WO2024234351A1

WO2024234351A1 - Delay report

Info

Publication number: WO2024234351A1
Application number: PCT/CN2023/094904
Authority: WO
Inventors: Chunli Wu; Benoist Pierre Sebire
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy; Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2023-05-17
Filing date: 2023-05-17
Publication date: 2024-11-21
Anticipated expiration: 2025-11-17

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to devices, methods, apparatuses and computer readable storage media of delay report for eXtended Reality (XR) or a similar service. The method comprises in response to detecting that at least one of delay information report (DIR) or buffer status report (BSR) is triggered, determining at least one of: whether the DIR is to be reported if the BSR is triggered, or whether the BSR is to be reported if the DIR is triggered; and determining information related to buffered data to be reported based on the determination; and transmitting a report of the information to the network device.

Description

DELAY REPORT

FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication and in particular to devices, methods, apparatuses and computer readable storage media of delay report for eXtended Reality (XR) or similar mobile services.

BACKGROUND

Mobile services such as XR are expected to contribute more and more traffics to 5th Generation Mobile Communication Technology (5G) network, which may have some requirements on low latency and high reliability. Therefore, a work item to specify enhancements for the support of XR services has been studied and Delay reporting of buffered data is one of the important objectives in this study.

SUMMARY

In a first aspect, there is provided an apparatus. The apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: in response to detecting that at least one of delay information report (DIR) or buffer status report (BSR) is tiggered, determine at least one of: whether the DIR is to be reported if the BSR is triggered, or whether the BSR is to be reported if the DIR is triggered; and determine information related to buffered data to be reported based on the determination; and transmit a report of the information to the network device.

In a second aspect, there is provided an apparatus. The apparatus comprises at least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: receive, from a terminal device, a report of information related to buffered data to be reported determined by the terminal device based on a determination of at least one of: whether the DIR is to be reported if the BSR is triggered, or whether the BSR is to be reported if the DIR is triggered.

In a third aspect, there is provided a method. The method comprises in response to detecting, at a terminal device, that at least one of DIR or BSR is tiggered, determining at least one of: whether the DIR is to be reported if the BSR is triggered, or whether the BSR is to be reported if the DIR is triggered; and determining information related to buffered data to be reported based on the determination; and transmitting a report of the information to the network device.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a method. The method comprises receiving, at a network device and from a terminal device, a report of information related to buffered data to be reported determined by the terminal device based on a determination of at least one of: whether the DIR is to be reported if the BSR is triggered, or whether the BSR is to be reported if the DIR is triggered.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for, in response to detecting that at least one of DIR or BSR is tiggered, determining at least one of: whether the DIR is to be reported if the BSR is triggered, or whether the BSR is to be reported if the DIR is triggered; and means for determining information related to buffered data to be reported based on the determination; and means for transmitting a report of the information to the network device.

In a sixth aspect, there is provided an apparatus comprising means for receiving, from a terminal device, a report of information related to buffered data to be reported determined by the terminal device based on a determination of at least one of: whether the DIR is to be reported if the BSR is triggered, or whether the BSR is to be reported if the DIR is triggered.

In a seventh aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium having a computer program stored thereon which, when executed by at least one processor of an apparatus, causes the apparatus to carry out the method according to the third aspect or the fourth aspect.

Other features and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure will also be apparent from the following description of specific embodiments when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, which illustrate, by way of example, the principles of embodiments of the disclosure.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments of the disclosure are presented in the sense of examples and their advantages are explained in greater detail below, with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example environment in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented;

FIG. 2 shows a signaling chart illustrating an example of process according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of an example method of delay report for XRs or a similar service according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of an example method of delay report for XRs or a similar service according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 shows a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 6 shows a block diagram of an example computer readable medium in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure.

Throughout the drawings, the same or similar reference numerals may represent the same or similar element.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Principle of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It is to be understood that these embodiments are described only for the purpose of illustration and help those skilled in the art to understand and implement the present disclosure, without suggesting any limitation as to the scope of the disclosure. Embodiments described herein may be implemented in various manners other than the ones described below.

In the following description and claims, unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein may have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skills in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

References in the present disclosure to “one embodiment, ” “an embodiment, ” “an example embodiment, ” and the like indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but it is not necessary that every embodiment includes the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. Moreover, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Further, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to affect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

It shall be understood that although the terms “first, ” “second” and the like may be used herein to describe various elements, these elements should not be limited by these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one element from another. For example, a first element could be termed a second element, and similarly, a second element could be termed a first element, without departing from the scope of example embodiments. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the listed terms.

As used herein, “at least one of the following: <a list of two or more elements>” and “at least one of <a list of two or more elements>” and similar wording, where the list of two or more elements are joined by “and” or “or” , mean at least any one of the elements, or at least any two or more of the elements, or at least all the elements.

As used herein, unless stated explicitly, performing a step “in response to A” does not indicate that the step is performed immediately after “A” occurs and one or more intervening steps may be included.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of example embodiments. As used herein, the singular forms “a” , “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” , “comprising” , “has” , “having” , “includes” and/or “including” , when used herein, specify the presence of stated features, elements, and/or components etc., but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, elements, components and/or combinations thereof.

As used in this application, the term “circuitry” may refer to one or more or all of the following:

(a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry) and

(b) combinations of hardware circuits and software, such as (as applicable) :

(i) a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit (s) with software/firmware and

(ii) any portions of hardware processor (s) with software (including digital signal processor (s) ) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a mobile phone or server, to perform various functions) and

(c) hardware circuit (s) and or processor (s) , such as a microprocessor (s) or a portion of a microprocessor (s) , that requires software (e.g., firmware) for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation.

This definition of circuitry applies to all uses of this term in this application, including in any claims. As a further example, as used in this application, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a hardware circuit or processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term circuitry also covers, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or processor integrated circuit for a mobile device or a similar integrated circuit in server, a cellular network device, or other computing or network device.

As used herein, the term “communication network” refers to a network following any suitable communication standards, such as New Radio (NR) , Long Term Evolution (LTE) , LTE-Advanced (LTE-A) , Wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA) , High-Speed Packet Access (HSPA) , Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) , an Enhanced Machine type communication (eMTC) and so on. Furthermore, the communications between a terminal device and a network device in the communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocols, including, but not limited to, the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G) , the sixth generation (6G) communication protocols, and/or any other protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. Given the rapid development in communications, there will of course also be future type communication technologies and systems with which the present disclosure may be embodied. It should not be seen as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the aforementioned system.

As used herein, the terms “network device” , “radio network device” and/or “radio access network device” refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services therefrom. The network device may refer to a base station (BS) or an access point (AP) , for example, a node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB) , a Remote Radio Unit (RRU) , a remote radio head (RRH) , a relay, an Integrated Access and Backhaul (IAB) node, a low power node such as a femto, a pico, a non-terrestrial network (NTN) or non-ground network device such as a satellite network device, a low earth orbit (LEO) satellite and a geosynchronous earth orbit (GEO) satellite, an aircraft network device, and so forth, depending on the applied terminology and technology. In some example embodiments, low earth orbit (RAN) split architecture includes a Centralized Unit (CU) and a Distributed Unit (DU) . In some other example embodiments, part of the radio access network device or full of the radio access network device may embarked on an airborne or space-borne NTN vehicle.

The term “terminal device” refers to any end device that may be capable of wireless communication. By way of example rather than limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user equipment (UE) , a Subscriber Station (SS) , a Portable Subscriber Station, a Mobile Station (MS) , or an Access Terminal (AT) . The terminal device may include, but not limited to, a mobile phone, a cellular phone, a smart phone, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, a tablet, a wearable terminal device, a personal digital assistant (PDA) , portable computers, desktop computer, image capture terminal devices such as digital cameras, gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback appliances, vehicle-mounted wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop-embedded equipment (LEE) , laptop-mounted equipment (LME) , USB dongles, smart devices, wireless customer-premises equipment (CPE) , an Internet of Things (loT) device, a watch or other wearable, a head-mounted display (HMD) , a vehicle, a drone, a medical device and applications (e.g., remote surgery) , an industrial device and applications (e.g., a robot and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or an automated processing chain contexts) , a consumer electronics device, a device operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. The terminal device may also correspond to a Mobile Termination (MT) part of an IAB node (e.g., a relay node) . In the following description, the terms “terminal device” , “communication device” , “terminal” , “user equipment” and “UE” may be used interchangeably.

As used herein, the term “resource, ” “transmission resource, ” “resource block, ” “physical resource block” (PRB) , “uplink resource, ” or “downlink resource” may refer to any resource for performing a communication, for example, a communication between a terminal device and a network device, such as a resource in time domain, a resource in frequency domain, a resource in space domain, a resource in code domain, or any other resource enabling a communication, and the like. In the following, unless explicitly stated, a resource in both frequency domain and time domain will be used as an example of a transmission resource for describing some example embodiments of the present disclosure. It is noted that example embodiments of the present disclosure are equally applicable to other resources in other domains.

FIG. 1 shows an example communication network 100 in which embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication network 100 may include a terminal device 110. Hereinafter the terminal device 110 may also be referred to as a UE.

The communication network 100 may further include a network device 120. Hereinafter the network device 120 may also be referred to as a gNB. The terminal device 110 may communicate with the network device 120.

It is to be understood that the number of network devices and terminal devices shown in FIG. 1 is given for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations. The communication network 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices.

In some example embodiments, links from the network device 120 to the terminal device 110 may be referred to as a downlink (DL) , while links from the terminal device 110 to the network device 120 may be referred to as an uplink (UL) . In DL, the network device 120 is a transmitting (TX) device (or a transmitter) and the terminal device 110 is a receiving (RX) device (or receiver) . In UL, the terminal device 110 is a TX device (or transmitter) and the network device 120 is a RX device (or a receiver) .

Communications in the communication network 100 may be implemented according to any proper communication protocol (s) , includes, but not limited to, cellular communication protocols of the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 5G, the sixth generation (6G) , and the like, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute for Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11 and the like, and/or any other protocols currently known or to be developed in the future. Moreover, the communication may utilize any proper wireless communication technology, includes but not limited to: Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) , Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA) , Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) , FDD, TDD, Multiple-Input Multiple-Output (MIMO) , Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple (OFDM) , Discrete Fourier Transform spread OFDM (DFT-s-OFDM) and/or any other technologies currently known or to be developed in the future.

For an aspect of the delay report, to enhance the scheduling of uplink resources for XR, delay knowledge of buffered data, consisting of e.g., remaining time, and distinguishing how much data is buffered for which delay. It is to be determined whether the delay information is reported as part of Buffer Status Report (BSR) or as a new Medium Access Control (MAC) Control Element (CE) . Also, how the delay information can be up to date considering e.g., scheduling and transmission delays needs to be further discussed.

It has been discussed that for XR awareness, Protocol Data Unit (PDU) sets and Data Bursts may be introduced and therefore whether it will impact the reporting of buffered data in uplink transmission.

If only the amount of data buffered is required for reporting, the existing BSR framework may be sufficient:

The amount of buffered data per type of PDU set (or group of) may be reflected in the logical Channel Group (LCG) as long as one logical Channel (LCH) is configured per type of PDU set (e.g., one LCH for video tiles of the comfort zone, one LCH for video tiles in the peripheral zone, and one LCH for audio frames) .

The size of the data burst will be reflected in the total amount of buffered data in the BSR as long as each LCH belongs to one LCG.

However, if the delay information is to be reflected in the BSR having different PDU sets with different delay budget being buffered should be reflected in the BSR.

It has been proposed that three options for the delay information comprises reporting delay and data buffered for that delay; reporting only the shortest delay or the remaining time being not reported but only the amount of data that is with a remaining time below a configure threshold being indicated.

Furthermore, for an aspect of BSR triggers based on data arrival and BSR retransmission (retx) /periodic timers, some conditions are specified as below:

A BSR shall be triggered if any of the following events occur for activated cell group:

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

- 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

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

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

- 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' ;

- retxBSR-Timer expires, 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' ;

- periodicBSR-Timer expires, in which case the BSR is referred below to as 'Periodic BSR' .

It remains open how the delay/remaining time information is reported, e.g., whether it is included as part of the BSR MAC CE or reported separately, as well as how it works for the reporting triggered by delay information and the reporting triggered by data arrival.

Always reporting both BS and delay information for each LCG or even with finer granularity for each LCG with different delay information might cause too much overhead, especially considering normal non-congested case: the network will schedule the data fast enough without reaching the threshold remaining time. In other words, delay information reported in DIR may only be needed when some data needs a special treatment in radio protocols.

Therefore, the present disclosure proposes a solution of delay report for XRs or other suitable services. In this solution, if at the terminal device 110 at least one the DIR or BSR is triggered, the terminal device 110 determines at least one of whether the DIR is to be reported if the BSR is triggered, or whether the BSR is to be reported if the DIR is triggered and determines information related to buffered data to be reported based on the determination. Then the terminal device 110 transmits a report of the information to the network device 120.

Based on the solution, a mechanism for how to report DIR and/or BSR is proposed and the terminal device 110 may determine which buffered data is to be reported flexibly and meanwhile overhead is minimised while still allowing useful delay information to be reported.

It is to be understood that the term “DIR” used hereinafter may also be called as a delay status report, a remaining time report, etc., which reports the time the data has been in the buffer, or the remaining time before the date been discarded or exceeding its delay budget.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

Reference is now made to FIG. 2, which shows a signaling chart 200 for communication according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 2, the signaling chart 200 involves a terminal device 110 and a network device 120. For the purpose of discussion, reference is made to FIG. 1 to describe the signaling chart 200. Although a single terminal device 110 is illustrated in FIG. 2, it would be appreciated that there may be a plurality of terminal devices performing similar operations as described with respect to the terminal device 110 below.

As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal device 110 may determine (202) whether a DIR and/or a BSR is triggered. For example, if the terminal device 110 detects at least one logical channel group (LCG) has data buffered with remaining time below a threshold remaining time, the terminal device 110 may determine that the DIR is to be triggered. If the terminal device 110 detects that higher priority data has arrived, and/or a related timer (e.g., the retxBSR-Timer) associated with buffered data expires, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BSR is to be triggered.

In a case where the terminal device 110 determines (204) that the DIR is triggered, the terminal device 110 may determine whether the BSR should be triggered, i.e., whether the BSR is to be reported if there is buffered data to be reported in the BSR.

In an embodiment, if the terminal device 110 determines that there is enough space in the transport block (TB) to include both DIR and BSR, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BSR is also to be triggered. In this case, the terminal device 110 may generate both DIR and BSR.

In some example embodiments, if there is not enough space in the in the UL grant to include both DIR and BSR, the DIR is prioritized. The terminal device 110 may then report a truncated DIR (e.g., with a different logical channel identity (LCID) ) , to indicate there is more data buffered than the amount indicated by the buffer status (BS) value in the DIR.

As another option, if the terminal device 110 determines that buffered data of at least one LCG, to be reported in the BSR, is not included in the DIR, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BSR is to be reported. The BSR may also report the buffered data of at least one LCG excluded in the DIR. From another perspective, if the terminal device 110 determines that buffered data of at least one LCG shall be reported, the terminal device report first buffered data in the DIR and second buffered data in the BSR. In order to make the reporting efficient and avoid overlapping in the reporting, the reported first buffered data excludes the reported second buffered data.

In other words, when the BS reported in DIR indicates all the available data for the LCG, the BS can be omitted for the LCG in the BSR. This means that when a DIR and a BSR are received together in the same transport block, a BSR indicating that an LCG has no data buffered means that there is truly no data buffered when there is no DIR for that LCG.

It is also possible that the terminal device 110 may determine whether the BS value of the terminal device 110 has changed since the previous reporting of a BSR. If the terminal device 110 determines that the BS value of the terminal device 110 has changed since the previous reporting of a BSR, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BSR is to be reported.

For the situation as described above, for example, the BSR may be triggered if the DIR does not include one LCG because the delay in the LCG above threshold remaining time, or this LCG not configured for delay reporting. The BSR may also be triggered if the buffer status of a LCG reported in DIR only reflects the amount of data below the threshold remaining time. The LCG may have more data buffered and this needs to be reflected in the BSR.

Additionally or alternatively, the status of buffered data in the BSR may also include the buffered data of the DIR.

It is to be understood that the buffered data of the DIR may be included or excluded in the status of buffered data in the BSR. Both cases may work for the network device.

In some other example embodiments, since a DIR is triggered whenever there is data buffered with remaining time below a given threshold remaining time, the terminal device 110 may omit the DIR if all the data in the buffer are with remaining time above the given threshold remaining time. That is, if the terminal device 110 reports only the BSR, the network device 120 may understand that all the data in the buffer are with remaining time above the given threshold remaining time.

It is to be understood that the reported DIR and BSR may be indicated in a same medium access control (MAC) control element (CE) or in separate MAC CEs. The terminal device 110 may determine which part of the information to be reported. Alternatively, it may also be indicated with different bitmaps in the same MAC CE whether the DIR for a LCG is included or not in a case where both DIR and BSR are to be reported.

The DIR may contain various information related to the buffered data, as discussed below. In general, the remaining time and the data amount with the corresponding remaining time or with a remaining time below a threshold remaining time may be indicated.

In an embodiment, only the shortest remaining time and its corresponding data amount may be reported in the DIR.

As another option, the shortest remaining time and all the data with a corresponding remaining time below a threshold remaining time is reported. That is, the reported buffered data may not be necessarily with the same remaining time.

Alternatively, only the LCG (s) with remaining time below a threshold remaining time are reported while the other LCG (s) with the remaining time above the threshold remaining time can be omitted from the DIR.

After determining to trigger of the DIR and/or BSR and the buffered data to be reported, the terminal device 110 may report (206) the status of buffered data to the network device 120.

In this way, the terminal device 110 may determine which buffered data is to be reported flexibly while minimizing overhead and still allowing useful delay information to be reported.

FIG. 3 shows a flowchart of an example method 300 of delay report for XRs or a similar service according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 300 may be implemented at the apparatus (terminal device 110) as shown in FIG. 1. For the purpose of discussion, the method 300 will be described with reference to FIG. 1.

At 310, if the terminal device 110 detects at least one of DIR or BSR is tiggered, at 320, the terminal device 110 determines at least one of: whether the DIR is to be reported if the BSR is triggered, or whether the BSR is to be reported if the DIR is triggered.

At 330, the terminal device 110 determines information related to buffered data to be reported based on the determination.

At 340, the terminal device 110 transmits a report of the information to the network device 120.

In some example embodiments, if the terminal device 110 detects the DIR is triggered and there is enough space in a transport block for reporting, the terminal device 110 may determine that both the BSR and the DIR are to be reported.

In some example embodiments, if the terminal device 110 detects the DIR is triggered and buffered data of at least one logical channel to be reported in the BSR is not included in the DIR, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BSR is to be reported.

In some example embodiments, if the terminal device 110 detects the DIR is triggered, the terminal device 110 may determine that the BSR is to be reported with the DIR if a status of buffered data at the terminal device has been changed after reporting a previous BSR.

In some example embodiments, the buffered data reported in the BSR excludes the buffered data reported in the DIR.

In some example embodiments, if the terminal device 110 detects the DIR is triggered and a space in a transport block is not enough for reporting both the DIR and the BSR, the terminal device 110 may generate a truncated DIR indicating that data buffered in the apparatus is more than an amount indicated in the truncated DIR.

In some example embodiments, the BSR and the DIR are associated with a same medium access control, MAC, control element, CE, or separate MAC CEs.

In some example embodiments, the BSR and the DIR are indicated with separate bitmaps for indicating respective at least one logical channel group, LCG, reported in the same MAC CE.

In some example embodiments, the DIR may indicate one of: a first threshold remaining time and an amount of buffered data with the first threshold remaining time, or an amount of buffered data below the first threshold remaining time.

In some example embodiments, the DIR comprises buffered data having a remaining time above the first threshold remaining time and below a second threshold remaining time, and wherein the second threshold remaining time is larger than the first threshold remaining time.

In some example embodiments, the terminal device 110 may omit the DIR, if the data buffered in the apparatus has a remaining time above a threshold remaining time.

In some example embodiments, only at least one logical channel group, LCG, with a remaining time below a threshold remaining time are reported in the DIR.

FIG. 4 shows a flowchart of an example method 400 of a delay report for XRs or a similar service according to some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The method 400 may be implemented at the apparatus (the network device 120) as shown in FIG. 1. For the purpose of discussion, the method 400 with be described with reference to FIG. 1.

At 410, the network device 120 receives, from a terminal device, a report of information related to buffered data to be reported determined by the terminal device based on a determination of at least one of: whether the DIR is to be reported if the BSR is triggered, or whether the BSR is to be reported if the DIR is triggered.

In some example embodiments, if the network device 120 determines that only BSR is received, the network device 120 may determine that buffered data at the terminal device is above a threshold remaining time.

In some example embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing the method 300 (for example, implemented at the terminal device 110) may include means for performing the respective steps of the method 300. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus comprises means for, in response to detecting that at least one of DIR or BSR is tiggered, determining at least one of: whether the DIR is to be reported if the BSR is triggered, or whether the BSR is to be reported if the DIR is triggered; and means for determining information related to buffered data to be reported based on the determination; and means for transmitting a report of the information to the network device.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for, in response to detecting that the DIR is triggered and there is enough space in a transport block for reporting, determining that both the BSR and the DIR are to be reported.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for, in response to detecting that the DIR is triggered and buffered data of at least one logical channel to be reported in the BSR is not included in the DIR, determining that the BSR is to be reported.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for, in response to detecting that the DIR is triggered, determining that the BSR is to be reported with the DIR if a status of buffered data at the apparatus has been changed after reporting a previous BSR.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for, in response to detecting that the DIR is triggered and a space in a transport block is not enough for reporting both the DIR and the BSR, generating a truncated DIR indicating that data buffered in the apparatus is more than an amount indicated in the truncated DIR.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for omitting the DIR, if the data buffered in the apparatus has a remaining time above a threshold remaining time.

In some example embodiments, an apparatus capable of performing the method 400 (for example, implemented at the network device 120) may include means for performing the respective steps of the method 400. The means may be implemented in any suitable form. For example, the means may be implemented in a circuitry or software module.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus comprises means for receiving, from a terminal device, a report of information related to buffered data to be reported determined by the terminal device based on a determination of at least one of: whether the DIR is to be reported if the BSR is triggered, or whether the BSR is to be reported if the DIR is triggered.

In some example embodiments, the apparatus may further comprise means for in accordance with a determination that only BSR is received, determining that buffered data at the terminal device is above a threshold remaining time.

FIG. 5 is a simplified block diagram of a device 500 that is suitable for implementing example embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 500 may be provided to implement a communication device, for example, the terminal device 110 or the network device 120 as shown in FIG. 1. As shown, the device 500 includes one or more processors 510, one or more memories 520 coupled to the processor 510, and one or more communication modules 540 coupled to the processor 510.

The communication module 540 is for bidirectional communications. The communication module 540 has one or more communication interfaces to facilitate communication with one or more other modules or devices. The communication interfaces may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements. In some example embodiments, the communication module 540 may include at least one antenna.

The processor 510 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 500 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

The memory 520 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of the non-volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a Read Only Memory (ROM) 524, an electrically programmable read only memory (EPROM) , a flash memory, a hard disk, a compact disc (CD) , a digital video disk (DVD) , an optical disk, a laser disk, and other magnetic storage and/or optical storage. Examples of the volatile memories include, but are not limited to, a random access memory (RAM) 522 and other volatile memories that will not last in the power-down duration.

A computer program 530 includes computer executable instructions that are executed by the associated processor 510. The instructions of the program 530 may include instructions for performing operations/acts of some example embodiments of the present disclosure. The program 530 may be stored in the memory, e.g., the ROM 524. The processor 510 may perform any suitable actions and processing by loading the program 530 into the RAM 522.

The example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by means of the program 530 so that the device 500 may perform any process of the disclosure as discussed with reference to FIG. 2 to FIG. 4. The example embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented by hardware or by a combination of software and hardware.

In some example embodiments, the program 530 may be tangibly contained in a computer readable medium which may be included in the device 500 (such as in the memory 520) or other storage devices that are accessible by the device 500. The device 500 may load the program 530 from the computer readable medium to the RAM 522 for execution. In some example embodiments, the computer readable medium may include any types of non-transitory storage medium, such as ROM, EPROM, a flash memory, a hard disk, CD, DVD, and the like. The term “non-transitory, ” as used herein, is a limitation of the medium itself (i.e., tangible, not a signal) as opposed to a limitation on data storage persistency (e.g., RAM vs. ROM) .

FIG. 6 shows an example of the computer readable medium 600 which may be in form of CD, DVD or other optical storage disk. The computer readable medium 600 has the program 530 stored thereon.

Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representations, it is to be understood that the block, apparatus, system, technique or method described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

Some example embodiments of the present disclosure also provide at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a computer readable medium, such as a non-transitory computer readable medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target physical or virtual processor, to carry out any of the methods as described above. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

Program code for carrying out methods of the present disclosure may be written in any combination of one or more programming languages. The program code may be provided to a processor or controller of a general purpose computer, special purpose computer, or other programmable data processing apparatus, such that the program code, when executed by the processor or controller, cause the functions/operations specified in the flowcharts and/or block diagrams to be implemented. The program code may execute entirely on a machine, partly on the machine, as a stand-alone software package, partly on the machine and partly on a remote machine or entirely on the remote machine or server.

In the context of the present disclosure, the computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable the device, apparatus or processor to perform various processes and operations as described above. Examples of the carrier include a signal, computer readable medium, and the like.

The computer readable medium may be a computer readable signal medium or a computer readable storage medium. A computer readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the computer readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM) , a read-only memory (ROM) , an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) , an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) , an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

Further, while operations are depicted in a particular order, this should not be understood as requiring that such operations be performed in the particular order shown or in sequential order, or that all illustrated operations be performed, to achieve desirable results. In certain circumstances, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Likewise, while several specific implementation details are contained in the above discussions, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the present disclosure, but rather as descriptions of features that may be specific to particular embodiments. Unless explicitly stated, certain features that are described in the context of separate embodiments may also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, unless explicitly stated, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment may also be implemented in a plurality of embodiments separately or in any suitable sub-combination.

Although the present disclosure has been described in languages specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the present disclosure defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described above. Rather, the specific features and acts described above are disclosed as example forms of implementing the claims.

Claims

An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

in response to detecting that at least one of delay information report, DIR, or buffer status report, BSR, is triggered, determine at least one of:

whether the DIR is to be reported if the BSR is triggered, or

whether the BSR is to be reported if the DIR is triggered; and

determine information related to buffered data to be reported based on the determination; and

transmit a report of the information to a network device.
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is caused to:

in response to detecting that the DIR is triggered and there is enough space in a transport block for reporting, determine that both the BSR and the DIR are to be reported.
The apparatus of claim 1 or 2, wherein the apparatus is caused to:

in response to detecting that the DIR is triggered and buffered data of at least one logical channel to be reported in the BSR is not included in the DIR, determine that the BSR is to be reported.
The apparatus of any preceding claim, wherein the apparatus is caused to:

in response to detecting that the DIR is triggered, determine that the BSR is to be reported with the DIR if a status of buffered data at the apparatus has been changed after reporting a previous BSR.
The apparatus of any preceding claim 2 to 4, wherein the buffered data reported in the BSR excludes the buffered data reported in the DIR.
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the apparatus is caused to:

in response to detecting that the DIR is triggered and a space in a transport block is not enough for reporting both the DIR and the BSR, generate a truncated DIR indicating that data buffered in the apparatus is more than an amount indicated in the truncated DIR.
The apparatus of any preceding claim 2 to 4, wherein the BSR and the DIR are associated with a same medium access control, MAC, control element, CE, or separate MAC CEs.
The apparatus of claim 7, wherein the BSR and the DIR are indicated with separate bitmaps for indicating respective at least one logical channel group, LCG, reported in the same MAC CE.
The apparatus of any preceding claim 1 to 8, wherein the DIR indicates one of:

a first threshold remaining time and an amount of buffered data with the first threshold remaining time, or

an amount of buffered data below the first threshold remaining time.
The apparatus of claim 9, wherein the DIR comprises buffered data having a remaining time above the first threshold remaining time and below a second threshold remaining time, and wherein the second threshold remaining time is larger than the first threshold remaining time.
The apparatus of claim 1, the apparatus is caused to:

omit the DIR, if the data buffered in the apparatus has a remaining time above a threshold remaining time.
The apparatus of claim 1, wherein only at least one logical channel group, LCG, with a remaining time below a threshold remaining time are reported in the DIR.
An apparatus comprising:

at least one processor; and

at least one memory storing instructions that, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to:

receive, from a terminal device, a report of information related to buffered data to be reported determined by the terminal device based on a determination of at least one of:

whether the DIR is to be reported if the BSR is triggered, or

whether the BSR is to be reported if the DIR is triggered.
The apparatus of claim 13, wherein the apparatus is further caused to:

in accordance with a determination that only BSR is received, determine that buffered data at the terminal device is above a threshold remaining time.
A method comprising:

in response to detecting, at a terminal device, that at least one of DIR or BSR is tiggered, determining at least one of:

whether the DIR is to be reported if the BSR is triggered, or

whether the BSR is to be reported if the DIR is triggered; and

determining information related to buffered data to be reported based on the determination; and

transmitting a report of the information to a network device.
A method comprising:

receiving, at a network device and from a terminal device, a report of information related to buffered data to be reported determined by the terminal device based on a determination of at least one of: whether the DIR is to be reported if the BSR is triggered, or whether the BSR is to be reported if the DIR is triggered.
An apparatus comprising:

means for, in response to detecting that at least one of DIR or BSR is tiggered, determining at least one of:

whether the DIR is to be reported if the BSR is triggered, or

whether the BSR is to be reported if the DIR is triggered; and

means for determining information related to buffered data to be reported based on the determination; and

means for transmitting a report of the information to the network device.
An apparatus comprising:

means for transmitting, to a terminal device, information associated with an operating architecture type of the terminal device, wherein the terminal device is served by a primary cell and at least one secondary cell in an intra-band operation.
A computer readable medium comprising instructions which, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform at least the method of claim 15 or the method of claim 16.