Method and network node for delay-aware scheduling for protocol data unit (PDU) set flows

Abstract

Methods and apparatus for delay-aware scheduling for protocol data unit (PDU) set flows are described herein. A method, implemented in a network node, includes receiving a message including first information that indicates at least one quality of service (QoS) flow for a wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU), the at least one QoS flow associated with traffic sent to or received from a tethered device, receiving one or more protocol data units (PDU)s associated with the at least one QoS flow, and prioritizing transmission of the received one or more PDUs over PDUs associated other QoS flow based on the one or more PDUs being associated with the tethered device. The method includes calculating a delay value of the one or more PDUs or one or more PDU sets according to at least one of: a RAT, a data delay value, a jitter value, the packet loss rate, or the bitrate.

Description

METHOD AND NETWORK NODE FOR DELAY-AWARE SCHEDULING FOR PROTOCOL DATA UNIT (PDU) SET FLOWSCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 529,082, filed July 26, 2023, the contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.BACKGROUND

[0002] Consumer devices that may be tethered to a wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU) for wireless access via a cellular network, such as a Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) network, for example a 3G, a Long Term Evolution (LTE), or a 5G network, are commonly available. In such devices, an application may be run on the tethered device, which may use the WTRU to exchange data with an application server (AS). Multiple devices may be tethered to the same WTRU. For example, a person may be using headphones and a smart watch, which may both be tethered to their smartphone at the same time, and each application running on one of the tethered devices may send and / or receive data sent in the form of protocol data unit (PDU), a PDC set, or like protocol.

[0003] Extended Reality (XR) applications (e.g., augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), or mixed reality (MR) applications, to name a few) are commonly run on devices tethered to a WTRU. In the XR context, a user running a VR application may tether a VR headset to their smartphone or other WTRU using a universal serial bus (USB) connection and may tether a haptic suite to the same smartphone or other WTRU using a Bluetooth connection. A WTRU may provide connectivity for multiple XR applications, and each XR application may receive streams of data that are part of PDU sets.

[0004] When a WTRU hosts an application that runs on a tethered device, there may be a non-negligible delay experienced between the time the WTRU receives the data and the time the application receives the data. For example, when the WTRU, for example a smartphone, receives downlink data, there may be a non- negligible delay experienced by the data between the WTRU and Application, for example over the Bluetooth connection. The wireless access between the WTRU and the Application Server may be via radio access network (RAN) such as a 5G RAN. 5G systems support application programming interfaces (APIs) that allow the Application Server to configure the QoS requirements of the data flows. However, the Application Server might not be aware that a WTRU application is hosted on a tethered device and that the associated traffic may therefore incur a delay over the tethered connection. Therefore, the need exists for signaling enhancements to assist the scheduling decisions made by the RAN.SUMMARY

[0005] Methods and apparatus for delay-aware scheduling for protocol data unit (PDU) set flows are described herein. In a one aspect, a method, implemented in a network node, may include receiving a message including first information that indicates at least one quality of service (QoS) flow for a wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU), where the at least one QoS flow is associated with traffic sent to or received from a tethered device. The method may include receiving one or more protocol data units (PDUs) associated with the at least one QoS flow, and prioritizing transmission of the received one or more PDUs over PDUs associated with other QoS flows based on the one or more PDUs being associated with the tethered device. The message may be a QoS profile configuration message and may include information indicating at least one of a radio access technology (RAT), a data delay value, a jitter value, a packet loss rate, or a bitrate associated with the WTRU and the tethered device. In an aspect, the method may include calculating a delay value of the one or more PDUs or one or more PDU sets according to at least one of: the RAT, the data delay value, the jitter value, the packet loss rate, or the bitrate. In the same or another aspect, the QoS profile configuration message include a plurality of QoS profiles, where each QoS profile of the plurality of QoS profiles have a different data delay value. In yet another aspect, the method may include receiving an index corresponding to a new data delay value from the WTRU based on a change in delay between the WTRU and the tethered device, and selecting one of the plurality of QoS profiles that includes the new data delay value corresponding to the index received from the WTRU. The method may include: determining at least one connected mode discontinuous reception (CDRX) timer value for the WTRU based at least on the second information in the QoS profile configuration message, and transmitting the determined at least one CDRX timer value to the WTRU. In an aspect, the tethered device is at least one of a terminal equipment (TE) part of the WTRU or a remote device that is configured to communicate with the WTRU via a communication link different from a radio access network interface between the network node and the WTRU. The method may further include prioritizing transmission of the one or more PDUs associated with the tethered device by mapping the one or more PDUs to a data radio bearer (DRB) with a higher priority than a DRB for PDUs not associated with the tethered device.

[0006] Aspects and features may apply to a network node including a transceiver and a processor where the transceiver and the processor are configured to: receive a message including first information that indicates at least one quality of service (QoS) flow for a wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU), the at least one QoS flow associated with traffic sent to or received from a tethered device, receive one or more protocol data units (PDUs) associated with the at least one QoS flow, and prioritize transmission of the received one or more PDUs over PDUs associated with other QoS flows based on the one or more PDUs being associated with the tethered device. In some aspect, the message may be a QoS profile configure message and may include information indicating at least one of a radio access technology (RAT), a data delay value, a jitter value, a packet loss rate, or a bitrate associated with the WTRU and the tethered device.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] A more detailed understanding may be had from the following description, given by way of example in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, wherein like reference numerals in the figures indicate like elements, and wherein:

[0008] FIG. 1A is a system diagram illustrating an example communications system in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented;

[0009] FIG. 1 B is a system diagram illustrating an example wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A according to an embodiment;

[0010] FIG. 1C is a system diagram illustrating an example radio access network (RAN) and an example core network (CN) that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A according to an embodiment;

[0011] FIG. 1 D is a system diagram illustrating a further example RAN and a further example CN that may be used within the communications system illustrated in FIG. 1A according to an embodiment;

[0012] FIG. 2 illustrates an example signaling path between a WTRU and a data network

[0013] FIG. 3 is a system diagram showing an example of multiplexing of PDU sets from multiple applications in a single QoS flow;

[0014] FIG. 4 is a signal diagram showing an example of a delay offset calculation procedure for tethered devices; and

[0015] FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an example method of delay-aware schedule for PDU set flows implemented in a network node.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0016] The following abbreviations may be referred to herein.5G 5th GenerationACK AcknowledgementAF Application FunctionAS Application ServerDL DownlinkDRB Data Radio BearerNACK Negative ACKMCS Modulation and Coding SchemeMT Mobile TerminationNR New RadioOFDM Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing PCC Policy and Charging ControlPDR Packet Detection RulePDU Packet Data UnitRAN Radio Access NetworkRNTI Radio Network IdentifierRRC Radio Resource ControlRRM Radio Resource ManagementRSSI Received Signal Strength IndicatorRTP Real-time Transport ProtocolSDF Service Data FlowSDP Session Description ProtocolSDU Service Data UnitTE Terminal EquipmentTRP Transmission / Reception PointTSC Time-sensitive communicationsTSN Time-sensitive networkingUL UplinkUPF User Plane FunctionURLLC Ultra-Reliable and Low Latency CommunicationsWLAN Wireless Local Area Networks and related technologies (IEEE 8O2.xx domain) WTRU Wireless Transmit / Receive Unit

[0017] FIG. 1A is a diagram illustrating an example communications system 100 in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented. The communications system 100 may be a multiple access system that provides content, such as voice, data, video, messaging, broadcast, etc., to multiple wireless users. The communications system 100 may enable multiple wireless users to access such content through the sharing of system resources, including wireless bandwidth. For example, the communications systems 100 may employ one or more channel access methods, such as code division multiple access (CDMA), time division multiple access (TDMA), frequency division multiple access (FDMA), orthogonal FDMA (OFDMA), singlecarrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), zero-tail unique-word discrete Fourier transform Spread OFDM (ZT-UW-DFT-S- OFDM), unique word OFDM (UW-OFDM), resource block-filtered OFDM, filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), and the like.

[0018] As shown in FIG. 1A, the communications system 100 may include wireless transmit / receive units (WTRUs) 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, a radio access network (RAN) 104, a core network (ON) 106, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 108, the Internet 110, and other networks 112, though it will be appreciated that the disclosed embodiments contemplate any number of WTRUs, base stations, networks, and / or networkelements. Each of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may be any type of device configured to operate and / or communicate in a wireless environment. By way of example, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, any of which may be referred to as a station (STA), may be configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals and may include a user equipment (UE), a mobile station, a fixed or mobile subscriber unit, a subscription-based unit, a pager, a cellular telephone, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a smartphone, a laptop, a netbook, a personal computer, a wireless sensor, a hotspot or Mi-Fi device, an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD), a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery), an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and / or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and / or an automated processing chain contexts), a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and / or industrial wireless networks, and the like. Any of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and 102d may be interchangeably referred to as a UE.

[0019] The communications systems 100 may also include a base station 114a and / or a base station 114b. Each of the base stations 114a, 114b may be any type of device configured to wirelessly interface with at least one of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to facilitate access to one or more communication networks, such as the CN 106, the Internet 110, and / or the other networks 112. By way of example, the base stations 114a, 114b may be a base transceiver station (BTS), a NodeB, an eNode B (eNB), a Home Node B, a Home eNode B, a next generation NodeB, such as a gNode B (gNB), a new radio (NR) NodeB, a site controller, an access point (AP), a wireless router, and the like. While the base stations 114a, 114b are each depicted as a single element, it will be appreciated that the base stations 114a, 114b may include any number of interconnected base stations and / or network elements.

[0020] The base station 114a may be part of the RAN 104, which may also include other base stations and / or network elements (not shown), such as a base station controller (BSC), a radio network controller (RNC), relay nodes, and the like. The base station 114a and / or the base station 114b may be configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals on one or more carrier frequencies, which may be referred to as a cell (not shown). These frequencies may be in licensed spectrum, unlicensed spectrum, or a combination of licensed and unlicensed spectrum. A cell may provide coverage for a wireless service to a specific geographical area that may be relatively fixed or that may change over time. The cell may further be divided into cell sectors. For example, the cell associated with the base station 114a may be divided into three sectors. Thus, in one embodiment, the base station 114a may include three transceivers, i.e., one for each sector of the cell. In an embodiment, the base station 114a may employ multiple-input multiple output (MIMO) technology and may utilize multiple transceivers for each sector of the cell. For example, beamforming may be used to transmit and / or receive signals in desired spatial directions.

[0021] The base stations 114a, 114b may communicate with one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d over an air interface 116, which may be any suitable wireless communication link (e.g., radio frequency (RF), microwave, centimeter wave, micrometer wave, infrared (IR), ultraviolet (UV), visible light, etc.). The air interface 116 may be established using any suitable radio access technology (RAT).

[0022] More specifically, as noted above, the communications system 100 may be a multiple access system and may employ one or more channel access schemes, such as CDMA, TDMA, FDMA, OFDMA, SC-FDMA, and the like. For example, the base station 114a in the RAN 104 and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS) Terrestrial Radio Access (UTRA), which may establish the air interface 116 using wideband CDMA (WCDMA). WCDMA may include communication protocols such as High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) and / or Evolved HSPA (HSPA+). HSPA may include High-Speed Downlink (DL) Packet Access (HSDPA) and / or High-Speed Uplink (UL) Packet Access (HSUPA).

[0023] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA), which may establish the air interface 116 using Long Term Evolution (LTE) and / or LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) and / or LTE-Advanced Pro (LTE-A Pro).

[0024] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement a radio technology such as NR Radio Access , which may establish the air interface 116 using NR. NR is a radio access that may be used with 5G.

[0025] In an embodiment, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement multiple radio access technologies. For example, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement LTE radio access and NR radio access together, for instance using dual connectivity (DC) principles. Thus, the air interface utilized by WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be characterized by multiple types of radio access technologies and / or transmissions sent to / from multiple types of base stations (e.g., an eNB and a gNB).

[0026] In other embodiments, the base station 114a and the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement radio technologies such as IEEE 802.11 (i.e., Wireless Fidelity (Wi-Fi), IEEE 802.16 (i.e., Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMAX)), CDMA2000, CDMA2000 1X, CDMA2000 EV-DO, Interim Standard 2000 (IS-2000), Interim Standard 95 (IS-95), Interim Standard 856 (IS-856), Global System for Mobile communications (GSM), Enhanced Data rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE), GSM EDGE (GERAN), and the like.

[0027] The base station 114b in FIG. 1A may be a wireless router, Home Node B, Home eNode B, or access point, for example, and may utilize any suitable RAT for facilitating wireless connectivity in a localized area, such as a place of business, a home, a vehicle, a campus, an industrial facility, an air corridor (e.g., for use by drones), a roadway, and the like. In one embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.11 to establish a wireless local area network (WLAN). In an embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may implement a radio technology such as IEEE 802.15 to establish a wireless personal area network (WPAN). In yet another embodiment, the base station 114b and the WTRUs 102c, 102d may utilize a cellular-based RAT (e.g., WCDMA, CDMA2000, GSM, LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, NR etc.) to establish a picocell or femtocell. As shownin FIG. 1A, the base station 114b may have a direct connection to the Internet 110. Thus, the base station 114b may not be required to access the Internet 110 via the CN 106.

[0028] The RAN 104 may be in communication with the CN 106, which may be any type of network configured to provide voice, data, applications, and / or voice over internet protocol (VoIP) services to one or more of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d. The data may have varying quality of service (QoS) requirements, such as differing throughput requirements, latency requirements, error tolerance requirements, reliability requirements, data throughput requirements, mobility requirements, and the like. The CN 106 may provide call control, billing services, mobile location-based services, pre-paid calling, Internet connectivity, video distribution, etc., and / or perform high-level security functions, such as user authentication. Although not shown in FIG. 1A, it will be appreciated that the RAN 104 and / or the CN 106 may be in direct or indirect communication with other RANs that employ the same RAT as the RAN 104 or a different RAT. For example, in addition to being connected to the RAN 104, which may be utilizing a NR radio technology, the CN 106 may also be in communication with another RAN (not shown) employing a GSM, UMTS, CDMA 2000, WiMAX, E-UTRA, or Wi-Fi radio technology.

[0029] The CN 106 may also serve as a gateway for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d to access the PSTN 108, the Internet 110, and / or the other networks 112. The PSTN 108 may include circuit-switched telephone networks that provide plain old telephone service (POTS). The Internet 110 may include a global system of interconnected computer networks and devices that use common communication protocols, such as the transmission control protocol (TCP), user datagram protocol (UDP) and / or the internet protocol (IP) in the TCP / IP internet protocol suite. The networks 112 may include wired and / or wireless communications networks owned and / or operated by other service providers. For example, the networks 112 may include another CN connected to one or more RANs, which may employ the same RAT as the RAN 104 or a different RAT.

[0030] Some or all of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d in the communications system 100 may include multi-mode capabilities (e.g., the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d may include multiple transceivers for communicating with different wireless networks over different wireless links). For example, the WTRU 102c shown in FIG. 1A may be configured to communicate with the base station 114a, which may employ a cellularbased radio technology, and with the base station 114b, which may employ an IEEE 802 radio technology.

[0031] FIG. 1B is a system diagram illustrating an example WTRU 102. As shown in FIG. 1 B, the WTRU 102 may include a processor 118, a transceiver 120, a transmit / receive element 122, a speaker / microphone 124, a keypad 126, a display / touchpad 128, non-removable memory 130, removable memory 132, a power source 134, a global positioning system (GPS) chipset 136, and / or other peripherals 138, among others. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may include any sub-combination of the foregoing elements while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0032] The processor 118 may be a general purpose processor, a special purpose processor, a conventional processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), a plurality of microprocessors, one or moremicroprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs), any other type of integrated circuit (IC), a state machine, and the like. The processor 118 may perform signal coding, data processing, power control, input / output processing, and / or any other functionality that enables the WTRU 102 to operate in a wireless environment. The processor 118 may be coupled to the transceiver 120, which may be coupled to the transmit / receive element 122. While FIG. 1B depicts the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 as separate components, it will be appreciated that the processor 118 and the transceiver 120 may be integrated together in an electronic package or chip.

[0033] The transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit signals to, or receive signals from, a base station (e.g., the base station 114a) over the air interface 116. For example, in one embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be an antenna configured to transmit and / or receive RF signals. In an embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be an emitter / detector configured to transmit and / or receive IR, UV, or visible light signals, for example. In yet another embodiment, the transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive both RF and light signals. It will be appreciated that the transmit / receive element 122 may be configured to transmit and / or receive any combination of wireless signals.

[0034] Although the transmit / receive element 122 is depicted in FIG. 1B as a single element, the WTRU 102 may include any number of transmit / receive elements 122. More specifically, the WTRU 102 may employ MIMO technology. Thus, in one embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include two or more transmit / receive elements 122 (e.g., multiple antennas) for transmitting and receiving wireless signals over the air interface 116.

[0035] The transceiver 120 may be configured to modulate the signals that are to be transmitted by the transmit / receive element 122 and to demodulate the signals that are received by the transmit / receive element 122. As noted above, the WTRU 102 may have multi-mode capabilities. Thus, the transceiver 120 may include multiple transceivers for enabling the WTRU 102 to communicate via multiple RATs, such as NR and IEEE 802.11 , for example.

[0036] The processor 118 of the WTRU 102 may be coupled to, and may receive user input data from, the speaker / microphone 124, the keypad 126, and / or the display / touchpad 128 (e.g., a liquid crystal display (LCD) display unit or organic light-emitting diode (OLED) display unit). The processor 118 may also output user data to the speaker / microphone 124, the keypad 126, and / or the display / touchpad 128. In addition, the processor 118 may access information from, and store data in, any type of suitable memory, such as the non-removable memory 130 and / or the removable memory 132. The non-removable memory 130 may include random-access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), a hard disk, or any other type of memory storage device. The removable memory 132 may include a subscriber identity module (SIM) card, a memory stick, a secure digital (SD) memory card, and the like. In other embodiments, the processor 118 may access information from, and store data in, memory that is not physically located on the WTRU 102, such as on a server or a home computer (not shown).

[0037] The processor 118 may receive power from the power source 134, and may be configured to distribute and / or control the power to the other components in the WTRU 102. The power source 134 may be any suitable device for powering the WTRU 102. For example, the power source 134 may include one or more dry cell batteries (e.g., nickel-cadmium (NiCd), nickel-zinc (NiZn), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium-ion (Li- ion), etc.), solar cells, fuel cells, and the like.

[0038] The processor 118 may also be coupled to the GPS chipset 136, which may be configured to provide location information (e.g., longitude and latitude) regarding the current location of the WTRU 102. In addition to, or in lieu of, the information from the GPS chipset 136, the WTRU 102 may receive location information over the air interface 116 from a base station (e.g., base stations 114a, 114b) and / or determine its location based on the timing of the signals being received from two or more nearby base stations. It will be appreciated that the WTRU 102 may acquire location information by way of any suitable location-determination method while remaining consistent with an embodiment.

[0039] The processor 118 may further be coupled to other peripherals 138, which may include one or more software and / or hardware modules that provide additional features, functionality and / or wired or wireless connectivity. For example, the peripherals 138 may include an accelerometer, an e-compass, a satellite transceiver, a digital camera (for photographs and / or video), a universal serial bus (USB) port, a vibration device, a television transceiver, a hands free headset, a Bluetooth® module, a frequency modulated (FM) radio unit, a digital music player, a media player, a video game player module, an Internet browser, a Virtual Reality and / or Augmented Reality (VR / AR) device, an activity tracker, and the like. The peripherals 138 may include one or more sensors. The sensors may be one or more of a gyroscope, an accelerometer, a hall effect sensor, a magnetometer, an orientation sensor, a proximity sensor, a temperature sensor, a time sensor; a geolocation sensor, an altimeter, a light sensor, a touch sensor, a magnetometer, a barometer, a gesture sensor, a biometric sensor, a humidity sensor and the like.

[0040] The WTRU 102 may include a full duplex radio for which transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with particular subframes for both the UL (e.g., for transmission) and DL (e.g., for reception) may be concurrent and / or simultaneous. The full duplex radio may include an interference management unit to reduce and or substantially eliminate self-interference via either hardware (e.g., a choke) or signal processing via a processor (e.g., a separate processor (not shown) or via processor 118). In an embodiment, the WTRU 102 may include a half-duplex radio for which transmission and reception of some or all of the signals (e.g., associated with particular subframes for either the UL (e.g., for transmission) or the DL (e.g., for reception)).

[0041] FIG. 1C is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 104 and the CN 106 according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 104 may employ an E-UTRA radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may also be in communication with the CN 106.

[0042] The RAN 104 may include eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c, though it will be appreciated that the RAN 104 may include any number of eNode-Bs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In one embodiment, the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may implement MIMO technology. Thus, the eNode-B 160a, for example, may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to, and / or receive wireless signals from, the WTRU 102a.

[0043] Each of the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in the UL and / or DL, and the like. As shown in FIG. 1 C, the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may communicate with one another over an X2 interface.

[0044] The CN 106 shown in FIG. 1C may include a mobility management entity (MME) 162, a serving gateway (SGW) 164, and a packet data network (PDN) gateway (PGW) 166. While the foregoing elements are depicted as part of the CN 106, it will be appreciated that any of these elements may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0045] The MME 162 may be connected to each of the eNode-Bs 162a, 162b, 162c in the RAN 104 via an S1 interface and may serve as a control node. For example, the MME 162 may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, bearer activation / deactivation, selecting a particular serving gateway during an initial attach of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and the like. The MME 162 may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as GSM and / or WCDMA.

[0046] The SGW 164 may be connected to each of the eNode Bs 160a, 160b, 160c in the RAN 104 via the S1 interface. The SGW 164 may generally route and forward user data packets to / from the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. The SGW 164 may perform other functions, such as anchoring user planes during inter-eNode B handovers, triggering paging when DL data is available for the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, managing and storing contexts of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, and the like.

[0047] The SGW 164 may be connected to the PGW 166, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices.

[0048] The CN 106 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to circuit-switched networks, such as the PSTN 108, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and traditional land-line communications devices. For example, the CN 106 may include, or may communicate with, an IP gateway (e.g., an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 106 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to the other networks 112, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks that are owned and / or operated by other service providers.

[0049] Although the WTRU is described in FIGS. 1A-1 D as a wireless terminal, it is contemplated that in certain representative embodiments that such a terminal may use (e.g., temporarily or permanently) wired communication interfaces with the communication network.

[0050] In representative embodiments, the other network 112 may be a WLAN.

[0051] A WLAN in Infrastructure Basic Service Set (BSS) mode may have an Access Point (AP) for the BSS and one or more stations (STAs) associated with the AP. The AP may have access or an interface to a Distribution System (DS) or another type of wired / wireless network that carries traffic in to and / or out of the BSS. Traffic to STAs that originates from outside the BSS may arrive through the AP and may be delivered to the STAs. Traffic originating from STAs to destinations outside the BSS may be sent to the AP to be delivered to respective destinations. Traffic between STAs within the BSS may be sent through the AP, for example, where the source STA may send traffic to the AP and the AP may deliver the traffic to the destination STA. The traffic between STAs within a BSS may be considered and / or referred to as peer-to-peer traffic. The peer-to- peer traffic may be sent between (e.g., directly between) the source and destination STAs with a direct link setup (DLS). In certain representative embodiments, the DLS may use an 802.11e DLS or an 802.11z tunneled DLS (TDLS). A WLAN using an Independent BSS (IBSS) mode may not have an AP, and the STAs (e.g., all of the STAs) within or using the IBSS may communicate directly with each other. The IBSS mode of communication may sometimes be referred to herein as an “ad-hoc” mode of communication.

[0052] When using the 802.11ac infrastructure mode of operation or a similar mode of operations, the AP may transmit a beacon on a fixed channel, such as a primary channel. The primary channel may be a fixed width (e.g., 20 MHz wide bandwidth) or a dynamically set width. The primary channel may be the operating channel of the BSS and may be used by the STAs to establish a connection with the AP. In certain representative embodiments, Carrier Sense Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (CSMA / CA) may be implemented, for example in 802.11 systems. For CSMA / CA, the STAs (e.g., every STA), including the AP, may sense the primary channel. If the primary channel is sensed / detected and / or determined to be busy by a particular STA, the particular STA may back off. One STA (e.g., only one station) may transmit at any given time in a given BSS.

[0053] High Throughput (HT) STAs may use a 40 MHz wide channel for communication, for example, via a combination of the primary 20 MHz channel with an adjacent or nonadjacent 20 MHz channel to form a 40 MHz wide channel.

[0054] Very High Throughput (VHT) STAs may support 20MHz, 40 MHz, 80 MHz, and / or 160 MHz wide channels. The 40 MHz, and / or 80 MHz, channels may be formed by combining contiguous 20 MHz channels. A 160 MHz channel may be formed by combining 8 contiguous 20 MHz channels, or by combining two noncontiguous 80 MHz channels, which may be referred to as an 80+80 configuration. For the 80+80 configuration, the data, after channel encoding, may be passed through a segment parser that may divide the data into two streams. Inverse Fast Fourier Transform (IFFT) processing, and time domain processing, may be done oneach stream separately. The streams may be mapped on to the two 80 MHz channels, and the data may be transmitted by a transmitting STA. At the receiver of the receiving STA, the above described operation for the 80+80 configuration may be reversed, and the combined data may be sent to the Medium Access Control (MAC).

[0055] Sub 1 GHz modes of operation are supported by 802.11 af and 802.11ah. The channel operating bandwidths, and carriers, are reduced in 802.11af and 802.11ah relative to those used in 802.11n, and 802.11ac. 802.11af supports 5 MHz, 10 MHz, and 20 MHz bandwidths in the TV White Space (TVWS) spectrum, and 802.11ah supports 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, and 16 MHz bandwidths using non-TVWS spectrum. According to a representative embodiment, 802.11ah may support Meter Type Control / Machine- Type Communications (MTC), such as MTC devices in a macro coverage area. MTC devices may have certain capabilities, for example, limited capabilities including support for (e.g., only support for) certain and / or limited bandwidths. The MTC devices may include a battery with a battery life above a threshold (e.g., to maintain a very long battery life).

[0056] WLAN systems, which may support multiple channels, and channel bandwidths, such as 802.11 n, 802.11ac, 802.11af, and 802.11ah, include a channel which may be designated as the primary channel. The primary channel may have a bandwidth equal to the largest common operating bandwidth supported by all ST As in the BSS. The bandwidth of the primary channel may be set and / or limited by a STA, from among all STAs in operating in a BSS, which supports the smallest bandwidth operating mode. In the example of 802.11ah, the primary channel may be 1 MHz wide for STAs (e.g., MTC type devices) that support (e.g., only support) a 1 MHz mode, even if the AP, and other STAs in the BSS support 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, 16 MHz, and / or other channel bandwidth operating modes. Carrier sensing and / or Network Allocation Vector (NAV) settings may depend on the status of the primary channel. If the primary channel is busy, for example, due to a STA (which supports only a 1 MHz operating mode) transmitting to the AP, all available frequency bands may be considered busy even though a majority of the available frequency bands remains idle.

[0057] In the United States, the available frequency bands, which may be used by 802.11 ah, are from 902 MHz to 928 MHz In Korea, the available frequency bands are from 917.5 MHz to 923.5 MHz In Japan, the available frequency bands are from 916.5 MHz to 927.5 MHz The total bandwidth available for 802.11 ah is 6 MHz to 26 MHz depending on the country code.

[0058] FIG. 1D is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 104 and the CN 106 according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 104 may employ an NR radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 104 may also be in communication with the CN 106.

[0059] The RAN 104 may include gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c, though it will be appreciated that the RAN 104 may include any number of gNBs while remaining consistent with an embodiment. The gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may each include one or more transceivers for communicating with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. In one embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement MIMO technology. For example,gNBs 180a, 108b may utilize beamforming to transmit signals to and / or receive signals from the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c. Thus, the gNB 180a, for example, may use multiple antennas to transmit wireless signals to, and / or receive wireless signals from, the WTRU 102a. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement carrier aggregation technology. For example, the gNB 180a may transmit multiple component carriers to the WTRU 102a (not shown). A subset of these component carriers may be on unlicensed spectrum while the remaining component carriers may be on licensed spectrum. In an embodiment, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may implement Coordinated Multi-Point (CoMP) technology. For example, WTRU 102a may receive coordinated transmissions from gNB 180a and gNB 180b (and / or gNB 180c).

[0060] The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using transmissions associated with a scalable numerology. For example, the OFDM symbol spacing and / or OFDM subcarrier spacing may vary for different transmissions, different cells, and / or different portions of the wireless transmission spectrum. The WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using subframe or transmission time intervals (TTIs) of various or scalable lengths (e.g., containing a varying number of OFDM symbols and / or lasting varying lengths of absolute time).

[0061] The gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be configured to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c in a standalone configuration and / or a non-standalone configuration. In the standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c without also accessing other RANs (e.g., such as eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c). In the standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may utilize one or more of gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c as a mobility anchor point. In the standalone configuration, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c using signals in an unlicensed band. In a non-standalone configuration WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may communicate with / connect to gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c while also communicating with / connecting to another RAN such as eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c. For example, WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may implement DC principles to communicate with one or more gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c and one or more eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c substantially simultaneously. In the non- standalone configuration, eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c may serve as a mobility anchor for WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may provide additional coverage and / or throughput for servicing WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c.

[0062] Each of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may be associated with a particular cell (not shown) and may be configured to handle radio resource management decisions, handover decisions, scheduling of users in the UL and / or DL, support of network slicing, DC, interworking between NR and E-UTRA, routing of user plane data towards User Plane Function (UPF) 184a, 184b, routing of control plane information towards Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) 182a, 182b and the like. As shown in FIG. 1 D, the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c may communicate with one another over an Xn interface.

[0063] The CN 106 shown in FIG. 1 D may include at least one AMF 182a, 182b, at least one UPF 184a, 184b, at least one Session Management Function (SMF) 183a, 183b, and possibly a Data Network (DN)185a, 185b. While the foregoing elements are depicted as part of the CN 106, it will be appreciated that any of these elements may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0064] The AMF 182a, 182b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 104 via an N2 interface and may serve as a control node. For example, the AMF 182a, 182b may be responsible for authenticating users of the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c, support for network slicing (e.g., handling of different protocol data unit (PDU) sessions with different requirements), selecting a particular SMF 183a, 183b, management of the registration area, termination of non-access stratum (NAS) signaling, mobility management, and the like. Network slicing may be used by the AMF 182a, 182b in order to customize CN support for WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c based on the types of services being utilized WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c. For example, different network slices may be established for different use cases such as services relying on ultra-reliable low latency (URLLC) access, services relying on enhanced massive mobile broadband (eMBB) access, services for MTC access, and the like. The AMF 182a, 182b may provide a control plane function for switching between the RAN 104 and other RANs (not shown) that employ other radio technologies, such as LTE, LTE-A, LTE-A Pro, and / or non-3GPP access technologies such as Wi-Fi.

[0065] The SMF 183a, 183b may be connected to an AMF 182a, 182b in the CN 106 via an N11 interface. The SMF 183a, 183b may also be connected to a UPF 184a, 184b in the CN 106 via an N4 interface. The SMF 183a, 183b may select and control the UPF 184a, 184b and configure the routing of traffic through the UPF 184a, 184b. The SMF 183a, 183b may perform other functions, such as managing and allocating UE IP address, managing PDU sessions, controlling policy enforcement and QoS, providing DL data notifications, and the like. A PDU session type may be IP-based, non-IP based, Ethernet-based, and the like.

[0066] The UPF 184a, 184b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 104 via an N3 interface, which may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to packet-switched networks, such as the Internet 110, to facilitate communications between the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c and IP-enabled devices. The UPF 184, 184b may perform other functions, such as routing and forwarding packets, enforcing user plane policies, supporting multi-homed PDU sessions, handling user plane QoS, buffering DL packets, providing mobility anchoring, and the like.

[0067] The CN 106 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 106 may include, or may communicate with, an IP gateway (e.g., an IP multimedia subsystem (IMS) server) that serves as an interface between the CN 106 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 106 may provide the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c with access to the other networks 112, which may include other wired and / or wireless networks that are owned and / or operated by other service providers. In one embodiment, the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c may be connected to a local DN 185a, 185b through the UPF 184a, 184b via the N3 interface to the UPF 184a, 184b and an N6 interface between the UPF 184a, 184b and the DN 185a, 185b.

[0068] In view of FIGs. 1A-1 D, and the corresponding description of FIGs. 1A-1 D, one or more, or all, of the functions described herein with regard to one or more of: WTRU 102a-d, Base Station 114a-b, eNode-B160a-c, MME 162, SGW 164, PGW 166, gNB 180a-c, AMF 182a-b, UPF 184a-b, SMF 183a-b, DN 185a-b, and / or any other device(s) described herein, may be performed by one or more emulation devices (not shown). The emulation devices may be one or more devices configured to emulate one or more, or all, of the functions described herein. For example, the emulation devices may be used to test other devices and / or to simulate network and / or WTRU functions.

[0069] The emulation devices may be designed to implement one or more tests of other devices in a lab environment and / or in an operator network environment. For example, the one or more emulation devices may perform the one or more, or all, functions while being fully or partially implemented and / or deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network in order to test other devices within the communication network. The one or more emulation devices may perform the one or more, or all, functions while being temporarily implemented / deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network. The emulation device may be directly coupled to another device for purposes of testing and / or performing testing using over-the-air wireless communications.

[0070] The one or more emulation devices may perform the one or more, including all, functions while not being implemented / deployed as part of a wired and / or wireless communication network. For example, the emulation devices may be utilized in a testing scenario in a testing laboratory and / or a non-deployed (e.g., testing) wired and / or wireless communication network in order to implement testing of one or more components. The one or more emulation devices may be test equipment. Direct RF coupling and / or wireless communications via RF circuitry (e.g., which may include one or more antennas) may be used by the emulation devices to transmit and / or receive data.

[0071] Generally speaking, a device tethered to a WTRU is a device that communicates with the WTRU via a connection distinct from the RAN. The RAN, for example, may be part of a 5G network, and a device tethered to a WTRU may, for example, use a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi connection to communicate with the WTRU. Accordingly, an application running on the tethered device may use a tethered connection to send and / or receive data via the RAN. However, as used herein, “tethered” may be used more broadly to also encompass scenarios where an application is run on the WTRU itself. For example, a WTRU may include a mobile termination (MT) part and a terminal equipment (TE) part. The MT part may include logic or processing capabilities that may include radio transmission / signaling and reception. The TE part may offer services to the user of a WTRU and may include logic or processing capabilities for running applications and interfacing with applications that run on devices that are tethered to the WTRU. The TE and MT parts of the WTRU may communicate via an API using Attention (AT) commands. If an application runs on a device or WTRU, then it may be said that the device or WTRU hosts the application.

[0072] Examples of tethered links may include, for example: a communication link between a WTRU hosted application and the WTRU, a communication link between a WTRU hosted application and the WTRU where the WTRU hosted application runs in the TE part of the WTRU, and / or a communication link between a WTRUhosted application and the WTRU where the WTRU hosted application runs on a device that is separate from the WTRU. For example, the WTRU may be smartphone, and the WTRU hosted application may run on a device that communicates with the WTRU via a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi link.

[0073] A WTRU may provide connectivity for multiple applications, such as XR applications. Each application may receive streams of data that are part of PDU Sets. Applications that use a WTRU for connectivity may be hosted in the TE part of the WTRU or may be hosted devices that are tethered to the WTRU. For example, when using a VR application, a user may tether a VR headset (USB) and a haptic suite (Bluetooth) to the WTRU. Thus, the tethering scenarios can be generalized as a WTRU running multiple applications that support traffic sent in the form of PDU sets

[0074] When a WTRU receives data streams associated with different applications, it may be the case that each data stream contains PDU sets, and it may be the case that each data stream has the same QoS requirements. In such a scenario, the network may multiplex each data stream onto the same QoS flow. This may be desirable because the QoS framework of the 5G system was designed such that QoS flows are intended to carry traffic from service data flows (SDFs) that have similar QoS characteristics. Additionally, there is an overhead associated with using a higher number of QoS flows. For example, there is overhead associated with QoS monitoring, which is per QoS flow, at the user plane function (UPF) or Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG RAN) nodes. Also, if a network has multiple QoS flows with the same QoS characteristics, this may lead to unpredictable behavior during handover when the NG RAN needs to determine which QoS flows to accept or reject, and this may lead to unpredictable behavior when there are limited resources and the NG RAN has to determine which QoS flows to reject or pre-empt.

[0075] FIG. 2 illustrates an example signal path between a WTRU a hosted device and an external data network. The signal path between WTRU 102 and tethered device 210 may be a Bluetooth connection, a WiFi connection (212a), a USB interface (212b), or another interface that is not the Uu interface. That is, the signal path between the tethered device and the WTRU is a signal path that is not part of the RAN. The interface between WTRU 102 and RAN 104 may be via a Uu interface. The Uu interface facilitates the transmission of user data, control signaling, and various other types of information between the WTRU 102 and RAN 104. RAN 104 is illustrated for simplicity, and it should be appreciated by those skilled in the art that Uu interface may be an interface with a gNB, microcell, femtocell, picocell or the like. The signal path between RAN 104 and UPF 184 is via an N3 interface, and the interface between UPF 184 and data network 204 is via an N6 interface. Data network 204 may be a service provider data network, a private data network, the internet, or any other data network. Hosted application 202 may be running on WTRU 102 or may be an application on tethered device 210. Hosted application 202 communicates with application server 208 residing in data network 204. Application server 208 may not be aware that WTRU hosted application 202 is hosted on a tethered device 210, and that the associated traffic may incur a delay over the tethered connection.

[0076] Application Server 208 and hosted application 202 may use Session Description Protocol (SDP) signaling to negotiate the use of PDU Set markings. To negotiate the use of PDU Set markings may mean that the sender application (i.e. an AS or WTRU Hosted Application) can indicate to the receiver application (i.e. the other of the AS or WTRU Hosted Application) whether the sender supports adding PDU Set header extensions. This indication can be included in an SDP message.

[0077] Header fields may be associated with a PDU set. In some embodiments, a PDU set sequence number (PSSN) may be a header field that encodes the sequences number of the PDU set to which the current PDU belongs acting as a 10-bit numerical identifier for the PDU set.

[0078] The N6 interface may refer to the UPF interface used to send and receive PDUs. For example, the PDUs may be sent to and received from application server 208. The PDUs may be an IP or Ethernet format. An N6 traffic flow may be a series of PDUs that match the same packet detection rule (PDR) or SDF.

[0079] PDRs may contain information required to classify an uplink or downlink packet arriving at the UPF. The information that is used to detect a packet may include a source interface, WTRU IP address, network instance, core network tunnel information, packet filter set, application identifier, QoS Flow Identifier, ethernet PDU Session information, framed route information, fully qualified domain name (FQDN) filter for domain name system (DNS) query, or protocol description. The application identifier in a PDR may identify a packet flow description (PFD). A PDR may also include what QoS enforcement rules should be applied to the detected traffic. QoS enforcement rules (QERs) may include a QoS Flow ID that may be applied to the associated traffic and may indicate if the UPF should insert PDU set information related to downlink packets into a General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) Tunnelling Protocol User-Plane (GTP-U) header.

[0080] The SDP is an information encoding format that describes a multimedia session. Technological solutions described herein include enhancements to the SDP. The enhancements describe information that can be conveyed from a first multimedia session participant to a second multimedia session participant. The information can then be used by the multimedia session participants to configure a communication network for carrying data from the multimedia session and can be used by the multimedia session participants to configure the format of the data that is sent in the multimedia session. Examples of multimedia session participants may be WTRU hosted applications and Application Servers.

[0081] It should be noted that protocols other than SDP may be similarly enhanced to convey information from a first multimedia session participant to a second multimedia session participant so that the information can then be used by the multimedia session participants to configure a communication network for carrying data to and from the multimedia session and may be used by the multimedia session participants to configure the format of the data that is sent in the multimedia session. For example, the RTCP (Real-Time Transport Control Protocol) may be similarly enhanced.

[0082] The WTRU hosted application may perform a procedure to determine quality information about the tethered link between the WTRU hosted application and the WTRU, when the WTRU hosted application resideson a tethered device, or between the WTRU hosted application and the TE part of the WTRU. The quality information may relate to the quality of the tethered link. For example, the quality information that is determined may be a data delay value, jitter value, packet loss rate, and / or bitrate that is associated with traffic that is sent to or from the WTRU hosted application.

[0083] FIG. 3 is a diagram showing an example of the multiplexing of PDU sets from multiple applications in a single QoS flow. In the example illustrated in FIG. 3, WTRU 102 is hosting more than one application and receiving downlink data for the hosted applications. The data that is associated with each application is sent to WTRU 102 in the form of PDU sets 302a and 302b. As shown in FIG. 3, the data for the applications may be multiplexed onto a single QoS flow 304 by UPF 184 and sent from UPF 184 to RAN 104 (RAN Node). As described herein, the data from the applications may be multiplexed onto the same QoS flow because the traffic from the applications have the same, or similar, QoS requirements. As an example, applications that use the WTRU for connectivity may be hosted in the TE part of the WTRU or may be hosted devices that are tethered to the WTRU. For example, when using a VR application, the user may tether a VR headset (USB) and a haptic suite (Bluetooth) to the WTRU. Thus, the tethering scenarios can be generalized as a WTRU running multiple applications, 306a and 306b that support traffic sent in the form of PDU sets.

[0084] When WTRU 102 hosts an application that runs on a tethered device, there may be a non-negl igible delay experienced between the time WTRU 104 receives the data and the time the application receives the data. For example, if one of the applications, for example 306a, is hosted on a device that connects to a smartphone via a Bluetooth connection, the smartphone may provide the device connectivity to a communication network (RAN 104) via the Bluetooth connection. The communication network may be a 5G network, for example. When the smartphone receives downlink data, there may be a non-negligible delay experienced by the data between WTRU 102 and application 306a, for example, over the Bluetooth connection. 5G systems support application program interfaces (APIs) that allow an AS (208) to configure the QoS requirements of the data flows. However, AS 208 may not be aware that a WTRU application is hosted on a tethered device and that the associated traffic may therefore incur a delay over the tethered connection.

[0085] Signaling enhancements are described such that AS 208 may be made aware of the tethered delay, and this delay may be accounted for by AS 208 and the communication network, which, for example, may be 5G communication system. Embodiments described herein may enable delay offset between WTRU 102 and the tethered device to be calculated and used to enable timely delivery of data by accounting for the delay difference between the WTRU and the tethered devices.

[0086] In embodiments described herein, the RAN node can be configured with information about extra delays that may be incurred by a traffic flow after the traffic is transmitted by the RAN Node. For example, a traffic flow may incur significant delays after transmission by the RAN Node if the application that needs to receive the traffic is hosted on a device that is tethered to the WTRU. As an example, the application may run on a device that connects to the WTRU via Bluetooth or Wi-Fi, and the application may run on a remote WTRUthat communicates with the 5G system via the WTRU (e.g., if the WTRU is a relay WTRU). By making the RAN Node aware of the extra delays that may be incurred by a traffic flow after the traffic is transmitted by the RAN Node, the RAN Node may be able to make better decisions about how to prioritize the transmission of traffic flows that it receives for the WTRU and other WTRUs. The RAN node may calculate a delay value of the one or more PDUs or one or more PDU sets according to at least one of: the RAT, the data delay value, the jitter value, the packet loss rate, or the bitrate. In addition, the RAN node may receive at least one PDU associated with at least one other QoS flow associated with traffic for an application that is running on a device other than the tethered device, and the transceiver and the processor are further configured to map the at least one other QoS flow to a lower priority DRB

[0087] As used herein, the term RAN node may apply to a base station or network node that controls multiple base stations, for example. The terms RAN Node, NG-RAN, and NG-RAN node may be used interchangeably herein. One of ordinary skill in the art will understand that concepts described herein as being performed by a RAN Node may apply equally to other nodes that interface to access networks, such as N3IWF or TNGF.

[0088] FIG. 4 is a signal diagram showing an example delay offset calculation procedure for tethered devices. In the example illustrated in FIG. 4, at 422 WTRU hosted application 404 may receive a session description protocol (SDP) message from AS 420. The SDP message may indicate that AS 420 supports sending data with PDU set header extensions. The SDP message may also indicate that that AS 420 supports receiving an external identifier of WTRU 402 and that AS 420 supports receiving information about data quality that is associated with traffic that is sent to or from WTRU hosted application 404. FIG. 4 shows that WTRU hosted application 404 runs in the terminal equipment (TE) part 406 of WTRU 402. Alternatively, or additionally, as shown in dashed lines in FIG. 4, WTRU hosted application 404 may run on an external device 450 that is tethered to WTRU 402. For example, a Bluetooth device may be tethered to WTRU 402.

[0089] At 424, WTRU hosted application 404 may perform a procedure to determine quality information about tethered link between the WTRU hosted application 404 and WTRU 402 when WTRU hosted application 404 resides on a tethered device 450, or between WTRU hosted application 404 and the MT part 408 of the WTRU 402. The quality information relates to the quality of the tethered link. For example, the quality information determined may be a data delay value, jitter value, packet loss rate, and bitrate that is associated with traffic that is sent to or from WTRU hosted application 404.

[0090] The quality information may be determined based on a tethering configuration that is configured in WTRU hosted application 404 or received from the AS 420. For example, it may be expected that an application that is hosted on a Bluetooth device is associated with a certain data delay value, jitter value, packet loss, and bitrate. Additionally or alternatively, the quality information may be determined based on traffic characteristics that are associated with WTRU hosted application 404, for example, it may be expected that an applicationthat sends or receives certain types of video traffic is associated with a certain data delay value, jitter value, packet loss, and bitrate.

[0091] The quality information may be received by WTRU hosted application 404 from MT part 408 from the WTRU 402. For example, the MT part 408 of WTRU 402 may indicate a delay value to expected on the link, or the MT part 408 of WTRU 402 may indicate quality information expected on the link. The quality information may be based on a calculation procedure that is performed between the WTRU hosted application 404, for example in a Bluetooth device, and / or a client in TE part 406 of WTRU 402. Additionally or alternatively, the quality information may be based on a calculation procedure that is performed between the WTRU hosted application 404 and the MT part 408 of the WTRU 402. The quality information may also be based on multiple calculations that were previously performed by WTRU hosted application 404. For example, the quality information may be an average of calculations that were performed or received by the WTRU hosted application 404.

[0092] At 426 WTRU hosted application 404 may send the determined Quality information to the MT part 408 of WTRU 402. Then MT part 408 of WTRU 402 may use the information when considering how to schedule uplink traffic that originated at WTRU hosted application 404 and is to be transmitted to the communication network, such as a 5G network. For example, since traffic from WTRU hosted application 404 may incur delays over the tethered link, the MT part 408 of the WTRU 402 may prioritize the transmission of traffic that is associated with WTRU hosted application 404. Prioritizing traffic that is associated with the WTRU hosted application 404 may mean transmitting the traffic before other traffic that is received by MT part 408 at an earlier time.

[0093] At 428, WTRU hosted application 404 may send an SDP message to AS 420. If AS 420 indicates that it supports receiving an External Identifier of WTRU 402 and that it supports receiving quality information associated with traffic that is sent to or from WTRU hosted application 404, then the SDP message may include the External ID of WTRU 402 and quality information.

[0094] The quality information may indicate an estimate of the delay that WTRU hosted application 404 expects to be incurred between the time WTRU 402 receives a packet and the time WTRU hosted application 404 receives the packet. Alternatively, the delay value may indicate an estimate of the delay that WTRU hosted application 404 expects to be incurred between the time it sends a packet and the time when WTRU 402 transmits the packet. This delay may be non-negligible, especially if WTRU hosted application 452 runs on device 450 that is tethered to WTRU 402 For example, WTRU hosted application 404 may run on device 450 that connects to WTRU 402 via a Bluetooth connection. Alternatively, the message may indicate only that WTRU hosted application 452 runs on tethered device 450. The additional delay value may be preconfigured in WTRU hosted application 404 or calculated by WTRU hosted application 404 based on interaction with the WTRU 402, for example based on a speed test message exchange with WTRU 402.

[0095] The SDP message may include additional assistance information. For example, additional assistance information may indicate WTRU hosted application 452 is hosted on tethered device 450 or is not hosted on tethered device 450. Additional assistance information may, for example, indicate the type of radio access technology that the device that WTRU hosted application 452 runs on uses to communicate with WTRU 402. This may, for example be a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi radio access. This additional delay value may also indicate the jitter introduced by the application and / or network, for example, due to network congestion, improper implementation of packet prioritization, interference from other components, poor hardware performance, etc.

[0096] WTRU hosted application 404 may additionally include in the SDP message a set of values that the additional delay can take. For example, if tethered device 450 is moving relative to WTRU 402, the additional delay can take different values. As an example, tethered device 450 may be VR glasses and the user wearing them may be moving in a room while the WTRU 402 is at a fixed location on a table.

[0097] At 430, AS 420 uses the quality information and additional assistance information to determine and make adjustments needed at the application layer, for example codec settings changes. AS 420 may determine a QoS Reference or individual QoS parameters based on the quality information and additional assistance information. The QoS parameters or QoS Reference may be based on the codec settings which are in turn based on the quality information.

[0098] AS 420 may invoke an API of the Nnef_AFsessionWithQoS Service at 432. AS 420 may indicate that the flow, which is associated with WTRU hosted application 452 residing on tethered device 450 and is associated with an additional delay value. Each tethered device may be associated with a certain additional delay value. AS 420 may then indicate the tethered device 450 device ID the flow resides on, from which the delay values may be derived. Additionally, AS 420 may provide a set of values for the additional delay, which are values that the additional delay may take. These values may be represented by an index (e.g., an integer value), and the mapping between the delay value and the index may be provided by AS 420 to NEF 418, which may, for example, be a 5G core network (5GC).

[0099] NEF 418 may invoke an API of the Npcf_PolicyAuthorization service at 434 to provide the information that was received from AS 420 at 428 to PCF 416. At 436, PCF 416 may build policy and charging (PCC) rules. The PCC rules may indicate that certain SDFs are associated with an additional delay value and / or associated with an application that is hosted on tethered device 450. Additionally, if the PCF was provided with multiple additional delay values, for example, delay values for the tethered device 450 to WTRU 402, the PCC may build a set of PCC rules, and each rule may include a different value for the additional delay and may include the corresponding index value.

[0100] SMF 414 may receive the PCC Rules at 438 and may use the PCC rules to build QoS profiles at 440. The QoS profiles may include an indication that certain SDFs are associated with an additional delay value and / or associated with an application that is hosted on tethered device 450. Additionally or alternatively, SMF 414 may build, for a specific SDF, multiple QoS profiles where each QoS profile has a different value forthe additional delay corresponding to the PCC rule provided to SMF 414. The QoS profiles may include the index value that corresponds to the PCC rule associated with that index value. Additionally or alternatively, SMF 414 may build QoS rules for the SDF including the information of the additional delay value. In the case where multiple additional delay values provided, SMF 414 may generate a set QoS rules for the SDF forWTRU 402, including a different value of the additional delay with its corresponding index.

[0101] SMF 414 may send the QoS profiles to the RAN node 410 at 442. RAN node 410 may use the indication that certain SDFs are associated with additional quality information and associated with hosted application 452 on tethered device 450 when making scheduling decisions at 444. For example, the RAN node 410 may choose to prioritize the transmission of traffic that is associated with an additional delay value over the transmission of traffic that is not associated with an additional delay value. RAN node 410, for example at the service data adaptation protocol (SDAP) layer, may map the QoS flow associated with an additional delay value, and / or associated with application hosted 452 on tethered device 450, to a higher priority data radio bearer (DRB) to ensure the PDU set delay budget (PSDB) is met. As an example, the additional delay value may also be used by RAN node 410 when calculating the delay value of a PDU set. The access network (AN) PSDB, for example, may be determined by subtracting both the additional delay value and the core network (CN) PSDB from the PSDB. The additional delay value may be used by RAN node 410 when calculating the delay value of a PDU.

[0102] In some embodiments, RAN node 410 may use the quality information to determine connected mode discontinuous reception (CDRX) settings for WTRU 402. CDRX settings may include timer values. For example, a relatively small jitter value in the quality information may lead RAN node 410 to configure WTRU 402 to sleep for a longer period of time than a relatively large jitter value. Additionally or alternatively, when WTRU 402 is exchanging traffic with AS 420, if WTRU 402 is configured to calculate the delay between tethered device 450 and WTRU 402, and if WTRU 402 detects a change in the value of the additional delay, WTRU 402 can notify RAN 410 that that a new additional delay value should be considered by providing the index of the corresponding delay value. In this case, RAN 410 may select the QoS profile with the index value that is newly received from WTRU 402. This way, RAN 410 may quickly adapt to tethered link delay changes if AS 420 provides or provided multiple values for the additional delay.

[0103] Based on the PCC rules that were received at 438, SMF 414 may be triggered to send a configuration message to WTRU 402 at 446. The message may indicate that WTRU 402 may use the quality information received from WTRU hosted application 404, in TE part 406 of the application or on tethered device 450, for scheduling traffic between tethered device 450 / WTRU hosted application 404 and MT part 408 of WTRU 402 when prioritizing transmissions. In other words, this message may indicate to WTRU 402 that it may use the information that was received at 426 to consider how to prioritize uplink traffic.

[0104] Upon receiving data for WTRU hosted application 404 or for tethered device 450, WTRU 402 or MT part 408 may perform scheduling at 448 based on the received quality information at 426. For example, WTRU402 or MT part 408 may ensure that all WTRU hosted applications that run on tethered devices receive interrelated data at a similar time. For example, MT part 408 may prioritize traffic that comes from applications that run on tethered devices. WTRU 402 may use quality information for scheduling traffic or prioritizing traffic, for both uplink and downlink.

[0105] FIG. 5 is a flow diagram of an example process 500 of delay-aware scheduling for PDU set flows implemented in a network node. In the example illustrated in FIG. 5, at 502 the network node may receive a message containing an indication of at least one of a QoS flow for a WTRU, the at least one of a QoS flow associated with traffic sent to or received from a tethered device. As an example, the message may be a QoS profile configuration message, and the QoS profile configuration message may include information indicating at least one of a radio access technology (RAT), a data delay value, a jitter value, a packet loss rate, ora bitrate associated with the WTRU and the tethered device.

[0106] At 504, the network node may receive one or more PDUs associated with the at least one QoS flow, and at 506, the network node may prioritize transmission of the received one or more PDUs over PDUs associated other QoS flow(s) based on the one or more PDUs being associated with the tethered device. The process may include calculating a delay value of the one or more PDUs or one or more PDU sets according to at least one of: the RAT, the data delay value, the jitter value, the packet loss rate, or the bitrate. In an example embodiment, the QoS profile configuration message includes a plurality of QoS profiles, each QoS profile of the plurality of QoS profiles having a different data delay value. Additionally or alternatively, the process may include receiving an index corresponding to a new data delay value from the WTRU based on a change in delay between the WTRU and the tethered device, and selecting one of the plurality of QoS profiles that includes the new data delay value corresponding to the index received from the WTRU.

[0107] In an exemplary embodiment, the tethered device may be at least one of a terminal equipment (TE) part of the WTRU or a remote device that is configured to communicate with the WTRU via a communication link different from a radio access network interface between the network node and the WTRU. The network node may be a RAN node. The process may further include prioritizing transmission of the one or more PDUs associated with the tethered device by mapping the one or more PDUs to a data radio bearer (DRB) with a higher priority than a DRB for PDUs not associated with the tethered device.

[0108] Although features and elements are described above in particular combinations, one of ordinary skill in the art will appreciate that each feature or element can be used alone or in any combination with the other features and elements. In addition, the methods described herein may be implemented in a computer program, software, or firmware incorporated in a computer-readable medium for execution by a computer or processor. Examples of computer-readable media include electronic signals (transmitted over wired or wireless connections) and computer-readable storage media. Examples of computer-readable storage media include, but are not limited to, a read only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a register, cache memory, semiconductor memory devices, magnetic media such as internal hard disks and removable disks, magneto-optical media, and optical media such as CD-ROM disks, and digital versatile disks (DVDs). A processor in association with software may be used to implement a radio frequency transceiver for use in a WTRU, UE, terminal, base station, RNC, or any host computer.

Claims

CLAIMSWhat is Claimed:

1. A network node comprising: a transceiver; and a processor, wherein the transceiver and the processor are configured to: receive a message including first information that indicates at least one quality of service (QoS) flow for a wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU), the at least one QoS flow associated with traffic sent to or received from a tethered device; receive one or more protocol data units (PDUs) associated with the at least one QoS flow; and prioritize transmission of the received one or more PDUs over PDUs associated with other QoS flows based on the one or more PDUs being associated with the tethered device.

2. The network node according to claim 1 , wherein the message is a QoS profile configuration message.

3. The network node according to claim 2, wherein the QoS profile configuration message further includes second information indicating at least one of a radio access technology (RAT), a data delay value, a jitter value, a packet loss rate, or a bitrate associated with the WTRU and the tethered device.

4. The network node according to claim 3, wherein the transceiver and the processor are further configured to calculate a delay value of the one or more PDUs or one or more PDU sets according to at least one of: the RAT, the data delay value, the jitter value, the packet loss rate, or the bitrate.

5. The network node according to claim 4, wherein: the QoS profile configuration message includes a plurality of QoS profiles, each QoS profile of the plurality of QoS profiles having a different data delay value, the transceiver and the processor are further configured to receive an index corresponding to a new data delay value from the WTRU based on a change in delay between the WTRU and the tethered device, and the transceiver and the processor are further configured to select one of the plurality of QoS profiles that includes the new data delay value corresponding to the index received from the WTRU.

6. The network node according to claim 1 , wherein the tethered device is at least one of a terminal equipment (TE) part of the WTRU or a remote device that is configured to communicate with the WTRU via a communication link different from a radio access network interface between the network node and the WTRU.

7. The network node according to claim 6, wherein the transceiver and the processor are configured to prioritize transmission of the one or more PDUs associated with the tethered device by mapping the one ormore PDUs to a data radio bearer (DRB) with a higher priority than a DRB for PDUs not associated with the tethered device.

8. The network node according to claim 7, wherein: the transceiver and the processor are further configured to receive at least one PDU associated with at least one other QoS flow associated with traffic for an application that is running on a device other than the tethered device, and the transceiver and the processor are further configured to map the at least one other QoS flow to a lower priority DRB.

9. The network node according to claim 4, wherein the transceiver and the processor are further configured to: determine at least one connected mode discontinuous reception (CDRX) timer value for the WTRU based at least on the second information in the QoS profile configuration message, and transmit the determined at least one CDRX timer value to the WTRU.

10. The network node according to claim 1 , wherein the network node is a radio access network (RAN) node.

11. A method, implemented in a network node, the method comprising: receiving a message including first information that indicates at least one quality of service (QoS) flow for a wireless transmit / receive unit (WTRU), the at least one QoS flow associated with traffic sent to or received from a tethered device; receiving one or more protocol data units (PDU)s associated with the at least one QoS flow; and prioritizing transmission of the received one or more PDUs over PDUs associated with other QoS flows based on the one or more PDUs being associated with the tethered device.

12. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the message is a QoS profile configuration message.

13. The method according to claim 12, wherein the QoS profile configuration message further includes second information indicating at least one of a radio access technology (RAT), a data delay value, a jitter value, a packet loss rate, or a bitrate associated with the WTRU and the tethered device.

14. The method according to claim 13, further comprising calculating a delay value of the one or more PDUs or one or more PDU sets according to at least one of: the RAT, the data delay value, the jitter value, the packet loss rate, or the bitrate.

15. The method according to claim 14, wherein: the QoS profile configuration message includes a plurality of QoS profiles, each QoS profile of the plurality of QoS profiles having a different data delay value.

16. The method according to claim 15, further comprising: receiving an index corresponding to a new data delay value from the WTRU based on a change in delay between the WTRU and the tethered device, and selecting one of the plurality of QoS profiles that includes the new data delay value corresponding to the index received from the WTRU .

17. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the tethered device is at least one of a terminal equipment (TE) part of the WTRU or a remote device that is configured to communicate with the WTRU via a communication link different from a radio access network interface between the network node and the WTRU.

18. The method according to claim 17, further comprising prioritizing transmission of the one or more PDUs associated with the tethered device by mapping the one or more PDUs to a data radio bearer (DRB) with a higher priority than a DRB for PDUs not associated with the tethered device.

19. The method according to claim 14, further comprising: determining at least one connected mode discontinuous reception (CDRX) timer value for the WTRU based at least on the second information in the QoS profile configuration message, and transmitting the determined at least one CDRX timer value to the WTRU.

20. The method according to claim 11 , wherein the network node is a radio access network (RAN) node.

Images