - E transmissions to the UE, where E is the number of transmissions from the UE successfully decoded by the base station during the specific period.

[0162] 11. The base station as described in Embodiment 10, wherein each of the allocated N TOs is a time slot including a plurality of symbols.

[0163] 12. A method performed by a UE (such as UE 112), the method comprising:

[0164] Obtain information indicating that the UE is allocated N transmission opportunities (TOs) in a specific period for sending data to a base station (e.g., BS110), where N > 1; use only M of the N allocated TOs to send data to the base station, where M < N, such that i) none of the N - M skipped TOs are located between any two TOs for sending data to the base station (i.e., the M TOs are consecutive), or ii) none of the N - M skipped TOs are located between any two TOs for sending data to the base station, unless the skipped TO is or includes an invalid symbol.

[0165] 13. The method according to embodiment 12, further comprising: sending uplink control information (UCI) indicating the N - M skipped TOs to the base station.

[0166] 14. The method according to embodiment 13, wherein the UE sends the UCI to the base station by sending the UCI during at least one of the M TOs.

[0167] 15. The method according to embodiment 14, wherein the UCI does not indicate any TO before the TO for sending the UCI.

[0168] 16. The method according to embodiment 14, wherein the UCI indicates that at least one of the N - M skipped TOs is before the TO for sending the UCI.

[0169] 17. The method according to embodiment 14, wherein the UCI is sent only in the first of the M TOs.

[0170] 18. The method according to embodiment 14, wherein the UCI is sent in each of the M TOs.

[0171] 19. The method according to any one of embodiments 12 - 18, further comprising: receiving a retransmission grant corresponding to one or more of the N - M skipped TOs; and ignoring the retransmission grant.

[0172] 20. The method according to any one of embodiments 12 - 19, wherein each of the allocated N TOs is a time slot including a plurality of symbols.

[0173] 21. A method (900) performed by a base station 110, the method comprising:

[0174] Allocate N transmission opportunities TO in a specific period to UE 112; receive uplink control information UCI sent by the UE, where the UCI indicates that the UE will use at most M of the N TOs to send data to the base station during the specific period; and send a retransmission permission for only M - E transmissions to the UE, where E is the number of transmissions from the UE successfully decoded by the base station during the specific period.

[0175] 22. The method according to embodiment 21, wherein each of the allocated N TOs is a time slot including a plurality of symbols.

[0176] 23. The method according to any embodiment, wherein the specific period consists of a single configured grant (CG) period, or the specific period includes two or more CG periods.

[0177] 24. A computer program comprising instructions that, when executed by the processing circuit of UE 112, cause the UE to perform the method according to any one of embodiments 12 - 20.

[0178] 25. A carrier containing the computer program according to embodiment 24, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal, and a computer-readable storage medium.

[0179] 26. A computer program comprising instructions that, when executed by the processing circuit 302 of base station 110, cause the base station to perform the method according to any one of embodiments 21 - 23.

[0180] 27. A carrier containing the computer program according to embodiment 26, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal, and a computer-readable storage medium 304.

[0181] Although the computing devices (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) described herein may include the illustrated combinations of hardware components, other embodiments may include computing devices with different combinations of components. It should be understood that these computing devices may include any suitable combination of hardware and / or software required to perform the tasks, features, functions, and methods disclosed herein. The determinations, calculations, acquisitions, or similar operations described herein may be performed by a processing circuit that processes information by, for example, converting the acquired information into other information, comparing the acquired information or the converted information with information stored in the network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the acquired information or the converted information, and makes a determination as a result of such processing. Further, although components are depicted as a single box located within a larger box or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, a computing device may include multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component, and the functionality may be divided among separate components. For example, a communication interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of a component may be divided between a processing circuit and a communication interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functions of any such component may be implemented in software or firmware, and computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware.

[0182] In some embodiments, some or all of the functions described herein may be provided by a processing circuit that executes instructions stored in a memory, which in some embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functions may be provided by a processing circuit without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of these particular embodiments, whether or not instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium are executed, the processing circuit may be configured to perform the described functions. The benefits provided by such functions are not limited to the processing circuit itself or other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole and / or generally by the end user and the wireless network.

[0183] Although various embodiments have been described herein, it should be understood that they are presented by way of example only and not by way of limitation. Accordingly, the breadth and scope of the present disclosure should not be limited by any of the above-described exemplary embodiments. Additionally, any combination of the above elements in all possible variations is encompassed by the present disclosure, unless otherwise indicated herein or clearly contradicted by the context.

[0184] As used herein, sending a message "to" or "towards" an intended recipient includes sending the message directly to the intended recipient or sending the message indirectly to the intended recipient (i.e., one or more other nodes are used to relay the message from the source node to the intended recipient). Similarly, as used herein, "receiving" a message from a sender includes receiving the message directly from the sender or receiving the message indirectly from the sender (i.e., one or more nodes are used to relay the message from the sender to the receiving node). Additionally, as used herein, "a" means "at least one" or "one or more".

[0185] Additionally, although the processes described above and illustrated in the figures are shown as a series of operations, this is for illustrative purposes only. Thus, it is contemplated that some operations may be added, some operations may be omitted, the order of the operations may be rearranged, and some operations may be performed in parallel.

Claims

1. A user equipment (112), the user equipment UE comprises: a communication circuit; and a processing circuit, wherein, the UE is configured such that if the UE is assigned N transmission opportunities TOs in a specific period and the UE uses only M of the N assigned TOs to send data to a base station (110), where M < N, then i) none of the N - M skipped TOs are located between any two TOs used for sending data to the base station, or ii) none of the N - M skipped TOs are located between any two TOs used for sending data to the base station, unless the skipped TO is or includes an invalid symbol.

2. The UE according to claim 1, wherein, the UE is further configured to send uplink control information UCI indicating the N - M skipped TOs to the base station.

3. The UE according to claim 2, wherein, the UE is configured to send the UCI to the base station by sending the UCI during at least one of the M TOs.

4. The UE according to claim 3, wherein, the UE is configured such that the UCI will not indicate any TO before the TO used for sending the UCI.

5. The UE according to claim 3, wherein, the UE is configured such that the UCI indicates at least one of the N - M skipped TOs before the TO used for sending the UCI.

6. The UE according to claim 3, wherein, the UE is configured such that the UCI is sent only in the first of the M TOs.

7. The UE according to claim 3, wherein, the UE is configured such that the UCI is sent in each of the M TOs.

8. The UE according to any one of claims 1 - 7, wherein, the UE is configured such that if the UE receives a retransmission grant corresponding to any one or more of the N - M skipped TOs, the UE ignores the retransmission grant.

9. The UE according to any one of claims 1 - 8, wherein, each of the N assigned TOs is a time slot including a plurality of symbols.

10. The UE according to any one of claims 1 - 9, wherein, the UE is an extended reality device.

11. A base station (110), the base station comprises: a communication circuit; and a processing circuit, wherein the base station is configured to: assign N transmission opportunities TOs in a specific period to a user equipment UE (112); process uplink control information UCI sent by the UE, wherein the UCI indicates that the UE will use at most M of the N TOs to send data to the base station during the specific period; and send a retransmission grant for only M - E transmissions to the UE, where E is the number of transmissions from the UE successfully decoded by the base station during the specific period.

12. The base station according to claim 11, wherein, each of the N assigned TOs is a time slot including a plurality of symbols.

13. A method (800) performed by a user equipment (112), the method comprising: obtaining (802) information indicating that the UE is allocated N transmission opportunities TOs in a specific period for sending data to a base station (110), where N>1; using (804) only M TOs out of the N allocated TOs to send data to the base station (110), where M<N, such that i) none of the N-M skipped TOs are located between any two TOs for sending data to the base station, or ii) none of the N-M skipped TOs are located between any two TOs for sending data to the base station, unless the skipped TO is or includes an invalid symbol.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising: sending uplink control information UCI indicating the N-M skipped TOs to the base station.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein, the UE sends the UCI to the base station by sending the UCI during at least one of the M TOs.

16. The method according to claim 15, wherein, the UCI does not indicate any TO before the TO for sending the UCI.

17. The method according to claim 15, wherein, the UCI indicates that at least one of the N-M skipped TOs is before the TO for sending the UCI.

18. The method according to claim 15, wherein, the UCI is sent only in the first TO of the M TOs.

19. The method according to claim 15, wherein, the UCI is sent in each of the M TOs.

20. The method according to any one of claims 13-19, further comprising: receiving a retransmission permission corresponding to one or more of the N-M skipped TOs; and ignoring the retransmission permission.

21. The method according to any one of claims 13-20, wherein, each of the allocated N TOs is a time slot including multiple symbols.

22. A method (900) performed by a base station (110), the method comprising: allocating (902) N transmission opportunities TOs in a specific period to a user equipment UE (112); receiving (904) uplink control information UCI sent by the UE, wherein the UCI indicates that the UE will use at most M TOs out of the N TOs to send data to the base station during the specific period; and sending (906) a retransmission permission only for M-E transmissions to the UE, where E is the number of transmissions successfully decoded by the base station from the UE during the specific period.

23. The method according to claim 22, wherein, each of the allocated N TOs is a time slot including multiple symbols.

24. The method according to claim 22 or 23, wherein the specific period consists of a single configured grant CG period, or the specific period includes two or more CG periods.

25. A computer program (214) comprising instructions which, when executed by a processing circuit (202) of a UE (112), cause the UE to perform the method according to any one of claims 13 - 21.

26. A carrier containing the computer program according to claim 25, wherein, the carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal, and a computer-readable storage medium (210).

27. A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by a processing circuit (302) of a base station (110), cause the base station to perform the method according to any one of claims 22 - 23.

28. A carrier containing the computer program according to claim 27, wherein, the carrier is one of an electronic signal, an optical signal, a radio signal, and a computer-readable storage medium (304).

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