Triggering user equipment buffer status reporting for XR services

Abstract

Embodiments include a method for a user equipment (UE) configured to transmit application data to a radio access network (RAN) node. Such a method includes buffering data generated by an application hosted by the UE. The buffered data includes a plurality of sets of protocol data units (PDUs). Such a method is configured to detect the following condition at the UE: at least one of the buffered PDU sets has a remaining packet delay budget (PDB) that is less than a first threshold. rem ) and the PDB for the PDU set rem and transmitting a Buffer Status Report (BSR) to the RAN node in response to one or more of the PDU set being reduced proportionally to the buffered duration and at least one of the buffered PDU sets being discarded by the UE. Other embodiments include complementary methods for the RAN node, and UEs and RAN nodes configured to perform such methods.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates generally to wireless communication networks, and more particularly to techniques for wireless devices to report buffered data associated with applications that require guaranteed low latency, such as extended reality (XR) and cloud gaming. [Background technology]

[0002] The fifth generation of cellular (5G) is currently being standardized within the Third Generation Partnership Project (3GPP). NR is being developed for maximum flexibility and will support several substantially different applications, including enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), machine-type communications (MTC), ultra-reliable low-latency communications (URLLC), sidelink device-to-device (D2D), and several other applications.

[0003] FIG. 1 shows a high-level diagram of an exemplary 5G network architecture consisting of a Next Generation Radio Access Network (NG-RAN, 199) and a 5G Core (5GC, 198). The NG-RAN may include one or more gNodeBs (gNBs) connected to the 5GC via one or more NG interfaces, such as gNBs (100, 150) connected via respective interfaces (102, 152). More specifically, the gNBs may be connected to one or more Access and Mobility Management Functions (AMFs) in the 5GC via respective NG-C interfaces and to one or more User Plane Functions (UPFs) in the 5GC via respective NG-U interfaces. The 5GC may include various other Network Functions (NFs), such as a Session Management Function (SMF).

[0004] Additionally, gNBs can be connected to each other via one or more Xn interfaces, such as an Xn interface (140) between gNBs (100, 150). The radio technology for NG-RAN is often referred to as "New Radio" (NR). With respect to the NR interface to user equipment (UE), each of the gNBs can support frequency division duplexing (FDD), time division duplexing (TDD), or a combination thereof. Each of the gNBs can serve a geographic coverage area including one or more cells and, in some cases, can also use various directional beams to provide coverage within each cell. In general, a DL "beam" is the coverage area of ​​a network-transmitted reference signal (RS) that can be measured or monitored by a UE.

[0005] An NG RAN logical node (e.g., gNB 100) may include a central unit (CU or gNB-CU, e.g., 110) and one or more distributed units (DU or gNB-DU, e.g., 120, 130). The CU is a logical node that hosts upper layer protocols and performs various gNB functions, such as controlling the operation of the DU. The DU is a distributed logical node that hosts lower layer protocols and can include various subsets of gNB functions depending on the function partitioning option. Each CU and DU can include various circuits required to perform their respective functions, including processing circuits, communication interface circuits (e.g., transceivers), and power supply circuits.

[0006] A gNB-CU connects to one or more gNB-DUs via respective F1 logical interfaces (e.g., 122 and 132 shown in Figure 1). However, a gNB-DU can only connect to a single gNB-CU. A gNB-CU and its connected gNB-DU appear as one gNB to other gNBs and 5GCs. In other words, the F1 interface is invisible outside the gNB-CU.

[0007] 2 shows another high-level diagram of an exemplary 5G network architecture, including an NG-RAN (299) and a 5GC (298). As shown, the NG-RAN can include gNBs (e.g., 210a, b) and ng-eNBs (e.g., 220a, b), interconnected with each other via respective Xn interfaces. The ng-eNBs are similar to fourth-generation (4G) Long Term Evolution (LTE) eNBs, except that they support Xn and NG interfaces rather than the corresponding X2 and S1 interfaces.

[0008] The gNB and ng-eNB are also connected to the 5GC via an NG interface, more specifically to an AMF (e.g., 230a, b) via a respective NG-C interface and to a UPF (e.g., 240a, b) via a respective NG-U interface. Furthermore, the AMF can communicate with one or more Policy Control Functions (PCFs, e.g., 250a, b) and Network Publishing Functions (NEFs, e.g., 260a, b).

[0009] Each of the gNBs can support an NR air interface including frequency division duplexing (FDD), time division duplexing (TDD), or a combination thereof. Each of the ng-eNBs can support a 4G / LTE air interface. Each of the gNBs and ng-eNBs can serve a geographic coverage area including one or more cells (e.g., 211a-b and 221a-b). Depending on the cell in which the UE is located, the UE (e.g., 205) can communicate with the gNB or ng-eNB serving that cell over the NR interface or the LTE air interface, respectively. While FIG. 2 shows the gNB and ng-eNB separately, it is also possible for a single NG-RAN node to provide both LTE and NR functionality.

[0010] To support UE to RAN communications, the UE reports the status of its buffers containing data awaiting UL transmission to the RAN. The UE reports this information in a Medium Access Control (MAC) message called a Buffer Status Report (BSR). The following BSR formats are used by the UE depending on various factors: Short BSR format (fixed size), Short abbreviated BSR format (fixed size), Long truncated BSR format (variable size), and Long BSR format (variable size). After receiving the BSR, the RAN node can adjust the scheduling of the UE UL transmission accordingly.

[0011] Extended reality (XR) and cloud gaming are some of the most important 5G media applications under consideration. XR is an umbrella term that refers to all combined real and virtual environments and human-machine interactions generated by computer technology and wearables. XR includes exemplary forms such as augmented reality (AR), mixed reality (MR), and virtual reality (VR), as well as various other types that span or lie between these examples. Hereinafter, the term "XR" also refers to cloud gaming and related applications. In general, XR services require relatively high throughput (e.g., bitrate) and relatively low, bounded latency compared to some other services.

[0012] 3GPP Rel-17 includes a study item on XR evaluation for NR, with the primary objectives being to identify traffic models, evaluation methods, and key performance indicators of interest for each application of interest, and for relevant deployment scenarios, as well as to perform performance evaluations to investigate possible standardization enhancements in follow-up studies or work items in Rel-18. Summary of the Invention

[0013] During the Rel-18 work, 3GPP identified that the current UE BSR mechanism is insufficient for XR services. For example, to address the constrained latency and bitrate requirements of XR traffic, the RAN needs to receive more accurate buffer status and timing information from the UE. While a new XR-related BSR may be capable of providing such information, it is unclear how these new BSR reports can be triggered in the UE so that they reach the RAN at the appropriate time (i.e., when needed by the RAN). The current BSR triggers are neither suitable nor sufficient to meet the BSR requirements for XR services. Given the importance of XR services, improvements are needed to address these issues, challenges, and / or difficulties.

[0014] An object of embodiments of the present disclosure is to improve communications between UEs and RAN nodes, such as by providing, enabling, and / or facilitating solutions to the example problems summarized above and described in more detail below.

[0015] Some embodiments include a method (e.g., a procedure) for a UE configured to transmit application data to a RAN node (e.g., a gNB).

[0016] The exemplary methods include buffering data generated by an application hosted by the UE, the buffered data including a plurality of sets of protocol data units (PDUs). The exemplary methods also include transmitting a BSR to a RAN node in response to one or more of the following conditions at the UE: At least one of the buffered PDU sets has a remaining packet delay budget (PDB) that is less than a first threshold. rem ) and PDB of PDU set rem decreases proportionally to the duration for which the PDU set was buffered. At least one of the buffered PDU sets is discarded by the UE.

[0017] In some embodiments, the transmitted BSR indicates an amount of data corresponding to the buffered PDU sets at the UE that satisfy one or more conditions. In some embodiments, the example methods also include receiving a BSR configuration from the RAN node. The BSR configuration includes a value of the first threshold. In some embodiments, buffering the data includes, when buffering, transmitting each of the PDU sets to a PDB. rem In some of these embodiments, the first threshold includes assigning the PDB buckets to one of a plurality of available PDB buckets associated with each range of the PDBs. rem corresponds to one or more PDB buckets associated with one or more lowest ranges of

[0018] In some embodiments, the BSR is also sent to the RAN node in response to any of the following conditions in the UE: PDBs greater than the second threshold rem The number or total size of the buffered PDU sets having .times. ... PDB that changes from a value greater than the fourth threshold to a value less than the fourth threshold rem The number or total size of the buffered PDU sets having .times. ... The number or total size of overdue buffered PDU sets is at least the sixth threshold. · The number or total size of buffered PDU sets changes by at least the seventh threshold. An explicit instruction is received from the RAN node.

[0019] In some of these embodiments, these example methods also include: remThe fourth threshold includes adjusting the PDB bucket allocation for each of the PDUs that remain buffered after a period of time according to the PDB bucket allocation. For example, the PDB bucket allocation may be adjusted periodically or in response to an event, such as the buffering of a newly available set of PDUs. rem corresponds to the boundary between two PDB buckets associated with adjacent ranges of

[0020] In some of these embodiments, when an explicit indication is received from the RAN node, the BSR is sent to the RAN node even if no data generated by the application is currently buffered. In some of these embodiments, each of the third, fifth, sixth, and seventh thresholds is one of a single PDU set, multiple (N) PDU sets, or a number of kilobytes.

[0021] In some embodiments, the example methods also include starting a prohibit timer in association with transmitting the BSR, and refraining from transmitting another BSR until expiration of the prohibit timer, even if one of the conditions occurs while the prohibit timer is running.

[0022] In some embodiments, the example methods also include receiving a grant of uplink resources from the RAN node based on the transmitted BSR, and transmitting at least a portion of the buffered data to the RAN node using the granted uplink resources.

[0023] Other embodiments include example methods (e.g., procedures) for a RAN node (e.g., a gNB) configured to receive application data from a UE. These embodiments generally complement the UE embodiments summarized above.

[0024] These example methods include receiving a BSR from a UE related to buffered data generated by an application hosted by the UE, the buffered data including a plurality of sets of PDUs. Further, the BSR is received at the UE in response to one or more of the following conditions: At least one of the buffered PDU sets has a remaining packet delay budget (PDB) that is less than a first threshold. rem ) and PDB of PDU set rem decreases proportionally to the duration for which the PDU set was buffered. At least one of the buffered PDU sets is discarded by the UE.

[0025] In some embodiments, the received BSR indicates an amount of data corresponding to the buffered PDU set at the UE that satisfies one or more conditions. In some embodiments, these example methods also include transmitting a BSR configuration to the UE. The BSR configuration includes a value for the first threshold.

[0026] In some embodiments, each of the PDU sets, when buffered, rem In some of these embodiments, the first threshold is assigned by the UE to one of a plurality of available PDB buckets associated with a respective range of the PDB. rem corresponds to one or more PDB buckets associated with one or more lowest ranges of

[0027] In some of these embodiments, the BSR is also received from the UE in response to any of the following conditions at the UE: PDBs greater than the second threshold rem The number or total size of the buffered PDU sets having .times. ... PDB that changes from a value greater than the fourth threshold to a value less than the fourth thresholdrem The number or total size of the buffered PDU sets having .times. ... The number or total size of expired buffered PDU sets is at least the sixth threshold. · The number or total size of buffered PDU sets changes by at least the seventh threshold. An explicit instruction is received from the RAN node.

[0028] In some of these embodiments, the PDB bucket assignments for sets of PDUs that remain buffered after a period of time are determined by their respective PDBs. rem For example, the PDB bucket allocation can be adjusted periodically or in response to an event, such as the buffering of a newly available set of PDUs. rem corresponds to the boundary between two PDB buckets associated with adjacent ranges of

[0029] In some of these embodiments, when an explicit indication is sent to the UE, a BSR is received from the UE even if no data generated by the application is currently buffered at the UE. In some of these embodiments, each of the third, fifth, sixth, and seventh thresholds is one of a single PDU set, multiple (N) PDU sets, or a number of kilobytes.

[0030] In some embodiments, the example methods also include transmitting a grant of uplink resources to the UE based on the received BSR, and receiving at least a portion of the buffered data from the UE using the granted uplink resources.

[0031] In the various embodiments summarized above, the application is an XR application and the data generated by the application has bounded latency requirements.

[0032] Other embodiments include UEs (e.g., wireless devices) and RAN nodes (e.g., base stations, eNBs, gNBs, ng-eNBs, etc., or components thereof) configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the example methods described herein. Other embodiments include non-transitory computer-readable media storing program instructions that, when executed by a processing circuit, configure such UEs or RAN nodes to perform operations corresponding to any of the example methods described herein.

[0033] These and other embodiments described herein may trigger a timely UE BSR to the RAN, which may enable the RAN to provide timely UL resource grants to support transmission of buffered XR data in a manner that meets bounded latency requirements. Additionally, embodiments may facilitate RAN configuration of such BSR triggers, thereby providing RAN control over the UE BSR. At a high level, embodiments may facilitate delivery of XR services over a wireless network (e.g., a RAN).

[0034] These and other objects, features, and advantages of embodiments of the present disclosure will become apparent from a reading of the following detailed description in light of the drawings briefly described below. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0035] [Figure 1] 1A and 1B illustrate two high-level views of an example 5G / NR network architecture. [Figure 2] 1A and 1B illustrate two high-level views of an example 5G / NR network architecture. [Figure 3] 1 illustrates an exemplary configuration of the NR user plane (UP) and control plane (CP) protocol stacks. [Figure 4]FIG. 1 illustrates a comparison of various characteristics or requirements between Extended Reality (XR) and other 5G applications. [Figure 5] FIG. 1 illustrates an example of frame latency measured over a RAN (e.g., NG-RAN). [Figure 6] FIG. 1 illustrates an example cumulative distribution function (CDF) for the number of transport blocks (TBs) over an NR PHY required to deliver video frames of various sizes. [Figure 7] FIG. 1 illustrates a comparison of arrival times between XR, Voice over IP (VoIP), and web browsing traffic. [Figure 8A] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary buffer status report (BSR) format. [Figure 8B] FIG. 1 illustrates an exemplary buffer status report (BSR) format. [Figure 9] 1 illustrates an example configuration in which UE buffered PDUs are sorted based on remaining packet delay budget, according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 10] 1 is a flow diagram of an example method for a UE (e.g., a wireless device), in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 11] FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of an example method for a RAN node (e.g., a base station, eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc.) in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 12] FIG. 1 illustrates a communication system according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 13] FIG. 1 illustrates a UE in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 14] FIG. 1 illustrates a network node according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 15] FIG. 1 illustrates a host computing system according to various embodiments of the present disclosure. [Figure 16] FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a virtualization environment in which functionality implemented by some embodiments of the present disclosure may be virtualized. [Figure 17] FIG. 1 illustrates communication between a host computing system, a network node, and a UE over multiple connections, at least one of which is wireless, in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0036] Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, other embodiments are within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein, and the disclosed subject matter should not be construed as being limited to only the embodiments described herein; rather, these embodiments are provided as examples to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art.

[0037] In general, all terms used herein should be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning to those skilled in the relevant art, unless a different meaning is expressly defined and / or implied from the context of use. All references to elements, devices, components, means, steps, etc. should be broadly interpreted as referring to at least one instance of the element, device, component, means, step, etc., unless expressly stated otherwise or clearly implied from the context of use. The actions of any method and / or procedure disclosed herein need not be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless an action is expressly described as following or preceding another action and / or unless it is implied that an action must follow or precede another action. Any feature of any embodiment disclosed herein can be applied to any other disclosed embodiment, if applicable. Similarly, any advantage of any embodiment described herein can be applied to any other disclosed embodiment, if applicable.

[0038] Additionally, the following terms are used throughout the description provided below: Radio Access Node: As used herein, a "radio access node" (or equivalently, a "radio network node," "radio access network node," or "RAN node") may be any node in a radio access network (RAN) that operates to transmit and / or receive signals wirelessly. Some examples of radio access nodes include, but are not limited to, base stations (e.g., gNBs in 3GPP 5G / NR networks or enhanced or eNBs in 3GPP LTE networks), base station distribution elements (e.g., CUs and DUs), high-power or macro base stations, low-power base stations (e.g., micro, pico, femto, or home base stations), integrated access backhaul (IAB) nodes, transmission points (TPs), transmit reception points (TRPs), remote radio units (RRUs or RRHs), and relay nodes. Core network node: As used herein, a "core network node" is any type of node in a core network. Some examples of core network nodes include, for example, a Mobility Management Entity (MME), a Serving Gateway (SGW), a PDN Gateway (P-GW), a Policy and Charging Rules Function (PCRF), an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF), a Session Management Function (SMF), a User Plane Function (UPF), a Charging Function (CHF), a Policy Control Function (PCF), an Authentication Server Function (AUSF), a Location Management Function (LMF), etc. Wireless Device: As used herein, a "wireless device" (or "WD" for short) is any type of device that is capable of, configured, arranged, and / or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and / or other wireless devices. Communicating wirelessly may include transmitting and / or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and / or other types of signals suitable for conveying information over the air. Unless otherwise noted, the term "wireless device" is used interchangeably herein with the term "user equipment" (or "UE" for short), and both of these terms have a different meaning than the term "network node." Wireless node: As used herein, a "wireless node" may be either a "wireless access node" (or equivalent term) or a "wireless device." Network Node: As used herein, a "network node" is any node that is part of either the radio access network (e.g., radio access node or equivalent term) or core network (e.g., core network node, discussed above) of a cellular communications network. Functionally, a network node is equipment that is capable of, configured, arranged, and / or operable to communicate, directly or indirectly, with wireless devices and / or other network nodes or equipment within the cellular communications network, to enable and / or provide wireless access to wireless devices, and / or to perform other functions (e.g., management) within the cellular communications network. Node: As used herein, the term "node" (without a prefix) may be any type of node that may be within or associated with a wireless network (including a RAN and / or core network), including a radio access node (or equivalent term), a core network node, or a wireless device. However, the term "node" may be limited to a particular type (e.g., radio access node, IAB node) based on its particular characteristics in any given context.

[0039] The above definitions are not meant to be exclusive. In other words, various of the above terms may be explained and / or described elsewhere in this disclosure using the same or similar terms. Nevertheless, to the extent that such other explanations and / or descriptions conflict with the above definitions, the above definitions shall control.

[0040] It should be noted that the description given herein focuses on 3GPP cellular communication systems, and therefore 3GPP terminology or terminology similar to 3GPP terminology is often used, however, the concepts disclosed herein are not limited to 3GPP systems and may be applied to any communication system that can benefit therefrom.

[0041] 5G / NR technology shares many similarities with fourth-generation LTE. For example, NR uses cyclic prefix orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (CP-OFDM) in the DL and both CP-OFDM and DFT-spread OFDM (DFT-S-OFDM) in the UL. As another example, in the time domain, NR DL and UL physical resources are organized into equal-sized 1-ms subframes. The subframes are further divided into multiple slots of equal duration, each containing multiple OFDM-based symbols. An NR slot can contain 14 OFDM symbols for the normal cyclic prefix and 12 symbols for the extended cyclic prefix. A resource block (RB) consists of a group of 12 contiguous OFDM subcarriers spanning a duration of 12 or 14 symbol slots. A resource element (RE) corresponds to one OFDM subcarrier during one OFDM symbol interval.

[0042] In 3GPP Release-15 (Rel-15), an NR UE may be configured with up to four carrier bandwidth portions (BWPs) in the DL with a single DL BWP active at a given time. The UE may be configured with up to four BWPs in the UL with a single UL BWP active at a given time. If the UE is configured with a supplementary UL (SUL), the UE may be configured with up to four additional BWPs in the SUL, and a single SUL BWP is active at any time.

[0043] Common RBs (CRBs) are numbered from 0 to the end of the carrier bandwidth. Each BWP configured for a UE has a common reference of CRB0 so that the configured BWP may start at a CRB greater than 0. CRB0 may be identified by one of the following parameters provided by the network, as further defined in 3GPP TS38.211 Section 4.4: DL common PRB index for DL ​​in the primary cell (PCell, e.g., PCell or PSCell); UL common PRB index for UL in PCell, DL dedicated PRB index for DL ​​in secondary cell (SCell), UL dedicated PRB index for UL in the secondary cell (SCell), and · SUL common PRB index for auxiliary UL.

[0044] In this way, a UE may be configured with a narrow BWP (e.g., 10 MHz) and a wide BWP (e.g., 100 MHz), each starting at a particular CRB, but only one BWP may be active for the UE at a given time. Within a BWP, PRBs are defined and are expressed in the frequency domain as The images are numbered TIFF2025539090000002.tif9170, where i is the index of a particular BWP on the carrier.

[0045] NR is a variety of Supports TIFF2025539090000003.tif5170, TIFF2025539090000004.tif5170It's called "Numerology." TIFF2025539090000005.tif5170 provides the basic (or reference) SCS also used in LTE. The symbol duration, cyclic prefix (CP) duration, and slot duration are inversely proportional to the SCS or numerology. For example, One (1ms) slot per subframe of TIFF2025539090000006.tif4170, There are two 0.5ms slots per subframe in TIFF2025539090000007.tif4170, etc. Furthermore, the maximum carrier bandwidth is This directly relates to the numerology according to TIFF2025539090000008.tif4170. Table 1 below summarizes the supported NR numerologies and associated parameters. Various DL and UL numerologies can be configured by the network. TIFF2025539090000009.tif153170

[0046] In addition to providing coverage via cells as in LTE, NR networks also provide coverage via “beams.” Generally, a downlink (DL, i.e., from the network to the UE) “beam” is a coverage area of ​​a network-transmitted reference signal (RS) that can be measured or monitored by the UE. In NR, for example, the RS may include any of the following: synchronization signal / PBCH block (SSB), channel state information RS (CSI-RS), tertiary reference signal (or any other synchronization signal), positioning RS (PRS), demodulation RS (DMRS), phase tracking reference signal (PTRS), etc. Generally, the SSB is available to all UEs regardless of the state of their connection with the network, while the other RSs (e.g., CSI-RS, DM-RS, PTRS) are associated with specific UEs that have a network connection.

[0047] Figure 3 shows an example configuration of the NR user plane (UP) and control plane (CP) protocol stack between the UE (310), gNB (320), and AMF (330), such as those shown in Figures 1-2. The physical (PHY) layer, medium access control (MAC) layer, radio link control (RLC) layer, and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer between the UE and gNB are common to the UP and CP. The PDCP layer performs encryption / decryption, integrity protection, sequence numbering, reordering, and duplicate detection for both the CP and UP. Additionally, PDCP provides header compression and retransmission of UP data.

[0048] On the UP side, Internet Protocol (IP) packets arrive at the PDCP as Service Data Units (SDUs), which then create Protocol Data Units (PDUs) for delivery to the RLC. The Service Data Adaptation Protocol (SDAP) layer handles QoS, including mapping between QoS flows and Data Radio Bearers (DRBs) and marking QoS Flow Identifiers (QFIs) in UL and DL packets.

[0049] For each IP packet arrival, PDCP starts a discard timer. When this timer expires, PDCP discards the associated SDU and corresponding PDU. If the PDU is delivered to RLC, PDCP also instructs RLC to discard. The RLC layer transfers PDCP PDUs to MAC via logical channels (LCHs). RLC provides error detection / correction, concatenation, segmentation / reassembly, sequence numbering, and reordering of data transferred to and from upper layers. When RLC receives a discard instruction from the associated PDCP PDU, it discards the corresponding RLC SDU if the corresponding RLC SDU (or any segment thereof) has not been transmitted to the lower layer.

[0050] The MAC provides mapping between LCH and PHY transport channels, LCH prioritization, multiplexing to / demultiplexing from transport blocks (TBs), hybrid ARQ (HARQ) error correction, and (in gNBs) dynamic scheduling. The PHY provides transport channel services to the MAC and handles transmission over the NR air interface, e.g., via modulation, coding, antenna mapping, and beamforming.

[0051] On the CP side, the Non-Access Stratum (NAS) layer between the UE and the AMF handles UE / gNB authentication, mobility management, and security control. The RRC is located below the NAS in the UE but terminates in the gNB, not the AMF. The RRC controls communication between the UE and the gNB over the air interface and UE mobility between cells within the NG-RAN. The RRC also broadcasts system information (SI) and establishes, configures, maintains, and releases DRBs and signaling radio bearers (SRBs) used by the UE. Furthermore, the RRC controls the addition, modification, and release of carrier aggregation (CA) and dual connectivity (DC) configurations for the UE and performs various security functions such as key management.

[0052] After a UE is powered on, it remains in the RRC_IDLE state until an RRC connection with the network is established, at which point the UE transitions to the RRC_CONNECTED state (e.g., where data transfer may occur). The UE returns to RRC_IDLE after the network connection is released. In the RRC_IDLE state, the UE's radio is active on a discontinuous reception (DRX) schedule configured by higher layers. During the DRX active period (also referred to as the "DRX on duration"), a UE in RRC_IDLE receives SI broadcasts in the cell in which the UE is camped, performs measurements on neighbor cells to support cell reselection, and monitors the paging channel on the PDCCH for pages from 5GC via the gNB. An NR UE in the RRC_IDLE state is unknown to the gNB serving the cell in which the UE is camped. However, NR RRC includes an RRC_INACTIVE state in which the UE is known by the serving gNB (e.g., via the UE context). RRC_INACTIVE has some characteristics similar to the "suspended" state used in LTE.

[0053] 5G / NR is designed to support applications that demand high rates and low latency, in line with the requirements for supporting XR and cloud gaming applications. 3GPP Rel-17 includes a study item (SI) on XR evaluation for NR. The primary objective is to identify the traffic model, evaluation methodology, and key performance indicators of interest for each application of interest, as well as related deployment scenarios, and to perform performance evaluations accordingly to investigate possible standardization enhancements in potential follow-up SIs or work items (WIs).

[0054] Edge Computing (EC) can be an enabling network architecture for XR. Generally, EC facilitates the deployment of cloud computing capabilities and service environments closer to the cellular radio access network (RAN). EC can provide benefits such as lower latency and higher bandwidth for user plane (UP, e.g., data) traffic and reduced backhaul traffic to the 5G core network (5GC). 3GPP is also investigating the prospects of several new services on application architectures to enable edge applications, as further described in 3GPP TR23.758 (v17.0.0).

[0055] Figure 4 shows a high-level comparison of various performance requirements for XR and other 5G applications. In particular, Figure 4 shows a comparison of latency, reliability, and data rate requirements for URLLC, streaming, and EC-based XR. URLLC services require 1 ms latency and 10 ms data rate. -5 While EC-based XR has extreme requirements for latency of 5-10ms and 10 -4However, XR services may require much higher byte rates than either URLLC or streaming (e.g., due to codec inefficiencies). XR traffic may also be highly dynamic, e.g., due to eye / viewport tracking.

[0056] XR requires bounded latency, but not necessarily ultra-low latency. However, the end-to-end latency (or packet delay) budget (e.g., 20-80 ms) must be distributed across several components, including application processing latency, transport latency, radio link latency, etc. In these applications, short transmission time intervals (TTIs) or minislots may not be effective.

[0057] In general, XR traffic is relatively periodic in arrival time, but the average data rate requirements and the primary transmission direction (e.g., UL or DL) depend on the particular XR-related service. Table 2 below provides an example characterization of XR services by data rate (or throughput) requirements and primary transmission direction. TIFF2025539090000010.tif72170

[0058] Figure 5 shows an example of frame latency measured over a radio access network (RAN, e.g., NG-RAN), excluding application and core network (CN, e.g., 5GC) latencies. This measured RAN latency is highly variable across three different users (i.e., 1-3) and times (i.e., 0-1.6 s), with some spikes as high as 30 ms. Sources of latency spikes may include queuing delays, a time-varying radio environment, time-varying frame sizes, etc. Techniques that can mitigate, reduce, and / or eliminate such latency spikes would be beneficial to NG-RAN support for XR traffic that requires bounded and / or predictable latency.

[0059] As briefly mentioned above, XR applications typically require high data rates. This is due to both high frame refresh rates and large video frame sizes that can range from tens to hundreds of kilobytes (kB). As a specific example, a frame size of 100 kB and a frame refresh rate of 120 Hz can result in a data rate requirement of 95.8 Mb / s.

[0060] Large video frames are typically fragmented into smaller Internet Protocol (IP) packets and transmitted as several transport blocks (TBs) over several TTIs in the RAN. Figure 6 shows an exemplary cumulative distribution function (CDF) for the number of transport blocks (TBs) over the NR PHY required to deliver video frames ranging in size from 20 to 300 kB. For example, Figure 6 shows that for video frames sized at 200 kB, the median number of TBs is 5, but in approximately 5% of these cases, 15 or more TBs are required to deliver the 200 kB video frame. Figure 6 assumes a 1 ms TTI and a 100 MHz carrier bandwidth.

[0061] Figure 7 shows a comparison of arrival times between XR, voice over IP (VoIP), and web browsing traffic. XR traffic arrival time characteristics are quasi-periodic and largely predictable. This is similar to VoIP but different from web browsing, whose arrivals are highly unpredictable. However, the size of XR traffic (e.g., video frames) is much larger than VoIP traffic and can vary from arrival to arrival due to dynamic changes in content and human movement. Thus, XR traffic shares some characteristics with web browsing traffic.

[0062] As briefly mentioned above, the UE reports the status of its buffers containing data awaiting UL transmission to the RAN. The UE reports this information in a MAC layer control element (CE) called a Buffer Status Report (BSR). The following BSR formats are used by the UE depending on various factors: Short BSR format (fixed size), Short abbreviated BSR format (fixed size), Long truncated BSR format (variable size), and Long BSR format (variable size). After receiving the BSR, the RAN node can adjust the scheduling of the UE UL transmission accordingly.

[0063] Figure 8A shows the format used for short and truncated BSRs, which includes a single octet carrying three bits indicating the logical channel group (LCG) ID for which data is buffered and five bits indicating the size of the buffered data for that LCG ID.

[0064] Figure 8B shows the format used for long BSR and long truncated BSR. This format includes one octet (Oct1) containing a bitmap where each bit maps to a specific LCG ID, and multiple octets (2 through m+1) indicating the size of buffered data for various LCG IDs. A bit value of '1' indicates that buffered data for the corresponding LCG ID is reported in one of octets 2 through m+1, and a bit value of '0' indicates that buffered data for the corresponding LCG ID is not reported.

[0065] There are three types of BSR: regular, periodic, and padding. A regular BSR is triggered when UL data for a logical channel belonging to an LCG becomes available to the MAC entity and one of the following is true: This UL data belongs to a logical channel with a higher priority than the priority of any logical channel with available UL data belonging to any LCG, or · None of the logical channels belonging to the LCG contain any available UL data.

[0066] When two or more LCGs have data available for transmission, the UE uses the long BSR format and reports all LCGs that have data. In contrast, when only one LCG has data available for transmission, the UE uses the short BSR format.

[0067] A periodic BSR is configured by the RAN (e.g., the serving gNB), including the reporting period. Similar to a regular BSR, when two or more LCGs have data available for transmission, the UE uses the long BSR format and reports all LCGs with data. In contrast, when only one LCG has data available for transmission, the UE uses the short BSR format.

[0068] Padding BSR is an opportunistic method for a UE to provide buffer status information to the RAN when a MAC layer PDU contains some padding (i.e., non-data) bits in one or more of the BSR formats. In this case, the UE replaces the padding bits with a padding BSR having a format corresponding to (i.e., not larger than) the number of padding bits. Note that one MAC PDU cannot contain more than one BSR MAC CE.

[0069] Furthermore, the padding BSR format depends on the number of logical channels with data available for transmission. When two or more LCGs have data for transmission, the padding BSR uses the short abbreviated BSR format, the long abbreviated BSR format, or the long abbreviated BSR format, depending on the number of padding bits available. When only one LCG has data for transmission, the padding BSR uses the short BSR format.

[0070] During Rel-18 work, 3GPP identified that the current UE BSR mechanism is insufficient for XR services. In general, a timely received BSR can help reduce the latency of granting resources for UE transmission of buffered data and can help the RAN determine an appropriate grant size. An inaccurate or untimely BSR for buffered XR data can lead to violations of bounded latency requirements and / or inaccurate grant sizes for relatively large XR PDU sets (e.g., for video). This can also impact network capacity and throughput performance.

[0071] For example, to address the constrained latency and bitrate requirements of XR traffic, the RAN needs to receive more accurate buffer status and timing information from the UE. 3GPP has identified several new BS tables and BSR formats that can help address these needs. Such new BSR formats may include information related to PDU sets / ADUs, as well as timing information for PDU sets (sometimes referred to as "packets").

[0072] New XR-related BSR reports may be able to provide such information, but it is unclear how these new BSR reports can be triggered in the UE so that they reach the RAN at the appropriate time (i.e., when needed by the RAN). Current BSR triggers are neither suitable nor sufficient to meet the BSR requirements for XR services. Given the importance of XR services, improvements are needed to address these issues, challenges, and / or difficulties.

[0073] Accordingly, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a flexible and efficient triggering mechanism for BSRs related to XR services ("XR-related BSRs"). Various embodiments include triggering mechanisms based on delay, PDU set size, PDU discard, and / or overdue PDU sets.

[0074] Embodiments may provide various benefits and / or advantages. For example, embodiments trigger a timely UE BSR to the RAN, which enables the RAN to provide timely UL resource grants that support transmission of buffered XR data in a manner that meets bounded latency requirements. Furthermore, embodiments facilitate RAN configuration of such BSR triggering, thereby providing RAN control over the UE BSR. At a high level, embodiments facilitate delivery of XR services over a wireless network (e.g., a RAN).

[0075] In some embodiments, the UE BSR trigger may be based on the delay or latency of the PDU set. The UE calculates the remaining PDU set delay budget (PDB), which is the actual PDU set delay budget (PDB) minus the PDU set queuing time. remThe PDU sets can be classified based on the remaining packet delay budget PDB or based on the PDU set queuing time. In either case, the UE classifies the buffered PDU sets into different buckets or categories. Figure 9 illustrates a method for classifying a UE buffered PDU set based on the remaining packet delay budget PDB in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. rem 1 shows exemplary configurations categorized based on:

[0076] In the example shown in Figure 9, the UE has two logical channels, identified by respective LC IDs and associated with different buffered PDU sets. In particular, LCID1 is associated with PDU sets N, M, and Y, and LCID2 is associated with PDU sets W and X. Each buffered PDU set (or packet) is associated with its PDB rem PDB rem Packets X and Y are assigned one of three labels or categories, called "buckets," based on how they align with three set ranges of PDB metric. In particular, packets X and Y are assigned one of three labels or categories, called "buckets," based on how they align with three set ranges of PDB metric. rem and packet M is assigned to the first bucket based on having a PDB between 5 ms and 10 ms. rem and packets N and W are assigned to the second bucket based on having a PDB greater than 10 ms. rem The third bucket is assigned based on having

[0077] In some embodiments, the RAN may determine the PDB classification between buckets to be applied by the UE when classifying the PDU set. rem A threshold or boundary may be set to allow the UE to determine the PDB count of a PDU set upon arrival of the PDU set in an LCID configured for XR traffic and / or with an XR-related BSR. remWhen allocating a PDU set to a specific bucket based on the LCID, the UE triggers a BSR and / or an XR-related BSR containing the buffer status for the LCID (or for the LCG containing the LCID, as described above). For example, a BSR may be triggered if the incoming PDU set is allocated to Bucket 1 (but not Buckets 2-3) in Figure 9. As another example, a BSR may be triggered if the incoming PDU set is allocated to Bucket 1 or Bucket 2 (but not Bucket 3) in Figure 9.

[0078] In other embodiments, the UE BSR trigger can be based on a change in bucket allocation for a PDU set. In the example shown in Figure 9, after PDU set M has been queued for a certain duration, its allocation is changed to PDB rem Based on the decrease in LCID1, the UE changes from Bucket 2 to Bucket 1. This change triggers a BSR by the UE to report on LCID1.

[0079] In some embodiments, to avoid triggering too many BSRs, the UE may start a prohibitTimer when it triggers a BSR due to a bucket assignment (or a change in assignment) for a PDU set, and the UE cannot trigger another BSR due to a bucket assignment (or a change in assignment) for any PDU set until the prohibitTimer expires. The value used to start the prohibitTimer may be pre-configured (e.g., in the 3GPP specifications) or configured by the RAN.

[0080] In other embodiments, to avoid triggering too many BSRs, the UE may trigger a BSR only after N>1 PDU set bucket assignments (or assignment changes) that would otherwise trigger a BSR. The value N may be pre-configured (e.g., in the 3GPP specifications) or configured by the RAN.

[0081] In other embodiments, the UE BSR trigger may be based on a combination of delay and PDU set size. In other words, the PDU set must meet delay / latency and size conditions to trigger a BSR. These BSR-triggering delay / latency conditions may be any of the conditions described above, e.g., the bucket assignment of the PDU set or a change in bucket assignment.

[0082] In some embodiments, the size condition is that the PDU set must be above (or below) a PDU set size threshold. In other embodiments, the size condition is that the number, portion, or total size of all PDU sets assigned to a particular bucket (e.g., Bucket 1 in FIG. 9) is above or below a total size threshold. Either of these thresholds may be pre-configured (e.g., in the 3GPP specifications) or configured by the RAN.

[0083] In some embodiments, similar to those described above, the UE may start the prohibitTimer when it triggers a BSR due to a PDU set meeting the delay / latency and size conditions. The UE cannot trigger another BSR due to a PDU set meeting the same conditions until the prohibitTimer expires. The value used to start the prohibitTimer may be pre-configured (e.g., in the 3GPP specifications) or configured by the RAN.

[0084] In other embodiments, in a manner similar to that described above, the UE may trigger a BSR only after N>1 occurrences of a PDU set that meets the delay / latency and size conditions that would otherwise trigger a BSR. The value N may be pre-configured (e.g., in the 3GPP specifications) or configured by the RAN.

[0085] In other embodiments, the UE BSR trigger may be based on the UE discarding one or more PDU sets. In some variations, the UE triggers a BSR and / or an XR-related BSR whenever a PDU set is discarded. In other variations, the UE triggers a BSR and / or an XR-related BSR when it discards N>1 PDU sets. In other variations, the UE triggers a BSR and / or an XR-related BSR when it discards a PDU set having a size greater than a PDU set size threshold. The value of N or the PDU set size threshold may be pre-configured (e.g., in the 3GPP specifications) or configured by the RAN.

[0086] In another embodiment, the UE BSR trigger is rem The condition may be based on the amount or total size (e.g., in kB) of PDU sets for which the condition reaches a minimum value (e.g., 0). In some variations, the UE may drop or discard PDU sets that meet this condition. In other variations, the UE may mark PDU sets that meet this condition as "out of date" and move them to another queue with a different priority.

[0087] In various of these embodiments, the UE BSR trigger may be based on a size-related threshold and / or a deadline-overrun threshold. For example, the BSR may be triggered when the number of PDU sets meeting this condition or the total size of the PDU sets exceeds a size-related threshold.

[0088] In general, the deadline threshold can be considered the minimum value mentioned above. In some cases, the deadline threshold may be implicit, such as 0 or some pre-set value. In other cases, a non-zero deadline threshold may be set. In either case, the queue time (or PDB) of one or more PDU sets may be used to determine the deadline. rem) reaches a deadline threshold, a BSR is triggered. Alternatively, a size-related threshold may be combined with a deadline threshold, such that the number of PDU sets that meet the deadline threshold or the total size of the PDU sets must also meet the size-related threshold for a BSR to be triggered.

[0089] In other embodiments, the UE BSR trigger can be based on a change in the number of buffered PDU set sizes. For example, the UE BSR is triggered when the total number or total size (e.g., in kB) of buffered PDU sets increases (or decreases) beyond a change threshold. When the change threshold is based on the total number of buffered PDU sets, increasing the size of one PDU set does not trigger a BSR. These embodiments do not require delay / latency conditions, but can be combined with such conditions in a manner similar to the other embodiments described above.

[0090] In other embodiments, the UE BSR trigger may be based on an explicit instruction from the serving RAN node, which may be provided in physical layer downlink control information (DCI). In some variations, the explicit instruction may indicate the type or format of the BSR to send, the particular BS table to be used to generate the BSR, etc. In other variations, the explicit instruction may simply indicate that a BSR is required, with the type of BSR being determined by the UE based on pre-configuration (e.g., specification) or previous configuration by the RAN. Upon receiving the explicit instruction, the UE will create a BSR accordingly, including any empty BSRs if no buffered data is available for reporting.

[0091] Various features of the embodiments described above correspond to various operations shown in Figures 10 and 11, which illustrate example methods (e.g., procedures) for a UE and a RAN node, respectively. In other words, various features of the operations described below correspond to the various embodiments described above. Furthermore, the example methods shown in Figures 10 and 11 can be used in conjunction to provide various benefits, advantages, and / or solutions to the problems described herein. Although Figures 10 and 11 illustrate certain blocks in a particular order, the operations of the example methods may be performed in a different order than illustrated, and may be combined and / or divided into blocks having different functionality than illustrated. Optional blocks or operations are indicated by dashed lines.

[0092] 10 and 11 and the corresponding claims, will recognize that the numerical labels "first" through "seventh" are not used in an ordinal sense to imply any type of ordering, ranking, etc. of the "thresholds" so labeled. Rather, those skilled in the art will recognize that these numerical labels are used in a nominal sense to distinguish between different ones of the "thresholds" so labeled in the description and the corresponding claims.

[0093] 10 illustrates an example method (e.g., procedure) for a UE configured to transmit application data to a RAN node, in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. The example method may be performed by a UE (e.g., a wireless device, an IoT device, etc.) as described elsewhere herein.

[0094] The exemplary method includes the operations of block 1020, in which the UE buffers data generated by an application hosted by the UE. The buffered data includes a plurality of sets of protocol data units (PDUs). The exemplary method also includes the operations of block 1040, in which the UE transmits a buffer status report (BSR) to the RAN node in response to one or more of the following conditions at the UE: At least one of the buffered PDU sets has a remaining packet delay budget (PDB) that is less than a first threshold. rem ) and PDB of PDU set rem decreases proportionally to the duration for which the PDU set was buffered. At least one of the buffered PDU sets is discarded by the UE.

[0095] In some embodiments, the transmitted BSR indicates an amount of data corresponding to the buffered PDU sets that satisfy one or more conditions at the UE. In some embodiments, the exemplary method also includes the operations of block 1010, in which the UE may receive a BSR configuration from the RAN node. The BSR configuration includes a value for the first threshold. In some embodiments, buffering the data in block 1020 may include the operations of sub-block 1021, in which the UE, upon buffering, may transmit each of the PDU sets to a PDB. rem 9 illustrates an example of these embodiments. In some of these embodiments, the first threshold is a threshold for determining whether the PDB buckets are allocated to one of a plurality of available PDB buckets associated with each range of the PDB buckets. rem corresponds to one or more PDB buckets associated with one or more lowest ranges of

[0096] In some embodiments, the BSR is also sent to the RAN node in response to any of the following conditions in the UE: PDBs greater than the second threshold remThe number or total size of the buffered PDU sets having .times. ... PDB that changes from a value greater than the fourth threshold to a value less than the fourth threshold rem The number or total size of the buffered PDU sets having .times. ... The number or total size of overdue buffered PDU sets is at least the sixth threshold. · The number or total size of buffered PDU sets changes by at least the seventh threshold. An explicit instruction is received from the RAN node.

[0097] In some of these embodiments, the example method also includes the operation of block 1030, in which the UE updates the PDB bucket assignments of each of the PDUs that remain buffered after a period of time to their respective PDB bucket assignments. rem For example, the PDB bucket allocation can be adjusted periodically or in response to some event, such as the buffering of a newly available set of PDUs. rem corresponds to the boundary between two PDB buckets associated with adjacent ranges of

[0098] In some of these embodiments, when an explicit indication is received from the RAN node, a BSR is sent to the RAN node in block 1040 even if no data generated by the application is currently buffered. In some of these embodiments, each of the third, fifth, sixth, and seventh thresholds is one of a single PDU set, multiple (N) PDU sets, or a number of kilobytes.

[0099] In some embodiments, the exemplary method may also include operations of blocks 1050-1060, where the UE may start a prohibit timer in connection with transmitting the BSR and refrain from transmitting another BSR until expiration of the prohibit timer, even when one of the conditions occurs while the prohibit timer is running.

[0100] In some embodiments, the exemplary method may also include operations of blocks 1070-1080, wherein the UE may receive a grant of uplink resources from the RAN node based on the transmitted BSR and transmit at least a portion of the buffered data to the RAN node using the granted uplink resources.

[0101] In some embodiments, the application is an extended reality (XR) application, and data generated by the application has bounded latency requirements.

[0102] 11 illustrates an example method (e.g., procedure) for a RAN node configured to receive application data from a UE, in accordance with various embodiments of the present disclosure. The example method may be performed by a RAN node (e.g., a base station, eNB, gNB, ng-eNB, etc., or components thereof) as described elsewhere herein.

[0103] The example method includes operations of block 1110, in which the RAN node receives a BSR from the UE related to buffered data generated by an application hosted by the UE. The buffered data includes a plurality of sets of PDUs. Further, the BSR is received at the UE in response to one or more of the following conditions: At least one of the buffered PDU sets has a remaining packet delay budget (PDB) that is less than a first threshold. rem ) and PDB of PDU set remdecreases proportionally to the duration for which the PDU set was buffered. At least one of the buffered PDU sets is discarded by the UE.

[0104] In some embodiments, the received BSR indicates an amount of data corresponding to the buffered PDU set at the UE that satisfies one or more conditions. In some embodiments, the exemplary method may also include the operation of block 1110, where the RAN node may transmit a BSR configuration to the UE. The BSR configuration includes a value for the first threshold.

[0105] In some embodiments, each of the PDU sets, when buffered, rem The first threshold is assigned by the UE to one of a plurality of available PDB buckets associated with each range of the PDB. Figure 9 illustrates an example of these embodiments. In some of these embodiments, the first threshold is rem corresponds to one or more PDB buckets associated with one or more lowest ranges of

[0106] In some of these embodiments, the BSR is also received from the UE in response to any of the following conditions at the UE: PDBs greater than the second threshold rem The number or total size of the buffered PDU sets having .times. ... PDB that changes from a value greater than the fourth threshold to a value less than the fourth threshold rem The number or total size of the buffered PDU sets having .times. ... The number or total size of overdue buffered PDU sets is at least the sixth threshold. · The number or total size of buffered PDU sets changes by at least the seventh threshold. An explicit instruction is received from the RAN node.

[0107] In some of these embodiments, the PDB bucket assignments for a set of PDUs that remain buffered after a period of time are determined by the bucket assignments for each PDB in the set of PDUs. rem For example, the PDB bucket allocation can be adjusted periodically or in response to an event, such as the buffering of a newly available set of PDUs. rem corresponds to the boundary between two PDB buckets associated with adjacent ranges of

[0108] In some of these embodiments, when an explicit indication is sent to the UE, a BSR is received from the UE in block 1120 even if no data generated by the application is currently buffered at the UE. In some of these embodiments, each of the third, fifth, sixth, and seventh thresholds is one of a single PDU set, multiple (N) PDU sets, or a number of kilobytes.

[0109] In some embodiments, the exemplary method also includes operations of blocks 1130-1140, in which the RAN node sends a grant of uplink resources to the UE based on the received BSR and receives at least a portion of the buffered data from the UE using the granted uplink resources.

[0110] In some embodiments, the application is an XR application and the data generated by the application has bounded latency requirements.

[0111] While various embodiments are described above with respect to methods, techniques, and / or procedures, those skilled in the art will readily appreciate that such methods, techniques, and / or procedures may be embodied in various combinations of hardware and software in a variety of systems, communication devices, computing devices, control devices, apparatuses, non-transitory computer-readable media, computer program products, and the like.

[0112] 12 illustrates an example of a communications system 1200 according to some embodiments. In this example, the communications system 1200 includes a telecommunications network 1202 including an access network 1204, such as a radio access network (RAN), and a core network 1206 including one or more core network nodes 1208. The access network 1204 includes one or more access network nodes, such as network nodes 1210a-b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as network node 1210), or any other similar 3GPP access node or non-3GPP access point. The network node 1210 enables direct or indirect connectivity of UEs 1212a-d (one or more of which may be generally referred to as UEs 1212), such as by connecting UEs to the core network 1206 via one or more wireless connections.

[0113] Exemplary wireless communications over wireless connections include transmitting 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. Additionally, in various embodiments, communications system 1200 may include any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, UEs, and / or any other components or systems that may facilitate or be involved in the communication of data and / or signals, whether via wired or wireless connections. Communications system 1200 may include and / or interface with any type of communications, telecommunications, data, cellular, wireless networks, and / or other similar types of systems.

[0114] The UE 1212 may be any of a wide variety of communication devices, including a wireless device that is positioned, configured, and / or operative to communicate wirelessly with the network node 1210 and other communication devices. Similarly, the network node 1210 is positioned, enabled, configured, and / or operative to communicate, directly or indirectly, with the UE 1212 and / or other network nodes or equipment within the telecommunications network 1202 to enable and / or provide network access, such as wireless network access, and / or to perform other functions, such as management in the telecommunications network 1202.

[0115] In the illustrated example, the core network 1206 connects the network node 1210 to one or more hosts, such as a host 1216. 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 1206 includes one or more core network nodes (e.g., 1208) configured 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 1208. 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 De-concealing function (SIDF), a Unified Data Management (UDM), a Security Edge Protection Proxy (SEPP), a Network Exposure Function (NEF), and / or a User Plane Function (UPF).

[0116] The host 1216 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider other than the operator or provider of the access network 1204 and / or the telecommunications network 1202, and may be operated by or on behalf of the service provider. The host 1216 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 monitoring center, or any other such functions performed by a server.

[0117] 12 enables connectivity between UEs, network nodes, and hosts. In that sense, the communication system may be configured to operate according to predefined rules or procedures, such as a particular standard, including, but not limited to, any suitable mobile communication standard, such as 2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G, such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE), or a future applicable standard (e.g., 6G), a wireless LAN (WLAN) standard, such as the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 standard (Wi-Fi), and / or any other suitable wireless communication standard, such as Wide Area Network (WiMaX), Bluetooth, Z-Wave, Near Field Communication (NFC), ZigBee, LiFi, and / or low-power wide-area network (LPWAN) standards, such as LoRa and Sigfox.

[0118] In some examples, the telecommunications network 1202 is a cellular network that implements 3GPP standardized features. Thus, the telecommunications network 1202 may support network slicing to provide different logical networks to different devices connected to the telecommunications network 1202. For example, the telecommunications network 1202 may provide Ultra-Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC) services to some UEs, enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) services to other UEs, and / or massive machine-type communications (mMTC) / massive IoT services to yet further UEs.

[0119] In some examples, the UE 1212 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 1204 on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to a request from the access network 1204. Furthermore, the UE may be configured to operate in a single or multi-RAT or multi-standard mode. For example, the UE may operate using any one or a combination of Wi-Fi, NR (New Radio), and LTE, i.e., configured for Multi-Radio Dual Connectivity (MR-DC), such as E-UTRAN (Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network) New Radio-Dual Connectivity (EN-DC).

[0120] In this example, hub 1214 communicates with access network 1204 to facilitate indirect communication between one or more UEs (e.g., UEs 1212c and / or 1212d) and a network node (e.g., network node 1210b). In some examples, hub 1214 may be a controller, a router, a content source and analyzer, or any of the other communication devices described herein with respect to UEs. For example, hub 1214 may be a broadband router that enables access to core network 1206 for the UE. As another example, hub 1214 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 1210, or by executable code, scripts, processes, or other instructions within hub 1214. As another example, hub 1214 may be a data collector that serves as a temporary storage of UE data and, in some embodiments, may perform analysis or other processing of the data. As another example, hub 1214 may be a content source. For example, in the case of a UE that is a VR headset, display, loudspeaker, or other media distribution device, the hub 1214 may retrieve VR assets, video, audio, or other media or data related to sensory information via a network node, which the hub 1214 then provides to the UE either directly, after performing local processing, and / or after adding additional local content. In yet another example, the hub 1214 acts as a proxy server or orchestrator for the UEs, particularly if one or more of the UEs are low energy IoT devices.

[0121] The hub 1214 may have a constant / permanent or intermittent connection to the network node 1210b. The hub 1214 may also enable different communication schemes and / or schedules between the hub 1214 and the UEs (e.g., UEs 1212c and / or 1212d) and between the hub 1214 and the core network 1206. In other examples, the hub 1214 is connected to the core network 1206 and / or one or more UEs via a wired connection. Additionally, the hub 1214 may be configured to connect to an M2M service provider via the access network 1204 and / or to another UE via a direct connection. In some scenarios, a UE may establish a wireless connection with the network node 1210 while still connected through the hub 1214 via a wired or wireless connection. In some embodiments, the hub 1214 may be a dedicated hub, i.e., a hub whose primary function is to route communications to / from the UEs and from / to the network node 1210b. In other embodiments, the hub 1214 may be a non-dedicated hub, i.e., a device that is operable to route communications between the UE and the network node 1210b, but that is additionally operable to act as a communication origination and / or termination point for certain data channels.

[0122] 13 illustrates a UE 1300 according to some embodiments. Examples of a UE include, but are not limited to, a smartphone, a mobile phone, a cell phone, a voice-over-IP (VoIP) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a desktop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless camera, a game console or device, a music storage device, a playback device, a wearable terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, a tablet, a laptop, a laptop embedded equipment (LEE), a laptop mounted equipment (LME), a smart device, a wireless customer premises equipment (CPE), an in-vehicle or in-vehicle / 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.

[0123] 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-exchange (V2X). In other examples, a UE may 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 that may not be associated with or initially be unassociated 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 that may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user.

[0124] The UE 1300 includes a processing circuit 1302 operably coupled via a bus 1304 to an input / output interface 1306, a power source 1308, a memory 1310, a communication interface 1312, and possibly one or more other components not explicitly shown. Some UEs may utilize all or a subset of the components shown in FIG. 13. 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.

[0125] The processing circuit 1302 is configured to process instructions and data and may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operable to execute instructions stored as a machine-readable computer program in the memory 1310. The processing circuit 1302 may be implemented as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g., discrete logic, field programmable gate array (FPGA), application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), etc.), programmable logic with appropriate firmware, one or more stored computer programs, a general-purpose processor such as a microprocessor or digital signal processor (DSP) with appropriate software, or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuit 1302 may include multiple central processing units (CPUs).

[0126] In this example, the input / output interface 1306 may be configured to provide an input device, an output device, or one or more interfaces to 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 1300. 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 sensing input from a user. The sensor may be, for example, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical 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 provide an input device and an output device.

[0127] In some embodiments, the power source 1308 is configured as a battery or a battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g., an electrical outlet), a photovoltaic device, or a power cell, may also be used. The power source 1308 may further include a power circuit for supplying power to various portions of the UE 1300 from the power source 1308 itself and / or from an external power source via an interface, such as an input circuit or a power cable. Providing power may, for example, be for charging the power source 1308. The power circuit may perform any formatting, conversion, or other modification on the power from the power source 1308 to make it suitable for each component of the UE 1300 to be powered.

[0128] The memory 1310 may be or be configured to include memory such as random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), magnetic disk, optical disk, hard disk, removable cartridge, flash drive, etc. In one example, the memory 1310 includes one or more application programs 1314, such as an operating system, a web browser application, a widget, a gadget engine, or other applications, and corresponding data 1316. The memory 1310 may store any of a variety of operating systems or combinations of operating systems for use by the UE 1300.

[0129] The memory 1310 may be configured to include several physical drive units, such as a redundant array of independent disks (RAID), flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smart card memory such as a tamper-resistant module in the form of a universal integrated circuit card (UICC) including one or more subscriber identity modules (SIMs), such as a USIM and / or 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 1310 may enable the UE 1300 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 one utilizing a communication system, may be tangibly embodied as or in memory 1310, which may be or comprise a device-readable storage medium.

[0130] The processing circuit 1302 may be configured to communicate with an access network or other networks using a communication interface 1312. The communication interface 1312 may comprise one or more communication subsystems and may include or be communicatively coupled to an antenna 1322. The communication interface 1312 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 1318 and / or a receiver 1320 suitable for providing network communication (e.g., optical, electrical, frequency allocation, etc.). Additionally, the transmitter 1318 and / or receiver 1320 may be coupled to one or more antennas (e.g., 1322) and may share or be separately implemented circuit components, software, or firmware.

[0131] In the illustrated embodiment, the communication capabilities of communication interface 1312 may include cellular communication, Wi-Fi communication, LPWAN communication, data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short-range communication such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, 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 in accordance with one or more communication protocols and / or standards, such as IEEE 802.11, Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA), Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), GSM, LTE, New Radio (NR), UMTS, WiMax, Ethernet, Transmission Control Protocol / Internet Protocol (TCP / IP), Synchronous Optical Networking (SONET), Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM), QUIC, Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP), etc.

[0132] Regardless of the type of sensor, the UE may provide an output of data captured by its sensor through its communication interface 1312 via a wireless connection to a network node. Data captured by a UE's sensor may be communicated to a network node via another UE via a wireless connection. The output may be periodic (e.g., once every 15 minutes when reporting sensed temperature), random (e.g., to equalize the load from reports from several sensors), in response to a trigger event (e.g., when moisture is detected, an alert is sent), on demand (e.g., a user-initiated request), or a continuous stream (e.g., a live video feed of the patient).

[0133] 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. The status of the actuator, motor, or switch may change in response to the received wireless input. For example, the UE may include a motor that adjusts the control surfaces or rotors of a drone in flight in accordance with the received input, or a robotic arm that performs a medical procedure in accordance with the received input.

[0134] When the UE is in the form of an Internet of Things (IoT) device, it 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 or are integrated into a connected refrigerator or freezer, a TV, a connected lighting device, an electric meter, a robot vacuum cleaner, a voice-controlled smart speaker, a home security camera, a motion detector, a thermostat, a smoke detector, a door / window sensor, a flood / 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 virtual reality (VR), a wearable for haptic augmentation or sensory enhancement, a water sprinkler, an animal or item 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 in relation to UE 1300 shown in FIG. 13, circuitry and / or software depending on the intended use of the IoT device.

[0135] 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, sometimes 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, and airplane, or other equipment capable of monitoring and / or reporting its operational status or other functions associated with its operation.

[0136] In practice, any number of UEs may be used together for a single application. For example, a first UE may be a drone or may be integrated into a drone and provide drone speed information (obtained through a speed sensor) to a second UE that is a remote controller that operates the drone. When a user makes a change 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.

[0137] 14 illustrates a network node 1400 according to some embodiments. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (e.g., wireless access points) and base stations (e.g., wireless base stations, Node Bs, eNBs, gNBs, etc.).

[0138] Base stations may be classified based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated another way, their transmit power level) and may therefore be referred to as femto, pico, micro, or macro base stations depending on the amount of coverage provided. A base station 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 radio base station, such as a centralized digital unit and / or a remote radio unit (RRU), sometimes referred to as a remote radio head (RRH). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna, such as an antenna-integrated radio. Some distributed radio base stations may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS).

[0139] Other examples of network nodes include multiple transmission point (multi-TRP) 5G access nodes, multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as an MSR BS, a network controller such as a radio network controller (RNC) or base station controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a transmission point, a transmitting node, a multi-cell / multicast coordination entity (MCE), an operations and maintenance (O&M) node, an operations 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).

[0140] The network node 1400 includes a processing circuit 1402, a memory 1404, a communication interface 1406, and a power source 1408. The network node 1400 may be configured with multiple physically separate components (e.g., a Node B component and an RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), each of which may have their own respective components. In some scenarios in which the network node 1400 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., a BTS component and a BSC component), 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 instances, be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, the network node 1400 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g., separate memory 1404 for different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g., the same antenna 1410 may be shared by different RATs). Network node 1400 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for various wireless technologies, e.g., GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, Zigbee, Z-wave, LoRaWAN, radio frequency identification (RFID), or Bluetooth wireless technologies, integrated into network node 1400. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chips or sets of chips and other components within network node 1400.

[0141] The processing circuit 1402 may comprise one or more combinations of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software, and / or coded logic operable to provide network node 1400 functionality, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 1400 components, such as memory 1404.

[0142] In some embodiments, the processing circuit 1402 comprises a system-on-chip (SOC). In some embodiments, the processing circuit 1402 includes one or more of a radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuit 1412 and a baseband processing circuit 1414. In some embodiments, the RF transceiver circuit 1412 and the baseband processing circuit 1414 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 circuit 1412 and the baseband processing circuit 1414 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units.

[0143] The memory 1404 may include 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, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (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 may be used by the processing circuit 1402. The memory 1404 may store any suitable instructions, data, or information, including computer programs, software, applications, including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, and / or other instructions (collectively referred to as computer program product 1404a) that may be executed by the processing circuit 1402 and utilized by the network node 1400. The memory 1404 may be used to store any calculations performed by the processing circuit 1402 and / or any data received via the communication interface 1406. In some embodiments, the processing circuit 1402 and the memory 1404 may be integrated.

[0144] The communication interface 1406 is used for wired or wireless communication of signaling and / or data between network nodes, access networks, and / or UEs. As shown, the communication interface 1406 includes a port / terminal 1416 for transmitting and receiving data to and from a network, e.g., via a wired connection. The communication interface 1406 also includes a radio front-end circuit 1418 that may be coupled to, or in some embodiments may be part of, an antenna 1410. The radio front-end circuit 1418 includes a filter 1420 and an amplifier 1422. The radio front-end circuit 1418 may be connected to the antenna 1410 and the processing circuit 1402. The radio front-end circuit may be configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna 1410 and the processing circuit 1402. The radio front-end circuit 1418 may receive digital data to be sent to other network nodes or UEs via a wireless connection. The radio front-end circuit 1418 can convert the digital data into a radio signal having appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of the filter 1420 and / or amplifier 1422. The wireless signals may then be transmitted via antenna 1410. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna 1410 may collect wireless signals that are converted to digital data by wireless front-end circuitry 1418. The digital data may be passed to processing circuit 1402. In other embodiments, the communication interface may comprise different components and / or different combinations of components.

[0145] In certain alternative embodiments, the network node 1400 does not include a separate radio front-end circuit 1418; instead, the processing circuit 1402 includes the radio front-end circuitry and is connected to the antenna 1410. Similarly, in some embodiments, some or all of the RF transceiver circuitry 1412 may be part of the communications interface 1406. In still other embodiments, the communications interface 1406 includes one or more ports or terminals 1416, the radio front-end circuitry 1418, and the RF transceiver circuitry 1412 as part of a radio unit (not shown), and the communications interface 1406 communicates with baseband processing circuitry 1414, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

[0146] The antenna 1410 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays configured to transmit and / or receive wireless signals. The antenna 1410 may be coupled to the radio front-end circuitry 1418 and may be any type of antenna capable of wirelessly transmitting and receiving data and / or signals. In some embodiments, the antenna 1410 is separate from the network node 1400 and connectable to the network node 1400 via an interface or port.

[0147] The antenna 1410, the communication interface 1406, and / or the processing circuit 1402 may be configured to perform any receiving operation and / or certain acquisition operations described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data, and / or signals may be received from a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment. Similarly, the antenna 1410, the communication interface 1406, and / or the processing circuit 1402 may be configured to perform any transmitting operation described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data, and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment.

[0148] Any information, data, and / or signals may be transmitted to a UE, another network node, and / or any other network equipment. The power source 1408 provides power to the various components of the network node 1400 in a form appropriate for each component (e.g., at the voltage and current levels required for each respective component). For example, the network node 1400 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g., a power grid, an electrical outlet) via an input circuit or interface, such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to the power circuit of the power source 1408. As a further example, the power source 1408 may comprise a power source in the form of a battery or battery pack connected to or integrated into the power circuit. The battery can provide backup power in the event that the external power source fails.

[0149] Embodiments of network node 1400 may include additional components other than those shown in Figure 14 to provide some aspects of the network node's functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and / or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, network node 1400 may include user interface devices that allow for the input of information into network node 1400 and the output of information from network node 1400, thereby enabling a user to perform diagnostics, maintenance, repair, and other management functions on network node 1400.

[0150] 15 is a block diagram of a host 1500, which may be an embodiment of the host 1216 of FIG. 12, in accordance with various aspects described herein. The host 1500 may be or include 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 1500 may provide one or more services to one or more UEs.

[0151] Host 1500 includes a processing circuit 1502 operably coupled via a bus 1504 to an input / output interface 1506, a network interface 1508, and a power supply 1510 and 1512. In other embodiments, other components may be included. Features of these components may be substantially similar to those described with respect to the devices in previous figures, such as FIGS. 13 and 14, and therefore the descriptions are generally applicable to the corresponding components of host 1500.

[0152] Memory 1512 may include one or more computer programs, including one or more host application programs 1514, and data 1516, which may include user data, e.g., data generated by a UE for or on behalf of the host 1500. An embodiment of the host 1500 may utilize only a subset or all of the illustrated components. The host application programs 1514 may be implemented in a container-based architecture and may provide support for video codecs (e.g., Generic Video Coding (VVC), High Efficiency Video Coding (HEVC), Advanced Video Coding (AVC), MPEG, VP9) and audio codecs (e.g., 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, heads-up display systems). The host application program 1514 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 or on the edge of the core network. Thus, the host 1500 may select and / or point to a different host for over-the-top services for the UE. The host application program 1514 supports a variety of protocols, such as HTTP Live Streaming (HLS) protocol, Real-Time Messaging Protocol (RTMP), Real-Time Streaming Protocol (RTSP), and Dynamic Adaptive Streaming over HTTP (MPEG-DASH).

[0153] FIG. 16 is a block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 1600 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 or component thereof described herein and relates to implementations in which at least a portion of the 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 1600 hosted by one or more 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 virtualized node does not require wireless connectivity (e.g., a core network node or a host), the node may be fully virtualized.

[0154] An application 1602 (which may alternatively be referred to as a software instance, a virtual appliance, a network function, a virtual node, a virtual network function, etc.) executes within the virtualized environment 1600 to implement some of the features, functions, and / or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein.

[0155] The hardware 1604 includes processing circuitry, memory that stores software and / or instructions executable by the hardware processing circuitry (collectively denoted computer program product 1604a), and / or other hardware devices as described herein, such as network interfaces, input / output interfaces, etc. Software may be executed by the processing circuitry to instantiate one or more virtualization layers 1606 (also referred to as hypervisors or virtual machine monitors (VMMs)), provide VMs 1608a-b (one or more of which may be generally referred to as VMs 1608), and / or perform any of the functions, features, and / or benefits described in association with some embodiments described herein. The virtualization layer 1606 may present a virtual operating platform that looks like networking hardware to the VMs 1608.

[0156] The VMs 1608 may include virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interfaces, and virtual storage and may be executed by a corresponding virtualization layer 1606. Different embodiments of instances of virtual appliances 1602 may be implemented in one or more of the VMs 1608, 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, as well as customer premises equipment.

[0157] In the context of NFV, each VM 1608 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that executes programs as if the programs were running on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each VM 1608, and that portion of the hardware 1604 on which that VM runs, whether hardware dedicated to that VM and / or hardware shared by that VM with other VMs, forms a separate virtual network element. Still in the context of NFV, virtual network functions run in one or more VMs 1608 on the hardware 1604 and are responsible for handling specific network functions corresponding to applications 1602.

[0158] The hardware 1604 may be implemented in a standalone network node having general or specific components. The hardware 1604 may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, the hardware 1604 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g., in a data center or CPE) where many hardware nodes cooperate and are managed via a management and orchestration 1610 that oversees, among other things, the lifecycle management of the application 1602. In some embodiments, the hardware 1604 is coupled to one or more radio units, each including one or more transmitters and one or more receivers that 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 or may be used in combination with virtual components to provide a virtual node with wireless capabilities, such as a radio access node or base station. In some embodiments, some signaling may be provided using a control system 1612 that may be used for communication between the hardware nodes and the radio units.

[0159] 17 illustrates a communication diagram of a host 1702 communicating with a UE 1706 via a network node 1704 over a partial wireless connection, according to some embodiments. Exemplary implementations of the UE (such as the UE 1212a of FIG. 12 and / or the UE 1300 of FIG. 13), network node (such as the network node 1210a of FIG. 12 and / or the network node 1400 of FIG. 14), and host (such as the host 1216 of FIG. 12 and / or the host 1500 of FIG. 15) described in the previous paragraphs, according to various embodiments, will now be described with reference to FIG.

[0160] Similar to the host 1500, an embodiment of the host 1702 includes hardware such as a communications interface, processing circuitry, and memory. The host 1702 also includes software stored on or accessible by the host 102 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 1706, connecting via an over-the-top (OTT) connection 1750 extending between the UE 1706 and the host 1702. In providing services to the remote user, the host application may provide user data that is transmitted using the OTT connection 1750.

[0161] The network node 1704 includes hardware that enables it to communicate with the host 1702 and the UE 1706. The connection 1760 may be direct or may pass through one or more other intermediate networks, such as a core network (such as the core network 1206 of FIG. 12) and / or one or more public, private, or hosted networks. For example, the intermediate network may be a backbone network or the Internet.

[0162] The UE 1706 includes hardware and software stored within or accessible by the UE 1706 and executable by the UE's processing circuitry. The software includes a client application, such as a web browser or operator-specific "app," that may be operable to provide services to a human or non-human user via the UE 1706 with the support of the host 1702. A host application running on the host 1702 may communicate with a client application running on the UE 1706 through an OTT connection 1750 that terminates at the UE 1706 and the host 1702. In providing services to a user, the client application on the UE may receive request data from the host application on the host and provide user data in response to the request data. The OTT connection 1750 can transfer both request data and user data. The client application on the UE may interact with the user and generate user data to provide to the host application through the OTT connection 1750.

[0163] The OTT connection 1750 may extend via a connection 1760 between the host 1702 and a network node 1704 and via a wireless connection 1770 between the network node 1704 and the UE 1706 to provide connectivity between the host 1702 and the UE 1706. The connections 1760 and wireless connections 1770 over which the OTT connection 1750 may be provided are depicted abstractly to illustrate communication between the host 1702 and the UE 1706 via the network node 1704, without explicit reference to any intermediate devices and the precise routing of messages through these devices.

[0164] As an example of transmitting data over the OTT connection 1750, in step 1708, the host 1702 provides user data, which may be done by executing a host application. In some embodiments, the user data is associated with a particular human user interacting with the UE 1706. In other embodiments, the user data is associated with a UE 1706 that shares data with the host 1702 without explicit human interaction. In step 1710, the host 1702 initiates a transmission carrying user data toward the UE 1706. The host 1702 may initiate the transmission in response to a request sent by the UE 1706. The request may be triggered by human interaction with the UE 1706 or by the operation of a client application running on the UE 1706. The transmission may pass through the network node 1704 in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. Thus, in step 1712, the network node 1704 transmits the user data carried in the host 1702-initiated transmission to the UE 1706 in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 1714 , the UE 1706 receives the user data carried in the transmission, which may be executed by a client application running on the UE 1706 associated with the host application executed by the host 1702 .

[0165] In some examples, the UE 1706 executes a client application that provides user data to the host 1702. The user data may be provided in reaction or response to data received from the host 1702. Thus, in step 1716, the UE 1706 may provide the user data, which may be executed 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 1706. Regardless of the particular manner in which the user data was provided, the UE 1706, in step 1718, initiates transmission of the user data to the host 1702 via the network node 1704. In step 1720, in accordance with the teachings of embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the network node 1704 receives the user data from the UE 1706 and initiates transmission of the received user data toward the host 1702. In step 1722, the host 1702 receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the UE 1706.

[0166] One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to the UE 1706 using the OTT connection 1750, of which the wireless connection 1770 forms the final segment. More precisely, the embodiments described herein can trigger a timely UE BSR to the RAN, which enables the RAN to provide timely UL resource grants that support the transmission of buffered XR data in a manner that meets bounded latency requirements. Furthermore, the embodiments facilitate RAN configuration of such BSR triggering, thereby providing RAN control over the UE BSR. At a high level, the embodiments facilitate and / or improve the delivery of OTT XR services over wireless networks (e.g., RANs). In this manner, the embodiments increase the value of these OTT XR services to end users and service providers.

[0167] In an exemplary scenario, factory status information may be collected and analyzed by host 1702. As another example, host 1702 may process audio and video data that may have been retrieved from UEs for use in creating maps. As another example, host 1702 may collect and analyze real-time data to assist in controlling vehicle congestion (e.g., controlling traffic lights). As another example, host 1702 may store surveillance video uploaded by UEs. As another example, host 1702 may store or control access to media content, such as video, audio, VR or AR, that can be broadcast, multicast, or unicast to UEs. As another example, host 1702 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 that collects, retrieves, stores, analyzes, and / or transmits data.

[0168] 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. There may further be optional network functionality to reconfigure the OTT connection 1750 between 1702 and UE 1706 in response to fluctuations in measurement results. The measurement procedures and / or network functionality to reconfigure the OTT connection may be implemented in software and hardware of the host 1702 and / or UE 1706. In some embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or associated with other devices through which the OTT connection 1750 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 may calculate or estimate the monitored quantities. Reconfiguration of the OTT connection 1750 may include message formats, retransmission settings, preferred routing, etc., and the reconfiguration need not directly change the operation of the network node 1704. Such procedures and functionality are known and may be implemented in the art. In some embodiments, the measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling that facilitates measurements of throughput, propagation time, latency, etc. by the host 1702. The measurements may be performed in that software causes messages, particularly empty or "dummy" messages, to be sent using the OTT connection 1750 while monitoring propagation time, errors, etc.

[0169] The foregoing merely illustrates the principles of the present disclosure. Various modifications and alterations to the described embodiments will be apparent to those skilled in the art in light of the teachings herein. It should thus be understood that those skilled in the art will be able to devise numerous systems, arrangements, and procedures that, although not explicitly shown or described herein, embody the principles of the present disclosure and therefore may be within the spirit and scope of the present disclosure. The various embodiments can be used in conjunction with, and interchangeably with, one another, as should be understood by those skilled in the art.

[0170] The term unit as used herein may have its conventional meaning in the fields of electronics, electrical devices, and / or electronic devices, and may include, for example, electrical and / or electronic circuits, devices, modules, processors, memories, logical solid state and / or discrete devices, computer programs or instructions for performing respective tasks, procedures, calculations, output, and / or display functions, etc., as described herein.

[0171] Any suitable step, method, feature, function, or benefit disclosed herein may be performed via one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual devices. Each virtual device may comprise several of these functional units. These functional units may be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessors or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), dedicated digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or more types of memory, such as read-only memory (ROM), random access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, and the like. The program code stored in memory includes program instructions for implementing one or more telecommunications and / or data communication protocols, as well as instructions for executing one or more of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause each functional unit to perform corresponding functions according to one or more embodiments of the present disclosure.

[0172] As described herein, devices and / or apparatus may be represented by semiconductor chips, chipsets, or (hardware) modules comprising such chips or chipsets, but this does not exclude the possibility that the functionality of a device or apparatus may be implemented as a software module, such as a computer program or computer program product comprising executable software code portions for execution or running on a processor, instead of being implemented in hardware. Furthermore, the functionality of a device or apparatus may be implemented by any combination of hardware and software. A device or apparatus may also be considered an assembly of multiple devices and / or apparatus, whether functionally cooperating with each other or independent. Furthermore, devices and apparatus may be implemented in a distributed manner throughout a system, so long as the functionality of the device or apparatus is preserved. Such and similar principles are believed to be known to those skilled in the art.

[0173] Unless otherwise defined, all terms (including technical and scientific terms) used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs. Terms used herein should be interpreted as having a meaning consistent with their meaning in the context of the present specification and related art, and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly defined as such herein.

[0174] Additionally, certain terms used in this disclosure, including the specification and drawings, may be used synonymously in certain instances (e.g., "data" and "information"). It is understood that although these terms (and / or other terms that may be synonymous with each other) may be used synonymously herein, there may be instances where it is intended that such words not be used synonymously.

[0175] Embodiments of the techniques and apparatus described herein also include, but are not limited to, the following listed examples.

[0176] A1. A method for a user equipment (UE) configured to transmit application data to a radio access network (RAN) node, the method comprising: Buffering data generated by an application hosted by the UE, the buffered data includes a plurality of sets of protocol data units (PDUs); Each buffered PDU set has a remaining packet delay budget (PDB) that decreases proportionally to the duration of buffering. rem Buffering data associated with transmitting a Buffer Status Report (BSR) to the RAN node in response to detecting one or more of the following conditions: PDBs smaller than the first threshold rem a first condition in which the number or total size of the buffered PDU sets is at least a second threshold; PDBs greater than the third threshold rem a second condition in which the number or total size of the buffered PDU sets is at least a fourth threshold; PDBs that change from a value greater than the fifth threshold to a value less than the fifth threshold rem a third condition in which the number or total size of the buffered PDU sets is at least a sixth threshold; The fourth condition is that the number or total size of the buffered PDU sets discarded by the UE is at least the seventh threshold value; The fifth condition is that the number or total size of overdue buffered PDU sets is at least the eighth threshold; A sixth condition in which the number or total size of the buffered PDU sets changes by at least a ninth threshold; and Sending a Buffer Status Report (BSR), which is an explicit indication received from the RAN node; A method comprising:

[0177] A2. The method of embodiment A1, in which the transmitted BSR indicates an amount of data corresponding to a buffered PDU set that satisfies one or more conditions detected by the UE.

[0178] A3. The method of embodiment A1 or A2, further including receiving a BSR configuration from the RAN node, the BSR configuration including values ​​for one or more of the first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh thresholds used in detecting the one or more conditions.

[0179] A4. The method of any of embodiments A1 to A3, wherein each of the second, fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth thresholds is one of a single PDU set, a plurality (N) of PDU sets, or a number of kilobytes.

[0180] A5. Buffering data means buffering each PDU set into a PDB rem to one of a plurality of available PDB buckets associated with each range of The first threshold associated with the first condition is the PDB rem The method of any of embodiments A1 to A4, wherein the PDB buckets correspond to one or more PDB buckets associated with one or more lowest ranges of the

[0181] A6. The method assigns the PDB bucket assignments of each of the PDUs that remain buffered after a period of time to their respective PDBs. rem and further adjusting the The fifth threshold associated with the third condition is PDB rem The method of embodiment A5, wherein the PDB buckets correspond to a boundary between two PDB buckets associated with adjacent ranges of the PDB buckets.

[0182] A7. Starting a prohibit timer in connection with sending a BSR; If one of the conditions is detected while the inhibit timer is running, the BSR will refrain from sending another BSR until the inhibit timer expires. The method of any of embodiments A1 to A6, further comprising:

[0183] A8. The method of any one of embodiments A1 to A7, wherein when an explicit instruction is received from the RAN node, the BSR is sent to the RAN node even if no data generated by the application is currently buffered.

[0184] A9. Receiving uplink resource grants from RAN nodes based on the transmitted BSR; The method of any one of embodiments A1 to A8, further comprising transmitting at least a portion of the buffered data to the RAN node using the granted uplink resources.

[0185] A10. The method of any of embodiments A1 to A9, wherein the application is an extended reality (XR) application and data generated by the application has bounded latency requirements.

[0186] B1. A method for a Radio Access Network (RAN) node configured to receive application data from a User Equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving a buffer status report (BSR) from the UE related to buffered data generated by an application hosted by the UE, wherein: the buffered data includes a plurality of sets of protocol data units (PDUs); Each buffered PDU set has a remaining packet delay budget (PDB) that decreases proportionally to the duration of buffering. rem ) and The BSR is received in response to the UE detecting one or more of the following conditions, which conditions include: PDBs smaller than the first threshold rem a first condition in which the number or total size of the buffered PDU sets is at least a second threshold; PDBs greater than the third threshold rem a second condition in which the number or total size of the buffered PDU sets is at least a fourth threshold; PDBs that change from a value greater than the fifth threshold to a value less than the fifth threshold rem a third condition in which the number or total size of the buffered PDU sets is at least a sixth threshold; The fourth condition is that the number or total size of the buffered PDU sets discarded by the UE is at least the seventh threshold value; The fifth condition is that the number or total size of overdue buffered PDU sets is at least the eighth threshold; A sixth condition in which the number or total size of the buffered PDU sets changes by at least a ninth threshold; and The method is an explicit instruction sent by the RAN node.

[0187] B2. The method of embodiment B1, in which the received BSR indicates an amount of data corresponding to a buffered PDU set that satisfies one or more conditions detected by the UE.

[0188] B3. The method of embodiment B1 or B2, further including sending a BSR configuration to the UE, the BSR configuration including values ​​for one or more of a first, second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth, and seventh thresholds used in the UE detection of one or more conditions.

[0189] B4. The method of any of embodiments B1 to B3, wherein each of the second, fourth, sixth, seventh, eighth, and ninth thresholds is one of a single PDU set, a plurality (N) of PDU sets, or a number of kilobytes.

[0190] B5. Each PDU set, when buffered, rem assigned to one of several available PDB buckets associated with each range of The method of any of embodiments B1 to B4, wherein the first threshold associated with the first condition corresponds to one or more PDB buckets associated with one or more lowest ranges of PDBRem.

[0191] B6. The PDB bucket assignments for a set of PDUs that remain buffered after a period of time are determined by their respective PDB rem is adjusted according to The fifth threshold associated with the third condition is PDB rem The method of embodiment B5, wherein the PDB buckets correspond to a boundary between two PDB buckets associated with adjacent ranges of the PDB buckets.

[0192] B7. The method of any of embodiments B1 to B6, wherein after receiving a BSR, no further BSRs are received from the UE for at least a duration corresponding to a UE inhibit timer.

[0193] B8. The method of any one of embodiments B1 to B7, wherein when an explicit indication is sent to the UE, a BSR is received from the UE even if no data generated by the application is currently buffered at the UE.

[0194] B9. Sending an uplink resource grant to the UE based on the received BSR; The method of any of embodiments B1 to B8, further comprising receiving at least a portion of the buffered data from the UE using the granted uplink resources.

[0195] B10. The method of any of embodiments B1 to B9, wherein the application is an extended reality (XR) application and data generated by the application has bounded latency requirements.

[0196] C1. A user equipment (UE) configured to transmit application data to a radio access network (RAN) node, the UE comprising: a communication interface circuit configured to communicate with the serving cell; a processing circuit operably coupled to the communications interface circuit, the processing circuit and the communications interface circuit configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods described in embodiments A1 to A10; and UE equipped with.

[0197] C2. A user equipment (UE) configured to transmit application data to a radio access network (RAN) node, the UE further configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods described in embodiments A1 to A10.

[0198] C3. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a user equipment (UE) configured to transmit application data to a radio access network (RAN) node, configure the UE to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods described in embodiments A1 to A10.

[0199] C4. A computer program product comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a user equipment (UE) configured to transmit application data to a radio access network (RAN) node, configure the UE to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods described in embodiments A1 to A10.

[0200] D1. A Radio Access Network (RAN) node configured to receive application data from a User Equipment (UE), the RAN node comprising: a communication interface circuit configured to communicate with the UE via the serving cell; a processing circuit operably coupled to the communications interface circuit, the processing circuit and the communications interface circuit configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods described in embodiments B1 to B10; and A RAN node comprising:

[0201] D2. A radio access network (RAN) node configured to receive application data from a user equipment (UE), the RAN node further configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods described in embodiments B1 to B10.

[0202] D3. A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a radio access network (RAN) node configured to receive application data from a user equipment (UE), configure the RAN node to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods described in embodiments B1 to B10.

[0203] D4. A computer program product including computer-executable instructions that, when executed by processing circuitry of a radio access network (RAN) node configured to receive application data from a user equipment (UE), configure the RAN node to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods described in embodiments B1 to B10.

Claims

1. 1. A method for a user equipment (UE) configured to transmit application data to a radio access network (RAN) node, the method comprising: Buffering (1020) data generated by an application hosted by the UE, the buffered data including a plurality of sets of protocol data units (PDUs); Sending a Buffer Status Report (BSR) to the RAN node in response to one or more of the following conditions at the UE: At least one of the buffered PDU sets has a remaining packet delay budget (PDB) that is less than a first threshold. ｒｅｍ ) and the PDB of the PDU set ｒｅｍ decreases proportionally to the duration for which the PDU set was buffered; and At least one of the set of buffered PDUs is discarded by the UE. Sending a Buffer Status Report (BSR) (1040); A method comprising:

2. The method of claim 1 , wherein the transmitted BSR indicates an amount of data corresponding to a set of buffered PDUs at the UE that meets the one or more conditions.

3. The method of claim 1 or 2, further comprising receiving a BSR configuration from the RAN node (1010), the BSR configuration including a value for the first threshold.

4. Buffering the data (1020) includes buffering each of the PDU sets into a PDB ｒｅｍ 4. The method of claim 1, further comprising: assigning (1021) the data to one of a plurality of available PDB buckets associated with each range of the data.

5. The first threshold is PDB ｒｅｍ 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the PDB buckets correspond to one or more PDB buckets associated with one or more lowest ranges of .

6. The BSR is also sent to the RAN node in response to any of the following conditions in the UE, wherein the conditions are: PDBs greater than a second threshold ｒｅｍ the number or total size of the buffered PDU sets having PDB that changes from a value greater than the fourth threshold to a value less than the fourth threshold ｒｅｍ the number or total size of the buffered PDU sets having the number or total size of overdue buffered PDU sets is at least a sixth threshold; the number or total size of the buffered PDU sets changes by at least a seventh threshold; and The method of claim 4 or 5, wherein the indication is an explicit indication received from the RAN node.

7. The method further comprises: adjusting the PDB bucket allocation for each of the PDUs that remain buffered after a period of time to their respective PDB bucket allocations. ｒｅｍ and adjusting (1030) the The fourth threshold is PDB ｒｅｍ 7. The method of claim 6, wherein the PDB buckets correspond to a boundary between two PDB buckets associated with adjacent ranges of the PDB buckets.

8. 8. The method of claim 5, wherein when the explicit instruction is received from the RAN node, the BSR is sent to the RAN node even if no data generated by the application is currently buffered.

9. 9. The method of claim 5, wherein each of the third, fifth, sixth, and seventh thresholds is one of a single PDU set, a plurality of PDU sets, or a number of kilobytes.

10. Starting a prohibit timer (1050) in connection with transmitting the BSR (1040); refraining from transmitting another BSR until the prohibit timer expires (1060), even if one of the conditions occurs while the prohibit timer is running; 10. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

11. receiving (1070) a grant of uplink resources from the RAN node based on the transmitted BSR; transmitting at least a portion of the buffered data to the RAN node using the granted uplink resources (1080); 11. The method of claim 1, further comprising:

12. 12. The method of claim 1, wherein the application is an extended reality (XR) application and the data generated by the application has bounded latency requirements.

13. 1. A method for a radio access network (RAN) node configured to receive application data from a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: receiving from the UE a buffer status report (BSR) related to buffered data generated by an application hosted by the UE (1120), wherein: the buffered data includes a plurality of sets of protocol data units (PDUs); The BSR is received at the UE in response to one or more of the following conditions, wherein the conditions include: At least one of the buffered PDU sets has a remaining packet delay budget (PDB) that is less than a first threshold. ｒｅｍ ) and the PDB of the PDU set ｒｅｍ decreases proportionally to the duration for which the PDU set was buffered; and At least one of the set of buffered PDUs is discarded by the UE.

14. 14. The method of claim 13, wherein the received BSR indicates an amount of data corresponding to a set of buffered PDUs at the UE that meets the one or more conditions.

15. The method of claim 13 or 14, further comprising: sending a BSR configuration to the UE (1110), the BSR configuration including a value for the first threshold.

16. Each of the PDU sets, when buffered, is ｒｅｍ 16. The method of claim 13, wherein the UE is assigned one of a plurality of available PDB buckets associated with a respective range of

17. The first threshold value associated with PDB ｒｅｍ 17. The method of claim 16, wherein the PDB buckets correspond to one or more PDB buckets associated with one or more lowest ranges of

18. The BSR is also received from the UE node in response to any of the following conditions at the UE, wherein the conditions are: PDBs greater than a second threshold ｒｅｍ the number or total size of the buffered PDU sets having PDB that changes from a value greater than the fourth threshold to a value less than the fourth threshold ｒｅｍ the number or total size of the buffered PDU sets having the number or total size of overdue buffered PDU sets is at least a sixth threshold; the number or total size of buffered PDU sets changes by at least a seventh threshold, and an explicit indication received from the RAN node; and 18. The method of claim 16 or 17, wherein the indication is an explicit indication sent by the RAN node.

19. The PDB bucket allocation for a set of PDUs that remain buffered after a period of time is determined by their respective PDBs. ｒｅｍ and adjusted by the UE according to The fourth threshold is PDB ｒｅｍ 20. The method of claim 18, wherein the PDB buckets correspond to a boundary between two PDB buckets associated with adjacent ranges of

20. 20. The method of claim 18 or 19, wherein when the explicit indication is sent to the UE, the BSR is received from the UE even if no data generated by the application is currently buffered at the UE.

21. 21. The method of claim 18, wherein each of the third, fifth, sixth, and seventh thresholds is one of a single PDU set, a plurality of PDU sets, or a number of kilobytes.

22. 23. The method of any one of claims 13 to 22, wherein after receiving (1020) the BSR, no further BSR is received from the UE for at least a duration corresponding to a UE prohibit timer.

23. sending 1130 a grant of uplink resources to the UE based on the received BSR; 25. The method of claim 13, further comprising: receiving (1140) at least a portion of the buffered data from the UE using the granted uplink resources.

24. 24. The method of any one of claims 13 to 23, wherein the application is an extended reality (XR) application and the data generated by the application has bounded latency requirements.

25. 1. A user equipment (UE) (205, 310, 1212, 1300, 1706) configured to transmit application data to a radio access network (RAN) node (100, 150, 210, 220, 320, 1210, 1400, 1602, 1704), the UE comprising: a communications interface circuit (1312) configured to communicate with said RAN node; a processing circuit (1302) operably coupled to the communication interface circuit; The processing circuit and the communication interface circuit buffering data generated by an application hosted by the UE, the buffered data including a plurality of sets of protocol data units (PDUs); sending a Buffer Status Report (BSR) to the RAN node in response to one or more of the following conditions at the UE: At least one of the buffered PDU sets has a remaining packet delay budget (PDB) that is less than a first threshold. ｒｅｍ ) and the PDB of the PDU set ｒｅｍ decreases proportionally to the duration for which the PDU set was buffered; and At least one of the set of buffered PDUs is discarded by the UE. Sending a Buffer Status Report (BSR) a user equipment (UE) configured to:

26. 26. The UE of claim 25, wherein the processing circuitry and the communications interface circuitry are further configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 2 to 12.

27. 1. A user equipment (UE) (205, 310, 1212, 1300, 1706) configured to transmit application data to a radio access network (RAN) node (100, 150, 210, 220, 320, 1210, 1400, 1602, 1704), the UE comprising: buffering data generated by an application hosted by the UE, the buffered data including a plurality of sets of protocol data units (PDUs); sending a Buffer Status Report (BSR) to the RAN node in response to one or more of the following conditions at the UE: At least one of the buffered PDU sets has a remaining packet delay budget (PDB) that is less than a first threshold. ｒｅｍ ) and the PDB of the PDU set ｒｅｍ decreases proportionally to the duration for which the PDU set was buffered; and At least one of the set of buffered PDUs is discarded by the UE. Sending a Buffer Status Report (BSR) a user equipment (UE) further configured to:

28. 28. The UE of claim 27, further configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of any one of claims 2 to 12.

29. A non-transitory computer-readable medium (1310) storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processing circuit (1302) of a user equipment (UE) (205, 310, 1212, 1300, 1706) configured to transmit application data to a radio access network (RAN) node (100, 150, 210, 220, 320, 1210, 1400, 1602, 1704), configure the UE to perform operations corresponding to the method of any one of claims 1 to 12.

30. 13. A computer program product (1314) comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processing circuit (1302) of a user equipment (UE) (205, 310, 1212, 1300, 1706) configured to transmit application data to a radio access network (RAN) node (100, 150, 210, 220, 320, 1210, 1400, 1602, 1704), configure the UE to perform operations corresponding to the method of any one of claims 1 to 12.

31. 1. A radio access network (RAN) node (100, 150, 210, 220, 320, 1210, 1400, 1602, 1704) configured to receive application data from a user equipment (UE) (205, 310, 1212, 1300, 1706), comprising: a communication interface circuit (1406, 1604) configured to communicate with the UE; a processing circuit (1402, 1604) operably coupled to said communication interface circuit, said processing circuit and said communication interface circuit comprising: configured to receive from the UE a Buffer Status Report (BSR) related to buffered data generated by an application hosted by the UE, wherein: the buffered data includes a plurality of sets of protocol data units (PDUs); The BSR is received at the UE in response to one or more of the following conditions, wherein the conditions include: At least one of the buffered PDU sets has a remaining packet delay budget (PDB) that is less than a first threshold. ｒｅｍ ) and the PDB of the PDU set ｒｅｍ decreases proportionally to the duration for which the PDU set was buffered; and A radio access network (RAN) node, wherein at least one of the buffered PDU set is discarded by the UE.

32. 32. The RAN node of claim 31 , wherein the processing circuitry and the communications interface circuitry are further configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of claims 14 to 24.

33. A radio access network (RAN) node (100, 150, 210, 220, 320, 1210, 1400, 1602, 1704) configured to receive application data from a user equipment (UE) (205, 310, 1212, 1300, 1706), said RAN node comprising: and further configured to receive from the UE a Buffer Status Report (BSR) related to buffered data generated by an application hosted by the UE, wherein: the buffered data includes a plurality of sets of protocol data units (PDUs); The BSR is received at the UE in response to one or more of the following conditions, wherein the conditions include: At least one of the buffered PDU sets has a remaining packet delay budget (PDB) that is less than a first threshold. ｒｅｍ ) and the PDB of the PDU set ｒｅｍ decreases proportionally to the duration for which the PDU set was buffered; and A radio access network (RAN) node, wherein at least one of the buffered PDU set is discarded by the UE.

34. 34. The RAN node of claim 33, further configured to perform operations corresponding to any of the methods of any one of claims 14 to 24.

35. 25. A non-transitory computer-readable medium (1404, 1604) storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processing circuit (1402, 1604) of a radio access network (RAN) node (100, 150, 210, 220, 320, 1210, 1400, 1602, 1704) configured to receive application data from a user equipment (UE) (205, 310, 1212, 1300, 1706), configure the RAN node to perform operations corresponding to the method of any one of claims 13 to 24.

36. 25. A computer program product (1404a, 1604a) comprising computer-executable instructions that, when executed by a processing circuit (1402, 1604) of a radio access network (RAN) node (100, 150, 210, 220, 320, 1210, 1400, 1602, 1704) configured to receive application data from a user equipment (UE) (205, 310, 1212, 1300, 1706), configures the RAN node to perform operations corresponding to the method of any one of claims 13 to 24.

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