Random access during CG-SDT

Abstract

A system and method for random access during configured grant (CG) small data transmission (SDT) is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method performed by a user equipment (UE) includes, while in an inactive state, transmitting a radio resource control (RRC) resume request with first data to a network node using a CG occasion from among multiple CG occasions configured for the UE, and determining that one or more criteria for performing a random access (RA) are met. The method further includes, in response to determining that the one or more criteria for performing an RA are met, performing an RA, during which the UE retransmits the RRC resume request with the first data. In this way, the UE does not need to wait for the next CG occasion to send a retransmission or time-constrained data, for example, in the event of an initial transmission failure.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] Related Applications This application claims the benefit of Provisional Patent Application No. 63 / 422,208, filed November 3, 2022, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

[0002] TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to cellular communication networks, and more particularly to small data transmission in cellular communication networks. [Background technology]

[0003] In the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) Release (Rel-) 17, Mobile Originated Small Data Transmission (MO-SDT) was introduced for New Radio (NR) to reduce signaling overhead for small uplink data payloads (see RP-200954, "New Work Item on NR Small Data Transmission in Inactive State"). Two solutions were introduced: Random Access-Based SDT (RA-SDT) and Configured Grant SDT (CG-SDT). RA-SDT implies that either the legacy 4-step Random Access Channel (RACH) procedure or the 2-step RACH procedure is used as the baseline, but the user plane data payload can be added (multiplexed with the RRC resume request message) in Msg3 (4-step RACH) or MsgA (2-step RACH). CG-SDT means that the user equipment (UE) is configured via radio resource control (RRC) to have periodic CG-SDT occasions that can be used for contention-free, uplink transmissions. In this way, Msg1 and Msg2 can be omitted, but the requirement is that the UE has a valid timing advance (TA) and is uplink synchronized so that it can use resources for transmission.

[0004] For Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) and Long Term Evolution (LTE) for Machine-Type Communications (MTC) (LTE-M), similar signaling optimizations for small data were introduced through Early Data Transmission (EDT) in Rel-15 and Pre-Provisioned Uplink Resources (PUR) in Rel-16. The key differences for the NR SDT solution are that Rel-17 NR small data will only be supported for the RRC inactive state, will also include two-step RACH-based small data, will be supported by any NR UE (i.e., Mobile Broadband (MBB) UEs, but not limited to Internet of Things (IoT) UEs), and will support subsequent data transmissions (i.e., larger payload sizes requiring more than two transmissions).

[0005] For LTE, support for mobile-terminated (MT) small data transmission, i.e., support for transmitting small data payloads in the downlink, was later introduced in Rel-16. Several solutions were considered: "data in paging" (multiple versions), "data in Msg2," and "data in Msg4" (see overview in RAN2 email discussion R2-1901143 from RAN2#105). "Data in paging" was first ruled out (see meeting report R2-1903001), and later "data in Msg2" was ruled out (see UP MT-EDT email discussion results in R2-1910420 and meeting report R2-1912001). Therefore, "data in Msg4" was designated as the LTE solution. It should be noted that for NB-IoT and LTE-M, different solutions have been introduced for IoT control plane optimization ("Data over NAS," or DoNAS) and IoT user plane optimization (RRC Suspend / Resume), control plane EDT (CP-EDT), and user plane EDT (UP-EDT), respectively, and that the NR solution is similar to UP-EDT.

[0006] MT-SDT is currently being implemented in Rel-18 for NR. The Rel-18 MT-SDT Work Item Description (WID) was approved in RAN#94e (December 2021) and can be found in RP-213583. The WID includes the following objectives: Specify support for paging-triggered SDT (MT-SDT) [RAN2, RAN3] MT-SDT triggering mechanism for UEs in RRC_INACTIVE, supporting RA-SDT and CG-SDT as UL responses; · MT-SDT procedure for initial DL data reception and subsequent UL / DL data transmission in RRC_INACTIVE. Note: Data transmission on the DL in the paging message is not within range of this WI.

[0007] The small data transmission (SDT) procedure in NR Rel-17 is for MO-SDT only, which means that the SDT procedure is triggered only by uplink (UL) data transmission.

[0008] The CG-SDT procedure means that after the UE is led to the RRC_INACTIVE state, the UE will have several pre-scheduled occasions on the physical uplink shared channel (PUSCH) for possible UL transmissions. The UE will not monitor the control channel, but only the paging channel. The scheduling occasions will be valid for the UE with a configured interval and as long as the time alignment timer has not expired. When the UE initiates the CG-SDT procedure, the UE transmits data and an RRC resume request on the CG-SDT resource. When the NR base station (gNB) receives this transmission, the gNB will acknowledge the transmission by sending a grant to the UE. The UE may use the grant to transmit the remaining data. However, if the grant is not received, the UE is not allowed to transmit new data on the CG resource. Instead, the UE will retransmit the already transmitted data and the RRC resume request message on the next CG-SDT resource. The reason for this is that the gNB needs to know that the UE has started the CG-SDT procedure. This behavior of autonomous retransmission of the initial transmission on CG resources is also an argument against setting a long CG periodicity, which would make the procedure sensitive to transmission failures of the initial transmission. Summary of the Invention

[0009] A system and method for random access during configured grant (CG) small data transmission (SDT) is disclosed. In one embodiment, a method performed by a user equipment (UE) includes, while in an inactive state, transmitting a radio resource control (RRC) resume request with first data to a network node using a CG occasion from among multiple CG occasions configured for the UE, and determining that one or more criteria for performing a random access (RA) are met. The method further includes, in response to determining that the one or more criteria for performing an RA are met, performing an RA, during which the UE retransmits the RRC resume request with the first data. In this way, the UE does not need to wait for the next CG occasion to send a retransmission or time-constrained data, for example, in the event of an initial transmission failure.

[0010] In one embodiment, the one or more criteria for performing the RA include that the amount of time until the next CG occasion from among the plurality of CG occasions is greater than a certain amount of time. In one embodiment, the criterion is that the amount of time until the next valid CG occasion from among the plurality of CG occasions is greater than a certain amount of time. In one embodiment, the next valid CG occasion is a next CG occasion that has the same synchronization signal block (SSB) association as the CG occasion on which the RRC resumption request with the first data was transmitted, or a CG occasion that has an SSB association with an SSB reference signal received power (RSRP) above a certain threshold.

[0011] In one embodiment, the one or more criteria for performing an RA include that a response to an RRC resume request has not been received from a network node within a certain amount of time, which in one embodiment is a function of the periodicity of the multiple CG occasions.

[0012] In one embodiment, the one or more criteria for performing the RA include a first criterion that a response to the RRC resume request has not been received from the network node within a first amount of time, and a second criterion that the amount of time to the next CG occasion from among the plurality of CG occasions is greater than a second amount of time.

[0013] In one embodiment, the method further includes, while in a connected state, receiving from a network node an RRC release message including a CG-SDT configuration that configures multiple CG occasions for the UE, and transitioning to an inactive state in response to receiving the RRC release message. In one embodiment, the one or more criteria for performing the RA include a first criterion that a response to the RRC resume request is not received from the network node within a first amount of time, a second criterion that an amount of time until a next CG occasion from the multiple CG occasions is greater than a second amount of time, or both the first and second criteria. In one embodiment, the one or more criteria for performing the RA include a second criterion, wherein the second amount of time is specified by the CG-SDT configuration. In one embodiment, the second criterion is that an amount of time until a next valid CG occasion from the multiple CG occasions is greater than the second amount of time. In one embodiment, the next valid CG occasion is the next CG occasion that has the same SSB association as the CG occasion on which the RRC resume request with the first data was sent, or is a CG occasion that has an SSB association whose SSB RSRP is above a certain threshold.

[0014] In one embodiment, the one or more criteria for performing the RA include a first criterion, and the first amount of time is defined by a CG-SDT setting.

[0015] In one embodiment, multiple CG occasions are configured for the CG-SDT.

[0016] In one embodiment, the RA is a legacy RA, an RA-SDT, or a transmission using RA-SDT resources.

[0017] In one embodiment, a subset of multiple CG occasions occurring at a time after performing an RA may not be used by the UE.

[0018] In one embodiment, a subset of multiple CG occasions occurring at a time after performing an RA may be used by the UE.

[0019] In one embodiment, the one or more criteria for performing the RA include that the additional data awaiting transmission at the UE has at least a certain priority, which in one embodiment is at least a quality of service (QoS) priority or at least a logical channel (LCH) priority.

[0020] In one embodiment, the transport block (TB) size of the data transmitted on the CG occasion matches the TB size of Msg3 in the RA.

[0021] In one embodiment, the TB size of the data transmitted on a CG occasion does not match the TB size of Msg3 of the RA, and the message carrying the data for retransmission is reconstructed to have a TB size that matches the TB size of Msg3 of the RA.

[0022] In one embodiment, the small data transmission failure timer is not restarted when performing an RA to retransmit the RRC resume request with the first data.

[0023] Corresponding embodiments of a UE are also disclosed. In one embodiment, the UE is adapted, while in an inactive state, to transmit an RRC resumption request, accompanied by first data, to a network node using a CG occasion from among a plurality of CG occasions configured for the UE and determine that one or more criteria for performing an RA are met. The UE is further adapted, in response to determining that the one or more criteria for performing an RA are met, to perform an RA, during which the UE retransmits the RRC resumption request accompanied by the first data.

[0024] In another embodiment, a UE comprises a communications interface comprising a transmitter and a receiver, and a processing circuit associated with the communications interface. The processing circuit is configured to cause the UE, while in an inactive state, to transmit an RRC resumption request with first data to a network node using a CG occasion from among a plurality of CG occasions configured for the UE and determine that one or more criteria for performing an RA are met. The processing circuit is further configured to cause the UE, in response to determining that the one or more criteria for performing an RA are met, to perform an RA during which the UE retransmits the RRC resumption request with the first data.

[0025] Also disclosed are embodiments of a method implemented by a network node. In one embodiment, the method includes sending an RRC release message to a UE, the RRC release message including a CG-SDT configuration to configure multiple CG occasions for the CG-SDT and one or more parameters related to one or more criteria for the UE to perform an RA for retransmission of the CG-SDT. The one or more criteria for the UE to perform an RA for retransmission of the CG-SDT include a first criterion that a response to an RRC resume request with first data for the CG-SDT has not been received by the UE from the network node within a first amount of time, a second criterion that a time amount to a next CG occasion from the multiple CG occasions is greater than a second amount of time, or both the first and second criteria.

[0026] In one embodiment, the one or more criteria for the UE to perform an RA for retransmission of the CG-SDT include a second criterion, in one embodiment, that the amount of time to the next valid CG occasion from among the plurality of CG occasions is greater than a second amount of time, in one embodiment, the next valid CG occasion is a next CG occasion with the same SSB association as the CG occasion on which the RRC resumption request with the first data was transmitted, or a CG occasion with an SSB association with an SSB RSRP above a certain threshold.

[0027] In one embodiment, the one or more criteria for the UE to perform an RA for retransmission of the CG-SDT include a first criterion, in one embodiment, the first amount of time is a function of the periodicity of the multiple CG occasions.

[0028] In one embodiment, the first amount of time is dictated by the CG-SDT setting, the second amount of time is dictated by the CG-SDT setting, or both the first amount of time and the second amount of time are dictated by the CG-SDT setting.

[0029] In one embodiment, the RA is a legacy RA, an RA-SDT, or a transmission using RA-SDT resources.

[0030] In one embodiment, a subset of multiple CG occasions occurring at a time after the UE performs an RA may not be used by the UE.

[0031] In one embodiment, a subset of multiple CG occasions occurring at a time after the UE performs the RA may be used by the UE.

[0032] In one embodiment, the one or more criteria for performing an RA further include the criterion that the additional data awaiting transmission at the UE has at least a certain priority.

[0033] Corresponding embodiments of a network node are also disclosed. In one embodiment, the network node is adapted to send an RRC release message to the UE, the RRC release message including a CG-SDT configuration that configures multiple CG occasions for the CG-SDT and one or more parameters related to one or more criteria for the UE to perform an RA for retransmission of the CG-SDT. The one or more criteria for the UE to perform an RA for retransmission of the CG-SDT include a first criterion that a response to an RRC resume request with first data for the CG-SDT has not been received by the UE from the network node within a first amount of time, a second criterion that a time amount to a next CG occasion from among the multiple CG occasions is greater than a second amount of time, or both the first and second criteria.

[0034] In one embodiment, the network node comprises processing circuitry configured to cause the network node to send an RRC release message to the UE, the RRC release message including a CG-SDT configuration to configure multiple CG occasions for the CG-SDT and one or more parameters related to one or more criteria for the UE to perform an RA for retransmission of the CG-SDT. The one or more criteria for the UE to perform an RA for retransmission of the CG-SDT include a first criterion that a response to an RRC resume request with first data for the CG-SDT has not been received by the UE from the network node within a first amount of time, a second criterion that an amount of time to a next CG occasion from among the multiple CG occasions is greater than a second amount of time, or both the first and second criteria.

[0035] The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrate several aspects of the present disclosure and, together with the description, serve to explain the principles of the disclosure. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0036] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 illustrates a procedure by which a user equipment (UE) configured for configured grant (CG) small data transmission (SDT) is enabled to perform random access (RA) during an ongoing CG-SDT procedure, subject to some constraints, in accordance with an embodiment of the present disclosure. [Figure 2] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of a communication system, according to some embodiments. [Figure 3] FIG. 1 illustrates a UE, according to some embodiments. [Figure 4] FIG. 1 illustrates a network node, according to some embodiments. [Figure 5] 3 is a block diagram of a host, which may be an embodiment of the host of FIG. 2 in accordance with various aspects described herein. [Figure 6]FIG. 1 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualized environment in which functionality implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. [Figure 7] FIG. 1 is a communication diagram of a host communicating with a UE via a network node over a partial wireless connection, according to some embodiments. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0037] The embodiments described below represent information to enable those skilled in the art to practice the embodiments and illustrate the best modes of practicing the embodiments. Upon reading the following description in light of the accompanying drawings, those skilled in the art will understand the concepts of the present disclosure and will recognize applications of these concepts not specifically addressed herein. It is understood that these concepts and applications fall within the scope of the present disclosure.

[0038] Currently, one or more issues exist. When a new radio (NR) base station (gNB) configures configured grant (CG) small data transmission (SDT) (CG-SDT) settings for a user equipment (UE), the gNB reserves resources where no data is transmitted, leading to a potential waste of scheduling events. One way to counter this is to configure the UE with less frequent scheduling events. However, if these events are too far apart, a possible failure in an uplink (UL) transmission will cause the next possible UL transmission to be delayed, resulting in poor latency and a poor user experience. Because the procedure is designed to only allow autonomous retransmission of the initial transmission, there is no possibility of recovering from a transmission failure until the next CG occasion, and when this occurs depends on the periodicity. Another issue if the periodicity were to be longer than the setting of the T319a timer (SDT failure timer), is that the procedure would be terminated before the next CG occasion, meaning that there would not even be an opportunity for a retransmission.

[0039] For this reason, the longest possible UL transmission periodicity was set to the number of symbols that amounts to 640 milliseconds (ms). While 640 ms is a long time from a radio resource control (RRC) / medium access control (MAC) perspective, 640 ms is not such a long time from an application layer perspective. It was argued that a longer periodicity is necessary to have the gains from CG-SDT, and therefore, that UEs are prepared to implement CG-SDT for a longer time without consuming resources on the gNB side at such frequencies. This would be especially useful for low-priority access UEs that do not have high-performance requirements.

[0040] The problem with 3GPP Release 17 is that CG-SDT relies on very frequent periodicity, which keeps networks from allocating to a CG-SDT configuration for a significant amount of time. Furthermore, companies are hesitant to introduce longer periodicity because end-user performance may be affected.

[0041] Some aspects of the present disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to these or other problems. Disclosed herein are systems and methods that introduce opportunities for a UE in a CG-SDT configuration to perform a random access or a random access SDT (RA-SDT) procedure during an ongoing CG-SDT procedure under certain constraints. The constraints for performing random access may include, but are not limited to: an initial transmission of an RRC resumption request and first data has been performed; ○ No new grants have been received, The specified time has passed since sending, Optionally, the time until the next CG occasion is greater than a second specified time.

[0042] The random access procedure may be a legacy random access (RA) procedure, an RA-SDT procedure, or using RA-SDT resources to retransmit an RRC resumption request and the first data for which no acknowledgement was received.

[0043] In one embodiment, a feature is introduced into the 3GPP system (e.g., in the 3GPP specifications) to allow a UE to perform random access during an ongoing CG procedure when no response to an initial transmission is received.

[0044] Some embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantage(s). · A longer periodicity for CG occasions is introduced, which may therefore add benefit to the CG-SDT feature. · Shorter latency for CG-SDT procedures in case of initial transmission failure. The UE does not need to wait for the next CG occasion to send a retransmission. The UE does not need to wait for the next CG occasion to send time-critical data.

[0045] The reason for performing random access while still having a CG occasion in the future may be that data retransmission is required and the periodicity causes the CG occasion to occur too far in the future, or the UE has new data in its uplink (UL) buffer, which is considered time-constrained, and cannot wait for the next occasion.

[0046] In one embodiment, the UE is configured (e.g., by a network node, such as, for example, a gNB) to either enable or not enable the UE to trigger an RA when no response is received to an initial transmission (e.g., an initial transmission on a CG occasion, such as one of multiple CG occasions configured, for example, for CG-SDT). The configuration may specify a minimum time after the initial transmission when an RA may be triggered if no response is received, e.g., the guard period described as steps 2 and 7 in FIG. 1 (described below). This may be implemented as a timer that is started when the initial transmission is performed. When the timer expires and no response is received, an RA may be triggered. The timer setting may be a function of the CG periodicity or a configured value. The time may also be the number of physical downlink control channel (PDCCH) monitoring occasions after the initial transmission.

[0047] Also, in steps 2 and 8 in FIG. 1, a minimum time until the next valid CG transmission occasion when an RA can be triggered, called an "impatient value," can be set. For example, the RA procedure can be triggered if the next valid CG occasion is at least "x" ms away, where "x" is preferably a non-zero positive value. The next valid CG occasion can be the first CG occasion with the same synchronization signal block (SSB) association as the CG occasion where the initial transmission occurred, or a CG occasion with an SSB association whose SSB reference signal received power (RSRP) is above a threshold. In addition, the UE may have an opportunity for successful transmission within the same CG occasion after SSB reselection. Tracking the impatient value allows the RA-SDT to be triggered after all possibilities for successful transmission within the ongoing CG occasion have been exhausted.

[0048] In one embodiment, the CG-SDT resource may not be used when the UE transmits an RRC resume request on an RA resource. This may occur when the CG-SDT resource may be shared by several UEs in a cell. In another aspect of this embodiment, the UE may continue to use the CG-SDT resource even after the RRC resume request is transmitted on an RA resource. This may be advantageous when there is no response to the RRC resume request transmitted on the RA resource and there is an upcoming CG-SDT resource that can be used for another retransmission of the RRC resume request.

[0049] If the data has some priority, for example, quality of service (QoS) characteristics or logical channel (LCH) priority, it may also be configured that an RA may be triggered when no response to the initial CG-transmission is received.

[0050] These settings may be provided in the system information (SI) or in the RRC release message that provides the CG-SDT settings as described in step 2 in FIG.

[0051] In one embodiment, the enabled RA resources are RA-SDT resources. In another aspect of this embodiment, the enabled RA resources are legacy RA resources. In yet another aspect of this embodiment, both RA-SDT resources and legacy RA resources may be used. However, there may be limitations in using only legacy RA resources for CG-SDT UEs that do not support RA-SDT (CG-SDT capability and RA-SDT capability are considered independent). Thus, in an alternative embodiment, the gNB takes UE capabilities into account and provides RA-SDT resources to UEs that support RA-SDT, while providing legacy RA resources to UEs that do not support RA-SDT.

[0052] In one embodiment, the transport block (TB) size of the CG-SDT matches the TB size of msg3, so exact retransmission of the RRC resume request message and data can occur. If a different TB size is configured for msg3 in the RA procedure, the message can be reconstructed to fit into the new TB size.

[0053] In one embodiment, the T319a timer is not restarted, and therefore, from the UE's perspective, the same SDT procedure is ongoing. In one aspect of this embodiment, an indicator is included in the message to enable the gNB to identify that the T319a timer is not restarted. In another aspect of this embodiment, the T319a timer is restarted when a retransmission occurs. In this case, a transmission counter may be specified to limit the number of retransmission attempts that may be used by the UE, i.e., a maximum number of transmission attempts is specified (since in this case the T319a timer will never expire).

[0054] Next, FIG. 1 will be described. In the example of FIG. 1, a prerequisite for one embodiment of the present disclosure is that the UE has transitioned to RRC_INACTIVE with a valid CG-SDT configuration. In other words, as shown in FIG. 1, after receiving the last data for an ongoing file transfer (step 1), the UE receives an RRC release message from the gNB (step 2) that includes a valid CG-SDT configuration. The CG-SDT configuration includes uplink transmission occasions (also referred to herein as CG occasions or CG resources) that the UE can use for CG-SDT if the UE has available data. In one embodiment, the CG-SDT configuration also includes information specifying a guard time and / or information indicating a hasty time. In response to receiving the RRC release message, the UE transitions from the RRC connected state to the RRC inactive state.

[0055] While in the RRC inactive state, in the described example, several CG occasions pass when the UE has no data available for transmission (steps 3 and 4). However, some first data arrives from higher layers to the RCC / MAC instance (step 5), and the UE sends an RRC resumption request along with the first data that arrived at the MAC instance according to the CG-SDT procedure (step 6). After sending the RRC resumption request along with the first data, the UE determines that one or more criteria for an RA have been met, including a first criterion that a response is not received from the gNB within a specified amount of time, referred to herein as a guard period. This guard period may be configured via the CG-SDT configuration, otherwise configured by the network (e.g., the gNB), specified (e.g., by a 3GPP specification), etc. In another embodiment, the guard period is a function of the periodicity of the CG occasions specified by the CG-SDT configuration. The one or more criteria for performing the RA may include one or more additional criteria, such as, for example, (a) there is additional data ready for UL transmission, (b) the amount of time until the next CG occasion is greater than a second amount of time (referred to herein as impatience time), (c) the data waiting to be transmitted satisfies one or more criteria (e.g., a priority, such as, for example, a QoS priority or an LCH priority, is greater than a specified or configured threshold), or (d) any combination of two or more of (a)-(c). With respect to the impatience time, the impatience time may be, for example, dictated by the CG-SDT configuration, otherwise configured by the network (e.g., by the gNB), specified (e.g., via a 3GPP specification), etc.

[0056] In response to sending the RRC resumption request with the first data and determining that one or more criteria for performing an RA are met, the UE performs an RA (e.g., using a legacy RA, an RA-SDT, or a specified or configured RA-SDT resource) to retransmit the RRC resumption request and the first data. In the illustrated example, the UE performs an RA-SDT including retransmission of the RRC resumption request and the first data (step 7).

[0057] FIG. 2 illustrates an example of a communication system 200, according to some embodiments.

[0058] In this example, communications system 200 includes communications network 202 including an access network 204, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 206 including one or more core network nodes 208. Access network 204 includes one or more access network nodes (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network nodes 210), such as network nodes 210A and 210B, or any other similar Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) access nodes or non-3GPP access points (APs). Network nodes 210 facilitate direct or indirect connectivity of user equipment (UEs), such as by connecting UEs 212A, 212B, 212C, and 212D (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 212), to core network 206 over one or more wireless connections.

[0059] Exemplary wireless communication over a wireless connection includes sending and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information without the use of wires, cables, or other material conductors. Moreover, in different embodiments, communication system 200 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and / or signals, whether via a wired or wireless connection. Communication system 200 may include and / or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, wireless network, and / or other similar type systems.

[0060] The UE 212 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including a wireless device configured, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with the network node 210 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network node 210 is configured, capable, configured, and / or operable to communicate, directly or indirectly, with the UE 212 and / or other network nodes or equipment in the communication network 202 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as administration, in the communication network 202.

[0061] In the illustrated example, the core network 206 connects the network node 210 to one or more hosts, such as the host 216. These connections may be direct or indirect via one or more intermediate networks or devices. In other examples, the network node may be directly coupled to the host. The core network 206 includes one or more core network nodes (e.g., the core network node 208) structured with hardware and software components. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the UEs, network nodes, and / or hosts, and therefore, those descriptions are generally applicable to the corresponding components of the core network node 208. Exemplary core network nodes include one or more of the following functions: a Mobile Switching Center (MSC), a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Home Subscriber Server (HSS), an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), a Session Management Function (SMF), an Authentication Server Function (AUSF), a Subscription Identifier Deciphering Function (SIDF), a Unified Data Management (UDM), a Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), a Network Publishing Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0062] The host 216 may be owned or under the control of, and operated by or on behalf of, a service provider other than the operator or provider of the access network 204 and / or the communication network 202. The host 216 may host various applications to provide one or more services. Examples of such applications include live and pre-recorded audio / video content, data collection services such as retrieving and compiling data about various ambient conditions detected by multiple UEs, analytics functions, social media, functions for controlling or possibly interacting with remote devices, functions for an alarm and surveillance center, or any other such function performed by a server.

[0063] Overall, the communication system 200 of FIG. 2 enables connectivity between UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, communication system 200 may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as a particular standard, including, but not limited to, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE), and / or other suitable second, third, fourth, or fifth generation (2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G) standards, or any applicable future generation standard (e.g., sixth generation (6G)), a wireless local area network (WLAN) standard such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard (WiFi), and / or any low power wide area network (LPWAN) standard such as Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WiMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, near field communications (NFC) ZigBee, LiFi, and / or LoRa and Sigfox.

[0064] In some examples, communication network 202 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Thus, communication network 202 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices connected to communication network 202. For example, communication network 202 may provide Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) services to some UEs, while providing enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs and / or providing Massive Machine-Based Communication (mMTC) / Massive Internet of Things (IoT) services to still further UEs.

[0065] In some examples, the UE 212 is configured to transmit and / or receive information without direct human interaction. For example, the UE may be designed to transmit information to the access network 204 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to a request from the access network 204. Furthermore, the UE may be configured to operate in a single or multi-radio access technology (RAT) or multi-standard mode. For example, the UE may operate with any one or a combination of Wi-Fi, New Radio (NR), and LTE, i.e., Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC), such as Enhanced UMTS Terrestrial RAN (E-UTRAN) NR-Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0066] In this example, the hub 214 communicates with the access network 204 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UEs 212C and / or 212D) and a network node (e.g., network node 210B). In some examples, the hub 214 may be a controller, a router, a content source, a content analyzer, or any of the other communication devices described herein with respect to UEs. For example, the hub 214 may be a broadband router that enables access to the core network 206 for the UE. As another example, the hub 214 may be a controller that sends commands or instructions to one or more actuators in the UE. The commands or instructions may be received from the UE, the network node 210, or may be due to executable code, scripts, processes, or other instructions in the hub 214. As another example, the hub 214 may be a data collector that serves as temporary storage for UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, the hub 214 may be a content source. For example, for a UE that is a virtual reality (VR) headset, display, loudspeaker, or other media distribution device, the hub 214 may retrieve, via a network node, VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information, which the hub 214 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In yet another example, the hub 214 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, particularly in the case where one or more of the UEs are low-energy IoT devices.

[0067] The hub 214 may have a constant / permanent or intermittent connection to the network node 210B. The hub 214 may also enable different communication schemes and / or schedules between the hub 214 and the UEs (e.g., UEs 212C and / or 212D) and between the hub 214 and the core network 206. In other examples, the hub 214 is connected to the core network 206 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Additionally, the hub 214 may be configured to connect to a machine-to-machine (M2M) service provider over the access network 204 and / or to another UE over a direct connection. In some scenarios, a UE may establish a wireless connection with the network node 210 while still connected via a wired or wireless connection through the hub 214. In some embodiments, the hub 214 may be a dedicated hub, i.e., a hub whose primary function is to route communications from / to the UE to / from the network node 210B. In other embodiments, the hub 214 may be a non-dedicated hub, i.e., a device that is capable of operating to route communications between the UE and the network node 210B, but that is further capable of operating as a communication initiation and / or termination point for some data channels.

[0068] 3 illustrates a UE 300, according to some embodiments. As used herein, a UE refers to a device capable of, set up, configured, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other UEs. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smartphone, a mobile phone, a cell phone, a Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a desktop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless camera, a gaming console or device, a music storage device, a playback appliance, a wearable terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, a tablet, a laptop computer, a laptop embedded equipment (LEE), a laptop mounted equipment (LME), a smart device, a wireless customer premises equipment (CPE), a vehicle-mounted or vehicle-embedded / integrated wireless device, etc. Other examples include any UE identified by 3GPP, including a Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-IoT) UE, a Machine Type Communication (MTC) UE, and / or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE.

[0069] A UE may support device-to-device (D2D) communications, for example, by implementing 3GPP standards for sidelink communications, dedicated short-range communications (DSRC), vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), or vehicle-to-everything (V2X). In other examples, a UE does not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and / or operates an associated device. Instead, a UE may represent a device (e.g., a smart sprinkler controller) that is intended for sale to or operation by a human user, but may not be associated with or initially associated with a particular human user. Alternatively, a UE may represent a device (e.g., a smart power meter) that is not intended for sale to or operation by an end user, but may be associated with or operated for the user's benefit.

[0070] The UE 300 includes a processing circuit 302 operably coupled to an input / output interface 306, a power source 308, a memory 310, a communication interface 312, and / or any other components, or any combination thereof, via a bus 304. Some UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in FIG. 3. The level of integration between components may vary from UE to UE. Additionally, some UEs may include multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

[0071] The processing circuitry 302 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operable to execute instructions stored in memory 310 as a machine-readable computer program. The processing circuitry 302 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., in discrete logic, a field programmable gate array (FPGA), an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.), programmable logic together with appropriate firmware, one or more stored computer programs such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP) together with appropriate software, a general-purpose processor, or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 302 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0072] In this example, the input / output interface 306 may be configured to provide one or more interfaces to an input device, an output device, or one or more input and / or output devices. Examples of output devices include a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smart card, another output device, or any combination thereof. An input device may allow a user to capture information into the UE 300. Examples of input devices include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g., a digital camera, a digital video camera, a webcam, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smart card, etc. A presence-sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor for detecting input from a user. The sensor may be, for example, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, a light sensor, a proximity sensor, a biometric sensor, etc., or any combination thereof. An output device may use the same type of interface port as the input device. For example, a universal serial bus (USB) port may be used to accommodate input and output devices.

[0073] In some embodiments, the power source 308 is structured as a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources may be used, such as an external power source (e.g., an electrical outlet), a photovoltaic device, or a battery. The power source 308 may further include power circuitry for delivering power to various portions of the UE 300 from the power source 308 itself and / or from an external power source via an interface such as an input circuit or a power cable. Delivering power may be for charging the power source 308, for example. The power circuitry may perform any formatting, conversion, or other modification on the power from the power source 308 to make it suitable for the respective component of the UE 300 being powered.

[0074] The memory 310 may be or be configured to include memory, such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable ROM (PROM), erasable PROM (EPROM), electrical EPROM (EEPROM), magnetic disk, optical disk, hard disk, removable cartridge, flash drive, etc. In one example, the memory 310 includes one or more application programs 314, such as an operating system, a web browser application, a widget, a gadget engine, or other applications, and corresponding data 316. The memory 310 may store any of a variety of different operating systems or combinations of operating systems for use by the UE 300.

[0075] The memory 310 may be configured to include several physical drive units, such as a redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, a USB flash drive, an external hard disk drive, a thumb drive, a pen drive, a key drive, a high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, an internal hard disk drive, a Blu-ray optical disc drive, a holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, an external mini dual in-line memory module (DIMM), a synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), an external micro-DIMM SDRAM, a smart card memory, such as a tamper-resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) containing one or more SIMs, such as a universal subscriber identity module (SIM) (USIM) and / or an Internet Protocol Multimedia Services Identity Module (ISIM), other memory, or any combination thereof. The UICC may be, for example, an embedded UICC (eUICC), an integrated UICC (iUICC), or a removable UICC, commonly known as a "SIM card." The memory 310 may enable the UE 300 to access, offload, or upload data, instructions, application programs, etc. stored on a temporary or non-transitory memory medium. An article of manufacture, such as an article of manufacture utilizing a communication system, may be tangibly embodied as or in the memory 310, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0076] The processing circuit 302 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other networks using a communication interface 312. The communication interface 312 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 322. The communication interface 312 may include one or more transceivers used to communicate, such as by communicating with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication (e.g., another UE or network node in the access network). Each transceiver may include a transmitter 318 and / or a receiver 320 suitable for providing network communication (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocation, etc.). Moreover, the transmitter 318 and receiver 320 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., antenna 322) and may share circuit components, software, or firmware, or may alternatively be implemented separately.

[0077] In the illustrated embodiment, the communication capabilities of communication interface 312 may include cellular communication, WiFi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communication such as Bluetooth, NFC, location-based communication such as using a Global Positioning System (GPS) to determine location, another similar communication capability, or any combination thereof. Communications may be implemented according to one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband CDMA (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, NR, UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP), Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), Quick User Datagram Protocol Internet Connection (QUIC), Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), etc.

[0078] Regardless of the type of sensor, the UE may provide an output of data captured by the UE's sensors to a network node through the UE's communications interface 312 or via a wireless connection. Data captured by the UE's sensors may be communicated to a network node via another UE through a wireless connection. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes when reporting sensed temperature), in response to a triggering event (e.g., an alert is sent when humidity is detected), in response to a request (e.g., a user-initiated request), random (e.g., to even out the load from reporting from several sensors), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of a patient).

[0079] As another example, the UE may include an actuator, motor, or switch associated with a communications interface configured to receive wireless input from a network node via a wireless connection. In response to the received wireless input, the state of the actuator, motor, or switch may change. For example, the UE may include a motor that adjusts a control surface or rotor of a drone in flight according to the received input, or a robotic arm that performs a medical procedure according to the received input.

[0080] When in the form of an IoT device, the UE may be a device for use in one or more application areas, including, but not limited to, urban wearable technology, augmented industrial applications, and healthcare. Non-limiting examples of such IoT devices are devices that are or are embedded in a connected refrigerator or freezer, a television, a connected lighting device, an energy meter, a robotic vacuum cleaner, a voice-controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door / window sensor, a water inundation / humidity sensor, an electric door lock, a connected doorbell, an air conditioning system such as a heat pump, an autonomous vehicle, a surveillance system, a weather monitoring device, a vehicle parking monitoring device, an electric vehicle charging station, a smart watch, a fitness tracker, a head-mounted display for augmented reality (AR) or VR, a wearable for haptic augmentation or sensory augmentation, a water sprinkler, an animal or product tracking device, a sensor for monitoring plants or animals, an industrial robot, an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV), and any type of medical device such as a heart rate monitor or a remote-controlled surgical robot. A UE in the form of an IoT device comprises, in addition to the other components described with respect to UE 300 shown in FIG. 3, circuitry and / or software depending on the intended application of the IoT device.

[0081] As yet another particular example, in an IoT scenario, a UE may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and / or measurements and transmits results of such monitoring and / or measurements to another UE and / or network node. The UE may in this case be an M2M device, which may be referred to as an MTC device in a 3GPP context. As one particular example, the UE may implement the 3GPP NB-IoT standard. In other scenarios, a UE may represent a vehicle, such as a car, bus, truck, ship, airplane, or other equipment capable of monitoring and / or reporting on its operating status or other functionality related to its operation.

[0082] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together for a single use case. For example, a first UE may be a drone or be integrated in a drone and provide the drone's speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller that operates the drone. When a user makes changes from the remote controller, the first UE may adjust a throttle on the drone (e.g., by controlling an actuator) to increase or decrease the drone's speed. The first and / or second UE may also include two or more of the functions described above. For example, a UE may include a sensor and an actuator and handle communication of data for both the speed sensor and the actuator.

[0083] 4 illustrates a network node 400 according to some embodiments. As used herein, a network node refers to a device capable of, set up, configured, and / or operable to communicate, directly or indirectly, with UEs and / or other network nodes or devices in a communication network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, APs (e.g., wireless APs), base stations (BSs) (e.g., wireless BSs, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs), and NR Node Bs (gNBs)).

[0084] BSs may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated another way, their transmit power level) and may therefore be referred to as femto BSs, pico BSs, micro BSs, or macro BSs depending on the amount of coverage provided. A BS may be a relay node or a relay donor node that controls a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed wireless BS, such as a centralized digital unit and / or a remote radio unit (RRU), sometimes referred to as a remote radio head (RRH). Such RRUs may or may not be integrated with an antenna, such as an antenna-integrated radio. Portions of a distributed wireless BS may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0085] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, MSR equipment such as a multi-standard radio (MSR) BS, a network controller such as a radio network controller (RNC) or a BS controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a transmission point, a transmitting node, a multi-cell / multicast coordination entity (MCE), an operation and maintenance (O&M) node, an operation support system (OSS) node, a self-organizing network (SON) node, a positioning node (e.g., an evolved serving mobile location center (E-SMLC)), and / or a minimization drive test (MDT).

[0086] The network node 400 includes processing circuitry 402, memory 404, a communication interface 406, and a power source 408. The network node 400 may be assembled from multiple physically separate components (e.g., Node B and RNC components, or BTS and BSC components, etc.), each of which may have their own respective components. In some scenarios in which the network node 400 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple Node Bs. In such scenarios, each unique Node B and RNC pair may, in some cases, be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 400 may be configured to support multiple RATs. In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 404 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., antenna 410 may be shared by different RATs). Network node 400 may also include multiple sets of the various shown components for different wireless technologies, e.g., GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, Long Range Wide Area Network (LoRaWAN), Radio Frequency Identification (RFID), or Bluetooth wireless technologies, integrated into network node 400. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chips or sets of chips and other components within network node 400.

[0087] The processing circuitry 402, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 400 components such as memory 404, may comprise one or more combinations of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, CPU, DSP, ASIC, FPGA, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software, and / or coded logic operable to provide the network node 400 functionality.

[0088] In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 402 comprises a system-on-chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuitry 402 includes one or more of a radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 412 and a baseband processing circuitry 414. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuitry 412 and the baseband processing circuitry 414 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as a radio unit and a digital unit. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the RF transceiver circuitry 412 and the baseband processing circuitry 414 may be on the same chip or set of chips, board, or unit.

[0089] The memory 404 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer-readable memory, including, but not limited to, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, RAM, ROM, mass storage media (e.g., hard disk), removable storage media (e.g., flash drive, compact disc (CD), or digital video disc (DVD)), and / or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device-readable, and / or computer-executable memory device that stores information, data, and / or instructions that can be used by the processing circuit 402. The memory 404 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including applications including one or more of computer programs, software, logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions that can be executed by the processing circuit 402 and utilized by the network node 400. The memory 404 may be used to store calculations performed by the processing circuit 402 and / or data received via the communications interface 406. In some embodiments, the processing circuit 402 and the memory 404 are integrated.

[0090] The communication interface 406 is used in wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between network nodes, access networks, and / or the UE. As shown, the communication interface 406 comprises port(s) / terminal(s) 416 for sending and receiving data to and from a network, e.g., over a wired connection. The communication interface 406 also includes radio front-end circuitry 418, which is coupled to an antenna 410 or, in some embodiments, may be part of the antenna 410. The radio front-end circuitry 418 comprises a filter 420 and an amplifier 422. The radio front-end circuitry 418 may be connected to the antenna 410 and the processing circuit 402. The radio front-end circuitry 418 may be configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna 410 and the processing circuit 402. The radio front-end circuitry 418 may receive digital data to be sent to another network node or the UE via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuitry 418 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 420 and / or amplifiers 422. The radio signal may then be transmitted via the antenna 410. Similarly, when receiving data, the antenna 410 may collect the radio signal, which is then converted into digital data by the radio front-end circuitry 418. The digital data may be passed to the processing circuitry 402. In other embodiments, the communication interface 406 may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0091] In some alternative embodiments, the network node 400 does not include a separate radio front-end circuit 418; instead, the processing circuit 402 includes the radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 410. Similarly, in some embodiments, all or a portion of the RF transceiver circuitry 412 is part of the communications interface 406. In still other embodiments, the communications interface 406 includes one or more ports or terminals 416, the radio front-end circuitry 418, and the RF transceiver circuitry 412 as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communications interface 406 communicates with baseband processing circuitry 414 that is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0092] Antenna 410 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays configured to send and / or receive wireless signals. Antenna 410 may be coupled to radio front-end circuitry 418 and may be any type of antenna capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data and / or signals. In some embodiments, antenna 410 is separate from network node 400 and connectable to network node 400 through an interface or port.

[0093] The antenna 410, the communication interface 406, and / or the processing circuit 402 may be configured to perform any receiving operation and / or some obtaining operation described herein as being performed by the network node 400. Any information, data, and / or signal may be received from a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 410, the communication interface 406, and / or the processing circuit 402 may be configured to perform any transmitting operation described herein as being performed by the network node 400. Any information, data, and / or signal may be transmitted to a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment.

[0094] The power source 408 provides power to the various components of the network node 400 in a form suitable for each component (e.g., at the voltage and current levels required for each respective component). The power source 408 may further comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry for supplying power to the components of the network node 400 for performing the functions described herein. For example, the network node 400 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., a power grid or an electrical outlet) via an input circuit or interface, such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source provides power to the power circuitry of the power source 408. As a further example, the power source 408 may comprise a power source in the form of a battery or battery pack connected to or integrated in the power circuitry. The battery may provide backup power in the event that the external power source fails.

[0095] 4 to provide certain aspects of the network node's functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, network node 400 may include user interface devices to enable input of information into network node 400 and output of information from network node 400. This may enable a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for network node 400.

[0096] 5 is a block diagram of a host 500, which may be an embodiment of the host 216 of FIG. 2 in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, the host 500 may be or comprise various combinations of hardware and / or software, including a standalone server, a blade server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server, a virtual machine, a container, or processing resources in a server farm. The host 500 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

[0097] Host 500 includes a processing circuit 502 operably coupled to an input / output interface 506, a network interface 508, a power supply 510, and a memory 512 via a bus 504. In other embodiments, other components may be included. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices of previous figures, such as FIGS. 3 and 4, and therefore, those descriptions are generally applicable to the corresponding components of host 500.

[0098] The memory 512 may include one or more computer programs, including one or more host application programs 514 and data 516, which may include user data, e.g., data generated by the UE for the host 500 or data generated by the host 500 for the UE. An embodiment of the host 500 may utilize only a subset or all of the shown components. The host application programs 514 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Versatile Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG), VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., Free Lossless Audio Codec (FLAC), Advanced Audio Coding (AAC), MPEG, G.711), including transcoding for multiple different classes, types, or implementations of UE (e.g., handsets, desktop computers, wearable display systems, and heads-up display systems). The host application program 514 may also provide user authentication and license checks, and may periodically report health, route, and content availability to a central node, such as a device in the core network or a device on the edge of the core network. Thus, the host 500 may select and / or direct different hosts for over-the-top (OTT) services for the UE. The host application program 514 may support various protocols, such as HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (DASH or MPEG-DASH), etc.

[0099] FIG. 6 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 600 in which functionality implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In this context, virtualizing means creating a virtual version of an apparatus or device, which may include virtualizing a hardware platform, storage devices, and networking resources. Virtualization, as used herein, may apply to any device described herein, or components thereof, and relates to implementations in which at least a portion of functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components. Some or all of the functionality described herein may be implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines (VMs) implemented in one or more virtual environments 600 hosted by one or more of the hardware nodes, such as a network node, a UE, a core network node, or a hardware computing device acting as a host. Furthermore, in embodiments in which the virtual node does not require wireless connectivity (e.g., to a core network node or host), the node may be fully virtualized.

[0100] An application 602 (which may alternatively be referred to as a software instance, a virtual appliance, a network function, a virtual node, a virtual network function, etc.) is run in the virtualized environment 500 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0101] The hardware 604 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and / or instructions executable by the hardware processing circuitry, and / or other hardware devices described herein, such as network interfaces, input / output interfaces, etc. Software is executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 606 (also referred to as hypervisors or VM monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 608A and 608B (one or more of which may be referred to generically as VMs 608), and / or implement any of the functions, features, and / or benefits described with respect to some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 606 may present to the VMs 608 a virtual operating platform that appears to be networking hardware.

[0102] The VMs 608 may comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interfaces, and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 606. Different embodiments of the virtual appliance 602 instance may be implemented on one or more of the VMs 608, and the implementation may be done in different ways. Hardware virtualization is referred to in some contexts as network functions virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry-standard high-volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage that may be located in data centers and customer premises equipment.

[0103] In the context of NFV, a VM 608 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if those programs were running on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each VM 608 and the portion of the hardware 604 on which it runs, whether hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with other ones of the VMs 608, form a separate virtual network element. Further, in the context of NFV, a virtual network function is responsible for handling a particular network function running in one or more VMs 608 on the hardware 604 and corresponds to the application 602.

[0104] The hardware 604 may be implemented in a standalone network node having general or specific components. The hardware 604 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, the hardware 604 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g., as in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes cooperate and are managed via a management and orchestration 610 that, among other things, oversees the lifecycle management of the application 602. In some embodiments, the hardware 604 is coupled to one or more radio units, each including one or more transmitters and one or more receivers, which may be coupled to one or more antennas. The radio units may communicate directly with other hardware nodes via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a RAN or BS. In some embodiments, some signaling may be provided using a control system 612, which may alternatively be used for communication between the hardware nodes and the radio units.

[0105] 7 illustrates a communication diagram of a host 702 communicating with a UE 706 via a network node 704 over a partial wireless connection, according to some embodiments. Exemplary implementations according to various embodiments of a UE (such as UE 212A of FIG. 2 and / or UE 300 of FIG. 3), a network node (such as network node 210A of FIG. 2 and / or network node 400 of FIG. 4), and a host (such as host 216 of FIG. 2 and / or host 500 of FIG. 5) described in the previous paragraphs will now be described with reference to FIG. 7.

[0106] Similar to host 500, an embodiment of host 702 includes hardware such as a communications interface, processing circuitry, and memory. Host 702 also includes software stored on or accessible by host 702 and executable by the processing circuitry. The software includes a host application that may be operable to provide services to a remote user, such as a UE 706 connecting via an OTT connection 750 extending between the UE 706 and host 702. In providing services to a remote user, the host application may provide user data that is transmitted using the OTT connection 750.

[0107] The network node 704 includes hardware that enables the network node 704 to communicate with the host 702 and the UE 706 over a connection 760. The connection 760 may be direct or may pass through one or more other intermediate networks, such as a core network (similar to the core network 206 of FIG. 2) and / or one or more public, private, or hosted networks. For example, the intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.

[0108] The UE 706 includes hardware and software stored on or accessible by the UE 706 and executable by the UE's processing circuitry. The software includes a client application, such as a web browser or operator-specific "app," which, with the support of the host 702, may be operable to provide services to a human or non-human user via the UE 706. An executing host application on the host 702 may communicate with an executing client application via an OTT connection 750 that terminates at the UE 706 and the host 702. In providing services to the user, the UE's client application may receive request data from the host application on the host and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 750 may transfer both request data and user data. The UE's client application may interact with the user to generate user data that the UE's client application provides to the host application through the OTT connection 750.

[0109] The OTT connection 750 may extend via a connection 760 between the host 702 and a network node 704 and via a wireless connection 770 between the network node 704 and the UE 706 to provide connectivity between the host 702 and the UE 706. The connections 760 and wireless connections 770 over which the OTT connection 750 may be provided are depicted abstractly to show communication between the host 702 and the UE 706 via the network node 704, without explicit reference to intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages through these devices.

[0110] As an example of transmitting data over the OTT connection 750, in step 708, the host 702 provides user data, which may be performed by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE 706. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with the UE 706 sharing data with the host 702 without explicit human interaction. In step 710, the host 702 initiates a transmission carrying the user data toward the UE 706. The host 702 may initiate the transmission in response to a request sent by the UE 706. The request may be caused by human interaction with the UE 706 or by the operation of a client application executing on the UE 706. The transmission may proceed via the network node 704 in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Thus, in step 712, the network node 704 transmits the user data carried in the host 702-initiated transmission to the UE 706 in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 714, the UE 706 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be performed by a client application running on the UE 706 associated with a host application executed by the host 702.

[0111] In some examples, the UE 706 executes a client application that provides user data to the host 702. The user data may be provided in reaction or response to data received from the host 702. Thus, at step 716, the UE 706 may provide the user data, which may be performed by executing the client application. In providing the user data, the client application may further consider user input received from a user via an input / output interface of the UE 706. Regardless of the particular manner in which the user data is provided, the UE 706 initiates transmission of the user data towards the host 702 via the network node 704 at step 718. At step 720, in accordance with the teachings of embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the network node 704 receives the user data from the UE 706 and initiates transmission of the received user data towards the host 702. At step 722, the host 702 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the UE 706.

[0112] One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of the OTT service provided to the UE 706 using the OTT connection 750, of which the radio connection 770 forms the final segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may improve latency, thereby providing benefits such as, for example, reduced user latency, better responsiveness, etc.

[0113] In an exemplary scenario, factory status information may be collected and analyzed by the host 702. As another example, the host 702 may process audio and video data that may have been retrieved from UEs for use in creating maps. As another example, the host 702 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicular congestion (e.g., controlling traffic signals). As another example, the host 702 may store surveillance video uploaded by UEs. As another example, the host 702 may store or control access to media content, such as video, audio, VR or AR, that the host 702 may broadcast, multicast, or unicast to UEs. As other examples, the host 702 may be used for energy pricing, remote control of non-time-critical electrical loads to balance power generation needs, location services, presentation services (such as compiling diagrams, etc. from data collected from remote devices), or any other function of collecting, retrieving, storing, analyzing, and / or transmitting data.

[0114] In some examples, measurement procedures may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rates, latency, and other factors that one or more embodiments improve upon. There may further be optional network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 750 between the host 702 and the UE 706 in response to fluctuations in the measurement results. The measurement procedures and / or the network functionality for reconfiguring the OTT connection 750 may be implemented in software and hardware in the host 702 and / or the UE 706. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with other devices through which the OTT connection 750 passes, and the sensors may participate in the measurement procedures by providing values ​​of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or other physical quantities from which software can calculate or estimate the monitored quantities. Reconfiguration of the OTT connection 750 may include message formats, retransmission settings, preferred routing, etc., and the reconfiguration need not directly change the operation of the network node 704. Such procedures and functionality may be known and practiced in the art. In some embodiments, the measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurements by the host 702 of throughput, propagation time, latency, etc. The measurements may be implemented in software causing messages, particularly empty or "dummy" messages, to be sent using the OTT connection 750 while monitoring propagation time, errors, etc.

[0115] While the computing devices (e.g., UEs, network nodes, hosts) described herein may include the depicted combinations of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise computing devices having different combinations of components. It should be understood that these computing devices may comprise any suitable combination of hardware and / or software required to perform the tasks, features, functions, and methods disclosed herein. The determining, calculating, obtaining, or similar operations described herein may be performed by processing circuitry, which may process information by, for example, transforming the obtained information to other information, comparing the obtained or transformed information to information stored in a network node, and / or performing one or more operations based on the obtained or transformed information and as a result of the processing making a decision. Moreover, while a component is illustrated as a single box located within a larger box or nested within multiple boxes, in reality the computing device may comprise multiple different physical components that make up the single depicted component, and functionality may be partitioned among the separate components. For example, a communications interface may be configured to include any of the components described herein, and / or the functionality of those components may be partitioned between the processing circuitry and the communications interface. In another example, non-computationally intensive functionality of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware, and computationally intensive functionality may be implemented in hardware.

[0116] In some embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein may be provided by a processing circuit executing instructions stored in a memory, which in some embodiments may be a computer program product in the form of a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by the processing circuit without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device-readable storage medium, such as in a hardwired manner. In any of these particular embodiments, the processing circuit may be configured to perform the described functionality, regardless of whether or not it executes instructions stored on a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to the processing circuit alone or to other components of the computing device, but are enjoyed by the computing device as a whole and / or by end users and wireless networks generally.

[0117] Some exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure are as follows.

[0118] Group A Embodiments Embodiment 1: A method implemented by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising, while in an inactive state: sending an RRC resumption request with first data to a network node (e.g., a gNB) using a CG occasion from among the plurality of CG occasions configured for the UE (FIG. 1, step 6); and determining that one or more criteria for performing an RA have been met ( FIG. 1 , step 7), the one or more criteria including a first criterion that a response to the RRC resume request has not been received from the network node within a first amount of time; performing an RA (FIG. 1, step 7), during which the UE retransmits an RRC resumption request with the first data, in response to determining that one or more criteria for performing an RA have been met (FIG. 1, step 7); and A method comprising:

[0119] Embodiment 2: The method of embodiment 1, further comprising: receiving, while in a connected state, from a network node (e.g., a gNB), an RRC release message including a CG-SDT configuration that configures multiple CG occasions for the UE (FIG. 1, step 2); and transitioning to an inactive state (FIG. 1, step 2) in response to receiving the RRC release message (FIG. 1, step 2).

[0120] Embodiment 3: The method of embodiment 2, wherein the first amount of time is defined by a CG-SDT setting.

[0121] Embodiment 4: The method of embodiment 2 or 3, wherein the one or more criteria for performing the RA further includes a second criterion that the amount of time until the next CG occasion from among the plurality of CG occasions is greater than a second amount of time, and the second amount of time is specified by the CG-SDT setting.

[0122] Embodiment 5: The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 3, wherein the one or more criteria for performing RA further includes a second criterion that the amount of time until the next CG occasion from among the plurality of CG occasions is greater than a second amount of time.

[0123] Embodiment 6: The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 5, wherein multiple CG occasions are configured for CG-SDT.

[0124] Embodiment 7: The method of any one of embodiments 1, 2, or 6, wherein the first amount of time is a function of the periodicity of the plurality of CG occasions.

[0125] Embodiment 8: The method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 7, wherein the RA is a legacy RA, an RA-SDT, or a transmission using an RA-SDT resource.

[0126] Embodiment 9: The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 8, wherein a subset of multiple CG occasions occurring at a time after performing an RA cannot be used by the UE.

[0127] Embodiment 10: The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 8, wherein a subset of multiple CG occasions occurring at a time after performing an RA may be used by the UE.

[0128] Embodiment 11: The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 10, wherein the one or more criteria for performing RA further includes a criterion that the additional data waiting for transmission in the UE has at least a certain priority (e.g., at least a certain QoS priority, or at least an LCH priority).

[0129] Embodiment 12: The method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 11, wherein the TB size of the data transmitted on the CG occasion (e.g., the TB size of each CG-SDT) matches the TB size of the Msg3 of the RA.

[0130] Embodiment 13: The method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 11, wherein the TB size of the data transmitted on the CG occasion (e.g., the TB size of each CG-SDT) does not match the TB size of the Msg3 of the RA, and the message carrying the data for retransmission is reconstructed to have a TB size that matches the TB size of the Msg3 of the RA.

[0131] Embodiment 14: The method according to any one of embodiments 1 to 13, wherein the T319a timer is not restarted (e.g., is not restarted when performing an RA to retransmit an RRC resumption request with the first data).

[0132]

[0023] Embodiment 15: The method of any one of embodiments 1 to 14, further comprising providing user data and forwarding the user data to the host via transmission to the network node.

[0133] Group B Embodiments Embodiment 16: A method implemented by a network node, the method comprising: sending an RRC release message to a UE (FIG. 1, step 2), the RRC release message including, to the UE, a CG-SDT configuration that configures multiple CG occasions for a CG-SDT, and one or more parameters related to one or more criteria for the UE to perform an RA for retransmission of the CG-SDT, wherein the one or more criteria for the UE to perform an RA for retransmission of the CG-SDT include a first criterion that a response to an RRC resumption request with first data for the CG-SDT has not been received by the UE from the network node within a first amount of time.

[0134] Embodiment 17: The method of embodiment 16, wherein the one or more criteria for the UE to perform RA for retransmission of the CG-SDT further includes a second criterion that the amount of time until the next CG occasion from among the multiple CG occasions is greater than a second amount of time.

[0135] Embodiment 18: The method of embodiment 17, wherein the second amount of time is defined by a CG-SDT setting.

[0136] Embodiment 19: The method according to any one of embodiments 16 to 18, wherein the RA is a legacy RA, an RA-SDT, or a transmission using an RA-SDT resource.

[0137] Embodiment 20: The method of any one of embodiments 16 to 19, wherein a subset of multiple CG occasions occurring at a time after the UE performs an RA cannot be used by the UE.

[0138] Embodiment 21: The method of any one of embodiments 16 to 19, wherein a subset of multiple CG occasions occurring at a time after the UE performs an RA may be used by the UE.

[0139] Embodiment 22: The method of any one of embodiments 16 to 21, wherein the one or more criteria for performing RA further includes a criterion that the additional data waiting for transmission in the UE has at least a certain priority (e.g., at least a certain QoS priority, or at least an LCH priority).

[0140] Embodiment 23: The method of any one of embodiments 16 to 22, further comprising obtaining user data and forwarding the user data to a host or user equipment.

[0141] Group C Embodiments Embodiment 24: A user equipment comprising a processing circuit configured to perform any of the steps recited in any one of the embodiments of Group A, and a power supply circuit configured to supply power to the processing circuit.

[0142] Embodiment 25: A network node comprising a processing circuit configured to perform any of the steps recited in any one of the embodiments of Group B, and a power supply circuit configured to supply power to the processing circuit.

[0143] Embodiment 26: A user equipment (UE) comprising: an antenna configured to send and receive radio signals; a radio front-end circuit connected to the antenna and a processing circuit and configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuit, the processing circuit configured to perform any of the steps described in any one of the embodiments of Group A; an input interface connected to the processing circuit and configured to enable information input to the UE to be processed by the processing circuit; an output interface connected to the processing circuit and configured to output information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuit; and a battery connected to the processing circuit and configured to provide power to the UE.

[0144] Embodiment 27: A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system further including a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method including receiving, at the host, user data transmitted by the UE to the host via the network node, and the UE performing any of the steps described in any one of the embodiments of Group A to transmit the user data to the host.

[0145] Embodiment 28: The method of embodiment 27, further comprising: executing, at the host, a host application associated with the client application executing on the UE to receive user data from the UE.

[0146] Embodiment 29: The method of embodiment 28, further comprising: in the host, sending input data to a client application executing on the UE, the input data being provided by executing the host application, and the user data being provided by the client application in response to the input data from the host application.

[0147] Embodiment 30: A host configured to operate in a communication system for providing over-the-top (OTT) services, the host comprising: a processing circuit configured to initiate reception of user data; and a network interface configured to receive user data from a network node in a cellular network, the network node having a communication interface and a processing circuit, the processing circuit of the network node configured to perform any of the operations described in any one of the embodiments of Group B to receive user data from a user equipment (UE) for the host.

[0148] Embodiment 31: The host of embodiment 30, wherein the processing circuitry of the host is configured to execute a host application to thereby provide user data, and the host application is configured to interact with a client application executing on the UE, the client application being associated with the host application.

[0149] Embodiment 32: The host of embodiment 30 or 31, wherein initiating the reception of user data includes requesting the user data.

[0150] Embodiment 33: A method implemented by a host configured to operate in a communication system further including a network node and a user equipment (UE), the method including initiating, at the host, reception of user data from the UE, the user data originating from a transmission received by the network node from the UE, and the network node performing any of the steps described in any one of the embodiments of Group B to receive the user data from the UE for the host.

[0151]

[0082] Embodiment 34: The method of embodiment 33, further comprising, at the network node, transmitting the received user data to the host.

[0152] Those skilled in the art will recognize improvements and modifications to the embodiments of the present disclosure, and all such improvements and modifications are considered within the scope of the concepts disclosed herein.

Claims

1. 1. A method implemented by a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: While in an inactive state, sending a radio resource control (RRC) resume request with first data to a network node using a configured grant (CG) occasion from among a plurality of configured grant (CG) occasions configured for the UE (FIG. 1, step 6); determining that one or more criteria for performing random access (RA) are met (FIG. 1, step 7); performing an RA (FIG. 1, step 7), during which the UE retransmits the RRC resumption request with the first data, in response to determining that the one or more criteria for performing an RA are met (FIG. 1, step 7); A method comprising:

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the one or more criteria for performing the RA include a criterion that an amount of time until a next CG occasion from the plurality of CG occasions is greater than a certain amount of time.

3. The method of claim 2 , wherein the criterion is that the amount of time to the next valid CG occasion from among the plurality of CG occasions is greater than a certain amount of time.

4. 4. The method of claim 3, wherein the next valid CG occasion is a next CG occasion having the same synchronization signal block (SSB) association as the CG occasion on which the RRC resume request with the first data was transmitted, or a CG occasion having an SSB association with an SSB reference signal received power (RSRP) above a certain threshold.

5. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more criteria for performing the RA include a criterion that a response to the RRC restart request has not been received from the network node within a certain amount of time.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the amount of time is a function of the periodicity of the plurality of CG occasions.

7. 2. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more criteria for performing the RA include a first criterion that a response to the RRC restart request has not been received from the network node within a first amount of time, and a second criterion that an amount of time to a next CG occasion from among the plurality of CG occasions is greater than a second amount of time.

8. receiving, while in a connected state, from a network node an RRC release message including a CG-SDT configuration for configuring the plurality of CG occasions for the UE (FIG. 1, step 2); transitioning to the inactive state (FIG. 1, step 2) in response to receiving the RRC release message (FIG. 1, step 2); The method of claim 1 further comprising:

9. 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the one or more criteria for performing the RA include a first criterion that a response to the RRC restart request has not been received from the network node within a first amount of time, a second criterion that an amount of time to a next CG occasion from among the plurality of CG occasions is greater than a second amount of time, or both the first criterion and the second criterion.

10. 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more criteria for performing the RA include the second criterion, and the second amount of time is defined by the CG-SDT configuration.

11. The method of claim 10 , wherein the second criterion is that the amount of time until the next valid CG occasion from the plurality of CG occasions is greater than the second amount of time.

12. 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the next valid CG occasion is a next CG occasion having the same synchronization signal block (SSB) association as the CG occasion on which the RRC resume request with the first data was transmitted, or a CG occasion having an SSB association with an SSB reference signal received power (RSRP) above a certain threshold.

13. 13. The method of claim 9, wherein the one or more criteria for performing the RA include the first criterion, and the first amount of time is defined by the CG-SDT configuration.

14. 14. The method of claim 1, wherein the plurality of CG occasions are configured for CG small data transmission (SDT).

15. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 14, wherein the RA is a legacy RA, an RA-SDT, or a transmission using RA-SDT resources.

16. 16. The method of claim 1, wherein a subset of the plurality of CG occasions occurring at a time after performing the RA cannot be used by the UE.

17. 16. The method of claim 1, wherein a subset of the plurality of CG occasions occurring at a time after performing the RA may be used by the UE.

18. 18. The method of claim 1, wherein the one or more criteria for performing the RA include that additional data awaiting transmission at the UE has at least a certain priority.

19. 20. The method of claim 18, wherein the at least some priority is at least some quality of service (QoS) priority or at least some logical channel (LCH) priority.

20. 20. The method of any one of claims 1 to 19, wherein a transport block (TB) size of the data transmitted on the CG occasion matches a TB size of Msg3 of RA.

21. 20. A method according to any one of claims 1 to 19, wherein the transport block (TB) size of the data transmitted on the CG occasion does not match the TB size of Msg3 of RA, and a message carrying the data for the retransmission is reconstructed to have a TB size that matches the TB size of Msg3 of RA.

22. 22. The method of claim 1, wherein a small data transmission failure timer is not restarted when performing the RA to retransmit the RRC resume request with the first data.

23. A user equipment (UE), While in an inactive state, sending a radio resource control (RRC) resume request with first data to a network node using a configured grant (CG) occasion from among a plurality of configured grant (CG) occasions configured for the UE (FIG. 1, step 6); determining that one or more criteria for performing random access (RA) are met (FIG. 1, step 7); performing an RA (FIG. 1, step 7), during which the UE retransmits the RRC resumption request with the first data, in response to determining that the one or more criteria for performing an RA are met (FIG. 1, step 7); A user equipment (UE) adapted to perform the following:

24. 24. The UE of claim 23, wherein the one or more criteria for performing the RA include a criterion that an amount of time until a next CG occasion from among the plurality of CG occasions is greater than a certain amount of time.

25. 25. The UE of claim 24, wherein the criterion is that an amount of time until a next valid CG occasion from among the plurality of CG occasions is greater than a certain amount of time.

26. 26. The UE of claim 25, wherein the next valid CG occasion is a next CG occasion having the same synchronization signal block (SSB) association as the CG occasion on which the RRC resume request with the first data was transmitted, or a CG occasion having an SSB association for which an SSB reference signal received power (RSRP) is above a certain threshold.

27. 27. A UE according to any one of claims 23 to 26, further adapted to perform a method according to any one of claims 5 to 22.

28. A user equipment (UE) (300), a communication interface (312) comprising a transmitter (318) and a receiver (320); a processing circuit (302) associated with said communication interface (312); and wherein the processing circuit (302) causes the UE (300) to, while in an inactive state, sending a radio resource control (RRC) resume request with first data to a network node using a configured grant (CG) occasion from among a plurality of configured grant (CG) occasions configured for the UE (FIG. 1, step 6); determining that one or more criteria for performing random access (RA) are met (FIG. 1, step 7); performing an RA (FIG. 1, step 7), during which the UE retransmits the RRC resumption request with the first data, in response to determining that the one or more criteria for performing an RA are met (FIG. 1, step 7); A user equipment (UE) (300) configured to:

29. 29. The UE of claim 28, wherein the one or more criteria for performing the RA include a criterion that an amount of time until a next CG occasion from among the plurality of CG occasions is greater than a certain amount of time.

30. 30. The UE of claim 29, wherein the criterion is that an amount of time until a next valid CG occasion from among the plurality of CG occasions is greater than a certain amount of time.

31. 31. The UE of claim 30, wherein the next valid CG occasion is a next CG occasion having the same synchronization signal block (SSB) association as the CG occasion on which the RRC resume request with the first data was transmitted, or a CG occasion having an SSB association for which an SSB reference signal received power (RSRP) is above a certain threshold.

32. 32. The UE of any one of claims 28 to 31, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to cause the UE to perform a method according to any one of claims 5 to 22.

33. 1. A method implemented by a network node, the method comprising: sending a radio resource control (RRC) release message to a user equipment (UE) (FIG. 1, step 2), the RRC release message including a configured grant small data transmission (CG-SDT) configuration for configuring a plurality of configured grant (CG) occasions for CG-SDT to the UE, and one or more parameters related to one or more criteria for the UE to perform random access (RA) for CG-SDT retransmissions (FIG. 1, step 2); Including, The method, wherein the one or more criteria for the UE to perform RA for retransmission of CG-SDT include a first criterion that a response to an RRC resumption request with first data for CG-SDT has not been received by the UE from the network node within a first amount of time, a second criterion that an amount of time to a next CG occasion from the plurality of CG occasions is greater than a second amount of time, or both the first criterion and the second criterion.

34. The method of claim 33, wherein the one or more criteria for the UE to perform RA for CG-SDT retransmissions includes the second criterion.

35. 35. The method of claim 34, wherein the second criterion is that the amount of time until the next valid CG occasion from among the plurality of CG occasions is greater than the second amount of time.

36. 36. The method of claim 35, wherein the next valid CG occasion is a next CG occasion having the same synchronization signal block (SSB) association as the CG occasion on which the RRC resume request with the first data was transmitted, or a CG occasion having an SSB association with an SSB reference signal received power (RSRP) above a certain threshold.

37. The method of claim 33, wherein the one or more criteria for the UE to perform RA for CG-SDT retransmissions includes the first criterion.

38. 38. The method of claim 37, wherein the first amount of time is a function of a periodicity of the plurality of CG occasions.

39. 39. The method of any one of claims 33 to 38, wherein the first amount of time is defined by the CG-SDT setting, the second amount of time is defined by the CG-SDT setting, or both the first amount of time and the second amount of time are defined by the CG-SDT setting.

40. A method according to any one of claims 33 to 39, wherein the RA is a legacy RA, an RA-SDT, or a transmission using RA-SDT resources.

41. 41. A method according to any one of claims 33 to 40, wherein a subset of the plurality of CG occasions occurring at a time after the UE has performed the RA may not be used by the UE.

42. 41. A method according to any one of claims 33 to 40, wherein a subset of the plurality of CG occasions occurring at a time after the UE has performed the RA may be used by the UE.

43. 43. The method of any one of claims 33 to 42, wherein the one or more criteria for performing the RA further comprises the criterion that additional data awaiting transmission at the UE has at least a certain priority.

44. a network node, sending a radio resource control (RRC) release message to a user equipment (UE) (FIG. 1, step 2), the RRC release message including a configured grant small data transmission (CG-SDT) configuration for configuring a plurality of configured grant (CG) occasions for CG-SDT to the UE, and one or more parameters related to one or more criteria for the UE to perform random access (RA) for CG-SDT retransmissions (FIG. 1, step 2); It is adapted to a first criterion that a response to an RRC resumption request with first data for CG-SDT is not received by the UE from the network node within a first amount of time; a second criterion that an amount of time to a next CG occasion from the plurality of CG occasions is greater than a second amount of time; or both the first and second criteria.

45. 45. A network node according to claim 44, further adapted to perform a method according to any one of claims 34 to 43.

46. A network node (400) comprising a processing circuit (402), the processing circuit (402) providing the network node (400) with: sending a radio resource control (RRC) release message to a user equipment (UE) (FIG. 1, step 2), the RRC release message including a configured grant small data transmission (CG-SDT) configuration for configuring a plurality of configured grant (CG) occasions for CG-SDT to the UE, and one or more parameters related to one or more criteria for the UE to perform random access (RA) for CG-SDT retransmissions (FIG. 1, step 2); is set to a first criterion that a response to an RRC resumption request with first data for a CG-SDT is not received by the UE from the network node within a first amount of time; a second criterion that an amount of time to a next CG occasion from among the plurality of CG occasions is greater than a second amount of time; or both the first criterion and the second criterion.

47. 47. A network node according to claim 46, wherein the processing circuitry is further configured to cause the network node to perform a method according to any one of claims 34 to 43.

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