Dynamic scheduling of paired downlink and uplink traffic

Abstract

The user equipment sends application-specific information to the RAN node, which may include a quality of service category identifier associated with a traffic flow corresponding to the application. In response to the application-specific information, the user equipment receives, from the node, application-specific configuration information corresponding to the downlink search space, which may be monitored or decoded by the user equipment using the configuration information to determine a joint downlink-uplink configuration. The joint downlink-uplink configuration may indicate downlink resources for receiving downlink traffic to which the specific flow is applied, and the joint downlink-uplink configuration may indicate uplink resources used for transmitting uplink traffic to which the specific flow is applied, the uplink traffic to which the specific flow is applied is linked to or corresponds to the downlink traffic to which the specific flow is applied. The user equipment may be configured to transmit an estimated buffer status report indicating estimated uplink traffic to be transmitted corresponding to downlink traffic to which a particular flow is applied.

Description

[0001] Related applications

[0002] This application claims priority to U.S. non-provisional patent application No. 18 / 069,113, filed on December 20, 2022, entitled “Dynamic Scheduling of Paired Downlink and Uplink Traffic,” the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference. Background Art

[0003] The term "New Radio" (NR), associated with fifth-generation mobile wireless communication systems ("5G"), refers to the technology used in the radio access network ("RAN"), which includes several Quality of Service (QoS) categories, including ultra-reliable and low-latency communication ("URLLC"), enhanced mobile broadband ("eMBB"), and massive machine-type communication ("mMTC"). The URLLC QoS category is associated with strict latency requirements (e.g., low latency or low signal / message delay) and high reliability of radio performance, while traditional eMBB use cases may be associated with high-capacity wireless communication, which may allow for less stringent latency requirements (e.g., higher latency than URLLC) and less reliable radio performance. Performance requirements for mMTC may be lower than for eMBB use cases. Some use case applications involving mobile devices or mobile user equipment, such as smartphones, wireless tablets, smartwatches, etc., may impose varying resource loads or demands on a given RAN. Summary of the Invention

[0004] The following presents a simplified overview of the disclosed subject matter in order to provide a basic understanding of some of the various embodiments. This summary is not an extensive overview of the various embodiments. It is not intended to identify key or important elements of the various embodiments, nor is it intended to delineate the scope of the various embodiments. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of the present disclosure in a concise form as a prelude to the more detailed description presented later.

[0005] In an example embodiment, a method includes transmitting, by a user equipment comprising a processor, an application type indication message to a radio access network node, the application type indication message indicating application information corresponding to an application configured to be used by the user equipment; the application type indication message can be transmitted as an uplink control channel information message. The application information can include an application latency criteria indication indicating an acceptable delay corresponding to a traffic flow between receiving a future downlink data traffic portion and transmitting an uplink control indication corresponding to the future downlink data traffic portion to be transmitted by the user equipment to the radio access network node. The method can further include receiving, from the radio access network node, a joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration in response to the application type indication message, the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration to be used by the user equipment to manage at least one traffic flow corresponding to the application; the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration can be transmitted as a downlink control information message. The joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration can be retrieved by monitoring and decoding an application-specific search space indicated in the configuration, which can be received in response to a response to the application type indication message. Thus, there can be one or more intervening actions related to receiving the application-specific search space configuration and decoding the application-specific search space between transmitting the application type indication message and receiving the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration.

[0006] The example embodiment method can further include receiving a downlink data traffic portion of a traffic flow corresponding to the application, the downlink data traffic portion including a downlink data traffic portion traffic volume. The example embodiment method can further include generating, by the user equipment, an expected buffer status report based on the downlink data traffic portion traffic volume in accordance with the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration. The example embodiment method can further include transmitting, by the user equipment, the expected buffer status report to the radio access network node in accordance with the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration.

[0007] The application information can include an application target quality of service metric to be used by the radio access network node to assign an application service class to the traffic flow. The joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration includes at least one traffic flow identifier corresponding to the at least one traffic flow. The user equipment can use the traffic flow identifier in the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration to determine whether to use resources indicated in the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration to manage downlink traffic or uplink traffic.

[0008] In an embodiment, the application type indication message comprises an expected buffer status size corresponding to an expected uplink data traffic portion expected to be sent by the user equipment to the radio access network node after receiving a future downlink data traffic portion directed to the application.

[0009] In an embodiment, the application type indication message is configured to be sent by the user equipment when a configured waiting time criterion is met.

[0010] In an embodiment, the buffer status report is expected to be sent before the uplink data traffic corresponding to the downlink data traffic portion to be sent is in the buffer of the user equipment.

[0011] The example embodiment method may further include sending, by the user equipment to the radio access network node, an uplink data traffic portion corresponding to the downlink data traffic portion in accordance with the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration.

[0012] The example embodiment method may further include receiving, by the user equipment, an application-specific downlink search space indication, where the application-specific downlink search space indication may indicate an application-specific downlink search space to be used by the user equipment for managing traffic corresponding to the application. In an embodiment, the application-specific downlink search space may indicate an application-specific downlink search space to be used by the user equipment for retrieving or acquiring a joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration.

[0013] In an embodiment, the application-specific downlink search space indication by the radio access network node can be configured to include at least one of the following: a downlink service scheduling indication indicating a downlink search space to be used for receiving downlink data service corresponding to a service flow, a downlink modulation and coding scheme indication indicating a modulation and coding scheme for receiving downlink service corresponding to the service flow, an uplink service scheduling indication indicating an uplink resource for sending uplink service corresponding to the downlink data service of the received service flow, or an uplink modulation and coding scheme indication indicating a modulation and coding scheme for sending uplink service corresponding to the downlink data service of the received service flow.

[0014] The example embodiment method may also include: the user equipment decoding the downlink data service part corresponding to the service flow from the application-specific downlink search space according to at least one of the downlink service scheduling indication or the downlink modulation and coding scheme indication, and sending the uplink service corresponding to the downlink data service part according to at least one of the uplink service scheduling indication or the uplink modulation and coding scheme indication.

[0015] In another embodiment, a user equipment can include a processor configured to execute an application, send an application indication message indicating the application to a radio access network node, and receive an application-specific search space configuration from the radio access network node in response to the application indication message. The processor can be further configured to receive a joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration according to the application-specific search space configuration, the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration to be used by the user equipment to manage traffic of a first traffic flow corresponding to the application. The processor can be further configured to receive first downlink data traffic of the first traffic flow according to first downlink resources indicated by the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration. The processor can be further configured to generate first uplink traffic corresponding to the first traffic flow. The processor can be further configured to send the first uplink traffic to the radio access network node according to first uplink resources indicated by the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration. Thus, a single joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration can include downlink and uplink resources that can be used not only to receive downlink traffic portion, but also to send uplink traffic portion that can be linked to the downlink traffic portion.

[0016] In an embodiment, the first uplink traffic can include first buffer status information indicating estimated future uplink traffic corresponding to the first downlink data traffic, and wherein the first buffer status information is sent as an estimated buffer status report before the user equipment has generated uplink data traffic corresponding to the first downlink data traffic. In an embodiment, the first uplink traffic includes uplink data traffic corresponding to the first downlink data traffic.

[0017] The user equipment processor may also be configured to, in response to the application indication message, receive a downlink scheduling indication from the radio access network node, the downlink scheduling indication indicating a second downlink resource to be used by the user equipment to receive second downlink data traffic for a second traffic flow corresponding to the application. The second traffic flow may not have the same high latency requirements as the first traffic flow, for example. The user equipment processor may also be configured to receive second downlink data traffic for the second traffic flow from the radio access network node based on the second downlink resource, and receive a second uplink resource indication from the radio access network node indicating a second uplink resource to be used to send a buffer status report, the buffer status report indicating uplink traffic to be generated corresponding to the second downlink data traffic. Instead of generating the expected buffer status report, the user equipment processor may also be configured to generate second uplink data traffic corresponding to the second downlink data traffic and then generate second buffer status information indicating the second uplink data traffic. After generating the second uplink traffic and the corresponding uplink buffer status report information, the user equipment processor may also be configured to send a second buffer status report including the second buffer status information to the radio access network node after the second downlink data traffic has been generated. The first service flow may have or be associated with a first quality of service requirement, the second service flow may have or be associated with a second quality of service requirement, and the first quality of service requirement may be higher than the second quality of service requirement. For example, the first service flow may correspond to a gesture portion of the smart glasses device, and the second service flow may correspond to a peripheral portion of the smart glasses device, and the first service flow may therefore be associated with a more stringent latency requirement than the second service flow.

[0018] In yet another embodiment, a non-transitory machine-readable medium can include executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a user equipment, facilitate performance of operations that can include determining an application flow information metric corresponding to a traffic flow of an application being executed by the processor to produce a determined application flow information metric (e.g., a measured or determined latency of the traffic flow). The operations can also include analyzing the determined application flow information metric with respect to an application flow metric criterion corresponding to the application flow information metric to produce an analyzed application flow information metric; based on the analyzed application flow information metric not satisfying the application flow metric criterion (e.g., the measured or determined latency being above a latency threshold), sending an application flow performance indication message to a radio access network node, the application flow performance indication message indicating that the analyzed application flow information metric does not satisfy the application flow metric criterion; the operations can also include receiving, from the radio access network node in response to the application flow performance indication message, a joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration to be used by the user equipment for managing the traffic flow; the operations can also include determining, based on reception of a downlink traffic portion, an uplink traffic to be sent to the radio access network node. Determining the determined uplink traffic can include determining, based on the downlink data traffic portion, an estimated buffer status report, the estimated buffer status report including an estimated size of an estimated uplink data traffic portion of the traffic flow to be sent by the user equipment. Determining the determined uplink traffic can include determining an uplink traffic portion that can include uplink data traffic that is linked to the downlink traffic portion. In an embodiment, the operations can also include sending, to the radio access network node, the estimated buffer status report in accordance with the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration. In another embodiment, the operations can also include sending, to the radio access network node, the uplink traffic portion in accordance with the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration, the uplink traffic portion can include uplink data traffic that is linked to the downlink traffic portion.

[0019] In an embodiment, the estimated buffer status report is transmittable before uplink data traffic corresponding to the downlink data traffic portion is in a buffer corresponding to the estimated buffer status report. In an embodiment, the determined application flow information metric is a latency corresponding to the traffic flow. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

[0020] Figure 1 A wireless communication system environment is shown.

[0021] Figure 2 An example virtual reality device in a wireless network environment is shown.

[0022] Figure 3AAn example user equipment is shown that manages uplink traffic corresponding to downlink traffic for a high QoS traffic flow.

[0023] Figure 3B An example user equipment is shown that manages uplink traffic corresponding to downlink traffic for medium or low QoS traffic flows.

[0024] Figure 4A Example content of an application type indication message is shown.

[0025] Figure 4B Example content of an application-specific search space configuration is shown.

[0026] Figure 4C Example content of an uplink control information message including expected buffer status information is shown.

[0027] Figure 4D Example content of a joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration is shown.

[0028] Figure 5 An example user equipment is shown that uses an application-specific downlink control channel configuration to manage linked downlink and uplink traffic.

[0029] Figure 6 A timing diagram illustrating an example method for dynamically managing scheduling of linked joint uplink and downlink traffic is shown.

[0030] Figure 7 A flow chart illustrating an example method for dynamically managing scheduling of linked joint uplink and downlink traffic is shown.

[0031] Figure 8 A block diagram of an example method is shown.

[0032] Figure 9 A block diagram of an example user device is shown.

[0033] Figure 10 A block diagram of an example non-transitory machine-readable medium is shown.

[0034] Figure 11 An example computer environment is shown.

[0035] Figure 12 A block diagram of an example wireless UE is shown. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0036] As a preliminary matter, it will be readily understood by those skilled in the art that the present embodiment allows for a wide range of utility and application. In addition to those described herein, many methods, embodiments and adaptations of the present application and many variations, modifications and equivalent arrangements will be clear or reasonably suggested from the essence or scope of the various embodiments of the present application.

[0037] Therefore, although the present application has been described in detail with respect to various embodiments herein, it should be understood that the present disclosure is an illustration of one or more concepts expressed by the various exemplary embodiments and is made only for the purpose of providing a complete and enabling disclosure. The following disclosure is not intended to and should not be interpreted as limiting the present application or otherwise excluding any such other embodiments, adaptations, variations, modifications, and equivalent arrangements, and the embodiments described herein are defined solely by the appended claims and their equivalents.

[0038] As used in this disclosure, in some embodiments, the terms "component," "system," and the like are intended to refer to or include a computer-related entity or an entity associated with an operating device having one or more specific functions, where the entity can be hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. By way of example, a component can be, but is not limited to, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable file, an execution thread, computer-executable instructions, a program, and / or a computer. By way of illustration and not limitation, both an application running on a server and the server can be a component.

[0039] One or more components may reside within a process and / or execution thread, and a component may be located on a computer and / or distributed between two or more computers. In addition, these components may be executed from various computer-readable media having various data structures stored thereon. Components may communicate via local and / or remote processes, such as according to signals with one or more data packets (e.g., data from a component interacts with another component in a local system, a distributed system, and / or interacts with other systems via signals over a network (such as the Internet). As another example, a component may be a device having a specific function provided by mechanical components operated by electrical or electronic circuits, which is operated by a software application or firmware application executed by a processor, wherein the processor may be inside or outside the device and execute at least a portion of the software or firmware application. As yet another example, a component may be a device providing a specific function by an electronic component without mechanical components, in which the electronic component may include a processor to execute software or firmware that at least partially assigns the function of the electronic component. Although various components have been shown as separate components, it will be understood that multiple components may be implemented as a single component, or a single component may be implemented as multiple components without departing from the exemplary embodiments.

[0040] As used herein, the term "facilitate" is in the context of a system, device, or component "facilitating" one or more actions or operations, with respect to the nature of complex computing environments in which multiple components and / or multiple devices may be involved in some computing operation. Non-limiting examples of actions that may or may not involve multiple components and / or multiple devices include sending or receiving data, establishing a connection between devices, determining intermediate results toward obtaining a result, and the like. In this regard, a computing device or component may facilitate an operation by playing any role in completing the operation. When the operation of a component is described herein, it should be understood that where an operation is described as being facilitated by a component, the operation may optionally be accomplished with the cooperation of one or more other computing devices or components, such as, but not limited to, sensors, antennas, audio and / or visual output devices, other devices, and the like.

[0041] In addition, various embodiments can be implemented as methods, devices or products that use standard programming and / or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware or any combination thereof to control a computer to implement the disclosed subject matter. The term "product" as used herein is intended to encompass computer programs that can be accessed from any computer-readable (or machine-readable) device or computer-readable (or machine-readable) storage / communication medium. For example, computer-readable storage media can include, but are not limited to, magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks, magnetic strips), optical disks (e.g., compact disks (CDs), digital versatile disks (DVDs)), smart cards, and flash memory devices (e.g., cards, sticks, key drives). Of course, those skilled in the art will recognize that many modifications can be made to this configuration without departing from the scope or spirit of the various embodiments.

[0042] The 5G NR system's PDCCH can deliver downlink and uplink control information to cellular devices. Compared to the control channel design of the fourth generation (e.g., LTE), the 5G control channel can match the requirements of URLLC and eMBB use cases and can provide efficient coexistence between those different QoS categories.

[0043] Unlike the fourth generation control channel, the 5G PDCCH channel can be beamformed using the favorable channel vector of each UE together with the embedded demodulation-aiding demodulation reference signal ("DMRS"). The PDCCH can be modulated using a fixed QPSK modulation scheme and utilize a conservative coding rate, such as to maximize the reliability of receiving the PDCCH channel at the UE device. For example, in order to meet the URLLC 10e-5 reliability level, the PDCCH channel decoding capability can be enhanced on the device side.

[0044] The resource size of each PDCCH channel, which may carry downlink control information ("DCI") for one or more UEs, may be time-varying and may be referred to as the PDCCH aggregation level. In particular, and to enhance PDCCH decoding, the network may increase the resource size of the PDCCH channel and, therefore, employ a more conservative and resource-inefficient coding rate for the PDCCH. This means that the same amount of PDCCH control information is sent with a stronger coding rate (i.e., more redundant bits for error detection and correction), at the expense of consuming more channel resources for sending the PDCCH information.

[0045] There are two types of PDCCH channels. First, the UE-specific PDCCH, in which the channel resources set are periodically monitored by a single UE / device. After being configured, the device will attempt to blindly decode those candidate resources in case they may potentially carry DCI information. This DCI information includes the configuration of the scheduled uplink or downlink grant, the transmission configuration, and information about common system signaling and updates. In addition, blind decoding is the process when the UE attempts to decode DCI with all possible transmission configurations and aggregation levels. This means a lot of power is consumed on the device side; however, this is necessary because the UE does not yet know the actual configuration of the PDCCH channel and the corresponding transmission. It will know this after successfully decoding the PDCCH. In active mode, the UE can monitor one or more configured PDCCH search spaces, where the search space means a set of candidate resources that can carry PDCCH / DCI information. The search space definition can be used to refer to the varying size of the PDCCH channel (i.e., aggregation level), and therefore, the size of the resources required to carry the PDCCH can vary.

[0046] The common PDCCH search space is monitored by all UEs. Those common PDCCH channels typically carry DCI information relevant to all devices. Examples include system update and control information, UE-wide power control information, and general system information.

[0047] For each scheduled downlink or uplink transmission, there is typically a previous PDCCH control transmission that informs the UE device about the resources scheduled by the network for transmission and the transmission configuration for transmission in the uplink or reception in the downlink. Therefore, PDCCH transmissions are considered signaling overhead, which should always be minimized and is required for successful device transmission and / or reception.

[0048] As an example use case illustrating example embodiments disclosed herein, virtual reality (“VR”) applications and VR variants (e.g., mixed reality and augmented reality) can perform optimally at some times, while a lower grade of performance can be sufficient at other times when using NR radio resources associated with URLLC. Virtual reality smart glasses devices can consume NR radio resources at a given wideband data rate with more stringent radio latency and reliability standards to provide a satisfactory end user experience.

[0049] 5G systems should support “any reality” (“XR”) services. XR services can include VR applications, which are widely adopted XR applications that provide an immersive environment that can stimulate the senses of an end user such that he or she can be “deceived” into a feeling of being in an environment that is different from the environment in which he or she is actually located. XR services can include augmented reality (“AR”) applications, which can augment a real world environment by providing additional virtual world elements via the senses of a user that are focused on real world elements in the user’s actual surrounding environment. XR services can include mixed reality cases (“MR”) applications, which help to merge or conflate virtual and real world such that an end user of an XR service interacts with elements of both his or her real environment and virtual environment at the same time.

[0050] Different XR use cases can be associated with certain radio performance targets. It is common for XR cases, and unlike URLLC or eMBB, to require high capacity links with stringent radio and reliability levels for a satisfactory end user experience. For example, some XR applications require 100 Mbps links with an allowed radio latency of a few milliseconds, as compared to 5 Mbps URLLC links with 1 ms radio budget. Therefore, 5G radio design and associated procedures can be adapted to new XR QoS categories and associated targets.

[0051] XR services can be facilitated by traffic that has certain characteristics associated with XR services. For example, XR traffic can typically be periodic, with packet sizes and packet arrival rates that vary over time. In addition, different packet traffic flows for a single XR session can affect the end user's experience differently. For example, smart glasses streaming 180-degree high-resolution frames can use a large percentage of the broadband service capacity to achieve the user experience. However, frames to be presented to the user in the posture direction (e.g., frontal direction) are most important for a satisfactory user experience for the end user, while frames to be presented to the user's peripheral vision have less impact on the user experience and can therefore be associated with lower QoS requirements for transmitting traffic packets than the QoS requirements for transmitting posture direction traffic flows. Therefore, prioritizing some flows or some packets of an XR session over other flows or packets can facilitate the efficient use of the capacity of the communication system to deliver traffic. In addition, due to the limited form factor of the device, devices with XR capabilities (e.g., smart glasses, projection wearable devices, etc.) may be more power-constrained than traditional mobile handheld devices. Therefore, there is a need for techniques to maximize power-saving operation at devices with XR capabilities. Thus, for example, a user equipment device accessing a traffic flow of an XR service or an XR session may be associated with certain QoS metrics to meet the performance targets of the XR service in terms of perceived data rate or end-to-end latency and reliability.

[0052] High-capacity demand services such as virtual reality applications may even pose performance challenges to 5G NR capabilities. Therefore, even though 5G NR systems can facilitate and support higher-performance capabilities, the radio interface should still be optimized to support the extremely high capacity and low latency requirements of XR applications and XR data services.

[0053] In the event that decoding of the first transmission of a packet fails, hybrid automatic repeat request (HARQ) can be used for packet retransmission and packet combining, and generally enhances radio reliability between the RAN and the user equipment. The user equipment device can send HARQ ACK / NACK feedback reports indicating successful or failed downlink packet reception and decoding to the serving cell RAN, and the RAN generally prioritizes retransmission of packets that failed decoding over transmission of newly arrived packets. However, for critical use cases such as VR, not all services are equally important or have the same impact on the user quality of experience. Therefore, not all packet HARQ retransmissions should be given equal priority over transmission of newly arrived packet transmissions. For example, for smart glasses that are streaming broadband video, it is expected that the smart glasses device will receive packet retransmissions quickly, especially for packets corresponding to posture or frontal viewing coverage, while the latency targets can be relaxed for packets on the peripheral side that contribute to the viewing coverage of the smart glasses device, because the jitter associated with packets that contribute to peripheral viewing may not impose motion sickness or blur. Instead of prioritizing HARQ packet retransmissions over new packet transmissions, regardless of the importance or latency tolerance of the packets (new or already transmitted) for critical and capacity-demanding services (which may be negatively impacted by the latency associated with new packet arrivals due to retransmissions of non-critical packets), a latency-aware HARQ packet retransmission process is disclosed, whereby HARQ packet retransmissions derived from an application perspective (e.g., from the perspective of a VR application operating smart glasses) are processed and dynamically prioritized based on their respective importance and scheduling latency tolerances. The use of latency-aware retransmission indications prevents the RAN node scheduler from prioritizing many non-critical packet retransmissions at the expense of more critical new packet arrivals. The RAN scheduler can be informed of packet priority based on latency-aware retransmission request indications received from user equipment (UEs) corresponding to the latency tolerance or importance of HARQ packet retransmissions. Consequently, the RAN can schedule new and retransmissions of packets based on their respective and potentially different latency requirements as determined by the UE or an application running on the UE.

[0054] Turning now to the accompanying drawings, Figure 1An example of a wireless communication system 100 that supports blind decoding of PDCCH candidates or search spaces according to various aspects of the present disclosure is shown. The wireless communication system 100 may include one or more base stations 105, one or more UEs 115, and a core network 130. In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may be a long-term evolution (LTE) network, an advanced LTE (LTE-A) network, an LTE-A Pro network, or a new radio (NR) network. In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may support enhanced broadband communication, ultra-reliable (e.g., mission-critical) communication, low-latency communication, communication with low-cost and low-complexity devices, or any combination thereof. As shown in the figure, examples of UE 115 may include smartphones, cars or other vehicles, or drones or other aircraft. Another example of a UE may be a virtual reality device 117, such as smart glasses, virtual reality headsets, augmented reality headsets, and other similar devices that can provide images, video, audio, touch, taste, or smell to the wearer. A UE such as VR device 117 may transmit or receive wireless signals with a RAN base station 105 via a long-range wireless link 125, or a UE / VR device may transmit or receive wireless signals via a short-range wireless link 137, which may include a wireless link with UE device 115, such as a Bluetooth link, a Wi-Fi link, etc. A UE such as device 117 may communicate simultaneously via multiple wireless links, such as via link 125 with base station 105 and via a short-range wireless link. VR device 117 may also communicate with a wireless UE via a cable or other wired connection. The RAN or its components may be referred to as Figure 12 The described one or more computer components are implemented.

[0055] continue Figure 1 As discussed above, base stations 105 may be dispersed throughout a geographic area to form wireless communication system 100 and may be devices of different forms or capabilities. Base stations 105 and UEs 115 may communicate wirelessly via one or more communication links 125. Each base station 105 may provide a coverage area 110, over which a UE 115 and base station 105 may establish one or more communication links 125. Coverage area 110 may be an example of a geographic area over which base stations 105 and UEs 115 may support communication of signals according to one or more radio access technologies.

[0056] UEs 115 may be dispersed throughout the coverage area 110 of the wireless communication system 100, and each UE 115 may be fixed, mobile, or both fixed and mobile at different times. UEs 115 may be devices of different forms or capabilities. Figure 1Some example UEs 115 are shown in FIG. Figure 1 As shown, the UE 115 described herein may be capable of communicating with various types of devices, such as other UEs 115, base stations 105, or network devices (e.g., core network nodes, relay devices, integrated access and backhaul (IAB) nodes, or other network devices).

[0057] The base stations 105 can communicate with the core network 130, or with each other, or both. For example, the base stations 105 can interface with the core network 130 via one or more backhaul links 120 (e.g., via S1, N2, N3, or other interfaces). The base stations 105 can communicate with each other via the backhaul links 120 (e.g., via X2, Xn, or other interfaces) directly (e.g., directly between the base stations 105), indirectly (e.g., via the core network 130), or both. In some examples, the backhaul links 120 may include one or more wireless links.

[0058] One or more of the base stations 105 described herein may include or may be referred to by one of ordinary skill in the art as a base transceiver station, a radio base station, an access point, a radio transceiver, a Node B, an eNodeB (eNB), a next generation Node B, or a Gigabit Node B (any of which may be referred to as a bNodeB or gNB), a Home Node B, a Home eNodeB, or other appropriate terminology.

[0059] UE 115 may include or may be referred to as a mobile device, a wireless device, a remote device, a handheld device, or a subscriber device, or some other suitable terminology, where a "device" may also be referred to as a unit, a station, a terminal, or a client, among other examples. UE 115 may also include or may be referred to as a personal electronic device, such as a cellular phone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a tablet computer, a laptop computer, a personal computer, or a router. In some examples, UE 115 may include or be referred to as a wireless local loop (WLL) station, an Internet of Things (IoT) device, an Internet of Everything (IoE) device, or a machine type communication (MTC) device, among other examples, which may be implemented in various objects such as appliances, vehicles, or smart meters.

[0060] The UE 115 may be able to communicate with various types of devices, such as other UEs 115, which may sometimes act as relays, as well as base stations 105 and network devices, including macro eNBs or gNBs, small cell eNBs or gNBs, or relay base stations, among other examples. Figure 1 shown.

[0061] The UE 115 and the base station 105 can wirelessly communicate with each other on one or more carriers via one or more communication links 125. The term "carrier" can refer to a set of radio frequency spectrum resources having a defined physical layer structure for supporting the communication link 125. For example, a carrier used for the communication link 125 can include a portion of a radio frequency spectrum band (e.g., a bandwidth portion (BWP)) that operates according to one or more physical layer channels for a given radio access technology (e.g., LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR). Each physical layer channel can carry acquisition signaling (e.g., synchronization signals, system information), control signaling to coordinate the operation of the carrier, user data, or other signaling. The wireless communication system 100 can use carrier aggregation or multi-carrier operation to support communication with the UE 115. Depending on the carrier aggregation configuration, the UE 115 can be configured with multiple downlink component carriers and one or more uplink component carriers. Carrier aggregation can be used with both frequency division duplex (FDD) and time division duplex (TDD) component carriers.

[0062] In some examples (e.g., in a carrier aggregation configuration), a carrier may also have acquisition signaling or control signaling that coordinates the operation of other carriers. A carrier may be associated with a frequency channel (e.g., an Evolved Universal Mobile Telecommunications System Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) Absolute Radio Frequency Channel Number (EARFCN)) and may be located based on a channel raster for discovery by UE 115. A carrier may operate in a standalone mode, where initial acquisition and connection may be performed by the UE 115 via the carrier, or in a non-standalone mode, where a different carrier (e.g., the same or different radio access technology) is used to anchor the connection.

[0063] The communication link 125 shown in the wireless communication system 100 may include an uplink transmission from the UE 115 to the base station 105, or a downlink transmission from the base station 105 to the UE 115. A carrier may carry downlink or uplink communications (e.g., in FDD mode) or may be configured to carry both downlink and uplink communications (e.g., in TDD mode).

[0064] A carrier can be associated with a particular bandwidth of a radio frequency spectrum, and in some examples, the carrier bandwidth can be referred to as the "system bandwidth" of the carrier or wireless communication system 100. For example, the carrier bandwidth can be one of a plurality of determined bandwidths of a carrier for a particular radio access technology (e.g., 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 40, or 80 megahertz (MHz)). The devices of the wireless communication system 100 (e.g., base station 105, UE 115, or both) can have a hardware configuration that supports communication on a particular carrier bandwidth, or can be configured to support communication on one of a set of carrier bandwidths. In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 can include a base station 105 or UE 115 that supports simultaneous communication via carriers associated with multiple carrier bandwidths. In some examples, each served UE 115 can be configured to operate on a portion (e.g., a subband, BWP) or all of the carrier bandwidth.

[0065] The signal waveform transmitted on the carrier may be composed of multiple subcarriers (e.g., using multicarrier modulation (MCM) techniques such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or discrete Fourier transform spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM)). In a system employing MCM techniques, a resource element may be composed of one symbol period (e.g., the duration of one modulation symbol) and one subcarrier, where the symbol period and subcarrier spacing are inversely related. The number of bits carried by each resource element may depend on the modulation scheme (e.g., the order of the modulation scheme, the coding rate of the modulation scheme, or both). Therefore, the more resource elements received by UE 115 and the higher the order of the modulation scheme, the higher the data rate of the UE may be. Wireless communication resources may refer to a combination of radio frequency spectrum resources, time resources (e.g., search space), or spatial resources (e.g., spatial layers or beams), and the use of multiple spatial layers may also increase the data rate or data integrity used for communication with UE 115.

[0066] One or more numbers for a carrier may be supported, where the number may include a subcarrier spacing (ΔF) and a cyclic prefix. A carrier may be divided into one or more BWPs having the same or different numbers. In some examples, a UE 115 may be configured with multiple BWPs. In some examples, a single BWP for a carrier may be active at a given time, and communications for a UE 115 may be restricted to the one or more active BWPs.

[0067] The time interval of the base station 105 or the UE 115 can be expressed as a multiple of a basic time unit, which can be, for example, T s =1 / (Δf max ·N f ) seconds sampling period, where Δfmax It can represent the maximum supported subcarrier spacing, and N f The maximum supported discrete Fourier transform (DFT) size may be indicated. Time intervals for communication resources may be organized according to radio frames, each having a specified duration (e.g., 10 milliseconds (ms)). Each radio frame may be identified by a system frame number (SFN) (e.g., ranging from 0 to 1023).

[0068] Each frame can include multiple consecutively numbered subframes or time slots, and each subframe or time slot can have the same duration. In some examples, the frame can be divided into subframes (e.g., in the time domain), and each subframe can be further divided into multiple time slots. Alternatively, each frame can include a variable number of time slots, and the number of time slots can depend on the subcarrier spacing. Each time slot can include multiple symbol periods, for example, depending on the length of a cyclic prefix that is prepended to each symbol period. In some wireless communication systems 100, the time slot can also be divided into multiple mini-time slots including one or more symbols. In addition to the cyclic prefix, each symbol period can include one or more (e.g., N f ) sampling period. The duration of a symbol period may depend on the subcarrier spacing or the operating band.

[0069] A subframe, slot, mini-slot, or symbol may be the smallest scheduling unit (e.g., in the time domain) of the wireless communication system 100 and may be referred to as a transmission time interval (TTI). In some examples, the TTI duration (e.g., the number of symbol periods in a TTI) may be variable. Additionally or alternatively, the smallest scheduling unit of the wireless communication system 100 may be dynamically selected (e.g., in a burst of a shortened TTI (sTTI)).

[0070] Physical channels can be multiplexed on a carrier according to various techniques. For example, a physical control channel and a physical data channel can be multiplexed on a downlink carrier using, for example, one or more of a time division multiplexing (TDM) technique, a frequency division multiplexing (FDM) technique, or a hybrid TDM-FDM technique. A control region (e.g., a control resource set (CORESET)) for a physical control channel can be defined by multiple symbol periods and can extend across the system bandwidth of a carrier or a subset of the system bandwidth. One or more control regions (e.g., CORESETs) can be configured for a set of UEs 115. For example, one or more of UEs 115 can monitor or search a control region or space for control information according to one or more search space sets, and each search space set can include one or more control channel candidates in one or more aggregation levels arranged in a cascaded manner. The aggregation level for a control channel candidate can refer to the number of control channel resources (e.g., control channel elements (CCEs)) associated with the coded information for a control information format having a given payload size. The search space sets may include a common search space set configured for sending control information to multiple UEs 115 and a UE-specific search space set for sending control information to a specific UE 115. Other search spaces and configurations for monitoring and decoding them are disclosed herein that are novel and non-traditional.

[0071] The base station 105 can provide communication coverage via one or more cells, such as macro cells, small cells, hot spots, or other types of cells, or any combination thereof. The term "cell" can refer to a logical communication entity used to communicate with the base station 105 (e.g., via a carrier), and can be associated with an identifier (e.g., a physical cell identifier (PCID), a virtual cell identifier (VCID), etc.) used to distinguish adjacent cells. In some examples, a cell can also refer to a geographic coverage area 110 or a portion (e.g., a sector) of a geographic coverage area 110 on which the logical communication entity operates. Depending on various factors such as the capabilities of the base station 105, such cells can range from a smaller area (e.g., a structure, a subset of a structure) to a larger area. For example, a cell can be or include a building, a subset of a building, or an external space between or overlapping geographic coverage areas 110, etc.

[0072] A macro cell typically covers a relatively large geographic area (e.g., a radius of several kilometers) and may allow unrestricted access to a UE 115 with a service subscription to a network provider that supports the macro cell. A small cell may be associated with a lower-power base station 105 than a macro cell, and the small cell may operate in the same or different (e.g., authorized, unauthorized) frequency band as the macro cell. A small cell may provide unrestricted access to a UE 115 using a service subscription with a network provider, or may provide restricted access to a UE 115 associated with a small cell (e.g., a UE 115 in a closed subscriber group (CSG), a UE 115 associated with a user in a home or office). A base station 105 may support one or more cells and may also support communications over one or more cells using one or more component carriers.

[0073] In some examples, a carrier can support multiple cells, and different cells can be configured according to different protocol types (e.g., MTC, narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB)) that can provide access to different types of devices.

[0074] In some examples, base stations 105 can be mobile and, therefore, provide communication coverage for mobile geographic coverage areas 110. In some examples, different geographic coverage areas 110 associated with different technologies can overlap, but the different geographic coverage areas 110 can be supported by the same base station 105. In other examples, overlapping geographic coverage areas 110 associated with different technologies can be supported by different base stations 105. The wireless communication system 100 can include, for example, a heterogeneous network in which different types of base stations 105 provide coverage for various geographic coverage areas 110 using the same or different radio access technologies.

[0075] The wireless communication system 100 can support synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronous operation, the base stations 105 can have similar frame timing, and transmissions from different base stations 105 can be approximately aligned in time. For asynchronous operation, the base stations 105 can have different frame timing, and in some examples, transmissions from different base stations 105 can not be aligned in time. The techniques described herein can be used for either synchronous or asynchronous operation.

[0076] Some UEs 115 (such as MTC or IoT devices) may be low-cost or low-complexity devices and may provide automated communication between machines (e.g., via machine-to-machine (M2M) communication). M2M communication or MTC may refer to data communication technology that allows devices to communicate with each other or with a base station 105 without human intervention. In some examples, M2M communication or MTC may include communication from devices that integrate sensors or meters to measure or capture information and relay such information to a central server or application that utilizes or presents the information to a person interacting with the application. Some UEs 115 may be designed to collect information or implement automated behavior of machines or other devices. Examples of applications for MTC devices include smart metering, inventory monitoring, water level monitoring, equipment monitoring, healthcare monitoring, wildlife monitoring, weather and geological event monitoring, fleet management and tracking, remote security sensing, physical access control, and transaction-based service charging.

[0077] Some UEs 115 may be configured to employ a mode of operation that reduces power consumption, such as half-duplex communication (e.g., a mode that supports unidirectional communication via transmission or reception but not simultaneous transmission and reception). In some examples, half-duplex communication may be performed at a reduced peak rate. Other power conservation techniques for the UE 115 include entering a power-saving deep sleep mode when not engaged in active communications, operating over a limited bandwidth (e.g., in accordance with narrowband communications), or a combination of these techniques. For example, some UEs 115 may be configured to operate using a narrowband protocol type associated with a defined portion or range (e.g., a set of subcarriers or resource blocks (RBs)) within a carrier, within a guard band of a carrier, or outside a carrier.

[0078] The wireless communication system 100 can be configured to support ultra-reliable communication or low-latency communication or various combinations thereof. For example, the wireless communication system 100 can be configured to support ultra-reliable low-latency communication (URLLC) or mission-critical communication. UE 115 can be designed to support ultra-reliable, low-latency or critical functions (e.g., mission-critical functions). Ultra-reliable communication can include specific communications or group communications and can be supported by one or more mission-critical services, such as mission-critical push-to-talk (MCPTT), mission-critical video (MCVideo), or mission-critical data (MCData). Support for mission-critical functions can include service priorities, and mission-critical services can be used for public safety or general commercial applications. The terms ultra-reliable, low-latency, critical mission, and ultra-reliable low-latency can be used interchangeably in this article.

[0079] In some examples, UE 115 may also be able to communicate directly with other UEs 115 via a device-to-device (D2D) communication link 135 (e.g., using a peer-to-peer (P2P) or D2D protocol). Communication link 135 may include a sidelink communication link. One or more UEs 115 using D2D communication may be within the geographic coverage area 110 of base station 105. Other UEs 115 in such a group may be outside the geographic coverage area 110 of base station 105 or unable to receive transmissions from base station 105. In some examples, a group of UEs 115 communicating via D2D communication may use a one-to-many (1:M) system, in which a UE transmits to each other UE in the group. In some examples, base station 105 facilitates the scheduling of resources for D2D communication. In other cases, D2D communication is performed between UEs 115 without involving base station 105.

[0080] In some systems, the D2D communication link 135 can be an example of a communication channel (such as a sidelink communication channel) between vehicles (e.g., UE 115). In some examples, the vehicles can communicate using vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, or some combination of these. The vehicles can signal information related to traffic conditions, signal scheduling, weather, safety, emergency situations, or any other information related to the V2X system. In some examples, vehicles in the V2X system can communicate with roadside infrastructure (such as roadside units) using vehicle-to-network (V2N) communication, or communicate with the network via one or more RAN network nodes (e.g., base station 105), or communicate with both.

[0081] The core network 130 may provide user authentication, access authorization, tracking, Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, and other access, routing, or mobility functions. The core network 130 may be an evolved packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC), and may include at least one control plane entity (e.g., a mobility management entity (MME), an access and mobility management function (AMF)) to manage access and mobility, and at least one user plane entity (e.g., a serving gateway (S-GW), a packet data network (PDN) gateway (P-GW), or a user plane function (UPF)) to route packets or interconnect to external networks. The control plane entities may manage non-access stratum (NAS) functions, such as mobility, authentication, and portability management, for UEs 115 served by base stations 105 associated with the core network 130. User IP packets may be transferred via user plane entities, which may provide IP address allocation and other functions. The user plane entities may connect to IP services 150 of one or more network operators. IP services 150 may include access to the Internet, an intranet, an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS), or packet-switched streaming services.

[0082] Some of the network devices, such as base stations 105, may include subcomponents, such as access network entities 140, which may be examples of access node controllers (ANCs). Each access network entity 140 may communicate with the UE 115 through one or more other access network transport entities 145, which may be referred to as radio heads, smart radio heads, or transmission / reception points (TRPs). Each access network transport entity 145 may include one or more antenna panels. In some configurations, the various functions of each access network entity 140 or base station 105 may be distributed across various network devices (e.g., radio heads and ANCs) or consolidated into a single network device (e.g., base station 105).

[0083] The wireless communication system 100 can operate using one or more frequency bands typically in the range of 300 megahertz (MHz) to 300 gigahertz (GHz). Typically, the region from 300 MHz to 3 GHz is referred to as the ultra-high frequency (UHF) region or decimeter band because the wavelengths range from approximately one decimeter to one meter in length. UHF waves can be blocked or redirected by buildings and environmental features, but the waves can penetrate the structures used for macro cells sufficiently to provide service to UEs 115 located indoors. Transmission of UHF waves can be associated with smaller antennas and shorter distances (e.g., less than 100 kilometers) compared to transmission using the lower frequencies and longer wavelengths of the high frequency (HF) or very high frequency (VHF) portions of the spectrum below 300 MHz.

[0084] The wireless communication system 100 can also operate in the super high frequency (SHF) region using frequency bands from 3 GHz to 30 GHz (also known as centimeter bands), or in the extremely high frequency (EHF) region of the spectrum (e.g., from 30 GHz to 300 GHz), also known as the millimeter band. In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 can support millimeter wave (mmW) communications between the UE 115 and the base station 105, and the EHF antennas of each device can be smaller and more closely spaced than UHF antennas. In some examples, this can facilitate the use of antenna arrays within the device. However, the propagation of EHF transmissions may be subject to greater atmospheric attenuation and a shorter range than SHF or UHF transmissions. The technology disclosed herein can be adopted across transmissions using one or more different frequency regions, and the designated use of frequency bands across these frequency regions may vary by country or regulatory agency.

[0085] The wireless communication system 100 can use both licensed and unlicensed radio frequency spectrum bands. For example, the wireless communication system 100 can employ license assisted access (LAA), LTE-unlicensed (LTE-U) radio access technology, or NR technology in an unlicensed band such as the 5 GHz industrial, scientific, and medical (ISM) band. When operating in an unlicensed radio frequency spectrum band, devices such as the base station 105 and the UE 115 can employ carrier sensing for conflict detection and avoidance. In some examples, operations in the unlicensed band can be based on a carrier aggregation configuration in combination with component carriers operating in the licensed band (e.g., LAA). Operations in the unlicensed spectrum can include downlink transmissions, uplink transmissions, P2P transmissions, or D2D transmissions, among other examples.

[0086] The base station 105 or UE 115 can be equipped with multiple antennas, which can be used to employ techniques such as transmit diversity, receive diversity, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communications, or beamforming. The antennas of the base station 105 or UE 115 can be located in one or more antenna arrays or antenna panels, which can support MIMO operations or transmit or receive beamforming. For example, one or more base station antennas or antenna arrays can be co-located at an antenna assembly (such as an antenna tower). In some examples, the antennas or antenna arrays associated with the base station 105 can be located in different geographical locations. The base station 105 can have an antenna array having multiple rows and columns of antenna ports that the base station 105 can use to support beamforming for communications with the UE 115. Similarly, the UE 115 can have one or more antenna arrays that can support various MIMO or beamforming operations. Additionally or alternatively, the antenna panel can support radio frequency beamforming for signals transmitted via the antenna ports.

[0087] The base stations 105 or the UEs 115 can use MIMO communications to exploit multipath signal propagation and increase the spectral efficiency. Such techniques can be referred to as spatial multiplexing. The multiple signals may, for example, be transmitted by the transmitting device via different antennas or different combinations of antennas. Similarly, the multiple signals can be received by the receiving device via different antennas or different combinations of antennas. Each of the multiple signals can be referred to as a spatial stream, and can carry bits associated with the same data stream (e.g., a same codeword) or different data streams (e.g., different codewords). Different spatial layers can be associated with different antenna ports used for channel measurement and reporting. MIMO techniques include single-user MIMO (SU-MIMO), where multiple spatial layers are transmitted to the same receiving device, and multiple-user MIMO (MU-MIMO), where multiple spatial layers are transmitted to multiple devices.

[0088] Beamforming, which can also be referred to as spatial filtering, directional transmission, or directional reception, is a signal processing technique that can be used at a transmitting device or a receiving device (e.g., a base station 105, a UE 115) to shape or steer a beam of energy in the manner of fan or lobe in a specific shape, pattern, or direction. Beamforming can be achieved by combining the signals transmitted or received by antennas of an array of antennas. The combination of signals can be done in such a way that the signals with the same phase interfere constructively in the direction of the beam whereas the signals with opposite phase interfere destructively in the direction of the beam. The signals that make up each beam can be phase shifted in a phase shift array. The beam can be formed or steered toward different directions by changing the phase shift pattern. The beam can be narrow or wide to achieve the desired spatial resolution. The different beams can be formed and steered at different times or simultaneously.

[0089] The base stations 105 or the UEs 115 can use beamforming techniques to increase the spectral efficiency of communication between the base stations 105 and the UEs 115, or between two UEs 115. The techniques can be used to identify a beam direction between the transmitting device and the receiving device. The beam direction can be further refined by beam refinement techniques. The transmitting device can send a beam sweep signal in different directions. The beam sweep signal can include synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals. The receiving device can receive the beam sweep signal from the different directions. The receiving device can report the beam direction based on the reception of the beam sweep signal in different directions. The transmitting device can refine the beam direction based on the reception of the beam sweep signal by the receiving device.

[0090] Some signals, such as data signals, can be transmitted by a base station 105 in a single beam direction (e.g., a direction associated with one receiver device, such as a UE 115). In some examples, the data signals can be transmitted by the base station 105 using a set of transmit beams. In some examples, the base station 105 can transmit a set of reference signals (e.g., a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS), or a tracking reference signal (TRS)) that can indicate the set of transmit beams. A receiving device (e.g., a UE 115) can receive the set of reference signals from the base station 105, and the receiving device 115 can report reference signal measurements and / or beam measurements to the base station 105 for one or more of the transmit beams in the set of transmit beams. The base station 105 can then use the measurements to determine to transmit data signals to the receiving device 115 using one or more of the transmit beams in the set of transmit beams.

[0091] In some examples, transmissions by a device (e.g., by a base station 105 or a UE 115) can be performed using multiple beam directions, and the device can use a combination of digital precoding or radio frequency beamforming to generate a combined beam for transmissions (e.g., from a base station 105 to a UE 115). A UE 115 can report feedback that indicates precoding weights for one or more beam directions, and the feedback can correspond to a configured number of beams across a system bandwidth or one or more sub-bands. The base station 105 can transmit reference signals (e.g., a cell-specific reference signal (CRS), a channel state information reference signal (CSI-RS)), which can be precoded or unprecoded. The UE 115 can provide feedback for beam selection, which can be a precoding matrix indicator (PMI) or codebook-based feedback (e.g., a multi-panel type codebook, a linear combination type codebook, a port selection type codebook). Although these techniques are described with reference to signals transmitted by a base station 105 in one or more directions, a UE 115 can employ similar techniques for transmitting signals multiple times in different directions (e.g., for identifying beam directions for subsequent transmission or reception by the UE 115) or for transmitting a signal in a single direction (e.g., for transmitting data to a receiving device).

[0092] A receiving device (e.g., UE 115) may attempt multiple reception configurations (e.g., directional listening) when receiving various signals (such as synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) from a base station 105. For example, the receiving device may attempt multiple reception directions by receiving via different antenna subarrays, by processing received signals according to different antenna subarrays, by receiving according to different receive beamforming weight sets applied to signals received at multiple antenna elements of an antenna array (e.g., different directional listening weight sets), or by processing received signals according to different receive beamforming weight sets applied to signals received at multiple antenna elements of an antenna array, any of which may be referred to as "listening" according to different reception configurations or reception directions. In some examples, a receiving device may receive along a single beam direction using a single reception configuration (e.g., when receiving data signals). The single reception configuration may be aligned on a beam direction determined based on listening according to different reception configuration directions (e.g., a beam direction determined to have the highest signal strength, highest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), or otherwise acceptable signal quality based on listening according to multiple beam directions).

[0093] The wireless communication system 100 can be a packet-based network operating according to a layered protocol stack. In the user plane, communication at the carrier or packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer can be IP-based. The radio link control (RLC) layer can perform packet segmentation and reassembly to communicate on the logical channel. The medium access control (MAC) layer can perform priority processing and multiplexing of logical channels to transport channels. The MAC layer can also use error detection technology, error correction technology, or both to support retransmission at the MAC layer to improve link efficiency. In the control plane, the radio resource control (RRC) protocol layer can provide the establishment, configuration, and maintenance of the RRC connection between the UE 115 and the base station 105 or the core network 130 supporting radio carriers for user plane data. At the physical layer, transport channels can be mapped to physical channels.

[0094] Figure 2 A virtual reality ("VR") application system 200 is shown. In system 200, a wearable VR device 117 is shown from the perspective of a wearer or viewer. VR device 117 can include a central or postural visual display portion 202, a left visual display portion 204, and a right visual display portion 206, which can be used to display primary visual information, left peripheral visual information, and right peripheral visual information, respectively. As shown in the figure, portions 202, 204, and 206 are depicted by different lines, but it should be understood that hardware or software can facilitate a gradual transition from the primary information display to the peripheral information display.

[0095] As described above, different XR use cases, different applications, or even different traffic flows directed to the same application at the user device may require different QoS and different corresponding radio performance. In general, for XR use cases, but unlike URLLC or eMBB use cases, a high-capacity radio link carrying XR data traffic (e.g., data streams including visual information) with strict radio performance levels (e.g., latency) and reliability levels is required for a reasonable end-user experience. For example, some XR applications require a 100Mbps link with an allowed radio latency of approximately 2ms, compared to a 5Mbps URLLC link with a 1ms radio budget.

[0096] From the research, several characteristics of XR data traffic have been identified: (1) XR traffic characteristics are often periodic, with packet sizes and packet arrival rates that vary over time; (2) XR-capable devices may be more power-constrained than traditional mobile phones (e.g., smart glasses, projection wearables, etc.) due to the limited form factor of the devices; and (3) multiple data packet streams corresponding to different visual information for a given XR session are not perceived by the user as having the same impact on the end-user experience.

[0097] Therefore, in addition to the need for XR-specific power efficiency, smart glasses devices, such as wearable device 117, streaming 180-degree high-resolution frames require broadband capabilities to provide an optimal user experience. However, it has been determined that data corresponding to frames carrying primary or central visual information (i.e., posture or frontal orientation) is most important for end-user satisfaction, while frames corresponding to peripheral visual information have less impact on the user experience. Therefore, accepting higher latency for less important traffic flows so that resources that would otherwise be allocated to less important traffic flows can be used for traffic flows corresponding to more important traffic, or for devices carrying more important traffic, can be used to optimize the overall capacity and performance of a wireless communication system (such as a 5G communication system using NR technology, methods, systems, or devices). For example, a first wireless downlink data traffic flow 212 carrying visual information for display on the center, or posture, visual display portion 202 can be prioritized over a wireless downlink data traffic flow 214 carrying visual information for the left visual display portion 204 or a third wireless downlink data traffic flow 216 carrying traffic for the right visual display portion 206.

[0098] The performance of a communication network in providing XR services can be determined, at least in part, based on user satisfaction with the XR services. Each user of an XR service can be associated with certain QoS metrics to ensure that the user's service performance goals are met in terms of perceived data rate, end-to-end latency, and reliability.

[0099] 5G NR radio systems generally include a physical downlink control channel (“PDCCH”), which can be used to deliver downlink and uplink control information to cellular devices, such as UEs 115. The 5G control channel can facilitate operation according to the requirements of URLLC and eMBB use cases, and can facilitate efficient coexistence between different QoS classes for different traffic flows.

[0100] Traffic 210 directed to the XR session at device 117 can arrive at RAN 105 from core network 130 via wireless link 125. It should be appreciated that UE 115 and device 117 can be different devices or components that make up or constitute device 208, or UE 115 and device 117 can be combined into device 208, such as an XR device that includes components that facilitate wireless communication with RAN 105. For purposes of discussion, UE 115 and device 117 can be referred to as separate devices. UE 115, or a processor thereof, can implement, execute, or otherwise perform XR application 209. Downlink traffic 210 can be buffered at RAN 105. Uplink traffic 220, including uplink traffic 222, uplink traffic 224, and uplink traffic 226, can correspond to downlink traffic 212, downlink traffic 214, and downlink traffic 216. For example, a user of device 117 can receive downlink traffic 212 directed to pose portion 202, and the device can generate uplink traffic 222, which can indicate a change in a view, a perceived view, an estimated view, or an artificially created view that the user of device 117 can have as the user moves the device with the user. A first traffic flow can include a first downlink traffic flow 212, which can be linked to or correspond to a first uplink traffic flow 222. Similarly, a second traffic flow can include a second downlink traffic flow 214, which can be linked to or correspond to a second uplink traffic flow 224, and a third traffic flow can include a third downlink traffic flow 216, which can be linked to or correspond to a third uplink traffic flow 226. In Figure 2, the first traffic flow is referred to as flow 1, the second traffic flow is referred to as flow 2, and the third traffic flow is referred to as flow 3. It should be understood that references to the first flow, the second flow, or the third flow elsewhere in this document may be different. It should be understood that downlink traffic 210 may be generated by a user device other than user device 115, and uplink traffic 220 may be directed to a user device other than user device 115. Other user devices may be served by core network 130 and may or may not be served by RAN 105. It should also be understood that downlink traffic 210 may be generated by user device 115, and uplink traffic 220 may be directed to user device 115.

[0101] Desirable characteristics of systems facilitating XR applications include extreme bandwidth capacity and ultra-tight latency budgets for concurrent, linked, or joint uplink (UL) and downlink (DL) transmissions. However, existing traditional scheduling schemes and corresponding control channel signaling procedures are optimized for independent scheduling of resources for uplink and downlink traffic. Due to the nature of XR traffic, where uplink traffic flows can (and often are) paired with previously received downlink traffic flows, joint uplink and downlink scheduler and control channel enhancements are desired. For example, upon receiving a downlink XR video stream directed to an AR application (e.g., for smart glasses viewing), a user device facilitating the smart glasses may need to send updated pose information in the uplink direction. Otherwise, the subsequent downlink flow may be delayed and thereby “freeze” the enhanced flow and negatively impact the user experience of using the smart glasses. The timing of UL traffic availability and the corresponding traffic size are not known a priori at the RAN node. Therefore, under existing procedures, a user equipment device sends an uplink scheduling request ("SR") indicating uplink traffic availability (e.g., uplink traffic already ready in the user equipment's buffer to be sent in the uplink direction to the RAN), then sends a buffer status report ("BSR") indicating how much uplink traffic is available, and finally, receives a scheduled uplink resource allocation from the RAN node. Following such conventional procedures often results in violations of key target latency budgets, requirements, or standards corresponding to the traffic flows.

[0102] XR services are characterized by simultaneous download and uplink transmissions, both of which may require extreme capacity and ultra-low latency budgets. Furthermore, different XR applications may exhibit different levels of packet arrival jitter due to the video codecs used in processing XR frame synthesis. Codec selection / adoption can dynamically depend on the XR application itself, channel conditions, interference conditions, etc., and therefore codec selection can vary over time, thereby introducing jitter in packet arrival. Furthermore, most XR services require pairing, linking, or combining downlink and uplink traffic flows. For example, augmenting a user's surroundings with AR smart glasses may require the smart glasses to rapidly transmit uplink traffic or portions corresponding to the smart glasses' pose orientation and sensed environmental information, while simultaneously receiving the augmented or virtualized portion of the XR stream. Therefore, XR applications benefit from an efficient downlink / uplink scheduler with joint uplink / downlink capabilities, where the scheduler that pairs downlink and uplink traffic, as well as their respective control channels, can be optimized for the combined XR traffic.

[0103] However, existing / legacy scheduling procedures and control channel signaling are optimized for downlink or uplink traffic. Thus, for example, where uplink XR traffic is available for transmission from a user equipment, using conventional techniques, the user equipment needs to first send a scheduling request indicating the uplink traffic and, in a later uplink data transmission, send a buffer status report indicating how much uplink traffic is in the user equipment's buffer. The RAN node schedules uplink resources of an appropriate size to accommodate the uplink traffic buffered at the user equipment as indicated in the buffer status report, and the user equipment eventually receives an uplink resource grant from the RAN. This conventional procedure may (typically) result in latency that violates the latency budget for the uplink XR traffic, which in many cases may cause user dizziness due to, for example, repeated partial stream transmission freezes. Semi-persistent scheduling and configured grant scheduling may facilitate the RAN to schedule uplink resources for potential incoming uplink XR traffic from a given device. However, due to the lack of actual reporting of traffic availability times and sizes, such advance allocations may be insufficient (e.g., either resources are over-allocated, resulting in resource waste, or under-allocated, resulting in extended packet buffering times). The user device's lack of awareness of XR application operations, as well as the lack of awareness of the characteristics of the relevant XR traffic, may cause the existing scheduling process and associated control channel design to be unfriendly in terms of capacity and latency, thereby often resulting in violation of paired downlink and uplink capacity and latency targets for critical XR traffic (such as traffic corresponding to the gesture portion of the smart glasses device). Therefore, efficient joint scheduling of critical downlink and uplink XR traffic is desired.

[0104] Thus, embodiments of a joint uplink and downlink scheduling scheme and optimized control channel embodiments are disclosed herein. As disclosed herein, XR application-aware information can be taken into account to facilitate joint downlink and uplink traffic scheduling. The embodiments disclosed herein facilitate user equipment devices to proactively announce corresponding XR application-specific traffic characteristics so that the serving RAN node can efficiently and jointly schedule downlink and uplink resources without exhibiting or having minimal delay for SR and BSR exchanges, thereby reducing overall end-to-end radio latency.

[0105] Utilizing the embodiments disclosed herein, joint scheduling of critical downlink and uplink traffic can use application-specific (e.g., XR application / service) information to dynamically and efficiently schedule the allocation of paired downlink and uplink resources. For example, a user device can indicate XR capability information to a serving RAN in terms of a target quality of service standard so that the RAN can effectively associate traffic corresponding to the user device to an appropriate service class or classes. In an embodiment, the serving RAN can configure the user device apparatus to use joint downlink and uplink scheduling for certain XR traffic flows indicated by the user equipment, which are represented by associated flow identifiers. Because not all XR flows are equally important and should therefore be treated proportionally to the impact that their respective degradations may cause on the end-user experience, identifying flows promotes user devices to use the techniques disclosed herein for critical / more important traffic flows. Thus, during an active XR session, a user device running an XR application can compile an uplink control channel information message that may include XR application-specific information, which may include a quality of service indication corresponding to a flow supporting the XR application. The user equipment may transmit an application-specific acceptable delay between a successfully received downlink flow and a corresponding paired uplink control update corresponding to the uplink flow corresponding to the downlink flow. The user equipment may compile an expected buffer state size to be sent in the uplink direction after the received downlink traffic flow. The user equipment may indicate parameter metrics (e.g., estimated / predicted buffer state amount and latency criteria) based on a quantization indication. The parameter metrics may be reported only when they meet the parameter criteria (such as, for example, a configured buffer size threshold or latency threshold) to reduce control signaling overhead when latency does not negatively impact the user's XR experience. Based on those application-specific parameter metrics, the serving RAN sends downlink control information including joint downlink resource scheduling information for receiving the current downlink traffic and uplink resource scheduling information for sending the expected uplink transmission after the downlink traffic.

[0106] Unlike existing control channel designs, where each downlink control information transmission configures downlink or uplink resource allocation, in the embodiments disclosed herein, the control channel information facilitates joint downlink and uplink channel resource allocation in one message (i.e., in "one go"). Thus, from the perspective of the user equipment device, the user equipment can be configured and enabled to receive critical XR downlink traffic and, without additional scheduling delays, immediately have an uplink resource or multiple uplink resources allocated for uplink traffic corresponding to a critical flow, e.g., the posture portion of a smart glasses device. From the perspective of the scheduling RAN, resources for downlink and uplink are efficiently and quickly scheduled based on the application (e.g., and XR application) device (e.g., latency, resource size) of each user equipment device without additional scheduling delays or additional control channel resource waste.

[0107] Reports the expected buffer size for a specific application service.

[0108] Conventional buffer status reports are based on the actual traffic in the uplink buffer of the user equipment. As described above, this results in delays because the uplink traffic is already available in the buffer before the corresponding buffer status report is sent to the serving RAN. In the embodiments disclosed herein, the fact that XR services (or services of other types of applications that can manage paired uplink and downlink traffic) often use paired downlink and uplink traffic can be exploited. Therefore, the XR application executed on the user equipment can estimate how much uplink traffic is available for the posture-related or orientation update-related traffic flow, or when the uplink traffic is available, for example, for the posture-related traffic flow. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed herein can actively schedule uplink resources for traffic that has not yet arrived or has not yet been generated, and thus reduce (if not eliminate) buffering delays.

[0109] Now go to Figure 3A, which shows an example environment 300 with a user device 115 managing uplink traffic corresponding to downlink traffic. The user device 115 may indicate to the RAN 105 that the user device is operating, facilitating, or otherwise executing an application 209, which may be any actual application. The user device 115 may indicate to the RAN 105 that the user device is executing the application 209, which may be in conjunction with facilitating use of the device 117. The user device 115 may make such an indication via an application type indication message 302, which may indicate application information corresponding to the application 209, which is configured to be used by the user device to facilitate operation of the device 117. In embodiments, the application type indication message 302 may be referred to as an application indication message. In embodiments, the user device 115 may determine whether the application flow information metric has met the application flow metric criterion and may send a message 302, which may be referred to as an application flow performance indication message, to the RAN 105 indicating to the RAN that the application flow metric criterion has not been met. For example, if Figure 2 As shown, if the portion of flow 1 corresponding to posture portion 202 of device 117 experiences more latency than the configured latency criteria corresponding to flow 1 before sending portion 212 from RAN 105 to user device 115 in either the uplink direction or the downlink direction, user device 115 may send an application flow performance indication message 302, as shown. Figure 3A shown.

[0110] Regardless of whether the user equipment 115 sent the message 302 to the RAN 105 due to the application flow information metric not meeting the application flow metric criteria, in response to the message 302, the RAN may send an application-specific search space message 305 that may indicate an application-specific search space 307 that the user equipment used to determine the configuration 304. The configuration 304 may be referred to as a joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration that may be used by the user equipment 115 to manage at least one traffic flow corresponding to the application 209. After the user equipment has received the downlink traffic portion 212, which may also correspond to the posture portion of the device, the configuration 304 may configure the user equipment 115 to estimate the uplink traffic, which may be associated with the downlink traffic portion 212. Figure 2 The configuration 304 may be obtained by the user equipment 115 by decoding the application specific search space 307 in the message 305 indicating that the RAN 105 may send the user equipment in response to the message 302. Figure 2As described in the embodiment depicted in FIG, the downlink traffic portion 212 and the uplink traffic portion 222 may be linked to each other and may be referred to as a joint portion of the first traffic flow. Thus, before the user equipment 115 generates the uplink traffic portion 222 of flow 1 and stores the uplink traffic portion 222 in the buffer 310 for transmission to the RAN 105, the user equipment may generate an estimated buffer status report 306 corresponding to the expected traffic portion 222 of flow 2 or the expected size of the traffic portion 222 and send the estimated buffer status report to the RAN 105. (The uplink traffic portion 222 is in FIG. Figure 3A 304.) The estimated buffer status report 306 may be sent from the UE 115 to the RAN 105 via resources scheduled via configuration 304.

[0111] Thus, according to configuration 304, estimated buffer status report 306 may include an estimated or expected size or amount of uplink traffic portion 222 for flow 1 that has not yet been generated by the user equipment. The estimated amount that estimated buffer status report 306 may include may be based on the traffic volume of downlink traffic flow portion 212, or the estimated amount may be based on a previous size or amount of uplink traffic sent by the user equipment in response to corresponding downlink traffic for flow 1. By sending estimated buffer status report 306 before traffic portion 222 has been generated or buffered in buffer 310, RAN 105 may schedule and send uplink resources to user equipment 115 for the user equipment to use to send uplink traffic portion 222 without having to wait for the uplink traffic portion to be generated and stored in buffer 310, thereby reducing the overall latency of traffic for flow 1.

[0112] It should be understood that the configuration information included in configuration 304 may be based on the application information sent in message 302 as well as the flow information and the corresponding flow identifier corresponding to application 209. Thus, configuration 304 may include configuration information indicating to user equipment 115 that buffer status information for flow 1 (e.g., the estimated size of uplink traffic 222) is to be estimated because flow 1 is associated with a service serving Figure 2 However, configuration 304 may not include configuration information indicating to user equipment 115 that buffer status information for estimating traffic flows corresponding to posture portion 202 of device 117 is provided.

[0113] Therefore, if Figure 3B As shown, the user equipment may generate an uplink traffic flow portion 224 and an uplink traffic flow portion 226, and generate an indication such as Figure 3B The buffer status report for the traffic buffered in buffer 310 is shown, rather than estimating the buffer status reports for flows 2 and 3. Figure 3B As shown, the uplink traffic portion 224 and the uplink traffic portion 226 are shown in solid lines to indicate Figure 3A Compared to the uplink traffic flow portion 222 shown in dashed lines in FIG, which includes traffic that has been generated and buffered in 310, the uplink traffic flow portion 222 indicates that the uplink traffic flow portion 222 was not generated or buffered in the buffer 310 when the estimated buffer status report 306 was generated and sent to the RAN 105. Therefore, in an embodiment, for more important traffic of flow 1 (e.g., if flow 1 facilitates traffic relative to the important posture portion 202), Figure 3A The estimated buffer status report 306 shown in FIG reduces the latency of the traffic of flow 1, while for flows 2 and 3 (whose traffic may not be as important or require as stringent latency as the traffic of flow 1), the user equipment 115 may use a conventional method of determining and sending a buffer status report after the uplink traffic portion 224 and the uplink traffic portion 226 have been generated and placed in the buffer 310 of the user equipment 115, because flows 2 and 3 may not be associated with as low a latency target as flow 1 (e.g., via message 302). In another embodiment, as shown in reference Figure 5 As described in more detail, instead of generating, UE 115 may send uplink traffic (eg, flow 1) via the uplink resources configured by configuration 304. up part), without sending a buffer status report, whether an estimated buffer status report or a buffer status report based on the business already generated and buffered in the buffer 310.

[0114] Now go to Figure 4A, which illustrates example embodiment content of an application type indication message 302. An XR-capable user device running an XR application, such as application 209 shown in other figures herein, sends an XR-specific capability indication via message 302 to indicate application information corresponding to application 209 to a serving RAN node. Message 302 may indicate 5G quality of service class identifiers ("QCIs") 303A through 303n corresponding to traffic flows serving or used by the XR application. The QCI 303 in message 302 may indicate a quality of service profile in terms of performance targets (e.g., capacity or packet delay budget) corresponding to the traffic flow. Message 302 may be included as an additional information element during radio resource control (RRC) connection establishment signaling sent from the user equipment. Based on the indication received in message 302, the RAN becomes aware of the QoS targets of the device and XR application, as well as the traffic flows corresponding thereto, and can therefore effectively schedule resources for the traffic flows corresponding to the QCIs in message 302.

[0115] Now go to Figure 4B , which shows example contents of a joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration 304. In response to the message 302 received from the user equipment, the network RAN ​​may send a search space indication message 305 to the user equipment indicating an application specific search space 307, which may be used by the user equipment to obtain the configuration 304. The message 305 may include configuration information for configuring the user equipment with an XR / application specific control channel design search space 307, such as Figure 4BAs shown. Control channel space message 305 may include the new downlink control channel information (DCI) for XR services disclosed herein. The configuration information included in message 305 may include the following new information elements that may define a search space 307: frequency resource information for the XR-specific control channel; timing information including the start time, duration, and period of the XR-specific control channel search space; an XR-specific scrambling code for devices to use to monitor and attempt to decode the XR-specific control channel; or one or more stream IDs or QCI IDs for which the XR-specific control channel should be monitored for scheduling grant information in both the downlink and uplink directions. A separate search space 307 may be indicated in message 305 for the service stream corresponding to stream identifier 308 to facilitate the application of the embodiments disclosed herein to critical services directed to a given application with high performance requirements, while traditional scheduling procedures may be applied to less critical streams. For example, XR I-frames have a greater impact on the end-user experience than XR P-frames, and as a result, the user may experience dizziness due to the degradation of stream quality caused by frozen portions of an important XR stream. Therefore, the overhead for jointly scheduling downlink and uplink resources may be incurred only for more critical important XR services.

[0116] Now go to Figure 4C , which shows example contents of an uplink control information message that may include expected buffer status information sent in an estimated buffer status report that may be sent in message 306. A user equipment device configured for joint downlink and uplink XR resource scheduling may send the estimated buffer status report as an uplink control information ("UCI") message. Figure 4CAs shown, the estimated buffer status report (UCI) can include standard / legacy uplink control channel information and the information elements disclosed herein, which can include one or more indications of the expected XR application-specific buffer size for uplink traffic corresponding to previously received downlink traffic that has not yet been buffered. As described herein, the use of the estimated buffer status report can be based on the premise that for each downlink traffic portion received by an XR application, there will likely be a corresponding uplink traffic portion having a size corresponding to the size of the linked downlink traffic portion, which may include updates for control, location, or orientation information, which will need to be sent as an uplink traffic portion with minimal latency, particularly if the traffic flow corresponds to the posture portion of the XR device. The availability time of the uplink traffic and the corresponding traffic size can depend on the specific XR application. Therefore, a user equipment device running an XR application can indicate to the serving RAN in real time the estimated application-specific uplink traffic size for traffic that is not yet in the user equipment's uplink buffer but is expected by the XR application to be in the buffer soon. The message 306 may also include an application-specific or flow-specific latency criterion that defines an acceptable delay between a downlink traffic portion and a corresponding uplink traffic portion. The indication of the latency criterion may include a quantized value retrieved from a configured codebook of buffer size and latency ranges, or the latency criterion may be reported as an absolute / discrete / deterministic value. In an embodiment, the sending of the message 306 including the estimated buffer status report information for the traffic flow may be triggered only if a buffer size criterion or a latency criterion associated with the traffic flow (e.g., a buffer size threshold or a latency threshold) is violated (e.g., a buffer size threshold or a latency threshold may be used in a reference flow). Figure 7 (e.g., such triggering or determination made at action 735 described herein). The buffer size criteria / threshold or latency criteria / threshold may be configured from the serving RAN node during RRC connection establishment.

[0117] Now go to Figure 4D , which shows an example of a joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration 304.

[0118] Now go to Figure 5, which illustrates an example embodiment in which a user equipment 115 in an environment 500 manages linked downlink and uplink traffic using application-specific downlink control channel configuration information indicated in a search space 307, an indication of which is received in a message 305. The RAN 105 transmits a configuration 304, which may include a DCI message received according to the configured application-specific (e.g., XR-specific) control channel search space 307. The configuration 304 may include indications of: downlink scheduling timing and frequency resource information; downlink transmission configuration according to a modulation and coding scheme ("MCS"); uplink scheduling timing and frequency resource information; or uplink transmission configuration in terms of the MCS.

[0119] The RAN 105 may use the configuration information included in the configuration 304 to dynamically adjust uplink resource scheduling information based on application-specific traffic size and timing information corresponding to traffic directed to the UE 115 received from the core network 130. Thus, by scheduling uplink resources for uplink traffic 220 of a traffic flow and downlink traffic 210 of the same traffic flow (e.g., the uplink traffic flow and the downlink traffic flow may be considered linked), the RAN 105 may minimize overscheduling or underscheduling of resource sets and avoid, reduce, or minimize resource waste or avoid scheduling insufficient uplink resources, which may result in performance degradation for applications served by the linked traffic flows. The UE 115 may attempt to decode the XR-specific search space 307 using the configured (e.g., configured via the message 305) XR-specific scrambling code and extract joint downlink and uplink scheduling information corresponding to the critical XR traffic flow, thereby minimizing delays that may otherwise be incurred by independently or separately scheduling downlink and uplink resource scheduling.

[0120] like Figure 5 As shown, the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration 304 may include dn , Flow 2 dn Or stream 3 dn The corresponding downlink scheduling and transmission information 509. It should be understood that the downlink scheduling and transmission information 509 can be used for all of the multiple flows of the service 210, less than all of the service flows of the service 210, or can be used for only one of the service flows of the service 210. For example, the downlink scheduling and transmission information 509 can be used for only flow 1. dn , leaving stream 2 dn and stream 3 dn Managed by application 209 according to conventional downlink monitoring and decoding techniques. Uplink scheduling and transmission information 503 can be linked with downlink information 509 in configuration 507 and can be applied to flow 1 up , Flow 2up or stream 3 up . Similar to using the downlink scheduling and transmission information 509 to decode the downlink traffic stream of traffic 210, the uplink information 503 can be used by the application 209 when transmitting all, less than all, or only one of the streams 1 up , stream 2 up , or stream 3 up . It should be understood that if the downlink scheduling and transmission information 509 applies to only one traffic stream, e.g., stream 1, then the uplink scheduling and transmission information 503 can also apply to only one uplink traffic portion of traffic 220, e.g., stream 1 up . The RAN 105 assigning the uplink information 503 and the linked downlink information 509 to one or more uplink or downlink streams, respectively, can be based on the QCI included in the message 302 sent from the UE 115 to the RAN.

[0121] Turning now to Figure 6, which illustrates a timing diagram of an embodiment method 600. At act 605, the UE / WTRU 115 sends device-specific or application-specific (e.g., XR-specific) capabilities to the serving RAN node 105, including a list of indications of supported XR quality level indications ("QCIs") corresponding to service flows supported by applications running on the UE. At act 610, the UE / WTRU 115 receives from the serving RAN node 105 a list of XR flow identifiers, a list of packet data unit identifiers ("PDU") set identifiers for which dynamic fast, joint downlink and uplink paired resource scheduling has been activated by the RAN 105. At act 615, the UE / WTRU 115 may send an uplink control information message on an uplink control channel, subject to an active bidirectional session (e.g., an XR / VR session for an XR / VR application running at the UE 115) corresponding to one or more of the QCIs sent at act 605 and corresponding to the XR stream or PDU set identifier configured at act 610, which may be configured via the information received at act 610. The uplink control information sent at act 615 may include an indication of an expected uplink buffer size corresponding to the received downlink traffic flow. The uplink control information sent at act 615 may include an indication of an application-specific acceptable delay (e.g., a latency criterion) between paired downlink and uplink traffic portions, which may include XR updates corresponding to the pose position of the smart glasses device. At act 620, the UE / WTRU 115 monitors and blindly decodes an XR-specific control channel search space, which may have been included in the information sent from the RAN 105 to the UE 115 at act 610. The XR-specific search space decoded at act 620 may include an indication of XR-specific downlink control information, including scheduling information for downlink traffic, an indication of an associated downlink transmission modulation and coding scheme, future / delayed resource scheduling information for uplink traffic linked to the downlink traffic, and associated uplink MCS information. At act 625, the UE / WTRU 115 may receive and decode downlink traffic based on the resource information configured by the information received at act 610 (e.g., configuration 304), and the UE / WTRU may, at act 630, use the predetermined future use uplink resources that may have been received at act 610 (e.g., also in configuration 304) to transmit application-specific uplink traffic corresponding to the downlink traffic received and decoded at act 625.

[0122] Now go to Figure 7, which illustrates a flow chart of an example embodiment method 700 for managing linked uplink and downlink traffic flows. Method 700 begins at act 705. At act 710, the user equipment determines whether to send an application type information message to request a joint uplink-downlink configuration for an application that the user equipment may be currently executing or that the user equipment may soon execute. The determination of whether to request a joint uplink-downlink configuration may be based on the application type, or, for an application already running / executing on the user equipment, the determination made at act 710 may be based on whether joint management criteria have been met. For example, if the user equipment is already running an application, but the traffic flow corresponding to the application exhibits performance degradation, such as a latency associated with the traffic flow exceeding a configured threshold, the user equipment may determine at act 710 to send an application type information message and proceed to act 715. If the user equipment determines at act 705 that the joint management criteria have not been met (e.g., performance degradation has not been experienced for a given traffic flow at the user equipment), method 700 may proceed to act 760 and end. The decision box representing action 705 is depicted with a dashed line to indicate that action 705 may be optional. Therefore, if the user equipment is not configured to evaluate whether the joint management criteria are met before sending the application information message, method 700 may start at action 705 and proceed directly to action 715.

[0123] At action 715, the user device may send an application type information message before or during execution of an application (e.g., an XR application) by the user device, as described elsewhere herein with reference to message 302. The XR application may already be running, and in embodiments, the user device may not implement method 700 unless the traffic flow for traffic directed to the application has experienced performance degradation. Thus, method 700 may be implemented dynamically as needed or deterministically based on criteria configured in the user device.

[0124] After sending the application type information message, the RAN node may generate joint uplink-downlink scheduling information based on the QCI included in the application type information message sent at action 715, which may include a QCI corresponding to a traffic flow directed to and generated by an application running on the user equipment. In response to transmission of the application type information message sent at action 715, the user equipment may receive an application-specific search space configuration at action 717.

[0125] At act 720, the RAN can transmit and the user device can receive a joint uplink-downlink scheduling configuration, such as configuration 304 described elsewhere herein, using the application-specific search space configuration information received at act 717, which can include joint uplink-downlink scheduling information to be used for receiving and transmitting linked downlink and uplink traffic. The joint uplink-downlink scheduling information can include a configuration, instruction, or indication for the user device to estimate buffer status report information based on downlink traffic received by the user device. The joint uplink-downlink scheduling information can include uplink resources and modulation / coding schemes that are linked with downlink resources and modulation / coding schemes. In embodiments, the linked uplink resources / schemes and downlink resources / schemes can be obtained or determined by the user device through downlink search space decoding that can be indicated in the configuration received at act 717, where the search space is to be used by the user device to determine the linked uplink resources / schemes and downlink resources / schemes configuration 304. The configuration received at act 720 can be applicable to a first traffic flow corresponding to an XR application or another type of application that requires high performance / low latency, but the configuration received at act 720 can not be applicable to a second traffic flow corresponding to an application that can be associated with lower quality / performance targets / standards.

[0126] At act 725, the user device receives downlink traffic corresponding to a traffic flow directed to an application, which can be associated with a parameter metric, e.g., a latency standard corresponding to the traffic flow. At act 730, the user device can determine the determined parameter metric, e.g., whether a measured or determined latency value corresponding to the traffic flow satisfies the parameter metric standard. If the determined metric, e.g., the determined latency value, does not satisfy the standard (e.g., the measured or determined latency value is less than the latency standard), the method 700 proceeds to act 760 and ends. It should be appreciated that act 730 can be optional, and thus depicted in dashed lines in FIG. 7B. Thus, if the user device is not configured to perform act 730, or if it is determined at act 730 (if the user device is configured to perform act 730) that the determined metric satisfies the corresponding standard, the method 700 proceeds to act 735. The user device can not be configured to perform act 730 if the user device is configured to always transmit uplink traffic corresponding to the downlink traffic received at act 725 according to uplink instructions or uplink resources configured by the joint uplink-downlink scheduling information received at act 720. Figure 7

[0127] ​At act 735, the user equipment may be configured to estimate a buffer status based on the downlink traffic received at act 725. Although the joint uplink-downlink scheduling information received in the configuration at act 720 may include linked uplink resources / schemes and downlink resources / schemes, the configuration received at act 720 may still configure the user equipment to estimate a buffer status of corresponding uplink traffic (e.g., corresponding to downlink traffic) that has not yet been generated or stored in a buffer of the user equipment based on the downlink traffic received at act 725. If it is determined at act 735 that an estimated buffer status report is to be generated, then method 700 proceeds to act 740, and the user equipment generates estimated buffer status information, which may indicate an expected amount of uplink traffic to be sent by the user equipment in response to or corresponding to the downlink traffic received at act 725.

[0128] At act 745, the user equipment sends the estimated buffer status information generated at act 740 as an estimated buffer status report to the serving RAN node. The estimated buffer status report may be sent according to the uplink resources indicated in the configuration received at act 720, or according to the resources indicated by the search space indicated in the configuration received at act 720. After receiving the estimated buffer status report sent at act 745, the RAN node may determine or schedule uplink resources to be granted to the user equipment to transmit uplink traffic corresponding to the estimated buffer status information determined at act 740. The RAN node may send the determined uplink resources as an uplink resource grant, which the user equipment may receive at act 750. After receiving the uplink resource grant sending act 750, the user equipment may send uplink traffic corresponding to the downlink traffic received at act 725 at act 755. Method 700 proceeds to act 760 and ends.

[0129] Returning to the description at action 735, if it is determined based on the configuration or based on another criterion that the user equipment is not to estimate the buffer status but to send uplink traffic that may correspond to the downlink traffic received at action 725, the user equipment may proceed to action 755 and send uplink traffic corresponding to the downlink traffic received at action 725 according to the uplink resources or modulation scheme indicated by the joint uplink-downlink configuration information received at action 720.

[0130] Thus, using the configuration information received at action 720, the user equipment may not need to immediately generate uplink traffic in response to received downlink traffic, send a buffer status report corresponding to the generated uplink traffic, wait to receive an uplink grant to send uplink traffic corresponding to the already received downlink traffic, and then send the actual uplink traffic. Instead, in an embodiment, in response to receiving downlink traffic for a traffic flow associated with a high quality of service, the user equipment may estimate the uplink buffer status and request an uplink resource grant based thereon before the user equipment has generated the uplink traffic. Thus, implementing method 700 may reduce the wait time associated with waiting to request uplink resources based on a buffer status report indicating to the RAN node that uplink traffic has been buffered by the user equipment for uplink transmission. In an embodiment, the user equipment may, based on the downlink traffic received at action 725, use uplink resources and a scheme to send uplink traffic corresponding to the downlink traffic received at action 725 according to the instructions in the configuration information received at action 720, without having to perform a process of acquiring uplink resources with the RAN node after the actual uplink traffic has been generated.

[0131] Now go to Figure 8 , which shows an example embodiment method 800, the method comprising: at box 805, sending, by a user equipment including a processor, an application type indication message to a radio access network node, the application type indication message indicating application information corresponding to an application configured for use by the user equipment; at box 810, receiving, by the user equipment, from the radio access network node, in response to the application type indication message, a joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration to be used by the user equipment to manage at least one service flow corresponding to the application; at box 815, receiving a downlink data traffic portion of the service flow corresponding to the application, the downlink data traffic portion including a downlink data traffic portion traffic volume; at box 820, generating, by the user equipment, an expected buffer status report based on the downlink data traffic portion traffic volume in accordance with the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration; and at box 825, sending, by the user equipment, the expected buffer status report to the radio access network node in accordance with the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration.

[0132] Now go to Figure 9, the figure shows an example user equipment 900, which includes a processor configured to execute an application at box 905; at box 910, an application indication message indicating the application is sent to a radio access network node; at box 915, an application-specific search space configuration is received from the radio access network node in response to the application indication message; at box 920, a joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration is received by the user equipment for managing services of a first service flow corresponding to the application based on the application-specific search space configuration; at box 925, a first downlink data service of the first service flow is received based on a first downlink resource indicated by the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration; at box 930, a first uplink service corresponding to the first service flow is generated; and at box 935, the first uplink service is sent to the radio access network node based on the first uplink resource indicated by the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration.

[0133] Now go to Figure 10 , which illustrates a non-transitory machine-readable medium 1000, including a non-transitory machine-readable medium at block 1005, the non-transitory machine-readable medium including executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a user device, facilitate performance of operations, including: determining an application flow information metric corresponding to a traffic flow of an application executed by the processor to produce a determined application flow information metric; at block 1010, analyzing the determined application flow information metric against an application flow metric criterion corresponding to the application flow information metric to produce an analyzed application flow information metric; at block 1015, transmitting an indication to a radio access network node that the analyzed application flow information metric does not satisfy an application flow metric criterion. an application flow performance indication message that fails to meet an application flow metric; at box 1020, in response to the application flow performance indication message, receiving a joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration to be used by the user equipment to manage the service flow from the radio access network node; at box 1025, receiving a downlink data service portion of the service flow, at box 1030, determining an estimated buffer status report based on the downlink data service portion, the estimated buffer status report including an estimated size of the estimated uplink data service portion of the service flow to be sent by the user equipment; and at box 1035, sending the estimated buffer status report to the radio access network node according to the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration.

[0134] To provide additional context for the various embodiments described herein, Figure 11The following discussion is intended to provide a brief, general description of a suitable computing environment 1100 in which various embodiments described herein may be implemented. Although the embodiments have been described above in the general context of computer-executable instructions that may be executed on one or more computers, those skilled in the art will recognize that the embodiments may also be implemented in combination with other program modules and / or as a combination of hardware and software.

[0135] Generally, program modules include routines, programs, components, data structures, etc. that perform specific tasks or implement specific abstract data types. In addition, those skilled in the art will understand that the method can be practiced with other computer system configurations, including single-processor or multi-processor computer systems, minicomputers, mainframe computers, IoT devices, distributed computing systems, and personal computers, handheld computing devices, microprocessor-based or programmable consumer electronics devices, etc., each of which can be operably coupled to one or more associated devices.

[0136] The embodiments described herein can also be practiced in distributed computing environments where certain tasks are performed by remote processing devices that are linked through a communications network.In a distributed computing environment, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage devices.

[0137] Computing devices typically include various media, which may include computer-readable storage media, machine-readable storage media, and / or communication media, the two terms being used differently herein as follows. A computer-readable storage medium or machine-readable storage medium can be any available storage medium that can be accessed by a computer, and includes both volatile and non-volatile media, removable and non-removable media. By way of example and not limitation, a computer-readable storage medium or machine-readable storage medium can be implemented in conjunction with any method or technology for storing information such as computer-readable or machine-readable instructions, program modules, structured data, or unstructured data.

[0138] Computer-readable storage media may include, but are not limited to, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), flash memory or other memory technology, compact disk read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital versatile disk (DVD), Blu-ray disk (BD) or other optical disk storage, magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or other magnetic storage devices, solid-state drives or other solid-state storage devices, or other tangible and / or non-transitory media that can be used to store the desired information. In this regard, the terms "tangible" or "non-transitory" as applied to storage devices, memories, or computer-readable media herein should be understood to exclude only the propagating transient signal itself as a modifier, and do not disclaim the benefit of all standard storage devices, memories, or computer-readable media that are not propagating transient signals themselves.

[0139] Computer-readable storage media can be accessed by one or more local or remote computing devices, eg, via access requests, queries, or other data retrieval protocols, for various operations regarding the information stored by the media.

[0140] Communication media typically embodies computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other structured or unstructured data in a data signal, such as a modulated data signal (e.g., a carrier wave or other transport mechanism), and includes any information delivery or transmission media. The term "modulated data signal" or signal refers to a signal that has one or more characteristics set or changed in such a manner as to encode information in one or more signals. By way of example, and not limitation, communication media includes wired media, such as a wired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media, such as acoustic, RF, infrared, and other wireless media.

[0141] Reference again Figure 11 An example environment 1100 for implementing various embodiments of various aspects described herein includes a computer 1102 including a processing unit 1104, a system memory 1106, and a system bus 1108. The system bus 1108 couples system components including, but not limited to, the system memory 1106 to the processing unit 1104. The processing unit 1104 can be any of various commercially available processors and can include a cache memory. Dual microprocessors and other multi-processor architectures can also be used as the processing unit 1104.

[0142] The system bus 1108 can be any of several types of bus structures and can also interconnect to a memory bus (with or without a memory controller), a peripheral bus, and a local bus using any of a variety of commercially available bus architectures. The system memory 1106 includes ROM 1110 and RAM 1112. A basic input / output system (BIOS), which includes the basic routines that help to transfer information between elements within the computer 1102, such as during startup, can be stored in a nonvolatile memory such as ROM, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), or EEPROM. RAM 1112 can also include high-speed RAM, such as static RAM for caching data.

[0143] The computer 1102 also includes an internal hard disk drive (HDD) 1114 (e.g., EIDE, SATA), one or more external storage devices 1116 (e.g., a magnetic floppy disk drive (FDD) 1116, a memory stick or flash drive reader, a memory card reader, etc.), and an optical drive 1120 (e.g., which can read from or write to a CD-ROM disk, a DVD, a BD, etc.). Although the internal HDD 1114 is shown as being located within the computer 1102, the internal HDD 1114 can also be configured for external use in a suitable enclosure (not shown). Additionally, although not shown in the environment 1100, a solid-state drive (SSD) can be used in addition to or in place of the HDD 1114. The HDD 1114, the external storage device(s) 1116, and the optical drive 1120 can be connected to the system bus 1108 via an HDD interface 1124, an external storage interface 1126, and an optical drive interface 1128, respectively. The interface 1124 for external drive implementations may include at least one or both of Universal Serial Bus (USB) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1194 interface technologies.Other external drive connection technologies are within the contemplation of the embodiments described herein.

[0144] The drives and their associated computer-readable storage media provide non-volatile storage of data, data structures, computer-executable instructions, and the like. For computer 1102, the drives and storage media are adapted to accommodate the storage of any data in a suitable digital format. Although the above description of computer-readable storage media relates to corresponding types of storage devices, those skilled in the art will appreciate that other types of computer-readable storage media, whether currently existing or developed in the future, may also be used in the example operating environment, and further, any such storage media may include computer-executable instructions for performing the methods described herein.

[0145] A number of program modules may be stored in the drives and RAM 1112, including an operating system 1130, one or more application programs 1132, other program modules 1134, and program data 1136. All or portions of the operating system, applications, modules, and / or data may also be cached in RAM 1112. The systems and methods described herein may be implemented using various commercially available operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

[0146] The computer 1102 may optionally include emulation technology. For example, a hypervisor (not shown) or other intermediary may emulate the hardware environment of the operating system 1130, and the emulated hardware may optionally be different from the hardware of the operating system 1130. Figure 11 . In such an embodiment, the operating system 1130 may include one of the multiple VMs hosted at the computer 1102. In addition, the operating system 1130 may provide a runtime environment for the application 1132, such as the Java runtime environment or the .NET framework. The runtime environment is a consistent execution environment that allows the application 1132 to run on any operating system that includes a runtime environment. Similarly, the operating system 1130 may support containers, and the application 1132 may be in the form of a container, which is a lightweight, standalone, executable software package that includes, for example, code, a runtime, system tools, system libraries, and settings for the application.

[0147] Furthermore, the computer 1102 may include a security module, such as a Trusted Processing Module (TPM). For example, using a TPM, before loading the next boot component, the boot component hashes the next boot component and waits for the result to match a security value. This process can occur at any layer in the code execution stack of the computer 1102, for example, at the application execution level or the operating system (OS) kernel level, thereby achieving security at any level of code execution.

[0148] A user can enter commands and information into the computer 1102 through one or more wire / wireless input devices, e.g., a keyboard 1138, a touch screen 1140, and a pointing device, such as a mouse 1142. Other input devices (not shown) can include a microphone, an infrared (IR) remote control, a radio frequency (RF) remote control, or other remote control, a joystick, a virtual reality controller and / or virtual reality headset, a gamepad, a stylus, an image input device, e.g., a camera(s), a gesture sensor input device, a vision motion sensor input device, an emotion or facial detection device, a biometric input device, e.g., a fingerprint or iris scanner, or the like. These and other input devices are often connected to the processing unit 1104 through an input device interface 1144 that can be coupled to the system bus 1108, but can be connected by other interfaces such as a parallel port, an IEEE 1194 serial port, a game port, a USB port, an IR interface, a Bluetooth® interface, etc.

[0149] A monitor 1146 or other type of display device is also connected to the system bus 1108 via an interface, such as a video adaptor 1148. In addition to the monitor 1146, a computer typically includes other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers, printers, etc.

[0150] The computer 1102 can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers, such as a remote computer 1150. The remote computer 1150 can be a workstation, a server computer, a router, a personal computer, portable computer, microprocessor-based entertainment appliance, a peer device or other common network node, and typically includes many or all of the elements described relative to the computer 1102, although, for purposes of brevity, only a memory / storage device 1152 is illustrated. The logical connections depicted include wire / wireless connectivity to a local area network (LAN) 1154 and / or larger networks, e.g., a wide area network (WAN) 1156. Such LAN and WAN networking environments are commonplace in offices and companies and facilitate enterprise-wide computer networks, such as intranets, all of which can connect to a global communications network, e.g., the Internet.

[0151] When used in a LAN networking environment, the computer 1102 can be connected to the local network 1154 through a wire / wireless communication network interface or adaptor 1158. The adaptor 1158 can facilitate wire or wireless communication to the LAN 1154, which can also include a wireless access point (AP), disposed thereon, for communicating in wireless mode with the adaptor 1158.

[0152] When used in a WAN networking environment, the computer 1102 can include a modem 1160 or can be connected to a communication server on the WAN 1156 via other means for establishing communications over the WAN 1156, such as through the Internet. The modem 1160, which can be internal or external and a wired or wireless device, can be connected to the system bus 1108 via the input device interface 1144. In a networked environment, program modules depicted relative to the computer 1102 or portions thereof can be stored in the remote memory / storage device 1152. It will be appreciated that the network connections shown are examples and other means of establishing a communications link between the computers can be used.

[0153] When used in a LAN or WAN networking environment, the computer 1102 can access a cloud storage system or other network-based storage system in addition to or in place of the external storage device 1116 described above. Typically, the connection between the computer 1102 and the cloud storage system can be established over the LAN 1154 or WAN 1156, for example, via an adapter 1158 or a modem 1160, respectively. When the computer 1102 is connected to the associated cloud storage system, the external storage interface 1126 can manage the storage provided by the cloud storage system, similar to other types of external storage devices, via the adapter 1158 and / or the modem 1160. For example, the external storage interface 1126 can be configured to provide access to cloud storage sources as if those sources were physically connected to the computer 1102.

[0154] The computer 1102 may be operable to communicate with any wireless device or entity operatively arranged for wireless communication, such as a printer, scanner, desktop and / or portable computer, portable data assistant, communication satellite, any device or location associated with a wirelessly detectable tag (e.g., a kiosk, newsstand, store shelf, etc.), and a telephone. This may include Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi) and Wireless technology. Therefore, the communication can be a predetermined structure like traditional networks, or simply an ad hoc communication between at least two devices.

[0155] Go to Figure 12, which shows a block diagram of an example UE 1260. The UE 1260 may include a smartphone, a wireless tablet computer, a laptop computer with wireless capabilities, a wearable device, a machine device that can facilitate vehicle telematics, a tracking device, a remote sensing device, etc. The UE 1260 includes a first processor 1230, a second processor 1232, and a shared memory 1234. The UE 1260 includes a radio front-end circuit 1262, which may be referred to herein as a transceiver, but is understood to generally include transceiver circuitry, separate filters, and a separate antenna for facilitating communication via, for example, Figure 1 135 and 137. Furthermore, transceiver 1262 may include multiple sets of circuitry or may be tunable to accommodate different frequency ranges, different modulation schemes, or different communication protocols to facilitate long-range wireless links such as link 135, device-to-device links such as link 135, and short-range wireless links such as link 137.

[0156] continue Figure 12 As described above, UE 1260 may also include a SIM 1264 or SIM profile, which may include information stored in memory (memory 34 or a separate memory portion) for facilitating communication with Figure 1 1. Wireless communications with the RAN 105 or core network 130 shown in FIG. Figure 12 SIM 1264 is shown as a single component in the shape of a traditional SIM card, but it should be understood that SIM 1264 can represent multiple SIM cards, multiple SIM profiles, or multiple eSIMs, some or all of which can be implemented in hardware or software. It should be understood that a SIM profile can include information such as security credentials (e.g., encryption keys, values ​​that can be used to generate encryption keys, or information that can be used to authenticate the user when SIM 1264 is in communication with another device (which can be a Figure 1 The SIM profile 1264 may also include identification information unique to the SIM or SIM profile, such as, for example, an International Mobile Subscriber Identity ("IMSI") or information that may constitute an IMSI.

[0157] SIM 1264 is shown coupled to both first processor portion 1230 and second processor portion 1232. Such an implementation may provide the advantage that first processor portion 1230 may not need to request or receive information or data from SIM 121264, which second processor 1232 may request, thereby eliminating the use of the first processor acting as a 'middle man' while the second processor uses information from the SIM in performing its functions and executing applications. First processor 1230 (which may be a modem processor or baseband processor) is shown as smaller than processor 1232 (which may be a more complex application processor) to visually indicate the relative levels of complexity (i.e., processing power and performance) and corresponding relative levels of operating power consumption between the two processor portions. Keeping the second processor portion 1232 in a dormant / inactive / low power state when the UE 1260 does not need the second processor portion 1232 to execute applications and process data associated with the applications provides the advantage of reducing power consumption when the UE only needs to use the first processor portion 1230 in listening mode to monitor conventionally configured bearer management and mobility management / maintenance procedures, or to monitor the search space that the UE has been configured to monitor while the second processor portion remains inactive / dormant.

[0158] The UE 1260 may also include sensors 1266, such as, for example, a temperature sensor, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a barometer, a humidity sensor, etc., which may provide signals to the first processor 1230 or the second processor 1232. The output device 1268 may include, for example, one or more visual displays (e.g., a computer monitor, a VR device, etc.), an acoustic transducer (e.g., a speaker or microphone), a vibration component, etc. The output device 1268 may include software for interfacing with an output device external to the UE 1260 (e.g., a visual display, a speaker, a microphone, a tactile device, an olfactory or taste device, etc.).

[0159] The following glossary of terms, presented in Table 1, may be applicable to one or more descriptions of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0160] the term definition UE User Equipment WTRU Wireless transmitter and receiver unit RAN Wireless Access Network QoS Quality of Service DRX Discontinuous Reception EPI Early Paging Indication DCI Downlink control information SSB Synchronous signal block RS Reference signal PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel MUSIM Multi-SIM UE SIB System Information Block MIB Main information block eMBB Enhanced Mobile Broadband URLLC Ultra-reliable and low-latency communications mMTC Massive Machine Type Communication XR Anything - Reality VR Virtual Reality AR Augmented Reality MR Mixed Reality DCI Downlink control information DMRS Demodulation Reference Signal QPSK Quadrature Phase Shift Keying WUS Wake-up signal HARQ Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request RRC Radio Resource Control C-RNTI Connected Mode Radio Network Temporary Identifier CRC Cyclic Redundancy Check MIMO Multiple Input Multiple Output UE User Equipment WTRU Wireless transmitter and receiver unit QCI QoS class identifier BSR Buffer Status Report

[0161] Table 1

[0162] The above description includes non-limiting examples of various embodiments. Of course, it is not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methods for purposes of describing the disclosed subject matter, and those skilled in the art will recognize that further combinations and permutations of the various embodiments are possible. The disclosed subject matter is intended to embrace all such changes, modifications, and variations that fall within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

[0163] With respect to the various functions performed by the aforementioned components, devices, circuits, systems, and the like, unless otherwise indicated, terms used to describe such components (including references to "members") are also intended to include any structure (e.g., functional equivalents) that performs the specified functions of the described components, even if not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structures. Furthermore, while particular features of the disclosed subject matter may have been disclosed with respect to only one of several implementations, such features may be combined with one or more other features of the other implementations, as may be desired and advantageous for any given or particular application.

[0164] As may be used herein, the terms "exemplary" and / or "illustrative" or variations thereof are intended to mean serving as an example, instance, or illustration. For the avoidance of doubt, the subject matter disclosed herein is not limited to such examples. Furthermore, any aspect or design described herein as "exemplary" and / or "illustrative" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs, nor is it intended to preclude equivalent structures and techniques known to those skilled in the art. Furthermore, to the extent the terms "including," "having," "containing," and other similar words are used in the detailed description or claims, these terms are intended to be inclusive—in a manner similar to the term "comprising" as an open transition word—and do not exclude any additional or other elements.

[0165] As used herein, the term "or" is intended to mean an inclusive "or" rather than an exclusive "or." For example, the phrase "A or B" is intended to include instances of A, B, and both A and B. Additionally, the articles "a" and "an" used in this application and the appended claims should generally be construed to mean "one or more" unless otherwise specified or clear from context to direct to a singular form.

[0166] As used herein, the term "set" does not include an empty set, i.e., a set having no elements therein. Thus, a "set" in this disclosure includes one or more elements or entities. Likewise, the term "group" as used herein refers to a set of one or more entities.

[0167] The terms "first," "second," "third," etc., used in the claims are for clarity only and do not otherwise indicate or imply any temporal order, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. For example, "a first determination," "a second determination," and "a third determination" do not indicate or imply that the first determination will be made before the second determination, or vice versa, etc.

[0168] The description of the illustrated embodiments of the subject disclosure as provided herein, including what is described in the Abstract, is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosed embodiments to the precise form disclosed. Although specific embodiments and examples are described herein for illustrative purposes, various modifications may be considered within the scope of these embodiments and examples, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art. In this regard, although the subject matter has been described herein in conjunction with various embodiments and corresponding drawings, it will be understood that other similar embodiments may be used, or that the described embodiments may be modified and added to, where applicable, to perform the same, similar, alternative, or alternative functions of the disclosed subject matter without departing from the present subject matter. Therefore, the disclosed subject matter should not be limited to any single embodiment described herein, but should be interpreted in accordance with the breadth and scope of the claims appended hereto.

Claims

1. A method comprising: sending, by a user equipment comprising a processor, an application type indication message to a radio access network node, the application type indication message indicating application information corresponding to an application configured to be used by the user equipment; receiving, by the user equipment from the radio access network node in response to the application type indication message, a joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration to be used by the user equipment to manage at least one traffic flow corresponding to the application; receiving a downlink data service portion of a service flow corresponding to the application, the downlink data service portion comprising a downlink data service portion traffic volume; generating, by the user equipment, an expected buffer status report based on a traffic volume of the downlink data service portion according to the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration; as well as The expected buffer status report is sent by the user equipment to the radio access network node according to the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration. 2 . The method according to claim 1 , wherein the application information comprises an application target quality of service metric to be used by the radio access network node to assign an application service class to the traffic flow. 3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration comprises at least one traffic flow identifier corresponding to the at least one traffic flow. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the application type indication message is sent as an uplink control channel information message.

5. The method of claim 1 , wherein the application type indication message comprises an expected buffer status size corresponding to an expected uplink data traffic portion expected to be sent by the user equipment to the radio access network node after receiving a future downlink data traffic portion directed to the application.

6. The method according to claim 1 , wherein the application information comprises an application latency criterion indication, the application latency criterion indication indicating an acceptable delay corresponding to the traffic flow between receiving a future downlink data traffic portion and sending an uplink control indication indicating uplink traffic corresponding to the future downlink data traffic portion to be sent by the user equipment to the radio access network node.

7. The method of claim 1, wherein the application type indication message is configured to be sent by the user equipment when a configured waiting time criterion is met.

8. The method according to claim 1, wherein the expected buffer status report is sent before uplink data traffic to be sent corresponding to the downlink data traffic part is in a buffer of the user equipment.

9. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: An uplink data traffic portion corresponding to the downlink data traffic portion is sent by the user equipment to the radio access network node according to the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration.

10. The method according to claim 1, further comprising: An application-specific downlink search space indication is received by the user equipment, the application-specific downlink search space indication indicating that an application-specific downlink search space is to be used by the user equipment for managing traffic corresponding to the application.

11. The method according to claim 10, wherein the application-specific downlink search space indication is configured by the radio access network node to include at least one of the following: a downlink service scheduling indication, indicating a downlink search space to be used for receiving downlink data services corresponding to the service flow, a downlink modulation and coding scheme indication, indicating a modulation and coding scheme for receiving downlink services corresponding to the service flow, an uplink service scheduling indication, indicating uplink resources for sending uplink services corresponding to the received downlink data services of the service flow, or an uplink modulation and coding scheme indication, indicating a modulation and coding scheme for sending uplink services corresponding to the received downlink data services of the service flow.

12. The method according to claim 11, further comprising: decoding, by the user equipment, the downlink data service portion corresponding to the service flow from the application-specific downlink search space according to at least one of the downlink service scheduling indication or the downlink modulation and coding scheme indication; as well as Uplink traffic corresponding to the downlink data traffic part is sent according to at least one of the uplink traffic scheduling indication or the uplink modulation and coding scheme indication.

13. A user equipment, comprising: The processor is configured to: Execute the application; sending an application indication message indicating the application to a radio access network node; receiving, in response to the application indication message, an application-specific search space configuration from the radio access network node; receiving, according to the application-specific search space configuration, a joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration to be used by the user equipment to manage traffic of a first traffic flow corresponding to the application; receiving a first downlink data service of the first service flow according to a first downlink resource indicated by the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration; generating a first uplink service corresponding to the first service flow; as well as The first uplink traffic is sent to the radio access network node according to first uplink resources indicated by the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration.

14. The user equipment of claim 13 , wherein the first uplink traffic comprises first buffer status information indicating estimated future uplink traffic corresponding to the first downlink data traffic, and wherein the first buffer status information is sent as an estimated buffer status report before uplink data traffic corresponding to the first downlink data traffic has been generated by the user equipment.

15. The user equipment according to claim 13, wherein the processor is further configured to: receiving, in response to the application indication message, a downlink scheduling indication from the radio access network node, the downlink scheduling indication indicating a second downlink resource to be used by the user equipment for receiving a second downlink data traffic of a second traffic flow corresponding to the application; receiving, from the radio access network node, second downlink data traffic of the second traffic flow according to the second downlink resources; receiving, from the radio access network node, a second uplink resource indication specifying a second uplink resource to be used for sending a buffer status report, the buffer status report indicating uplink traffic to be generated corresponding to the second downlink data traffic; generating a second uplink data service corresponding to the second downlink data service; generating second buffer status information indicative of the second uplink data traffic; as well as After the second downlink data traffic has been generated, a second buffer status report including the second buffer status information is sent to the radio access network node.

16. The user equipment according to claim 15, wherein the first service flow has a first quality of service requirement, wherein the second service flow has a second quality of service requirement, and wherein the first quality of service requirement is higher than the second quality of service requirement. 17 . The user equipment according to claim 13 , wherein the first uplink traffic comprises uplink data traffic corresponding to the first downlink data traffic.

18. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a user device, facilitate performance of operations comprising: determining an application flow information metric corresponding to a traffic flow of an application executed by the processor to produce a determined application flow information metric; analyzing the determined application flow information metric relative to an application flow metric standard corresponding to the application flow information metric to produce an analyzed application flow information metric; sending an application flow performance indication message to a radio access network node based on the analyzed application flow information metric failing to satisfy the application flow metric standard, the application flow performance indication message indicating that the analyzed application flow information metric failing to satisfy the application flow metric standard; receiving, in response to the application flow capability indication message, a joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration from the radio access network node, the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration to be used by the user equipment to manage the traffic flow; receiving a downlink data traffic portion of the traffic flow; determining an estimated buffer status report based on the downlink data traffic portion, the estimated buffer status report comprising an estimated size of an estimated uplink data traffic portion of the traffic flow to be sent by the user equipment; as well as The estimated buffer status report is sent to the radio access network node according to the joint downlink-uplink scheduling configuration.

19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the estimated buffer status report is sent before an uplink data traffic portion to be sent corresponding to the downlink data traffic portion is in a buffer to which the estimated buffer status report corresponds.

20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 18, wherein the determined application flow information metric is a latency corresponding to the traffic flow.

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