Method and apparatus for using logical channel priority

Abstract

The disclosure relates to a 5G or 6G communication system for supporting a higher data transmission rate. According to various examples, a user equipment (UE) is configured to in case a scheduling request (SR) is triggered by at least one logical channel (LCH) that includes LCH priority-adjusted data to be transmitted, determine priority of the at least one LCH, and schedule transmission of the SR based on the determined priority. The UE is configured to trigger a buffer status report (BSR) in response to logical channel (LCH) priority-adjusted data being received by a medium access control (MAC) entity of the UE. When assembling a medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU), the UE is configured to prioritise a logical channel (LCH) including LCH-priority adjusted data over a MAC control element (CE), and the UE controls transmission of the MAC PDU.

Description

METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR USING LOGICAL CHANNEL PRIORITY

[0001] The present disclosure relates to the technical field of communications, and in particular, to a method and apparatus for using logical channel priority.

[0002] 5G mobile communication technologies define broad frequency bands such that high transmission rates and new services are possible, and can be implemented not only in “Sub 6GHz” bands such as 3.5GHz, but also in “Above 6GHz” bands referred to as mmWave including 28GHz and 39GHz. In addition, it has been considered to implement 6G mobile communication technologies (referred to as Beyond 5G systems) in terahertz bands (for example, 95GHz to 3THz bands) in order to accomplish transmission rates fifty times faster than 5G mobile communication technologies and ultra-low latencies one-tenth of 5G mobile communication technologies.

[0003] At the beginning of the development of 5G mobile communication technologies, in order to support services and to satisfy performance requirements in connection with enhanced Mobile BroadBand (eMBB), Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), and massive Machine-Type Communications (mMTC), there has been ongoing standardization regarding beamforming and massive MIMO for mitigating radio-wave path loss and increasing radio-wave transmission distances in mmWave, supporting numerologies (for example, operating multiple subcarrier spacings) for efficiently utilizing mmWave resources and dynamic operation of slot formats, initial access technologies for supporting multi-beam transmission and broadbands, definition and operation of BWP (BandWidth Part), new channel coding methods such as a LDPC (Low Density Parity Check) code for large amount of data transmission and a polar code for highly reliable transmission of control information, L2 pre-processing, and network slicing for providing a dedicated network specialized to a specific service.

[0004] Currently, there are ongoing discussions regarding improvement and performance enhancement of initial 5G mobile communication technologies in view of services to be supported by 5G mobile communication technologies, and there has been physical layer standardization regarding technologies such as V2X (Vehicle-to-everything) for aiding driving determination by autonomous vehicles based on information regarding positions and states of vehicles transmitted by the vehicles and for enhancing user convenience, NR-U (New Radio Unlicensed) aimed at system operations conforming to various regulation-related requirements in unlicensed bands, NR UE Power Saving, Non-Terrestrial Network (NTN) which is UE-satellite direct communication for providing coverage in an area in which communication with terrestrial networks is unavailable, and positioning.

[0005] Moreover, there has been ongoing standardization in air interface architecture / protocol regarding technologies such as Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) for supporting new services through interworking and convergence with other industries, IAB (Integrated Access and Backhaul) for providing a node for network service area expansion by supporting a wireless backhaul link and an access link in an integrated manner, mobility enhancement including conditional handover and DAPS (Dual Active Protocol Stack) handover, and two-step random access for simplifying random access procedures (2-step RACH for NR). There also has been ongoing standardization in system architecture / service regarding a 5G baseline architecture (for example, service based architecture or service based interface) for combining Network Functions Virtualization (NFV) and Software-Defined Networking (SDN) technologies, and Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) for receiving services based on UE positions.

[0006] As 5G mobile communication systems are commercialized, connected devices that have been exponentially increasing will be connected to communication networks, and it is accordingly expected that enhanced functions and performances of 5G mobile communication systems and integrated operations of connected devices will be necessary. To this end, new research is scheduled in connection with eXtended Reality (XR) for efficiently supporting AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality), MR (Mixed Reality) and the like, 5G performance improvement and complexity reduction by utilizing Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML), AI service support, metaverse service support, and drone communication.

[0007] Furthermore, such development of 5G mobile communication systems will serve as a basis for developing not only new waveforms for providing coverage in terahertz bands of 6G mobile communication technologies, multi-antenna transmission technologies such as Full Dimensional MIMO (FD-MIMO), array antennas and large-scale antennas, metamaterial-based lenses and antennas for improving coverage of terahertz band signals, high-dimensional space multiplexing technology using OAM (Orbital Angular Momentum), and RIS (Reconfigurable Intelligent Surface), but also full-duplex technology for increasing frequency efficiency of 6G mobile communication technologies and improving system networks, AI-based communication technology for implementing system optimization by utilizing satellites and AI (Artificial Intelligence) from the design stage and internalizing end-to-end AI support functions, and next-generation distributed computing technology for implementing services at levels of complexity exceeding the limit of UE operation capability by utilizing ultra-high-performance communication and computing resources.

[0008] According to an aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a user equipment (UE) configured to: in case a scheduling request (SR) is triggered by at least one logical channel (LCH) that includes LCH priority-adjusted data to be transmitted, determine priority of the at least one LCH; and schedule transmission of the SR based on the determined priority.

[0009] Other aspects, advantages, and salient features of the disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

[0010] Embodiments / examples of the present disclosure are further described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

[0011] Figure 1 is a block diagram illustrating an example structure of an entity in accordance with various examples of the present disclosure.

[0012] Figure 2 is a flow diagram illustrating a method in accordance with various examples of the present disclosure.

[0013] Figure 3 is a flow diagram illustrating a method in accordance with various examples of the present disclosure.

[0014] Figure 4 is a flow diagram illustrating a method in accordance with various examples of the present disclosure.

[0015] Figure 5 is a block diagram of a terminal or user equipment according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0016] Figure 6 is a block diagram of a base station according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0017] Figure 7 is a block diagram of a network entity according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0018] Hereinafter, embodiments of the disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0019] In describing the embodiments, descriptions related to technical contents well-known in the art and not associated directly with the disclosure will be omitted. Such an omission of unnecessary descriptions is intended to prevent obscuring of the main idea of the disclosure and more clearly transfer the main idea.

[0020] For the same reason, in the accompanying drawings, some elements may be exaggerated, omitted, or schematically illustrated. Further, the size of each element does not completely reflect the actual size. In the drawings, identical or corresponding elements are provided with identical reference numerals or different reference numerals.

[0021] The advantages and features of the disclosure and ways to achieve them will be apparent by making reference to embodiments as described below in detail in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the disclosure is not limited to the embodiments set forth below, but may be implemented in various different forms. The following embodiments are provided only to completely disclose the disclosure and inform those skilled in the art of the scope of the disclosure, and the disclosure is defined only by the scope of the appended claims. Throughout the specification, the same or like reference numerals designate the same or like elements. Furthermore, in describing the disclosure, a detailed description of known functions or constitution incorporated herein will be omitted in the case that it is determined that the description may make the subject matter of the disclosure unnecessarily unclear. The terms which will be described below are terms defined in consideration of the functions in the disclosure, and may be different according to users, intentions of the operators, or customs. Therefore, the definitions of the terms should be made based on the contents throughout the specification.

[0022] Herein, it will be understood that each block of the flowchart illustrations, and combinations of blocks in the flowchart illustrations, may be performed based on computer program instructions. These computer program instructions may be loaded collectively onto at least one processor of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a machine, such that the instructions, which perform through any one of, or in any combination of, the at least one processor of the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus, create means for performing the functions specified in the flowchart block(s). These computer program instructions may also be stored in a non-transitory computer usable or computer-readable memory that may direct a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to function in a particular manner, such that the instructions stored in the computer usable or computer-readable memory produce an article of manufacture including instruction means that perform the function specified in the flowchart block(s). The computer program instructions may also be loaded onto a computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to cause a series of operational steps to be performed on the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus to produce a computer executed process such that the instructions that perform on the computer or other programmable data processing apparatus provide steps for executing the functions specified in the flowchart block(s).

[0023] Further, each block may represent a module, segment, or portion of code, which includes one or more executable instructions for executing the specified logical function(s). It should also be noted that in some alternative implementations, the functions noted in the blocks may occur out of the order. For example, two blocks(or functions) shown in succession may in fact be performed substantially concurrently or the blocks may sometimes be performed in the reverse order, depending upon the functionality involved.

[0024] As used in embodiments of the disclosure, a “~unit” may refer to a software element or a hardware element, such as a field programmable gate array (FPGA) or an application specific integrated circuit (ASIC), which performs a predetermined function. However, the term including the word “~unit” does not always have a meaning limited to software or hardware. The “~unit” may be constructed either to be stored in an addressable storage medium or to execute one or more processors. Therefore, the “~unit” includes, for example, software elements, object-oriented software elements, components such as class elements and task elements, processes, functions, properties, procedures, sub-routines, segments of a program code, drivers, firmware, micro-codes, circuits, data, database, data structures, tables, arrays, and parameters. The components and functions provided by the “~unit” may be either combined into a smaller number of components and a “~unit,” or divided into additional components and a “~unit.” Moreover, the components and “~units” may be implemented to reproduce one or more central processing units (CPUs) within a device or a security multimedia card. Further, in the embodiments, the “~unit” may include one or more processors.

[0025] It should be appreciated that the blocks in each flowchart and combinations of the flowcharts may be performed by one or more computer programs which include instructions. The entirety of the one or more computer programs may be stored in a single memory device or the one or more computer programs may be divided with different portions stored in different multiple memory devices.

[0026] Any of the functions or operations described herein can be processed by one processor or a combination of processors. The one processor or the combination of processors is circuitry performing processing and includes circuitry like an application processor (AP, e.g. a CPU), a communication processor (CP, e.g., a modem), a graphics processing unit (GPU), a neural processing unit (NPU) (e.g., an artificial intelligence (AI) chip), a Wi-Fi chip, a Bluetooth® chip, a global positioning system (GPS) chip, a near field communication (NFC) chip, connectivity chips, a sensor controller, a touch controller, a finger-print sensor controller, a display driver integrated circuit (IC), an audio CODEC chip, a universal serial bus (USB) controller, a camera controller, an image processing IC, a microprocessor unit (MPU), a system on chip (SoC), an IC, or the like.

[0027] It will be appreciated that various embodiments of the disclosure according to the claims and description in the specification can be realized in the form of hardware, software or a combination of hardware and software.

[0028] Any such software may be stored in non-transitory computer readable storage media. The non-transitory computer readable storage media store one or more computer programs (software modules), the one or more computer programs include computer-executable instructions that, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device individually or collectively, cause the electronic device to perform a method of the disclosure.

[0029] Any such software may be stored in the form of volatile or non-volatile storage such as, for example, a storage device like read only memory (ROM), whether erasable or rewritable or not, or in the form of memory such as, for example, random access memory (RAM), memory chips, device or integrated circuits or on an optically or magnetically readable medium such as, for example, a compact disk (CD), digital versatile disc (DVD), magnetic disk or magnetic tape or the like. It will be appreciated that the storage devices and storage media are various embodiments of non-transitory machine-readable storage that are suitable for storing a computer program or computer programs comprising instructions that, when executed, implement various embodiments of the disclosure. Accordingly, various embodiments of the present disclosure may provide a program comprising code for implementing apparatus or a method as claimed in any one of the claims of this specification and a non-transitory machine-readable storage storing such a program.

[0030] Hereinafter, the determination of priority between A and B in the present disclosure may refer to various actions such as selecting the one having a higher priority based on a predefined priority rule and performing an operation corresponding thereto, or omitting or dropping an operation corresponding to the one having a lower priority.

[0031] Hereinafter, "A or B" as described in the present disclosure may be understood as "A and / or B," which may include A, or B, or both A and B.

[0032] In addition, "at least one of A, B, and C" as described in the present disclosure may be understood to include A, or B, or C, or any combination of A, B, and C.

[0033] In addition, "at least one of A, B, or C" as described in the present disclosure may be understood to include A, or B, or C, or any combination of A, B, and C.

[0034] Furthermore, "A / B" as described in the present disclosure may be understood as "A and / or B," which may include A, or B, or both A and B.

[0035] Furthermore, "A, B" as described in the present disclosure may be understood as "A and / or B," which may include A, or B, or both A and B.

[0036] Furthermore, "A and B" as described in the present disclosure may be understood as "A and / or B," which may include A, or B, or both A and B.

[0037] Furthermore, “if condition A and condition B are satisfied,” as described in the present disclosure, may not be limited to a case where both condition A and condition B are satisfied, but may be understood to include a case where either condition A or condition B is individually satisfied, both condition A and condition B are satisfied, or one or more additional conditions are satisfied in combination.

[0038] Furthermore, throughout this disclosure, ordinal terms such as "first," "second," "third," etc., (and similar qualifiers) are used merely to distinguish between different instances, occurrences, configurations, messages, stages, or aspects of elements, operations, or information as described herein. Unless the context clearly dictates otherwise, the use of such ordinal terms does not itself require that the elements, operations, or information distinguished by these terms be structurally different, numerically distinct, or substantively dissimilar. For example, a "first signal" and a "second signal" may refer to instances of the same signal transmitted at different times or containing the same core information despite minor variations, or they may refer to signals with different content or characteristics, depending on the specific context. Similarly, a "first value" and a "second value" may represent the same magnitude but measured or applied in different circumstances, or they may represent different magnitudes. The interpretation should be guided by the specific technical context, function, and relationship described in the relevant portion of the specification and claims.

[0039] Furthermore, the terms “first ~”, “second ~”, etc., as described in the present disclosure with respect to various elements (e.g., information, objects, operation, sequences, or the like), should not limit those elements. These terms may only be intended to distinguish one element from another, and may not be intended to indicate a specific order. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and, similarly, a second element could be termed a first element.

[0040] Furthermore, even if “first ~” and “second ~” are described in the present disclosure, it may be understood that element(s) referred to by “first ~” and “second ~” may be the same or different. For example, in case of element(s) being information, first information and second information may both be same information and, in some cases, are separate and different information.

[0041] In addition, the terms “if ~” and “in case that ~” as used in the disclosure or claims may be interpreted to include the meanings of “when (or upon) ~,” “in response to ~,” “based on ~,” or “according to ~,” and may be used interchangeably with these expressions. In addition, expressions other than those exemplified herein may also be used, as long as they have substantially the same meaning and do not impair the technical features of the present disclosure.

[0042] For example, the physical layer signaling may be referred to as Layer 1 (L1) signaling and may include downlink control information (DCI). In addition, the higher layer signaling may include a medium access control (MAC) control message, a radio resource control (RRC) signaling message, a non-access stratum (NAS) signaling message, or an application layer message. The RRC signaling message may be referred to as L3 (layer 3) signaling. It should be noted, however, that the higher layer signaling is not limited to the aforementioned examples.

[0043] In addition, the term "not perform" as used in the present disclosure or claims may, in context, be understood to mean that the corresponding step is omitted or skipped. Such a term may be replaced with other terms having the same or substantially equivalent meaning.

[0044] In addition, "transmitting a message including A and B" as described in the present disclosure, may be understood as encompassing both (i) transmitting A and B in a single message, and (ii) transmitting A and B separately via multiple messages (e.g., transmitting a first message including A and a second message including B). This interpretation may also apply to messages that include two or more items (e.g., A, B, C), transmitted either together or separately.

[0045] In addition, "transmitting a message including A and transmitting a message including B" may also be interpreted as transmitting a message including A and B in a single message.

[0046] In the specific embodiments of the present disclosure described below, terms or components included in the disclosure may be expressed in singular or plural form depending on the specific embodiments presented. However, such singular or plural expressions are selected appropriately for convenience of description, and the present disclosure is not limited to a singular or plural number of components. A component expressed in the plural form may be implemented as a single component, and a component expressed in the singular form may be implemented as multiple components.

[0047] The drawings or flowcharts described below illustrate exemplary methods that may be implemented according to the principles of the present disclosure, and various modifications may be made to the methods illustrated in the flowcharts of the present disclosure. For example, although illustrated as a series of steps, various steps in each drawing or flowchart may overlap, occur in parallel, occur in a different order, or be repeated. In other examples, any step may be omitted or replaced with another step.

[0048] The methods and apparatuses proposed in the embodiments of the present disclosure are not limited to each embodiment individually, but may also be applied in combination of all or some of the embodiments proposed in the disclosure. Therefore, the embodiments of the present disclosure may be modified and applied without significantly departing from the scope of the present disclosure, as would be understood by those skilled in the art.

[0049] In this case, even if certain wordings are described differently across embodiments, they may be used interchangeably or in substitution or in combination if their underlying concepts are equivalent. For example, for the same or equivalent concept, even if one embodiment uses the expression "A" and another embodiment uses the expression "B", such expressions may be understood interchangeably, in substitution, or in combination.

[0050] The terms used in the following description to refer to access nodes, network entities, messages, interfaces between network entities, various types of identification information, and the like, are provided merely for the convenience of explanation by way of example. Therefore, the present disclosure is not limited to the terms described below, and other terms having equivalent technical meanings may also be used. Such terms may also be interchangeable with terms defined in any 3rd generation partnership project　(3GPP) technical specifications (TS) where appropriate.

[0051] Hereinafter, a base station is an entity that allocates resources to terminals, and may be at least one of a gNode B, an eNode B, a Node B, a base station (BS), a wireless access unit, a BS controller, or a node on a network.

[0052] Furthermore, the base station of the present disclosure may include a split architecture comprising a central unit (CU) and a distributed unit (DU). In this structure, the CU is configured to process the higher layers of the control and user planes, while the DU is configured to process lower-layer radio resource functions. The embodiments of the present disclosure may be equally applicable to 5G base station architectures in which such CU and DU functional splits are implemented.

[0053] A terminal may include a UE, a mobile station (MS), a cellular phone, a smartphone, a computer, or a multimedia system capable of performing communication functions.

[0054] In the disclosure, a downlink (DL) refers to a radio link through which a BS transmits a signal to a UE, and an uplink (UL) refers to a radio link through which a UE transmits a signal to a BS.

[0055] Furthermore, hereinafter, 5th generation (5G) mobile communication technologies (e.g., 5G new radio (NR)), 6th generation (6G) mobile communication technologies may be described by way of example, but the embodiments of the present disclosure may also be applied to other communication systems having similar technical backgrounds or channel types. For example, newly evolved mobile communication systems developed after 5G and 6G may be included. Furthermore, based on determinations by those skilled in the art, the embodiments of the present disclosure may also be applied to other communication systems (e.g., Wi-Fi systems) through some modifications without significantly departing from the scope of the present disclosure

[0056] In the following description, the terms physical channel and signal may be used interchangeably with data or control signal. For example, the term physical downlink shared channel (PDSCH) refers to a physical channel through which data is transmitted, but the term PDSCH may also be used to refer to the data itself. That is, in the present disclosure, the expression "transmit a physical channel" may be interpreted as being equivalent to the expression "transmit data or a signal via a physical channel."

[0057] Hereinafter, in the context of the present disclosure, higher layer signaling may refer to signaling corresponding to at least one or any combination of the following: master information block (MIB), system information block (SIB) or SIB M (M = 1, 2, ...), radio resource control (RRC), or medium access control (MAC) control element (CE), or a non-access stratum (NAS) signaling message, or an application layer message. The RRC signaling message may be referred to as L3 (layer 3) signaling.

[0058] In addition, L1 signaling may refer to signaling corresponding to at least one or any combination of signaling techniques using the at least one or any combination of the following physical layer channels or signaling: physical downlink control channel (PDCCH), downlink control information (DCI), user equipment (UE)-specific DCI, group-common DCI, common DCI, scheduling DCI (e.g., DCI used for scheduling downlink or uplink data), non-scheduling DCI (e.g., DCI not used for scheduling downlink or uplink data) physical uplink control channel (PUCCH), or uplink control information (UCI). The L1 signaling message may be referred to as a physical layer signaling.

[0059] Hereinafter, the expression that information is configured by the BS, as used in the present disclosure or claims, may, in context, be understood to mean that the terminal receives the corresponding information from the BS via a physical layer signaling or a higher layer signaling. Such an expression may be replaced with other terms having the same or substantially equivalent meaning.

[0060] Hereinafter, the operational principle of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0061] Throughout the description of this specification, the words “comprise”, “include” and “contain” and variations of the words, for example “comprising” and “comprises”, means “including but not limited to”, and is not intended to (and does not) exclude other features, elements, components, integers, steps, processes, operations, functions, characteristics, properties and / or groups thereof.

[0062] Throughout the description of this specification, language in the general form of “X for Y” (where Y is some action, process, operation, function, activity or step and X is some means for carrying out that action, process, operation, function, activity or step) encompasses means X adapted, configured or arranged specifically, but not necessarily exclusively, to do Y.

[0063] According to an aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a user equipment (UE) configured to: in case a scheduling request (SR) is triggered by at least one logical channel (LCH) that includes LCH priority-adjusted data to be transmitted, determine priority of the at least one LCH; and schedule transmission of the SR based on the determined priority.

[0064] According to various examples, intra-UE prioritization is configured at the UE; and wherein transmission of the SR overlaps in time with an uplink (UL) grant transmission.

[0065] According to various examples, the priority is determined as a priority of the at least one LCH at the time when the SR was triggered or a current priority of the at least one LCH.

[0066] According to various examples, the data includes the LCH priority-adjusted data.

[0067] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method of a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: in case a scheduling request (SR) is triggered by at least one logical channel (LCH) that includes LCH priority-adjusted data to be transmitted, determining priority of the at least one LCH; and scheduling transmission of the SR based on the determined priority.

[0068] According to various examples, the method of the above aspect is modified to include one or more features / operations to provide the feature(s) / operation(s) of a UE according to any of the examples given above.

[0069] According to another aspect of the disclosure, there is provided a user equipment (UE) configured to: trigger a buffer status report (BSR) in response to logical channel (LCH) priority-adjusted data being received by a medium access control (MAC) entity of the UE.

[0070] According to various examples, the BSR is triggered regardless of a priority of at least one LCH.

[0071] According to various examples, a priority associated with the BSR is determined according to a priority of a LCH included in the BSR.

[0072] According to various examples, the priority associated with the BSR is a priority of a BSR MAC control element (CE).

[0073] According to various examples, the priority of the BSR MAC CE is determined to be one of: a priority of the LCH including the LCH priority-adjusted data; or a priority of the highest-priority LCH included in the BSR.

[0074] According to various examples, the BSR is triggered prior to assembly of a MAC protocol data unit (PDU) including the BSR MAC CE.

[0075] According to various examples, the priority of the highest-priority LCH is a priority determined at the time of assembly of the MAC PDU including the BSR MAC CE or a priority determined at the time the BSR is triggered.

[0076] According to various examples, the priority of the BSR MAC CE is the priority of the LCH including the LCH priority-adjusted data if only part of the LCH priority-adjusted data is included in the MAC PDU.

[0077] According to various examples, the priority of the BSR MAC CE is the priority of the highest-priority LCH included in the BSR if the MAC PDU includes the LCH priority-adjusted data.

[0078] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method of a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: triggering a buffer status report (BSR) in response to logical channel (LCH) priority-adjusted data being received by a medium access control (MAC) entity of the UE.

[0079] According to various examples, the method of the above aspect is modified to include one or more features / operations to provide the feature(s) / operation(s) of a UE according to any of the examples given above.

[0080] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a user equipment (UE) configured to: when assembling a medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU), prioritise a logical channel (LCH) including LCH-priority adjusted data over a MAC control element (CE); and control transmission of the MAC PDU.

[0081] According to various examples, the MAC CE is associated with a buffer status report (BSR), Delay Status Report (DSR) or Power Headroom Report (PHR).

[0082] According to various examples, the UE is configured to: determine a priority of a buffer status report (BSR) MAC CE as a priority of a LCH that triggered a BSR associated with the BSR MAC CE prior to assembly of the MAC PDU; wherein all data of the LCH cannot be included in the MAC PDU.

[0083] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a method of a user equipment (UE), the method comprising: when assembling a medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU), prioritising a logical channel (LCH) including LCH-priority adjusted data over a MAC control element (CE); and controlling transmission of the MAC PDU.

[0084] According to various examples, the method of the above aspect is modified to include one or more features / operations to provide the feature(s) / operation(s) of a UE according to any of the examples given above.

[0085] According to another aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided a computer-readable storage medium comprising instructions which, when executed by one or more processors of an electronic device, cause the electronic device to perform a method according to any one or more of the aspects or examples described above.

[0086] The present disclosure relates to wireless communication systems, for example, systems compliant with 3GPP standards such as TS 38.321.

[0087] Wireless or mobile (cellular) communications networks in which a mobile terminal (e.g., user equipment (UE), such as a mobile handset) communicates via a radio link with a network of base stations (BSs), or other wireless access points (APs) or nodes, have undergone rapid development through a number of generations. The 3rdGeneration Partnership Project (3GPP) design, specify and standardise technologies for mobile wireless communication networks. Fourth Generation (4G) and Fifth Generation (5G) systems (5GS) are now widely deployed, while beyond 5G (B5G) and 6G systems are being considered.

[0088] 3GPP standards for 4G systems include an Evolved Packet Core (EPC) and an Enhanced-UTRAN (E-UTRAN: an Enhanced Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network). The E-UTRAN uses Long Term Evolution (LTE) radio technology. LTE is commonly used to refer to the whole system including both the EPC and the E-UTRAN, and LTE is used in this sense in the remainder of this document. LTE should also be taken to include LTE enhancements such as LTE Advanced and LTE Pro, which offer enhanced data rates compared to LTE.

[0089] In 5G systems a new air interface has been developed, which may be referred to as 5G New Radio (5G NR) or simply NR. NR is designed to support the wide variety of services and use case scenarios envisaged for 5G networks, though builds upon established LTE technologies B5G systems, such as 6G, are currently being considered and developed, and are expected to at least partly build on 5G systems.

[0090] New frameworks and architectures are being developed as part of 5G network (and beyond, such as 6G networks) in order to increase the range of functionality and use cases available through 5G networks. One area currently under development relates to logical channels.

[0091] Logical Channel Prioritization, or LCP, is a procedure carried out at the MAC layer of 5G NR, and used to determine the amount of data from each individual logical channel (LCH) which is then inserted into a given MAC PDU for uplink (UL) transmission. Transmission resources are limited, and LCP provides a balance between prioritizing high-priority data, and starving lower-priority data. The LCP procedure is performed in two rounds. For example, first and second rounds of LCP are described as below (e.g., in accordance with TS 38.321) below.

[0092] When a new transmission is performed, the MAC entity may allocate resources to the logical channels as follows. First, logical channels selected for the UL grant with Bj > 0 are allocated resources in a decreasing priority order. If the PBR of a logical channel is set to infinity, the MAC entity may allocate resources for all the data that is available for transmission on the logical channel before meeting the PBR of the lower priority logical channel. Second, the MAC entity may decrement Bj by the total size of MAC SDUs served to logical channel j above. Finally, if any resources remain, all the logical channels selected are served in a strict decreasing priority order (regardless of the value of Bj) until either the data for that logical channel or the UL grant is exhausted, whichever comes first. Logical channels configured with equal priority are served equally.XR (eXtended Reality) work may present challenges due to its unique combination of high bit rates and low latency. The stringent requirements of XR in terms of delay, in particular, require enhancements to existing NR scheduling techniques including aforementioned LCP.

[0093] Regarding scheduling enhancements (e.g., XR requirements), it may be considered whether or how an additional priority affects intra-UE prioritization. Regarding XR (eXtended Reality) for NR, the additional logical channel priority handling using delay / deadline information of packets may be specified as follows. Enhancements for support of UL scheduling to enable high XR capacity while meeting delay requirements / avoiding too late PDUs may be specified. For example, additional Logical Channel priority handling using delay / deadline information of packets may be specified. In addition, enhanced DSR (Delay Status Report) reporting with multiple pairs of remaining time and buffer size for an LCG may be specified. In a subsequent development, the following enhancements on LCP may be applied. As a baseline, additional LCH priority is applied for an LCH in both first and second rounds of resource allocation procedure in LCP, as long as the LCH has delay-critical data available for transmission when starting the first Round. The priority for the 2nd round may be changed, but tight timeline of LCP procedure and UE complexity may be considered. These can be determined by UE implementation. An independent per-LCH remaining time threshold for applying delay-critical priority may be applied. In the present disclosure, setting restrictions of the remaining time threshold with relation to the DSR triggering threshold are not introduced.Additionally, regarding terminology used herein, the term “LCH priority-adjusted data” is used. Additionally, according to an embodiment, as a baseline, the additional LCH priority is applied to both the first round and the second round of the LCP procedure. The UE does not fallback to the default LCH priority in the second round even if there is no more LCH priority-adjusted data after the first round. As an optional capability, the UE can also support to fallback to default priority in the second round of LCP. In summary, an additional priority for a LCH which contains delay-critical data is introduced (referred to as “LCH priority-adjusted data”, to avoid the confusion with the term “delay-critical data” which is already used in legacy NR when describing DSR, or Delay Status Report. This additional LCH priority may be configured in addition to conventional LCH priority, for certain LCHs where it is applicable). A channel may be deemed to contain LCH priority-adjusted data, if the remaining time before discard of any buffered PDCP SDU in that LCH (as defined by a timer configured for this PDCP SDU) goes below a LCH-specific configured threshold.

[0094] LCH priority may be used in 1) resource allocation in LCP (as mentioned above), 2) BSR triggering (in some cases, a BSR is triggered only if data of higher priority arrives than priority of data already in the buffer), 3) truncated BSR LCG selection (when we do not have space to send the entire BSR), and / or 4) intra-UE prioritization. It may be considered whether each of these steps should trigger a re-calculation of LCH priorities (i.e. determining whether each LCH contains delay-critical data at every given point in time where LCH priority needs to be used), and whether different steps (e.g. MAC PDU assembly and related intra-UE prioritization at point of transmission of said MAC PDU) should use the same LCH priorities or not. Certain examples of the present disclosure relate to methods, apparatus and / or systems for using, determining or setting LCH priority. Further, various examples relate to determining whether or not LCH priority should be re-calculated, or whether or not the same, e.g. an already-calculated, priority should be used. In various examples, determination of priority in specific cases and / or under certain conditions is considered. In yet further examples, the priority is determined based on availability of data or delay-critical data for LCH(s) and / or based on a certain time, such as the time of new uplink data arrival, BSR triggering or MAC PDU assembly. Various examples also relate to the triggering of BSR in certain circumstances.

[0095] The following examples are applicable to, and use terminology associated with, 3GPP 5G. However, the skilled person will appreciate that the techniques disclosed herein are not limited to these examples or to 3GPP 5G, and may be applied in any suitable system or standard, for example one or more existing and / or future generation wireless communication systems or standards. The skilled person will appreciate that the techniques disclosed herein may be applied in any existing or future releases of 3GPP 5G NR or any other relevant standard. For example, the functionality of the various network entities and other features disclosed herein may be applied to corresponding or equivalent entities or features in other communication systems or standards. Corresponding or equivalent entities or features may be regarded as entities or features that perform the same or similar role, function, operation or purpose within the network. In particular, the following disclosure should be considered at least in relation to 6G also, which is expected to use at least part of the 5G architecture, or equivalent, and to which the present disclosure also relates.

[0096] A particular network entity may be implemented as a network element on a dedicated hardware, as a software instance running on a dedicated hardware, and / or as a virtualised function instantiated on an appropriate platform, e.g. on a cloud infrastructure.

[0097] The skilled person will appreciate that the present disclosure is not limited to the specific examples disclosed herein. For example:

[0098] ㆍ The techniques disclosed herein are not limited to 3GPP 5G, B5G or 6G.

[0099] ㆍ One or more entities in the examples disclosed herein may be replaced with one or more alternative entities performing equivalent or corresponding functions, processes or operations.

[0100] ㆍ One or more of the messages in the examples disclosed herein may be replaced with one or more alternative messages, signals or other type of information carriers that communicate equivalent or corresponding information.

[0101] ㆍ One or more further elements, entities and / or messages may be added to the examples disclosed herein.

[0102] ㆍ One or more non-essential elements, entities and / or messages may be omitted in certain examples.

[0103] ㆍ The functions, processes or operations of a particular entity in one example may be divided between two or more separate entities in an alternative example.

[0104] ㆍ The functions, processes or operations of two or more separate entities in one example may be performed by a single entity in an alternative example.

[0105] ㆍ Information carried by a particular message in one example may be carried by two or more separate messages in an alternative example.

[0106] Information carried by two or more separate messages in one example may be carried by a single message in an alternative example.

[0107] ㆍ The order in which operations are performed may be modified, if possible, in alternative examples.

[0108] ㆍ The transmission of information between network entities is not limited to the specific form, type and / or order of messages described in relation to the examples disclosed herein.

[0109] Certain examples of the present disclosure may be provided in the form of an apparatus / device / network entity configured to perform one or more defined network functions and / or a method therefor. Such an apparatus / device / network entity may comprise one or more elements, for example one or more of receivers, transmitters, transceivers, processors, controllers, modules, units, and the like, each element configured to perform one or more corresponding processes, operations and / or method steps for implementing the techniques described herein. For example, an operation / function of X may be performed by a module configured to perform X (or an X-module). Certain examples of the present disclosure may be provided in the form of a system (e.g., a network) comprising one or more such apparatuses / devices / network entities, and / or a method therefor.

[0110] It will be appreciated that examples of the present disclosure may be realized in the form of hardware, software or a combination of hardware and software. Certain examples of the present disclosure may provide a computer program comprising instructions or code which, when executed, implement a method, system and / or apparatus in accordance with any aspect, example and / or embodiment disclosed herein. Certain embodiments of the present disclosure provide a machine-readable storage storing such a program.

[0111] A network or CN according to one or more of the examples disclosed herein may include one or more of a Network Data Analytics Function (NWDAF) entity, an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) entity, a Session Management Function (SMF) entity, a Network Slice Selection Function (NSSF) entity, a Network Repository Function (NRF) entity, Application Function (AF) entity, and an Operation and Maintenance (OAM) entity. The network may include one or more Service Consumers (including one or more of the entities mentioned above and / or one or more other entities) that receive analytics from NWDAF. The skilled person will appreciate that a network may omit one or more of the entities mentioned above and / or may comprise one or more additional entities.

[0112] As mentioned above, in NR, LCH priority may be used in 1) resource allocation in LCP (as mentioned above), 2) BSR triggering (in some cases, a BSR is triggered only if data of higher priority arrives than priority of data already in the buffer), 3) truncated BSR LCG selection (when we do not have space to send the entire BSR), and / or 4) intra-UE prioritization. It is currently unclear whether each of these steps should trigger a re-calculation of LCH priorities (i.e. determining whether each LCH contains delay-critical data at every given point in time where LCH priority needs to be used), and whether different steps (e.g. MAC PDU assembly and related intra-UE prioritization at point of transmission of said MAC PDU) should use the same LCH priorities or not.

[0113] For instance, for a LCH#1 configured with a new / adjusted LCH priority P_a and LCH priority P_b, assume that a BSR is triggered by arrival of data in LCH#1 which uses new / adjusted priority P_a as there are SDUs among its data close to expiry. Now further assume that once related MAC PDU (protocol data unit or packet data unit) is assembled, all delay critical data from LCH#1 is put or expected to be put in this MAC PDU. Then, when it comes to intra-UE prioritization, and if the priority of LCH#1 were re-calculated for use in the intra-UE prioritization procedure, the same LCH#1 would now have a priority P_b which would be different (possibly lower) from P_a. This could result in this MAC PDU not being prioritized even though it contains what was considered an urgent BSR MAC CE, and urgent (delay-critical) data.

[0114] In another example, a BSR is triggered and LCH#1 uses new / adjusted priority P_a as it contains SDUs close to expiry. By the time MAC PDU assembly starts, data arrives into LCH#2 which has priority P_b1 > P_a (and this was not the case when BSR was triggered, where LCH#2 had a priority P_b<P_a). For LCH priority-adjusted data, in-time delivery is important. However, most of the MAC CEs, e.g., BSR / DSR / PHR, etc., still (e.g. according to NR) have higher absolute priorities over any of XR data, and those MAC CEs can use any type of uplink grants. This could make unexpected interruption during LCP and MAC PDU generation, resulting in LCH priority-adjusted data being delayed due to such MAC CEs. Therefore, there may be value in data prioritization over some less important / urgent MAC CEs. In the example, if it is wanted to prioritize BSR MAC CE over data or not (e.g. in conventional systems we would prioritize the BSR MAC CE, but for XR data we may wish to prioritize data), it is unclear whether to compare P_b and P_a, or P_b1 and P_a.

[0115] Therefore and as shown above, it is at present unclear whether a re-calculation of the new (additional) priority is needed, what its technical benefits would be, and how it would apply and to which steps of the uplink scheduling process. The present disclosure therefore provides examples, aspects, embodiments etc. which aim to cover the decision(s) on which priority (e.g. baseline / legacy / conventional, and / or new / additional / adjusted) to use for the various steps where LCH priority may be used, and / or on the potential link between priorities for related steps. That is, examples of the present disclosure aim to address the issues described above. Any of the examples described herein may be performed by or implemented in an entity such as a network function (e.g. any of those described herein), a UE, a NG-RAN or base station, a cell, CN or another suitable entity.

[0116] According to various examples of the present disclosure, each of the MAC procedures involving use of the additional priority of LCHs should or may trigger a re-calculation of LCH priorities (e.g. the UE re-checks whether each LCH contains LCH priority-adjusted data at every given point in time where LCH priority needs to be used).

[0117] According to various examples of the present disclosure, different, potentially related steps (e.g. MAC PDU assembly and related intra-UE prioritization at point of transmission of the MAC PDU or prior to the MAC PDU assembly; BSR triggering and related MAC PDU assembly) should or may use the same LCH priorities

[0118] According to various examples of the present disclosure, when deciding whether or not to trigger the buffer status report (BSR), one or more conventional condition (e.g. UL data, for a logical channel which belongs to an LCG, becomes available to the MAC entity and this UL data belongs to a logical channel with higher priority than the priority of any logical channel containing available UL data which belong to any LCG) is used (or a condition to be introduced in ongoing or future releases is used) but the LCH priority is either the default (e.g. conventional / legacy) or adjusted priority depending on (e.g. based on, or according to) availability of delay-critical data (LCH priority-adjusted data) for each LCH (e.g. there being at least one LCH) at the time new UL data becomes available for transmission. In an example, the priority is determined (or identified, obtained, calculated, configured, set etc.), or newly determined, only for the LCH(s) where the data has arrived. For example, a UE is configured to: use one or more condition, such as one or more conventional conditions, when deciding whether to trigger BSR; and to set or configure LCH priority based on a time of UL data arrival (or, more generally, based on UL data) and / or based on availability of delay-critical data (or, more generally, based on delay-critical data). In a further example, the UE is configured to set or configure the LCH priority to / as a default priority (such as according to conventional procedures) or to adjusted priority depending on the availability of delay-critical data at the time of new UL data arrival.

[0119] In various examples of the present disclosure, when deciding (or determining, choosing, selecting, identifying etc.) whether to trigger a / the BSR, the conventional procedure (e.g. one or more condition or convnetional condition) is modified so that any arrival (e.g. reception, obtaining, detection etc.) of priority-adjusted (e.g. delay-critical) data triggers a BSR, regardless of the priority (e.g. default or adjusted) of at least one LCH(s). For example, a UE is configured to trigger or perform (e.g. generate and / or send) a BSR based on receiving delay-critical data (or priority adjusted data) regardless of the priority of a LCH.

[0120] In various examples, when - in response to BSR being triggered either as part of (e.g. due to or based on) any one of the embodiments / examples / aspects / etc. disclosed herein or conventional behaviour - a BSR MAC CE is created (or, more generally, a message relating to BSR is created), a priority for such a BSR MAC CE is introduced (e.g. provided, defined, or assigned) for use in the MAC PDU assembly procedure. Here, said priority may be that of the logical channel that resulted in the most recent BSR trigger prior to MAC PDU assembly, in a case where said logical channel has data which cannot all be included in the MAC PDU. In various examples, in a case where all such data can be included in the MAC PDU, then the priority of the BSR MAC CE may be any of: the highest priority LCH included in the BSR where said priority may be determined at the time of MAC PDU assembly; or the highest priority LCH included in the BSR where said priority may be determined at the time of BSR triggering. In other words, according to various examples: if data from a LCH responsible for or linked with the most recent triggering of BSR prior to MAC PDU assembly cannot all be included in the MAC PDU then priority of the BSR MAC CE is the priority of said LCH (or linked to / determined based on that priority); else priority of the BSR MAC CE may be any one of: the highest priority LCH included in the BSR where said priority may be determined at the time of MAC PDU assembly; or the highest priority LCH included in the BSR where said priority may be determined at the time of BSR triggering.

[0121] In various examples, when a BSR is triggered but the UE currently has no UL grants, an SR (Scheduling Request) is triggered. By the time an SR is sent, and the UL grant is given to the UE, so that a MAC PDU may be assembled and a BSR MAC CE may finally be sent, a relatively significant time may have lapsed. Certain delay-critical data may have 'expired' and it may no longer be critical or necessary to send it. Therefore, a priority for a BSR MAC CE may also be different (lower in this example) than at the time when BSR was triggered, and it may be defined as that of highest-priority among LCHs whose status is being reported in the BSR MAC CE, calculated at the time of UL grant reception, any intra-UE prioritization procedure, or MAC PDU assembly.

[0122] In various examples, when, in response to BSR being triggered either as part of (e.g. due to or based on) any one of the embodiments / examples / aspects / etc. disclosed herein or conventional behaviour, a BSR MAC CE is created, a priority for such a BSR MAC CE is introduced (e.g. provided, defined, or assigned) for use in the MAC PDU assembly procedure. Here, said priority may be that of the logical channel that resulted in the most recent BSR trigger prior to MAC PDU assembly, and said logical channel may be that whose delay-critical data cannot all be included in the MAC PDU. In various examples, if all such delay-critical data can be included in the MAC PDU, then the priority of the BSR MAC CE may be any of: the highest priority LCH included in the BSR where said priority may be determined at the time of MAC PDU assembly; or the highest priority LCH included in the BSR where said priority may be determined at the time of BSR triggering. According to various examples: if delay-critical data from a LCH responsible for or linked with the most recent triggering of BSR prior to MAC PDU assembly cannot all be included in the MAC PDU then priority of the BSR MAC CE is the priority of said LCH (or linked to / determined based on that priority); else priority of the BSR MAC CE may be any one of: the highest priority LCH included in the BSR where said priority may be determined at the time of MAC PDU assembly; or the highest priority LCH included in the BSR where said priority may be determined at the time of BSR triggering.

[0123] Accordingly, in an example, a UE is configured to provide or configure a priority for a BSR MAC CE and for use in a MAC PDU assembly procedure, in response to BSR being triggered according to conventional behaviour or one of the examples disclosed herein; wherein the priority is configured as or determined to be priority of the logical channel that resulted in the most recent BSR trigger prior to the MAC CE being assembled. The logical channel may be one for which data or delay-critical data cannot all be included in the MAC PDU (e.g. as determined by the UE). If the data or the delay-critical data of the logical channel can be included in the MAC PDU, the UE configures the priority of the BSR MAC CE based on the priority of a LCH included in the BSR. Here, the UE may configure the priority as one of: the highest priority LCH included in the BSR where said priority may be determined at the time of MAC PDU assembly, or the highest priority LCH included in the BSR where said priority may be determined at the time of BSR triggering

[0124] In various examples, for MAC PDU assembly, the priority of a LCH during the associated LCP procedure is either the default (e.g. legacy / conventional) or adjusted priority, depending on (e.g. based on) availability of critical data at the time of MAC PDU assembly (e.g. configuration, generation, setting, etc.). In another example, for MAC PDU assembly which includes a BSR MAC CE, the priority of a LCH during the LCP procedure is either the default (e.g. legacy / conventional) or adjusted priority, depending on (e.g. based on) availability of critical data at the time of BSR triggering. In another example, for MAC PDU assembly which includes a DSR MAC CE, the priority of a LCH during the LCP procedure is either the default (e.g. legacy / conventional) or adjusted priority, depending on (e.g. based on) availability of critical data at the time of DSR triggering.

[0125] According to various examples of the present disclosure, the priorities of (or each priority of the) LCH(s) are determined (e.g. re-calculated) at any point (e.g. in time) where they need to be used (e.g. based on the use or determined use of the priorities). In another embodiment, the priorities of (or each priority of the) LCH(s) are determined (e.g. re-calculated) at the point of BSR triggering (or when BSR is triggered, or based on BSR triggering), and then may be used (e.g. as-is) for MAC PDU assembly and may be used for any intra-UE prioritization linked to transmission of said MAC PDU. For example, a UE is configured to re-calculate a priority of an LCH (or priorities for each of a plurality of LCHs) upon identifying a need to use said priority, such as identifying occurrence of a procedure (e.g. LCP procedure) which makes use of said priority.

[0126] In conventional systems, determining UL grant priority when intra-UE prioritization (needed when e.g. two uplink grant transmissions collide at least in part, such as when a configured uplink grant transmission overlaps in time with dynamically allocated uplink transmission or with another configured uplink grant transmission in the same serving cell, or in case a configured uplink grant transmissions or a dynamically allocated uplink transmission overlaps in time with a scheduling request transmission) is configured (i.e. in cases where the MAC entity is configured withlch-basedPrioritization), may occur before or after the assembly of the MAC PDU(s) which will be sent using said grant(s). In conventional systems, for the cases of autonomousTx and HARQ retransmission, priority of an uplink grant is determined following the MAC PDU assembly; in all other cases, it is determined prior to the actual MAC PDU assembly and based on data available that can be multiplexed (and not necessarily data that will actually end up in the MAC PDU which will be sent using this grant).

[0127] In various examples, for the case of intra-UE prioritization linked to logical channel(s) that have LCH priority-adjusted data to be transmitted and which are multiplexed or can be multiplexed in MAC PDUs associated with the overlapping resources, and where the priority of the UL grant is determined after the MAC PDU(s) which will be carried by colliding grants are assembled, the priority of such a LCH used for the intra-UE prioritization is that from the start of the LCP procedure for said MAC PDU assembly (e.g. is the priority determined at the start of the LCP procedure for said MAC PDU assembly). In other words, in cases where MAC PDU is generated before the grant priorities have been determined for intra-UE prioritization, priority of the grant carrying this MAC PDU for the purposes of intra-UE prioritization may be determined as the highest priority amongst the LCHs multiplexed in MAC PDU where LCH priority is determined based on which of its SDU were multiplexed or are expected to be multiplexed in said MAC PDU. In another embodiment, the priority of such a LCH used for the intra-UE prioritization is the current LCH priority, i.e. the priority is re-calculated at the point of transmission. In this case, the priority of a MAC PDU may be determined at the time of its transmission as the highest priority amongst the LCHs multiplexed in MAC PDU where LCH priority of LCH is priority at the time of transmission.

[0128] In another example, for the case of intra-UE prioritization linked to logical channel(s) that have LCH priority-adjusted data to be transmitted and which are multiplexed or can be multiplexed in MAC PDUs associated with the overlapping resources, and where the priority of the UL grant is determined before the MAC PDU(s) which will be carried by colliding grants are assembled, the priority of such a LCH used for the intra-UE prioritization is that at the point priorities of the grant are being determined. In other words, the priority of such a LCH used for the intra-UE prioritization is that at the start of the intra-UE prioritization itself. In another embodiment, if the UE determines that at the point of MAC PDU assembly or MAC PDU transmission the data from the LCH which was used to determine the priority of the grant, the grant priorities are recalculated based on LCH priorities from the start of the LCP procedure for said MAC PDU assembly (e.g. is the priority determined at the start of the LCP procedure for said MAC PDU assembly). This could happen when, for instance, the make-up of the MAC PDU is different than what was estimated at the point of determining grant priorities (e.g. due to arrival of higher priority data; due to expiry of certain SDUs in certain channels; due to expiry of all SDUs in the LCH which was used to determine the priority of the grant). In other words, in cases where MAC PDU is generated after the grant priorities have been determined for intra-UE prioritization, priority of the grant carrying this MAC PDU for the purposes of intra-UE prioritization may be re-calculated as the highest priority amongst the LCHs multiplexed in MAC PDU where LCH priority is determined based on which of its SDU were multiplexed in said MAC PDU. In another embodiment, the priority of such a LCH used for the intra-UE prioritization is the priority at the time of transmission, i.e. the priority is re-calculated at the point of transmission. In this case, the priority of a MAC PDU may be determined at the time of its transmission as the highest priority amongst the LCHs multiplexed in MAC PDU where LCH priority of LCH is priority at the time of transmission.

[0129] For example, in a case of intra-UE prioritization linked to LCHs that have priority-adjusted data to be transmitted and which are included in a MAC PDU(s) associated with overlapping resources, the priority of each LCH is set or configured as: the priority at the start of (e.g. determined or calculated at the start of) the LCP procedure for the MAC PDU(s) assembly, or the current LCH priority (e.g. re-calculated upon or at the time of intra-UE prioritization).

[0130] In various examples, for the case of intra-UE overlapping resources prioritization linked to scheduling request (SR) triggered by logical channel(s) that have LCH priority-adjusted data to be transmitted, the priority of the LCH which triggered the SR used for the intra-UE prioritization is that from the point in time when the SR was triggered (e.g. is the priority at the time when the scheduling request was triggered), or the current priority. In an example, for the former case, it may be more generally said that the priority of the LCH which triggered the SR used for the intra-UE prioritisation is based on the triggering of the SR.

[0131] There now follows a series of numbered Examples which are intended to illustrate various of the examples disclosed above (e.g. provide example implementations of embodiments disclosed above).

[0132] The following examples illustrate various embodiments according to the present disclosure. These examples may be implemented in wireless communication systems, such as systems compliant with 3GPP Technical Specifications (e.g., TS 38.321). It is understood that features, structures, or characteristics described in the context of one example (or embodiment) may be combined with those of other examples. In other words, the present disclosure encompasses all possible combinations of the described features. Furthermore, specific features described herein may be implemented independently, or may be applied as enhancements to existing technologies (e.g., 3GPP Technical Specifications)

[0133] Example 1

[0134] Example 1 relates to the use of adjusted priority for BSR triggering. The following description illustrates an example procedure, which may be implemented, for example, in a system compliant with 3GPP TS 38.321 (e.g., version 18.3.0)

[0135] Buffer Status Reporting

[0136] The Buffer Status reporting (BSR) procedure is used to provide the serving gNB with information about UL data volume in the MAC entity.

[0137] RRC configures the following parametersperiodicBSR-Timer,retxBSR-Timer,logicalChannelSR-DelayTimerApplied,logicalChannelSR-DelayTimer,logicalChannelSR-Mask,logicalChannelGroup,logicalChannelGroupIAB-Ext,sdt-LogicalChannelSR-DelayTimer,additionalBS-TableAllowedto control the BSR.

[0138] Each logical channel may be allocated to an LCG using thelogicalChannelGroup. The maximum number of LCGs is eight except for IAB-MTs configured withlogicalChannelGroupIAB-Ext, for which the maximum number of LCGs is 256.

[0139] The MAC entity determines the amount of UL data available for a logical channel according to the data volume calculation procedure.

[0140] A BSR may be triggered if any of the following events occur for activated cell group:

[0141] - UL data, for a logical channel which belongs to an LCG, becomes available to the MAC entity; and either

[0142] - this UL data belongs to a logical channel with higher priority than the priority of any logical channel containing available UL data which belong to any LCG; or

[0143] - none of the logical channels which belong to an LCG contains any available UL data.

[0144] in which case the BSR is referred below to as 'Regular BSR';

[0145] - UL resources are allocated and number of padding bits is equal to or larger than the size of the Buffer Status Report MAC CE plus its subheader, in which case the BSR is referred below to as 'Padding BSR';

[0146] -retxBSR-Timerexpires, and at least one of the logical channels which belong to an LCG contains UL data, in which case the BSR is referred below to as 'Regular BSR';

[0147] -periodicBSR-Timerexpires, in which case the BSR is referred below to as 'Periodic BSR'.

[0148] Additionaly, when Regular BSR triggering events occur for multiple logical channels simultaneously, each logical channel triggers one separate Regular BSR.

[0149] For Regular BSR, the MAC entity may:

[0150] 1> if the BSR is triggered for a logical channel for whichlogicalChannelSR-DelayTimerAppliedwith valuetrueis configured by upper layers and SDT procedure is not ongoing according to clause 5.27:

[0151] 2> start or restart thelogicalChannelSR-DelayTimer.

[0152] 1> else if BSR is triggered for a logical channel for whichlogicalChannelSR-DelayTimerAppliedwith valuetrueis configured by upper layers and SDT procedure is ongoing according to clause 5.27:

[0153] 2> start or restartlogicalChannelSR-DelayTimerwith the value as configured by thesdt-LogicalChannelSR-DelayTimer, if configured.

[0154] 1> else:

[0155] 2> if running, stop thelogicalChannelSR-DelayTimer.

[0156] For Regular and Periodic BSR, the MAC entity for whichlogicalChannelGroupIAB-Extis not configured by upper layers may:

[0157] 1> if for at least one LCG configured withadditionalBS-TableAllowed,the amount of UL data available for transmission when the MAC PDU containing the BSR is to be built is within the buffer sizes specified in Table 6.1.3.1-3:

[0158] 2> report Refined Long BSR for all LCGs which have data available for transmission;

[0159] 1> else:

[0160] 2> if more than one LCG has data available for transmission when the MAC PDU containing the BSR is to be built:

[0161] 3> report Long BSR for all LCGs which have data available for transmission.

[0162] 2> else if one LCG has data available and is configured withadditionalBS-TableAllowedand the amount of UL data available for transmission when the MAC PDU containing the BSR is to be built is greater than the largest buffer size specified in Table 6.1.3.1-3:

[0163] 3> report Long BSR.

[0164] 2> else:

[0165] 3> report Short BSR.

[0166] For Regular and Periodic BSR, the MAC entity for whichlogicalChannelGroupIAB-Extis configured by upper layers may:

[0167] 1> if more than one LCG has data available for transmission when the MAC PDU containing the BSR is to be built:

[0168] 2> if the maximum LCG ID among the configured LCGs is 7 or lower:

[0169] 3> report Long BSR for all LCGs which have data available for transmission.

[0170] 2> else:

[0171] 3> report Extended Long BSR for all LCGs which have data available for transmission.

[0172] 1> else:

[0173] 2> report Extended Short BSR.

[0174] For Padding BSR, the MAC entity for whichlogicalChannelGroupIAB-Extis not configured by upper layers may:

[0175] 1> if the number of padding bits is equal to or larger than the size of the Short BSR plus its subheader but smaller than the size of the Long BSR plus its subheader:

[0176] 2> if more than one LCG has data available for transmission when the BSR is to be built:

[0177] 3> if the number of padding bits is equal to the size of the Short BSR plus its subheader:

[0178] 4> report Short Truncated BSR of the LCG with the highest priority logical channel with data available for transmission.

[0179] 3> else:

[0180] 4> report Long Truncated BSR of the LCG(s) with the logical channels having data available for transmission following a decreasing order of the highest priority logical channel (with or without data available for transmission) in each of these LCG(s), and in case of equal priority, in increasing order of LCGID.

[0181] 2> else:

[0182] 3> report Short BSR.

[0183] 1> else if for at least one LCG configured withadditionalBS-TableAllowed, the amount of UL data available for transmission when the MAC PDU containing the BSR is to be built is within the buffer sizes specified in Table 6.1.3.1-3 and the number of padding bits is equal to or larger than the size of the Refined Long BSR plus its subheader:

[0184] 2> report Refined Long BSR for all LCGs which have data available for transmission.

[0185] 1> else if the number of padding bits is equal to or larger than the size of the Long BSR plus its subheader:

[0186] 2> report Long BSR for all LCGs which have data available for transmission.

[0187] For Padding BSR, the MAC entity for whichlogicalChannelGroupIAB-Extis configured by upper layers may:

[0188] 1> if the number of padding bits is equal to or larger than the size of the Extended Short BSR plus its subheader but smaller than the size of the Extended Long BSR plus its subheader:

[0189] 2> if more than one LCG has data available for transmission when the BSR is to be built:

[0190] 3> if the number of padding bits is smaller than the size of the Extended Long Truncated BSR with zero Buffer Size field plus its subheader:

[0191] 4> report Extended Short Truncated BSR of the LCG with the highest priority logical channel with data available for transmission.

[0192] 3> else:

[0193] 4> report Extended Long Truncated BSR of the LCG(s) with the logical channels having data available for transmission following a decreasing order of the highest priority logical channel (with or without data available for transmission) in each of these LCG(s), and in case of equal priority, in increasing order of LCGID.

[0194] 2> else:

[0195] 3> report Extended Short BSR.

[0196] 1> else if the number of padding bits is equal to or larger than the size of the Extended Long BSR plus its subheader:

[0197] 2> report Extended Long BSR for all LCGs which have data available for transmission.

[0198] For BSR triggered byretxBSR-Timerexpiry, the MAC entity considers that the logical channel that triggered the BSR is the highest priority logical channel that has data available for transmission at the time the BSR is triggered.

[0199] The MAC entity may:

[0200] 1> if the Buffer Status reporting procedure determines that at least one BSR has been triggered and not cancelled:

[0201] 2> if UL-SCH resources are available for a new transmission and the UL-SCH resources can accommodate the BSR MAC CE plus its subheader as a result of logical channel prioritization:

[0202] 3> instruct the Multiplexing and Assembly procedure to generate the BSR MAC CE(s) as defined in clause 6.1.3.1;

[0203] 3> start or restartperiodicBSR-Timerexcept when all the generated BSRs are long or short Truncated or Extended long or short Truncated BSRs;

[0204] 3> start or restartretxBSR-Timer.

[0205] 2> if a Regular BSR has been triggered andlogicalChannelSR-DelayTimeris not running:

[0206] 3> if there is no UL-SCH resource available for a new transmission; or

[0207] 3> if the MAC entity is configured with configured uplink grant(s) and the Regular BSR was triggered for a logical channel for whichlogicalChannelSR-Maskis set tofalse; or

[0208] 3> if the UL-SCH resources available for a new transmission do not meet the LCP mapping restrictions (see clause 5.4.3.1) configured for the logical channel that triggered the BSR:

[0209] 4> trigger a Scheduling Request.

[0210] Additionaly, UL-SCH resources are considered available if the MAC entity has been configured with, receives, or determines an uplink grant. If the MAC entity has determined at a given point in time that UL-SCH resources are available, this need not imply that UL-SCH resources are available for use at that point in time.

[0211] A MAC PDU may contain at most one BSR MAC CE, even when multiple events have triggered a BSR. The Regular BSR and the Periodic BSR may have precedence over the padding BSR.

[0212] The MAC entity may restartretxBSR-Timerupon reception of a grant for transmission of new data on any UL-SCH.

[0213] All triggered BSRs may be cancelled when the UL grant(s) can accommodate all pending data available for transmission but is not sufficient to additionally accommodate the BSR MAC CE plus its subheader. All BSRs triggered prior to MAC PDU assembly may be cancelled when a MAC PDU is transmitted and this PDU includes a Long, Refined Long, Extended Long, Short, or Extended Short BSR MAC CE which contains buffer status up to (and including) the last event that triggered a BSR prior to the MAC PDU assembly.

[0214] Additionaly, MAC PDU assembly can happen at any point in time between uplink grant reception and actual transmission of the corresponding MAC PDU. BSR and SR can be triggered after the assembly of a MAC PDU which contains a BSR MAC CE, but before the transmission of this MAC PDU. In addition, BSR and SR can be triggered during MAC PDU assembly.Additionaly, if a HARQ process is configured withcg-RetransmissionTimerand if the BSR is already included in a MAC PDU for transmission on configured grant by this HARQ process, but not yet transmitted by lower layers, it is up to UE implementation how to handle the BSR content.

[0215] Additionaly, logical channel priority used in the BSR procedure is either adjusted priority or default priority, depending on whether the logical channel contains any priority-adjusted data at the time of BSR triggering, or not.

[0216] Example 2

[0217] Example 2 relates to introducing or providing variable priority of a BSR MAC CE relative to logical channel data. The following description illustrates an example procedure which may be implemented, for example, in a system compliant with 3GPP TS 38.321 (e.g., version 18.3.0).

[0218] Allocation of resources

[0219] Before the successful completion of the Random Access procedure initiated for DAPS handover, the target MAC entity may not select the logical channel(s) corresponding to non-DAPS DRB(s) for the uplink grant received in a Random Access Response or the uplink grant for the transmission of the MSGA payload. The source MAC entity may select only the logical channel(s) corresponding to DAPS DRB(s) during DAPS handover.

[0220] The MAC entity may, when a new transmission is performed:

[0221] 1> allocate resources to the logical channels as follows:

[0222] 2> logical channels selected in clause 5.4.3.1.2 for the UL grant withBj> 0 are allocated resources in a decreasing priority order. If the PBR of a logical channel is set toinfinity, the MAC entity may allocate resources for all the data that is available for transmission on the logical channel before meeting the PBR of the lower priority logical channel(s);

[0223] 2> decrementBjby the total size of MAC SDUs served to logical channeljabove;

[0224] 2> if any resources remain, all the logical channels selected in clause 5.4.3.1.2 are served in a strict decreasing priority order (regardless of the value ofBj) until either the data for that logical channel or the UL grant is exhausted, whichever comes first. Logical channels configured with equal priority should be served equally.

[0225] Additionally, the value ofBjcan be negative.

[0226] If the MAC entity is requested to simultaneously transmit multiple MAC PDUs, or if the MAC entity receives the multiple UL grants within one or more coinciding PDCCH occasions (i.e. on different Serving Cells), it is up to UE implementation in which order the grants are processed.

[0227] The UE may also follow the rules below during the scheduling procedures above:

[0228] - the UE should not segment an RLC SDU (or partially transmitted SDU or retransmitted RLC PDU) if the whole SDU (or partially transmitted SDU or retransmitted RLC PDU) fits into the remaining resources of the associated MAC entity;

[0229] - if the UE segments an RLC SDU from the logical channel, it may maximize the size of the segment to fill the grant of the associated MAC entity as much as possible;

[0230] - the UE should maximise the transmission of data;

[0231] - if the MAC entity is given a UL grant size that is equal to or larger than 8 bytes (when eLCID is not used) or 10 bytes (when eLCID is used) while having data available and allowed (according to clause 5.4.3.1) for transmission, the MAC entity may not transmit only padding BSR and / or padding.

[0232] The MAC entity may:

[0233] 1> if the MAC entity is configured withenhancedSkipUplinkTxDynamicwith valuetrueand the grant indicated to the HARQ entity was addressed to a C-RNTI, or if the MAC entity is configured withenhancedSkipUplinkTxConfiguredwith valuetrueand the grant indicated to the HARQ entity is a configured uplink grant:

[0234] 2> if there is no UCI to be multiplexed on this PUSCH transmission as specified in TS 38.213; and

[0235] 2> if there is no aperiodic CSI requested for this PUSCH transmission as specified in TS 38.212; and

[0236] 2> if the MAC PDU includes zero MAC SDUs; and

[0237] 2> if the MAC PDU includes only the periodic BSR and there is no data available for any LCG, or the MAC PDU includes only the padding BSR:

[0238] 3> not generate a MAC PDU for the HARQ entity.

[0239] 1> else if the MAC entity is configured withskipUplinkTxDynamicwith valuetrueand the grant indicated to the HARQ entity was addressed to a C-RNTI, or the grant indicated to the HARQ entity is a configured uplink grant:

[0240] 2> if there is no aperiodic CSI requested for this PUSCH transmission as specified in TS 38.212; and

[0241] 2> if the MAC PDU includes zero MAC SDUs; and

[0242] 2> if the MAC PDU includes only the periodic BSR and there is no data available for any LCG, or the MAC PDU includes only the padding BSR:

[0243] 3> not generate a MAC PDU for the HARQ entity.

[0244] Logical channels may be prioritised in accordance with the following order (highest priority listed first):

[0245] - MAC CE for C-RNTI, or data from UL-CCCH;

[0246] - MAC CE for (Enhanced) BFR, or MAC CE for Configured Grant Confirmation, or MAC CE for Multiple Entry Configured Grant Confirmation;

[0247] - MAC CE for Sidelink Configured Grant Confirmation;

[0248] - MAC CE for LBT failure;

[0249] - MAC CE for SL LBT failure according to clause 5.31.2;

[0250] - MAC CE for Timing Advance Report;

[0251] - MAC CE for Delay Status Report;

[0252] - MAC CE for SL-BSR prioritized according to clause 5.22.1.6;

[0253] - MAC CE for SL-PRS Resource Request;

[0254] - MAC CE for (Extended) BSR, with exception of BSR included for padding, when the related BSR is triggered by a logical channel whose data cannot all be included in the MAC PDU, and whose priority is higher than or equal to the highest priority of any logical channel with data available for transmission;

[0255] - MAC CE for (Enhanced) Single Entry PHR, or MAC CE for (Enhanced) Multiple Entry PHR or MAC CE for Single Entry PHR with assumed PUSCH, or MAC CE for Multiple Entry PHR with assumed PUSCH, or MAC CE for Enhanced Single Entry PHR for multiple TRP or MAC CE for Enhanced Multiple Entry PHR for multiple TRP, or MAC CE for Enhanced Single Entry PHR for multiple TRP STx2P or MAC CE for Enhanced Multiple Entry PHR for multiple TRP STx2P;

[0256] - MAC CE for Positioning Measurement Gap Activation / Deactivation Request;

[0257] - MAC CE for the number of Desired Guard Symbols;

[0258] - MAC CE for Case-6 Timing Request;

[0259] - MAC CE for (Extended) Pre-emptive BSR;

[0260] - MAC CE for SL-BSR, with exception of SL-BSR prioritized according to clause 5.22.1.6 and SL-BSR included for padding;

[0261] - MAC CE for IAB-MT Recommended Beam Indication, or MAC CE for Desired IAB-MT PSD range, or MAC CE for Desired DL Tx Power Adjustment;

[0262] - data from any Logical Channel, except data from UL-CCCH;

[0263] - MAC CE for (Extended) BSR, with exception of BSR included for padding, when the related BSR is triggered by a logical channel whose data can all be included in the MAC PDU, or whose priority is lower than the highest priority of any logical channel with data available for transmission;

[0264] - MAC CE for Recommended bit rate query;

[0265] - MAC CE for BSR included for padding;

[0266] - MAC CE for SL-BSR included for padding.

[0267] Additionally, prioritization among MAC CEs of same priority is up to UE implementation.

[0268] The MAC entity may prioritize any MAC CE listed in a higher order than 'data from any Logical Channel, except data from UL-CCCH' over NR sidelink transmission.

[0269] Example 3

[0270] Example 3 relates to BSR triggering being modified so that arrival of delay-critical data triggers BSR regardless of relative LCH priorities. The following description illustrates an example procedure, which may be implemented, for example, in a system compliant with 3GPP TS 38.321 (e.g., version18.3.0).

[0271] Buffer Status Reporting

[0272] The Buffer Status reporting (BSR) procedure is used to provide the serving gNB with information about UL data volume in the MAC entity.

[0273] RRC configures the following parametersperiodicBSR-Timer,retxBSR-Timer,logicalChannelSR-DelayTimerApplied,logicalChannelSR-DelayTimer,logicalChannelSR-Mask,logicalChannelGroup,logicalChannelGroupIAB-Ext,sdt-LogicalChannelSR-DelayTimer,additionalBS-TableAllowedto control the BSR.

[0274] Each logical channel may be allocated to an LCG using thelogicalChannelGroup. The maximum number of LCGs is eight except for IAB-MTs configured withlogicalChannelGroupIAB-Ext, for which the maximum number of LCGs is 256.

[0275] The MAC entity determines the amount of UL data available for a logical channel according to the data volume calculation procedure in TSs 38.322 and 38.323.

[0276] A BSR may be triggered if any of the following events occur for activated cell group:

[0277] - UL data, for a logical channel which belongs to an LCG, becomes available to the MAC entity; and either

[0278] - this UL data belongs to a logical channel with higher priority than the priority of any logical channel containing available UL data which belong to any LCG; or

[0279] - this UL data contains priority-adjusted data; or

[0280] - none of the logical channels which belong to an LCG contains any available UL data.

[0281] in which case the BSR is referred below to as 'Regular BSR';

[0282] - UL resources are allocated and number of padding bits is equal to or larger than the size of the Buffer Status Report MAC CE plus its subheader, in which case the BSR is referred below to as 'Padding BSR';

[0283] -retxBSR-Timerexpires, and at least one of the logical channels which belong to an LCG contains UL data, in which case the BSR is referred below to as 'Regular BSR';

[0284] -periodicBSR-Timerexpires, in which case the BSR is referred below to as 'Periodic BSR'.

[0285] Additionally, when Regular BSR triggering events occur for multiple logical channels simultaneously, each logical channel triggers one separate Regular BSR.

[0286] For Regular BSR, the MAC entity may:

[0287] 1> if the BSR is triggered for a logical channel for whichlogicalChannelSR-DelayTimerAppliedwith valuetrueis configured by upper layers and SDT procedure is not ongoing according to clause 5.27:

[0288] 2> start or restart thelogicalChannelSR-DelayTimer.

[0289] 1> else if BSR is triggered for a logical channel for whichlogicalChannelSR-DelayTimerAppliedwith valuetrueis configured by upper layers and SDT procedure is ongoing according to clause 5.27:

[0290] 2> start or restartlogicalChannelSR-DelayTimerwith the value as configured by thesdt-LogicalChannelSR-DelayTimer, if configured.

[0291] 1> else:

[0292] 2> if running, stop thelogicalChannelSR-DelayTimer.

[0293] For Regular and Periodic BSR, the MAC entity for whichlogicalChannelGroupIAB-Extis not configured by upper layers may:

[0294] 1> if for at least one LCG configured withadditionalBS-TableAllowed,the amount of UL data available for transmission when the MAC PDU containing the BSR is to be built is within the buffer sizes specified in Table 6.1.3.1-3:

[0295] 2> report Refined Long BSR for all LCGs which have data available for transmission;

[0296] 1> else:

[0297] 2> if more than one LCG has data available for transmission when the MAC PDU containing the BSR is to be built:

[0298] 3> report Long BSR for all LCGs which have data available for transmission.

[0299] 2> else if one LCG has data available and is configured withadditionalBS-TableAllowedand the amount of UL data available for transmission when the MAC PDU containing the BSR is to be built is greater than the largest buffer size specified in Table 6.1.3.1-3:

[0300] 3> report Long BSR.

[0301] 2> else:

[0302] 3> report Short BSR.

[0303] For Regular and Periodic BSR, the MAC entity for whichlogicalChannelGroupIAB-Extis configured by upper layers may:

[0304] 1> if more than one LCG has data available for transmission when the MAC PDU containing the BSR is to be built:

[0305] 2> if the maximum LCG ID among the configured LCGs is 7 or lower:

[0306] 3> report Long BSR for all LCGs which have data available for transmission.

[0307] 2> else:

[0308] 3> report Extended Long BSR for all LCGs which have data available for transmission.

[0309] 1> else:

[0310] 2> report Extended Short BSR.

[0311] For Padding BSR, the MAC entity for whichlogicalChannelGroupIAB-Extis not configured by upper layers may:

[0312] 1> if the number of padding bits is equal to or larger than the size of the Short BSR plus its subheader but smaller than the size of the Long BSR plus its subheader:

[0313] 2> if more than one LCG has data available for transmission when the BSR is to be built:

[0314] 3> if the number of padding bits is equal to the size of the Short BSR plus its subheader:

[0315] 4> report Short Truncated BSR of the LCG with the highest priority logical channel with data available for transmission.

[0316] 3> else:

[0317] 4> report Long Truncated BSR of the LCG(s) with the logical channels having data available for transmission following a decreasing order of the highest priority logical channel (with or without data available for transmission) in each of these LCG(s), and in case of equal priority, in increasing order of LCGID.

[0318] 2> else:

[0319] 3> report Short BSR.

[0320] 1> else if for at least one LCG configured withadditionalBS-TableAllowed, the amount of UL data available for transmission when the MAC PDU containing the BSR is to be built is within the buffer sizes specified in Table 6.1.3.1-3 and the number of padding bits is equal to or larger than the size of the Refined Long BSR plus its subheader:

[0321] 2> report Refined Long BSR for all LCGs which have data available for transmission.

[0322] 1> else if the number of padding bits is equal to or larger than the size of the Long BSR plus its subheader:

[0323] 2> report Long BSR for all LCGs which have data available for transmission.

[0324] For Padding BSR, the MAC entity for whichlogicalChannelGroupIAB-Extis configured by upper layers may:

[0325] 1> if the number of padding bits is equal to or larger than the size of the Extended Short BSR plus its subheader but smaller than the size of the Extended Long BSR plus its subheader:

[0326] 2> if more than one LCG has data available for transmission when the BSR is to be built:

[0327] 3> if the number of padding bits is smaller than the size of the Extended Long Truncated BSR with zero Buffer Size field plus its subheader:

[0328] 4> report Extended Short Truncated BSR of the LCG with the highest priority logical channel with data available for transmission.

[0329] 3> else:

[0330] 4> report Extended Long Truncated BSR of the LCG(s) with the logical channels having data available for transmission following a decreasing order of the highest priority logical channel (with or without data available for transmission) in each of these LCG(s), and in case of equal priority, in increasing order of LCGID.

[0331] 2> else:

[0332] 3> report Extended Short BSR.

[0333] 1> else if the number of padding bits is equal to or larger than the size of the Extended Long BSR plus its subheader:

[0334] 2> report Extended Long BSR for all LCGs which have data available for transmission.

[0335] For BSR triggered byretxBSR-Timerexpiry, the MAC entity considers that the logical channel that triggered the BSR is the highest priority logical channel that has data available for transmission at the time the BSR is triggered.

[0336] The MAC entity may:

[0337] 1> if the Buffer Status reporting procedure determines that at least one BSR has been triggered and not cancelled:

[0338] 2> if UL-SCH resources are available for a new transmission and the UL-SCH resources can accommodate the BSR MAC CE plus its subheader as a result of logical channel prioritization:

[0339] 3> instruct the Multiplexing and Assembly procedure to generate the BSR MAC CE(s) as defined in clause 6.1.3.1;

[0340] 3> start or restartperiodicBSR-Timerexcept when all the generated BSRs are long or short Truncated or Extended long or short Truncated BSRs;

[0341] 3> start or restartretxBSR-Timer.

[0342] 2> if a Regular BSR has been triggered andlogicalChannelSR-DelayTimeris not running:

[0343] 3> if there is no UL-SCH resource available for a new transmission; or

[0344] 3> if the MAC entity is configured with configured uplink grant(s) and the Regular BSR was triggered for a logical channel for whichlogicalChannelSR-Maskis set tofalse; or

[0345] 3> if the UL-SCH resources available for a new transmission do not meet the LCP mapping restrictions (see clause 5.4.3.1) configured for the logical channel that triggered the BSR:

[0346] 4> trigger a Scheduling Request.

[0347] Additionally, UL-SCH resources are considered available if the MAC entity has been configured with, receives, or determines an uplink grant. If the MAC entity has determined at a given point in time that UL-SCH resources are available, this need not imply that UL-SCH resources are available for use at that point in time.

[0348] A MAC PDU may contain at most one BSR MAC CE, even when multiple events have triggered a BSR. The Regular BSR and the Periodic BSR may have precedence over the padding BSR.

[0349] The MAC entity may restartretxBSR-Timerupon reception of a grant for transmission of new data on any UL-SCH.

[0350] All triggered BSRs may be cancelled when the UL grant(s) can accommodate all pending data available for transmission but is not sufficient to additionally accommodate the BSR MAC CE plus its subheader. All BSRs triggered prior to MAC PDU assembly may be cancelled when a MAC PDU is transmitted and this PDU includes a Long, Refined Long, Extended Long, Short, or Extended Short BSR MAC CE which contains buffer status up to (and including) the last event that triggered a BSR prior to the MAC PDU assembly.

[0351] Additionally, MAC PDU assembly can happen at any point in time between uplink grant reception and actual transmission of the corresponding MAC PDU. BSR and SR can be triggered after the assembly of a MAC PDU which contains a BSR MAC CE, but before the transmission of this MAC PDU. In addition, BSR and SR can be triggered during MAC PDU assembly.Additionally, if a HARQ process is configured withcg-RetransmissionTimerand if the BSR is already included in a MAC PDU for transmission on configured grant by this HARQ process, but not yet transmitted by lower layers, it is up to UE implementation how to handle the BSR content.

[0352] Additionally, Logical channel priority used in the BSR procedure is either adjusted priority or default priority, depending on whether the logical channel contains any priority-adjusted data at the time of BSR triggering, or not.

[0353] It will also be appreciated that the numbered examples may be combined with any of the other examples in the present disclosure.

[0354] Figure 1 is a block diagram of an exemplary apparatus, or network entity, that may be used in examples of the present disclosure. The skilled person will appreciate said entity may be implemented, for example, as a network element on a dedicated hardware, as a software instance running on a dedicated hardware, and / or as a virtualised function instantiated on an appropriate platform, e.g. on a cloud infrastructure.

[0355] The entity 1000 comprises a processor (or controller) 1001, a transmitter 1003 and a receiver 1005. The receiver 1005 is configured for receiving one or more messages from one or more other network entities, for example as described above. The transmitter 1003 is configured for transmitting one or more messages to one or more other network entities, for example as described above. The processor 1001 is configured for performing one or more operations, for example according to the operations as described above. The processor 1001 may represent one processor or more than one processor. The entity 1000 may also comprise memory, the memory comprising or storing instructions which, when executed by the processor (or the one or more processor) individually or collectively, causes the entity 1000 to perform a method according to any of the examples disclosed herein.

[0356] Figure 2 illustrates a method according to various examples of the present disclosure. The method may be performed by a UE.

[0357] In operation S210, in case a scheduling request (SR) is triggered by at least one logical channel (LCH) that includes LCH priority-adjusted data to be transmitted, the UE determines priority of the at least one LCH.

[0358] In operation S220, the UE schedules transmission of the SR based on the determined priority.

[0359] Figure 3 illustrates a method according to various examples of the present disclosure. The method may be performed by a UE.

[0360] In operation S310, the UE triggers a buffer status report (BSR) in response to logical channel (LCH) priority-adjusted data being received by a medium access control (MAC) entity of the UE. For example, the BSR is triggered regardless of a priority of at least one LCH.

[0361] Figure 4 illustrates a method according to various examples of the present disclosure. The method may be performed by a UE.

[0362] In operation S410, when assembling a medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU), the UE prioritises a logical channel (LCH) including LCH-priority adjusted data over a MAC control element (CE).

[0363] In operation S420, the UE controls transmission of the MAC PDU.

[0364] Table 1 below summarizes acronyms and definitions that may be used in the present disclosure.

[0365]

[0366]

[0367]

[0368] The following description relates to Logical Channel Prioritization (LCP) enhancements for Extended Reality (XR) services in wireless communication systems, such as 3GPP Release 19 (Rel-19) and beyond.

[0369] According to an embodiment, as a baseline, an additional LCH priority is applied for an LCH in both a first round and a second round of a resource allocation procedure in LCP, as long as the LCH has delay-critical data available for transmission when starting the first round.

[0370] Regarding the priority for the second round, considerations may be made to ensure fairness, while taking into account a tight timeline of the LCP procedure and user equipment (UE) complexity. In some embodiments, this handling may be left to UE implementation.

[0371] Furthermore, an independent per-LCH remaining time threshold is introduced for applying the delay-critical priority. There are no setting restrictions introduced for this new remaining time threshold in relation to a Delay Status Report (DSR) triggering threshold.

[0372] Additionally, regarding terminology used herein, the term “LCH priority-adjusted data” is used.

[0373] In a subsequent development, the following features may be applied regarding LCP prioritization.

[0374] As a baseline, the additional LCH priority is applied to both the first round and the second round of the LCP procedure. The UE is configured not to fallback to a default LCH priority in the second round even if there is no more LCH priority-adjusted data remaining after the first round.

[0375] Alternatively, as an optional capability, the UE may support a fallback to the default LCH priority in the second round of the LCP procedure.

[0376] The following description discusses key remaining issues of operations related to the additional LCH priority, especially regarding the optional support of fallback in the second round. The description also addresses the use of the additional LCH priority in Medium Access Control (MAC) procedures other than LCP, as well as handling of other priority traffic (e.g., Signaling Radio Bearers (SRBs)) in light of the additional LCH priority for XR traffic.

[0377] According to various embodiments, the application of an additional LCH priority in other procedures is described below. LCH priority is used in 1) resource allocation in LCP (which is already being adapted to XR as the agreements above attest), 2) BSR triggering (in some cases, a BSR is triggered only if data of higher priority arrives than priority of data already in the buffer), 3) truncated BSR LCG selection (when we do not have space to send the entire BSR), and 4) intra-UE prioritization. It may be considered whether each of these steps should trigger a re-calculation of LCH priorities (i.e. determining whether each LCH contains LCH priority-adjusted data at every given point in time where LCH priority needs to be used), or whether different steps (e.g. MAC PDU assembly and related intra-UE prioritization at point of transmission of the MAC PDU) should use the same LCH priorities or not.

[0378] Regarding MAC procedures involving use of the priority of LCHs should trigger a re-calculation of LCH priorities (i.e. determining whether each LCH contains LCH priority-adjusted data at every given point in time where LCH priority needs to be used), or whether different, potentially related steps (e.g. MAC PDU assembly and related intra-UE prioritization at point of transmission of the MAC PDU; BSR triggering and related MAC PDU assembly) should use the same LCH priorities.

[0379] In this context, the UE can optionally also support fall-back to default priority in the second round of LCP, which may correspond to a unified approach, that is, the approach where the UE re-checks whether each LCH contains LCH priority-adjusted data at every given point in time where LCH priority needs to be used.

[0380] Based on the above, according to various embodiments, procedures such as BSR triggering and intra-UE prioritization are configured to use the additional LCP priority.

[0381] Furthermore, according to various embodiments, one of the following options may be applied:

[0382] Each of the MAC procedures involving use of the additional priority of LCHs should trigger a re-calculation of LCH priorities (i.e. the UE re-checks whether each LCH contains LCH priority-adjusted data at every given point in time where LCH priority needs to be used).

[0383] Different, potentially related steps (e.g. MAC PDU assembly and related intra-UE prioritization at point of transmission of the MAC PDU; BSR triggering and related MAC PDU assembly) should use the same LCH priorities.

[0384] According to various embodiments, intra-UE prioritization case and the additional LCH priority is described below.

[0385] Regarding intra-UE prioritization (e.g., in TS 38.300), in case a configured uplink grant transmissions or a dynamically allocated uplink transmission overlaps in time with a scheduling request transmission, the UE prioritizes the transmission based on the comparison between the priority of the logical channel which triggered the scheduling request and the highest priority of the logical channels that have data to be transmitted and which are multiplexed or can be multiplexed in MAC PDU associated with the overlapping resource. Therefore, in conventional intra-UE prioritization, when more than one UL grant(s) and / or SR(s) overlap in time domain, a priority-based comparison among the overlapped UL grant(s) and / or SR(s) is conducted to determine which UL grant or SR should be transmitted. The priority-based comparison is based on legacy (default) LCH priority, i.e., the priority of UL grant is defined as the highest (legacy) priority of LCHs multiplexed in the corresponding MAC PDU, and the priority of SR is defined as the (legacy) priority of the LCH triggering the SR.

[0386] According to an embodiment, in the case of intra-UE prioritization linked to logical channels that have LCH priority-adjusted data to be transmitted and which are multiplexed or can be multiplexed in MAC PDUs associated with the overlapping resources, it should be considered whether the priority of such a LCH used for the intra-UE prioritization is that from the start of the LCP procedure which led to the assembly of this MAC PDU, or the current priority at the time of MAC PDU transmission (i.e. whether the UE should revert to default priority immediately after LCP is completed, or not should be considered).

[0387] An illustrative example would be where, for a LCH#1 configured with a new / adjusted LCH priority P_a and legacy LCH priority P_b, a BSR is triggered by arrival of data in LCH#1 which uses new / adjusted priority P_a as there are SDUs among its data close to expiry. Further assuming that once related MAC PDU is assembled, all LCH priority-adjusted data data from LCH#1 is put in this MAC PDU, then, regarding intra-UE prioritization, and regarding re-calculation of the priority of LCH#1 for use in the intra-UE prioritization procedure, the same LCH#1 would now have a priority P_b which would be different (possibly lower) from P_a. This could result in this MAC PDU not being prioritized even though it contains what was considered an urgent BSR MAC CE, and urgent (LCH priority-adjusted data) data.

[0388] Similar considerations may apply for the case of intra-UE overlapping resources prioritization linked to scheduling request triggered by logical channels that have LCH priority-adjusted data to be transmitted. Whether the priority of the LCH which triggered the SR used for the intra-UE prioritization may be the priority from the point in time when the SR was triggered, or the current priority.

[0389] The absence of a clear conditions for re-calculating of LCH priorities at time of intra-UE prioritization, could cause issues in cases where all of the LCH priority-adjusted data has been inserted into the MAC PDU (e.g., this MAC PDU may then get deprioritized if re-calculation was done).

[0390] Based on the above, according to various embodiments, for the case of intra-UE prioritization linked to logical channels that have LCH priority-adjusted data to be transmitted and which are multiplexed or can be multiplexed in MAC PDUs associated with the overlapping resources, RAN2 to agree one of the two following options:

[0391] Priority of a MAC PDU for the purposes of intra-UE prioritization is determined as the highest priority amongst the LCHs multiplexed in MAC PDU at the time when the MAC PDU was generated (LCH priority is determined based on which of its SDUs were actually multiplexed into the MAC PDU).

[0392] Priority of a MAC PDU for the purposes of intra-UE prioritization is determined as the highest priority amongst the LCHs multiplexed in MAC PDU at the time when the MAC PDU is to be transmitted.

[0393] Furthermore, according to various embodiments, for the case of intra-UE overlapping resources prioritization linked to scheduling request triggered by logical channels that have LCH priority-adjusted data to be transmitted, the priority of the LCH which triggered the SR used for the intra-UE prioritization may be that the priority from the point in time when the SR was triggered, or the current priority at the time of transmission.

[0394] According to various embodiments, data prioritization over comparatively less urgent MAC CEs is described below.

[0395] According to an embodiment, potential use-case of prioritization of data over MAC CEs, which for LCHs with priority-adjusted data, is relevant as the in-time delivery is important. Dedicated configured grant or resource separated by LCP have been introduced over multiple releases of NR to aid in-time delivery. For example, in rel-18, multiple CG occasions, DSR reporting and discard mechanism were introduced to support in-time delivery with higher resource efficiency. However, most of the MAC CEs, e.g., BSR / DSR / PHR, etc., still have higher absolute priorities over any of XR data, and those MAC CEs can use any type of uplink grants. This could make unexpected interruption during LCP and MAC PDU generation, resulting in LCH priority-adjusted data being delayed due to such MAC CEs. Therefore, data prioritization over some less important / urgent MAC CEs may be used.

[0396] According to various embodiments, prioritizing LCH with LCH priority-adjusted data over comparatively less important / urgent MAC CEs is described below. As an illustration of some additional underlying issues, and using the BSR MAC CE as an example, a BSR is triggered and LCH#1 uses new / adjusted priority P_a as it contains SDUs close to expiry. By the time MAC PDU assembly starts, data arrives into LCH#2 which has priority P_b1 > P_a (and this was not the case when BSR was triggered, where LCH#2 had a priority P_b<P_a). In case of prioritizing BSR MAC CE over data or not (in conventional systems the BSR MAC CE may be prioritized, but for XR data data may be prioritized), P_b and P_a, or P_b1 and P_a may be compared.

[0397] According to various embodiments, re-calculating LCH priorities at time of MAC PDU assembly relative to priorities at the time of BSR triggering could cause issues in cases where to prioritize data over a BSR MAC CE.

[0398] According to various embodiments, prioritizing LCH with LCH priority-adjusted data over BSR MAC CEs, when determining the priority of the BSR MAC CE relative to data in order to compare it with the priority of the data, the priority may be that of the logical channel that resulted in the most recent BSR trigger prior to MAC PDU assembly, and whose data cannot be fully included in the MAC PDU.

[0399] According to various embodiments, features of handling of SRBs are described below. The impact of the additional LCH priority on timely transmission of signaling data may be determined by network implementation. According to an embodiment, XR traffic potentially delaying SRBs traffic may be determined by network implementation.

[0400] Figure 5 is a block diagram of a terminal or user equipment (UE) 500 according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0401] The terminal is an electronic device capable of wireless communication, may include a User Equipment (UE), a portable phone, a smartphone, a tablet, an Internet of things (IoT) device, etc., having various form factors, and may perform wireless communication with a base station (BS) through a wireless channel.

[0402] Referring to Figure 5, the UE 500 may include at least one transceiver (hereinafter, referred to as simply “transceiver”) 501, at least one processor (hereinafter, referred to as simply “processor”) 502, and at least one memory (hereinafter, referred to as simply “memory”) 503. According to at least one or a combination of methods corresponding to the embodiments described in the present disclosure, the transceiver 501, the processor 502, and the memory 503 of the UE 500 may operate. However, components of the UE 500 are not limited to the exemplary components illustrated in Figure 5. In another embodiment, the UE 500 may further include additional components in addition to the above-mentioned components, or some components may be omitted. Further, in some embodiments, any combination of the transceiver 501, the processor 502, or the memory 503 may be integrated in the form of one component.

[0403] The transceiver 501 may be a communication circuit or communication circuitry that enables the UE 500 to perform wireless communication with a node or an entity of a network. For example, the transceiver 501 may enable the UE 500 to transmit or receive a signal to or from a BS through cellular communication, or to transmit or receive a signal to or from another UE through cellular communication. For example, the transceiver 501 may support at least one of various cellular communication technologies including 3rd generation (3G), 4th generation (4G), long term evolution (LTE), 5th generation (5G) NR, 6th generation (6G), and various cellular wireless communication technologies supported by the transceiver (501) may include all subsequent generations of evolved wireless communications.

[0404] According to an embodiment, the UE 500 may include a plurality of transceivers. For example, in the case of supporting evolved-universal terrestrial radio access-new radio (E-UTRA-NR) sual connectivity (EN-DC), the UE 500 may include a first transceiver supporting the 4G LTE wireless communication and a second transceiver supporting the 5G NR wireless communication. According to another embodiment, in the case of supporting NR-dual connectivity (NR-DC), the UE 500 may include a plurality of transceivers supporting the 5G NR wireless communication. According to still another embodiment, in the case of supporting near field wireless communication, the UE 500 may separately include a transceiver supporting at least one standard in the group of wireless communication protocol standards as defined in the protocol standards for Bluetooth®, wireless local area network (WLAN) network (including institute of electrical and electronics engineers (IEEE) 802.11-2016 standard or its amendments, e.g., 802.11ah, 802.11ad, 802.11ay, 802.11ax, 802.11az, 802.11ba, and 802.11be, without being limited thereto).

[0405] According to an embodiment, the transceiver 501 may include various circuit structures used to transmit or receive signals to or from a BS through a wireless channel. The signals may include control information and data. For example, the transceiver 501 may include a radio frequency (RF) transmitter for up-converting and amplifying the frequency of a transmitted signal and an RF receiver for low-noise-amplifying a received signal and down-converting the frequency thereof. The transceiver 501 may output a signal received through a wireless channel to the processor 502 and may transmit, through a wireless channel, a signal output from the processor 502.

[0406] The processor 502 may control general operations of the UE 500 according to embodiments of the disclosure. The processor 502 may be implemented by one or more integrated circuit (or circuitry) (IC) chips and may execute various data processings. The processor 502 may include at least one electric circuit, and may execute instructions (or a program, codes, data, etc.) stored in the memory 503, individually, collectively or in any combination thereof. Further, the processor 502 may include a single-core processor or multi-core processor, and may include a processor assembly including a plurality of processing circuits (circuitry) according to a specific implementation scheme.

[0407] The processor 502 may be electrically, operatively, or communicatively coupled to the transceiver 501 to control the transceiver 501.

[0408] The processor 502 may include at least one processor (or processing circuitry), and the at least one processor may perform the following operations individually, collectively or in any combination thereof. For example, the processor 502 may include a communication processor (CP) configured to control communication operations and an application processor (AP) configured to control execution of an upper layer (for example, an application layer) . In a specific embodiment, at least a part of the processor 502 may be included in one chip and the other part of the processor 502 may be included in another chip. Otherwise, at least one processor may be included in another component, for example, the transceiver 501 or the memory 503.

[0409] The processor 502 may perform or control or cause an operation of the UE 500 for executing at least one or a combination of methods according to embodiments of the disclosure. For example, the processor 502 may control operations of the UE 500 for processing a downlink signal received from a BS or generating and transmitting an uplink signal to a BS. To this end, the processor 502 may execute a computer program, codes, or instructions stored in the memory 503, so as to control other components of the UE 500 to enable execution of various operations.

[0410] The memory 503 corresponds to a hardware storage device capable of temporarily or permanently storing information and may include one or more storage media. For example, the memory 503 may include a memory assembly including one or more storage media. For example, the one or more storage media may include permanent memory, such as a hard drive, flash memory, or read-only memory (ROM), semipermanent memory, such as random access memory (RAM), cache memory, or a combination thereof.

[0411] The memory 503 may be electrically, operatively, or communicatively coupled to the processor 502 and may be accessed by the processor 502.

[0412] The memory 503 may store a computer program, codes, or instructions executable by the processor 502. According to an embodiment, a computer program, codes, or instructions executable by the processor 502 may be either stored in a single memory device or separated and distributedly stored in two or more memory devices. By executing the instructions stored in the memory 503, the processor 502 may perform various functions according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0413] According to an embodiment of the disclosure, operations of the UE 500 may be caused to be performed based on execution of instructions (or a computer program or codes) stored in the memory 503 by at least one processor (or processing circuitry) configured to execute the same individually, collectively, or in any combination thereof, based on processing circuitry that is not configured to execute instructions, and / or based on components of processing circuitry that is not configured to execute instructions.

[0414] Figure 6 is a block diagram of a base station (BS) 600 according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0415] The BS 600 may perform wireless communication with at least one user equipment (UE) located within the area of the BS 600 through a wireless channel.

[0416] Referring to Figure 6, the BS 600 may include at least one transceiver (hereinafter, referred to as simply “transceiver”) 601, at least one processor (hereinafter, referred to as simply “processor”) 602, and at least one memory (hereinafter, referred to as simply “memory”) 603. According to at least one or a combination of methods corresponding to the embodiments described in the present disclosure, the transceiver 601, the processor 602, and the memory 603 of the BS 600 may operate. However, components of the BS 600 are not limited to the exemplary components illustrated in Figure 6. In another embodiment, the BS 600 may further include additional components in addition to the above-mentioned components, or some components may be omitted. Further, in some embodiments, any combination of the transceiver 601, the processor 602, or the memory 603 may be integrated in the form of one component.

[0417] The transceiver 601 may be a communication circuit or communication circuitry that enables the BS 600 to perform wireless communication with a node or an entity of a network. For example, the transceiver 601 may enable the BS 600 to transmit or receive a signal to or from the UE X00 through cellular communication, or to transmit or receive a signal to or from another network entity through wireless communication. For example, the transceiver 601 may support various cellular communication technologies including 3rd generation (3G), 4th generation (4G), long term evolution (LTE), 5th generation (5G) NR, 6th generation (6G), and various cellular wireless communication technologies supported by the transceiver (601) may include all subsequent generations of evolved wireless communications.. According to an embodiment, the transceiver 601 may include various circuit structures used to transmit or receive signals to or from a UE through a wireless channel. The signals may include control information and data. For example, the transceiver 601 may include a radio frequency (RF) transmitter for up-converting and amplifying the frequency of a transmitted signal and an RF receiver for low-noise-amplifying a received signal and down-converting the frequency thereof. The transceiver 601 may output a signal received through a wireless channel to the processor 602 and may transmit, through a wireless channel, a signal output from the processor 602.

[0418] Meanwhile, according to an embodiment of the present disclosure, the BS 600 may perform communication with a node or an entity of a network through wired or wireless communication. For example, the BS 600 may perform wired or wireless communication with an adjacent BS, or a node or an entity of a core network through a backhaul network. Although not illustrated in Figure 6, when the BS 600 performs wired communication, the BS 600 may further include a separate network interface for wired communication in addition to the transceiver 601. The network interface may be referred to as network interface circuitry or communication interface circuitry.

[0419] The processor 602 may control general operations of the BS 600 according to embodiments of the disclosure. The processor 602 may be implemented by one or more integrated circuit (or circuitry) (IC) chips and may execute various data processings. The processor 602 may include at least one electric circuit, and may execute instructions (or a program, codes, data, etc.) stored in the memory 603, individually, collectively or in any combination thereof. Further, the processor 602 may include a single-core processor or multi-core processor, and may include a processor assembly including a plurality of processing circuits (circuitry) according to a specific implementation scheme.

[0420] The processor 602 may be electrically, operatively, or communicatively coupled to the transceiver 601 to control the transceiver 601.

[0421] The processor 602 may include at least one processor (or processing circuitry), and the at least one processor may perform the following operations individually, collectively or in any combination thereof. In a specific embodiment, at least a part of the processor 602 may be included in one chip and the other part of the processor 602 may be included in another chip. Otherwise, at least one processor may be included in another component, for example, the transceiver 601 or the memory 603.

[0422] The processor 602 may perform or control or cause an operation of the BS 600 for executing at least one or a combination of methods according to embodiments of the disclosure. For example, the processor 602 may control operations of the BS 600 for generating and transmitting a downlink signal to a UE or processing an uplink signal received from a UE. Otherwise, the BS 600 may transmit or receive a signal to or from a neighboring BS, transfer a signal received from a UE to an upper node of the network, or transmit a signal transferred from an upper node of the network to a UE. To this end, the processor 602 may execute a computer program, codes, or instructions stored in the memory 603, so as to control other components of the BS 600 to enable execution of various operations.

[0423] The memory 603 corresponds to a hardware storage device capable of temporarily or permanently storing information and may include one or more storage media. For example, the memory 603 may include a memory assembly including one or more storage media. For example, the one or more storage media may include permanent memory, such as a hard drive, flash memory, or read-only memory (ROM), semipermanent memory, such as random access memory (RAM), cache memory, or a combination thereof.

[0424] The memory 603 may be electrically, operatively, or communicatively coupled to the processor 602 and may be accessed by the processor 602.

[0425] The memory 603 may store a computer program, codes, or instructions executable by the processor 602. According to an embodiment, a computer program, codes, or instructions executable by the processor 602 may be either stored in a single memory device or separated and distributedly stored in two or more memory devices. By executing the instructions stored in the memory 603, the processor 602 may perform various functions according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0426] According to an embodiment of the disclosure, operations of the BS 600 may be caused to be performed based on execution of instructions (or a computer program or codes) stored in the memory 603 by at least one processor (or processing circuitry) configured to execute the same individually, collectively, or in any combination thereof, based on processing circuitry that is not configured to execute instructions, and / or based on components of processing circuitry that is not configured to execute instructions.

[0427] The UE or the base station may perform various communication procedures related to the control plane or the user plane by cooperating with one or more network entities based on wireless communication. For example, the UE may communicate with network entity such as an Access and Mobility Management Function (AMF) or a Session Management Function (SMF) via the base station, or the base station may perform at least one communication procedure by directly transmitting and receiving signals to / from, or relaying signals between, the network entities.

[0428] The structure of the above-described network entity will be described in more detail with reference to the drawings.

[0429] Figure 7 is a block diagram of a network entity 700 according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0430] The network entity 700 may include an entity (apparatus, device, or server, etc.) that performs one or more network functions (NFs) or a part of a network function constituting a core network (e.g., a 5th generation (5G) core (5GC)) in a communication system. In this case, multiple NFs may be implemented within a single network entity, or a single NF may be distributed and implemented across a plurality of network entities. In addition, when an NF is implemented within the network entity, the NF may be implemented in the form of software, and in such a case, a program for operating the NF may be stored in memory of the network entity 700.

[0431] A single NF may be implemented by one or more instances, which may be deployed on the same network entity or distributed across multiple network entities to operate. The instance may be a software unit that logically executes a specific network function, and may be implemented in a form that is decoupled from physical hardware resources. Further, one or more NFs may be implemented in the form of one network slice to operate to satisfy specifications required by a particular service.

[0432] The NF may include at least one of an access and mobility management function (AMF), a session management function (SMF), a local session management function (L-SMF), a user plane function (UPF), a local user plane function (L-UPF), a policy control function (PCF), a unified data management (UDM), a unified data repository (UDR), a network exposure function (NEF), a network repository function (NRF), an application function (AF), a network slice selection function (NSSF), a network data analytics function (NWDAF), a network slice admission control function (NSACF), an authentication server function (AUSF), or a data network (DN).

[0433] Referring to Figure 7, the network entity 700 may include at least one network interface 701, at least one processor 702 (hereinafter, “processor”), and at least one memory 703 (hereinafter, “memory”). As described above, a NF may be implemented in the form of a physical device such as the network entity 700, or may be virtualized and executed in the form of an instance. When implemented as an instance, the NF need not necessarily include physical components as illustrated in Figure 7. In such a case, the instance may be logically represented as comprising one or more logical functional elements.

[0434] According to at least one or a combination of methods corresponding to the embodiments described in the present disclosure, the network interface 701, the processor 702, and the memory 703 of the network entity 700 may operate. However, components of the network entity 700 are not limited to the exemplary components illustrated in FIG. 7. In another embodiment, the network entity 700 may further include additional components in addition to the above-mentioned components, or some components may be omitted. Further, in an embodiment, the network interface 701, the processor 702, or the memory 703 may be integrated in the form of one component.

[0435] The network interface 701 is a collective term for a transmitter part of the network entity 700 and a receiver part of the network entity 700, and may be a communication circuit for transmitting or receiving a signal to or from a user equipment (UE), a base station (BS), or another network entity. Here, the communication circuit may include both a communication circuit for wireless communication and a communication circuit for a wired communication. For example, the network interface 701 may include a circuit, logic, hardware, etc., configured to exchange a control plane message or a user plane message with a UE, a BS, or other core network entities through wireless communication or wired communication. The network interface 701 may operate using various protocols (e.g., non-access stratum (NAS) protocol). The network interface 701 may also be referred to, for convenience of description or depending on implementation, as communication circuitry, network interface circuitry, or a communication interface circuitry.

[0436] The processor 702 may control general operations of the network entity 700 according to embodiments of the disclosure. The processor 702 may be implemented by one or more integrated circuit (or circuitry) (IC) chips and may execute various data processings. The processor 702 may include at least one electric circuit, and may execute instructions (or a program, codes, data, etc.) stored in the memory 703, individually, collectively or in any combination thereof. Further, the processor 702 may include a single-core processor or multi-core processor, and may include a processor assembly including a plurality of processing circuits (circuitry) according to a specific implementation scheme. Further, it should be noted that, according to another embodiment, in a case where NF is implemented in the form of an instance, the network function may be not necessarily configured by physical hardware.

[0437] According to an embodiment, the processor 702 may be electrically, operatively, or communicatively coupled to the network interface 701 to control the network interface 701.

[0438] The processor 702 may include at least one processor (or processing circuitry), and the at least one processor may perform the following operations individually, collectively or in any combination thereof. In a specific embodiment, at least a part of the processor 702 may be included in one chip and the other part of the processor 702 may be included in another chip. Otherwise, at least one processor may be included in another component, for example, the network interface 701 or the memory 703.

[0439] The processor 702 may perform or control or cause an operation of the network entity 700 for executing at least one or a combination of methods according to embodiments of the disclosure. For example, the processor 702 may control operations of the network entity 700 for exchanging a control plane message or a user plane message with a UE, a BS, or other core network entities through wireless or wired communication, using various protocols (e.g., NAS protocol). To this end, the processor 702 may execute a computer program, codes, or instructions stored in the memory 703, so as to control other components of the network entity 700 to enable execution of various operations.

[0440] The memory 703 corresponds to a hardware storage device capable of temporarily or permanently storing information and may include one or more storage media. For example, the memory 703 may include a memory assembly including one or more storage media. For example, the one or more storage media may include permanent memory, such as a hard drive, flash memory, or read-only memory (ROM), semipermanent memory, such as random access memory (RAM), cache memory, or a combination thereof.

[0441] The memory 703 may be electrically, operatively, or communicatively coupled to the processor 702 and may be accessed by the processor 702.

[0442] The memory 703 may store a computer program, codes, or instructions executable by the processor 702. According to an embodiment, a computer program, codes, or instructions executable by the processor 702 may be either stored in a single memory device or separated and distributedly stored in two or more memory devices. By executing the instructions stored in the memory 703, the processor 702 may perform various functions according to an embodiment of the disclosure.

[0443] According to an embodiment of the disclosure, operations of the network entity 700 may be caused to be performed based on execution of instructions (or a computer program or codes) stored in the memory 703 by at least one processor (or processing circuitry) configured to execute the same individually, collectively, or in any combination thereof, based on processing circuitry that is not configured to execute instructions, and / or based on components of processing circuitry that is not configured to execute instructions.

[0444] It will be appreciated that, in each example / embodiment / aspect etc. described above, one or more features or operations may be omitted, modified or moved (e.g., to change the order of the features or the operations), if desired and appropriate. Additionally, one or more features or operations from any example / embodiment may be combined with features or operations from any other example / embodiment. In particular, regardless of whether or not a pointer towards a combination of features / examples is found herein, the present disclosure should be considered to include all combinations of two or more of the embodiments, examples etc. disclosed herein, and all combinations of two or more of the features disclosed herein.

[0445] The techniques described herein may be implemented using any suitably configured apparatus and / or system. Such an apparatus and / or system may be configured to perform a method according to any aspect, embodiment or example disclosed herein. Such an apparatus may comprise one or more elements, for example one or more of receivers, transmitters, transceivers, processors, controllers, modules, units, and the like, each element configured to perform one or more corresponding processes, operations and / or method steps for implementing the techniques described herein. For example, an operation / function of X may be performed by a module configured to perform X (or an X-module). The one or more elements may be implemented in the form of hardware, software, or any combination of hardware and software.

[0446] It will be appreciated that examples of the present disclosure may be implemented in the form of hardware, software or any combination of hardware and software. Any such software may be stored in the form of volatile or non-volatile storage, for example a storage device like a ROM, whether erasable or rewritable or not, or in the form of memory such as, for example, RAM, memory chips, device or integrated circuits or on an optically or magnetically readable medium such as, for example, a CD, DVD, magnetic disk or magnetic tape or the like.

[0447] It will be appreciated that the storage devices and storage media are embodiments of machine-readable storage that are suitable for storing a program or programs comprising instructions that, when executed, implement certain examples of the present disclosure. Accordingly, certain examples provide a program comprising code for implementing a method, apparatus or system according to any example, embodiment and / or aspect disclosed herein, and / or a machine-readable storage storing such a program. Still further, such programs may be conveyed electronically via any medium, for example a communication signal carried over a wired or wireless connection.

[0448] Meanwhile, although specific embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail, various modifications may be made without departing from the scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the scope of the present disclosure should not be limited to the described embodiments, but should be defined by the claims and equivalents thereof.

Claims

1.A user equipment (UE) comprising:at least one transceiver;at least one processor communicatively coupled to the at least one transceiver; andat least one memory, communicatively coupled to the at least one processor, storing instructions executable by the at least one processor individually or in any combination to cause the UE to:in case a scheduling request (SR) is triggered by at least one logical channel (LCH) that includes LCH priority-adjusted data to be transmitted, determine priority of the at least one LCH; andschedule transmission of the SR based on the determined priority.2.The UE of claim 1, wherein intra-UE prioritization is configured at the UE; andwherein transmission of the SR overlaps in time with an uplink (UL) grant transmission.3.The UE of claim 1, wherein the priority is determined as a priority of the at least one LCH at the time when the SR was triggered or a current priority of the at least one LCH.4.The UE of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the UE to:trigger a buffer status report (BSR) in response to the LCH priority-adjusted data being received by a medium access control (MAC) entity of the UE.5.The UE of claim 4, wherein the BSR is triggered regardless of a priority of the at least one LCH.6.The UE of claim 4, wherein a priority associated with the BSR is determined according to a priority of a LCH included in the BSR.7.The UE of claim 6, wherein the priority associated with the BSR is a priority of a BSR MAC control element (CE), andwherein the priority of the BSR MAC CE is determined to be one of:a priority of the LCH including the LCH priority-adjusted data; ora priority of the highest-priority LCH included in the BSR.8.The UE of claim 7, wherein the BSR is triggered prior to assembly of a MAC protocol data unit (PDU) including the BSR MAC CE, andwherein the priority of the highest-priority LCH is a priority determined at the time of assembly of the MAC PDU including the BSR MAC CE or a priority determined at the time the BSR is triggered.9.The UE of claim 7, wherein the priority of the BSR MAC CE is the priority of the LCH including the LCH priority-adjusted data if only part of the LCH priority-adjusted data is included in the MAC PDU.10.The UE of claim 7, wherein the priority of the BSR MAC CE is the priority of the highest-priority LCH included in the BSR if the MAC PDU includes the LCH priority-adjusted data.11.The UE of claim 1, wherein the instructions further cause the UE to:when assembling a MAC protocol data unit (PDU), prioritize a LCH including the LCH priority-adjusted data over a MAC CE; andcontrol transmission of the MAC PDU.12.The UE of claim 11, wherein the MAC CE is associated with a BSR, Delay Status Report (DSR) or Power Headroom Report (PHR).13.The UE of claim 11, wherein the instructions further cause the UE to:determine a priority of a BSR MAC CE as a priority of a LCH that triggered a BSR associated with the BSR MAC CE prior to assembly of the MAC PDU,wherein all data of the LCH cannot be included in the MAC PDU.14.A method of a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:in case a scheduling request (SR) is triggered by at least one logical channel (LCH) that includes LCH priority-adjusted data to be transmitted, determining priority of the at least one LCH; andscheduling transmission of the SR based on the determined priority.15.One or more non-transitory computer-readable storage media storing computer-executable instructions that, when executed by at least one processor of a user equipment (UE) individually or collectively, cause the user equipment (UE) to perform operations, the operations comprising:in case a scheduling request (SR) is triggered by at least one logical channel (LCH) that includes LCH priority-adjusted data to be transmitted, determining priority of the at least one LCH; andscheduling transmission of the SR based on the determined priority.

Images