User equipment, method executed by user equipment, base station, and method executed by base station

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a user equipment (UE) (3A, 3B) including means for determining whether to transmit a buffer status report (BSR) to a base station (5) based on at least one of the amount of data stored in the UE (3A, 3B), the amount of data transmitted by the UE (3A, 3B), a threshold value, or a BSR indication indicating whether to transmit the BSR from the UE (3A, 3B) to the base station (5), and means for transmitting the BSR to the base station (5) based on the determination.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a wireless communication system operating according to 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP (registered trademark)) standards or equivalents or derivatives thereof and devices thereof. The present disclosure relates in particular to improvements related to, but not limited to, buffer status reports (BSRs) in so-called "5G" or "New Radio" systems (also referred to as "next-generation" systems) and similar systems.

Background Art

[0002] Under 3GPP standards, a NodeB (or "eNB" in LTE, "gNB" in 5G) is a base station through which a communication device (user equipment or "UE") connects to a core network and communicates with other communication devices or remote servers. Communication devices may be, for example, mobile phones, smartphones, smartwatches, personal digital assistants, laptop / tablet computers, web browsers, e-book readers, and / or the like. Such mobile (or generally stationary) devices are typically operated by a user (and thus are often collectively referred to as user equipment, "UE"), but Internet of Things (IoT) devices and similar machine type communication (MTC) devices can also be connected to the network. For simplicity, in this application, the term base station is used to refer to such a base station, and the terms mobile device or UE are used to refer to such communication devices.

[0003] The latest developments in 3GPP specifications refer to the so-called "5G" or "New Radio" (NR) specifications, which are evolving communication technologies expected to support various applications and services such as MTC / IoT communication, vehicle communication and autonomous vehicles, high-resolution video streaming, and smart city services. 3GPP intends to support 5G with the so-called 3GPP Next Generation (NextGen) Radio Access Network (RAN) and 3GPP NextGen core (NGC) networks. Various details of the 5G network are described, for example, in the "NGMN 5G White Paper" V1.0 by the Next Generation Mobile Networks (NGMN) Alliance, which is available at https: / / www.ngmn.org / 5g-white-paper.html.

[0004] End-user communication devices are generally referred to as user equipment (UE), which can be operated by humans or can be equipped with automated (MTC / IoT) devices. Base stations in 5G / NR communication systems are usually referred to as new radio base stations ("NR-BS") or "gNBs", but it should be understood that they may more typically be referred to using the term "eNB" (or 5G / NR eNB) associated with Long Term Evolution (LTE) base stations (which are also generally referred to as "4G" base stations). 3GPP Technical Specification (TS) 38.300 V16.7.0 and 3GPP TS 37.340 V16.7.0 define, among other things, the following nodes. gNB: A node that provides NR user plane and control plane protocol termination towards the UE and is connected to the 5G core network (5GC) via the NG interface. Ng-eNB: A node that provides evolved universal terrestrial radio access (E-UTRA) user plane and control plane protocol terminations towards the UE and is connected to the 5GC via the NG interface. En-gNB: A node that provides NR user plane and control plane protocol terminations towards the UE and operates as a secondary node in E-UTRA-NR dual connectivity (EN-DC). NG-RAN node: Either a gNB or an ng-eNB.

[0005] The terms base station or RAN node are used in this specification to refer to such nodes. Next-generation mobile networks support diverse service requirements classified by the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) into three categories: Enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB), Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communications (URLLC), and Massive Machine Type Communications (mMTC). eMBB aims to enhance the support of traditional mobile broadband by focusing on services that require large amounts of guaranteed bandwidth, such as High Definition (HD) video, Virtual Reality (VR), and Augmented Reality (AR). URLLC is the requirement for critical applications such as autonomous driving and factory automation that need guaranteed access within a very short time. mMTC needs to support a large number of connected devices such as smart metering and environmental monitoring, but usually, a certain access delay can be tolerated. Among these applications, some have relatively relaxed Quality of Service / Quality of Experience (QoS / QoE) requirements, while others have relatively strict QoS / QoE requirements (such as high bandwidth and low latency).

[0006] The term "extended reality (XR)" refers to all real and virtual combined environments generated by computer technology and wearable devices, and the related human-machine interactions. It includes typical forms such as augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), virtual reality (VR), and the areas interpolated between them. 3GPP Technical Report (TR) 26.928 V16.1.0 discusses extended reality (XR) in the context of 5G wireless and network services. This document introduces the baseline technologies for XR-type services and applications, outlines the issues of XR-based service quality of experience (QoE) / quality of service (QoS), the delivery of XR in 5G systems, and the architecture model of 5G media streaming defined in 3GPP TS 26.501 V16.9.0. In addition to the conventional service categories, interactive, streaming, downloading, and split computing / rendering are identified as new delivery categories for XR. 3GPP TR 38.838 V17.0.0 is a study on the traffic models and characteristics of XR services, especially for Release 17 XR.

[0007] A buffer status report (BSR) is sent from the UE to the base station and indicates the amount of uplink transmission data stored in the UE's buffer. This information can be used by the base station to schedule the uplink resources used to transmit the data stored by the UE. As will be explained in detail later, the BSR can include the number of bits for indicating a logical channel (LCH) or a logical channel group (LCG), and the number of bits for indicating the corresponding buffer size at the UE.

[0008] In XR implementations presenting difficult service requirements, more efficient resource scheduling and allocation are needed. The inventors recognized the need for a more reliable and accurate buffer status report. However, there is an issue that the transmission of the BSR is not always reliably triggered. For example, in the case of Regular BSR, there is an issue that the transmission of the BSR is not triggered when additional data arrives at the buffer of the same LCH or LCG. Similarly, in the case of Padding BSR (when there are sufficient padding bits in the message and it is included in the uplink data message), the BSR has a lower priority than data transmission and is not included in the transmission without sufficient padding bits. Therefore, there is an issue that it is not reliably transmitted to the base station. In the case of periodical BSR, there is an issue that the transmission frequency of the BSR is insufficient (for example, in the case of burst data arrival), and it is not practical to configure a periodical BSR with a very short period.

[0009] Furthermore, there is an issue that the accuracy of the buffer size indicated by the BSR is insufficient, and since the estimated value of the UE buffer may lead to an improvement in XR capacity and a reduction in resource utilization rate, it is desirable to be close to the actual UE buffer value. More generally, for XR service characteristics including semi-persistent scheduling (SPS), configured grant (CG), and dynamic grant (DG), an improvement in the mechanism for providing more efficient resources and scheduling is needed.

Prior Art Documents

Non-Patent Documents

[0010]

Non-Patent Document 1

Non-Patent Document 2

[0011] Therefore, the present disclosure aims to provide a method and related apparatus for addressing or at least reducing (at least some of) the above-mentioned problems. [Means for Solving the Problems]

[0012] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a user equipment (UE), comprising means for determining whether to transmit a buffer status report (BSR) to a base station based on at least one of whether the amount of data stored in the UE is less than or equal to a first threshold, whether the amount of data transmitted by the UE since the previous transmission of the BSR is greater than or equal to a second threshold, whether the uplink grant size is greater than or equal to a third threshold, whether the difference between the current buffer size and the maximum or minimum buffer size of the UE buffer is greater than or equal to a fourth threshold, or a BSR indication indicating whether the BSR should be transmitted from the UE to the base station; and means for transmitting the BSR to the base station based on the determination.

[0013] The means for determining may be configured to determine to transmit the BSR to the base station when the amount of data transmitted by the UE since the previous transmission of the BSR is greater than a threshold and there is data in the UE buffer.

[0014] The UE may further include means for storing a value of the amount of data transmitted by the UE, and means for setting the value of the amount of data to be transmitted by the UE to 0 when the UE transmits a BSR.

[0015] The second threshold value may correspond to the buffer size reported in the previous BSR, and the determining means may be configured to determine to transmit a BSR to the base station when the sum of the data transmitted by the UE to the base station after the previous BSR is transmitted and the data scheduled for transmission from the UE to the base station is greater than the second threshold value and there is data in the buffer of the UE.

[0016] The determining means may be configured to determine to transmit a BSR to the base station when the value obtained by subtracting the current buffer size of the UE buffer and the amount of data transmitted by the UE after the previous BSR is transmitted from the maximum buffer size reported in the previous BSR is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold value.

[0017] The determining means may be configured to determine to transmit a BSR to the base station when the value obtained by subtracting the minimum buffer size reported in the previous BSR and the amount of data transmitted by the UE after the previous BSR is transmitted from the current buffer size of the UE is greater than or equal to the fourth threshold value.

[0018] The UE may further include means for receiving a BSR indication from the base station, and the means for transmitting a BSR is configured to transmit a BSR to the base station when the BSR indication indicates that the base station should transmit a BSR.

[0019] The BSR indication may be included in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). The BSR indication may be provided as a 1-bit field of the PDCCH. The BSR indication may include a media access control (MAC) control element (CE). The BSR indication may be defined for each logical channel group. The BSR may be a Regular BSR.

[0020] The means for transmitting may be configured to transmit a BSR for one or more logical channel groups indicated by the BSR indication when the BSR indication indicates that the BSR should be transmitted to the base station.

[0021] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a user equipment (UE) comprising means for determining to transmit to a base station an indication of the difference between a buffer size corresponding to a buffer status report (BSR) and the amount of data stored in a corresponding buffer of the UE.

[0022] The buffer size corresponding to the BSR may be the upper limit of the range of buffer sizes indicated by the BSR.

[0023] The indication may indicate a value obtained by subtracting the amount of data stored in the UE's buffer from the upper limit of the range of buffer sizes indicated by the BSR.

[0024] The buffer size corresponding to the BSR may be the lower limit of the range of buffer sizes indicated by the BSR.

[0025] The indication may include a value equal to a value obtained by subtracting the lower limit of the range of buffer sizes indicated by the BSR from the amount of data stored in the UE's buffer.

[0026] The UE may be configured to send an indication to the base station if at least one of the following conditions is met: whether the transmission of the indication is enabled by the network; whether the reported Regular BSR, Periodical BSR, or Truncated BSR is triggered for transmission to the base station; whether a value obtained by subtracting the amount of data stored in the UE's buffer from the upper limit of the buffer size range indicated by the BSR is equal to or greater than a threshold; whether a value obtained by subtracting the lower limit of the buffer size range indicated by the BSR from the amount of data stored in the UE's buffer is equal to or greater than a threshold; or whether the grant size for the Regular BSR, Periodical BSR, or Truncated BSR for the UE is equal to or greater than a threshold.

[0027] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a user equipment (UE) comprising means for storing a plurality of tables, each table mapping each of a plurality of indexes to respective ranges of the UE's buffer size, means for receiving an indication of a table to be used to determine an index corresponding to the UE's buffer size among the plurality of tables, and means for transmitting the index to a base station.

[0028] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a user equipment (UE) comprising means for transmitting a buffer status report (BSR) media access control (MAC) control element (CE) to a base station, the BSR MAC CE including bits larger than 8 bits indicating the buffer size.

[0029] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a user equipment (UE) comprising means for receiving information for requesting or enabling transmission of information for traffic assistance, including at least one of a period or packet generation rate, a time offset, a jitter range, or a required configuration related to uplink data transmission from the UE to a base station; means for transmitting information for traffic assistance based on the information; and means for receiving information for setting or scheduling uplink resources for uplink transmission based on the information for traffic assistance.

[0030] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a method performed by a user equipment (UE), the method including determining whether to transmit a buffer status report (BSR) to a base station based on at least one of whether the amount of data stored in the UE is less than or equal to a first threshold, whether the amount of data transmitted by the UE since the transmission of the previous BSR is greater than or equal to a second threshold, whether the uplink grant size is greater than or equal to a third threshold, whether the difference between the current buffer size and the maximum or minimum buffer size of the UE buffer is greater than or equal to a fourth threshold, or a BSR indication indicating whether a BSR should be transmitted; and transmitting the BSR to the base station based on the determination.

[0031] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a method performed by a user equipment (UE), the method including determining to transmit an indication of a difference between a buffer size corresponding to a buffer status report (BSR) and the amount of data stored in the corresponding buffer of the UE to a base station.

[0032] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a method executed by a user equipment (UE), the method including storing a plurality of tables, each table mapping each of a plurality of indexes to respective ranges of the UE's buffer size, receiving an indication of a table to use to determine an index corresponding to the UE's buffer size from among the plurality of tables, and transmitting the index to a base station.

[0033] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a method executed by a user equipment (UE), the method including transmitting a buffer status report (BSR) media access control (MAC) control element (CE) to a base station, the BSR MAC CE including bits larger than 8 bits indicating a buffer size of a buffer of the UE for uplink transmission.

[0034] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a method executed by a user equipment (UE), the method including receiving information used by a base station when requesting or enabling transmission of uplink data transmission information, the information including at least one of a period or packet generation rate, a time offset, a jitter range, or a requested configuration related to uplink data transmission from the UE to the base station, transmitting uplink data transmission information based on the information, and receiving information for setting or scheduling uplink resources for uplink transmission based on the uplink data transmission information.

[0035] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a base station comprising means for transmitting to a user equipment (UE) at least one of a threshold for determining whether the UE should transmit a buffer status report (BSR), or a BSR indication indicating whether the UE should transmit a BSR.

[0036] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a base station comprising means for receiving from a user equipment (UE) an indication of the difference between the buffer size corresponding to a buffer status report (BSR) and the amount of data stored in the UE's buffer, and means for determining the current buffer size of the UE using the indication.

[0037] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a base station comprising means for transmitting to a UE that stores a plurality of tables each mapping each of a plurality of indexes to respective ranges of the UE's buffer size, an indication of the table to be used to determine the index corresponding to the UE's buffer size among the plurality of tables, and means for receiving the index from the UE.

[0038] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a base station comprising means for transmitting information for requesting or enabling transmission of information for traffic assistance including at least one of a period or packet generation rate, a time offset, a jitter range, or a requested configuration related to uplink data transmission from the UE to the base station, means for receiving information for traffic assistance based on the information, and means for setting or scheduling uplink resources for uplink transmission based on the information for traffic assistance.

[0039] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a method performed by a base station, the method including transmitting to a user equipment (UE) at least one of a threshold for determining whether the UE should transmit a buffer status report (BSR) or a BSR indication indicating whether the UE should transmit a BSR.

[0040] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a method performed by a base station, the method including receiving from the UE an indication of a difference between a buffer size corresponding to a buffer status report (BSR) and an amount of data stored in a buffer of the UE, and determining a current buffer size of the UE using the indication.

[0041] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a method performed by a base station, the method including transmitting to a UE that stores a plurality of tables each mapping respective ones of a plurality of indexes to respective ranges of the UE's buffer size, an indication of a table to be used to determine an index corresponding to the UE's buffer size among the plurality of tables, and receiving the index from the UE. and including.

[0042] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a method performed by a base station, the method including receiving from a user equipment a buffer status report (BSR) media access control (MAC) control element (CE) including bits larger than 8 bits indicating a buffer size, and determining a buffer size at the UE using the BSR MAC CE.

[0043] In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a method performed by a base station, the method including: transmitting information for requesting or enabling transmission of information for traffic assistance, including at least one of a period or packet generation rate, a time offset, a jitter range, or a required configuration related to uplink data transmission from a UE to the base station; receiving information for traffic assistance based on the information; and setting or scheduling uplink resources for uplink transmission based on the information for traffic assistance.

[0044] Aspects of the present disclosure extend to computer program products, such as computer-readable storage media storing corresponding systems, apparatuses, and instructions, the instructions being operable to program a programmable processor to perform the methods described above or as described in the claims and / or to program a computer suitably adapted to provide an apparatus as described in any of the claims.

[0045] For the sake of efficiency in the understanding of those skilled in the art, the present disclosure will be described in detail in the context of a 3GPP system (5G network), but the principles of the present disclosure can be similarly applied to other systems.

[0046] The present disclosure is defined by the claims appended hereto. Aspects of the present disclosure are as set forth in the independent claims. Some optional features are set forth in the dependent claims.

[0047] However, each feature disclosed in this specification (which term includes the claims) and / or shown in the drawings may be incorporated into the present disclosure independently of (or in combination with) other disclosed and / or illustrated features. In particular, without limitation, the features of the claims dependent on a particular independent claim may be introduced into that independent claim in any combination or individually. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0048] Here, with reference to the accompanying drawings, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure will be described by way of example.

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Mode for Carrying Out the Invention

[0049] Overview FIG. 1 schematically shows a mobile (cellular or wireless) electrical communication system 1 to which an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure can be applied.

[0050] In this system 1, a user of a mobile device 3 (UE) can communicate with each other and with other users via a base station 5 (and other access network nodes) and a core network 7 using an appropriate 3GPP radio access technology (RAT), for example, Evolved Universal Terrestrial Radio Access (E-UTRA) and / or 5G RAT. It will be understood that a number of base stations 5 form a (radio) access network or (R)AN. As will be understood by those skilled in the art, for the purpose of illustration, two mobile devices 3A and 3B and one base station 5 are shown in FIG. 1, but this system, when implemented, will typically include other base stations / (R)AN nodes and mobile devices (UEs).

[0051] Each base station 5 controls one or more associated cells (either directly or via other nodes such as home base stations, relays, remote radio heads, distributed units, etc.). A base station 5 that supports next-generation / 5G protocols may be referred to as a "gNB". It will be understood that some base stations 5 may be configured to support both 4G and 5G, and / or any other 3GPP or non-3GPP communication protocols.

[0052] The mobile device 3 and its serving base station 5 are connected via an appropriate air interface (such as the so-called "NR" air interface, "Uu" interface, etc.). Adjacent base stations 5 are connected to each other via an appropriate inter-base station interface (such as the so-called "Xn" interface, "X2" interface, etc.). The base station 5 is also connected to the core network node via an appropriate interface (such as the so-called (for the user plane) "NG-U" interface, the so-called (for the control plane) "NG-C" interface, etc.).

[0053] The core network 7 (e.g., EPC in the case of LTE, NGC in the case of NR / 5G, etc.) typically supports communications in the telecommunication system 1 and includes logical nodes (or "functions") for subscriber management, mobility management, charging, security, and especially call / session management. For example, the core network 7 of a "next-generation" / 5G system includes user plane entities and control plane entities such as one or more control plane functions (CPF) 10 and one or more user plane functions (UPF) 11. For example, the so-called Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) in 5G, or the Mobility Management Entity (MME) in 4G, is responsible for handling connection and mobility management tasks for the mobile device 3. The so-called Session Management Function (SMF) is responsible for handling communication sessions for the mobile device 3, such as session establishment, modification, and release. Typically, the core network 7 can also include, among others, an Authentication Server Function (AUSF), a Unified Data Management (UDM) entity, a Policy Control Function (PCF), and an Application Function (AF). It should be understood that nodes or functions may have different names in different systems. The core network 7 is connected to a data network 20 such as the Internet or a similar Internet Protocol (IP)-based network (via the UPF 11). The core network 7 may be connected to an Operations and Maintenance (OAM) function (not shown).

[0054] It should be understood that each mobile device 3 can support one or more services that can be classified into one of the above-mentioned categories (URLLC / eMBB / mMTC). Each service typically has associated requirements (such as latency / data rate / packet loss requirements, etc.), which may vary for different services. Each mobile device 3 may be configured with appropriate power-saving operations such as discontinuous reception (DRX), discontinuous transmission (DTX), and / or the like. The power-saving operations may depend on the category of one or more services used, UE capabilities, and other factors (such as QoE / QoS, throughput, at least one serving cell, network load, etc.). The DRX settings used by UE 3 can be dynamically adapted to suit a wide range of services such as XR data.

[0055] User Equipment (UE) Figure 2 is a block diagram showing the main components of the mobile device (UE) 3 shown in Figure 1. As shown, UE 3 includes a transceiver circuit 31 operable to transmit signals to and receive signals from one or more connected nodes via one or more antennas 33. Although not necessarily shown in Figure 2, UE 3 of course has all the normal functions of a conventional mobile device (such as a user interface 35), which may be provided by any one or any combination of hardware, software, and firmware as required. The controller 37 controls the operation of UE 3 according to software stored in the memory 39. The software may be pre-installed in the memory 39 and / or downloaded, for example, from the communication network 1 or a removable data storage device (RMD). The software includes, among other things, an operating system 41, a communication control module 43, and a buffer status report (BSR) module 45.

[0056] The communication control module 43 is responsible for processing (generating / transmitting / receiving) signaling messages and uplink / downlink data packets between the UE 3 and other nodes including the (R)AN node 5 and the core network node. The signaling may include control signaling related to the transmission of the BSR (e.g., via RRC / MAC / PHY / DCI). It will be understood that the communication control module 43 may include a number of sub-modules ("layers" or "entities") to support specific functions. For example, the communication control module 43 may include a PHY sub-module, a Media Access Control (MAC) sub-module, an RLC sub-module, a PDCP sub-module, an SDAP sub-module, an IP sub-module, a radio resource control (RRC) sub-module, etc.

[0057] The BSR module 45 is responsible for generating the BSR and determining whether to transmit the BSR to the base station 5. The BSR module 45 may also be responsible for generating and transmitting any other appropriate information related to the BSR. The method of transmitting the BSR will be described below. Also, exemplary types and configurations of the BSR that can be transmitted from the UE 3 to the base station 5 will be described below.

[0058] Access network node (base station) Figure 3 is a block diagram showing the main components of the base station 5 (or a similar access network node) shown in Figure 1. As shown, the base station 5 is operable to transmit and receive signals to and from one or more connected UEs 3 via one or more antennas 53 and to transmit and receive signals (directly or indirectly) to and from other network nodes via a network interface 55. The network interface 55 typically includes an appropriate base station-base station interface (such as X2 / Xn, etc.) and an appropriate base station-core network interface (such as S1 / N1 / N2 / N3, etc.). A controller 57 controls the operation of the base station 5 according to software stored in a memory 59. The software may be pre-installed in the memory 59 and / or may be downloaded, for example, from a telecommunications network 1 or a removable data storage device (RMD). The software includes, among other things, an operating system 61, a communication control module 63, a BSR module 65, and a UL scheduling module 67.

[0059] The communication control module 63 is responsible for processing (generating / transmitting / receiving) signaling between the base station 5 and other nodes such as the UE 3 and core network nodes. The signaling may include control signaling related to buffer status reports (e.g., via RRC / MAC / PHY / DCI). It will be understood that the communication control module 63 may include a number of sub-modules ("layers" or "entities") to support specific functions. For example, the communication control module 63 may include a PHY sub-module, a MAC sub-module, an RLC sub-module, a PDCP sub-module, an SDAP sub-module, an IP sub-module, an RRC sub-module, etc.

[0060] The BSR module 65 is responsible for transmitting and receiving any BSR-related information transmitted and received between the base station 5 and the UE 3. For example, the BSR module 65 may generate an instruction for the UE 3 to transmit a BSR.

[0061] The uplink (UL) scheduling module 67 is responsible for generating UL grants for data transmission from the UE 3 to the base station 5. The base station may schedule or allocate resources for UL transmission to the UE 3 based on the BSR received from the UE 3.

[0062] Core network function FIG. 4 is a block diagram showing the main components of a general core network function such as the CPF 10 or the UPF 11 shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the core network function includes a transceiver circuit 71 operable to transmit and receive signals to and from other nodes (including the UE 3, the base station 5, and other core network nodes) via a network interface 75. A controller 77 controls the operation of the core network function according to software stored in a memory 79. The software may be pre-installed in the memory 79 and / or downloaded, for example, from the communication network 1 or a removable data storage device (RMD). The software includes, among other things, an operating system 81 and a communication control module 83.

[0063] The communication control module 83 is responsible for processing (generating / transmitting / receiving) signaling between the core network function and other nodes such as the UE 3, the base station 5, and other core network nodes.

[0064] Buffer status report FIG. 5 shows an example of a Short BSR MAC control element (MAC CE). As shown in FIG. 5, the Short BSR consists of a total of 8 bits, 3 bits indicating the LCG ID and 5 bits indicating the buffer size.

[0065] The buffer size field indicates the total amount of data available on all logical channels of a logical channel group after the MAC PDU has been constructed (i.e., after the logical channel prioritization procedure where the value of the buffer size (BS) field can become 0). The amount of data is indicated in bytes. The sizes of the RLC header and the MAC sub-header are not considered in the calculation of the buffer size.

[0066] The 5 bits indicating the buffer size can be used to indicate an index from 0 to 31. FIG. 6 shows an exemplary table that can be used to map the indicated index to the size of the buffer. The table may be stored and used, for example, in the base station 5. The amount of data is indicated in bytes. For example, if the 5 bits used to indicate the buffer size correspond to an index of 22, this indicates that the buffer size is greater than 7587 bytes and less than or equal to 10570 bytes. Thus, it will be understood that the base station 5 can use the table of FIG. 6 to determine the buffer size of the UE 3 based on the BSR.

[0067] As shown in FIG. 6, the range of buffer size values becomes less accurate for larger BSR indices (larger buffer size values). For example, if the indicated index is 3, the buffer size value corresponds to a range of 6 bytes and is greater than 14 and less than or equal to 20. In contrast, if the indicated index is 28, the buffer size value corresponds to a range of 21810 bytes and is greater than 55474 and less than or equal to 77284.

[0068] Figures 7 to 9 show further examples of BSRs that can be transmitted from UE3 to base station 5. Figure 7 shows an example of a Long BSR MAC CE indicating buffer sizes corresponding to a plurality of LCGs. The LCGi field indicates the presence of a buffer size field for logical channel group i. An LCGi field set to 1 indicates that the buffer size field for logical channel group i is reported. An LCGi field set to 0 indicates that the buffer size field for logical channel group i is not reported. In the case of the Long Truncated BSR format and the extended Long Truncated BSR format, this field indicates whether there is data available for logical channel group i. An LCGi field set to 1 indicates that there is data available for logical channel group i. An LCGi field set to 0 indicates that there is no data available for logical channel group i.

[0069] As shown in Figure 7, in the Long BSR, 8 bits are used to indicate each buffer size (corresponding to indices from 0 to 255). In the Long BSR format, Long Truncated BSR format, extended Long BSR format, and extended Long Truncated format, the buffer size fields are included in ascending order based on LCGi. In the Long Truncated BSR format and the extended Long Truncated format, the number of buffer size fields included is maximized so as not to exceed the number of padding bits. Similar to the 5-bit case shown in Figure 6, Table 1 below shows an example of a lookup table for the 8-bit indication of buffer sizes.

[0070] Table 1: Buffer Size Table for 8-bit Indication:

Table 1

Table 2

[0071] The BSR MAC CE consists of the following: - Short BSR format (fixed size), or - Extended Short BSR format (fixed size), or - Long BSR format (variable size), or - Extended Long BSR format (variable size), or - Short Truncated BSR format (fixed size), or - Extended Short Truncated BSR format (fixed size), or - Long Truncated BSR format (variable size), or - Extended Long Truncated BSR format (variable size).

[0072] The BSR can be triggered for transmission from the UE 3 to the base station 5. For example, the BSR can be triggered when UL data of a logical channel belonging to an LCG becomes available at the MAC entity. Any of the following: ● This UL data belongs to a logical channel with a priority higher than the priority of the logical channel containing available UL data belonging to any LCG, or ● None of the logical channels belonging to the LCG contain available UL data, in which case the BSR is called a "Regular BSR". The BSR is also triggered when the number of padding bits in the uplink data message is greater than or equal to the size of the buffer status report MAC CE and its sub-header. In this case, the BSR is called a "Padding BSR".

[0073] The BSR can also be triggered based on a timer (e.g., retxBSR-Timer) when UL data is included in at least one of the logical channels belonging to the LCG. In this case, the BSR is called a "Regular BSR".

[0074] The BSR can also schedule periodic transmissions based on a timer (e.g., periodicBSR-Timer). In this case, the BSR is called a "Periodic BSR".

[0075] The MAC PDU can contain at most one BSR MAC CE even if multiple events trigger the BSR. Regular BSR and Periodic BSR may be prioritized over Padding BSR. The MAC entity can restart the retxBSR-Timer when it receives a grant for transmitting new data on any UL-SCH.

[0076] It will be understood that the method of transmitting (and determining to transmit) the buffer status report described below is applicable to any suitable type of BSR.

[0077] The BSR can be used by a base station to configure and / or schedule uplink resources for the transmission of uplink data from the UE 3 to the base station 5. For example, in configured grant type 1, the uplink grant is provided by the RRC and stored as a configured uplink grant. In configured grant type 2, the uplink grant is provided by the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) and stored or cleared as a configured uplink grant based on L1 signaling indicating activation or deactivation of the configured uplink grant. Types 1 and 2 are configured by the RRC for each serving cell for a bandwidth part (BWP). Multiple configurations for the same BWP can be made active simultaneously. In the case of type 2, activation and deactivation are independent between serving cells. For the same BWP, the MAC entity can be configured for both types 1 and 2. Also (or alternatively), the base station 5 can perform semi-persistent scheduling (SPS) or dynamic grant (DG). A further example of the BSR is described in Technical Specification (TS) 38.321 V17.0.0.

[0078] BSR Transmission Next, an exemplary method of the present disclosure for transmitting a BSR from the UE 3 to the base station 5 will be described.

[0079] BSR Polling FIG. 10 shows an example of BSR polling via Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) signaling.

[0080] As shown in FIG. 10, the base station 5 transmits an instruction to the UE 5 on whether to transmit a BSR. For example, the BSR polling field may be included in the PDCCH to indicate whether a Regular BSR should be triggered / included. The BSR polling field may be a 1-bit field. However, any other appropriate number of bits can be used for the BSR polling field.

[0081] FIG. 11 shows an alternative where the MAC CE includes an instruction on whether to transmit a BSR. The instruction can indicate whether to transmit a BSR for each logical channel group.

[0082] Upon receiving this instruction, the UE 3 triggers / transmits a Regular BSR to the base station 5 for all logical channel groups or the specified logical channel groups.

[0083] Advantageously, the UE 3 has the advantage that it can surely determine whether to transmit a BSR to the base station 5.

[0084] Transmission data volume threshold FIG. 12 shows an example where the UE 3 receives a threshold for determining whether to transmit a BSR. If the data volume transmitted by the UE 3 exceeds the value corresponding to the threshold received from the base station 5, the UE 3 transmits a BSR to the base station 5.

[0085] The threshold is obtained at the base station 5 and transmitted to the UE 3. The threshold may be received at the base station 5 from other appropriate entities within the core network 7, or alternatively, may be stored at the base station 5 (e.g., set in the memory of the base station 5). In other words, the threshold may be set by any appropriate entity within the network 1.

[0086] In this example, the threshold corresponds to the data volume to be transmitted. FIG. 13 shows an example of how the UE 3 uses the threshold to determine that a BSR should be transmitted.

[0087] In step S130, UE3 receives information indicating a threshold for BSR transmission from base station 5.

[0088] In step S131, UE3 performs uplink transmission to send data to base station 5.

[0089] In step S132, UE3 determines that the amount of data (also referred to as the "size" or "quantity" of data) to be transmitted to base station 5 exceeds the amount indicated by the threshold received in step S130, and thus determines that a BSR (e.g., Regular BSR) should be transmitted to base station 5.

[0090] Furthermore, UE3 may determine whether there is data in the corresponding buffer, and determine that a BSR should be transmitted only if there is data in the corresponding buffer in addition to the amount of data transmitted exceeding the amount indicated by the threshold.

[0091] To determine the amount of data to be transmitted, UE3 may count the data transmitted for each LCH or LCG individually, or instead, count the data of all LCHs (or another appropriate group or subset of LCHs) together. In step S133, UE3 transmits a BSR to base station 5.

[0092] After UE3 transmits a BSR to base station 5, UE3 resets the count of the amount of data transmitted by UE3, and the method returns to step S131.

[0093] Therefore, advantageously, UE3 can more reliably transmit a BSR to base station 5 by comparing the amount of data to be transmitted with the threshold received from base station 5.

[0094] The amount of data compared with the previously reported buffer size Figure 14 shows a method by which UE3 determines whether to transmit a BSR based on a comparison between the amount of UL data transmitted or scheduled since the UE3 last transmitted a BSR to the base station 5 and the buffer size reported in the previous BSR.

[0095] In step S140, UE3 transmits a BSR to the base station 5. The BSR includes an indication of the buffer size at UE3. In step S141, UE3 transmits data to the base station 5.

[0096] In step 142, UE3 determines that the amount of data to be transmitted to the base station 5 (in the case of LCH or LCG) exceeds the buffer size reported in the BSR in step S140, and thus determines that a BSR should be transmitted to the base station 5. Optionally, when comparing with the buffer size reported in the previous BSR, UE3 can include data that has already been transmitted as well as data for which transmission has been scheduled (e.g., transmission data for a received UL grant). In other words, UE3 can determine whether the sum of the amount of data transmitted from UE3 to the base station 5 since the previous BSR was transmitted and the amount of data for which transmission to the base station 5 is currently scheduled exceeds the buffer size reported in the previous BSR in step S140. In step S143, UE3 transmits a BSR to the base station 5.

[0097] In this example, UE3 determines to transmit a BSR when the amount of data transmitted from UE3 to the base station 5 is greater than the buffer size reported in the previous BSR. Alternatively, UE3 may determine to transmit a BSR when the amount of data transmitted to the base station 5 is greater than or equal to the buffer size reported in the previous BSR, or UE3 may determine to transmit a BSR when the amount of data transmitted to the base station 5 is within a threshold range of the buffer size reported in the previous BSR.

[0098] The method shown in FIG. 14 can be called a method based on the "implicit transmission data volume".

[0099] For each LCG (e.g., "unscheduledbutReportedBufferSize"), the UE can store a variable corresponding to the reported buffer size that is not scheduled. This variable can be set (or reset) to the reported buffer size (e.g., the minimum possible size of the buffer size range corresponding to the index indicated by the BSR) when transmitting the BSR corresponding to the LCG to the base station 5 (e.g., in step S140). Thereafter, the value of the variable stored in the UE3 can be decreased based on the data volume of the LCG transmitted to the base station 5 (e.g., in step S141). If the value of the variable is less than the threshold (e.g., 0) and there is data in the corresponding buffer, the UE3 determines that it should transmit the BSR to the base station 5.

[0100] Therefore, advantageously, the UE3 can more reliably transmit the BSR to the base station 5 based on the data volume transmitted to the base station 5 after the BSR was previously transmitted.

[0101] Buffered data volume FIG. 15 shows a method by which the UE3 determines that it should transmit the BSR to the base station 5 based on the data volume buffered in the UE3. In step S150, the UE3 determines that the data volume buffered in the UE3 (e.g., for all LCGs or for each LCG) is less than (or alternatively, "less than or equal to") the set threshold, and therefore determines that it should transmit the BSR to the base station 5. The threshold of the UE3 can be preset in the UE3, or alternatively, it can be received from any other appropriate entity in the network 1. In step S141, the UE3 transmits the BSR to the base station 5.

[0102] Therefore, advantageously, UE3 can more reliably transmit the BSR to the base station 5 based on the amount of data buffered in UE3.

[0103] UL grant size FIG. 16 shows a method by which UE3 determines that it should transmit a BSR to the base station 5 based on the UL grant size.

[0104] In step S160, UE3 determines whether the UL grant size (e.g., the UL grant size received from the base station 5) is greater than a threshold grant size. The threshold grant size may be preset in UE3, or alternatively, it can be received from any other suitable entity in the network 1.

[0105] Large amounts of data may require several uplink dynamic grants. Therefore, when the UL grant size is large, it is advantageous for an updated and accurate BSR to be available at the base station 5 in order to allocate at least one appropriate UL grant size. Further, when the UL grant size is large, the overhead of including the BSR in the corresponding transmission to the base station 5 is relatively low.

[0106] Therefore, advantageously, UE3 can more reliably transmit the BSR to the base station 5 based on the UL grant size, and the base station 5 can allocate a more appropriate UL grant size and reduce the overall resource usage (e.g., radio resource usage). Further, the BSR is advantageously transmitted when the relative overhead of the BSR is low.

[0107] Determination based on the size of the buffered data and the buffer size reported in the previous BSR FIG. 17 shows a method by which UE3 determines whether to transmit a BSR based on the amount of data in the UE buffer and the buffer size reported (or "indicated") in the previous BSR.

[0108] In step S170, UE3 transmits a BSR to base station 5. In step S171, UE3 transmits data from the buffer to base station 5 (for example, after receiving a UL grant from base station 5).

[0109] In step S172, UE3 determines that the difference between the maximum value of the buffer size reported in step S170 and the amount of data in the current buffer is greater than (or equal to) a threshold, and thus determines that a BSR should be transmitted to base station 5. When making this determination, UE3 takes into account the amount of data transmitted to base station 5 in step S171. In other words, as shown in the following example, UE determines whether the difference between the value of the current buffer size that base station 5 can calculate and the actual buffer size exceeds the threshold. In step S173, UE3 transmits a BSR to base station 5.

[0110] The "maximum value of the reported buffer size" is the upper limit of the range indicated by the BSR. For example, referring to FIG. 6, if the index reported in the previous BSR was 11, the maximum value of the reported buffer size is 276 (the upper limit of the range of possible buffer size values corresponding to that index).

[0111] If B represents the current amount of data in the buffer of UE3 and E represents the maximum possible buffer size based on the index of the buffer size transmitted last time (and based on the data transmitted from UE3 to base station 5 after transmitting the BSR), UE3 determines whether (E >= B)? E - B, or (B >= E)? B - E, is greater than the threshold T. For example, referring to Table 1 above, the buffer of UE3 is initially empty, and then, if UE3 receives a packet of size 60000 bytes into the buffer, (since the buffer size is greater than 58784 and less than or equal to 62599), the buffer size is 60000 bytes, and the index included in the BSR in step S170 is "139". In this case, E - B = 62599 - 60000 = 2599. Therefore, if the threshold T is 1000, E - B > T. However, since the BSR is triggered to be transmitted based on data arrival, the UE does not yet transmit another BSR. Subsequently, if the UE is scheduled to transmit 50000 bytes of data from the buffer in step S171 and transmits it, (since E is calculated considering the amount of transmitted data: E = 62599 - 50000), B = 10000, E = 12599, and E - B = 2599. Since E - B is greater than the threshold 1000, and thus there is a relatively large discrepancy between the buffer size that can be calculated or estimated by base station 5 and the actual buffer size, the UE decides to transmit a new BSR to reduce the value of E - B, or, if there are 2000 bytes of data arriving at the buffer, for example, B = 30000, E = 12599, and B - E = 17401. Since B - E is greater than the threshold 1000, and thus there is a relatively large discrepancy between the buffer size that can be calculated or estimated by base station 5 and the actual buffer size, the UE decides to transmit a new BSR to reduce the value of B - E.

[0112] In other words, the transmission of the BSR in step 173 is based on the difference between the actual amount of data buffered in UE3 and the amount of data buffered in UE3 that the base station 5 can determine or estimate (based on the previous BSR and subsequent UL data transmissions received from UE3).

[0113] Therefore, advantageously, UE3 can provide the base station 5 with a more accurate indication of the buffer size, whereby the base station 5 can schedule UL resources more efficiently.

[0114] Figure 18 shows a modification of the method of Figure 17, in which UE3 instead determines that the difference based on the minimum value of the buffer size reported in step S170 and the current amount of data in the buffer is greater than (or alternatively, equal to or greater than) a threshold. Steps S180, S181, and S183 are the same as steps S170, S171, and S173, respectively.

[0115] In this example, UE3 uses the minimum value of the buffer size reported in step S180. The "minimum value of the reported buffer size" is the minimum value of the range indicated by the BSR. For example, referring to Figure 6, if the index reported in the previous BSR was 11, the maximum value of the reported buffer size is 199 (the minimum value of the range of possible buffer size values corresponding to that index).

[0116] If B is the current amount of data in the buffer of UE3 and E’ is the minimum possible buffer size based on the BSR transmitted at S180 (and the data transmitted from UE3 to base station 5 at S181), UE3 determines whether B - E’ is greater than a threshold T. For example, referring to Table 1 above, if the buffer of UE3 is initially empty and then a packet of size 60000 bytes is received into the buffer, the size of the buffer is 60000 bytes. Thus, (since the buffer size is greater than 58784 and less than or equal to 62599), the index included in the BSR at step S170 is “139”. In this case, B - E’ = 60000 - 58784 = 1216. Thus, if the threshold T is 1000, B - E’ > T. However, since the BSR is triggered to be transmitted based on data arrival, the UE does not yet transmit another BSR. Thereafter, if the UE is scheduled to transmit 50000 bytes of data from the buffer at step S181 and transmits it, (since E’ is calculated considering the amount of transmitted data: E’ = 58784 - 50000), B = 10000, E’ = 8784, and B - E’ = 1216. Since B - E’ is greater than the threshold 1000, and thus there is a relatively large discrepancy between the buffer size that can be calculated or estimated by base station 5 and the actual buffer size, the UE decides to transmit a new BSR to reduce the value of B - E’.

[0117] Difference information of BSR FIG. 19 shows an example in which, in addition to transmitting a regular / periodical BSR, UE3 transmits an indication of the difference between the maximum possible buffer size based on the current regular / periodical BSR and the current data size in the buffer.

[0118] As shown in the figure, the UE transmits a BSR to base station 5 and also transmits an indication of the difference between the maximum possible buffer size based on the BSR and the current data size in the buffer.

[0119] For example, if B represents the current amount of data in the buffer and E represents the maximum possible buffer size based on the index of the buffer size of the BSR, the UE3 can send the value of E - B to the base station 5 (in this example, as a MAC CE). The "maximum possible buffer size" is the upper limit value of the range indicated by the BSR. For example, referring to FIG. 6, when the index reported by the BSR is 11, the maximum value of the buffer size to be reported is 276 (the upper limit value of the range of possible buffer size values corresponding to that index). To obtain a more accurate determination of the actual buffer size in the UE3, the base station 5 can use the value of E - B (for example, using the buffer size values described in Table 1 above), and thus can schedule the UL resources more efficiently.

[0120] FIG. 20 shows a modification of FIG. 19, where the UE3 sends an indication of the difference between the actual amount of data in the buffer and the minimum possible amount of data based on the BSR index / buffer size included in the BSR. For example, if B represents the current amount of data in the buffer and E' represents the minimum possible buffer size based on the index of the buffer size of the BSR, the UE3 can send the value of B - E to the base station 5 (in this example, as a MAC CE).

[0121] In the examples of FIGS. 19 and 20, the indication is sent as a MAC CE, but alternatively, other appropriate types of transmissions from the UE3 to the base station 5 can also be used.

[0122] (Both can be called "difference in buffer size") The value of E - B in the example of FIG. 19 and the value of B - E in the example of FIG. 20 may be sent (or triggered) when one or more of the following conditions are met. ● Transmission of the difference in buffer size is enabled by the network ● A Regular / periodical / truncated BSR report is triggered and is scheduled to be included in the available uplink scheduling grant ● The difference in buffer size is greater than a threshold value (e.g., determined by UE3). ● Triggered, and the grant size of the regular / periodical / truncated BSR scheduled to be included in the available uplink scheduling grant is greater than a threshold value.

[0123] Buffer size table As described above with reference to FIG. 6, the range of buffer size values becomes less accurate as the BSR index increases (as the buffer size value increases). For example, a 5-bit buffer size field is used for the BSR report. When the shown index is 3, the buffer size value corresponds to a range of 6 bytes and is greater than 14 bytes and less than or equal to 20 bytes. In contrast, when the shown index is 28, the buffer size value corresponds to a range of 21810 bytes and is greater than 55474 bytes and less than or equal to 77284 bytes. In other words, the granularity of the shown buffer level becomes less fine as the size of the index increases. However, for example, when the base station 5 is trying to complete data scheduling based on the reported buffer size, it is desirable for the base station 5 to have a more accurate range for the buffer size value.

[0124] The inventors have noticed that it is advantageous to provide a table that maps the BSR index to the corresponding buffer size value based on a specific service or device type. For example, in the case of video streaming in an XR implementation, the typical packet size may fall within a specific range. The inventors have noticed that the table can be configured to provide a smaller range (i.e., finer granularity) of buffer size values for typical packet sizes. This improves the overall accuracy of the BSR.

[0125] Figure 21 shows a modified version of the table of FIG. 6, in which the mapping between the index and the buffer size value is modified to provide finer granularity for buffer size values between 4000 bytes and 5000 bytes (for example, because the typical packet size of a particular application or service is between 4000 bytes and 5000 bytes). For example, if the actual buffer size in UE3 is 4150 bytes and the table of FIG. 6 is used, the index value 20 is included in the BSR, which indicates that the buffer size value is greater than 3909 bytes and less than or equal to 5446 bytes (a range of 1537 bytes). In contrast, when using the table of FIG. 21, the index value 18 is included in the BSR, which indicates that the buffer size value is greater than 4100 bytes and less than or equal to 4200 bytes (a smaller range of 100 bytes). Therefore, the BSR provides a more accurate indication of the actual buffer size to the base station 5, and the base station can schedule the UL resources more efficiently.

[0126] UE3 can store multiple mapping tables such as the tables shown in FIGS. 6 and 21, and the network can provide UE3 with an indication of which table to use to generate the BSR. For example, the network can provide an indication for UE3 to use a particular mapping table based on the type of UE3 or based on the service used or requested by UE3 (UE3 may use a particular table based on the network configuration). Alternatively, UE3 can select the table to use and provide an indication of the selected table to the base station 5.

[0127] Alternatively (or additionally), a new BSR MAC CE that uses more than 8 bits can be used to indicate the buffer size value, increasing the number of indexes used to map to the buffer size value, and thus each index can be mapped to a narrower range of buffer sizes.

[0128] Grant assistance information FIG. 22 shows an example in which the UE3 transmits auxiliary information of a configured grant (CG) / scheduling request (SR) to the base station. This is advantageously useful for dealing with the problem that a mismatch may occur between the data arrival timing and the CG position in the UE3. This may occur, for example, due to jitter (which may be difficult to predict) or non-integer periods. The inventors have noticed that this problem can be at least partially improved by providing the setting of the CG (especially regarding the timing of the CG) supported by the UE.

[0129] The base station 5 can optimize the power consumption of one or more UEs by setting so-called discontinuous reception (DRX) and / or discontinuous transmission (DTX) operations. Both DRX and DTX are based on reducing the duty cycle of the transceiver of UE3 during active operation. In the DRX mode, the base station 5 sets a cycle in which UE3 operates for a certain period (referred to as the "active time" or "on period"), and the base station 5 transmits all scheduling and paging information (for this UE) only during this period. Therefore, UE3 can turn off the transceiver during the remaining period of the DRX cycle (which can be referred to as the "inactive time" or "off period"). In the DTX mode, UE3 continues to monitor the Physical Downlink Control Channel (PDCCH) so that it can receive data from the base station 5 without excessive delay, rather than turning off the transceiver completely. The longer the "off" period is with respect to the duty cycle, the more power savings can be achieved. However, when operating in the DRX and / or DTX modes, since UE3 can only transmit and receive data during the active time, the data throughput of UE3 decreases in proportion to the achieved power savings. Jitter can cause inconsistencies between data arrival and the on period of the DRX cycle. The impact of jitter is that the exact frame arrival timing advances or lags slightly more than expected due to random delays caused by the operation of the frame encoder of the edge server, the network transfer time of the core network, etc.

[0130] A further problem can be called the "non-integer period" of XR data packets (i.e., non-integer sub-frames). Specifically, in the case of XR, the packet arrival rate is determined by the frame generation rate (e.g., 60 fps). Therefore, the average packet arrival period, without considering jitter (i.e., assuming that the video encoding time is fixed and the network transfer delay is fixed), is given by the reciprocal of the frame rate (e.g., 1 / 60 fps = 16.6667 ms). Therefore, the arrival time of the packet with index k (k = 1, 2, 3,...) at the base station is given by k / F × 1000 [ms] when F is the given frame generation rate ( / second). The difference between the non-integer arrival rate (16.6667 ms in this example) and the closest period given in sub-frame units (e.g., 17 ms) makes the buffer time of subsequent packets longer and longer (cumulatively). In other words, for each new data packet corresponding to a new frame, an additional 0.3333 ms of delay is added (cumulated).

[0131] As shown in FIG. 22, in this example, UE3 transmits auxiliary information of CG and / or SR to base station 5. The auxiliary information may include information regarding traffic characteristics (the auxiliary information may simply be referred to as "traffic information"). Thereafter, base station 5 sets CG / SR based on the received auxiliary information.

[0132] Information related to traffic characteristics may include the following: ● Periodic traffic timing information represented as follows: ○ Traffic period / packet generation rate and offset (e.g., offset from the start of the corresponding period of packet arrival timing) ● Possible jitter range ● Desired / required settings, e.g.: ○ Uplink CG requirements including period, offset, and optionally TB size (to match periodic packet arrival timing) ○ SR settings including period and offset (to match periodic packet arrival timing)

[0133] The UE can transmit the auxiliary information when requested by the network. Instead, for example, UE3 can transmit the auxiliary information periodically. Therefore, advantageously, the base station 5 can use the auxiliary information to provide an improved setting of CG / SR.

[0134] Modifications and alternatives Detailed embodiments have been described above. As those skilled in the art will understand, numerous modifications and alternatives can be added to the above embodiments while enjoying the advantages in which the present invention is embodied. Here, only some of these alternatives and modifications will be described for the purpose of explanation.

[0135] It will be understood that the above embodiments are applicable to both 5G new radio and LTE systems (E-UTRAN). Also, the above embodiments are applicable to future systems (such as 5G, 6G and later).

[0136] In the above description, the UE, the access network node (base station), and the core network node are described as having a number of individual modules (such as communication control modules) for ease of understanding. These modules may be provided in this way for a specific application, for example, when an existing system is modified to implement the present disclosure, but in other applications, such as a system designed from the beginning with the features of the present invention in mind, these modules may be incorporated into the overall operating system or code, and thus, these modules may not be distinguishable as individual entities. Also, these modules may be implemented in software, hardware, firmware, or a combination thereof.

[0137] Each controller can include a processing circuit in any suitable form, including, for example, (but not limited to) one or more hardware-implemented computer processors, microprocessors, central processing units (CPUs), arithmetic logic units (ALUs), input / output (IO) circuits, internal memory / cache (program and / or data), processing registers, communication buses (e.g., control bus, data bus, and / or address bus), direct memory access (DMA) functions; hardware or software-implemented counters, pointers, and / or timers, etc.

[0138] In the above embodiments, a number of software modules have been described. As those skilled in the art will understand, software modules may be provided in compiled or uncompiled form, and may be supplied to the UE, access network nodes (base stations), and core network nodes as signals via a computer network or on a recording medium. Also, the functions executed by some or all of this software may be executed using one or more dedicated hardware circuits. However, the use of software modules is preferred because it facilitates the updates of the UE, access network nodes, and core network nodes in order to update their functions.

[0139] It should be understood that the functions of the base station (referred to as a “distributed” base station or gNB) can be split between one or more distributed units (DUs) and a central unit (CU), where the CU typically performs higher-level functions and communication with the next-generation core, and the DU performs lower-level functions and communication via an air interface with nearby UEs (i.e., within the cell operated by the gNB). The distributed gNB includes the following functional units: gNB Central Unit (gNB-CU): A logical node that hosts the Radio Resource Control (RRC), Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP), and Packet Data Convergence Protocol (PDCP) layers of a gNB (or the RRC and PDCP layers of an en-gNB) that controls the operation of one or more gNB-DUs. The gNB-CU terminates the so-called F1 interface connected to the gNB-DU. gNB Distributed Unit (gNB-DU): A logical node that hosts the Radio Link Control (RLC), Medium Access Control (MAC), and Physical (PHY) layers of a gNB or en-gNB. A part of its operation is controlled by the gNB-CU. One gNB-DU supports one or more cells. One cell is supported by only one gNB-DU. The gNB-DU terminates the F1 interface connected to the gNB-CU. gNB-CU Control Plane (gNB-CU-CP (Control Plane)): A logical node that hosts the RRC and control plane part of the PDCP protocol of the gNB-CU for an en-gNB or gNB. The gNB-CU-CP terminates the so-called E1 interface connected to the gNB-CU-UP and the F1-C (F1 control plane) interface connected to the gNB-DU. gNB-CU User Plane (gNB-CU-UP (User Plane)): A logical node that hosts the user plane part of the PDCP protocol of the gNB-CU for an en-gNB, and the user plane parts of the PDCP protocol and SDAP protocol of the gNB-CU for a gNB. The gNB-CU-UP terminates the E1 interface connected to the gNB-CU-CP and the F1-U (F1 user plane) interface connected to the gNB-DU.

[0140] When a distributed base station or a similar control plane - user plane (CP - UP) split is used, the base station may be split into separate control plane and user plane entities, each of which can include the associated transceiver circuitry, antennas, network interfaces, controllers, memory, operating systems, and communication control modules. It should be understood that when the base station includes a distributed base station, the network interface (reference numeral 55 in FIG. 3) also includes an E1 interface and an F1 interface (F1 - C for the control plane and F1 - U for the user plane) to communicate signals between the respective functions of the distributed base station. In this case, the communication control module is also responsible for communication (generation, transmission, and reception of signaling messages) between the control plane part and the user plane part of the base station.

[0141] The above - described embodiments are also applicable to "non - mobile" or generally fixed user equipment. The above - mentioned mobile devices can include MTC / IoT devices and / or the like.

[0142] A user equipment (or "UE", "mobile station", "mobile device", or "wireless device") in the present disclosure is an entity connected to a network via a wireless interface.

[0143] It should be noted that the present disclosure is not limited to dedicated communication devices and can be applied to any device having a communication function, as described in the following paragraphs.

[0144] The terms "user equipment" or "UE" (used by 3GPP), "mobile station", "mobile device", and "wireless device" are generally considered synonymous with each other and include stand - alone mobile stations such as terminals, cell phones, smartphones, tablets, cellular IoT devices, IoT devices, and machines. It will be understood that the terms "mobile station" and "mobile device" also include devices that remain stationary for a long period of time.

[0145] The UE can be, for example, an item of equipment for production or manufacturing and / or an item of energy-related machinery (for example, boilers, engines, turbines, solar panels, wind turbines, hydroelectric generators, thermal power generators, nuclear power generators, batteries, nuclear systems and / or related equipment, heavy electrical machinery, pumps including vacuum pumps, compressors, fans, blowers, hydraulic equipment, pneumatic equipment, metalworking machinery, manipulators, robots and / or their application systems, tools, dies or molds, rolls, conveying equipment, lifting equipment, material handling equipment, textile machinery, sewing machines, printing and / or related machinery, paper processing machinery, chemical machinery, mining and / or construction machinery and / or related equipment, machinery and / or appliances for agriculture, forestry and / or fishing, safety and / or environmental protection equipment, tractors, precision bearings, chains, gears, power transmission equipment, lubrication equipment, valves, pipe fittings, and / or application systems for any of the aforementioned equipment or machinery).

[0146] The UE can be, for example, an item of transportation equipment (for example, railway vehicles, automobiles, motorcycles, bicycles, trains, buses, carts, skate shows, ships and other vessels, aircraft, rockets, satellites, drones, balloons, etc.).

[0147] The UE can be, for example, an item of information and communication equipment (for example, electronic computers and related equipment, communication and related equipment, information and communication equipment such as electronic components).

[0148] The UE can be, for example, refrigerators, refrigeration application products, items of trading and / or service industry equipment, vending machines, automatic service machines, office machines or equipment, household appliances and electronic devices (for example, household electrical appliances such as audio equipment, video equipment, loudspeakers, radios, TVs, microwave ovens, rice cookers, coffee machines, dishwashers, washing machines, dryers, electric fans or related equipment, vacuum cleaners, etc.).

[0149] The UE may be, for example, an electrical application system or device (such as an X-ray system, a particle accelerator, a radioisotope device, a sonic device, an electromagnetic application device, a power application device, etc.).

[0150] The UE may be, for example, an electronic lamp, a lighting fixture, a measuring device, an analyzer, a tester, or a surveying or detecting device (such as a surveying or detecting device like a smoke alarm, a human alarm sensor, a motion sensor, a wireless tag, etc.), a wristwatch or clock, a laboratory instrument, an optical device, a medical device and / or system, a weapon, a cutting tool, a hand tool, etc.

[0151] The UE may be, for example, a mobile information terminal or related device of wireless equipment (such as a wireless card or module designed for attachment or insertion to another electronic device (such as a personal computer, an electrical measuring instrument)).

[0152] The UE may be part of a device or system that uses various wired and / or wireless communication technologies to provide the applications, services, and solutions described below with respect to the "internet of things (IoT)".

[0153] Internet of Things devices (or "things") may be equipped with appropriate electronic equipment, software, sensors, network connectivity, etc. that enable these devices to collect and exchange data with each other and with other communication devices. IoT devices may be equipped with automated devices that follow software instructions stored in internal memory. IoT devices can operate without the need for human supervision or interaction. IoT devices may also remain stationary and / or inactive for long periods of time. IoT devices may be implemented as part of (generally) stationary equipment. IoT devices may also be embedded in non-fixed equipment (such as a vehicle) or attached to an animal or person being monitored / tracked.

[0154] It should be understood that IoT technology can be implemented on any communication device that can be connected to a communication network to send / receive data, whether such communication device is controlled by human input or software instructions stored in memory.

[0155] It should be understood that IoT devices may also be referred to as machine type communication (MTC) devices or Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication devices. It should be understood that a UE may support one or more IoT or MTC applications. Some examples of MTC applications are listed in the following table (Source: 3GPP TS 22.368 V 13.1.0, Annex B, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference). This list is not exhaustive and is intended to show some examples of machine type communication applications.

[0156] [Table 3]

[0157] Applications, services, and solutions include Mobile Virtual Network Operator (MVNO) services, emergency wireless communication systems, Private Branch eXchange (PBX) systems, PHS / digital cordless communication systems, Point of Sale (POS) systems, advertising call systems, Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service (MBMS), Vehicle to Everything (V2X) systems, train wireless systems, location-related services, disaster / emergency wireless communication services, community services, video streaming services, femtocell application services, Voice over LTE (VoLTE) services, charging services, radio on-demand services, roaming services, activity monitoring services, communication carrier / communication NW selection services, function-limited services, Proof of Concept (PoC) services, personal information management services, ad hoc network / Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) services, and so on.

[0158] Also, the above-described UE categories are merely application examples of the technical ideas and exemplary embodiments described in this specification. Of course, these technical ideas and embodiments are not limited to the above-described UEs and can be variously modified.

[0159] Various other modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art and are not further described herein in detail.

[0160] This application claims priority based on UK Patent Application No. 2209591.3 filed on June 29, 2022, and incorporates the entire disclosure thereof herein.

[0161] For example, some or all of the above embodiments may be described as follows in the following appendices, but are not limited thereto. (Appendix 1) A user equipment (UE), Based on at least one of the amount of data stored in the UE, The amount of data transmitted by the UE, A threshold value, or A BSR indication indicating whether to transmit a buffer status report (BSR) from the UE to a base station, Means for determining whether to transmit the BSR to the base station based on at least one of the above, Means for transmitting the BSR to the base station based on the determination, Comprising UE. (Appendix 2) Further comprising means for receiving the BSR indication from the base station, The means for transmitting the BSR is configured to transmit the BSR to the base station when the BSR indication indicates that the base station should transmit the BSR, The UE according to Appendix 1. (Appendix 3) The BSR indication is included in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), The UE according to Appendix 2. (Appendix 4) The BSR indication is provided as a 1-bit field of the PDCCH, The UE according to Appendix 3. (Appendix 5) The BSR indication includes a media access control (MAC) control element (CE), The UE according to Appendix 2. (Appendix 6) The BSR indication is defined for each logical channel group, The UE according to Appendix 5. (Appendix 7) The BSR is a Regular BSR, the UE according to any one of Appendices 1 to 6. (Appendix 8) When the means for transmitting indicates that the BSR instruction indicates that the BSR should be transmitted to the base station, the means for transmitting is configured to transmit a BSR for one or more logical channel groups indicated by the BSR instruction. the UE according to any one of Appendices 1 to 7. (Appendix 9) The means for determining is configured to determine to transmit the BSR to the base station when the amount of data transmitted by the UE exceeds the threshold value and there is data in the corresponding buffer of the UE. the UE according to Appendix 1. (Appendix 10) means for storing a value of the amount of data transmitted by the UE; means for setting the value of the amount of data transmitted by the UE to 0 when the UE transmits the BSR; further comprising the UE according to Appendix 9. (Appendix 11) The threshold value corresponds to the buffer size reported in a first BSR transmitted from the UE to the base station, The means for determining is configured to determine to transmit a second BSR to the base station when the sum of the data transmitted from the UE to the base station and the data scheduled for transmission from the UE to the base station exceeds the threshold value and there is data in the corresponding buffer of the UE. the UE according to Appendix 1. (Appendix 12) The means for determining is configured to determine to transmit the BSR to the base station when the amount of data stored in the buffer of the UE is less than the threshold value. the UE according to Appendix 1. (Appendix 13) The threshold value corresponds to the UL grant size of the UE, The determining means is configured to determine to transmit the BSR when the UL grant size is greater than the threshold value. The UE according to Appendix 1. (Appendix 14) The determining means is configured to determine to transmit the BSR to the base station when a value obtained by subtracting, from the maximum value of the buffer size reported in the previous BSR, the current buffer size of the corresponding buffer of the UE and the amount of data transmitted from the UE to the base station after the previous BSR is transmitted is greater than the threshold value. The UE according to Appendix 1. (Appendix 15) The determining means is configured to determine to transmit the BSR to the base station when a value obtained by subtracting, from the current buffer size of the UE, the minimum value of the corresponding buffer size reported in the previous BSR and the amount of data transmitted from the UE to the base station after the previous BSR is transmitted is greater than the threshold value. The UE according to Appendix 1. (Appendix 16) A user equipment (UE) comprising means for determining to transmit to a base station an indication of a difference between a buffer size corresponding to a buffer status report (BSR) and an amount of data stored in the corresponding buffer of the UE. The buffer size corresponding to the BSR is the upper limit of the range of buffer sizes indicated by the BSR. The UE according to Appendix 16. (Appendix 18) The indication indicates a value obtained by subtracting the amount of data stored in the buffer of the UE from the upper limit of the range of the buffer sizes indicated by the BSR. The UE according to Appendix 17. (Appendix 19) The buffer size corresponding to the BSR is the lower limit of the range of buffer sizes indicated by the BSR. The UE according to Appendix 17. (Appendix 19) The buffer size corresponding to the BSR is the lower limit of the range of buffer sizes indicated by the BSR. The UE described in Supplementary Note 16. (Supplementary Note 20) The indication includes a value equal to a value obtained by subtracting the lower limit of the buffer size range indicated by the BSR from the amount of data stored in the buffer of the UE. The UE described in Supplementary Note 19. (Supplementary Note 21) The UE reports whether the transmission of the indication is enabled by the network, whether the reported Regular BSR, Periodical BSR, or Truncated BSR has been triggered for transmission to the base station, whether a value equal to a value obtained by subtracting the amount of data stored in the UE's buffer from the upper limit of the buffer size range indicated by the BSR is greater than a threshold value, whether a value obtained by subtracting the lower limit of the buffer size range indicated by the BSR from the amount of data stored in the UE's buffer is greater than the corresponding threshold value, or whether the grant size of the UE for Regular BSR, Periodical BSR, or Truncated BSR is greater than the corresponding threshold value, and is configured to transmit the indication to the base station in at least one of the cases. The UE described in Supplementary Note 16. (Supplementary Note 22) A user equipment (UE) comprising: means for storing a plurality of tables, each table mapping each of a plurality of indexes to respective ranges of the UE's buffer size; means for receiving an indication of a table to be used for determining an index corresponding to the UE's buffer size among the plurality of tables; means for transmitting the index to a base station; and UE. (Supplementary Note 23) A user equipment (UE) comprising: Means for transmitting a buffer status report (BSR) media access control (MAC) control element (CE) to a base station, wherein the BSR MAC CE includes bits larger than 8 bits indicating a corresponding buffer size, UE. (Appendix 24) A method executed by a user equipment (UE), the amount of data stored in the UE, the amount of data transmitted by the UE, a threshold, or a BSR indication indicating whether to transmit a buffer status report (BSR) from the UE to a base station Based on at least one of, determining whether to transmit the BSR to the base station; Based on the determination, transmitting the BSR to the base station; including, Method. (Appendix 25) A method executed by a user equipment (UE), determining to transmit an indication of a difference between a buffer size corresponding to a buffer status report (BSR) and an amount of data stored in a corresponding buffer of the UE to a base station, Method. (Appendix 26) A method executed by a user equipment (UE), storing a plurality of tables, each table mapping each of a plurality of indexes to respective ranges of the buffer size of the UE; receiving an indication of a table to be used to determine an index corresponding to the buffer size of the UE among the plurality of tables; Transmitting the index to a base station including method (Appendix 27) A method executed by a user equipment (UE), including transmitting a buffer status report (BSR) media access control (MAC) control element (CE) to a base station, wherein the BSR MAC CE includes bits larger than 8 bits indicating a corresponding buffer size method (Appendix 28) A system comprising a user equipment (UE) and a base station, wherein the UE is configured to transmit uplink data transmission information including at least one of a period or packet generation rate, a time offset, a jitter range, or a required configuration related to uplink data transmission from the UE to the base station to the base station, and the base station is configured to set or schedule at least one uplink resource for uplink transmission based on the uplink data transmission information received from the UE system (Appendix 29) A method executed in a system including a user equipment (UE) and a base station, including transmitting, by the UE, uplink data transmission information including at least one of a period or packet generation rate, a time offset, a jitter range, or a required configuration related to uplink data transmission from the UE to the base station to the base station, and setting or scheduling, by the base station, at least one uplink resource for uplink transmission based on the uplink data transmission information received from the UE including method (Appendix 30) A base station, a threshold for determining whether to transmit a buffer status report (BSR) from a user equipment (UE) to the base station, or a BSR indication indicating whether the BSR should be transmitted from the UE to the base station comprising means for transmitting at least one of the above to the UE, Base station. (Appendix 31) A base station, means for receiving from the UE an indication of the difference between the buffer size corresponding to a buffer status report (BSR) and the amount of data stored in the corresponding buffer of the user equipment (UE); means for determining the current buffer size of the UE using the received indication; comprising Base station. (Appendix 32) A base station, means for transmitting to the UE an indication of a table among a plurality of tables stored in the UE, each table mapping each of a plurality of indexes to respective ranges of the buffer size of the user equipment (UE), for use in determining the index corresponding to the buffer size of the UE; means for receiving the index from the UE; comprising Base station. (Appendix 33) A base station, means for receiving from the user equipment a buffer status report (BSR) media access control (MAC) control element (CE) that includes bits larger than 8 bits indicating a corresponding buffer size; Means for determining a buffer size at the UE using the BSR MAC CE, comprising a base station. (Appendix 34) A base station, means for receiving uplink data transmission information including at least one of a period or packet generation rate, a time offset, a jitter range, or a required configuration related to uplink data transmission from the UE to the base station, means for setting or scheduling at least one uplink resource for uplink transmission based on the uplink data transmission information received from the UE, comprising a base station. (Appendix 35) A method performed by a base station, a threshold for determining whether to transmit a buffer status report (BSR) from a user equipment (UE) to the base station, or a BSR indication indicating whether the BSR should be transmitted from the UE to the base station including transmitting at least one of them to the UE, a method. (Appendix 36) A method performed by a base station, receiving from the UE an indication of a difference between a buffer size corresponding to a buffer status report (BSR) and an amount of data stored in a corresponding buffer of the user equipment (UE), determining a current buffer size of the UE using the received indication, including a method. (Appendix 37) A method performed by a base station, To the UE that stores a plurality of tables each mapping each of a plurality of indexes to each range of the buffer size of the user equipment (UE), send an instruction of a table to be used to determine an index corresponding to the buffer size of the UE among the plurality of tables. Receive the index from the UE. Including Method. (Appendix 38) A method executed by a base station, Receive a buffer status report (BSR) media access control (MAC) control element (CE) including bits larger than 8 bits indicating a corresponding buffer size from a user equipment, Determine a buffer size at the UE using the BSR MAC CE. Including Method. (Appendix 39) A method executed by a base station, Receive uplink data transmission information including at least one of a period or packet generation rate, time offset, jitter range, or a requested configuration related to uplink data transmission from the UE to the base station, Based on the uplink data transmission information received from the UE, set or schedule at least one uplink resource for uplink transmission. Including Method.

Description of Signs

[0162] 1 Mobile (cellular or wireless) communication system 3A, 3B Mobile devices (user equipment, UE) 5 Base station 7 Core network 10 Control Plane Function (CPF) 11 User Plane Function (UPF) 20 Network 31 Transceiver Circuit 33 Antenna 35 User Interface 37 Controller 39 Memory 41 Operating System 43 Communication Control Module 45 Buffer Status Report (BSR) Module 51 Transceiver Circuit 53 Antenna 55 Network Interface 57 Controller 59 Memory 61 Operating System 63 Communication Control Module 65 BSR Module 67 UL Scheduling Module 71 Transceiver Circuit 75 Network Interface 77 Controller 79 Memory 81 Operating System 83 Communication Control Module

Claims

1. A user equipment (UE), whether the amount of data stored in the UE is equal to or less than a first threshold value, whether the amount of data transmitted by the UE since the transmission of the previous buffer status report (BSR) is equal to or greater than a second threshold value, whether the uplink grant size is equal to or greater than a third threshold value, whether the difference between the current buffer size of the buffer of the UE and the maximum or minimum buffer size is equal to or greater than a fourth threshold value, or a BSR indication indicating whether to transmit a BSR from the UE to a base station means for determining whether to transmit the BSR to the base station based on at least one of the above; means for transmitting the BSR to the base station based on the determination; comprising a UE.

2. The determining means is configured to determine to transmit the BSR to the base station when the amount of data transmitted by the UE since the transmission of the previous BSR is greater than a threshold value and there is data in the buffer of the UE. The UE according to claim 1.

3. means for storing a value of the amount of data transmitted by the UE; means for setting the value of the amount of data transmitted by the UE to 0 when the UE transmits the BSR; further comprising the UE according to claim 2.

4. The second threshold value corresponds to the buffer size reported in the previous BSR, The determining means is configured to determine to transmit a BSR to the base station when the sum of the data transmitted by the UE to the base station after the transmission of the previous BSR and the data scheduled for transmission from the UE to the base station is greater than the second threshold value and there is data in the buffer of the UE. The UE according to claim 1.

5. The determining means is configured to determine to transmit the BSR to the base station when the value obtained by subtracting the current buffer size of the buffer of the UE and the amount of data transmitted by the UE after the transmission of the previous BSR from the maximum buffer size reported in the previous BSR is equal to or greater than the fourth threshold value. The UE according to claim 1.

6. The means for making the determination is configured to determine to transmit the BSR to the base station when a value obtained by subtracting the minimum buffer size reported in the previous BSR and the amount of data transmitted by the UE after the transmission of the previous BSR from the current buffer size of the UE is equal to or greater than the fourth threshold value. The UE according to claim 1.

7. comprising means for receiving the BSR indication from the base station; The means for transmitting the BSR is configured to transmit the BSR to the base station when the BSR indication indicates that the BSR should be transmitted to the base station. The UE according to any one of claims 1 to 6.

8. The BSR indication is included in a physical downlink control channel (PDCCH). The UE according to claim 7.

9. The BSR indication is provided as a 1-bit field of the PDCCH. The UE according to claim 8.

10. The BSR indication includes a media access control (MAC) control element (CE). The UE according to claim 7.

11. The BSR indication is defined for each logical channel group. The UE according to claim 10.

12. The BSR is a Regular BSR. The UE according to any one of claims 1 to 11.

13. The means for transmitting is configured to transmit a BSR for one or more logical channel groups indicated by the BSR indication when the BSR indication indicates that the BSR should be transmitted to the base station. The UE according to any one of claims 1 to 12.

14. A user equipment (UE), comprising means for determining to transmit an indication of the difference between the buffer size corresponding to a buffer status report (BSR) and the amount of data stored in the corresponding buffer of the UE to the base station. UE.

15. The buffer size corresponding to the BSR is the upper limit of the range of buffer sizes indicated by the BSR. The UE according to claim 14.

16. The indication indicates a value obtained by subtracting the amount of data stored in the buffer of the UE from the upper limit of the range of the buffer sizes indicated by the BSR. The UE according to claim 15.

17. The buffer size corresponding to the BSR is the lower limit of the range of the buffer size indicated by the BSR, The UE according to claim 14.

18. The indication includes a value equal to a value obtained by subtracting the lower limit of the range of the buffer size indicated by the BSR from the amount of data stored in the buffer of the UE. The UE according to claim 17.

19. The UE reports whether the transmission of the indication is enabled by the network, whether the reported Regular BSR, Periodical BSR, or Truncated BSR has been triggered for transmission to the base station, whether a value equal to a value obtained by subtracting the amount of data stored in the buffer of the UE from the upper limit of the range of the buffer size indicated by the BSR is greater than or equal to a threshold value, whether a value obtained by subtracting the lower limit of the range of the buffer size indicated by the BSR from the amount of data stored in the buffer of the UE is greater than or equal to a threshold value, or whether the grant size of the UE for the Regular BSR, Periodical BSR, or Truncated BSR is greater than or equal to a threshold value, and is configured to transmit the indication to the base station in at least one of the above cases. The UE according to claim 14.

20. A user equipment (UE) comprising: means for storing a plurality of tables, each table mapping each of a plurality of indexes to respective ranges of the buffer size of the UE; means for receiving an indication of a table to be used for determining an index corresponding to the buffer size of the UE among the plurality of tables; means for transmitting the index to a base station. UE.

21. A user equipment (UE) comprising: means for transmitting a buffer status report (BSR) media access control (MAC) control element (CE) to a base station, wherein the BSR MAC CE includes bits larger than 8 bits indicating a buffer size. UE.

22. A user equipment (UE) comprising: a period or packet generation rate, a time offset, a jitter range, or ​ Means for receiving information for requesting or enabling transmission of information for traffic assistance, including at least one of the following related to uplink data transmission from the UE to the base station: Means for receiving information for requesting or enabling transmission of information for traffic assistance, including at least one of the following related to uplink data transmission from the UE to the base station: Means for transmitting the information for traffic assistance based on the information; Means for receiving information for setting or scheduling uplink resources for uplink transmission based on the information for traffic assistance; A UE comprising: UE. **Claim 23** A method performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: Determining whether the amount of data stored in the UE is less than or equal to a first threshold; Determining whether the amount of data transmitted by the UE since the transmission of the previous buffer status report (BSR) is greater than or equal to a second threshold; Determining whether the uplink grant size is greater than or equal to a third threshold; Determining whether the difference between the current buffer size of the buffer of the UE and the maximum or minimum buffer size is greater than or equal to a fourth threshold, or A BSR indication indicating whether the BSR should be transmitted from the UE to the base station Based on at least one of the above, determining whether to transmit the BSR to the base station; Transmitting the BSR to the base station based on the determination; Including: Method. **Claim 24** A method performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: Determining to transmit an indication of the difference between the buffer size corresponding to a buffer status report (BSR) and the amount of data stored in the corresponding buffer of the UE to the base station. Method. **Claim 25** A method performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: Storing a plurality of tables, each table mapping each of a plurality of indexes to respective ranges of the buffer size of the UE; Receiving an indication of the table to be used to determine the index corresponding to the buffer size of the UE among the plurality of tables; Transmitting the index to the base station; Including: Method. **Claim 26** A method performed by a user equipment (UE), comprising: Transmitting a buffer status report (BSR) media access control (MAC) control element (CE) to a base station, wherein the BSR MAC CE includes bits greater than 8 bits indicating a buffer size of a buffer of the UE for uplink transmission, Method. **Claim 27** A method performed by a user equipment (UE), Period or packet generation rate, Time offset, Jitter range, or A requested configuration related to uplink data transmission from the UE to the base station, Receiving information used by a base station when requesting or enabling transmission of uplink data transmission information including at least one of: Based on the information, transmitting the uplink data transmission information; Based on the uplink data transmission information, receiving information for setting or scheduling uplink resources for uplink transmission, Including, Method. **Claim 28** A base station, A threshold for determining whether a user equipment (UE) should transmit a buffer status report (BSR), or A BSR indication indicating whether the UE should transmit the BSR Comprising means for transmitting at least one of to the UE, Base station. **Claim 29** A base station, Means for receiving from the UE an indication of a difference between a buffer size corresponding to a buffer status report (BSR) and an amount of data stored in a buffer of the user equipment (UE); Means for determining a current buffer size of the UE using the indication, Comprising, Base station. **Claim 30** A base station, Means for transmitting to the UE an indication of a table to be used for determining an index corresponding to a buffer size of the UE among a plurality of tables, each table storing a plurality of indexes mapped to respective ranges of buffer sizes of the user equipment (UE); Means for receiving the index from the UE, Comprising, Base station.

31. A base station, comprising: means for transmitting information for requesting or enabling transmission of information for traffic assistance, including at least one of a period or packet generation rate, a time offset, a jitter range, or a requested configuration related to uplink data transmission from a UE to the base station; means for receiving the information for traffic assistance based on the information; means for setting or scheduling uplink resources for uplink transmission based on the information for traffic assistance. A base station comprising the above.

32. A method performed by a base station, comprising transmitting to a user equipment (UE) at least one of a threshold for determining whether the UE should transmit a buffer status report (BSR) or a BSR indication indicating whether the UE should transmit the BSR.

33. A method performed by a base station, comprising: receiving from the UE an indication of a difference between a buffer size corresponding to a buffer status report (BSR) and an amount of data stored in a buffer of the user equipment (UE); using the indication to determine a current buffer size of the UE.

34. A method performed by a base station, comprising: transmitting to the UE an indication of a table among a plurality of tables stored in the UE, each table mapping each of a plurality of indexes to respective ranges of a buffer size of the user equipment (UE), for use in determining an index corresponding to the buffer size of the UE; receiving the index from the UE.

35. A method performed by a base station, comprising: receiving from a user equipment a buffer status report (BSR) media access control (MAC) control element (CE) including bits larger than 8 bits indicating a buffer size; determining a buffer size in the UE using the BSR MAC CE. ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Method

36. A method performed by a base station, comprising: transmitting information for requesting or enabling transmission of information for traffic assistance, including at least one of a period or packet generation rate, a time offset, a jitter range, or a requested configuration related to uplink data transmission from a UE to the base station; receiving the information for traffic assistance based on the information; configuring or scheduling uplink resources for uplink transmission based on the information for traffic assistance. Method ​ ​

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