WO2025113893A1

WO2025113893A1 - Unused configured grant reporting

Info

Publication number: WO2025113893A1
Application number: PCT/EP2024/079936
Authority: WO
Inventors: Zexian Li; Boyan Yanakiev; Abolfazl AMIRI; Carlos Santiago MOREJON GARCIA; Claudio Rosa
Original assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Technologies Oy
Priority date: 2023-11-29
Filing date: 2024-10-23
Publication date: 2025-06-05
Anticipated expiration: 2026-05-29

Abstract

In accordance with example embodiments of the invention there is at least a method and apparatus to perform establishing a radio connection towards a network device of a communication network; sending or receiving at least one radio resource control message comprising configuration information to configure uplink transmissions for an application, wherein the configuration information is identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application, and an instruction on how to report unused configured grants related to the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application; determining data traffic related to the application and to be received from the network device, wherein the determined data traffic is associated with at least one of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application and based on at least one associated traffic flow requirement; sending or receiving the determined data traffic from the network device using the associated at least one configured grant configuration; and sending or receiving an indication of unused configured grants configured for the application based on the received instruction.

Description

UNUSED CONFIGURED GRANT REPORTING

TECHNICAL FIELD:

[0001] The teachings in accordance with the exemplary embodiments of this invention relate generally to new methods for indicating unused configured grant transmission occasions, in particular related to radio resources, and further in particular related to generating content for Unused Transmission Occasion - Uplink Control Information (UTO-UCI) for multiple related configured grant (CG) configurations and, more specifically, relate to new methods for generating content of the UTO-UCI for multiple related CG configurations based on an end of data burst (EoDB) indication in at least one of traffic flows, data radio bearers (DRBs), or logical channels.

BACKGROUND:

[0002] This section is intended to provide a background or context to the invention that is recited in the claims. The description herein may include concepts that could be pursued, but are not necessarily ones that have been previously conceived or pursued. Therefore, unless otherwise indicated herein, what is described in this section is not prior art to the description and claims in this application and is not admitted to be prior art by inclusion in this section.

[0003] Certain abbreviations that may be found in the description and/or in the Figures are herewith defined as follows:

BSR Buffer status report

CG Configured Grant

CGO CG transmission occasion

DRX Discontinuous Reception gNB 5G Node B

EoDB/EDB End of data burst

ID Identifier

LCH Logical Channel LCG Logical Channel Group

NR New Radio

PDB Packet delay budget

PUSCH Physical uplink shared channel

QoS Quality of service

RRC Radio Resource Control

RTP Real-time Transport Protocol

SI Study Item

TCI transmission control indicator

UCI Uplink control information

UE User Equipment

UL Uplink

UTO-UCI Unused transmission occasion(s) UCI

WI Work Item

XR Extended reality

[0004] Extended reality (XR) systems are increasingly being implemented in human-machine interfaces (HMIs) for interacting with various types of real-world environments. In such systems, e.g. virtual computer-generated objects are projected onto a real-world environment.

[0005] Standards at the time of this application work to provide enhancements for XR with e.g. the following objectives:

• XR-specific power saving: DRX support XR frame rate corresponding to non-integer periodicities, and

• XR-specific capacity improvements: o Multiple CG PUSCH transmission occasions in a period of a single CG PUSCH configuration; o Dynamic indication of unused CG PUSCH occasion(s) based on UCI by the UE; o BSR enhancements including at least new BS Table(s); o Delay reporting of buffered data in uplink; o Provision of XR traffic assistance information for DL and UL (e.g. periodicity); o Discard operation of PDU Sets.

[0006] Example embodiments of this invention proposes improved operations for indicating unused grants.

SUMMARY:

[0007] This section contains examples of possible implementations and is not meant to be limiting.

[0008] In an example aspect of the invention, there is an apparatus, such as a user equipment side apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one non- transitory memory storing instructions, that when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: establish a radio connection towards a network node of a communication network; receive at least one radio resource control message comprising configuration information to configure uplink transmissions for an application, wherein the configuration information is identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application, and an instruction on how to report unused configured grants related to the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application; determine data traffic related to the application and to be transmitted towards the network node, wherein the determined data traffic is associated with at least one of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application and based on at least one associated traffic flow requirement; transmit the determined data traffic towards the network node using the associated at least one configured grant configuration; and transmit towards the network node an indication of unused configured grants configured for the application based on the received instruction.

[0009] In another example aspect of the invention, there is a method, comprising: establishing a radio connection towards a network node of a communication network; receiving at least one radio resource control message comprising configuration information to configure uplink transmissions for an application, wherein the configuration information is identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application, and an instruction on how to report unused configured grants related to the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application; determining data traffic related to the application and to be transmitted towards the network node, wherein the determined data traffic is associated with at least one of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application and based on at least one associated traffic flow requirement; transmitting the determined data traffic towards the network node using the associated at least one configured grant configuration; and transmitting towards the network node an indication of unused configured grants configured for the application based on the received instruction.

[0010] A further example embodiment is an apparatus and a method comprising the apparatus and the method of the previous paragraphs, wherein the indication of unused configured grants is further based on a trigger event, and wherein the trigger event is related to a determined end of data burst related to the determined data traffic, wherein the indication of unused configured grants is further based on a trigger event, and wherein the event is related to a selection of a number N of configured grant configurations for transmission of the determined data traffic out of M configured grant configurations, wherein N < M, and wherein M - N are unused configured grants, and wherein N = 1, 2, 3, . . ., and M = 2, 3, ..., wherein the more than one configured grant configurations relate to traffic flows associated with different jitter requirements, and wherein the determined traffic flow is related to a traffic with jitter, and wherein a trigger event to determine the indication of unused configured grants is related to the selection of at least one configured grant configuration best fulfilling the jitter requirements of the determined traffic to be transmitted, wherein the more than one configured grant configurations relate to traffic flows associated with different data rate requirements, and wherein the determined traffic flow is related to a traffic with different data rates, and wherein a trigger event to determine the indication of unused configured grants is related to the selection of at least one configured grant configuration best fulfilling the data rate requirements of the determined traffic to be transmitted, wherein the configuration information identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application further includes a configured grant group identification linking the more than one configured grant configurations; and wherein the indication of unused configured grants includes the grant group identification, wherein the determined data traffic is split among at least two of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for transmitting the determined data traffic in used configured grants, wherein the configuration information is sent as part of a ConfiguredGrantConfig information element included in the radio resource control message, wherein determining the indication of unused configured grants is further based on a trigger event, and wherein the trigger event is related to a determined end of data burst related to the determined data traffic, wherein determining the indication of unused configured grants is further based on a trigger event, and wherein the event is related to a selection of a number N of configured grant configurations for transmission of the determined data traffic out of M configured grant configurations, wherein N < M, and wherein M - N are unused configured grants, and wherein N = 1, 2, 3, . . ., and M = 2, 3, ..., wherein the more than one configured grant configurations relate to traffic flows associated with different jitter requirements, and wherein the determined traffic flow is related to a traffic with jitter, and wherein a trigger event to determine the indication of unused configured grants is related to the selection of at least one configured grant configuration best fulfilling the jitter requirements of the determined traffic to be transmitted, wherein the more than one configured grant configurations relate to traffic flows associated with different data rate requirements, and wherein the determined traffic flow is related to a traffic with different data rates, and wherein a trigger event to determine the indication of unused configured grants is related to the selection of at least one configured grant configuration best fulfilling the data rate requirements of the determined traffic to be transmitted, wherein the configuration information identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application further includes a configured grant group identification linking the more than one configured grant configurations; and wherein the indication of unused configured grants includes the grant group identification, wherein the determined data traffic is split among at least two of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for transmitting the determined data traffic in used configured grants, wherein the configuration information is received as part of a ConfiguredGrantConfig information element included in the radio resource control message, wherein the indication is indicating whether one or more of the more than one configured grant configuration belonging to a same configured group are unused or not unused, wherein the indication is using a separate unused transmission occasion bitmap for each individual grant configuration, wherein the bitmap is indicating a configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasion as unused or not unused, wherein the indication is using a joint not used or unused transmission occasion bitmap for the more than one configured grant configuration within the same configured group, wherein there is determining indications in the bitmap of the configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasion as not used and unused the bitmap (“0” - not unused; “1”- unused) based on a buffer status for extended reality flows, wherein the indication is indicating that all remaining configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasions, after the end of data burst indication, from all configured grant configurations of the same configured grant group within a reporting window are unused, wherein the end of data burst is indicated in one configured grant configuration member of at least one of a configured grant group or a zero size buffer status report used jointly to trigger implied a cancellation of configured grant occasions from other configured grant configurations of the group indicated as unused, wherein there is duplicating an end of data burst indication per grant configuration towards the network node, wherein the application has requested and been granted multiple quality of service flows for various types of media traffic, and wherein the quality of service flows are configured for transmission in at least two configured grant configurations of the same configured group, wherein the indication is enabling cancellation of unused upcoming uplink configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasions from a grant configuration group, generate content of unused transmission occasions to identify at least one configured grant physical uplink shared channel as unused or not unused, wherein the indication is transmitted using a message comprising unused transmission occasion uplink control information including the generated content, wherein the generating is performed after a predefined timer expires, wherein the predefined timer is started after determining the end of data burst, wherein the application is using more than one packet data unit and more than one quality of service flow timely in parallel and multiplexed within a single transport connection, wherein a configured grant comprises a configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasion, wherein there is receiving instructions to report unused or not unused configured grants related to the multiple configured grant configurations of the identified group, wherein there is, based on the instructions, transmitting an indication of unused configured grants of the identified group, and/or wherein the configuration information is identifying more than one configured grant configurations for different traffic flows related to the application.

[0011] A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing program code, the program code executed by at least one processor to perform at least the method as described in the paragraphs above.

[0012] In yet another example aspect of the invention, there is an apparatus comprising: means for establishing a radio connection towards a network node of a communication network; means for receiving at least one radio resource control message comprising configuration information to configure uplink transmissions for an application, wherein the configuration information is identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application, and an instruction on how to report unused configured grants related to the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application; means for determining data traffic related to the application and to be transmitted towards the network node, wherein the determined data traffic is associated with at least one of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application and based on at least one associated traffic flow requirement; means for transmitting the determined data traffic towards the network node using the associated at least one configured grant configuration; and means for transmitting towards the network node an indication of unused configured grants configured for the application based on the received instruction. [0013] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraph above, at least the means for establishing, receiving, determining, and transmitting comprises a network interface, and computer program code stored on a computer-readable medium and executed by at least one processor.

[0014] In another example aspect of the invention, there is an apparatus, such as a network side apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one non- transitory memory storing instructions, that when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: establish a radio connection towards a network device of a communication network; send towards the network device at least one radio resource control message comprising configuration information to configure uplink transmissions for an application, wherein the configuration information is identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application, and an instruction on how to report unused configured grants related to the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application; determine data traffic related to the application and to be received from the network device, wherein the determined data traffic is associated with at least one of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application and based on at least one associated traffic flow requirement; receive the determined data traffic from the network device using the associated at least one configured grant configuration; and receive from the network device an indication of unused configured grants configured for the application based on the received instruction.

[0015] In still another example aspect of the invention, there is a method, comprising: establishing a radio connection towards a network device of a communication network; sending towards the network device at least one radio resource control message comprising configuration information to configure uplink transmissions for an application, wherein the configuration information is identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application, and an instruction on how to report unused configured grants related to the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application; determining data traffic related to the application and to be received from the network device, wherein the determined data traffic is associated with at least one of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application and based on at least one associated traffic flow requirement; receiving the determined data traffic from the network device using the associated at least one configured grant configuration; and receiving from the network device an indication of unused configured grants configured for the application based on the received instruction.

[0016] A further example embodiment is an apparatus and a method comprising the apparatus and the method of the previous paragraphs, wherein the indication of unused configured grants is further based on a trigger event, and wherein the trigger event is related to a determined end of data burst related to the determined data traffic, wherein the indication of unused configured grants is further based on a trigger event, and wherein the event is related to a selection of a number N of configured grant configurations for transmission of the determined data traffic out of M configured grant configurations, wherein N < M, and wherein M - N are unused configured grants, and wherein N = 1, 2, 3, . . ., and M = 2, 3, ..., wherein the more than one configured grant configurations relate to traffic flows associated with different jitter requirements, and wherein the determined traffic flow is related to a traffic with jitter, and wherein a trigger event to determine the indication of unused configured grants is related to the selection of at least one configured grant configuration best fulfilling the jitter requirements of the determined traffic to be transmitted, wherein the more than one configured grant configurations relate to traffic flows associated with different data rate requirements, and wherein the determined traffic flow is related to a traffic with different data rates, and wherein a trigger event to determine the indication of unused configured grants is related to the selection of at least one configured grant configuration best fulfilling the data rate requirements of the determined traffic to be transmitted, wherein the configuration information identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application further includes a configured grant group identification linking the more than one configured grant configurations; and wherein the indication of unused configured grants includes the grant group identification, wherein the determined data traffic is split among at least two of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for transmitting the determined data traffic in used configured grants, wherein the configuration information is sent as part of a ConfiguredGrantConfig information element included in the radio resource control message, wherein determining the indication of unused configured grants is further based on a trigger event, and wherein the trigger event is related to a determined end of data burst related to the determined data traffic, wherein determining the indication of unused configured grants is further based on a trigger event, and wherein the event is related to a selection of a number N of configured grant configurations for transmission of the determined data traffic out of M configured grant configurations, wherein N < M, and wherein M - N are unused configured grants, and wherein N = 1, 2, 3, . . ., and M = 2, 3, ..., wherein the more than one configured grant configurations relate to traffic flows associated with different jitter requirements, and wherein the determined traffic flow is related to a traffic with jitter, and wherein a trigger event to determine the indication of unused configured grants is related to the selection of at least one configured grant configuration best fulfilling the jitter requirements of the determined traffic to be transmitted, wherein the more than one configured grant configurations relate to traffic flows associated with different data rate requirements, and wherein the determined traffic flow is related to a traffic with different data rates, and wherein a trigger event to determine the indication of unused configured grants is related to the selection of at least one configured grant configuration best fulfilling the data rate requirements of the determined traffic to be transmitted, wherein the configuration information identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application further includes a configured grant group identification linking the more than one configured grant configurations; and wherein the indication of unused configured grants includes the grant group identification, wherein the determined data traffic is split among at least two of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for transmitting the determined data traffic in used configured grants, wherein the configuration information is received as part of a ConfiguredGrantConfig information element included in the radio resource control message, wherein the indication is indicating whether one or more of the more than one configured grant configuration belonging to a same configured group are unused or not unused, wherein the indication is using a separate unused transmission occasion bitmap for each individual grant configuration, wherein the bitmap is indicating a configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasion as unused or not unused, wherein the indication is using a joint not used or unused transmission occasion bitmap for the more than one configured grant configuration within the same configured group, wherein there is determining indications in the bitmap of the configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasion as not used and unused the bitmap (“0” - not unused; “1”- unused) based on a buffer status for extended reality flows, wherein the indication is indicating that all remaining configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasions, after the end of data burst indication, from all configured grant configurations of the same configured grant group within a reporting window are unused, wherein the end of data burst is indicated in one configured grant configuration member of at least one of a configured grant group or a zero size buffer status report used jointly to trigger implied a cancellation of configured grant occasions from other configured grant configurations of the group indicated as unused, wherein there is receiving a duplicate end of data burst indication per grant configuration, wherein the application has requested and been granted multiple quality of service flows for various types of media traffic, and wherein the quality of service flows are configured for transmission in at least two configured grant configurations of the same configured group, wherein the indication is enabling cancellation of unused upcoming uplink configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasions from a grant configuration group, generate content of unused transmission occasions to identify at least one configured grant physical uplink shared channel as unused or not unused, wherein the indication is transmitted using a message comprising unused transmission occasion uplink control information including the generated content, wherein the generating is performed after a predefined timer expires, wherein the predefined timer is started after determining the end of data burst, wherein the application is using more than one packet data unit and more than one quality of service flow timely in parallel and multiplexed within a single transport connection, wherein a configured grant comprises a configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasion, wherein there is sending instructions to report unused or not unused configured grants related to the multiple configured grant configurations of the identified group, wherein there is, based on the instructions, receiving an indication of unused configured grants of the identified group, and/or wherein the configuration information is identifying more than one configured grant configurations for different traffic flows related to the application. [0017] A non-transitory computer-readable medium storing program code, the program code executed by at least one processor to perform at least the method as described in the paragraphs above.

[0018] In yet another example aspect of the invention, there is an apparatus comprising: means for establishing a radio connection towards a network device of a communication network; means for establishing a radio connection towards a network device of a communication network; means for sending towards the network device at least one radio resource control message comprising configuration information to configure uplink transmissions for an application, wherein the configuration information is identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application, and an instruction on how to report unused configured grants related to the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application; means for determining data traffic related to the application and to be received from the network device, wherein the determined data traffic is associated with at least one of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application and based on at least one associated traffic flow requirement; means for receiving the determined data traffic from the network device using the associated at least one configured grant configuration; and means for receiving from the network device an indication of unused configured grants configured for the application based on the received instruction.

[0019] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraph above, at least the means for establishing, receiving, determining, and transmitting comprises a network interface, and computer program code stored on a computer-readable medium and executed by at least one processor.

[0020] A communication system comprising the network side apparatus and the user equipment side apparatus performing operations as described above. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS:

[0021] The above and other aspects, features, and benefits of various embodiments of the present disclosure will become more fully apparent from the following detailed description with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like reference signs are used to designate like or equivalent elements. The drawings are illustrated for facilitating better understanding of the embodiments of the disclosure and are not necessarily drawn to scale, in which:

[0022] FIG. 1A shows a one-byte RTP Header Extension for the marking of PDU Sets and End of Bursts;

[0023] FIG. IB shows 3GPP traffic model parameters and requirements for selected XR use cases;

[0024] FIG. 2 a proposal in accordance with example embodiments of the invention that is before detecting EoDB;

[0025] FIG. 3 shows a comparison of mapping traffic flow to CG configurations;

[0026] FIG. 4 shows an example in accordance with example embodiments of the invention of mapping an application traffic flow;

[0027] FIG. 5A shows an example of applying EoDB to multiple CG configurations in accordance with example embodiments of the invention;

[0028] FIG. 5B shows operational features for performing example embodiments of the invention;

[0029] FIG. 5C shows a use case of CG-group ID;

[0030] FIG. 6 shows an example signaling diagram in accordance with example embodiments of the invention; [0031] FIG. 7 shows a high level block diagram of various devices used in carrying out various aspects of the invention; and

[0032] FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B each show a method in accordance with example embodiments of the invention which may be performed by an apparatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION:

[0033] In example embodiments of this invention there is proposed at least a method and apparatus for new operations including generating content of the UTO-UCI for multiple related CG configurations based on an EoDB indication in at least one of traffic follows, DRBs, or logical channels.

[0034] As similarly stated above, Extended reality (XR) systems are increasingly being implemented in human-machine interfaces (HMIs) for interacting with various types of real-world environments.

[0035] Standards at the time of this application include enhancements for XR with the following objective:

[0036] Example embodiments of this invention proposing at least a new solution to address the issues related to the objective: Multiple CG PUSCH transmission occasions in a period of a single CG PUSCH configuration. More specifically, it is related to dynamic indication of unused CG PUSCH occasion(s) based on the UTO-UCI by the UE. The term “UTO-UCI” refers to the “UCI that provides information about unused CG PUSCH transmission occasions”.

[0037] As already agreed at the time of this application, the term "multi- PUSCHs CG" refers to "a CG PUSCH configuration with multiple CG PUSCH transmission occasions within a period of the CG PUSCH configuration". And some of the most relevant agreements at the time of this application are as below:

[0038] In an agreement at the time of this application:

[0039] The UTO-UCI provides a bitmap where a bit corresponds to a TO within a time duration/range. The bit indicates whether the TO is “unused”.

[0040] Options include:

• Configuring the RRC parameter Nu (Nu is the size of bit-map).

• A transmitted CG PUSCH, carries UTO-UCI that is applicable to the Nu consecutive and valid CG PUSCH TOs. [0041] Further, it is noted that future studies may be based on whether to and how to extend to multiple CG configurations.

[0042] In an agreement at the time of this application:

[0043] For a CG configuration with UTO-UCI indication enabled:

• For the range value for the RRC parameter Nu (Nu is the size of bit-map): (3, ..., 8)

[0044] It has been agreed that End of Data Burst (EoDB) will be implicitly indicated to gNB. How to use such information at gNB can be an implementation issue.

[0045] Still in another agreement at the time of this application there is:

- Reusing existing mechanisms (e.g. (Padding) BSR with BS value equal to zero) as implicit End of Data Burst (EoDB) indicator for the RAN.

[0046] In the agreement the PDU set RTP header extension is currently defined as follows [3GPP TS 26.522] including 3 bits of End of Data Burst [EDB],

[0047] The one-byte RTP Header Extension for the marking of PDU Sets and End of Bursts is defined as shown in FIG. 1A. FIG. 1A shows a one-byte RTP Header Extension for the marking of PDU Sets and End of Bursts.

[0048] The semantics of the fields of the RTP Header Extension for the marking of PDU Set and End of Bursts are defined as follows: - End PDU of the PDU Set [E] (1 bit): This field is a flag that shall be set to 1 for the last PDU of the PDU Set and set to 0 for all other PDUs of the PDU Set;

- End of Data Burst [EDB] (3 bits): The EDB field is 3 bits in length and indicates the end of a Data Burst. The 3 bits encode the End of Data Burst indication as per the encoding and guidelines provided.

[0049] Data Burst: A data burst is a set of multiple PDUs generated and sent by the application such that there is an idle period between two data bursts. A Data Burst can be composed of one or multiple PDU Sets.

[0050] PDU Set: One or more PDUs carrying the payload of one unit of information generated at the application level (e.g. frame(s), video slice(s), metadata, etc.).

[0051] Further, it is noted that at the time of this application, a new study item on 5G supporting XR service agreed and one of key work tasks is as follows:

WT#2 QoS handling enhancement for XRM services;

WT#2.1 Study whether and what enhancements are needed for traffic detection and QoS Flow mapping for different media types multiplexed data flows within a single end-to-end transport connection."

[0052] End of Data Burst (EoDB used and EDB used is one of the indications which can be provided by the application layer in the UE for example via Real-time Transport Protocol (RTP) header. It is assumed that the UE can report this indication to the RAN in an implicit manner, and how to use such information at the gNB can be left to gNB implementation. On the other hand, how the UE should use such information for enhanced XR support has not been addressed at the time of this application. [0053] FIG. IB shows 3GPP traffic model parameters and requirements for selected XR use cases.

[0054] FIG. 5A shows an example of applying EoDB to multiple CG configurations in accordance with example embodiments of the invention.

[0055] FIG. 5A shows an application traffic flow is the using a mapping application traffic flow to multiple QoS flows. These traffic flows include EoDB and media component #1, EoDB and media component #2, EoDB and media component #3. It is noted that each of these are sent towards corresponding grant configurations of a CG configuration group as in FIG. 5 A. As shown in FIG. 4 the EoDB and CG #1, the EoDB and CG #2, and the EoDB and CG #3 corresponds with a CG PUSCH #1 to CG PUSCH #M1, #M2, or #M3, respectively.

[0056] Currently, the only case in which UE can be sure that the CGO is “unused CGO” is by receiving an indication (from the application layer, or derived by implementation) of end of data burst (EoDB). After receiving the EoDB, the UE can safely assume that no further XR PDU will be received for this CG period, and can tag the subsequent CGO as “unused”.

[0057] Therefore, before receiving/detecting EoDB, UE always reports “not unused” for subsequent CGOs. Once it receives EoDB indication, UE reports “unused” for subsequent CGOs following the PDU with EoDB. This is illustrated in FIG. 5 A, where it is assumed ‘0’ = NOT unused and ‘ T = unused, and UTO-UCI indicates usage of the next 3 transmission occasions (TOs):

At Tp_mc,2 before the first TO of the CG period, UE cannot predict if any new data will arrive before the deadline for generating the MAC PDU for the 2^nd TO of the CG period. Hence it has no other choice but to tag the following TOs as “NOT unused”;

Right before T_prOc,2 before the 2^nd TO of the CG period, the UE receives data that can fit in the next two PUSCHs (next two TOs). In addition it is indicated (by application) that these data are the last data of the burst. So it is confident that no further data will arrive for that burst, i.e. during this CG periodicity. Therefore it can indicate the network that TOs #4, #5, #6 will be unused.

[0058] FIG. 2 shows an operation in accordance with example embodiments of the invention that, before detecting EoDB, a UE always reports “not unused” for subsequent CGOs. Once it detects EoDB, UE reports “unused” for subsequent CGOs of this CG period, following the PDU with EoDB.

[0059] It has been agreed to use UTO-UCI to report unused CG PUSCH occasions. The agreements so far cover the format of the UTO-UCI, the transmission method (e.g., how to multiplex UTO-UCI on CG PUSCH) and when to send the UTO- UCI. But how to build the content of UTO-UCI is still open and it is limited to single CG configuration. As mentioned herein, extending UTO-UCI to multiple CG configurations is almost agreeable for 3GPP Rel-19 work.

[0060] FIG. 3 shows a comparison of mapping traffic flow to CG configurations.

[0061] FIG. 3 shows an application traffic flow including media components #1, #2, and #3. In accordance with example embodiments of the invention the application traffic flow is using at least one of an alternative 1 or an alternative 2. In the alternative 1 of FIG. 3 there is a CG configuration over time including a CG PUSCH #1, #2, to #M to carry all 3 media components. As shown in alternative 2 of FIG. 3 there are different CG configurations for each component, for example data from media component #1 is delivered over CG configuration #1, data from media component #2 is delivered over CG configuration #2, and data from media component #3 is delivered over CG configuration#3.

[0062] However, so far, the proposed method has been focused solely on the scenarios where only one CG configuration is configured for the application (“Alternative 1” as shown in FIG. 3). There has not been much discussion for the scenarios where multiple application flows for one XR service are multiplexed into the same burst and are mapped into multiple CG configurations (“Alternative 2” as shown in FIG. 3). FIG. 3 shows the difference between Alternative 1 of handling the application traffic (with the example of media component#!, #2, and/or #3) and Alternative 2 which is a scenario that is considered in example embodiments of the invention.

[0063] In addition, the problem arises when an EoDB indication is received within one of the flows and its impact is applied to all the other related flows. More specifically, when the UE uses the EoDB indication to cancel some of the CG occasions, such mechanism should be applied to all of the related CG configurations as well, which has not been studied at the time of this application.

[0064] Such scenarios appear when an application (for instance a WebRTC- based) has one or multiple PDU sets and one or more QoS flows. In 5G RAN each application flow can be mapped to a separate LCH/LCG and could be with individual CG configuration (“Alternative 2” as shown in FIG. 3 with the assumption that RAN knows how different application flows are multiplexed).

[0065] One problem solved in accordance with example embodiments of the invention is how to generate the content of the UTO-UCI for multiple related CG configurations based on an EoDB indication in at least one of traffic flows/QoS flows/DRBs/the logical channels for the scenario of Alternative 2 as shown in FIG. 3.

[0066] It is worth noting that although XR traffic has been used as an example in the example embodiments of the invention, the proposed concept can be applied to any traffic with similar property. Furthermore, the invention is interesting for multimodal traffic types (one of the candidate objectives for XR release 19), where one XR application generates different types of traffics (video, audio, haptic, etc.) where all of them belong a single modality ID.

[0067] Before describing the example embodiments as disclosed herein in detail, reference is made to FIG. 7 for illustrating a simplified block diagram of various electronic devices that are suitable for use in practicing the example embodiments of this invention.

[0068] FIG. 7 is a block diagram of one possible and non-limiting system in which the example embodiments may be practiced. [0066] Turning to FIG. 7, this figure shows a block diagram of one possible and non-limiting example in which the examples may be practiced. A user equipment (UE) 110, and a radio access LTE, 5G, or 6G network base station i.e., gNB 170, and NCE/MME/GW 190 are illustrated. In the example of FIG. 7, the user equipment (UE) 110 is in wireless communication with a wireless network 100. A UE is a wireless device that can access the wireless network 100. The UE 110 includes one or more processors 120, one or more memories 125, and one or more transceivers 130 interconnected through one or more buses 127. Each of the one or more transceivers 130 includes a receiver, Rx, 132 and a transmitter, Tx, 133. The one or more buses 127 may be address, data, or control buses, and may include any interconnection mechanism, such as a series of lines on a motherboard or integrated circuit, fiber optics or other optical communication equipment, and the like. The one or more transceivers 130 are connected to one or more antennas 128. The one or more memories 125 include computer program code 123. The UE 110 includes a output module 140, comprising one of or both parts 140-1 and/or 140-2, which may be implemented in a number of ways. The output module 140 may be implemented in hardware as output module 140- 1, such as being implemented as part of the one or more processors 120. The output module 140-1 may be implemented also as an integrated circuit or through other hardware such as a programmable gate array. In another example, the output module 140 may be implemented as output module 140-2, which is implemented as computer program code 123 and is executed by the one or more processors 120. For instance, the one or more memories 125 and the computer program code 123 may be configured to, with the one or more processors 120, cause the user equipment 110 to perform one or more of the operations as described herein. The UE 110 communicates with gNB 170 via a wireless link 111.

[0067] The gNB 170 in this example is a base station that provides access by wireless devices such as the UE 110 to the wireless network 100. The gNB 170 may be, for example, a base station for 5G, also called New Radio (NR). In 5G, the gNB 170 may be a NG-RAN node, which is defined as either a gNB or an ng-eNB. A gNB is a node providing NR user plane and control plane protocol terminations towards the UE, and connected via the NG interface to a 5GC (such as, for example, the NCE/MME/GW 190). The ng-eNB is a node providing E-UTRA user plane and control plane protocol terminations towards the UE, and connected via the NG interface to the 5GC. The NG-RAN node may include multiple gNBs, which may also include a central unit (CU) (gNB-CU) 196 and distributed unit(s) (DUs) (gNB-DUs), of which DU 195 is shown. Note that the DU may include or be coupled to and control a radio unit (RU). The gNB-CU is a logical node hosting radio resource control (RRC), SDAP and PDCP protocols of the gNB or RRC and PDCP protocols of the en-gNB that controls the operation of one or more gNB-DUs. The gNB-CU terminates the Fl interface connected with the gNB-DU. The Fl interface is illustrated as reference 198, although reference 198 also illustrates a link between remote elements of the gNB 170 and centralized elements of the gNB 170, such as between the gNB-CU 196 and the gNB- DU 195. The gNB-DU is a logical node hosting RLC, MAC and PHY layers of the gNB or en-gNB, and its operation is partly controlled by gNB-CU. One gNB-CU supports one or multiple cells. One cell is supported by only one gNB-DU. The gNB- DU terminates the Fl interface 198 connected with the gNB-CU. Note that the DU 195 is considered to include the transceiver 160, e.g., as part of a RU, but some examples of this may have the transceiver 160 as part of a separate RU, e.g., under control of and connected to the DU 195. The gNB 170 may also be an eNB (evolved NodeB) base station, for LTE (long term evolution), or any other suitable base station or node.

[0068] The gNB 170 includes one or more processors 152, one or more memories 155, one or more network interfaces (N/W I/F(s)) 161, and one or more transceivers 160 interconnected through one or more buses 157. Each of the one or more transceivers 160 includes a receiver, Rx, 162 and a transmitter, Tx, 163. The one or more transceivers 160 are connected to one or more antennas 158. The one or more memories 155 include computer program code 153. The CU 196 may include the processor(s) 152, memories 155, and network interfaces 161. Note that the DU 195 may also contain its own memory/memories and processor(s), and/or other hardware, but these are not shown.

[0069] The gNB 170 includes a output module 150, comprising one of or both parts 150-1 and/or 150-2, which may be implemented in a number of ways. The output module 150 may be implemented in hardware as output module 150-1, such as being implemented as part of the one or more processors 152. The output module 150-1 may be implemented also as an integrated circuit or through other hardware such as a programmable gate array. In another example, the output module 150 may be implemented as output module 150-2, which is implemented as computer program code 153 and is executed by the one or more processors 152. For instance, the one or more memories 155 and the computer program code 153 are configured to, with the one or more processors 152, cause the gNB 170 to perform one or more of the operations as described herein. Note that the functionality of the output module 150 may be distributed, such as being distributed between the DU 195 and the CU 196, or be implemented solely in the DU 195.

[0070] The one or more network interfaces 161 communicate over a network such as via the links 176 and 131. Two or more gNBs 170 may communicate using, e.g., link 176. The link 176 may be wired or wireless or both and may implement, for example, an Xn interface for 5G, an X2 interface for LTE, or other suitable interface for other standards.

[0071] The one or more buses 157 may be address, data, or control buses, and may include any interconnection mechanism, such as a series of lines on a motherboard or integrated circuit, fiber optics or other optical communication equipment, wireless channels, and the like. For example, the one or more transceivers 160 may be implemented as a remote radio head (RRH) 195 for LTE or a distributed unit (DU) 195 receiver for gNB implementation for 5G, with the other elements of the gNB 170 possibly being physically in a different location from the RRH/DU, and the one or more buses 157 could be implemented in part as, for example, fiber optic cable or other suitable network connection to connect the other elements (e.g., a central unit (CU), gNB-CU) of the gNB 170 to the RRH/DU 195. Reference 198 also indicates those suitable network link(s).

[0072] It is noted that description herein indicates that “cells” perform functions, but it should be clear that equipment which forms the cell may perform the functions. The cell makes up part of a base station. That is, there can be multiple cells per base station. For example, there could be three cells for a single carrier frequency and associated bandwidth, each cell covering one-third of a 360 degree area so that the single base station’s coverage area covers an approximate oval or circle. Furthermore, each cell can correspond to a single carrier and a base station may use multiple carriers. So if there are three 120 degree cells per carrier and two carriers, then the base station has a total of 6 cells.

[0073] The wireless network 100 may include a network element or elements 190 that may include core network functionality. Further, this NCE/MME/GW 190 can for example perform Access & Mobility Management Function (AMF), Location Management Function (LMF), Mobility Management Entity (MME), Network Control Element (NCE), Policy Control Function (PCF), Serving Gateway (SGW), Session Management Function (SMF), and Unified Data Management (UDM). The NCE/MME/GW 190 provides connectivity via a link or links 181 with a further network, such as a telephone network and/or a data communications network (e.g., the Internet). Such core network functionality for 5G may include access and mobility management function(s) (AMF(S)) and/or user plane functions (UPF(s)) and/or session management function(s) (SMF(s)). Such core network functionality for LTE may include MME (Mobility Management Entity )/SGW (Serving Gateway) functionality. These are merely example functions that may be supported by the NCE/MME/GW 190, and note that both 5G and LTE functions might be supported. The gNB 170 is coupled via a link 131 to the network element 190. The link 131 may be implemented as, e.g., an NG interface for 5G, or an SI interface for LTE, or other suitable interface for other standards. The network element 190 includes one or more processors 175, one or more memories 171, and one or more network interfaces (N/W I/F(s)) 180, interconnected through one or more buses 185. The one or more memories 171 include computer program code 173. The one or more memories 171 and the computer program code 173 are configured to, with the one or more processors 175, cause the network element 190 to perform one or more operations.

[0074] The wireless network 100 may implement network virtualization, which is the process of combining hardware and software network resources and network functionality into a single, software-based administrative entity, a virtual network. Network virtualization involves platform virtualization, often combined with resource virtualization. Network virtualization is categorized as either external, combining many networks, or parts of networks, into a virtual unit, or internal, providing network-like functionality to software containers on a single system. Note that the virtualized entities that result from the network virtualization are still implemented, at some level, using hardware such as processors 152 or 175 and memories 155 and 171, and also such virtualized entities create technical effects.

[0075] The computer readable memories 125, 155, and 171 may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as semiconductor based memory devices, flash memory, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory. The computer readable memories 125, 155, and 171 may be means for performing storage functions. The processors 120, 152, and 175 may be of any type suitable to the local technical environment, and may include one or more of general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on a multi-core processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The processors 120, 152, and 175 may be means for performing functions, such as controlling the UE 110, gNB 170, NCE/MME/GW 190, and other functions as described herein.

[0076] In general, the various embodiments of the user equipment 110 can include, but are not limited to, cellular telephones such as smart phones, tablets, personal digital assistants (PDAs) having wireless communication capabilities, portable computers having wireless communication capabilities, image capture devices such as digital cameras having wireless communication capabilities, gaming devices having wireless communication capabilities, music storage and playback appliances having wireless communication capabilities, Internet appliances permitting wireless Internet access and browsing, tablets with wireless communication capabilities, as well as portable units or terminals that incorporate combinations of such functions.

[0077] One or more of output modules 140-1, 140-2, 150-1, and 150-2 may be configured to implement high level syntax for a compressed representation of neural networks based on the examples described herein. Computer program code 173 may also be configured to implement high level syntax for a compressed representation of neural networks based on the examples described herein.

[0078] Further, the various embodiments of any of these devices can be used with a UE vehicle, a High Altitude Platform Station, or any other such type node associated with a terrestrial network or any drone type radio or a radio in aircraft or other airborne vehicle or a vessel that travels on water such as a boat.

[0079] As similarly stated above, a problem solved in accordance with example embodiments of the invention is how to generate the content of the UTO-UCI for multiple related CG configurations based on an EoDB indication in at least one of traffic follows/DRBs/the logical channels for the scenario of Alternative 2 as shown in FIG. 3.

[0069] Further, although XR traffic has been used as an example in the example embodiments of the invention, the proposed concept can be applied to any traffic with similar property. Furthermore, example embodiments of the invention provide for multi-modal traffic types (one of the candidate objectives for XR release 19), where one XR application generates different types of traffics (video, audio, haptic, etc.) where all of them belong a single modality ID.

[0080] Considering the Alternative 2 scenario shown in FIG. 3 where the data from different application flows are mapped to a separate LCH/LCG each with an individual CG configuration, a method to generate the content of UTO-UCI is proposed. To be more specific, based on for example the buffer status at the point of a received EoDB, the UE generates the content of UTO-UCI for multiple CG configurations and EoDB can be applied to all the relevant CG configurations.

[0081] More specifically, what example embodiments of the invention provide includes:

• A novel CG configuration group: o With the introduction of such concept for example with CG configuration group ID, different CG configurations can be linked together:

■ For example, by configuring CG#l/#2/#3 of Alternative 2 as shown in FIG. 3 belonging to the same CG group, it is easier for the UE to generate UTO-UCI content based on one EoDB only; o In some configurations a CG configuration group can also be formed for the same flow ID split across multiple CG configurations:

■ This can be the case when a UE is configured with 3 CG configurations (each one with periodicity of 50 ms and different offset) to transmit data of an XR video flow with 3 video frames generated every 50 ms. Another scenario is where multiple CG configurations are utilized to combat the traffic jiter; o The CG configurations belong to the same group may belong to the same carrier or different carriers;

• From UE side, in accordance with example embodiments of the invention, once the EoDB is received (from the application layer, or derived by UE implementation), the UE will generate the content of UTO-UCI (i.e. indicating each CG PUSCH transmission occasion as “unused” or “not unused”) for at least one of the CG configurations belonging to the same CG configuration group in accordance with example embodiments of the invention: o As another option, in accordance with example embodiments of the invention the UE can generate the content of the UTO-UCI after a predefined timer expires which is started at the time of receiving EoDB. In this way, the cancellation due to out-of-order EoDB arrival (due to e.g., jitter, different routing path etc.) can be avoided;

• Different options in accordance with example embodiments of the invention can be considered for indicating CG PUSCH TO usage: o Option 1 : Separate UTO-UCI bitmap for each individual CG configuration to indicate the usage of the CG PUSCH occasion; o Option 2: Joint UTO-UCI bitmap for multiple CG configurations within the same CG configuration group; o Option 3 : Signaling without UTO-UCI can be supported as well. Assuming explicit EoDB signaled (via e.g., MAC CE) on one CG configuration member of a CG group, gNB can assume all the remaining CG PUSCH occasions (after the one with EoDB indication) from all CG configurations of the same CG group within the reporting window are unused. In other words, UE sends EoDB indication to the gNB in the last used CG PUSCH occasion in the reporting window. gNB can then assume the rest of the CG PUSCH occasions within the reporting window can be cancelled, i.e., unused; o Option 4: As another embodiment example, EoDB indication in one CG configuration member of a CG group and/or B SR (e.g., zero buffer size) can be used jointly to trigger implied cancellation (i.e. indicated as unused) of CG PUSCH occasions from other CG configurations of the group; o Option 5: An alternative to Option 4 can be the duplication of EoDB indication by the UE per CG configuration. Assuming the application has requested and been granted multiple QoS flows for the various types of traffic and further assuming those QoS flows are configured for transmission in multiple CG configurations of a CG configuration group, the UE can duplicate the EoDB indication towards the gNB for each CG configuration. This is an alternative to sending “0” value BSR as described in Option 4. This is illustrated in FIG. 4.

[0082] FIG. 4 shows an example in accordance with example embodiments of the invention of mapping one application traffic flow (incl. multiple media components) to multiple QoS flows and the EoDBZEDB duplicated to all relevant QoS flows and CG configurations.

[0083] FIG. 4 shows an application traffic flow in accordance with example embodiments of the invention including an EoDB, and media components #1, #2, and #3. In accordance with example embodiments of the invention the application traffic flow is using a mapping application traffic flow to multiple QoS flows at a UE. These traffic flows include EoDB and media component #1, EoDB and media component #2, and EoDB and media component #3. It is noted that each of these are sent towards corresponding CG configurations of a CG configuration group as in FIG. 4. As shown in FIG. 4 the CG #1 corresponds with CG configuration #1, CG #2 corresponds with CG configuration #2, and a CG #3 corresponds with CG configuration #3.

[0084] In this section, detailed implementation examples are discussed.

[0085] Configuring CG configuration group:

[0086] For configuring CG configuration group, here it is proposed to introduce the concept of CG configuration group. One embodiment example is: when gNB configuring CG configuration to one UE, additional information element (e.g., cg- group-ID) can be included.

[0087] For example:

ConfiguredGrantConfig information element (Not a full list of existing IES);

- ASN1 START; - TAG-CONFIGUREDGRANTCONFIG-START;

ConfiguredGrantConfig ::= SEQUENCE { frequencyHopping ENUMERATED {intraSlot, interSlot}

OPTIONAL, - Need S cg-group-ID Group-ID.

[0088] In this way, the dependency or relevancy among multiple CG configurations can be set once the CG configuration is done.

[0089] It is worth to highlight that in this invention, we proposed to use cg-group-ID in order to apply EoDB to multiple CG configurations. cg-group-ID can be used for other purposes as well and hence this can be seen as one independent feature which is not necessarily to be limited for the usage scenarios disclosed in this invention.

[0090] UTO-UCI content generation

[0091] From UE side, after getting the CG configuration information, it knows that multiple CG configurations belong to the same group. In addition, gNB should configure to the UE that the EoDB can be applied to the entire CG configuration group. When EoDB from application received at UE side, UE will generate the content of UTO-UCI for multiple CG configurations belonging to the same CG configuration group.

[0092] Taking FIG. 5A as an example, it is assumed that the CG group including CG#1, CG#2 and CG#3. They share the same cg-group-ID. And gNB configures to UE that EoDB from the application can be applied to multiple LCHs/LCGs which are carried over CG resources in this group. Once the EoDB received, UE can determine the UTO-UCI bitmap (“0” - not unused; “1”- unused) based on e.g., the buffer status for XR flows. The bitmap can be generated for each CG configuration, i.e., one bitmap per CG configuration. For example with the length of UTO-UCI as Nu bit, then the bitmap could look like [bo, bi, . . . ,bx_u]. [0093] FIG. 5B shows operational features for performing example embodiments of the invention.

[0094] As shown in FIG. 5B there is an analog frontend and a digital based band of a physical layer. The analog frontend using 45% of processing as an example. The physical layer as in FIG. 5B is connected to upper layers including a protocol processor as shown in FIG. 5B. The digital baseband and the protocol processor using 25% of processing as an example These upper layers connect to a codec including an application processor. As shown in FIG. 5B this codec is fed by GPS and Bluetooth. Then output devices in FIG. 5B includes a camera, keyboard, display, and speaker. As shown in FIG. 5B the codec and these output devices are using 30% of processing as an example.

[0095] These operations as shown in FIG. 5B can related to an uplink connection of a user equipment. For example, when the UE generates data and end of data burst related to one application (e.g. extended reality application/service). In this case where the application is typically related to transmitting different media types timely in parallel using different multiplexed quality of service flows, the application is therefore requiring different (potentially timely overlapping) uplink grants (using potentially different frequencies and/or carriers) to transmit the different QoS flows in parallel.

[0096] When intermediately there is no more data to be transmitted on the uplink channel, e.g. the application processor (higher layer) inside the UE generates an end of data burst, and forwards it to the protocol processor (upper layer below higher layer) of the UE, which then generates the unused grants info which will then be transmitted via baseband processor (lower layer) and frontend towards the network.

[0097] How to efficiently transmit unused grants info for the group of uplink grants related to the single application, e.g. related to extended reality, is one topic in accordance with example embodiments of the invention.

[0098] As another embodiment example, a joint bitmap can be generated as well where in addition to the usage indication of CG PUSCH occasion, extra information is needed to indicate to which CG configuration the bit belongs. Taking the same example with the length of UTO-UCI as Nu bit and 3 CG configurations in the configuration group, then the bitmap could look like [CG#1, bo, bi,...bN_U; CG#2, bo, bi,...bN_U; CG#3, bo, bi,...bNu] and in this example the CG configuration ID can be 2 bits (e.g. 00: CG#1, 01 : CG#2, 10: CG#3. 11 : Reserved). As another example, the UTO- UCI bits can be ordered in ascend or descend order in terms of CG configuration index if such rule is configured to UE as well. The benefits of this way is reduced overhead comparing to explicit CG configuration index/ID.

[0099] As another implementation embodiment, instead of generating

UTO-UCI content right after receiving EoDB, the UE can generate the UTO-UCI content after a predefined timer expires. In this way, the cancellation due to out-of- order EoDB arrival (due to e.g., jitter, different routing path etc.) can be avoided. Such predefined timer can be configured by the gNB via RRC signaling for example.

[00100] FIG. 5C shows a use case of the Cg-group ID. In addition, the operation of this one does not have any dependency on EoDB. FIG. 5C is based on FIG. 6. In accordance with example embodiments of the invention there is proposed to use cg-group-ID in order to apply EoDB to multiple CG configurations. cg-group-ID can be used for other purposes as well (not a focus of this invention report) and hence this may be seen as one independent feature which is not necessarily to be limited for XR usage only.

[00101] In accordance with example embodiments of the invention a network node may configure a UE with multiple grant configurations for one application. The UE may be configured to use the multiple grant configurations in different ways, and/or depending on different conditions.

[00102] For example, according to multiple options in accordance with example embodiments of the invention there can be:

- Multiple CG configurations are configured for the same video traffic with jitter (e.g. in 3GPP, the jitter range can be [-4ms, 4ms]). Then, depending on when the video data coming, UE selecting the proper CG configuration to be used. The selected grant(s) thus become used grants, the other are unused grants; network configuration of two or more different, separate CG configurations for the same application, e.g. Video traffic stream in UL for AR with 60 fps and packet rate 10 Mbit/s for first CG config and 20 Mbit/s for second CG config, e.g. based on below table. And UE is allowed to pick and chose and select either the 10 Mbit/s connection or the 20 Mbit/s connection, and if 10 Mbit/s is selected this indicates to the network that it can (implicitly) considered the 20 Mbit/s CG as unused;

- UE selects 10 Mbit/s and indicates in addition to data transmission also the CG group ID info and this info allows network to consider the 20 Mbit/s CG as unused, and thus can e.g. cancel this CG and reuse it for another UE.

[00103] An instruction on how to report unused configured grants can e.g. include explicit or implicit indication, with potentially further details on how to determine the associated indication of unused configured grants.

[00104] In accordance with example embodiments of the invention an indication may use a separate transmission occasion bitmap for each individual grant configuration, wherein the bitmap is indicating a configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasion as unused or not unused.

[00105] In accordance with example embodiments of the invention an indication may use a joint not unused or unused transmission occasion bitmap for the more than one configured grant configuration within the same configured grant group.

[00106] In accordance with example embodiments of the invention an indication may indicate that all remaining configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasions, after the end of data burst indication, from all configured grant configurations of the same configured grant group within a reporting window are unused. [00107] In accordance with example embodiments of the invention an indication may further include an application identification, or a configured grant group identification linking the more than one configured grant configurations to ease identification of unused configured grants on the network side. And/or the network node may when configuring the multiple grant configurations intermediately store an appropriate linking to ease identification of the unused grants, e.g. in case of implicit indication.

[00108] In accordance with example embodiments of the invention, multiple configured grant configurations may relate to different media types (of one application), e.g. for a multimedia application like, e.g. an AR application e.g. different traffic streams supporting different QoS requirements are used to transmit different parts / media types of the AR service, e.g. using a video traffic stream to transmit UL video data, a motion/control traffic stream to transmit UL motion/control data, an audio/data traffic stream to transmit UL audio/data. The UE may be configured multiple configured grants for all three indicated media types; the UE may, however, at least intermediately have data to be transmitted available for e.g. only one or two of the three media types, and thus may use this trigger event to indicate to the network intermediate unused configured grants for the respective media type.

[00109] Regarding an implicit indication of “unused”, one use case could be: multiple CG configurations are configured for the same application flow to combat for example the impacts of jitter. There can be in detail different scenarios and how jitter is impacted, for example when a network configures two or more different, separate CG configurations for the same application. In an example a video traffic stream in UL for AR with 60 fps and packet rate 10 Mbit/s for first CG config and 20 Mbit/s for second CG config, e.g. based on the table of FIG. IB. FIG. IB shows 3GPP traffic model parameters and requirements for selected XR use cases.

[00110] Here, a UE is allowed to pick and choose and select either the 10

Mbit/s connection or the 20 Mbit/s connection, and if 10 Mbit/s is selected this indicates to the network that it can (implicitly) considered the 20 Mbit/s CG as unused. In another case the UE selects 10 Mbit/s and indicates in addition to data transmission also the CG group ID info and this info allows network to consider the 20 Mbit/s CG as unused, and thus can e.g. cancel this CG and reuse it for another UE. For both cases what is the impact on the jitter, is it reduced the one way or the other, based on which criteria, this is UL so how does the UE know which connection is the better one, or does the UE just pick the better one an if it does not receive an ACK switches to the other one, . . .

[00111] Further, one example signaling diagram is illustrated in FIG. 6.

FIG. 6 shows an example signaling diagram in accordance with example embodiments of the invention.

[00112] In one example the UE is allowed to use both connections, e.g. dual use, transfer of same information to increase throughput, e.g. in case of connection problems. In another example the UE is allowed to use like in dual connectivity or carrier aggregation both connections for data transfer and if less data to be transmitted second connection is no longer used and this is indicated to network by transmitting the CG group ID info.

[00113] In case data is popping up in one of the CG configurations, the CG

PUSCH transmission occasions of other CG configurations (within the same CG configuration group) can be implicitly indicated as “unused”.

[00114] For example: a) UE selects a CG config out of the multiple configured, and network receives data on the one and implicitly knows the other ones will not be used, e.g. UE is allowed to use only one of the configured CG; b) UE is allowed to use one or two or three of the configured CG (as e.g. configured by the network in new assistant info), and if the UE temporarily selects only one and transmits no CG group ID info, then UE may still use the other in near future, and if the UE permanently selects only one and transmits CG group ID info, then network assumes the other configured CGs are unused, . . . [00115] Multiple CG configurations can be configured for the same video traffic with jitter (e.g. in 3GPP, the jitter range can be [-4ms, 4ms]). Then depending on when the video data coming, UE selecting the proper CG configuration to be used. For example, in case the video coming earlier than the expected data arrival time, CG configuration 3 can be used, then neither CG configuration 1 nor CG configuration 2 will be used. In case video data not coming earlier for example coming at the expected data arrival time, then CG configuration 3 and 2 will not be used.

[00116] FIG. 6 shows communication between a UE and a gNB, such as the UE 110 and the gNB 170 as in FIG. 7. As shown in block 1 of FIG. 6 the gNB is configuring (1) cg-group-ID in same message of configuring UL CG resource; and (2) EoDB can be applied to the CG configuration group for determining UTO-UCI content. As shown in block 2 of FIG. 6 the UE is determining UTO-UCI content for multiple CG configurations within the CG group based on the buffer status when EoDB received or afterwards when a timer expires. As shown in block 3 of FIG. 6 there is communicating between the UE and the gNB UL CG PUSCH transmission with UTO- UCI over multiple CG configurations of the same group.

[00117] FIG. 8A and FIG. 8B each show a method in accordance with example embodiments of the invention which may be performed by an apparatus.

[0066] FIG. 8A illustrates operations which may be performed by a device such as, but not limited to, a device such as a network device (e.g., the UE 110 as in FIG. 7). As shown in block 805 of FIG. 8A there is establishing a radio connection towards a network device of a communication network. As shown in block 810 of FIG. 8A there is receiving at least one radio resource control message comprising configuration information to configure uplink transmissions for an application. As shown in block 815 of FIG. 8 A wherein the configuration information is identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application, and an instruction on how to report unused configured grants related to the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application. As shown in block 820 of FIG. 8 A there is determining data traffic related to the application and to be transmitted towards the network node. As shown in block 825 of FIG. 8A wherein the determined data traffic is associated with at least one of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application and based on at least one associated traffic flow requirement. As shown in block 830 of FIG. 8A there is wherein the determined data traffic is associated with at least one of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application and based on at least one associated traffic flow requirement. As shown in block 835 of FIG. 8A there is transmitting towards the network node an indication of unused configured grants configured for the application based on the received instruction.

[0067] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraph above, wherein the configuration information is received as part of a ConfiguredGrantConfig information element included in the radio resource control message.

[0066] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein determining the indication of unused configured grants is further based on a trigger event, and wherein the trigger event is related to a determined end of data burst related to the determined data traffic.

[0067] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein determining the indication of unused configured grants is further based on a trigger event, and wherein the event is related to a selection of a number N of configured grant configurations for transmission of the determined data traffic out of M configured grant configurations, wherein N < M, and wherein M - N are unused configured grants, and wherein N = 1, 2, 3, . . ., and M = 2, 3, ... .

[0068] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the more than one configured grant configurations relate to traffic flows associated with different jitter requirements, and wherein the determined traffic flow is related to a traffic with jitter, and wherein a trigger event to determine the indication of unused configured grants is related to the selection of at least one configured grant configuration best fulfilling the jitter requirements of the determined traffic to be transmitted. [0069] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the more than one configured grant configurations relate to traffic flows associated with different data rate requirements, and wherein the determined traffic flow is related to a traffic with different data rates, and wherein a trigger event to determine the indication of unused configured grants is related to the selection of at least one configured grant configuration best fulfilling the data rate requirements of the determined traffic to be transmitted.

[0070] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the configuration information identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application further includes a configured grant group identification linking the more than one configured grant configurations; and wherein the indication of unused configured grants includes the grant group identification.

[0071] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the determined data traffic is split among at least two of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for transmitting the determined data traffic in used configured grants.

[0072] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the configuration information is sent as part of a ConfiguredGrantConfig information element included in the radio resource control message.

[0073] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein determining the indication of unused configured grants is further based on a trigger event, and wherein the trigger event is related to a determined end of data burst related to the determined data traffic.

[0074] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein determining the indication of unused configured grants is further based on a trigger event, and wherein the event is related to a selection of a number N of configured grant configurations for transmission of the determined data traffic out of M configured grant configurations, wherein N < M, and wherein M - N are unused configured grants, and wherein N = 1, 2, 3, . . ., and M = 2, 3, ... .

[0075] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the more than one configured grant configurations relate to traffic flows associated with different jitter requirements, and wherein the determined traffic flow is related to a traffic with jitter, and wherein a trigger event to determine the indication of unused configured grants is related to the selection of at least one configured grant configuration best fulfilling the jitter requirements of the determined traffic to be transmitted.

[0076] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the more than one configured grant configurations relate to traffic flows associated with different data rate requirements, and wherein the determined traffic flow is related to a traffic with different data rates, and wherein a trigger event to determine the indication of unused configured grants is related to the selection of at least one configured grant configuration best fulfilling the data rate requirements of the determined traffic to be transmitted.

[0077] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the configuration information identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application further includes a configured grant group identification linking the more than one configured grant configurations; and wherein the indication of unused configured grants includes the grant group identification.

[0078] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the determined data traffic is split among at least two of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for transmitting the determined data traffic in used configured grants.

[0068]

[0069] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the indication is indicating whether one or more of the more than one configured grant configuration belonging to a same configured grant group are unused or not unused.

[0070] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the indication is using a separate unused transmission occasion bitmap for each individual grant configuration, wherein the bitmap is indicating a configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasion as unused or not unused.

[0071] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the indication is using a joint not unused or unused transmission occasion bitmap for the more than one configured grant configuration within the same configured grant group.

[0072] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein there is determining indications in the bitmap of the configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasion as not unused and unused the bitmap (“0” - not unused; “1”- unused) based on a buffer status for extended reality flows.

[0073] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the indication is indicating that all remaining configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasions, after the end of data burst indication, from all configured grant configurations of the same configured grant group within a reporting window are unused.

[0074] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the end of data burst is indicated in one configured grant configuration member of at least one of a configured grant group or a zero size buffer status report used jointly to trigger implied a cancellation of configured grant occasions from other configured grant configurations of the group indicated as unused.

[0075] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein there is duplicating an end of data burst indication per configured grant configuration towards the network node, wherein the application has requested and been granted multiple quality of service flows for various types of media traffic, and wherein the quality of service flows are configured for transmission in at least two configured grant configurations of the same configured grant group.

[0076] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the indication is enabling cancellation of unused upcoming uplink configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasions from a configured grant configuration group.

[0077] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein there is generating content of unused transmission occasions to identify at least one configured grant physical uplink shared channel as unused or not unused, wherein the indication is transmitted using a message comprising unused transmission occasion uplink control information including the generated content.

[0078] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the generating is performed after a predefined timer expires, wherein the predefined timer is started after determining the end of data burst.

[0079] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the application is using more than one packet data unit and more than one quality of service flow timely in parallel and multiplexed within a single transport connection.

[0080] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein a configured grant comprises at least a configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasion.

[0081] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein there is receiving instructions to report unused or not unused configured grants related to the multiple configured grant configurations of the identified group, based on the instructions, transmit an indication of unused configured grants of the identified group. [0082] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the configuration information is identifying more than one configured grant configurations for different traffic flows related to the application.

[0083] A non-transitory computer-readable medium (Memory(ies) 125 as in FIG. 5) storing program code (computer program code 123 and/or output module 140-2 as in FIG. 5), the program code executed by at least one processor (Processor(s) 120 and/or output module 140-1 as in FIG. 5) to perform the operations as at least described in the paragraphs above.

[0084] In accordance with an example embodiment of the invention as described above there is an apparatus comprising: means for establishing (one or more transceivers 130, Memory(ies) 125, computer program code 123 and/or output module 140-2, and at least one processor (Processor(s) 120 and/or output module 140-1 as in FIG. 7) a radio connection towards a network node (gNB 170 as in FIG. 7) of a communication network; means for receiving (one or more transceivers 130, Memory(ies) 125, computer program code 123 and/or output module 140-2, and at least one processor (Processor(s) 120 and/or output module 140-1 as in FIG. 7) at least one radio resource control message comprising configuration information to configure uplink transmissions for an application, wherein the configuration information is identifying (one or more transceivers 130, Memory(ies) 125, computer program code 123 and/or output module 140-2, and at least one processor (Processor(s) 120 and/or output module 140-1 as in FIG. 7) more than one configured grant configurations for the application, and an instruction on how to report unused configured grants related to the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application; means for determining (one or more transceivers 130, Memory(ies) 125, computer program code 123 and/or output module 140-2, and at least one processor (Processor(s) 120 and/or output module 140-1 as in FIG. 7) data traffic related to the application and to be transmitted towards the network node, wherein the determined data traffic is associated (one or more transceivers 130, Memory(ies) 125, computer program code 123 and/or output module 140-2, and at least one processor (Processor(s) 120 and/or output module 140-1 as in FIG. 7) with at least one of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application and based on at least one associated traffic flow requirement; means for transmitting (one or more transceivers 130, Memory(ies) 125, computer program code 123 and/or output module 140-2, and at least one processor (Processor(s) 120 and/or output module 140-1 as in FIG. 7) the determined data traffic towards the network node using the associated at least one configured grant configuration; and means for transmitting (one or more transceivers 130, Memory(ies) 125, computer program code 123 and/or output module 140-2, and at least one processor (Processor(s) 120 and/or output module 140-1 as in FIG. 7) towards the network node an indication of unused configured grants configured for the application based on the received instruction.

[0085] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraph above, at least the means for establishing, receiving, determining, associating, and transmitting comprises a network interface, and computer program code stored on a computer-readable medium and executed by at least one processor.

[0079] FIG. 8B illustrates operations which may be performed by a device such as, but not limited to, a device such as a network node (e.g., the gNB 170 as in FIG. 7). As shown in block 850 of FIG. 8B there is establishing a radio connection towards a network device of a communication network. As shown in block 855 of FIG. 8B there is sending towards the network device at least one radio resource control message comprising configuration information to configure uplink transmissions for an application. As shown in block 860 of FIG. 8B wherein the configuration information is identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application, and an instruction on how to report unused configured grants related to the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application. As shown in block 865 of FIG. 8B there is determining data traffic related to the application and to be received from the network device. As shown in block 870 of FIG. 8B wherein the determined data traffic is associated with at least one of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application and based on at least one associated traffic flow requirement. As shown in block 875 of FIG. 8B there is receiving the determined data traffic from the network device using the associated at least one configured grant configuration. Then as shown in block 880 of FIG. 8B there is receiving from the network device an indication of unused configured grants configured for the application based on the received instruction. [0080] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraph above, wherein the indication of unused configured grants is further based on a trigger event, and wherein the trigger event is related to a determined end of data burst related to the determined data traffic.

[0081] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the indication of unused configured grants is further based on a trigger event, and wherein the event is related to a selection of a number N of configured grant configurations for transmission of the determined data traffic out of M configured grant configurations, wherein N < M, and wherein M - N are unused configured grants, and wherein N = 1, 2, 3, . . ., and M = 2, 3, ... .

[0082] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the more than one configured grant configurations relate to traffic flows associated with different jitter requirements, and wherein the determined traffic flow is related to a traffic with jitter, and wherein a trigger event to determine the indication of unused configured grants is related to the selection of at least one configured grant configuration best fulfilling the jitter requirements of the determined traffic to be transmitted.

[0083] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the more than one configured grant configurations relate to traffic flows associated with different data rate requirements, and wherein the determined traffic flow is related to a traffic with different data rates, and wherein a trigger event to determine the indication of unused configured grants is related to the selection of at least one configured grant configuration best fulfilling the data rate requirements of the determined traffic to be transmitted.

[0084] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the configuration information identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application further includes a configured grant group identification linking the more than one configured grant configurations; and wherein the indication of unused configured grants includes the grant group identification.

[0085] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the determined data traffic is split among at least two of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for transmitting the determined data traffic in used configured grants.

[0086] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the configuration information is sent as part of a ConfiguredGrantConfig information element included in the radio resource control message.

[0087] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein determining the indication of unused configured grants is further based on a trigger event, and wherein the trigger event is related to a determined end of data burst related to the determined data traffic.

[0088] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein determining the indication of unused configured grants is further based on a trigger event, and wherein the event is related to a selection of a number N of configured grant configurations for transmission of the determined data traffic out of M configured grant configurations, wherein N < M, and wherein M - N are unused configured grants, and wherein N = 1, 2, 3, . . ., and M = 2, 3, ... .

[0089] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the more than one configured grant configurations relate to traffic flows associated with different jitter requirements, and wherein the determined traffic flow is related to a traffic with jitter, and wherein a trigger event to determine the indication of unused configured grants is related to the selection of at least one configured grant configuration best fulfilling the jitter requirements of the determined traffic to be transmitted.

[0090] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the more than one configured grant configurations relate to traffic flows associated with different data rate requirements, and wherein the determined traffic flow is related to a traffic with different data rates, and wherein a trigger event to determine the indication of unused configured grants is related to the selection of at least one configured grant configuration best fulfilling the data rate requirements of the determined traffic to be transmitted.

[0091] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the configuration information identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application further includes a configured grant group identification linking the more than one configured grant configurations; and wherein the indication of unused configured grants includes the grant group identification.

[0092] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the determined data traffic is split among at least two of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for transmitting the determined data traffic in used configured grants.

[0093] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the configuration information is sent as part of a ConfiguredGrantConfig information element included in the radio resource control message.

[0094] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the indication is indicating whether one or more of the more than one configured grant configuration belonging to a same configured grant group are unused or not unused.

[0095] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the indication is using a separate unused transmission occasion bitmap for each individual configured grant configuration, wherein the bitmap is indicating a configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasion as unused or not unused. [0096] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the indication is using a joint not unused or unused transmission occasion bitmap for the more than one configured grant configuration within the same configured grant group.

[0097] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein there is determining indications in the bitmap of the configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasion as not unused and unused the bitmap (“0” - not unused; “1”- unused) based on a buffer status for extended reality flows.

[0098] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the indication is indicating that all remaining configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasions, after the end of data burst indication, from all configured grant configurations of the same configured grant group within a reporting window are unused.

[0099] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the end of data burst is indicated in one configured grant configuration member of at least one of a configured grant group or a zero size buffer status report used jointly to trigger implied a cancellation of configured grant occasions from other configured grant configurations of the group indicated as unused.

[00100] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein there is receiving a duplicate end of data burst indication per configured grant configuration, wherein the application has requested and been granted multiple quality of service flows for various types of media traffic, and wherein the quality of service flows are configured for transmission in at least two configured grant configurations of the same configured grant group.

[00101] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the indication is enabling cancellation of unused upcoming uplink configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasions from a configured grant configuration group. [00102] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the indication is transmitted using a message comprising unused transmission occasion uplink control information including the generated content.

[00103] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the generating is performed after a predefined timer expires, wherein the predefined timer is started after determining the end of data burst.

[00104] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein the application is using more than one packet data unit and more than one quality of service flow timely in parallel and multiplexed within a single transport connection.

[00105] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein a configured grant comprises at least a configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasion.

[00106] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraphs above, wherein there is receiving instructions to report unused or not unused configured grants related to the multiple configured grant configurations of the identified configured grant group, based on the instructions, transmit an indication of unused configured grants of the identified configured grant group.

[00107] A non-transitory computer-readable medium (Memory(ies) 155 as in FIG. 7) storing program code (computer program code 153 and/or output module 150-2 as in FIG. 5), the program code executed by at least one processor (Processor(s) 152 and/or output module 150-1 as in FIG. 5) to perform the operations as at least described in the paragraphs above.

[00108] In accordance with an example embodiment of the invention as described above there is an apparatus comprising: means for establishing (one or more transceivers 160, Memory(ies) 155, computer program code 153 and/or output module 150-2, and at least one processor (Processor(s) 152 and/or output module 150-1 as in FIG. 7) a radio connection towards a network device (UE 110 as in FIG. 7) of a communication network (Network 100 as in FIG. 7); means for sending (one or more transceivers 160, Memory(ies) 155, computer program code 153 and/or output module 150-2, and at least one processor (Processor(s) 152 and/or output module 150-1 as in FIG. 7) towards the network device at least one radio resource control message comprising configuration information to configure uplink transmissions for an application, wherein the configuration information is identifying (one or more transceivers 160, Memory(ies) 155, computer program code 153 and/or output module 150-2, and at least one processor (Processor(s) 152 and/or output module 150-1 as in FIG. 7) more than one configured grant configurations for the application, and an instruction on how to report unused configured grants related to the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application; means for determining (one or more transceivers 160, Memory(ies) 155, computer program code 153 and/or output module 150-2, and at least one processor (Processor(s) 152 and/or output module 150-1 as in FIG. 7) data traffic related to the application and to be received from the network device, wherein the determined data traffic is associated with at least one of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application and based on at least one associated traffic flow requirement; means for receiving (one or more transceivers 160, Memory(ies) 155, computer program code 153 and/or output module 150-2, and at least one processor (Processor(s) 152 and/or output module 150- 1 as in FIG. 7) the determined data traffic from the network device using the associated at least one configured grant configuration; and means for receiving (one or more transceivers 160, Memory(ies) 155, computer program code 153 and/or output module 150-2, and at least one processor (Processor(s) 152 and/or output module 150-1 as in FIG. 7) from the network device an indication of unused configured grants configured for the application based on the received instruction.

[00109] In accordance with the example embodiments as described in the paragraph above, at least the means for establishing, receiving, sending, identifying, determining, and transmitting comprises a network interface, and computer program code stored on a computer-readable medium and executed by at least one processor.

[00110] In accordance with example embodiments of the invention as disclosed in this application this application, the “circuitry” provided can include at least one or more or all of the following: (a) hardware-only circuit implementations (such as implementations in only analog and/or digital circuitry);

(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, such as functions or operations in accordance with example embodiments of the invention as disclosed herein); 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.”

[00111] In accordance with example embodiments of the invention, there is adequate circuitry for performing at least novel operations in accordance with example embodiments of the invention as disclosed in this application, this 'circuitry' as may be used herein refers to at least the following:

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

(b) to combinations of circuits and software (and/or firmware), such as (as applicable): (i) to a combination of processor(s) or (ii) to portions of processor(s)/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) to circuits, such as a microprocessor(s) or a portion of a microprocessor s), that require software or firmware for operation, even if the software or firmware is not physically present.

[00112] 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" would also cover an implementation of merely a processor (or multiple processors) or portion of a processor and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware. The term "circuitry" would also cover, for example and if applicable to the particular claim element, a baseband integrated circuit or applications processor integrated circuit for a mobile phone or a similar integrated circuit in a server, a cellular network device, or other network device.

[00113] In general, the various embodiments may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. For example, 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, although the invention is not limited thereto. While various aspects of the invention may be illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that these blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods 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.

[00114] Embodiments of the inventions may be practiced in various components such as integrated circuit modules. The design of integrated circuits is by and large a highly automated process. Complex and powerful software tools are available for converting a logic level design into a semiconductor circuit design ready to be etched and formed on a semiconductor substrate. [00115] The word "exemplary" is used herein to mean "serving as an example, instance, or illustration." Any embodiment described herein as "exemplary" is not necessarily to be construed as preferred or advantageous over other embodiments. All of the embodiments described in this Detailed Description are exemplary embodiments provided to enable persons skilled in the art to make or use the invention and not to limit the scope of the invention which is defined by the claims.

[00116] The foregoing description has provided by way of exemplary and non-limiting examples a full and informative description of the best method and apparatus presently contemplated by the inventors for carrying out the invention. However, various modifications and adaptations may become apparent to those skilled in the relevant arts in view of the foregoing description, when read in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and the appended claims. However, all such and similar modifications of the teachings of example embodiments of this invention will still fall within the scope of this invention.

[00117] It should be noted that the terms "connected," "coupled," or any variant thereof, mean any connection or coupling, either direct or indirect, between two or more elements, and may encompass the presence of one or more intermediate elements between two elements that are "connected" or "coupled" together. The coupling or connection between the elements can be physical, logical, or a combination thereof. As employed herein two elements may be considered to be "connected" or "coupled" together by the use of one or more wires, cables and/or printed electrical connections, as well as by the use of electromagnetic energy, such as electromagnetic energy having wavelengths in the radio frequency region, the microwave region and the optical (both visible and invisible) region, as several non-limiting and non- exhaustive examples.

[00118] Furthermore, some of the features of the preferred embodiments of this invention could be used to advantage without the corresponding use of other features. As such, the foregoing description should be considered as merely illustrative of the principles of the invention, and not in limitation thereof. [00119] At least some of the inventive features might exemplarily be implemented in at least one of the technical environments as further illustrated below and for at least one of the following applications:

[00120] High data rate low latency services, extended Reality (XR) and/or interactive media services.

[00121] Those kind of services may be implemented in various networks, including e.g. radio networks, cellular networks, like e.g. NR (New Radio) 5G networks, or 6G networks.

[00122] Further technical details describing an exemplary 5G environment may found in 3GPP TS 23.501 vl8.3.0 (2023-09) section 5.37 Support for high data rate low latency services, extended Reality (XR) and interactive media services, which is herewith incorporated by reference.

[00123] In particular, some 5GS functionalities for support of XR services

(AR/VR applications) and interactive media services that require high data rate and low latency communication, e.g. cloud gaming and tactile/multi-modal communication services according to service requirements, are referred to below:

[00124] Multi-modal services may comprise several data flows (named as multi-modal flows) that are related to each other and may come from different sources. Each data flow (single-modal data) may be seen as one type of data (for example audio, video, positioning, haptic data) associated with the same communication service. Data flows that comprise a multi-modal service may come from a single UE, either via a single device or via multiple devices connected to the single UE that can access the 5GS, or from multiple UEs.

[00125] For the single UE case, the expected multi-modal application behaviour is that those data flows that are closely related and require strong application coordination for correct delivery of the multi-modal application data, are transmitted in a single PDU session. [00126] - The Nnef AFsessionWithQoS service allows the AF to provide, at the same time, service requirements, for each media that comprise the multi-modal service, a Multi-modal Service ID and QoS monitoring requirements for multiple IP data flows associated to a multi-modal service.

[00127] - The Application Function (AF) may provide to the Policy

Control Function (PCF) a Multi-modal Service ID, as an explicit indication that the application traffics are related to a multi-modal service. The PCF may use this information to derive the correct PCC rules and apply QoS policies for data flows that are part of a specific multi-modal application.

[00128] - The AF may provide QoS monitoring requirement for data flows associated to a multi-modal service to the PCF (either directly or via NEF) within a certain period. The PCF generates the authorized QoS Monitoring policy for these service data flows.

[00129] Further, a Packet Data Unit (PDU) Set is e.g. comprised of one or more PDUs carrying an application layer payload such as, e.g. a video frame or video slice. The PDU Set based QoS handling by the NG-RAN is determined by PDU Set QoS Parameters in the QoS profile of the QoS Flow and PDU Set information provided by the PSA UPF via N3/N9 interface. The PDU Set based QoS Handling can be applied for GBR and non-GBR QoS Flows.

[00130] In addition to the PDU related service information, the AF may provide PDU Set related assistance information for dynamic PCC control. One or more of the following PDU Set related assistance information may be provided to the NEF/PCF using the AF session with required QoS procedures.

[00131] PDU Set QoS Parameters [00132] - Protocol Description: Indicates transport protocol (e.g. RTP,

SRTP), transport protocol header extensions (e.g. RTP Header Extension for PDU Set Marking.

[00133] Still further, the PCF may determine the data flow's UL Packet

Delay Budget (PDB) and DL PDB based on the Round-Trip (RT) latency requirement. The UL PDB and DL PDB can be unequal, but their sum shall not exceed the RT latency requirement. The PCF may generate two PCC rules, one for UL QoS flow for UL traffic of the data flow and one for DL QoS flow for DL traffic of the data flow, respectively. PCF may assign the 5QIs for each of these two PCC rules according to the derived UL PDB and DL PDB.

[00134] Still further, an indication of End of Data Burst may be provided to the NG-RAN by the UPF, e.g. to configure UE power management schemes like connected mode DRX.

[00135] Session Management Function (SMF) may request the User Plane

Function (UPF) to detect the last PDU of the data burst and mark the End of Data burst in the GTP-U header of the last PDU in downlink, according to the PCC rule and/or the local operator policies. The SMF may provide the PSA UPF the Protocol Description used by the service data flow. The Protocol Description may be received in the PCC rule, based on information provided by the AF or by PCF local policies.

[00136] According to the request and information from the SMF, the UPF identifies the last PDU of a Data burst in the DL traffic based on the End indication according to the Protocol Description or UPF implementation and provides an End of Data Burst indication to the NG-RAN over GTP-U of the last PDU of a Data burst.

[00137] Selected XR use cases may be grouped into three meta-categories related to: virtual reality, augmented reality, and cloud gaming.

[00138] VR services or applications with enabled viewport-dependent streaming (YDS) use an adaptive streaming scheme that adjusts the bitrate of the 3D video using both network status and user pose information. Specifically, the omnidirectional 3D scene with respect to the observer’s position and orientation is spatially divided into independent subpictures or tiles. The streaming server offers multiple representations of the same tile by storing tiles at different qualities (varying, i.e., video resolution, compression, and frame rate). Transmission of new XR content can be triggered by user movements, where the current user viewport is streamed with high quality while frames outside the viewport are transmitted with lower quality.

[00139] AR merges virtual objects with a live 3D view of the real world, thus creating a realistic personalized environment the user interacts with. Therefore, estimating the user location and field of view (FOV) is important. However, AR solutions do not rely exclusively on expensive motion detection sensors but rather complement them with cameras mounted on AR glasses. Hence, AR is often featured by a video stream in UL. The video is continuously transmitted to the XR server that performs pose tracking to estimate the position and orientation of the user via simultaneous localization and mapping (SLAM).

[00140] Cloud gaming suggests replacing high-performance computing at the user terminal with a low-performance client at the user side connected to a powerful computing node in the data center or at the edge. While bringing clear benefits, Cloud Gaming also raises new challenges, particularly related to the latency of the connection between the UE (displaying the video and audio stream to the user and taking the user’s input) and the cloud server performing most of the computing tasks. As we further discuss, the latency boundaries are particularly stringent for interactive games involving wearable XR devices and immersive user experience. In a typical XR Cloud Gamin scenario, the server generates a sequence of 2D/3D scenes as a video stream in response to a control command sent by the UE. For XR Cloud Gaming, control signals include handheld controller inputs and 3 or 6 Degrees of Freedom (3DoF/6DoF) motion samples. Here, 3DoF refers to the rotation data (“roll”, “pitch”, and “yaw”), while 6DoF also adds the information on the UE displacement in X, Y, and Z dimensions. The resulting video stream in Cloud Gaming is dependent on the user’s actions, so, as for VR, frequent motion/control updates are needed in UL. [00141] Video stream is the flow with the highest data rate for all the considered XR use cases in DL, as well as for the AR UL. Following the traces from SA4, video is divided by a source generator into separate frames before transmission. To keep a reasonable complexity, a single data packet in the model represents multiple IP packets corresponding to the same video frame. The packet also includes the data for both left and right eyes. The packet size follows a Truncated Gaussian distribution and is determined by the average data rate in megabits per second (Mbit/s). Video can be delivered as a single stream described above or via multiple streams. As per the definition in [9], the multi-stream approach consists of encoding several streams, each of them emphasizing a given viewport and making them available for the receiver, so that the receiver decides which stream is delivered at each time instance. One example of multi-stream model is a separate stream for left and right eyes.

[00142] The second important stream refers to motion/control updates sent by the XR device in UL, to ensure that the latest content will be available at a UE. This stream aggregates: (i) UE pose information update received from 3DoF/6DoF tracking and device sensors; and (ii) control information including user input data, auxiliary information, and/or commands from the client to the server.

[00143] In addition to the video stream in UL and DL, it is possible to model audio and extra data as a separate stream. Same as for motion/control.

[00144] A Setup for the VR includes e.g. a single-stream video in DL plus a single-stream motion/control update in UL. Cloud Gaming employs e.g. a similar set, while the data rates and PDBs for the DL video are different. The feature of AR modeling here is the presence of UL video complementing UL motion/control updates.

[00145] Selected 3 GPP XR use cases and parameters are exemplarily illustrated in the below table.

[00146] For an AR application e.g. different traffic streams supporting different QoS requirements are used to transmit different parts of the AR service, e.g. using a video traffic stream to transmit UL video data, a motion/control traffic stream to transmit UL motion/control data, an audio/data traffic stream to transmit UL audio/data. Different QoS may be introduced by at least one of: different packet rates, different average data rates, different packet sizes, etc.

[00147] A UE or a device connected to it, e.g. a remote camera connected via radio, generates data related to one application (e.g. extended reality application/service), where the application is typically related to transmitting different media types timely in parallel using different multiplexed quality of service flows, the application is therefore requiring different (potentially timely overlapping) uplink grants (using potentially different frequencies and/or carriers) to transmit the different QoS flows in parallel.

[00148] When data is to be transmitted on the uplink channel, e.g. the application processor (higher layer) inside the UE forwards the data to the protocol processor (upper layer below higher layer) of the UE, which then generates the respective messages which will then be transmitted via baseband processor (lower layer) and frontend via radio transmission towards the network.

[00149] When data is to be transmitted on the downlink channel, e.g. the application processor (higher layer) inside the UE receives the data from the protocol processor (upper layer below higher layer) of the UE, which decodes respective messages received from the baseband processor (lower layer) and frontend via a radio connection from the network. The application processor forwards the received data to be displayed to the user, e.g. via the display of the UE or a remote display, e.g. eyeglasses.

[00150] In an example aspect of the invention a UE is assigned uplink grants for transmitting UL data, this assignment or allocation or configuration is e.g. implemented using remote configuration by the network, e.g. via at least one RRC message including the configured grant(s) information, e.g. at least two radio resources, including e.g. a periodic distribution over time and/or partly timely overlapping resources using e.g. different frequencies/carriers. The UE may or may not use the configured grants over time, e.g. when intermediately less or no data is available, the UE may only use less or none of the configured grants. In order to inform the network about unused grants rather sooner than later, e.g. the network may use the unused grants for other purposes, e.g. other UEs, the UE may be configured how to report such unused grants, e.g. the network may assign or allocate a group identification linking more than one configured grant configurations; in case one or more of the configured grants are unused the UE is enabled to communicate this info to the network, e.g. together with the group ID to indicate that all configured grants related to the group are unused. In particular when only one or when the first end of data burst is received for a data flow including multiple media components, e.g. video streams, one indication affecting the whole group might be a quick and efficient way of communicating unused grants (e.g. already configured grants which will not be used in the near future). Further exemplarily implementations may include at least parts of the above described technical environments and/or exemplary implementations accompanied by the respective figure(s).

[00151] Certain further abbreviations that may be found in the description and/or in the Figures are herewith defined as follows:

[00152] AR - Augmented Reality

[00153] VR - Virtual Reality

[00154] XR - Extended Reality

[00155] DL - Downlink (from network to user equipment (UE))

[00156] UL - Uplink (from UE to network)

[00157] 3DoF - 3 Degrees of Freedom

[00158] 6DoF - 6 Degrees of Freedom

[00159] Mbit/s - megabits per second [00160] fps - frames per second

[00161] QoS - Quality of Service

[00162] UE - User Equipment

In an embodiment an apparatus may comprise: at least one processor; and at least one non-transitory memory storing instructions, that when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: establish a radio connection towards a network device of a communication network; send towards the network device at least one radio resource control message comprising configuration information to configure uplink transmissions for an application, wherein the configuration information is identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application, and an instruction on how to report unused configured grants related to the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application; determine data traffic related to the application and to be received from the network device, wherein the determined data traffic is associated with at least one of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application and based on at least one associated traffic flow requirement; receive the determined data traffic from the network device using the associated at least one configured grant configuration; and receive from the network device an indication of unused configured grants configured for the application based on the received instruction.

The apparatus’ indication is e.g. indicating whether one or more of the more than one configured grant configuration belonging to a same configured grant group are unused or not unused. The apparatus’ indication is e.g. using a separate transmission occasion bitmap for each individual grant configuration, wherein the bitmap is indicating a configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasion as unused or not unused.

The apparatus’ indication is e.g. using a joint not unused or unused transmission occasion bitmap for the more than one configured grant configuration within the same configured grant group.

The apparatus’ at least one non-transitory memory is e.g. storing instructions, executed by the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to: determine indications in a bitmap of the configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasion as not unused and unused the bitmap (“0” - not unused; “1”- unused) based on a buffer status for extended reality flows.

The apparatus’ indication is e.g. indicating that all

Remaining configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasions, after the end of data burst indication, from all configured grant configurations of the same configured grant group within a reporting window are unused.

The apparatus’ end of data burst is e.g. indicated in one configured grant configuration member of at least one of a configured grant group or a zero size buffer status report used jointly to trigger implied a cancellation of configured grant occasions from other configured grant configurations of the group indicated as unused.

The apparatus’ at least one non-transitory memory is e.g. storing instructions, executed by the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to: receive a duplicate end of data burst indication per grant configuration, wherein the application has requested and been granted multiple quality of service flows for various types of media traffic, and wherein the quality of service flows are configured for transmission in at least two configured grant configurations of the same configured grant group.

The apparatus’ indication is e.g. enabling cancellation of unused upcoming uplink configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasions from a configured grant configuration group.

The apparatus’ indication is e.g. transmitted using a message comprising unused transmission occasion uplink control information including generated content.

The apparatus’ generating is e.g. performed after a predefined timer expires, wherein the predefined timer is started after determining the end of data burst.

The apparatus’ application is e.g. using more than one packet data unit and more than one quality of service flow timely in parallel and multiplexed within a single transport connection.

The apparatus’ configured grant e.g. comprises at least a configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasion.

The apparatus’ at least one non-transitory memory is e.g. storing instructions, executed by the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to: receive instructions to report unused or not unused configured grants related to the multiple configured grant configurations of the identified group, based on the instructions, transmit an indication of unused or not unused configured grants of the identified group.

The apparatus’ configuration information is e.g. identifying more than one configured grant configurations for different traffic flows related o the application. A method related to one of the above apparatus may comprise: establishing a radio connection towards a network device of a communication network; sending towards the network device at least one radio resource control message comprising configuration information to configure uplink transmissions for an application, wherein the configuration information is identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application, and an instruction on how to report unused configured grants related to the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application; determining data traffic related to the application and to be received from the network device, wherein the determined data traffic is associated with at least one of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application and based on at least one associated traffic flow requirement; receiving the determined data traffic from the network device using the associated at least one configured grant configuration; and receiving from the network device an indication of unused configured grants configured for the application based on the received instruction.

Claims

CLAIMS What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one non-transitory memory storing instructions, that when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: establish a radio connection towards a network node of a communication network; receive at least one radio resource control message comprising configuration information to configure uplink transmissions for an application, wherein the configuration information is identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application, and an instruction on how to report unused configured grants related to the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application; determine data traffic related to the application and to be transmitted towards the network node, wherein the determined data traffic is associated with at least one of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application and based on at least one associated traffic flow requirement; transmit the determined data traffic towards the network node using the associated at least one configured grant configuration; and transmit towards the network node an indication of unused configured grants configured for the application based on the received instruction.

2. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein determining the indication of unused configured grants is further based on a trigger event, and wherein the trigger event is related to a determined end of data burst related to the determined data traffic.

3. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein determining the indication of unused configured grants is further based on a trigger event, and wherein the event is related to a selection of a number N of configured grant configurations for transmission of the determined data traffic out of M configured grant configurations, wherein N < M, and wherein M - N are unused configured grants, and wherein N = 1, 2, 3, . . . , and M = 2,

3. ... .

4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the more than one configured grant configurations relate to traffic flows associated with different jitter requirements, and wherein the determined traffic flow is related to a traffic with jitter, and wherein a trigger event to determine the indication of unused configured grants is related to the selection of at least one configured grant configuration best fulfilling the jitter requirements of the determined traffic to be transmitted.

5. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the more than one configured grant configurations relate to traffic flows associated with different data rate requirements, and wherein the determined traffic flow is related to a traffic with different data rates, and wherein a trigger event to determine the indication of unused configured grants is related to the selection of at least one configured grant configuration best fulfilling the data rate requirements of the determined traffic to be transmitted.

6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the configuration information identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application further includes a configured grant group identification linking the more than one configured grant configurations; and wherein the indication of unused configured grants includes the grant group identification.

7. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the determined data traffic is split among at least two of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for transmitting the determined data traffic in used configured grants.

8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the configuration information is sent as part of a ConfiguredGrantConfig information element included in the radio resource control message.

9. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the indication is indicating whether one or more of the more than one configured grant configuration belonging to a same configured grant group are unused or not unused.

10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the indication is using a separate transmission occasion bitmap for each individual grant configuration, wherein the bitmap is indicating a configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasion as unused or not unused.

11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the indication is using a joint not unused or unused transmission occasion bitmap for the more than one configured grant configuration within the same configured grant group.

12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one non-transitory memory is storing instructions, executed by the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to: determine indications in a bitmap of the configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasion as not unused and unused the bitmap (“0” - not unused; “1”- unused) based on a buffer status for extended reality flows.

13. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the indication is indicating that all remaining configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasions, after the end of data burst indication, from all configured grant configurations of the same configured grant group within a reporting window are unused.

14. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the end of data burst is indicated in one configured grant configuration member of at least one of a configured grant group or a zero size buffer status report used jointly to trigger implied a cancellation of configured grant occasions from other configured grant configurations of the group indicated as unused.

15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one non-transitory memory is storing instructions, executed by the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to: receive a duplicate end of data burst indication per grant configuration, wherein the application has requested and been granted multiple quality of service flows for various types of media traffic, and wherein the quality of service flows are configured for transmission in at least two configured grant configurations of the same configured grant group.

16. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the indication is enabling cancellation of unused upcoming uplink configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasions from a configured grant configuration group.

17. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the indication is transmitted using a message comprising unused transmission occasion uplink control information including generated content.

18. The apparatus of claim 17, wherein the generating is performed after a predefined timer expires, wherein the predefined timer is started after determining the end of data burst.

19. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the application is using more than one packet data unit and more than one quality of service flow timely in parallel and multiplexed within a single transport connection.

20. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein a configured grant comprises at least a configured grant physical uplink shared channel occasion.

21. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one non-transitory memory is storing instructions, executed by the at least one processor, to cause the apparatus at least to: receive instructions to report unused or not unused configured grants related to the multiple configured grant configurations of the identified group, based on the instructions, transmit an indication of unused or not unused configured grants of the identified group.

22. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the configuration information is identifying more than one configured grant configurations for different traffic flows related to the application.

23. A method, comprising: establishing a radio connection towards a network node of a communication network; receiving at least one radio resource control message comprising configuration information to configure uplink transmissions for an application, wherein the configuration information is identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application, and an instruction on how to report unused configured grants related to the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application; determining data traffic related to the application and to be transmitted towards the network node, wherein the determined data traffic is associated with at least one of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application and based on at least one associated traffic flow requirement; transmitting the determined data traffic towards the network node using the associated at least one configured grant configuration; and transmitting towards the network node an indication of unused configured grants configured for the application based on the received instruction.

24. An apparatus, comprising: at least one processor; and at least one non-transitory memory storing instructions, that when executed by the at least one processor, cause the apparatus at least to: establish a radio connection towards a network device of a communication network; send towards the network device at least one radio resource control message comprising configuration information to configure uplink transmissions for an application, wherein the configuration information is identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application, and an instruction on how to report unused configured grants related to the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application; determine data traffic related to the application and to be received from the network device, wherein the determined data traffic is associated with at least one of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for the application and based on at least one associated traffic flow requirement; receive the determined data traffic from the network device using the associated at least one configured grant configuration; and receive from the network device an indication of unused configured grants configured for the application based on the received instruction.

25. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the indication of unused configured grants is further based on a trigger event, and wherein the trigger event is related to a determined end of data burst related to the determined data traffic.

26. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the indication of unused configured grants is further based on a trigger event, and wherein the event is related to a selection of a number N of configured grant configurations for transmission of the determined data traffic out of M configured grant configurations, wherein N < M, and wherein M - N are unused configured grants, and wherein N = 1, 2, 3, . . ., and M = 2, 3, ... .

27. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the more than one configured grant configurations relate to traffic flows associated with different jitter requirements, and wherein the determined traffic flow is related to a traffic with jitter, and wherein a trigger event to determine the indication of unused configured grants is related to the selection of at least one configured grant configuration best fulfilling the jitter requirements of the determined traffic to be transmitted.

28. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the more than one configured grant configurations relate to traffic flows associated with different data rate requirements, and wherein the determined traffic flow is related to a traffic with different data rates, and wherein a trigger event to determine the indication of unused configured grants is related to the selection of at least one configured grant configuration best fulfilling the data rate requirements of the determined traffic to be transmitted.

29. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the configuration information identifying more than one configured grant configurations for the application further includes a configured grant group identification linking the more than one configured grant configurations; and wherein the indication of unused configured grants includes the grant group identification.

30. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the determined data traffic is split among at least two of the identified more than one configured grant configurations for transmitting the determined data traffic in used configured grants.

31. The apparatus of claim 24, wherein the configuration information is sent as part of a ConfiguredGrantConfig information element included in the radio resource control message.