Relative quality of service adaptation for bi-directional multi-mode traffic
By prioritizing service flows based on relative quality of service standards at radio access network nodes in 5G NR systems, the problem of inconsistent quality of service requirements caused by changes in RAN resource load is resolved, improving the adaptability of multi-mode service flows and end-user experience, especially in virtual reality and extended reality applications.
Patent Information
- Authority / Receiving Office
- CN · China
- Patent Type
- Applications(China)
- Current Assignee / Owner
- Filing Date
- 2024-01-31
- Publication Date
- 2026-04-07
AI Technical Summary
In 5G NR systems, inconsistent service quality requirements caused by changes in RAN resource load on mobile devices make it difficult to effectively allocate service quality across multiple service flows, thus affecting the end-user experience.
By enabling the wireless access network nodes to receive protocol data units corresponding to the service flow, and prioritizing the transmission of the service flow according to the relative quality of service standards, covering independent quality of service standards, priority scheduling and resource allocation of the service flow are achieved.
It improves the service quality adaptation capability of multi-mode service flows, enhances the end-user experience, especially in virtual reality and extended reality applications, meets strict radio latency and reliability requirements, and optimizes power consumption management.
Smart Images

Figure CN121816732A_ABST
Abstract
Description
Cross-reference to related applications
[0001] This application claims priority to U.S. nonprovisional patent application No. 18 / 466541, filed September 13, 2023, entitled “RELATIVE QUALITY OF SERVICEADAPTATION OF BI-DIRECTIONAL MULTI-MODE TRAFFIC”, the entire priority application of which is incorporated herein by reference. Background Technology
[0002] The term "New Radio" (NR), associated with 5G mobile wireless communication systems, refers to several aspects of technology used in the radio access network (RAN) of a wireless network, encompassing several Quality of Service (QoS) levels, including Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC), Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), and Massive Machine-Type Communication (mMTC). URLLC QoS levels are associated with stringent 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 allows for less stringent latency requirements (e.g., higher latency than URLLC) and less reliable radio performance compared to URLLC. mMTC performance requirements may be lower than those of eMBB use cases. Some use cases involving mobile devices or mobile user equipment (such as smartphones, wireless tablets, smartwatches, etc.) can impact the load or demand on a given RAN resource, which is variable. RAN nodes may activate network power-saving modes to reduce power consumption. Summary of the Invention
[0003] The following is a simplified overview of the disclosed subject matter to provide a basic understanding of some embodiments across the various examples. This overview is not a comprehensive summary of the various embodiments. It is neither intended to identify major or key elements of the various embodiments nor to depict the scope of the various embodiments. Its sole purpose is to present some concepts of this disclosure in a concise form as a prelude to the more detailed description that follows.
[0004] In one example embodiment, a method may include: a radio access network node including a processor causing to receive a first protocol data unit corresponding to a first traffic flow; and the radio access network node causing to receive quality information associated with the first protocol data unit, wherein the quality information includes a related traffic flow indication indicating a second traffic flow associated with the first traffic flow and a relative quality of service indication indicating a relative quality of service standard corresponding to the first traffic flow and the second traffic flow. The method may also include: the radio access network node causing to transmit a second protocol data unit corresponding to the second traffic flow to a user equipment; and the radio access network node causing to transmit the first protocol data unit to the user equipment according to the relative quality of service standard.
[0005] In one embodiment, the quality information may also include a first independent service quality indicator indicating a separate service quality standard associated with the first service flow. The quality information may also include a second independent service quality indicator indicating a second service flow associated with a separate service quality standard.
[0006] The first protocol data unit can be sent according to an independent quality of service standard, and the second protocol data unit can be sent according to an independent quality of service standard.
[0007] In one embodiment, the relative quality of service criterion may correspond to at least one of the following: latency corresponding to at least one of the first service flow or the second service flow; data rate corresponding to at least one of the first service flow or the second service flow; or protocol data unit error rate corresponding to at least one of the first service flow or the second service flow.
[0008] The method may also include prioritizing the transmission of the first and second service flows by the radio access network node relative to an independent quality of service (QoS) standard, wherein this prioritization is performed based on the relative QoS standard. Therefore, the radio access network node can override the independent QoS standard and apply the relative QoS standard to the transmission of the first service flow, instead of applying the independent QoS standard.
[0009] In one embodiment, the method may further include the radio access network node prompting the reception of a relative quality of service (QoS) standard configuration, which includes a relative QoS standard. The relative QoS standard configuration may define the relative QoS standard relative to an independent QoS standard.
[0010] In one embodiment, the method may further include prioritizing the transmission of a first service flow and a second service flow by a radio access network node relative to a relative quality of service (QoS) standard, wherein the prioritization is performed based on an independent QoS standard. Therefore, the radio access network node can apply an independent QoS standard to the transmission of the first service flow.
[0011] Quality information can be received from core network entities. Core network entities may include user plane functions or session management functions.
[0012] In one embodiment, the first protocol data unit and the quality information associated with the first protocol data unit can be received via a backhaul communication link as part of a composite service message corresponding to the first service flow. Therefore, the first protocol data unit and the quality information associated with the first protocol data unit can be received together via the first service flow.
[0013] In another example embodiment, a radio access network node may include a processor configured to receive a composite service message corresponding to a first service flow, wherein the composite service message includes a first packet corresponding to the first service flow and quality information associated with the first packet, wherein the quality information includes a related service flow indication indicating a second service flow associated with the first service flow and a relative quality of service indication indicating a relative quality of service standard corresponding to the first and second service flows. The processor may also be configured to: send a second packet corresponding to the second service flow to a user equipment; and send the first packet to the user equipment according to the relative quality of service standard.
[0014] The quality information may also include a first independent quality of service (QoS) indicator indicating an independent QoS standard associated with the first service flow. The quality information may also include a second independent QoS indicator indicating a second service flow associated with an independent QoS standard. The first packet may be further sent according to the independent QoS standard, and the second packet may be further sent according to the independent QoS standard.
[0015] In one embodiment, the processor may also be configured to receive a relative quality of service (QoS) standard configuration, including a relative QoS standard, from a core network device. Related service flow indications may include an index corresponding to the relative QoS standard in the relative QoS standard configuration.
[0016] The first packet may be sent based on the sending of the second packet to the user equipment (e.g., within a relative quality of service delay standard that refers to the time when the second packet is sent to the user equipment), according to a relative quality of service standard.
[0017] Quality information can be received from core network entities.
[0018] In yet another example embodiment, a non-transitory machine-readable medium may include executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a radio access network node, cause the execution of operations including: receiving a first protocol data unit corresponding to a first service flow directed to a user equipment; and receiving a related service flow indication indicating a second service flow associated with the first service flow and a relative quality of service indication indicating relative quality of service standards corresponding to the first and second service flows, wherein the first and second service flows correspond to independent quality of service standards. The operation may also include sending the first protocol data unit to the user equipment.
[0019] In one embodiment, the operation may further include: determining that a second protocol data unit corresponding to a second service flow is available for transmission to a user equipment; and transmitting the second protocol data unit to the user equipment according to an independent quality of service (QoS) standard. The operation may further include: analyzing a relative quality of service (QoS) standard relative to the independent QoS standard to generate an analyzed relative QoS standard. The operation may further include: determining, based on the analyzed relative QoS standard, that transmitting the first protocol data unit to the user equipment according to the independent QoS standard may not satisfy the relative QoS standard at a threshold, to generate a determined relative QoS standard. For example, a radio access network node may determine that transmitting the first protocol data unit according to the independent QoS standard may satisfy the independent QoS standard but not the relative QoS standard. The operation may further include: prioritizing the transmission of the first protocol data unit according to the relative QoS standard relative to the independent QoS standard, wherein the transmission of the first protocol data unit is performed according to the relative QoS standard.
[0020] In one embodiment, the operation may further include: determining that a second protocol data unit corresponding to a second service flow is available for transmission to a user equipment; and transmitting the second protocol data unit to the user equipment according to an independent quality of service (QoS) standard. The operation may further include: analyzing a relative quality of service (QoS) standard relative to the independent QoS standard to generate an analyzed relative QoS standard. The operation may further include: determining, based on the analyzed relative QoS standard, that transmitting the first protocol data unit to the user equipment according to the independent QoS standard may satisfy the relative QoS standard at a threshold, to generate a determined relative QoS standard. The operation may further include: prioritizing the transmission of the first protocol data unit according to the independent QoS standard relative to the determined relative QoS standard, wherein the transmission of the first protocol data unit is performed according to the independent QoS standard.
[0021] In one embodiment, the operation may further include determining that the second protocol data unit corresponding to the second service flow is not available for transmission to the user equipment, and therefore the transmission of the first protocol data unit is performed according to an independent quality of service standard.
[0022] Another example method may include: a user equipment including a processor sending a first protocol data unit corresponding to a first service flow to a radio access network node; and the user equipment sending a downlink quality of service indication to the radio access network node, the downlink quality of service indication specifying the quality of service to be applied to a second service flow to be sent from the radio access network node to the user equipment. Sending the second service flow to the user equipment may be related to the first service flow. The quality of service to be applied to the second service flow may be a relative quality of service. The downlink quality of service indication may include a relative downlink quality of service indication.
[0023] Downlink quality of service indicators may also include independent downlink quality of service indicators.
[0024] The transmission of downlink quality of service indications can be associated with the transmission of the first service flow.
[0025] The relative downlink quality of service indicator may be at least one of the following: latency applicable to at least one of the first service flow or the second service flow; data rate applicable to at least one of the first service flow or the second service flow; or protocol data unit error rate applicable to at least one of the first service flow or the second service flow.
[0026] Downlink service quality indicators can indicate the relative service quality corresponding to the second service flow and the first service flow.
[0027] Downlink quality of service indicators can be sent in uplink control messages.
[0028] In one embodiment, the example method may further include receiving a temporary semi-persistent scheduling configuration from a radio access network node by a user equipment (UE). This temporary semi-persistent scheduling configuration includes at least one downlink resource indication, specifying at least one downlink resource that the UE can use to receive at least one protocol data unit (TCP / IP) corresponding to a second service flow. The temporary semi-persistent scheduling configuration may be referred to as a suspended semi-persistent scheduling configuration to indicate a semi-persistent scheduling opportunity, wherein the opportunity can be suspended for use by the UE if needed, but can also be used by another UE if the UE does not need the opportunity to receive downlink traffic of the relevant service flow. The method may further include receiving at least one TCP / IP corresponding to the second service flow from the radio access network node based on at least one downlink resource. The UE can avoid waiting to receive an authorization indication from the radio access network node indicating that at least one downlink resource has been authorized to the UE to receive at least one TCP / IP corresponding to the second service flow.
[0029] In one embodiment, the user equipment may be a first user equipment, and at least one downlink resource may be used by a second user equipment during a shareable period (e.g., during a shareable downlink semi-persistent scheduling opportunity resource), which excludes the transmission of a second service flow from the radio access network node to the first user equipment.
[0030] In one embodiment, at least one downlink resource may include at least one of the following: frequency resources available to user equipment; or time resources available to user equipment.
[0031] In one embodiment, a temporary semi-persistent scheduling configuration may include a modulation indication that can be used by a user equipment to receive a modulation scheme for a second service stream.
[0032] In one embodiment, the method may further include: receiving a anticipated service indication from an extended reality application by a user equipment, the anticipated service indication indicating that a second service flow is expected to be sent by a radio access network node in response to the radio access network node receiving a first protocol data unit corresponding to the first service flow.
[0033] In another embodiment, the embodiment may include a processor configured to: send a first protocol data unit corresponding to a first service flow to a radio access network node; and send a downlink quality of service indication to the radio access network node, the downlink quality of service indication specifying the quality of service to be applied to a second service flow that the radio access network node is to send to a user equipment. Sending the second service flow to the user equipment may be related to the first service flow. The quality of service to be applied to the second service flow may be a relative quality of service. The downlink quality of service indication may include a relative downlink quality of service indication corresponding to a relative quality of service standard in a relative quality of service configuration. The downlink quality of service indication may be sent together with the first protocol data unit.
[0034] In one embodiment, the processor may further be configured to receive a temporary semi-persistent scheduling configuration from a radio access network node. This temporary semi-persistent scheduling configuration includes at least one downlink resource indication, specifying at least one downlink resource that can be used by the user equipment to receive at least one protocol data unit corresponding to the second service flow. The processor may also be configured to receive at least one protocol data unit corresponding to the second service flow from the radio access network node based on the at least one downlink resource. The user equipment can avoid waiting to receive an authorization indication from the radio access network node indicating that at least one downlink resource has been authorized to the user equipment to receive at least one protocol data unit corresponding to the second service flow.
[0035] In one embodiment, the processor may also be configured to generate a anticipated service indication indicating that a second service flow is expected to be sent by a radio access network node in response to the radio access network node receiving a first protocol data unit.
[0036] In another embodiment, a non-transitory machine-readable medium may include executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a user equipment, cause the execution of operations including: based on sending a downlink quality of service indication to a radio access network node (RANNode), and as a result of the RANNode having received the downlink quality of service indication, receiving a temporary semi-persistent scheduling configuration from the RANNode, the downlink quality of service indication specifying the quality of service to be applied to a traffic flow to be transmitted by the RANNode to the user equipment, the temporary semi-persistent scheduling configuration including at least one downlink resource indication specifying at least one downlink resource that the user equipment can use to receive at least one protocol data unit corresponding to the traffic flow. The operation may also include the user equipment receiving at least one protocol data unit corresponding to the traffic flow from the RANNode based on the at least one downlink resource. The user equipment can avoid waiting to receive an authorization indication from the RANNode indicating that at least one downlink resource has been authorized to the user equipment to receive at least one protocol data unit corresponding to the traffic flow.
[0037] In one embodiment, the user equipment may be a first user equipment, and at least one downlink resource may be used by a second user equipment during a shareable period, which excludes the transmission of service flows from the radio access network node to the first user equipment.
[0038] In one embodiment, at least one downlink resource may include at least one of the following: frequency resources available to user equipment; or time resources available to user equipment.
[0039] In one embodiment, a temporary semi-persistent scheduling configuration may include a modulation indication that can be used by a user equipment to receive a modulation scheme for a service stream. Attached Figure Description
[0040] Figure 1 The wireless communication system environment is shown.
[0041] Figure 2 An example virtual reality device is shown.
[0042] Figure 3 This example environment shows any of the physical devices connected to user equipment that manages the relevant business flows.
[0043] Figure 4 An example embodiment is shown that enables downlink-to-downlink relative quality of service to adapt to the protocol data units corresponding to the scheduling and related service flows.
[0044] Figure 5 The relative QoS profile configuration is shown.
[0045] Figure 6A An example of applying downlink-to-downlink relative traffic flow quality of service criteria to at least one packet is shown.
[0046] Figure 6B An example is shown that ignores the received relative quality of service standard.
[0047] Figure 7 An example implementation is shown that enables the application of relative quality of service to downlink traffic flows associated with uplink traffic flows.
[0048] Figure 8 An example uplink control channel information message including relative quality of service configuration information is shown.
[0049] Figure 9 An example implementation is shown that enables uplink-downlink adaptation to quality of service standards.
[0050] Figure 10 A timing diagram is shown for an example embodiment of applying Quality of Service (QoS) to relative traffic flows at a radio access network node.
[0051] Figure 11 A timing diagram is shown for an example embodiment of receiving traffic flows using a temporarily authorized semi-persistent scheduling opportunity resource.
[0052] Figure 12 A flowchart illustrating an example embodiment of a method for applying relative quality of service to relevant business flows is shown.
[0053] Figure 13 A block diagram of an example method embodiment is shown.
[0054] Figure 14 A block diagram of an example wireless access network node is shown.
[0055] Figure 15 A block diagram of an example non-transitory machine-readable medium embodiment is shown.
[0056] Figure 16 A block diagram of an example method embodiment is shown.
[0057] Figure 17 A block diagram of an example user device is shown.
[0058] Figure 18 A block diagram of an example non-transitory machine-readable medium embodiment is shown.
[0059] Figure 19 An example computer environment is shown.
[0060] Figure 20A block diagram of an example wireless user equipment is shown. Detailed Implementation
[0061] As a preliminary matter, those skilled in the art will readily understand that the presented embodiments have broad utility and application. Many methods, embodiments, and adaptations of this application (in addition to those described herein), as well as many variations, modifications, and equivalent arrangements, will become apparent or reasonably implied from the spirit or scope of the various embodiments of this application.
[0062] Accordingly, while this application has been described in detail with respect to various embodiments herein, it should be understood that this disclosure illustrates one or more concepts expressed by various exemplary embodiments and is made merely for the purpose of providing a complete and achievable disclosure. The following disclosure is neither intended nor should be construed as limiting this application or otherwise excluding any such other embodiments, adaptations, variations, modifications, and equivalent arrangements, and the embodiments presented herein are limited only by the appended claims and their equivalents.
[0063] As used in this disclosure, in some embodiments, the terms "component," "system," etc., are intended to refer to or include computer-related entities or entities associated with operating means having one or more specific functionalities, wherein the entity may be hardware, a combination of hardware and software, software, or software in execution. As an example, a component may be, but is not limited to, a process running on a processor, a processor, an object, an executable program, a thread of execution, computer-executable instructions, a program, and / or a computer. By way of illustration and not limitation, applications running on a server and the server itself can both be components.
[0064] One or more components may reside within a process and / or execution thread, and components may reside on a single computer and / or be distributed across two or more computers. Furthermore, these components may execute from various computer-readable media on which various data structures are stored. Components may communicate via local and / or remote processes, such as signals having one or more data packets (e.g., data from one component interacting with another component in a local system, a distributed system, and / or interacting with other systems across a network (such as the Internet)). As another example, a component may be a device having specific functionality provided by mechanical parts operated by an electrical or electronic circuit system (which operates via a software or firmware application executed by a processor), wherein the processor may be internal or external to the device and executes at least a portion of the software or firmware application. In yet another example, a component may be a device that provides specific functionality without mechanical parts through an electronic component, which may include a processor therein to execute software or firmware that at least partially endows the electronic component with functionality. While various components have been shown as separate components, it should 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.
[0065] As used herein, the term "cause" is used in the context of a system, device, or component "causing" one or more actions or operations in relation to the nature of a complex computing environment, where multiple components and / or devices may be involved in some computational operations. Non-limiting examples of actions that may or may not involve multiple components and / or devices include sending or receiving data, establishing connections between devices, determining intermediate results toward obtaining a result, etc. In this respect, a computing device or component can cause an operation by playing any role in performing that operation. Therefore, when describing the operation of a component herein, it should be understood that, where an operation is described as being caused by a component, the operation may optionally be performed in cooperation with one or more other computing devices or components, such as, but not limited to, sensors, antennas, audio and / or visual output devices, other devices, etc.
[0066] Furthermore, various embodiments can be implemented as methods, apparatus, or articles of art using standard programming and / or engineering techniques to produce software, firmware, hardware, or any combination thereof to control a computer implementing the disclosed subject matter. The term "article of art" as used herein is intended to cover a computer program accessible from any computer-readable (or machine-readable) device or computer-readable (or machine-readable) storage / communication medium. For example, computer-readable storage media may include, but are not limited to, magnetic storage devices (e.g., hard disks, floppy disks, magnetic stripes), optical discs (e.g., compact discs (CDs), digital versatile discs (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.
[0067] As an example use case illustrating the exemplary embodiments disclosed herein, virtual reality (VR) applications and VR variants (e.g., mixed reality and augmented reality) may sometimes perform optimally when using NR radio resources associated with URLLC, while at other times lower performance levels may be sufficient. Virtual reality smart glasses devices can consume NR radio resources at a given broadband data rate with stricter radio latency and reliability standards to provide a satisfactory end-user experience.
[0068] 5G systems should support Extended Reality (XR) services. XR services can be referred to as anything-that-things reality services. XR services can include VR applications, a widely adopted type of XR application, which provides an immersive environment that stimulates the end-user's senses, potentially "tricking" them into feeling like they are in an environment different from their actual surroundings. XR services can include Augmented Reality (AR) applications, which enhance the real-world environment by providing additional virtual-world elements via the user's senses, where the user's senses are focused on real-world elements in their actual surroundings. XR services can include Mixed Reality (MR) applications, which help merge or combine the virtual and real worlds, allowing the end-user of the XR service to interact with elements of both their real and virtual environments simultaneously.
[0069] Different XR use cases may be associated with certain radio performance objectives. Commonly for XR, unlike URLLC or eMBB, a high-capacity link with stringent radio QoS and reliability levels is typically required for a satisfactory end-user experience. For example, some XR applications require a 100 Mbps link with allowable radio latency of a few milliseconds, compared to a 5 Mbps URLLC link with a 1 ms radio budget. Therefore, 5G radio design and related processes can be adapted to the new XR QoS levels and associated performance objectives.
[0070] XR services can be facilitated by services with certain characteristics associated with XR services. For example, XR services may typically be periodic, with time-varying packet sizes and packet arrival rates. Furthermore, different packet traffic flows within a single XR communication session can have varying impacts on the end-user experience. For instance, smart glasses streaming 180-degree high-resolution frames can utilize a large proportion of broadband service capacity to deliver a satisfactory user experience. However, frames presented in the user's orientation (e.g., frontal orientation) are most critical for a satisfactory end-user experience, while frames presented in the user's peripheral vision have a smaller impact and may therefore be associated with lower QoS requirements for packet traffic compared to QoS requirements for orientational traffic flows. Therefore, prioritizing certain flows or packets within an XR session can facilitate efficient use of communication system capacity for transmission services. Furthermore, due to form factor limitations, XR-enabled devices (e.g., smart glasses, projection wearables, etc.) may be more power-constrained than traditional mobile phones. Therefore, techniques to maximize power-saving operation on XR-capable devices are desirable. Accordingly, user equipment devices accessing XR services or XR sessions can be associated with one or more QoS parameter standards to meet the performance objectives of the XR service. For example, the measured service values or metrics can correspond to QoS or be analyzed relative to multiple parameter standards such as data rate, end-to-end latency, or reliability.
[0071] High-capacity services, such as virtual reality applications, may even pose performance challenges to 5G NR capabilities. Therefore, even if 5G NR systems can enable 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.
[0072] Multimodal XR applications can integrate different technologies to provide a versatile and comprehensive user experience. For example, a multimodal XR application might use VR to immerse the user in a virtual training environment and then seamlessly switch to AR or MR to provide real-time feedback or overlay instructions corresponding to physical objects that might appear in the environment viewed by the XR user. This feedback or instructions can be related to stationary objects or can be information that does not change frequently and can be referred to as stable information.
[0073] One advantage of multimodal XR applications is their ability to adapt to different contexts and user preferences. XR applications can provide different levels of immersion and interaction, allowing users to choose the most appropriate engagement mode based on their needs or the specific task at hand. Furthermore, multimodal XR enables collaborative experiences, allowing users in different physical locations to interact within the same virtual space.
[0074] The use of multimodal XR applications is not limited to entertainment and gaming; they are also widely adopted in fields such as healthcare, education, engineering, and marketing. Healthcare practitioners can use multimodal XR applications to simulate complex surgeries, educators can create interactive and immersive learning experiences, and architects can visualize and modify architectural designs in real time.
[0075] Now turn to the attached image. Figure 1Examples of a wireless communication system 100 supporting blind decoding of PDCCH candidate or search space according to one or more example embodiments of the present disclosure are shown. The wireless communication system 100 may include one or more base stations 105, one or more user equipment (UE) devices 115, and a core network 130. In some examples, the wireless communication system 100 may include a long-range wireless communication network, including, for example, 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, low-complexity devices, or any combination thereof. As shown, examples of UE 115 may include a smartphone, laptop computer, tablet computer, car or other vehicle, or drone or other aircraft. Another example of a UE may be a virtual reality / extended reality device 117, such as smart glasses, virtual reality headsets, augmented reality headsets, and other similar devices that can provide the wearer with images, video, audio, touch, taste, or smell. A UE (such as XR device 117) can transmit or receive wireless signals with RAN base station 105 via long-range wireless link 125, or the UE / XR device can receive or transmit wireless signals via short-range wireless link 137, which may include a wireless link with UE device 115, such as a Bluetooth link, Wi-Fi link, etc. A UE (such as device 117) can communicate simultaneously via multiple wireless links (such as via link 125 with base station 105 and via short-range wireless links). XR device 117 can also communicate with a wireless UE via cable or other wired connection. XR device 117 can offload processing functionality or RAN communication-related functionality to user equipment 115, which may be referred to as intermediate user equipment or XR processing unit. The XR processing unit or RAN or its components may be referenced. Figure 19 To implement using one or more computer components as described.
[0076] Continue the discussion Figure 1 Base station 105 (which may be referred to as a radio access network node or cell) may be distributed throughout a geographical area to form wireless communication system 100, and may be devices of different forms or with different capabilities. Base station 105 and UE 115 may communicate wirelessly via one or more communication links 125. Each base station 105 may provide a coverage area 110, on which UE 115 and base station 105 may establish one or more communication links 125. Coverage area 110 may be an example of a geographical area on which base station 105 and UE 115 may support communication of signals according to one or more radio access technologies.
[0077] UE 115 can be distributed throughout the entire coverage area 110 of the wireless communication system 100, and each UE 115 can be stationary, mobile, or both at different times. UE 115 can be devices of different forms or with different capabilities. Figure 1 Some example UE 115s are shown in the document. The UE 115 described herein may be able to communicate with various types of devices, such as other UE 115s, base station 105, or network devices (e.g., core network nodes, relay devices, integrated access and backhaul (IAB) nodes, or other network devices). Figure 1 As shown.
[0078] Base station 105 may communicate with core network 130, communicate with each other, or both. For example, base station 105 may interface with core network 130 via one or more backhaul links 120 (e.g., via S1, N2, N3, or other interfaces). Base station 105 may communicate with each other directly (e.g., directly between base stations 105) or indirectly (e.g., via core network 130) or both via backhaul links 120 (e.g., via X2, Xn, or other interfaces). In some examples, backhaul link 120 may include one or more radio links.
[0079] One or more of the base stations 105 described herein may include, or may be referred to by those skilled in the art as, base station, radio base station, access point, radio transceiver, NodeB, eNodeB (eNB), next-generation NodeB or giga-NodeB (any of which may be referred to as bNodeB or gNB), home NodeB, home eNodeB or other suitable terms.
[0080] UE 115 may include or be referred to as a mobile device, wireless device, remote device, handheld device, or subscriber device, or some other suitable term, wherein “device” may also be referred to as a unit, station, terminal, or client, etc. UE 115 may also include or be referred to as a personal electronic device, such as a cellular phone, personal digital assistant (PDA), tablet computer, laptop computer, personal computer, or router. In some examples, UE 115 may include or be referred to as a wireless local loop (WLL) station, Internet of Things (IoT) device, Internet of Everything (IoE) device, or machine-type communication (MTC) device, etc., which may be implemented in various objects, such as devices, vehicles, or smart meters.
[0081] UE 115 may be able to communicate with various types of devices, such as other UE 115s that can sometimes act as relays, as well as base station 105 and network devices (including examples such as macro eNBs or gNBs, small cell eNBs or gNBs, or relay base stations) Figure 1 As shown.
[0082] UE 115 and base station 105 can wirelessly communicate with each other via one or more carriers through 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 communication link 125. For example, a carrier for communication link 125 may include a portion of the radio frequency spectrum band (e.g., a bandwidth portion (BWP)) operating according to one or more physical layer channels of a given radio access technology (e.g., LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR). Each physical layer channel may carry acquisition signaling (e.g., synchronization signals, system information), control signaling coordinating the operation of the carrier, user data, or other signaling. Wireless communication system 100 can use carrier aggregation or multi-carrier operation to support communication with UE 115. Depending on the carrier aggregation configuration, UE 115 can be configured with multiple downlink component carriers and one or more uplink component carriers. Carrier aggregation can be used with frequency division duplex (FDD) component carriers and time division duplex (TDD) component carriers.
[0083] In some examples (e.g., in a carrier aggregation configuration), the carrier may also have acquisition signaling or control signaling to coordinate the operation of other carriers. The 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 can be located according to a channel grating for discovery by UE115. The carrier can operate in standalone mode, where initial acquisition and connection can be performed by UE115 via the carrier, or in non-standalone mode, where the connection is anchored using different carriers (e.g., the same or different radio access technologies).
[0084] The communication link 125 shown in the wireless communication system 100 may include uplink transmission from UE 115 to base station 105, or downlink transmission from base station 105 to UE 115. The carrier may carry downlink or uplink communication (e.g., in FDD mode), or may be configured to carry both downlink and uplink communication (e.g., in TDD mode).
[0085] A carrier can be associated with a specific bandwidth of the radio frequency spectrum, and in some examples, the carrier bandwidth can be referred to as the carrier or the "system bandwidth" of the wireless communication system 100. For example, the carrier bandwidth can be one of several bandwidths determined for a carrier of a particular wireless access technology (e.g., 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15, 20, 40, or 80 MHz). 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 specific 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 may 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.
[0086] The signal waveform transmitted on a carrier can consist of multiple subcarriers (e.g., using multi-carrier modulation (MCM) techniques, such as orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) or discrete Fourier transform extended OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM)). In a system employing MCM, a resource element can consist of a symbol period (e.g., the duration of a modulation symbol) and a subcarrier, where the symbol period and subcarrier spacing are inversely related. The number of bits carried by each resource element can 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 the UE 115 receives and the higher the order of the modulation scheme, the higher the data rate of the UE. Wireless communication resources can refer to a combination of radio frequency spectrum resources, temporal resources (e.g., search space), or spatial resources (e.g., spatial layers or beams), and the use of multiple spatial layers can further increase the data rate or data integrity of communication with the UE 115.
[0087] One or more numerologies of basic parameters for a carrier can be supported, where the numerologies can include subcarrier spacing (Δf) and cyclic prefix. A carrier can be divided into one or more BWPs with the same or different numerologies. In some examples, UE 115 can be configured with multiple BWPs. In some examples, a single BWP of a carrier can be active at a given time, and UE 115 communication can be constrained to one or more active BWPs.
[0088] The time interval of base station 105 or UE 115 can be expressed as a multiple of a basic time unit, such as T. s = 1 / (Δf max •N f The sampling period is ) seconds, where Δf maxThis can represent the maximum supported subcarrier spacing, while N... f This can represent the maximum supported Discrete Fourier Transform (DFT) size. The time interval of the communication resources can be organized according to radio frames, each with a specified duration (e.g., 10 milliseconds (ms)). Each radio frame can be identified by a System Frame Number (SFN) (e.g., ranging from 0 to 1023).
[0089] Each frame may include multiple consecutively numbered subframes or time slots, and each subframe or time slot may have the same duration. In some examples, a frame may (e.g., in the time domain) be divided into subframes, and each subframe may be further divided into multiple time slots. Alternatively, each frame may include a variable number of time slots, and the number of time slots may depend on the subcarrier spacing. For example, depending on the length of the cyclic prefix pre-added to each symbol period, each time slot may include multiple symbol periods. In some wireless communication systems 100, time slots may be further divided into multiple micro-time slots containing one or more symbols. In addition to the cyclic prefix, each symbol period may contain one or more (e.g., N) symbols. f (Number) sampling periods. The duration of a symbol period can depend on the subcarrier spacing or the operating frequency band.
[0090] A subframe, time slot, micro-time slot, or symbol may be the smallest scheduling unit of the wireless communication system 100 (e.g., in the time domain) and may be referred to as a transmission time interval (TTI). In some examples, the duration of the TTI (e.g., the number of symbol periods in the TTI) may be variable. Additionally or alternatively, the smallest scheduling unit of the wireless communication system 100 may be dynamically selected (e.g., in the form of shortened TTI (sTTI) bursts).
[0091] Physical channels can be multiplexed on a carrier using various techniques. Physical control channels and physical data channels can be multiplexed on a downlink carrier, for example, using one or more of Time Division Multiplexing (TDM), Frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM), or hybrid TDM-FDM techniques. The control region (e.g., a control resource set (CORESET)) of a physical control channel can be defined by multiple symbol periods and can span the system bandwidth or a subset of the system bandwidth of the carrier. One or more control regions (e.g., CORESETs) can be configured for a set of UEs 115. For example, one or more UEs 115 can monitor or search for control information in a control region or space based on one or more search space sets, and each search space set can include one or more control channel candidates arranged in a cascaded manner at one or more aggregation levels. The aggregation level of control channel candidates can refer to the number of control channel resources (e.g., control channel elements (CCEs)) associated with coded information in a control information format having a given payload size. The search space set may include a common search space set configured to send control information to multiple UEs 115, and a UE-specific search space set for sending control information to a particular UE 115. This document discloses novel and unconventional alternative search spaces and configurations for monitoring and decoding them.
[0092] Base station 105 may provide communication coverage via one or more cells (e.g., macro cells, small cells, hotspots, or other types of cells, or any combination thereof). The term "cell" may refer to a logical communication entity used (e.g., via a carrier) for communication with base station 105 and may be associated with an identifier used to distinguish neighboring cells (e.g., Physical Cell Identifier (PCID), Virtual Cell Identifier (VCID), or others). In some examples, a cell may also refer to a geographic coverage area 110 or a portion of geographic coverage area 110 (e.g., a sector) on which a logical communication entity operates. Depending on various factors such as the capabilities of base station 105, the range of these cells can range from smaller areas (e.g., a building, a portion of a building) to larger areas. For example, a cell may be or include a building, a portion of a building, or external space between or overlapping geographic coverage areas 110.
[0093] Macro cells typically cover a relatively large geographical area (e.g., a radius of several kilometers) and allow UE 115 to access the network unrestricted by subscribing to services from a network provider that supports macro cells. In contrast, small cells can be associated with a lower-power base station 105 and can operate in the same or different (e.g., licensed, unlicensed) frequency bands as macro cells. Small cells can provide unrestricted access to UE 115 by subscribing to services from a network provider, or restricted access to UE 115 associated with a small cell (e.g., UE 115 in a Closed Subscriber Group (CSG), or UE 115 associated with a user in a home or office). Base station 105 can support one or more cells and can also use one or more component carriers to support communication on one or more cells.
[0094] In some examples, a carrier can support multiple cells, and different cells can be configured according to different protocol types that can provide access for different types of devices (e.g., MTC, Narrowband IoT (NB-IoT), Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB)).
[0095] In some examples, base station 105 may be mobile, thus providing communication coverage for a moving geographic coverage area 110. In some examples, different geographic coverage areas 110 associated with different technologies may overlap, but the different geographic coverage areas 110 may be supported by the same base station 105. In other examples, overlapping geographic coverage areas 110 associated with different technologies may be supported by different base stations 105. The wireless communication system 100 may include, for example, a heterogeneous network, in which different types of base stations 105 use the same or different wireless access technologies to provide coverage for various geographic coverage areas 110.
[0096] The wireless communication system 100 can support synchronous or asynchronous operation. For synchronous operation, base stations 105 can have similar frame timing, and transmissions from different base stations 105 can be approximately time-aligned. For asynchronous operation, base stations 105 can have different frame timings, and in some examples, transmissions from different base stations 105 can be time-misaligned. The techniques described herein can be used for both synchronous and asynchronous operation.
[0097] Some UE 115 devices (such as MTC or IoT devices) can be low-cost or low-complexity devices and can provide automated communication between machines (e.g., via machine-to-machine (M2M) communication). M2M communication or MTC can refer to data communication technologies that allow devices to communicate with each other or with base station 105 without human intervention. In some examples, M2M communication or MTC can include communication from devices that integrate sensors or instruments to measure or capture information and relay such information to a central server or application, which uses the information or presents it to a person interacting with the application. Some UE 115 devices can be designed to collect information or automate the 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 billing.
[0098] Some UE 115s can be configured to operate in a power-saving mode, 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 can be performed at a reduced peak rate. Other power-saving techniques for UE 115s include entering a power-saving deep sleep mode when not involved in active communication, operating on limited bandwidth (e.g., according to narrowband communication), or a combination of these techniques. For example, some UE 115s can 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 the carrier, within the carrier's guard band, or outside the carrier.
[0099] Wireless communication system 100 can be configured to support ultra-reliable communication or low-latency communication, or various combinations thereof. For example, 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 mission-critical functions (e.g., mission-critical functions). Ultra-reliable communication may include private or group communication and may 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 may include prioritization of services, and mission-critical services may be used for public safety or general commercial applications. The terms ultra-reliable, low-latency, mission-critical, and ultra-reliable low-latency are used interchangeably herein.
[0100] In some examples, UE 115 may also be able to communicate directly with other UE 115 via device-to-device (D2D) communication link 135 (e.g., using peer-to-peer (P2P) or D2D protocols). Communication link 135 may include a sidelink communication link. One or more UE 115s utilizing D2D communication (such as sidelink communication) may be within the geographic coverage area 110 of base station 105. Other UE 115s in the group may be outside the geographic coverage area 110 of base station 105 or otherwise unable to receive transmissions from base station 105. In some examples, multiple groups of UE 115s communicating via D2D communication may utilize a one-to-many (1:M) system, where in a 1:M system, 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 UE 115s without involving base station 105.
[0101] In some systems, the D2D communication link 135 may be an example of a communication channel (such as a side-link communication channel) between vehicles (e.g., UE 115). In some examples, vehicles may communicate using vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V) communication, or some combination of these communications. Vehicles may use signals to notify information related to traffic conditions, signal control, weather, safety, emergencies, or any other information related to the V2X system. In some examples, vehicles in a V2X system may use vehicle-to-network (V2N) communication to communicate with roadside infrastructure (such as roadside units) or the network via one or more RAN network nodes (e.g., base station 105), or both. Figure 1 In the diagram, vehicle UE 116 is shown within the RAN coverage area, while vehicle UE 118 is shown outside the same RAN coverage area. Vehicle UE 115, wirelessly connected to the RAN, can be a sidelink relay to vehicle UE 116 within the RAN coverage area or to vehicle UE 118 outside the RAN coverage area.
[0102] Core network 130 can provide user authentication, access authorization, tracking, Internet Protocol (IP) connectivity, and other access, routing, or mobility functions. Core network 130 can be an evolved packet core (EPC) or a 5G core (5GC), and it can include at least one control plane entity (e.g., a mobility management entity (MME), access and mobility management function (AMF)) that manages access and mobility, and at least one user plane entity (e.g., a serving gateway (S-GW), packet data network (PDN) gateway (P-GW), or user plane function (UPF)) that routes packets or interconnects to external networks. The control plane entity can manage non-access stratum (NAS) functions of UE 115 served by base station 105 associated with core network 130, such as mobility, authentication, and bearer management. User IP packets can be transferred through the user plane entity, which can provide IP address allocation and other functions. The user plane entity can connect to one or more network operator IP services 150. IP service 150 may include access to the Internet, intranet(s), IP Multimedia Subsystem (IMS), or packet-switched streaming services.
[0103] Some of the network devices (such as base station 105) may include sub-components such as access network entity 140, which may be an example of an access node controller (ANC). Each access network entity 140 may communicate with UE 115 through one or more other access network transport entities 145, which may be referred to as a radio headend, smart radio headend, or transmit / receive point (TRP). 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 among various network devices (e.g., radio headends and ANCs) or combined into a single network device (e.g., base station 105).
[0104] Wireless communication system 100 can operate using one or more frequency bands (typically in the range of 300 MHz to 300 GHz). Generally, the region from 300 MHz to 3 GHz is referred to as the Ultra High Frequency (UHF) region or decimeter band because the wavelength ranges from approximately 1 decimeter to 1 meter. UHF waves may be blocked or deflected by building and environmental features, but these waves can penetrate buildings sufficiently to enable macrocells to provide service to UE 115 located indoors. Compared to transmissions using smaller frequencies and longer waves in the lower frequency (HF) or very high frequency (VHF) portions of the spectrum below 300 MHz, UHF wave transmission can be associated with smaller antennas and shorter distances (e.g., less than 100 km).
[0105] The wireless communication system 100 can also operate in the ultra-high frequency (SHF) region (also known as the centimeter band) using a frequency band from 3 GHz to 30 GHz, 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) communication between the UE 115 and the base station 105, and the EHF antennas of the individual devices can be smaller and more closely spaced than UHF antennas. In some examples, this can facilitate the use of antenna arrays within the devices. However, compared to SHF or UHF transmissions, EHF transmissions may experience even greater atmospheric attenuation and shorter distances during propagation. The techniques disclosed herein can be employed between transmissions using one or more different frequency regions, and the designated use of frequency bands between these frequency regions may vary by country or regulatory body.
[0106] Wireless communication system 100 can utilize both licensed and unlicensed radio frequency spectrum bands. For example, wireless communication system 100 can employ Licensed Assisted Access (LAA), LTE-Unlicensed (LTE-U) radio access, or NR technology in unlicensed bands (such as the 5 GHz Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band). When operating in unlicensed radio frequency spectrum bands, devices (such as base station 105 and UE 115) can employ carrier sensing for collision detection and avoidance. In some examples, operation in unlicensed bands can be based on a combination of carrier aggregation configuration and component carriers operating in licensed bands (e.g., LAA). Operation in unlicensed spectrum can include examples such as downlink transmission, uplink transmission, P2P transmission, or D2D transmission.
[0107] Base station 105 or UE 115 may be equipped with multiple antennas, which can be used to employ techniques such as transmit diversity, receive diversity, multiple-input multiple-output (MIMO) communication, or beamforming. The antennas of base station 105 or UE 115 may be located within one or more antenna arrays or antenna panels, which may support MIMO operation or transmit or receive beamforming. For example, one or more base station antennas or antenna arrays may be located together at an antenna assembly (such as an antenna tower). In some examples, the antennas or antenna arrays associated with base station 105 may be located in diverse geographical locations. Base station 105 may have antenna arrays with multiple rows and columns of antenna ports, which base station 105 can use to support beamforming for communication with UE 115. Similarly, UE 115 may have one or more antenna arrays, which may support various MIMO or beamforming operations. Additionally or alternatively, antenna panels may support radio frequency beamforming of signals transmitted via antenna ports.
[0108] Base station 105 or UE 115 can use MIMO communication to utilize multipath signal propagation and increase spectral efficiency by transmitting or receiving multiple signals via different spatial layers. This technique can be referred to as spatial multiplexing. For example, multiple signals can be transmitted by a transmitting device via different antennas or different combinations of antennas. Similarly, multiple signals can be received by a receiving device via different antennas or different combinations of antennas. Each of the multiple signals can be referred to as a separate spatial data stream and can carry bits associated with the same data stream (e.g., the 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) and multi-user MIMO (MU-MIMO), where in single-user MIMO, multiple spatial layers are transmitted to the same receiving device, while in multi-user MIMO, multiple spatial layers are transmitted to multiple devices.
[0109] Beamforming (also known as spatial filtering, directional transmission, or directional reception) is a signal processing technique used at a transmitting or receiving device (e.g., base station 105, UE 115) to shape or manipulate an antenna beam (e.g., transmit beam, receive beam) along a spatial path between the transmitting and receiving devices. Beamforming can be achieved by combining signals transmitted via antenna elements of an antenna array such that some signals propagating at a specific azimuth relative to the antenna array experience constructive interference, while other signals experience destructive interference. Adjustments to the signals transmitted via the antenna elements can include the transmitting or receiving device applying amplitude offset, phase offset, or both to the signals carried via the antenna elements associated with that device. The adjustments associated with each antenna element can be defined by a beamforming weight set associated with a specific azimuth (e.g., relative to the antenna array of the transmitting or receiving device, or relative to some other azimuth).
[0110] Base station 105 or UE 115 may use beam scanning technology as part of beamforming operations. For example, base station 105 may use multiple antennas or antenna arrays (e.g., antenna panels) to perform beamforming operations for directional communication with UE 115. Some signals (e.g., synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) may be transmitted multiple times by base station 105 in different directions. For example, base station 105 may transmit signals according to different beamforming weight sets associated with different transmission directions. Transmissions in different beam directions may be used (e.g., by a transmitting device (such as base station 105) or a receiving device (such as UE 115)) to identify beam directions for later transmission or reception by base station 105.
[0111] Some signals (such as data signals associated with a specific receiving device) may be transmitted by base station 105 in a single beam direction (e.g., the direction associated with the receiving device, such as UE 115). In some examples, the beam direction associated with transmission along a single beam direction may be determined based on signals transmitted in one or more beam directions. For example, UE 115 may receive one or more signals transmitted by base station 105 in different directions and may report to the base station an indication of the signals received by UE 115 with the highest signal quality or other acceptable signal quality.
[0112] In some examples, transmissions by a device (e.g., base station 105 or UE 115) may be performed using multiple beam directions, and the device may use a combination of digital precoding or radio frequency beamforming to generate a combined beam for transmission (e.g., from base station 105 to UE 115). UE 115 may report feedback indicating precoding weights for one or more beam directions, and the feedback may correspond to a configured number of beams across the system bandwidth or one or more subbands. Base station 105 may transmit reference signals (e.g., cell-specific reference signals (CRS), channel state information reference signals (CSI-RS)), which may be precoded or uncoded. UE 115 may provide feedback for beam selection, which may be a precoded matrix indicator (PMI) or codebook-based feedback (e.g., multi-panel type codebook, linear combination type codebook, port selection type codebook). Although these techniques are described with reference to signals transmitted by base station 105 in one or more directions, UE 115 may employ similar techniques to transmit signals multiple times in different directions (e.g., to identify the beam direction of subsequent transmission or reception by UE 115) or to transmit signals in a single direction (e.g., to transmit data to a receiving device).
[0113] When receiving various signals (such as synchronization signals, reference signals, beam selection signals, or other control signals) from base station 105, the receiving device (e.g., UE 115) can attempt multiple receiving configurations (e.g., directional listening). For example, the receiving device can attempt multiple receiving directions by receiving via different antenna subarrays, by processing the received signals according to different antenna subarrays, by receiving according to different receiving beamforming weight sets applied to signals received at multiple antenna elements of the antenna array (e.g., different directional listening weight sets), or by processing the received signals according to different receiving beamforming weight sets applied to signals received at multiple antenna elements of the antenna array (any of which can be referred to as "listening" according to different receiving configurations or receiving directions). In some examples, the receiving device can use a single receiving configuration to receive along a single beam direction (e.g., when receiving data signals). The single receiving configuration can be aligned on a beam direction determined based on listening according to different receiving configuration directions (e.g., a beam direction determined to have the highest signal strength, highest signal-to-noise ratio (SNR), or other acceptable signal quality based on listening according to multiple beam directions).
[0114] 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 bearer or Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layer can be IP-based. The Radio Link Control (RLC) layer can perform packet segmentation and reassembly for communication over logical channels. 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, error correction, or both to support retransmissions 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 RRC connections between the UE 115 and the base station 105 or core network 130 that supports radio bearers for user plane data. At the physical layer, transport channels can be mapped to physical channels.
[0115] UE 115 and base station 105 can support data retransmission to increase the likelihood of successful data reception. Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request (HARQ) feedback is a technique used to increase the likelihood of correctly receiving data over communication link 125. HARQ can include a combination of error detection (e.g., using Cyclic Redundancy Check (CRC)), forward error correction (FEC), and retransmission (e.g., Automatic Repeat Request (ARQ)). HARQ can improve throughput at the MAC layer under adverse radio conditions (e.g., low signal-to-noise ratio conditions). In some examples, the device can support HARQ feedback within the same time slot, where the device can provide HARQ feedback in a specific time slot for data received in the previous symbol within that time slot. In other cases, the device can provide HARQ feedback in a subsequent time slot or according to some other time interval.
[0116] Now go to Figure 2 , Figure 2 A virtual reality (VR) application system 200 is illustrated. In system 200, a wearable VR device 117 is shown from the perspective of a wearer or viewer. The VR device 117 may include a central or gestural 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, portions 202, 204, and 206 are depicted with distinct lines; however, it should be understood that hardware or software can facilitate a gradual transition from primary information display to peripheral information display.
[0117] As mentioned above, different XR use cases may require different corresponding radio performance. Typically, for XR use cases, but unlike URLLC or eMBB use cases, a high-capacity radio link carrying XR data services (e.g., data streams containing visual information) with strict radio level (e.g., latency) and reliability levels is required for a reasonable end-user experience. For example, some XR applications require a 100 Mbps link with a radio latency of approximately 2 ms, compared to a 5 Mbps URLLC link with a radio latency budget of 1 ms.
[0118] Through research, several characteristics of XR data services have been identified: (1) XR service characteristics are usually periodic, with time-varying packet size and packet arrival rate; (2) Due to the limited form factor of the device, XR-enabled devices may be more power-limited than traditional mobile phones (e.g., smart glasses, projection wearables, etc.); (3) Multiple data packet streams corresponding to different visual information of a given XR session will not be perceived by the user as having the same impact on the end-user experience.
[0119] Therefore, in addition to requiring XR-specific power efficiency, smart glasses (such as wearable device 117) streaming 180-degree high-resolution frames require bandwidth capacity to provide the best 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 a smaller impact on user experience. Therefore, accepting higher latency for less important traffic flows allows resources that would otherwise be allocated to less important traffic flows to be used for traffic flows corresponding to more important services, or traffic flows corresponding to devices carrying more important services, which can be used to optimize the overall capacity and performance of wireless communication systems (such as 5G communication systems using NR technologies, methods, systems, or devices). For example, wireless data traffic flows carrying visual information for display on the central or posture visual display section 202 can have a higher priority than wireless data traffic flows carrying visual information for the left visual display section 204 or the right visual display section 206.
[0120] The performance of a communication network providing XR services can be determined, at least in part, based on user satisfaction with the XR services. Each user equipment device using XR services can be associated with a certain QoS parameter standard, against which measurements or metrics corresponding to the traffic flows that drive the XR services can be analyzed. For example, adjusting traffic scheduling so that measured traffic flow metrics meet QoS parameters (such as data rate, end-to-end latency, or reliability) may benefit the user's XR experience.
[0121] 5G NR radio systems typically include a Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH), which is used to transmit downlink and uplink control information to cellular devices. The 5G control channel enables operation according to the requirements of URLLC and eMBB use cases and facilitates efficient coexistence between these different QoS levels.
[0122] Multimodal XR can be used in the implementation of XR services. Multimodal XR services can facilitate a variety of scenarios beyond XR games and XR entertainment services. For example, multimodal XR services can facilitate multiple downlink-to-downlink or downlink-to-uplink service data streams that are associated or related to each other in application categories. However, conventional techniques do not facilitate relative QoS enforcement between multiple associated service data streams. Instead, associated service data streams / flows are processed independently, meaning that for a given data stream / flow, only an independent QoS standard corresponding to that given data stream / flow can be enforced. Independent processing of associated service streams can lead to slowdowns and performance degradation in multimodal XR applications.
[0123] Multimodal XR application categories can include applications where multiple downlink and / or uplink traffic data streams, although serving different XR viewing, control, or gesture purposes, may be highly correlated or related to each other. Each traffic data stream / flow may be associated with one or more independent QoS parameter standards to be satisfied. However, each traffic data stream / flow may have an actual relative or related QoS when referenced to another related downlink or uplink traffic data stream. For example, a RAN node should schedule downlink traffic stream packets for transmission within a maximum delay standard from when it receives packets corresponding to packets of the related traffic stream (uplink or downlink) from the RAN node to provide an improved user experience. Satisfactory delivery of traffic stream packets (e.g., target traffic stream for the purposes of discussion) may depend on the satisfaction of relative QoS standards (e.g., relative delay, relative reliability, or relative data rate) relative to the reception or transmission of packets of the relative traffic stream, rather than solely on the satisfaction of independent standards corresponding to the target stream itself.
[0124] For example, in educational XR applications (where virtual objects pop up in the user's XR device's field of view when the user views or clicks on a relevant real / virtual object), a relative Quality of Service (rQoS) (e.g., a relative tolerance latency budget) should be satisfied between the uplink traffic flow carrying the instruction for the user to view or click on the real / virtual object and the corresponding downlink traffic flow carrying the corresponding virtual object to pop up. If the latency between the uplink and downlink data flows is significant, the user experience may be severely impacted.
[0125] However, traditional technologies do not facilitate relative QoS processing and implementation. According to traditional QoS techniques, a given traffic flow is processed independently to meet its own, flow-specific QoS parameter standards, regardless of the availability of other traffic flows associated with that given traffic flow, resulting in a lack of support for advanced XR multimodal applications.
[0126] Accordingly, the embodiments disclosed herein facilitate dynamic rQoS implementation, application, or enforcement within relevant downlink-to-downlink traffic flows or relevant uplink-to-downlink traffic flows. In some embodiments, the application of rQoS to relevant downlink-to-downlink traffic flows may be provided by core network equipment at the RAN node. Core network equipment components may configure the RAN node to adaptively identify independent QoS standards (e.g., flow-specific latency standards) and cover independent QoS standards with rQoS standards indicated to the RAN node via indications of downlink packets attached to a target downlink traffic flow, wherein the rQoS standard will be satisfied with reference to the processing of traffic corresponding to the relative or relevant downlink traffic flow by the RAN node. In other embodiments, user equipment may provide the RAN node to implement dynamic rQoS tracking and enforcement of downlink traffic flows with reference to certain uplink traffic flows. Accordingly, the embodiments disclosed herein can facilitate relative QoS handling and adaptive enforcement for efficient processing of XR multimodal services.
[0127] Downlink - Downlink Relative QoS Adaptation
[0128] Radio access network (RAN) nodes can be configured to dynamically enforce relative QoS policies across multiple interrelated or related downlink traffic data flows to facilitate an immersive, multi-dimensional XR user experience. Core network devices (e.g., User Plane Functions (UPF) or Session Management Functions (SMF)) can identify target independent QoS flow indicators (QFIs) based on the service type associated with the target downlink traffic flow, using existing QoS processing techniques. However, for multimodal services (e.g., target downlink traffic flows generated by multimodal applications and associated with one or more other downlink traffic flows), core network devices can identify / determine relative QoS flow indicator identifiers corresponding to the traffic flow related to the target downlink traffic flow. Core network devices can determine relative QoS profiles. For example, a relative QoS profile may include one or more QoS criteria corresponding to relative QoS parameters (such as packet delay, packet error rate, packet data rate, etc.). Core network devices can configure RAN nodes to schedule / transmit one or more packets corresponding to the relative traffic flow to meet the relative QoS criteria. Scheduling / transmitting one or more packets corresponding to the relative traffic flow to meet the relative QoS criteria can be based on the RAN node sending one or more packets of the corresponding target traffic flow to the user equipment. Therefore, for example, by dynamically generating relative QoS information by the core network and appending it to packets sent by the core network to RAN nodes that are intended for user equipment initiating an XR session, the maximum allowable latency budget for two associated / correlated downlink data streams can be dynamically adapted and controlled relative to real-time XR application requirements. The relative QoS information may include a target QFI stream identifier, a relative QFI stream identifier, and a relative QoS profile indication that corresponds to the target stream QFI and the relative stream QFI and indicates the relative QoS criteria to be met.
[0129] The RAN node can receive packets associated with a target QFI identifier (which may be referred to as the target packet) from the core network via the backhaul link and extract relative QoS information associated with or appended to the received packets. Under the condition that a relevant QFI service flow is active (e.g., packets of the relevant service flow are buffered at the RAN node), the RAN node can temporarily override the independent QoS standard associated with the service flow corresponding to the received target packet using the relative QoS standard indicated in the extracted relative QoS information. The RAN node can continue to use the relative QoS standard to override the independent target QoS standard until the relevant QFI service flow becomes inactive. The RAN node can schedule received packets based on the transmission of packets corresponding to the relative or relevant service flow, according to the relative QoS standard corresponding to the QoS profile indicated in the extracted relative QoS information, so that the relative QoS standard is satisfied.
[0130] Uplink-Downlink Relative QoS Adaptation
[0131] User equipment (on which multimodal XR applications can execute) can determine relative QoS information associated with downlink traffic flows that correspond to the transmission of uplink packets corresponding to uplink traffic flows. The user equipment can append the determined relative QoS information to the uplink payload or as part of the transmission of the uplink payload. For example, an XR device can transmit uplink packets or packet groups, along with relative QoS information indicating the associated downlink traffic flows. The relative QoS information may include a downlink-related QFI identifier indicating the associated downlink traffic flow and an indication of a relative QoS profile. The indicated relative QoS profile may include one or more relative QoS criteria to be met relative to the user equipment's transmission of uplink packets and downlink traffic flows. Therefore, the user equipment can instruct RAN nodes (e.g., in terms of transmission configuration, modulation, coding, etc., and according to the actual real-time requirements of the XR application) to schedule one or more downlink traffic flows associated with the uplink traffic flows between the user equipment and the radio access network nodes. In one embodiment, a temporary, shareable, semi-persistent downlink scheduling (SPS) for downlink traffic flows can be implemented, wherein multiple defined periodic timing resources are configured to enable a user equipment (UE) to potentially receive packets corresponding to an associated downlink traffic flow. The terms "temporary," "shareable," or "shareable" can refer to SPS downlink timing resources authorized by the RAN node to the UE for use, if needed, to carry downlink traffic associated with uplink packets sent from the UE to the RAN node. Temporarily, shareable, or shareably scheduled downlink SPS timing resources can be considered temporarily scheduled, in which case, if the SPS timing resources (multiple) are not used to send downlink traffic associated with uplink packets received from the UE, the timing resources (multiple) can be authorized or shared for use by another UE. Under the condition of using a shareable temporary SPS, the user equipment (on which multimodal XR applications can run) can assume or implicitly determine the activation of the first available SPS resource opportunity that satisfies the relative QoS criteria sent to the radio access network node, without waiting for explicit activation signaling from the radio access network node indicating that the first available SPS resource opportunity has been activated for the user equipment's use. If the user equipment does not send uplink packets along with relative QoS information corresponding to the relative downlink traffic flow with respect to uplink packets, the user equipment can assume or implicitly determine that the shareable SPS opportunity resource has not yet been used by the radio access network node to send one or more downlink packets corresponding to the relevant downlink traffic flow to the user equipment, and therefore the user equipment can avoid monitoring the shareable SPS opportunity resource.
[0132] Traditional QoS adaptation is flow-specific because the QoS profile corresponding to a traffic flow can include independent QoS standards, which can be satisfied specifically based on availability conditions, arrival times, or buffer delays associated with the traffic flow corresponding to the QoS profile. According to the embodiments disclosed herein, relative and cross-flow QoS adaptation can be used, where the relative QoS standards indicated in the relative QoS profile can be satisfied by the RAN node scheduling / transmitting packets of a traffic flow with reference to the state, arrival time, or buffer conditions corresponding to another relative traffic flow. Novel backhaul and radio signaling messages can be used to facilitate cross-flow QoS adaptation.
[0133] Now go to Figure 3 , Figure 3 An example environment 300 is shown in which any of the reality devices 117 is connected to the user equipment 115. In one embodiment, a downlink traffic flow providing services to the peripheral portions 204 / 206 of the VR / XR device 117 may be associated with a downlink traffic flow carrying services to be displayed by the device's gesture portion 202. In another example, two distinct traffic flows may carry services pointing to the right side 202R and the left side 202L of the gesture portion 202, respectively, and thus may be associated.
[0134] exist Figure 3 In the illustrated embodiment, at action 1, the user plane function 147 of the core network 130 can send a relative quality of service (QoS) standard configuration 305 to the radio access network node 105. Configuration 305 may include a related service flow indication indicating a service flow 310 flow associated with service flow 315, and a relative QoS indication indicating a relative QoS standard corresponding to service flow 310 and a second service flow 315. At action 2, services corresponding to service flow 310 can be sent from the user plane function 147 to the radio access network node 105, and at action 3, services corresponding to service flow 315 can be sent to the radio access network node. At action 4, for example, the radio access network node 105 can send at least one protocol data unit (such as a packet) corresponding to service flow 310 to the user equipment 115, and at action 5, the radio access network node can send at least one protocol data unit corresponding to service flow 315 to the user equipment. The user equipment 115 may be one or more of a smartphone, tablet, wireless communication router, laptop, or other processing unit, and may be configured to facilitate the delivery of extended reality services to the extended reality device 117. User equipment 115 can forward services corresponding to service flows 310 and 315 to extended reality device 117.
[0135] One or more protocol data units corresponding to service flow 310 may be stored or buffered in a buffer or memory of the radio access network node 105 and may be scheduled to be transmitted to user equipment 115 according to the quality of service criterion corresponding to service flow 310. Protocol data units corresponding to service flow 315 may be scheduled to be transmitted to user equipment 115 according to a relative quality of service criterion that may have already been received or indicated in configuration 305. Radio access network node 105 may schedule the transmission of protocol data units corresponding to service flow 315 to meet a relative criterion, which includes, for example, an allowable delay or latency 320 between the transmission of protocol data units corresponding to the first service flow 310 and the transmission of protocol data units corresponding to the second service flow 315. Protocol data units corresponding to service flow 315 may be scheduled to be transmitted to meet a relative criterion 320, which may be more stringent than an independent quality of service criterion that may correspond to service flow 315. Therefore, the transmission of at least one protocol data unit corresponding to the second service flow 315 can satisfy the relative delay flow standard 320, as well as the independent scheduling standard corresponding to the quality of service associated with service flow 315. Accordingly, the radio access network node 105 can not only evaluate the independent quality of service standards corresponding to service flows 310 and 315 respectively, but also evaluate the relative quality of service standard applicable to transmitting the protocol data unit corresponding to service flow 315 to user equipment 115 relative to the transmission of the protocol data unit corresponding to service flow 315.
[0136] Now go to Figure 4 , Figure 4 An example embodiment of an environment 400 is shown, which enables downlink-to-downlink relative quality of service to be adapted to the scheduling of protocol data units corresponding to different associated traffic flows 310 and 315. (As shown) Figure 4 As shown, for example, RAN node 105 may receive downlink packets 315-1 corresponding to service flow 315 from core network equipment (such as UPF 147 or SMF) via one or more backhaul interfaces 120. Independent quality criteria (such as latency criteria) associated with service flow 315 may correspond to the transmission of packets (such as packet 315-1) of service flow 315. Packet filtering information 405 may be appended to packet 315-1 or otherwise associated with packet 315-1. Packet filtering information 405 and packet 315-1 may be collectively referred to as a composite service message. Packet filtering information 405 may include a target QFI identifier or flow identifier 316. Flow identifier 316 may indicate and correspond to... Figure 3The flow 315 shown corresponds to packet 315-1. Providing an identifier 316 corresponding to flow 315 can cause RAN node 105 to map flow 315 to a target independent quality criterion (which may be part of a quality profile) after receiving the flow identifier 316, so that RAN 105 schedules and sends packets corresponding to flow 315 in accordance with the independent criterion corresponding to flow 315.
[0137] Group filtering information 405 may include instructions and Figure 3 The relative QFI identifier or relative flow identifier 311 (which may be referred to as the related service flow indication) associated with service flow 315 relative to service flow 310. Accordingly, RAN 105 is informed that the scheduling and transmission of packets corresponding to service flow 315 will be bound to, based on, related to, or otherwise associated with the scheduling and transmission of one or more packets corresponding to service flow 310. Packet filtering information 405 may include a relative quality of service indication 420, which indicates the relative quality or relative quality of service profile to be applied to the scheduling and transmission of service packets corresponding to service flow 315 (relative to the scheduling and transmission of service packets corresponding to service flow 310). Accordingly, the relative quality indication 420 may correspond to Figure 3 The cross-service flow QoS relationship between service flow 315 and service flow 310 is shown.
[0138] Now go to Figure 5 , Figure 5 The relative QoS profile configuration 500 is shown. Figure 5 The relative quality of service profile configuration shown may include Figure 3 The information sent from UPF 147 to RAN 105 in the configuration shown in 305. The relative QoS profile field 505 may include a QoS profile indication or index corresponding to one or more QoS profiles in field 510. The Quality of Service profile may include information to be applied to relative traffic flows (e.g., ...). Figure 3 The target business flow (e.g., business flow 310) shown is the business flow of the target business flow. Figure 3 One or more Quality of Service (QoS) standards corresponding to the protocol data unit corresponding to Service Flow 315 (shown). Service Flow 315 and Service Flow 310 can be respectively associated with a target QFI / service flow identifier (e.g., Figure 4 The identifier 316 shown) and the relative QFI / service flow identifier (e.g., Figure 4 The identifier 311 shown is associated with it.
[0139] For example, for downlink-to-downlink relative QoS adaptation / implementation, a first relative QoS profile can indicate the maximum permissible buffer delay between the transmission of packets or packet groups corresponding to the target traffic flow 315 associated with target QFI identifier 316 and packets or packet groups corresponding to the relative traffic flow 310 associated with relative QFI identifier 311. Therefore, for example, the target packet arriving at the RAN node corresponding to target QFI identifier 316 can be scheduled such that the transmission of the target packet relative to the last or most recent transmission of the relative packet or relative packet group associated with the relevant traffic flow associated with relative flow QFI identifier 311 does not violate the maximum relative buffer delay budget / criteria in field 510 associated with profile identifier 505, which can... Figure 4 The relative service quality indicator 420 is shown.
[0140] Therefore, scheduling and sending packets of different but related service flows according to the relative quality of service indicated by the relative quality of service indicator 420 can enable multimodal XR applications where the user experience may be affected if the target downlink flow is received with excessive delay after the relative downlink flow, but the user experience may not be affected, or may be minimally affected, if both service flows are delayed by a similar amount (e.g., the relative delay budget of the cross-flow may be more important than the absolute delay).
[0141] In another example, the relative QoS profile can indicate the target packet error percentage corresponding to the target traffic flow relative to the relative traffic flow. For example, a reliability-critical traffic flow could have a packet error rate criterion of 10% associated with the relevant traffic flow corresponding to the relative QFI identifier. In this example, assuming the relevant traffic flow is associated with a QFI-independent packet error rate of 10% (e.g., 0.1%), the dynamically set relative packet error rate associated with the transmission of packets corresponding to the relative QFI identifier and the transmission of packets corresponding to the target QFI identifier becomes 0.01 or 1%.
[0142] Now go to Figure 6A , Figure 6A This demonstrates the application of downlink-to-downlink relative service flow quality of service standards to... Figure 3This is an example of at least one packet 315-1 corresponding to the service flow 315 shown. RAN node 105 can receive packet 315-1 from a core network device (e.g., UPF 147). Relative quality information can be appended to packet 315-1 as part of packet filtering information 405. RAN node 105 can extract the target quality flow identifier 316, the relative quality flow identifier 311, and the associated relative QoS profile indication 420 from the packet filtering information 405. RAN node 105 can determine the relative QoS criteria to apply to the scheduling or transmission of Protocol Data Unit 315-1 corresponding to QFI identifier 316 and to apply to the scheduling or transmission of Protocol Data Units 310-1, ..., 310-n corresponding to the relative downlink QFI identifier 311. In the example shown, the indicated QoS criteria may be the maximum allowable buffer delay 605 between the transmission of the most recently received / scheduled / transmitted packet 310-1 (e.g., t3) and the transmission of packet 315-1 at t4. Therefore, given the availability of protocol data units (e.g., packets) corresponding to service flows 310 associated with QFI identifiers 311 stored in buffer 610 of RAN 105, RAN node 105 can temporarily override independent QoS standards (e.g., delay budgets) corresponding to packets of service flows 310 using a relative QoS standard indicated by indication 420. (e.g., indication 420 may include a profile index / indication "x1", which refers to a relative QoS standard associated with QFI identifiers 311 stored in buffer 610 of RAN 105.) Figure 5 The configuration information 500 shown includes field(s) 505A (which are associated with relative quality of service criteria) in field(s) 510A. Accordingly, RAN node 105 can prioritize the transmission of received packet 315-1 by scheduling the transmission of packet 315-1 according to relative quality of service criteria rather than independent quality of service criteria, thereby avoiding violations of the rules. Figure 5 The maximum allowable delay between the following two included in field 510A shown is the transmission of packet 315-1 and the last (dynamically scheduled) packet 310-1 corresponding to the relative QFI identifier 311.
[0143] like Figure 6AAs shown, relative flow packets 310-n, ..., 310-1 on the right side of buffer 610 can be sent to RAN 105 between time t0 and time t3, and packet 315-1 on the left side of buffer 610 can be scheduled and sent to RAN starting at t4, which is within the indicated relative delay budget 605 based on time t3, after packets 310-n, ..., 310-1 have already been sent before time t3. Traditionally, packets are associated with an independent delay budget to be satisfied, which is related to the traffic flow corresponding to that packet, where the reference time for this delay budget (e.g., the time when the packet must be sent to satisfy the independent delay budget) or delay is the time when the packet enters the buffer of the RAN node. In contrast, in... Figure 6A In the illustrated embodiment, the time reference upon which the transmission of packet 315-1 is based is time t3, at which time(s) packets 310-n, ..., 310-1 are transmitted. Therefore, RAN 105 can refer to the transmission of packets(s) 310-n through 310-1 to determine the scheduling / transmission of the target packet 315-1. It should be understood that the reference time t3 is shown for illustrative purposes, but times other than t3 (e.g., t0, t1, or t2) can be the time reference upon which packet 315-1 will be scheduled for transmission.
[0144] Now go to Figure 6B , Figure 6B This illustrates a scenario where there is no buffer packet corresponding to QFI flow identifier 311 in buffer 610 of RAN 105 (e.g., Figure 3 The relative QFI flow 310 corresponding to QFI identifier 311 shown is currently inactive. Accordingly, RAN node 105 can discard or ignore the received relative QoS information 420, and prioritize the scheduling of received packet 315-1 according to the independent quality criteria corresponding to flow 315 (e.g., buffer delay budget 606) to achieve the desired result in t. t Send it.
[0145] Now go to Figure 7 , Figure 7An example embodiment of relative QoS processing that prompts related uplink-downlink traffic flows is illustrated. Relative QoS configuration information 707 (which may be referred to as packet filtering information) can be generated at user equipment 115, where a multimodal XR application can be executed. UE 115 can send the configuration information 707 to the serving RAN node 105 to dynamically cause the RAN node to implement scheduling of protocol data units corresponding to the relative downlink traffic flow 710. Information 707 can be sent in association with uplink protocol data unit 715-1 as part of a composite uplink message 705. UE 115 can determine that downlink traffic flow 710 is associated with uplink traffic flow 715. Packet filtering information 707 can utilize a relative QFI identifier 711 to indicate the related downlink traffic flow 710 associated with uplink traffic flow 715. Therefore, the UE 115 running the XR application can determine the relative QoS standard to be applied to the scheduling / transmission of packets corresponding to the relative downlink traffic flow 710, wherein the UE can determine that the relative downlink traffic flow 710 should be received in response to the transmission of at least one packet corresponding to the uplink traffic flow 715. In one embodiment, the UE 115 can attach a relative QFI identifier 711 to packet 715-1, the relative QFI identifier 711 indicating the downlink traffic flow 710 determined by the UE to be associated with the uplink traffic flow 715. The UE 115 can attach a downlink quality of service indication 720 to packet 715-1, the downlink quality of service indication 720 indicating the relative quality of service applied to the packet corresponding to the associated traffic flow 710 to be transmitted to the UE 115 by the radio access network node 105. The downlink quality of service indication 720 may indicate relative QoS profile information or relative quality of service profile, which may include relative QoS standards to be applied to the transmission of packets related to the uplink traffic flow 715 and corresponding to the relative traffic flow 710.
[0146] Now go to Figure 8 , Figure 8 It shows including references Figure 7 The example uplink control channel information (UCI) message 800 described in configuration information 707. The UCI message 800 can be sent via uplink control channel resources established between UE 115 and RAN node 105, based on uplink control information message signaling. Message 800 may include a relative downlink QFI identifier 810. The QFI identifier 810 may correspond to or indicate downlink traffic flow 710 (such as...). Figure 7 As shown), the downlink service flow 710 can be connected with... Figure 7 The uplink service flow shown is related to 715. Continue. Figure 8 The description of message 800 includes a relative downlink packet indication 815, which indicates at least one protocol data unit (such as a packet in a packet group) corresponding to the downlink flow 710 indicated by QFI indicator 810. Message 800 may include a relative QoS profile index / indicator 820, which may indicate a relative quality of service criterion to be applied to the scheduling or transmission of at least one protocol data unit corresponding to the relevant service flow 710 indicated by QFI indication 810, wherein the relative quality of service criterion will be relative to the uplink service flow transmitted from the user equipment to the radio access network node (e.g., transmitted from UE 115 to RAN node 105). Figure 7 The transmission of the relative protocol data unit corresponding to the service flow 715 shown is applied to the scheduling or transmission of the relative protocol data unit. Before the user equipment sends message 800 to the radio access network node, the relative quality of service profile point indicated by the relative QoS profile index / indicator 820 may have already been received by the radio access network node.
[0147] Now go to Figure 9 , Figure 9 An embodiment is illustrated that facilitates uplink-downlink adaptation to relative quality of service standards. User equipment 115 (on which XR applications can execute) can generate information related to possible uplink traffic flows (e.g., Figure 7 One or more downlink service flows (e.g., the service flow 715 shown) Figure 7 The relative quality of service information 707 (which can be referred to as packet filtering information) corresponding to the downlink traffic flow 710 shown. See reference... Figure 7 The user equipment 115 may attach relative quality of service information 707 to packets corresponding to the uplink service flow between the user equipment and the serving RAN node. In one embodiment, for example, the user equipment may send packets and relative quality of service information, such as reference information, in an uplink message. Figure 7 Message 705 is described. In one embodiment, for example, the user equipment may send relative quality of service information, such as reference, in the uplink control channel message. Figure 8 The message described is 800. Continue. Figure 9 As described, when RAN node 105 employs downlink semi-persistent scheduling (SPS), RAN node 105 can configure multiple resource opportunities 905-0, ..., 905-n for UE 115 via temporary semi-persistent scheduling configuration 905, as opportunities that the user equipment may potentially use to receive available downlink service data streams / flows. SPS resource opportunities 905-0, ..., 905-n can be referred to as (multiple) shareably scheduleable downlink resources.
[0148] According to conventional technology, the user equipment (UE) wakes up for each configured SPS (Service Point Scheduler). Because of this conventional SPS technology, UE 115 will not know whether downlink traffic has already been sent to the UE via the configured SPS timing. Since simply checking the SPS timing to determine whether downlink traffic has been sent to the UE via that SPS timing consumes energy, waking the UE for each configured SPS timing to check whether traffic has been sent to the UE via that SPS timing may lead to severe battery degradation.
[0149] use Figure 9 In the illustrated embodiment, based on, for example, downlink traffic flows and uplink traffic flows 715 corresponding to an XR session initiated by the user equipment, user equipment 115 can determine that one or more downlink traffic flows 710 are highly associated or related to uplink traffic flow packets 715-1 transmitted to RAN 105 via user equipment transmission. Therefore, for example, UE 115 can determine a first available SPS resource timing 905-0 or 905-1 for receiving downlink traffic corresponding to flow 710, indicated by UE 115 in packet filtering information in message 800, as associated with uplink traffic flow 715. User equipment 115 can base its decisions on relative quality criteria 930 (such as those provided by reference...) Figure 8The SPS resource timing 905-0 or 905-1 is determined by the SPS resource timing occurring within the criteria indicated by instruction 820 (e.g., by the cross-uplink-downlink service delay budget determined by an XR application executed on user equipment 115 and sent to RAN node 105 via message 705). User equipment 115 can assume activation of one or more determined SPS resource timings 905-0 or 905-1 based on sending relative quality information 707 to RAN node 105 in message 705, without waiting to receive an authorization message from the RAN node indicating that timing 905-0 or 905-1 has been authorized to user equipment 115 to receive service corresponding to the associated downlink service flow 710. Accordingly, User Equipment 115 may attempt to receive the service corresponding to the relative downlink QFI flow 710 via SPS timing 905-0 or 905-1, where, based on the RAN node having received relative QoS information 707 from the User Equipment and the RAN node receiving the uplink service (e.g., packet 715-1) corresponding to the uplink service flow 715, the UE 115 assumes that the RAN 105 has allocated SPS timing 905-0 or 905-1 to send the packet corresponding to flow 710 to the User Equipment 115. Therefore, since the User Equipment is only awakened to receive downlink service 710 during timing 905-0 or 905-1, using reference... Figure 9 The described embodiments may result in energy savings at user equipment 115. (Refer to the reference.) Figure 9 The described embodiments can lead to a reduction in SPS control overhead because RAN node 105 can avoid notifying UE 115 of the authorization of SPS timings 905-0 or 905-1 via dedicated control signaling when downlink traffic to UE is available for transmission at the RAN node. Furthermore, because each SPS resource timing 905-2, ..., 905-n may not necessarily be used to transmit downlink traffic 710 to UE 115 (in this example, timings 905-0 or 905-1 can be used to transmit traffic to UE 115), SPS resource timings other than 905-0 or 905-1 can be used to transmit downlink traffic corresponding to traffic flows other than traffic flow 710.
[0150] Now go to Figure 10 , Figure 10 A timing diagram is shown for an example method 1000 that applies relative quality of service (QoS) criteria to protocol data units corresponding to target service flows with respect to relevant service flows. At action 1005, RAN node 105 may receive a relative downlink QoS configuration (e.g., ...) from session management function or user plane function 147 via backhaul link(s) 120. Figure 3The configuration shown is 305. The configuration received at action 1005 may include a relative QoS indicator profile identifier and a list of relative QoS criteria(s), whereby the relative QoS indicator profile identifier may be referred to as an indicator or index (e.g., included in...). Figure 5 In field 505 shown, (multiple) relative QoS standards are associated with their respective identifiers (e.g., the standard information included in field 510 is related to...). Figure 5 (Associated with the various identifiers in field 505 shown). At action 1010, RAN node 105 may receive packets from UPF 147 via backhaul link(s) 120. At action 1015, RAN node 105 may extract packet filtering information, which may be appended to the header of the packets received at action 1010. The extracted packet filtering information may include a QFI indication corresponding to the packets received at action 1010 and a relative QFI indication indicating a relative traffic flow with respect to the traffic flow corresponding to the packets received at action 1010 (or the RAN node may determine the relative Protocol Data Unit / Set Group identifier(s) corresponding to the relative QFI traffic flow). The packet filtering information extracted at action 1015 may include a relative QoS profile indication indicating a relative Quality of Service standard, for which scheduling or transmission of packets received at action 1010 relative to the packets or Protocol Data Units corresponding to the relative traffic flow will be satisfied. With one or more packets or protocol data units corresponding to an active relative QFI service flow buffered at RAN node 105, at action 1020, the RAN node can use the relative quality of service standard indicated in the packet filtering information extracted at action 1015 to override the independent standard corresponding to the packets received at action 1010. At action 1025, RAN node 105 can schedule the packets received at action 1010 for transmission according to the relative quality of service standard rather than the independent quality of service standard. At action 1030, RAN node 105 can send the scheduled packets received at action 1010 to user equipment 115 based on the transmission time when the packets or protocol data units corresponding to the relative service flow are sent by the RAN node to the user equipment, according to the relative quality of service standard.
[0151] Now go to Figure 11 , Figure 11A timing diagram is shown for an example embodiment of method 1100 that applies relative quality of service (QoS) criteria to protocol data units corresponding to downlink traffic flows relating to uplink traffic flows. At action 1105, during an active extended reality session relating to XR device 117, UE / WTRU 115 may send an uplink XR service packet to RAN node 105. For example, the uplink packet sent at action 1105 may include packet-specific relative QoS information appended to the packet, as a message such as MAC CE or a separate uplink control signaling message. Packet-specific relative QoS information (e.g., Figure 9 The information 707 shown can be accessed at action 1105 via... Figure 9 The message 705 shown may include a relative downlink traffic flow QFI indication associated with a packet, protocol data unit, or group of protocol data units corresponding to a downlink QFI traffic flow. Packet-specific relative QoS information may include indications of downlink packets, protocol data units, or groups of protocol data units corresponding to the downlink traffic flow corresponding to the downlink QFI flow indication, and relating to the uplink traffic flow corresponding to an uplink XR traffic packet. Packet-specific relative QoS information may include a relative QoS profile indication specifying the downlink quality of service criteria to be applied to the scheduling or transmission of at least one packet by RAN 105, the at least one packet corresponding to the downlink QFI traffic flow indicated by the downlink QFI flow indication for uplink XR traffic packets transmitted by user equipment 115.
[0152] At action 1110, RAN node 105 can determine and send shareably schedulable downlink resource configuration information to user equipment 115 (e.g., Figure 9 As shown in configuration information 905, the downlink resource configuration information indicates the SPS timing resources that can be used by the user equipment to receive protocol data units corresponding to the relative downlink service flow.
[0153] With shared, semi-persistent downlink timing resources configured at UE 115, WTRU / UE 115 can determine at action 1115 the fastest shared, schedulable downlink timing resource, wherein, based on this downlink timing resource, transmission of downlink traffic flow packets corresponding to the downlink QFI traffic flow indicated at action 1105 will satisfy the relative quality of service criteria indicated at action 1105 relative to the transmission of uplink XR traffic packets at action 1105. At action 1120, via the determined fastest shared downlink timing resource satisfying the relative quality of service criteria corresponding to the relative QoS profile indicated in the packet filtering information sent to RAN node 105 at action 1105, UE / WTRU 115 can receive and decode downlink packets or protocol data units / groups corresponding to the relative QFI downlink traffic flow indicated to RAN node 105 at action 1105. The fastest resource can be a resource whose transmission time overlaps with that of the uplink XR service packet sent at action 1105, satisfying the required relative QoS criteria (e.g., maximum latency) corresponding to the relevant uplink and downlink QFI flows, or the most recent available downlink resource opportunity relative to that transmission time. It should be understood that, with reference to... Figure 10 Description of downlink - downlink relative quality of service standards or references Figure 11 The described uplink-downlink relative quality of service standards may include latency / delay standards, modulation standards, or frequency resource standards.
[0154] Now go to Figure 12 , Figure 12 A flowchart of example embodiment 1200 is shown. Method 1200 begins at action 1205. At action 1210, the radio access network node can receive relative quality of service configuration information from core network equipment (e.g., user plane functions or session management functions). The relative quality of service configuration information may include references Figure 3 The information described is 305, or refer to [the relevant documentation]. Figure 5 The information described in configuration 500 is shown. Continue. Figure 12 As described, at action 1215, the radio access network node can receive downlink packets corresponding to the first service flow from the core network equipment. The downlink packets can be received together with relative quality of service information in a composite message. The relative quality of service information may include packet filtering information, for example, referencing... Figure 4The packet filtering information described is 405. The packet filtering information may include a service flow identifier associated with a first service flow, a related service flow identifier associated with a second service flow relating to the first service flow, or a relative quality of service (QoS) standard corresponding to the first and second service flows. The relative QoS standard can be used by the radio access network node to schedule the transmission of downlink packets corresponding to the second service flow. The service flow identifier associated with the first service flow may include a first QoS flow indicator corresponding to a first QoS associated with the first service flow. The service flow identifier associated with the second service flow may include a second QoS indicator corresponding to a second QoS associated with the second service flow. The second service flow may be referred to as a related or relative service flow whenever the transmission of the second service flow can be related to the transmission of the first service flow for the purpose of providing or improving the user experience of the extended reality device to which the first and second service flows refer.
[0155] At action 1220, the radio access network node can determine whether one or more packets corresponding to the relevant service flow are stored in the scheduling buffer corresponding to the radio access network node. If it is determined at action 1220 that one or more packets corresponding to the relevant service flow are stored in the scheduling buffer, then method 1200 proceeds to action 1230. Returning to the description of 1220, if it is determined that one or more packets corresponding to the relevant service flow are not stored in the scheduling buffer, then method 1200 proceeds to action 1225. At action 1225, the radio access network node can determine whether one or more packets corresponding to the relevant service flow have recently been transmitted. For example, if one or more packets corresponding to the relevant service flow have been transmitted to the user equipment such that the transmission of the packets received in the composite message at action 1215 satisfies the relative quality of service criteria indicated in the relative quality of service information received in the composite message, then the radio access network node can schedule the packets received in the composite message at action 1215 at action 1230 so that the relative quality of service criteria are satisfied. If it is determined at action 1225 that one or more packets corresponding to the relevant service flow have not been recently sent to the user equipment, then method 1200 proceeds to action 1250. At action 1250, the radio access network node can schedule the packets received in the composite message at action 1215 according to an independent quality of service criterion corresponding to the first service flow indicated by the first quality of service flow indication. Method 1200 then proceeds from action 1250 to action 1255 and terminates.
[0156] Returning to the description of Action 1230, regardless of whether it is determined at Action 1220 that one or more packets corresponding to the relevant service flow are stored or buffered in the buffer at the radio access network node, or regardless of whether it is determined at Action 1225 that the packet corresponding to the relevant service flow was recently sent to the user equipment, the radio access network node can determine the scheduling time of the buffered packets corresponding to the relevant service flow or the transmission time of the packets corresponding to the relevant service flow. At Action 1235, the radio access network node can extract (multiple) relative quality of service (QoS) criteria from the relative QoS information received in the composite message at Action 1215. Based on the scheduling time or transmission time of the packets corresponding to the relevant service flow determined at Action 1230, at Action 1240, the radio network node can apply (multiple) relative QoS criteria extracted at Action 1235 to the packets received at Action 1215, such that the transmission of the packets received at Action 1215 satisfies the (multiple) relative QoS criteria extracted at Action 1235 from the composite message received at Action 1215. For example, as referenced... Figure 6A As shown and described, if at action 1220 it is determined that a packet corresponding to the relevant service flow is stored in the buffer 610 of the radio access network node, and at action 1230 it is determined that a packet corresponding to the relevant service flow is scheduled to be sent from the buffer at time t3, then at action 1240, the radio access network node can determine from action 1215... Figure 6A The buffer 610 shown receives packets (e.g., Figure 6A The transmission time of the packet 315-1 shown is at time t4, or it meets the (multiple) relative quality of service criteria extracted at action 1235 (which can be determined by...). Figure 6A Another time (represented by the maximum buffer delay of 605). At action 1245, based on applying the relative quality of service criteria(s) from action 1240 to the packets received at action 1215, the radio access network node can schedule the packets received at action 1215 to be transmitted to the user equipment to which the packets received at action 1215 are directed. Method 1200 proceeds from action 1245 to action 1255 and ends. It should be understood that at action 1250, the scheduling and transmission of the packets received at action 1215 according to the independent flow-specific criteria corresponding to the first service flow can correspond to the reference... Figure 6B The embodiments shown and described.
[0157] Now go to Figure 13 , Figure 13An example embodiment of method 1300 is illustrated, comprising: at block 1305, a radio access network node including a processor prompting the reception of a first protocol data unit corresponding to a first service flow; at block 1310, the radio access network node prompting the reception of quality information associated with the first protocol data unit, wherein the quality information includes a related service flow indication indicating a second service flow associated with the first service flow and a relative quality of service indication indicating a relative quality of service standard corresponding to the first service flow and the second service flow; at block 1315, the radio access network node prompting the transmission of a second protocol data unit corresponding to the second service flow to a user equipment; at block 1320, the radio access network node prompting the transmission of the first protocol data unit to the user equipment according to the relative quality of service standard; and at block 1325, wherein the first protocol data unit and the quality information associated with the first protocol data unit are received via a backhaul communication link as part of a composite service message corresponding to the first service flow.
[0158] Now go to Figure 14 , Figure 14 An example radio access network node is illustrated. At block 1405, the example radio access network node includes a processor configured to receive a composite service message corresponding to a first service flow, wherein the composite service message includes a first packet corresponding to the first service flow and quality information associated with the first packet, wherein the quality information includes a related service flow indication indicating a second service flow associated with the first service flow and a relative quality of service indication indicating a relative quality of service standard corresponding to the first and second service flows; at block 1410, a second packet corresponding to the second service flow is sent to a user equipment; at block 1415, the first packet is sent to the user equipment according to the relative quality of service standard; and at block 1420, the first packet is sent based on the sending of the second packet to the user equipment, according to the relative quality of service standard.
[0159] Now go to Figure 15 , Figure 15A non-transitory machine-readable medium 1500 is illustrated. At block 1505, the non-transitory machine-readable medium 1500 includes executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a radio access network node, cause the execution of operations including: receiving a first protocol data unit corresponding to a first service flow directed to a user equipment; at block 1510, receiving a related service flow indication indicating a second service flow associated with the first service flow and a relative quality of service indication indicating a relative quality of service standard corresponding to the first and second service flows, wherein the first and second service flows correspond to independent quality of service standards; at block 1515, transmitting the first protocol data unit to the user equipment; and at block 1520, determining that the second protocol data unit corresponding to the second service flow can be used to transmit to the user equipment. At block 1525, a second protocol data unit is sent to the user equipment according to an independent quality of service (QoS) standard; at block 1530, a relative QoS standard is analyzed relative to the independent QoS standard to generate an analyzed relative QoS standard; at block 1535, based on the analyzed relative QoS standard, it is determined that sending the first protocol data unit to the user equipment according to the independent QoS standard may not meet the relative QoS standard at a threshold, to generate the determined relative QoS standard; at block 1540, based on the determined relative QoS standard, the sending of the first protocol data unit according to the relative QoS standard is prioritized relative to the independent QoS standard; and at block 1545, the sending of the first protocol data unit is performed according to the relative QoS standard.
[0160] Now go to Figure 16 , Figure 16 An example embodiment of method 1600 is illustrated, comprising: at block 1605, a user equipment including a processor sending a first protocol data unit corresponding to a first service flow to a radio access network node; at block 1610, the user equipment sending a downlink quality of service indication to the radio access network node, the downlink quality of service indication indicating the quality of service to be applied to a second service flow sent from the radio access network node to the user equipment; at block 1615, wherein sending the second service flow to the user equipment is related to the first service flow, wherein the quality of service to be applied to the second service flow is a relative quality of service, and wherein the downlink quality of service indication includes a relative downlink quality of service indication; and at block 1620, wherein the sending of the downlink quality of service indication is associated with the sending of the first service flow.
[0161] Now go to Figure 17 , Figure 17Example user equipment 1700 is shown. At block 1705, example user equipment 1700 includes a processor configured to: send a first protocol data unit corresponding to a first service flow to a radio access network node; at block 1710, send a downlink quality of service indication to the radio access network node, the downlink quality of service indication indicating the quality of service to be applied to a second service flow sent from the radio access network node to the user equipment; at block 1715, wherein sending the second service flow to the user equipment is related to the first service flow, wherein the quality of service to be applied to the second service flow is a relative quality of service, and wherein the downlink quality of service indication includes a relative downlink quality of service indication; at block 1720, wherein the processing... The device is also configured to receive a temporary semi-persistent scheduling configuration from a radio access network node, the temporary semi-persistent scheduling configuration including at least one downlink resource indication indicating at least one downlink resource that can be used by the user equipment to receive at least one protocol data unit corresponding to the second service flow; at block 1725, receiving at least one protocol data unit corresponding to the second service flow from the radio access network node based on at least one downlink resource; and at block 1730, wherein the user equipment avoids waiting to receive an authorization indication from the radio access network node indicating that at least one downlink resource has been authorized to the user equipment to receive at least one protocol data unit corresponding to the second service flow.
[0162] Now go to Figure 18 , Figure 18 A non-transitory machine-readable medium 1800 is shown. At block 1805, the non-transitory machine-readable medium 1800 includes executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a user equipment, cause the execution of operations including: based on sending a downlink quality of service indication to a radio access network node and as a result of the radio access network node having received the downlink quality of service indication, the user equipment receives a temporary semi-persistent scheduling configuration from the radio access network node, the downlink quality of service indication indicating the quality of service to be applied to a traffic flow sent from the radio access network node to the user equipment, the temporary semi-persistent scheduling configuration including at least one downlink resource indication indicating at least one downlink resource that the user equipment can use to receive at least one protocol data unit corresponding to the traffic flow; at block 1810, the user equipment receives at least one protocol data unit corresponding to the traffic flow from the radio access network node based on the at least one downlink resource; and at block 1815, wherein the user equipment avoids waiting to receive an authorization indication from the radio access network node indicating that at least one downlink resource has been authorized to the user equipment to receive at least one protocol data unit corresponding to the traffic flow.
[0163] To provide additional context for the various embodiments described herein, Figure 19 The following discussion is intended to provide a brief general description of a suitable computing environment 1900 in which various embodiments of the embodiments described herein may be implemented. Although the embodiments have been described above in the general context of computer-executable instructions that can run 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.
[0164] Generally, a program module includes routines, programs, components, data structures, etc., that perform specific tasks or implement specific abstract data types. Furthermore, those skilled in the art will understand that the method can be practiced using 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, each of which can be operatively coupled to one or more related devices.
[0165] The embodiments shown herein can also be implemented in a distributed computing environment, where certain tasks are performed by remote processing devices linked via a communication network. In a distributed computing environment, program modules can reside in both local and remote memory storage devices.
[0166] Computing devices typically include a variety of media, which can include computer-readable storage media, machine-readable storage media, and / or communication media. These two terms are used interchangeably herein as follows. A computer-readable storage media or a machine-readable storage media can be any available storage medium that can be accessed by a computer, and includes both volatile and non-volatile media, and removable and non-removable media. By way of example and not limitation, a computer-readable storage media or a machine-readable storage media can be implemented in conjunction with any method or technique used for storing information, such as computer-readable or machine-readable instructions, program modules, structured data, or unstructured data.
[0167] 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 storage technologies, compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM), digital versatile disc (DVD), Blu-ray disc (BD) or other optical disc storage devices, magnetic tape cassettes, magnetic tape, disk storage devices or other magnetic storage devices, solid-state drives or other solid-state storage devices, or other tangible and / or non-transitory media capable of storing desired information. In this regard, the terms “tangible” or “non-transitory” used herein for storage devices, memories, or computer-readable media should be understood to exclude only the propagation of transient signals themselves as a modifier, and do not waive the rights to all standard storage devices, memories, or computer-readable media that are not merely the propagation of transient signals themselves.
[0168] Computer-readable storage media can be accessed by one or more local or remote computing devices (e.g., via access requests, queries, or other data retrieval protocols) for various operations on the information stored on the media.
[0169] Communication media typically embody computer-readable instructions, data structures, program modules, or other structured or unstructured data in data signals (such as modulated data signals, for example, carrier waves or other transmission mechanisms), and include any information transmission or delivery medium. The term "(multiple) modulated data signals" refers to signals whose one or more characteristics are set or altered in a manner that encodes information in one or more signals. By way of example and not limitation, communication media include wired media (such as wired networks or direct wired connections) and wireless media (such as acoustic media, RF media, infrared media, and other wireless media).
[0170] Refer again Figure 19 An example environment 1900 for implementing the various embodiments described herein includes a computer 1902, which includes a processing unit 1904, system memory 1906, and a system bus 1908. The system bus 1908 couples system components, including but not limited to system memory 1906, to the processing unit 1904. The processing unit 1904 can be any of a variety of commercial processors and may include cache memory. Dual microprocessors and other multiprocessor architectures can also be used as the processing unit 1904.
[0171] System bus 1908 can be any of several types of bus architectures, which can be further interconnected to memory buses (with or without memory controllers), peripheral buses, and local buses using any of a variety of commercial bus architectures. System memory 1906 includes ROM 1910 and RAM 1912. The Basic Input / Output System (BIOS) can be stored in non-volatile memory such as ROM, erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), EEPROM, etc., containing basic routines (such as during startup) that help transfer information between components within computer 1902. RAM 1912 may also include high-speed RAM, such as static RAM for caching data.
[0172] Computer 1902 also includes an internal hard disk drive (HDD) 1914 (e.g., EIDE, SATA), one or more external storage devices 1916 (e.g., floppy disk drive (FDD) 1916, memory stick or flash drive reader, memory card reader, etc.), and an optical disc drive 1920 (e.g., capable of reading from or writing to CD-ROMs, DVDs, BDs, etc.). Although the internal HDD 1914 is shown as residing within computer 1902, it can also be configured for external use within a suitable chassis (not shown). Additionally, although not shown in environment 1900, a solid-state drive (SSD) can be used in addition to, or in place of, HDD 1910. HDD 1914, external storage devices 1916, and optical disc drive 1920 can be connected to system bus 1908 via HDD interface 1924, external storage interface 1926, and optical disc drive interface 1928, respectively. The interface 1924 for external driver implementations may include at least one or both of Universal Serial Bus (USB) and Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 1394 interface technologies. Other external driver connectivity technologies are also within the scope of the embodiments described herein.
[0173] Drives and their associated computer-readable storage media provide non-volatile storage of data, data structures, computer-executable instructions, etc. For the computer 1902, drives and storage media accommodate storage of any data in a suitable digital format. Although the above description of computer-readable storage media relates to various types of storage devices, those skilled in the art will understand 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. Furthermore, any such storage medium may contain computer-executable instructions for performing the methods described herein.
[0174] Multiple program modules can be stored in the drive and RAM 1912, including the operating system 1930, one or more application programs 1932, other program modules 1934, and program data 1936. All or part of the operating system, applications, modules, and / or data can also be cached in RAM 1912. The systems and methods described herein can be implemented using various commercial operating systems or combinations of operating systems.
[0175] Computer 1902 may optionally include emulation technology. For example, a hypervisor (not shown) or other intermediary may emulate the hardware environment of operating system 1930, and the emulated hardware may optionally be different from that of computer 1902. Figure 19 The hardware is shown. In such an embodiment, the operating system 1930 may include one of a plurality of virtual machines (VMs) hosted at the computer 1902. Further, the operating system 1930 may provide a runtime environment for the application 1932, such as the Java Runtime Environment or the .NET Framework. A runtime environment is a consistent execution environment that allows the application 1932 to run on any operating system that includes that runtime environment. Similarly, the operating system 1930 may support containers, and the application 1932 may be in the form of a container, which is a lightweight, standalone, executable software package that includes, for example, the application's code, runtime, system tools, system libraries, and settings.
[0176] Furthermore, the computer 1902 may include security modules, such as a Trusted Processing Module (TPM). For example, using a TPM, the boot component hashes the next boot component in time and waits for the result to match a security value before loading the next boot component. This process can occur at any level of the computer 1902's code execution stack, for example, at the application execution level or at the operating system (OS) kernel level, thus achieving security at any code execution level.
[0177] Users can input commands and information to computer 1902 through one or more wired / wireless input devices, such as keyboard 1938, touchscreen 1940, and pointing devices (such as mouse 1942). Other input devices (not shown) may include microphones, infrared (IR) remote controls, radio frequency (RF) remote controls or other remote controls, joysticks, virtual reality controllers and / or virtual reality headsets, game controllers, styluses, image input devices (e.g., cameras), gesture sensor input devices, eye-motion sensor input devices, emotion or face detection devices, biometric input devices (e.g., fingerprint or iris scanners), etc. These and other input devices are typically connected to processing unit 1904 via input device interface 1944, which may be coupled to system bus 1908, but may also be connected via other interfaces such as parallel ports, IEEE 1394 serial ports, game ports, USB ports, IR interfaces, Bluetooth® interfaces, etc.
[0178] The monitor 1946 or other types of display devices can also be connected to the system bus 1908 via an interface such as the video adapter 1948. In addition to the monitor 1946, the computer typically includes other peripheral output devices (not shown), such as speakers, printers, etc.
[0179] Computer 1902 can operate in a networked environment using logical connections to one or more remote computers (such as (multiple) remote computers 1950) via wired and / or wireless communication. The (multiple) remote computers 1950 can be workstations, server computers, routers, personal computers, portable computers, microprocessor-based entertainment devices, peer-to-peer devices, or other common network nodes, and typically include many or all of the elements described relative to computer 1902, although for the sake of brevity only memory / storage device 1952 is shown. The depicted logical connections include wired / wireless connections to a local area network (LAN) 1954 and / or a larger network (e.g., a wide area network (WAN) 1956). Such LAN and WAN networked environments are common in offices and companies and enable enterprise-wide computer networks, such as intranets, all of which can connect to global communication networks, such as the Internet.
[0180] When used in a LAN networked environment, computer 1902 can connect to local network 1954 via a wired and / or wireless communication network interface or adapter 1958. Adapter 1958 can enable wired or wireless communication to LAN 1954, which may also include a wireless access point (AP) configured thereon for communicating with adapter 1958 in wireless mode.
[0181] When used in a WAN networked environment, computer 1902 may include modem 1960, or may be connected to a communication server on WAN 1956 via other means of establishing communication on WAN 1956, such as via the Internet. Modem 1960 (which may be an internal or external wired or wireless device) may be connected to system bus 1908 via input device interface 1944. In a networked environment, program modules or portions thereof depicted relative to computer 1902 may be stored in remote memory / storage device 1952. It should be understood that the network connection shown is an example, and other means of establishing communication links between computers may be used.
[0182] When used in a LAN or WAN networked environment, computer 1902 can access cloud storage systems or other network-based storage systems, in addition to or replacing external storage device 1916 as described above. Generally, the connection between computer 1902 and the cloud storage system can be established (e.g., via adapter 1958 or modem 1960) through LAN 1954 or WAN 1956. After connecting computer 1902 to the associated cloud storage system, external storage interface 1926 can manage the storage devices provided by the cloud storage system with the help of adapter 1958 and / or modem 1960, just as it manages other types of external storage devices. For example, external storage interface 1926 can be configured to provide access to cloud storage sources as if these sources were physically connected to computer 1902.
[0183] Computer 1902 can be operated to communicate with any wireless device or entity operatively configured for wireless communication, such as printers, scanners, desktop and / or portable computers, portable data assistants, communication satellites, any device or location associated with a wirelessly detectable tag (e.g., phone booths, newsstands, store shelves, etc.), and telephones. This can include Wi-Fi and Bluetooth® wireless technologies. Therefore, communication can be a predefined structure like a traditional network, or simply self-organizing communication between at least two devices.
[0184] Now go to Figure 20 , Figure 20A block diagram of example UE 2060 is shown. UE 2060 may include a smartphone, wireless tablet, wirelessly capable laptop computer, wearable device, machine device that enables vehicle telematics, etc. UE 2060 includes a first processor 2030, a second processor 2032, and shared memory 2034. UE 2060 includes a radio front-end circuitry system 2062, which may be referred to herein as a transceiver, but is understood to generally include transceiver circuitry, separate filters, and separate antennas to enable communication via wireless links (such as...). Figure 1 One or more wireless links 125, 135, or 137 shown transmit and receive signals. Furthermore, transceiver 2062 may include multiple sets of circuit systems, or may be tunable to accommodate different frequency ranges, different modulation schemes, or different communication protocols to enable long-range wireless links (such as link 125, device-to-device links (such as link 135)) and short-range wireless links (such as link 137).
[0185] continue Figure 20 As described above, UE 2060 may also include SIM 2064 or SIM profile, which may include information stored in memory (memory 2034 or a separate memory portion) to facilitate communication with... Figure 1 The wireless communication of RAN 105 or core network 130 shown. Figure 20 The SIM 2064 is shown as a single component in the shape of a traditional SIM card; however, it should be understood that the SIM 2064 can represent multiple SIM cards, multiple SIM card profiles, or multiple eSIMs, some or all of which can be implemented in hardware or software. It should be understood that a SIM profile may include information such as security credentials (e.g., encryption keys, values that can be used to generate encryption keys, or shared values shared between the SIM 2064 and another device, which may be...). Figure 1 (Components of RAN 105 or core network 130 shown). For example, SIM profile 2064 may also include unique identification information for the SIM or SIM profile, such as International Mobile Subscriber Identity (IMSI) or information that may constitute an IMSI.
[0186] SIM 2064 is shown coupled to both the first processor portion 2030 and the second processor portion 2032. This implementation offers the advantage that the first processor portion 2030 may not need to request or receive information or data that the second processor 2032 might request from or receive from SIM 2064, thereby eliminating the use of the first processor as a "man-in-the-middle" when the second processor uses information from the SIM in performing its functions and executing applications. The first processor 2030 (which may be a modem processor or a baseband processor) is shown smaller than processor 2032 (which may be a more complex application processor) to visually indicate the relative levels of complexity (i.e., processing power and performance) and corresponding operating power consumption between the two processor portions. When the UE 2060 does not require the second processor section 2032 to execute applications and process application-related data, the advantage of keeping the second processor section 2032 in a sleep / inactive / low-power state is that it reduces power consumption when the UE only needs to use the first processor section 2030 to monitor routine configuration bearer management and mobility management / maintenance processes while in listening mode, or to monitor the search space that the UE has been configured to monitor while the second processor section remains inactive / sleep.
[0187] For example, UE 2060 may also include sensors 2066, such as temperature sensors, accelerometers, gyroscopes, barometers, humidity sensors, etc., which can provide signals to the first processor 2030 or the second processor 2032. Output devices 2068 may include, for example, one or more visual displays (e.g., computer monitors, VR devices, etc.), acoustic transducers (such as speakers or microphones), vibration components, etc. Output devices 2068 may include software that interfaces with output devices (e.g., visual displays, speakers, microphones, tactile devices, olfactory or gustatory devices, etc., external to UE 2060).
[0188] The following glossary of terms given in Table 1 may be applied to one or more descriptions of the embodiments disclosed herein. Table 1
[0189] The above description includes non-limiting examples of various embodiments. It is certainly not possible to describe every conceivable combination of components or methodologies for the purpose of describing the disclosed subject matter, and those skilled in the art will recognize that further combinations and substitutions of the various embodiments are possible. The disclosed subject matter is intended to encompass all such changes, modifications, and variations falling within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.
[0190] Regarding the various functions performed by the aforementioned components, devices, circuits, systems, etc., the terms used to describe these components (including references to "means") are intended to include, and will also include, any structure (unless otherwise indicated) that performs a particular function of the component (e.g., a functional equivalent), even if it is not structurally equivalent to the disclosed structure. Furthermore, while specific features of the disclosed subject matter may be disclosed only with respect to one of several embodiments, such features may be combined with one or more other features of other embodiments, which may be desirable and advantageous for any given or particular application.
[0191] The terms “exemplary” and / or “demonstrative” or variations thereof, as may be used herein, are intended to mean as examples, instances, or illustrations. For the avoidance of doubt, the subject matter disclosed herein is not limited to these examples. Furthermore, any aspect or design described herein as “exemplary” and / or “demonstrative” is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other aspects or designs, nor does it exclude equivalent structures and techniques known to those skilled in the art. Further, to the extent to which the terms “comprising,” “having,” “including,” and other similar words are used in the detailed description or claims, these terms are intended to be included in a manner similar to the term “comprising” as an open transitional term, without excluding any additional or other elements.
[0192] The term “or” as used herein is intended to mean inclusive “or” rather than 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 interpreted as meaning “one or more” unless otherwise stated or clearly indicated from the context to be in the singular form.
[0193] The term "set" as used herein excludes the empty set, that is, a set containing no elements. Therefore, "set" as used in this disclosure includes one or more elements or entities. Similarly, the term "group" used herein refers to a collection of one or more entities.
[0194] The terms “first,” “second,” “third,” etc., used in the claims (unless the context otherwise requires) are for clarity only and do not otherwise indicate or imply any order of time. For example, “first determination,” “second determination,” and “third determination” do not indicate or imply that the first determination precedes the second determination, or vice versa, etc.
[0195] The description of the embodiments shown in this disclosure (including those described in the abstract) is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the disclosed embodiments to the precise forms disclosed. While specific embodiments and examples have been described herein for illustrative purposes, various modifications are possible 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 should be understood where applicable that other similar embodiments may be used, or modifications and additions may be made to the described embodiments to perform the same, similar, alternative, or alternative functions of the disclosed subject matter without departing from it. 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 following appended claims.
Claims
1. A method comprising: A radio access network node, including a processor, causes the reception of a first protocol data unit corresponding to a first service flow; The radio access network node prompts the reception of quality information associated with the first protocol data unit, wherein the quality information includes a related service flow indication indicating a second service flow associated with the first service flow and a relative service quality indication indicating a relative service quality standard corresponding to the first service flow and the second service flow. The radio access network node causes the transmission of a second protocol data unit corresponding to the second service flow to the user equipment; and The wireless access network node causes the first protocol data unit to be sent to the user equipment in accordance with the relative quality of service standard.
2. The method of claim 1, wherein the quality information further includes a first independent service quality indicator indicating an independent service quality standard associated with the first service flow, and wherein the quality information further includes a second independent service quality indicator indicating that the second service flow is associated with the independent service quality standard.
3. The method of claim 2, wherein the first protocol data unit is transmitted according to the independent quality of service standard, and wherein the second protocol data unit is transmitted according to the independent quality of service standard.
4. The method according to claim 2, wherein the relative quality of service standard corresponds to at least one of the following: latency corresponding to at least one of the first service flow or the second service flow; data rate corresponding to at least one of the first service flow or the second service flow; or protocol data unit error rate corresponding to at least one of the first service flow or the second service flow.
5. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: The transmission of the first service flow and the second service flow is prioritized by the radio access network node relative to the independent quality of service standard, and the prioritization is performed based on the relative quality of service standard.
6. The method according to claim 2, further comprising: The wireless access network node is prompted to receive a relative quality of service (QoS) standard configuration that includes the relative QoS standard.
7. The method of claim 6, wherein the relative service quality standard configuration defines the relative service quality standard relative to the independent service quality standard.
8. The method according to claim 7, further comprising: The transmission of the first service flow and the second service flow is prioritized by the radio access network node relative to the relative quality of service standard, and the prioritization is performed based on the independent quality of service standard.
9. The method of claim 1, wherein the quality information is received from the core network entity.
10. The method of claim 9, wherein the core network entity includes user plane functions.
11. The method of claim 1, wherein the first protocol data unit and the quality information associated with the first protocol data unit are received via a backhaul communication link as part of a composite service message corresponding to the first service flow.
12. A wireless access network node, comprising: The processor is configured as follows: Receive a composite service message corresponding to a first service flow, wherein the composite service message includes a first packet corresponding to the first service flow and quality information associated with the first packet, wherein the quality information includes a related service flow indication indicating a second service flow related to the first service flow and a relative service quality indication indicating a relative service quality standard corresponding to the first service flow and the second service flow; Send a second packet corresponding to the second service flow to the user equipment; and The first packet is sent to the user equipment according to the relative quality of service standard.
13. The radio access network node of claim 12, wherein the quality information further includes a first independent quality of service (QoS) indication indicating an independent QoS standard associated with the first service flow, wherein the quality information further includes a second independent QoS indication indicating that the second service flow is associated with the independent QoS standard, and wherein the first packet is also transmitted according to the independent QoS standard, and wherein the second packet is also transmitted according to the independent QoS standard.
14. The wireless access network node of claim 12, wherein the processor is further configured to: Receive relative quality of service standard configuration, including the relative quality of service standard, from the core network equipment.
15. The wireless access network node of claim 13, wherein the first packet is transmitted based on sending the second packet to the user equipment, according to the relative quality of service standard.
16. The wireless access network node of claim 12, wherein the quality information is received from the core network entity.
17. A non-transitory machine-readable medium comprising executable instructions that, when executed by a processor of a radio access network node, cause the execution of operations, said operations including: Receive the first protocol data unit corresponding to the first service flow directed to the user equipment; Receive a related service flow indication of a second service flow associated with the first service flow and a relative service quality indication of a relative service quality standard corresponding to the first service flow and the second service flow, wherein the first service flow and the second service flow correspond to independent service quality standards; and The first protocol data unit is sent to the user equipment.
18. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising: The second protocol data unit corresponding to the second service flow is determined to be available for transmission to the user equipment; The second protocol data unit is sent to the user equipment according to the independent quality of service standard; The relative service quality standard is analyzed relative to the independent service quality standard to generate the analyzed relative service quality standard; Based on the analyzed relative quality of service standard, it is determined that: sending the first protocol data unit to the user equipment according to the independent quality of service standard may not meet the relative quality of service standard at a threshold, so as to generate the determined relative quality of service standard; as well as Based on the determined relative quality of service standard, and relative to the independent quality of service standard, the first protocol data unit sent according to the relative quality of service standard is given priority processing. The transmission of the first protocol data unit is performed according to the relative quality of service standard.
19. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising: The second protocol data unit corresponding to the second service flow is determined to be available for transmission to the user equipment; The second protocol data unit is sent to the user equipment according to the independent quality of service standard; The relative service quality standard is analyzed relative to the independent service quality standard to generate the analyzed relative service quality standard; Based on the analyzed relative quality of service standard, it is determined that: sending the first protocol data unit to the user equipment according to the independent quality of service standard may satisfy the relative quality of service standard at a threshold, so as to generate the determined relative quality of service standard; as well as Based on the determined relative quality of service standard, the first protocol data unit transmitted according to the independent quality of service standard is given priority processing relative to the relative quality of service standard. The transmission of the first protocol data unit is performed according to the independent quality of service standard.
20. The non-transitory machine-readable medium of claim 17, further comprising: It was determined that the second protocol data unit corresponding to the second service flow could not be used to send to the user equipment. The transmission of the first protocol data unit is performed according to the independent quality of service standard.