WO2019066701A1

WO2019066701A1 - Rlc status report format bitmap indication for multiple missing sns

Info

Publication number: WO2019066701A1
Application number: PCT/SE2018/050970
Authority: WO
Inventors: Jani-Pekka KAINULAINEN; Henrik Enbuske
Original assignee: Telefonaktiebolaget Lm Ericsson (Publ)
Priority date: 2017-09-28
Filing date: 2018-09-25
Publication date: 2019-04-04

Abstract

Embodiments herein relate to methods and apparatus for Radio Link Control, RLC, status report format bitmap indication for multiple missing Sequence Number, SNs, within one status report block, even when the SNs missing are not consecutive. In particular, it is described a method performed by a first radio node (600b) or a second radio node (600a) for receiving and/or transmitting a bitmap comprising a plurality of bits, each of the bits corresponding to a different Protocol Data Unit, PDU, and indicating whether or not the corresponding PDU has been successfully received.

Description

RLC STATUS REPORT FORMAT BITMAP INDICATION FOR MULTIPLE MISSING SNS

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present application relates generally to a wireless communication system and relates more particularly to radio link control status report format bitmap indication.

INTRODUCTION

The 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) is working towards new standard with New Radio (N R) protocol layer design.

A Radio Link Control (RLC) transmitter and RLC receiver may exchange information about the sent and received Protocol Data Units (PDUs). A status report format may be used in legacy systems to collect information about received and missing PDUs between the RLC transmitter and receiver entity. A status report may be triggered for different reasons. The most common reason to send a status report is when the receiver gets an RLC message that includes the poll bit. The poll bit is set by RLC transmitter. When receiver notices poll-bit in the RLC header, it will send RLC status report, describing the state of the receiver window to the transmitter entity.

In Long Term Evolution (LTE), when a Radio Link Control Service Data Unit (RLC SDU) needs to be segmented to be transmitted, each associated Radio Link Control Protocol Data Unit (RLC PDU), containing part of the RLC SDU , that is created contains its own Sequence Number (SN). For NR, the 3GPP standardization agreed that that one RLC SDU has only one SN. The result is that segments associated with the RLC SDU will have the same SN .

In segmentation, as shown in Figure 1 , the SDU is split into the Segments and an Segment Offset (SO) field is used to indicate the position of the segment from the original SDU . The framing info (Fl) field indicates whether the field indicator (e.g. , segment information (SI)) is describing whether the associated PDU is first middle or last segment. The

transmitter's segmentation function adds this information into RLC PDU and the receiver will craft the original Service Data Unit (SDU) based on the information in RLC PDU .

Status report format consists of two part parts: a static part comprised of one static block, and a dynamic part comprised of zero, one, or more status report blocks. The static part contains the Data/Control field (D/C-field), the Control PDU Type (CPT) field, a first Extension bit (E1 -bit), and last Acknowledged SN (ACK SN), which tells the receiver which was the last successfully received SN. The E1 -bit indicates the presence of additional data, in this context called status report block. This status report block is comprised of at least of two elements: a set of Extension bits (E-bits), and a Negative Acknowledgment Sequence Number (NACK_SN). Depending on the value of the set of E-bits, further additional data is included in the status report block. This additional data complements the NACK_SN . This data is a NACK Range and a SO pair (SOstart and SOend). The set of E-bits in this status report block may also indicate the presence of a second "status report block".

Based on the information provided in status report format, the transmitter is able to send the missing data to the receiver, which again allows receiver to move receiver window.

Figure 2 illustrates the presence of a "status report block" and the content that the "status report block" contains depends on the value of the E-bits. Currently 3GPP has agreed to have a set of three E-bits: a first Extension field (E1 field), a second Extension field (E2 field), and a third Extension field (E3 field), and their meanings are as follows.

As shown in Figure 3, if the E1 field indicates (E1 =1 ) a status report block containing an E-bit set, and a NACK_SN is included follows after this block. If the E1 field indicates (E1 =0), there are not more status report blocks.

A segment of an RLC SDU may be missing, as identified by a SO pair. A SO pair may include, for example, an SOstart field and SOend field. As shown in Figure 4, if the E2 field indicates (E2=1 ), a segment of an RLC SDU identified by the NACK_SN in that status report block (e.g. , using a SO pair) is missing. If the E2 field indicates (E2=0), no SO pair is included in this status report block.

As shown in Figure 5, if the E3 field indicates (E3=1 ), the status report block contains a NACK range in which the first missing SN is indicated as well as the number of consecutively lost RLC SNs. If the E3 field indicates (E3=0), the NACK range is not included.

The placement of the E-bit set, number of bits for NACK, NACK_SN_RANGE, and SO pairs may be in various locations according to particular embodiments. The various

embodiments described herein are not limited to the particular examples illustrated by the drawings above.

In computing, a bitmap is a mapping from some domain (for example, a range of integers) to bits (i.e. , values which are zero or one). A bitmap is sometimes alternatively referred to as a bit array or bitmap index.

There currently exist certain challenge(s). 3GPP RAN2 standardization has agreed (e.g. , in 3GPP TS 38.322, section 6.2.2.17) that the NACK range field shall have a length of 8- bits and indicate the number of consecutively lost RLC SDUs starting from and including NACK_SN .

The assumption when designing the NACK range field is that the Medium Access Control Protocol Data Unit (MAC PDU) contains RLC PDUs continuously. This allows the RLC status report format to indicate multiple missing NACK SNs with one status report block. However, based on current agreements in 3GPP RAN2, UE is allowed to place RLC PDUs out-of-sequence. Having RLC PDUs transmitted out of order, would result that NACK range usage would be limited and the size of status report block would increase. In the worst case, the RLC PDUs with odd SNs in one block and those with even in another. In this case no NACK range is used in RLC status report transmitted in DL.

The problem with this approach is that there is no overhead saving if the

NACK_SN_RANGE is used with non-consecutive SN space.

SUMMARY

Certain aspects of the present disclosure and their embodiments may provide solutions to the problems of the prior art.

Embodiments herein include a method performed by a first radio node for radio link signaling. The method comprising receiving, from a second radio node, a bitmap comprising a plurality of bits, each of the bits corresponding to a different Protocol Data Unit (PDU) in a range of PDUs and indicating whether or not the corresponding PDU has been successfully received by the second radio node.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises identifying, from the bitmap, a PDU not successfully received by the second radio node.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting the PDU identified from the bitmap to the second radio node.

In some embodiments the PDUs in the range of PDUs are associated with consecutive sequence numbers, and the bits of the plurality of bitmap sequentially map to the PDUs in the range of PDUs.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving from the second radio node an indication of a last successfully received PDU, wherein the range of PDUs starts based on the last successfully received PDU.

In some embodiments, receiving the indication of the last successfully received PDU comprises receiving a sequence number of the last successfully received PDU.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving from the second radio node an indication of a PDU not successfully received, wherein the range of PDUs starts based on the PDU not successfully received.

In some embodiments, receiving the indication of the PDU not successfully received comprises receiving a sequence number of the PDU not successfully received.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving from the second radio node an indication of a length of the bitmap.

In some embodiments, the bitmap has a predefined length. In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving an extension bit indicating that the bitmap is present in received signalling.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving a pair of values indicating a further range of PDUs not successfully received by the second radio node.

In some embodiments, the first radio node and the second radio node comprise a wireless device or a network node.

Embodiments herein include a method performed by a first radio node for radio link signalling. The method comprising transmitting, to a second radio node, a bitmap comprising a plurality of bits, each of the bits corresponding to a different PDU in a range of PDUs and indicating whether or not the corresponding PDU has been successfully received.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises responsive to transmitting the bitmap, receiving from the first node a PDU corresponding to a bit in the bitmap, the bit indicating that the PDU was not successfully received.

In some embodiments, the PDUs in the range of PDUs are associated with consecutive sequence numbers, and the bits of the bitmap sequentially map to the PDUs in the range of PDUs.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting an indication of a last successfully received PDU, wherein the range of PDUs starts based on the last successfully received PDU.

In some embodiments, transmitting the indication of the last successfully received PDU comprises transmitting a sequence number of the last successfully received PDU.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting to the first radio node an indication of a PDU not successfully received, wherein the range of PDUs starts based on the PDU not successfully received.

In some embodiments, transmitting the indication of the PDU not successfully received comprises receiving a sequence number of the PDU not successfully received.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting to the first radio node an indication of a length of the bitmap.

In some embodiments, the bitmap has a predefined length.

In some embodiments, the method further comprising transmitting to the first radio node an extension bit indicating that the bitmap is present in transmitted signalling.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting a pair of values indicating a further range of PDUs not successfully received.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting to the first radio node the bitmap responsive to determining that the transmitting of the bitmap requires fewer bits to signal than transmitting a sequence number for each PDU in the range of PDUs not successfully received.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting to the first radio node the bitmap responsive to determining that fewer than a threshold number of consecutive PDUs in the range were not successfully received.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting to the first radio node the bitmap responsive to determining that the transmitting of the bitmap requires fewer bits to signal than transmitting a pair of values specifying a subset of consecutive PDUs in the range of PDUs, each PDU in the subset having not been successfully received.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting to the first radio node the bitmap based on an amount of overhead avoided by signalling the bitmap.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting to the first radio node the bitmap based on a determination that the transmitting of the bitmap will fit in within a particular uplink grant.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting to the first radio node the bitmap based on a determination that more than a threshold number of the PDUs in the range of PDUs were not successfully received.

In some embodiments, the method further comprises receiving the threshold number of the PDUs from the first radio node.

In some embodiments, receiving the threshold number of the PDUs from the first radio node comprises receiving the threshold number of the PDUs in radio resource control signaling.

In some embodiments, the first radio node and the second radio node comprise a wireless device or a network node. Embodiments further include corresponding apparatus, computer programs, and carriers such as non-transitory computer readable medium.

For example, embodiments include a wireless device configured to perform any of the steps of any of the method previously described.

For example, embodiments include a wireless device comprising processing circuitry and memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the wireless device is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the method previously described.

Embodiments further include a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of a wireless device, causes the wireless device to carry out the steps of any of the method previously described.

Embodiments further include a carrier containing the previously described computer program executed by at least one processor of a wireless device. The carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or computer readable storage medium. For example, embodiments include a network node configured to perform any of the steps of any of the method previously described.

For example, embodiments include a network node comprising processing circuitry and memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the wireless device is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the method previously described.

Embodiments further include a computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of a network node, causes the wireless device to carry out the steps of any of the method previously described.

Embodiments further include a carrier containing the previously described computer program executed by at least one processor of a network node. The carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or computer readable storage medium.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Figure 1 is a diagram of a segmentation behavior in new radio (NR) that illustrates some building blocks of status report format.

Figure 2 is a diagram illustrating an example of a status report format.

Figure 3 is a diagram illustrating the E1 -bit indicating that a status report block will follow after Acknowledgment of the Sequence Number (ACK_SN).

Figure 4 is a diagram illustrating the E2-bit indicating that Segment Offset start

(SO_START) and Segment Offset end (SO_END) fields are following in the current status report block.

Figure 5 is a diagram illustrating E3 bit indicating that the negative acknowledgment Sequence Number Range (NACK_SN_RANGE) will follow.

Figure 6 illustrates an example network environment that includes two radio nodes.

Figure 7 illustrates an example method of radio link signaling implemented in a radio node.

Figure 8 illustrates another example method of radio link signaling implemented in a radio node.

Figure 9 for example illustrates a wireless device as implemented in accordance with one or more embodiments.

Figure 10A illustrates a schematic block diagram of a wireless device in a wireless network according to still other embodiments.

Figure 10B illustrates a schematic block diagram of a wireless device in a wireless network according to still other embodiments.

Figure 1 1 illustrates a network node as implemented in accordance with one or more embodiments.

Figure 12A illustrates a schematic block diagram of a network node in a wireless network according to still other embodiments.

Figure 12B illustrates a schematic block diagram of a network node in a wireless network according to still other embodiments.

Figure 13 is a diagram illustrating an acknowledged SN (ACK SN) that indicates from where the bitmap starts.

Figure 14 is a diagram illustrating a NACK SN that indicates first missing SN from where the bitmap start.

Figure 15 is a diagram illustrating an ACK SN indicates the ACK SN from where the bitmap starts.

Figure 16 is a diagram illustrating that count may be used to indicate size of the bitmap.

Figure 17 is a diagram illustrating that the receiver and transmitter of the bitmap are mapping bits from specific starting SN (ACKed or NACKed) to sequence number space.

Figure 18 illustrates an example wireless network.

Figure 19 illustrates a UE in accordance with some embodiments.

Figure 20 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized.

Figure 21 illustrates a telecommunication network connected via an intermediate network to a host computer in accordance with some embodiments.

Figure 22 illustrates host computer communicating via a base station with a user equipment over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments.

Figure 24 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment.

Figure 25 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment.

Figure 26 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment.

ADDITIONAL EXPLANATION

Some of the embodiments contemplated herein will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Other embodiments, however, are contained within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein, the disclosed subject matter should not be construed as limited to only the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art. Figure 6 illustrates an example network environment that includes two radio nodes 600a- b. The radio nodes 600a-b are remote from each other and wirelessly exchange signals with each other via radio communication. Typical examples of a radio node 600 include a Wireless Device and/or a Network Node, further examples of each of which are discussed further below.

Figures 7 and 8 each depict a method in accordance with particular embodiments.

Figure 7 illustrates an example method of radio link signalling implemented in a second radio node 600a. The method comprises transmitting, to a first radio node 600b, a bitmap comprising a plurality of bits, each of the bits corresponding to a different Protocol Data Unit (PDU) in a range of Protocol Data Units (PDUs) and indicating whether or not the corresponding PDU has been successfully received (block 700). In some embodiments, the method further comprises, responsive to transmitting the bitmap, receiving a PDU corresponding to a bit in the bitmap, the bit indicating that the PDU was not successfully received (block 710). According to particular embodiments, one of the radio nodes 600a-b is a wireless device and the other is a network node.

Figure 8 illustrates another example method of radio link signalling implemented in a first radio node 600b. The method comprises receiving, from a second radio node 600a, a bitmap comprising a plurality of bits, each of the bits corresponding to a different Protocol Data Unit (PDU) in a range of PDUs and indicating whether or not the corresponding PDU has been successfully received by the second radio node 600a (block 800). In some embodiments, the method further comprises identifying, from the bitmap, a PDU not successfully received by the second radio node 600a (block 810). In some embodiments, the method further comprises transmitting the PDU identified from the bitmap to the second radio node 600a (block 820). According to particular embodiments, one of the radio nodes 600a-b is a wireless device and the other is a network node.

Note that the apparatuses described above may perform the methods herein and any other processing by implementing any functional means, modules, units, or circuitry. In one embodiment, for example, the apparatuses comprise respective circuits or circuitry configured to perform the steps shown in the method figures. The circuits or circuitry in this regard may comprise circuits dedicated to performing certain functional processing and/or one or more microprocessors in conjunction with memory. For instance, the circuitry may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory, cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory may include program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or data communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein, in several embodiments. In embodiments that employ memory, the memory stores program code that, when executed by the one or more processors, carries out the techniques described herein.

Figure 9 for example illustrates a wireless device 900 as implemented in accordance with one or more embodiments. As shown, the wireless device 900 includes processing circuitry 910 and communication circuitry 920. The communication circuitry 920 (e.g. , radio circuitry) is configured to transmit and/or receive information to and/or from one or more other nodes, e.g., via any communication technology. Such communication may occur via one or more antennas that are either internal or external to the wireless device 900. The processing circuitry 910 is configured to perform processing described above, such as by executing instructions stored in memory 930. The processing circuitry 910 in this regard may implement certain functional means, units, or modules.

Figure 10A illustrates a schematic block diagram of a wireless device 1000A in a wireless network according to still other embodiments (for example, the wireless network shown in Figure 18, below). As shown, the wireless device 1000A implements various functional means, units, or modules, e.g. , via the processing circuitry 910 in Figure 9 and/or via software code. These functional means, units, or modules, e.g. , for implementing the method(s) herein, include for instance receiving unit 1010, (and in some embodiments, identifying unit 1020, and/or transmitting unit 1030). The receiving unit 1010 is configured to receive, from a second radio node 600a, a bitmap comprising a plurality of bits, each of the bits corresponding to a different Protocol Data Unit (PDU) in a range of PDUs and indicating whether or not the corresponding PDU has been successfully received by the second radio node 600a. In at least some such embodiments that include the identifying unit 1020, the identifying unit 1020 is configured to identify, from the bitmap, a PDU not successfully received by the second radio node 600a. In at least some such embodiments that include the transmitting unit 1030, the transmitting unit 1030 is configured to transmit the PDU identified from the bitmap to the second radio node 600a.

Figure 10B illustrates a schematic block diagram of a wireless device 1000B in a wireless network according to still other embodiments (for example, the wireless network shown in Figure 18, below). As shown, the wireless device 1000B implements various functional means, units, or modules, e.g. , via the processing circuitry 910 in Figure 9and/or via software code. These functional means, units, or modules, e.g. , for implementing the method(s) herein, include for instance, a transmitting unit 1040 (and in some embodiments, a receiving unit 1050). The transmitting unit 1040 is configured to transmit, to a first radio node 600b, a bitmap comprising a plurality of bits, each of the bits corresponding to a different PDU in a range of PDUs and indicating whether or not the corresponding PDU has been successfully received. In at least some such embodiments that include the receiving unit 1050, the receiving unit 1050 is configured to, responsive to the transmitting of the bitmap, receive a PDU corresponding to a bit in the bitmap, the bit indicating that the PDU was not successfully received.

Figure 1 1 illustrates a network node 1 100 as implemented in accordance with one or more embodiments. As shown, the network node 1 100 includes processing circuitry 1 1 10 and communication circuitry 1 120. The communication circuitry 1 120 is configured to transmit and/or receive information to and/or from one or more other nodes, e.g. , via any communication technology. The processing circuitry 1 1 10 is configured to perform processing described above, such as by executing instructions stored in memory 1 130. The processing circuitry 1 1 10 in this regard may implement certain functional means, units, or modules.

Figure 12A illustrates a schematic block diagram of a network node 1200A in a wireless network according to still other embodiments (for example, the wireless network shown in Figure 18, below). As shown, the network node 1200A implements various functional means, units, or modules, e.g. , via the processing circuitry 1 1 10 in Figure 1 1 and/or via software code. These functional means, units, or modules, e.g., for implementing the method(s) herein, include for instance, a transmitting unit 1210 (and in some embodiments, a receiving unit 1220). The transmitting unit 1210 is configured to transmit, to a first radio node 600b, a bitmap comprising a plurality of bits, each of the bits corresponding to a different PDU in a range of PDUs and indicating whether or not the corresponding PDU has been successfully received. In at least some such embodiments that include the receiving unit 1220, the receiving unit 1220 is configured to responsive to the transmitting of the bitmap, receive a PDU corresponding to a bit in the bitmap, the bit indicating that the PDU was not successfully received.

Figure 12B illustrates a schematic block diagram of a network node 1000B in a wireless network according to still other embodiments (for example, the wireless network shown in

Figure 18, below). As shown, the wireless device 1000B implements various functional means, units, or modules, e.g. , via the processing circuitry 1 1 10 in Figure 1 1 and/or via software code. These functional means, units, or modules, e.g., for implementing the method(s) herein, include for instance receiving unit 1230, (and in some embodiments, identifying unit 1240, and/or transmitting unit 1250). The receiving unit 1230 is configured to receive, from a second radio node 600a, a bitmap comprising a plurality of bits, each of the bits corresponding to a different Protocol Data Unit (PDU) in a range of PDUs and indicating whether or not the corresponding PDU has been successfully received by the second radio node 600a. In at least some such embodiments that include the identifying unit 1240, the identifying unit 1240 is configured to identify, from the bitmap, a PDU not successfully received by the second radio node 600a. In at least some such embodiments that include the transmitting unit 1250, the transmitting unit 1250 is configured to transmit the PDU identified from the bitmap to the second radio node 600a.

Those skilled in the art will also appreciate that embodiments herein further include corresponding computer programs.

A computer program comprises instructions which, when executed on at least one processor of an apparatus, cause the apparatus to carry out any of the respective processing described above. A computer program in this regard may comprise one or more code modules corresponding to the means or units described above.

Embodiments further include a carrier containing such a computer program. This carrier may comprise one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or computer readable storage medium.

In this regard, embodiments herein also include a computer program product stored on a non-transitory computer readable (storage or recording) medium and comprising instructions that, when executed by a processor of an apparatus, cause the apparatus to perform as described above.

Embodiments further include a computer program product comprising program code portions for performing the steps of any of the embodiments herein when the computer program product is executed by a computing device. This computer program product may be stored on a computer readable recording medium.

Additional embodiments will now be described. At least some of these embodiments may be described as applicable in certain contexts and/or wireless network types for illustrative purposes, but the embodiments are similarly applicable in other contexts and/or wireless network types not explicitly described.

The bitmap described above may, in some embodiments, co-exist with other status report blocks such as Negative Acknowledgment Sequence Number Range

(NACK_SN_RANGE) or as Negative Acknowledgment Sequence Number (NACK_SN) or as as Negative Acknowledgment Sequence Number segments (NACK_SN segments). This may, for example, allow the status report format to have flexibility without compromising functionality. In some embodiments, with the right combination of status report blocks, overhead and/or parsing time of the status report block may be significantly reduced.

In particular, such a bitmap may indicate missing and not missing Sequence Numbers (SNs) in a specific range. The bitmap may be added to the status report format before or after status report format Extension bits (E-bits), which describe to the receiver how to parse that specific status report block.

The bitmap has a starting point SN, which may be, e.g. , a NACK_SN or an already

ACKed SN. Various embodiments of the present disclosure may be (but are not limited to) as shown in the example status report blocks illustrated in the figures herein. Particular examples are illustrated with 18-bit SN, but the SN size may be different according to other embodiments. If the SN size changes, that may have also impact the conditions upon which the bitmap and/or NACK_SN_RANGE approach are used and/or selected, as will be described in further detail below.

In some embodiments, as shown in Figure 13, the Acknowledgment Sequence Number (ACK_SN) of the status report is used to indicate the starting point of SNs indicated by the bitmap. In this example, Extension bits E1 -E3 bits indicate that the bitmap will follow. In other embodiments, the bitmap may come right after the ACK_SN defined in the header.

In some cases, as shown in Figure 14, NACK_SN start indicates the start of the bitmap. The NACK_SN indicates the first SN included in the bitmap. For example, the bitmap SN mapping may start from the NACK_SN or from NACK_SN + 1 , according to particular embodiments.

Similarly, as above, in some embodiments, as shown in Figure 15, the bitmap may include first ACK_SN (already acknowledged SN) that sets the starting point of the SN. The bitmap may start from ACK_SN or from ACK_SN + 1.

In some cases, as shown in Figure 16, the bitmap size may be indicated with specific COUNT field. This allows the bitmap to have dynamic size based on the count range

(2^ACOUNT_SIZE_I N_BITS). The bitmap in this case could start from the ACK_SN in the header or it may start from the specifically defined ACK or NACK_SN after or before the COUNT.

In some embodiments, the bitmap size may be pre-defined in standardization. It may be set from 1 bit to several bytes, according to particular embodiments.

In some embodiments, the size of the bitmap may be indicated with COUNT. The count may describe the upcoming size of the bitmap, such as in the example shown in Figure 16.

In some embodiments, the extension (or E-bits) are used to enable use of the bitmap. For, example, setting E3-bit to , it may indicate that the bitmap follows.

Other embodiments may use the E-bits differently. Nonetheless, in some

embodiments, one or more of the E-bits indicate a status report block that is coming next, e.g. , so that the receiver parser may identify blocks, such as, the bitmap block. Additionally, or alternatively, the E-3 bit may indicate that the bitmap exists.

Combination of the E1 , E2 and E3 bits may indicate that the bitmap exists with other fields (for example E2 field indicates a Segment Offset field and E1 field indicates NACK_SN . E3 field may indicate that the bitmap will follow.

The value of a bit in the bitmap may indicate whether or not a SN is missing. In particular, as shown in figure 17 a bit value of '1 ' may indicate that a given SN is not missing, whereas a bit value of '0' may indicate that the given SN is missing. Alternatively, the interpretation of the bits may be the other way around, in some embodiments.

The receiver and transmitter of the bitmap are mapping bits from specific starting SN (ACKed or NACKed) to sequence number space. This allows receiver to know from X amounts of bits the gaps in sequence number space.

The usage of bitmap is not limited to a case where the bitmap is used individually. The bitmap may be used together, for example with the SO field. The SO field in this case could indicate segments missing before the bitmap.

The bitmap may be positioned before or after the SO pair (SO start and SO end) and the existence of SO field and bitmap may be indicated via E-bits (for example combination of E2 and E3 bit).

In some embodiments, the NACK_SN_RANGE (e.g. , as described in 3GPP 38.322 draft specification) may exist in parallel with the bitmap solution. In some such embodiments, there may be a condition used to select between range and bitmap approaches. This may apply for NACK_SN_RANGE or to bitmap solution separately, or both solutions (bitmap or NACK_SN_RANGE may co-exist).

When creating a status report, the condition may indicate which status report block to create. Various embodiments may include various approaches for determining which status report block to create.

In some embodiments, if the overhead of a grouped status report block is less than the overhead of a status report that includes all NACK SN's individually, then the grouped status report (e.g. , according to the NACK_SN_RANGE or bitmap solution) is used.

In some embodiments, a specification may define an explicit limit on consecutive SNs missing, which then is used to select the status report group block (e.g. , NACK_SN_RANGE). According to one such embodiment, a bitmap may be selected based on the number of missing SN in a sequence number block having a size less than or equal to the size of the bitmap.

For example, if SNs are 12 bits long, and two SNs are missing, then using two status report blocks may require, for each of the SNs, 3 bits for E-bits and 12 bits to specify the missing SN , which requires 30 bits in total (i.e. , 3+12+3+12=30). However, if the bitmap size (BITMAP_SIZE) is 16-bits, then a grouped status report block using the bitmap may be selected when two (or more) SNs are missing, since the bitmap solution would require fewer total bits, i.e. , 3 bits for E-bits and 16 bits for the bitmap (19 in total). Further, the overhead saved by the bitmap approach is further improved in this example if more than two SNs are missing, provided that the number of missing SNs is supported by the BITMAP_SIZE (i.e. , up to 16 missing SNs may be signaled by the 16-bit BITMAP_SIZE in this example).

Accordingly, if the last ACKed SN is 10, the bitmap may correspond to SNs in the range from SN 10 to SN 26. If SNs 12, 16, 20 are missing, using the bitmap approach would be justified, as it would save overhead. The same would be true if an 18-bit SN is in use. Therefore, the condition to select the bitmap solution could be, in some embodiments, that if there are more than 2 SNs missing in the range of BITMAP_SIZE, the bitmap should be used.

A similar approach may be used to determine whether to use the NACK_SN_RANGE approach. That is, if there are more than 2 consecutive SNs missing in the range of

2^ANACK_SN_RANGE_I N_BITS, the NACK_SN_RANGE approach may be used, according to embodiments. Moreover, in some embodiments, an individual status report block, a bitmap- based status report block group, or a range-based status report block group may be selected based on a determination of which requires the fewest bits to signal.

In some embodiments, selection may be based on SN window properties. That is, the selection may be made based on characteristics of the receiver window. If the receiver window has consecutively missing SNs, then NACK_SN_RANGE may be used in such embodiments (and potentially, the range is larger than the size of the bitmap). If the receive window has SNs, which are not consecutively missing but are inside the size of the

BITMAP_SIZE, then the bitmap may be used.

In some embodiments, the UE may select which approach to use. In at least some such embodiments, the selection may be made by the U E based on the knowledge of, e.g. , overhead, grant size (i.e. , in order to fit the status report into a PDU), and/or an explicit limit defined by UE. Such a limit may be, in some embodiments, be based on UE status report creation processing time, overhead calculated previously, and/or averaging statistics known by U E (e.g. , historical information).

In some embodiments, status report format selection may be based on a threshold configured by the network. For example, the network may signal to U E which explicit limit to use. In such an embodiment, the explicit limit selection may be done by the network based, e.g. , on any of the above. RRC signaling may be used to carry such information to the U E.

Not all UEs may support the bitmap solution. Accordingly, particular embodiments may include a capability indication by the U E that the bitmap is supported, or is not supported. Similar capability may be defined also for NACK_SN range.

Some embodiments may provide solutions to the problems of the prior art. For example, a bitmap based status report solution may allow multiple missing SNs to be indicated within one status report block, even when the SNs missing are not consecutive. Particular embodiments may further allow for the bitmap based status report solution and/or the NACK_SN range approach depending on certain criteria.

In particular embodiments, the placement of the E-bit set, number of bits for NACK, NACK_SN_range, and SO pairs may be in various locations.

Certain embodiments may provide one or more of the following technical advantages. For example, certain embodiments may reduce status report overhead as there may be no need to indicate individual SNs with the whole sequence number. There may additionally or alternatively be a processing benefit as the receiver of the status report may not need to parse multiple status report blocks to get information of missing sequence numbers.

Although the subject matter described herein may be implemented in any appropriate type of system using any suitable components, the embodiments disclosed herein are described in relation to a wireless network, such as the example wireless network illustrated in Figure 18. For simplicity, the wireless network of Figure 18 only depicts network 1806, network nodes 1860 and 1860b, and WDs 1810, 1810b, and 1810c. In practice, a wireless network may further include any additional elements suitable to support communication between wireless devices or between a wireless device and another communication device, such as a landline telephone, a service provider, or any other network node or end device. Of the illustrated components, network node 1860 and wireless device (WD) 1810 are depicted with additional detail. The wireless network may provide communication and other types of services to one or more wireless devices to facilitate the wireless devices' access to and/or use of the services provided by, or via, the wireless network.

The wireless network may comprise and/or interface with any type of communication, telecommunication, data, cellular, and/or radio network or other similar type of system. In some embodiments, the wireless network may be configured to operate according to specific standards or other types of predefined rules or procedures. Thus, particular embodiments of the wireless network may implement communication standards, such as Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Universal Mobile Telecommunications System (UMTS), Long Term Evolution (LTE), Narrowband Internet of Things (NB-loT), and/or other suitable 2G, 3G, 4G, or 5G standards; wireless local area network (WLAN) standards, such as the I EEE 802.1 1 standards; and/or any other appropriate wireless communication standard, such as the

Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access (WMax), Bluetooth, Z-Wave and/or ZigBee standards. Network 1806 may comprise one or more backhaul networks, core networks, I P networks, public switched telephone networks (PSTNs), packet data networks, optical networks, wide-area networks (WANs), local area networks (LANs), wireless local area networks

(WLANs), wired networks, wireless networks, metropolitan area networks, and other networks to enable communication between devices.

Network node 1860 and WD 1810 comprise various components described in more detail below. These components work together in order to provide network node and/or wireless device functionality, such as providing wireless connections in a wireless network. In different embodiments, the wireless network may comprise any number of wired or wireless networks, network nodes, base stations, controllers, wireless devices, relay stations, and/or any other components or systems that may facilitate or participate in the communication of data and/or signals whether via wired or wireless connections.

As used herein, network node refers to equipment capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate directly or indirectly with a wireless device and/or with other network nodes or equipment in the wireless network to enable and/or provide wireless access to the wireless device and/or to perform other functions (e.g. , administration) in the wireless network. Examples of network nodes include, but are not limited to, access points (APs) (e.g., radio access points), base stations (BSs) (e.g. , radio base stations, Node Bs, evolved Node Bs (eNBs) and NR NodeBs (gNBs)). Base stations may be categorized based on the amount of coverage they provide (or, stated differently, their transmit power level) and may then also be referred to as femto base stations, pico base stations, micro base stations, or macro base stations. A base station may be a relay node or a relay donor node controlling a relay. A network node may also include one or more (or all) parts of a distributed radio base station such as centralized digital units and/or remote radio units (RRUs), sometimes referred to as Remote Radio Heads (RRHs). Such remote radio units may or may not be integrated with an antenna as an antenna integrated radio. Parts of a distributed radio base station may also be referred to as nodes in a distributed antenna system (DAS). Yet further examples of network nodes include multi-standard radio (MSR) equipment such as MSR BSs, network controllers such as radio network controllers (RNCs) or base station controllers (BSCs), base transceiver stations (BTSs), transmission points, transmission nodes, multi-cell/multicast coordination entities (MCEs), core network nodes (e.g., MSCs, MM Es), O&M nodes, OSS nodes, SON nodes, positioning nodes (e.g. , E-SMLCs), and/or MDTs. As another example, a network node may be a virtual network node as described in more detail below. More generally, however, network nodes may represent any suitable device (or group of devices) capable, configured, arranged, and/or operable to enable and/or provide a wireless device with access to the wireless network or to provide some service to a wireless device that has accessed the wireless network. In Figure 18, network node 1860 includes processing circuitry 1870, device readable medium 1880, interface 1890, auxiliary equipment 1884, power source 1886, power circuitry 1887, and antenna 1862. Although network node 1860 illustrated in the example wireless network of Figure 18 may represent a device that includes the illustrated combination of hardware components, other embodiments may comprise network nodes with different combinations of components. It is to be understood that a network node comprises any suitable combination of hardware and/or software needed to perform the tasks, features, functions and methods disclosed herein. Moreover, while the components of network node 1860 are depicted as single boxes located within a larger box, or nested within multiple boxes, in practice, a network node may comprise multiple different physical components that make up a single illustrated component (e.g., device readable medium 1880 may comprise multiple separate hard drives as well as multiple RAM modules).

Similarly, network node 1860 may be composed of multiple physically separate components (e.g., a NodeB component and a RNC component, or a BTS component and a BSC component, etc.), which may each have their own respective components. In certain scenarios in which network node 1860 comprises multiple separate components (e.g., BTS and BSC components), one or more of the separate components may be shared among several network nodes. For example, a single RNC may control multiple NodeB's. In such a scenario, each unique NodeB and RNC pair, may in some instances be considered a single separate network node. In some embodiments, network node 1860 may be configured to support multiple radio access technologies (RATs). In such embodiments, some components may be duplicated (e.g. , separate device readable medium 1880 for the different RATs) and some components may be reused (e.g. , the same antenna 1862 may be shared by the RATs). Network node 1860 may also include multiple sets of the various illustrated components for different wireless technologies integrated into network node 1860, such as, for example, GSM, WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, or Bluetooth wireless technologies. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chip or set of chips and other components within network node 1860.

Processing circuitry 1870 is configured to perform any determining, calculating, or similar operations (e.g. , certain obtaining operations) described herein as being provided by a network node. These operations performed by processing circuitry 1870 may include processing information obtained by processing circuitry 1870 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored in the network node, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Processing circuitry 1870 may comprise a combination of one or more of a microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other network node 1860 components, such as device readable medium 1880, network node 1860 functionality. For example, processing circuitry 1870 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium 1880 or in memory within processing circuitry 1870. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features, functions, or benefits discussed herein. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 1870 may include a system on a chip (SOC).

In some embodiments, processing circuitry 1870 may include one or more of radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1872 and baseband processing circuitry 1874. In some embodiments, radio frequency (RF) transceiver circuitry 1872 and baseband processing circuitry 1874 may be on separate chips (or sets of chips), boards, or units, such as radio units and digital units. In alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 1872 and baseband processing circuitry 1874 may be on the same chip or set of chips, boards, or units

In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein as being provided by a network node, base station, eNB or other such network device may be performed by processing circuitry 1870 executing instructions stored on device readable medium 1880 or memory within processing circuitry 1870. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry 1870 without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device readable medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a device readable storage medium or not, processing circuitry 1870 can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to processing circuitry 1870 alone or to other components of network node 1860, but are enjoyed by network node 1860 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally.

Device readable medium 1880 may comprise any form of volatile or non-volatile computer readable memory including, without limitation, persistent storage, solid-state memory, remotely mounted memory, magnetic media, optical media, random access memory (RAM), read-only memory (ROM), mass storage media (for example, a hard disk), removable storage media (for example, a flash drive, a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device readable and/or computer-executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by processing circuitry 1870. Device readable medium 1880 may store any suitable instructions, data or information, including a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, etc. and/or other instructions capable of being executed by processing circuitry 1870 and, utilized by network node 1860. Device readable medium 1880 may be used to store any calculations made by processing circuitry 1870 and/or any data received via interface 1890. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 1870 and device readable medium 1880 may be considered to be integrated.

Interface 1890 is used in the wired or wireless communication of signalling and/or data between network node 1860, network 1806, and/or WDs 1810. As illustrated, interface 1890 comprises port(s)/terminal(s) 1894 to send and receive data, for example to and from network 1806 over a wired connection. Interface 1890 also includes radio front end circuitry 1892 that may be coupled to, or in certain embodiments a part of, antenna 1862. Radio front end circuitry 1892 comprises filters 1898 and amplifiers 1896. Radio front end circuitry 1892 may be connected to antenna 1862 and processing circuitry 1870. Radio front end circuitry may be configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 1862 and processing circuitry 1870. Radio front end circuitry 1892 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection. Radio front end circuitry 1892 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1898 and/or amplifiers 1896. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna 1862. Similarly, when receiving data, antenna 1862 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio front end circuitry 1892. The digital data may be passed to processing circuitry 1870. In other embodiments, the interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.

In certain alternative embodiments, network node 1860 may not include separate radio front end circuitry 1892, instead, processing circuitry 1870 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna 1862 without separate radio front end circuitry 1892.

Similarly, in some embodiments, all or some of RF transceiver circuitry 1872 may be considered a part of interface 1890. In still other embodiments, interface 1890 may include one or more ports or terminals 1894, radio front end circuitry 1892, and RF transceiver circuitry 1872, as part of a radio unit (not shown), and interface 1890 may communicate with baseband processing circuitry 1874, which is part of a digital unit (not shown).

Antenna 1862 may include one or more antennas, or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals. Antenna 1862 may be coupled to radio front end circuitry 1890 and may be any type of antenna capable of transmitting and receiving data and/or signals wirelessly. In some embodiments, antenna 1862 may comprise one or more omni-directional, sector or panel antennas operable to transmit/receive radio signals between, for example, 2 GHz and 66 GHz. An omni-directional antenna may be used to transmit/receive radio signals in any direction, a sector antenna may be used to transmit/receive radio signals from devices within a particular area, and a panel antenna may be a line of sight antenna used to transmit/receive radio signals in a relatively straight line. In some instances, the use of more than one antenna may be referred to as Ml MO. In certain embodiments, antenna 1862 may be separate from network node 1860 and may be connectable to network node 1860 through an interface or port.

Antenna 1862, interface 1890, and/or processing circuitry 1870 may be configured to perform any receiving operations and/or certain obtaining operations described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a wireless device, another network node and/or any other network equipment. Similarly, antenna 1862, interface 1890, and/or processing circuitry 1870 may be configured to perform any transmitting operations described herein as being performed by a network node. Any information, data and/or signals may be transmitted to a wireless device, another network node and/or any other network equipment.

Power circuitry 1887 may comprise, or be coupled to, power management circuitry and is configured to supply the components of network node 1860 with power for performing the functionality described herein. Power circuitry 1887 may receive power from power source 1886. Power source 1886 and/or power circuitry 1887 may be configured to provide power to the various components of network node 1860 in a form suitable for the respective components (e.g. , at a voltage and current level needed for each respective component). Power source 1886 may either be included in, or external to, power circuitry 1887 and/or network node 1860. For example, network node 1860 may be connectable to an external power source (e.g. , an electricity outlet) via an input circuitry or interface such as an electrical cable, whereby the external power source supplies power to power circuitry 1887. As a further example, power source 1886 may comprise a source of power in the form of a battery or battery pack which is connected to, or integrated in, power circuitry 1887. The battery may provide backup power should the external power source fail. Other types of power sources, such as photovoltaic devices, may also be used.

Alternative embodiments of network node 1860 may include additional components beyond those shown in Figure 18 that may be responsible for providing certain aspects of the network node's functionality, including any of the functionality described herein and/or any functionality necessary to support the subject matter described herein. For example, network node 1860 may include user interface equipment to allow input of information into network node 1860 and to allow output of information from network node 1860. This may allow a user to perform diagnostic, maintenance, repair, and other administrative functions for network node 1860. As used herein, wireless device (WD) refers to a device capable, configured, arranged and/or operable to communicate wirelessly with network nodes and/or other wireless devices. Unless otherwise noted, the term WD may be used interchangeably herein with user equipment (UE). Communicating wirelessly may involve transmitting and/or receiving wireless signals using electromagnetic waves, radio waves, infrared waves, and/or other types of signals suitable for conveying information through air. In some embodiments, a WD may be configured to transmit and/or receive information without direct human interaction. For instance, a WD may be designed to transmit information to a network on a predetermined schedule, when triggered by an internal or external event, or in response to requests from the network. Examples of a WD include, but are not limited to, a smart phone, a mobile phone, a cell phone, a voice over IP (VoI P) phone, a wireless local loop phone, a desktop computer, a personal digital assistant (PDA), a wireless cameras, a gaming console or device, a music storage device, a playback appliance, a wearable terminal device, a wireless endpoint, a mobile station, a tablet, a laptop, a laptop-embedded equipment (LEE), a laptop-mounted equipment (LME), a smart device, a wireless customer-premise equipment (CPE), a vehicle-mounted wireless terminal device, etc. A WD may support device-to-device (D2D) communication, for example by implementing a 3GPP standard for Sidelink communication, vehicle-to-vehicle (V2V), vehicle-to-infrastructure (V2I), vehicle-to-everything (V2X) and may in this case be referred to as a D2D communication device. As yet another specific example, in an Internet of Things (loT) scenario, a WD may represent a machine or other device that performs monitoring and/or measurements, and transmits the results of such monitoring and/or measurements to another WD and/or a network node. The WD may in this case be a machine-to-machine (M2M) device, which may in a 3GPP context be referred to as an MTC device. As one particular example, the WD may be a UE implementing the 3GPP narrow band internet of things (NB-loT) standard. Particular examples of such machines or devices are sensors, metering devices such as power meters, industrial machinery, or home or personal appliances (e.g. refrigerators, televisions, etc.) personal wearables (e.g., watches, fitness trackers, etc.). In other scenarios, a WD may represent a vehicle or other equipment that is capable of monitoring and/or reporting on its operational status or other functions associated with its operation. A WD as described above may represent the endpoint of a wireless connection, in which case the device may be referred to as a wireless terminal. Furthermore, a WD as described above may be mobile, in which case it may also be referred to as a mobile device or a mobile terminal.

As illustrated, wireless device 1810 includes antenna 181 1 , interface 1814, processing circuitry 1820, device readable medium 1830, user interface equipment 1832, auxiliary equipment 1834, power source 1836 and power circuitry 1837. WD 1810 may include multiple sets of one or more of the illustrated components for different wireless technologies supported by WD 1810, such as, for example, GSM , WCDMA, LTE, NR, WiFi, WiMAX, NB-loT, or Bluetooth wireless technologies, just to mention a few. These wireless technologies may be integrated into the same or different chips or set of chips as other components within WD 1810.

Antenna 181 1 may include one or more antennas or antenna arrays, configured to send and/or receive wireless signals, and is connected to interface 1814. In certain alternative embodiments, antenna 181 1 may be separate from WD 1810 and be connectable to WD 1810 through an interface or port. Antenna 181 1 , interface 1814, and/or processing circuitry 1820 may be configured to perform any receiving or transmitting operations described herein as being performed by a WD. Any information, data and/or signals may be received from a network node and/or another WD. In some embodiments, radio front end circuitry and/or antenna 181 1 may be considered an interface.

As illustrated, interface 1814 comprises radio front end circuitry 1812 and antenna 181 1 . Radio front end circuitry 1812 comprise one or more filters 1818 and amplifiers 1816. Radio front end circuitry 1814 is connected to antenna 181 1 and processing circuitry 1820, and is configured to condition signals communicated between antenna 181 1 and processing circuitry 1820. Radio front end circuitry 1812 may be coupled to or a part of antenna 181 1 . In some embodiments, WD 1810 may not include separate radio front end circuitry 1812; rather, processing circuitry 1820 may comprise radio front end circuitry and may be connected to antenna 181 1 . Similarly, in some embodiments, some or all of RF transceiver circuitry 1822 may be considered a part of interface 1814. Radio front end circuitry 1812 may receive digital data that is to be sent out to other network nodes or WDs via a wireless connection. Radio front end circuitry 1812 may convert the digital data into a radio signal having the appropriate channel and bandwidth parameters using a combination of filters 1818 and/or amplifiers 1816. The radio signal may then be transmitted via antenna 181 1 . Similarly, when receiving data, antenna 181 1 may collect radio signals which are then converted into digital data by radio front end circuitry 1812. The digital data may be passed to processing circuitry 1820. In other embodiments, the interface may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components.

Processing circuitry 1820 may comprise a combination of one or more of a

microprocessor, controller, microcontroller, central processing unit, digital signal processor, application-specific integrated circuit, field programmable gate array, or any other suitable computing device, resource, or combination of hardware, software, and/or encoded logic operable to provide, either alone or in conjunction with other WD 1810 components, such as device readable medium 1830, WD 1810 functionality. Such functionality may include providing any of the various wireless features or benefits discussed herein. For example, processing circuitry 1820 may execute instructions stored in device readable medium 1830 or in memory within processing circuitry 1820 to provide the functionality disclosed herein. As illustrated, processing circuitry 1820 includes one or more of RF transceiver circuitry 1822, baseband processing circuitry 1824, and application processing circuitry 1826. In other embodiments, the processing circuitry may comprise different components and/or different combinations of components. In certain embodiments processing circuitry 1820 of WD 1810 may comprise a SOC. In some embodiments, RF transceiver circuitry 1822, baseband processing circuitry 1824, and application processing circuitry 1826 may be on separate chips or sets of chips. In alternative embodiments, part or all of baseband processing circuitry 1824 and application processing circuitry 1826 may be combined into one chip or set of chips, and RF transceiver circuitry 1822 may be on a separate chip or set of chips. In still alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 1822 and baseband processing circuitry

1824 may be on the same chip or set of chips, and application processing circuitry 1826 may be on a separate chip or set of chips. In yet other alternative embodiments, part or all of RF transceiver circuitry 1822, baseband processing circuitry 1824, and application processing circuitry 1826 may be combined in the same chip or set of chips. In some embodiments, RF transceiver circuitry 1822 may be a part of interface 1814. RF transceiver circuitry 1822 may condition RF signals for processing circuitry 1820.

In certain embodiments, some or all of the functionality described herein as being performed by a WD may be provided by processing circuitry 1820 executing instructions stored on device readable medium 1830, which in certain embodiments may be a computer-readable storage medium. In alternative embodiments, some or all of the functionality may be provided by processing circuitry 1820 without executing instructions stored on a separate or discrete device readable storage medium, such as in a hard-wired manner. In any of those particular embodiments, whether executing instructions stored on a device readable storage medium or not, processing circuitry 1820 can be configured to perform the described functionality. The benefits provided by such functionality are not limited to processing circuitry 1820 alone or to other components of WD 1810, but are enjoyed by WD 1810 as a whole, and/or by end users and the wireless network generally.

Processing circuitry 1820 may be configured to perform any determining, calculating, or similar operations (e.g. , certain obtaining operations) described herein as being performed by a WD. These operations, as performed by processing circuitry 1820, may include processing information obtained by processing circuitry 1820 by, for example, converting the obtained information into other information, comparing the obtained information or converted information to information stored by WD 1810, and/or performing one or more operations based on the obtained information or converted information, and as a result of said processing making a determination. Device readable medium 1830 may be operable to store a computer program, software, an application including one or more of logic, rules, code, tables, etc. and/or other instructions capable of being executed by processing circuitry 1820. Device readable medium 1830 may include computer memory (e.g. , Random Access Memory (RAM) or Read Only Memory

(ROM)), mass storage media (e.g. , a hard disk), removable storage media (e.g. , a Compact Disk (CD) or a Digital Video Disk (DVD)), and/or any other volatile or non-volatile, non-transitory device readable and/or computer executable memory devices that store information, data, and/or instructions that may be used by processing circuitry 1820. In some embodiments, processing circuitry 1820 and device readable medium 1830 may be considered to be integrated.

User interface equipment 1832 may provide components that allow for a human user to interact with WD 1810. Such interaction may be of many forms, such as visual, audial, tactile, etc. User interface equipment 1832 may be operable to produce output to the user and to allow the user to provide input to WD 1810. The type of interaction may vary depending on the type of user interface equipment 1832 installed in WD 1810. For example, if WD 1810 is a smart phone, the interaction may be via a touch screen; if WD 1810 is a smart meter, the interaction may be through a screen that provides usage (e.g. , the number of gallons used) or a speaker that provides an audible alert (e.g. , if smoke is detected). User interface equipment 1832 may include input interfaces, devices and circuits, and output interfaces, devices and circuits. User interface equipment 1832 is configured to allow input of information into WD 1810, and is connected to processing circuitry 1820 to allow processing circuitry 1820 to process the input information. User interface equipment 1832 may include, for example, a microphone, a proximity or other sensor, keys/buttons, a touch display, one or more cameras, a USB port, or other input circuitry. User interface equipment 1832 is also configured to allow output of information from WD 1810, and to allow processing circuitry 1820 to output information from WD 1810. User interface equipment 1832 may include, for example, a speaker, a display, vibrating circuitry, a USB port, a headphone interface, or other output circuitry. Using one or more input and output interfaces, devices, and circuits, of user interface equipment 1832, WD 1810 may communicate with end users and/or the wireless network, and allow them to benefit from the functionality described herein.

Auxiliary equipment 1834 is operable to provide more specific functionality which may not be generally performed by WDs. This may comprise specialized sensors for doing measurements for various purposes, interfaces for additional types of communication such as wired communications etc. The inclusion and type of components of auxiliary equipment 1834 may vary depending on the embodiment and/or scenario. Power source 1836 may, in some embodiments, be in the form of a battery or battery pack. Other types of power sources, such as an external power source (e.g. , an electricity outlet), photovoltaic devices or power cells, may also be used. WD 1810 may further comprise power circuitry 1837 for delivering power from power source 1836 to the various parts of WD 1810 which need power from power source 1836 to carry out any functionality described or indicated herein. Power circuitry 1837 may in certain embodiments comprise power

management circuitry. Power circuitry 1837 may additionally or alternatively be operable to receive power from an external power source; in which case WD 1810 may be connectable to the external power source (such as an electricity outlet) via input circuitry or an interface such as an electrical power cable. Power circuitry 1837 may also in certain embodiments be operable to deliver power from an external power source to power source 1836. This may be, for example, for the charging of power source 1836. Power circuitry 1837 may perform any formatting, converting, or other modification to the power from power source 1836 to make the power suitable for the respective components of WD 1810 to which power is supplied.

Figure 19 illustrates one embodiment of a UE in accordance with various aspects described herein. As used herein, a user equipment or UE may not necessarily have a user in the sense of a human user who owns and/or operates the relevant device. Instead, a UE may represent a device that is intended for sale to, or operation by, a human user but which may not, or which may not initially, be associated with a specific human user (e.g. , a smart sprinkler controller). Alternatively, a UE may represent a device that is not intended for sale to, or operation by, an end user but which may be associated with or operated for the benefit of a user (e.g. , a smart power meter). UE 19000 may be any UE identified by the 3^rd Generation

Partnership Project (3GPP), including a NB-loT UE, a machine type communication (MTC) UE, and/or an enhanced MTC (eMTC) UE. UE 1900, as illustrated in Figure 19, is one example of a WD configured for communication in accordance with one or more communication standards promulgated by the 3^rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), such as 3GPP's GSM, UMTS, LTE, and/or 5G standards. As mentioned previously, the term WD and UE may be used interchangeable. Accordingly, although Figure 19 is a UE, the components discussed herein are equally applicable to a WD, and vice-versa.

In Figure 19, UE 1900 includes processing circuitry 1901 that is operatively coupled to input/output interface 1905, radio frequency (RF) interface 1909, network connection interface 191 1 , memory 1915 including random access memory (RAM) 1917, read-only memory (ROM) 1919, and storage medium 1921 or the like, communication subsystem 1931 , power source 1933, and/or any other component, or any combination thereof. Storage medium 1921 includes operating system 1923, application program 1925, and data 1927. In other embodiments, storage medium 1921 may include other similar types of information. Certain UEs may utilize all of the components shown in Figure 19, or only a subset of the components. The level of integration between the components may vary from one UE to another UE. Further, certain UEs may contain multiple instances of a component, such as multiple processors, memories, transceivers, transmitters, receivers, etc.

In Figure 19, processing circuitry 1901 may be configured to process computer instructions and data. Processing circuitry 1901 may be configured to implement any sequential state machine operative to execute machine instructions stored as machine-readable computer programs in the memory, such as one or more hardware-implemented state machines (e.g. , in discrete logic, FPGA, ASIC, etc.); programmable logic together with appropriate firmware; one or more stored program, general-purpose processors, such as a microprocessor or Digital Signal Processor (DSP), together with appropriate software; or any combination of the above. For example, the processing circuitry 1901 may include two central processing units (CPUs). Data may be information in a form suitable for use by a computer.

In the depicted embodiment, input/output interface 1905 may be configured to provide a communication interface to an input device, output device, or input and output device. UE 1900 may be configured to use an output device via input/output interface 1905. An output device may use the same type of interface port as an input device. For example, a USB port may be used to provide input to and output from UE 1900. The output device may be a speaker, a sound card, a video card, a display, a monitor, a printer, an actuator, an emitter, a smartcard, another output device, or any combination thereof. UE 1900 may be configured to use an input device via input/output interface 1905 to allow a user to capture information into UE 1900. The input device may include a touch-sensitive or presence-sensitive display, a camera (e.g. , a digital camera, a digital video camera, a web camera, etc.), a microphone, a sensor, a mouse, a trackball, a directional pad, a trackpad, a scroll wheel, a smartcard, and the like. The presence- sensitive display may include a capacitive or resistive touch sensor to sense input from a user. A sensor may be, for instance, an accelerometer, a gyroscope, a tilt sensor, a force sensor, a magnetometer, an optical sensor, a proximity sensor, another like sensor, or any combination thereof. For example, the input device may be an accelerometer, a magnetometer, a digital camera, a microphone, and an optical sensor.

In Figure 19, RF interface 1909 may be configured to provide a communication interface to RF components such as a transmitter, a receiver, and an antenna. Network connection interface 191 1 may be configured to provide a communication interface to network 1943a. Network 1943a may encompass wired and/or wireless networks such as a local-area network (LAN), a wide-area network (WAN), a computer network, a wireless network, a

telecommunications network, another like network or any combination thereof. For example, network 1943a may comprise a Wi-Fi network. Network connection interface 191 1 may be configured to include a receiver and a transmitter interface used to communicate with one or more other devices over a communication network according to one or more communication protocols, such as Ethernet, TCP/IP, SONET, ATM, or the like. Network connection interface 191 1 may implement receiver and transmitter functionality appropriate to the communication network links (e.g. , optical, electrical, and the like). The transmitter and receiver functions may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively may be implemented separately.

RAM 1917 may be configured to interface via bus 1902 to processing circuitry 1901 to provide storage or caching of data or computer instructions during the execution of software programs such as the operating system, application programs, and device drivers. ROM 1919 may be configured to provide computer instructions or data to processing circuitry 1901 . For example, ROM 1919 may be configured to store invariant low-level system code or data for basic system functions such as basic input and output (I/O), startup, or reception of keystrokes from a keyboard that are stored in a non-volatile memory. Storage medium 1921 may be configured to include memory such as RAM, ROM , programmable read-only memory (PROM), erasable programmable read-only memory (EPROM), electrically erasable programmable readonly memory (EEPROM), magnetic disks, optical disks, floppy disks, hard disks, removable cartridges, or flash drives. In one example, storage medium 1921 may be configured to include operating system 1923, application program 1925 such as a web browser application, a widget or gadget engine or another application, and data file 1927. Storage medium 1921 may store, for use by UE 1900, any of a variety of various operating systems or combinations of operating systems.

Storage medium 1921 may be configured to include a number of physical drive units, such as redundant array of independent disks (RAI D), floppy disk drive, flash memory, USB flash drive, external hard disk drive, thumb drive, pen drive, key drive, high-density digital versatile disc (HD-DVD) optical disc drive, internal hard disk drive, Blu-Ray optical disc drive, holographic digital data storage (HDDS) optical disc drive, external mini-dual in-line memory module (DIMM), synchronous dynamic random access memory (SDRAM), external micro-DIMM SDRAM, smartcard memory such as a subscriber identity module or a removable user identity (SIM/RUIM) module, other memory, or any combination thereof. Storage medium 1921 may allow UE 1900 to access computer-executable instructions, application programs or the like, stored on transitory or non-transitory memory media, to off-load data, or to upload data. An article of manufacture, such as one utilizing a communication system may be tangibly embodied in storage medium 1921 , which may comprise a device readable medium.

In Figure 19, processing circuitry 1901 may be configured to communicate with network 1943b using communication subsystem 1931 . Network 1943a and network 1943b may be the same network or networks or different network or networks. Communication subsystem 1931 may be configured to include one or more transceivers used to communicate with network 1943b. For example, communication subsystem 1931 may be configured to include one or more transceivers used to communicate with one or more remote transceivers of another device capable of wireless communication such as another WD, UE, or base station of a radio access network (RAN) according to one or more communication protocols, such as I EEE 802.19, CDMA, WCDMA, GSM, LTE, UTRAN, WMax, or the like. Each transceiver may include transmitter 1933 and/or receiver 1935 to implement transmitter or receiver functionality, respectively, appropriate to the RAN links (e.g. , frequency allocations and the like). Further, transmitter 1933 and receiver 1935 of each transceiver may share circuit components, software or firmware, or alternatively may be implemented separately.

In the illustrated embodiment, the communication functions of communication subsystem 1931 may include data communication, voice communication, multimedia communication, short- range communications such as Bluetooth, near-field communication, location-based

communication such as the use of the global positioning system (GPS) to determine a location, another like communication function, or any combination thereof. For example, communication subsystem 1931 may include cellular communication, W-Fi communication, Bluetooth communication, and GPS communication. Network 1943b may encompass wired and/or wireless networks such as a local-area network (LAN), a wide-area network (WAN), a computer network, a wireless network, a telecommunications network, another like network or any combination thereof. For example, network 1943b may be a cellular network, a Wi-Fi network, and/or a near-field network. Power source 1913 may be configured to provide alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC) power to components of UE 1900.

The features, benefits and/or functions described herein may be implemented in one of the components of UE 1900 or partitioned across multiple components of UE 1900. Further, the features, benefits, and/or functions described herein may be implemented in any combination of hardware, software or firmware. In one example, communication subsystem 1931 may be configured to include any of the components described herein. Further, processing circuitry 1901 may be configured to communicate with any of such components over bus 1902. In another example, any of such components may be represented by program instructions stored in memory that when executed by processing circuitry 1901 perform the corresponding functions described herein. In another example, the functionality of any of such components may be partitioned between processing circuitry 1901 and communication subsystem 1931 . In another example, the non-computationally intensive functions of any of such components may be implemented in software or firmware and the computationally intensive functions may be implemented in hardware. Figure 20 is a schematic block diagram illustrating a virtualization environment 2000 in which functions implemented by some embodiments may be virtualized. In the present context, virtualizing means creating virtual versions of apparatuses or devices which may include virtualizing hardware platforms, storage devices and networking resources. As used herein, virtualization can be applied to a node (e.g. , a virtualized base station or a virtualized radio access node) or to a device (e.g. , a UE, a wireless device or any other type of communication device) or components thereof and relates to an implementation in which at least a portion of the functionality is implemented as one or more virtual components (e.g. , via one or more applications, components, functions, virtual machines or containers executing on one or more physical processing nodes in one or more networks).

In some embodiments, some or all of the functions described herein may be

implemented as virtual components executed by one or more virtual machines implemented in one or more virtual environments 2000 hosted by one or more of hardware nodes 2030. Further, in embodiments in which the virtual node is not a radio access node or does not require radio connectivity (e.g. , a core network node), then the network node may be entirely virtualized.

The functions may be implemented by one or more applications 2020 (which may alternatively be called software instances, virtual appliances, network functions, virtual nodes, virtual network functions, etc.) operative to implement some of the features, functions, and/or benefits of some of the embodiments disclosed herein. Applications 2020 are run in

virtualization environment 2000 which provides hardware 2030 comprising processing circuitry 2060 and memory 2090. Memory 2090 contains instructions 2095 executable by processing circuitry 2060 whereby application 2020 is operative to provide one or more of the features, benefits, and/or functions disclosed herein.

Virtualization environment 2000, comprises general-purpose or special-purpose network hardware devices 2030 comprising a set of one or more processors or processing circuitry 2060, which may be commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) processors, dedicated Application

Specific Integrated Circuits (ASICs), or any other type of processing circuitry including digital or analog hardware components or special purpose processors. Each hardware device may comprise memory 2090-1 which may be non-persistent memory for temporarily storing instructions 2095 or software executed by processing circuitry 2060. Each hardware device may comprise one or more network interface controllers (NICs) 2070, also known as network interface cards, which include physical network interface 2080. Each hardware device may also include non-transitory, persistent, machine-readable storage media 2090-2 having stored therein software 2095 and/or instructions executable by processing circuitry 2060. Software 2095 may include any type of software including software for instantiating one or more virtualization layers 2050 (also referred to as hypervisors), software to execute virtual machines 2040 as well as software allowing it to execute functions, features and/or benefits described in relation with some embodiments described herein.

Virtual machines 2040, comprise virtual processing, virtual memory, virtual networking or interface and virtual storage, and may be run by a corresponding virtualization layer 2050 or hypervisor. Different embodiments of the instance of virtual appliance 2020 may be

implemented on one or more of virtual machines 2040, and the implementations may be made in different ways.

During operation, processing circuitry 2060 executes software 2095 to instantiate the hypervisor or virtualization layer 2050, which may sometimes be referred to as a virtual machine monitor (VMM). Virtualization layer 2050 may present a virtual operating platform that appears like networking hardware to virtual machine 2040.

As shown in Figure 20, hardware 2030 may be a standalone network node with generic or specific components. Hardware 2030 may comprise antenna 20225 and may implement some functions via virtualization. Alternatively, hardware 2030 may be part of a larger cluster of hardware (e.g. such as in a data center or customer premise equipment (CPE)) where many hardware nodes work together and are managed via management and orchestration (MANO) 20100, which, among others, oversees lifecycle management of applications 2020.

Virtualization of the hardware is in some contexts referred to as network function virtualization (NFV). NFV may be used to consolidate many network equipment types onto industry standard high volume server hardware, physical switches, and physical storage, which can be located in data centers, and customer premise equipment.

In the context of NFV, virtual machine 2040 may be a software implementation of a physical machine that runs programs as if they were executing on a physical, non-virtualized machine. Each of virtual machines 2040, and that part of hardware 2030 that executes that virtual machine, be it hardware dedicated to that virtual machine and/or hardware shared by that virtual machine with others of the virtual machines 2040, forms a separate virtual network elements (VNE).

Still in the context of NFV, Virtual Network Function (VNF) is responsible for handling specific network functions that run in one or more virtual machines 2040 on top of hardware networking infrastructure 2030 and corresponds to application 2020 in Figure 20.

In some embodiments, one or more radio units 20200 that each include one or more transmitters 20220 and one or more receivers 20210 may be coupled to one or more antennas 20225. Radio units 20200 may communicate directly with hardware nodes 2030 via one or more appropriate network interfaces and may be used in combination with the virtual components to provide a virtual node with radio capabilities, such as a radio access node or a base station. In some embodiments, some signalling can be effected with the use of control system 20230 which may alternatively be used for communication between the hardware nodes 2030 and radio units 20200.

Figure 21 illustrates a telecommunication network connected via an intermediate network to a host computer in accordance with some embodiments. In particular, with reference to Figure 21 in accordance with an embodiment, a communication system includes

telecommunication network 21 10, such as a 3GPP-type cellular network, which comprises access network 21 1 1 , such as a radio access network, and core network 21 14. Access network 21 1 1 comprises a plurality of base stations 21 12a, 21 12b, 21 12c, such as NBs, eN Bs, gNBs or other types of wireless access points, each defining a corresponding coverage area 21 13a, 21 13b, 21 13c. Each base station 21 12a, 21 12b, 21 12c is connectable to core network 21 14 over a wired or wireless connection 21 15. A first UE 2191 located in coverage area 21 13c is configured to wirelessly connect to, or be paged by, the corresponding base station 21 12c. A second UE 2192 in coverage area 21 13a is wirelessly connectable to the corresponding base station 21 12a. While a plurality of UEs 2191 , 2192 are illustrated in this example, the disclosed embodiments are equally applicable to a situation where a sole UE is in the coverage area or where a sole UE is connecting to the corresponding base station 21 12.

Telecommunication network 21 10 is itself connected to host computer 2130, which may be embodied in the hardware and/or software of a standalone server, a cloud-implemented server, a distributed server or as processing resources in a server farm. Host computer 2130 may be under the ownership or control of a service provider, or may be operated by the service provider or on behalf of the service provider. Connections 2121 and 2122 between

telecommunication network 21 10 and host computer 2130 may extend directly from core network 21 14 to host computer 2130 or may go via an optional intermediate network 2120. Intermediate network 2120 may be one of, or a combination of more than one of, a public, private or hosted network; intermediate network 2120, if any, may be a backbone network or the Internet; in particular, intermediate network 2120 may comprise two or more sub-networks (not shown).

The communication system of Figure 21 as a whole enables connectivity between the connected UEs 2191 , 2192 and host computer 2130. The connectivity may be described as an over-the-top (OTT) connection 2150. Host computer 2130 and the connected UEs 2191 , 2192 are configured to communicate data and/or signaling via OTT connection 2150, using access network 21 1 1 , core network 21 14, any intermediate network 2120 and possible further infrastructure (not shown) as intermediaries. OTT connection 2150 may be transparent in the sense that the participating communication devices through which OTT connection 2150 passes are unaware of routing of uplink and downlink communications. For example, base station 21 12 may not or need not be informed about the past routing of an incoming downlink communication with data originating from host computer 2130 to be forwarded (e.g. , handed over) to a connected UE 2191 . Similarly, base station 21 12 need not be aware of the future routing of an outgoing uplink communication originating from the UE 2191 towards the host computer 2130.

Example implementations, in accordance with an embodiment, of the UE, base station and host computer discussed in the preceding paragraphs will now be described with reference to Figure 22. Figure 22 illustrates host computer communicating via a base station with a user equipment over a partially wireless connection in accordance with some embodiments. In communication system 2200, host computer 2210 comprises hardware 2215 including communication interface 2216 configured to set up and maintain a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of communication system 2200. Host computer 2210 further comprises processing circuitry 2218, which may have storage and/or processing capabilities. In particular, processing circuitry 2218 may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. Host computer 2210 further comprises software 221 1 , which is stored in or accessible by host computer 2210 and executable by processing circuitry 2218. Software 221 1 includes host application 2212. Host application 2212 may be operable to provide a service to a remote user, such as UE 2230 connecting via OTT connection 2250 terminating at UE 2230 and host computer 2210. In providing the service to the remote user, host application 2212 may provide user data which is transmitted using OTT connection 2250.

Communication system 2200 further includes base station 2220 provided in a telecommunication system and comprising hardware 2225 enabling it to communicate with host computer 2210 and with UE 2230. Hardware 2225 may include communication interface 2226 for setting up and maintaining a wired or wireless connection with an interface of a different communication device of communication system 2200, as well as radio interface 2227 for setting up and maintaining at least wireless connection 2270 with UE 2230 located in a coverage area (not shown in Figure 22) served by base station 2220. Communication interface 2226 may be configured to facilitate connection 2260 to host computer 2210. Connection 2260 may be direct or it may pass through a core network (not shown in Figure 22) of the

telecommunication system and/or through one or more intermediate networks outside the telecommunication system. In the embodiment shown, hardware 2225 of base station 2220 further includes processing circuitry 2228, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. Base station 2220 further has software 2221 stored internally or accessible via an external connection. Communication system 2200 further includes UE 2230 already referred to. Its hardware 2235 may include radio interface 2237 configured to set up and maintain wireless connection 2270 with a base station serving a coverage area in which U E 2230 is currently located.

Hardware 2235 of UE 2230 further includes processing circuitry 2238, which may comprise one or more programmable processors, application-specific integrated circuits, field programmable gate arrays or combinations of these (not shown) adapted to execute instructions. UE 2230 further comprises software 2231 , which is stored in or accessible by UE 2230 and executable by processing circuitry 2238. Software 2231 includes client application 2232. Client application 2232 may be operable to provide a service to a human or non-human user via UE 2230, with the support of host computer 2210. In host computer 2210, an executing host application 2212 may communicate with the executing client application 2232 via OTT connection 2250 terminating at UE 2230 and host computer 2210. In providing the service to the user, client application 2232 may receive request data from host application 2212 and provide user data in response to the request data. OTT connection 2250 may transfer both the request data and the user data. Client application 2232 may interact with the user to generate the user data that it provides.

It is noted that host computer 2210, base station 2220 and UE 2230 illustrated in Figure 22 may be similar or identical to host computer 2130, one of base stations 21 12a, 21 12b, 21 12c and one of UEs 2191 , 2192 of Figure 21 , respectively. This is to say, the inner workings of these entities may be as shown in Figure 22 and independently, the surrounding network topology may be that of Figure 21.

In Figure 22, OTT connection 2250 has been drawn abstractly to illustrate the communication between host computer 2210 and UE 2230 via base station 2220, without explicit reference to any intermediary devices and the precise routing of messages via these devices. Network infrastructure may determine the routing, which it may be configured to hide from UE 2230 or from the service provider operating host computer 2210, or both. While OTT connection 2250 is active, the network infrastructure may further take decisions by which it dynamically changes the routing (e.g. , on the basis of load balancing consideration or reconfiguration of the network).

Wireless connection 2270 between UE 2230 and base station 2220 is in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. One or more of the various embodiments improve the performance of OTT services provided to UE 2230 using OTT connection 2250, in which wireless connection 2270 forms the last segment. More precisely, the teachings of these embodiments may reduce signalling overhead and thereby provide benefits such as increased data rate, extended battery life, and/or other benefits. A measurement procedure may be provided for the purpose of monitoring data rate, latency and other factors on which the one or more embodiments improve. There may further be an optional network functionality for reconfiguring OTT connection 2250 between host computer 2210 and UE 2230, in response to variations in the measurement results. The measurement procedure and/or the network functionality for reconfiguring OTT connection 2250 may be implemented in software 221 1 and hardware 2215 of host computer 2210 or in software 2231 and hardware 2235 of UE 2230, or both. In embodiments, sensors (not shown) may be deployed in or in association with communication devices through which OTT connection 2250 passes; the sensors may participate in the measurement procedure by supplying values of the monitored quantities exemplified above, or supplying values of other physical quantities from which software 221 1 , 2231 may compute or estimate the monitored quantities. The

reconfiguring of OTT connection 2250 may include message format, retransmission settings, preferred routing etc. ; the reconfiguring need not affect base station 2220, and it may be unknown or imperceptible to base station 2220. Such procedures and functionalities may be known and practiced in the art. In certain embodiments, measurements may involve proprietary UE signaling facilitating host computer 2210's measurements of throughput, propagation times, latency and the like. The measurements may be implemented in that software 221 1 and 2231 causes messages to be transmitted, in particular empty or 'dummy' messages, using OTT connection 2250 while it monitors propagation times, errors etc.

Figure 23 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a U E which may be those described with reference to Figures 21 and 22. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 23 will be included in this section. In step 2310, the host computer provides user data. In substep 231 1 (which may be optional) of step 2310, the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step 2320, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. In step 2330 (which may be optional), the base station transmits to the UE the user data which was carried in the transmission that the host computer initiated, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 2340 (which may also be optional), the UE executes a client application associated with the host application executed by the host computer.

Figure 24 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a U E which may be those described with reference to Figures 21 and 22. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 24 will be included in this section. In step 2410 of the method, the host computer provides user data. In an optional substep (not shown) the host computer provides the user data by executing a host application. In step 2420, the host computer initiates a transmission carrying the user data to the UE. The transmission may pass via the base station, in accordance with the teachings of the

embodiments described throughout this disclosure. In step 2430 (which may be optional), the UE receives the user data carried in the transmission.

Figure 25 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a UE which may be those described with reference to Figures 21 and 22. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 25 will be included in this section. In step 2510 (which may be optional), the UE receives input data provided by the host computer. Additionally or alternatively, in step 2520, the UE provides user data. In substep 2521 (which may be optional) of step 2520, the UE provides the user data by executing a client application. In substep 251 1 (which may be optional) of step 2510, the UE executes a client application which provides the user data in reaction to the received input data provided by the host computer. In providing the user data, the executed client application may further consider user input received from the user. Regardless of the specific manner in which the user data was provided, the UE initiates, in substep 2530 (which may be optional), transmission of the user data to the host computer. In step 2540 of the method, the host computer receives the user data transmitted from the UE, in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure.

Figure 26 is a flowchart illustrating a method implemented in a communication system, in accordance with one embodiment. The communication system includes a host computer, a base station and a U E which may be those described with reference to Figures 21 and 22. For simplicity of the present disclosure, only drawing references to Figure 26 will be included in this section. In step 2610 (which may be optional), in accordance with the teachings of the embodiments described throughout this disclosure, the base station receives user data from the UE. In step 2620 (which may be optional), the base station initiates transmission of the received user data to the host computer. In step 2630 (which may be optional), the host computer receives the user data carried in the transmission initiated by the base station.

Any appropriate steps, methods, features, functions, or benefits disclosed herein may be performed through one or more functional units or modules of one or more virtual apparatuses. Each virtual apparatus may comprise a number of these functional units. These functional units may be implemented via processing circuitry, which may include one or more microprocessor or microcontrollers, as well as other digital hardware, which may include digital signal processors (DSPs), special-purpose digital logic, and the like. The processing circuitry may be configured to execute program code stored in memory, which may include one or several types of memory such as read-only memory (ROM), random-access memory (RAM), cache memory, flash memory devices, optical storage devices, etc. Program code stored in memory includes program instructions for executing one or more telecommunications and/or data

communications protocols as well as instructions for carrying out one or more of the techniques described herein. In some implementations, the processing circuitry may be used to cause the respective functional unit to perform corresponding functions according one or more

embodiments of the present disclosure.

Generally, all terms used herein are to be interpreted according to their ordinary meaning in the relevant technical field, unless a different meaning is clearly given and/or is implied from the context in which it is used. All references to a/an/the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc. are to be interpreted openly as referring to at least one instance of the element, apparatus, component, means, step, etc. , unless explicitly stated otherwise. The steps of any methods disclosed herein do not have to be performed in the exact order disclosed, unless a step is explicitly described as following or preceding another step and/or where it is implicit that a step must follow or precede another step. Any feature of any of the embodiments disclosed herein may be applied to any other embodiment, wherever appropriate. Likewise, any advantage of any of the embodiments may apply to any other embodiments, and vice versa. Other objectives, features and advantages of the enclosed embodiments will be apparent from the description.

The term unit may have conventional meaning in the field of electronics, electrical devices and/or electronic devices and may include, for example, electrical and/or electronic circuitry, devices, modules, processors, memories, logic solid state and/or discrete devices, computer programs or instructions for carrying out respective tasks, procedures, computations, outputs, and/or displaying functions, and so on, as such as those that are described herein.

Some of the embodiments contemplated herein are described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. Other embodiments, however, are contained within the scope of the subject matter disclosed herein. The disclosed subject matter should not be construed as limited to only the embodiments set forth herein; rather, these embodiments are provided by way of example to convey the scope of the subject matter to those skilled in the art. Additional information may also be found in the document(s) provided in the Appendix.

Embodiments

Group A Embodiments

1 . A method performed by a first radio node for radio link signaling, the method comprising: receiving, from a second radio node, a bitmap comprising a plurality of bits, each of the bits corresponding to a different Protocol Data Unit (PDU) in a range of PDUs and indicating whether or not the corresponding PDU has been successfully received by the second radio node.

2. The method of embodiment 1 , further comprising identifying, from the bitmap, a PDU not successfully received by the second radio node.

3. The method of embodiment 2, further comprising transmitting the PDU identified from the bitmap to the second radio node. 4. The method of any of embodiments 1 -3, wherein the PDUs in the range of PDUs are associated with consecutive sequence numbers, and the bits of the bitmap sequentially map to the PDUs in the range of PDUs.

5. The method of any of embodiments 1 -4, further comprising receiving an indication of a last successfully received PDU , wherein the range of PDUs starts based on the last successfully received PDU.

6. The method of embodiment 5, wherein receiving the indication of the last successfully received PDU comprises receiving a sequence number of the last successfully received PDU.

7. The method of any of embodiments 1 -4, further comprising receiving an indication of a PDU not successfully received, wherein the range of PDUs starts based on the PDU not successfully received. 8. The method of embodiment 7, wherein receiving the indication of the PDU not successfully received comprises receiving a sequence number of the PDU not successfully received.

9. The method of any of embodiments 1 -8, further comprising receiving an indication of a length of the bitmap.

10. The method of any of embodiments 1 -8, wherein the bitmap has a predefined length.

1 1 . The method of any of embodiments 1 -10, further comprising receiving an extension bit indicating that the bitmap is present in received signalling. 12. The method of any of embodiments 1 -1 1 , further comprising receiving a pair of values indicating a further range of PDUs not successfully received by the second radio node.

AA. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising:

providing user data; and

forwarding the user data to a host computer via the transmission to the base station.

Group B Embodiments

13. A method performed by a first radio node for radio link signaling, the method comprising: transmitting, to a second radio node, a bitmap comprising a plurality of bits, each of the bits corresponding to a different PDU in a range of PDUs and indicating whether or not the corresponding PDU has been successfully received.

14. The method of embodiment 13, further comprising responsive to transmitting the bitmap, receiving a PDU corresponding to a bit in the bitmap, the bit indicating that the PDU was not successfully received.

15. The method of any of embodiments 13-14, wherein the PDUs in the range of PDUs are associated with consecutive sequence numbers, and the bits of the bitmap sequentially map to the PDUs in the range of PDUs.

16. The method of any of embodiments 13-15, further comprising transmitting an indication of a last successfully received PDU, wherein the range of PDUs starts based on the last successfully received PDU.

17. The method of embodiment 16, wherein transmitting the indication of the last successfully received PDU comprises transmitting a sequence number of the last successfully received PDU. 18. The method of any of embodiments 13-15, further comprising transmitting an indication of a PDU not successfully received, wherein the range of PDUs starts based on the PDU not successfully received.

19. The method of embodiment 18, wherein transmitting the indication of the PDU not successfully received comprises receiving a sequence number of the PDU not successfully received. 20. The method of any of embodiments 13-19, further comprising transmitting an indication of a length of the bitmap. 21 . The method of any of embodiments 13-19, wherein the bitmap has a predefined length.

22. The method of any of embodiments 13-21 , further comprising transmitting an extension bit indicating that the bitmap is present in transmitted signalling. 23. The method of any of embodiments 13-22, further comprising transmitting a pair of values indicating a further range of PDUs not successfully received.

24. The method of any of embodiments 13-23, further comprising transmitting the bitmap responsive to determining that the transmitting of the bitmap requires fewer bits to signal than transmitting a sequence number for each PDU in the range of PDUs not successfully received.

25. The method of any of embodiments 13-24, further comprising transmitting the bitmap responsive to determining that fewer than a threshold number of consecutive PDUs in the range were not successfully received.

26. The method of any of embodiments 13-25, further comprising transmitting the bitmap responsive to determining that the transmitting of the bitmap requires fewer bits to signal than transmitting a pair of values specifying a subset of consecutive PDUs in the range of PDUs, each PDU in the subset having not been successfully received.

27. The method of any of embodiments 13-26, further comprising transmitting the bitmap based on an amount of overhead avoided by signalling the bitmap.

28. The method of any of embodiments 13-27, further comprising transmitting the bitmap based on a determination that the transmitting of the bitmap will fit in within a particular uplink grant.

29. The method of any of embodiments 13-28, further comprising transmitting the bitmap based on a determination that more than a threshold number of the PDUs in the range of PDUs were not successfully received. 30. The method of embodiment 29, further comprising receiving the threshold number of the PDUs from the second radio node.

31. The method of embodiment 29, wherein receiving the threshold number of the PDUs from the second radio node comprises receiving the threshold number of the PDUs in radio resource control signaling.

BB. The method of any of the previous embodiments, further comprising:

obtaining user data; and

forwarding the user data to a host computer or a wireless device.

Group C Embodiments

C1. A wireless device configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A

embodiments.

C2. A wireless device comprising:

processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A

embodiments; and

power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the wireless device.

C3. A wireless device comprising:

processing circuitry and memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the wireless device is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

C4. A user equipment (UE) comprising:

an antenna configured to send and receive wireless signals;

radio front-end circuitry connected to the antenna and to processing circuitry, and

configured to condition signals communicated between the antenna and the processing circuitry;

the processing circuitry being configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments;

an input interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to allow input of information into the UE to be processed by the processing circuitry; an output interface connected to the processing circuitry and configured to output

information from the UE that has been processed by the processing circuitry; and a battery connected to the processing circuitry and configured to supply power to the UE.

C5. A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of a wireless device, causes the wireless device to carry out the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

C6. A carrier containing the computer program of embodiment C5, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or computer readable storage medium. C7. A base station configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments.

A base station comprising:

processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B

embodiments;

power supply circuitry configured to supply power to the wireless device.

A base station comprising:

processing circuitry and memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the base station is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments.

C10. A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of a base station, causes the base station to carry out the steps of any of the Group B embodiments.

C1 1 . A carrier containing the computer program of embodiment C10, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or computer readable storage medium. Group D Embodiments

D1 . A communication system including a host computer comprising:

processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and

a communication interface configured to forward the user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE),

wherein the cellular network comprises a base station having a radio interface and

processing circuitry, the base station's processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments.

The communication system of the pervious embodiment further including the base station. D3. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, further including the U E, wherein the UE is configured to communicate with the base station.

D4. The communication system of the previous 3 embodiments, wherein:

the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing the user data; and

the U E comprises processing circuitry configured to execute a client application

associated with the host application. D5. A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

at the host computer, providing user data; and

at the host computer, initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the base station, wherein the base station performs any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments.

D6. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising, at the base station, transmitting the user data. D7. The method of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein the user data is provided at the host computer by executing a host application, the method further comprising, at the UE, executing a client application associated with the host application.

D8. A user equipment (UE) configured to communicate with a base station, the U E comprising a radio interface and processing circuitry configured to perform any of the previous 3 embodiments.

D9. A communication system including a host computer comprising:

processing circuitry configured to provide user data; and

a communication interface configured to forward user data to a cellular network for transmission to a user equipment (UE), wherein the U E comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the UE's components configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments. D10. The communication system of the previous embodiment, wherein the cellular network further includes a base station configured to communicate with the UE.

D1 1 . The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, wherein:

the U E's processing circuitry is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application. D12. A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

at the host computer, providing user data; and

at the host computer, initiating a transmission carrying the user data to the UE via a cellular network comprising the base station, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

D13. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising at the UE, receiving the user data from the base station. D14. A communication system including a host computer comprising:

communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a user equipment (UE) to a base station,

wherein the UE comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the UE's

processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

D15. The communication system of the previous embodiment, further including the UE.

D16. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, further including the base station, wherein the base station comprises a radio interface configured to communicate with the U E and a communication interface configured to forward to the host computer the user data carried by a transmission from the UE to the base station. D17. The communication system of the previous 3 embodiments, wherein:

the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application; and

the U E's processing circuitry is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data.

D18. The communication system of the previous 4 embodiments, wherein:

the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application, thereby providing request data; and

the U E's processing circuitry is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data in response to the request data.

D19. A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

at the host computer, receiving user data transmitted to the base station from the UE, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

D20. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising, at the U E, providing the user data to the base station.

D21 . The method of the previous 2 embodiments, further comprising:

at the U E, executing a client application, thereby providing the user data to be

transmitted; and

at the host computer, executing a host application associated with the client application.

D22. The method of the previous 3 embodiments, further comprising:

at the U E, executing a client application; and

at the UE, receiving input data to the client application, the input data being provided at the host computer by executing a host application associated with the client application,

wherein the user data to be transmitted is provided by the client application in response to the input data. D23. A communication system including a host computer comprising a communication interface configured to receive user data originating from a transmission from a user equipment (UE) to a base station, wherein the base station comprises a radio interface and processing circuitry, the base station's processing circuitry configured to perform any of the steps of any of the Group B embodiments.

D24. The communication system of the previous embodiment further including the base station.

D25. The communication system of the previous 2 embodiments, further including the UE, wherein the UE is configured to communicate with the base station.

D26. The communication system of the previous 3 embodiments, wherein:

the processing circuitry of the host computer is configured to execute a host application; the U E is configured to execute a client application associated with the host application, thereby providing the user data to be received by the host computer.

D27. A method implemented in a communication system including a host computer, a base station and a user equipment (UE), the method comprising:

at the host computer, receiving, from the base station, user data originating from a

transmission which the base station has received from the U E, wherein the UE performs any of the steps of any of the Group A embodiments.

D28. The method of the previous embodiment, further comprising at the base station, receiving the user data from the UE.

D29. The method of the previous 2 embodiments, further comprising at the base station, initiating a transmission of the received user data to the host computer.

ABBREVIATIONS

At least some of the following abbreviations may be used in this disclosure. If there is an inconsistency between abbreviations, preference should be given to how it is used above. If listed multiple times below, the first listing should be preferred over any subsequent listing(s).

Acknowledgment

Acknowledged Mode

AM Data CPT Control PDU Type

D/C Data / Control (field)

DL DownLink

E Extension bit (field)

E-bit Extension bit

eNB E-UTRAN Node B

E-UTRA Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access

E-UTRAN Evolved UMTS Terrestrial Radio Access Network

Fl Framing Info

gNB Next Generation Node B (N R Node B)

MAC Medium Access Control

NACK Negative acknowledgment

LTE Long Term Evolution

NR Next Radio

P-bit Polling bit

PDU Protocol Data Unit

R Reserved (field)

RLC Radio Link Control

RRC Radio Resource Control

SDU Service Data Unit

SI Segment information

SN Sequence Number

SO Segment Offset

SO pair SO_START and SO_END fields together TB Transport Block

TM Transparent Mode

UE User Equipment

UL UpLink

UM Unacknowledged Mode

1x RTT CDMA2000 1x Radio Transmission Technology

3GPP 3rd Generation Partnership Project

5G 5th Generation

ABS Almost Blank Subframe

ARQ Automatic Repeat Request

AWGN Additive White Gaussian Noise

BCCH Broadcast Control Channel BCH Broadcast Channel

CA Carrier Aggregation

CC Carrier Component

CCCH SDU Common Control Channel SDU

CDMA Code Division Multiplexing Access

CGI Cell Global Identifier

CIR Channel Impulse Response

CP Cyclic Prefix

CPICH Common Pilot Channel

CPICH Ec/No CPICH Received energy per chip divided by the power density in the band

CQI Channel Quality information

C-RNTI Cell RNTI

CSI Channel State Information

DCCH Dedicated Control Channel

DL Downlink

DM Demodulation

DMRS Demodulation Reference Signal

DRX Discontinuous Reception

DTX Discontinuous Transmission

DTCH Dedicated Traffic Channel

DUT Device Under Test

E-CID Enhanced Cell-ID (positioning method)

E-SMLC Evolved-Serving Mobile Location Centre

ECGI Evolved CGI

eNB E-UTRAN NodeB

ePDCCH enhanced Physical Downlink Control Channel

E-SMLC evolved Serving Mobile Location Center

E-UTRA Evolved UTRA

E-UTRAN Evolved UTRAN

FDD Frequency Division Duplex

FFS For Further Study

GERAN GSM EDGE Radio Access Network

gNB Base station in NR

GNSS Global Navigation Satellite System

GSM Global System for Mobile communication

HARQ Hybrid Automatic Repeat Request HO Handover

HSPA High Speed Packet Access

HRPD High Rate Packet Data

LOS Line of Sight

LPP LTE Positioning Protocol

LTE Long-Term Evolution

MAC Medium Access Control

MBMS Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services

MBSFN Multimedia Broadcast multicast service Single Frequency Network

MBSFN ABS MBSFN Almost Blank Subframe

MDT Minimization of Drive Tests

MIB Master Information Block

MME Mobility Management Entity

MSC Mobile Switching Center

NPDCCH Narrowband Physical Downlink Control Channel

NR New Radio

OCNG OFDMA Channel Noise Generator

OFDM Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiplexing

OFDMA Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access

OSS Operations Support System

OTDOA Observed Time Difference of Arrival

O&M Operation and Maintenance

PBCH Physical Broadcast Channel

P-CCPCH Primary Common Control Physical Channel

PCell Primary Cell

PCFICH Physical Control Format Indicator Channel

PDCCH Physical Downlink Control Channel

PDP Profile Delay Profile

PDSCH Physical Downlink Shared Channel

PGW Packet Gateway

PHICH Physical Hybrid-ARQ Indicator Channel

PLMN Public Land Mobile Network

PMI Precoder Matrix Indicator

PRACH Physical Random Access Channel

PRS Positioning Reference Signal

PSS Primary Synchronization Signal PUCCH Physical Uplink Control Channel

PUSCH Physical Uplink Shared Channel

RACH Random Access Channel

QAM Quadrature Amplitude Modulation

RAN Radio Access Network

RAT Radio Access Technology

RLM Radio Link Management

RNC Radio Network Controller

RNTI Radio Network Temporary Identifier

RRC Radio Resource Control

RRM Radio Resource Management

RS Reference Signal

RSCP Received Signal Code Power

RSRP Reference Symbol Received Power OR Reference Signal Received

Power

RSRQ Reference Signal Received Quality OR Reference Symbol Received

Quality

RSSI Received Signal Strength Indicator

RSTD Reference Signal Time Difference

SCH Synchronization Channel

SCell Secondary Cell

SDU Service Data Unit

SFN System Frame Number

SGW Serving Gateway

SI System Information

SIB System Information Block

SNR Signal to Noise Ratio

SON Self Optimized Network

SS Synchronization Signal

SSS Secondary Synchronization Signal

TDD Time Division Duplex

TDOA Time Difference of Arrival

TOA Time of Arrival

TSS Tertiary Synchronization Signal

TTI Transmission Time Interval

UE User Equipment UL Uplink

UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunication System

USIM Universal Subscriber Identity Module

UTDOA Uplink Time Difference of Arrival

UTRA Universal Terrestrial Radio Access

UTRAN Universal Terrestrial Radio Access Network

WCDMA Wide CDMA

WLAN Wide Local Area Network

Claims

1 . A method performed by a first radio node (600b) for radio link signaling, the method comprising:

receiving, from a second radio node (600a), a bitmap comprising a plurality of bits, each of the bits corresponding to a different Protocol Data Unit (PDU) in a range of

PDUs and indicating whether or not the corresponding PDU has been successfully received by the second radio node (600a).

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising identifying, from the bitmap, a PDU not successfully received by the second radio node (600a).

3. The method of claim 2, further comprising transmitting the PDU identified from the bitmap to the second radio node (600a).

4. The method of any of claims 1 -3, wherein the PDUs in the range of PDUs are associated with consecutive sequence numbers, and the plurality of bits of the bitmap sequentially map to the PDUs in the range of PDUs.

5. The method of any of claims 1 -4, further comprising receiving from the second radio node (600a) an indication of a last successfully received PDU, wherein the range of PDUs starts based on the last successfully received PDU.

6. The method of claim 5, wherein receiving the indication of the last successfully received PDU comprises receiving a sequence number of the last successfully received PDU.

7. The method of any of claims 1 -4, further comprising receiving from the second radio node (600a) an indication of a PDU not successfully received, wherein the range of PDUs starts based on the PDU not successfully received.

8. The method of claim 7, wherein receiving the indication of the PDU not successfully received comprises receiving a sequence number of the PDU not successfully received.

9. The method of any of claims 1 -8, further comprising receiving from the second radio node (600a) an indication of a length of the bitmap.

10. The method of any of claims 1 -8, wherein the bitmap has a predefined length.

1 1 . The method of any of claims 1 -10, further comprising receiving from a second radio node (600a) an extension bit indicating that the bitmap is present in received signalling.

12. The method of any of claims 1 -1 1 , wherein the first radio node (600b) and the second radio node (600a) comprises a wireless device or a network node.

13. A method performed by a second radio node (600a) for radio link signaling, the method comprising:

transmitting, to a first radio node (600b), a bitmap comprising a plurality of bits, each of the bits corresponding to a different PDU in a range of PDUs and indicating whether or not the corresponding PDU has been successfully received.

14. The method of claim 13, further comprising responsive to transmitting the bitmap, receiving from the first node a PDU corresponding to a bit in the bitmap, the bit indicating that the PDU was not successfully received.

15. The method of any of claims 13-14, wherein the PDUs in the range of PDUs are associated with consecutive sequence numbers, and the bits of the bitmap sequentially map to the PDUs in the range of PDUs.

16. The method of any of claims 13-15, further comprising transmitting to the first radio node an indication of a last successfully received PDU, wherein the range of PDUs starts based on the last successfully received PDU.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein transmitting the indication of the last successfully received PDU comprises transmitting a sequence number of the last successfully received PDU.

18. The method of any of claims 13-15, further comprising transmitting to the first radio node (600b) an indication of a PDU not successfully received, wherein the range of PDUs starts based on the PDU not successfully received.

19. The method of claim 18, wherein transmitting the indication of the PDU not successfully received comprises receiving a sequence number of the PDU not successfully received.

20. The method of any of claims 13-19, further comprising transmitting to the first radio node (600b) an indication of a length of the bitmap.

21 . The method of any of claims 13-19, wherein the bitmap has a predefined length.

22. The method of any of claims 13-21 , further comprising transmitting to the first radio node (600b) an extension bit indicating that the bitmap is present in transmitted signalling.

23. The method of any of claims 13-22, further comprising transmitting to the first radio node (600b) the bitmap responsive to determining that the transmitting of the bitmap requires fewer bits to signal than transmitting a sequence number for each PDU in the range of PDUs not successfully received.

24. The method of any of claims 13-23, further comprising transmitting to the first radio node (600b) the bitmap responsive to determining that fewer than a threshold number of consecutive

PDUs in the range were not successfully received.

25. The method of any of claims 13-24, further comprising transmitting to the first radio node (600b) the bitmap responsive to determining that the transmitting of the bitmap requires fewer bits to signal than transmitting a pair of values specifying a subset of consecutive PDUs in the range of PDUs, each PDU in the subset having not been successfully received.

26. The method of any of claims 13-25, further comprising transmitting to the first radio node the bitmap based on an amount of overhead avoided by signalling the bitmap.

27. The method of any of claims 13-26, further comprising transmitting to the first radio node (600b) the bitmap based on a determination that the transmitting of the bitmap will fit in within a particular uplink grant.

28. The method of any of claims 13-27, further comprising transmitting to the first radio node (600b) the bitmap based on a determination that more than a threshold number of the PDUs in the range of PDUs were not successfully received.

29. The method of claim 28, further comprising receiving the threshold number of the PDUs from the first radio node (600b).

30. The method of claim 28, wherein receiving the threshold number of the PDUs from the first radio node (600b) comprises receiving the threshold number of the PDUs in radio resource control signaling.

31 . The method of any of claims 13-30, wherein the first radio node (600b) and the second radio node (600a) comprises a wireless device or a network node.

32. A wireless device comprising:

processing circuitry and memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the wireless device is configured to:

receiving, from a second radio node (600a), a bitmap comprising a plurality of bits, each of the bits corresponding to a different Protocol Data Unit (PDU) in a range of PDUs and indicating whether or not the corresponding PDU has been successfully received by the second radio node (600a).

33. The wireless device of claim 32, wherein the wireless device is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the method of claims 2-12.

34. A wireless device comprising:

processing circuitry and memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the wireless device is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the method of claims 1 -12.

35. A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of a wireless device, causes the wireless device to carry out the steps of any of the method of claims 1 -12.

36. A carrier containing the computer program of claim 35, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or computer readable storage medium.

37. A network node comprising:

processing circuitry and memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the network node is configured to:

38. The network node of claim 37, wherein the configured to perform any of the steps of any of the method of claims 2-12.

39. A network node comprising:

processing circuitry and memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the network node is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the method of claims 1-12.

40. A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of a network node, causes the wireless device to carry out the steps of any of the method of claims 1-12.

41. A carrier containing the computer program of claim 40, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or computer readable storage medium.

42. A wireless device comprising:

43. The wireless device of claim 43, wherein the wireless device is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the method of 14-31.

44. A wireless device comprising:

processing circuitry and memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the wireless device is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the method of claims 13-31.

45. A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of a wireless device, causes the wireless device to carry out the steps of any of the method of claims 13-31.

46. A carrier containing the computer program of claim 45, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or computer readable storage medium.

47. A network node comprising:

48. The network node of claim 47, wherein the network node is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the method of claims 14-31.

49. A network node comprising:

processing circuitry and memory, the memory containing instructions executable by the processing circuitry whereby the network node is configured to perform any of the steps of any of the method of claims 13-31.

50. A computer program comprising instructions which, when executed by at least one processor of a network node, causes the wireless device to carry out the steps of any of the method of claims 13-31.

51. A carrier containing the computer program of claim 50, wherein the carrier is one of an electronic signal, optical signal, radio signal, or computer readable storage medium.