Method and apparatus for padding buffer status reports

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for selecting a buffer status report (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) with delay information by a user equipment (UE) in a network are disclosed. In one embodiment, the UE may be configured to implement operations including: determining whether a number of padding bits of an uplink (UL) resource is sufficient for padding a BSR; and determining whether the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than a size of the BSR MAC CE including the delay information. If the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE with delay information, a BSR MAC CE format including the delay information is selected, and if not, a BSR MAC CE format without the delay information is selected.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention generally relates to the field of wireless communications, and more particularly to a method and apparatus for populating a buffer status report in UL resources in a communication network. Background Art

[0002] In a wireless communication network, a user equipment (UE) can communicate with a base station of the network by establishing a radio link between the UE and the base station. In a 5G (New Radio or NR) or 4G (LTE) wireless network, the UE can receive signaling and data from a serving base station in the downlink (DL) transmission direction or send signaling and data to a serving base station in the uplink (UL) transmission direction.

[0003] The Buffer Status Report (BSR) is an important mechanism used by the UE to inform the gNB (e.g., base station) how much UL data has arrived in its buffer. Based on the information received in the BSR, the gNB can allocate UL resources to accommodate the buffered data. Specific details regarding the BSR can be found in the Medium Access Control (MAC) specification (Technical Specification (TS) 38.321). A padding BSR is triggered when there are sufficient padding bits in the UL resources to carry the BSR MAC Control Element (CE). The UE's MAC entity selects the BSR format for the padding BSR based on the amount of available padding bits and the number of logical channel groups with available data.

[0004] In the 3GPP Rel-18 study item on New Radio (NR) enhancements for Extended Reality (XR), several agreements have been reached to enhance the BSR mechanism to meet XR service characteristics, including finer-grained buffer size levels and BSR with latency information. Due to the potential increase in the number of octets in the MAC CE, two of these indicators indicate higher BSR overhead. Therefore, the impact of these enhancements on padding the BSR should be considered to enhance XR service characteristics. Summary of the Invention

[0005] Embodiments relate to how to select a BSR format for padding a BSR, taking into account whether delay information can be included in the BSR or whether a BSR with finer granularity can be included. Methods and apparatus for padding a buffer status report (BSR) in a communication network are disclosed. In an example embodiment, a method is disclosed for selecting a buffer status report (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) with delay information by a user equipment (UE) in the network. The method includes the following operations: determining whether a number of padding bits of uplink (UL) resources is sufficient for padding the BSR; and determining whether the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE including the delay information. If the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE with the delay information, selecting a BSR MAC CE format that includes the delay information, and if not, selecting a BSR MAC CE format that does not have the delay information.

[0006] In one embodiment, the delay information includes data related to how long the data has been queued in the buffer. In one embodiment, the delay information is associated with at least one of a logical channel (LCH), a logical channel group (LCG), a QoS flow ID (QFI), or a protocol data unit (PDU). In one embodiment, the BSR MAC CE format includes: a BSR MAC CE format without the delay information; a BSR MAC CE format with detailed delay information associated with at least one of the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregation types, the detailed delay information indicating the quantized queuing time or the remaining time until the delivery deadline; or a BSR MAC CE format with simplified delay information associated with at least one of the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregation types, the simplified delay information including a flag indicating whether the data buffered in the aggregation type is urgent or non-urgent. In one embodiment, if the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE with detailed delay information, the BSR MAC CE format including the detailed delay information is selected, and if not, the BSR MAC CE format with the simplified delay information is selected.

[0007] In one embodiment, if the BSR MAC CE format with the delay information includes a buffer size of at least one LCG and delay information of at least one LCH, the operation further includes: when the UE intends to send the BSR MAC CE format, determining the delay information of the LCH to be included in the BSR MAC CE format, wherein the selection of the delay information of the LCH is based on at least one of the following: An LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type that is consistent with at least one LCG reporting its buffer size in the CE; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest priority; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the longest queuing time; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the shortest remaining time until the delivery deadline; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest amount of buffered data; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type corresponding to a predetermined important PDU set; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the largest data burst size; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the largest PDU set size; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest priority queuing time greater than a threshold; or an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest priority remaining time until the delivery deadline less than a threshold.

[0008] In one embodiment, the BSR MAC CE format includes: a BSR MAC CE format with delay information of only one LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate type; or a BSR MAC CE format with delay information of multiple LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate types. In one embodiment, if the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE format with delay information of multiple LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate types, the BSR MAC CE format with delay information of multiple LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate types is selected, and if not, the BSR MAC CE format with delay information of only one LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate type is selected. In one embodiment, if the BSR MAC CE format with the delay information of only one LCH or LCG is selected for the padding BSR, and if more than one LCH or LCG has available data, the method further includes the following operations: reporting the BSR MAC CE format of the delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest priority; reporting the BSR MAC CE format of the delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the longest queuing time; reporting the BSR MAC CE format of the delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the shortest remaining time until the delivery deadline; reporting the BSR MAC CE format of the delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest amount of buffered data; reporting the BSR MAC CE format of the delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type corresponding to a predetermined important PDU set; reporting the BSR MAC CE format of the delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the largest data burst size CE format; BSR MAC CE format for reporting delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate type with the largest PDU aggregate size; BSR MAC CE format for reporting delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate type with the highest priority and a queuing time greater than a threshold; BSR MAC CE format for reporting delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate type with the highest priority and a remaining time until the delivery deadline less than a threshold. In one embodiment, if a subset of multiple LCHs, LCGs, QFIs, or PDU aggregate types is configured with delay information, the method further includes: reporting only the delay information associated with the subset of the multiple LCHs, LCGs, QFIs, or PDUs configured with delay information, and not reporting delay information for other LCHs, LCGs, QFIs, or PDU aggregate types.In one embodiment, if the number of padding bits is insufficient for the BSR MAC CE format to carry delay information for all identified LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set types, the method further includes: reporting the delay information for all identified LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set types using at least one of the following: highest priority, or longest queuing delay, or shortest remaining time to delivery deadline, or highest amount of buffered data, or a predetermined most important PDU set.

[0009] In another example embodiment, a user equipment (UE) for selecting a buffer status report (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) with delay information in a network is disclosed, the user equipment (UE) comprising: at least one antenna; at least one radio configured to communicate with the network including a base station using the at least one antenna; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one radio, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform operations including: determining whether a number of padding bits of uplink (UL) resources is sufficient for padding a BSR; and determining whether the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than a size of the BSR MAC CE including the delay information. If the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE including the delay information, selecting the BSR MAC CE including the delay information, and if not, selecting a BSR MAC CE format without the delay information.

[0010] In one embodiment, the delay information includes data related to how long the data has been queued in the buffer. In one embodiment, the delay information is associated with at least one of a logical channel (LCH), a logical channel group (LCG), a QoS flow ID (QFI), or a protocol data unit (PDU). In one embodiment, the BSR MAC CE format includes: a BSR MAC CE format without the delay information; a BSR MAC CE format with detailed delay information associated with at least one of the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregation types, the detailed delay information indicating the quantized queuing time or the remaining time until the delivery deadline; or a BSR MAC CE format with simplified delay information associated with at least one of the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregation types, the simplified delay information including a flag indicating whether the data buffered in the aggregation type is urgent or non-urgent. In one embodiment, if the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE with detailed delay information, the BSR MAC CE format including the detailed delay information is selected, and if not, the BSR MAC CE format with the simplified delay information is selected.

[0011] In one embodiment, if the BSR MAC CE format with the delay information includes a buffer size of at least one LCG and delay information of at least one LCH, the at least one processor further performs the following operations: when the UE intends to send the BSR MAC CE format, determining the delay information of the LCH to be included in the BSR MAC CE format, wherein the selection of the delay information of the LCH is based on at least one of the following: An LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type that is consistent with at least one LCG reporting its buffer size in the CE; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest priority; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the longest queuing time; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the shortest remaining time until the delivery deadline; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest amount of buffered data; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type corresponding to a predetermined important PDU set; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the largest data burst size; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the largest PDU set size; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest priority queuing time greater than a threshold; or an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest priority remaining time until the delivery deadline less than a threshold.

[0012] In one embodiment, the BSR MAC CE format includes: a BSR MAC CE format with delay information of only one LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate type; or a BSR MAC CE format with delay information of multiple LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate types. In one embodiment, if the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE format with delay information of multiple LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate types, the BSR MAC CE format with delay information of multiple LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate types is selected, and if not, the BSR MAC CE format with delay information of only one LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate type is selected. In one embodiment, if the BSR MAC CE format with the delay information of only one LCH or LCG is selected for the padding BSR, and if more than one LCH or LCG has available data, the UE further includes the at least one processor performing the following operations: reporting the BSR MAC CE format of the delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest priority; reporting the BSR MAC CE format of the delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the longest queuing time; reporting the BSR MAC CE format of the delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the shortest remaining time until the delivery deadline; reporting the BSR MAC CE format of the delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest amount of buffered data; reporting the BSR MAC CE format of the delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type corresponding to a predetermined important PDU set; reporting the BSR MAC CE format of the delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the largest data burst size CE format; BSR MAC CE format for reporting delay information for the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate type with the largest PDU aggregate size; BSR MAC CE format for reporting delay information for the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate type with the highest priority and a queuing time greater than a threshold; BSR MAC CE format for reporting delay information for the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate type with the highest priority and a remaining time until a delivery deadline less than a threshold. In one embodiment, if a subset of multiple LCHs, LCGs, QFIs, or PDU aggregate types is configured with delay information, the at least one processor performs the additional operation of reporting only delay information associated with the subset of multiple LCHs, LCGs, QFIs, or PDUs configured with delay information, and not reporting delay information for other LCHs, LCGs, QFIs, or PDU aggregate types.In one embodiment, if the number of padding bits is insufficient for the BSR MAC CE format to carry delay information for all identified LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set types, the UE also includes the at least one processor performing the following operations: using at least one of the following items to report the delay information for all identified LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set types: highest priority, or longest queuing delay, or shortest remaining time to delivery deadline, or highest buffered data amount, or a predetermined most important PDU set.

[0013] In another exemplary embodiment, a method for selecting a buffer status report (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for a buffer size level with finer granularity by a user equipment (UE) in a network is disclosed. The method includes: determining whether a number of padding bits of uplink (UL) resources is sufficient for padding the BSR; and determining whether the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than a size of the BSR MAC CE based on the BSR table providing the finer granularity buffer size level. If the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE based on the BSR table providing the finer granularity buffer size level, selecting a BSR MAC CE format for the BSR table with the finer granularity buffer size level, and if not, selecting a BSR MAC CE format for a legacy BSR table.

[0014] In one embodiment, the finer-grained buffer size level of the BSR table is associated with at least one of a logical channel (LCH) set type, a logical channel group (LCG) set type, a QoS flow ID (QFI) set type, or a protocol data unit (PDU) set type. In one embodiment, if only a subset of the LCH, LGC, QFI, or PDU set types are configured with the finer-grained buffer size level of the BSR table, only the subset of LCH, LGC, QFI, or PDU set types with the finer-grained buffer size level of the BSR table are reported, otherwise the set type is reported as a legacy BSR table. In one embodiment, if at least one of the identified LCH, LGC, QFI, or PDU set types is configured with a delay information requirement, a BSR MAC CE format capable of carrying buffer size information for the identified LCH, LGC, QFI, or PDU set type is selected based on the BSR table that provides the finer-grained buffer size level. In one embodiment, if the number of padding bits is insufficient for the BSR table to carry the buffer size information for all identified LCH, LGC, QFI or PDU set types, the delay information for the LCH, LGC, QFI or PDU set type is reported based on at least one of the following: highest priority, longest queuing delay, shortest remaining time to delivery deadline, highest buffered data amount, or a predetermined important PDU set.

[0015] In another embodiment, a user equipment (UE) is disclosed for selecting a buffer status report (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for a buffer size table with finer granularity in a network. The UE includes: at least one antenna; at least one radio configured to communicate with the network including a base station using the at least one antenna; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one radio, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform operations including: determining whether a number of padding bits of uplink (UL) resources is sufficient for padding a BSR; and determining whether the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than a size of a BSR MAC CE based on a BSR table providing a finer granularity. If the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE based on a BSR table providing a finer granularity, selecting a BSR MAC CE format for the BSR with the finer granularity, and if not, selecting a BSR MAC CE format for a legacy BSR table.

[0016] In one embodiment, the finer-grained buffer size level of the BSR table is associated with at least one of a logical channel (LCH) set type, a logical channel group (LCG) set type, a QoS flow ID (QFI) set type, or a protocol data unit (PDU) set type. In one embodiment, if only a subset of the LCH, LGC, QFI, or PDU set types are configured with the finer-grained buffer size level of the BSR table, only the subset of LCH, LGC, QFI, or PDU set types with the finer-grained buffer size level of the BSR table are reported, otherwise the set type is reported as a legacy BSR table. In another embodiment, if at least one of the identified LCH, LGC, QFI, or PDU set types is configured with a delay information requirement, a BSR MAC CE format capable of carrying buffer size information for the identified LCH, LGC, QFI, or PDU set type is selected based on the BSR table that provides the finer-grained buffer size level. In one embodiment, if the number of padding bits is insufficient for the BSR table to carry the buffer size information for all identified LCH, LGC, QFI or PDU set types, the delay information for the LCH, LGC, QFI or PDU set type is reported based on at least one of the following: highest priority, longest queuing delay, shortest remaining time to delivery deadline, highest buffered data amount, or a predetermined important PDU set.

[0017] In yet another example embodiment, a method for selecting a buffer status report (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) and / or a delay status report (DSR) MAC CE by a user equipment (UE) in a network is disclosed. The method includes determining whether a number of padding bits of an uplink (UL) resource is sufficient for both a padding BSR and a padding DSR; and if the number of padding bits is sufficient, sending both the padding BSR and the padding DSR in the UL resource.

[0018] In one embodiment, if the number of padding bits of the UL resource is sufficient for the padding BSR but insufficient for the padding DSR, then the padding BSR is selected for transmission. In one embodiment, if the number of padding bits of the UL resource is sufficient for the padding DSR but insufficient for the padding BSR, then the padding DSR is selected for transmission. In one embodiment, if the number of padding bits of the UL resource is sufficient for padding DSR or padding BSR, priority is given based on at least one of the following rules: always give priority to padding BSR; always give priority to padding DSR; give priority to padding BSR or padding DSR pre-configured based on the network; give priority to padding DSR if the corresponding delay information is critical; give priority to padding BSR if the corresponding buffer size exceeds a threshold; give priority to the MAC CE corresponding to the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest priority; give priority to the MAC CE corresponding to the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the longest queuing time; give priority to the MAC CE corresponding to the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the shortest remaining time until the delivery deadline; give priority to the MAC CE corresponding to the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest amount of buffered data; or give priority to the MAC CE corresponding to a predetermined important PDU set.

[0019] In another example embodiment, a user equipment (UE) for selecting a buffer status report (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) and / or a delay status report (DSR) MAC CE in a network is disclosed. The UE includes: at least one antenna; at least one radio component, wherein the at least one radio component is configured to communicate with the network including a base station using the at least one antenna; and at least one processor, the at least one processor coupled to the at least one radio component, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform operations including: determining whether a number of padding bits of an uplink (UL) resource is sufficient for both a padding BSR and a padding DSR; and if the number of padding bits is sufficient, sending both the padding BSR and the padding DSR in the UL resource.

[0020] In one embodiment, if the number of padding bits of the UL resource is sufficient for the padding BSR but insufficient for the padding DSR, then the padding BSR is selected for transmission. In one embodiment, if the number of padding bits of the UL resource is sufficient for the padding DSR but insufficient for the padding BSR, then the padding DSR is selected for transmission. In one embodiment, if the number of padding bits of the UL resource is sufficient for padding DSR or padding BSR, priority is given based on at least one of the following rules: always give priority to padding BSR; always give priority to padding DSR; give priority to padding BSR or padding DSR pre-configured based on the network; give priority to padding DSR if the corresponding delay information is critical; give priority to padding BSR if the corresponding buffer size exceeds a threshold; give priority to the MAC CE corresponding to the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest priority; give priority to the MAC CE corresponding to the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the longest queuing time; give priority to the MAC CE corresponding to the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the shortest remaining time until the delivery deadline; give priority to the MAC CE corresponding to the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest amount of buffered data; or give priority to the MAC CE corresponding to a predetermined important PDU set.

[0021] Other methods and apparatus are also described. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] The present invention is illustrated by way of example and not limitation in the figures of the accompanying drawings in which like references indicate similar elements.

[0023] Figure 1 An example wireless communication system according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0024] Figure 2 A user equipment directly communicating with a base station (BS) according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0025] Figure 3 An example block diagram of a UE according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0026] Figure 4 An example block diagram of a BS according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0027] Figure 5 An example block diagram of a cellular communication circuit according to one embodiment of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0028] Figure 6An example simplified block diagram of a UE communicating with a base station (e.g., gNB) utilizing BSR MAC CE according to one aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0029] Figure 7A A flow chart illustrating a process for selecting a BSR MAC CE with delay information according to one aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated.

[0030] Figure 7B is a block diagram illustrating a BSR MAC CE format without delay information, a BSR MAC CE format with detailed delay information, and a BSR MAC CE format with simplified delay information according to one aspect of the present disclosure.

[0031] Figure 7C is a block diagram illustrating a BSR MAC CE format with various types of delay information according to one aspect of the present disclosure.

[0032] Figure 8 is a flow chart illustrating a process for selecting a BSR MAC CE format based on a BSR table with a finer granularity buffer size level according to one aspect of the present disclosure.

[0033] Figure 9A is a block diagram illustrating a BSR MAC CE and a DSR MAC CE according to one aspect of the present disclosure.

[0034] Figure 9B is a flow chart illustrating a process for selecting and sending a BSR MAC CE and / or a DSR MAC CE according to one aspect of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0035] In the following description, numerous specific details are set forth to provide a thorough explanation of the embodiments of the present invention. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the embodiments of the present invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known components, structures, and techniques have not been shown in detail in order to avoid obscuring the understanding of this description.

[0036] Reference in this specification to "some embodiments" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment can be included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. The appearance of the phrase "in some embodiments" in various places in this specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment.

[0037] In the following description and claims, the terms "coupled" and "connected," and their derivatives, may be used. It should be understood that these terms are not intended to be synonymous with each other. "Coupled" is used to indicate that two or more elements, which may or may not be in direct physical or electrical contact with each other, cooperate or interact with each other. "Connected" is used to indicate the establishment of communication between two or more elements that are coupled to each other.

[0038] The processes depicted in the following figures are performed by processing logic that includes hardware (e.g., circuitry, dedicated logic, etc.), software (such as software running on a general-purpose computer system or a dedicated machine), or a combination of both. Although the processes are described below as operating in certain sequential order, it should be understood that some of the described operations may be performed in a different order. Furthermore, some operations may be performed in parallel rather than sequentially.

[0039] The terms "server," "client," and "device" are intended to refer generally to data processing systems and not specifically to specific form factors of a server, client, and / or device.

[0040] Figure 1 A simplified example wireless communication system according to one aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated. Note that Figure 1 The system is only one example of a possible system, and features of the present disclosure may be implemented in any of a variety of systems as desired.

[0041] As shown, the example wireless communication system includes a base station 102A that communicates with one or more user devices 106A, 106B, 106N, etc. via a transmission medium. Each of the user devices may be referred to herein as a "user equipment" (UE). Therefore, user device 106 is referred to as a UE or UE device.

[0042] Base station (BS) 102A may be a base transceiver station (BTS) or a cell site ("cellular base station") and may include hardware that enables wireless communications with UEs 106A through 106N.

[0043] The communication area (or coverage area) of a base station may be referred to as a "cell." The base station 102A and the UE 106 may be configured to communicate over a transmission medium using any of a variety of radio access technologies (RATs), also known as wireless communication technologies or telecommunication standards, such as GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, LTE-Advanced (LTE-A), 5G New Radio (5G NR), HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), and the like. Note that if the base station 102A is implemented in the context of LTE, it may alternatively be referred to as an "eNodeB" or "eNB." Note that if the base station 102A is implemented in the context of 5G NR, it may alternatively be referred to as a "gNodeB" or "gNB."

[0044] As shown, base station 102A may also be configured to communicate with network 100 (e.g., a cellular service provider's core network, a telecommunications network such as the Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN), and / or the Internet, among other possibilities). Thus, base station 102A may facilitate communications between user devices and / or between user devices and network 100. Specifically, cellular base station 102A may provide UE 106 with various telecommunications capabilities, such as voice, SMS, and / or data services.

[0045] Base station 102A and other similar base stations (such as base stations 102B...102N) operating according to the same or different cellular communication standards can therefore provide a network of cells that can provide continuous or nearly continuous overlapping service to UEs 106A to 106N and similar devices over a geographic area via one or more cellular communication standards.

[0046] Thus, although base station 102A may function as Figure 1 The illustrated "serving cell" of UEs 106A to 106N, but each UE 106 may also be able to receive signals from (and possibly be within communication range of) one or more other cells (which may be provided by base stations 102B to 102N and / or any other base stations), which may be referred to as "neighboring cells." Such cells may also be able to facilitate communications between user devices and / or between user devices and network 100. Such cells may include "macro" cells, "micro" cells, "pico" cells, and / or cells of any other variety of granularity of service area size. For example, in Figure 1 The base stations 102A-102B illustrated in FIG. 5 may be macro cells, while the base station 102N may be a micro cell. Other configurations are also possible.

[0047] In some embodiments, base station 102A may be a next-generation base station, such as a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station or "gNB." In some embodiments, a gNB may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and / or to an NR core (NRC) network. Furthermore, a gNB cell may include one or more transition and reception points (TRPs). Furthermore, a UE capable of operating in accordance with 5G NR may connect to one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs.

[0048] It is noted that the UE 106 may be capable of communicating using multiple wireless communication standards. For example, the UE 106 may be configured to communicate using wireless networking (e.g., Wi-Fi) and / or peer-to-peer wireless communication protocols (e.g., Bluetooth, Wi-Fi peer-to-peer, etc.) in addition to at least one cellular communication protocol (e.g., GSM, UMTS (associated with, for example, WCDMA or TD-SCDMA air interfaces), LTE, LTE-A, 5G NR, HSPA, 3GPP2 CDMA2000 (e.g., 1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD), etc.). If desired, the UE 106 may also or alternatively be configured to communicate using one or more global navigation satellite systems (GNSS, such as GPS or GLONASS), one or more mobile television broadcast standards (e.g., ATSC-M / H or DVB-H), and / or any other wireless communication protocols. Other combinations of wireless communication standards (including more than two wireless communication standards) are also possible.

[0049] Figure 2 A UE 106 is illustrated that communicates directly with a base station 102 through uplink and downlink communications according to one aspect of the present disclosure. The UE 106 may be a device with cellular communication capabilities, such as a mobile phone, a handheld device, a computer, or a tablet computer, or in fact any type of wireless device. The UE 106 may include a processor configured to execute program instructions stored in a memory. The UE 106 may perform any of the method embodiments described herein by executing such stored instructions. Alternatively or in addition, the UE 106 may include programmable hardware elements, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) configured to perform any of the method embodiments described herein or any portion of any of the method embodiments described herein.

[0050] UE 106 may include one or more antennas for communicating using one or more wireless communication protocols or technologies. In some embodiments, UE 106 may be configured to communicate using, for example, CDMA2000 (1xRTT, 1xEV-DO, HRPD, eHRPD) or LTE using a single shared radio and / or GSM or LTE using a single shared radio. The shared radio may be coupled to a single antenna, or may be coupled to multiple antennas (e.g., for MIMO) for performing wireless communications. Generally speaking, the radio may include any combination of a baseband processor, analog RF signal processing circuitry (e.g., including filters, mixers, oscillators, amplifiers, etc.), or digital processing circuitry (e.g., for digital modulation and other digital processing). Similarly, the radio may implement one or more receive chains and transmit chains using the aforementioned hardware. For example, UE 106 may share one or more portions of a receive chain and / or transmit chain between multiple wireless communication technologies (such as those discussed above).

[0051] In some embodiments, the UE 106 may include a separate transmit chain and / or receive chain (e.g., including separate antennas and other radio components) for each wireless communication protocol with which it is configured to communicate. As another possibility, the UE 106 may include one or more radio components shared between multiple wireless communication protocols, and one or more radio components used exclusively by a single wireless communication protocol. For example, the UE 106 may include a shared radio component for communicating using either LTE or 5GNR (or LTE or 1xRTT, or LTE or GSM), and a separate radio component for communicating using each of Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. Other configurations are also possible.

[0052] Figure 3 An example simplified block diagram of a communication device 106 according to one aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated. Note that Figure 3The block diagram of the communication device is only an example of a possible communication device. According to the embodiment, in addition to other devices, the communication device 106 can be a user equipment (UE) device, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop computer, a notebook or a portable computing device), a tablet computer and / or a combination of devices. As shown, the communication device 106 may include a group of components 300 configured to perform core functions. For example, the group of components can be implemented as a system on a chip (SOC), which can include parts for various purposes. Alternatively, the group of components 300 can be implemented as a separate component or group of components for various purposes. This group of components 300 can be coupled to various other circuits of the communication device 106 (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly).

[0053] For example, the communication device 106 may include various types of memory (e.g., including NAND flash memory 310), input / output interfaces such as a connector I / F 320 (e.g., for connecting to a computer system; a docking station; a charging station; input devices such as a microphone, a camera, a keyboard; output devices such as a speaker; etc.), a display 360 that may be integrated with the communication device 106 or external to the communication device, and cellular communication circuitry 330 such as for 5G NR, LTE, GSM, etc., and short-range to medium-range wireless communication circuitry 329 (e.g., Bluetooth TM and WLAN circuitry). In some embodiments, the communication device 106 may include wired communication circuitry (not shown), such as, for example, a network interface card for Ethernet.

[0054] Cellular communication circuitry 330 may be (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) coupled to one or more antennas, such as antennas 335 and 336, as shown. Short-range to medium-range wireless communication circuitry 329 may also be (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) coupled to one or more antennas, such as antennas 337 and 338, as shown. Alternatively, short-range to medium-range wireless communication circuitry 329 may be (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) coupled to antennas 335 and 336, in addition to or in lieu of being (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) coupled to antennas 337 and 338. Short-range to medium-range wireless communication circuitry 329 and / or cellular communication circuitry 330 may include multiple receive chains and / or multiple transmit chains for receiving and / or transmitting multiple spatial streams, such as in a multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) configuration.

[0055] In some embodiments, as further described below, the cellular communication circuitry 330 can include dedicated receive chains (including and / or (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) coupled to a dedicated processor and / or radio) for multiple radio access technologies (RATs) (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR). Furthermore, in some embodiments, the cellular communication circuitry 330 can include a single transmit chain that can switch between radios dedicated to specific RATs. For example, a first radio can be dedicated to a first RAT (e.g., LTE) and can communicate with a dedicated receive chain and a transmit chain shared with an additional radio, such as a second radio that can be dedicated to a second RAT (e.g., 5G NR) and can communicate with both the dedicated receive chain and the shared transmit chain.

[0056] Communication device 106 also can comprise one or more user interface elements and / or be configured for use with one or more user interface elements.User interface elements can comprise any element in various elements, such as display 360 (it can be touch screen display), keyboard (it can be discrete keyboard or can be implemented as a part of touch screen display), mouse, microphone and / or loudspeaker, one or more cameras, one or more buttons, and / or can provide information to the user and / or receive or interpret any element in various other elements of user input.

[0057] The communication device 106 may also include one or more smart cards 345 having SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) functionality, such as one or more UICC (Universal Integrated Circuit Card) cards 345 .

[0058] As shown, the SOC 300 may include a processor 302 that may execute program instructions for the communication device 106 and a display circuit 304 that may perform graphics processing and provide display signals to a display 360. The processor 302 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 340 that may be configured to receive addresses from the processor 302 and translate those addresses to locations in memory (e.g., memory 306, read-only memory (ROM) 350, NAND flash memory 310), and / or to other circuits or devices (such as the display circuit 304, the short-range wireless communication circuit 229, the cellular communication circuit 330, the connector I / F 320, and / or the display 360). The MMU 340 may be configured to perform memory protection and page table translation or setup. In some embodiments, the MMU 340 may be included as part of the processor 302.

[0059] As noted above, the communication device 106 can be configured to communicate using wireless and / or wired communication circuits. The communication device 106 can also be configured to determine physical downlink shared channel scheduling resources for the user equipment device and the base station. In addition, the communication device 106 can be configured to select and group CCs (component carriers) from the wireless link and determine virtual CCs from the selected CC group. The wireless device can also be configured to perform physical downlink resource mapping based on the aggregate resource matching pattern of the CC group.

[0060] As described herein, the communication device 106 may include hardware components and software components for implementing the above-mentioned feature parts for determining physical downlink shared channel scheduling resources for the communication device 106 and the base station. For example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium), the processor 302 of the communication device 106 may be configured to implement part or all of the feature parts as described herein. Alternatively (or in addition), the processor 302 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array), or as an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit). Alternatively (or in addition), in combination with one or more components in other components 300, 304, 306, 310, 320, 329, 330, 340, 345, 350, 360, the processor 302 of the communication device 106 may be configured to implement part or all of the feature parts described herein.

[0061] Furthermore, as described herein, processor 302 may include one or more processing elements. Thus, processor 302 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of processor 302. Furthermore, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor 302.

[0062] In addition, as described herein, both the cellular communication circuitry 330 and the short-range wireless communication circuitry 329 may include one or more processing elements. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in the cellular communication circuitry 330, and similarly, one or more processing elements may be included in the short-range wireless communication circuitry 329. Thus, the cellular communication circuitry 330 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of the cellular communication circuitry 330. Furthermore, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of the cellular communication circuitry 230. Similarly, the short-range wireless communication circuitry 329 may include one or more ICs configured to perform the functions of the short-range wireless communication circuitry 329. Furthermore, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of the short-range wireless communication circuitry 329.

[0063] Figure 4 An example block diagram of a base station 102 according to one aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated. Figure 4 The base station 102 is only one example of a possible base station. As shown, the base station 102 may include a processor 404 that may execute program instructions for the base station 102. The processor 404 may also be coupled to a memory management unit (MMU) 440 that may be configured to receive addresses from the processor 404 and translate those addresses into locations in memory (e.g., memory 460 and read-only memory (ROM) 450) or to other circuits or devices.

[0064] The base station 102 may include at least one network port 470. The network port 470 may be configured to couple to a telephone network and provide access to the telephone network described above. Figure 1 and Figure 2 Multiple devices (such as UE 106) of the telephone network described in.

[0065] The network port 470 (or an additional network port) may also or alternatively be configured to couple to a cellular network, such as a core network of a cellular service provider. The core network may provide mobility-related services and / or other services to a plurality of devices, such as the UE 106. In some cases, the network port 470 may couple to a telephone network via the core network, and / or the core network may provide a telephone network (e.g., in other UEs served by the cellular service provider).

[0066] In some embodiments, base station 102 may be a next-generation base station, such as a 5G New Radio (5G NR) base station, or "gNB." In such embodiments, base station 102 may be connected to a legacy evolved packet core (EPC) network and / or to an NR core (NRC) network. Furthermore, base station 102 may be considered a 5G NR cell and may include one or more transition and reception points (TRPs). Furthermore, a UE capable of operating in accordance with 5G NR may be connected to one or more TRPs within one or more gNBs.

[0067] Base station 102 may include at least one antenna 434, and may include multiple antennas. At least one antenna 434 may be configured to function as a wireless transceiver and may be further configured to communicate with UE 106 via radio 430. Antenna 434 communicates with radio 430 via communication chain 432. Communication chain 432 may be a receive chain, a transmit chain, or both. Radio 430 may be configured to communicate via various wireless communication standards, including but not limited to 5G NR, LTE, LTE-A, GSM, UMTS, CDMA2000, Wi-Fi, and the like.

[0068] Base station 102 may be configured to communicate wirelessly using multiple wireless communication standards. In some instances, base station 102 may include multiple radio components that enable base station 102 to communicate according to multiple wireless communication technologies. For example, as one possibility, base station 102 may include an LTE radio component for communicating according to LTE and a 5G NR radio component for communicating according to 5G NR. In such a case, base station 102 may be capable of operating as both an LTE base station and a 5G NR base station. As another possibility, base station 102 may include a multimode radio component capable of communicating according to any of multiple wireless communication technologies (e.g., 5G NR and Wi-Fi, LTE and Wi-Fi, LTE and UMTS, LTE and CDMA2000, UMTS and GSM, etc.).

[0069] As further described later herein, BS102 may include hardware components and software components for implementing or supporting the specific implementation of the feature parts described herein. The processor 404 of the base station 102 may be configured to implement or support part or all of the methods described herein, for example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium). Alternatively, the processor 404 may be configured as a programmable hardware element such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array), or as an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit) or a combination thereof. Alternatively (or in addition thereto), in combination with one or more components in other components 430, 432, 434, 440, 450, 460, 470, the processor 404 of the BS102 may be configured to implement or support the specific implementation of part or all of the feature parts described herein.

[0070] Furthermore, as described herein, processor 404 may be comprised of one or more processing elements. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in processor 404. Thus, processor 404 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of processor 404. Furthermore, each integrated circuit may include circuits (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of one or more processors 404.

[0071] Additionally, as described herein, radio 430 may include one or more processing elements. In other words, one or more processing elements may be included in radio 430. Thus, radio 430 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of radio 430. Furthermore, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of radio 430.

[0072] Figure 5 An example simplified block diagram of a cellular communication circuit according to one aspect of the present disclosure is illustrated. Note that Figure 5 The block diagram of the cellular communication circuitry is only one example of possible cellular communication circuitry. Depending on the embodiment, the cellular communication circuitry 330 may be included in a communication device, such as the communication device 106 described above. As noted above, the communication device 106 may be a user equipment (UE) device, a mobile device or mobile station, a wireless device or wireless station, a desktop computer or computing device, a mobile computing device (e.g., a laptop, notebook, or portable computing device), a tablet computer, and / or a combination of devices, among other devices.

[0073] Cellular communication circuitry 330 may be (eg, communicatively; directly or indirectly) coupled to one or more antennas, such as ( Figure 3 In some embodiments, the cellular communication circuit 330 may include dedicated receive chains (including and / or (e.g., communicatively; directly or indirectly) coupled to a dedicated processor and / or radio component) for multiple RATs (e.g., a first receive chain for LTE and a second receive chain for 5G NR). For example, Figure 5 As shown, the cellular communication circuitry 330 may include a modem 510 and a modem 520. The modem 510 may be configured for communication according to a first RAT (e.g., such as LTE or LTE-A), and the modem 520 may be configured for communication according to a second RAT (e.g., such as 5G NR).

[0074] As shown, the modem 510 may include one or more processors 512 and a memory 516 in communication with the processor 512. The modem 510 may communicate with a radio frequency (RF) front end 530. The RF front end 530 may include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, the RF front end 530 may include receive circuitry (RX) 532 and transmit circuitry (TX) 534. In some embodiments, the receive circuitry 532 may communicate with a downlink (DL) front end 550, which may include circuitry for receiving radio signals via antenna 335a.

[0075] Similarly, the modem 520 may include one or more processors 522 and a memory 526 in communication with the processors 522. The modem 520 may communicate with an RF front end 540. The RF front end 540 may include circuitry for transmitting and receiving radio signals. For example, the RF front end 540 may include receive circuitry 542 and transmit circuitry 544. In some embodiments, the receive circuitry 542 may communicate with a DL front end 560, which may include circuitry for receiving radio signals via the antenna 335b.

[0076] In some embodiments, the switch 570 can couple the transmit circuitry 534 to an uplink (UL) front end 572. Furthermore, the switch 570 can couple the transmit circuitry 544 to the UL front end 572. The UL front end 572 can include circuitry for transmitting radio signals via the antenna 336. Thus, when the cellular communication circuitry 330 receives an instruction to transmit according to a first RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain including the transmit circuitry 534 and the UL front end 572), the switch 570 can be switched to a first state that allows the modem 510 to transmit signals according to the first RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain including the transmit circuitry 534 and the UL front end 572). Similarly, when the cellular communication circuitry 330 receives an instruction to transmit according to a second RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain including the transmit circuitry 544 and the UL front end 572), the switch 570 can be switched to a second state that allows the modem 520 to transmit signals according to the second RAT (e.g., via a transmit chain including the transmit circuitry 544 and the UL front end 572).

[0077] As described herein, the modem 510 may include hardware components and software components for implementing the above-mentioned feature parts or for selecting periodic resource parts for user equipment devices and base stations and for various other technologies described herein. For example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium), the processor 512 may be configured to implement part or all of the feature parts described herein. Alternatively (or in addition thereto), the processor 512 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array), or as an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit). Alternatively (or in addition thereto), in combination with one or more components in other components 530, 532, 534, 550, 570, 572, 335 and 336, the processor 512 may be configured to implement part or all of the feature parts described herein.

[0078] Furthermore, as described herein, processor 512 may include one or more processing elements. Thus, processor 512 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of processor 512. Furthermore, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor 512.

[0079] As described herein, the modem 520 may include hardware components and software components for implementing the above-mentioned feature parts or for selecting the periodic resource portion on the wireless link between the UE and the base station and for various other technologies described herein. For example, by executing program instructions stored on a memory medium (e.g., a non-transitory computer-readable memory medium), the processor 522 may be configured to implement part or all of the feature parts described herein. Alternatively (or in addition thereto), the processor 522 may be configured as a programmable hardware element, such as an FPGA (field programmable gate array), or as an ASIC (application-specific integrated circuit). Alternatively (or in addition thereto), in combination with one or more of the other components 540, 542, 544, 550, 570, 572, 335, and 336, the processor 522 may be configured to implement part or all of the feature parts described herein.

[0080] Furthermore, as described herein, processor 522 may include one or more processing elements. Thus, processor 522 may include one or more integrated circuits (ICs) configured to perform the functions of processor 522. Furthermore, each integrated circuit may include circuitry (e.g., a first circuit, a second circuit, etc.) configured to perform the functions of processor 522.

[0081] The Buffer Status Report (BSR) is an important mechanism used by the UE 106 to inform the gNB (e.g., base station) 102 how much UL data has arrived in its buffer. Based on the information received in the BSR, the gNB can allocate UL resources that can accommodate the buffered data. Specific details regarding the BSR can be found in the Medium Access Control (MAC) specification (Technical Specification (TS) 38.321). A padding BSR is triggered when there are sufficient padding bits in the UL resources to carry the BSR MAC Control Element (CE). The UE's MAC entity selects the BSR format for the padding BSR based on the amount of available padding bits and the number of logical channel groups with available data.

[0082] In the 3GPP Rel-18 study item for New Radio (NR) enhancements for Extended Reality (XR), several agreements have been reached to enhance the BSR mechanism in order to meet XR service characteristics, including finer granularity buffer size levels and BSR with delay information. Two of these indications point to higher BSR overhead due to the potential increase in the number of octets of the MAC CE. Therefore, the impact of these enhancements on padding BSR should be considered to enhance XR service characteristics. The implementation plan involves how the BSR format can be selected for padding BSR, taking into account that the delay information can be included in the BSR or transmitted by a new type of MAC CE that is used only to carry the delay information of the buffered data. The new type of MAC CE may be called Delay Status Report (DSR).

[0083] Specifically, a BSR may be triggered if any of the following events occurs for an activated cell group: UL data becomes available to the MAC entity for a logical channel belonging to an LCG; and: the UL data belongs to a logical channel with a higher priority than the priority of any logical channel containing available UL data belonging to any LCG; or at least one of the logical channels belonging to the LCG does not contain any available UL data, in which case the BSR is called a "regular BSR"; UL resources are allocated and the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the buffer status report MAC CE plus its subheader, in which case the BSR is called a "padding BSR".

[0084] Figure 6 An example simplified block diagram illustrates a UE 106 communicating with a base station (e.g., gNB) 102 using a buffer status report (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) according to one aspect of the present disclosure. As already described, a padding BSR may be triggered when the padding bits of the UL resources are sufficient to carry the BSR MAC CE. Figure 6 As can be seen, UE 106 including a MAC entity can communicate with gNB 102, where a MAC protocol data unit (PDU) for UL resources 602 includes a payload (e.g., a MAC service data unit (SDU)) and padding bits 606, which includes padding bits 608 and a BSR MAC CE 610.

[0085] TS 38.321 has specified how the padding BSR format should be selected. Essentially, depending on the amount of available padding bits and the number of logical channel groups with available data, the MAC entity of the UE 106 selects one of the following BSR formats for the padding BSR: short truncated BSR; long truncated BSR; short BSR; long BSR. In addition, if the integrated access and backhaul (IAB) functionality is configured, the following BSR formats can be selected for the padding BSR: extended short truncated BSR; extended long truncated BSR; extended short BSR; and extended long BSR.

[0086] In the 3GPP Rel-18 study item on NR enhancements for XR, several agreements have been reached to enhance the BSR mechanism to meet the characteristics of XR services. Key areas include: Finer-grained buffer size levels: To accommodate the potentially large packet sizes from XR services, new BSR tables with lower quantization error can be introduced. In traditional BSR tables, quantization error can become unacceptably severe when the amount of buffered data is high. These new tables can be statically or dynamically constructed (determined during the work item phase); and BSR with latency information: Many XR services are latency-sensitive and should be delivered within a certain latency budget to be useful to the application layer. To enable latency-aware scheduling, it has been agreed that the Buffer Status Report (BSR) should be enhanced. This information allows the gNB to allocate uplink resources in a more timely manner. Two of these areas indicate higher BSR overhead due to the potential increase in the number of octets in the MAC CE. Aspects of this disclosure relate to enhancements to the padding BSR to implement latency information and finer-grained buffer size levels. In particular, embodiments relate to taking into account BSR enhancements such as delay information and finer granularity buffer size levels for filling BSR format selection.

[0087] One embodiment of the present invention relates to considering delay information for filling in BSR format selection. In this embodiment, it is assumed that at least the following two BSR MAC CE formats are applicable in Rel-18: a BSR MAC CE format with delay information of at least one logical channel (LCH), logical channel group (LCG), QoS flow ID (QFI) or protocol data unit set type; and a BSR MAC CE format without any delay information. It should be noted that the term "delay information" may include any information related to how long data has been queued in a buffer. For example, delay information may be calculated based on when a specific packet in the buffer (e.g., the first packet or the most critical packet) has arrived at the Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer and / or how much time is left until the delivery deadline of the buffered data.

[0088] The embodiments relate to how the BSR format may be selected for padding the BSR, taking into account that delay information may be included in the BSR. Figure 7A , Figure 7A 7 is a flow chart illustrating a process 700 for selecting a BSR MAC CE with delay information. In one example embodiment, a method for selecting a buffer status report (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) with delay information by a user equipment (UE) in a network is disclosed. At decision block 702, the process determines whether the number of padding bits of uplink (UL) resources is sufficient to pad the BSR. If not, the process ends (block 704). If so, padding of the BSR is triggered. At decision block 710, the process determines whether the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE including the delay information. The delay information may include at least one LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU aggregation type plus its subheader. If the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE with the delay information, a BSR MAC CE format including the delay information is selected (block 715); if not, a BSR MAC CE format without the delay information is selected (block 720).

[0089] As already described, in one embodiment, the delay information includes data related to how long the data has been queued in the buffer. In one embodiment, the delay information is associated with at least one of a logical channel (LCH), a logical channel group (LCG), a QoS flow ID (QFI), or a protocol data unit (PDU). In one embodiment, the BSR MAC CE format may include at least three BSR MAC CE formats (e.g., as applied in Rel-18): a BSR MAC CE format without the delay information (e.g., the legacy Rel-17 BSR MAC CE); a BSR MAC CE format with detailed delay information associated with at least one of the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregation type (e.g., a multi-bit field per LCH / LCG / QFI / PDU aggregation type indicating a quantized queuing time or a remaining time until a delivery deadline); or a BSR MAC CE format with simplified delay information associated with at least one of the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregation type (e.g., a 1-bit flag per LCH / LCG / QFI / PDU aggregation type indicating whether data buffered in the corresponding LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU aggregation type has become urgent).

[0090] In one embodiment, if the number of padding bits of the UL resources is sufficient for padding BSR, a padding BSR is triggered. Next, if the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE with more detailed delay information of at least one LCH / LCQ / QFI / or PDU aggregate type plus its subheader, a BSR MAC CE format (previously described) including the detailed delay information of at least one LCH / LCQ / QFI / or PDU aggregate type is selected for the padding BSR, and if not, a BSR MAC CE format (previously described) with the simplified delay information of at least one LCH / LCQ / QFI / or PDU aggregate type is selected for the padding BSR. Of course, if the number of padding bits of the UL resources is not sufficient for padding BSR, a traditional BSR is selected. Brief reference Figure 7B The block diagram illustrating this embodiment shows: a BSR MAC CE format 730 without delay information, a BSR MAC CE format 735 with detailed delay information, and a BSR MAC CE format 740 with simplified delay information (including a 1-bit flag indicating whether it is urgent).

[0091] In one embodiment, if the number of padding bits of the UL resources is sufficient for padding the BSR, a padding BSR is triggered. Next, if the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE with delay information of at least one LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU aggregate type plus its subheader, the next subsequent step is performed. If not, a BSR MAC CE format without any delay information is selected. At the next step, a determination is made as to whether the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE with more detailed delay information of at least one LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU aggregate type plus its subheader. If so, a BSR MAC CE format with the detailed delay information of at least one LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU aggregate type is selected for the padding BSR. If not, a BSR MAC CE format with the reduced delay information of at least one LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU aggregate type is selected for the padding BSR.

[0092] In one embodiment, it is assumed that the BSR MAC CE format with delay information as explained in the previously described process has the following information: the buffer size of at least one LCG and the delay information of at least one LCH (for example, at least one LCH may or may not belong to at least one LCG), and then when the UE intends to send a BSR MAC CE based on the BSR MAC CE format, the UE should determine which LCHs' delay information should be included in such a format. The selection of the delay information for the LCH may be based on at least one of the following: an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type that is consistent with at least one LCG whose buffer size is to be reported in the same BSR MAC CE; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest priority; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the longest queuing time; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the shortest remaining time until the delivery deadline; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest amount of buffered data; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type corresponding to a predetermined important PDU set; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the largest data burst size; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the largest PDU set size; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest priority and a queuing time greater than a threshold; or an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest priority and a remaining time until the delivery deadline less than a threshold.

[0093] In one embodiment, it is assumed that at least the following three BSR MAC CE formats are used (and can be applied in Rel-18): a BSR MAC CE format without any delay information (e.g., a legacy Rel-17 BSR MAC CE); a BSR MAC CE format with delay information of only one LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU aggregate type; or a BSR MAC CE format with delay information of multiple LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU aggregate types. For example, Figure 7C is a block diagram illustrating a BSR MAC CE format with delay information for multiple LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU aggregation types 750 and a BSR MAC CE format with delay information for only one LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU aggregation type 760.

[0094] In one embodiment, the MAC entity of the UE performs the following operations: checking whether the number of padding bits of the UL resources is sufficient for padding BSR, and if so, triggering a padding BSR, and continuing to evaluate whether the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of a BSR MAC CE with delay information of at least one LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU aggregation type plus its subheader. If not, selecting a BSR MAC CE format without delay information. If yes, evaluating whether the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of a BSR MAC CE with delay information of multiple LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU aggregation types plus its subheader, and if more than one LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU aggregation type has available data, and if so, selecting a BSR MAC CE format with delay information of multiple LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU aggregation types for the padding BSR, and if not, selecting a BSR MAC CE format with delay information of only one LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU aggregation type for the padding BSR.

[0095] In one embodiment, if the BSR MAC CE format with the delay information of only one LCH or LCG is selected for the padding BSR, and if more than one LCH or LCG has available data, the following operations occur: reporting the BSR MAC CE format of the delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU set type with the highest priority; reporting the BSR MAC CE format of the delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU set type with the longest queuing time; reporting the BSR MAC CE format of the delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU set type with the shortest remaining time until the delivery deadline; reporting the BSR MAC CE format of the delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU set type with the highest amount of buffered data; reporting the BSR MAC CE format of the delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU set type corresponding to a predetermined important PDU set; reporting the BSR MAC CE format of the delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU set type with the largest data burst size CE format; BSR MAC CE format for reporting delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU aggregate type with the largest PDU aggregate size; BSR MAC CE format for reporting delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU aggregate type with the highest priority and the queuing time greater than the threshold; BSR MAC CE format for reporting delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU aggregate type with the highest priority and the remaining time until the delivery deadline less than the threshold.

[0096] In one embodiment, it is assumed that only a subset of LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU set types are configured with delay information requirements, that is, when UL data is available in certain LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU set types, the UE only reports delay information associated with these LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU set types. In this case, the UE does not report delay information for other LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU set types. In this embodiment, the MAC entity of the UE performs the following operations: checks whether the number of padding bits of the UL resources is sufficient for padding BSR, and if so, triggers padding BSR, and proceeds to the next operation. At the next operation, identifies which LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU set types have available data. If none of the identified LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU set types with available data is configured with delay information requirements, the BSR MAC CE format that does not carry any delay information is selected. On the other hand, if at least one of the identified LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU aggregate type for which data is available is configured with a delay information requirement, the BSR MAC CE format that can carry the delay information of the identified LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU aggregate type is selected. If the number of padding bits of the UL resource is insufficient for a BSR to carry the delay information of all identified LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU aggregate types, the UE reports the delay information of the LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU aggregate type with the highest priority, the longest queuing delay, the shortest remaining time to delivery deadline, the highest amount of buffered data, or the more important PDU aggregate in the padding BSR.

[0097] In another example embodiment, a method for selecting a buffer status reporting (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) by a user equipment (UE) in a network for a BSR table with a finer granularity buffer size level is disclosed.

[0098] In this embodiment, as an example, it is assumed that at least the following two BSR MAC CE formats are applicable to Rel-18: a BSR MAC CE format based on a Rel-18 BSR table that provides a finer granularity of buffer size levels; and a BSR MAC CE format based on a legacy BSR table (i.e., Rel-17).

[0099] The MAC entity of the UE may execute Figure 8The method steps of process 800 in FIG. The method includes a first processing step of determining whether the number of padding bits of uplink (UL) resources is sufficient for padding a BSR (block 802), and if not, the process ends (block 804). If so, a padding BSR is triggered, and at decision block 810, a determination is made whether the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE based on a BSR table providing a finer granularity of buffer size levels for at least one of LCH / LCQ / QFI or PDU aggregation type, plus its subheader. If the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE based on the BSR table providing a finer granularity buffer size level, a BSR MAC CE format is selected for a BSR table of a finer granularity buffer size level (e.g., a Rel-18 table) having at least one of LCH / LCQ / QFI or PDU aggregation type (block 815), and if not, a BSR MAC CE format is selected based on a legacy BSR table (e.g., a Rel-17 table) (block 820).

[0100] In one embodiment, it is assumed that only a subset of LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU set types are configured with a finer granularity buffer size level requirement, i.e., when UL data is available in these LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU set types, the UE only reports the BSR based on the Rel-18 BSR table that provides the finer granularity buffer size level. Otherwise, the UE reports the BSR based on the legacy BSR table as in Rel-17. In one embodiment, the MAC entity of the UE may perform the following steps: first, check whether the number of padding bits of the UL resources is sufficient for padding BSR, and if so, trigger the padding BSR, and then proceed to the next step. At the next step, identify which LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU set types have available data. If none of the identified LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU set types with available data is configured with a finer granularity buffer size level requirement, then select the BSR MAC CE format based on the legacy BSR table (e.g., Rel-17). On the other hand, if at least one of the identified LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU aggregate type for which data is available is configured with a delay information requirement, then based on the Rel-18 BSR table that provides a finer granularity of buffer size levels, the BSR MAC CE format that can carry the buffer size information of the identified LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU aggregate type is selected. In addition, if the number of padding bits of the UL resource is insufficient for the BSR to carry the buffer size information of all identified LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU aggregate types, the UE reports the delay information of the LCH / LCG / QFI or PDU aggregate type with the highest priority, the longest queuing delay, the shortest remaining time to delivery deadline, the highest amount of buffered data, or the most important PDU aggregate in the padding BSR.

[0101] In another example embodiment, a method for selecting a buffer status report (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) and / or a delay status report (DSR) MAC CE by a user equipment (UE) in a network is disclosed. For example, Figure 9A is a block diagram 900 illustrating a BSR MAC CE 902 and a DSR MAC CE 904 .

[0102] refer to Figure 9B, a flow chart illustrating a process 910 for selecting and sending a BSR MAC CE and / or a DSR MAC CE is shown. For example, at decision block 915, the process includes determining whether the number of padding bits for an uplink (UL) resource is sufficient for both a padding BSR and a padding DSR, and if so, sending both the padding BSR and the padding DSR in the UL resource (block 920). If not, at decision block 925, if the number of padding bits for the UL resource is sufficient for the padding BSR but insufficient for the padding DSR, selecting the padding BSR for transmission (block 930). If not, at decision block 935, if the number of padding bits for the UL resource is sufficient for the padding DSR but insufficient for the padding BSR, selecting the padding DSR for transmission (block 940). If not, then at decision block 945, if the number of padding bits of the UL resource is sufficient for padding DSR or padding BSR, the UE prioritizes based on at least one of the following rules (block 950): always prioritize padding BSR; always prioritize padding DSR; prioritize padding BSR or padding DSR pre-configured by the network; prioritize padding DSR if the corresponding delay information is critical (e.g., when the queuing time exceeds a threshold or when the remaining time until the delivery deadline is less than a threshold); prioritize padding BSR if the corresponding buffer size exceeds a threshold; prioritize the MAC CE corresponding to the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate type with the highest priority; prioritize the MAC CE corresponding to the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate type with the longest queuing time; prioritize the MAC CE corresponding to the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate type with the shortest remaining time until the delivery deadline; prioritize the MAC CE corresponding to the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate type with the highest amount of buffered data Alternatively, the process ends at block 955 .

[0103] In one embodiment, the UE may determine whether it should behave in Rel-17 behavior or in the previously described embodiments (including Rel-18 features) based on whether one of the parameters is pre-configured by the gNB. For example, it may be assumed that a radio resource control (RRC) parameter is introduced to indicate the expected UE behavior regarding BSR format selection, the expected UE behavior including: if the MAC entity of the UE is configured with the new RRC parameter, the UE may perform padding BSR format selection based on one of the previously described embodiments; or if the new RRC parameter is not configured, the UE simply follows the Rel-17 MAC specification (TS 38.321) to select the padding BSR format.

[0104] As already described, embodiments relate to how the BSR format can be selected for padding the BSR (including delay information that can be included in the BSR), as well as utilizing a finer granularity of buffer size levels. Specifically, as already described, methods and apparatus for use in a communication network to implement these functions are disclosed. In an example embodiment, a user equipment (UE) for connecting to a network is described, the user equipment (UE) comprising: at least one antenna; at least one radio component, wherein the at least one radio component is configured to communicate with the network including a base station (e.g., a gNB) using the at least one antenna; and at least one processor, the at least one processor coupled to the at least one radio component. The at least one processor of the UE including a MAC entity is configured to perform the various embodiment operations previously described.

[0105] The part of the content described above can be realized by utilizing a logic circuit such as a dedicated logic circuit or utilizing a microcontroller or other form of processing core for executing program code instructions. Thus, program code (such as machine executable instructions) can be utilized to execute the process of teaching discussed above, and the machine executable instructions make the machine execute these instructions to perform certain functions. In this context, "machine" can be a machine that converts intermediate form (or "abstract") instructions into processor-specific instructions (for example, abstract execution environment such as "virtual machine" (for example, Java virtual machine), interpreter, common language runtime, high-level language virtual machine, etc.), and / or be arranged on an electronic circuit on a semiconductor chip (for example, "logic circuit" realized by transistors), and the electronic circuit is designed to execute instructions, and the processor is such as a general-purpose processor and / or a special-purpose processor. The process of teaching discussed above can also be executed by (as a substitute of a machine or in combination with a machine) an electronic circuit, and the electronic circuit is designed to execute a process (or a part thereof) without executing program code.

[0106] For example, the operations of the embodiments described previously may be stored as instructions on a non-transitory computer-readable medium for execution by a computer (e.g., a UE). The present invention also relates to an apparatus for performing the operations described herein. The apparatus may be specially constructed for the desired purpose, or may include a general-purpose computer selectively activated or reconfigured by a computer program stored in the computer. Such a computer program may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium, such as, but not limited to, any type of disk, including a floppy disk, an optical disk, a CD-ROM, and a magneto-optical disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a RAM, an EPROM, an EEPROM, a magnetic card or an optical card, or any type of medium suitable for storing electronic instructions, and each of which is coupled to a computer system bus.

[0107] A machine-readable medium includes any mechanism for storing or transmitting information in a form readable by a machine (e.g., a computer). For example, machine-readable media include read-only memory ("ROM"); random access memory ("RAM"); magnetic disk storage media; optical storage media; flash memory devices; and the like.

[0108] Articles of manufacture can be used to store program code. Articles of manufacture storing program code can be embodied as, but not limited to, one or more memories (e.g., one or more flash memories, random access memories (static, dynamic, or other)), optical disks, CD-ROMs, DVD ROMs, EPROMs, EEPROMs, magnetic or optical cards, or other types of machine-readable media suitable for storing electronic instructions. Program code can also be downloaded from a remote computer (e.g., a server) to a requesting computer (e.g., a client) via a data signal embodied in a propagation medium (e.g., via a communication link (e.g., a network connection)).

[0109] The foregoing detailed description has been presented in terms of algorithms and symbolic representations of operations on data bits within a computer memory. These algorithmic descriptions and representations are the tools used by those skilled in the art of data processing to most effectively convey the substance of their work to others skilled in the art. An algorithm, as used herein and generally, refers to a self-consistent sequence of operations leading to a desired result. These operations are those requiring physical manipulation of physical quantities. Typically, but not necessarily, these quantities take the form of electrical or magnetic signals capable of being stored, transferred, combined, compared, and otherwise manipulated. It has proven convenient, primarily for common sense, to refer to these signals as bits, values, elements, symbols, characters, terms, numbers, or the like.

[0110] It should be borne in mind, however, that all of these and similar terms are to be associated with the appropriate physical quantities and are merely convenient labels applied to these quantities. Unless otherwise specifically stated, it will be apparent from the foregoing discussion that discussions throughout this specification using terms such as "select," "determine," "receive," "form," "group," "aggregate," "generate," "remove," and the like will be understood to refer to actions and processes on a computer system or similar electronic computing device that manipulates data represented as physical (electronic) quantities in the computer system's registers and memories and converts it into other data similarly represented as physical quantities in the computer system's memories or registers or other such information storage, transmission, or display devices.

[0111] The process presented herein and display are not inherently relevant to any particular computer or other device. According to the teaching content of this paper, various general-purpose systems can be used together with program, or can prove that it is convenient to construct the more special-purpose device for performing described operation. According to the description below, the required structure for various these systems will be apparent. In addition, the present invention is not described with reference to any specific programming language. Should be understood that multiple programming languages ​​can be used for realizing the teaching content of the present invention as described herein.

[0112] The foregoing discussion describes only some exemplary embodiments of the present invention. Those skilled in the art will readily recognize from these discussions, drawings and claims that various modifications can be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A method for selecting, by a user equipment (UE) in a network, a buffer status report (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) having delay information, the method comprising: determining whether a number of padding bits of uplink (UL) resources is sufficient for padding a BSR; as well as determining whether the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than a size of the BSR MAC CE including delay information; Wherein, if the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE with delay information, selecting a BSR MAC CE format including the delay information, and if not, selecting a BSR MAC CE format without the delay information. 2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the delay information comprises data related to how long data has been queued in a buffer.

3. The method of claim 1, wherein the delay information is associated with at least one of a logical channel (LCH), a logical channel group (LCG), a QoS flow ID (QFI), or a protocol data unit (PDU).

4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the BSR MAC CE format comprises: A BSR MAC CE format without the delay information; a BSR MAC CE format with detailed delay information associated with at least one of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU aggregation types, wherein the detailed delay information indicates the quantized queuing time or the remaining time until the delivery deadline; or a BSR MAC CE format with simplified delay information associated with at least one of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU aggregation types, wherein the simplified delay information includes a flag indicating whether the data buffered with the aggregation type is urgent or non-urgent.

5. The method according to claim 4, wherein If the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE with detailed delay information, selecting a BSR MAC CE format including the detailed delay information, and if not, selecting a BSR MAC CE format with the simplified delay information.

6. The method according to claim 4, wherein: If the BSR MAC CE format with the delay information includes a buffer size of at least one LCG and delay information of at least one LCH, the method further includes: when the UE intends to send the BSR MAC CE format, determining the delay information of the LCH to be included in the BSR MAC CE format, wherein the selection of the delay information of the LCH is based on at least one of the following: an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type that is consistent with at least one LCG reporting its buffer size in the CE; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest priority; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the longest queuing time; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the shortest remaining time until the delivery deadline; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest amount of buffered data; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type corresponding to a predetermined important PDU set; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the largest data burst size; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the largest PDU set size; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest priority whose queuing time is greater than a threshold; or an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest priority whose remaining time until the delivery deadline is less than a threshold.

7. The method according to claim 3, wherein the BSR MAC CE format comprises: A BSR MAC CE format with delay information for only one LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate type; or a BSR MAC CE format with delay information for multiple LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate types.

8. The method according to claim 7, wherein: If the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE format having delay information of multiple LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set types, the BSR MAC CE format having delay information of multiple LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set types is selected, and if not, the BSR MAC CE format having delay information of only one LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type is selected.

9. The method according to claim 8, wherein If the BSR MAC CE format with the delay information of only one LCH or LCG is selected for the padding BSR, and if more than one LCH or LCG has available data, the method further includes the following operations: reporting the BSR MAC CE format of delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest priority; reporting the BSR MAC CE format of delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the longest queuing time; reporting the BSR MAC CE format of delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the shortest remaining time until the delivery deadline; reporting the BSR MAC CE format of delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest amount of buffered data; reporting the BSR MAC CE format of delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type corresponding to a predetermined important PDU set; reporting the BSR MAC CE format of delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the largest data burst size CE format; BSR MAC CE format for reporting delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU aggregate type with the largest PDU aggregate size; BSR MAC CE format for reporting delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU aggregate type with the highest priority and a queuing time greater than a threshold; BSR MAC CE format for reporting delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU aggregate type with the highest priority and a remaining time until the delivery deadline less than a threshold.

10. The method according to claim 7, wherein: If a subset of multiple LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set types is configured with delay information, the method also includes: reporting only the delay information associated with the subset of multiple LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set types configured with delay information, and not reporting delay information for other LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set types.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein: If the number of padding bits is insufficient for the BSR MAC CE format to carry delay information for all identified LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set types, the method further comprises reporting the delay information for all identified LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set types using at least one of the following: the highest priority, or the longest queuing delay, or the shortest remaining time to the delivery deadline, or the highest amount of buffered data, or a predetermined most important PDU set.

12. A user equipment (UE) for selecting a buffer status report (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) with delay information in a network, the UE comprising: at least one antenna; at least one radio, wherein the at least one radio is configured to communicate with the network including a base station using the at least one antenna; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one radio, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform operations comprising: determining whether a number of padding bits of uplink (UL) resources is sufficient for padding a BSR; and determining whether the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than a size of the BSR MAC CE including delay information; Wherein, if the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE with delay information, selecting a BSR MAC CE format including the delay information, and if not, selecting a BSR MAC CE format without the delay information.

13. The UE of claim 12, wherein the delay information comprises data related to how long data has been queued in a buffer.

14. The UE of claim 12, wherein the delay information is related to at least one of a logical channel (LCH), a logical channel group (LCG), a QoS flow ID (QFI), or a protocol data unit (PDU).

15. The UE according to claim 14, wherein the BSR MAC CE format comprises: A BSR MAC CE format without the delay information; a BSR MAC CE format with detailed delay information associated with at least one of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU aggregation types, wherein the detailed delay information indicates the quantized queuing time or the remaining time until the delivery deadline; or a BSR MAC CE format with simplified delay information associated with at least one of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU aggregation types, wherein the simplified delay information includes a flag indicating whether the data buffered with the aggregation type is urgent or non-urgent.

16. The UE according to claim 15, wherein: If the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE with detailed delay information, selecting a BSR MAC CE format including the detailed delay information, and if not, selecting a BSR MAC CE format with the simplified delay information.

17. The UE according to claim 15, wherein: If the BSR MAC CE format with the delay information includes a buffer size of at least one LCG and delay information of at least one LCH, the UE further includes: when the UE intends to send the BSR MAC CE format, the at least one processor performs the following operations: determining the delay information of the LCH to be included in the BSR MAC CE format, wherein the selection of the delay information of the LCH is based on at least one of the following: an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type that is consistent with at least one LCG reporting its buffer size in the CE; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest priority; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the longest queuing time; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the shortest remaining time until the delivery deadline; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest amount of buffered data; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type corresponding to a predetermined important PDU set; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the largest data burst size; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the largest PDU set size; an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest priority whose queuing time is greater than a threshold; or an LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest priority whose remaining time until the delivery deadline is less than a threshold.

18. The UE according to claim 14, wherein the BSR MAC CE format comprises: A BSR MAC CE format with delay information for only one LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate type; or a BSR MAC CE format with delay information for multiple LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate types.

19. The UE according to claim 18, wherein: If the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE format having delay information of multiple LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set types, the BSR MAC CE format having delay information of multiple LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set types is selected, and if not, the BSR MAC CE format having delay information of only one LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type is selected.

20. The UE according to claim 19, wherein: If the BSR MAC CE format with the delay information of only one LCH or LCG is selected for the padding BSR, and if more than one LCH or LCG has available data, the UE further includes the at least one processor performing the following operations: reporting the BSR MAC CE format for delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type having the highest priority; reporting the BSR MAC CE format for delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type having the longest queuing time; reporting the BSR MAC CE format for delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type having the shortest remaining time until the delivery deadline; reporting the BSR MAC CE format for delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type having the highest amount of buffered data; reporting the BSR MAC CE format for delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type corresponding to a predetermined important PDU set; reporting the BSR MAC CE format for delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type having the largest data burst size CE format; BSR MAC CE format for reporting delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate type with the largest PDU aggregate size; BSR MAC CE format for reporting delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate type with the highest priority and a queuing time greater than a threshold; BSR MAC CE format for reporting delay information of the LCH, LCG, QFI, or PDU aggregate type with the highest priority and a remaining time until the delivery deadline less than a threshold.

21. The UE according to claim 18, wherein If a subset of multiple LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set types is configured with delay information, the UE also includes the at least one processor performing the following operations: only reporting the delay information associated with the subset of multiple LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU configured with delay information, and not reporting delay information for other LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set types.

22. The UE according to claim 21, wherein: If the number of padding bits is insufficient for the BSR MAC CE format to carry delay information for all identified LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set types, the UE further includes the at least one processor performing the following operations: reporting the delay information for all identified LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set types using at least one of the following: highest priority, or longest queuing delay, or shortest remaining time to delivery deadline, or highest amount of buffered data, or a predetermined most important PDU set.

23. A method for selecting a buffer status reporting (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for a BSR table having a finer granularity buffer size level by a user equipment (UE) in a network, the method comprising: determining whether a number of padding bits of uplink (UL) resources is sufficient for padding a BSR; as well as determining whether the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than a size of the BSR MAC CE based on a BSR table providing a finer granularity buffer size level; wherein, if the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE based on the BSR table providing a buffer size level with finer granularity, selecting the BSR MAC CE format for the BSR table with the buffer size level with finer granularity, and if not, selecting the BSR MAC CE format for the legacy BSR table.

24. The method of claim 23, wherein the finer-grained buffer size level of the BSR table is associated with at least one of a logical channel (LCH) set type, a logical channel group (LCG) set type, a QoS flow ID (QFI) set type, or a protocol data unit (PDU) set type.

25. The method of claim 24, wherein if only a subset of LCH, LGC, QFI, or PDU set types are configured with the finer-grained buffer size level of the BSR table, only the subset of LCH, LGC, QFI, or PDU set types with the finer-grained buffer size level of the BSR table are reported, otherwise the set type is reported as a legacy BSR table.

26. The method of claim 24, wherein if at least one of the identified LCH, LGC, QFI, or PDU set type is configured with a delay information requirement, a BSR MAC CE format capable of carrying the buffer size information of the identified LCH, LGC, QFI, or PDU set type is selected based on the BSR table that provides a finer granularity of the buffer size level.

27. The method of claim 26, wherein if the number of padding bits is insufficient for the BSR table carrying the buffer size information for all identified LCH, LGC, QFI, or PDU set types, delay information for the LCH, LGC, QFI, or PDU set type is reported based on at least one of: highest priority, longest queuing delay, shortest remaining time to delivery deadline, highest buffered data amount, or a predetermined important PDU set.

28. A user equipment (UE) for selecting a buffer status reporting (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) for a BSR table with a finer granularity buffer size level in a network, the UE comprising: at least one antenna; at least one radio, wherein the at least one radio is configured to communicate with the network including a base station using the at least one antenna; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one radio, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform operations comprising: determining whether a number of padding bits of uplink (UL) resources is sufficient for padding a BSR; and determining whether the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than a size of the BSR MAC CE based on a BSR table providing a finer granularity buffer size level; wherein, if the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the BSR MAC CE based on the BSR table providing a buffer size level with finer granularity, selecting a BSR MAC CE format for the BSR with the buffer size level with finer granularity, and if not, selecting a BSR MAC CE format for the legacy BSR table.

29. The UE of claim 28, wherein the finer-grained buffer size level of the BSR table is associated with at least one of a logical channel (LCH) set type, a logical channel group (LCG) set type, a QoS flow ID (QFI) set type, or a protocol data unit (PDU) set type.

30. The UE of claim 29, wherein if only a subset of LCH, LGC, QFI, or PDU set types are configured with the finer-grained buffer size level of the BSR table, only the subset of LCH, LGC, QFI, or PDU set types with the finer-grained buffer size level of the BSR table are reported, otherwise the set type is reported as a legacy BSR table.

31. The UE of claim 29, wherein if at least one of the identified LCH, LGC, QFI, or PDU set type is configured with a delay information requirement, a BSR MAC CE format capable of carrying the buffer size information of the identified LCH, LGC, QFI, or PDU set type is selected based on the BSR table that provides a finer granularity of the buffer size level.

32. The UE of claim 31 , wherein if the number of padding bits is insufficient for the BSR table to carry the buffer size information for all identified LCH, LGC, QFI or PDU set types, delay information for the LCH, LGC, QFI or PDU set type is reported based on at least one of: highest priority, longest queuing delay, shortest remaining time to delivery deadline, highest buffered data amount, or a predetermined important PDU set.

33. A method for selecting a buffer status report (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) and / or a delay status report (DSR) MAC CE by a user equipment (UE) in a network, the method comprising: determining whether the number of padding bits of uplink (UL) resources is sufficient for both padding BSRs and padding DSRs; as well as If the number of padding bits is sufficient, both the padding BSR and the padding DSR are sent in the UL resources.

34. The method according to claim 33, wherein If the number of padding bits of the UL resource is sufficient for the padding BSR but insufficient for the padding DSR, the padding BSR is selected for transmission.

35. The method according to claim 34, wherein If the number of padding bits of the UL resource is sufficient for the padding DSR but insufficient for the padding BSR, the padding DSR is selected for transmission.

36. The method according to claim 35, wherein If the number of padding bits of the UL resource is sufficient for padding DSR or padding BSR, priority is given based on at least one of the following rules: always give priority to padding BSR; always give priority to padding DSR; give priority to padding BSR or padding DSR based on the pre-configuration of the network; give priority to padding DSR if the corresponding delay information is critical; give priority to padding BSR if the corresponding buffer size exceeds a threshold; give priority to the MAC CE corresponding to the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest priority; give priority to the MAC CE corresponding to the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the longest queuing time; give priority to the MAC CE corresponding to the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the shortest remaining time until the delivery deadline; give priority to the MAC CE corresponding to the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest amount of buffered data; or give priority to the MAC CE corresponding to a predetermined important PDU set.

37. A user equipment (UE) for selecting a buffer status report (BSR) medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) and / or a delay status report (DSR) MAC CE in a network, the UE comprising: at least one antenna; at least one radio, wherein the at least one radio is configured to communicate with the network including a base station using the at least one antenna; and at least one processor coupled to the at least one radio, wherein the at least one processor is configured to perform operations comprising: determining whether the number of padding bits of uplink (UL) resources is sufficient for both padding BSRs and padding DSRs; as well as If the number of padding bits is sufficient, both the padding BSR and the padding DSR are sent in the UL resources.

38. The UE according to claim 37, wherein: If the number of padding bits of the UL resource is sufficient for the padding BSR but insufficient for the padding DSR, the padding BSR is selected for transmission.

39. The UE according to claim 38, wherein If the number of padding bits of the UL resource is sufficient for the padding DSR but insufficient for the padding BSR, the padding DSR is selected for transmission.

40. The UE according to claim 39, wherein If the number of padding bits of the UL resource is sufficient for padding DSR or padding BSR, priority is given based on at least one of the following rules: always give priority to padding BSR; always give priority to padding DSR; give priority to padding BSR or padding DSR based on the pre-configuration of the network; give priority to padding DSR if the corresponding delay information is critical; give priority to padding BSR if the corresponding buffer size exceeds a threshold; give priority to the MAC CE corresponding to the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest priority; give priority to the MAC CE corresponding to the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the longest queuing time; give priority to the MAC CE corresponding to the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the shortest remaining time until the delivery deadline; give priority to the MAC CE corresponding to the LCH, LCG, QFI or PDU set type with the highest amount of buffered data; or give priority to the MAC CE corresponding to a predetermined important PDU set.

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