Transmission rate control in radio access networks

Abstract

Enhancements for Recommended Bit Rate, RBR, procedures are implemented in a communications network. The enhancements include one or more of a network node generating a Recommended Bit Rate, RBR, priority assignment message configured to provide a transmission prioritization value for a RBR query message and a wireless terminal determines prioritization of an RBR query message in response to the RBR priority assignment message; (2) a wireless terminal generating a scheduling request when no resources are available for a Recommended Bit Rate, RBR, query message that has been triggered at the wireless terminal; and (3) a wireless terminal operating a timer to determine if and when a RBR query message should be retransmitted.

Description

TRANSMISSION RATE CONTROL IN RADIO ACCESS NETWORKS

[0001] The technology relates to wireless communications, and particularly to the control of transmission rates in a radio access network, RAN.

[0002] A radio access network typically resides between wireless devices, such as user equipment (UEs), mobile phones, mobile stations, or any other device having wireless termination, and a core network. Example of radio access network types includes the GRAN, GSM radio access network; the GERAN, which includes EDGE packet radio services; UTRAN, the UMTS radio access network; E-UTRAN, which includes Long-Term Evolution; and NG-UTRAN, the New Radio (NR).

[0003] A radio access network may comprise one or more access nodes, such as base station nodes, which facilitate wireless communication or otherwise provides an interface between a wireless terminal and a telecommunications system. A non-limiting example of a base station can include, depending on radio access technology type, a Node B (“NB”), an enhanced Node B (“eNB”), a home eNB (“HeNB”), a gNB (for a New Radio [“NR”] technology system), or some other similar terminology.

[0004] The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (“3GPP”) is a group that, e.g., develops collaboration agreements such as 3GPP standards that aim to define globally applicable technical specifications and technical reports for wireless communication systems. Various 3GPP documents may describe certain aspects of radio access networks. Overall architecture for a fifth-generation system, e.g., the 5G System, also called “NR” or “New Radio”, as well as “NG” or “Next Generation”, is shown in Fig. 1, and is also described in 3GPP TS 38.300. The 5G NR network is comprised of NG RAN (Next Generation Radio Access Network) and 5GC (5G Core Network). As shown, NGRAN is comprised of gNBs (e.g., 5G Base stations) and ng-eNBs (i.e. LTE base stations). An Xn interface exists between gNB-gNB, between (gNB)-(ng-eNB) and between (ng-eNB)-(ng-eNB). The Xn is the network interface between NG-RAN nodes. Xn-U stands for Xn User Plane interface and Xn-C stands for Xn Control Plane interface. A NG interface exists between 5GC and the base stations (i.e. gNB & ng-eNB). A gNB node provides NR user plane and control plane protocol terminations towards the UE and is connected via the NG interface to the 5GC. The 5G NR (New Radio) gNB is connected to AMF (Access and Mobility Management Function) and UPF (User Plane Function) in 5GC (5G Core Network).

[0005] The Open Systems Interconnection, OSI, model is a reference framework that explains the process of transmitting data between computers. It is divided into seven layers that work together to carry out specialized network functions, allowing for a more systematic approach to networking. Information transferred from one device to another device travels through 7 layers of OSI model. First data travels down through 7 layers from the sender’s end and then climbs back 7 layers on the receiver’s end. Data flows through the OSI model in a step-by-step process: Layer 7: Application Layer: Applications create the data.

[0006] Layer 6: Presentation Layer: Data is formatted and encrypted.

[0007] Layer 5: Session Layer: Connections are established and managed.

[0008] Layer 4: Transport Layer: Data is broken into segments for reliable delivery.

[0009] Layer 3: Network Layer: Segments are packaged into packets and routed.

[0010] Layer 2: Data Link Layer: Packets are framed and sent to the next device.

[0011] Layer 1: Physical Layer: Frames are converted into bits and transmitted physically.

[0012] A protocol stack may comprise different individual protocols. Protocols may be simply described as set of rules that allow communication between peer entities or they can also be described as set of rules that facilitate horizontal communication. These protocols may be arranged in the layers such as those described above. In a transmitter side, a layer N receives data from layer N+1 and this data is called the SDU or Service Data Unit. This layer will modify the data and convert it into a PDU or a Protocol Data Unit. The peer entity in the receiver is only able to understand this PDU. In the receiver side, the peer entity receives the PDU from layer N-1, e.g., actually layer N-1 SDU, and converts it back into SDU(s) and passes it to layer N+1.

[0013] Radio Link Control (RLC) is a layer 2 Radio Link Protocol used in UMTS, LTE and 5G on the Air interface. This protocol is specified by 3GPP in TS 25.322 for UMTS, TS 36.322 for LTE and TS 38.322 for 5G New Radio (NR). RLC is located on top of the 3GPP MAC-layer and below the PDCP-layer. The main tasks of the RLC protocol are: The Radio Resource Control (RRC) plays a role in managing the radio resources between the User Equipment (UE) and the 5G New Radio (NR) network. The major functions of the RRC protocol include connection establishment and release functions, broadcast of system information, radio bearer establishment, reconfiguration and release, RRC connection mobility procedures, paging notification and release and outer loop power control. By means of the signaling functions the RRC configures the user and control planes according to the network status and allows for Radio Resource Management strategies to be implemented.

[0014] The Medium Access Control layer plays a role in managing radio resources and ensuring efficient communication within networks. It operates just above the physical layer (PHY) and below the radio link control (RLC) and the packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) layers. The medium access control (MAC) is the layer that controls the hardware responsible for interaction with the wired or wireless transmission medium. The MAC sublayer and the logical link control(LLC) sublayer together make up the data link layer. The LLC provides flow control and multiplexing for the logical link, while the MAC provides flow control and multiplexing for the transmission medium. These two sublayers together correspond to layer 2 of the OSI model. Functions performed by the MAC layer include the following: Thus, functions performed by the MAC layer include: A RRC is in control of the MAC configuration. A MAC entity of a wireless terminal serves many functions, including handling the following transport channels: Random Access Channel(s) (RACH).

[0015] The access stratum, AS, is a functional layer in protocol stacks between a radio network and user equipment.. The access stratum is responsible, e.g., for transporting data over the wireless connection and managing radio resources.

[0016] Fig. 2 depicts a Recommended Bit Rate, RBR, procedure in 3GPP NR specifications. The recommended bit rate procedure is used, e.g., to provide a Medium Access Control, MAC, entity with information about the bit rate which a network node, such as a base station, e.g., gNB in 3GPP NR. recommends. The RBR procedure comprises two signaling messages: an RBR query message, e.g., “RBR query”; and an RBR indication message, e.g., “RBR indication”. When the application layer or other upper layer, e.g., transport protocol layer, of a wireless terminal, UE, triggers an RBR query for a data, an indication is sent by the application layer or other upper layer to the UE’s Access Stratum, AS, protocols layers. This indication sent by the upper layer triggers an RBR query for a logical channel on which the traffic flow needs to have a recommended bit rate for codec rate adaptation. If an RBR query is triggered, the UE sends a query message to the base station. The message format of the RBR query is a MAC CE, Control Element. The RBR query message includes an indication of for which logical channel, LCH, the UE needs to receive the recommended bit rate and UE’s desired bit rate.

[0017] When the network node, e.g., base station, receives an RBR query from the UE or the network node wants to provide the RBR (Indication) to the UE for codec rate adaptation, an RBR message can be sent by the network node to the UE. The message format of the RBR is a MAC CE, Control Element. The RBR (Indication) message includes an indication of for which logical channel, LCH, the recommended bit rate is applied and the recommended bit rate for the corresponding LCH. The bit rate included in an RBR query or RBR indication is the recommended bit rate of the physical layer. The time window for calculation of the bit rate can be necessary. For instance, averaging window of default value 2000ms may apply.

[0018] The MAC entity may request the gNB to indicate the recommended bit rate for a specific logical channel and a specific direction, e.g., downlink or uplink. If the MAC entity is requested by upper layers to query the gNB for the recommended bit rate for a logical channel and for a direction and a recommended bit rate query for this logical channel and this direction has not been triggered, then the MAC entity of the UE can trigger a recommended bit rate query for this logical channel, direction, and desired bit rate Fig. 3. depicts a RBR MAC CE format defined in 3GPP TS 38.321 NR MAC specification. The same format of Fig. 3 is used for both RBR query and RBR indication. The MAC CE of Fig. 3 consists of an LCID field; an UL / DL, uplink / downlink, field; a bit rate field; an X field; and an R bit. The LCID field indicates the identity of the logical channel for which the recommended bit rate or the recommended bit rate query is applicable. The length of LCID field is 6 bits. The UL / DL field indicates whether the recommended bit rate or the recommended bit rate query applies to uplink or downlink. The length of the UL / DL field is 1 bit. The UL / DL field set to 0 indicates downlink. The UL / DL field set to 1 indicates uplink. The bit rate field indicates an index associated to a recommended bit rate. The length of bit rate field is 6 bits. For bit rate recommendation, the value of the bit rate field indicates the recommended bit rate. For bit rate recommendation query the value indicates the desired bit rate of the UE. The X field is a bit rate multiplier. For UEs supporting recommended bit rate multiplier, when a bitRateMultiplier is configured for the logical channel indicated by LCID field, the X field set to 1 indicates the actual value of bit rate is the value corresponding to the index indicated by the Bit Rate field multiplied by bitRateMultiplier configured by an RRC message. The R bit is a reserved bit which is set to 0.

[0019] The current Recommended Bit Rate procedure entails several problems, example such problems being briefly mentioned below and addressed by differing example embodiments and modes of the technology disclosed herein: Problem 1: According to the current 3GPP specification, triggering RBR query is based on the upper layer request, e.g., application layer decision. It is not under network control. Different wireless terminals may have different triggering mechanism depending on the application layer. A communication network cannot provide a same level of multimedia service to each user.

[0020] Problem 2: The current RBR procedure is per-LCH, logical channel, signaling. Yet a single LCH may serve multiple traffic flows, e.g. multiple QoS Flows. In the current Recommended Bit Rate a per traffic flow rate control is not envisioned and not possible.

[0021] Problem 3: The current Recommended Bit Rate procedure is useful only if a cross-layer interaction exists between (1) the wireless terminal’s 3GPP AS layer, e.g., Access Stratum layer, including MAC sublayer, and (2) and application protocol of a particular traffic flow. Even if a wireless terminal supports the RBR procedure, the availability of the RBR procedure is not always guaranteed. The 3GPP AS protocol between the wireless terminal and the network node, e.g., base station, gNB, does not have any mechanism to signal the wireless terminal’s applicable traffic flow, e.g., corresponding QoS flow or LCH.

[0022] Problem 4: Low delay and reliable transmission of the RBR query and RBR indication are not guaranteed. Problem 4 may have several sub-issues: - Problem 4-1: The RBR Query MAC CE is lower priority than any other data and MAC CE except padding BSR. The RBR query may be significantly delayed until there is a spare UL resource. This may not be working in eXtended Reality, XR, applications with dynamic codec rate control. “Extended reality” (XR) is said to be an umbrella term to refer to augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR). The technology is intended to combine or mirror the physical world with a "digital twin world" able to interact with it, giving users an immersive experience by being in a virtual or augmented environment. Extended reality purports to work by using visual data acquisition that is either accessed locally or shared and transfers over a network and to the human senses. By enabling real-time responses in a virtual stimulus these devices create customized experiences.

[0023] - Problem 4-2: When a wireless terminal does not receive any available UL-SCH resource, the RBR query is significantly delayed.

[0024] - Problem 4-3: The RBR query is transmitted as a MAC CE. Successful transmission of the RBR query cannot be guaranteed.

[0025] What is needed are methods, apparatus, and / or techniques to address problems caused by or associated with one or more inefficiencies of the current Recommended Bit Rate procedure.

[0026] In a first of its example aspects the technology disclosed herein concerns a wireless terminal of a telecommunications system. In an example embodiment and mode the wireless terminal comprises wireless terminal processor circuitry and wireless terminal interface circuitry. The wireless terminal processor circuitry is configured to generate a recommended bit rate query message in dependence upon at least one of the following: uplink data volume at the wireless terminal; an amount of uplink data stored in an uplink data buffer; packet transmission delay; and packet discard status. The wireless terminal interface circuitry is configured to transmit the recommended bit rate query message across a radio interface to a network node. Methods of operating such nodes are also provided.

[0027] In another of its example aspects the technology disclosed herein concerns a network node of a telecommunications system. In an example embodiment and mode the network node comprises processor circuitry and interface circuitry. The network node processor circuitry is configured to generate a configuration inquiry message configured to inquire if a resource of a wireless terminal is eligible for codec rate adaptation. The network node interface circuitry is configured to transmit the configuration inquiry message across a radio interface to a wireless terminal. Methods of operating such network nodes are also disclosed.

[0028] In another of its example aspects the technology disclosed herein concerns a wireless terminal of a telecommunications system. In an example embodiment and mode the wireless terminal comprises wireless terminal processor circuitry and wireless terminal interface circuitry. The wireless terminal processor circuitry is configured to generate a rate adaptation eligibility message to indicate whether a resource of the wireless terminal is eligible for codec rate adaptation. The wireless terminal interface circuitry is configured to transmit the rate adaptation eligibility message across a radio interface to a network node. Methods of operating such network nodes are also disclosed.

[0029] Other example aspects the technology disclosed herein concern enhancements for Recommended Bit Rate procedures. According to some example embodiments and modes, a network node generates a Recommended Bit Rate, RBR, priority assignment message configured to provide a transmission prioritization value for a RBR query message and a wireless terminal determines prioritization of an RBR query message in response to the RBR priority assignment message. According to some example embodiments and modes, a wireless terminal is configured to generate a scheduling request when no resources are available for a Recommended Bit Rate, RBR, query message that has been triggered at the wireless terminal. According to some example embodiments and modes, a wireless terminal is configured to operate a timer to determine if and when a RBR query message should be retransmitted. Network nodes, wireless terminals, and methods of operation of such nodes and wireless terminals are also disclosed for such enhancements.

[0030] The foregoing and other objects, features, and advantages of the technology disclosed herein will be apparent from the following more particular description of preferred embodiments as illustrated in the accompanying drawings in which reference characters refer to the same parts throughout the various views. The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead being placed upon illustrating the principles of the technology disclosed herein.Fig. 1 is a diagrammatic view of overall architecture for a 5G New Radio system.Fig. 2 is a diagrammatic view depicting a Recommended Bit Rate (RBR) procedure in 3GPP NR specifications.Fig. 3 is a diagrammatic view depicting a RBR MAC CE format defined in 3GPP TS 38.321 NR MAC specification.Fig. 4 is a diagrammatic view of an exemplary embodiment and mode of a generic communications system wherein a wireless terminal generates a recommended bit rate query message.Fig. 5 is a diagrammatic view illustrating basic, representative acts or steps of a first example method of generating a recommended bit rate query message in dependence upon uplink data volume at a wireless terminal.Fig. 6 is a schematic view of selected, basic components of a communications system configured to perform the acts of Fig. 5.Fig. 7 is a diagrammatic view illustrating basic, representative acts or steps of a first example method of generating a recommended bit rate query message in dependence upon packet transmission delay.Fig. 8 is a schematic view of selected, basic components of a communications system configured to perform the acts of Fig. 7.Fig. 9 is a diagrammatic view illustrating basic, representative acts or steps of a first example method of generating a recommended bit rate query message in dependence upon packet discard status.Fig. 10 is a schematic view of selected, basic components of a communications system configured to perform the acts of Fig. 9.Fig. 11 is a diagrammatic view illustrating differing basic, representative example formats for a recommended bit rate query message and / or a recommended bit rate indication message.Fig. 12 is a diagrammatic view illustrating differing basic, representative example formats for a recommended bit rate query message and / or a recommended bit rate indication message.Fig. 13 is a diagrammatic view illustrating differing basic, representative example formats for a recommended bit rate query message and / or a recommended bit rate indication message.Fig. 14 is a diagrammatic view illustrating basic, representative acts or steps of a method related to recommended bit rate availability and a recommended bit rate procedure.Fig. 15 is a schematic view of selected, basic components of a communications system configured to perform the acts of Fig. 14.Fig. 16 is a diagrammatic view illustrating basic, representative acts or steps of a method which provides prioritization enhancements for an RBR query.Fig. 17 is a schematic view of selected, basic components of a communications system configured to perform the acts of Fig. 16.Fig. 18 is a diagrammatic view illustrating basic, representative acts or steps of a method which provides scheduling request enhancements for an RBR query.Fig. 19 is a schematic view of selected, basic components of a communications system configured to perform the acts of Fig. 18.Fig. 20 is a diagrammatic view illustrating basic, representative acts or steps of a method which provides retransmission enhancements for an RBR query.Fig. 21 is a schematic view of selected, basic components of a communications system configured to perform the acts of Fig. 20.Fig. 22 is a diagrammatic view showing example elements comprising electronic machinery which may comprise a wireless terminal, a radio access node, and a core network node according to an example embodiment and mode.

[0031] In the following description, for purposes of explanation and not limitation, specific details are set forth such as particular architectures, interfaces, techniques, etc. in order to provide a thorough understanding of the technology disclosed herein. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the technology disclosed herein may be practiced in other embodiments that depart from these specific details. That is, those skilled in the art will be able to devise various arrangements which, although not explicitly described or shown herein, embody the principles of the technology disclosed herein and are included within its spirit and scope. In some instances, detailed descriptions of well-known devices, circuits, and methods are omitted so as not to obscure the description of the technology disclosed herein with unnecessary detail. All statements herein reciting principles, aspects, and embodiments of the technology disclosed herein, as well as specific examples thereof, are intended to encompass both structural and functional equivalents thereof. Additionally, it is intended that such equivalents include both currently known equivalents as well as equivalents developed in the future, i.e., any elements developed that perform the same function, regardless of structure.

[0032] Thus, for example, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that block diagrams herein can represent conceptual views of illustrative circuitry or other functional units embodying the principles of the technology. Similarly, it will be appreciated that any flow charts, state transition diagrams, pseudo code, and the like represent various processes which may be substantially represented in computer readable medium and so executed by a computer or processor, whether or not such computer or processor is explicitly shown.

[0033] As used herein, the term “telecommunication system” or “communications system” can refer to any network of devices used to transmit information. A non-limiting example of a telecommunication system is a cellular network or other wireless communication system. As used herein, the term “cellular network” or “cellular radio access network” can refer to a network distributed over cells, each cell served by at least one fixed-location transceiver, such as a base station. A “cell” may be any communication channel that is specified by standardization or regulatory bodies to be used for International Mobile Telecommunications-Advanced (“IMTAdvanced”); IMT-2020, e.g., 5G; IMT-2030, e.g., 6G, etc. All or a subset of the cell may be adopted by 3GPP as licensed bands (e.g., frequency band) to be used for communication between a base station, such as a Node B, and a UE terminal. A cellular network using licensed frequency bands can include configured cells. Configured cells can include cells of which a UE terminal is aware and in which it is allowed by a base station to transmit or receive information. Examples of cellular radio access networks include E-UTRAN, and any successors thereof (e.g., NUTRAN).

[0034] A core network (CN) may comprise numerous servers, routers, and other equipment. As used herein, the term “core network” can refer to a device, group of devices, or sub-system in a telecommunication network that provides services to users of the telecommunications network. Examples of services provided by a core network include aggregation, authentication, call switching, service invocation, gateways to other networks, etc. A core network may communicate over a RAN-CN interface (e.g., N2 interface) with one or more radio access networks (RAN).

[0035] A radio access network (RAN) may communicate with one or more core networks. A radio access network (RAN) typically comprises plural access nodes. As used herein, the term “access node”, “node”, or “base station” can refer to any device or group of devices that facilitates wireless communication or otherwise provides an interface between a wireless terminal and a telecommunications system. A non-limiting example of a base station can include, in the 3GPP specification, a Node B (“NB”), an enhanced Node B (“eNB”), a home eNB (“HeNB”), a gNB (for a New Radio [“NR”] technology system), or some other similar terminology.

[0036] A radio access network (RAN) serves wireless terminals, which also form part of the radio access network (RAN). As used herein, the term “wireless terminal” can refer to any electronic device used to communicate voice and / or data via a telecommunications system, such as (but not limited to) a cellular network. Other terminology used to refer to wireless terminals and non-limiting examples of such devices can include user equipment terminal, UE, mobile station, mobile device, access terminal, subscriber station, mobile terminal, remote station, user terminal, terminal, subscriber unit, cellular phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants (“PDAs”), laptop computers, tablets, netbooks, e-readers, wireless modems, etc.

[0037] A wireless terminal communicates with its serving radio access network (RAN) over a radio or air interface. Communication between radio access network (RAN) and wireless terminal over the radio interface occurs by utilization of “resources”. Any reference to a “resource” herein means “radio resource” unless otherwise clear from the context that another meaning is intended. In general, as used herein a radio resource (“resource”) is a time-frequency unit that can carry information across a radio interface, e.g., either signal information or data information.

[0038] Communication between radio access network (RAN) 24 and wireless terminal over the radio interface 32 may occur on various layers. Layer 1 includes radio layer 1 or the physical layer. Higher layers, e.g., layers higher than Layer 1 may include radio layer 2 and radio resource control layer 3. The layer 1 communication may occur by utilization of “resources”. Reference to a “resource” herein means “radio resource” unless otherwise clear from the context that another meaning is intended. In general, as used herein a radio resource (“resource”) is a time-frequency unit that can carry information across a radio interface, e.g., either signal information or data information.

[0039] An example of a radio resource occurs in the context of a “frame” of information that is typically formatted and prepared, e.g., by a node. In Long Term Evolution (LTE) a frame, which may have both downlink portion(s) and uplink portion(s), is communicated between the base station and the wireless terminal. Each LTE frame may comprise plural subframes. For example, in the time domain, a 10 ms frame consists of ten one millisecond subframes. An LTE subframe is divided into two slots (so that there are thus 20 slots in a frame). The transmitted signal in each slot is described by a resource grid comprised of resource elements (RE). Each column of the two-dimensional grid represents a symbol (e.g., an OFDM symbol on downlink (DL) from node to wireless terminal; an SC-FDMA symbol in an uplink (UL) frame from wireless terminal to node). Each row of the grid represents a subcarrier. A resource element (RE) is the smallest time-frequency unit for downlink transmission in the subframe. That is, one symbol on one sub-carrier in the sub-frame comprises a resource element (RE) which is uniquely defined by an index pair (k,l) in a slot (where k and l are the indices in the frequency and time domain, respectively). In other words, one symbol on one sub-carrier is a resource element (RE). Each symbol comprises a number of sub-carriers in the frequency domain, depending on the channel bandwidth and configuration. The smallest time-frequency resource supported by the standard today is a set of plural subcarriers and plural symbols (e.g., plural resource elements (RE)) and is called a resource block (RB). A resource block may comprise, for example, 84 resource elements, i.e., 12 subcarriers and 7 symbols, in case of normal cyclic prefix In 5G New Radio (“NR”), a frame consists of 10 ms duration. A frame consists of 10 subframes with each having 1ms duration similar to LTE. Each subframe consists of 2μ slots. Each slot can have either 14 (normal CP) or 12 (extended CP) OFDM symbols. A Slot is a typical unit for transmission used by scheduling mechanism. NR allows transmission to start at any OFDM symbol and to last only as many symbols as required for communication. This is known as "mini-slot" transmission. This facilitates very low latency for critical data communication as well as minimizes interference to other RF links. Mini-slots help to achieve lower latency in 5G NR architecture. Unlike slots, mini-slots are not tied to the frame structure. It helps in puncturing the existing frame without waiting to be scheduled. See, for example, https: / / www.rfwireless-world.com / 5G / 5G-NR-Mini-Slot.html, which is incorporated herein by reference.

[0040] In general, communication protocols between the wireless terminal and the telecommunication system may be categorized into Access Stratum (AS) and Non-Access Stratum (NAS). AS protocols, such as Radio Resource Control (RRC) and Medium Access Control (MAC), may be used for the wireless terminal to communicate with access nodes of a RAN, whereas NAS protocol(s), such as the NAS protocol specified in 3GPP TS 24.501, may be used for the wireless terminal to communicate with entities (e.g., AMF) of a CN(s), via access nodes of a RAN. Consequently, the wireless terminal may comprise a function to manage the AS protocols, and a separate function to manage the NAS protocol(s). Herein, terminology “NAS” may be used in some context to refer to the function built into the wireless terminal to manage the NAS protocol(s). Similarly, “RRC” may be used in some context to refer to the function built into the wireless terminal to manage the RRC protocol.

[0041] Logical channels reside between the RLC sublayer and the MAC sublayer which, as already mentioned, are layer 2 protocols in protocol stack. A Logical channel informs what kind of information is transferred. Logical channels can be broadly divided into two types: Control Channels (for the transfer of control plane information) and Traffic Channels (for the transfer of user plane information). A logical channel is eventually mapped to a physical channel.

[0042] “Traffic flow” encompasses the general terminology of traffic flow, e.g. YouTube traffic or web browsing.

[0043] A logical channel, LCH, is thus granularity descriptor of a channel serving a traffic flow in a MAC sublayer. One logical channel, LCH, may include one or multiple Quality of Service, QoS, flows.

[0044] A QoS flow, QF, references granularity of traffic flow in a Service Data Adaptation Protocol, SDAP, sublayer, with one QF corresponding to one or more traffic flows. Service Data Adaptation Protocol is a 3GPP protocol which is configured by RRC and which maps the QoS flow to a bearer service.

[0045] Each QoS flow has its own QoS characteristics and requirements. For instance, a voice call may use a particular QoS flow ID (QFI). However, a wireless terminal may serve multiple traffic flows from the user perspective, e.g. YouTube video 1 (TV news) and YouTube video 2 (basketball game) parallelly. Both are video traffic from the same service (YouTube). It may be possible that both video 1 (traffic flow) and video 2 (traffic flow) may be mapped to a single QoS Flow, QF. Thus, one or multiple traffic flows may be mapped to a single QoS Flow, QF.

[0046] 1.0: TRIGGERING A RECOMMENDED BIT RATE INQUIRY MESSAGE A first set of example embodiments and modes described herein concerns the triggering and generation of a recommended bit rate query message. Fig. 4 illustrates an exemplary embodiment and mode of the technology disclosed herein wherein a wireless terminal generates a recommended bit rate query message. Fig. 4 shows a communications system 20 comprising wireless terminal 22 and network 24. The wireless terminal 22 and network node 24. The wireless terminal 22 may also be referred to herein as a “transmitter node” in the sense that the wireless terminal 22 transmits a recommended bit rate query message. Conversely, the network node 24 may also be referred to herein as a “receiver node” in the sense that the network node 24 receives a recommended bit rate query message.

[0047] The wireless terminal 22 comprises condition or event detector 26; recommended bit rate query message generator 28; and interface 30, e.g., interface circuitry, for communication over radio or air interface 32 with receiver node 24. The condition or event detector 26 is configured to detect one or more conditions that may prompt or invite implementation of a recommended bit rate procedure. The wireless terminal 22 of Fig. 4 may operate in accordance with one or more of the example embodiments and modes of Section 1.0, e.g., the example embodiments and modes of Section 1.1, Section 1.2, and Section 1.3, and thereby may detect or determine one or more of the conditions or events described therein that may trigger a recommended bit rate procedure. Further, the wireless terminal 22 of Fig. 4 may selectively switch between the various modes of Section 1.1, Section 1.2, and Section 1.3, and may selectively switch to conventional recommended bit rate operation as well. Moreover, the wireless terminal 22 of Fig. 4 may also operate in accordance with example embodiments and modes of other sections hereof, including Section 2.0 and Section 3.0 1.1: TRIGGERING A RBR QUERY MESSAGE BASED ON UL DATA VOLUME Fig. 5 depicts an example of RBR query triggering based on UL data volume. When the network experiences a congestion, each wireless terminal, e.g., UE may not receive enough resource. Each traffic flow such as XR application traffic may reduce its codec rate and degrade the quality of service. On the other hand, a congestion is resolved, each traffic flow may increase its codec rate and improve the quality of service. The UE may detect a congestion when UE’s buffer size changes, e.g.., when UL data volume in an uplink buffer wherein the UL data awaits actual transmission changes. Hence, a change of a UL buffer size for a traffic flow which supports dynamic codec rate change, e.g., a change in the amount of UL data in the UL buffer awaiting transmission, can trigger a RBR query from the UE to the base station. More specifically, the RBR query triggering condition may be based on UL data volume. Act 5-0 comprises the network node 24 sending the RBR querying condition to wireless terminal 22. The RBR query triggering condition may be configured by an RRC signaling from the base station to the UE.

[0048] In an exemplary embodiment, if UL data volume for a logical channel or a QoS flow is greater than a threshold value, as shown by act 5-1 in Fig. 5, RBR query, e.g., a recommended bit rate query message, can be triggered, as represented by act 5-2 of Fig. 5. Conversely, if UL data volume for a logical channel or a QoS flow is smaller than another threshold value, RBR query can be triggered.

[0049] The threshold values can be configured by an RRC message from a base station to the UE. The threshold value can be changed by a MAC CE signaling which may configure or change the threshold values to be used for RBR query triggering condition.

[0050] Multiple threshold values can be configured, threshold values depend on the current codec rate received in RBR MAC CE. For example, T1, T2, T3 and T4 can mean different threshold with relation T1 < T2 < T3 < T4. When a UL data volume x changes from T1 < x <= T2 range to T2 < x <= T3 range, an RBR query triggering condition is satisfied, so an RBR query can be transmitted to the base station.

[0051] Based on the RBR query, as shown by act 5-3 in Fig. 5 the base station can transmit a RBR indication message to the UE. When the UE receives an RBR indication for a logical channel or QoS flow, the UE’s MAC sublayer indicates the received RBR to the upper layers.

[0052] In an example embodiment and mode, the UL data volume may be a sum of PDCP data volume and RLC data volume. However, if UL data volume for each QoS flow is used for RBR query triggering, the calculation of RLC data volume may increase UE implementation complexity. To reduce the complexity, only PDCP data volume is used for RBR query triggering.

[0053] If an RBR query is triggered by a satisfied triggering condition, the UE can transmit an RBR query with one of RBR MAC CE formats which will be described in Fig. 11, Fig. 12, and Fig. 13. After the reception of the RBR query of act 5-2, the base station may send an RBR indication to the UE as shown by act 5-3. Based on the received RBR indication, the MAC sublayer indicates the received RBR to the upper layers to change the codec rate, as shown by act 5-4.

[0054] Fig. 6 shows in more detail an exemplary embodiment and mode of the technology disclosed herein in which a recommended bit rate query message is generated. The example units and functionalities illustrated in Fig. 4 are not limiting, e.g., various units and functionalities may be omitted in some implementations and other units and functionalities not illustrated herein may be included. Fig. 6 shows a communications system 20 comprising two nodes: a wireless terminal 22 and a network node 24. The wireless terminal 22 comprises condition or event detector 26.1; recommended bit rate query message generator 28; and an interface 30, e.g., interface circuitry, for communication over radio or air interface 32 with network node 24.

[0055] Fig. 6 shows network node 24 as network node processor circuitry which may comprise one or more network node processors 34, as well as network node transceiver circuitry 36, which may also be referred to as network node interface circuitry. As illustrated in Fig. 4, the network node transceiver circuitry 36 may be a transmission and reception point (TRP). The transmission and reception point (TRP) 36 may further comprise transmitter circuitry and receiver circuitry. The network node processors 34 may comprise medium access control, MAC, entity 38 and network node frame / message handler / generator 40 which prepares and generates information including user data and messages, e.g., signaling, for transmission over the radio interface 32, as which also processes information received over the radio interface 32. The medium access control, MAC, entity 38 receives and processes the recommended bit rate query messages received from wireless terminal 22, such as the message of act 5-1; determines a response to the recommended bit rate query message, e.g., if a change in bit rate is appropriate; and generates a recommended bit rate indication message such as that illustrated by act 5-2. To this end, the medium access control, MAC, entity 38 of network node 24 comprises bit rate controller 46 which determines a response to the recommended bit rate query message and sets the recommended bit rate for wireless terminal 22, and RBR indication message generator 48.

[0056] In addition, network node 24 may comprise a data buffer or packet buffer 41 into which packets received over radio or air interface 32 from the wireless terminal 22 may be stored after post processing by the network node 24 and / or packets intended for transmission to the wireless terminal 22 may be stored after preparatory processing by network node 24. The storage and extraction of packets into / out of packet buffer 41 may be controlled or supervised by buffer manager 42. Packets may be inbound to network node 24 from either one or more applications 43 executed by network node processors 34, or received from unillustrated higher order or other nodes to which the network node 24 may be connected by interface 48.

[0057] Fig. 6 also shows various example constituent components and functionalities of wireless terminal 22. For example, Fig. 6 shows wireless terminal 30 as comprising wireless terminal transceiver circuitry 50, which in turn may comprise transmitter circuitry 52 and receiver circuitry 54. The transmitter node transceiver circuitry 50 may include antenna(e) for the wireless transmission. Transmitter circuitry 52 may include, e.g., amplifier(s), modulation circuitry and other conventional transmission equipment. Receiver circuitry 54 may comprise, e.g., amplifiers, demodulation circuitry, and other conventional receiver equipment.

[0058] Fig. 6 further shows wireless terminal 22 also comprising wireless terminal 22 processor circuitry, e.g., one or more wireless terminal processor(s) 60. The wireless terminal 22, e.g., wireless terminal processor(s) 60, may comprise transmitter node frame or message handler / generator 62. The wireless terminal 22 may also comprise user interfaces 66, including one or more user interfaces. Such user interfaces may serve for both user input and output operations, and may comprise (for example) a keyboard, a mouse, a screen such as a touch screen that can both display information to the user and receive information entered by the user. The user interface 66 may also include other types of devices, such as a speaker, a microphone, or a haptic feedback device, for example.

[0059] In similar manner to network node 24, wireless terminal 22 may comprise a data buffer or packet buffer 70 into which packets destined for transmission over radio or air interface 32 from the wireless terminal 22 may be stored before pre-processing by the wireless terminal 22 and / or packets from network node 24 and received at the wireless terminal 22 may be stored after post processing by wireless terminal 22. The wireless terminal 22 may also comprise packet retransmission buffer 72 into which packets, formerly stored and formerly read out of packet buffer 70, may be stored when retransmission is required for such packets. The storage and extraction of packets into / out of packet buffer 72 may be controlled or supervised by buffer manager 74. Packets may be inbound to wireless terminal 22 from either one or more applications 76 executed by wireless terminal processor(s) 60, or received from unillustrated other nodes to which the wireless terminal 22 may be connected by interface 77. The packet buffer 70 represents and / or comprises an UL data buffer for data which awaits transmission to network node 24.

[0060] The wireless terminal processor(s) 60 also comprise a coder / encoder, e.g., CODEC 78. A CODEC is generally an application component. The CODEC 78 may serve to encode and decode streams of data, which may include setting or adjusting the bit transmission rate for a logical channel or a QoS flow. CODEC 78 may be located outside of UE AS layer.

[0061] Fig. 6 further shows that wireless terminal 22 comprises one or more medium access control, MAC, entities 80. The medium access control, MAC, entities 80 of Fig. 6 is further shown as comprising the aforementioned condition or event detector and recommended bit rate query message generator 28. In particular, in Fig. 6 the condition or event detector is referenced as condition or event detector 26.1 and is configured to detect that uplink data volume at the wireless terminal, e.g., the volume of uplink data in packet buffer 70, exceeds a threshold and therefore justifies generation of a recommended bit rate query message by recommended bit rate query message generator 28. The medium access control, MAC, entities 80 may also comprise a threshold memory 82 or other storage facility for the threshold which is checked by the condition or event detector 26 The example embodiment and mode of Section 1.1 hereof also encompasses a computer program product in which processor circuitry or the like, such as wireless terminal processor(s) 60, execute instructions stored on a non-transient memory to perform acts such as those above described, including the acts of one or more of Fig. 5.

[0062] Thus, the technology of the example embodiments and modes Section 1.1 hereof includes but is not limited to the following:

[0063] 1.2: TRIGGERING A RBR QUERY MESSAGE BASED ON PACKET TRANSMISSION DELAY Fig. 7 depicts an example of RBR query triggering based on packet transmission delay status. When the network experiences a congestion, each wireless terminal may not receive enough resource. Each traffic flow such as XR application traffic may reduce its codec rate and degrade the quality of service. On the other hand, when the congestion is resolved, each traffic flow may increase its codec rate and improve the quality of service. The UE may detect a congestion when packet transmission delay changes. Hence, a change of a packet transmission delay for a traffic flow which supports dynamic codec rate change can trigger a RBR query from the UE to the base station. More specifically, according to Section 1.2 hereof, a RBR query triggering condition is based on packet transmission delay status. Act 7-0 comprises the network node 24 sending the RBR querying condition to wireless terminal 22. The RBR query triggering condition can be configured by an RRC signaling from the base station to the UE.

[0064] In an example embodiment and mode illustrated in Fig. 7, if UL packet transmission delay for a logical channel or a QoS flow is greater than a threshold value, RBR query can be triggered. Conversely, if UL packet transmission delay for a logical channel or a QoS flow is smaller than another threshold value, RBR query can be triggered. Act 7-1 of Fig. 7 reflects either or both of the two comparisons. The threshold values can be configured by an RRC message from a base station to the UE, as represented by act 7-3 of Fig. 7. The threshold value can be changed by a MAC CE signaling which may configure or change the threshold values to be used for RBR query triggering condition.

[0065] Multiple threshold values can be configured. The threshold values may depend on the current codec rate, received in RBR MAC CE). For example, T1, T2, T3 and T4 can mean different threshold with relation T1 < T2 < T3 < T4. When a UL packet transmission delay x changes from T1 < x <= T2 range to T2 < x <= T3 range, an RBR query triggering condition is satisfied, so an RBR query can be transmitted to the base station.

[0066] Based on the RBR query of act 7-2, as act 7-3 the base station may transmit a RBR indication message to the UE. When the UE receives an RBR indication for a logical channel or QoS flow, the UE’s MAC sublayer indicates the received RBR to the upper layers, UL transmission delay can be defined in various way. As the successful delivery of each UL packet is not always available to the UE, accurate calculation of a UL packet transmission delay may not be possible. Alternatively, a time duration from data arrival, e.g., arrival in an UL buffer in which a UL packet awaiting transmission is stored, to the initial transmission time of the UL packet can be considered as a UL packet transmission delay. Usually, the delay is defined time duration from the arrival to the successful transmission. But the UE does not know when or even whether the packet is successfully transmitted the network, so initial transmission is used as an endpoint. In an exemplary implementation, average UL transmission delay within a certain time window can be considered for triggering.

[0067] If an RBR query is triggered by a satisfied triggering condition, as shown by act 7-2, the UE can transmit an RBR query with one of RBR MAC CE formats which will be described in Fig. 11, Fig. 12, and Fig. 13. After the reception of the RBR query, as act 7-3 the base station can send an RBR indication to the UE. Based on the received RBR indication, the MAC sublayer indicates the received RBR to the upper layers to change the codec rate, as reflected by act 7-4.

[0068] Fig. 8 shows in more detail an exemplary embodiment and mode of the technology disclosed herein in which a recommended bit rate query message is generated based on packet transmission delay. The example units and functionalities illustrated in Fig. 8 are not limiting, e.g., various units and functionalities may be omitted in some implementations and other units and functionalities not illustrated herein may be included. The example units and functionalities illustrated in Fig. 8 may be the same as and understood with reference to Fig. 6, excepting that in Fig. 8 the condition or event detector is shown as condition or event detector 26.2 since the condition that is detected is packet transmission delay, e.g., delay in the packet buffer 70 for which the traffic flow recommended bit rate procedure is contemplated or implemented.

[0069] The example embodiment and mode of Section 1.2 hereof also encompasses a computer program product in which processor circuitry or the like, such as wireless terminal processor(s) 60, execute instructions stored on a non-transient memory to perform acts such as those above described, including the acts of one or more of Fig. 7.

[0070] Thus, the technology of the example embodiments and modes Section 1.2 hereof includes but is not limited to the following:

[0071] 1.3: TRIGGERING A RBR QUERY MESSAGE BASED ON PACKET DISCARD STATUS Fig. 9 depicts an example of RBR query triggering based on packet discard status. When the network experiences a congestion, each UE may not receive enough resource. Each traffic flow such as XR application traffic may reduce its codec rate and degrade the quality of service. On the other hand, then congestion is resolved, each traffic flow may increase its codec rate and improve the quality of service. The UE may detect a congestion when packet discard rate changes. The packet discard rate is calculated when the UE checks the number of discard packets in packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) sublayer divided by the number of arrived packets during a certain time period, e.g., packets arrived at the wireless terminal or the wireless terminal’s access stratum layer or the wireless terminal’s PDCP / SDAP sublayer. The packet discard rate is the number of discard packets at the wireless terminal divided by the number of packets which arrived at the wireless terminal. For example, if 10 packets arrived at the wireless terminal and only 7 packets were transmitted, e.g., 3 packets were discarded without transmission, the discard rate would be 0.3 = 3 / 10.

[0072] Hence, a change of a packet discard rate for a traffic flow which supports dynamic codec rate change can trigger a RBR query from the UE to the base station. More specifically, Section 1.3 hereof encompasses an RBR query triggering condition being based on packet discard rate status. Act 9-0 comprises the network node 24 sending the RBR querying condition to wireless terminal 22. The RBR query triggering condition can be configured by an RRC signaling from the base station to the UE.

[0073] In an example embodiment and mode shown in Fig.9, if UL packet discard rate for a logical channel or a QoS flow is greater than a threshold value, as determined for example at act 9-1, a RBR query can be triggered as reflected by act 9-2. Conversely, act 9-2 may also represent a UL packet discard rate for a logical channel or a QoS flow being detected as smaller than another threshold value, in which case the RBR query of act 9-2 may also be triggered. The threshold values can be configured by an RRC message from a base station to the UE. The threshold value can be changed by a MAC CE signaling which may configure or change the threshold values to be used for RBR query triggering condition.

[0074] Multiple threshold values can be configured. The threshold values depend on the current codec rate (received in RBR MAC CE). For example, T1, T2, T3 and T4 can mean different threshold with relation T1 < T2 < T3 < T4. When the packet discard rate x changes from T1 < x <= T2 range to T2 < x <= T3 range, an RBR query triggering condition is satisfied, so an RBR query can be transmitted to the base station.

[0075] Based on the RBR query such as that of act 9-2, as act 9-3 the base station may transmit a RBR indication message to the UE. When the UE receives an RBR indication for a logical channel or QoS flow, the UE’s MAC sublayer indicates the received RBR to the upper layers.

[0076] If an RBR query is triggered by a satisfied triggering condition, the UE can transmit an RBR query with one of RBR MAC CE formats which will be described in Fig. 11, Fig. 12, and Fig. 13. After the reception of the RBR query, the base station can send an RBR indication to the UE.

[0077] Based on the received RBR indication, the MAC sublayer may indicate the received RBR to the upper layers to change the codec rate, as reflected by act 9-4.

[0078] Fig. 10 shows in more detail an exemplary embodiment and mode of the technology disclosed herein in which a recommended bit rate query message is generated based on packet discard status. The example units and functionalities illustrated in Fig. 10 are not limiting, e.g., various units and functionalities may be omitted in some implementations and other units and functionalities not illustrated herein may be included. The example units and functionalities illustrated in Fig. 10 may be the same as and understood with reference to Fig. 6, excepting that in Fig. 10 the condition or event detector is shown as condition or event detector 26.3 since the condition that is detected is packet discard status.

[0079] The example embodiment and mode of Section 1.3 hereof also encompasses a computer program product in which processor circuitry or the like, such as wireless terminal processor(s) 60, execute instructions stored on a non-transient memory to perform acts such as those above described, including the acts of one or more of Fig. 9.

[0080] Thus, the technology of the example embodiments and modes Section 1.3 hereof includes but is not limited to the following:

[0081] 1.4: FORMATS FOR RBR MESSAGES The RBR messages described herein including Section 1.0 hereof may be respectively generated by the recommended bit rate query message generator 28 of wireless terminal 22 and the RBR indication message generator 48 of network node 24. The technology disclosed herein encompasses numerous formats for the recommended bit rate messages, e.g., the RBR query message and the RBR indication message. Example formats are described according to differing example embodiments and modes, referred to herein as Options 2.1, Option 2.2, and Option 2.2a, which are summarized below:

[0082] The recommended bit rate query message generator 28 of one or more of the example embodiments and modes may generate the recommended bit rate query message in accordance with either one or more of the example embodiments and modes of Option 1 / Fig. 11, Option 2 / Fig. 12, or Option 2a / Fig. 13. Moreover, the recommended bit rate query message generator 28 may selectively switch between the formats of the example embodiments and modes of Fig. 11, Fig. 12, or Fig. 13. Moreover, formatting of the recommended bit rate indication message according to any of the of the example embodiments and modes of Fig. 11, Fig. 12, or Fig. 13 may be performed by a computer program product in which processor circuitry or the like, such as wireless terminal processor(s) 60, execute instructions stored on a non-transient memory to perform acts to generate such format(s).

[0083] 1.4.1 RBR MESSAGE FORMAT OPTION 1 Fig. 11 depicts an exemplary implementation of a recommended bit rate medium access control, MAC, control element, e.g., RBR MAC CE, which can be used for both RBR query and RBR indication, for both a recommended bit rate query message and a recommended bit rate indication message. The same format is used for both RBR query and RBR indication. In the example of Fig. 11, the MAC CE format consists of QoS Flow Identity (QFI) field, UL / DL (uplink / downlink) field, bit rate field, X field and R bit. QFI field indicates the identity of the QoS flow for which the recommended bit rate or the recommended bit rate query is applicable. The length of QFI field is 6 bits. UL / DL field indicates whether the recommended bit rate or the recommended bit rate query applies to uplink or downlink. The length of the field is 1 bit. The UL / DL field set to 0 indicates downlink. The UL / DL field set to 1 indicates uplink. Bit rate field indicates an index associated to a recommended bit rate. The length of bit rate field is 6 bits. For bit rate recommendation, the value indicates the recommended bit rate. For bit rate recommendation query the value indicates the desired bit rate of the UE. X field is a bit rate multiplier. For UEs supporting recommended bit rate multiplier, when bitRateMultiplier is configured for the QoS Flow indicated by QFI field, X field set to 1 indicates the actual value of bit rate is the value corresponding to the index indicated by the Bit Rate field multiplied by bitRateMultiplier configured by an RRC message. R bit is a reserved bit which is set to 0.

[0084] The codec rate is closely related to QoS requirements for a logical channel or QoS flow. In this case, logical channel prioritization (LCP) parameters such as Prioritized Bit Rate (PBR) and Bucket Size Duration (BSD) defined in 3GPP TS 38.321 may depend on the QoS requirements. In an exemplary implementation, LCP parameters including can be changed depending on the data rate indicated by an RBR indication. In another exemplary implementation, a MAC CE transmitted from the base station to the UE may configure one of LCP parameters such as PBR and BSD. In another exemplary implementation, an RRC message configures a list of candidate LCP parameters, and a MAC CE transmitted from the base station to the UE indicates one of candidate LCP parameters which the UE should use.

[0085] 1.4.2: RBR MESSAGE FORMAT OPTION 2 Fig. 12 depicts an exemplary implementation of an RBR MAC CE which can be used for both RBR query and RBR indication. The same format is used for both RBR query and RBR indication. In the example of Fig. 12, the MAC CE format consists of one or more sets including at least one among QoS Flow Identity (QFI) field, UL / DL (uplink / downlink) field, bit rate field, X field, E field and R bit. QFI field indicates the identity of the QoS flow for which the recommended bit rate or the recommended bit rate query is applicable. The length of QFI field is 6 bits. UL / DL field indicates whether the recommended bit rate or the recommended bit rate query applies to uplink or downlink. The length of the field is 1 bit. The UL / DL field set to 0 indicates downlink. The UL / DL field set to 1 indicates uplink. Bit rate field indicates an index associated to a recommended bit rate. The length of bit rate field is 6 bits. For bit rate recommendation, the value indicates the recommended bit rate. For bit rate recommendation query the value indicates the desired bit rate of the UE. X field is a bit rate multiplier. For UEs supporting recommended bit rate multiplier, when bitRateMultiplier is configured for the QoS Flow indicated by QFI field, X field set to 1 indicates the actual value of bit rate is the value corresponding to the index indicated by the Bit Rate field multiplied by bitRateMultiplier configured by an RRC message. E field is an extension field which indicates whether an additional set consisting of at least one among QFI field, UL / DL field, bit rate field, X field, E field and R bit is followed. If E bit is set to 1, an additional set is followed. R bit is a reserved bit which is set to 0. When multiple QFs have triggered RBR query, a single RBR Query MAC CE includes multiple queries for multiple QFs.

[0086] 1.4.2a: RBR MESSAGE FORMAT OPTION 2a Fig. 13 depicts an exemplary implementation of an RBR MAC CE which can be used for both RBR query and RBR indication. The same format is used for both RBR query and RBR indication. In the example of Fig. 13, the MAC CE format consists of QFi bitmap, e.g., i=0,1,…,7 in this example format, and one or more sets including at least one among UL / DL, uplink / downlink, field, bit rate field, and X field. QFi field of the bitmap indicates whether a set including at least one of UL / DL field, X field, and bit rate field for QoS flow ID associated with index i. The association of QoS Flow and index i is configured by an RRC message from the base station to the UE. If QFi field is set to 1, the corresponding set including at least one of UL / DL field, X field, and bit rate field for QoS flow ID associated with index i is included in the MAC CE. If QFi field is set to 0, the corresponding set including at least one of UL / DL field, X field, and bit rate field for QoS flow ID associated with index i is not included in the MAC CE. The order of sets of UL / DL field, X field and bit rate field can be an ascending order of index i set to 1. In another exemplary implementation, the order can be an ascending order of QoS flow for which associated QFi field is set to 1.

[0087] UL / DL field indicates whether the recommended bit rate or the recommended bit rate query applies to uplink or downlink. The length of the field is 1 bit. The UL / DL field set to 0 indicates downlink. The UL / DL field set to 1 indicates uplink. Bit rate field indicates an index associated to a recommended bit rate. The length of bit rate field is 6 bits. For bit rate recommendation, the value indicates the recommended bit rate. For bit rate recommendation query the value indicates the desired bit rate of the UE. X field is a bit rate multiplier. For UEs supporting recommended bit rate multiplier, when bitRateMultiplier is configured for the QoS Flow indicated by QFI field, X field set to 1 indicates the actual value of bit rate is the value corresponding to the index indicated by the Bit Rate field multiplied by bitRateMultiplier configured by an RRC message. When multiple QFs have triggered RBR query, a single RBR Query MAC CE includes multiple queries for multiple QFs.

[0088] For the example embodiment and mode of Fig. 13, the recommended bit rate query message may thus comprise a map comprising an index field for each of the plurality of QoS flows and wherein a predetermined value in the index field for a particular one of the QoS flows indicates whether the recommended bit rate query message includes the link direction field and the bit rate field for the particular one of the traffic flows.

[0089] 2.0: ASSISTANCE INFORMATION FOR RBR AVAILABILITY When a wireless terminal has a Radio Resource Control (RRC) connection with a network node, the network node may not know whether codec rate adaptation is possible at the wireless terminal for each traffic flow of QoS flows to be transmitted via a logical channel. In order to receive such information, the network node may request that the wireless terminal send information indicative of RBR availability, e.g., RBR availability information. As used herein, “RBR availability” and / or “RBR availability information” means information which identifies or concerns a traffic flow which supports codec rate adaptation based on an RBR procedure. In an example embodiment and mode, the RBR availability information may further identify or indicate what traffic flow(s) or QoS flow actually prefer codec rate adaptation based on an RBR procedure. This RBR availability information may be included in an RBR availability message. In an example embodiment and mode the RBR availability message may be an RRC Reconfiguration message which includes an information element which indicates UE Assistance Information (UAI) configuration for RBR availability.

[0090] Fig. 14 depicts a signaling flow related to RBR availability and RBR procedure. Act 14-0 shows the network node sending a message, e.g., UAI configuration for RBR availability, to the wireless terminal to inquire whether concerning RBR availability of resources at the wireless terminal. The message of act 14-0 may also be referred to as a configuration inquiry message since it is configured to inquire if a resource of a wireless terminal is eligible for codec rate adaptation. The message of act 14-0 may either inquire about a particular resource identified in the message, e.g., about a particular logical channel or QoS flow, or may request that the wireless terminal identify and / or respond regarding all resources for which a recommended bit rate is possible or even preferred. Upon receiving the message of act 14-0, e.g., upon receiving the UAI configuration for RBR availability, as act 14-1 the wireless terminal may send the requested information to the base station via a RBR availability response message, e.g., UAI for RBR availability. The message of act 14-1 may also be referred to as a response message and / or a rate adaptation eligibility message since it is configured to indicate whether a resource of a wireless terminal is eligible for codec rate adaptation. The message of act 14-1 may be a UE Assistance Information, UAI, message sent from the wireless terminal to the network node. This message of act 14-1 may include either (1) a traffic or flow identifier, QFI, for the QoS flow which supports or prefers codec rate adaptation based on RBR procedure or (2) a logical channel identifier, LCID, for the logical channel which supports or prefers codec rate adaptation based on RBR procedure. The corresponding QoS flow or LCH can be called QoS flow or LCH with RBR availability.

[0091] Tethering of resources may occur in some situations. In case of tethering, multiple flows may share a single QoS flow. In the case of tethering, the number of traffic flows within the QoS flow can be reported from the wireless terminal to the network node so that the network node understands the total required rate and number of traffic flows. Thus, Section 2.0 hereof encompasses a case in which the wireless terminal reports to the network node that how many traffic flows are served by a single QoS flow.

[0092] Based on UAI for RBR availability, the network node can configure a RBR query triggering condition or RBR query for each QoS flow, which is explained in the respective example embodiments and modes of Fig. 5, Fig. 7, and Fig. 9. When the configured RBR query triggering condition is satisfied, as reflected by act 14-3, as act 14-4 the wireless terminal can send an RBR query to the network node 24. After the reception of the RBR query, as act 14-5 the network node may send an RBR indication to the UE. Based on the received RBR indication, the MAC sublayer indicates the received RBR to the upper layers to change the codec rate, as indicated by act 14-6.

[0093] Fig. 15 shows in more detail an exemplary embodiment and mode of the technology disclosed herein in which a RBR availability messages are generated in accordance with the method and technology shown in Fig. 14. The example units and functionalities illustrated in Fig. 15 are not limiting, e.g., various units and functionalities may be omitted in some implementations and other units and functionalities not illustrated herein may be included. The example units and functionalities illustrated in Fig. 15 may be the same as and understood with reference to previous figures including Fig. 10. However, Fig. 15 further shows the medium access control, MAC, entity 38 of network node 24 as comprising, in addition to bit rate controller 46, UAI configuration of RBR availability message generator 84. The UAI configuration of RBR availability message generator 84 may cooperate with bit rate controller 46 and serve to generate the UAI configuration of RBR availability message of act 14-0. As mentioned herein, the message of act 14-0 may also be referred to as a configuration inquiry message since it is configured to inquire if a resource of a wireless terminal is eligible for codec rate adaptation. In Fig. 15 the UAI configuration of RBR availability message generator 84 is shown in medium access control, MAC, entity medium access control, MAC, entity 38, although in some example embodiments and modes the message information element that includes or expresses the inquiry may be carried in a RRC message. In such case, the network node 24 also comprises an RRC state machine. As a further addition to the structures of Fig. 10, Fig. 15 shows that the wireless terminal 22, e.g., the medium access control, MAC, entities 80 of wireless terminal 22, comprises UAI for RBR availability message generator 86. The UAI for RBR availability message generator 86 may serve to generate the message of act 14-2, which is in response to the message of act 14-1. As indicated above, the message of act 14-1 may also be referred to as a response message and / or a rate adaptation eligibility message since it is configured to indicate whether a resource of a wireless terminal is eligible for codec rate adaptation. In some example embodiments and modes the message of act 14-1 may be carried in a RRC message, in which case the wireless terminal is understood to include a RRC state machine.

[0094] The example embodiment and mode of Section 2.0 including Fig. 14 and Fig. 15 hereof also encompasses a computer program product in which processor circuitry or the like, such as network node processors 34 and wireless terminal processor(s) 60, execute instructions stored on a non-transient memory to perform acts such as those above described, including the acts of one or more of Fig. 14.

[0095] 3.0 ENHANCEMENTS FOR RBR QUERY 3.1: DELAY ENHANCEMENTS FOR RBR QUERY In some instances a RBR query message may have low priority relative to other uplink transmissions. In order to resolve the low priority issue of the RBR query, a network node such as a base station may configure and transmit a message which serves to lift the priority of RBR query message. Such a message may be referred to herein as a RBR priority lift message or RBR priority assignment message. In example embodiment and mode the RBR priority assignment message may comprise or be a radio resource control, RRC, message. In an example embodiment and mode, the RBR priority assignment message may include an RBR query triggering condition and a priority value which the RBR query message can use during LCP procedure. In another example embodiment and mode, the network node may configure the RBR priority lift message so that the priority of a RBR query MAC CE is the same as the logical channel priority which triggered the RBR query.

[0096] Fig. 16 depicts a signaling flow describing prioritization of an RBR query. Fig. 16 shows as act 16-0 the network node generating and transmitting the RBR priority assignment message. If an RBR query triggering condition is satisfied as reflected by act 16-1, the UE triggers an RBR query. After the UE receives an uplink resource, e.g., uplink grant, the RBR MAC CE including the triggered RBR query, e.g., the RBR query message, can be transmitted to the network node network node 24 as shown by act 16-2 of Fig. 16. If a priority value is configured by a message such as the RBR priority assignment message, , the priority value provided in the RBR priority assignment message is used for the RBR MAC CE when the wireless terminal, e.g., the wireless terminal’s MAC entity performs the LCP procedure. In performing act 16-2, the wireless terminal may increase prioritization of an RBR query message relative to at least some other transmissions in response to the RBR priority assignment message.

[0097] In another example embodiment and mode, when multiple RBR queries are triggered at a given time and included in the MAC CE, e.g., in the RBR query message, the highest priority is used as the priority of the RBR query. Within the same priority and within the logical channel, an RBR MAC CE including an RBR query can be prioritized over data. This mechanism enables the prioritization of the RBR query over data.

[0098] After the reception of the RBR query which was transmitted as act 16-2, the network node 24 can send an RBR indication to the wireless terminal, e.g., a RBR indication message, as shown by act 16-3 . Based on the received RBR indication, the MAC sublayer indicates the received RBR to the upper layers to change the codec rate, as reflected by act 16-4.

[0099] Fig. 17 shows in more detail an exemplary embodiment and mode of the technology disclosed herein in which prioritization enhancements are provided in conjunction with a recommended bit rate procedure, and particularly for prioritization of a RBR query message. The example units and functionalities illustrated in Fig. 17 are not limiting, e.g., various units and functionalities may be omitted in some implementations and other units and functionalities not illustrated herein may be included. The example units and functionalities illustrated in Fig. 17 may be the same as and understood with reference to previous figures including Fig. 15. However, Fig. 17 further shows the medium access control, MAC, entity 38 of network node 24 as comprising, in addition to bit rate controller 46, RBR priority assignment message generator 88. The bit rate controller 46 may serve to determine a desired priority for one or more messages of a recommended bit rate procedure and may increase or “lift” the priority if deemed necessary or desirable. Based on such determination, the RBR priority assignment message generator 88 generates the RBR priority assignment message such as that depicted by act 16-0. In Fig. 17 the RBR priority assignment message generator 88 is shown in medium access control, MAC, entity medium access control, MAC, entity 38, although in some example embodiments and modes RBR priority assignment message may be carried in a RRC message. In such case, the network node 24 also comprises an RRC state machine.

[0100] As a further addition to the structures of Fig. 15, Fig. 17 shows that the wireless terminal 22, e.g., the medium access control, MAC, entities 80 of wireless terminal 22, comprises RBR query message prioritization controller 90. The RBR query message prioritization controller 90 may work with recommended bit rate query message generator 28 and serve to ensure that the message of act 16-3 is transmitted with the prioritization afforded by the RBR priority assignment message of act 16-1.

[0101] The example embodiment and mode of Section 3.1 including Fig. 16 and Fig. 17 hereof also encompasses a computer program product in which processor circuitry or the like, such as network node processors 34 and wireless terminal processor(s) 60, execute instructions stored on a non-transient memory to perform acts such as those above described, including the acts of one or more of Fig. 16.

[0102] 3.2 SCHEDULING REQUEST ENHANCEMENTS FOR RBR QUERY In a case that a wireless terminal needs to receive a new recommended bit rate from a network node, e.g., from a base station, an RBR query needs to be transmitted to the network node immediately. However, in contrast to the situation shown in Fig. 16, if the wireless terminal does not receive any uplink resource, the triggered RBR query cannot be transmitted.

[0103] Section 3.1 including Fig. 18 and Fig. 19 hereof provide example embodiments and modes wherein a triggered RBR query can trigger a scheduling request, SR, to request an uplink resource for the wireless terminal to use to transmit the RBR query message to the network node.

[0104] Fig. 18 depicts a flow chart describing an example embodiment and mode of scheduling request (SR) trigging which is coupled with or results from a triggered RBR query.

[0105] In the example of Fig. 18, as act 18-1 an RBR query is triggered. As act 18-2 the wireless terminal, e.g., the medium access control, MAC, entities 80 of wireless terminal, determines whether there is at least available UL resource for a new transmission which may include the RBR query message, e.g., an RBR MAC CE. If it is determined at act 18-2 that there is an available UL resource for a new transmission which may include an RBR MAC CE, the wireless terminal waits until the transmission which uses, e.g., is associated with the available UL resource, multiplexes the RBR MAC CE for the triggered RBR query, and as act 18-4 sends the RBR query message to the network node.

[0106] However, if it is determined at act 18-2 that there is no available UL resource for a new transmission which may include the RBR query message, e.g., an RBR MAC CE, as act 18-3 the medium access control, MAC, entity of wireless terminal triggers a scheduling request. The scheduling request of act 18-3 is transmitted on physical uplink control channel (PUCCH). In an example embodiment and mode, the logical channel which triggers the scheduling request, SR, can be the logical channel which triggers the RBR query.

[0107] In an example embodiment and mode, when multiple RBR queries are triggered, the highest priority LCH is considered as the LCH which triggers the SR.

[0108] Fig. 19 shows in more detail an exemplary embodiment and mode of the technology disclosed herein in which prioritization enhancements are provided in conjunction with a recommended bit rate procedure, and particularly for a scheduling request. The example units and functionalities illustrated in Fig. 19 are not limiting, e.g., various units and functionalities may be omitted in some implementations and other units and functionalities not illustrated herein may be included. The example units and functionalities illustrated in Fig. 19 may be the same as and understood with reference to previous figures including Fig. 17. However, Fig. 19 further shows the medium access control, MAC, entity 38 of network node 24 as comprising, in addition to bit rate controller 46, resource scheduler 92. The resource scheduler 92 may respond to the scheduling request from the wireless terminal 22, which may be triggered as part of or in conjunction with triggering of a RBR query message.

[0109] As a further addition to the structures of Fig. 17, Fig. 19 shows that the wireless terminal 22, e.g., the medium access control, MAC, entities 80 of wireless terminal 22, comprises RBR query message scheduling request generator 94. The RBR query message scheduling request generator 94 may work with recommended bit rate query message generator 28 and serve to ensure that an uplink resource is afforded for the transmission of the RBR query message.

[0110] The example embodiment and mode of Section 3.2 including Fig. 18 and Fig. 19 hereof also encompasses a computer program product in which processor circuitry or the like, such as network node processors 34 and wireless terminal processor(s) 60, execute instructions stored on a non-transient memory to perform acts such as those above described, including the acts of one or more of Fig. 18.

[0111] 3.3: RETRANSMISSION ENHANCEMENTS FOR RBR QUERY As explained by various foregoing example embodiments and modes, if an RBR query triggering condition is satisfied, a wireless terminal triggers an RBR query, e.g., a RBR query message. After the wireless terminal receives an uplink resource, e.g., an uplink grant, the RBR query message, e.g., an RBR MAC CE, including the triggered RBR query can then be transmitted to a network node. The wireless terminal should the wait for a reception of an RBR indication, e.g., RBR indication message, transmitted by the network node. As the RBR MAC CE including an RBR query does not have automatic repeat request (ARQ) procedure, successful delivery of the RBR indication message is not guaranteed.

[0112] The example embodiments and modes of section 3.3 hereof, including Fig. 20 and Fig. 21, address situations in which a RBR indication message is not timely received by a wireless terminal. Fig. 20 depicts an example signaling flow for Section 3.3 and describes multiple transmissions of RBR queries. Act 20-1 comprises the wireless terminal determining that a triggering condition for a RBR query message has been satisfied, so that a RBR query message is triggered. The satisfaction of act 20-1 may be according to any one or more foregoing example embodiments and modes. Act 20-2 shows that the RBR query message, having been triggered, is transmitted to the network node. At essentially the same time a RBR retransmission timer is started. A RBR retransmission timer is set for a time for which the wireless terminal should reasonably wait for receipt of the RBR indication message. A length of the RBR retransmission timer may be configured by the network node, e.g., by an RRC message from the base station to the wireless terminal.

[0113] Thus, as shown by act 20-3, when an RBR query is transmitted to the gNB, the RBR transmission timer can be started. In another implementation, the RBR retransmission timer can be started when an RBR query is triggered. If the RBR retransmission timer is already started and ongoing, the timer can be re-started.

[0114] If the RBR retransmission timer expires, as shown by act 20-4, as act 20-5 the wireless terminal can consider that the RBR query has been or is to be triggered again. In another example embodiment and mode, and as shown by act 20-6, the wireless terminal may retransmit the same RBR query which was previous transmitted. Similar to the initial transmission of the RBR query, when an RBR query is transmitted to the gNB or an RBR query is triggered, the RBR transmission timer can be again started, as reflected by act 20-7.

[0115] When, as shown by act 20-8, the wireless terminal receives an RBR indication from the base station, as act 20-9 the wireless terminal can stop the RBR retransmission timer. In an exemplary implementation, when the UE receives an RBR indication for a logical channel or QoS flow, the UE can cancel the triggered RBR for the logical channel or QoS flow.

[0116] The example of Fig. 21 describes a timer operation for the wireless terminal to wait the RBR indication. However, in another example embodiment and mode, if the wireless terminal has not received any RBR for the LCH or QF for a configured time, the RBR query is triggered again or retransmitted. For example, the wireless terminal may wait for a time that is pre-configured at the wireless terminal rather than a time that is set by the network node.

[0117] Fig. 21 shows in more detail an exemplary embodiment and mode of the technology disclosed herein in which prioritization enhancements are provided in conjunction with a recommended bit rate procedure, and particularly for a scheduling request. The example units and functionalities illustrated in Fig. 21 are not limiting, e.g., various units and functionalities may be omitted in some implementations and other units and functionalities not illustrated herein may be included. The example units and functionalities illustrated in Fig. 21 may be the same as and understood with reference to previous figures including Fig. 19. However, Fig. 21 further shows that the wireless terminal 22, e.g., the medium access control, MAC, entities 80 of wireless terminal 22, comprises RBR query message retransmission controller 96. The RBR query message retransmission controller 96 may operate in conjunction with RBR retransmission timer 98 and recommended bit rate query message generator 28 to perform acts of Fig. 20, including the setting and re-setting, when necessary, of RBR retransmission timer 98 upon determining whether a RBR indication message has been timely received.

[0118] The example embodiment and mode of Section 3.3 including Fig. 20 and Fig. 21 hereof also encompasses a computer program product in which processor circuitry or the like, such as wireless terminal processor(s) 60, execute instructions stored on a non-transient memory to perform acts such as those above described, including the acts of one or more of Fig. 20.

[0119] FURTHER CONSIDERATIONS In terms of wireless communication, the wireless terminal 22 may be either a wireless terminal such as user equipment or mobile station, or a network node. Similarly and conversely, the network node 24 may be either a wireless terminal such as user equipment or mobile station, or a network node. It should be understood that herein “network” may be used interchangeably with “network node”. A network node may be either a core network node or a node of a radio access network, such as a RAN access node, e.g., a base station node, for example. The wireless terminal UE may be any electronic device used to communicate voice and / or data via a telecommunications system, such as (but not limited to) a cellular network. Other terminology used to refer to wireless terminals and non-limiting examples of such devices can include user equipment terminal, UE, mobile station, mobile device, access terminal, subscriber station, mobile terminal, remote station, user terminal, terminal, subscriber unit, cellular phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants (“PDAs”), laptop computers, tablets, netbooks, e-readers, wireless modems, etc.be any A core network may comprise one or more core network nodes. A core network node may comprise or be realized by any suitable type of core network node entities, such as a core network management entity, e.g., an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF). A core network and one or more of its constituent core network nodes is connected to at least one radio access network through a core-RAN interface circuit.

[0120] A radio access network in turn comprises one or more radio access network (RAN) nodes, such as a base station node. The base station node serves at least one cell. The radio access network, RAN, typically comprises plural access nodes. A base station node may have architecture such as split architecture comprising a central unit and one or more distributed units that comprise mobile termination (MT).

[0121] It should be understood that the various foregoing example embodiments and modes may be utilized in conjunction with one or more example embodiments and modes described herein. For example, the example embodiments and modes of all aspects of the technology disclosed herein, may be utilized in combination with one or more other example embodiments and modes disclosed herein.

[0122] Certain units and functionalities of the communications systems may be implemented by electronic machinery. For example, electronic machinery may refer to the processor circuitry described herein, such as network node processors 34 and wireless terminal processor(s) 60. Moreover, the term “processor circuitry” is not limited to mean one processor, but may include plural processors, with the plural processors operating at one or more sites. Moreover, as used herein the term “server” is not confined to one server unit but may encompass plural servers and / or other electronic equipment and may be co-located at one site or distributed to different sites. With these understandings, Fig. 22 shows an example of electronic machinery, e.g., processor circuitry, as comprising one or more processors 490, program instruction memory 492; other memory 494 (e.g., RAM, cache, etc.); input / output interfaces 496 and 497, peripheral interfaces 498; support circuits 499; and busses 500 for communication between the aforementioned units. The processor(s) 490 may comprise the processor circuitries described herein, for example, network node processors 34 and wireless terminal processor(s) 60.

[0123] A memory or register described herein may be depicted by memory 494, or any computer-readable medium, may be one or more of readily available memory such as random-access memory (RAM), read only memory (ROM), floppy disk, hard disk, flash memory or any other form of digital storage, local or remote, and is preferably of non-volatile nature, as and such may comprise memory. The support circuits 499 are coupled to the processors 490 for supporting the processor in a conventional manner. These circuits include cache, power supplies, clock circuits, input / output circuitry and subsystems, and the like.

[0124] The processes and methods of the disclosed embodiments may be implemented as a software routine. Alternatively or additionally, some or all of method steps that are disclosed therein may be performed in hardware as well as by a processor running software. As such, the embodiments may be implemented in software, as executed upon a computer system, in hardware as an application specific integrated circuit or other type of hardware implementation, or a combination of software and hardware. The software routines of the disclosed embodiments are capable of being executed on any computer operating system and is capable of being performed using any CPU architecture.

[0125] The functions of the various elements including functional blocks, including but not limited to those labeled or described as “computer”, “processor” or “controller”, may be provided through the use of hardware such as circuit hardware and / or hardware capable of executing software in the form of coded instructions stored on computer readable medium. Thus, such functions and illustrated functional blocks are to be understood as being either hardware-implemented and / or computer-implemented, and thus, machine-implemented.

[0126] In terms of hardware implementation, the functional blocks may include or encompass, without limitation, digital signal processor (DSP) hardware, reduced instruction set processor, hardware (e.g., digital or analog) circuitry including but not limited to application specific integrated circuit(s) [ASIC], and / or field programmable gate array(s) (FPGA(s)), and (where appropriate) state machines capable of performing such functions.

[0127] In terms of computer implementation, a computer is generally understood to comprise one or more processors or one or more controllers, and the terms computer and processor and controller may be employed interchangeably herein. When provided by a computer or processor or controller, the functions may be provided by a single dedicated computer or processor or controller, by a single shared computer or processor or controller, or by a plurality of individual computers or processors or controllers, some of which may be shared or distributed. Moreover, use of the term “processor” or “controller” may also be construed to refer to other hardware capable of performing such functions and / or executing software, such as the example hardware recited above.

[0128] Nodes that communicate using the air interface also have suitable radio communications circuitry. Moreover, the technology disclosed herein may additionally be considered to be embodied entirely within any form of computer-readable memory, such as solid-state memory, magnetic disk, or optical disk containing an appropriate set of computer instructions that would cause a processor to carry out the techniques described herein.

[0129] The acts described herein may be performed by a software program product stored tangibly on a non-transient computer-readable medium which, when executed by one or more processors as herein mentioned, performs such acts either in whole or in part.

[0130] Moreover, each functional block or various features of the wireless terminal 22 and network node 24 employed in each of the aforementioned embodiments may be implemented or executed by circuitry, which is typically an integrated circuit or a plurality of integrated circuits. The circuitry designed to execute the functions described in the present specification may comprise a general-purpose processor, a digital signal processor (DSP), an application specific or general application integrated circuit (ASIC), a field programmable gate array (FPGA), or other programmable logic devices, discrete gates or transistor logic, or a discrete hardware component, or a combination thereof. The general-purpose processor may be a microprocessor, or alternatively, the processor may be a conventional processor, a controller, a microcontroller or a state machine. The general-purpose processor or each circuit described above may be configured by a digital circuit or may be configured by an analogue circuit. Further, when a technology of making into an integrated circuit superseding integrated circuits at the present time appears due to advancement of a semiconductor technology, the integrated circuit by this technology is also able to be used.

[0131] It will be appreciated that the technology disclosed herein is directed to solving radio communications-centric issues and is necessarily rooted in computer technology and overcomes problems specifically arising in radio communications. Moreover, the technology disclosed herein improves resource transmission in a communications system.

[0132] The technology disclosed herein encompasses one or more of the following non-limiting, non-exclusive example embodiments and modes: Example Embodiment 1-1: A wireless terminal of a telecommunications system, the transmitter node comprising: processor circuitry configured to generate a recommended bit rate query message in dependence upon at least one of the following: uplink data volume at the wireless terminal; an amount of uplink data stored in an uplink data buffer; packet transmission delay; packet discard status; and interface circuitry configured to transmit the recommended bit rate query message across a radio interface to a network node.

[0133] Example Embodiment 1-2: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 1-1, wherein interface circuitry is configured to receive a recommended bit rate indication message from the network node and the processor circuitry is configured to change a coding rate of the wireless terminal in accordance with a recommended bit rate provided in the recommended bit rate indication message.

[0134] Example Embodiment 1-3: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 1-1, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to generate the recommended bit rate query message selectively for a logical channel or for a Quality of Service, QoS, flow.

[0135] Example Embodiment 1-4: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 1-1, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to generate the recommended bit rate query message when a threshold is exceeded.

[0136] Example Embodiment 1-5: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 1-4, wherein the interface circuitry is configured to receive the threshold from the network node.

[0137] Example Embodiment 1-6: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 1-1, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to generate the recommended bit rate query message in dependence upon a sum of packet data convergence protocol, PDCP, data volume and radio link control, RLC, data volume.

[0138] Example Embodiment 1-7: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 1-1, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to generate the recommended bit rate query message in dependence upon packet data convergence protocol, PDCP, data volume.

[0139] Example Embodiment 1-8: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 1-1, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to generate the recommended bit rate query message in dependence upon a time duration from data arrival to an initial transmission can be considered as a UL packet transmission delay.

[0140] Example Embodiment 1-9: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 1-1, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to generate the recommended bit rate query message in dependence upon an average uplink transmission delay within a predetermined time window.

[0141] Example Embodiment 1-10: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 1-1, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to generate the recommended bit rate query message in dependence upon a number of discard packets in a packet data convergence protocol (PDCP) sublayer divided by a number of arrived packets during a predetermined period.

[0142] Example Embodiment 1-11: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 1-1, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to generate the recommended bit rate query message to comprise: a traffic flow identifier field configured to identify a Quality of Service, QoS, flow for which the recommended bit rate query message is generated; a link direction field which indicates whether the recommended bit rate query message applies to uplink transmission or downlink transmission; and a bit rate field that indicates a requested bit rate for the traffic flow in a direction specified by the link direction field.

[0143] Example Embodiment 1-12: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 1-1, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to generate the recommended bit rate query message to comprise: the traffic flow identifier field; the link direction field; and the bit rate field; for a plurality of traffic flows.

[0144] Example Embodiment 1-13: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 1-1, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to generate the recommended bit rate query message to comprise a map comprising an index field for each of the plurality of traffic flows and wherein a predetermined value in the index field for a particular one of the traffic flows indicates whether the recommended bit rate query message includes the link direction field and the bit rate field for the particular one of the traffic flows.

[0145] Example Embodiment 1-14: A wireless terminal of a telecommunications system, the transmitter node comprising: processor circuitry configured to generate a recommended bit rate query message for a Quality of Service, QoS, flow; interface circuitry configured to transmit the recommended bit rate query message across a radio interface to a network node.

[0146] Example Embodiment 1-15: A method wireless terminal of a telecommunications system, the method comprising: generating a recommended bit rate query message in dependence upon at least one of the following: uplink data volume at the wireless terminal; an amount of uplink data stored in an uplink data buffer; packet transmission delay; packet discard status; and transmitting the recommended bit rate query message across a radio interface to a network node.

[0147] Example Embodiment 1-16: A method in a wireless terminal of a telecommunications system, the method comprising: generating a recommended bit rate query message for a Quality of Service, QoS, flow; interface circuitry configured to transmit the recommended bit rate query message across a radio interface to a network node.

[0148] Example Embodiment 1-17: A network node of a telecommunications system, the transmitter node comprising: interface circuitry configured to receive a bit rate query message across a radio interface from a wireless terminal; processor circuitry configured to determine from the bit rate query message a requested bit rate for a Quality of Service, QoS, flow.

[0149] Example Embodiment 1-18: A method in a network node of a telecommunications system, the method comprising: receiving a bit rate query message across a radio interface from a wireless terminal; determining from the bit rate query message a requested bit rate for a Quality of Service, QoS, flow.

[0150] Example Embodiment 2-1: A network node of a telecommunications system, the network node comprising: processor circuitry configured to generate a configuration inquiry message configured to inquire if a resource of a wireless terminal is eligible for codec rate adaptation; interface circuitry configured to transmit the configuration inquiry message across a radio interface to a wireless terminal.

[0151] Example Embodiment 2-2: A method in a network node of a telecommunications system, the method comprising: generating a configuration inquiry message configured to inquire if a resource of a wireless terminal is eligible for codec rate adaptation; transmitting the configuration inquiry message across a radio interface to a wireless terminal.

[0152] Example Embodiment 2-3: A wireless terminal of a telecommunications system, the wireless terminal comprising: processor circuitry configured to generate a rate adaptation eligibility message to indicate whether a resource of the wireless terminal is eligible for codec rate adaptation; interface circuitry configured to transmit the rate adaptation eligibility message across a radio interface to a network node.

[0153] Example Embodiment 2-4: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 2-3, wherein the interface circuit is further configured to receive a message from the network node; and wherein the processor circuitry is configured to generate the rate adaptation eligibility message in response to the message received from the network node.

[0154] Example Embodiment 2-5: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 2-3, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to generate the rate adaptation eligibility message to indicate whether the resource of the wireless terminal prefers codec rate adaptation.

[0155] Example Embodiment 2-6: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 2-3, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to generate the rate adaptation eligibility message to indicate whether the resource of the wireless terminal prefers codec rate adaptation.

[0156] Example Embodiment 2-7: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 2-3, wherein the rate adaptation eligibility message is a radio resource control, RRC, message comprising a UE Assistance Information, UAI, information element.

[0157] Example Embodiment 2-8: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 2-3, wherein the radio resource control, RRC, message comprises a UE Assistance Information, UAI, information element that indicates whether the resource of the wireless terminal prefers codec rate adaptation.

[0158] Example Embodiment 2-9: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 2-3, wherein the rate adaptation eligibility message comprises one or more of: an identifier of a Quality of Service, QoS, flow which supports or prefers codec rate adaptation based on a recommended bit rate procedure; and a logical channel identifier for a logical channel which supports or prefers codec rate adaptation based on the recommended bit rate procedure.

[0159] Example Embodiment 2-10: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 2-3, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to generate the rate adaptation eligibility message to indicate plural resources of the wireless terminal which are eligible for codec rate adaptation.

[0160] Example Embodiment 2-11: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 2-10, wherein the plural resources of the wireless terminal which are eligible for codec rate adaptation share a same quality of service, QoS, flow.

[0161] Example Embodiment 2-12: A method in a wireless terminal of a telecommunications system, the method comprising: generating a rate adaptation eligibility message to indicate whether a resource of the wireless terminal is eligible for codec rate adaptation; transmitting the rate adaptation eligibility message across a radio interface to a network node.

[0162] Example Embodiment 3-1: A network node of a telecommunications system, the network node comprising: processor circuitry configured to generate a Recommended Bit Rate, RBR, priority assignment message configured to provide a transmission prioritization value for a RBR query message; interface circuitry configured to transmit the RBR priority assignment message message across a radio interface to a wireless terminal.

[0163] Example Embodiment 3-2: The network node of Example Embodiment 3-1, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to configure the RBR priority assignment message to provide the RBR query message with a same priority as a logical channel which triggered the RBR query message.

[0164] Example Embodiment 3-3: The network node of Example Embodiment 3-1, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to include in the RBR priority assignment message a threshold value for use by the wireless terminal in determining when a RBR query message is to be triggered.

[0165] Example Embodiment 3-4: A method in a network node of a telecommunications system, the method comprising: generating a Recommended Bit Rate, RBR, priority assignment message configured to provide a transmission prioritization value for a RBR query message; interface circuitry configured to transmit the RBR priority assignment message message across a radio interface to a wireless terminal.

[0166] Example Embodiment 3-5: A wireless terminal of a telecommunications system, the network node comprising: interface circuitry configured to receive a Recommended Bit Rate, RBR, priority assignment message message across a radio interface from a network node; and processor circuitry configured to determine prioritization of an RBR query message in response to the RBR priority assignment message.

[0167] Example Embodiment 3-6: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 3-5, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to increase prioritization of an RBR query message relative to at least some other transmissions in response to the RBR priority assignment message.

[0168] Example Embodiment 3-7: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 3-5, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to determine from the RBR priority assignment message that the RBR query message is to have a same priority as a logical channel which triggered the RBR query message.

[0169] Example Embodiment 3-8: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 3-5, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to determine from the RBR priority assignment message a threshold value for use by the wireless terminal in determining when a RBR query message is to be triggered.

[0170] Example Embodiment 3-9: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 3-5, wherein the interface circuitry is configured to transmit the RBR query message using a prioritization ascertained from the RBR priority assignment message.

[0171] Example Embodiment 3-10: A method in a wireless terminal of a telecommunications system, the method comprising: interface circuitry configured to receive a Recommended Bit Rate, RBR, priority assignment message message across a radio interface from a network node; and processor circuitry configured to determine prioritization of an RBR query message in response to the RBR priority assignment message.

[0172] Example Embodiment 3-11: A wireless terminal of a telecommunications system, the wireless terminal comprising: processor circuitry configured to generate a scheduling request when no resources are available for a Recommended Bit Rate, RBR, query message that has been triggered at the wireless terminal; and, interface circuitry configured to transmit the scheduling request across a radio interface from a network node.

[0173] Example Embodiment 3-12: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 3-11, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to include the scheduling request and the RBR query message in a same message.

[0174] Example Embodiment 3-13: The wireless terminal of Example Embodiment 3-11, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to detect triggering of one or more RBR query messages associated with respective one or more logical channels, and when multiple RBR query message are triggered, to consider a logical channel with a highest priority as the logical channel which triggers the scheduling request.

[0175] Example Embodiment 3-14: A method in a wireless terminal of a telecommunications system, the method comprising: generating a scheduling request when no resources are available for a Recommended Bit Rate, RBR, query message that has been triggered at the wireless terminal; and, transmitting the scheduling request across a radio interface from a network node.

[0176] Example Embodiment 3-15: A wireless terminal of a telecommunications system, the wireless terminal comprising: processor circuitry configured to use a timer to determine that a Recommended Bit Rate, RBR, query message should be retransmitted; interface circuitry configured to retransmit the RBR query message in accordance with operation of the timer.

[0177] Example Embodiment 3-16: A method in a wireless terminal of a telecommunications system, the method comprising: using a timer to determine that a Recommended Bit Rate, RBR, query message should be retransmitted; retransmitting the RBR query message in accordance with operation of the timer.

[0178] Although the description above contains many specificities, these should not be construed as limiting the scope of the technology disclosed herein but as merely providing illustrations of some of the presently preferred embodiments of the technology disclosed herein. Thus the scope of the technology disclosed herein should be determined by the appended claims and their legal equivalents. Therefore, it will be appreciated that the scope of the technology disclosed herein fully encompasses other embodiments which may become obvious to those skilled in the art, and that the scope of the technology disclosed herein is accordingly to be limited by nothing other than the appended claims, in which reference to an element in the singular is not intended to mean "one and only one" unless explicitly so stated, but rather "one or more." The above-described embodiments could be combined with one another. All structural, chemical, and functional equivalents to the elements of the above-described preferred embodiment that are known to those of ordinary skill in the art are expressly incorporated herein by reference and are intended to be encompassed by the present claims. Moreover, it is not necessary for a device or method to address each and every problem sought to be solved by the technology disclosed herein, for it to be encompassed by the present claims. Furthermore, no element, component, or method step in the present disclosure is intended to be dedicated to the public regardless of whether the element, component, or method step is explicitly recited in the claims.

[0179] <Cross Reference> This patent application claims priority on US provisional Application No. 63 / 702,441 filed on October 2, 2024, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

Claims

1. A network node of a telecommunications system, the network node comprising: processor circuitry configured to generate a Recommended Bit Rate, RBR, priority assignment message configured to provide a transmission prioritization value for a RBR query message; interface circuitry configured to transmit the RBR priority assignment message across a radio interface to a wireless terminal.

2. The network node of claim 1, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to configure the RBR priority assignment message to provide the RBR query message with a same priority as a logical channel which triggered the RBR query message.

3. The network node of claim 1, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to include in the RBR priority assignment message a threshold value for use by the wireless terminal in determining when a RBR query message is to be triggered.

4. A wireless terminal of a telecommunications system, the wireless terminal comprising: interface circuitry configured to receive a Recommended Bit Rate, RBR, priority assignment message across a radio interface from a network node; and processor circuitry configured to determine prioritization of an RBR query message in response to the RBR priority assignment message.

5. The wireless terminal of claim 4, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to increase prioritization of an RBR query message relative to at least some other transmissions in response to the RBR priority assignment message.

6. The wireless terminal of claim 4, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to determine from the RBR priority assignment message that the RBR query message is to have a same priority as a logical channel which triggered the RBR query message.

7. The wireless terminal of claim 4, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to determine from the RBR priority assignment message a threshold value for use by the wireless terminal in determining when a RBR query message is to be triggered.

8. The wireless terminal of claim 4, wherein the interface circuitry is configured to transmit the RBR query message using a prioritization ascertained from the RBR priority assignment message.

9. The wireless terminal of claim 4, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to generate a scheduling request when no resources are available for a Recommended Bit Rate, RBR, query message that has been triggered at the wireless terminal.

10. The wireless terminal of claim 4, wherein the interface circuitry configured to transmit the scheduling request across a radio interface from a network node.

11. The wireless terminal of claim 9, wherein the processor circuitry is configured to detect triggering of one or more RBR query messages associated with respective one or more logical channels, and when multiple RBR query messages are triggered, to consider a logical channel with a highest priority as the logical channel which triggers the scheduling request.

12. A method in a wireless terminal of a telecommunications system, the method comprising: interface circuitry configured to receive a Recommended Bit Rate, RBR, priority assignment message across a radio interface from a network node; and processor circuitry configured to determine prioritization of an RBR query message in response to the RBR priority assignment message.

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