CN117897934A

CN117897934A - Method and apparatus for slice scheduling

Info

Publication number: CN117897934A
Application number: CN202280014948.5A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 金杰锋; T·斯塔克; 袁鼎文; D·基弗勒; P·穆德拉帕
Original assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Current assignee: Nokia Shanghai Bell Co Ltd; Nokia Solutions and Networks Oy
Priority date: 2022-08-15
Filing date: 2022-08-15
Publication date: 2024-04-16
Also published as: WO2024036753A1; WO2024036460A1

Abstract

The embodiment of the disclosure discloses a method and a device for slice scheduling. The terminal device receives a slice scheduling indication from the network device, wherein the slice scheduling indication indicates scheduling control information for one or more slices. The terminal device then performs data transmission of one or more slices based on the scheduling control information indicated by the slice scheduling indication. In this way, the terminal device can be directly assigned the number of required resources at the slice level. Thus, the RAN slice resource quota in the uplink direction is effectively controlled.

Description

Method and apparatus for slice scheduling

Technical Field

Embodiments of the present disclosure relate generally to the field of communications and, more particularly, relate to methods, apparatuses, devices, and computer-readable storage media for slice scheduling.

Background

With the development of communication technology, many services (e.g., enhanced mobile broadband eMBB, large-scale machine-like communication mMTC, ultra-reliable low-latency communication uRLLC, etc.) have high demands for high bandwidth, low latency, and ultra-high reliability. Network slicing is a technique that can support these services simultaneously and has service differentiation and guaranteed performance. Network slices can accommodate multiple independent logical networks to meet different business requirements and Service Level Agreements (SLAs) requirements while operating on a shared physical infrastructure.

However, uplink Radio Access Network (RAN) slice scheduling is quite complex, and enhanced slice scheduling is required to improve system efficiency.

Disclosure of Invention

In general, example embodiments of the present disclosure provide methods, apparatus, and computer-readable storage media for slice scheduling.

In a first aspect, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device may include one or more transceivers; and one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more transceivers, and configured to cause the terminal device to receive a slice scheduling indication from the network device, wherein the slice scheduling indication indicates scheduling control information for the one or more slices; and performing data transmission of one or more slices based on the scheduling control information indicated by the slice scheduling indication.

In a second aspect, a network device is provided. The network device may include one or more transceivers; one or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more transceivers, and configured to cause the network device to determine a slice scheduling indication, wherein the slice scheduling indication indicates scheduling control information for the one or more slices; and transmitting a slice scheduling indication to the terminal device to enable the terminal device to perform data transmission of one or more slices based on the scheduling control information indicated by the slice scheduling indication.

In a third aspect, a method implemented at a terminal device is provided. The method may include receiving a slice scheduling indication from a network device, wherein the slice scheduling indication indicates scheduling control information for one or more slices; and performing data transmission of one or more slices based on the scheduling control information indicated by the slice scheduling indication.

In a fourth aspect, a method implemented at a network device is provided. The method may include determining a slice scheduling indication, wherein the slice scheduling indication indicates scheduling control information for one or more slices; and transmitting a slice scheduling indication to the terminal device to enable the terminal device to perform data transmission of one or more slices based on the scheduling control information indicated by the slice scheduling indication.

In a fifth aspect, an apparatus of a terminal device is provided. The apparatus may include means for receiving a slice scheduling indication from a network device, wherein the slice scheduling indication indicates scheduling control information for one or more slices; and means for performing data transmission of the one or more slices based on the scheduling control information indicated by the slice scheduling indication.

In a sixth aspect, an apparatus of a network device is provided. The apparatus may include means for determining a slice scheduling indication, wherein the slice scheduling indication indicates scheduling control information for one or more slices; and means for transmitting a slice scheduling indication to the terminal device to enable the terminal device to perform data transmission of the one or more slices based on the scheduling control information indicated by the slice scheduling indication.

In a seventh aspect, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device may include at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the terminal device to receive a slice scheduling indication from the network device, wherein the slice scheduling indication indicates scheduling control information for one or more slices; and performing data transmission of one or more slices based on the scheduling control information indicated by the slice scheduling indication.

In an eighth aspect, a network device is provided. The network device may include at least one processor; and at least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the network device to determine a slice scheduling indication, wherein the slice scheduling indication indicates scheduling control information for one or more slices; and transmitting a slice scheduling indication to the terminal device to enable the terminal device to perform data transmission of one or more slices based on the scheduling control information indicated by the slice scheduling indication.

In a ninth aspect, there is provided a non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least a method according to the third or fourth aspect.

In a tenth aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to at least: receiving a slice scheduling indication from a network device, wherein the slice scheduling indication indicates scheduling control information for one or more slices; and performing data transmission of one or more slices based on the scheduling control information indicated by the slice scheduling indication.

In an eleventh aspect, there is provided a computer program comprising instructions that, when executed by an apparatus, cause the apparatus to at least: determining a slice scheduling indication, wherein the slice scheduling indication indicates scheduling control information for one or more slices; and transmitting a slice scheduling indication to the terminal device to enable the terminal device to perform data transmission of one or more slices based on the scheduling control information indicated by the slice scheduling indication.

In a twelfth aspect, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device includes receive circuitry configured to receive a slice scheduling indication from a network device, wherein the slice scheduling indication indicates scheduling control information for one or more slices; and performing data transmission of one or more slices based on the scheduling control information indicated by the slice scheduling indication.

In a thirteenth aspect, a terminal device is provided. The terminal device includes receive circuitry configured to determine a slice scheduling indication, wherein the slice scheduling indication indicates scheduling control information for one or more slices; and transmitting a slice scheduling indication to the terminal device to enable the terminal device to perform data transmission of one or more slices based on the scheduling control information indicated by the slice scheduling indication.

It should be understood that the summary is not intended to identify key features or essential features of the embodiments of the disclosure, nor is it intended to be used to limit the scope of the disclosure. Other features of the present disclosure will become apparent from the description that follows.

Drawings

Some example embodiments will now be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

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

FIG. 2 shows an example of a mapping between LCGs and slices;

Fig. 3 illustrates an example flowchart of a method implemented at a terminal device according to some other embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example of a slice portion that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 5 illustrates an example of a slice control scenario with a slice quota indicator that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 6 illustrates an example of a slice control scenario with slice priority adjustment that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 7A-7C illustrate examples of slice priority adjustment that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 8 illustrates an example slice scheduling indication with a slice quota and fixed indicator length example that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure;

9A-9D illustrate example slice scheduling indications with slice quota and flexible indicator length examples that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 10 illustrates an example slice scheduling indication with a slice priority adjustment example that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 11 illustrates an example slice scheduling indication with an example LCH priority list that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 12 illustrates an example slice scheduling indication with an example slice priority adjustment value that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 13 illustrates an example slice scheduling indication with an example LCH priority adjustment value that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 14 illustrates an example short Buffer Status Report (BSR) for a slice that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 15 illustrates an example long-slice BSR that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure;

FIG. 16 illustrates an example bundled slice BSR that may be used in example embodiments of the disclosure;

fig. 17 illustrates an example logical channel-based BSR that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure;

fig. 18 shows a structure of single network slice selection assistance information;

Fig. 19 illustrates an example process of network slice registration and corresponding Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session establishment.

Fig. 20 illustrates an example flowchart of a method implemented at a network device according to an example embodiment of the disclosure;

FIG. 21 illustrates an example simplified block diagram of an apparatus suitable for practicing embodiments of the present disclosure; and

Fig. 22 illustrates an example block diagram of an example computer-readable medium, according to some embodiments of this disclosure.

The same or similar reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to the same or like elements.

Detailed Description

Principles of the present disclosure will now be described with reference to some example embodiments. It should be understood that these embodiments are described merely for illustration and to aid one skilled in the art in understanding and practicing the present disclosure, and are not meant to limit the scope of the disclosure in any way. The disclosure described herein may be implemented in various ways other than those 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 skill in the art to which this disclosure belongs.

References in the present disclosure to "one (one) embodiment," "an (embodiment," "an) example embodiment," etc., indicate that the embodiment described may include a particular feature, structure, or characteristic, but every embodiment may not necessarily include the particular feature, structure, or characteristic. In addition, such phrases are not necessarily referring to the same embodiment. Furthermore, when a particular feature, structure, or characteristic is described in connection with an embodiment, it is submitted that it is within the knowledge of one skilled in the art to effect such feature, structure, or characteristic in connection with other embodiments whether or not explicitly described.

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

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

As used herein, the term "circuitry" may refer to one or more or all of the following:

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

And

(B) A combination of hardware circuitry and software, such as (as applicable):

(i) Combination of analog and/or digital hardware circuit(s) and software/firmware, and

(Ii) Any portion of the hardware processor(s) (including digital signal processor (s)) having software, and memory(s) that work together to cause a device (such as a mobile phone or server) to perform various functions and

(C) Hardware circuit(s) and/or processor(s), such as microprocessor(s) or portion of microprocessor(s), require software (e.g., firmware) to operate,

But may not exist when software is not needed for operation.

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

As used herein, the term "communication network" refers to a network that conforms to any suitable communication standard, such as Long Term Evolution (LTE), LTE-advanced (LTE-a), wideband Code Division Multiple Access (WCDMA), high Speed Packet Access (HSPA), narrowband internet of things (NB-IoT), and the like. Furthermore, communication between a terminal device and a network device in a communication network may be performed according to any suitable generation communication protocol, including, but not limited to, third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), 4.5G, fifth generation (5G) communication protocols and/or higher versions. Embodiments of the present disclosure may be applied in various communication systems. In view of the rapid development of communications, there will of course also be future types of communication technologies and systems that may embody the present disclosure. It should not be taken as limiting the scope of the present disclosure to only the foregoing systems.

As used herein, the term "network device" refers to a node in a communication network via which a terminal device accesses the network and receives services from the network. A network device may refer to a Base Station (BS) or an Access Point (AP), such as a node B (NodeB or NB), an evolved NodeB (eNodeB or eNB), an NR NB (also referred to as a gNB), a Remote Radio Unit (RRU), a Radio Header (RH), a Remote Radio Header (RRH), a relay station, a low power node (such as femto, pico), etc., depending on the terminology and technology applied.

The term "terminal device" refers to any terminal device capable of wireless communication. By way of example, and not limitation, a terminal device may also be referred to as a communication device, user Equipment (UE), subscriber Station (SS), portable subscriber station, mobile Station (MS), or Access Terminal (AT). The terminal devices may include, but are not limited to, mobile phones, cellular phones, smart phones, voice over IP (VoIP) phones, wireless local loop phones, tablet computers, wearable terminal devices, personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), portable computers, desktop computers, image capture terminal devices (such as digital cameras), gaming terminal devices, music storage and playback devices, in-vehicle wireless terminal devices, wireless endpoints, mobile stations, laptop embedded devices (LEEs), laptop mounted devices (LMEs), USB dongles, smart devices, wireless client devices (CPE), internet of things (LOT) devices, watches or other wearable devices, head Mounted Displays (HMDs), vehicles, drones, medical devices and applications (e.g., tele-surgery), industrial devices and applications (e.g., robots and/or other wireless devices operating in an industrial and/or automated processing chain environment), consumer electronics devices, devices operating on commercial and/or industrial wireless networks, and the like. In the following description, the terms "terminal device", "communication device", "terminal", "user equipment" and "UE" may be used interchangeably.

As used herein, the term "network slice" refers to a logical network that provides specific network capabilities and network characteristics. The operator may divide the network into multiple virtual end-to-end networks on a unified infrastructure. Each network slice is logically isolated in terms of radio access network, bearer network, core network, etc., and has its own unique delay, throughput, security, and bandwidth characteristics to meet the needs of various applications.

As described above, with the development of communication technology, many services (such as eMBB, mMTC, uRLLC and the like) have very high demands for high bandwidth, low latency, and ultra-reliability. Network slicing may provide service differentiation and guaranteed performance while supporting these services, and may accommodate multiple independent logical networks while running on a shared physical infrastructure to meet different business requirements and SLA requirements.

RAN slices will allow new business models to evolve. The mobile operator may be able to:

i support multiple slice/Public Land Mobile Networks (PLMNs) with agreed sharing of RAN resources indicated by SLAs.

Ii the network slice will allow operators to customize resources for given traffic characteristics, services and SLAs.

The inventors note that while enforcing "slice capacity/quota control" in the downlink is relatively simple, there are some inherent challenges when dealing with Uplink (UL) slice scheduling, especially RAN slice aware scheduling. In fact, in existing solutions, RAN slice aware scheduling may be quite difficult.

In an aspect, a Buffer Status Report (BSR) issued by the UE to the serving gNB provides details regarding the amount of data waiting to be transmitted in the UL buffer at the UE. However, in BSR, no "slice-specific" information or logical channel identifier is transmitted by the UE to the gNB while requesting uplink grants. On the other hand, the allocation of grants by the gNB is performed at each UE level. Upon receiving the uplink grant, the UE selects bearer(s) for data transmission according to priorities and other parameters configured on the UE by the gNB. In other words, the UE uses a standardized "logical channel priority" procedure (LCP) while allocating resources to transmit data in the uplink. In other words, the UE does not consider any network slice aspects. Furthermore, details about "from which slice resources are allocated by the gNB" are not transmitted to the UE either.

Thus, it is difficult to control or implement RAN slice quota based on resource allocation, based on Logical Channel Group (LCG) level buffer status, and currently used quality of service (QoS) based scheduling. Thus, a solution for slice quota control in uplink transmissions is needed.

According to an embodiment of the present disclosure, a solution for slice scheduling is provided. In this scheme, a terminal device receives a slice scheduling indication from a network device, wherein the slice scheduling indication indicates scheduling control information for one or more slices. Based on the scheduling control information indicated by the slice scheduling indication, the terminal device performs transmission of one or more slices. As such, in embodiments of the present disclosure, the terminal device may be directly assigned the number of required resources at the slice level. Therefore, the RAN slice resource quota in the uplink direction is effectively controlled, so that the scheduling efficiency is improved, and the system performance is further improved.

Example embodiments of the present disclosure for slice scheduling will be described below with reference to fig. 1 to 22.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example network environment 100 in which example embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented. The environment 100 may be part of a communication network including terminal devices and network devices.

As shown in fig. 1, communication network 100 may include a terminal device 110 (hereinafter may also be referred to as user equipment 110 or UE 110). Communication network 100 may also include a network device 120. The network device 120 may manage the cells. Terminal device 110 and network device 120 may communicate data and control information with each other within the coverage of a cell. The link from network device 120 to terminal device 110 is referred to as the Downlink (DL), and the link from terminal device 110 to network device 120 is referred to as the Uplink (UL).

It should be understood that the number of network devices and terminal devices is for illustration purposes only and does not imply any limitation. System 100 may include any suitable number of network devices and terminal devices suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. Although not shown, it is to be appreciated that one or more terminal devices can reside in the environment 100.

Communication in network environment 100 may be implemented in accordance with any suitable communication protocol(s), including but not limited to third generation (3G), fourth generation (4G), fifth generation (5G) or higher, wireless local network communication protocols such as Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) 802.11, etc., and/or any other protocol currently known or to be developed in the future. In addition, the communication may utilize any suitable wireless communication technology including, but not limited to: multiple Input Multiple Output (MIMO), orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing (OFDM), time Division Multiplexing (TDM), frequency Division Multiplexing (FDM), code Division Multiplexing (CDM), bluetooth, zigBee, and Machine Type Communications (MTC), enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB), large-scale machine type communications (mMTC), ultra Reliable Low Latency Communications (URLLC), carrier Aggregation (CA), dual Connectivity (DC), and new radio unlicensed (NR-U) technologies.

Fig. 2 shows an example mapping between LCGs and slices. As shown in fig. 2, different logical channels belonging to a particular LCG may have resource quotas on different slices. The UE issues a buffer status of LCG level when requesting uplink grant from the gNB. Since the BSR is at the LCG level and there is no indication of the particular logical channel(s) requesting the resource, there is no straightforward way to map the resource request to a slice.

In the present disclosure, a solution for slice scheduling is provided in which Slice Buffer Status Reports (SBSRs) and/or Slice Scheduling Indications (SSIs) are defined to support RAN slice aware scheduling. In particular, SBSRs are defined to implement BSRs at the slice level, and SSIs are defined to enable network devices to have better control over the per-slice resource consumption of UEs. In addition, new intra-UE slice identifiers are also defined so that slice scheduling can be performed using intra-UE slice identifiers with fewer bits instead of single network slice selection assistance information (S-NSSAI) to further reduce overhead on the control channel.

With the solutions presented herein, the gNB may be enabled to decide whether a UE needs to be scheduled based on the current quota usage per slice or other SLAs that meet Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), including QoS aspects, and to control the per-slice resource allocation of the UE. Accordingly, UL scheduling efficiency may be improved, and system performance may be improved.

Fig. 3 illustrates an example flowchart of a method 300 implemented at a terminal device according to some embodiments of the disclosure. For discussion purposes, the method 300 will be described with reference to fig. 1 from the perspective of the terminal device 110. It should be understood that method 300 may also include additional blocks not shown and/or omit some of the blocks shown, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this respect.

At block 310, terminal device 110 receives a slice scheduling indication from a network device, wherein the slice scheduling indication indicates scheduling control information for one or more slices.

At block 320, terminal device 110 performs data transmission of one or more slices based on the scheduling control information indicated by the slice scheduling indication.

In some embodiments, the slice scheduling indication may include one or more slice quotas corresponding to the one or more slices.

In some embodiments, the slice scheduling indication may include one or more slice quota indicators (e.g., up to 8). Each slice quota indicator is an integer value, and the actual quota for each slice may be calculated by dividing each slice quota indicator by the sum of all slice quota indicators. Slice quota is expressed, for example, as a percentage or any other suitable form.

When no slice scheduling indication is received, the Medium Access Control (MAC) entity of the terminal device will not have any slice-based bias on all logical channels, but will follow conventional policies and steps, such as those specified in TS 38.321. Upon receiving a new slice scheduling indication, the MAC entity may store a calculated slice quota that will be used for subsequent new data uplink transmissions until the new slice scheduling indication is received or a particular timer for the slice indication expires.

When receiving the UL grant, the MAC entity may divide the granted resources into a plurality of slice portions according to the MAC PDU size in bits according to the slice quota calculated above. For example, the size of each slice portion may be calculated as the total MAC-PDU-size-slice-quota, and the result may be rounded to bits. If additional bits are left due to rounding, these additional bits may be allocated to the last slice in the list.

For purposes of illustration, fig. 4 shows an example of a slice portion that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, the MAC PDU includes two slice portions 0, 1. Slice portion 0 includes MAC Service Data Units (SDUs) from Logical Channels (LCH) 0 and LCH1, both corresponding to slice 0; slice portion 1 includes MAC SDUs from LCH 2 corresponding to slice 1. Thus, it can be seen that a MAC PDU may include one or more slice portions, each slice portion containing data from one or more LCHs associated with the same slice.

Thus, these slice portions may be considered as smaller "virtual" MAC PDUs. For logical channels belonging to a slice, the MAC entity may follow conventional policies and steps (such as those specified in TS 38.321) to select and multiplex them into the slice portion of the UL grant until the data for the logical channels in the slice or the slice portion of the UL grant is exhausted.

When the gNB successfully receives the MAC PDU, the actual resource share of each slice in the demultiplexed MAC PDU may be compared to the transmitted slice quota. If some of these are smaller, it may mean that the buffers of these slices are empty or nearly empty.

This may be a straightforward way to achieve relatively precise control of the slice-level behavior of the UE. However, some LCHs with high priority in slices with small quotas may not have sufficient resources to transfer data. This can be solved by scheduling algorithm design. Or alternatively, a set of slice quota violation policies may be defined, e.g., a prioritized LCH may preempt a slice quota from other slices with low prioritized LCHs, and when the gNB receives a MAC PDU, the gNB will also know that the slice is starving and may be allocated more quota in the future.

A timeout mechanism may be introduced to avoid starvation of some LCHs for too long. The timeout value may be preconfigured via a radio resource control, RRC, message or carried in a slice scheduling indication.

When the slice priority timer expires, the MAC entity may ignore the slice quota and fall back to conventional or legacy multiplexing policies and steps.

In some embodiments, the slice scheduling indication may include at least one priority adjustment information corresponding to one or more slices. In some embodiments, the slice scheduling indication may further include an indication indicating to raise or lower (de-remoting) a priority order corresponding to the one or more slices.

According to, for example, the 3gpp ts28.541 g network resource model, an operator or network tenant may define a resource management policy with an attribute rRMPolicyMaxRatio, rRMPolicyMinRatio, rRMPolicyDedicatedRatio for typical resource types (such as physical resource blocks, prbs, RRC connected users, and data radio bearers, drbs). These attributes specify a range of percentages of radio resources that can be used by the associated entity (in this case, a slice). This is an example use case for slice amount control. Of course, in order to meet an SLA, which is typically defined by a high level performance indicator (e.g., throughput of user experience), the gNB may need to dynamically distribute radio resources among slices or PLMNs.

In these use cases gNb may continuously monitor how the resources allocated from the slice are used. The slice-specific weight of slice i (i representing the index of the slice) may be derived in such a way that it reflects the committed partial resource share (quota) from the total radio air interface resource (e.g., PRB) within the sliding monitoring time window. Thus, slice-specific weights may be used to create relative priorities between slices via an offset scheduler decision, and their values may be adjusted according to actual resource consumption of the slices, such that agreed slice-specific quotas may be maintained.

However, if the gNB finds that the resources allocated by each slice of the UE (UL grant) do not coincide with the slice target shares (quotas), the current gNB may make a decision as to whether the UE may be scheduled based solely on current slice quota usage or/and KPIs related to other SLAs. With the help of the slice scheduling indication, the gNB can have better control over UEs with multiple slices. For example, when the other UEs of slice i consume too much resources, the gNB may decide to reduce the weight of slice i to limit the resources allocated to it. Then, for a UE with slice i among several other slices currently starving, the gNB may issue a slice scheduling indication to the UE before issuing a UL grant, so the data from slice i may be limited. Slice quota indicators in the indication may be derived from slice weights.

On the other hand, SBSR may help the gNB make better decisions. For example, when a UE's LCH with high priority has data to transmit, but the slice to which it belongs does not have enough quota, it may initiate SBSRs to the gNB, and the gNB may adjust its policy accordingly and attempt to give the slice more quota shares.

The slice scheduling indication with slice quota solution described above can be implemented simply. Instead of adjusting LCH priority, it may work at different levels through QoS policies, so the gNB or UE does not have to balance the mix constraints (i.e., 2 different dimensions of resource allocation) from slice-based and/or QoS-based scheduling.

Fig. 5 illustrates an example slice control case example with a slice quota indicator that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure. After UE registration and slice configuration, the UE may begin data transmission. Initially, all slices have the same buffer status and terminal device 110 may transmit SBSRs to network device 120. Since all slices have the same buffer size, the network device gNB decides not to restrict the quota of any slices. When the available buffer storage for slice 0 is below the target value and the available buffer storage for slice 2 is above the target value, network device 120 may generate a slice quota set and issue an SSI to the UE. In SSI, the ratio of quotas may be, for example, 3:2:1 for slices 0 through 2. The terminal device performs data transmission of the one or more slices based on the quota proportion indicated by the SSI. Thereafter, slice 0 and slice 2 move toward the target values and eventually return, as shown in the right diagram of fig. 5. When the SSI timer expires, the terminal device may stop data transmission according to the quota, and perform data transmission of one or more slices based on the same slice quota.

Fig. 6 illustrates an example slice control case example with slice priority adjustment that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure. After UE registration and slice configuration, the UE may begin data transmission. Initially, all channels of the terminal device have data resembling a full buffer, and no slice quota is specified. The terminal device issues all slices according to the LCP. LCH in slice 0 has the highest priority, with priority list 0, 1. Since all slices have the same buffer status, the network device decides not to restrict the quota of any slices. When the amount of available buffer memory for slice 0 is below the target value and the amount of available buffer memory for slice 2 is above the target value, network device 120 may generate a slice quota set and issue an SSI to the UE. In SSI, the priority list may be, for example, [1,0]. Slice priority is changed to [1,0]. The terminal device then performs data transmission of one or more slices based on the priority list indicated by the SSI. Thereafter, slice 0 and slice 2 move toward the target values and eventually return, as shown in the right diagram of fig. 6. When the SSI timer expires, the terminal device may stop data transmission according to the quota, but rather perform data transmission of one or more slices based on the slice priority list [0,1].

In some embodiments, the slice scheduling indication may contain a slice priority adjustment message that may inform the UE to temporarily adjust the priority of some or all of the logical channels, so UL data will be multiplexed accordingly to satisfy the slice quota. The message may contain one or more slices (or logical channels) and the slice (or logical channel) priorities are indicated by their respective locations in the list. For example, the first slice in the list may have a temporally highest priority and the remaining slices may have decreasing priorities. The message may contain only a subset of all allowed slices (or logical channels) of the UE and there may be one flag bit to indicate whether the list is for priority promotion or demotion. If the flag indicates a lift, then only the listed slices may be lifted and placed before other slices that are not in the list. If the flag indicates degradation, only the listed slices may be degraded and placed after other slices not in the list. The priorities of those slices not in the list may remain the same. In addition, the message may contain a particular priority adjustment value along with an upgrade or downgrade instruction for a subset of all allowed slices (or logical channels) of the UE. The temporary priorities of these slices (or logical channels) will be their original priorities plus or minus the received adjustment values. The logical channel priority may have a value of, for example, from 1 to 16.

Thus, similarly, as previously described, when no slice scheduling indication is received, the MAC entity of the terminal device will not have any slice-based bias on all logical channels, but will follow conventional policies and procedures, such as those specified in TS 38.321. Upon receiving a new slice scheduling indication, the MAC entity may store a calculated slice quota that will be used for subsequent new data uplink transmissions until a new slice scheduling indication is received or a particular timer for the slice indication expires.

When receiving the UL grant, the MAC entity may generate a new priority-based list for all logical channels according to its adjusted priority. If the adjustment information is slice ID based, the MAC entity may divide the logical channel priority list into sub-lists that are slice based, where the logical channels are still ordered differently according to their original priorities. The ordering of the sub-lists based on slices is the same as the slice priorities from the slice scheduling indication. The MAC entity may then concatenate these sub-lists end to form a new priority list.

Fig. 7A-7C illustrate examples of slice priority adjustment that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown in fig. 7A, if the scheduling indication indicates the priority of slices 0 through 2, the LCHs in the priority list will be reordered such that all CH associated with slice 1 has the highest priority and CH associated with slice 0 has the lowest priority. As further shown in fig. 7B, if the scheduling indication indicates that slice 2 has no adjustment value, LCHs in the priority list will be reordered such that slice 2 will have the highest priority. In addition, if the scheduling indication indicates an adjustment value for slices 4 and 2, the LCHs in the priority list will be reordered so that the priority of slice 4 may be adjusted by the indicated adjustment value of 2, as shown in fig. 7C. Thus, the priority list may be updated as indicated by the SSI.

The slice priority adjustment solution is a best effort slice control approach. Prioritized LCHs may not be assigned limited PBRs, but occupy the entire MAC PDU until the buffered data is exhausted. The slice quota may not be strictly guaranteed and the gNB will adjust the slice priority more frequently based on the slice quota usage statistics.

A timeout mechanism may be introduced to avoid starvation of certain LCHs for too long. The super-time value may be preconfigured via an RRC message, or carried in a slice scheduling indication, or predefined in a standard. When the slice priority timer expires, the MAC entity may reset the original LCH priority list to, for example, a default priority list. The timeout may also be some other way, e.g. based on a window, indicating how many frames/slots/mini-slots/symbols the window will last. Without excluding any other mechanism.

In some embodiments, intra-UE slice IDs may be used, as will be described in detail below. If the intra-UE slice ID is not configured in the RRC procedure, the slice scheduling indication with slice priority adjustment may directly adjust the priority of the logical channel in such a way that the slice scheduling indication MAC CE may contain a list of relevant LCH IDs. In some cases, if the logical channel affiliation of the slice overlaps with the LCG, the slice scheduling indication may use the LCG ID instead of the intra-UE slice ID.

In some embodiments, the slice scheduling indication may be carried by a MAC CE or downlink control information DCI.

In some embodiments, the MAC CE for the slice scheduling indication may include one or more of the following:

a first field for indicating whether slice quota information corresponding to a slice exists;

A second field indicating slice quota information corresponding to the slice;

A third field indicating the bit width of the second field, or

And a fourth field indicating a timeout value for the validity period of the current slice scheduling indication.

a first field indicating a plurality of slice identifiers;

a second field indicating an upgrade or downgrade flag;

A third field indicating a timeout value for a validity period of a current slice scheduling indication;

A fourth field indicating a priority order of slice identifiers;

a fifth field indicating a priority adjustment value for a slice or a logical channel; or alternatively

A sixth field indicating whether the intra-user device slice identifier is used.

In some embodiments, a new format MAC CE for a slice scheduling indication with a slice quota indicator is presented.

For illustration purposes, fig. 8 shows an example slice scheduling indication with a slice quota and fixed indicator length example that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure. The format may have a fixed length, as defined below:

-slice#i: this field may have one bit and indicates whether a slice quota indicator field for slice i exists. A slice#i field set to, for example, 1 may indicate that a SLICE quota indicator field for SLICE i exists. A slot #i field set to 0 may indicate that a SLICE quota indicator field for SLICE i does not exist. All bits are "0"

Meaning that there is no slice quota limit for all slices, and in this case there is no slice quota indicator field; only 1 bit of "1" means that only 1 slice is allowed to be transmitted next, and that slice gets 100% of the granted resources, and in this case there is no slice quota indicator field.

-Slice quota indicator: the slice quota indicator field indicates a slice quota. Each slice quota indicator may be a 7-bit integer value from [0,127] and 1 reserved bit in order to achieve 1% accuracy. And the actual quota for each slice is the slice quota indicator divided by the sum of all slice quota indicators. For example, if sqi#0=80, sqi#1=19, sqi#2=1, the sum of all SQIs is 100, and the quota of slice#0 is 80/100=

80, Slice #1 has a quota of 19/100=19% and slice #2 has a quota of 1/100=1%.

In some embodiments, another new format MAC CE for slice scheduling indication with slice quota indicator is presented. The format has a flexible length. For example, if all slices have the same quota, then the slice quota indicator for all slices may be 1. The bit width of the slice quota indicator may be flexible to save overhead.

Fig. 9 illustrates an example slice scheduling indication with a slice quota and flexible indicator length example that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure. The format may be defined as follows:

-slice#i: this field indicates the presence of a slice quota indicator field for slice i.

A slice#i field set to, for example, 1 may indicate whether a SLICE quota indicator field for SLICE i exists. A slot #i field set to 0 may indicate that a SLICE quota indicator field for SLICE i does not exist. All bits of "0" means that there is no slice quota limit for all slices, and in this case there is no slice quota indicator field; only 1 bit of "1" means that only 1 slice is allowed to be transmitted next, and that slice gets 100% of the granted resources, and in this case there is no slice quota indicator field.

-A bit width indicator: the bit width indicator indicates the bit width of the slice quota indication field. This value may be 2 bits wide, and [0,1,2,3] may represent [1,2,4,8], depending on the accuracy requirements of the slice quota.

-Timer value: optionally, a timeout value for the validity period of the current indication. The format will be determined.

-Slice quota indicator: the same as option-1, but with a flexible bit width.

By means of the slice scheduling indication, the slice scheduling indication may have different lengths depending on the information to be indicated.

In some embodiments, yet another new format MAC CE for slice scheduling indication with slice priority adjustment is presented. As an example, the format may be defined as follows:

-slot ID NUMBER: the number of slice IDs indicates the number of slice IDs in the list.

This value may be [0-7], mapped to the actual value: [1-8].

-PROMOTE/DEMOTE Flag: if the slices present in the message are only a subset of the slices allowed by the UE, the flag indicates whether the slices are to be promoted or demoted.

Slice/LCH priority adjustment value (optional): if this field exists, the logical channels belong to the listed slices, or only the logical channels in the list may have their priorities adjusted by adding an adjustment value to their original priorities if the slice ID is not configured within the UE.

-Timer value: optionally, the timeout value of the validity period currently indicated by the user. The format will be determined.

-Sliceid#i: each element is an intra-UE slice ID, and the new temporary slice priorities are:

Arranged in descending order, indicated by their position in the list; or to be promoted to the head of the original priority list of logical channels (or demoted to the tail); or the priority adjustment value along with the promotion or demotion instruction.

LCH id#i (optional): if the intra-UE slice ID is not configured, each element is a logical channel ID and the new temporary slice priority is: arranged in descending order, indicated by their position in the list; or to be promoted to the head of the original priority list of logical channels (or demoted to the tail); or the priority adjustment value along with the promotion or demotion instruction.

Fig. 10 illustrates an example slice scheduling indication with a slice priority adjustment example that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, the indication includes a slice ID number, a promotion/demotion flag, a timer value, and a slice ID.

Fig. 11 illustrates an example slice scheduling indication with an example LCH priority list that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, the indication may include an LCH ID number, a promotion/demotion flag, a timer value, and an LCH ID.

Fig. 12 illustrates an example slice scheduling indication with an example slice priority adjustment value that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, the indication includes a priority adjustment value, a promotion/demotion flag, and a timer value.

Fig. 13 illustrates an example slice scheduling indication with an example LCH priority adjustment value that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, the indication includes a priority adjustment value, a promotion/demotion flag, a timer value, and an LCH ID.

From the above example, it can be seen that the intra-UE slice ID having 3 bits (having a value of 0 to 7) is used. Thus, the communication overhead over the air interface will be greatly reduced compared to LCH IDs having 5 bits indicating 32 values. More details about intra-UE slice IDs will be described below. In addition, it can be understood whether the slice ID and the corresponding control information can also be included in the slice scheduling indication. The intra-UE slice ID may also be used to identify the slice; however, a global slice ID (such as S-NASSI, although it may add signaling overhead) or any other suitable slice ID may also be used.

In some embodiments, the terminal device 110 may also be caused to transmit a slice BSR to the network device, wherein the slice BSR includes information regarding the amount of data respectively associated with the one or more slices. For example, a slice BSR may be used to provide the serving gNB with information about the amount of UL data in the MAC entity. In some embodiments, a MAC PDU may contain at most one SBSR MAC CE even when multiple events have triggered the SBSR. The BSR related embodiments may or may not depend on other embodiments of slice scheduling. In some embodiments of the BSR of the present disclosure, they may operate independently.

In some embodiments, the slice BSR may be triggered by at least one of:

-expiration of a periodic slice BSR timer;

-uplink data for logical channels belonging to a slice becomes available or unavailable; or alternatively

Uplink resources are allocated and the number of padding bits is equal to or greater than the size of the MAC CE of the slice BSR plus its subheader.

In some embodiments, the slice BSR may be transmitted through a MAC CE, wherein the slice BSR is triggered and transmitted independently of the regular BSR, or wherein the triggering and transmission of the slice BSR is bundled with the regular BSR.

In some embodiments, the slice BSR may be triggered and transmitted independently, or bundled with a regular BSR. The bound buffer status report may provide a more view of the buffer to the gNB. The bound buffer status report may be triggered by the same conditions as the regular BSR.

In some embodiments, it may be sufficient that there is only a regular BSR if the logical channel membership of the slice overlaps with the LCG.

In some embodiments, if intra-UE slice IDs are not configured in the RRC procedure, then the slice buffer status report may use each logical channel report, in such a way that the slice buffer status report MAC CE contains all relevant logical channel IDs and their buffer sizes, and the gNB may aggregate them on a slice basis after receiving the report. In this case, the MAC CE overhead for the slice BSR may be the same as the MAC CE overhead for 32 logical channels in the UE.

In some embodiments, two new formats for slice-based buffer status reporting are presented: (i) a short SBSR and (ii) a long SBSR. In some embodiments, when more than one slice has data for transmission, the terminal device 110 may also be caused to transmit a long-slice BSR, wherein the long-slice BSR includes data sizes respectively associated with the more than one slice; or transmitting a short-slice BSR when only one slice has data for transmission, wherein the short-slice BSR includes a data size associated with the one slice.

Fields in the BSR MAC CE based on short and long slices are defined as follows:

-SLICE ID: the slice ID field identifies the slice whose buffer status is being reported.

The length of this field is 3 bits. It may be configured to the UE via an RRC procedure.

-Slice#i: for the long BSR format, this field indicates the presence of a buffer size field for slice i. A slice#i field set to, for example, 1 may indicate that a buffer size field for SLICE i is reported. A slot #i field set to 0 may indicate that the buffer size field for SLICE i is not reported. For a long truncated BSR format, this field may indicate whether a slice i has data available. A slice#i field set to, for example, 1 may indicate that SLICE i has data available. A SLICE # i field set to 0 may indicate that SLICE i has no data available.

Buffer size: the buffer size field identifies the total amount of data available across all logical channels of the slice after the MAC PDU has been constructed (i.e., after the logical channel prioritization procedure, which may cause the value of the buffer size field to be zero) based on the data amount calculation procedures in TS 38.322 and 38.323. The amount of data is indicated in bytes. The buffer size calculation does not take into account the sizes of RLC and MAC headers. The length of this field for the short BSR format may be 5 bits. For a long BSR format, the length of this field may be 8 bits. The values for the 5-bit and 8-bit buffer size fields may be as TS

38.321. For the long BSR format and the long truncated BSR format, the buffer size field may be included in ascending order based on slice#i. For long truncated BSR formats, the number of buffer size fields included may be maximized while not exceeding the number of padding bits. The number of buffer size fields in the long BSR format may be zero.

Fig. 14 illustrates an example short-slice BSR that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, 3 bits may be used to indicate a slice ID and 5 bits are used to indicate a buffer size corresponding to a slice.

Fig. 15 illustrates an example long-slice BSR that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, the BSR format includes a bit map of n bits used for whether the buffer sizes for the corresponding slices are reported, and a field for indicating the buffer sizes corresponding to the n slices, respectively.

Fig. 16 illustrates an example bundled sliced BSR that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, the slice BSR (lower part in fig. 16) is bound to the regular BSR (upper part in fig. 16). In other words, the bundled BSR may be a report containing both the regular BSR and the sliced BSR, and the sliced BSR is transmitted along with the regular BSR.

Fig. 17 illustrates an example logical channel-based BSR that may be used in example embodiments of the present disclosure. As shown, the BSR may include the number of LCH IDs and corresponding buffer status. In some embodiments, if the logical channel membership of the slice overlaps with the LCG, a BSR based on a regular logical channel will be sufficient.

From the above example, it can be seen that the intra-UE slice ID having 3 bits (having a value of 0 to 7) is used. Thus, the communication overhead over the air interface will be greatly reduced compared to LCH IDs having 5 bits indicating 32 values. The intra-UE slice ID may also be used to identify the slice; however, a global slice ID (such as S-NASSI, although it may add signaling overhead) or any other suitable slice ID may also be used.

In the current 3GPP standard specification, S-NSSAI is an end-to-end identifier of a network slice and it has 4 bytes in order to support a large number of slices. As shown in FIG. 18, S-NSSAI includes two parts: SST (slice/service type) and SD (slice discriminator). SSTs are 8 bits in length and are used to indicate expected network slice behavior in terms of functionality and service. The SD is 24 bits in length and is used to distinguish multiple network slices of the same slice/service type.

As specified in 3gpp ts24.501, the UE can have a maximum of 8S-NSSAI per admission NSSAI, which means that the UE can support a maximum of 8 slices simultaneously. However, S-NSSAI is 4 bytes long, which when used to identify slices, would add considerable overhead to the control channel.

To reduce overhead, a new slice identifier, i.e., a local slice ID less than the S-NASSI bits, is also provided. The slice ID may be indicated as intra-UE slice ID. By using such intra-UE Slice IDs in one or both of the Slice scheduling indication and the Slice BSR, the definition of intra-UE Slice IDs (intra-UE Slice IDs) may be similar to the LCG ID definition. The intra-UE slice ID may be configured to the UE via an RRC procedure and its range may be, but is not limited to, [0,7].

Fig. 19 illustrates exemplary primary operations of network slice registration and corresponding Protocol Data Unit (PDU) session establishment. Through the operations in fig. 19, the gNB may assign and bind the intra-UE slice ID to the logical channel, and store the intra-UE slice ID when the UE may later use it. Example embodiments of assignment of intra-UE slice IDs may or may not depend on any other embodiment in the present disclosure, such as scheduled embodiments. In this disclosure, example embodiments related to intra-UE chip ID allocation may operate independently for the purpose of reducing signaling overhead of the air interface.

As shown in fig. 19, DL/UL synchronization may be performed 1901 between the UE and the gNB. The UE may then issue 1902 an RRC setup request to the gNB, and the gNB may issue 1903 an RCC setup message to the UE. The UE may send a RRC setup complete message back 1904gNB. The UE may then issue 1905 a non-access stratum (NAS) registration request to an access and mobility management function (AMF). The AMF may send a NAS registration accept message back 1906 to the UE. During the PDU session establishment procedure, the UE may initiate 1907 a PDU session establishment request and the gNB may initiate UL NAS transmission to the AMF. The AMF may then issue 1909 a Session Management Function (SMF) PDU session creation Session Management (SM) context request to the SMF, and the SMF may issue 1910 an SM context response for the SMF PDU session creation to the AMF. The AMF may issue 1911NGAP PDU session establishment request to the gNB. At 1913, the gNB may assign NSSAI to the PDU session, so the gNB may assign intra-UE slice IDs for all logical channels of the PDU session and issue them to the UE via RRC reconfiguration. The gNB may issue 1914 an RRC reconfiguration message to the UE, where the message includes the intra-UE slice ID. The UE may then store 1915 the intra-UE slice ID for reporting and control messages related to the slice via the MAC CE identification.

In some embodiments, terminal device 110 may also be caused to receive slice identifier configuration information from a network device, wherein the slice identifier configuration information configures a user in-device slice identifier for a slice to be used in a slice schedule.

In some embodiments, the slice identifier configuration information may include at least one of: mapping between single network slice selection assistance information S-NSSAI and a user equipment intra-slice identifier; mapping between S-NSSAI and logical channel LCH; or a mapping between the slice identifier and the logical channel LCH in the user equipment.

In some embodiments, the slice identifier configuration information may include a mapping between S-NSSAI and protocol data units, PDUs, sessions associated with one or more logical channels, LCHs; or a mapping between a slice identifier within the user equipment and a logical channel LCH, wherein the slice identifier within the user equipment identifies a slice and has fewer bits than S-NSSAI.

In some embodiments, each logical channel may be assigned to a slice using an intra-UE slice ID. As an example, the maximum number of intra-UE slice IDs may be 8. The MAC entity determines the amount of UL data available for the logical channels according to the data amount calculation procedure in the TS 38.322 and 38.323.

In some embodiments, the intra-user equipment slice identifier may be configured in an RRC message.

In some embodiments, the RRC message may further include: parameters indicating whether a slice BSR is bound to a regular BSR, parameters associated with a periodic slice BSR timer, and parameters associated with retransmission of the slice BSR; and/or a parameter indicating whether the validity period of the slice scheduling indication is set by a periodic slice scheduling indication timer or by a dynamic value in the MAC CE for the slice scheduling indication, a parameter associated with the periodic slice scheduling indication timer indicating a static value of the validity period of the current slice scheduling indication, and/or a parameter indicating a logical channel priority threshold above which allocation of logical channels is not limited to its slice quota.

In some embodiments, the intra-UE slice ID may need to be added to LogicalChannelConfig as follows:

If the intra-UE slice ID is not configured in the RRC procedure, the slice control algorithm can still operate in a per Logical Channel (LCH)/LCG reporting and control manner, although in this way the overhead CE of the MAC may be much larger.

In some embodiments, the RRC parameters associated with the slice BSR may be similar to the BSR configuration as follows:

In some embodiments, some optional slice-related configuration parameters may be defined as follows:

Fig. 20 illustrates an example flowchart of a method 2000 implemented at a network device according to some embodiments of the present disclosure. For discussion purposes, the method 400 will be described with reference to fig. 1 from the perspective of the network device 120. It should be understood that method 2000 may also include additional blocks not shown and/or omit some of the blocks shown, and that the scope of the present disclosure is not limited in this respect.

At block 2010, network device 120 may determine a slice scheduling indication, wherein the slice scheduling indication indicates scheduling control information for one or more slices.

In some embodiments, the slice scheduling indication may include at least one priority adjustment information corresponding to one or more slices, and wherein the slice scheduling indication includes an indication indicating to raise or lower a priority order corresponding to the one or more slices.

In some embodiments, the slice scheduling indication may be carried by a medium access control element MAC CE or downlink control information DCI.

A second field indicating slice quota information corresponding to the slice;

A third field indicating the bit width of the second field, or

a first field indicating a plurality of slice identifiers;

a second field indicating an upgrade or downgrade flag;

A fourth field indicating a priority order of slice identifiers;

In some embodiments, the network device may be further caused to receive a BSR from the terminal device, wherein the slice BSR includes information about the amount of data respectively associated with the one or more slices.

In some embodiments, the network device may be further caused to transmit slice identifier configuration information to the terminal device, wherein the slice identifier configuration information configures a user equipment slice identifier for a slice to be used in the slice scheduling.

In some embodiments, the slice identifier configuration information may include a mapping between S-NSSAI and protocol data unit PDU sessions associated with one or more logical channels LCs; or a mapping between a slice identifier within the user equipment and a logical channel LC, wherein the slice identifier within the user equipment identifies a slice and has fewer bits than S-NSSAI.

In some embodiments, the user equipment intra-slice identifier may be configured in an RRC message, and wherein the RRC message may further include: parameters indicating whether a slice BSR is bound to a regular BSR, parameters associated with a periodic slice BSR timer, and parameters associated with a slice BSR retransmission; or a parameter indicating whether the validity period of the slice scheduling indication is set by a periodic slice scheduling indication timer or a dynamic value in the MAC CE for the slice scheduling indication, a parameter associated with the periodic slice scheduling indication timer indicating a static value of the validity period of the current slice scheduling indication, and a parameter indicating a logical channel priority threshold above which allocation of logical channels is not limited by their slice quota.

At block 2020, network device 120 may transmit a slice scheduling indication to the terminal device to enable the terminal device to perform data transmission of one or more slices based on the scheduling control information indicated by the slice scheduling indication.

Some example 5G slice common use cases are listed below:

-home Fixed Wireless Access (FWA) guarantees high-speed internet services;

-home FWA with value added services;

-a consumer mobile value added service;

-enterprise slicing;

-enterprise FWA private line;

-a network shared by two or more operators.

Some example requirements are listed below, and an efficient 'slice quota control' mechanism in the uplink is inevitably required to support these requirements (in other words, allocate the necessary resources for these services):

guarantee online game low latency service options (e.g., 2/2 Mbps-20 ms);

Guaranteeing High Definition (HD) low quality latency cloud game service options (e.g., 20/2Mbps

～20ms)；

At home with high peak rate and minimum guaranteed bit rate options (e.g. minimum 10/5 Mbps);

-service access authorization for each customer;

-different speed or quality levels for each service;

Resources are guaranteed based on enterprise needs (e.g. 1000 facilities in a factory park, 200

Simultaneous UE, 5/1Mbps average service per) and;

differentiated enterprise services in enterprise slices may be created using QoS mechanisms;

the device may be connected to both the enterprise slice and other slices, e.g. an operator IMS slice;

-guaranteed downlink and uplink dedicated services for enterprise access;

two operators with a multi-operator core network (MOCN) want to share the network capacity (downlink, uplink, user, guaranteed Bit Rate (GBR) services) fairly based on a protocol (e.g. 50/50%);

each operator can independently create a slice service (e.g., use cases described in this document) within its allocation.

In the context of these use cases and requirements, 3GPP standard enhancements are necessary to facilitate efficient cooperation between the gNB and the UE, as there are multiple providers.

Fig. 21 is a simplified block diagram of a device 2100 suitable for implementing embodiments of the present disclosure. Device 2100 may be used to implement communication devices such as terminal device 110, network device 120, as shown in fig. 1. As shown, device 2100 includes one or more processors 2110 and one or more transmitters and/or receivers (TX/RX) 2140 coupled to processor 2110. The device 2100 may also include one or more memories 2120 coupled to the processor 2110. The device 2100 can also include one or more memories 2120 coupled to the one or more processors 2110 to store instructions.

TX/RX 2140 may be used for two-way communication. TX/RX 2140 has at least one antenna to facilitate communications. The communication interface may represent any interface required to communicate with other network elements.

The processor 2110 may be of any type suitable to the local technical network and may include, as non-limiting examples, one or more of the following: general purpose computers, special purpose computers, microprocessors, digital Signal Processors (DSPs), and processors based on a multi-core processor architecture. The device 2100 may have multiple processors, such as application specific integrated circuit chips that are slaved in time to a clock that is synchronized to the master processor.

The communication module 840 may include, for example, one or more transceivers. The one or more transceivers may be coupled with one or more antennas to wirelessly transmit and receive communication signals. One or more transceivers allow the communication device to communicate with other devices, which may be wired and/or wireless. The transceiver may support one or more radio technologies. For example, the one or more transceivers may include a cellular subsystem, a WLAN subsystem, and/or a Bluetooth ^TM subsystem. In some examples, the one or more transceivers may include a processor, a controller, a radio, a jack, a plug, a buffer, and similar circuits/devices for connecting to and communicating over a network.

Memory 2120 may include one or more non-volatile memories and one or more volatile memories. Examples of non-volatile memory include, but are not limited to, read-only memory (ROM) 2124, electrically programmable read-only memory (EPROM), flash memory, hard disks, compact Disks (CD), digital Video Disks (DVD), and other magnetic and/or optical storage. Examples of volatile memory include, but are not limited to, random Access Memory (RAM) 2122 and other volatile memory that will not last for the duration of the power loss.

The computer program 2130 includes computer-executable instructions for execution by an associated processor 2110. Program 2130 may be stored in ROM 2124. The processor 2110 may perform any suitable actions and processes by loading the program 2130 into the RAM 2122.

Embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented by the program 2130 such that the device 2100 may perform any of the processes of the present disclosure as discussed with reference to fig. 3-20. Embodiments of the present disclosure may also be implemented in hardware, or in a combination of software and hardware.

In some embodiments, program 2130 may be tangibly embodied in a computer-readable medium, which may be included in device 2100 (such as in memory 2120) or other storage device accessible by device 2100. The device 2100 can load programs 2130 from a computer-readable medium into RAM 2122 for execution. The computer readable medium may include any type of tangible, non-volatile storage, such as ROM, EPROM, flash memory, hard disk, CD, DVD, etc. Fig. 22 shows an example of a computer readable medium 2200 in the form of a CD or DVD. The computer-readable medium has a program 2130 stored thereon.

In general, the various embodiments of the 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 the embodiments of the disclosure are illustrated and described as block diagrams, flow charts, or using some other pictorial representation, it is well understood that these blocks, apparatus, systems, techniques or methods described herein may be implemented in, as non-limiting examples, hardware, software, firmware, special purpose circuits or logic, general purpose hardware or controller or other computing devices, or some combination thereof.

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 comprises computer executable instructions (such as those included in program modules) for execution in a device on a target real or virtual processor to perform the methods 200 or 400 as described above with reference to fig. 3-20. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, libraries, objects, classes, components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstract data types. In various embodiments, the functionality of the program modules may be combined or split between program modules as desired. Machine-executable instructions for program modules may be executed within local or distributed devices. In distributed devices, program modules may be located in both local and remote memory storage media.

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

In the context of this disclosure, computer program code or related data may be carried by any suitable carrier to enable an apparatus, device, or processor to perform the various processes and operations described above. Examples of carriers include signals, computer readable media, and the like.

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

Furthermore, although 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 some cases, multitasking and parallel processing may be advantageous. Also, while the above discussion contains several specific implementation details, these should not be construed as limitations on the scope of the 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 can also be implemented in combination in a single embodiment. Conversely, various features that are described in the context of a single embodiment can also be implemented in multiple embodiments separately or in any suitable subcombination.

Although the disclosure has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the 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

1. A terminal device, comprising:

One or more transceivers; and

One or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more transceivers, and configured to cause the terminal device to:

Receiving a slice scheduling indication from a network device, wherein the slice scheduling indication indicates scheduling control information for one or more slices; and

The data transmission of the one or more slices is performed based on the scheduling control information indicated by the slice scheduling indication.

2. The terminal device of claim 1, wherein the slice scheduling indication comprises: one or more slice quotas corresponding to the one or more slices.

3. The terminal device of claim 1 or 2, wherein the slice scheduling indication comprises: at least one priority adjustment information corresponding to the one or more slices.

4. A terminal device according to claim 3, wherein the slice scheduling indication comprises: an indication to raise or lower a priority order corresponding to the one or more slices.

5. The terminal device according to any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the slice scheduling indication is carried by a medium access control, MAC CE, or downlink control information, DCI.

6. The terminal device of claim 5, wherein the MAC CE for the slice scheduling indication comprises one or more of:

A first field for indicating whether the slice quota information corresponding to a slice exists;

A second field indicating the slice quota information corresponding to the slice;

a third field indicating the bit width of the second field, or

7. The terminal device of claim 5, wherein the MAC CE for the slice scheduling indication comprises one or more of:

a first field indicating a plurality of slice identifiers;

a second field indicating an upgrade or downgrade flag;

a fourth field indicating a priority order of the slice identifiers;

8. The terminal device of any of claims 1 to 4, wherein the terminal device is further caused to:

transmitting a slice buffer status report, BSR, to the network device, wherein the slice BSR comprises: information about the amount of data respectively associated with the one or more slices.

9. The terminal device of claim 8, wherein the slice BSR is triggered by at least one of:

A periodic slice BSR timer expires;

uplink data for logical channels belonging to a slice becomes available or unavailable; or alternatively

10. The terminal device of any of claims 1 to 9, wherein the terminal device is further caused to:

transmitting a long-slice BSR when more than one slice has data for transmission, wherein the long-slice BSR comprises: data sizes respectively associated with the more than one slice; or alternatively

When only one slice has data for transmission, a short-slice BSR is transmitted, wherein the short-slice BSR includes a data size associated with the one slice.

11. The terminal device according to any of claims 1 to 10, wherein the sliced BSR is transmitted by a MAC CE,

Wherein the sliced BSR is triggered and transmitted independently of the regular BSR, or

Wherein the triggering and transmission of the slice BSR is bundled with a regular BSR.

12. The terminal device of any of claims 1 to 11, wherein the terminal device is further caused to:

slice identifier configuration information is received from the network device, wherein the slice identifier configuration information configures a slice identifier within a user device of a slice to be used in a slice schedule.

13. The terminal device of any of claims 1-12, wherein the slice identifier configuration information comprises at least one of:

Mapping between single network slice selection assistance information S-NSSAI and a user equipment intra-slice identifier;

mapping between S-NSSAI and logical channel LCH; or alternatively

Mapping between the intra-user device slice identifier and the logical channel LCH.

14. The terminal device according to any of claims 12 to 13, wherein the intra-user equipment slice identifier is configured in a radio resource control, RRC, message.

15. The terminal device of claim 14, wherein the RRC message further comprises one or more of:

A first parameter indicating whether the slice BSR is bound to a regular BSR,

A second parameter associated with a periodic slice BSR timer, and/or

A third parameter associated with retransmission of the slice BSR; and/or

A fourth parameter indicating whether the validity period of the slice scheduling indication is set by a periodic slice scheduling indication timer or by a dynamic value indicated in a MAC CE for the slice scheduling indication,

A fifth parameter associated with the periodic slice scheduling indication timer, a static value indicating a validity period of a current slice scheduling indication, and/or

And a sixth parameter, indicating a logic channel priority threshold, wherein if the logic channel priority threshold is higher than the logic channel priority threshold, the allocation of the logic channel is not limited by the slice quota.

16. A network device, comprising:

One or more transceivers; and

One or more processors communicatively coupled to the one or more transceivers, and configured to cause the network device to:

determining a slice scheduling indication, wherein the slice scheduling indication indicates scheduling control information for one or more slices; and

The slice scheduling indication is transmitted to a terminal device to enable the terminal device to perform data transmission of the one or more slices based on the scheduling control information indicated by the slice scheduling indication.

17. The network device of claim 16, wherein the slice scheduling indication comprises: one or more slice quotas corresponding to the one or more slices.

18. The network device of claim 16 or 17, wherein the slice scheduling indication comprises: at least one priority adjustment information corresponding to the one or more slices, and wherein the slice scheduling indication comprises: an indication to raise or lower a priority order corresponding to the one or more slices.

19. The network device according to any of claims 16 to 18, wherein the slice scheduling indication is carried by a medium access control element, MAC CE, or downlink control information, DCI.

20. The network device of claim 19, wherein the MAC CE of the slice scheduling indication comprises one or more of:

A first field for indicating whether the slice quota information corresponding to the slice exists;

a third field indicating the bit width of the second field, or

21. The network device of claim 19, wherein the MAC CE for the slice scheduling indication comprises one or more of:

a first field indicating a plurality of slice identifiers;

a second field indicating an upgrade or downgrade flag;

a fourth field indicating a priority order of the slice identifiers;

22. The network device of any of claims 16 to 18, wherein the network device is further caused to:

receiving a slice buffer status report, BSR, from the terminal device, wherein the slice BSR comprises: information about the amount of data respectively associated with the one or more slices.

23. The network device of any of claims 16 to 22, wherein the network device is further caused to:

And transmitting slice identifier configuration information to the terminal equipment, wherein the slice identifier configuration information configures a slice identifier in user equipment of a slice to be used in slice scheduling.

24. The network device of any of claims 16 to 22, wherein the slice identifier configuration information comprises at least one of:

mapping between S-NSSAI and logical channel LCH; or alternatively

Mapping between intra-user equipment tile identifiers and logical channels LCHs.

25. The network device of any of claims 23 to 24, wherein the intra-user equipment slice identifier is configured in a radio resource control, RRC, message, and wherein the RRC message further comprises one or more of:

A first parameter indicating whether the slice BSR is bound to a regular BSR,

A second parameter associated with a periodic slice BSR timer, and/or

A third parameter associated with retransmission of the slice BSR; and/or

And a sixth parameter, indicating a logic channel priority threshold, and if the logic channel priority threshold is higher than the logic channel priority threshold, the allocation of the logic channel is not limited by the slice quota.

26. A method at a terminal device, comprising:

The data transmission of the one or more slices is performed based on the scheduling control information indicated by the scheduling indication.

27. The method of claim 26, further comprising:

28. A method at a network device, comprising:

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising:

30. An apparatus of a terminal device, comprising:

means for receiving a slice scheduling indication from a network device, wherein the slice scheduling indication indicates scheduling control information for one or more slices; and

Means for performing data transmission of the one or more slices based on the scheduling control information indicated by the scheduling indication.

31. An apparatus of a network device, comprising:

Means for determining a slice scheduling indication, wherein the slice scheduling indication indicates scheduling control information for one or more slices; and

Means for transmitting the slice scheduling indication to a terminal device to enable the terminal device to perform data transmission of the one or more slices based on the scheduling control information indicated by the slice scheduling indication.

32. A terminal device, comprising:

At least one processor; and

At least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the terminal device to:

33. A network device, comprising:

At least one processor; and

At least one memory including computer program code, wherein the at least one memory and the computer program code are configured to, with the at least one processor, cause the network device to:

34. A non-transitory computer readable medium comprising program instructions for causing an apparatus to perform at least the method of claim 26 or 28.