WO2025118245A1

WO2025118245A1 - Devices and methods of communication

Info

Publication number: WO2025118245A1
Application number: PCT/CN2023/137144
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jinhui WEN; Gang Wang
Original assignee: NEC Corp
Current assignee: NEC Corp
Priority date: 2023-12-07
Filing date: 2023-12-07
Publication date: 2025-06-12
Anticipated expiration: 2026-06-07

Abstract

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate to devices and methods of communication. In one aspect, a network device generates a configuration for an LCP procedure considering delayed data and transmits the configuration to a terminal device. Upon activation of the LCP procedure considering delayed data, the terminal device performs the LCP procedure considering delayed data based on the configuration. In this way, delayed data may be scheduled or multiplexed in a MAC PDU with a higher priority, and thus the delayed data exceeding delay budget may be avoided.

Description

DEVICES AND METHODS OF COMMUNICATION

TECHNICAL FIELD

Embodiments of the present disclosure generally relate to the field of telecommunication, and in particular, to methods, devices and computer storage media of communication for a logical channel prioritization (LCP) procedure.

BACKGROUND

It has been agreed that a terminal device may report a delay status reporting (DSR) which includes remaining delay time of uplink (UL) buffered data and delayed buffer size. Further, it has been proposed to study and discuss delay aware or delay adaptive scheduling which may be based on the remaining delay time. A network may schedule UL grant for delay-sensitive traffic according to remaining delay budget and/or delayed buffer size. However, current LCP procedure cannot guarantee that delayed data is multiplexed in a corresponding medium access control (MAC) protocol data unit (PDU) , which may still lead to certain PDUs/PDU sets exceed a PDU delay budget (PDB) /PDU set delay budget (PSDB) .

SUMMARY

In general, embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods, devices and computer storage media of communication for an LCP procedure.

In a first aspect, there is provided a terminal device. The terminal device comprises a processor configured to cause the terminal device to: receive, from a network device, a configuration for an LCP procedure considering delayed data; and in accordance with a determination that the LCP procedure is activated, perform the LCP procedure based on the configuration, the configuration comprising at least one of the following: an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the LCP procedure that is configured for a logical channel (LCH) or logical channel group (LCG) or a data radio bearing (DRB) or a cell or a cell group or a MAC entity or the terminal device, an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the LCP procedure for a configured uplink grant, an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the LCP procedure for an uplink grant scheduled by a random access response (RAR) , an indication of whether the terminal device maximizes a transmission of a PDU set during the LCP procedure, or an indication of a priority of the delayed data for an LCG.

In a second aspect, there is provided a network device. The network device comprises a processor configured to cause the network device to: generate a configuration for an LCP procedure considering delayed data; and transmit the configuration to a terminal device, the configuration comprising at least one of the following: an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the LCP procedure that is configured for an LCH or LCG or a DRB or a cell or a cell group or a MAC entity or the terminal device; an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the LCP procedure for a configured uplink grant; an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the LCP procedure for an uplink grant scheduled by an RAR; an indication of whether the terminal device maximizes a transmission of a PDU set during the LCP procedure; or an indication of a priority of the delayed data for an LCG.

In a third aspect, there is provided a method of communication. The method comprises: receiving, at a terminal device and from a network device, a configuration for an LCP procedure considering delayed data; and in accordance with a determination that the LCP procedure is activated, performing the LCP procedure based on the configuration, the configuration comprising at least one of the following: an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the LCP procedure that is configured for an LCH or LCG or a DRB or a cell or a cell group or a MAC entity or the terminal device; an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the LCP procedure for a configured uplink grant; an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the LCP procedure for an uplink grant scheduled by an RAR; an indication of whether the terminal device maximizes a transmission of a PDU set during the LCP procedure; or an indication of a priority of the delayed data for an LCG.

In a fourth aspect, there is provided a method of communication. The method comprises: generating, at a network device, a configuration for an LCP procedure considering delayed data; and transmitting the configuration to a terminal device, the configuration comprising at least one of the following: an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the LCP procedure that is configured for an LCH or LCG or a DRB or a cell or a cell group or a MAC entity or the terminal device; an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the LCP procedure for a configured uplink grant; an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the LCP procedure for an uplink grant scheduled by an RAR; an indication of whether the terminal device maximizes a transmission of a PDU set during the LCP procedure; or an indication of a priority of the delayed data for an LCG.

In a fifth aspect, there is provided a computer readable medium having instructions stored thereon. The instructions, when executed on at least one processor, cause the at least one processor to perform the method according to the third or fourth aspect of the present disclosure.

Other features of the present disclosure will become easily comprehensible through the following description.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Through the more detailed description of some embodiments of the present disclosure in the accompanying drawings, the above and other objects, features and advantages of the present disclosure will become more apparent, wherein:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example communication network in which some embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented;

FIG. 2 illustrates a signaling chart illustrating an example process of communication for an LCP procedure considering delayed data according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3A illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating an example MAC CE for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-cell basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3B illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating another example MAC CE for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-cell basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 3C illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating another example MAC CE for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-cell basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4A illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating an example MAC CE for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-DRB basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4B illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating another example MAC CE for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-DRB basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5A illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating an example MAC CE for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-LCG basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5B illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating another example MAC CE for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-LCG basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6A illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating an example MAC CE for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-LCH basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6B illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating another example MAC CE for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-LCH basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7A illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating an example MAC subheader for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-UE or per-MAC entity basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7B illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating another example MAC subheader for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-UE or per-MAC entity basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 7C illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating an example MAC CE for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-UE or per-MAC entity basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating an example MAC CE for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-RLC entity basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 9 illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating an example MAC CE for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data for a configured UL grant according to embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart of an example method of communication implemented at a terminal device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 illustrates a flowchart of an example method of communication implemented at a network device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure; and

FIG. 12 is a simplified block diagram of a device that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure.

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

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

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

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

As used herein, the term ‘terminal device’ refers to any device having wireless or wired communication capabilities. Examples of the terminal device include, but not limited to, user equipment (UE) , personal computers, desktops, mobile phones, cellular phones, smart phones, personal digital assistants (PDAs) , portable computers, tablets, wearable devices, internet of things (IoT) devices, ultra-reliable and low latency communications (URLLC) devices, Internet of everything (IoE) devices, machine type communication (MTC) devices, device on vehicle for V2X communication where X means pedestrian, vehicle, or infrastructure/network, devices for integrated access and backhaul (IAB) , Space borne vehicles or Air borne vehicles in non-terrestrial networks (NTN) including satellites and high altitude platforms (HAPs) encompassing unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) , XR devices including different types of realities such as augmented reality (AR) , mixed reality (MR) and virtual reality (VR) , the unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) commonly known as a drone which is an aircraft without any human pilot, devices on high speed train (HST) , or image capture devices such as digital cameras, sensors, gaming devices, music storage and playback appliances, or Internet appliances enabling wireless or wired Internet access and browsing and the like. The ‘terminal device’ can further has ‘multicast/broadcast’ feature, to support public safety and mission critical, V2X applications, transparent IPv4/IPv6 multicast delivery, IPTV, smart TV, radio services, software delivery over wireless, group communications and IoT applications. It may also incorporate one or multiple subscriber identity module (SIM) as known as multi-SIM. The term “terminal device” can be used interchangeably with a UE, a mobile station, a subscriber station, a mobile terminal, a user terminal or a wireless device.

As used herein, the term “network device” refers to a device which is capable of providing or hosting a cell or coverage where terminal devices can communicate. Examples of a network device include, but not limited to, a Node B (NodeB or NB) , an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB) , a next generation NodeB (gNB) , a transmission reception point (TRP) , a remote radio unit (RRU) , a radio head (RH) , a remote radio head (RRH) , an IAB node, a low power node such as a femto node, a pico node, a reconfigurable intelligent surface (RIS) , and the like.

The terminal device or the network device may have Artificial intelligence (AI) or Machine learning capability. It generally includes a model which has been trained from numerous collected data for a specific function, and can be used to predict some information.

The terminal or the network device may work on several frequency ranges, e.g., FR1 (410 MHz to 7125 MHz) , FR2 (24.25GHz to 71GHz) , frequency band larger than 100GHz as well as Tera Hertz (THz) . It can further work on licensed/unlicensed/shared spectrum. The terminal device may have more than one connection with the network devices under multi-radio dual connectivity (MR-DC) application scenario. The terminal device or the network device can work on full duplex, flexible duplex and cross division duplex modes.

The embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed in test equipment, e.g., signal generator, signal analyzer, spectrum analyzer, network analyzer, test terminal device, test network device, channel emulator.

In one embodiment, the terminal device may be connected with a first network device and a second network device. One of the first network device and the second network device may be a master node and the other one may be a secondary node. The first network device and the second network device may use different radio access technologies (RATs) . In one embodiment, the first network device may be a first RAT device and the second network device may be a second RAT device. In one embodiment, the first RAT device is eNB and the second RAT device is gNB. Information related with different RATs may be transmitted to the terminal device from at least one of the first network device or the second network device. In one embodiment, first information may be transmitted to the terminal device from the first network device and second information may be transmitted to the terminal device from the second network device directly or via the first network device. In one embodiment, information related with configuration for the terminal device configured by the second network device may be transmitted from the second network device via the first network device. Information related with reconfiguration for the terminal device configured by the second network device may be transmitted to the terminal device from the second network device directly or via the first network device.

As used herein, the singular forms ‘a’ , ‘an’ and ‘the’ are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. The term ‘includes’ and its variants are to be read as open terms that mean ‘includes, but is not limited to. ’ The term ‘based on’ is to be read as ‘at least in part based on. ’ The term ‘one embodiment’ and ‘an embodiment’ are to be read as ‘at least one embodiment. ’ The term ‘another embodiment’ is to be read as ‘at least one other embodiment. ’ The terms ‘first, ’ ‘second, ’ and the like may refer to different or same objects. Other definitions, explicit and implicit, may be included below.

In some examples, values, procedures, or apparatus are referred to as ‘best, ’ ‘lowest, ’ ‘highest, ’ ‘minimum, ’ ‘maximum, ’ or the like. It will be appreciated that such descriptions are intended to indicate that a selection among many used functional alternatives can be made, and such selections need not be better, smaller, higher, or otherwise preferable to other selections.

In the context of the present disclosure, the term “an LCP procedure considering delayed data” herein may be interchangeably used with “delay-sensitive LCP” or “delay-sensitive LCP procedure” or “delay awareness LCP” or “delay awareness LCP procedure” or “an LCP procedure” or “delay-sensitive mechanism” . The term “DSR” herein means a reporting of a status or information of delayed data in a buffer.

In the context of the present disclosure, if a delay of buffered data exceeds a configured threshold, or remaining delay budget of buffered data (e.g., remaining time of PDCP discardTimer) is less than a configured threshold, the buffered data is considered as delayed data. Otherwise, the buffered data is non-delayed data. It is to be understood that any other ways to distinguish delayed data and non-delayed data are also feasible.

Embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution of communication for an LCP procedure considering delayed data. In the solution, a network device generates a configuration for an LCP procedure considering delayed data (for convenience, also referred to as a delay-sensitive LCP procedure hereinafter) and transmits the configuration to a terminal device. Upon activation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure, the terminal device performs the delay-sensitive LCP procedure based on the configuration. The configuration comprises at least one of the following: an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the delay-sensitive LCP procedure that is configured for an LCH or LCG or a DRB or a cell or a cell group or a MAC entity or the terminal device; an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for a configured UL grant; an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for an UL grant scheduled by an RAR; an indication of whether the terminal device maximizes a transmission of a PDU set during the delay-sensitive LCP procedure; or an indication of a priority of the delayed data for an LCG.

In this way, delayed data may be scheduled or multiplexed in a MAC PDU with a higher priority, and thus the delayed data exceeding delay budget may be avoided.

Principles and implementations of the present disclosure will be described in detail below with reference to the figures.

EXAMPLE OF COMMUNICATION NETWORK

FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic diagram of an example communication network 100 in which some embodiments of the present disclosure can be implemented. As shown in FIG. 1, the communication network 100 may include a terminal device 110 and a network device 120. The network device 120 may provide a serving cell 121. The terminal device 110 may be located in the serving cell 121 and may be served by the network device 120. It is to be understood that the network device 120 may provide more serving cells to serve one or more terminal devices.

It is also to be understood that the numbers of terminal devices and network devices and serving cells in FIG. 1 are given for the purpose of illustration without suggesting any limitations to the present disclosure. The communication network 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and/or terminal devices and/or serving cells adapted for implementing implementations of the present disclosure.

As shown in FIG. 1, the terminal device 110 may communicate with the network device 120 via a channel such as a wireless communication channel. The communications in the communication network 100 may conform to any suitable standards including, but not limited to, global system for mobile communications (GSM) , long term evolution (LTE) , LTE-evolution, LTE-advanced (LTE-A) , new radio (NR) , wideband code division multiple access (WCDMA) , code division multiple access (CDMA) , GSM EDGE radio access network (GERAN) , machine type communication (MTC) and the like. The embodiments of the present disclosure may be performed according to any generation communication protocols either currently known or to be developed in the future. Examples of the communication protocols include, but not limited to, the first generation (1G) , the second generation (2G) , 2.5G, 2.75G, the third generation (3G) , the fourth generation (4G) , 4.5G, the fifth generation (5G) communication protocols, 5.5G, 5G-Advanced networks, or the sixth generation (6G) networks.

In some scenarios, the terminal device 110 may transmit a DSR MAC CE to report remaining delay budget and/or delayed buffer size, and the network device 120 may schedule an UL grant for delay-sensitive traffic according to the remaining delay budget and/or delayed buffer size reported in the DSR MAC CE. In some scenarios, the terminal device 110 may apply an LCP procedure whenever a new transmission is performed. However, current LCP procedure in a terminal device cannot guarantee that delayed data is multiplexed in a corresponding MAC PDU, which may still lead to certain PDUs/PDU sets exceed PDB/PSDB.

For example, LCH1 belonging to LCG1 has a higher priority than LCH2 belonging to LCG2. LCG 2 has reported its delay information to the network and an UL grant has been assigned to schedule the delayed data for LCH2. However, before the LCP procedure is applied to the UL grant, new data is coming to the LCH1. Since LCH1 has higher priority than LCH2, the resources are allocated to LCH1 first, which may cause that resources are not enough for the delayed data of LCH2.

In view of this, embodiments of the present disclosure provide a solution of a delay-sensitive LCP procedure. With the solution, delayed data or LCHs with delayed data having a higher priority may be multiplexed during an LCP procedure. The solution will be described in detail with reference to FIGs. 2 to 9 below.

EXAMPLE IMPLEMENTATION OF LCP PROCEDURE CONSIDERING DELAYED DATA

FIG. 2 illustrates a signaling chart illustrating an example process 200 of communication for an LCP procedure considering delayed data according to embodiments of the present disclosure. For the purpose of discussion, the process 200 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. The process 200 may involve the terminal device 110 and the network device 120 as illustrated in FIG. 1. It is to be understood that the steps and the order of the steps in FIG. 2 are merely for illustration, and not for limitation. For example, the order of the steps may be changed. Some of the steps may be omitted or any suitable additional steps may be added.

As shown in FIG. 2, the network device 120 generates 210 a configuration (also referred to as a delay-sensitive configuration herein) for a delay-sensitive LCP procedure. In some embodiments, the delay-sensitive LCP procedure may be configured on a per LCH/LCG/DRB/cell/cell group/MAC entity/UE basis. In this case, the configuration may comprise an indication of whether the terminal device 110 applies or enables the delay-sensitive LCP procedure that is configured for an LCH or LCG or a DRB or a cell or a cell group or a MAC entity or the terminal device 110. For example, the configuration may comprise a field indicating whether the terminal device 110 shall apply or enable delay-sensitive LCP or delay-sensitive related handling. The field may be configured per LCH/LCG/DRB/cell/cell group/MAC entity/UE. For example, if the field is configured, the corresponding LCH/LCG/DRB/cell/cell group/MAC entity/UE shall apply the delay-sensitive LCP.

In some embodiments, the delay-sensitive LCP procedure may be configured for a UL grant. In some embodiments, the configuration may comprise an indication of whether the terminal device 110 applies or enables the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for a configured UL grant. For example, the configuration may comprise a field indicating whether the terminal device 110 shall apply or enable delay-sensitive LCP or delay-sensitive related handling for a configured UL grant. In some embodiments, the configuration may comprise an indication of whether the terminal device 110 applies or enables the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for a UL grant scheduled by an RAR. For example, the configuration may comprise a field indicating whether the terminal device 110 shall apply or enable delay-sensitive LCP or delay-sensitive related handling for a UL grant scheduled by an RAR.

In some embodiments, the network device 120 may configure the terminal device 110 to maximize a transmission of a PDU set during the delay-sensitive LCP procedure. For example, if all PDUs of a PDU set are needed for usage of the PDU set, the network device 120 may configure the terminal device 110 to maximize the transmission of the PDU set during the delay-sensitive LCP procedure. In some embodiments, the configuration may comprise an indication of whether the terminal device 110 maximizes a transmission of a PDU set during the delay-sensitive LCP procedure. Alternatively, the configuration may comprise an indication of whether SDUs/PDUs belonging to a PDU set shall be sent/multiplexed as a whole. For example, the configuration may comprise a field indicating whether the terminal device 110 maximizes a transmission of a PDU set during the delay-sensitive LCP procedure, or a field indicating whether SDUs/PDUs belonging to a PDU Set shall be sent/multiplexed as a whole.

In some embodiments, the configuration may comprise an indication of a priority of the delayed data for an LCG. For example, the configuration may comprise a field indicating a new priority of the delayed data for an LCG. For LCHs belonging to the LCG, the delayed data shall apply the new priority indicated by the field during the delay-sensitive LCP procedure.

With reference to FIG. 2, the network device 120 may transmit 220 the configuration for the delay-sensitive LCP procedure to the terminal device 110. In some embodiments, the network device 120 may transmit the configuration via an RRC signaling. It is to be understood that any other suitable ways may also be feasible.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 2, the terminal device 110 may determine 230 whether the delay-sensitive LCP procedure is activated or deactivated.

In some embodiments, upon reception of the configuration for the delay-sensitive LCP procedure, the terminal device 110 may determine 231 that the delay-sensitive LCP procedure is initially deactivated. In other words, the delay-sensitive configuration or delay-sensitive LCP may be initially deactivated upon (re-) configuration by upper layers (e.g., RRC layer) and/or after reconfiguration with synchronization.

In some embodiments, upon reception of the configuration for the delay-sensitive LCP procedure, the terminal device 110 may determine 232 that the delay-sensitive LCP procedure is initially activated. In other words, the delay-sensitive configuration or delay-sensitive LCP may be initially activated upon (re-) configuration by upper layers (e.g., RRC layer) and/or after reconfiguration with synchronization.

In some embodiments, the network device 120 may transmit 233, to the terminal device 110, an indication indicating whether the delay-sensitive LCP procedure is activated or deactivated upon reception of the configuration and/or after reconfiguration with synchronization. If the indication indicates the delay-sensitive LCP procedure is activated upon reception of the configuration and/or after reconfiguration with synchronization, the terminal device 110 may determine that the delay-sensitive LCP procedure is initially activated. If the indication indicates the delay-sensitive LCP procedure is deactivated upon reception of the configuration and/or after reconfiguration with synchronization, the terminal device 110 may determine that the delay-sensitive LCP procedure is initially deactivated. In other words, a new field may be configured via an RRC signaling to explicitly indicate whether the delay-sensitive configuration or delay-sensitive LCP is activated or deactivated upon reception of the configuration and/or after reconfiguration with synchronization.

In some embodiments, the network device 120 may transmit 234, to the terminal device 110, information of activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure. In some embodiments, the network device 120 may transmit the information of activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure via DCI or RAR.

In some embodiments, the network device 120 may transmit DCI or RAR (for convenience, also referred to as first DCI or RAR herein) carrying a UL grant and comprising an indication of whether the UL grant applies the delay-sensitive LCP procedure. In other words, for DCI or RAR carrying a UL grant, a new field may be introduced to indicate whether the corresponding UL grant shall apply delay-sensitive LCP. If the field indicates delay-sensitive LCP shall be applied to the corresponding UL grant, a MAC entity shall perform delay-sensitive LCP for the UL grant. If the field indicates delay-sensitive LCP shall not be applied to the corresponding UL grant, the MAC entity shall not perform delay-sensitive LCP for the UL grant. In some embodiments, the field may be a one-shot indication and only apply to the UL grant scheduled by the DCI or RAR. In some embodiments, a physical layer may indicate a MAC layer to activate or deactivate delay-sensitive LCP when the field is received.

In some embodiments, the network device 120 may transmit DCI or RAR (for convenience, also referred to as second DCI or RAR herein) comprising an indication of the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure. In other words, for DCI or RAR, a new field may be introduced to indicate activation status of delay-sensitive LCP. If the field indicates that delay-sensitive LCP is activated, the terminal device 110, the MAC entity or the corresponding cell shall activate the delay-sensitive LCP. If the field indicates delay-sensitive LCP is deactivated, the terminal device 110, the MAC entity or the corresponding cell shall deactivate the delay-sensitive LCP. For example, 1 may be used for indicating activation of the delay-sensitive LCP, and 0 may be used for indicating deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP. In another example, 0 may be used for indicating activation of the delay-sensitive LCP, and 1 may be used for indicating deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP.

In some embodiments, the network device 120 may transmit the information of activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure via a MAC CE. In some embodiments, the network device 120 may transmit a MAC CE (for convenience, also referred to as a first MAC CE herein) indicating the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for the LCH or the LCG or the DRB or the cell or the cell group or the MAC entity or the terminal device 110. That is, the network device 120 may indicate the terminal device 110 to activate/deactivate delay sensitive LCP/mechanism on a per-LCH/LCG/DRB/cell/cell group/MAC entity/UE basis via a MAC CE.

In some embodiments, a MAC subheader of the first MAC CE may comprise a logic channel identity (LCID) or extended LCID (eLCID) value indicating that the first MAC CE is for the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for the LCH or the LCG or the DRB or the cell or the cell group or the MAC entity or the terminal device 110.

In some embodiments, at least one of an A/D field, a bitmap field or an index field may be introduced in the MAC CE. The A/D field may indicate the activation/deactivation status of delay-sensitive LCP/mechanism for the corresponding LCH/LCG/DRB/cell/cell group/MAC entity/UE. The A/D field may be set to 1 to indicate that the delay-sensitive LCP/mechanism shall be activated for the corresponding LCH/LCG/DRB/cell/cell group/MAC entity/UE. The A/D field may be set to 0 to indicate that the delay-sensitive LCP/mechanism shall be deactivated for the LCH/LCG/DRB/cell/cell group/MAC entity/UE. The bitmap field may indicate the activation/deactivation status of delay-sensitive LCP/mechanism for the corresponding LCH/LCG/DRB/cell/cell group/MAC entity. Each bit of the bitmap may correspond to the activation/deactivation status of a specific LCH/LCG/DRB/cell/cell group/MAC entity. The index field may indicate an index of LCH/LCG/DRB/cell/cell group/MAC entity whose delay-sensitive LCP/mechanism is activated/deactivated.

For illustration, some example embodiments of the first MAC CE will be described with reference to Embodiments 1 to 6 below.

Embodiment 1

In this embodiment, the network device 120 may indicate the terminal device 110 to activate or deactivate delay-sensitive LCP/mechanism on a per-cell basis via a MAC CE. In some embodiments, a MAC subheader of the MAC CE may comprise an LCID or eLCID value indicating that the MAC subheader is for the activation or deactivation of delay-sensitive LCP for the serving cell.

In some embodiments, the MAC CE may comprise a field indicating the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for a serving cell and a field indicating an identity (ID) of the serving cell for which the MAC CE applies. An example MAC CE is shown in FIG. 3A.

FIG. 3A illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating an example MAC CE 300A for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-cell basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure. An example MAC CE for a serving cell is shown. As shown in FIG. 3A, the MAC CE 300A may include a field “serving cell ID” , a field “A/D” and a field “R” . The field “R” indicates a reserved bit. The field “serving cell ID” indicates an ID of the serving cell for which the MAC CE applies. The field “A/D” indicates the activation/deactivation status of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure considering delayed data. The field “A/D” may be set to 1 to indicate that delay-sensitive LCP shall be activated for the serving cell. The field “A/D” may be set to 0 to indicate that delay-sensitive LCP shall be deactivated for the serving cell. It is to be understood that any other suitable values may also be feasible, and the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

In some embodiments, the MAC CE may comprise a set of fields corresponding to a set of serving cells, and a field in the set of fields indicates the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for a serving cell in the set of serving cells that corresponds to the field. Example MAC CEs are shown in FIGs. 3B and 3C.

FIG. 3B illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating another example MAC CE 300B for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-cell basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure. An example MAC CE of one octet is shown. As shown in FIG. 3B, the MAC CE 300B may include fields C_i, where i =0 to 7. If there is a special cell (SpCell) (i = 0) or a secondary cell (SCell) configured for a MAC entity with SCellIndex i, C_i indicates the activation/deactivation status of delay-sensitive LCP for the corresponding cell i. Otherwise, a MAC entity may ignore the field C_i. The field C_i may be set to 1 to indicate that delay-sensitive LCP of the corresponding cell i (e.g., SpCell with i = 0 or SCell with SCellIndex i) shall be activated. The field C_i may be set to 0 to indicate that delay-sensitive LCP of the corresponding cell i shall be deactivated. It is to be understood that any other suitable values may also be feasible, and the present disclosure does not limit this aspect. This example may apply to the case of less than or equal to 8 serving cells.

FIG. 3C illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating another example MAC CE 300C for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-cell basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure. An example MAC CE of four octets is shown. As shown in FIG. 3C, the MAC CE 300C may include fields C_i, where i =0 to 31. Other details of the field C_i are similar as that described in FIG. 3B and thus are not repeated here for conciseness. This example may apply to the case of more than 8 serving cells, and may also apply to the case of less than or equal to 8 serving cells.

For illustration, an example procedure of MAC layer may be described as below.

1> if the MAC entity receives a MAC CE indicating activation of delay-sensitive LCP for a cell:

2> The MAC entity shall activate delay sensitive LCP for the corresponding cell. For example, if an uplink grant scheduling the resources of the corresponding cell, UE shall apply delay-sensitive LCP mechanism.

1> if the MAC entity receives a MAC CE indicating deactivation of delay-sensitive LCP for a cell:

2> The MAC entity shall deactivate delay sensitive LCP for the corresponding cell.

Embodiment 2

In this embodiment, the network device 120 may indicate the terminal device 110 to activate or deactivate delay-sensitive LCP/mechanism on a per-DRB basis via a MAC CE. In some embodiments, a MAC subheader of the MAC CE may comprise an LCID or eLCID value indicating that the MAC subheader is for the activation or deactivation of delay-sensitive LCP for a DRB.

In some embodiments, the MAC CE may comprise a field indicating the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for a DRB and a field indicating an ID of the DRB for which the delay-sensitive LCP procedure applies. An example MAC CE is shown in FIG. 4A.

FIG. 4A illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating an example MAC CE 400A for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-DRB basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure. An example MAC CE for a DRB is shown. As shown in FIG. 4A, the MAC CE 400A may include a field “DRB ID” , a field “A/D” and a field “R” . The field “R” indicates a reserved bit. The field “DRB ID” identifies the DRB (s) whose delay-sensitive LCP shall be activated or deactivated. The field “A/D” indicates the activation/deactivation status of delay-sensitive LCP for the DRB. The field “A/D” may be set to 1 to indicate that delay-sensitive LCP of the DRB shall be activated. The field “A/D” may be set to 0 to indicate that delay-sensitive LCP of the DRB shall be deactivated. It is to be understood that any other suitable values may also be feasible, and the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

In some embodiments, the MAC CE may comprise a set of fields corresponding to a set of DRBs, and a field in the set of fields indicates the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for a DRB in the set of DRBs that corresponds to the field. An example MAC CE is shown in FIG. 4B.

FIG. 4B illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating another example MAC CE 400B for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-DRB basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure. An example MAC CE of one octet is shown. As shown in FIG. 4B, the MAC CE 400B may include fields D_i, where i =0 to 7. D_i indicates the activation/deactivation status of delay-sensitive LCP for DRB i. The field D_i may be set to 1 to indicate that delay-sensitive LCP of DRB i shall be activated. The field D_i may be set to 0 to indicate that delay-sensitive LCP of DRB i shall be deactivated. It is to be understood that any other suitable values may also be feasible, and the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

For illustration, an example procedure of MAC layer may be described as below.

1> if the MAC entity receives a MAC CE indicating activation of delay-sensitive LCP for a DRB:

2> The MAC entity shall activate delay sensitive LCP for the corresponding DRB. For example, the LCHs associated with the DRB shall apply delay-sensitive LCP mechanism, e.g., for the LCH configured with 2 or more priorities, delayed data shall apply a (higher) priority, while non-delayed data shall apply another priority.

1> if the MAC entity receives a MAC CE indicating deactivation of delay-sensitive LCP for a DRB:

2> The MAC entity shall deactivate delay sensitive LCP for the corresponding DRB.

Embodiment 3

In this embodiment, the network device 120 may indicate the terminal device 110 to activate or deactivate delay-sensitive LCP/mechanism on a per-LCG basis via a MAC CE. In some embodiments, a MAC subheader of the MAC CE may comprise an LCID or eLCID value indicating that the MAC subheader is for the activation or deactivation of delay-sensitive LCP for an LCG.

In some embodiments, the MAC CE may comprise a field indicating the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for an LCG and a field indicating an ID of the LCG for which the delay-sensitive LCP procedure applies. An example MAC CE is shown in FIG. 5A.

FIG. 5A illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating an example MAC CE 500A for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-LCG basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure. An example MAC CE for an LCG is shown. As shown in FIG. 5A, the MAC CE 500A may include a field “LCG ID” , a field “A/D” and a field “R” . The field “R” indicates a reserved bit. The field “LCG ID” identifies the group of LCH (s) whose delay-sensitive LCP shall be activated or deactivated. The field “A/D” indicates the activation/deactivation status of delay-sensitive LCP for the LCG. The field “A/D” may be set to 1 to indicate that delay-sensitive LCP shall be activated for the LCG. The field “A/D” may be set to 0 to indicate that delay-sensitive LCP shall be deactivated for the LCG. It is to be understood that any other suitable values may also be feasible, and the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

In some embodiments, the MAC CE may comprise a set of fields corresponding to a set of LCGs, and a field in the set of fields indicates the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for an LCG in the set of LCGs that corresponds to the field. An example MAC CE is shown in FIG. 5B.

FIG. 5B illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating another example MAC CE 500B for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-LCG basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure. An example MAC CE of one octet is shown. As shown in FIG. 5B, the MAC CE 500B may include fields LCG_i, where i = 0 to 7. LCG_i indicates the activation/deactivation status of delay-sensitive LCP for LCG i. The field LCG_i may be set to 1 to indicate that delay-sensitive LCP for logical channel group i shall be activated. The field LCG_i may be set to 0 to indicate that delay-sensitive LCP for logical channel group i shall be deactivated. It is to be understood that any other suitable values may also be feasible, and the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

For illustration, an example procedure of MAC layer may be described as below.

1> if the MAC entity receives a MAC CE indicating activation of delay-sensitive LCP for an LCG:

2> The MAC entity shall activate delay sensitive LCP for the corresponding LCG. For example, the LCHs associated with the LCG shall apply delay-sensitive LCP mechanism, e.g., for the LCH configured with 2 or more priorities, delayed data shall apply a (higher) priority, while non-delayed data shall apply another priority.

1> if the MAC entity receives a MAC CE indicating deactivation of delay-sensitive LCP for an LCG:

2> The MAC entity shall deactivate delay sensitive LCP for the corresponding LCG.

Embodiment 4

In this embodiment, the network device 120 may indicate the terminal device 110 to activate or deactivate delay-sensitive LCP/mechanism on a per-LCH basis via a MAC CE. In some embodiments, a MAC subheader of the MAC CE may comprise an LCID or eLCID value indicating that the MAC subheader is for the activation or deactivation of delay-sensitive LCP for an LCH.

In some embodiments, the MAC CE may comprise a field indicating the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for an LCH and a field indicating an ID of the LCH for which the delay-sensitive LCP procedure applies. An example MAC CE is shown in FIG. 6A.

FIG. 6A illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating an example MAC CE 600A for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-LCH basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure. An example MAC CE for an LCH is shown. As shown in FIG. 6A, the MAC CE 600A may include a field “LCH ID” , a field “A/D” and a field “R” . The field “R” indicates a reserved bit. The field “LCH ID” identifies the LCH whose delay-sensitive LCP shall be activated or deactivated. The field “A/D” indicates the activation/deactivation status of delay-sensitive LCP for the LCH. The field “A/D” may be set to 1 to indicate that delay-sensitive LCP shall be activated for the LCH. The field “A/D” may be set to 0 to indicate that delay-sensitive LCP shall be deactivated for the LCH. It is to be understood that any other suitable values may also be feasible, and the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

In some embodiments, the MAC CE may comprise a set of fields corresponding to a set of LCHs, and a field in the set of fields indicates the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for an LCH in the set of LCHs that corresponds to the field. An example MAC CE is shown in FIG. 6B.

FIG. 6B illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating another example MAC CE 600B for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-LCH basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure. An example MAC CE of one octet is shown. As shown in FIG. 6B, the MAC CE 600B may include fields LCH_i, where i = 0 to 7. LCH_i indicates the activation/deactivation status of delay-sensitive LCP for logical channel i. The field LCH_i may be set to 1 to indicate that delay-sensitive LCP for logical channel i shall be activated. The field LCH_i may be set to 0 to indicate that delay-sensitive LCP for logical channel i shall be deactivated. It is to be understood that any other suitable values may also be feasible, and the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

Embodiment 5

In this embodiment, the network device 120 may indicate the terminal device 110 to activate or deactivate delay-sensitive LCP/mechanism on a per-UE basis or per-MAC entity basis via a MAC CE or a MAC subheader.

In some embodiments, a MAC subheader may comprise a field indicating the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for the terminal device 110 or a MAC entity of the terminal device 110. In some embodiments, the MAC subheader may comprise an LCID or eLCID value indicating that the MAC subheader is for the activation or deactivation of delay-sensitive LCP for the terminal device 110 or the MAC entity of the terminal device 110. In some embodiments, only the MAC subheader is defined and there is no corresponding MAC CE. Example MAC subheaders are shown in FIGs. 7A and 7B.

FIG. 7A illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating an example MAC subheader 700A for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-UE or per-MAC entity basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 7A, the MAC subheader 700A may include a field “R” , a field “A/D” and a field “LCID” .

The field “R” indicates a reserved bit. The field “A/D” indicates the activation/deactivation status of delay-sensitive LCP for UE or the corresponding MAC entity. The field “A/D” may be set to 1 to indicate that delay-sensitive LCP shall be activated for the UE or the corresponding MAC entity. The field “A/D” may be set to 0 to indicate that delay-sensitive LCP shall be deactivated for the UE or the corresponding MAC entity. It is to be understood that any other suitable values may also be feasible, and the present disclosure does not limit this aspect. The field “LCID” indicates a LCID value for identifying this MAC subheader.

FIG. 7B illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating another example MAC subheader 700B for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-UE or per-MAC entity basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 7B, the MAC subheader 700B may include a field “R” , a field “A/D” , a field “LCID” and a field “eLCID” . The field “eLCID” indicates an extended LCID value for identifying this MAC subheader. Details of other fields are similar as that described in FIG. 7A and thus are not repeated here for conciseness.

In some embodiments, the MAC CE may comprise a field indicating the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for the terminal device 110 or a MAC entity of the terminal device 110. In this case, a MAC subheader and a MAC CE corresponding to the MAC subheader are defined. An example MAC CE is shown in FIG. 7C.

FIG. 7C illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating an example MAC CE 700C for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-UE or per-MAC entity basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 7C, the MAC CE 700C may include a field “A/D” and a field “R” . The field “R” indicates a reserved bit. The field “A/D” indicates the activation/deactivation status of delay-sensitive LCP for the UE or the corresponding MAC entity. The field “A/D” may be set to 1 to indicate that delay-sensitive LCP shall be activated for the UE or the corresponding MAC entity. The field “A/D” may be set to 0 to indicate that delay-sensitive LCP shall be deactivated for the UE or the corresponding MAC entity. It is to be understood that any other suitable values may also be feasible, and the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

Embodiment 6

In this embodiment, the network device 120 may indicate the terminal device 110 to activate or deactivate delay-sensitive LCP/mechanism for an RLC entity of a DRB or LCG via a MAC CE. In some embodiments, a MAC subheader of the MAC CE may comprise an LCID or eLCID value indicating that the MAC subheader is for the activation or deactivation of delay-sensitive LCP for an RLC entity of a DRB or LCG.

In some embodiments, the MAC CE may comprise a field indicating an ID of a DRB or LCG for which the delay-sensitive LCP procedure applies and a set of fields corresponding to a set of RLC entities, a field in the set of fields indicating the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for an RLC entity in the set of RLC entities that corresponds to the field. An example MAC CE is shown in FIG. 8.

FIG. 8 illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating an example MAC CE 800 for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data on a per-RLC entity basis according to embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 8, the MAC CE 800 may include a field “DRB ID or LCG ID” and a field “RLCi” . The field “DRB ID or LCG ID” indicates an ID of a DRB for which the MAC CE applies or an ID of an LCG for which the MAC CE applies. The field “RLCi” indicates the activation/deactivation status of delay-sensitive LCP for RLC entity i or corresponding LCH (e.g., where i may be ascending order of logical channel ID of RLC entities in the order of master cell group (MCG) and secondary cell group (SCG) for the DRB or LCG. The field “RLCi” may be set to 1 to indicate that delay-sensitive LCP for the RLC entity i or corresponding LCH shall be activated. The field “RLCi” may be set to 0 to indicate that delay-sensitive LCP for the RLC entity i or corresponding LCH shall be deactivated. It is to be understood that any other suitable values may also be feasible, and the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

So far, the first MAC CE is described in connection with Embodiments 1 to 6. In some embodiments, the network device 120 may transmit a MAC CE (for convenience, also referred to as a second MAC CE herein) indicating the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for a configured UL grant. That is, the network device 120 may indicate the terminal device 110 to activate/deactivate delay sensitive LCP/mechanism for a configured UL grant (e.g., Type 1 or 2) via a MAC CE.

In some embodiments, a MAC subheader of the MAC CE may comprise an LCID or eLCID value indicating that the second MAC CE is for the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for a configured UL grant. In some embodiments, the MAC CE may comprise a set of fields corresponding to a set of configured UL grants, a field in the set of fields indicating the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for a configured UL grant in the set of configured UL grants that corresponds to the field. An example MAC CE is described in FIG. 9.

FIG. 9 illustrates a schematic diagram illustrating an example MAC CE 900 for an activation or deactivation of an LCP procedure considering delayed data for a configured UL grant according to embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in FIG. 9, the MAC CE 900 may include fields CG_i, where i = 0 to 31. The field CG_i indicates the activation/deactivation status of delay sensitive LCP for configured UL grant with index i (e.g., configuredGrantConfigIndex or ConfiguredGrantConfigIndexMAC with value i) . The field CGi is set to 1 to indicate that the status of delay sensitive LCP for configured UL grant i shall be activated. The field CGi is set to 0 to indicate that the status of delay sensitive LCP for configured UL grant i shall be deactivated. It is to be understood that any other suitable values may also be feasible, and the present disclosure does not limit this aspect.

For illustration, an example procedure of MAC layer may be described as below.

The MAC entity shall for a configured uplink grant configured with delay-sensitive LCP configuration:

1> if a MAC CE or a MAC subheader indicating activation of delay-sensitive LCP for a configure uplink grant is received:

2> The MAC entity shall activate delay sensitive LCP for the corresponding configured uplink grant.

1> if a MAC CE or a MAC subheader indicating deactivation of delay-sensitive LCP for a configure uplink grant is received:

2> The MAC entity shall deactivate delay sensitive LCP for the corresponding configured uplink grant.

For illustration, another example procedure of MAC layer may be described as below.

If delay-sensitive LCP is configured and/or activated for a configured uplink grant, the MAC entity shall perform delay-sensitive LCP for the configured uplink grant when a new transmission is performed.

Continuing to refer to FIG. 2, based on the information of activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure, the terminal device 110 may determine 235 activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure.

With reference to FIG. 2, upon activation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure, the terminal device 110 may perform 240 the LCP procedure based on the configuration for the delay-sensitive LCP procedure. In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may perform the delay-sensitive LCP procedure by allocating resources to LCHs or LCGs in a decreasing priority order.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may perform the delay-sensitive LCP procedure based on a mechanism that the delayed data has a priority higher than a priority of non-delayed data for an LCH or LCG. For example, 2 priority values shall be configured for a logical channel via RRC signaling, one for delayed data and another for non-delay data. It is to be understood that more priority values may also be feasible. In this case, each of the priority values may be used for different delay levels.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may perform the delay-sensitive LCP procedure based on a mechanism that an LCH or LCG with the delayed data has a priority higher than a priority of an LCH or LCG without the delayed data. For example, 2 priority values shall be configured for a logical channel via RRC signaling, one is used when the logical channel has delayed data, and another is used when the logical channel has no delayed data. It is to be understood that more priority values may also be feasible. In this case, each of the priority values may be used for different delay levels.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may perform the delay-sensitive LCP procedure based on a mechanism that the delayed data has a priority higher than a priority of non-delayed data during the delay-sensitive LCP procedure. In other words, during the delay-sensitive LCP procedure, the delayed data shall always be served first, and then the non-delayed data shall be served.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may perform the delay-sensitive LCP procedure based on a mechanism that the transmission of the PDU set is maximized during the delay-sensitive LCP procedure. In some embodiments, if at least one of the following conditions is satisfied, the terminal device 110 may maximize the transmission of a PDU set during the delay-sensitive LCP procedure e.g., the PDU set shall be sent/multiplexed as a whole, or as much as possible) : PDUs or SDUs (e.g., all PDUs or SDUs) of the PDU set are needed for usage of the PDU set (e.g., if configured) , or the terminal device 110 is configured to maximize the transmission of the PDU set (e.g., the PDU set shall be sent/multiplexed as a whole) .

It is to be understood that any combination of the above mechanisms for performing the delay-sensitive LCP procedure may be feasible, and any other suitable mechanisms for performing the delay-sensitive LCP procedure may also be feasible.

In some embodiments, for an LCH carrying a control signaling (e.g., an RRC signaling) , the control signaling or the LCH may have a higher priority than the delayed data. In other words, the control signaling or the LCH may not be impacted by the delayed data.

In some embodiments, if there are a set of remaining resources after resource allocation to LCHs or LCGs in a decreasing priority order, the terminal device 110 may cause the LCH or LCG with the delayed data to be served first by the set of remaining resources. For example, for LCP, after logical channels selected for a UL grant with Bj > 0 are allocated resources in a decreasing priority order (e.g., the delay-sensitive LCP or similar mechanisms may be performed) and Bj is decremented by the total size of MAC SDUs served to logical channel j, if there are still any resources remain, delayed data shall be served first, and then non-delayed data shall be served.

For illustration, an example LCP procedure may be described as below.

If delay-sensitive LCP is configured and/or activated, The MAC entity shall, when a new transmission is performed:

1> allocate resources to the logical channels as follows:

2> logical channels selected for the UL grant with Bj > 0 are allocated resources in a decreasing priority order (delay-sensitive LCP or similar mechanism described in the previous slides may be performed) . If the PBR of a logical channel is set to infinity, the MAC entity may allocate resources for all the data that is available for transmission on the logical channel before meeting the PBR of the lower priority logical channel (s) ;

2> decrement Bj by the total size of MAC SDUs served to logical channel j above;

2> if any resources remain, all the logical channels are served in the following order:

3> logical channel (s) with delayed data are served in a strict decreasing priority order (regardless of the value of Bj) until either the delayed data for that logical channel or the UL grant is exhausted, whichever comes first.

3> Then, logical channel (s) (may be without delayed data) are served in a strict decreasing priority order (regardless of the value of Bj) until either the data (or non-delayed data) for that logical channel or the UL grant is exhausted, whichever comes first.

With the process 200, delayed data may be scheduled or multiplexed in a MAC PDU with a higher priority, and thus the delayed data exceeding delay budget may be avoided. It is to be understood that operations described in the process 200 may be separately carried out or in any combinations.

EXAMPLE IMPLEMENTATION OF METHODS

Corresponding to the above process, embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods of communication implemented at a terminal device and a network device. These methods will be described below with reference to FIGs. 10 and 11.

FIG. 10 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 1000 of communication implemented at a terminal device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the method 1000 may be performed at the terminal device 110 as shown in FIG. 1. For the purpose of discussion, in the following, the method 1000 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. It is to be understood that the method 1000 may include additional blocks not shown and/or may omit some blocks as shown, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

At block 1010, the terminal device 110 may receive, from the network device 120, a configuration for an LCP procedure considering delayed data (i.e., a delay-sensitive LCP procedure) . In some embodiments, the configuration may comprise at least one of the following: an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the delay-sensitive LCP procedure that is configured for an LCH or LCG or a DRB or a cell or a cell group or a MAC entity or the terminal device; an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for a configured uplink grant; an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for an uplink grant scheduled by an RAR; an indication of whether the terminal device maximizes a transmission of a PDU set during the LCP procedure; or an indication of a priority of the delayed data for an LCG.

At block 1020, the terminal device 110 may determine that the delay-sensitive LCP procedure is activated.

In some embodiments, if the configuration is received, the terminal device 110 may determine that the delay-sensitive LCP procedure is initially activated. In some embodiments, if the configuration is received, the terminal device 110 may determine that the delay-sensitive LCP procedure is initially deactivated. In some embodiments, if an indication indicating whether the delay-sensitive LCP procedure is activated or deactivated upon reception of the configuration is received, the terminal device 110 may determine that the delay-sensitive LCP procedure is initially activated or deactivated based on the indication.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may receive, from the network device 120, information of activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure, and determine that the delay-sensitive LCP procedure is activated or deactivated based on the information. In some embodiments, the information may comprise at least one of the following: first DCI or RAR carrying an uplink grant, the first DCI or RAR comprising an indication of whether the uplink grant applies the delay-sensitive LCP procedure; second DCI or RAR comprising an indication of the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure; a first MAC CE indicating the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for the LCH or the LCG or the DRB or the cell or the cell group or the MAC entity or the terminal device 110; or a second MAC CE indicating the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for the configured uplink grant.

In some embodiments, the first MAC CE may comprise a field indicating the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for a serving cell and a field indicating an identity of the serving cell for which the first MAC CE applies. In some embodiments, the first MAC CE may comprise a set of fields corresponding to a set of serving cells, and a field in the set of fields indicates the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for a serving cell in the set of serving cells that corresponds to the field.

In some embodiments, the first MAC CE may comprise a field indicating the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for a DRB and a field indicating an identity of the DRB for which the delay-sensitive LCP procedure applies. In some embodiments, the first MAC CE may comprise a set of fields corresponding to a set of DRBs, and a field in the set of fields indicates the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for a DRB in the set of DRBs that corresponds to the field.

In some embodiments, the first MAC CE may comprise a field indicating the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for an LCG and a field indicating an identity of the LCG for which the delay-sensitive LCP procedure applies. In some embodiments, the first MAC CE may comprise a set of fields corresponding to a set of LCGs, and a field in the set of fields indicates the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for an LCG in the set of LCGs that corresponds to the field.

In some embodiments, the first MAC CE may comprise a field indicating the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for an LCH and a field indicating an identity of the LCH for which the delay-sensitive LCP procedure applies. In some embodiments, the first MAC CE may comprise a set of fields corresponding to a set of LCHs, and a field in the set of fields indicates the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for an LCH in the set of LCHs that corresponds to the field.

In some embodiments, the first MAC CE may comprise a field indicating the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for the terminal device or the MAC entity. In some embodiments, a MAC subheader may comprise a field indicating the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for the terminal device or the MAC entity.

In some embodiments, the first MAC CE may comprise a field indicating an identity of a DRB or LCG for which the delay-sensitive LCP procedure applies and a set of fields corresponding to a set of RLC entities, a field in the set of fields indicating the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for an RLC entity in the set of RLC entities that corresponds to the field.

In some embodiments, a MAC subheader of the first MAC CE may comprise an LCID or eLCID value indicating that the first MAC CE is for the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for the LCH or the LCG or the DRB or the cell or the cell group or the MAC entity or the terminal device.

In some embodiments, the second MAC CE may comprise a set of fields corresponding to a set of configured uplink grants, a field in the set of fields indicating the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for a configured uplink grant in the set of configured uplink grants that corresponds to the field. In some embodiments, a MAC subheader of the second MAC CE comprises an LCID or eLCID value indicating that the second MAC CE is for the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for the configured uplink grant.

At block 1030, the terminal device 110 may perform the delay-sensitive LCP procedure based on the configuration.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may perform the delay-sensitive LCP procedure based on at least one of the following: the delayed data has a priority higher than a priority of non-delayed data for an LCH or LCG; an LCH or LCG with the delayed data has a priority higher than a priority of an LCH or LCG without the delayed data; the delayed data has a priority higher than a priority of non-delayed data during the delay-sensitive LCP procedure; or the transmission of the PDU set is maximized during the delay-sensitive LCP procedure upon at least one of the following conditions is satisfied: PDUs or SDUs of the PDU set are needed for usage of the PDU set, or the terminal device 110 is configured to maximize the transmission of the PDU set.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may allocate resources to LCHs or LCGs in a decreasing priority order. If there are a set of remaining resources, the terminal device 110 may cause the LCH or LCG with the delayed data to be served first by the set of remaining resources.

With the method 1000, a delay-sensitive LCP procedure may be carried out. Delayed data may be scheduled or multiplexed in a MAC PDU with a higher priority, and thus the delayed data exceeding delay budget may be avoided.

FIG. 11 illustrates a flowchart of an example method 1100 of communication implemented at a network device in accordance with some embodiments of the present disclosure. For example, the method 1100 may be performed at the network device 120 as shown in FIG. 1. For the purpose of discussion, in the following, the method 1100 will be described with reference to FIG. 1. It is to be understood that the method 1100 may include additional blocks not shown and/or may omit some blocks as shown, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this regard.

At block 1110, the network device 120 may generate a configuration for an LCP procedure considering delayed data. In some embodiments, the configuration may comprise at least one of the following: an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the delay-sensitive LCP procedure that is configured for an LCH or LCG or a DRB or a cell or a cell group or a MAC entity or the terminal device; an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for a configured uplink grant; an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for an uplink grant scheduled by an RAR; an indication of whether the terminal device maximizes a transmission of a PDU set during the delay-sensitive LCP procedure; or an indication of a priority of the delayed data for an LCG.

At block 1120, the network device 120 may transmit the configuration to the terminal device 110.

In some embodiments, the network device 120 may transmit information of activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure to the terminal device 110. In some embodiments, the information may comprise at least one of the following: first DCI or RAR carrying an uplink grant, the first DCI or RAR comprising an indication of whether the uplink grant applies the delay-sensitive LCP procedure; second DCI or RAR comprising an indication of the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure; a first MAC CE indicating the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for the LCH or the LCG or the DRB or the cell or the cell group or the MAC entity or the terminal device 110; or a second MAC CE indicating the activation or deactivation of the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for the configured uplink grant.

It is to be understood that operations of the methods 1000 and 1100 correspond to the process described in connection with FIGs. 2 to 9, and thus other details are not repeated here for conciseness.

EXAMPLE IMPLEMENTATION OF DEVICES

FIG. 12 is a simplified block diagram of a device 1200 that is suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. The device 1200 can be considered as a further example implementation of the terminal device 110 or the network device 120 as shown in FIG. 1. Accordingly, the device 1200 can be implemented at or as at least a part of the terminal device 110 or the network device 120.

As shown, the device 1200 includes a processor 1210, a memory 1220 coupled to the processor 1210, a suitable transceiver 1240 coupled to the processor 1210, and a communication interface coupled to the transceiver 1240. The memory 1210 stores at least a part of a program 1230. The transceiver 1240 may be for bidirectional communications or a unidirectional communication based on requirements. The transceiver 1240 may include at least one of a transmitter 1242 or a receiver 1244. The transmitter 1242 and the receiver 1244 may be functional modules or physical entities. The transceiver 1240 has at least one antenna to facilitate communication, though in practice an Access Node mentioned in this application may have several ones. The communication interface may represent any interface that is necessary for communication with other network elements, such as X2/Xn interface for bidirectional communications between eNBs/gNBs, S1/NG interface for communication between a mobility management entity (MME) /access and mobility management function (AMF) /SGW/UPF and the eNB/gNB, Un interface for communication between the eNB/gNB and a relay node (RN) , or Uu interface for communication between the eNB/gNB and a terminal device.

The program 1230 is assumed to include program instructions that, when executed by the associated processor 1210, enable the device 1200 to operate in accordance with the embodiments of the present disclosure, as discussed herein with reference to FIGs. 1 to 11. The embodiments herein may be implemented by computer software executable by the processor 1210 of the device 1200, or by hardware, or by a combination of software and hardware. The processor 1210 may be configured to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure. Furthermore, a combination of the processor 1210 and memory 1220 may form processing means 1250 adapted to implement various embodiments of the present disclosure.

The memory 1220 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may be implemented using any suitable data storage technology, such as a non-transitory computer readable storage medium, semiconductor based memory devices, magnetic memory devices and systems, optical memory devices and systems, fixed memory and removable memory, as non-limiting examples. While only one memory 1220 is shown in the device 1200, there may be several physically distinct memory modules in the device 1200. The processor 1210 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network, and may include one or more of general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital signal processors (DSPs) and processors based on multicore processor architecture, as non-limiting examples. The device 1200 may have multiple processors, such as an application specific integrated circuit chip that is slaved in time to a clock which synchronizes the main processor.

In some embodiments, a terminal device comprises a circuitry configured to: receive, from a network device, a configuration for an LCP procedure considering delayed data; and in accordance with a determination that the delay-sensitive LCP procedure is activated, perform the delay-sensitive LCP procedure based on the configuration, the configuration comprising at least one of the following: an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the delay-sensitive LCP procedure that is configured for an LCH) or LCG or a DRB or a cell or a cell group or a MAC entity or the terminal device, an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for a configured uplink grant, an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for an uplink grant scheduled by an RAR, an indication of whether the terminal device maximizes a transmission of a PDU set during the delay-sensitive LCP procedure, or an indication of a priority of the delayed data for an LCG.

In some embodiments, a network device comprises a circuitry configured to: generate a configuration for an LCP procedure considering delayed data; and transmit the configuration to a terminal device, the configuration comprising at least one of the following: an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the delay-sensitive LCP procedure that is configured for an LCH or LCG or a DRB or a cell or a cell group or a MAC entity or the terminal device; an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for a configured uplink grant; an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the delay-sensitive LCP procedure for an uplink grant scheduled by an RAR; an indication of whether the terminal device maximizes a transmission of a PDU set during the delay-sensitive LCP procedure; or an indication of a priority of the delayed data for an LCG.

The term “circuitry” used herein may refer to hardware circuits and/or combinations of hardware circuits and software. For example, the circuitry may be a combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuits with software/firmware. As a further example, the circuitry may be any portions of hardware processors with software including digital signal processor (s) , software, and memory (ies) that work together to cause an apparatus, such as a terminal device or a network device, to perform various functions. In a still further example, the circuitry may be hardware circuits and or processors, such as a microprocessor or a portion of a microprocessor, that requires software/firmware for operation, but the software may not be present when it is not needed for operation. As used herein, the term circuitry also covers an implementation of merely a hardware circuit or processor (s) or a portion of a hardware circuit or processor (s) and its (or their) accompanying software and/or firmware.

Generally, various embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented in hardware or special purpose circuits, software, logic or any combination thereof. Some aspects may be implemented in hardware, while other aspects may be implemented in firmware or software which may be executed by a controller, microprocessor or other computing device. While various aspects of embodiments of the present disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flowcharts, or using some other pictorial representation, it will be appreciated that the 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.

The present disclosure also provides at least one computer program product tangibly stored on a non-transitory computer readable storage medium. The computer program product includes computer-executable instructions, such as those included in program modules, being executed in a device on a target real or virtual processor, to carry out the process or method as described above with reference to FIGs. 1 to 11. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, or the like that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. The functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired in various embodiments. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within a local or distributed device. In a distributed device, program modules may be located in both local and remote storage media.

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

The above program code may be embodied on a machine readable medium, which may be any tangible medium that may contain, or store a program for use by or in connection with an instruction execution system, apparatus, or device. The machine readable medium may be a machine readable signal medium or a machine readable storage medium. A machine readable medium may include but not limited to an electronic, magnetic, optical, electromagnetic, infrared, or semiconductor system, apparatus, or device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing. More specific examples of the machine readable storage medium would include an electrical connection having one or more wires, a portable computer diskette, a hard disk, a random access memory (RAM) , a read-only memory (ROM) , an erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM or Flash memory) , an optical fiber, a portable compact disc read-only memory (CD-ROM) , an optical storage device, a magnetic storage device, or any suitable combination of the foregoing.

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

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

Claims

A terminal device, comprising:

a processor configured to cause the terminal device to:

receive, from a network device, a configuration for a logical channel prioritization (LCP) procedure considering delayed data; and

in accordance with a determination that the LCP procedure is activated, perform the LCP procedure based on the configuration, the configuration comprising at least one of the following:

an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the LCP procedure that is configured for a logical channel (LCH) or logical channel group (LCG) or a data radio bearing (DRB) or a cell or a cell group or a medium access control (MAC) entity or the terminal device,

an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the LCP procedure for a configured uplink grant,

an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the LCP procedure for an uplink grant scheduled by a random access response (RAR) ,

an indication of whether the terminal device maximizes a transmission of a protocol data unit (PDU) set during the LCP procedure, or

an indication of a priority of the delayed data for an LCG.
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the terminal device is caused to perform the LCP procedure by:

performing the LCP procedure based on at least one of the following:

the delayed data has a priority higher than a priority of non-delayed data for an LCH or LCG;

an LCH or LCG with the delayed data has a priority higher than a priority of an LCH or LCG without the delayed data;

the delayed data has a priority higher than a priority of non-delayed data during the LCP procedure; or

the transmission of the PDU set is maximized during the LCP procedure upon at least one of the following conditions is satisfied: PDUs or service data units (SDUs) of the PDU set are needed for usage of the PDU set, or the terminal device is configured to maximize the transmission of the PDU set.
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the terminal device is caused to perform the LCP procedure by:

allocating resources to LCHs or LCGs in a decreasing priority order; and

in accordance with a determination that there are a set of remaining resources, causing the LCH or LCG with the delayed data to be served first by the set of remaining resources.
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the terminal device is further caused to:

determine that the LCP procedure is activated or deactivated by at least one of the following:

in accordance with a determination that the configuration is received, determining that the LCP procedure is initially activated;

in accordance with a determination that the configuration is received, determining that the LCP procedure is initially deactivated; or

in accordance with a determination that an indication indicating whether the LCP procedure is activated or deactivated upon reception of the configuration is received, determining that the LCP procedure is initially activated or deactivated based on the indication.
The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the terminal device is further caused to:

receive, from the network device, information of activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure; and

determine that the LCP procedure is activated or deactivated based on the information, the information comprising at least one of the following:

first downlink control information (DCI) or RAR carrying an uplink grant, the first DCI or RAR comprising an indication of whether the uplink grant applies the LCP procedure;

second DCI or RAR comprising an indication of the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure;

a first medium access control control element (MAC CE) indicating the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for the LCH or the LCG or the DRB or the cell or the cell group or the MAC entity or the terminal device; or

a second MAC CE indicating the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for the configured uplink grant.
The terminal device of claim 5, wherein the first MAC CE comprises a field indicating the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for a serving cell and a field indicating an identity of the serving cell for which the first MAC CE applies, or

wherein the first MAC CE comprises a set of fields corresponding to a set of serving cells, and a field in the set of fields indicates the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for a serving cell in the set of serving cells that corresponds to the field.
The terminal device of claim 5, wherein the first MAC CE comprises a field indicating the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for a DRB and a field indicating an identity of the DRB for which the LCP procedure applies, or

wherein the first MAC CE comprises a set of fields corresponding to a set of DRBs, and a field in the set of fields indicates the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for a DRB in the set of DRBs that corresponds to the field.
The terminal device of claim 5, wherein the first MAC CE comprises a field indicating the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for an LCG and a field indicating an identity of the LCG for which the LCP procedure applies, or

wherein the first MAC CE comprises a set of fields corresponding to a set of LCGs, and a field in the set of fields indicates the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for an LCG in the set of LCGs that corresponds to the field.
The terminal device of claim 5, wherein the first MAC CE comprises a field indicating the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for an LCH and a field indicating an identity of the LCH for which the LCP procedure applies, or

wherein the first MAC CE comprises a set of fields corresponding to a set of LCHs, and a field in the set of fields indicates the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for an LCH in the set of LCHs that corresponds to the field.
The terminal device of claim 5, wherein the first MAC CE or a MAC subheader of the first MAC CE comprises a field indicating the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for the terminal device or the MAC entity.
The terminal device of claim 5, wherein the first MAC CE comprises a field indicating an identity of a DRB or LCG for which the LCP procedure applies and a set of fields corresponding to a set of radio link control (RLC) entities, a field in the set of fields indicating the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for an RLC entity in the set of RLC entities that corresponds to the field.
The terminal device of any of claims 6 to 10, wherein a MAC subheader of the first MAC CE comprises a logic channel identity (LCID) or extended LCID (eLCID) value indicating that the first MAC CE is for the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for the LCH or the LCG or the DRB or the cell or the cell group or the MAC entity or the terminal device.
The terminal device of claim 5, wherein the second MAC CE comprises a set of fields corresponding to a set of configured uplink grants, a field in the set of fields indicating the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for a configured uplink grant in the set of configured uplink grants that corresponds to the field.
The terminal device of claim 13, wherein a MAC subheader of the second MAC CE comprises a logic channel identity (LCID) or extended LCID (eLCID) value indicating that the second MAC CE is for the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for the configured uplink grant.
A network device, comprising:

a processor configured to cause the network device to:

generate a configuration for a logical channel prioritization (LCP) procedure considering delayed data; and

transmit the configuration to a terminal device, the configuration comprising at least one of the following:

an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the LCP procedure that is configured for a logical channel (LCH) or logical channel group (LCG) or a data radio bearing (DRB) or a cell or a cell group or a medium access control (MAC) entity or the terminal device;

an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the LCP procedure for a configured uplink grant;

an indication of whether the terminal device applies or enables the LCP procedure for an uplink grant scheduled by a random access response (RAR) ;

an indication of whether the terminal device maximizes a transmission of a protocol data unit (PDU) set during the LCP procedure; or

an indication of a priority of the delayed data for an LCG.
The network device of claim 15, wherein the network device is further caused to:

transmit, to the terminal device, information of activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure, the information comprising at least one of the following:

first downlink control information (DCI) or RAR carrying an uplink grant, the first DCI or RAR comprising an indication of whether the uplink grant applies the LCP procedure;

second DCI or RAR comprising an indication of the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure;

a first medium access control control element (MAC CE) indicating the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for the LCH or the LCG or the DRB or the cell or the cell group or the MAC entity or the terminal device; or

a second MAC CE indicating the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for the configured uplink grant.
The network device of claim 16, wherein the first MAC CE comprises a field indicating the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for a serving cell and a field indicating an identity of the serving cell for which the first MAC CE applies, or

wherein the first MAC CE comprises a set of fields corresponding to a set of serving cells, and a field in the set of fields indicates the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for a serving cell in the set of serving cells that corresponds to the field, or

wherein the first MAC CE comprises a field indicating the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for a DRB and a field indicating an identity of the DRB for which the LCP procedure applies, or

wherein the first MAC CE comprises a set of fields corresponding to a set of DRBs, and a field in the set of fields indicates the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for a DRB in the set of DRBs that corresponds to the field, or

wherein the first MAC CE comprises a field indicating the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for an LCG and a field indicating an identity of the LCG for which the LCP procedure applies, or

wherein the first MAC CE comprises a set of fields corresponding to a set of LCGs, and a field in the set of fields indicates the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for an LCG in the set of LCGs that corresponds to the field, or

wherein the first MAC CE comprises a field indicating the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for an LCH and a field indicating an identity of the LCH for which the LCP procedure applies, or

wherein the first MAC CE comprises a set of fields corresponding to a set of LCHs, and a field in the set of fields indicates the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for an LCH in the set of LCHs that corresponds to the field, or

wherein the first MAC CE or a MAC subheader of the first MAC CE comprises a field indicating the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for the terminal device or the MAC entity,

wherein the first MAC CE comprises a field indicating an identity of a DRB or LCG for which the LCP procedure applies and a set of fields corresponding to a set of radio link control (RLC) entities, a field in the set of fields indicating the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for an RLC entity in the set of RLC entities that corresponds to the field.
The network device of claim 17, wherein a MAC subheader of the first MAC CE comprises a logic channel identity (LCID) or extended LCID (eLCID) value indicating that the first MAC CE is for the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for the LCH or the LCG or the DRB or the cell or the cell group or the MAC entity or the terminal device.
The network device of claim 16, wherein the second MAC CE comprises a set of fields corresponding to a set of configured uplink grants, a field in the set of fields indicating the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for a configured uplink grant in the set of configured uplink grants that corresponds to the field.
The network device of claim 19, wherein a MAC subheader of the second MAC CE comprises a logic channel identity (LCID) or extended LCID (eLCID) value indicating that the second MAC CE is for the activation or deactivation of the LCP procedure for the configured uplink grant.