Dl pdu sets with atsss

Abstract

A UPF receives a PDU set. The UPF may send a first group of PDUs in the PDU set to a RAN node. The UPF may send to a non-3GPP node PDU set information comprising a size of a second group of PDUs in the PDU set and direction to provide a report. The UPF may send the second group of PDUs to the non-3GPP node. The UPF may send notification information to the RAN node. The notification information may comprise an indication of PDU sequence numbers associated with PDUs comprised in the second group and information indicating the size of the second group. The UPF may receive a report from the non-3GPP node. The report may indicate whether or not PDUs in the second group were received at the non-3GPP node. The UPF may send the report to the RAN node which may use the report in configuration processing.

Description

DL PDU SETS WITH ATSSSCROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0001] This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 63 / 531,957, filed August 10, 2023, the contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.BACKGROUND

[0002] Mobile communications using wireless communication continue to evolve. A fifth generation of mobile communication radio access technology (RAT) may be referred to as 5G new radio (NR). A previous (legacy) generation of mobile communication RAT may be, for example, fourth generation (4G) long term evolution (LTE).SUMMARY

[0003] Systems, methods, and instrumentalities are disclosed for sending downlink (DL) protocol data unit (PDU) sets using access traffic steering, switching, and splitting (ATSSS).

[0004] A computing system, which may comprise, for example, a user plane function (UPF), may receive an indication that a PDU session involves two access legs. The indication that a PDU session involves two access legs may be received via N4 rules that indicate the PDU session involves two access legs.

[0005] The computing system may receive XRM PDUs. The received XRM PDUs may comprise pluralities of PDUs including a PDU set.

[0006] The computing system may send a first group of PDUs in the PDU set to a RAN node. The computing system may determine to send the first group of PDUs based upon the received N4 rules. The computing system may also send to the RAN node a group size associated with the first group of PDUs.

[0007] The computing system may send PDU set information to a non-3GGP node, e.g., a non-3GPP interworking function. The PDU set information may comprise an indication of a size of a second group of PDUs in the PDU set and an indication to provide a report. The PDU set information may further comprise an indication that other PDUs of the PDU set have been sent via another access leg, e.g., via the RAN node. The computing system may send the second group of PDUs to the non-3GPP node.

[0008] The computing system may send notification information to the RAN node. The notification information may comprise information indicating PDU sequence numbers associated with PDUs comprised in the second group of PDUs and information indicating the size of the second group of PDUs. The notification information may further comprise an indication that a successful delivery notification associated with the delivery of the second group of PDUs may be sent to the RAN node if the second group of PDUs is successfully delivered. The notification information may also comprise an indication that an end-of-d ata- burst (EOB) indication is associated with the second group of PDUs.

[0009] The computing system may receive a report from the non-3GPP node. The report may indicate whether or not PDUs in the second set of PDUs were received at the non-3GPP node. For example, the report may indicate that all PDUs in the second group of PDUs were received.

[0010] The computing system may send information in the report to the RAN node, which may use the information in the report in configuration processing.

[0011] The non-3GPP node computing system may be configured to receive PDU set information from the UPF which may be comprised in a 3GPP core network node. The PDU set information may comprise an indication of a size of a second group of PDUs in the PDU set and an indication to provide a report. The PDU set information may further comprise an indication that other PDUs of the PDU set have been sent via another access leg, e.g., via the RAN node.

[0012] The non-3GPP node computing system may receive the second group of PDUs from the UPF. The non-3GPP computing system may generate a report comprising an indication of whether or not PDUs in the second set of PDUs were received at the non-3GPP computing system. For example, the report may indicate that all PDUs in the second group of PDUs have been received. The non-3GPP computing system may send the report to the UPF or to a 3GPP RAN node.

[0013] The non-3GPP node computing system may send the second group of PDUs to a wireless transmit and receive unit (WTRU).

[0014] The 3GPP RAN node computing system may be configured to receive the first group of PDUs in a PDU set from the UPF.

[0015] The 3GPP RAN node computing system may receive the notification information from the UPF executing on a 3GPP core network node. The notification information may comprise information indicating PDU sequence numbers associated with PDUs comprised in a second group of PDUs and information indicating the size of the second group of PDUs. The notification information may further comprise an indication that asuccessful delivery notification associated with the delivery of the second group of PDUs may be sent to the RAN node if the second group of PDUs is successfully delivered. The notification information may also comprise an indication that an end-of-data-burst (EOB) indication is associated with the second group of PDUs.

[0016] The 3GPP RAN node computing system may receive information from the report comprising an indication of whether or not PDUs in the second set of PDUs were received at the non-3GPP node computing system. For example, the information from the report may indicate that all PDUs in the second group of PDUs were received at a non-3GPP computing system.

[0017] The 3GPP RAN node computing system may determine, based on the report, configuration processing. The configuration processing may comprise determining WTRU connected DRX mode settings based on the report. The configuration processing may further comprise determining error rate calculations based on the report.BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0018] FIG. 1A is a system diagram illustrating an example communications system in which one or more disclosed embodiments may be implemented.

[0019] 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. 1 A according to an embodiment.

[0020] FIG. 1 C 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. 1 A according to an embodiment.

[0021] 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. 1 A according to an embodiment.

[0022] FIG. 2 depicts a diagram of example processing for using the PDU Set feature with the ATSSS feature.DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0023] A more detailed understanding may be had from the following description, given by way of example in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0024] 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 accesssystem 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), single-carrier FDMA (SC-FDMA), zero-tail unique-word DFT-Spread OFDM (ZT UW DTS-s OFDM), unique word OFDM (UW-OFDM), resource block-filtered OFDM, filter bank multicarrier (FBMC), and the like.

[0025] As shown in FIG. 1A, the communications system 100 may include wireless transmit / receive units (WTRUs) 102a, 102b, 102c, 102d, a RAN 104 / 113, a ON 106 / 115, a public switched telephone network (PSTN) 108, the I nternet 110, and other networks 112, though it will be appreciated that the disclosed embodiments contemplate any number of WTRUs, base stations, networks, and / or network elements. 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” and / or a “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.

[0026] 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 / 115, 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 Node-B, an eNode B, a Home Node B, a Home eNode B, a gNB, a 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.

[0027] The base station 114a may be part of the RAN 104 / 113, 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, etc. 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.

[0028] 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).

[0029] 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 / 113 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 115 / 116 / 117 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 UL Packet Access (HSUPA).

[0030] 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).

[0031] 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 New Radio (NR).

[0032] 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 mayimplement 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).

[0033] 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 (WiFi), 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.

[0034] The base station 114b in FIG. 1 A 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 shown in 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 / 115.

[0035] The RAN 104 / 113 may be in communication with the CN 106 / 115, 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 / 115 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 / 113 and / or the CN 106 / 115 may be in direct or indirect communication with other RANs that employ the same RAT as the RAN 104 / 113 or a different RAT. For example, in addition to being connected to the RAN 104 / 113, which may be utilizing a NR radiotechnology, the CN 106 / 115 may also be in communication with another RAN (not shown) employing a GSM, UMTS, CDMA 2000, WiMAX, E-UTRA, or WiFi radio technology.

[0036] The CN 106 / 115 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 / 113 or a different RAT.

[0037] 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. 1 A 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.

[0038] FIG. 1 B 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.

[0039] 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 more microprocessors in association with a DSP core, a controller, a microcontroller, Application Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) circuits, 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. 1 B 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.

[0040] 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.

[0041] Although the transmit / receive element 122 is depicted in FIG. 1 B 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.

[0042] 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.

[0043] 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).

[0044] 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 moredry cell bateries (e.g, nickel-cadmium (NiCd), nickel-zinc (NiZn), nickel metal hydride (NiMH), lithium-ion (Li- ion), etc.), solar cells, fuel cells, and the like.

[0045] 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.

[0046] 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, and / or a humidity sensor.

[0047] 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 downlink (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 WRTU 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 downlink (e.g, for reception)).

[0048] FIG. 1 C 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.

[0049] 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.

[0050] 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.

[0051] 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 (or PGW) 166. While each of 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.

[0052] The MME 162 may be connected to each of the eNode-Bs 160a, 160b, 160c 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.

[0053] 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.

[0054] 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.

[0055] 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 communicationsdevices. 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.

[0056] 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.

[0057] In representative embodiments, the other network 112 may be a WLAN.

[0058] 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 an 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 802.11 z tunneled DLS (TDLS). A WLAN using an Independent BSS (I BSS) mode may not have an AP, and the STAs (e.g., all of the STAs) within or using the I BSS may communicate directly with each other. The I BSS mode of communication may sometimes be referred to herein as an “ad-hoc” mode of communication.

[0059] 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 via signaling. 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 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.

[0060] 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.

[0061] 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 on each 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).

[0062] Sub 1 GHz modes of operation are supported by 802.11af and 802.11 ah. The channel operating bandwidths, and carriers, are reduced in 802.11 af and 802.11 ah relative to those used in 802.11 n, and802.11 ac. 802.11 af supports 5 MHz, 10 MHz and 20 MHz bandwidths in the TV White Space (TVWS) spectrum, and 802.11 ah supports 1 MHz, 2 MHz, 4 MHz, 8 MHz, and 16 MHz bandwidths using non-TVWS spectrum. According to a representative embodiment, 802.11 ah may support Meter Type Control / Machine- Type Communications, 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).

[0063] WLAN systems, which may support multiple channels, and channel bandwidths, such as 802.11 n,802.11 ac, 802.11 af, and 802.11 ah, 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 STAs 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 of802.11 ah, 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 aSTA (which supports only a 1 MHz operating mode), transmitting to the AP, the entire available frequency bands may be considered busy even though a majority of the frequency bands remains idle and may be available.

[0064] 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.

[0065] FIG. 1 D is a system diagram illustrating the RAN 113 and the CN 115 according to an embodiment. As noted above, the RAN 113 may employ an NR radio technology to communicate with the WTRUs 102a, 102b, 102c over the air interface 116. The RAN 113 may also be in communication with the CN 115.

[0066] The RAN 113 may include gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c, though it will be appreciated that the RAN 113 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).

[0067] 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 varying number of OFDM symbols and / or lasting varying lengths of absolute time).

[0068] 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.

[0069] 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, dual connectivity, 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.

[0070] The CN 115 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 each of the foregoing elements are depicted as part of the CN 115, it will be appreciated that any of these elements may be owned and / or operated by an entity other than the CN operator.

[0071] The AMF 182a, 182b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 113 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 PDU sessions with different requirements), selecting a particular SMF 183a, 183b, management of the registration area, termination of 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 machine type communication (MTC) access, and / or the like. The AMF 162 may provide a control plane function for switchingbetween the RAN 113 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 WiFi.

[0072] The SMF 183a, 183b may be connected to an AMF 182a, 182b in the CN 115 via an N11 interface. The SMF 183a, 183b may also be connected to a UPF 184a, 184b in the CN 115 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 downlink data notifications, and the like. A PDU session type may be IP-based, non-IP based, Ethernet-based, and the like.

[0073] The UPF 184a, 184b may be connected to one or more of the gNBs 180a, 180b, 180c in the RAN 113 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 downlink packets, providing mobility anchoring, and the like.

[0074] The CN 115 may facilitate communications with other networks. For example, the CN 115 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 115 and the PSTN 108. In addition, the CN 115 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 Data Network (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.

[0075] In view of Figures 1A-1D, and the corresponding description of Figures 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-B 160a-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.

[0076] 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 awired 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 may perform testing using over-the-air wireless communications.

[0077] 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 testing 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.

[0078] Reference to “one example” or “an example” or “one implementation” or “an implementation”, as well as other variations thereof, means that a particular feature, structure, characteristic, and so forth described in connection with the example is included in at least one example. Thus, the appearances of the phrase “in one example” or “in an example” or “in one implementation” or “in an implementation”, as well any other variations, appearing in various places throughout this application are not necessarily all referring to the same example.

[0079] Additionally, this application may refer to “determining” various pieces of information. Determining the information can include one or more of, for example, estimating the information, calculating the information, predicting the information, or retrieving the information from memory. Obtaining may include receiving, retrieving, constructing, generating, and / or determining.

[0080] Further, this application may refer to “accessing” various pieces of information. Accessing the information can include one or more of, for example, receiving the information, retrieving the information (for example, from memory), storing the information, moving the information, copying the information, calculating the information, determining the information, predicting the information, or estimating the information.

[0081] Additionally, this application may refer to “receiving” various pieces of information. Receiving is, as with “accessing”, intended to be a broad term. Receiving the information can include one or more of, for example, accessing the information, or retrieving the information (for example, from memory). Further, “receiving” is typically involved, in one way or another, during operations such as, for example, storing the information, processing the information, transmitting the information, moving the information, copying theinformation, erasing the information, calculating the information, determining the information, predicting the information, or estimating the information.

[0082] It is to be appreciated that the use of any of the following 7”, “and / or”, and “at least one of”, for example, in the cases of “A / B”, “A and / or B” and “at least one of A and B”, is intended to encompass the selection of the first listed option (A) only, or the selection of the second listed option (B) only, or the selection of both options (A and B). As a further example, in the cases of “A, B, and / or C” and “at least one of A, B, and C”, such phrasing is intended to encompass the selection of the first listed option (A) only, or the selection of the second listed option (B) only, or the selection of the third listed option (C) only, or the selection of the first and the second listed options (A and B) only, or the selection of the first and third listed options (A and C) only, or the selection of the second and third listed options (B and C) only, or the selection of all three options (A and B and C). This may be extended, as is clear to one of ordinary skill in this and related arts, for as many items as are listed.

[0083] A UPF may be configured to route extended and multimodal reality (XRM) traffic within a MA PDU Session that supports a PDU Set feature over one leg, e.g., a RAN node, and over the second leg, e.g, a non- 3GPP node. The UPF may be configured to send a notification to the first leg, e.g., the RAN node, that a second portion of PDUs of a PDU Set is being sent over the second leg, e.g., the non-3GPP access node, if a first portion of PDUs of the same PDU Set were sent over the first leg, e.g., the RAN node.

[0084] The notification may include information including sequence numbers and group size for the PDUs in the PDU set that are to be sent over the second leg, e.g., the non-3GPP access. The notification information may also include an indication that a report of successful delivery of the second portion of PDUs may be sent by the non-3GPP access. The notification information may include an indication that an End-of-Data-Burst indication was sent in the second portion of PDUs.

[0085] The second access node, which may be a non-3GPP access node such as, for example, a N3I WF, may receive the second portion of PDUs of a PDU Set. The N3IWF may also receive PDU Set information indicating a report regarding delivery of PDUs may be, e.g, is requested (e.g, is required) to be, sent. The N3IWF may have been configured beforehand to detect successful reception and delivery to a WTRU of PDUs of a PDU Set.

[0086] The N3I WF may generate a delivery report and send it to the UPF or directly to the RAN node using N2 signaling.

[0087] The first leg, e.g . , a RAN node, may use the information in the delivery report to make processing decisions, such as configuring WTRU’s connected DRX mode setting, and QoS handling of the received PDUs of the PDU Set.

[0088] A user plane function (UPF) may be configured with a Multi-Access PDU Set supported PDU Session to configure information relating to PDU splitting, notifying access nodes, and forwarding a delivery report. A UPF may be configured to perform, for example, the following items.

[0089] In a first example item, which may correspond to implementations described in connection with FIG. 2 at reference 2, a UPF may receive N4 rules from a Session Management Function (SMF) regarding Extended and Multimodal Reality (XRM) traffic that may be carried within a PDU Session, which may be a Multi-Access PDU Session wherein the PDU Set feature is supported.

[0090] In a second example item, which may correspond to implementations described in connection with FIG. 2 at references 4 and 5a, the UPF may receive XRM PDU Set traffic. The UPF may receive a first number of PDUs of a PDU Set.

[0091] In a third example item, which may correspond to implementations described in connection with FIG. 2 at reference 5a, the UPF may determine based on information in the corresponding N4 rules to send the PDUs to the WTRU over the first leg of a Multi-Access PDU Session. This leg may be connected via a RAN node or a non-3GPP node, e.g., a Non-3GPP Interworking Function (N3IWF).

[0092] In a fourth item, which may correspond to implementations described in connection with FIG. 2 at reference 5b, the UPF may send a first portion of PDUs of the PDU Set to the first access leg and may include PDU Set information in the PDUs sent over this first leg. The included information may include PDU sequence number, PDU Set size, PDU Set importance, a combination thereof, and or the like. The information may be sent in a GTP-U header of each PDU or may be sent in some of the PDUs (e.g., the first PDU of the PDU Set sent over the first leg).

[0093] In a fifth item, which may correspond to implementations described in connection with FIG. 2 at reference 5c, the UPF may receive a second number of PDUs of the same PDU Set.

[0094] In a sixth item, which may correspond to implementations described in connection with FIG. 2 at reference 5c, the UPF may determine, based on N4 rules, to send the second number of PDUs of the PDU Set over the second access leg. This leg may be connected via a RAN node or a non-3GPP node, e.g., a N3IWF.

[0095] In a seventh item, which may correspond to implementations described in connection with FIG. 2 at reference 5c, the UPF may send a second portion of PDUs of the same PDU Set over the second leg and mayinclude PDU Set information in the PDUs sent over this second leg. The information may include a PDU sequence number, a PDU Set size, a PDU Set importance, and so on. This information may be sent in the GTP-U header of each PDU or some of the PDUs (e.g., the first PDU of the PDU Set sent over the second leg).

[0096] The sent information may also include information identifying a group size of PDUs to send over this second access leg. This information may include an indication that some PDUs of this PDU Set may have been sent via another access. Added to this indication may be information about PDU sequence numbers of the PDUs sent over the other leg, the size of this group of PDUs, and an indication of whether a successful delivery notification may be expected for this group of PDUs.

[0097] In an eighth item, which may correspond to implementations described in connection with FIG. 2 at reference 5d, the UPF may send information providing an indication or notification to the first access leg regarding the second number of PDUs of the PDU Set. The sent information sent may indicate or include information regarding the PDU sequence numbers within the PDU Set that may be sent over the second leg. The sent information sent may indicate or include information regarding the size of the group of PDUs sent over the second leg access for the PDU Set. The information may be expressed in bytes, or number of PDUs. The sent information may indicate or include an indication that a notification about successful delivery of the group of PDUs of the PDU Set may be sent to the first access leg. The sent information may indicate or include, if the second number of PDUs of the PDU set include an EoB indication, information indicating that an EoB indication may be associated with the PDUs that may have been sent over the second leg.

[0098] In a ninth item, which may correspond to implementations described in connection with FIG. 2 at reference 6b, the UPF may receive a delivery report from the second (and / or first) access leg, which may include an indication of whether the PDUs of the second (and / or first) number of PDUs have been successfully received by the second (and / or first) access node and delivered to the WTRU.

[0099] In a ninth item, which may correspond to implementations described in connection with FIG. 2 at reference 7, the UPF may send a delivery report to the first (and / or second) access leg.

[0100] An access node, which may be 3GPP or non-3GPP, may be configured to be aware of PDU Sets that may be split over two accesses and may report and / or receive delivery reporting about PDUs of a PDU Set sent over other accesses.

[0101] A first access node, which may be a 3GGP or non-3GPP node, may perform one or more of the following actions.

[0102] In a first action, which may correspond to implementations described in connection with FIG. 2 at reference 2, the first access node may receive QoS profiles from the SMF, which may pertain to XRM traffic that may be carried within a multi-access PDU session which supports the PDU Set feature.

[0103] In a second action, which may correspond to implementations described in connection with FIG. 2 at reference 3, the first access node may be configured, based on information in the received QoS profiles, to detect and report reception and successful delivery to the WTRU of PDUs that are parts of PDU Sets for the PDU session.

[0104] In a third action, which may correspond to implementations described in connection with FIG. 2 at reference 5b, the first access node may receive a first number of PDUs of a PDU Set from the UPF.

[0105] In a fourth action, which may correspond to implementations described in connection with FIG. 2 at reference 5d, if a second number of PDUs of the same PDU Set are sent over a second access node of the Multi-Access PDU Session, the first access node may receive a notification about the second number of PDUs of the PDU Set.

[0106] In a fifth action, which may correspond to implementations described in connection with FIG. 2 at reference 7, the first access node may receive a delivery report about the successful reception and delivery to the WTRU of the second PDUs of the PDU Set from the second access node. The delivery report may be received from the UPF or from, e.g., directly from the second access node.

[0107] In a sixth action, which may correspond to implementations described in connection with FIG. 2 at reference 6a, the first access node may use the information received in PDUs of the PDU Set to detect if one or more PDUs (e.g., all PDUs) have been successfully received and delivered to the WTRU.

[0108] In a seventh action, which may correspond to implementations described in connection with FIG. 2 at reference 6b, the first access node may send a delivery report about the first portion of the reception and successful delivery to the WTRU of the first portion of PDUs of the PDU Set. The delivery report may be sent either to the UPF or to, e.g., directly to, the second access node.

[0109] In a system, such as a 5G system (5GS), a WTRU may be capable of supporting communication over both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access (e.g., Wi-Fi). This capability may provide flexibility to the network operators in determining which access to use for a certain service data flow.

[0110] A feature which may be referred to as Access Traffic Steering, Switching and Splitting (ATSSS) may be provided and may take advantage of the flexibility provided by support for communication over both 3GPP access and non-3GPP access.

[0111] The ATSSS features may rely on the concept of Multi-Access connectivity which may comprise setting up a Multi-Access PDU session where traffic from a service data flow may be sent over a 3GPP access, a non-3GPP access, or both accesses.

[0112] A steering functionality may refer to the logic used to enable the switching, steering, or splitting of traffic. Three steering functionalities may be applied, e.g., standardized, in 3GPP. The first steering functionality may be referred to as ATSSS-LL and may be used for Ethernet, TCP, or UDP traffic. The second steering functionality may be based on the MPTCP protocol and may be used for TCP traffic. The third steering functionality may be based on the MPQUIC protocol and may be used for UDP traffic.

[0113] In this ATSSS feature, different steering modes may be defined as part of these steering functionalities. Some of these modes may include Active-Standby, Smallest Delay, Load Balancing, and Priority Based modes.

[0114] In a system, such as 5GS, the WTRU and UPF may be provided with rules which may instruct, e.g., tell, them which steering mode to use, and provide configuration details for these modes. Switching, steering, and / or splitting decisions may be made in the WTRU for uplink traffic. Switching, steering, and / or splitting decisions may be made in the UPF for downlink traffic.

[0115] In examples with support of XRM services, a PDU Set may be employed. A PDU Set may be, for example, one or more PDUs carrying the payload of one unit of information generated at the application level (e.g., a frame or video slice for XRM Services).

[0116] In an example that may use an XRM feature, PDU Set related information may be identified by the UPF to support the handling of PDU Sets in a system, such as 5GS. This information may include, for example, the following: a PDU Set Sequence Number; an indication of the End of a PDU Set; an indication of PDU data burst; the PDU Sequence Number within a PDU Set; a PDU Set size; and the PDU Set Importance. The RTP header extensions may appear in the DL traffic that is received by the UPF on the N6 interface. The UPF may use the information from the RTP header to determine the PDU Set related information. The UPF may use the PDU Set related information to determine what information to send to NG-RAN with the downlink traffic. For example, the PDU Set importance parameter may be used to identify the importance of a PDU Set within a QoS flow. The RAN may use this parameter when making decisions about a PDU Set level packet discarding in the presence of congestion.

[0117] The PDU Set related information may be sent by the UPF to the RAN node via a GTP-U header of a user plane packet. The RAN node may perform PDU Set based QoS handling based on the PDU Set QoSParameters that are received via the control plane and the PDU Set Information that was received via user plane in a GTP-U header. The PDU Set QoS parameters may include, for example, the following: a PDU Set Delay Budget; a PDU Set Error Rate; and PDU Set Integrated Handling Indication (e.g., which may indicate whether some or all PDUs of a PDU Set are needed by the application). The PDU Set QoS Parameters may be sent to the RAN node by the SMF. The SMF may send the PDU Set QoS Parameters to the AMF and the AMF may forward the PDU Set QoS Parameters to the RAN node via the N2 interface.

[0118] The PDU Set information may be used by the core network. For example, the PSDB and PSER may be calculated by the RAN. The PSDB, PSER and PSIHI may be used (e.g., may then be used) by NG-RAN to make scheduling decisions. These scheduling decisions may include deciding whether to drop a packet or deciding whether to prioritize sending a first packet over a second packet.

[0119] The PDU Set Integrated Handling Information (PSIHI) may indicate to the NG-RAN node whether one or more PDUs (e.g., all of the PDUs) of the PDU Set may be used (e.g., are needed) for the usage of the PDU Set by the application layer in the WTRU. An NG-RAN node may be designed such that it determines to discard PDUs of a PDU Set if a single PDU of the PDU Set was not delivered to the WTRU or not received from the UPF.

[0120] A “non-3GPP Access Node” may be or may be associated with, for example, an N3IWF (non-3GPP Inter-Working Function) or a Trusted Non-3GPP Gateway Function (TNGF).

[0121] A “NG-RAN Node” may be or may be associated with, for example, a base station. An NG-RAN node may be a gNodeB, for example. The functionality described in connection with a NG-RAN access node may apply to an access node such as an eNodeB.

[0122] A type of “non-3GPP access” may be, for example, WiFi and the like.

[0123] Types of “3GPP access” may be, for example, NR, LTE, and the like.

[0124] The PDU Set handling for XRM services may have been used for a 3GPP access node. The PDU Set handling for XRM services may not have been used for a non-3GPP access node. For example, if a PDU Session used non-3GPP access, the PDU Set Handling feature may not have been supported.

[0125] Using a single access path for XRM traffic may lead to poor quality of experience if the link experiences congestion. Accordingly, the use of ATSSS may be useful for, e.g., beneficial for, XRM traffic. For example, a Wi-Fi connection may be available for the WTRU, and the Wi-Fi connection may provide a betterquality data connection than a cellular connection. As another example, a Wi-Fi connection may be availablefor the WTRU, and using a combination of both the Wi-Fi connection and a cellular connection may provide a better-quality data connection than using only a cellular connection.

[0126] The design of the PDU Set handling feature may rely on the PSA UPF identifying PDUs and marking the PDUs in a PDU Set so that the NG-RAN node may identify a complete PDU Set. The NG-RAN node may assume that one or more PDUs (e.g., all PDUs) of a PDU set use a single path (e.g., in a single access PDU session).

[0127] Identifying PDUs and marking the PDUs in a PDU Set may be useful, for example, if PSI HI is enabled. If PSIHI is enabled, the NG-RAN node may benefit from knowing whether one or more of the PDUs (e.g., all) of a PDU Set have been sent / received successfully or not. If the NG-RAN node detects that a PDU of a PDU Set has not been received from the UPF, then the NG-RAN node may determine that it is not possible to deliver the complete PDU Set and may determine to, e.g., decide to, discard the other PDUs of the PDU Set. If some PDUs of a PDU Set are sent via a non-3GPP access node, then the NG-RAN node may incorrectly determine that some PDUs of a PDU Set were not successfully delivered to the WTRU.

[0128] Identifying PDUs and marking the PDUs in a PDU Set may also be useful, for example, in connection with a process by which the NG-RAN node may calculate the error rate of the PDU Sets in a QoS Flow. A PDU Set may be considered as successfully delivered if (e.g., only if) all PDUs of a PDU Set are delivered successfully. If some PDUs of a PDU Set are sent via a non-3GPP access node, the NG-RAN node may not be able to accurately calculate the PSER.

[0129] Identifying PDUs and marking the PDUs in a PDU Set may also be useful, for example, in connection with a process by which the NG-RAN node may calculate the delay that may be experienced by the PDU Sets of a QoS Flow. The delay may be the duration between the reception time of the first PDU and the time when one or more PDUs (e.g., all PDUs) of a PDU Set have been successfully received. If some PDUs of a PDU Set are sent via a non-3GPP access node, then the NG-RAN node may not be able to accurately calculate the delay of a PDU Set because the non-3GPP access node may have delivered either the first PDU of the PDU Set, the last PDU of the PDU Set, or both the first and last PDUs of the PDU Set.

[0130] If ATSSS is used along with the PDU Set handling feature for certain XRM traffic, and according to some steering functionalities / modes, some PDUs of a PDU Set may be sent over more than one access leg (e.g., over a 3GPP and a non-3GPP leg). As described herein, then the RAN node may determine that some PDU Sets are not complete, despite the fact that one or more of the PDUs (e.g., all the PDUs) were correctly received by the WTRU, but over different accesses.

[0131] It may be useful to enhance a system, such as 5GS, so that if DL traffic is carried within the 5GS with the PDU Set feature enabled and ATSSS employed, the 3GPP access / RAN node may be able to determine whether the PDU Set may be complete, may be able to accurately calculate error rates, and may be able to accurately calculate delay values. Such features may enable sending PDUs of the same PDU Set over different accesses. The feature of sending PDUs of the same PDU Set over different accesses may be referred to as “PDU set splitting.”

[0132] PDU set splitting may be unsuitable in some instances, such as, for example, if a RAN node on one access leg does not support PDU set splitting. In examples, it may be useful to detect if PDU set splitting is not suitable and to prevent PDU set splitting in such a case.

[0133] FIG. 2 depicts example processing for using the PDU Set Feature with the ATSSS feature. FIG. 2 shows example procedures in a system, such as a 5G System, to allow a UPF that is routing traffic for a MultiAccess PDU Session where the RAN node supports the PDU Set feature, and the PDU Set traffic may be split over both access nodes (e.g., a RAN node and non-3GPP access node). The UPF may be configured to notify the RAN node if a second portion of PDUs of a PDU Set is sent over the non-3GPP node, and / or if a first portion of PDUs of the PDU Set may be sent over the RAN node. The RAN node and non-3GPP node may be configured to be able to detect and report successful reception and delivery to a WTRU (labelled UE in FIG 2) of PDUs of a PDU Set.

[0134] In FIG. 2, the non-3GPP node is shown as a N3IWF, but may also be a TNGF. The MA PDU session may be requested after the WTRU has registered to both the 3GPP and non 3GPP access legs. Other variations are possible. For example, the WTRU may be registered only over the 3GPP access leg if it requests a first MA PDU session establishment. In such a case, the WTRU may register to the non 3GPP network at some later time and thereafter perform a second MA PDU session establishment request over the second leg, using the same PDU session ID as used in the first MA PDU session establishment.

[0135] Referring to FIG. 2, at reference 0a, an ATSSS capable WTRU may request a Multi-Access PDU session by sending an MA PDU session request. If the AMF supports MA PDU sessions, then the AMF may select an SMF which supports an MA PDU session. The PCF may generate PCC rules that include MA PDU session control information and may send these rules to the SMF. The SMF may generate ATSSS rules and send the ATSSS rules to the WTRU and may send N4 rules to the UPF. The SMF may establish user plane resources over the 3GPP access and / or the non-3GPP access.

[0136] Prior to reference 0, e.g., during PDU session establishment, the SMF may have obtained PDU set support capabilities from the RAN node including PDU set splitting capabilities.

[0137] At reference Ob, the AF may send a request to setup or update an AF session with QoS (e.g., required QoS) for the XRM traffic to the 5GC, e.g., the NEF. This request message may include traffic description information to identify the XRM traffic, QoS parameters, as well as PDU Set related identification information and parameters such as, for example, PSDB, PSER and or PSIHI. This request, once authorized, may be forwarded to the serving PCF.

[0138] At reference 1 , the PCF may derive PCC rules to include PDU Set identification information, as well as PDU Set parameters. The PDU session that carries the XRM traffic may be a Multi-access PDU session. The PDU session may have already been a MA PDU session or have been modified from a single access to MA PDU session. This may have taken place before XRM traffic started to be carried over the PDU session. The PCC rules may include MA PDU session control information. The PCC rules may include PDU set related control information. The PCF may determine to generate PCC rules. The PCC rules may indicate that both the PDU Set feature and Multi-Access features (e.g., ATSSS) may be enabled for the PDU Session.

[0139] At reference 2, the new PCC rules may be sent to the SMF and the SMF may generate N4 rules to send to the serving UPF. The N4 Rules may indicate to the UPF that the PDU Session involves two access legs and that the PDU Set feature may be enabled. The SMF may generate corresponding QoS profiles and may send them to the NG-RAN node and the non-3GPP node, e.g., N3IWF. The SMF may generate corresponding QoS Rules and may send them to the WTRU.

[0140] At reference 3, the N3IWF and NG-RAN nodes, based on the information in the QoS profiles received from the SMF may be configured to detect, and report reception, e.g., successful reception, of PDUs that are part of PDU Sets for the corresponding PDU session. The reports from the N3IWF and NG-RAN nodes may be sent to the UPF.

[0141] At reference 4, the UPF may start to receive XRM PDU set traffic.

[0142] At reference 5a, the UPF may receive a first number of PDUs of a PDU Set. Based on the corresponding N4 rules, the UPF may determine to send these PDUs to the WTRU over the NG-RAN node.

[0143] At reference 5b, the UPF may send the first portion of PDUs of the PDU Set to the RAN node. If the PDUs are not in an ordered sequence, the UPF may include in the GTP-U header the group size of the set of PDUs, which may indicate how many PDUs are being sent to the RAN for this PDU set. The UPF may send the group size in bytes as well.

[0144] At reference 5c, the UPF may receive a second number of PDUs of the same PDU set.

[0145] The UPF may determine, based on N4 rules (e.g., ATSSS information in the N4 rules or PMF measurements), to send the second number of PDUs of the PDU set over non-3GPP access, e.g., to the N3IWF.

[0146] The UPF may include PDU Set information in the PDUs to send to N3IWF in the GTP-U header. This information may include, for example, a PDU sequence number, PDU Set size, PDU Set importance, a combination thereof, and the like.

[0147] The UPF may also include in the header of each PDU of the PDU set, the group size of PDU to be sent over non-3GPP. This information may allow the N3IWF to know how many PDUs of the PDU set it is expecting. The UPF may also include an indication that some PDUs of this PDU set have been sent via another access. The information sent to the N3IWF may be sent in the headers of one or more PDUs, e.g., all PDUs. In an example, some information may be sent, e.g., may only be sent, in the headers of a few select PDUs. For example, some information may be sent, e.g., may only be sent, in the first PDU sent to the N3IWF.

[0148] At reference 5d, the UPF may send a notification to the NG-RAN about the second number of PDUs of the PDU set. This indication may include, for example, the following four information items. The first information item may comprise information about the PDU sequences numbers within the PDU set that are to be sent over the second leg, which may be, for example, a non-3GPP access. The second information item may comprise information about the size of the group of PDUs sent over non-3GPP access for the PDU Set. This information may be expressed, for example, in bytes or number of PDUs. The third information item may comprise an indication that a notification about successful delivery of this group of PDUs of the PDU Set may be sent by the UPF or the N3IWF to the NG-RAN Node. The fourth information item may include, if the second number of PDUs of the PDU set include an EoB indication, information or an indication that an EoB indication is associated with the PDUs that were sent over the second leg, e.g., to the N3IWF.

[0149] At reference 5e, the N3IWF may receive the second number of PDUs with the related information.

[0150] Since the second number of PDUs may belong to the PDU Set partially sent over the NG-RAN access, the UPF may include in the GTP-U header of the PDUs sent to the N3IWF the following first information item and second information item. The first information item may comprise an indication that a successful delivery report is required / requested for this PDU Set or the PDUs of the PDU Set. This indication may be used by the N3IWF to determine if delivery reports need to be sent from the N3IWF to either the UPF or to the RAN node, e.g., via N2 signaling. The second information item may comprise an indication about the granularity of reporting that may be used, (e.g., may be required). For example, the UPF may indicate to the N3IWF that reports are requested for a PDU (e.g., each PDU), PDU Set, or with a certain time period.

[0151] If the information elements in the reporting related to non-3GPP include an indication of successful delivery of the group of PDUs of PDU Set, the N3IWF may have been configured to be able to detect whether one or more the PDUs (e.g., all the PDUs) of the second number of PDUs of the PDU set have been received successfully.

[0152] At reference 6a, the N3I WF may use information sent by the UPF in the GTP-U header of the PDUs to detect if one or more PDUs (e.g., all the PDUs) have been received successfully.

[0153] At reference 6b, the N3I WF may send a delivery report to the UPF. The delivery report may include whether one or more of the PDUs (e.g., all the PDUs) of the second number of PDUs have been successfully received.

[0154] In an implementation, e.g., alternative implementation, the N3IWF may send a delivery report directly (e.g., without passing by the UPF) to the RAN node, e.g., via N2 signaling.

[0155] At reference 7, the UPF (or, in another implementation, the N3I WF) may send a delivery report to the NG-RAN node. The delivery report may include information indicating whether one or more PDUs (e.g., all the PDUs) of the second number of PDUs have been successfully sent to the WTRU by the N3IWF. This information may help the NG-RAN determine whether the whole PDU set was received successfully at the access network (AN).

[0156] For example, this report may include information about the partial transmission of a PDU Set over non-3GPP access. In a scenario where the UPF determines to send a first group of PDUs of a PDU Set over NG-RAN and a second group of PDUs of the same PDU Set over the non-3GPP access (according to ATSSS control information, for example), then the UPF may notify the NG-RAN node that a second portion of the PDU Set was sent over the non-3GPP access. The information in this report may include the PDU Set sequence number of the PDU Set of interest and the PDU sequence number (e.g., within the PDU Set) of the PDUs that the UPF sent over the non-3GPP access. If the PDUs are sent in an ordered sequence, then the UPF may send the first PDU sequence number and last PDU sequence number in the report. The report may include the size of the group of PDUs of the PDU Set sent over the non-3GPP access (e.g., in bytes or number of PDUs). The report may indicate if End of PDU Set is sent over the non-3GPP access, e.g., the End of PDU indication with the PDU sequence number.

[0157] A report that is sent from the UPF (or N3IWF) to the NG-RAN node may include an indication about whether the portion of PDUs of a PDU Set that was sent by the UPF over the non-3GPP was successfully received by the non-3GPP node and delivered to the WTRU. The NG-RAN node may use this informationwhen calculating error rates and making prioritization decisions for QoS Flows that have the PSIHI feature enabled.

[0158] In an implementation, the report that is sent from the UPF (or from the N3IWF) to the NG-RAN node may include an indication that all or part of a PDU Set was sent over the non-3GPP access leg. This report may not indicate if the PDUs were successfully delivered over the other access leg and may trigger the NG- RAN node to not calculate an error measurement for the PDU Set or trigger the NG-RAN node to discard or not consider an error measurement for the PDU Set. In this case, the RAN node may be responsible for its own delivery and may consider other PDUs (e.g., sent over the second leg which may be N3IWF) as delivered for the sake of loss calculation, and as non-existent for the sake of charging.

[0159] The report that is sent from the UPF (or from the N3I WF) to the NG-RAN node may include an indication that a PDU that is associated with an End of Data Burst indication was sent from the UPF to the N3I WF. The NG-RAN node may use the end of burst indication in the report to configure WTRU energy saving functionality, such as connected mode DRX.

[0160] At reference 8, the NG-RAN node may use the information from the report to make decisions about configuring the WTRU’s connected mode DRX settings. The NG-RAN node may use the information from the report when performing error rate calculations or to determine whether to perform an error rate calculation or to determine whether to discard or ignore an error rate calculation.

[0161] Referring to reference 6b, an example is depicted where the second leg, which may comprise a N3I WF, may send a delivery report to the UPF. The NG-RAN node may send the delivery report to the UPF so that a delivery report may eventually be sent to the second leg, e.g., N3IWF, that includes similar information such as described in connection with reference 5d. A global report that includes information about the delivery of the PDU groups to which leg may be sent to both legs so that they may have information regarding one or more PDUs (e.g., all the PDUs) of the PDU Set.

[0162] Referring to reference 7, an example is depicted where the UPF may send a delivery report to the NG-RAN node. The UPF may send the delivery report to the N3IWF. Sending the report to the N3I WF may help the N3IWF perform error rate and delay calculations. Sending the report to the N3IWF may help the N3IWF make traffic prioritization and packet discarding decisions. In an implementation, the RAN node may send a delivery report to the N3IWF via N2 signaling.

[0163] Referring to references 5a through step 5d, an example is depicted where the first group of PDUs of the PDU Set are sent over a RAN node and the second group of PDUs of the PDU Set is sent over the secondleg which may be, for example, the non-3GPP access (e.g., N3IWF). In an implementation, the first group of PDUs of the PDU Set may be determined to be sent over non-3GPP access (e.g., N3IWF), and then the second group of PDUs of the PDU Set may be sent over the RAN node.

[0164] The same principles apply.

[0165] In another example, there may be more than one group of PDUs to be sent over the second leg, which may be, for example, a non-3GPP node. In this case, instead of sending a notification / delivery report for a group of PDUs (e.g., each group of PDUs) in the PDU Set that is sent over the second leg, e.g., the non- 3GPP, the UPF may wait until the groups, e.g., one or more the groups (e.g., all the groups), of PDUs of the PDU Set to be sent and eventually successfully delivered, and then the UPF may send one notification and delivery report to the first leg, e.g., the RAN node.

[0166] The herein described examples may include a MA PDU session where one leg is a 3GPP node, RAN node, and the other leg is a non-3GPP node. The examples may be generalized if both legs of the MA PDU session are 3GPP nodes, RAN nodes.

[0167] Although features and elements are described herein 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, magnetooptical 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 Is:1 . A computing system comprising: a processor configured to: receive an indication a PDU session involves two access legs; receive XRM PDUs comprising a PDU set; send a first group of PDUs in the PDU set to a RAN node; send PDU set information to a non-3GPP access node, the PDU set information comprising an indication of a size of a second group of PDUs in the PDU set and an indication to provide a report; send the second group of PDUs in the PDU set to the non-3GPP access node; send notification information to the RAN node, the notification information comprising information indicating PDU sequence numbers associated with the second group of PDUs and information indicating the size of the second group of PDUs; receive a report from the non-3GPP access node, the report indicating a number of PDUs that were received by the non-3GPP access node and successfully delivered to a WTRU; and send information from the report to the RAN node.

2. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the notification information further comprises an indication that a notification will be sent to the RAN node if the second group of PDUs is successfully delivered.

3. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the notification information further comprises an indication that an end-of-data-burst (EOB) indication is associated with the second group of PDUs.

4. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the processor configured to receive the indication the PDU session involves two access legs is configured to receive N4 rules that indicate the PDU session involves two access legs.

5. The computing system of claim 4,wherein the processor is further configured to determine to send the first group of PDUs based on the N4 rules.

6. The computing system of claim 1 , wherein the processor is further configured to send to the RAN node for the first group of PDUs in the PDU set a group size associated with the first group of PDUs.

7. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the PDU set information includes an indication that PDUs of the PDU set have been sent via another access leg.

8. The computing system of claim 1, wherein the non-3GPP access node comprises a non-3GPP interworking function.

9. A method comprising: receiving an indication a PDU session involves two access legs; receiving XRM PDUs comprising a PDU set; sending a first group of PDUs in the PDU set to a RAN node; sending PDU set information to a non-3GPP access node, the PDU set information comprising an indication of a size of a second group of PDUs in the PDU set and an indication to provide a report; sending the second group of PDUs in the PDU set to the non-3GPP access node; sending notification information to the RAN node, the notification information comprising information indicating PDU sequence numbers associated with the second group of PDUs and information indicating the size of the second group of PDUs; receiving a report from the non-3GPP access node, the report indicating a number of PDUs that were received by the non-3GPP access node and successfully delivered to a WTRU; and sending information from the report to the RAN node.

10. The method of claim 9, wherein the notification information further comprises an indication that a notification will be sent to the RAN node if the second group of PDUs is successfully delivered.

11. The method of claim 9,wherein the notification information further comprises an indication that an end-of-data-burst (EOB) indication is associated with the second group of PDUs.

12. The method of claim 9, wherein receiving the indication the PDU session involves two access legs comprises receiving N4 rules indicating the PDU session involves two access legs.

13. The method of claim 12, further comprising determining to send the first group of PDUs based on the N4 rules.

14. The method of claim 9, wherein the PDU set information includes an indication that PDUs of the PDU set have been sent via another access leg.

15. The method of claim 9, further comprising sending to the RAN node for the first group of PDUs in the PDU set a group size associated with the first group of PDUs.

16. A computing system comprising: a processor configured to: receive PDUs comprising a PDU set; send a first group of PDUs in the PDU set to a RAN node; send PDU information to a non-3GPP access node, the PDU information comprising an indication of a size of a second group of PDUs in the PDU set and an indication to provide feedback regarding delivered PDUs; send the second group of PDUs in the PDU set to the non-3GPP access node; send notification information to the RAN node, the notification information comprising information indicating PDU sequence numbers associated with the second group of PDUs and information indicating the size of the second group of PDUs; receive from the non-3GPP access node an indication of a number of PDUs that were received by the non-3GPP access node and successfully delivered to a WTRU; and send to the RAN node the indication of the number of PDUs that were received by the non-3GPP access node and delivered to a wireless transmit and receive unit (WTRU).

17. The computing system of claim 16, wherein the notification information further comprises an indication that a notification will be sent to the RAN node if the second group of PDUs is successfully delivered.

18. The computing system of claim 16, wherein the notification information further comprises an indication that an end-of-data-burst (EOB) indication is associated with the second group of PDUs.

19. The computing system of claim 16, wherein the processor is further configured to receive N4 rules indicating a PDU session involves two access legs.

20. The computing system of claim 19, wherein the processor is further configured to determine to send the first group of PDUs based on theN4 rules.

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