Method for reporting buffer status and communication device

Abstract

The present application provides a method and a communication device for reporting a buffer status. The method includes the steps of: buffering a plurality of data packets, the plurality of data packets including a first data packet and a second data packet; and transmitting a first buffer status report and a second buffer status report to a network device, where the first buffer status report indicates a buffer status of the first data packet and the second buffer status report indicates a buffer status of the second data packet. The first data packet and the second data packet differ in at least one attribute among a service type, a time to expiration, an importance of a protocol data unit set to which the data packet belongs, and a type of a protocol data unit set to which the data packet belongs. In this way, the first buffer status report and the second buffer status report are generated for data packets with different attributes, respectively, so that the network device can take the different attributes of the first data packet and the second data packet into consideration when allocating transmission resources to the first data packet and the second data packet based on the two buffer status reports. This improves performance of the buffer status report.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] [Related Applications] This application claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202310162556.X, filed with the State Intellectual Property Office of the People's Republic of China on February 15, 2023, entitled "BUFFER STATUS REPORTING METHOD AND COMMUNICATION APPARATUS," which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

[0002] [Technical field] The present application relates to the field of communication technologies, and in particular to a method and communication device for reporting buffer status. [Background technology]

[0003] In a communication system, a transmission resource used by a terminal device to transmit a data packet may be allocated by a network device. For example, the terminal device may send a buffer status report (BSR) to the network device and use the BSR to notify the network device of the buffer status of the data packet, so that the network device can allocate a transmission resource to the terminal device based on the BSR.

[0004] As terminal devices support more and more diverse services, different data packets have different characteristics based on different service requirements, for example, different data packets may have different importance, life cycles, etc. Due to these characteristics, different data packets have different requirements for different transmission resources.

[0005] However, currently, terminal devices do not fully consider these characteristics when reporting BSR. Summary of the Invention

[0006] The present application provides a method and a communication device for reporting buffer status to improve the performance of buffer status reporting.

[0007] According to a first aspect, there is provided a method for reporting a buffer status, the method may be implemented by a terminal device or a chip within the terminal device, the method comprising: buffering a plurality of data packets, the plurality of data packets including a first data packet and a second data packet; and transmitting a first buffer status report and a second buffer status report to the network device, where the first buffer status report indicates a buffer status for the first data packet and the second buffer status report indicates a buffer status for the second data packet, wherein the first data packet and the second data packet differ in at least one attribute of a service type, a time to expiration, an importance of the protocol data unit set to which the data packet belongs, or a type of the protocol data unit set to which the data packet belongs.

[0008] According to this technical solution, data packets buffered by a terminal device include data packets with different attributes, and the terminal device can generate a first buffer status report and a second buffer status report for the data packets with different attributes, respectively, so that the network device can take the different attributes of the first data packets and the second data packets into consideration when allocating transmission resources to the first data packets and the second data packets based on the two buffer status reports, thereby improving the performance of the buffer status report.

[0009] Referring to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the step of transmitting the first buffer status report and the second buffer status report to the network device includes: The method includes transmitting a protocol data unit to a network device, the protocol data unit including a first buffer status report and a second buffer status report.

[0010] Based on this technical solution, one protocol data unit can include two buffer status reports, and the two buffer status reports can respectively indicate the buffer status of two data packets that differ in at least one attribute.

[0011] With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first buffer status report includes first data amount information and time information, where the first data amount information indicates the data amount of the first data packet and the time information indicates the time required to complete transmission of the first data packet, and the second buffer status report includes second data amount information, where the second data amount information indicates the data amount of the second data packet.

[0012] Based on this technical solution, the terminal device can report the data amount of a first data packet and the time required to complete transmission of the first data packet, and can report the data amount of a second data packet, without needing to report the time required to complete transmission of the second data packet. In this way, the network device can determine that the attributes related to the time required to complete transmission of the first data packet or the second data packet are different between the first data packet and the second data packet, based on the first buffer status report including time information and the second buffer status report not including time information. In other words, with this technical solution, it is not necessary for both buffer status reports to include time information, and only one buffer status report can include time information. This makes it possible to reduce transmission resources occupied by buffer status reports.

[0013] Furthermore, the network device may allocate transmission resources to the first data packet based on the time information. For example, transmission of the first data packet may need to be completed within a first time range, and transmission of the second data packet may not need to be completed within the first time range. Based on the time information, the network device may allocate transmission resources to the first data packet that can be used to complete transmission of the first data packet within the first time range. This improves reliability of the allocation of transmission resources by the network device.

[0014] Referring to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first buffer status report includes indication information, and the indication information indicates that the first buffer status report indicates a buffer status of the first data packet.

[0015] Based on this technical solution, the terminal device and the network device can pre-agree on the difference in attributes between the first data packet and the second data packet, so that the first buffer status report does not need to include attribute information of the first data packet, and the network device can use the indication information in the first buffer status report to learn that the first buffer status report is a buffer status report for the first data packet, thereby reducing the transmission resources occupied by the buffer status report.

[0016] Referring to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the first buffer status report includes a subheader field, and the indication information is a logical channel identifier field or an extended logical channel identifier field of the subheader field.

[0017] With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the transmission of the second buffer status report is not completed, or the second buffer status report is in a truncated buffer status report format, and the periodic buffer status report timer is not restarted.

[0018] Based on this technical solution, the terminal device does not need to restart the periodic buffer status report timer every time it completes transmission of a buffer status report. The terminal device may not restart the periodic buffer status report timer after completing transmission of the first buffer status report, and may restart the periodic buffer status report timer after completing transmission of the second buffer status report. This prevents the terminal device from frequently restarting the periodic buffer status report timer due to frequent transmission of the first buffer status report, reduces the possibility that the second buffer status report will not be transmitted for a long period of time, and improves the reliability of reporting the buffer status report.

[0019] Referring to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the transmission of the first data packet must be completed within a first time range.

[0020] Based on this technical solution, the first data packet may be a data packet that needs to be completed to transmit within a first time range. For example, because the time until expiration of the first data packet is within the first time range, the network device can allocate, to the first data packet, transmission resources that can be used to complete the transmission of the first data packet within the first time range based on the first buffer status report, thereby improving the reliability of the data packet transmission.

[0021] With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the method further includes receiving configuration information from the network device, the configuration information indicating the first time range.

[0022] With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the format of the first buffer status report is determined based on at least one of information: the number of logical channels from which the first data packet arrives, the number of logical channel groups from which the first data packet arrives, the number of protocol data unit sets from which the first data packet arrives, the type of the first buffer status report, or the number of bits occupied by the first buffer status report.

[0023] With reference to the first aspect, in some implementations of the first aspect, the second buffer status report is a padding buffer status report, and the format of the second buffer status report is determined based on the number of bits occupied by the first buffer status report.

[0024] Optionally, the step of sending the first buffer status report and the second buffer status report to the network device includes the steps of sending the first buffer status report to the network device, and after sending the first buffer status report to the network device, sending the second buffer status report to the network device.

[0025] Optionally, the protocol data unit includes a first buffer status report and a second buffer status report, and the bitstream corresponding to the first buffer status report is encapsulated before the bitstream corresponding to the second buffer status report.

[0026] According to a second aspect, there is provided a method for reporting a buffer status, the method may be implemented by a terminal device or a chip within the terminal device, the method comprising: buffering at least one data packet; sending a buffer status report to the network device, wherein the buffer status report indicates a buffer status of at least one data packet, the buffer status report including indication information and / or time information, wherein the indication information indicates whether the at least one data packet includes a first data packet, and the time information indicates a time in which transmission of the at least one data packet needs to be completed, and wherein the first data packet is associated with at least one of information among service type information, time to expiration information, importance information of a protocol data unit set to which the first data packet belongs, or type information of a protocol data unit set to which the first data packet belongs.

[0027] According to this technical solution, the terminal device can include indication information and / or time information in the buffer status report, and can use the indication information to indicate whether the at least one data packet includes a data packet having an attribute of the first data packet, and / or can use the time information to indicate an attribute of the at least one data packet, which attribute is related to a time when the transmission of the at least one data packet needs to be completed. Thus, the network device can allocate transmission resources based on the attribute of the at least one data packet, and improve the performance of reporting the buffer status report.

[0028] Referring to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, before transmitting the buffer status report to the network device, the method includes: The method further includes determining that the at least one data packet includes the first data packet, and the buffer status report includes time information, or time information and indication information, or indication information.

[0029] Based on this technical solution, if the terminal device determines that at least one data packet includes a first data packet, it may include indication information and / or time information in the buffer status report, and if it determines that at least one data packet does not include the first data packet, it may not include indication information and / or time information in the buffer status report, thereby reducing the transmission resources occupied by the buffer status report.

[0030] Referring to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the transmission of the first data packet must be completed within a first time range.

[0031] Based on this technical solution, the first data packet may be a data packet that needs to be completed to transmit within a first time range. For example, because the time until expiration of the first data packet is within the first time range, the network device can allocate, to the first data packet, transmission resources that can be used to complete the transmission of the first data packet within the first time range based on the first buffer status report, thereby improving the reliability of the data packet transmission.

[0032] Referring to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the method further includes receiving configuration information from the network device, the configuration information indicating the first time range.

[0033] Referring to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the buffer status report includes a sub-header field, and the sub-header field includes the indication information.

[0034] Referring to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the indication information is a logical channel identifier field or an extended logical channel identifier field of the subheader field.

[0035] With reference to the second aspect, in some implementations of the second aspect, the at least one data packet does not include the first data packet, the transmission of the buffer status report is not completed, or the buffer status report is in a truncated buffer status report format, and the periodic buffer status report timer is not restarted.

[0036] According to a third aspect, there is provided a method for reporting buffer status, which may be implemented by a network device or a chip within the network device, the method comprising: receiving a first buffer status report and a second buffer status report from a terminal device, the first buffer status report indicating a buffer status for a first data packet and the second buffer status report indicating a buffer status for a second data packet; and determining transmission resources for the first data packet and the second data packet based on the first buffer status report and the second buffer status report, wherein the first data packet and the second data packet differ in at least one attribute of a service type, a time to expiration, an importance of the protocol data unit set to which the data packet belongs, or a type of the protocol data unit set to which the data packet belongs.

[0037] For a description of the advantageous effects of the third aspect, please refer to the relevant description of the first aspect, and the details will not be described again here.

[0038] Referring to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the step of receiving the first buffer status report and the second buffer status report from the terminal device includes: The method includes receiving a protocol data unit from a terminal device, the protocol data unit including a first buffer status report and a second buffer status report.

[0039] With reference to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the first buffer status report includes first data amount information and time information, where the first data amount information indicates the data amount of the first data packet and the time information indicates the time required to complete transmission of the first data packet, and the second buffer status report includes second data amount information, where the second data amount information indicates the data amount of the second data packet.

[0040] With reference to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the first buffer status report includes indication information, and the indication information indicates that the first buffer status report indicates a buffer status of the first data packet.

[0041] Referring to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the first buffer status report includes a subheader field, and the indication information is a logical channel identifier field or an extended logical channel identifier field of the subheader field.

[0042] Referring to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the transmission of the first data packet must be completed within a first time range.

[0043] With reference to the third aspect, in some implementations of the third aspect, the method further includes transmitting configuration information to the terminal device, the configuration information indicating the first time range.

[0044] According to a fourth aspect, there is provided a method for reporting buffer status, which may be implemented by a network device or a chip within the network device, the method comprising: receiving a buffer status report from a terminal device, the buffer status report indicating a buffer status of at least one data packet, the buffer status report including indication information and / or time information, the indication information indicating whether the at least one data packet includes a first data packet, the time information indicating a time when transmission of the at least one data packet needs to be completed, the first data packet being associated with at least one of information among service type information, time to expiration information, importance information of a protocol data unit set to which the first data packet belongs, or type information of a protocol data unit set to which the first data packet belongs. The network device determines transmission resources for the at least one data packet based on the buffer status report.

[0045] For a description of the advantageous effects of the fourth aspect, please refer to the relevant description of the first aspect, and the details will not be described again here.

[0046] Referring to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the transmission of the first data packet must be completed within a first time range.

[0047] With reference to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the method further includes transmitting configuration information to the terminal device, the configuration information indicating the first time range.

[0048] Referring to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the buffer status report includes a sub-header field, and the sub-header field includes the indication information.

[0049] Referring to the fourth aspect, in some implementations of the fourth aspect, the indication information is a logical channel identifier field or an extended logical channel identifier field of the subheader field.

[0050] According to a fifth aspect, there is provided a communication device, the communication device having functionality for implementing the method of the first aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the first aspect. The functionality may be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the aforementioned functionality.

[0051] According to a sixth aspect, there is provided a communication device. The communication device has functionality to implement the method of the second aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the second aspect. The functionality may be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the aforementioned functionality.

[0052] According to a seventh aspect, there is provided a communication device. The communication device has functionality to implement the method of the third aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the third aspect. The functionality may be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the aforementioned functionality.

[0053] According to an eighth aspect, there is provided a communication device. The communication device has functionality for implementing the method of the fourth aspect or any one of the possible implementations of the fourth aspect. The functionality may be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software includes one or more modules corresponding to the aforementioned functionality.

[0054] According to a ninth aspect, there is provided a communications device including a processor and a memory. Optionally, the communications device may further include a transceiver. The memory is configured to store a computer program. The processor is configured to invoke and execute the computer program stored in the memory to control the transceiver to send and receive signals, thereby enabling the communications device to perform the method of the first aspect, the second aspect, or any one of possible implementations of these aspects.

[0055] For example, the communication device is a terminal device or a chip used in a terminal device.

[0056] According to a tenth aspect, there is provided a communications device including a processor and a memory. Optionally, the communications device may further include a transceiver. The memory is configured to store a computer program. The processor is configured to invoke and execute the computer program stored in the memory to control the transceiver to send and receive signals, thereby enabling the communications device to perform the method of the third aspect, the fourth aspect, or any one of possible implementations of these aspects.

[0057] For example, the communication device is a network device or a chip used in a network device.

[0058] According to an eleventh aspect, there is provided a communications device including a processor and a communications interface. The communications interface is configured to receive data and / or information and transmit the received data and / or information to the processor. The processor processes the data and / or information. The communications interface is further configured to output the data and / or information obtained by processing by the processor, thereby performing the method of the first aspect, the second aspect, or any one of possible implementations of these aspects.

[0059] The communication device may be a terminal device or a chip used within a terminal device.

[0060] According to a twelfth aspect, there is provided a communications device including a processor and a communications interface. The communications interface is configured to receive data and / or information and transmit the received data and / or information to the processor. The processor processes the data and / or information. The communications interface is further configured to output the data and / or information obtained by processing by the processor, thereby performing the method of the third aspect, the fourth aspect, or any one of the possible implementations of these aspects.

[0061] The communication device may be a network device or a chip used within a network device.

[0062] According to a thirteenth aspect, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium storing computer instructions that, when executed on a computer, perform the method of any one of the first to fourth aspects or possible implementations of these aspects.

[0063] According to a fourteenth aspect, there is provided a computer program product, the computer program product comprising computer program code which, when run on a computer, performs the method of any one of the first to fourth aspects or possible implementations of these aspects.

[0064] According to a fifteenth aspect, there is provided a communication system, comprising a communication device according to any one or more of the fifth to fourteenth aspects, or according to any one of the possible implementations of any one of these aspects. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0065] [Figure 1] 1 is a diagram of a communication system 100 applicable to an embodiment of the present application. [Figure 2] This is a structural diagram of the BSR. [Figure 3] 1 is a schematic flowchart of a method for reporting buffer status according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 4] FIG. 10 is a structural diagram of another BSR according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 5] 4 is a schematic flowchart of another buffer status reporting method according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 6] 1 is a structural diagram of a possible device according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 7] 1 is a structural diagram of a possible device according to an embodiment of the present application; [Figure 8] 1 is a structural diagram of a possible device according to an embodiment of the present application; DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0066] The following describes the technical solution of the present application with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0067] FIG. 1 is a diagram of a communication system 100 applicable to one embodiment of the present application.

[0068] 1, the communication system 100 may include a network device 120 and may further include at least one terminal device 110. A connection may be established between the terminal device 110 and the network device 120 for communication.

[0069] The terminal devices in the embodiments of the present application may also be referred to as user equipment, access terminals, subscriber units, subscriber stations, mobile stations, remote stations, remote terminals, mobile devices, user terminals, wireless communication devices, user agents, or user devices. The terminal in the embodiments of the present application may be a mobile phone, a tablet computer (pad), a computer with wireless transceiver capability, a virtual reality (VR) terminal, an augmented reality (AR) terminal, a wireless terminal in industrial control, a wireless terminal in self driving, a wireless terminal in remote medical, a wireless terminal in a smart grid, a wireless terminal in transportation safety, a wireless terminal in a smart city, a wireless terminal in a smart home, a cellular phone, a cordless phone, a session initiation protocol (SIP) phone, a wireless local loop (WLL) station, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a handheld device with wireless communication capability, a computing device or another processing device connected to a wireless modem, an in-vehicle device, a wearable device, a terminal in a 5G network, a terminal in a future evolved network, or the like.

[0070] A wearable device, also known as a wearable intelligent device, is a general term for wearable devices, such as eyeglasses, gloves, watches, clothing, and shoes, developed by applying wearable technology in the intelligent design of everyday wear. A wearable device is a portable device that can be worn directly on the body or integrated into a user's clothing or accessories. A wearable device is not only a hardware device, but also implements powerful functions through software support, data exchange, and cloud interaction. In a broad sense, a wearable intelligent device includes a full-featured, large-scale device that can implement all or part of its functions without relying on a smartphone, such as a smart watch or smart glasses, as well as a device that needs to work in conjunction with another device, such as a smartphone, dedicated to one type of application function, such as a device that monitors physical signs, such as various smart bands or smart jewelry.

[0071] Alternatively, the terminal device may be a terminal device in an Internet of Things (IoT) system. IoT is an important element in the future development of information technology. The main technical feature of IoT is to connect things to a network using communication technology and realize an intelligent network for human-machine interconnection and thing-thing interconnection. The specific form of the terminal device is not limited in this application.

[0072] It should be understood that in the present embodiment, the terminal device may be a device configured to implement the functions of the terminal device, or may be a device capable of assisting the terminal device in performing the functions, such as a chip system. The device may be mounted within the terminal. In the present embodiment of the present application, the chip system may include a chip, or may include a chip and other individual components.

[0073] The network device in the embodiment of the present application may be any device that has wireless transceiver functionality. The device may include an evolved NodeB (eNB), a radio network controller (RNC), a NodeB (NodeB, NB), a base station controller (BSC), a base transceiver station (BTS), a home base station (e.g., a home evolved NodeB or a home NodeB, HNB), a baseband unit (BBU), an access point (AP), a wireless relay node, a wireless backhaul node, a transmission point (TP), a transmission and reception point (TRP), etc. in a wireless fidelity (Wi-Fi) system, and may be a gNB or a transmission point (TRP or TP) in a 5G system such as an NR system, or one antenna panel or a group of antenna panels (including multiple antenna panels) of a base station in a 5G system, or a network node forming a gNB or a transmission point, such as a baseband unit (BBU) or a distributed unit (DU).

[0074] In some deployments, a gNB may include a centralized unit (CU) and a DU. The gNB may further include an active antenna unit (AAU). The CU implements some functions of the gNB, and the DU implements some functions of the gNB. For example, the CU is responsible for processing non-real-time protocols and services and performs functions of the radio resource control (RRC) layer and packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layer. The DU is responsible for processing physical layer protocols and real-time services and performs functions of the radio link control (RLC) layer, media access control (MAC) layer, and physical (PHY) layer. The AAU implements some physical layer processing functions, radio frequency processing, and active antenna functions. Information at the RRC layer is ultimately converted to or from information at the PHY layer. Therefore, in this architecture, higher layer signaling, such as RRC layer signaling, may be considered to be transmitted by the DU or by the DU and AAU. It may be understood that a network device may be a device including one or more of a CU node, a DU node, and an AAU node. Furthermore, a CU may be classified as a network device in an access network (radio access network, RAN), or a CU may be classified as a network device in a core network (CN). This is not a limitation in the present application.

[0075] It should be understood that in the embodiments of the present application, a network device may be a device configured to implement the functions of the network device, or may be a device, such as a chip system, that can assist the network device in performing the functions. The device may be mounted within the network device.

[0076] The technical solutions provided herein may be applied to various communication systems, such as 5th generation (5G) or new radio (NR) systems, long term evolution (LTE) systems, LTE frequency division duplex (FDD) systems, and LTE time division duplex (TDD) systems. The technical solutions provided herein may also be applied to future communication systems, such as 6th generation mobile communication systems. The technical solutions provided herein may also be applied to device-to-device (D2D) communication, vehicle-to-everything (V2X) communication, machine-to-machine (M2M) communication, machine-type communication (MTC), internet of things (IoT) communication systems, or other communication systems.

[0077] It should be understood that the present application can be applied to a standalone 5G or LTE system, a future mobile communication system, etc. The present application can also be applied to a non-standalone 5G or LTE system, a future mobile communication system, etc., for example, a DC scenario including an evolved universal terrestrial radio access-NR dual connectivity (EN-DC) scenario, and a carrier aggregation (CA) scenario. The data unit in the present application may be a protocol data unit (PDU), a service data unit (SDUA), or other data unit. This is not particularly limited in the present application. The following uses a PDU as an example for explanation.

[0078] To facilitate understanding of the technical solution in the embodiment of the present application, before describing the solution in the embodiment of the present application based on the 5G architecture in the present application, a buffer status report (BSR) will first be described with reference to Figure 2. Before transmitting a data packet to a network device, a terminal device first transmits a BSR to the network device to allow the network device to learn the amount of data to be transmitted by the terminal device among the buffered data packets. This allows the network device to allocate an uplink grant, which is a transmission resource used by the terminal device to transmit the data packet, to the terminal device based on the data amount indicated by the BSR.

[0079] Figure 2 shows the structure of a BSR. The BSR includes two parts: a BSR media access control (MAC) control element (CE) subheader and a BSR MAC CE. See Figure 2. The BSR MAC CE subheader can include two reserved fields, an extension (E) field, a logical channel identifier (LCID) field, or an enhanced LCID (eLCID) field. The extension field indicates whether the BSR MAC CE subheader is the last BSR MAC CE subheader. The LCID / eLCID field is used to identify the type of BSR MAC CE. Optionally, the BSR MAC CE subheader can further include a format (F) field and a length field. The format field indicates the length of the length field. For example, a format field of 0 indicates that the length field contains 7 bits. Alternatively, a format field of 1 indicates that the length field contains 15 bits. The BSR MAC CE may be in different BSR formats. For example, one terminal device may have multiple logical channels (LCHs), and the multiple LCHs may be divided into multiple groups. For example, a terminal device may have 16 LCHs, and divide the 16 LCHs into four groups, with each group including four LCHs. When the terminal device reports a data packet on one logical channel group (LCG), the terminal device may use a BSR MAC CE in a short BSR format or a short truncated BSR format. See Figure 2. The BSR MAC CE in the short BSR format or the short truncated BSR format may include an LCG ID field and a buffer size field.The LCG ID field indicates the identifier of the LCG, and the buffer size field indicates the amount of data packets buffered on the LCG. When a terminal device uses one BSR to report the amount of data for each of multiple LCGs, the terminal device can use a BSR MAC CE in a long BSR format or a long truncated BSR format. As shown in FIG. 2, the first byte of the BSR MAC CE in the long BSR format or the long truncated BSR format can include eight LCG identifier fields (LCG0 to LCG7). When m LCGs in LCG0 to LCG7 include buffered data packets, the BSR MAC CE includes m buffer size fields (buffer size #1 to buffer size #m) indicating the amount of data buffered on the m LCGs. Here, m is an integer equal to or less than 8 and equal to or greater than 2.

[0080] It should be noted that the BSR MAC CE formats defined in the current protocol may further include an extended short BSR format, an extended long BSR format, an extended short truncated BSR format, and an extended long truncated BSR format. For more detailed descriptions, please refer to the specifications of the existing protocols. In this embodiment of the present application, the four BSR formats shown in Figure 2 can be applied to the above four extended BSR formats.

[0081] The short BSR format or long BSR format is distinguished from the short truncated BSR format or long truncated BSR format based on the BSR type. There are three BSR types: regular BSR, periodic BSR, and padding BSR. For example, when a logical channel receives a new data packet, if the priority of the logical channel is higher than the priority of other logical channels that are in the same logical channel group as the logical channel and contain data, the terminal device may trigger a regular BSR type BSR. If the terminal device transmits a BSR based on a predetermined periodicity, the terminal device may trigger a periodic BSR type BSR. For example, the terminal device may set a periodic BSR timer (periodic BSR-Timer), restart the periodic BSR timer each time BSR transmission is completed, and transmit a periodic BSR type BSR when the periodic BSR timer expires. If the terminal device transmits a BSR using the remaining bits of the PDU, the terminal device may trigger a padding type BSR.

[0082] If the terminal device triggers a normal BSR type BSR or a periodic BSR type BSR, the format of the BSR MAC CE is the short BSR format or the long BSR format. If the terminal device triggers a padding BSR type BSR, the format of the BSR MAC CE is the short truncated BSR format or the long truncated BSR format.

[0083] As terminal devices support increasingly diverse services, different data packets have different characteristics based on different service requirements. For example, different data packets may have different importance, life cycles, etc. For example, some services, such as extended reality (XR) services, such as augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR), have high requirements for the time required for a terminal device to transmit a data packet. The terminal device needs to transmit data to a network device within a specific time. If the terminal device does not transmit data to the network device within this time, the data is invalid. This time may be referred to as the data life cycle or delay budget. As another example, video frames in an application layer of an XR service include basic frames (or I-frames or I-slices) and extended frames (or P-frames or P-slices), and the importance of the basic frames and extended frames is different. For example, when editing a video about a starry sky, the terminal device may encode complete picture information of the starry sky in the first frame. In the next frame, the terminal device does not repeatedly encode and transmit the same picture information as the previous frame, but encodes and transmits only the different parts. This type of frame, which can only be decoded by using other frames, is called an enhanced frame. It can be seen that the importance of a basic frame is higher than that of an enhanced frame.

[0084] The present application provides a method and a communication device for reporting buffer status. The method for reporting buffer status will be described below first with reference to FIG.

[0085] FIG. 3 is a schematic flowchart of a method for reporting buffer status according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0086] S310: The terminal device buffers a plurality of data packets.

[0087] The plurality of data packets include a first data packet and / or a second data packet, and the first data packet and the second data packet differ in at least one attribute of a service type, a time to expiration, an importance of a protocol data unit set to which the data packet belongs, or a type of a protocol data unit set to which the data packet belongs. The terminal device generates a first buffer status report and a second buffer status report for the data packets with the different attributes, respectively, and the network device can take the different attributes of the first data packet and the second data packet into consideration when allocating transmission resources to the first data packet and the second data packet based on the two buffer status reports.

[0088] For example, the first data packet may include data of an XR service type, and the second data packet may include legacy data of a non-XR service type. In another example, the first data packet may include urgent data in data of an XR service type, and the second data packet may include legacy data of a non-XR service type and non-urgent data in XR data.

[0089] For example, whether the transmission of a data packet needs to be completed within a first time range may be related to at least one of the above attributes. The above attributes may each be determined based on the following information: service type information, time-to-expiry information, importance information of a PDU set to which the data packet belongs, or type information of a PDU set to which the data packet belongs. That is, a first data packet of a plurality of data packets is related to at least one of the above information. The service type information may indicate the service type of the data packet, for example, an XR service. The time-to-expiry information may indicate the time by which the transmission of the data needs to be completed, or the time until expiration, for example, the PDU set delay budget (PSDB) of the PDU set or frame to which the data belongs, or the remaining period obtained by subtracting the time buffered in the transmitting device from the PSDB. The importance information of the PDU set to which the data packet belongs indicates the importance, importance level, or priority of the data packet. The type information of the PDU set to which the data packet belongs may indicate the data type, for example, a basic frame or an extended frame of data of an XR service.

[0090] The terminal device may determine the first data packet and the second data packet in the data packet in multiple ways based on one or more of the above information. For example, the terminal device may determine the first data packet in the data packet based on service type information. For example, the terminal device may be configured such that transmission of data of a certain service type must be completed within a first time range. For example, a data packet of an XR service type is the first data packet, and a data packet of another service type is the second data packet. In another example, the terminal device may determine the first data packet in the data packet based on time-to-expiry information. For example, the terminal device may determine whether the time-to-expiry of each data packet is within a first time range. A data packet whose time-to-expiry is within the first time range is the first data packet, and a data packet whose time-to-expiry is not within the first time range is the second data packet. As yet another example, the terminal device may determine the first data packet in the data packets based on time-to-expiry information and importance information of a PDU set to which the data packet belongs. For example, a data packet whose remaining time to expiration is within a first time range and which is a basic frame is defined as a first data packet, and the remaining data packets are defined as second data packets. For example, the data packet is an extended frame with low importance. Even if the remaining time to expiration of a data packet is within the first time range, the terminal device does not consider the data packet to be a data packet whose transmission needs to be completed within the first time range. That is, the terminal device may further determine whether a data packet is the first data packet based on the service type of the data packet (e.g., whether the data packet is an XR service), the importance of the PDU set to which the data packet belongs (e.g., whether the PDU set is an important PDU set), the priority of the PDU set to which the data packet belongs (e.g., whether the PDU set is a high-priority PDU set), the type of the PDU set to which the data packet belongs (e.g., whether the PDU set is an I-frame, an I-slice, a basic frame, or a data set including key information), etc., in addition to the first time range and remaining time of the data packet.The method by which the terminal device determines the first data packet among the data packets is not particularly limited in the present application.

[0091] That is, the first data packet may include data whose service type is an XR service, and the second data packet may include data whose service type is a non-XR service. Alternatively, the first data packet may include data whose service type is an XR service, whose time to expiration is within a first time range, and whose data type is an I frame, and the second data packet may include data whose service type is an XR service and whose data type is a P frame.

[0092] The above-mentioned time to expiration may be understood as the remaining time until the data packet is invalidated. For example, the time to expiration may be determined based on the AN-PSDB. The AN-PSDB is the time from the generation of the data packet to its invalidation. The time until expiration of the data packet may be equal to the AN-PSDB minus the time the data packet was buffered. For example, the AN-PSDB of the PDU to which the data packet belongs is 30 milliseconds. If the data packet is buffered for 10 milliseconds, the time until expiration of the data packet is 20 milliseconds. In this case, the time until expiration of the data packet can also be expressed as the remaining time in the AN-PSDB of the data packet. The AN-PSDB is the upper limit (i.e., the maximum tolerable delay) for the transmission and processing of PDUs set between the UE and the RAN. The AN-PSDB may be obtained by dividing the PSDB. The PSDB is the upper limit of the end-to-end delay of a data packet between the UE and the UPF (from the UE to the RAN, from the RAN to the UPF). That is, it may be divided into the AN-PSDB between the UE and the RAN and the CN-PSDB between the RAN and the UPF. The CN-PSDB may be statically configured or dynamically obtained based on the time required for transmission between the UPF and the RAN.

[0093] The network device can allocate transmission resources preferentially to the first data packet by regarding the first data packet as a data packet with higher urgency or importance than the second data packet, thereby improving the reliability of data transmission.

[0094] Note that if one or more of the above information changes, a data packet may change from a first data packet to a second data packet, or from a second data packet to a first data packet. The following uses time-to-expiry information as an example for explanation. A terminal device receives a new data packet. Because the time to expiration is long, the data packet is the second data packet. As time passes, if the transmission of the data packet is not completed and the time to expiration changes to within a first time range, the data packet changes from the second data packet to the first data packet. If the transmission of the data packet is still not completed within the first time range and the time to expiration changes to less than the first time range, the data packet changes from the first data packet to the second data packet. Note that in addition to changes in the time-to-expiry information, changes in other information, such as the importance of the PDU set to which the data packet belongs, may also cause the original first data packet to change to the second data packet, or the original second data packet to change to the first data packet. Details will not be described here.

[0095] The first time range may include at least one time threshold. For example, the first time range may be limited by an upper time limit. For example, the first time range may be 10 milliseconds (ms) or less. A data packet that needs to be completed for transmission within 10 ms is the first data packet, and a data packet that does not need to be completed for transmission within 10 ms is the second data packet. As another example, the first time range may be a time range including an upper time limit and a lower time limit. For example, the upper time limit is 10 milliseconds (ms) and the lower time limit is 2 ms. A data packet that needs to be completed for transmission within a range of 2 ms to 10 ms is the first data packet, and a data packet that does not need to be completed for transmission within a range of 2 ms to 10 ms is the second data packet.

[0096] The lower limit time of the first time range may be determined based on the time required for the network device to allocate transmission resources to the terminal device. For example, if the time until the expiration of the data packet is less than 2 ms and the network device does not have enough time to allocate transmission resources to the terminal device, the data packet does not need to be regarded as a first data packet for which transmission resources need to be allocated preferentially.

[0097] The method by which the terminal device determines whether a data packet is a first data packet or a second data packet may be preset or may be set by the network device. For example, the network device may send configuration information indicating a first time range to the terminal device. For example, the configuration information may include at least one time threshold so that the terminal device can determine whether the data packet is a first data packet or a second data packet based on the at least one time threshold and the time until the data packet expires. In another example, the configuration information may include service type information. For example, the network device may indicate that all data packets of an XR service are first data packets.

[0098] The first time range may be set based on the granularity of any of an LCG, an LCH, a resource block (RB), a PDCP entity, and a terminal device. In other words, different first time ranges may be set for different LCGs, LCHs, PDCP entities, RBs, or terminal devices. For example, the network device may set one first time range for each LCG, and the terminal device may sequentially determine whether the time until expiration of a data packet on each LCG falls within the corresponding first time range.

[0099] S320: The terminal device transmits a first buffer status report (hereinafter referred to as BSR#1) and / or a second buffer status report (hereinafter referred to as BSR#2) to the network device, and in response, the network device receives the first buffer status report (hereinafter referred to as BSR#1) and / or the second buffer status report (hereinafter referred to as BSR#2).

[0100] BSR#1 indicates the buffer status of the first data packet, and BSR#2 indicates the buffer status of the second data packet. That is, if the multiple data packets buffered by the terminal device include only the first data packet, the terminal device generates and transmits BSR#1. If the multiple data packets buffered by the terminal device include only the second data packet, the terminal device generates and transmits BSR#2. If the multiple data packets buffered by the terminal device include the first data packet and the second data packet, the terminal device generates and transmits BSR#1 and BSR#2, respectively. Note that BSR#1 and BSR#2 may be two different MAC control elements, and the two different MAC control elements are in two different MAC protocol data units. Alternatively, BSR#1 and BSR#2 may be two different MAC control elements in the same MAC protocol data unit. Alternatively, BSR#1 and BSR#2 may be the same MAC control element. When BSR#1 and BSR#2 exist in two different MAC protocol data units, the terminal device first transmits the protocol data unit in which BSR#1 is located, and then transmits the MAC protocol data unit in which BSR#2 is located. When BSR#1 and BSR#2 are two different MAC control elements in the same MAC protocol data unit, the MAC control element associated with BSR#1 is located in an outer layer of the MAC control element associated with BSR#2. When BSR#1 and BSR#2 exist in the same MAC control element, the domain associated with BSR#1 is located in an outer layer of the domain associated with BSR#2. In other words, the terminal device may not uniformly generate a BSR for all buffered data packets without distinction, but may generate BSR#1 and BSR#2 for two types of data packets with different characteristics.

[0101] The terminal device may determine whether to encapsulate BSR#1 and BSR#2 into one MAC PDU or two MAC PDUs based on the number of bits occupied by BSR#1 and the number of bits occupied by BSR#2. For example, if the total number of occupied bits of BSR#1 and BSR#2 is equal to or less than the number of remaining bits in one MAC PDU, the terminal device may transmit BSR#1 and BSR#2 by sending one MAC PDU including BSR#1 and BSR#2 to the network device. That is, BSR#1 and BSR#2 may be encapsulated into one MAC PDU. If the total number of occupied bits of BSR#1 and BSR#2 is greater than the number of remaining bits in one MAC PDU, the terminal device may transmit BSR#1 and BSR#2 using multiple MAC PDUs. For example, BSR#1 and BSR#2 may each be encapsulated into two MAC PDUs. As another example, if BSR#1 and BSR#2 are padding BSRs, the terminal device may pad BSR#1 and BSR#2 into multiple MAC PDUs.

[0102] The terminal device may first transmit a MAC PDU containing BSR#1, and then transmit a MAC PDU containing BSR#2. If one MAC PDU contains both BSR#1 and BSR#2, the bit stream corresponding to BSR#1 may be encapsulated before the bit stream corresponding to BSR#2. This allows BSR#1 to reach the network device earlier than BSR#2. Since the reporting speed of BSR#1 is faster, the speed at which transmission resources are allocated to the first data packet can be increased, thereby improving the reliability of data transmission.

[0103] The terminal device may select a BSR MAC CE with a different format depending on the situation. Below, to facilitate understanding of this embodiment of the present application, alternative BSR formats will be described first. This embodiment of the present application provides eight possible BSR formats. The eight BSR formats can be classified into two types. For ease of explanation, one type can be referred to as the legacy BSR format and the other as the emergency BSR format. A BSR in the legacy BSR format includes data volume information, while a BSR in the emergency BSR format includes data volume information and time information. The data volume information indicates the data volume of a data packet, and the time information indicates the time required to complete transmission of the data packet. The time indicated by the time information of BSR#1 is within a first time range. Note that the names of the legacy BSR format and the emergency BSR format are merely examples for the purpose of explanation. This is not particularly limited in this application.

[0104] For a related description of the legacy BSR format, see the description of Figure 2 above. Four BSR formats are included: short BSR format, short truncated BSR format, long BSR format, and long truncated BSR format.

[0105] To facilitate the description of the embodiments of the present application, the configuration of the emergency BSR format will be described below using an example with reference to Figure 4. The emergency BSR format may include the following four BSR formats: an urgent short BSR format, an urgent long BSR format, an urgent short truncated BSR format, and an urgent long truncated BSR format.

[0106] See Figure 4. The emergency short BSR format or the emergency short truncated BSR format may include identification information, data amount information, and time information. When the terminal device reports the buffer status of data packets on an LCG, the identification information may be an LCG ID information field indicating an identifier of the LCG. When the terminal device reports the buffer status of data packets on an LCH, the identification information may be an LCH ID information field indicating an identifier of the LCH. The data amount information indicates the data amount of data packets on an LCG or an LCH. The time information indicates the time when transmission of the data packets on the LCG or an LCH needs to be completed. A BSR in the emergency long format or the emergency long truncated format may include multiple identification information, multiple data amount information, and multiple time information. Similarly, the multiple identification information may indicate identifiers of multiple LCGs or LCHs, respectively, the multiple data amount information may indicate the data amounts of data packets on multiple LCGs or LCHs, respectively, and the multiple time information may indicate the time when transmission of the data packets on multiple LCGs or LCHs needs to be completed, respectively.

[0107] In the embodiments of the present application, it is understood that "instruction" may include direct and indirect instructions, as well as explicit and implicit instructions. Information indicated by specific information (e.g., the above-mentioned time information) is referred to as referent information. In a specific implementation, the referent information may be indicated in multiple ways, including, but not limited to, a method of directly indicating the referent information, such as a method of indicating the referent information or an index of the referent information. Alternatively, the referent information may be indirectly indicated by indicating other information, such that there is an association between the other information and the referent information. Alternatively, only a portion of the referent information may be indicated, while the other portion of the referent information is known or agreed upon in advance. For example, the specific information may be indicated using a pre-agreed arrangement order of all information (e.g., specified by a protocol).

[0108] For example, the time information may directly indicate the time required to complete the transmission of the data packet. For example, the time information may include a value or a value range of the time required to complete the transmission of the data packet. For example, the time information may include a time until the expiration of the data packet, and the time until expiration indicates that the time required to complete the transmission of the data packet is 5 ms. Therefore, the network device can know that the terminal device has a data packet that needs to be completed to transmit within 5 ms. Alternatively, the time information field may indirectly indicate the time required to complete the transmission of the data packet. For example, the time information may include a time index value. The network device can determine the value or value range of the time required to complete the transmission of the data packet based on the index value. For example, if the index value is "1," the network device learns that the terminal device has a data packet that needs to be completed to transmit within a range of 0 ms to 5 ms based on the index value. If the index value is "2," the network device learns that the terminal device has a data packet that needs to be completed to transmit within a range of 5 ms to 10 ms based on the index value. The time information may further include a flag bit or an indicator bit indicating that the transmission of the data packet needs to be completed within a first time range. For example, a flag bit of "1" indicates that the transmission of the corresponding data packet must be completed within a first time range. Alternatively, a flag bit of "1" indicates that the transmission of the corresponding data packet must be completed before another data packet.

[0109] The terminal device may support all of the eight BSR formats described above, or may support only some of the eight BSR formats. For example, the terminal device may support one of the four legacy BSR formats and one of the four emergency BSR formats (e.g., emergency short BSR formats). This is not particularly limited in the present application.

[0110] The terminal device may select the BSR format in several ways.

[0111] In a first possible implementation, BSR#1 is one of the emergency BSR formats, and BSR#2 is one of the legacy BSR formats. That is, BSR#1 includes time information and data amount information#1, where the time information indicates the time (or time until expiration) when the transmission of the first data packet should be completed, and the data amount information#1 indicates the data amount of the first data packet. BSR#2 may include data amount information#2, where the data amount information#2 indicates the data amount of the second data packet, but does not include time information indicating the time when the transmission of the first data packet should be completed.

[0112] When a terminal device supports multiple emergency BSR formats and multiple legacy BSR formats, the terminal device selects one of the multiple emergency BSR formats to generate BSR#1 and selects one of the multiple legacy BSR formats to generate BSR#2. Next, a method for selecting an emergency BSR format from four emergency BSR formats according to an embodiment of the present application to generate BSR#1 will be described.

[0113] If BSR#1 is a normal BSR or a periodic BSR, when the first buffered data packet is from one LCG, LCH, or PDU set, the terminal device may select the emergency short BSR format to generate BSR#1, or when the first buffered data packet is from multiple LCGs, LCHs, or PDU sets, the terminal device may select the emergency long BSR format to generate BSR#1.

[0114] If BSR#1 is a padding BSR, when the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the number of bits required for the emergency long BSR format, the terminal device may select the emergency long BSR format to generate BSR#1. When the number of padding bits is less than the number of bits required for the emergency long BSR format and equal to or greater than the number of bits required for the emergency short BSR format, and the first data packet is from one LCG, LCH, or PDU set, the terminal device may select the emergency short BSR format. When the number of padding bits is equal to the number of bits required for the emergency short BSR format and the first data packet is transmitted in multiple LCGs, LCHs, or PDU sets, the terminal device may select the emergency short truncated BSR format. Or, when the number of padding bits is greater than the number of bits required for the emergency short BSR format and less than the number of bits required for the emergency long BSR format, and the first data packet is transmitted in multiple LCGs, LCHs, or PDU sets, the terminal device may select the emergency long truncated BSR format.

[0115] The above describes a method in which a terminal device selects an emergency BSR format from four emergency BSR formats to generate BSR#1. Note that this is not particularly limited in the present application. For example, if a terminal device supports two emergency BSR formats, namely, the emergency long BSR format and the emergency short BSR format, the terminal device may select one of the two emergency BSR formats based on the number of LCGs or LCHs through which the first data packet is transmitted. Also, if a terminal device supports multiple legacy BSR formats, the terminal device may select a legacy BSR format from the multiple legacy BSR formats to generate BSR#2. Next, a method in accordance with an embodiment of the present application in which a legacy BSR format is selected from four legacy BSR formats to generate BSR#2 will be described.

[0116] If BSR#2 is a normal BSR or a periodic BSR, the terminal device may select a legacy short BSR format to generate BSR#2 when the buffered second data packet is from one LCG, LCH, or PDU set, or may select a legacy long BSR format to generate BSR#2 when the buffered second data packet is from multiple LCGs, LCHs, or PDU sets.

[0117] If BSR#2 is a padding BSR, the terminal device may select the format of BSR#2 based on the number of remaining bits obtained by subtracting the number of bits occupied by BSR#1 from the number of padding bits.

[0118] If the number of remaining bits is equal to or greater than the number of bits required for the legacy long BSR format, the terminal device may select the legacy long BSR format to generate BSR#2. If the number of remaining bits is less than the number of bits required for the legacy long BSR format but greater than or equal to the number of bits required for the legacy short BSR format, and the second data packet is transmitted on one LCG or LCH, the terminal device may select the legacy short BSR format. If the number of remaining bits is equal to the number of bits required for the legacy short BSR format and the second data packet is transmitted on multiple LCGs or LCHs, the terminal device may select the legacy short truncated BSR format. Alternatively, if the number of remaining bits is greater than the number of bits required for the legacy short BSR format but less than the number of bits required for the legacy long BSR format, and the first data packet is transmitted on multiple LCGs or LCHs, the terminal device may select the legacy long truncated BSR format.

[0119] The above describes a method in which a terminal device selects a legacy BSR format from four legacy BSR formats and generates a BSR#2. When the data packets buffered by the terminal device include a first data packet and a second data packet, the terminal device may first generate a BSR#1 using the above-mentioned emergency BSR format selection method, and then generate a BSR#2 using the above-mentioned legacy BSR format selection method. When the data packets buffered by the terminal device include a first data packet but not a second data packet, the terminal device may generate a BSR#1 using the above-mentioned emergency BSR format selection method. When the data packets buffered by the terminal device include a second data packet but not the first data packet, the terminal device generates a BSR#2 using the above-mentioned legacy BSR format selection method. In this case, the number of remaining bits is equal to the number of padding bits.

[0120] In the above-described possible implementation, when a first data packet exists, the terminal device generates BSR#1 using the emergency BSR format and BSR#2 using the emergency BSR format. That is, the terminal device can report the data volume of the first data packet and the time required to complete transmission of the first data packet, and can report the data volume of the second data packet, without needing to report the time required to complete transmission of the second data packet. The network device may allocate transmission resources to the first data packet based on the time required to complete transmission of the first data packet. If the characteristics of the first data packet and the second data packet are different, the terminal device generates BSR#1 including time information and BSR#2 without time information, respectively. BSR#1 including time information can improve the reliability of the network device's allocation of transmission resources to data packets whose transmission needs to be completed within the first time range. Since BSR#2 does not need to include time information, the transmission resources occupied by the BSR can be reduced.

[0121] In a second possible implementation, BSR#1 is in any of the legacy BSR formats described above, and BSR#1 includes indication information, which indicates the buffer status of the first data packet indicated by BSR#1.

[0122] For example, the terminal device generates BSR#1 and BSR#2 using the legacy BSR format. Unlike the first implementation in which the time information indicates the time when the transmission of the first data packet needs to be completed, in this implementation, the indication information of BSR#1 indicates that BSR#1 is the BSR for the first data packet. This allows the terminal device to report the buffer status of the first data packet and the buffer status of the second data packet using fewer bits.

[0123] Optionally, BSR#1 includes a sub-header field, which includes indication information. The structure of the sub-header field is shown in Figure 2. The indication information may be the LCID or eLCID of the sub-header field, or the indication information may be an independent information field.

[0124] If the indication information is the LCID or eLCID in the subheader field, the first value of the LCID or eLCID of BSR#1 may directly or indirectly indicate that BSR#1 indicates the buffer status of the first data packet.

[0125] When the indication information is an independent information field, the indication information may use any one or more reserved bits in the subheader field. For example, a bit in the subheader field may be configured to indicate whether the corresponding data packet is the first data packet. For example, when the bit is set to 1, it indicates that the corresponding data packet is the first data packet.

[0126] For BSR#2, the network device may determine the data packet corresponding to BSR#2 based on the fact that the LCID or eLCID is not the first value. Alternatively, if the aforementioned bit is set to 0, it indicates that the corresponding data packet is the second data packet. This is not particularly limited in the present application.

[0127] Alternatively, BSR#1 may include both the indication information and the time information. That is, BSR#1 may be an emergency BSR format including the time information, and the subheader included in BSR#1 may include the indication information. In this case, the indication information may further indicate that BSR#1 is the BSR for the first data packet by indicating the emergency BSR format. For example, the first value of LCID corresponds to the emergency BSR format. The network device may learn that BSR#1 is the BSR for the first data packet according to the selection rule for the emergency BSR format. This is not particularly limited in the present application.

[0128] Optionally, after completing the transmission of BSR#2, the terminal device does not restart the periodic BSR timer (periodicBSR-Timer). That is, the terminal device may not need to restart the periodic BSR timer every time the transmission of a BSR is completed. The terminal device may restart the periodic BSR timer after completing the transmission of a BSR other than the BSR of a data packet that needs to be completed within the first time period. For example, the terminal device may restart the periodic BSR timer after completing the transmission of a BSR in a format other than the emergency BSR.

[0129] If the terminal device restarts the periodic BSR timer every time it completes BSR transmission, or if the terminal device frequently transmits the BSR of the first data packet due to other trigger conditions and frequently restarts the periodic BSR timer, it becomes difficult for the terminal device to transmit periodic BSRs. As a result, it may not be possible to report the BSR of the second data packet, most of which are periodic, for a long period of time. Thus, in this embodiment, the terminal device does not restart the periodic BSR timer after completing transmission of BSR#1, and restarts the periodic BSR timer after completing transmission of BSR#2. This improves the reliability of BSR reporting.

[0130] If BSR#2 is a padding BSR and the number of padding bits is insufficient to report the entire buffer status of the second data packet, the buffer status of the second data packet may be divided into multiple BSR#2s and reported. In this case, the terminal device does not need to restart the periodic BSR timer before completing transmission of all of the multiple BSR#2s.

[0131] In some implementations, if the terminal device determines the first data packet based on the time-to-expiry information, i.e., if the time until the expiration of the first data packet is within the first time range, the terminal device generates a BSR#1 based on the first data packet. However, as time passes, there is no opportunity for the BSR#1 of the first data packet to be transmitted, and the time until the expiration of the first data packet changes outside the first time range. In this case, the transmission of the first data packet does not need to be completed within the first time range. In this case, for a BSR#1 generated / triggered based on a data packet whose transmission needs to be completed within the first time range, the terminal device may cancel the triggered BSR#1, or may cancel the BSR#1 and re-determine that the transmission of the first data packet does not need to be completed within the first time range, and generate a report based on a data packet whose transmission does not need to be completed within the first time range. Alternatively, the terminal device may not cancel the transmission of the BSR#1 or may not cancel the triggered BSR#1, but may set the data volume information of the BSR#1 to indicate that the data volume is 0. In this way, after receiving BSR#1, the network device may learn that the data amount of the data packet that needs to be completed for transmission within the first time range is 0. Alternatively, the terminal device may not cancel the transmission of BSR#1 or the triggered BSR#1, but may set the data amount information of BSR#1 to indicate the remaining data amount obtained by subtracting the data amount after changing from within the first time range to outside the first time range from the current data amount. For example, if the original amount is 10 bytes and the time to expiration corresponding to a 2-byte data packet changes outside the first time range as time passes, the data amount information of BSR#1 is set to indicate that the data amount is 8 bytes.

[0132] S330: The network device determines a transmission resource for the first data packet and / or a transmission resource for the second data packet.

[0133] When the network device receives BSR#1 from the terminal device, the network device may determine that BSR#1 is the BSR for the first data packet based on the time information and / or indication information of BSR#1. For example, transmission of the first data packet must be completed within a first time range, and the network device may preferentially allocate transmission resources to the first data packet. When the network device receives BSR#2 from the terminal device, the network device may determine that BSR#2 is the BSR for the second data packet based on BSR#2 that does not include time information and that includes indication information indicating that BSR#2 is the BSR for the second data packet, or may determine that BSR#2 is the BSR for the second data packet in another manner, so that the network device can regard the second data packet as a common data packet for processing.

[0134] S340: The network device sends grant information to the terminal device, and the terminal device receives grant information from the network device accordingly.

[0135] The grant information indicates a transmission resource for the first data packet and / or a transmission resource for the second data packet.

[0136] S350: The terminal device transmits a plurality of data packets to be transmitted to the network device.

[0137] The terminal device transmits the first data packet and / or the second data packet based on the transmission resource indicated by the grant information.

[0138] According to this technical solution, data packets buffered by a terminal device include data packets with different attributes, and the terminal device can generate a first buffer status report and a second buffer status report for the data packets with different attributes, respectively, so that the network device can take the different attributes of the first data packets and the second data packets into consideration when allocating transmission resources to the first data packets and the second data packets based on the two buffer status reports, thereby improving the performance of the buffer status report.

[0139] It should be understood that the above describes an implementation in which BSR#1 includes a time domain (i.e., time information) and BSR#2 does not include a time domain. In another possible implementation, both BSR#1 and BSR#2 may include a time domain. In this case, the time domain of BSR#2 may be set by default (e.g., the time domain value is 0, the time domain index indicates the second data packet, or the time domain flag bit indicates the second data packet) to indicate that BSR#2 is reporting the buffer status of the second data packet. In another possible implementation, neither BSR#1 nor BSR#2 includes a time domain, and the indication information in the subheader fields of BSR#1 and BSR#2 may be used to determine whether to indicate the buffer status of the first data packet or the buffer status of the second data packet.

[0140] It should be noted that any method for generating BSR#1 described in this embodiment of the present application may be used independently, and any method for generating BSR#2 may be used independently. Any method for generating BSR#1 and any method for generating BSR#2 may be used in combination. In this embodiment of the present application, the order in which the terminal device generates BSR#1 and BSR#2 is not limited. The order may be related to buffered data packets or related to the method for generating BSRs by the terminal device.

[0141] The present application further provides a method for reporting buffer status. Unlike the method shown in Figure 3, the terminal device may use one BSR to report buffer statuses of data packets with different characteristics, and may use indication information and / or time information in the BSR to perform the indication. The method will be described below with reference to Figure 5.

[0142] FIG. 5 is a schematic flowchart of another buffer status reporting method according to an embodiment of the present application.

[0143] S510: The terminal device buffers at least one data packet.

[0144] For ease of explanation, in the embodiment described in FIG. 5, the first data packet and the second data packet are still used to represent data packets that have at least one attribute different. For example, the first data packet is used to represent a data packet that still needs to be completed within the first time range, and the second data packet is used to represent a data packet that still does not need to be completed within the first time range. For related descriptions of the first data packet, the second data packet, and the first time range, please refer to the description of step S310 in FIG. 3. The details will not be described again here. Depending on whether the at least one data packet includes the first data packet, there are three cases for the at least one data packet: Case 1: Only the first data packet is included; Case 2: The first data packet and the second data packet are included; and Case 3: Only the second data packet is included.

[0145] S520: The terminal device sends a buffer status report (hereinafter referred to as BSR#3) to the network device. In response, the network device receives BSR#3 from the terminal device.

[0146] The BSR#3 includes indication information and / or time information. The indication information indicates whether the at least one data packet includes a first data packet, and the time information indicates the time when the transmission of the at least one data packet must be completed. That is, the terminal device may generate the BSR#3 in one of the following three formats:

[0147] Format 1: BSR#3 includes indication information but does not include time information. The subheader field of BSR#3 includes indication information, and BSR#3 may be one of the legacy BSR formats. The indication information may be the LCID or eLCID of the subheader field, or the indication information may be an independent information field. For related descriptions of the indication information and the legacy BSR format, please refer to the description of S320 in FIG. 3. The details will not be described again here. In this case, the network device may determine whether the at least one data packet includes the first data packet based on the indication information. If the at least one data packet includes the first data packet, the network device may preferentially allocate transmission resources to all of the at least one data packet.

[0148] Format 2: BSR#3 includes time information but does not include instruction information. The format of BSR#3 may be one of emergency BSR formats. For related descriptions of emergency BSR formats, please refer to the description of S320 in FIG. 3. Details will not be described again here. In this case, the network device may determine a specific data packet included in the at least one data packet that needs to be transmitted within a first time range based on the time information of BSR#3, and prioritize allocating transmission resources to the data packet that needs to be transmitted within the first time range among the at least one data packet.

[0149] Format 3: BSR#3 includes time information and instruction information. A subheader field of BSR#3 includes instruction information, and the format of BSR#3 may be one of emergency BSR formats. In this way, the network device may preferentially allocate transmission resources to a data packet that needs to complete transmission within a first time range among at least one data packet.

[0150] For ease of explanation, the above three types of BSRs are collectively referred to as new BSRs below. The terminal device may pre-configure any type of new BSR and generate BSR#3. Alternatively, the terminal device may determine whether to use a new BSR based on whether at least one data packet includes a first data packet. If the terminal device determines that at least one data packet includes a first data packet, the terminal device may use BSR#3 of any type of new BSR described above (here, if indication information is included, the indication information indicates that at least one data packet includes the first data packet). If the terminal device determines that at least one data packet does not include the first data packet, the terminal device may select a BSR that does not include indication information or time information based on the provisions of an existing protocol. For example, if at least one data packet includes the first data packet, BSR#3 includes time information, or includes time information and indication information. If at least one data packet does not include the first data packet, BSR#3 does not include time information, thereby reducing bit consumption.

[0151] Note that in the BSR#3 including time information, the time information may indicate a time when all transmissions of at least one data packet need to be completed. Alternatively, the time information may indicate a time when transmission of a first data packet among the at least one data packet needs to be completed. For example, a first data packet among the at least one data packet is configured in the time domain in the BSR#3, and a second data packet among the at least one data packet is configured in the time information resource in the BSR#3. As another example, each of the at least one data packet is configured in the time domain in the BSR#3. The time domain corresponding to the first data packet indicates a time when transmission of the first data packet needs to be completed. The time domain corresponding to the second data packet is set by default (e.g., the time domain value is 0, the time domain index indicates the second data packet, or the time domain flag bit indicates a non-first data packet) to indicate that transmission of the second data packet does not need to be completed within the first time range.

[0152] For how the terminal device determines whether the at least one data packet includes the first data packet, please refer to the description of step S310 in Figure 3. Specifically, the terminal device may determine the first data packet using at least one of service type information, time to expiration information, importance information of the PDU set to which the data packet belongs, and type information of the PDU set to which the data packet belongs. For more detailed information, please refer to the description of step S310 in Figure 3. The details will not be described again here.

[0153] Optionally, when the at least one data packet includes a first data packet and a second data packet, a bit stream corresponding to the buffer status information of the first data packet may be encapsulated in a bit stream corresponding to the buffer status information of the second data packet, so that the buffer status information of the first data packet can arrive at the network device earlier than the buffer status information of the second data packet, and the network device can speed up allocation of transmission resources to the first data packet, thereby improving the reliability of data transmission.

[0154] Optionally, if the at least one data packet includes a second data packet, the transmission of BSR#3 is not completed and the terminal device does not restart the periodic BSR timer. That is, if BSR#3 includes the buffer status information of the second data packet, the transmission of the buffer status information of the second data packet is not completed and the terminal device does not restart the periodic BSR timer. After the transmission of the buffer status information of the second data packet is completed, the terminal device may restart the periodic BSR timer, thereby improving the reliability of the BSR report.

[0155] S530: The network device determines a transmission resource for at least one data packet.

[0156] When BSR#3 uses Format 1, specifically, includes indication information but not time information, if the indication information indicates that the at least one data packet includes a first data packet, the network device may preferentially allocate transmission resources to all of the at least one data packet.When BSR#3 uses Format 2 or Format 3, specifically, includes time information, the network device may determine a first data packet among the at least one data packet based on the time information, and preferentially allocate resources to the first data packet.

[0157] S540: The network device sends grant information to the terminal device, and the terminal device receives grant information from the network device accordingly.

[0158] The grant information indicates a transmission resource for at least one data packet.

[0159] S550: The terminal device transmits at least one data packet to the network device, and in response, the network device receives at least one data packet from the terminal device.

[0160] The terminal device can transmit at least one data packet using the transmission resource indicated by the grant information.

[0161] According to this technical solution, the terminal device can include indication information and / or time information in the buffer status report, and can use the indication information to indicate whether the at least one data packet includes a data packet having an attribute of the first data packet, and / or can use the time information to indicate an attribute of the at least one data packet, which attribute is related to a time when the transmission of the at least one data packet needs to be completed. Thus, the network device can allocate transmission resources based on the attribute of the at least one data packet, and improve the performance of reporting the buffer status report.

[0162] The above describes a method for a terminal device to report the buffer status of buffered PDUs. In some embodiments, some PDUs buffered by the terminal device may be discarded due to a transmission failure. For example, a PDU may be discarded due to a PDCP timeout (discard timer) when it cannot obtain transmission resources, or a PDU may be transmitted to a network device but discarded by the network device due to a decoding or checking failure caused by poor network conditions. The value of the PDCP discard timer for a PDU set may be determined based on the value of the AN-PSDB. If the time the terminal device waits for a data packet to be transmitted is close to the AN-PSDB, i.e., if the time until the data packet expires is less than or equal to a predetermined threshold, the data packet is said to be invalid.

[0163] When the amount of discarded PDUs in a PDU set reaches a certain value, the terminal device discards the remaining PDUs in the PDU set, i.e., triggers frame-level packet loss or PDU set discarding. This is because there is no need to transmit the remaining PDUs. Even if the network device successfully receives the remaining PDUs, the network device cannot successfully obtain information based on the remaining PDUs. This embodiment of the present application also provides a PDU discarding method. The method is described below.

[0164] Step 1: The network device determines whether to perform PDU set integrated handling.

[0165] The PDU set consolidation process means that if the number of PDUs to be discarded in a PDU set is equal to or greater than N, N is a positive integer and all PDUs in the PDU set are discarded.

[0166] The network device may determine whether to perform PDU set aggregation processing based on the QoS parameters of the QoS flows associated with the DRB associated with the PDCP entity corresponding to the PDU set. The QoS parameters include enable information #1, which indicates whether to perform PDU set aggregation processing for the PDUs in the QoS flows. Three possible methods are described below.

[0167] Method 1: If the values ​​of enable information #1 of QoS flows mapped to the same DBR are the same and the enable information #1 indicates that PDU set aggregation processing needs to be performed on the PDUs in the QoS flow, the network device determines that the PDCP entity associated with the DBR needs to perform PDU set aggregation processing on the associated PDU sets.

[0168] Method 2: If the enable information #1 of at least one QoS flow included in the QoS flows mapped to the same DBR indicates that PDU set aggregation processing needs to be performed on the PDUs in the QoS flow, the network device determines that the PDCP entity associated with the DBR needs to perform PDU set aggregation processing on the associated PDU sets.

[0169] Method 3: Only QoS flows with the same value of Enablement Information #1 can be mapped to the same DBR. If Enablement Information #1 indicates that PDU set aggregation processing is to be performed for the associated QoS flow, the network device determines that the PDCP entity associated with the DBR needs to perform PDU set aggregation processing for the associated PDU set.

[0170] Step 2: The network device sends PDCP enable information #2 to the terminal device.

[0171] According to step 1, the network device determines the enablement information #2 of the PDCP entity based on the enablement information #1, and the enablement information #2 indicates the PDCP entity that performs the PDU set aggregation process.

[0172] Furthermore, since the PDCP layer of the terminal device cannot obtain enable information #1 for the QoS flow and the PDU set integration process performed by the PDCP entity must match the PDU set integration process for the associated QoS flow, the network device can use the PDCP configuration (including enable information #2) to instruct the PDCP entity of the terminal device to perform PDU set integration process based on the learning parameters (enable information #1) for the PDU set integration process for the QoS flow.

[0173] The enablement information #2 may directly instruct the PDCP entity of the terminal device to perform the PDU set aggregation process. Alternatively, the PDCP enablement information #2 may indirectly instruct the PDCP entity of the terminal device to perform the PDU set aggregation process. For example, the PDCP enablement information #2 includes information on a PDU set discard timer. If the number of PDUs in the PDU set that have reached the period specified by the PDU set discard timer is equal to or greater than N, all PDUs in the PDU set are discarded.

[0174] Step 3: The terminal device performs PDU set integration processing based on PDCP enable information #2.

[0175] When the N PDUs in the PDU set reach the time specified by the PDU set discard timer, the terminal device discards all PDUs in the PDU set. In other words, when the terminal device receives enable information #2, it does not discard PDUs based on the PDU-level discard timer, but discards all PDUs in the PDU set based on the PDU set-level discard timer.

[0176] For example, the discard timer of the Mth PDU in a PDU set may be set to the discard timer at the PDU set level. When the Mth PDU is discarded due to a timeout (M is a positive integer, and may be equal to N), the terminal device may discard all PDUs in the PDU set at the same time.

[0177] In this example, the discard timer for the Mth PDU may be used to determine the discard timing for the entire PDU set, and therefore the discard timer for the Mth PDU cannot be stopped because the Mth PDU has been successfully transmitted. That is, the PDCP entity of the transmitting device (terminal device in this example) determines, using a PDCP status report, a lower layer indication, or other method, that the Mth PDU has been successfully received, and the transmitting device, i.e., the terminal device, does not discard the SDU corresponding to the Mth PDU, so the timer for the Mth PDU continues to count.

[0178] Corresponding to the methods provided in the above method embodiments, the embodiments of the present application further provide corresponding devices. The devices include corresponding modules configured to execute the above method embodiments. The methods may be software, hardware, or a combination of hardware and software. It should be understood that the technical features described in the above method embodiments are also applicable to the following device embodiments. Therefore, for content not described in detail, please refer to the above method embodiments. For the sake of brevity, the details will not be described again here.

[0179] 6 is a block diagram of a communication device 10 according to an embodiment of the present application. The device 10 includes a transceiver module 11 and / or a processing module 12. The transceiver module 11 can implement corresponding communication functions, and the processing module 12 is configured to perform data processing, or the transceiver module 11 is configured to perform reception- and transmission-related operations, and the processing module 12 is configured to perform operations other than reception and transmission. The transceiver module 11 may also be referred to as a communication interface or a communication unit.

[0180] Optionally, the device 10 may further include a storage unit 13. The storage module 13 may be configured to store instructions and / or data. The processing module 12 may read the instructions and / or data in the storage module to enable the device to perform the device or network element actions in the method embodiments described above.

[0181] In a first design, device 10 may correspond to or be a component (eg, a chip) of a terminal device in the method embodiments described above.

[0182] The device 10 may implement corresponding steps or procedures performed by the terminal device in the aforementioned method embodiments. The transceiver module 11 may be configured to perform the reception- and transmission-related operations of the terminal device in the aforementioned method embodiments. The communication module 12 may be configured to perform the processing-related operations of the terminal device in the aforementioned method embodiments.

[0183] In a possible implementation, the device 10 may perform the steps or procedures performed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in Fig. 3. The processing module 12 is configured to buffer a plurality of data packets, the plurality of data packets including a first data packet and a second data packet. The transceiver module 11 is configured to transmit a first buffer status report and a second buffer status report, the first buffer status report indicating a buffer status of the first data packet and the second buffer status report indicating a buffer status of the second data packet. The first data packet and the second data packet differ in at least one attribute of a service type, a time to expiration, an importance of the protocol data unit set to which the data packet belongs, and a type of the protocol data unit set to which the data packet belongs.

[0184] 5. In another possible implementation, the device 10 may perform the steps or procedures performed by the terminal device in the embodiment shown in Fig. 5. The processing module 12 is configured to buffer at least one data packet. The transceiver module 11 is configured to transmit a buffer status report, where the buffer status report indicates a buffer status of the at least one data packet, and the buffer status report includes indication information and / or time information, where the indication information indicates whether the at least one data packet includes a first data packet, and the time information indicates a time when transmission of the at least one data packet needs to be completed. The first data packet is associated with at least one of the following information: service type information, time to expiration information, importance information of a protocol data unit set to which the first data packet belongs, or type information of a protocol data unit set to which the first data packet belongs.

[0185] In a second design, the device 10 may correspond to or be a component (eg, a chip) of a network device in the method embodiments described above.

[0186] The device 10 may implement corresponding steps or procedures performed by the network device in the aforementioned method embodiments. The transceiver module 11 may be configured to perform the reception- and transmission-related operations of the network device in the aforementioned method embodiments. The communication module 12 may be configured to perform the processing-related operations of the network device in the aforementioned method embodiments.

[0187] In a possible implementation, the device 10 may perform the steps or procedures performed by the network device in the embodiment shown in Fig. 3. The transceiver module 11 is configured to receive a first buffer status report and a second buffer status report, where the first buffer status report indicates a buffer status for a first data packet and the second buffer status report indicates a buffer status for a second data packet. The processing module 12 is configured to determine a transmission resource for the first data packet and a transmission resource for the second data packet based on the first buffer status report and the second buffer status report. The first data packet and the second data packet differ in at least one attribute of a service type, a time to expiration, an importance of the protocol data unit set to which the data packet belongs, and a type of the protocol data unit set to which the data packet belongs.

[0188] In another possible implementation, the device 10 may perform the steps or procedures performed by the network device in the embodiment shown in Fig. 5. The transceiver module 11 is configured to receive a buffer status report from a terminal device, the buffer status report indicating a buffer status of at least one data packet, the buffer status report including indication information and / or time information, the indication information indicating whether the at least one data packet includes a first data packet, and the time information indicating a time when transmission of the at least one data packet needs to be completed. The processing module 12 is configured to determine a transmission resource for the at least one data packet based on the buffer status report. The first data packet is associated with at least one of the following information: service type information, time-to-expiration information, importance information of a protocol data unit set to which the first data packet belongs, or type information of a protocol data unit set to which the first data packet belongs. The network device determines a transmission resource for the at least one data packet based on the buffer status report.

[0189] It should be understood that in the above method embodiments, the specific processes by which the modules perform the above corresponding steps have been described in detail, and for the sake of brevity, the details will not be described again here.

[0190] It should be further noted that the device 10 is implemented in the form of a functional unit. Here, the term "module" may include an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), an electronic circuit, a processor (e.g., a shared processor, a dedicated processor, or a group processor) configured to execute one or more software or firmware programs and memory, an integrated logic circuit, and / or another suitable component supporting the described functions. In any example, those skilled in the art can understand that the device 10 may specifically be the terminal device in the aforementioned embodiments and may be configured to perform procedures and / or steps corresponding to the terminal device in the aforementioned method embodiments, or that the device 10 may specifically be the network device in the aforementioned embodiments and may be configured to perform procedures and / or steps corresponding to the network device in the aforementioned method embodiments. To avoid repetition, details will not be described again here.

[0191] The device 10 in the above solution has functions to perform corresponding steps performed by a device (terminal device or network device) in the above method. The functions may be implemented by hardware or by hardware executing corresponding software. The hardware or software may include one or more modules corresponding to the above functions. For example, the transceiver module may be replaced with a transceiver (e.g., the transmitting unit in the transceiver module may be replaced with a transmitter, and the receiving unit in the transceiver module may be replaced with a receiver), and other units such as processing modules may be replaced with a processor to perform the transmitting and receiving operations and processing-related operations in the method embodiments, respectively.

[0192] Also, the transceiver module 11 may alternatively be replaced with transceiver circuitry (which may include, for example, receiving circuitry and transmitting circuitry), and the processing module may be replaced with processing circuitry.

[0193] 7 is a diagram of another communication device 20 according to an embodiment of the present application. The device 20 includes a processor 21. The processor 21 is configured to execute computer programs or instructions stored in a memory 22 or to read data / signaling stored in the memory 22 to perform the method in the above-mentioned method embodiments. Optionally, there are more than one processor 21.

[0194] Optionally, as shown in Figure 7, the device 20 further includes a memory 22 configured to store computer programs or instructions and / or data. The memory 22 may be integrated with the processor 21 or may be located independently. Optionally, there may be more than one memory 22.

[0195] Optionally, as shown in Figure 7, the device 20 further includes a transceiver 23, which is configured to receive and / or transmit signals. For example, the processor 21 is configured to control the transceiver 23 to receive / transmit signals.

[0196] In one solution, the device 20 may be configured to perform the operations performed by the terminal device in the method embodiments described above.

[0197] In another solution, the device 20 may be configured to perform the operations performed by the network devices in the method embodiments described above.

[0198] It should be understood that a processor referred to in this embodiment of the present application may be a Central Processing Unit (CPU), another general-purpose processor, a Digital Signal Processor (DSP), an Application-Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC), a Field Programmable Gate Array (FPGA), or another programmable logic element, a discrete gate or transistor logic element, a discrete hardware component, etc. A general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or the processor may be any conventional processor, etc.

[0199] The memory referred to in the embodiments of the present application may be volatile memory and / or non-volatile memory. Non-volatile memory may be read-only memory (ROM), programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable read-only memory (EEPROM), or flash memory. Volatile memory may be random access memory (RAM). For example, RAM may be used as an external cache. By way of example, and not limitation, RAM includes multiple types, such as static random access memory (Static RAM, SRAM), dynamic random access memory (DRAM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (Synchronous DRAM, SDRAM), double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory (DDR SDRAM), enhanced synchronous dynamic random access memory (Enhanced SDRAM, ESDRAM), Synchlink dynamic random access memory (Synchlink DRAM, SLDRAM), and direct Rambus random access memory (Direct Rambus RAM, DR RAM).

[0200] It should be noted that the memory (storage module) may be integrated into the processor if the processor is a general-purpose processor, a DSP, an ASIC, an FPGA or other programmable logic device, a discrete gate or transistor logic device, or a discrete hardware component.

[0201] It should also be noted that memory as described herein is intended to include, without being limited to, these and any other suitable types of memory.

[0202] 8 is a diagram of a chip system 30 according to one embodiment of the present application. The chip system 30 (which may also be called a processing system) includes a logic circuit 31 and an input / output interface 32.

[0203] The logic circuit 31 may be a processing circuit in the chip system. The logic circuit 31 is coupled to a storage unit, and by calling instructions in the storage unit, the chip system 30 can implement the methods and functions in the embodiments of the present application. The input / output interface 32 may be an input / output circuit in the chip system 30, and can output information processed by the chip system 30 or input data to be processed or signaling information to the chip system 30 for processing.

[0204] In one solution, the chip system 30 may be configured to perform the operations performed by the terminal device in the aforementioned method embodiments. For example, the logic circuit 31 may be configured to perform the processing-related operations performed by the terminal device in the aforementioned method embodiments, as shown in Figures 6 and 7, and the input / output interface 32 may be configured to perform the transmission- and / or reception-related operations performed by the terminal device in the aforementioned method embodiments, as shown in Figures 6 and 7.

[0205] In another solution, the chip system 30 may be configured to perform the operations performed by the network device in the aforementioned method embodiments. For example, the logic circuit 31 is configured to perform the processing-related operations performed by the network device in the aforementioned method embodiments, as shown in Figures 6 and 7, and the input / output interface 32 is configured to perform the transmission and / or reception-related operations performed by the virtualization infrastructure manager in the aforementioned method embodiments, as shown in Figures 6 and 7.

[0206] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer-readable storage medium, which stores computer instructions for implementing the method performed by the apparatus in the aforementioned method embodiment.

[0207] For example, when the computer program is executed by a computer, the computer is enabled to execute the method executed by the terminal device in the above-described embodiment.

[0208] In another example, the computer program, when executed by a computer, enables the computer to perform the method performed by the network device in the method embodiments described above.

[0209] An embodiment of the present application further provides a computer program product including instructions, which, when executed by a computer, implement the method performed by the device (terminal device or network device) in the above-described method embodiment.

[0210] An embodiment of the present application further provides a communication system, including the aforementioned transmitting end device and a network device.

[0211] For the description of the relevant contents and beneficial effects of any of the above devices, please refer to the above corresponding method embodiments, and the details will not be described again here.

[0212] In some embodiments provided herein, it should be understood that the disclosed devices and methods may be implemented in other ways. For example, the described device embodiments are merely examples. For example, the division into units is merely a logical functional division, and other divisions may occur during actual implementation. For example, multiple units or components may be combined or integrated into another system, or some functions may be omitted or not performed. Furthermore, the shown or discussed mutual couplings or direct couplings or communication connections may be implemented through some interfaces. Indirect couplings or communication connections between devices or units may be implemented electronically, mechanically, or in other forms.

[0213] All or part of the above-described embodiments may be implemented using software, hardware, firmware, or any combination thereof. When software is used to implement an embodiment, all or part of the embodiment may be implemented in the form of a computer program product. The computer program product includes one or more computer instructions. When loaded and executed on a computer, the computer program instructions generate, in whole or in part, procedures or functions according to the embodiments of the present application. The computer may be a general-purpose computer, a special-purpose computer, a computer network, or other programmable device. For example, the computer may be a personal computer, a server, a network device, etc. The computer instructions may be stored in a computer-readable storage medium or transmitted from a computer-readable storage medium to another computer-readable storage medium. For example, the computer instructions may be transmitted from a website, computer, server, or data center to another website, computer, server, or data center via wired (e.g., coaxial cable, fiber optic, or digital subscriber line (DSL)) or wireless (e.g., infrared, radio, or microwave) transmission. The computer-readable storage medium may be a data storage device, such as any available medium that can be accessed by a computer, or a server, data center, etc. that integrates one or more available media. The available medium may be a magnetic medium (e.g., a floppy disk, a hard disk, or a magnetic tape), an optical medium (e.g., a DVD), a semiconductor medium (e.g., a solid-state disk (SSD)), etc. For example, the available medium may include, but is not limited to, any medium that can store program code, such as a USB flash drive, a removable hard disk, a read-only memory (ROM), a random access memory (RAM), a magnetic disk, or an optical disk.

[0214] The above description is merely a specific implementation of the present application and is not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present application. Any modifications or replacements that are readily conceived by those skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in the present application should be embraced within the scope of protection of the present application. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present application should be subject to the scope of protection of the claims.

Claims

1. 1. A method for reporting buffer status, the method comprising: buffering a plurality of data packets, the plurality of data packets including a first data packet and a second data packet; sending a first buffer status report and a second buffer status report to a network device, wherein the first buffer status report indicates a buffer status of the first data packet and the second buffer status report indicates a buffer status of the second data packet, and the first data packet and the second data packet differ in at least one attribute of a service type, a time to expiration, an importance of a protocol data unit set to which the data packet belongs, or a type of a protocol data unit set to which the data packet belongs; A method comprising:

2. transmitting the first buffer status report and the second buffer status report to the network device, 2. The method of claim 1, comprising transmitting a protocol data unit to the network device, the protocol data unit including the first buffer status report and the second buffer status report.

3. 3. The method of claim 1, wherein the first buffer status report includes first data amount information and time information, the first data amount information indicating the data amount of the first data packet, and the time information indicating the time required to complete transmission of the first data packet; and the second buffer status report includes second data amount information, the second data amount information indicating the data amount of the second data packet.

4. The method of claim 1 or 2, wherein the first buffer status report includes indication information, the indication information indicating that the first buffer status report indicates a buffer status of the first data packet.

5. The method of claim 4 , wherein the first buffer status report includes a sub-header field, and the indication information is a logical channel identifier field or an extended logical channel identifier field of the sub-header field.

6. 6. The method of claim 1, wherein transmission of the second buffer status report is not completed or the second buffer status report is in a truncated buffer status report format, and a periodic buffer status report timer is not restarted.

7. The method of any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the transmission of the first data packet must be completed within a first time range.

8. The method comprises: receiving configuration information from the network device, the configuration information indicating the first time range; The method of any one of claims 1 to 7, further comprising:

9. 9. The method according to claim 1, wherein the format of the first buffer status report is determined based on at least one of information: the number of logical channels through which the first data packet arrives; the number of logical channel groups through which the first data packet arrives; the number of protocol data unit sets through which the first data packet arrives; the type of the first buffer status report; or the number of bits occupied by the first buffer status report.

10. 10. The method according to claim 1, wherein the second buffer status report is a padding buffer status report, and a format of the second buffer status report is determined based on a number of bits occupied by the first buffer status report.

11. 1. A method for reporting buffer status, the method comprising: buffering at least one data packet; sending a buffer status report to a network device, the buffer status report indicating a buffer status of the at least one data packet, the buffer status report including indication information and / or time information, the indication information indicating whether the at least one data packet includes a first data packet, the time information indicating a time when transmission of the at least one data packet needs to be completed, the first data packet being associated with at least one of the following information: service type information, time to expiration information, importance information of a protocol data unit set to which the first data packet belongs, or type information of a protocol data unit set to which the first data packet belongs; A method comprising:

12. Before transmitting the buffer status report to the network device, the method further comprises: determining that the at least one data packet includes the first data packet, wherein the buffer status report includes the time information, or the time information and the indication information, or the indication information; The method of claim 11 further comprising:

13. 13. The method of claim 11 or 12, wherein the transmission of the first data packet must be completed within a first time range.

14. The method comprises: receiving configuration information from the network device, the configuration information indicating the first time range; The method of any one of claims 11 to 13, further comprising:

15. The method of any one of claims 11 to 14, wherein the buffer status report includes a sub-header field, the sub-header field including the indication information.

16. The method of claim 15 , wherein the indication information is a logical channel identifier field or an extended logical channel identifier field of the sub-header field.

17. 17. The method of claim 11, wherein the at least one data packet does not include the first data packet, transmission of the buffer status report is not complete, or the buffer status report is in a truncated buffer status report format, and a periodic buffer status report timer is not restarted.

18. 1. A method for reporting buffer status, the method comprising: receiving a first buffer status report and a second buffer status report from a terminal device, the first buffer status report indicating a buffer status for a first data packet, and the second buffer status report indicating a buffer status for the second data packet; determining transmission resources for the first data packet and the second data packet based on the first buffer status report and the second buffer status report, wherein the first data packet and the second data packet differ in at least one attribute of a service type, a time to expiration, an importance of a protocol data unit set to which the data packet belongs, or a type of a protocol data unit set to which the data packet belongs; A method comprising:

19. receiving the first buffer status report and the second buffer status report from the terminal device, 20. The method of claim 18, comprising receiving a protocol data unit from the terminal device, the protocol data unit including the first buffer status report and the second buffer status report.

20. 20. The method of claim 18 or 19, wherein the first buffer status report includes first data amount information and time information, the first data amount information indicating the data amount of the first data packet and the time information indicating the time required to complete transmission of the first data packet, and the second buffer status report includes second data amount information, the second data amount information indicating the data amount of the second data packet.

21. 20. The method of claim 18 or 19, wherein the first buffer status report includes indication information, the indication information indicating that the first buffer status report indicates a buffer status of the first data packet.

22. 22. The method of claim 21, wherein the first buffer status report includes a sub-header field, and the indication information is a logical channel identifier field or an extended logical channel identifier field of the sub-header field.

23. The method of any one of claims 18 to 22, wherein the transmission of the first data packet must be completed within a first time range.

24. The method comprises: transmitting configuration information to the terminal device, the configuration information indicating the first time range; The method of any one of claims 18 to 23, further comprising:

25. 1. A method for reporting buffer status, the method comprising: receiving a buffer status report from a terminal device, the buffer status report indicating a buffer status of at least one data packet, the buffer status report including indication information and / or time information, the indication information indicating whether the at least one data packet includes a first data packet, the time information indicating a time when transmission of the at least one data packet needs to be completed, the first data packet being associated with at least one of the following information: service type information, time to expiration information, importance information of a protocol data unit set to which the first data packet belongs, or type information of a protocol data unit set to which the first data packet belongs; determining a transmission resource for the at least one data packet based on the buffer status report; A method comprising:

26. 26. The method of claim 25, wherein transmission of the first data packet must be completed within a first time range.

27. The method comprises: transmitting configuration information to the terminal device, the configuration information indicating the first time range; 27. The method of claim 25 or 26, further comprising:

28. The method of any one of claims 25 to 27, wherein the buffer status report includes a sub-header field, the sub-header field including the indication information.

29. 29. The method of claim 28, wherein the indication information is a logical channel identifier field or an extended logical channel identifier field of the sub-header field.

30. A communication device, A module configured to carry out the method according to any one of claims 1 to 10, or A module configured to carry out the method according to any one of claims 11 to 17, Communications equipment, including

31. A communication device, A module configured to carry out the method according to any one of claims 18 to 24, or A module configured to carry out the method according to any one of claims 25 to 29, Communications equipment, including

32. 26. A computer-readable storage medium having a computer program stored thereon, the computer program being, when run on a computer, capable of enabling the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 10, the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 11 to 17, the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 18 to 24, or the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 25 to 29.

33. 26. A computer program product comprising computer program code, which, when run on a computer, enables the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 10, or enables the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 11 to 17, or enables the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 18 to 24, or enables the computer to perform the method of any one of claims 25 to 29.

34. A communications device comprising: the processor is coupled to a memory, the memory configured to store computer programs or instructions; A communications device, wherein the processor executes the computer program or instructions stored in the memory to enable the device to perform the method of any one of claims 1 to 10, or the method of any one of claims 11 to 17, or the method of any one of claims 18 to 24, or the method of any one of claims 25 to 29.

35. A communication system comprising a communication device according to claim 30 and a communication device according to claim 31.

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